Disclaimer: Don't own them…

A/N: Wow, I managed to update this quicker than I expected! R&R

Chapter 7

"Rachel?" Tony said again, his surprise turning to confusion, "What are you doing here?"

Rachel stood in the doorway clutching the baby, he gurgled happily, totally oblivious to Tony. "What do you mean, what am I doing here? I live here." She said dryly, looking at Tony sideways as if preparing to dive out of the way if Tony made any sudden moves. She reminded Tony of a wild animal, terrified and on edge, ready to snap at any moment.

Tony frowned, not sure of what to say, almost wishing that Rachel would let him in and they could just talk. He wished that he wasn't standing here right now, a look of surprise on his face. "You live here?" he asked, feeling the need to confirm what Rachel just said. 'Yeah I do, what do you want?" she asked. Tony opened his mouth to tell her, but she cut him off, "Hang on, how'd you even get my address?"

Tony dug a piece of paper out of his pocket, the piece that had Rachel's address on it. He held it in his hands, Rachel's eyes darting in its direction, trying to read what it said. Tony held it out of sight, "Can I come in?" he asked.

Rachel hesitated, shifting her grip around the baby's middle. She stood aside, holding the door with one hand.

Tony stood there for a second before entering. Her apartment was dark except for a lamp in the corner of the lounge room. She turned and headed down a short hallway, out of sight, calling for Tony to close the door behind him. Tony followed her, a chill creeping up his spine at the coldness of the apartment. He wrapped his jacket tighter around himself and followed Rachel.

She was balancing the baby on her hip when Tony entered, and opening the fridge with the other. She pulled out a bottle of milk and kicked the door of the fridge closed with her foot. The baby gurgled some more, grinning as Rachel proceeded towards the microwave. Tony sat down at the kitchen table and watched Rachel, waiting until she was done with the bottle. The baby boy watched Tony with bright blue eyes, but soon lost interest when he noticed a fly buzzing around the windows. He reached out, causing Rachel to almost overbalance. She cursed, the bottle falling from her hands and popping open, milk spraying all over the floor. "Dammit!" she exclaimed.

Tony got up out of his chair and reached for a cloth on the sink, preparing to clean up the mess. Rachel turned to face him, smiling as she took the cloth from his hands. "Could you hold him for me?" she asked. She was a bit calmer now that she was inside, and wasn't too fazed over a little spilt milk anymore.

Tony liked at the baby, blue eyes, chubby cheeks and a mass of dark hair. He had dark skin, much unlike Rachel's fair skin. Tony figured the baby boy must take after his father. He hesitated, wishing that she'd just let him help by cleaning up the milk instead, "I don't know anything about babies." He replied.

Rachel scoffed, "I don't want you to give birth to one, just hold him would you." She tried to hold back the smile that was creeping onto her lips at the expression on Tony's face. He held out his arms, Rachel handing the baby to him.

Tony held the baby, unsure of what to do next. The baby started to whimper, then wriggle. Rachel looked at him, and assured Tony that he'd be fine, he just wanted his bottle. He'd seen mothers rocking their children before, it seemed to sooth them. Apparently the erratic rocking motions Tony was making were comforting to the infant, for he stopped crying. Tony absent-mindedly patted the baby on his back as he watched Rachel. He stirred for a moment, wriggling a bit, but to Tony's great relief, did not cry.

Rachel finished mopping up the milk and stood up. She rinsed the cloth and folded it up. She smiled at Tony, clearly finding his discomfort amusing. She sat down and Tony handed the baby back to her. "What's his name?" Tony asked.

"Hmm… that's the first thing most people ask." Rachel responded, not really taking much notice of Tony's question. The baby cooed, swinging his chubby little fists around and making random baby noises. She looked up at Tony, he was watching the baby with awe, like he was a pile of $50 bills, not a slobbering child. He was very cute, Tony thought, and for a moment he wondered if Kate had met him too. It gave him a mixed feeling, kind of warm, yet sunken at the same time.

"His name's Max," she replied, "He's eight months old." Tony smiled, looking at little Max. he snapped to attention, momentarily forgetting why he was there. "Um… Rachel, I have a few questions…" he trailed off, Rachel started to frown.

"How about I start?" she asked, but continued on without waiting for a response, "How'd you get my address?" she asked, bouncing Max on her lap.

Tony reached into his pocket for the necklace, pulling it out. He leaned across the table and laid the necklace down. Rachel looked at it for a split second, then without warning jumped up. Max started to cry at the sudden movement, and Tony got up too, standing there with Rachel. He looked worried, Rachel looked at it sideways like it was going to explode, and Max howled even louder.

"Rachel!" Tony called over Max's howls, "What's the matter?"

Tony looked at Rachel, tears welling up in her eyes. He didn't know why she was so upset. She was clinging onto Max, her arm around him as he started to slip. Her hands started shaking like she's just seen a ghost, and Tony took Max from her arms as she collapsed into the chair, sobbing slightly. "What's wrong?" he asked again, going around to the other side of the table to sit next to Rachel. Max stopped crying, his blue eyes welling up with tears.

"Oh Maxie, I'm sorry," Rachel cooed to him, Tony hung onto him, still wary of a relapse with Rachel.

"Rachel." Tony said quietly. Rachel stopped sobbing, but her hands were sill shaking slightly. Tony had never seen anyone react so strangely at the sight of a piece of jewellery.

Rachel gasped slightly, looking at the necklace, "Where did you get that?"

Tony looked at the necklace in his hand, the silver metal glistening as the letter "E" charm spun around at the end of the chain. "You bought this a year ago, didn't you? I went to the jewellers where it was sold; he gave me your address. Only I didn't know it was yours."

Rachel looked at Tony, he was still hanging onto little Max who gurgled once more. "What does the "E" stand for?" Tony asked her.

Suddenly, the phone started to ring. Rachel got up to answer it, reaching for the receiver and speaking into it, "Hello?" she said. Tony listened to her speak, her voice still quivering slightly. Whoever was on the other side spoke but Tony couldn't hear, "No, no, I'm okay. Really I am…" Rachel responded, "No, you don't have to come home, I'm fine."

Tony watched her as she spoke some more, then saying goodbye as she hung the phone up. She stood at the desk, closing her eyes and bowing her head slightly. "Everything okay?" Tony asked. Rachel opened her eyes and looked at him, then hurried over. She took Max from him and headed for the door.

"Rachel!" Tony called after her. He followed her, grabbing the necklace on the way out. She was standing at the door when he arrived. She opened it and stood aside.

"Rachel?" he questioned her, "What's wrong?" he seemed to be asking that question a lot lately.

"I'm sorry, you have to go."

Tony frowned, "Why? What was that call about?" Rachel didn't respond at first, a pained expression on her face. She caught sight of the necklace in Tony's hand, "Please, just go.".

Rachel's face dropped as she caught herself, "I can't talk to you about this, I'm sorry. You have to go."

"Why? You're afraid of someone, aren't you?" Tony asked. Rachel lowered her eyes. "Aren't you?" Tony asked again, louder this time, making Rachel jump.

"Stop yelling! What makes you think that yelling will get you what you want?"

"I'm sorry Rachel. Please, I need to know who she is." Tony said quietly.

"She got too close." She said simply.

"Got too close? You're not making any sense Rachel."

"Look, I want to tell you, but my husband will be home any minute now and I don't want him to see you here." She said quietly, pushing her dark hair out of her eyes and opened the front door. "Go."

"NO! Look, I've just lost the woman I loved, and this Grace, whoever she is, meant something to her," Tony lowered his voice and took a step closer to Rachel, "Please Rachel."

Rachel looked up into Tony's eyes; she recognized that look, she knew it all too well. A look of pain, loss, and desperation. She nodded and closed the door; Rachel motioned for him to sit down at the circular table. "Grace is a little girl. She was friends with my daughter before…"

Tony took a deep breath. "Before what, Rachel? What happened to Grace?" He watched Rachel as she nervously brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"Nothing happened to Grace, at least she was fine the last time I saw her. No, it was my daughter that got caught in the middle of her problems. That kid was trouble, came from a bad family, druggie parents. A no hoper." Rachel said as she fiddled with a corner of the tablecloth.

"Your daughter, where is she? Please Rachel, I need to talk to her."

Rachel let go of the tablecloth and looked at Tony.

"My daughter's dead."

A/N: Who's Rachel afraid of? Who's Grace? What are the numbers? What happened to Ebony? What's Kate's involvement? Why won't Gibbs tell Tony anything? Who ran Tony off the road? Ahhh! The mysteries are engulfing me! - Ahem - Don't worry, it's getting crazy on this end too, I'll revile everything, I promise… hehehehe - evil cackle -