Tony DiNozzo could picture her now, dressing in that black dress that showed off the perfect body he loved so much in all the right places. Her golden hair would be down, curled slightly at the ends, and her blue eyes would be only accented by the makeup she wore. He couldn't wait to get home and, if not for his plans for the perfect Valentine's night, neither of them might ever leave the house again. He turned at the light, having run out of time to go pick up the chocolates earlier that day, and cursed, finding himself stuck behind a traffic jam.
He pulled out his cell phone, sighing as he looked at the clock. It had taken an hour too long to finish up the case and leave work, now this setback was more than he could handle. He smiled a little, despite himself, when he heard his girlfriend's voice. "Hey, baby."
Shelby Gibbs answered the phone, driving to the sitter's to pick up their daughter. "Hey. I figured you'd be home by now."
"So did I." He paused. "I'm stuck in traffic. I have some things to pick up. Did you get my roses?"
"Yeah." She paused. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Um...I love you?"
She sighed. "Tony, you know I love the flowers, because you sent them, but I just have to ask...why the color?"
"Red? It's supposed to be traditional, isn't it?"
"Red, yes. Yellow...not exactly."
He cursed, regardless of the fact that she could hear him. "You got yellow?" He sighed. "Damn, Shelby, I'm sorry. I ordered red. I looked it up on the net and they're supposed to mean love and romance, perfection...I wanted tonight to be perfect."
"You..." She started to say something and then stopped before starting again. "You looked it up?" The thought counted with her, especially in presents. It would have been one thing if he sent red flowers because everyone else did, but the fact that he'd tried to find the meaning, tried to make it perfect, touched her more than the actual flowers.
"Yeah." He sighed. "I'm stuck in a damned traffic jam, I'm going to be late."
"It's okay. I'm still on my way to Anna's to pick Bella up."
He thought about his girls, how much they meant to each other. "Okay. I'll see you at home." He paused. "I love you."
She smiled, knowing it wasn't easy for him to say the words, but that they came genuine, from the heart. "I love you too, baby." She hung up, going to the door, and Tony hung up, thinking to himself.
He'd celebrated Valentine's Day for years, since he was fourteen, but only one other one stood out in his memory, the one where his daughter had been born. Days like today, he could understand an inkling of what Gibbs felt. True, he hadn't lost his daughter, but he'd lost Kate and, even though he loved Shelby, he still missed his partner. Bella looked so much like her at times he found his breath being taken away, the same enchanting eyes, the same exotic features, the same smile that lit up a room. He wondered what she would say if she were still alive, about their friends, about Bella, and about Shelby. The girls had met a handful of times over Kate's two years with NCIS and had gotten along. When Kate died, he'd been crushed, completely destroyed. He didn't know what to do to take care of himself for awhile, much less his daughter, and, although Gibbs had attempted to help, it had been Shelby who took leave from work, helped him get back on his feet, sat up with him while he slept, taught him how to take care of Bella. Shelby didn't try to replace Kate in his life or in Bella's, making sure Kate was still an active part in the little girl's life, but the plain and simple truth was, because Bella had been four months old at the time of Kate's death, the little girl would never remember her birth mother. The only mother the girl had ever known was Shelby and even Kate couldn't have loved the little girl more. He'd been toying with the idea of adoption lately, something he never thought he'd approve of, but wanted to know that, if something happened to him, Shelby and Bella could still be together.
He shook the morbid thoughts out of his head, thinking back to the day his little girl was born. She'd been a month early, weighed about five pounds, and the first time he held her, he was sure that she would break. He remembered the yellow roses he'd bought Kate, another reason why he had ordered red for Shelby. He remembered Gibbs arriving at the hospital, the only person they'd told the truth, both figuring they owed him that much, and remembered asking him to be the godfather. Nothing had been perfect about that night, the only Valentine's Day that had ever failed, but what he'd gotten out of it was the best thing in his life, his daughter, Isabella.
An hour later, he arrived home, not in the best of moods, both surprised and disappointed when Shelby wasn't dressed in the black dress but sweats, didn't have her hair curled and makeup on, but freshly showered and in sweats.
"What's wrong?" He asked, sitting his purchases down on the counter, next to the offending roses.
"Bella's running a fever."
He stopped in place. Although he knew how often children got sick, he also knew how easy it would be to lose his daughter. "How high?"
"102." She continued, barely giving him a chance to open his mouth let alone respond. "I already called her pediatrician and they said it was normal." Again, she continued, his mouth still open. "I double-checked with Ducky and he told me what to look for, said if any of it happened to bring her in and call him. I've given her a sponge bath and she's been drinking juice all day. I think it's just a cold."
He nodded, not exactly comforted, but knowing he was probably overreacting. He never forgot her first Christmas, in the hospital with RSV virus and pneumonia. There was a reason why he was paranoid about the two women who meant the most to him. "Okay."
"So we're staying in. I ordered pizza and I'm making Bella some soup. She's curled up on the couch, watching movies." He looked at the bags he'd carried in. "I'll put them up."
He hesitated, but kissed her cheek. "Thank you."
She touched his worried cheek. "Go see your daughter."
He walked into the living room, seeing the flush on her cheeks, sucking on a Popsicle, managing to get it all over her and the couch. He picked her up anyway, kissing her forehead, feeling the warmth. "Daddy..."
"Hey, baby." He hugged her, rocking her back and forth carefully, watching the black and white credits roll. "What were you watching?"
"Beast." She watched as he turned the DVD off. "Story."
"Story, huh?" He told her the story of the day she'd been born, starting from that morning when he'd gotten to work, going to the first time Gibbs had held her, making sure to tell her, as he always did, how much Kate had loved her, how proud she had been of her. He knew the little girl didn't understand then, but one day she would and he wanted her to remember.
Tony saw Shelby's expression when she came in and saw the mess. He put Bella back down and kissed Shelby's cheek.
"You and Mama pick out another movie, okay?"
He went in search of something to clean Bella and then clean the couch, bringing the pizza in on paper plates, the soup in one of Bella's bowls, and then returned for glasses of Coke and juice. It might not be gourmet, it might not be wine, but he was going to make sure that Shelby had the night off, for once.
"What'd you find?" He asked, settling down by Shelby, Bella in her lap. He expected Casablanca, Sabrina, or another 'chick movie' but not what he heard.
"Shrek," Shelby said, trying to hide a smile.
"Shrek?" He had watched all three movies so many times that he could quote them and was almost sure Bella knew them by heart.
"Shrek," the little girl said stubbornly, having inherited her own unique brand of determination from both Kate and himself.
"Yellow roses, pizza, Coke, and Shrek," Tony mumbled under his breath, giving into his daughter's whims.
They watched the movie in silence, the backwards version of a classic fairy tale love story. Most of the time Tony enjoyed the irony, as well as spotting mentions and characters from other movies, but it just wasn't the way he'd intended on spending the night. Bella fell asleep in the middle of the movie, early for her, but accepted given her being sick. Tony carried her into her soft green bedroom, tucking her in, and kissing her forehead, coming back to see the movie off and Shelby in the kitchen cleaning up.
"I'm sorry," he apologized automatically. "This isn't the way I wanted tonight to go. I wanted it to be perfect. Failing that, I wanted to give you a night off."
She turned to face him, sitting on the counter bar, focusing on him. "I don't want the night off. Perfect is in the eye of the beholder, Tony. The people that I love are all happy, safe, and, aside from Bella's cold, healthy. You're home with us. That, to me, is perfect. Everything else is bullshit."
He took a few steps closer to her. "I couldn't even get chocolate. I had to settle for chocolate ice cream."
She laughed. "I saw." She drew him closer, kissing him, her legs wrapping around him, holding him close. "Don't worry so much."
"I never used to. But you two give me a lot of practice."
She laughed, her eyes looking into his. "Is Bella still asleep?"
"Sound asleep."
She took the ice cream out. "You wouldn't be still hungry for dessert...would you?"
He laughed quietly, picking her up, her body still wrapped around his. "I think I can make room." She grinned, her head in his neck as he carried her off.