Tony walked across to the large wooden fort tucked into the grove of trees at the back of the yard. Gibbs had built the structure a couple of summers ago when he and Lucas had spent a week together. It was quite large but was only a few feet off the ground because of how old Luc was when they built it. It was a simple square building with a slanted roof and a small porch in front of the door. The step up onto the porch was an enormous log stump. Lucas still had to climb up onto to get in.

Tony was pretty sure that he would find the child in his fort, he himself had never had one as a kid but he was sure if he had it would be the place he would go when upset. The door was open just enough the he could see Luc sitting against the opposite wall knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs. The boy's forehead was resting on his bent arms. Tony couldn't hear anything but he suspected that the child was crying silently.

"Hey Squirt" he called in as he sat on the log stump and rested his own crossed arms on the porch.

"Go away" Luc yelled out angrily not bothering to raise his head so his words were somewhat muted.

Tony sat quietly for a short time trying to figure out what the 'right' thing to say was. Growing up an only child he didn't have any hands one experience with children. As he sat there he realized that his accumulated understanding of children came mainly from dealing with Lucas and since they hadn't been in this sort of situation before he had nothing to draw on. Finally he took a deep breath and said "Look Lucas.. I'm sorry that I told you to do that…. it …was…ah… it was wrong of me… I should've known better."

Luc lifted his head slowly and just enough that one eye could look at his uncle's face. He looked genuinely upset by his actions and his apology seemed to be legitimate and not just a smoke screen. Dropping his head back down he answered "K".

"Seriously Luc… I am sorry" tony tried again he was actually feeling guilty for causing the kid to get into trouble and upsetting him. "You know… you're very lucky" Tony continued when there wasn't another response.

The boy's head shot up and the look of astonishment was easily read on his face. "Lucky. HA!" he threw out at his uncle who seemed to have lost his mind.

"Ya… lucky… when I grew up I didn't have a brother or a sister … I was all alone… You get to have someone to play with, someone who is going to look up to you like you are the best, someone who will help you pull pranks" with that Tony waited and smiled when the child's expression turned from a hardened scowl to one that was questioning.

"Ya think that is true.. you don't have a sibling… how do you know?" Luc was skeptical but it sounded pretty good.

"I didn't have a brother but I had friends who did and I saw what happened" Tony answered truthfully but trying not to give away the fact that as a teen he and his buddies often had difficulty getting rid of the younger siblings when they wanted to go or do something without an audience.

Lucas let his head fall back into his arms and sighed loudly. "I don't believe you" he stated.

"It's not going to be right away. Sam has to grow a bit. But the baby stage doesn't last that long and he will be walking and talking and then he'll want to follow you around and be your buddy." Tony was trying really hard he hadn't understood how hard parenting was until this very moment when he had to clean up a mess he helped to create and his heart was aching for his little nephew who was obviously having conflicting emotions raging in his head and no way of figuring things out.

"You think Sam will want to play in the fort?" Lucas asked his tone more relaxed.

"For sure" Tony took this opportunity to hop up into the fort and sit beside the boy, he wrapped his arm around the small frame and pulled the kid towards him. "Sam is going to LOVE this fort…. Man, I love this fort and I'm a grown up… what kid doesn't like a fort?" Lucas looked up into Tony's now smiling face and returned a small grin wiping away the half dried tears from his face.

"We still have a bit of a problem to solve though" Tony said a little serious.

Lucas' eyes got large and his body tensed slightly "What problem?" he asked hesitantly.

"Well we did something we shouldn't have and neither of us apologized to Sam and we don't want him not to feel welcome do we" Tony asked squeezing his nephew to his side and smiling at him.

"I guess not" Luc answered looking down at his hands that he was now wringing.

Tony made to get up but the lack of movement from his little charge had him leaning back against the wall. "What's up?"

"I don't think I want to go back in yet" Lucas said quietly looking at his lap and then his uncle twisting his lips side to side.

"Any particular reason?" Tony asked casually not sure he could handle anymore of this 'heart to heart' sort of talk.

Lucas sat quietly for some time and Tony just watched as the kid started to talk several times and then stopped before finally he blurted out "I wasn't nice to daddy and he spanked me and I think he is still mad at me and won't ever love me again."

If Tony questioned before that he was done with this little chat he was sure of it now. Hiding behind jokes and laughs wasn't going to get this kid back in the house and even if it did he wouldn't understand what had happened and why. Geez he thought to himself kids are not as easy as one might think.

"Ok… let's get a couple of things straight here squirt… first of all your dad is not mad at you anymore… he was going to come out here to talk to you but I asked if I could because I had to tell you I was sorry…" "Really?" his skepticism evident. "Really.. and second of all dads understand when you screw up… they kind of expect it really … and they love you any way and always…"
"Really" the child asked again.

"Really and lastly that was NOT a spanking kid… that was a swat… there's a big difference" his last statement he said laughing and poking at Luc's shoulder.

"Was too" Luc declared adamantly. "Was Not" Tony slung back. "Was too" "Was not" and the conversation continued as such until both were in fits of laughter and giggles and Tony easily lifted the wriggling being into his lap to tickly mercilessly. While Tony held him, Luc laid his head on his shoulder and looked up into his face from below "If it wasn't a spankin' what is?" Lucas asked still teasing his uncle. "Well let me tell you a story…" Tony continued to regale the young boy with his Halloween costume fiasco including the not so comfortable ending. Just as he was wrapping up his very descriptive and only somewhat exaggerated tale someone could be heard calling from the back veranda "Desserts ready! Who wants some?" before the door closed again.

Tony crawled out of the fort and turned back to the kid who hadn't yet moved "You comin'?" he asked incredulously, no one turned down Ziva's desserts unless they were mentally unstable.

Standing and walking slowly to the door Lucas inquired "You sure dad is .." Tony didn't let me even finish his sentence as he said "He loves you, he forgives you and he is going to eat all the dessert if we don't get a move on."

Tony turned to head towards the house and before he got too far he felt a little hand in his own.