Chapter 8

Gibbs and Tony walked up to the house and after several wrong turns and dead ends, they managed to find Mark Hansen's office. The door was open and they saw the social worker sitting behind his desk, talking to someone over the phone. Mark beckoned the two agents to come in as he finished the call and then he looked up at them with a smile.

"Gibbs and Tony", he said as the two sat down in front of him. "I was just about to go and find you. Have you met any children you'd consider to adopt, yet?"

"Better up, Mark", Gibbs said. "We've already found the one we want."

"You have?" Mark stared at the two men in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"We're sure", Tony said and looked Mark straight in the eyes. "We've found our daughter."

"Well, I must say, I don't think anyone has connected to a child this fast before. At least not what I can remember. Who is it that you want to adopt?"

"Her name is Sarah", Tony continued. "She is five years old, she's got long brown hair, dark blue eyes and she's also got scars on her arms and legs."

Mark wrinkled his brow in thought and turned to his computer. After a couple of minutes, he turned the screen around so that the two men could see the picture of a girl he had brought up.

"Is this her?" he asked, and both Gibbs and Tony gave a affirmative nod, both recognizing Sarah immediately.

"Okay, let's see..." Mark turned the screen back around and read silently for a while. Gibbs felt his guts twist ominously when Mark suddenly got a troubled look on his face.

"I'm afraid that there's a problem here", he said. "Sarah hasn't been put up for adoption yet."

"What?" Tony exclaimed and frowned at Mark. "You gotta be kidding!"

"You said that she hasn't been put adoption yet?" he asked and got a affirmative nod in reply. "So we will be able do adopt her eventually?"

"Yes, but I don't know how long it might take. You see, Sarah hasn't been here for so long and she's recovering from a horrible past, a past that probably will give her nightmares for years to come."

"The past that earned her those scars?"

"Exactly. And she won't be put up for adoption until she has recovered some more from that past."

"And there's no way you can speed things up?"

Mark took a deep breath and looked thoughtfully on the two men in front of him. He could see the stone cold resolution shining from the younger man's eyes and realized that he already saw the girl as his daughter. The older man didn't show any emotions at all, but that probably only meant that he was better at keeping them at bay.

"Do you really want this girl?" he asked them then, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Yes", Tony said determinedly, followed by a short not from Gibbs. "If we could, we would take her home with us today. When I met Sarah I just knew that she belongs to me and Jethro. I felt it in my heart. She may not be ours by blood but she is already as dear to me as if I had fathered her, and that's huge for me, especially when I only met her for such a short amount of time. I've never been good with kids, I've never known how to behave around them, but with Sarah it's been so easy. So please, if there's anything you can do to put her up for adoption sooner, please do it."

Mark sighed again and looked at the picture of Sarah. The very thought of what she had been put through always made him clench his jaws in anger. She deserved to come to a good family, and if his gut feeling was anything to go by, he knew that these two men would be the exact parents that the girl needed.

"I'll see what I can do", he said "I'll talk to the board tomorrow. Even though we'd like Sarah to come to better terms with her past, I know that it'd be better for her to come to a family as soon as possible. You two can probably give her the security she needs to recover fully."

The look of relief on the two men's faces was so striking that it made Mark smile.

"Thank you, Mark", Gibbs said. "Now, is there anything more you can tell us about Sarah? Anything you think we'd need to know?"

"Well", Mark said and turned back to the screen. "Her full name is Sarah Verity O'Hara. She's been here at the orphanage for about six months now. The scars you saw come from years of severe abuse, and as I said, they will most probably give her nightmares for years to come."

"If she'll ever get rid of them at all", Gibbs mumbled with steel in his voice. "Who did it to her?"

"Her parents. Both of them. Both of them seemed to try to find any excuse to punish her, and they always punished her severely. They burned her with cigarettes, beat her, locked her up with no food for long times... and that's just some of the things they put her through."

"I don't get it", Tony cut off then. "If she has been so severely abused as you claim she has been, how come that she isn't more affected by it? When I spoke to her, she seemed to be kinda, you know, normal. A little wary and aggressive maybe, but I thought that was because she thinks that everyone is pushing her and tries to make her open up, and that she thought I'd do the same."

"Actually, I don't know", Mark said sadly. "My guess is it's her way to cope. We're letting her see a psychologist who works with us, but he hasn't got her to open up yet. Actually she refuses to talk to anyone about it. "

"Well, maybe she just isn't ready yet. I wouldn't like to be forced into talking about my past, either, especially not with a past like hers."

"That may be so, Tony, but we're only trying to help her."

Tony opened his mouth to say something more, but closed it again when he felt Gibbs' hand on his arm. Tony look up just as Gibbs shook his head warningly and forced himself to relax. He calmed himself with the thought that Sarah wouldn't be staying at the orphanage much longer and looked back at Mark.

"How did she get out of there?" he asked. "Why is she here? Are her parents still alive?"

"No, her parents are dead", Mark replied. "They died in a car crash, and she has no other relatives. Sarah was put in a foster home at first, but she didn't stop fighting with the other children and her foster parents felt that they couldn't give her what they needed, and since no one else wanted her, she was brought here. Everything else you need to know about Sarah is in her file. I'll give you a copy of it so you can take it home and read it, and I want you both to read it carefully. It would be best for both Sarah and you if you know her background story before you take her home."

"We understand", Gibbs said. "But have you any idea of when that will be?"

"Normally it takes about a month. We like to give the child and its future parents a chance to get to know each other a little better before the child gets to move in with them. But now I'm not so sure. It all depends on what the board says.

Now if you excuse me, I'll go and get you Sarah's file."

Mark left the office but came back just a short moment later, holding a thick file in his hand. He gave the file to Gibbs, who eyed it through swiftly one time before tucking it under his arm, then he and Tony stood up to leave.

"I'll give you a call as soon as I know something more about what the board decides to to with Sarah", he said and shook hands with the two men again. "Take care."

"You too, Mark", Gibbs said and smiled at the other man. "Thank you."

They left the office and managed to find their way down to the main entrance. They waved goodbye to the children that watched them go to the car, and then they got inside and drove away from the orphanage. Tony sighed heavily and rubbed his brow. He had never thought that this day would be so exhausting. He wasn't tired physically as much as mentally. Everything had happened so fast the last couple of hours. Almost too fast.

"Are you okay, Tony?" Gibbs asked and put a hand on Tony's knee, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Yeah, I'm fine", Tony said and ran a hand through his hair with a low grunt. "I'm just tired, is all." Then a small smile appeared on the corner of Tony's mouth. "What do you think the others will say?" he asked.

"About us becoming parents? I don't know. I think Abby will be thrilled, though."

"Yeah, me too. And probably Ducky aswell. I think he will be a great grandfather."

"I don't think we should tell them just yet, though. Not until we know for certain what the board has to say. Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah. But I think Abby will know that something is up though."

Gibbs gave out a short laugh. "That wouldn't surprise me at all."

Then Tony gave Gibbs a grave look. "Do you think she'll want us, Jet?" he asked. "What will we do if she doesn't like it with us."

"Do you mean Sarah? I seriously don't know, but if it turns out like that, we'll deal with it them. There's no need to worry about it now."

"I guess you're right. I just want this all to be over. I hate waiting."

"Me too. But there's not much we can do about it."

"I guess not, but I still don't like it."

They drove in silence the rest of the way, both of them deep in their own thoughts. They were both a bit overwhelmed by the events of the day and both needed to let it sink in properly. When they finally got home it was already dark and both were too tired to do much else except grab something to eat, shower and go to bed. Tony found himself being wrapped up in Gibbs' strong arms and relaxed into the embrace, resting his head against his lover's chest and listened to his slow, steady heart beat, tapping in time with the beat on Gibbs' stomach. Gibbs pulled his fingers through Tony's hair and planted a kiss on the top of his head before he sought out Tony's mouth. He started to let his hands wander over Tony's body but stopped when Tony broke the kiss and looked up to meet his eyes.

"Not tonight, Jet", he said. "Please?"

"Is something wrong?" Gibbs asked and gave Tony a worried look. Tony never used to turn him down.

"No, nothing is wrong. I just... I just want you to hold me tonight."

"Okay. Come here."

Gibbs wrapped his arms again around Tony's body and the younger man let his head flop back down onto his chest. Tony snuggled closer and closed his eyes, breathing in the smell of coffee and sawdust, letting them soothe his worries and fears.

"I love you, Jet", he mumbled right before he fell asleep and smiled when he felt his lover's embrace tighten.

"I love you too, Tony", Gibbs mumbled and held the younger man as close as he could. "I love you too."

TBC