Tony put down his spoon and leaned back in his chair in an attitude highly suggestive of one who has eaten too much. "Caroline is a great cook. I don't suppose there's any chance I could lure her over to Washington?"

"Not a chance." Kensi waggled her own spoon at him. "So don't even bother suggesting it. There's no way she'd move away from her golden boy here."

"So she's got good taste?" Marty was too full to even attempt to rise to the bait.

"Caroline is slightly biased where this one's concerned," Jack confided in a whisper to Tim. "Thinks the sun shines out of his eyes. Not that she would ever admit it, of course." He felt much the same way and was still finding it hard to believe that his son had turned out to be so well-adjusted after all the chaos of his earlier years. Jack knew he owed Caroline and Joe a huge debt for providing stability and love in Marty's life – something he had been unable to give his son. No matter what happened now, there was no way he could ever recover all those missing years, during which time his son grew from a little boy, first into a teenager and then finally into a man.

"I've got a grandmother who is pretty much the same." Penelope at least could be counted upon to be supportive and practical when he finally broke the news to his family, Tim thought. His mother would be weakly ineffective, as per normal, his sister stunned and his father distantly shocked – with the emphasis on distant. But Penelope would be her normal self. There were some things you could always count on.

"One last day of freedom then?" Ziva asked. "Any plans?"

Kensi shrugged. "Nothing much. Just some packing for the honeymoon."

Tony's ears pricked up at that. "And you're still not telling us where you're going?"

"No way. And it's traditional that you don't know."

"Since when have you bothered with tradition?"

Marty shrugged. "Since Kensi told me she'd kill me if I told you."

"Why do you want to know?" Ziva asked. "Are you looking for ideas for our own honeymoon?" She managed to look completely innocent, but she didn't fool Tony for an instant. And actually, it didn't seem such a bad idea. In fact, the more he thought about it, the better it sounded. Now, if only he could be sure she would say 'yes'…

"Our last night together before the wedding." Kensi stretched out in the water luxuriously.

"You don't have to stay in the hotel tomorrow. Not really." There was still a chance he could get her to change her mind, Marty thought. Not a great chance, but a chance nevertheless.

"Oh yes I do. Tradition – remember?"

"This is beginning to sound a bit like Fiddler on the Roof," he complained.

"Only you really are a rich man."

"Aren't you glad I don't look anything like Topol?"

"Inordinately. But if you ever let that face fuzz grow any longer, I'll hold you down and shave you myself."

"That could work for me." Marty leant back and pulled Kensi close. "You want to give it a try?"

"No – because I've got something much better in mind."

"Okay – I'm officially interested. You want to share?"

"Well, we've got that candle over there – so how about some waxing?"

"Sadist." Marty thought for a moment. "How about I sneak over tomorrow night? Throw some stones up at your window and then climb up?"

Kensi was disturbing quick to pour cold water on that bright idea. "I'm sharing a room with Nell. Mom is going to be on one side of me, and Grandma on the other." Besides which, you'd probably manage to break both your legs. And that really would ruin the wedding photographs.

"Please tell me your Mom isn't sharing a room with Gibbs?" he pleaded. It was one thing having his father exchange meaningful looks with Rowena, but quite another to even contemplate Gibbs making sheep's eyes at Allison. And Marty was definitely not going to contemplate anything more than that.

"Don't even go there. I'm carefully avoiding the whole subject." By way of changing the subject, Kensi dove underneath the water and then swam to the edge of the pool. "Oh my God, McGee – you nearly frightened the life out of me!"

"Sorry – I couldn't sleep and I came out for some air."

"Better hold it right there, because the pools about four feet ahead." Marty quickly hauled himself out of the water and took hold of McGee's arm, shaking his head at Kensi, who was making frantic gestures towards the towels. "Blind – remember?" he mouthed, and saw the look of relief on her face.

"You're skinny dipping, aren't you?" Blind or not, McGee was not immune to the tension in the air.

"Kensi is. She's a terrible exhibitionist."

"Don't believe a word he says, Tim." Kensi wrapped the towel around herself and padded towards them. "He's the one that goes around commando half the time."

McGee took a deep breath. "Listen – I just wanted to come down here to thank you guys for inviting me over here – and to the wedding. But I've booked myself on a plane back home tomorrow. I've got to start getting on with my life again. And that means going to see my parents first of all." He'd been insistent that the elder McGee's should not be contacted. This was something he had to do in person.

"And after that?" It was clear the man's mind was made up, Marty thought, and he did have a very good point. Plus, he could see that having to put on a brave act and pretend to be enjoying himself would get to be a bit of a strain after a while.

"That's all pretty open, at the moment. There's this new book I'd started writing, and once I get some voice recognition software, then there's nothing holding me back." And he had a dozen storylines buzzing around in his head, just begging to be written down. All Tim needed was the time and the space and the inclination to put his words down onto paper. Plus a voice recognition programme. Apart from that, the world was his oyster.

"Please tell me we are not going to appear in your story, Tim. Please?" Kensi wasn't above begging. She'd read his earlier novels and recognised Tommy and Lisa only too clearly.

"I don't know – it could be kind of cool. As long as I'm incredibly brave and handsome and all the girls fall in love with me." Tim could imagine Marty standing there, preening himself and Kensi smiling at him… sometimes you didn't need vision to see what was right in front of you.

"I was thinking more about having you and Agent Tommy caught with your pants down," McGee said wickedly. "Sort of art imitating life."

"That screen grab made it all the way back to Washington, did it?" Marty asked wryly. He was probably never going to live down the fact that he and Tony had been grabbed at gunpoint, while wearing next to nothing. But at least he'd had a pair of briefs to cover his embarrassment , while Tony had absolutely nothing shielding the DiNozzo family jewels from public scrutiny.

"Oh yes. To Washington and beyond. I doubt there's a NCIS office that didn't get a copy. And if there are ever any plans to make a calendar of NCIS hunks, you're pretty much a dead cert for the cover."

"Going to miss you, McGee. Good luck." He placed his hand in McGee's and felt the firm grip. "You take care – and look us up if you're ever back in LA."

"All the best to you and Kensi. You guys deserve to be happy."

Marty wandered slowly back up to the house, following the line of wet footprints left by Kensi, leaving a man staring sightlessly at the sky and wondering where life was going to take him next. It was strange, but Tim felt no apprehension, just a good deal of excitement. He was free to follow his own dreams at last, with no great burden of expectation placed upon him and that felt incredibly liberating. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all?

"Just once more. You almost had it that time." Kensi gave her most beguiling smile and Marty felt his heart sink into his shoes. His brand new shoes, which were starting to pinch. At the piano, Nico put one hand to her aching back and got ready to start playing the music for the first dance all over again – for the eighth time in succession. She was beginning to hate this tune,

"This is about as god as it gets," Marty confessed, acutely aware that Kensi was propelling him in the desired direction and that he was lagging at least half a beat behind the music.

"You'll be fine," she said airily and then did something complex that caught him completely unawares. "And keep your head up. You're supposed to look at me, not at your feet. And try not to look too miserable. This is meant to be fun." And romantic. Who am I kidding?

Okay – so I'm supposed to do complicated dance movements, not look down and smile lovingly, and all in time to the music? Like tha's going to happen. "It's alright for you – you're going to be wearing a long dress and no-one will see your feet."

"Really?" Kensi did a quick fishtail that nearly had him sprawling on the floor. "And what makes you so sure about that?"

"Because you're a stickler for tradition?" A sudden memory of those dancing classes from years ago suddenly came back, and Marty pressed his hand firmly into Kensi's back and whirled her around in a dizzying spin.

"I might be putting a new twist into things" Kensi regained control and steered him in the right direction. "Maybe I've got one of those tear-away skirts, so that just as we begin to dance, you take hold of the train, I go into a spin and there I am, wearing a mini?"

"And at the same time your Grandma has a heart attack and slides off her chair?"

Kensi started to giggle. "Sam could revive her. Did you see the way she looked at him this morning? I reckon Denise has got her work cut out there. And when she told him he was 'tall, dark and handsome', I thought he was going to fall through the floor."

"That's it."

"What?" Kensi looked confused as Marty stopped dancing and put both hands around her waist.

"How I know I'm doing the right thing. Because when you laugh like that…" He stopped talking and demonstrated exactly how she made him feel.

"Excuse me? Pregnant lady at the piano here. You two want to stop reminding me how I got into this condition in the first place?" Nico closed the lid of the piano with a very decided movement. "Kensi – face facts: that last dance is as good as you are ever going to get. Just count yourself lucky you still have ten toes that you can see. Believe me, right now I'd give my eye teeth to say the same thing." She made an abortive move to get up from the piano stool. "Okay – you want to give me a hand here? God, I wish this baby would just decide to get itself born already."

"Not before tomorrow." Kensi took hold of her hands and heaved. "I absolutely forbid you to give birth before the first dance. Any time after that is fine. But just hold off until then. Cross your legs if you have to."

"I'm going to ignore that, because I know you're uptight about the wedding. And besides which, I haven't been able to cross my legs for months." Nico held her hand out. "Walk me back up to the house, Mikey?" Right now, she just wanted to go home and sleep for about a thousand years.

"I was joking!" Kensi called out.

"I know, honey." For once, Nico was glad to lean on her best friend's arm and practically let him drag her across the lawn. One thing was certain – this baby was definitely going to be an only child. NO way was she ever going through all this again.

Left alone, Kensi took one final look around the marquee, imagining how it would look tomorrow, although only the floral decorations and final touches were missing. Everything else was in place – all the tables and chairs, the dance floor, the sound equipment and the stage for the band. After all the long weeks of planning, things were finally coming together. It scarcely seemed possible, but this time tomorrow, she'd be married. Tomorrow she was about to make the biggest decision of her whole life, and it felt wonderful. Everything was going to be just perfect. And if it wasn't… no, she wasn't going to think about that. Absolutely not. What could possibly go wrong?

Humming under her breath, she walked back on to the dance floor and began to circle around, moving to the music only she could hear, .until a voice broke into her dream.

"It's not too late, you know. You don't have to do this." Kensi turned around with a start and saw her mother sitting in a chair, hands neatly clasped in her lap.

"I do, Mom. I totally have to marry Marty – because if I don't, I'll spend the rest of my life regretting it and being completely miserable without him. You see, I love him and I can't imagine life without him. I don't want to imagine life without him."

Allison smiled. "Just as long as you're sure. And as long as you know that whatever you do – I'll be there to support you. No questions asked." That was what a mother did, after all. Maybe when Kensi had a baby, she'd understand that.

"Thanks, Mom."

Kensi did a pirouette and Allison remembered a little girl at her fist dance recital and felt her eyes go misty. It seemed such a short time ago and now her little girl was a young woman preparing to get married. Where had all the years gone? "Just be happy, darling." After all, that was all that mattered.

"I already am, Mom." Kensi couldn't imagine ever being happier. The sun was shining as they returned to the house, which was more than could be said for her fiancé, who was on the phone and looking as if someone had just hit him in the stomach.

"I'm so sorry. And thank you for calling." He was being incredibly formal, Kensi thought. "I really am so very sorry." Marty looked down at the phone in his hand and ended the call with the same stunned expression still on his face. At his side, Nico was visibly upset and struggling to contain her tears as he put his arm around her and kissed her forehead. "Don't worry, everything's going to be alright."