A/N: See first chapter for the disclaimer. I'm glad you guys are enjoying this so far, and I apologize that I'm slow with updating. These next few chapters take place post-Flesh and Blood, and all within the same day. I hope you guys enjoy, and please review. :)

Chapter One

September 24, 1991

"I can't get her to stop crying."

Keri was frantic, at the end of her rope, and he immediately dropped his books down onto the coffee table. "Let me see her," he said, holding his arms out for their daughter.

"I swear, she's Satan's spawn," she said, handing the child off to him.

"Or just mine," he joked lightly. As he cradled her close, she calmed down and stopped crying, causing Keri to glare at him.

"I've tried everything I could think of," she said. "Feeding her, changing her, singing to her, and all she did was cry. The second you take her, instant silence."

He grinned playfully. "What can I say? I have a way with the ladies."

She rolled her eyes and pushed him gently on the shoulder.

"You just really like Daddy better, don't you?" he asked their daughter with a wink and a smirk.

Keri shook her head. "Yeah, she likes you better than the one who went through all the hard parts."

He frowned. "She probably just missed her daddy today. I'm sure the second you leave for work, I won't be able to get her to go to sleep."

She smirked. "I hope so. Retribution's a bitch."

He chuckled, shifting the child as he picked up one of his books.

"Want me to take her?" Keri asked.

"No, I've got her," he replied. "Why don't you get some rest before you go in?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, we're fine."

"Okay." She kissed him gently on the lips before kissing the hair of their little girl. "Nighty night. Mama loves you."

"Mama!" she replied, hugging onto Keri.

"See, she does like you better," he joked, causing Keri to smile.

"Maybe," she said. She kissed the little girl again before walking out of the room to go to bed.

He settled back on the couch with his book and his daughter before handing her a set of nesting dolls to play with as he read aloud to both of them.

"Dada," the little girl cooed, breaking his concentration.

Yet, never had one word sounded so sweet.

January 24, 2010

He briefly entertained the idea of not answering his phone, but knew there'd be hell to pay if he broke rule number three. "DiNozzo," he answered.

"We've got a body in an apartment in Norfolk," McGee informed him.

He groaned. "Can't they ever find other teams to come in on Sundays?"

"Not when we're second on the call sheet, and the first team was already deployed."

"Yeah, whatever. Just give me the address so I can meet you there."

"You're late," Gibbs commented as Tony made his way under the tape that adorned the apartment door.

"Traffic," Tony explained succinctly, not daring to add to it, I really just didn't feel like it today. "What's up?"

"Dead Midshipman's Patrick Johnson." Gibbs gestured at the distraught young woman sitting on the couch in the sitting area down the hall. "Go talk to his girlfriend. Get eliminations, and then get the security tapes."

"On it."

Interviewing victim's family and friends wasn't Tony's favorite assignment, which was why it was his punishment for being late. He walked over to the young girl, giving her his most sympathetic smile without actually studying her.

"I'm Agent DiNozzo, NCIS," he introduced himself. "And you are…?"

"Hannah Branford," she replied softly, almost unsure of whether or not she should be doing something else as she remained seated.

He glanced at her, feeling a moment of reminiscence of someone he used to know when he was younger. Of course, she'd be a lot older now, just like he was… Shaking that thought out of his head, he asked, "You were Midshipman Johnson's girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

"How long had you two been seeing each other?"

"Since high school. Pat, he, uh, he got accepted t-to the program here, and…" She sniffled, trying to keep down her tears and failing. "He wanted so bad to be an Aviator like his father."

He frowned softly. "I'm sorry for your loss."

She nodded, tears streaming down her face.

"Were you the one who found him?"

She nodded again, swallowing back some of her tears. "W-we were supposed to go out today, since h-he had a break this afternoon. W-when I went to his apartment, he was…" She cried harder, and he took a deep breath.

"Do you live with him?"

"N-no. I live on campus… I'm an RA at Waverly… we both go there. My building stayed open for Winter Break, so I've been here. We… we were just going to hang out…"

He nodded. "Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt him?"

She shook her head. "N-no… he was, he was very well liked. Popular guy, you know?"

"Yeah, I do. Hannah, we're gonna need to get a set of your prints and your DNA, okay?"

"Why?"

"To exclude you. You've been in the room on more than one occasion, it'll help us figure out who did this to Patrick."

"Okay," she breathed, wiping away her tears and trying to calm herself down.

Tony nodded, reaching into his kit to get a swab and his print kit.

"You've worked a lot of cases… like this, right?" she asked tentatively.

"Unfortunately," he replied mournfully.

"So… have you been here before, to this building or the school or something? Like, this school year?"

He furrowed his brow. "I don't think we have this school year. Why?"

"Okay, you're totally going to think this is strange, but… I feel like I know you from somewhere, and I thought that maybe I'd seen you here this year or something."

He bit his lip, thinking. "No, not this year. I'm sorry, I don't really recognize you, and I'm usually good at remembering people's faces."

She shook her head quickly. "No, no, it's okay. Like I said, it's totally weird. I'm sorry."

He gave her a gentle, good-natured smile. "It's quite alright."

"What did you say your name was again?" she asked as he took her prints.

"Agent Tony DiNozzo," he replied.

She frowned in contemplation. "The name doesn't sound familiar. I don't know, maybe I'm just making it up. Forcing a connection in a distraught state, you know? Has that ever happened to you?"

"Can't say that it has, no."

She shrugged, sighing. "Maybe my mind's playing tricks on me to make me forget about…" She looked down at her lap as a whole new wave of tears swept through her, and he frowned.

"Excuse me for one second, Hannah. Okay?"

She nodded, but didn't reply.

Tony walked back over to Gibbs. "Girlfriend's pretty shook up," he reported. "Says she doesn't know who'd do this. I talked to the manager, he's getting the tapes for us."

"You know her?" Gibbs asked, causing Tony to curse the older man's ability to lip-read.

"Don't think so. Name doesn't ring a bell."

"Girlfriend's kid?"

Tony glanced over to Hannah before looking back at Gibbs. "I don't usually date girls with kids."

Gibbs looked at Hannah.

"I'm gonna finish up with her."

Gibbs nodded, watching as Tony walked over to the girl.

"Hannah?"

She looked up at Tony, her green eyes shining with tears waiting to fall.

"I'm gonna need to take a DNA sample from you, okay?"

She nodded, opening her mouth for him to swab. "Are you sure we've never met before?" she asked after he finished.

"I'm sorry, I don't think so," he said thoughtfully as he tucked away the swab. "Is there anything else about Patrick that we should know?"

"I can't think of anything."

"Well, if you do, here's my card." He handed her the small card. "Call me if you think of something, okay?" At her nod, he started to stand up with his backpack.

"Who's going to notify his family?" she asked.

He stopped, turning around. "The Navy'll take care of it."

She nodded again, looking down, and he sat back down next to her as she started to talk again. "Pat and I were always close… ever since we first met in preschool. He was one of the first kids I'd ever met, and it was right after we'd moved… not that I really remember the moving part, but I remember meeting Pat… he was so sweet. It's one of the things I've always loved about him. We… we always said we'd get married after college…"

Against his normal thoughts, he took her hand in his soothingly as the tears cascaded down her cheeks.

He brought the box of evidence into Abby's lab, dropping it loudly onto the table. "Jesus, DiNozzo, trying to wake the dead?" she joked in her best Gibbs voice.

"Sorry," he muttered absently.

"You okay?"

"Long morning."

She picked up a piece of evidence, signing the log. "Speak."

He shook his head quickly. "Nothing. I just got stuck in traffic on the way to the crime scene, and then got stuck interviewing the victim's girlfriend, who insisted that she knew me from somewhere, and I've been wracking my brain to figure out where."

She pursed her lips as she picked up another piece of evidence. "How old is she?" she asked.

"Nineteen, according to her ID," he said.

"You feel like you know her too?"

He shrugged rather than blurt out what he first thought of. "Somewhat, but I don't know if that's because she believes it, or if it's something I came up with on my own. I'm gonna go upstairs and run her name, see if maybe it came up in one of my cases."

"Okay. Good luck."

He smiled slightly.