A/N: Life is too crazy for regular updates. I apologize. See the first chapter for the disclaimer. I hope you guys enjoy this one, and please review. :)

Chapter Seven

December 25, 1993

Heather bounded into the room as early as she woke up, bouncing up and down on her parent's bed until they woke up. "It's Kissmas!" she proclaimed. "I wanna see what Santa left!"

"Hold your horses, Missy," Tony replied, grabbing her while Keri made her way to the kitchen. "Breakfast first."

"No! Pwesents fiwst."

"Uh-uh. You know the rules. Breakfast, then presents."

She pouted, but Tony pulled her close as he stood up out of bed. He carried the three-year-old into the kitchen, finding Keri already pouring their daughter a bowl of cereal to go with her sippy cup of apple juice. He gave her a good morning kiss, much to their daughter's disgust. The two shook their heads, and Tony helped Heather feed herself breakfast as Keri fixed something for the two of them.

After breakfast, and the first batch of presents for Heather (since there would be a visit with Keri's family that would produce more later), Tony and Keri set about opening their own gifts. Tony found an envelope in his stocking, and opened it to find a small "To my Daddy on Christmas…" card. Figuring it was from Heather via Keri, he simply smiled and flipped it open quickly. When he did, a small picture fell out.

An ultrasound picture. Dated four days ago.

Tony glanced over at Keri, who simply shrugged and smiled. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, kissing her softly.

"How come you do dat?" Heather asked, standing up.

"It's a show of love," Tony explained.

"Hugs awre bettew."

"Can she think that forever?" Tony asked Keri.

"Let's hope so," Keri chuckled softly, taking Tony's hand.

January 26, 2010

2:48 a.m.

Tony woke up as the door to his apartment creaked open, and he instinctively reached for his gun at his bedside. Footsteps made their way down the hall toward his bedroom, and he immediately clicked the safety off. A figure was barely visible as it stood in his doorway, and Tony narrowed his eyes in the darkness.

"Junior?"

Tony groaned out a sigh, clicking the safety back on his gun as Senior flipped on the lights. "Are you trying to make me shoot you?" the younger man asked.

"No," Senior replied. "I just thought we should talk."

"There's a thing called a phone, Dad. It also keeps me from accidentally killing you. Although, maybe I should just shoot you on principle alone. I mean, all I was doing was shooting an intruder. How was I to know it was you?"

"Funny, Junior."

Tony stared into his father's eyes. "What makes you think I'm kidding?"

Senior sighed heavily, sitting down on the bed next to his son. "We need to talk."

"WE don't need to do anything. You need to leave."

"Why are you acting like a child?"

"Because you couldn't even have the decency to tell me about Heather! All this time, you knew, and you said nothing. So why should I respect you as an adult when you're still a child about covering up your own mistakes? Especially when your mistakes hurt me. This is your fault."

"I know."

Tony shook his head, getting out of bed. "This… it's unacceptable, Dad. I've put up with a lot of your shit over the years, but this… this is… it's unacceptable. It's unforgivable. I mean, it's bad enough you tore our family apart when I was a kid, but you tear mine up when I'm an adult, and I'm supposed to pretend like everything's okay? I'm supposed to forgive you? I mean, what the hell do you want from me?"

"I just want you to hear me out."

"I've heard you. You screwed up. You pretend like you're sorry. I get that. But, it's not enough."

Senior sighed heavily. "What can I do?"

"Go back to your hotel. And maybe we'll talk again soon, or maybe we won't. Just don't break in here again, and don't expect to hear from Heather any time soon."

"You don't have control over her, Anthony."

"Dad, listen to me carefully," Tony said evenly. "Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to contact Heather. She's been through enough as it is. She doesn't need to know that her birth mother's dead because her paternal grandfather got into business with the wrong men."

"You can't threaten me, and you can't cut me off from her, Junior," Senior said.

"I could arrest you for breaking and entering right now, make sure you go through the system. And your court-appointed lawyers really won't do any good at getting you out of prison. How's that for cut off?"

Senior glared, but didn't say anything.

"Go home, Dad. Go home, and forget about D.C."

"You really hate me that much?" Senior said.

"Right now I do," Tony replied. "Think, Dad. Your 'mistake' lead to me losing one of the only women I've ever loved. I lost my daughter. I lost my family, the one thing I swore I'd protect. Part of the reason I became a cop. And not only did you not know, you didn't care. You still don't care. And honestly, right now, I'm not interested in your apologies. I'm not interested in anything but going back to sleep. So leave, now, or I'm having you arrested."

"You wouldn't."

"You really don't want to push me right now, Dad."

Senior shook his head. "I'll see you later," he said, walking out of the room. Tony closed his eyes and waited to hear his front door swing shut before locking it and sliding the chain in place. He tucked his gun away again and fell back asleep, albeit uneasily.

"Couldn't sleep last night?"

McGee's question was more concerned than anything, which caused Tony to reconsider his knee-jerk reaction of anger. Instead, the older man said, "Kinda hard to do when your father breaks in at 3 a.m."

"Why'd he break in?" McGee asked, placing a cup of coffee in front of Tony.

"To 'talk'."

"And he couldn't wait until today?"

"You've met my father, Tim. Are you really that surprised?"

McGee shrugged. "Guess not."

"Where are we on the case?" Tony changed subjects, sipping his coffee.

"Still with no apparent suspects and no apparent motive, but we're still combing the apartment security and cross-checking anyone with Hannah's dorm surveillance."

"Might not get anything. How's Hannah doing?"

"I thought you'd already know, considering…"

Tony shook his head. "Her parents are already in from Rhode Island."

"What about you?"

Tony shrugged. "What about me?"

"Well, I mean, you're her father."

Tony sighed. "It's a little more complicated than that, Tim."

McGee nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Tell Gibbs to call me if he needs me," Tony said, heading toward the elevator.

"Where are you going?" McGee asked, only to have his question answered by Tony waving his hand.

"I don't know what to do," Tony uttered quietly before squeezing Bert. Bert farted in response.

"Well, what is it that you're looking for?" Abby asked, shifting on her desk as she stared down at Tony.

"I don't know." He leaned back in her chair slightly.

"I mean, do you want her to be your kid, or not?"

"Well…"

"Yes, I know, she's already your kid. But, I mean, do you want her to call you Dad and give you birthday presents and act like your daughter? Or is it enough for you to know she's happy and alive?"

"Well, she's not exactly happy right now, Abbs."

"You know what I mean, Tony," she said, pushing the chair slightly with her foot.

"I guess, at least I know she's not dead. But… I can't really force a relationship if she doesn't want one. And then, what if she wants to meet my family? Does she really want to know what's become of me since her mother? What her grandfather really did that… made things happen?"

"Okay, look, I know it's his fault, but you might want to keep in mind that he lost his granddaughter and his daughter-in-law."

Tony scoffed. "Yeah, the daughter-in-law he tried to pay to leave me when Hannah was born."

"He did what?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, on second thought, she should never know him."

"She already knows him, Abbs," Tony reminded her.

"Okay, I mean, she shouldn't know him again," she clarified.

"He was right, though. I can't cut him off from her. For one, she's the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Branford. They're her parents, not me. And secondly, she's an adult. She doesn't need me to make her decisions for her."

"So let her make them for herself. Just, don't short change her."

"I don't even know if she wants me in her life, let alone him."

"You'll never know if you don't ask."

Tony sighed. "Can't ask until she wakes up."

Abby shrugged. "I'm sure she'll be fine. And, really, I mean, how can she not want to know you? You're her daddy. Every girl wants to know her daddy."

"She already has a daddy," Tony said.

"An adopted daddy," Abby replied. "It's different. I had this friend who was adopted, and growing up, all he wanted to do was find his real parents. Of course, he found out that they didn't want him, and didn't want to know him, but at least for Hannah, she knows that's not the case. She knows her daddy still loves her, and never gave up hope that she was alive, even when the odds were stacked against it."

Tony shrugged as Abby's computer beeped in the other room. "You wanna get that?" he asked, switching topics.

She furrowed her brow. "I'm not sure what that was," she said, standing. "DNA evidence from the dorm wouldn't be ready for running through the system yet. It's still processing. And I ran the fingerprints yesterday, but they all came back to Hannah and her staff. There was no foreign trace or anything, so I don't know what that was."

"Did you search for something?"

"I didn't, no." She made her way into the other room with Tony following behind her. After hitting a few keys, she pulled up the screen. "Oh, my God…"