Warnings: Cute, holiday fluff
A/N: Here's part two! Enjoy!
Two weeks before Christmas little baby DiNozzo still had not made their appearance. Leah was getting agitated having to waddle around trying to prepare everything for the holiday and keep up with two active little kids getting more and more excited by the day. Her parents were coming in that evening; Tony had agreed to pick them up at the airport on his way home from work. Until then, Leah was the one dealing with an overexcited six and four year old.
Despite all the excitement in the house, his wife had managed to maintain some routine. Leah had his coffee in his favorite travel mug and a muffin ready to go when he came downstairs that morning. Even though she was heavily pregnant and probably wanted to spend her days on the sofa with her feet up—she was still taking care of them all.
"Good morning my little reindeers," Tony quipped, planting big kisses on top of Jack and Grace's heads. He pulled his wife towards him and kissed her. "And my Mrs. Claus."
"Cute," Leah said with a small smile. She handed him his travel mug and muffin. "Don't forget to pick my parents up at the airport." She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Be safe, please."
"I will," he replied, gently rubbing her stomach. "Don't have that baby until I get back from the airport."
She smiled, whimsically. "Sorry, I can't make any promises on that—baby will come when the baby wants too."
He frowned, slightly. "Yeah, I know. I just hope I'm not too far away that I miss it."
Tony was happy to have his hot coffee to warm him and the homemade muffin for breakfast worked some magic on his feelings of warmth. He needed it on the grueling commute into NCIS. Slick roads, holiday traffic made for quite the headache, which was only going to get worse when he did finally arrive and Tim informed him that the Director wanted to see Tony.
Coffee in hand, the team leader took the steps up to the Director's office two at a time. He put on his best smile for Pamela, Vance's secretary. "Hear the boss wants to see me. I would have been here sooner if the roads weren't so bad."
"It's okay, Agent DiNozzo, I don't think he's mad at you," Pamela said before alerting Vance that Tony was waiting to see him.
Before stepping into Vance's office, Tony made sure he straightened his tie and blazer. "Sir," he greeted, stepping in and closing the door. "You wanted to see me."
Vance gestured for him to sit down at the conference table. "I did," he said, holding a manila folder in front of him. "Your team has kept up a remarkable closure rate in the last four years—I suppose I shouldn't be surprised considering that you all learned from Gibbs."
Tony chuckled as he sat down. "Well, Gibbs always expected the best of us and then some. Not sure I held the team to the same extremely high standards but they've held their own the last four years."
"With another baby on the way, I wonder if perhaps you're thinking about finding a...safer job," Vance said.
"Sir? I don't know what you've heard but I have no intentions of leaving NCIS," Tony replied, anxiously. "I love my job."
Vance put the folder on the table. "Assistant Director Caron has decided to retire. Naturally, I offered the position to Hetty Lange—she declined. Seems she rather likes Los Angles weather. There were a lot of other agents that I thought about putting into this position until I found something interesting in your file—you went back to school, under the radar."
Tony nervously flexed his fingers underneath the table. "Yeah. My wife...she convinced me right after we got married. Online courses. I somehow got all the work done with the heavy work load Gibbs piled on me."
"Henry liked you," Vance stated, simply. "I think he'd be happy to hear that I've elected you to be his replacement."
"Sir? You want me to be an Assistant Director?" Tony quipped, surprised. "Isn't McGee more qualified for that?"
"You both have PH.D's now and you have more years in the field."
"McGee's more sensitive to people than I am."
"Don't need more sensitive... need someone that can be tough on some matters...sensitive on others. Someone that isn't going to put up with any BS."
Tony would argue that McGee or any other agent could do that, but he decided against it. If he took this job that meant getting out of the field, that meant more travel but less of a chance that he was going to get shot on the job... Leah will be happier. "Tim's worked just as hard, Director... he could do the job..."
Vance looked at him, with a hint of pride. "Gibbs always admired your loyalty, DiNozzo. He told me so when he left the team in your hands. Said I wasn't going to find a better agent to take his place. Granger and Craig agree—you're the man we want for this job."
He swallowed and ran a hand over his face. Tony leaned back in his chair. He felt a little overwhelmed. He wasn't expecting to get offered a promotion today—certainly not to take one of the chairs that helped run the agency. "Sir, do you mind if I take some time to think about it? Talk to my wife?"
A knowing smile crept across the Director's face. Long ago, when he had been offered the same job, he had sat down with Jackie and discussed the move. "Of course," Vance said. "I had a lot of talks with Jackie before I took the job myself."
Tony stood at the same time Vance did. "I'll let you know tomorrow, sir."
Vance nodded. "Sounds good. Since you're up here... I have a case for your team."
By lunchtime the rumors were flying. Tim McGee was in the staff lounge grabbing his lunch out of the refrigerator when he heard the first whisperings. Tony and a promotion; he was sure he'd heard that. But Tony hadn't said a word to the team that morning. If he was getting a promotion—to an assistant director no less—wouldn't he say something?
Tim grabbed his lunch and headed back to his desk. Come to think of it, Tony has been awfully quiet today, he thought, glancing in the direction of the team leader. He'd worked with Tony a long time and the other man was hardly this quiet, unless something was bothering him. Or there was that time that he found his performance review and Gibbs said he talked too much...
"Something on your mind, Probie," Tony said, not bothering to look up from his paperwork. "You've been staring at me for the last ten minutes while eating your soup."
"What? No I haven't," Tim argued, quickly adverting his eyes.
"Ok, I get it," Tony said, getting up from his desk and moving towards Tim. "You heard the rumors. Yes, they're true. No, I haven't decided yet."
Tim blinked in surprise for a second. "What do you mean you haven't decided yet? You realize that this gets you out of the field where you could die. I think Leah and the kids would appreciate it! And what was the whole point of going back to school if you weren't going to use those degrees?"
Tony shrugged his shoulders with a grin. "I don't know—thought it would be cool if both Leah and I had a PH.D—you know, then people would wonder who was smarter?"
"You did it to compete with your wife?"
"Hey, she knew about my competitive nature when she married me."
Tim gave his head a little shake to clear his thoughts. "So? Are you going to take the job?"
Tony tossed him a slight glare. "Why are you so antsy about this? You want my chair?"
He didn't get to answer, Tim noticed Ellie breeze back into the bullpen and greet her teammates. Tony threw him a look to say drop it and he did. Honestly, Tim didn't want to deal with the wrath of Tony two weeks before Christmas—and especially if Tony was about to become an assistant director. Best to just stay on his good side.
One of the perks to having his in-laws around for the holidays meant that Tony and Leah could get a break from putting the kids to bed. This was nice for Leah especially since it really was getting difficult for her to move around.
Tony found Leah in the den, underneath a blanket in front of the fire and reading a book. Upstairs he could hear John regaling the kids with a story and their enthusiastic laughs and shouts. Smiling he sat down on the sofa with his wife and lifted her feet, gently resting them on his lap. Slowly he began to rub circles on her feet. "I had an interesting meeting with Director Vance today."
"Hmmm... what did he want?" Leah asked, not bothering to look up from her book.
"Ah... well, he had a job offer," Tony replied, watching her face.
She looked up surprised. "A job offer? What kind of job offer?"
He smiled at her, gently. "Assistant Director Caron is retiring, said he's had enough and wants to enjoy his grandkids. Director Vance offered me the job..."
Leah let her book slip off her lap and onto the floor. Her eyes locked with his and her lip trembled slightly. "Does that mean... does that mean you won't be out in the field anymore?"
Tony moved closer to her on the sofa and they somehow managed to get Leah on his lap, despite the fact she was nine months pregnant. He kissed her cheek as he wrapped his arms around her. "If I take the job—yes, I will be out in the field less. Funny thing is, too, when I have to go to a conference or something—I get a protection detail."
"If? What do you mean if?" Leah snapped at him. "If taking this job gets you out of the field, out of danger and gives me less of a chance I'm going to lose you—take it!"
"Well, I wanted to get your opinion on this before I made my decision—guess I got one," Tony said, smiling.
"I'm sorry... I just... I'm always scared, Tony. When you're gone... I'm left wondering if tonight is the night you're not going to come home," she whimpered.
"Sweetheart, you don't have to be so scared anymore," he promised her, kissing her, tenderly, "because I'm going to take the job, Leah."
Leah sighed and buried her face against his neck. Her biggest fear had always been losing Tony and having to raise their children without their father. She knew this wasn't foolproof, that Tony could still die in the line of duty—there was just less of a chance now.
Tony rubbed her back. Years ago he never would have entertained the thought of going back to school to get his PH.D or take a promotion higher than being a lead agent, but now he had his family to think about. And if taking this position meant he was a little bit safer, had more of a chance that he was going to come home to his family every night—than he was going to take it, if not for himself but for them. "So," he mumbled into her ear, "does this mean I don't have to get you anything for Christmas now?"
She snuggled closer to him. "I don't need anything. I have you and the kids and my family is going to be here for Christmas."
He rested his hand on her belly and felt the baby move. "Guess what? I don't need anything either. I have everything I need right here."