Tanner Perry had laid low for a little over a year. He had grown a beard and let his hair grow long to change his appearance. He returned to Oklahoma determined to set things straight with Deanna. Police no longer sat outside her apartment. He went and tried to get her to answer her door. When no one answered he wondered where could she be? He tried texting her but got no response. So he tried calling her. A male voice answered to Tanner's surprise.
"Hello?" the voice asked.
"Uh is Deanna there?" Tanner asked.
"Oh no she's upstairs with the twins." The voice answered.
"Twins? are they hers?" Tanner questioned.
"Shoot yes everybody knows that. The little girl looks like her and the little boy looks like Tony."
"Tony, who is Tony?"
"Her husband. Special Agent Tony DiNozzo."
"And exactly who are you?"
"Oh where are my manners I'm Jimmy Palmer. I work down in autopsy. I got Deanna's phone after she was in an accident. I really need to get the number changed but haven't had time yet."
"So tell me Jim, how long have Deanna and Tony been married?"
"A little over a year."
This got Tanner to thinking. She went right into the arms of another man as soon as he left.
"I'm an old friend of Deanna's do you know where they live. I would like to stop by and meet the twins when I'm in town."
Unknowingly, Palmer gave Tanner the DiNozzo families address.
"Thanks so much Jim."
"Yeah no problem."
Palmer hung up and placed his phone back into his pocket.
"Who was that lad?" Ducky asked.
"He didn't give a name just said he was an old friend of Deanna's." Palmer answered.
"That's a bit strange if you ask me. Most people that know Deanna have her new cell phone number."
"Unless it's someone from her past."
They didn't think much about it and went right back to work.
It had been a long day for both Deanna and Tony. Deanna was exhausted from her first day alone with the twins and Tony had to do paperwork all day. It brought him great joy to have his wife and kids up in the bullpen. It really did brighten his day and was the best part of the work day. The couple fell asleep quickly with Tony holding Deanna in his arms. Tonya had other plans than to let her parts sleep. She started fussing and crying. Tony could hear her on the baby monitor. Regardless of being tired himself, he didn't want to wake up Deanna to go check on the baby. Tony made it upstairs to the nursery. He picked up his fussy daughter and began to cradle her and rock her. She still was a bit on the fussy side. He didn't want to go to the piano and take the chance of waking anyone else up, so he softly sang to her.
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when the skies are gray. You'll never know dear how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away.
It helped sooth Tonya enough that she fell asleep in his arms. However, when he tried to put her back down into her crib, she began to cry. In a desperate attempt for sleep, Tony take his daughter downstairs to the master bedroom. He held her tight as he got back into bed. He placed his sleeping daughter in the middle of himself and his wife. Tonya was just like her mother. She laid on his arm and cuddled up to her daddy and was fast asleep. Deanna slightly awaken by Tony getting back into bed, was not very happy about Tony allowing the kids to sleep in the same bed as them. But to see tony smile as he cuddled their daughter warmed her heart. He truly was the best father and husband she could ever ask for, and Tonya had him wrapped around her little finger. She was a daddy's girl and his whole world.
The twins continued to get bigger. With each milestone it was like a huge event around the DiNozzo house. When they started crawling it was a big enough deal that they threw a party. Now the twins were toddlers. Where had the time gone? Tony was happier now than he had been in his whole life. He had a smoking hot wife, Tonya had Tony's green eyes but Deanna's fair skin and reddish brown hair. T.J. was a spitting imagine of his father. The sandy blonde hair, the green eyes, and he had perfected the DiNozzo smirk. It was adorable to watch the twins play. They had a German shepherd puppy running around the house that Tony wanted to get trained to work at NCIS with them. Of course the twins thought it was their puppy however. T.J. would call it the po dog and play like he was a cop with a k-9 unit. Tonya had perfected the Gibbs head slap. Anytime T.J. would do something she didn't like she would smack him on the back of the head. Tony and Deanna knew that when the twins got older they would make the perfect addition to the NCIS team.
Tony and Deanna was getting ready for bed. The twins had already been tucked in and settled down to go to sleep for the night. The two get in bed and cuddle up.
"I love you" Tony told Deanna giving her a kiss.
"I love you more" Deanna responded.
"If you say so." Tony smirked. He put his arm around his wife and the fell asleep.
During the middle of the night Tony had heard something against the sliding patio window in their master bedroom. He didn't think too much about it thinking it would be just a tree branch hitting the window. He got up to find out what it was.
"What are you doing?" Deanna questioned pulling the covers up almost to around her neck.
"Oh I heard something just checking it out." Tony said as he walked to the patio door. Deanna slipped off to the bathroom not thinking much of it.
Tony could see a figure outside the door. He slid the door open and asked the figure "what do you want?"
Deanna came back into the bedroom just in time to hear the gunshots ring out. One hitting Tony's chest and one hitting his lung. Tony struggled to keep his balance. Being in shock he didn't realize the wounds he had suffered. He planned to run after the guy but took two steps and could feel himself falling. His body fell hard on to the ground with a loud thump. He could feel the life draining out of him with each breath and each heartbeat. He could hear Deanna's screams but they were mixed with the sound of the gun going off in his ears.
"TONY! TONY!" Deanna screamed. She was panicked. She rushed over to Tony's side. Deanna didn't think to call 911, she called Gibbs.
Gibbs had not been to sleep yet. He had been down in the basement working on his boat. He thought he had heard gunshots but figured it was a car backfiring. When his cell phone rang it startled him. He saw it was Deanna calling.
"What is she doing calling this time of night?" Gibbs said to himself. He answered the phone. "Gibbs"
"Gibbs come quick Tony's been shot." Deanna screamed.
Those words sunk down deep into Gibbs. His Senior Field Agent and who he thought of as a son was shot! He went running down a couple of houses to the DiNozzo's house. Why would anyone shoot Tony inside his own home? Gibbs kicked in the front door and raced towards the screams. He got into the master bedroom to find Tony lying in a pool of blood. Deanna was down on her knees beside him trying to stop the bleeding in his chest.
"Do something Gibbs! We have to save him!" Deanna screamed.
"Is an ambulance on their way?" Gibbs spat.
"Crap! I didn't call 911!"
"YOU WHAT?!" Gibbs yelled.
"I didn't know what to do except to call you!" Deanna screamed back.
Tony wished that the two would stop arguing and help him. He knew he was dying and just wished someone would help him, possibly give him a little bit of life. As Gibbs called 911, Deanna stayed with Tony. She tried to get the bleeding to stop coming from his chest. Why was there so much blood. Tony began to cough violently.
I haven't coughed like this since I had the plague, Tony thought to himself. He was growing weaker by the second. He wanted desperately to tell Deanna how he felt about her. He struggled through the coughing and choking on his own blood.
"Tell the kids I love them. Don't let them forget about me." Tony struggled.
"Tony you're not going to die you hear me." Deanna cried.
"I love you" he managed to say looking up into Deanna's eyes. He never liked making her cry. He tried to raise a hand to her cheek. He began to cry. His whole life was just coming together, now it was being ripped apart at the seams.
"I love you more" She said through tears.
"If you say so" Tony smiled he began to cough violently again this time with blood coming out of his mouth. She tried to sit him up but it caused his chest to bleed more. Tony could feel himself slipping into this dark hole. He could still hear Deanna crying and could hear Gibbs on the phone with 911. However, he knew in his heart, it was too late. He closed his eyes and his breathing became very shallow.
"You're ok. Breathe. Just Breathe. Open your eyes. Come back. It's ok. You're ok. Wake up. Please wake up." Deanna screamed and cried shaking Tony. "Don't do this to me. I love you so much. Come back. Don't leave me. Don't say goodbye. I need you."
Gibbs was worried. He called Kate over to watch the twins.
"Ambulance is on their way. How is he doing?" Gibbs asked with a worried look on his face.
"He's dying Gibbs." Deanna cried.
Once the ambulance finally showed up, Gibbs and Deanna climbed in with Tony. Deanna was covered in Tony's blood. Why would someone do this to him?
Will Tony pull through? And will the team find out who shot him? New Chapter up soon! Please review!
