Firstborn
It wasn't that Tony loved his eldest any more than the others.
It was simply that it was his first born.
And a son at that.
He'd always wanted a son.
Not that he didn't love his daughter.
God no, he'd die for her.
And it wasn't that he loved one son more than the other.
He'd taught them both the same
Treated them as equals
But there was something immensely fulfilling watching his eldest grow up.
Particularly with the resemblance between them.
Especially as he grew to be so like him.
The way he walked, the way he talked.
From his love of movies
To his love of nachos.
No, he'd picked the right son to pass the name onto.
Tony was strong enough to step away from his father's shadow
Likeness or not.
Tim, on the other hand, would have been lost in it.
And Tony would have felt forever guilty for that.
To have put too much weight on those slightly less robust shoulders.
And at the same time as loving watching him grow, Tony hated it.
He could close his eyes and still picture the day he was born
His first steps.
His first words.
His first Halloween.
His first Christmas.
His first day of kindergarten.
His first day of elementary.
His first baseball game.
His first day of junior high.
His first football game.
His first day of high school.
His first driving lesson.
His 16th birthday.
His first girlfriend.
His first break up.
His first crash.
His first hangover.
In his mind, his son was still young,
Begging him to play ball with him
Falling asleep as he read him a story.
Everything, crystal clear.
But on opening his eyes, that little boy was gone.
In his place stood a tall, broad 17 year old
That reminded him so much of himself he could have cried.
Smart, headstrong, with just a touch of arrogance
And the DiNozzo grin.
And he knew that with all the likeness
Came the need to fly the nest.
To carve out his own path, in his own way.
And so it came to be that Tony came
To his mother and him,
Sitting around the table one night.
With a letter clutched in his right hand
And a grin so large Tony knew it could only be one thing
And how right he was.
" I did it, Dad. I'm going.
Going to USNA, in Maryland.
I'm going to be a Marine."
And before he knew it
The day had come
Tony's leaving day.
Ziva sobbed quietly,
Holding him for as long as she could
Tears of pride streaked down her face
Gibbs, Tony had never seen smile that much
He clapped the boy on the back, gave him a few words of advice
Told him he'd be keeping an eye on him in the background.
Abi and Tim joked around
Begging for letters and pictures
And for him to come home soon.
And then it was his turn.
He helped him pack the car
To give them a few minutes to themselves
And Tony tried desperately to sum up everything he had to say.
Of all the love, and advice, and fear he had for him,
To think of anything he'd never told him, or not told him enough.
But instead, he leant over and took the boy into his arms
Held him tightly, held back the tears and kissed his head
Whispered the words he'd always wished to hear from his own father.
"I'm so proud of you."
Soooo. A kind of drabble-ish one. I'm not all too sure where this came from.
A big thank you to all my readers, especially reviews.
Particularly to mprmusings, for all your lovely reviews and comments 3
( And I agree! Though I still think Eli would have given him the evils for a while. Isn't that a father's job?)
Since I'm now doing the 100 themes, expect some more serious oneshots/drabbles to come through.
Enjoy folks (: