The last few bars of Frank Sinatra's version of "One For My Baby and One More For The Road" came through Tony's speakers. When the song ended he took a deep breath and turned off the car. Slowly he opened the door, exited the car, and made his way up to the Palmer's door. It had been a while since he was this nervous on a first date. Normally he was cool and collected but tonight for some reason he was flipping out. Maybe because this girl was close to the Palmer's. What if things didn't work out and ended up getting ugly and Jimmy chose her. Tony didn't think he could handle losing another friend. At least the mystery girl hadn't arrived yet. Maybe she had backed out. That would be ideal. No blowup, no him coming off as a rich jerk, no ruined friendships. He took one last deep breath and started knocking on the door. Several seconds later Jimmy answered.
"Hi Autopsy Gremlin." Tony greeted.
"Oh good you're here!" Jimmy replied.
"Look if Emily backed out too. I understand I can pick something up on the way home." Tony replied.
"No she'll be here. She had to run something to he mom." Jimmy assured.
Emily knocked on the door of her mother's house. She had gotten about halfway to Jimmy and Breena's house. When she got the call from her mom. That Carly was crying because she forgot her favorite teddy bear. She called Breena right away and told her that she would be a little late. Because she had to bring something to Carly. She was beyond relieved when not only did Breena understand but she also promised to tell Tony that she had to take something to her mother and leave out that it was four her daughter. Most guys were not exactly open to dating a mom. Some wouldn't run but they would have a hard time accepting the kid and the relationship would end.
"Who is it?" Her mom called.
"It's me mom!" Emily replied.
"Oh good you are finally here." Her mom replied.
"Here is Andy. I have to go." Emily replied.
"You look nice." Her mom replied.
"I have a blind date." Emily replied.
"Who set you up?" Her mom asked.
"Breena" Emily replied.
"Oh well she has a great taste in men and has known you since you two were kids." Her mom explained.
"Well he works with Jimmy." Emily explained.
"Oh" Her mom replied.
"Well I really need to go." Emily replied.
"Of course and have fun." Her mom replied.
"I will." Emily assured.
Tony sipped his soda. Jimmy had offered him a beer but he knew that they would be having wine with dinner and his tolerance had been down lately. Though he had stopped drinking for a while after Ziva left and even after he started again. It was much less. He was terrified of becoming a drunk like his father. Senior had always had a problem but after his mom died. He was at his worst and that's when he started abusing him. He heard somebody knocking on the door. Jimmy excused himself to answer and returned a few moments later. With a short woman with shoulder length red hair and gray eyes following close behind.
"Tony this is Emily Lewison. Emily this is Tony DiNozzo." Jimmy introduced.
"Good to meet you Emily." Tony greeted.
"Nice to meet you as well." Emily replied.
"So I understand that you work with Jimmy at NCIS." Emily said.
"Yeah I am an agent." Tony admitted.
"Cool. What's it like?" Emily asked.
"It's interesting and I love it but sometimes it's hard." Tony explained.
Jimmy and Breena went to finish dinner. Leaving Tony and Emily alone to get to know each other. Tony started to get nervous when Emily asked about his family. Most girls would bolt when they learned about his relationship with his father. Fearing that he would treat their kids the same way. Unbeknown st to him Emily was having similar fears regarding her children. When Tony began quizzing her on her family.
"So do you want kids?" Tony asked nervously.
"Uh actually I have two." Emily replied.
"You do?" Tony asked.
"Yes my son is eight and my daughter is five. Is that alright?" Emily explained.
"Oh" Tony replied.
"Is that a problem?" Emily asked nervously.
"It's just my dad and I don't have the best relationship and when most girls here that. They uh they run." Tony explained.
"I have a bad relationship with my father too. So I understand." Emily assured.
"Good because I really like you." Tony replied.
"You don't mind that I have kids?" Emily asked.
"Not at all." Tony assured.
"Great" Emily replied.
"So your kids what are they like?" Tony asked.
"Dylan my son he is on a boy scout camping trip right now but he is just the sweetest kid. He has really stepped up to help with his sister. Carly she is a great kid too. She is really smart and a little ray of sunshine." Emily explained.
"Is Dylan smart too?" Tony asked.
"In his own way. He has some learning disabilities." Emily explained.
"What kind?" Tony asked.
"He was born premature and as a result has a dyslexia and processing problems." Emily explained.
"He was a preemie?" Tony asked voice laced with concern.
"Yes he was born and twenty-eight weeks." Emily explained.
"He is alright besides that?" Tony asked.
"No he uh he has problems with his lungs, heart and kidneys. Thankfully he's been doing well for a while but last year he got a really bad infection and almost died." Emily explained.
"Oh" Tony replied.
"Can you not handle a sick kid?" Emily asked.
"Well not really but it's not a mean thing. It's well about nine years ago I contracted the pneumonic plague at work and uh ever since then. Sick people they uh cause me to have bad memories." Tony explained.
"Wait that was you? That was real?" Emily asked.
"You'd have to be sick to make up something like that." Tony explained.
"Oh I am sorry. It's just I was in the middle of my pregnancy with Dylan and had been on bed rest for two months already and my room didn't have a TV in it. We only had the one downstairs and we didn't get the paper. So when my sister told me she saw it on the news. I thought it was another one of her woman gives birth to two-headed unicorn stories." Emily explained.
"No it's alright." Tony assured.
"I really like you Tony." Emily said.
"I like you two would you like to got to Maria's next weekend?" Tony asked.
"It's so sweet how you think I can afford that place." Emily replied.
"It's on me of course." Tony replied smiling.
"In that case I would love to." Emily replied a smile crossing her face.
A/N: So Tony and Emily have really hit it off. How will their first real date go? New chapter should be Monday. Please review and thanks for reading.