FIC: Who Knew? (9/?)
Title: Who Knew?
Fandom: NCIS
Genre: Romance/Friendship/Adventure
Rating: PG-13, T
Pairing: Kate/Tony, Abby/McGee, Jenny/Gibbs, Ziva/OC
Spoilers: Seasons 1 & 2 in particular. Season 3 sparingly.
Warnings: AUness, Babyfic
Summery: Kate has alot of adjusting to do. This includes a loss of a friend, a new relationship, a new team member, and a few other life changing events
Previous Chapters.
This chapter contains the family dinner (hence the title). It also deals with a few sensitive topics such as depression. While writing this I wanted to smack Anthony the First myself. This is the last chapter that will deal with Mary & Mr. Todd's deaths. Alex will be brought up again, but probably not as indepth as the last two chapters. Just in passing.
This chapter holds references to "The Immortals" which was a season 1 episode where Kate tells Gibbs he doesn't know how suicide can tear up a family. Also referenced are SWAK and anytime Tony & Kate were in danger together.
Also, I failed to mention in my last chapter notes, there is a poll about Mama Todd on my profile page if anyone wishes to vote.
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Chapter 9 - The Family Dinner
The first part of the dinner had been awkward and quiet. The food was delicious as always, but the only ones who talked were Ben and the four women at the table. Nick looked like he wanted to be anywhere but and Tony reflected that look. Anthony the First sat and watched her all evening. It was slightly unnerving. But Tony would occasionally give her a smile which reminded her why she was here. This was her family too now, though her child if nothing else. She would have to learn to get used to this sort of attention.
Things got relieved when the meals were finished and the dancing floor in the middle of the restaurant was opened. Anthony ordered his male descendents to take the ladies dancing while he had a chat with ‘Caitlin.’ Which was where they were now. Tony She could barely see Tony, but knew he was watching the table while dancing with his Aunt Liv. Her mother was dancing with Tony’s Dad, probably planning some kind of evil plan. Her mother was good at that, and getting people to help her.
“Young Lady, how long have you known my grandson?”
“Almost two years, sir.”
“No need to call me sir, Caitlin. As you are now part of this family, you may call me Papa like my grandchildren do.” She didn’t reply. She wasn’t sure she was comfortable enough with this man to refer to him as something as familiar as Papa.
“Now the reason I asked to talk to you alone is I wanted to see who it was my grandson was marrying.”
“We aren’t.”
“Are not, what dear?”
“Getting married. We haven’t even discussed it really. We are just taking one step at a time right now.”
“Your steps are certainly not in order.”
“No. This was….not expected.”
“Rarely is. So you have chosen not to marry because?”
“I don’t think we are ready for such a commitment.”
“Yet your ready for a commitment to a child.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready or not, to be honest.” There was no reason to lie to Tony’s grandfather. “But I really have no choice on that particular matter. I just have to believe I am.”
“Good.” Kate blinked. “No one should think they are ready for parenthood before they are a parent. Because as soon as you hold that child you will know you are fully unequipped to be a parent. And then you learn. And you try your best and hope your children turn out to be good upstanding adults.”
There was silence for a moment while the two observed each other.
“Do you love my grandson?”
“Yes, very much so.” And it was the truth, even though she had only realized that in the last few weeks.
“And what exactly do you think you need to be married?”
“Love is certainly a major contributing factor, but both parties need to be ready to commit to each other. Marriage is not a choice that should be made at a whim.”
“Hmm. Interesting. So you don’t believe that someone who meets someone and marries them three days later can have a long and successful marriage?”
“No, I suppose not. You have to have a lot of trust to get married.” Anthony sat up in his seat.
“Caitlin, do you not trust my grandson to be faithful to you?” Kate was stunned by the question. Did she trust Tony to be faithful? She had this image in her head of her own creation of what she thought Tony to be. And one of the elements was his constant flirting with other woman. Not that he has recently, but that could have been more from lack of opportunity then no desire to do so.
Truth be told, she and Tony had never really discussed marriage. At least not recently. A passing comment didn’t count. And the last time they had a serious talk; Tony thought there was no merit to it. Did she want to marry a man who didn’t believe in marriage to start with?
She knew Tony had his own lines and standards, and one of them was that he wouldn’t cheat. So could she trust Tony to be faithful? Yes, at least physically. She wasn’t so sure emotionally.
She looked out at the dance floor and saw Liv happily chatting Tony’s ears off while Tony looked half amused and half wanting to get away. He glanced her way and gave her a smile. And suddenly she knew her answer.
“No, I trust him. I’m just not sure either of us are ready.”
“My wife and I met three days before we got married.” Anthony began. “We were married at the New York Court house with only my mother and her brother as witnesses. We were married for sixty years before her death. I have no desire to marry again.” He paused.
“Then there was my son. Nicholas married young to a woman he had dated for three years before their marriage. He was 23 when he married Mary. They had met at college. That was Mary’s so reason for going. I never understood that reasoning, but that was the way it was for some people. Nick loved her, there was no doubt. And they had Alex.”
“I wasn’t aware Tony had a brother.”
“I wouldn’t think so. But I will get to that. His name was Alessandro Michael DiNozzo. He was born in 1969, three years before Tony. Mary had trouble having children. It took her four years to have Alex. So Alex was her whole world. She was ecstatic when Tony was born, but Alex was still her special one. And right before Tony was a year old, Alex died.” Kate’s eyes widened. Tony never told her any of this. She wondered if Gibbs knew any of this.
“Mary was bereft. She couldn’t handle the loss. She took everything that was of Alex and packed it away. She wanted it thrown away, but Nick managed to get ahold of it and store it. Alex was not to be talked about. It was like he never existed. She started to pretend that Tony was her elder son. Started saying how different he was acting. She turned to alcohol thinking that would help and eventually drank herself out of being healthy. She died of heart failure, similar to Alex.” Anthony wasn’t looking at her anymore; she could tell he was remembering. There was an amount of sorrow in the man’s eyes.
“Nick didn’t fare much better. But he was a better parent to Tony I think. Tony was Tony, not Alex on repeat. He tried being there for Mary, but she couldn’t be there for him. By the time Mary died, so had their marriage. It didn’t take him long to remarry. And he kept marrying just to be married. My son does not do well on his own.” He turned and focused on her.
“So what I need to know, Caitlin, is what kind of woman is going to stand alongside my grandson. I hope you never go through what Nick and Mary had to go through, but I want to know you are the kind of women who would help Tony too.”
Kate by this time was crying herself. SO this was what all this was about. However that was an easier question to answer. She and Tony had already been there for each other. She had been kidnapped twice and nearly killed by Ari and Tony had been there to make sure she was ok. He saved her life a couple of times actually. And she couldn’t make herself move from his side when he had the plague.
“I can guarantee you that Tony and I will try our best to get through things together.” The music had ended and the others returned to see Kate crying. Liv, Tasha and Tony all had concerned looks on her face, while Nick, Ben and Amy looked at Anthony wondering what he had done to make Kate cry.
“I’m fine guys. Just the hormone’s starting to kick in,” she lied with a smile after the third are you ok came her way. Tasha seemed to accept that after a moment of watching her daughter, and Liv didn’t know her well enough to tell she was lying. Only Tony seemed to catch the fact that she wasn’t completely truthful. But she didn’t want to be the one to explain to Tony about his brother and why his mother had been the way she had been.
It seemed they had more in common when it came to their families. Her father had gone through depression as well. Neither Mary nor Richard Todd had been able to get help or hadn’t wanted it and both had died due to that depression. But it wasn’t a happy topic to think about and she didn’t want to start crying because of her father so she thought about happy things.
The baby for example. Which appeared to be a common thought, because just as she was thinking that, Aunt Liv brought it up.
“So have you thought of any names for the baby?”
“Cameron,” they both said at the same and then laughed.
“Really, we were just joking about it the other day, so it probably won’t be Cameron. We haven’t really had the time recently to think about it. We don’t even know the gender yet,” Tony explained.
“My friend Abby has already put in a request for Abigail if it’s a girl.”
“That is a pretty name,” Aunt Liv said, with a nod from Amy. “There are plenty of family names as well. If I had a girl I was thinking of naming her Julia or Romana. George didn’t like Romana though. Said it sounded like I was watching too much science fiction. It’s a character on Doctor Who. It didn’t matter in the end because it turned out to be a boy,” she said as she smiled at her son who simply rolled his eyes.
“So instead you named me after a historical figure.”
“It was your father’s idea. He figured someone should give the name a good reputation.”
“I like the name Benito,” Tasha said with a wink towards Ben. “Very masculine.”
“Thank you,” Aunt Liv answered, not realizing the hidden meaning behind Tasha’s words. Neither did Anthony as he was preoccupied ordering dessert for the clan. The others however caught on. Tony and Amy were trying their best not to laugh; Nick was trying to breathe after nearly breathing in his glass of water but looked amused, and Kate was staring at her mother in horror. “What names did you use for your children?” Liv continued.
“Well, my eldest is Mitchell, and then there was Adam followed by the girls, Grace and Caitlyn.” She spared a look for her daughter. “Then my youngest, the twins Calleigh and Jackson.”
“Calleigh is a beautiful name.”
“Thank you.” At this time the waiters brought forth a serving of dessert, an assortment of mini amaretto cheesecake bites and mini cannolis. Everyone took one look at the delicious desert and dug in. It made Kate wonder what informal family dinners were like. She smiled at the little movie in her head, and refocused on the present. Tony turned to her and asked her to dance, hearing one of his favorite classic songs starting to be played by the band.
Kate was glad for the question for two reasons. One, the last time she and tony had danced she really wouldn’t call that dancing and they were undercover. Second, she needed a break from the on slot of questions that she had no answer to as of yet. And watching her mother flirt with Ben and to an extent Nick was something she rather not see.
She sighed as she closed her eyes and let Tony led her around the dance floor. The tune was slow and was one of those old melodies from the thirties. She had heard it one time when she had arrived to pick him up and he had the CD player going. Tony’s music tastes were eclectic, but she knew he had a soft spot for old movie tunes and standards sung by the greats like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
“Feeling ok?” Tony asks his mouth next to her ear. “You looked like you needed some fresh air or something over there.” She stands up straighter, not leaning in so much so she can look up at him without craning her neck too much.
“My mom and the names were getting a little much. It made me realize how little I’m actually thinking about the baby, and yet it seems like all I am thinking about is this baby.”
“Yeah, I understand that. Aunt Liv started to go on about decorating the baby’s room and using special paint, and not letting you do it and we don’t even have a room chosen for the baby yet. All we have figured out is where we are going to live.” He pulled her back in, moving his arms from the traditional pose to being around her waist, hugging her to him. She wound her hands around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder, continuing to dance slowly. “You still want to live in the house, right?”
“I think it’s the best option. And the house is beautiful. Even if we weren’t together, I’d probably ask to buy it off you.”
“I never really thought about living there till you seemed to want to. I get more into it as I think about it though. My lease is up in a month or so. I was just going to renew it, but I guess I can just let it phase out now.”
“I never quite understood why you still rented that apartment. Especially after living there four years.”
“Two. I moved in about a month before I met you. Before that I was living at the house. Ben was staying there all the time then, going to college at Georgetown. “
“With that furniture?”
“Even with the furniture. The only room I made my own was the downstairs game room.”
“So you moved away from the house and into an apartment. “
“Which promptly had a electricity problem and I had to stay with Gibbs for a few weeks.” She remembered Gibbs mentioning something about Tony staying with him for awhile when they dealt with Susanna. One of the moments of her career that would be seared into her memory.
She was about to replay when she felt Tony stop. She moved so she could look up at him and noticed him watching the table. Turning she saw Nick storm away from the table, and a few seconds later her mother leaving. After exchanging one look with Tony, they both went rushing back to the table.
“You just missed it,” Ben said with a tone of voice that said he wished he had too. “Gramps decided to discuss Aunt Mary again and Uncle Nick blew a gasket.”
“Not that I blame him,” Aunt Liv added with a glare at his father. “Dad, you don’t have to be so damn insensitive about these things.” She turned to look at Kate. “Your mother followed him, figuring since she had a similar situation that she could help him.”
“Similar situation?”
“A spouse with depression. She didn’t go into much detail though. Gramps thought it would be ok to pick on Aunt Mary and how she couldn’t overcome it.” Anthony did not look in the least repentant.
“What did you say?” Tony asked with a pointed look.
“Just that Mary should have realized she had another child and not let her life fall apart at the loss of her first.” Everyone turned and looked at Anthony. Ben and Amy because they hadn’t known about Alex either, and Aunt Liv because she knew that Nick hadn’t told anyone. “It’s been over thirty years since Alex died. It’s time the secret was out of the bag.”
“There are better ways of telling people that, Dad.” Kate looked at Tony who didn’t appear to be reacting to anything. Which told her he was probably trying to assimilate this new knowledge with what he knew.
“I’m going to find Dad.” Kate nodded and let him go; knowing that this was a conversation between Father and son she did not need to attend. Instead she turned to Anthony the first, and gave him the patented Todd glare.
“Was that completely necessary?”
“I believe so, yes. It was time he learned about his brother. “
“That wasn’t what I was referring to, although you should have waited till his father told him. Just putting out there like that wasn’t exactly nice.”
“I needed to do something.” The rest of the family was watching as Kate stood up to the paterfamilias. Liv was looking on with a half smile, almost proud to see someone do it. Ben and Amy were just waiting to see what would happen.
“Your son and grandson have enough problems without you getting involved. Interviewing me is one thing. That’s being family. But you do not need to attack your son about his wife. She was depressed. Not weak, not a bad mother. She had a problem, one that wasn’t helped back then.” It had been building up in her since he had called Mary a weak woman for letting her depression take over her life. Having delt with family members with depression, she knew that sometimes there was no choice unless there was help. And in the seventies, she doubted Mary had the help.
“You don’t know the situation.”
“No, but I do know what I does to a person. I have watched two people suffer from depression. One didn’t have the help he needed and ended up dead and the other is my brother who luckily is getting the help he needs. “ For a few seconds they kept looking at each other, neither wanting to show any backing down in this argument. However the argument was interrupted by Tony and his father returning to the table, followed by Tasha. It was clear at this point that the dinner was over. Goodbyes were quickly said and the group departed, with the waiters looking on with relief. Kate wondered if her and Tony would be allowed back after that fight.
After dropping her mother off, the two of them drive to Tony’s apartment. She isn’t sure when they made that decision, but that is where they went. Tony is silent most of the way home, and even as they walk up the stairs (the elevators are out again) to his third floor apartment and go inside, nothing is said.
She closes the door behind her and tosses the keys into the glass bowl on a stand by the door. Next to the bowl is an old fashioned tin box. It holds Tony and Kate’s backlogged mail from the couple days out in the country. She is pretty sure most of it is junk mail, trying to get one of them to sign up for a credit card, or renew their car warranty. She briefly checks the answering machine, noticing it is blinking the number 2 but doesn’t listen to the messages. She needs to talk Tony into getting voice mail.
The door had opened into a hallway that was only a few inches larger than the radius of the door. Behind the door led to the bathroom and the master bedroom. The living room was on the other side, and the kitchen beyond the wall. The guest bedroom sat on the other end of the living room.
Somehow she had always expected that Tony would have had a bigger place, but when she first came over she had known it had fit Tony. It had a warm feel to it, and had a sense of the 1950s, which she thinks the building was built. The old fashioned design was off put by the modern technology scattered about the house. A 52” LCD Screen filled one wall of the living room, with a large book case on either side, filled to the brim with DVDs. Across from it was a large comfortable couch. A coffee table stood in between and beneath the large window to the left was a long side table with a CD player that had Cassette and Record playing capabilities. His CD and Record collections were shelved below.
Tony tore off his tie as he entered the apartment, throwing it over the phone dock which was missing its phone and proceeded to flop down on the couch, his legs still over the side. She picked up his tie and hung up her jacket in the closet.
She turned around to see Tony hadn’t moved, just put his arm over his head, as if he was hiding his eyes from the light. With only the low kitchen light on you could barely see around the apartment.
She walked past him and down the hallway to the bedroom and grabbed a set of PJs. She tossed the bottoms at Tony and took the top for herself. Since they usually stayed at her apartment she had failed to bring her normal sleep clothes with her.
She walked into the bathroom and started a shower, knowing that he walked in halfway through it. It didn’t bother her anymore. He did that before they were together and it certainly shouldn’t bother them now that they were.
“Ben told me you told my Grandfather off.” She stopped shampooing her hair for a second.
“He needed it.”
“Yeah, he did. Thanks.” It wasn’t often Tony said thanks. More often then Gibbs, but still not often. She rinsed her hair and turned the shower off. She grabbed the towel Tony handed her and wrapped it around her body before she moved the curtain and stepped out, picking up another towel for her hair.
“Are you ok?” she asked. She knew tonight had been more emotionally tiring for him then for her. Sure, she had been grilled about her intentions towards Tony, but he had found out that he had an older brother.
“Yeah. Its going to take some time to actually accept that I’m not an only child, but It eventually will happen. I think your mom really helped Dad.” He paused. “We actually got along tonight, which was different. He’s been seeing a therapist apparently to get over some of his issues. Stopped drinking, although he traded that in for smoking. Never realized he had problems like he does.”
“I don’t think we ever expect it.” She thought back to her own father. She had been ten when he had killed himself. She hadn’t been kidding when she had told Gibbs that suicide tore a Catholic family apart. She never knew how he had done it, only their mother and Mitch who had been 14 at the time knew. And Tasha wouldn’t talk about it.
She quickly dried herself off as Tony prepared to take his own shower and put on the button down shirt. She left him to it, and walked out to look over Tony’s DVD collection. She figured it would help him go to sleep if they watched something familiar and comforting. She smiled as she found the perfect movie.
Apparently after Gitmo, Tony had decided to look up Alan Ladd and now there was a small collection of his films on Tony’s bookshelves. She took the DVD out, an old Film Noire classic called “This Gun for Hire” which she knew Tony would love and padded back into the bedroom.
Tony had a smaller Widescreen hooked up above the larger dresser and across from the bed. There was a taller matching dresser that stood off to the side with Tony’s clothes, and the bottom drawers of this one contained clothes too. But the top drawer on both sides contained Tony’s movie stuff. Various popcorn mixes and assorted toppings and theater candy. Anything that didn’t have to be refrigerated that one would need for a Movie marathon was located there.
She put the movie in and the menu music began to play just as Tony was getting out of the bathroom, drying his hair. He doesn’t notice her at first, so she gets an uninterrupted few of a half naked Tony before he makes any comments. Although when he does notice her, she just gets one of those grins that used to make her roll her eyes but over time had started to melt her insides a tad. He walked over and flopped onto bed. She raised an eyebrow.
“Do you ever just sit anywhere, Tony?”
“Nope. What’s the fun in that?” He winks at her and she rolls her eyes and she knows he’ll be ok. It’s funny that they use arguing as a way to figure out if the others ok. But its one of their quirks as a couple and she wouldn’t change it for anything.
“One of these days you’re going to break something.” They both get under the covers, and she hands him the remote, knowing as tired as she is, she’ll be asleep before ten minutes of the movie have passed. They settle in, and he starts the movie, and as she drifts off she can hear the train and two people talking about peppermints. The last thing she remembers is Tony leaning over and kissing her check and whispering goodnight.
Fandom: NCIS
Genre: Romance/Friendship/Adventure
Rating: PG-13, T
Pairing: Kate/Tony, Abby/McGee, Jenny/Gibbs, Ziva/OC
Spoilers: Seasons 1 & 2 in particular. Season 3 sparingly.
Warnings: AUness, Babyfic
Summery: Kate has alot of adjusting to do. This includes a loss of a friend, a new relationship, a new team member, and a few other life changing events
Previous Chapters.
This chapter contains the family dinner (hence the title). It also deals with a few sensitive topics such as depression. While writing this I wanted to smack Anthony the First myself. This is the last chapter that will deal with Mary & Mr. Todd's deaths. Alex will be brought up again, but probably not as indepth as the last two chapters. Just in passing.
This chapter holds references to "The Immortals" which was a season 1 episode where Kate tells Gibbs he doesn't know how suicide can tear up a family. Also referenced are SWAK and anytime Tony & Kate were in danger together.
Also, I failed to mention in my last chapter notes, there is a poll about Mama Todd on my profile page if anyone wishes to vote.
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Chapter 9 - The Family Dinner
The first part of the dinner had been awkward and quiet. The food was delicious as always, but the only ones who talked were Ben and the four women at the table. Nick looked like he wanted to be anywhere but and Tony reflected that look. Anthony the First sat and watched her all evening. It was slightly unnerving. But Tony would occasionally give her a smile which reminded her why she was here. This was her family too now, though her child if nothing else. She would have to learn to get used to this sort of attention.
Things got relieved when the meals were finished and the dancing floor in the middle of the restaurant was opened. Anthony ordered his male descendents to take the ladies dancing while he had a chat with ‘Caitlin.’ Which was where they were now. Tony She could barely see Tony, but knew he was watching the table while dancing with his Aunt Liv. Her mother was dancing with Tony’s Dad, probably planning some kind of evil plan. Her mother was good at that, and getting people to help her.
“Young Lady, how long have you known my grandson?”
“Almost two years, sir.”
“No need to call me sir, Caitlin. As you are now part of this family, you may call me Papa like my grandchildren do.” She didn’t reply. She wasn’t sure she was comfortable enough with this man to refer to him as something as familiar as Papa.
“Now the reason I asked to talk to you alone is I wanted to see who it was my grandson was marrying.”
“We aren’t.”
“Are not, what dear?”
“Getting married. We haven’t even discussed it really. We are just taking one step at a time right now.”
“Your steps are certainly not in order.”
“No. This was….not expected.”
“Rarely is. So you have chosen not to marry because?”
“I don’t think we are ready for such a commitment.”
“Yet your ready for a commitment to a child.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready or not, to be honest.” There was no reason to lie to Tony’s grandfather. “But I really have no choice on that particular matter. I just have to believe I am.”
“Good.” Kate blinked. “No one should think they are ready for parenthood before they are a parent. Because as soon as you hold that child you will know you are fully unequipped to be a parent. And then you learn. And you try your best and hope your children turn out to be good upstanding adults.”
There was silence for a moment while the two observed each other.
“Do you love my grandson?”
“Yes, very much so.” And it was the truth, even though she had only realized that in the last few weeks.
“And what exactly do you think you need to be married?”
“Love is certainly a major contributing factor, but both parties need to be ready to commit to each other. Marriage is not a choice that should be made at a whim.”
“Hmm. Interesting. So you don’t believe that someone who meets someone and marries them three days later can have a long and successful marriage?”
“No, I suppose not. You have to have a lot of trust to get married.” Anthony sat up in his seat.
“Caitlin, do you not trust my grandson to be faithful to you?” Kate was stunned by the question. Did she trust Tony to be faithful? She had this image in her head of her own creation of what she thought Tony to be. And one of the elements was his constant flirting with other woman. Not that he has recently, but that could have been more from lack of opportunity then no desire to do so.
Truth be told, she and Tony had never really discussed marriage. At least not recently. A passing comment didn’t count. And the last time they had a serious talk; Tony thought there was no merit to it. Did she want to marry a man who didn’t believe in marriage to start with?
She knew Tony had his own lines and standards, and one of them was that he wouldn’t cheat. So could she trust Tony to be faithful? Yes, at least physically. She wasn’t so sure emotionally.
She looked out at the dance floor and saw Liv happily chatting Tony’s ears off while Tony looked half amused and half wanting to get away. He glanced her way and gave her a smile. And suddenly she knew her answer.
“No, I trust him. I’m just not sure either of us are ready.”
“My wife and I met three days before we got married.” Anthony began. “We were married at the New York Court house with only my mother and her brother as witnesses. We were married for sixty years before her death. I have no desire to marry again.” He paused.
“Then there was my son. Nicholas married young to a woman he had dated for three years before their marriage. He was 23 when he married Mary. They had met at college. That was Mary’s so reason for going. I never understood that reasoning, but that was the way it was for some people. Nick loved her, there was no doubt. And they had Alex.”
“I wasn’t aware Tony had a brother.”
“I wouldn’t think so. But I will get to that. His name was Alessandro Michael DiNozzo. He was born in 1969, three years before Tony. Mary had trouble having children. It took her four years to have Alex. So Alex was her whole world. She was ecstatic when Tony was born, but Alex was still her special one. And right before Tony was a year old, Alex died.” Kate’s eyes widened. Tony never told her any of this. She wondered if Gibbs knew any of this.
“Mary was bereft. She couldn’t handle the loss. She took everything that was of Alex and packed it away. She wanted it thrown away, but Nick managed to get ahold of it and store it. Alex was not to be talked about. It was like he never existed. She started to pretend that Tony was her elder son. Started saying how different he was acting. She turned to alcohol thinking that would help and eventually drank herself out of being healthy. She died of heart failure, similar to Alex.” Anthony wasn’t looking at her anymore; she could tell he was remembering. There was an amount of sorrow in the man’s eyes.
“Nick didn’t fare much better. But he was a better parent to Tony I think. Tony was Tony, not Alex on repeat. He tried being there for Mary, but she couldn’t be there for him. By the time Mary died, so had their marriage. It didn’t take him long to remarry. And he kept marrying just to be married. My son does not do well on his own.” He turned and focused on her.
“So what I need to know, Caitlin, is what kind of woman is going to stand alongside my grandson. I hope you never go through what Nick and Mary had to go through, but I want to know you are the kind of women who would help Tony too.”
Kate by this time was crying herself. SO this was what all this was about. However that was an easier question to answer. She and Tony had already been there for each other. She had been kidnapped twice and nearly killed by Ari and Tony had been there to make sure she was ok. He saved her life a couple of times actually. And she couldn’t make herself move from his side when he had the plague.
“I can guarantee you that Tony and I will try our best to get through things together.” The music had ended and the others returned to see Kate crying. Liv, Tasha and Tony all had concerned looks on her face, while Nick, Ben and Amy looked at Anthony wondering what he had done to make Kate cry.
“I’m fine guys. Just the hormone’s starting to kick in,” she lied with a smile after the third are you ok came her way. Tasha seemed to accept that after a moment of watching her daughter, and Liv didn’t know her well enough to tell she was lying. Only Tony seemed to catch the fact that she wasn’t completely truthful. But she didn’t want to be the one to explain to Tony about his brother and why his mother had been the way she had been.
It seemed they had more in common when it came to their families. Her father had gone through depression as well. Neither Mary nor Richard Todd had been able to get help or hadn’t wanted it and both had died due to that depression. But it wasn’t a happy topic to think about and she didn’t want to start crying because of her father so she thought about happy things.
The baby for example. Which appeared to be a common thought, because just as she was thinking that, Aunt Liv brought it up.
“So have you thought of any names for the baby?”
“Cameron,” they both said at the same and then laughed.
“Really, we were just joking about it the other day, so it probably won’t be Cameron. We haven’t really had the time recently to think about it. We don’t even know the gender yet,” Tony explained.
“My friend Abby has already put in a request for Abigail if it’s a girl.”
“That is a pretty name,” Aunt Liv said, with a nod from Amy. “There are plenty of family names as well. If I had a girl I was thinking of naming her Julia or Romana. George didn’t like Romana though. Said it sounded like I was watching too much science fiction. It’s a character on Doctor Who. It didn’t matter in the end because it turned out to be a boy,” she said as she smiled at her son who simply rolled his eyes.
“So instead you named me after a historical figure.”
“It was your father’s idea. He figured someone should give the name a good reputation.”
“I like the name Benito,” Tasha said with a wink towards Ben. “Very masculine.”
“Thank you,” Aunt Liv answered, not realizing the hidden meaning behind Tasha’s words. Neither did Anthony as he was preoccupied ordering dessert for the clan. The others however caught on. Tony and Amy were trying their best not to laugh; Nick was trying to breathe after nearly breathing in his glass of water but looked amused, and Kate was staring at her mother in horror. “What names did you use for your children?” Liv continued.
“Well, my eldest is Mitchell, and then there was Adam followed by the girls, Grace and Caitlyn.” She spared a look for her daughter. “Then my youngest, the twins Calleigh and Jackson.”
“Calleigh is a beautiful name.”
“Thank you.” At this time the waiters brought forth a serving of dessert, an assortment of mini amaretto cheesecake bites and mini cannolis. Everyone took one look at the delicious desert and dug in. It made Kate wonder what informal family dinners were like. She smiled at the little movie in her head, and refocused on the present. Tony turned to her and asked her to dance, hearing one of his favorite classic songs starting to be played by the band.
Kate was glad for the question for two reasons. One, the last time she and tony had danced she really wouldn’t call that dancing and they were undercover. Second, she needed a break from the on slot of questions that she had no answer to as of yet. And watching her mother flirt with Ben and to an extent Nick was something she rather not see.
She sighed as she closed her eyes and let Tony led her around the dance floor. The tune was slow and was one of those old melodies from the thirties. She had heard it one time when she had arrived to pick him up and he had the CD player going. Tony’s music tastes were eclectic, but she knew he had a soft spot for old movie tunes and standards sung by the greats like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
“Feeling ok?” Tony asks his mouth next to her ear. “You looked like you needed some fresh air or something over there.” She stands up straighter, not leaning in so much so she can look up at him without craning her neck too much.
“My mom and the names were getting a little much. It made me realize how little I’m actually thinking about the baby, and yet it seems like all I am thinking about is this baby.”
“Yeah, I understand that. Aunt Liv started to go on about decorating the baby’s room and using special paint, and not letting you do it and we don’t even have a room chosen for the baby yet. All we have figured out is where we are going to live.” He pulled her back in, moving his arms from the traditional pose to being around her waist, hugging her to him. She wound her hands around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder, continuing to dance slowly. “You still want to live in the house, right?”
“I think it’s the best option. And the house is beautiful. Even if we weren’t together, I’d probably ask to buy it off you.”
“I never really thought about living there till you seemed to want to. I get more into it as I think about it though. My lease is up in a month or so. I was just going to renew it, but I guess I can just let it phase out now.”
“I never quite understood why you still rented that apartment. Especially after living there four years.”
“Two. I moved in about a month before I met you. Before that I was living at the house. Ben was staying there all the time then, going to college at Georgetown. “
“With that furniture?”
“Even with the furniture. The only room I made my own was the downstairs game room.”
“So you moved away from the house and into an apartment. “
“Which promptly had a electricity problem and I had to stay with Gibbs for a few weeks.” She remembered Gibbs mentioning something about Tony staying with him for awhile when they dealt with Susanna. One of the moments of her career that would be seared into her memory.
She was about to replay when she felt Tony stop. She moved so she could look up at him and noticed him watching the table. Turning she saw Nick storm away from the table, and a few seconds later her mother leaving. After exchanging one look with Tony, they both went rushing back to the table.
“You just missed it,” Ben said with a tone of voice that said he wished he had too. “Gramps decided to discuss Aunt Mary again and Uncle Nick blew a gasket.”
“Not that I blame him,” Aunt Liv added with a glare at his father. “Dad, you don’t have to be so damn insensitive about these things.” She turned to look at Kate. “Your mother followed him, figuring since she had a similar situation that she could help him.”
“Similar situation?”
“A spouse with depression. She didn’t go into much detail though. Gramps thought it would be ok to pick on Aunt Mary and how she couldn’t overcome it.” Anthony did not look in the least repentant.
“What did you say?” Tony asked with a pointed look.
“Just that Mary should have realized she had another child and not let her life fall apart at the loss of her first.” Everyone turned and looked at Anthony. Ben and Amy because they hadn’t known about Alex either, and Aunt Liv because she knew that Nick hadn’t told anyone. “It’s been over thirty years since Alex died. It’s time the secret was out of the bag.”
“There are better ways of telling people that, Dad.” Kate looked at Tony who didn’t appear to be reacting to anything. Which told her he was probably trying to assimilate this new knowledge with what he knew.
“I’m going to find Dad.” Kate nodded and let him go; knowing that this was a conversation between Father and son she did not need to attend. Instead she turned to Anthony the first, and gave him the patented Todd glare.
“Was that completely necessary?”
“I believe so, yes. It was time he learned about his brother. “
“That wasn’t what I was referring to, although you should have waited till his father told him. Just putting out there like that wasn’t exactly nice.”
“I needed to do something.” The rest of the family was watching as Kate stood up to the paterfamilias. Liv was looking on with a half smile, almost proud to see someone do it. Ben and Amy were just waiting to see what would happen.
“Your son and grandson have enough problems without you getting involved. Interviewing me is one thing. That’s being family. But you do not need to attack your son about his wife. She was depressed. Not weak, not a bad mother. She had a problem, one that wasn’t helped back then.” It had been building up in her since he had called Mary a weak woman for letting her depression take over her life. Having delt with family members with depression, she knew that sometimes there was no choice unless there was help. And in the seventies, she doubted Mary had the help.
“You don’t know the situation.”
“No, but I do know what I does to a person. I have watched two people suffer from depression. One didn’t have the help he needed and ended up dead and the other is my brother who luckily is getting the help he needs. “ For a few seconds they kept looking at each other, neither wanting to show any backing down in this argument. However the argument was interrupted by Tony and his father returning to the table, followed by Tasha. It was clear at this point that the dinner was over. Goodbyes were quickly said and the group departed, with the waiters looking on with relief. Kate wondered if her and Tony would be allowed back after that fight.
After dropping her mother off, the two of them drive to Tony’s apartment. She isn’t sure when they made that decision, but that is where they went. Tony is silent most of the way home, and even as they walk up the stairs (the elevators are out again) to his third floor apartment and go inside, nothing is said.
She closes the door behind her and tosses the keys into the glass bowl on a stand by the door. Next to the bowl is an old fashioned tin box. It holds Tony and Kate’s backlogged mail from the couple days out in the country. She is pretty sure most of it is junk mail, trying to get one of them to sign up for a credit card, or renew their car warranty. She briefly checks the answering machine, noticing it is blinking the number 2 but doesn’t listen to the messages. She needs to talk Tony into getting voice mail.
The door had opened into a hallway that was only a few inches larger than the radius of the door. Behind the door led to the bathroom and the master bedroom. The living room was on the other side, and the kitchen beyond the wall. The guest bedroom sat on the other end of the living room.
Somehow she had always expected that Tony would have had a bigger place, but when she first came over she had known it had fit Tony. It had a warm feel to it, and had a sense of the 1950s, which she thinks the building was built. The old fashioned design was off put by the modern technology scattered about the house. A 52” LCD Screen filled one wall of the living room, with a large book case on either side, filled to the brim with DVDs. Across from it was a large comfortable couch. A coffee table stood in between and beneath the large window to the left was a long side table with a CD player that had Cassette and Record playing capabilities. His CD and Record collections were shelved below.
Tony tore off his tie as he entered the apartment, throwing it over the phone dock which was missing its phone and proceeded to flop down on the couch, his legs still over the side. She picked up his tie and hung up her jacket in the closet.
She turned around to see Tony hadn’t moved, just put his arm over his head, as if he was hiding his eyes from the light. With only the low kitchen light on you could barely see around the apartment.
She walked past him and down the hallway to the bedroom and grabbed a set of PJs. She tossed the bottoms at Tony and took the top for herself. Since they usually stayed at her apartment she had failed to bring her normal sleep clothes with her.
She walked into the bathroom and started a shower, knowing that he walked in halfway through it. It didn’t bother her anymore. He did that before they were together and it certainly shouldn’t bother them now that they were.
“Ben told me you told my Grandfather off.” She stopped shampooing her hair for a second.
“He needed it.”
“Yeah, he did. Thanks.” It wasn’t often Tony said thanks. More often then Gibbs, but still not often. She rinsed her hair and turned the shower off. She grabbed the towel Tony handed her and wrapped it around her body before she moved the curtain and stepped out, picking up another towel for her hair.
“Are you ok?” she asked. She knew tonight had been more emotionally tiring for him then for her. Sure, she had been grilled about her intentions towards Tony, but he had found out that he had an older brother.
“Yeah. Its going to take some time to actually accept that I’m not an only child, but It eventually will happen. I think your mom really helped Dad.” He paused. “We actually got along tonight, which was different. He’s been seeing a therapist apparently to get over some of his issues. Stopped drinking, although he traded that in for smoking. Never realized he had problems like he does.”
“I don’t think we ever expect it.” She thought back to her own father. She had been ten when he had killed himself. She hadn’t been kidding when she had told Gibbs that suicide tore a Catholic family apart. She never knew how he had done it, only their mother and Mitch who had been 14 at the time knew. And Tasha wouldn’t talk about it.
She quickly dried herself off as Tony prepared to take his own shower and put on the button down shirt. She left him to it, and walked out to look over Tony’s DVD collection. She figured it would help him go to sleep if they watched something familiar and comforting. She smiled as she found the perfect movie.
Apparently after Gitmo, Tony had decided to look up Alan Ladd and now there was a small collection of his films on Tony’s bookshelves. She took the DVD out, an old Film Noire classic called “This Gun for Hire” which she knew Tony would love and padded back into the bedroom.
Tony had a smaller Widescreen hooked up above the larger dresser and across from the bed. There was a taller matching dresser that stood off to the side with Tony’s clothes, and the bottom drawers of this one contained clothes too. But the top drawer on both sides contained Tony’s movie stuff. Various popcorn mixes and assorted toppings and theater candy. Anything that didn’t have to be refrigerated that one would need for a Movie marathon was located there.
She put the movie in and the menu music began to play just as Tony was getting out of the bathroom, drying his hair. He doesn’t notice her at first, so she gets an uninterrupted few of a half naked Tony before he makes any comments. Although when he does notice her, she just gets one of those grins that used to make her roll her eyes but over time had started to melt her insides a tad. He walked over and flopped onto bed. She raised an eyebrow.
“Do you ever just sit anywhere, Tony?”
“Nope. What’s the fun in that?” He winks at her and she rolls her eyes and she knows he’ll be ok. It’s funny that they use arguing as a way to figure out if the others ok. But its one of their quirks as a couple and she wouldn’t change it for anything.
“One of these days you’re going to break something.” They both get under the covers, and she hands him the remote, knowing as tired as she is, she’ll be asleep before ten minutes of the movie have passed. They settle in, and he starts the movie, and as she drifts off she can hear the train and two people talking about peppermints. The last thing she remembers is Tony leaning over and kissing her check and whispering goodnight.