Saturday

Chapter 12

After the whole ordeal earlier in the week, Tony has taken a couple days off to clear his head of everything. It's early Saturday morning and Tony drives up to Lower Pennsylvania to the dumping cave where bodies were held. Tony has a rose for each of the victims he once dated. One by one, he tosses a rose into the cave. After tossing the last rose into the cave, he cracks a slight smile.

Tony eventually leaves the dumping cave and makes his way to Baltimore. Once in Baltimore, he takes out a sheet of paper with a list of addresses. He makes a couple turns in order to get to the first address. Tony gets out of the car and walks up to the house. He takes a deep breathe, then knocks on the door. A woman opens the door.

"Mrs. Walsh?" Tony asked.

"Yes, I'm Mrs. Walsh." The lady answers.

"My name is Anthony DiNozzo. I used to date your daughter Rebecca." Tony stated. "May I come in?"

"Yes… Please… Come in."

Mrs. Walsh opens the door and Tony walks inside the house.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night, Gibbs and Jamie are in their basement working on their boat. Tony eventually walks inside the house since he has a key. He walks and inside in the doorway of the basement door. Gibbs looks up as he notices him standing there. He nudges Jamie to get her attention. Jamie looks up to the doorway. Tony and Jamie's eyes meet. They just stand there looking at each other for a minute.

Tony finally walks down the stairs. He's now standing on the other side of the room, at the bottom of the stairs. Tony and Jamie continue to look at each other.

"I'm gonna go upstairs to get some coffee." Gibbs said.

Gibbs walks close to Jamie, gives her a kiss on the forehead then walks to the stairs. Gibbs walks up the stairs in order to leave Tony and Jamie alone so they can talk. As soon as Gibbs gets out of the basement, he stands near the basement doorway and leans against the wall. Tony steps closer to Jamie.

"Jamie… I…" Tony tries to find the words to say.

"Yes?" Jamie wonders.

"I knew this wasn't gonna be easy."

"Just try."

"I pathetically practiced what I would say to you on my car ride back down from Baltimore… And now that I see you… Everything I basically rehearsed so I don't sound like a moron seems to be… Moronish. Is that even a word?" Tony asked. "It doesn't matter."

"Just say what you feel."

Tony looks down for a couple seconds to gather some thoughts. He takes a deep breath then looks up at Jamie. Tony looks her straight in the eyes.

"I was an idiot for what I did. And I'm sorry… I didn't mean or want to hurt you. But I know I did." Tony stated. "I'm so sorry."

"You know…" Jamie begins to say.

"Apologizing is a sign of weakness… I know. But I don't care. Let me be sorry."

"You didn't let me finish."

"Please… Finish.

"What I was gonna say is… In this particular situation, saying sorry isn't a sign of weakness… It's a sign of being human. That's what you are Tony… A human being. You have feelings and emotions just like everybody else." Jamie stated. "I know the whole situation about what happened with that Larry person a long time ago. And I know how it affected you." She said. "You know what hurt me the most… The fact that you wouldn't tell me. I love you Tony. I love you with all my heart and soul. How you pushed me away, I know why you did it… But it's something you never had to do in the first place. I'm always here for you. And always will be. No matter what the situation entails." She said. She starts to get teary-eyed. "Just like you, I know what it's like to have something happen in life that's extremely rough. I know our situations aren't and weren't the same… But I want you to trust me. Trust that I'll love you no matter what you go through or will go through."

"I do trust you." Tony steps closer to Jamie and places his hands into hers.

"I know you just wanted to protect me. But if you're going through some major issues like this, then who is gonna protect you from yourself when all you're gonna do is push me away or clam up and not talk about it with anyone?"

"I know the way I dealt with the situation was really stupid. I know I should've told you what was going on and I know I should've told your Dad."

"You tell me everything. This is the first thing you held back from me."

"I know… And I'm sorry. But I promise you, whatever happens in the future, no matter what situation comes into my life that even remotely shows any signs of possibly screwing me up in some way… I'll come to you first." 'Tony said. "I don't wanna hurt you again. And I certainly don't wanna push you away."

"Nor do I want to be pushed away."

"Can you find it in your heart to forgive me for the way I treated you?"

"Only if you give me my engagement ring back."

"I should do it properly this time."

Tony gets on one knee. He gently takes hold of Jamie's left hand. He reaches into his pocket and takes the engagement ring out. Tony brings the engagement ring close to her ring-finger. He looks up at Jamie and begins to push the ring onto her finger.

"I'm asking for the second time… Will you marry me?" Tony asked.

"Yes… I will." Jamie responded.

Jamie leans down and wraps her arms around Tony's neck. She places her lips on his and they begin kissing.

Gibbs, who is still standing outside the basement door, now has a shocked expression upon his face as he didn't know about the engagement. He leans his head against the wall, takes a deep breath and finally cracks a smile.

"Welcome to the family Tony." Gibbs said softly to himself.

Gibbs smiles and walks away from the basement doorway. He goes to the kitchen in order to get coffee.

Back in the basement, Jamie finally takes her lips off Tony's lips. After taking her lips off Tony's lips, Jamie takes the engagement ring off her finger and puts it in her pocket.

"He still doesn't know?" Tony asked.

"He's still getting used to us." Jamie replied.

There's a minute of silence as Tony and Jamie just stare at each other and smile.

"So… You two are working on the boat tonight?" Tony asked.

"You wanna help?" Jamie asked.

"Would your Dad kill me if I touched it?"

"No I wouldn't DiNozzo." Gibbs said as he's now standing in the doorway to the basement.

"Then sure… I'll help."

Gibbs walks down the stairs and places his coffee on the work-bench. Jamie picks up a sanding block and hands it to Tony. She then places his hand with the sanding block onto the boat. Jamie moves his hand from side to side.

"What you wanna do, is sand with the grain, like this." Jamie continues the side to side motion moving the sanding block with the grain of the wood.

"I think I got a handle on it." Tony said.

Jamie takes her hand off Tony's hand. Tony continues sanding the boat. Jamie and Gibbs both grab a sanding block and also begin sanding the boat as well.

Throughout the entire night, the three of them, Gibbs, Jamie and Tony work on the boat together.

THE END

This concludes the story "Eyes of the Condemned". Coming soon will be the next story in this series. But until then, I hope you enjoyed this story.