"Ok, I thought I also should try some NCIS- fics. It´s rated as M for later Chapters ;). I dunno if the theme isn´t a little chewed out but I just love father!Tony and DiNozzoxGibbs. I don´t own anything of the series, I just own my fantasies. I also do not make any money with this, it´s just for fun!

There´s no spoiler or anything, this is not following the timeline of the series, I just lend the characters. Jen and Kate are still dead, though and Vance is the director of NCIS. Hope you´ll enjoy my fic. Please, read n´ review if I should continue.

Warnings: Crime, homosexual and sexual contents in later Chapters, swearing and a lot of head slaps.

Have fun!

Ok, thank you, my wonderful beta ´aquarius 2484´ for deleting my stupid, german mistakes^^.

YAY! I DID IT! I FINALLY wrote my final exams (and hopefully have my private life back now^^) so I´ll try to update as soon as possible. Please, be just a little more patient with me… :3"

Emma

The house was burning to ashes; the firefighters were unable to do anything to stop the flames. There was just one survivor left, a little girl, who sat now; shivering in the back of an ER bus. She was covered in soot and ash, her dark- blond hair hung loosely down onto her skinny, little shoulders as bright, green eyes, damp with tears looked at the man from the ambulance in front of her.

XXX

Anthony DiNozzo was more than happy as he drove to his apartment that evening. 6 weeks off! He couldn´t believe it! Director Vance really, TRULY had given him 6 weeks off, so Tony finally would be able to go on his cross country roadtrip that he had been planning for years. The whole team had been working especially hard in the last 10 months and had solved more cases and cold cases than any other team of NCIS. At the moment, there was nothing to do. They had been working cold cases for about a week now and Vance had finally said they could take a long vacation, if they wanted to. The team had happily obliged and most of them had token 3 weeks of holiday off. DiNozzo had worked night and day for the last few months, even more than Gibbs and this wasn´t left unnoticed by both, Gibbs and Vance. So he finally had been allowed to take his 6 weeks of holiday he had begged for now almost 3 years.

Finally arriving home he grabbed his mail and practically ran up the stairs to get everything settled. The flight was booked, the car was rented and the first hotel room in Vegas also was waiting for him. He just had to pack his things and then it would go straight to his first destination 10 am the next morning!

In his apartment he went into the kitchen, grabbing some leftover Pizza. Not caring for a plate he stuffed the cold Pepperoni and Sausage right into his mouth, while he looked through his mail.

Bills, Bills, a letter from the state of NY, advertisements, wait a minute…

He took the letter from NY out of the stack of letters. What the hell? Why would someone write an official letter from the state of NY to him, more exactly the youth welfare office?

Opening the letter, Tony paled visibly, while reading.

So much for his holiday…

XXX

The house looked more than rundown. Grey, rotten walls in the deepest slum of NY.

As Tony parked his car at the curb he got out of the rental car, he silently prayed that he would come back to find he still had the tires in their place. Hell, he prayed he would still have a CAR in its place!

Now that wasn´t his biggest worry. He walked up to the big, heavy iron door, about 2 ½ m high fence and pressed the button on the left side which was fitted in one of the two thick, heavy pylons, surrounding the fences door. A low, female voice answered about 30 seconds later, her voice biased by the static noise of the speaker.

"Yes? "

"My name is Anthony Michael DiNozzo. The youth welfare office sent me…"

„Oh, yes, yes! We were waiting for you, please come in! The female voice answered happily.

XXX

„I am glad to see you, Mr. DiNozzo. It's very rare that someone who was never involved answers our letter like you." The older woman, the Director of the Orphanage, in front of him said.

Anthony DiNozzo was actually sitting in front of the desk to the NY Orphanage Home No. 12, waiting for an explanation of the letter he had become.

"The Youth Welfare had written in its letter that I should come straight to NY because Angelica Smith and her partner died in a fire. How does this involve me?"

"Did you know Ms. Smith?"

"Well, yes, I did. We had been together for 2 years about 10 years ago. But I still don´t understand why I am here now."

The woman in front of him shot him a long, calculating look.

"Are you sure that it was 10 years ago that you have been together?"

"Uh yeah, Why?" Tony asked, slightly confused.

Again that look.

"And you never met each other again…?"

Tony thought about that. He had been in real love with the girl for about a year and a half and then somehow they both had started to live different lives that caused them to drift apart.

… …

Yes, yes he HAD met her once more, about 5 or 6 years ago as he met up with an old friend of his, who also knew her. It had been a wild night with party, music and lots and lots of alcohol. As he awoke the next morning in his hotel bed she was lying beside him, naked just as he was. After that they had talked about it and about the good old days. They hadn´t ended their relationship in anger and so they hadn't regretted the one night stand. After that they again had parted to live their own life again.

"Yes, I remember now. I actually met her about 5 or 6 years ago when I visited an old friend. Why do you want to know all of that?"

"… As you met her, Mr. DiNozzo, have you… I am really sorry, but unfortunately I have to ask this question… Had you and Ms. Smith been intimate?"

Silence.

More silence…

MUCH more silence… ….

Finally:

"You are NOT really asking me if we had sex…?"

"Unfortunately I do…"

"Do I have to answer that question? And if yes, WHY do I have to answer the question?" Tony asked, blushing, slightly embarrassed, just like the social worker in front of him.

"No, of course you do not have to answer the question, but I still ask you to please answer to it."

…

… …

"Yes, yes we had. It was a drunken one night stand and after that I never saw her again! Satisfied?"

"Actually yes, thank you. And she never contacted you again?" the worker asked.

"No, no she didn´t. But, why are you asking all of these questions?"

"Mr. DiNozzo. I have to tell you, that Ms. Smith left a 4 1/2 year old daughter. She is the one and only survivor of the fire. Ms. Smith had a will which she gave to her lawyer before she died. She has no living relatives. In the will it states that we should contact a Mr. Anthony Michael DiNozzo if something like this should happen to her."

Tony gapped at the older woman. He really couldn´t follow her train of thought. Why the hell should they inform him about her death and her daughter? He really couldn´t get it.

"I am very sorry that Angelica died and her daughter is now all alone, but how does that involve me?"

Again, she was giving him that long judging look.

"Mr. DiNozzo I would like to show you something… If you would please, follow me?

They walked out of the office into a room full of children. Some were sitting at tables, drawing pictures with their crayons. Others were playing on the ground with toys. Even if everything looked old and somehow shabby, it was still a happy, light atmosphere with laughter and talking. The few caregivers attended to the children lovingly.

The social worker he was with looked around in the room until her gaze fixed on a corner at the other end of the room.

"Mr. DiNozzo before I show you Ms. Smith's daughter, I have to tell you something. It seems that Ms. Smith life partner had hit the girl several times, over a long period of time. She has old fractures and bruises, she is under weight and very shy, especially in front of men. So, please don´t go too close or you will scare the little girl. She also hasn´t talked since she arrived. Oh, and one more thing: Her name is Emma Antonia Smith."

Tony looked pretty puzzled as he heard the female form of his first name involved in the little girl's name. What the hell was going on?

They crossed the room and went to the corner, were a little ball of dark- blond hair and skinny body was sitting on the ground. She had her legs drawn to her chest and her forehead was lying on her knees.

"Emma…" the social worker called softly."Emma, please look at me. I want to introduce you to someone special!"

Slowly the girl lifted her head and looked up, immediately locking two frightened eyes with DiNozzos curious ones.

As Tony looked into this beautiful face and those emerald green eyes, surrounded by Angelicas dark- blond, curly hair, all he was able to was to gasp in surprise.

There, in the corner sat his 4 year old, terrified female counterpart, also staring at him in disbelief.

He couldn´t have denied the fatherhood even if Abby had faked the DNA- test…

XXX

That night he couldn´t sleep. The social worker had said if Tony wanted to have her, he could get Emma almost immediately. They still would make a fatherhood test but it was too obvious he was the father of the little girl.

Huh, a father… HE! The Party animal, a god to all women, a father…

How could he do that, how could he manage it?

… How could he not…?

The first time he had looked into those beautiful, green eyes and the realization had hit him, he was lost. He never had believed in love at first sight, but it had happened…

Maybe it just happened with parents, when they first saw their own child?

As he looked at the little, terrified human being, he had felt a pang in his chest. Immediately the anger which he had felt in the first place as the social worker had told him that the child had been abused, had almost risen to boiling point. How could someone hit HIS little, innocent angel? That had been his first thought. After that, he had realized what he just had thought, he turned around and after talking with the social worker he practically fled from the orphanage, with the promise to come back with a decision in the morning.

Now he was lying wide awake in his hotel room, thinking about his own, abusive childhood. He had been lonely, very lonely in fact after his mother died. And when he had seen his father, the man only had words of disgust or beatings for him.

Tony still didn´t know what to do.

But he knew three things:

He didn´t wanted his daughter to be lonely.

He didn´t want ANYONE EVER to beat her up again!

He never wanted her to look at him like that again. Terrified, lonely and sad…

With these thoughts he finally fell asleep out of exhaustion at about 4 in the morning.

XXX

The next day he went back to the orphanage and told the social worker he wanted to try. So she made an appointment with a doctor who would take the paternity test. It would be completed in about one week. In this time Tony would share time with his daughter and a social worker her name was Lisa to win the little girls trust. Angelica's partner had beaten and terrified Emma and at the moment she didn´t trust any male being. So Tony and Lisa tried in baby steps to win the trust of the little girl for him.

XXX

Emma eyed the tall man suspicious as he crouched down in front of her and Lisa.

"Hi, Emma," he said. "My name is Tony. I´ve heard Lisa already talked to you about me?"

Emma grabbed Lisa's pants tighter and took a step back, to hide herself more behind her. She looked into the man's eyes in front of her, which looked so unbelievable familiar. Emma was very intelligent and already very grown up for her age. She knew that she was looking into the exact counterpart of her eyes. Yes, Lisa had talked about the man. She had told her, that she had two Daddies'. Her first, mean Daddy who had yelled at her and had beaten her up was gone and would never come back, he would never hurt her again. Her second Daddy was now crouching in front of her.

But Emma couldn´t trust him. No, NEVER! Her mother had also told her about her Daddy more than once. She had said that he was a tall, good looking man and that he looked just like her. Her face and the same eyes…

And that he was a nice man. That he would never hurt her, that he would have been a wonderful, loving Daddy and how sorry she was that she hadn´t seen it before, that he didn´t know that Emma existed…

All these thoughts went in light speed through Emma's head. But still… How could she trust him and how could she still trust her mother? Her mother had told her, that she would never leave her alone and now she was gone… What, if this hadn´t been the only lie…? And what, if she would go with him and then he would leave her alone, too…?

But after a moment she still nodded.

The man in front of her emitted a warm smile to her, which lit up his face and made her instantly blush.

"So, you know I would like to know you a little better?" he asked.

Again Emma nodded but still made no move to come out behind the workers leg.

"I thought we could play something together, would you like that?"

Emma looked at him and again thought for a very long moment. You could practically see the wheels spinning in her head. After that she just quickly shook her head and finally hid herself completely behind Lisa.

As Tony´s face fell and he stood up again, Lisa assured him that those things would take time. They had thought about a 2 week time of acquaintance, hopefully after this time she would have enough trust in him to follow him back to DC. It was a very little chance due to her fears, but he still had to try!

What all of them didn´t know was, that it would become not 2 weeks, but 3 weeks of ups and even more downs and a little, stubborn girl not trusting anybody.

XXX

Tony tried to play with her, but she always fled before him, back to Lisa.

After that they went into the city, to a Café were Tony bought all of them ice- cream, but even if she was just 4 ½ years old, she wasn´t even going to touch the ice cream.

The next day they went to the park were Tony and Lisa tried to play catch or hide and seek with Emma, but she again just hid herself behind Lisa and refused to get even near Tony.

On day number 5 the head of the orphanage had an idea. So Tony went every evening from then on, every night for 3 weeks he went down to read her a fairytale, while Emma was lying in bed. He was sitting beside the bed, reading the book with big gestures and voices, while Emma snuggled herself deep into Lisa's embrace who was sitting on the other side. Emma was looking at him with suspicious, frightened eyes, still trying to get as far away from him as possible.

It almost broke Tony's heart…

At day 14 Tony arrived very late to the Orphanage. He had talked to the director and had learned that money was their biggest problem. No money to buy new toys, no money to buy new furniture, no money to fix the rotten roof or to redecorate and upgrade it so it was new and homey.

What also no one in the Orphanage knew was that Anthony DiNozzo wasn´t a poor person.

In fact it was quite the opposite.

With the inheritance he had gotten after his mother's death and several wisely chosen stocks from a very good financial advisor he had been able to double and triple it over the years, so that his account balance was actually about 50 million dollars.

No one knew this of course, except for himself and the finance office.

So when he arrived very late, at 3 o´clock in the afternoon, just to get an approval from the director of the Orphanage. He REALLY could have called or something.

After his apology and a very long explanation as to WHY he had been so late, he had a very enthusiastic, tight huggging, tears of happiness and a very sloppy kiss square on the lips from the director of the Orphanage (mind you she was an 60 year old Lady… Maybe he could arrange a date for Ducky…?) .

Tony had bought new toys for the home, had ordered a construction crew to repair the roof and upgrade the home a not- so- little fee to his bank account.

XXX

After 3 weeks of no progress with his daughter the director of the Orphanage sadly told Tony to give up. They would send Emma to a therapist so could maybe lose her fears for males and Tony could try again in few months to win the little girls trust.

Defeated and sad like never before in his life, Tony went back to his hotel and packed his bags. He had learned to adore, no to love the little girl and her rare, beautiful smiles when he made jokes she found funny.

After he had checked out of the hotel Tony went one last time back to the Orphanage to say good bye to the staff and his daughter. He would come back to her in several months, when the therapy hopefully would help her to get over her fears. He would also stay in contact with the director and visit the home as often as possible.

After a last talk with the director he finally went out, followed by Lisa, the director and Emma who hid herself as always behind her caregiver.

"I am very sorry, Mr. DiNozzo…" Lisa said. "I am sure you will make a great father for her…"

Tony just sighed and thanked her. After that he finally crouched down, looking at his daughter with unsheathed tears in his eyes.

"Good Bye, Emma," he said. "I am so sorry that I wasn´t able to be a better father to you, so that you were able to trust me. I hope that we will see each other again so that we can be together then, but for now I have to leave you…" he said, reaching one last time for his daughter. But just as in the last couple of days she shied away to hide herself behind Lisa. So he let his arm fall back to his side and blinked his tears away just to turn around and to walk slowly to the cab, waiting for him.

At the sight of her father leaving, Emma began to fidget. She looked up to Lisa, sadness and disbelief in her eyes as she started to whimper. Lisa looked down at the little girl, who looked back and forth between her face and the leaving figure of her father, stepping from one foot to the other. Emma looked uncertain… Lisa fast crouched down to the level of Emma who had by that time tears in her eyes, lowly, painful whimpers leaving her mouth.

"If you run after him and hug him as tight as you can, he won´t leave you!" she said.

Tony had finally reached the cab and opened the door, as Emma still looked back and forth.

She didn´t wanted this man to leave her. This man who was always laughing, and never who was really mad at her. Where her other father would have beaten her up when she made a mistake, like knocking a glass with lemonade over right into his lap this man just looked in disbelief and then had started to laugh. It had looked like he hadn´t been fast enough for the toilet. Then they had been at a restaurant and she hadn´t liked the dish which was served for her. He hadn´t forced her to eat the dish like her other father would have done, he just had silently switched their plates and had smiled this wonderful, broad smile at her. Every evening for about two weeks now he had read a story for her so she could sleep better and her nightmares wouldn´t become as bad as they used to be. He also always called her ´Bella´ or ´Bambina´ or ´Honey´ and other fond nicknames. He had never yelled at her or had forced body contact... He had a wonderful, deep and calm voice and was so funny sometimes… One time he had sung a lullaby in another language for her; he had such a beautiful, deep voice and even if she hadn´t really been near him, she could tell that he smelled just wonderful… Maybe her mother hadn´t lied? And now he would leave her because she never showed affection for him…? No, that just couldn´t happen! It couldn´t be! She really liked him, she didn´t want this man to leave with all his stories about his home and his family. About aunt Ziva and his sister Abby and Uncle McGee and Grandpa Ducky and Uncle Gibbs who he seemed to like more than all of them together!

She didn´t wanted her Daddy to leave her.

As she looked back from Lisa, the door to the cab slammed shut. Now Emma was panicking!

She let go of the social worker and wailed her first word in about 5 months

"Daddyyyyy!"

As she started to run in the direction of the cab where just in this moment Tony decided to look one last time back. At the sight of the little, running girl with tears streaming down her face his chest tightened with love, hope and pain because his daughter was crying. He opened the door of the cab and fell to his knees right beside it just to have an armful of blond, crying girl one second later.

Emma held onto him for dear live as she again and again sobbed the word ´Daddy´ into the crook of his neck where she had snuggled herself into. Tony held onto her just as tight as he tried not to start crying just as she was.

After the cab was gone he stayed about 3 Days more in NY until the most of the paperwork was settled, all the while spending as much time with his daughter as possible. Now he had just two weeks of vacation left to settle everything in DC.

He REALLY needed help…

XXX

Abby was in her lab as her cell started to ring.

"Sciuto?"

"Hi, Abby! It´s me, Tony!"

"Oh, hi Tony! How´s your trip? You really could've called earlier!" she scolded him.

"Well, yeah, Abby, umm… About that I wanted to talk to you… I I am not on the trip right now, you know…"

"What, why? Did you get ill, are you injured? Has it been canceled? What´s up with you, Tony! Spill!" she all but yelled into the phone.

"Calm down, Abbs, calm down. I´ll tell you everything today evening, okay? Please, come to my apartment. I´ll cook."

"Ok, but I hope you´ve got a very good explanation for all of this, Mister!" Abby again scolded.

"Believe me, Abbs. I have…"

XXX

Tony's apartment, 0900 pm

As Tony opened his door, an overexcited Abby at first hugged him and then slapped him onto his chest.

"Okay, Mister! What´s going on? Didn´t you wanted to be in Hawaii at this time? Girls, bikinis and such? What happened, why are you here, and why did you call? Not, that I am not happy that you called, but-"

"Abbs!" Tony whispered loudly to her. "I´ll show you, but I have to tell you something at first."

After they sat on the couch, he started to tell her about the letter he had become 4 weeks ago. Just as he wanted to tell her about Emma, a low call of "Daddy" came out of the direction of the bedroom.

Tony and Abby looked into the direction of the voice, just to see a sleepy little girl in a pink pajama standing in the doorframe, rubbing her eyes.

"Emma, baby. Can´t you sleep?" Tony asked gently, standing up and walking into her direction. "Another nightmare?" he asked, as he picked her up.

Emmy snuggled herself into his chest and nodded as Tony sighed. Ever since he knew her, she had nightmares about her ´other´ father, hunting her in her sleep.

"It´s ok, it´s over," he soothed. "He won´t get you, no one will hurt you here, you hear me? I´ve got you, I´ve got your six…"

Emma just snuggled herself even deeper into Tony's embrace as he started to rock back and forth, all the while humming a melody lowly into her ear. She had been right, he just smelled so wonderful, she thought as she inhaled the calming, now familiar scent of her father.

"Tony…" came a low voice out of the direction of the couch.

As Tony looked back to the couch he was greeted with the sight of Abby, her mouth hanging open, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"T- Tony, who- who is this…?" she again asked in disbelief.

"Well, Abby… May I introduce you… "he said nervously as he nudged Emma with his nose, silently asking her to look into Abbys direction.

"This is Emma Antonia DiNozzo. My 4 year old daughter…" he said, as two pairs of beautiful, green eyes surrounded by with almost matching, features looked back at her.

"Oh. My. God…" was everything Abby was able to answer.

XXX

After Tony and ´aunt Abby´ had brought Emma back to bed, Tony sung a Lullaby for her, which earned him a slap on his biceps after they had left the room.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Do you remember our last Karaoke session with the others? After the first few notes we all but threw you off the stage because you hadn´t even hit ONE of the notes!"

"Maybe I am better at singing Lullabies…?"

Abby just glared at him.

"Okay okay I hate Karaoke! Sorry, will never do it again, ok?"

"You can bet, Mister! Next time you´ll sing more songs than all of us together! Now, spill!"

So Tony told Abby the whole story and that his daughter was very shy so she maybe shouldn´t be as ´bouncy´ around her as she known to be. It would take some time until the little girl trusted someone she had never seen but Tony was positive she would get better.

"So, you need my help to arrange everything when you get back to work?"

"Yes. I´ve already talked to director Vance, I am allowed to get into the Bullpen half an hour later. The Day Care of NCIS will look after her during the day, but if I have to work longer…"

"No problem, Tony! Aunt Abby will take care of her! I promised. By the way: Who could resist such a cute little girl? "

"Thanks Abbs. I´m really glad I have you." Tony said and hugged her as tight as he could.

"I've already called a therapist for abused children. She will have her first session with her on Friday this week. I really hope she can help her. And then I have to try to find a new apartment and, oh I have to buy still SO MUCH stuff for her! I don´t even know what and where to start…"

"I´ll help you with that, too. From now on I´ll come every day after work so we can start to know each other better, so I can build up a relationship with the little ´Tony-clone´." She snickered.

"Is it really so obvious?" Tony asked.

"Of course she´s also got some images from her mother I think, though of course I´ve never met her… But believe me- it is!" she said, still smiling.

"I think we should go shopping on Saturday, what do you think?"

"That sounds good to me. Plenty of time to figure out what I need to make this apartment a home for her as long as we have to stay here…" Tony answered.

After everything was settled, Abby sneaked one last time into the bedroom to kiss the little girl good bye. After that she went home for the night. Tony himself also soon went to sleep on the couch.

XXX

Two weeks later

Her Daddy was nervous. Emma could feel it. And she was, too. So much had changed in her life in the last few weeks, that she almost hadn´t been able to handle it. But her Daddy had always been there, had soothed her and dried her tears. Had told her, that he had got her six, that he would protect and never hurt her and that he wouldn´t leave her alone. And finally, finally she started to believe him…

So now they were standing in front of this huge building, the place where her father was working with his family. With Abby, Tim, Ziva, Ducky and of course uncle Gibbs he talked so much about.

And there were so many people. Daddy had taken her by her hand but as she snuggled herself more and more behind him and into his leg he got the hint and took her up and into his arms, where she immediately hid her face in the crook of his neck.

As he entered NCIS the first reaction was one of a guard who was always mocking Tony about his many affairs.

"Hey, morning', DiNozzo! Isn´t she a bit too young even for you? Or just showing off?" he laughed.

"Shut up, Jenkins! that´s none of your business!"

A muffled "Daddy…!" reminded him that he had just said one of the ´bad words´…

"Sorry, sweetie," he mumbled as he left Jenkins behind and walked to the Day Care- Center of NCIS. "Won´t say it again."

XXX

"Ah, Special Agent DiNozzo! We were waiting for you and your lovely daughter." Brenda Cullons said as he walked into the Center. "And you must be Emma, aren´t you?" she then asked a very shy, little girl, still hiding her face in the crook of her father's neck.

Emma slowly turned around and nodded. Her father had told her, that she had to stay at the Center since he was working and that he or her aunt Abby would pick her up at the end of the day. But still he would be gone. He had to leave her behind, even if it was just for the day. And, who knew if he would come back to her at the end of the day, just like he had promised her?

Tony turned his head to face his daughter.

"Ok, Bella. Are you ready? I am in this building most of the time, and Abby is here all the time. We are just one call away from you, ok?"

As Emma nodded, Tony set her down to the ground and hugged her one last time tight just to kiss her Good Bye on her forehead.

"See ya later, mio gioia." he whispered, smiling encouragingly.

"See you later, Daddy." she whispered back.

And with that, Tony left his daughter in the care of Brenda and the Center.

XXX

As Tony entered the Bullpen the first greeting came from his Boss, Gibbs.

"DiNozzo!" he bellowed. "You´re late!"

"Sorry Boss. Traffic was hell out there…" Tony answered.

"Had a good trip?"

"Perfect, Boss… Couldn´t have been better!" Tony said and smiled as he sat down at his desk.

"I would like to tell you everyone about it, wanna invite you and the rest of the team over tonight. Can tell you everything about my… adventures then." a sly smile crept into his face.

Gibbs just raised an eyebrow. He wasn´t as enthusiastic as his Agent was about the invitation. It was one thing hearing him rambling about his newest conquest in a skirt, but to hear it in private, over and over… That… somehow… made Gibbs rather aggressive. Maybe because Gibbs liked his senior field Agent just a little bit more than he should…

"I´ll even cook…" Tony added.

"Ok, DiNozzo. Why not? I´ll be there." Gibbs answered. "When?"

"0700, my apartment of course, andbring yourself and a good mood." Tony grinned and started to work.

After some time at first McGee and then Ziva also arrived at the Bullpen and gotten the same invitation as Gibbs. Both of them were a little bit more suspicious than Gibbs about the very quiet Italian. No rambling, no long monologues about what had happened in his 6 weeks off and no detailed description about every skirt he had conquered during his journey. DiNozzo just sat at his desk to update himself about their newest case, a content, happy smile on his face. But both, Ziva and McGee kept quiet, not pushing him further. Everyone knew if they would push him too far, he would hide himself behind his happy mask and in the end they would know as much as in the beginning.

After some time Tony said he would go down to visit Abby, Ducky and (Palmer) to greet them and invite them over for tonight.

"Ziva?" McGee asked after he was gone. "What do you think has happened?"

"Don´t know but if he says NOTHING it must be something big…" she answered.

XXX

Meanwhile in the Day Care center Emma wasn´t as happy as her father was. She was frightened between all these strangers: children and adults. Here there were so many people, everyone was SO loud and she missed her Daddy. She sat in one of the corners and had her legs drawn up to her chest, hugging around them with her arms. Silent tears were running down her face as she eyed the chaos of playing, running and screaming children and carers around her.

Luckily Brenda had a special eye on her little fosterling so she sensed her discomfort. Special Agent DiNozzo had told her everything about the little girl's history and that there would maybe be some problems. But if Brenda could win Emma's trust, she would maybe also open up for the rest of the Center.

Finally Brenda crouched down in front of her.

"Emma… Why are you crying? Do you miss your Daddy?"

Emma looked up at her with watery eyes and nodded.

"But you know that he is working just few floors upstairs, don't you?"

Again a low nod which wasn´t as convincing as it should have been.

Brenda sighed and stood up. What to do… What to do… … Suddenly she had an idea. Of course she could just dial Agent DiNozzo to come down to see his daughter, but then she still wouldn´t know where EXACTLY he was working. Again she crouched down to look Emma in the eyes.

"Would you like to visit your Daddy? So you can see where he is working?"

A glimmer in the girl's eyes and a VERY shy smile was answer enough for her. So she took the girls hand and went up to the Bullpen.

XXX

The ping of the elevator led Gibbs attention to it. A tall, black- haired woman with tanned skin, maybe around 30 years old entered the Bullpen with a little, dark- blond girl at her hand. The girl kept looking at the ground, hiding herself half behind the woman. The woman stopped in the middle of the Bullpen, looking around, as the little girl immediately snuggled herself deeper into her leg.

"I am sorry, but where can I find Agent DiNozzo?" she asked McGee who was at the moment the closest person to her. McGee started to stutter, so Gibbs answered.

"Agent DiNozzo isn´t here at the moment," he said and noticed, as low sobs escaped the little girls throat. His heart started to ache, suddenly recognizing Kelly as he again had to leave her and Shannon behind to go on another mission.

"But he will come back, soon. What do you want from him?" Gibbs growled and looked back down to the girl, still hiding behind the woman.

"My name´s Brenda and I am working at the Day Care Center down on the first floor. I am looking for-"she said as the elevator again pinged and a very happy DiNozzo entered the Bullpen.

"Hey, Abby,Ducky and (Palmer) are coming, too, and I-" he stopped in mid- step and mid- sentence at the sight in front of him.

"Brenda, what- is- is Emma all right?" he asked, concern clearly in his voice. But before Brenda was even able to answer, a dark- blond whirlwind let go off her leg, crying

"Daddyyy" out loud, just to run into Tony's direction; who immediately dropped to his knees to welcome her into a tight hug, unaware of the stunned, open- mouthed faces of his colleagues.

"Sssshhhh mio Bella, everything´s ok, Daddy's here…"he soothed and stood up, the girl in his arms, who sobbed into the crook of his neck.

Brenda heaved a sigh.

"I am sorry Agent DiNozzo, but I wasn´t able to calm your daughter down, so I thought I would show her where you are working. Now she knows that you are not far away. Well, I hope so, I mean."

"It´s ok, Brenda. I´ll take care of her and bring her back down when she´s calmed down. You can go back to work now. Thank you!" he smiled as Brenda already walked back to the elevator.

Still not aware of the sudden quietness of the Bullpen, he started to rock Emma in his arms, hushing and soothing her.

"Sssshhh mio Bella~" he cooed, nuzzling into her hair, closing his eyes and stroking her blond streaks. "It´s ok, Daddy's here… I am not leaving, everything is all right. I´ve got you, mio bimba. I´ve got your six…" She still didn´t calm down, so he stood there, in the middle of the Bullpen and lowly started to hum and finally sing an Italian lullaby for her in his deep, soothing voice.

He then finally looked up again, as the sobs slowly subsided just to take a step back at the sight of Leeroy Jethro Gibbs grumpy face right in front of him. When the hell had he stood up?

"Whoa, Boss! No sniper- action, please! Or I´ll die of a heart- attack someday…" he said as his heart started to beat wildly. Gibbs had been SO close…

"DiNozzo…" Gibbs growled lowly. "Didn´t know you could sing… Wanna tell us something?"

"Yes, Tony… What the hell?" Ziva asked as McGee tried to form a coherent sentence, just to look like a Goldfish on dry land.

"Well…" he started and cleared his throat. He felt the tension slowly leaving his daughters figure. "May I introduce you to the REAL reason I invited you over tonight?" he then nudged Emma's head who slowly lifted her head to look him in the eyes. She then whipped the remaining tears off which had kept running down her face and turned around to look at the stunned faces of her father's colleagues.

"This is Emma Antonia DiNozzo. My daughter…"

Gibbs couldn´t help himself. His self- control fell, he just was able to look stunned right back into two almost similar, beautiful faces, looking at him with, this time, similar, bright green eyes. And the worst of it: He felt himself blush…

"Hell, Tony…" McGee finally chocked out, luckily leading the Italians attention to him. "You couldn´t deny the fatherhood even if Abby would fake the test…"

DiNozzo looked at him and scowled, starting a mocking conversation with "McSherlock" and his sharp power of observations.

Emma was still looking at Gibbs, suspicious, who still looked back, almost the same expression in his face. Suddenly she raised her arm, pointing her forefinger at him.

"Uncle Gibbs?" she asked, loudly, turning back to her Daddy- who turned around to her in surprise. These were the first words she had said out loud in the presence of other people- beside Daddy, of course.

"W- Wow, Boss! You really must have impressed her…" he finally chocked out after he had nodded to Emma.

"And why´s that, DiNozzo…?" Gibbs asked, slightly agitated.

"Well," Tony answered, "Somehow, you are her first word…"

XXX