Take My Hand
At the conclusion, Leon Vance stood and moved towards the edge of the aisle. Raising his eyebrows, he pointed to both Tim and Tony. "Agents McGee and Dinozzo, please accompany Ms. Scuito and Agent Gibbs to the front of the room."
Abby bounced as she followed the order, clearly excited, and Tim appeared just as enlivened. In contrast, Jethro's face remained impassive- its usual look, while Tony trailed behind, not sure why the Director had summoned him.
Gibbs motioned the younger three to make a line before him, then pointed at Tim to take his place at the video controls. Inclining his head, he waited with a small grin as Abby curtsied at the audience, who laughed at her theatrics, then danced up the steps toward the door and the light controls. She made an adjustment, and light flooded the room.
Gibbs reached out and placed his left hand on Tony's shoulder, then tapped him under the chin. "Tony, over two years ago you made a decision that changed your life forever, and saved the life of a little boy in the process."
Leaning his head back, Tony whispered, "Bond, you mean Bond, Boss."
"Yes," Jethro agreed. "Not only did you fight for him, but you refused to turn him loose until you could assure yourself that he would have a lifetime of love."
Tony pursed his lips, emotion beginning to affect him.
He had met little Bond, whose real name was Silas, when the child's father blew their house to smithereens. The child, just shy of eighteen months, latched onto Tony.
Taking the baby to the home he shared with Jethro and Abby, Tony and Silas spent the next couple of months together. Not willing to have the toddler experience a moment of fear or a hint of rejection, Tony, whose own childhood had lacked security and affection, showered the baby with love and reassurance.
Though he had inadvertently nicknamed the curly blond cherub James Bond, after a favorite book and movie character, Silas had insisted upon referring to Tony by the same name.
Cute as the dual name was, it highlighted the child's need for attachment.
So, it nearly broke Tony's heart when he made the decision to turn the little one over to his maternal aunt, Marissa Kaden, who served in the military. He did so because of the reality that the unselfish side of him wanted, more than anything, to know that his boy would have a childhood experienced through love, happiness, family, and security.
"Hey," Gibbs commanded, breaking into his protégé's reverie. "Pay attention."
Tony regarded him sheepishly. "Got it, Boss-"
Turning, he regarded the others in the room.
"Even though you Skype and video chat with Bond, and Marissa sends pictures and updates, it does not ease the longing," Jimmy Palmer added. "We know that."
Rubbing his glasses on the sleeve of his shirt, Ducky observed, "Obviously you will one day have vacation time available which coincides with Marissa's schedule. As it stands now, you have spent over two years missing that boy."
"Because we are well aware of your appreciation of John Lennon, Tony," Abby shared with him, "we all got together with Timmy to create something for you to give you an extra special Christmas present this year."
"Nothing can substitute for the real thing, but see if this helps," Tim advised, pointing at MTAC's tremendous screen.
Jackson reminded everyone, "Immediately following we will enjoy It's A Wonderful Life, so stay put."
After planting Tony right in front of the huge screen and ordering him to remain there, Gibbs left and took a position leaning against the wall on the opposite side from Tim, who operated the video controls.
Abby dimmed the lights to a soft glow, and the audience settled in for the presentation.
With a burst of pixels, a picture of Tony holding Bond filled the enormous screen. Bond, dressed in fireman pajamas, lay against Tony's chest, Tony's arm thrown protectively over him. Tony lay back in the chair, his feet resting upon an ottoman.
The two slept soundly.
The first syllables of John Lennon's Beautiful Boy began to play and the notes visibly shook Tony. He did not take his eyes off of the collage of pictures in front of him as they paraded past, while he drank in the memories, and witnessed the hints of Bond's new life.
Lennon sang about bedtime prayers while a frame of Tony and Silas appeared, Tony's large hands covering the little boy's tiny ones as they knelt by the bed for the nightly sacrament.
There were shots of Tony and Bond as they once were together, of Bond with various members of the NCIS family, and pictures of Bond as he celebrated birthdays and Christmases estranged from Tony and with Marissa.
Lennon sang of his impatience to see his son mature into an adult. Tony understood, his own hopes and dreams for Silas always in the forefront of his own thoughts.
Before the first stanza of the song finished playing, the listeners began to harmonize with their voices.
Already astonished with the incredible gift presented on the screen, Tony turned yet again to regard them, overwhelmed at their compassion. Then once more, he focused upon the screen.
Every time John Lennon led the MTAC audience into the song's poignant chorus, the audience looked up and focused upon shots Tim had included of Tony and Bond together.
NCIS Senior Field Agent Anthony Dinozzo joined his friends and sang, his voice meshing with all of the others in the room as the words Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful- beautiful boy flowed through MTAC.
As the lyrics progressed, the video followed suit with one scene after another filling the screen.
When the song's conclusion approached, however, Tony thrust his hands in his pockets and stopped singing, too emotional to continue. Instead, he clenched his jaw and watched as his little Bond placed a black hat on a fat snowman, then stood front and center as an angel at a church Nativity play.
The final image featured Bond, grinning delightedly, with his arms stretched above his head. The child waved a photo of Tony and him snapped the last day he had spent in Washington before leaving with his aunt.
Mesmerized at the child's sheer joy and with the love that tightened around his heart at his Bond, it took Tony a couple of seconds to realize that not only had the voices in the MTAC room gotten softer, but they had modified the chorus to sing, "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful- beautiful Bond!"
Pivoting to thank them, he froze mid motion. There, on the top step by the entrance to MTAC, stood his little Bond, flanked by Marissa and Abby.
His emotions and intellect leapt to make sense of the scene in front of him, and suddenly he understood that his family had been determined to give him his boy for Christmas.
They knew what mattered to him.
Now, he could not deny that they cared deeply and wanted to demonstrate their love.
It had taken them all detailed planning and united subterfuge to bring Marissa and Bond to D.C. for Christmas.
They had worked as a team for him, with him as their focal point.
Tony started hurrying towards the stairs.
Then, not taking his eyes off of the child, he paused, knelt down, and held out his arms.
"Come here to me…."
"Bond- James Bond!" Silas finished for him with glee, and shaking Abby's hand loose, he ran down the steps and into Tony's arms.