Warnings: Minor spoilers for the series. Mega fluffy/cheesy writing ahead.

A/N: In honor of casting Tony's new love interest... here's the final chapter for this story :). I decided to take the wedding out and make it a short story, probably only about four chapters. I'll begin posting that in the next couple of days! Getting pumped up for Season 12! Is it September yet?

Tony remembered that day. How broken he was when the District Attorney called and said that Emily had plead guilty. She had been desperate to keep her boyfriend in her life... much like Tony had been desperate to keep Ziva in his. The only difference was that Emily had not found someone to save her from drowning in that desperation like he had.

Leah probably would never be aware of how much she had changed him. And it was that change in him that finally made his father realize that he needed to butt out. After kicking Senior out of dinner, Tony had waited several days to call his father. He hoped that they had come to an understanding but he knew from past experiences not to get his hopes up too high. And it didn't surprise that his father was the last person to see how much Leah had saved Tony.

"What is it?" Leah asked in their favorite coffee shop the Monday before the wedding. "You… you keep looking at me with this grin."

"Just thinking about the day before I met you," Tony replied, reaching down as they waited in line to grasp her hand.

Leah was confused. Why was he thinking about the day before they met? The day before they had struck up a conversation about her purple umbrella and started a coffee house friendship that had turned into a romance—why was this on his mind now, just a few days before they got married? "Are you thinking about going back to your bachelor days?" she asked, softly, anxiously.

Tony chuckled, hoarsely. "No… definitely no. I was at Gibbs' house. I'd let myself in because… well you know the door is never locked." He looked at her seriously, searching those beautiful blue eyes that he loved so much. "I'd gone to Ohio that weekend for a reunion with my fraternity brothers. And I left early…"

She frowned. His fraternity brothers were still important to him. Two of them were in their wedding party. But she saw the pain in his eyes when he talked about this reunion. "Why?"

"I felt alone."

"Alone?"

"Everyone had someone and there I was… having suffered probably the biggest rejection of my life…" Tony explained. "It… it hurt too much to be there."

Leah gave his hand a squeeze as their coffees were placed on the counter. Tony let go of her hand and took their coffees to a nearby table. It was hard to believe that almost a year ago he'd been falling apart in Gibbs' living room. Tony wasn't sure he'd ever be able to find the words to thank his boss for picking him up and dusting him off. When he tried the former marine told him he was doing his job. But… the senior field agent was pretty certain that putting your second in command back together again after he got his heart broken was a part of the job description since it was Gibbs that did it every time.

Tony smiled at her again. And again she gave him a bit of a puzzled look. "Still thinking about the day before we met?"

"It was Gibbs that told me to change coffee places."

"Oh?"

"He pulled out this phonebook and had me look through the pages."

Leah grinned. "Those still exist?"

Tony laughed. "That's what I told him."

"Why did you pick… here?"

"Away from areas that were too painful for me. Close enough to a metro station so I could get to work."

"Gibbs is like our matchmaker!"

"Don't tell him that."

Leah leaned over the table and gave him a soft, tender kiss. "Promise I won't. Need to get going, I have a stack of papers to grade and I need to load work online for while we're away on our honeymoon. You take it easy today, cowboy, on your day off. I don't want my groom to be limping down the aisle or on crutches."

Tony stood and tossed her his best, most charming smile. He slipped his arm around her waist while walking her out of the shop to campus. "I'll do my best, bella. But… I'd have to be in a coma to not make it down the aisle. I don't care if Jimmy or McGee has to push me in a wheelchair."

"Aw… now that's a good way to start rumors."

"Let people talk. I don't care."

She opened her mouth to counter but he silenced her by kissing her, deeply, in the middle of a college campus. He loved this woman so much, his lover and best friend, his future. He wanted the whole world to know how he felt about her. When he pulled away, grinning, she let out a soft breath, "Well… everyone will be talking now."

Gibbs pulled his beat-up truck into the small cemetery and proceeded as carefully as he could to his destination. He came here as often as he could—especially when his life was derailing around him. Like after Kate's death, before going to Mexico—Harper Dearing nearly snatching away his family. When the dust settled he always found himself here.

Shutting the truck down when he got to his desired location, Gibbs grabbed the bouquet of flowers on the passenger seat and climbed out. The leaves on the trees were starting to turn brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow. Fall had always been Shannon's favorite time of year, when the summer air turned to a brisk chill. It was in the fall that he missed his girls the most. Kneeling down over the two graves, he brushed some of the fallen leaves from the stones. "Hi girls," he greeted, gently laying the flowers on top the black marble. "Been a while. I apologize. Hope you're treating Grandpa good, Kelly."

Sighing, he sat down on the ground, pulling his knees to his chest. "Work has been a struggle… another reason I haven't been around. Training a new agent… holding up the other ones… Tony was always better at holding us all together when we were falling apart. But… there was no one holding him together when he fell apart." Leaves rustled in the breeze and Gibbs looked up towards the sky. "He's a good man, Shannon. You would have loved him. Funny, charming… but broken. I know how much you liked to try and fix broken things."

He chuckled. "It's why you married me, right?" Silence, the wind was the only sound that met his question. "He thought he'd lost his Shannon, last year. He came back from Israel after chasing Ziva down devastated. I don't know how McGee and I managed to pull him back up on his feet… but two weeks ago I realized something… it wasn't Tim or I that pulled Tony from drowning in his sorrow."

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee that he'd brought along. He smirked at the gravestone with his daughter's name on it. "Kelly… you were right… true love always wins. I know you meant your Disney movies… but it was true in real life… at least for Tony it was. In fact," he continued, with a chuckle, "I didn't save him at all—not this time. His Shannon did that. She taught him that love is unconditional and powerful. She taught him that he was worth something. Lessons I have been trying to teach him for years. Should have known that it was going to be a beautiful face that would get through to Tony… actually… she's wonderful inside and out, Shannon. You girls… you girls would have liked her. Like a fiery redhead… but without the red hair. She's good to Tony—for him—so… do you think you can do me a favor?"

Above him the sun went behind some clouds, masking the grave site in shadow. "Do you think… you could make sure that his Shannon is never taken away from him too soon… like you were taken away from me?"

"Boss?" a concerned voice called out to him, startling him. Gibbs turned to see Tony and McGee standing there. "Are you okay?" the SFA asked. "Abby was worried when you didn't come into work first thing this morning. She traced your cell and sent us here."

"Had something to do," Gibbs said, getting to his feet and wiping the tears from his eyes. "You know what? Come here for a second."

Tony and McGee exchanged glances before following orders. When the two younger men reached him, he put one hand on each of their shoulders. "People I should have introduced you to a long time ago," the team leader explained, looking down at the grave markers. With a sad smile on his face he talked to Shannon and Kelly about his two agents, these men who he regarded as the sons he'd never had, like Shannon and Kelly were standing right there. And the way their boss talked about his girls, it almost felt like to Tony and Tim that they were really there, that they really did know them. When the three agents walked away from the graves fifteen minutes later the sun broke the clouds and shone brightly on three men. Gibbs smiled as the warmth hit his face.

Some might pity him for his loss, think he was sad and lonely. But the truth was far from it. He gave each of his agents a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. You're never alone when you have kids.