I'm Gonna Be a Dad

Tim calls Tony after finding out that he and Delilah are having twins. (For Elizabeth libs1709)

Tony checked his incoming text messages; it wasn't unusual for him to have a text from Tim, but three in less than ten minutes WAS odd. He swiped the screen to read the messages.

'Are you free to talk?'

'As in right now?'

'Need to talk ASAP'

He quickly checked that Tali was still asleep and didn't need anything before moving to his bedroom with the laptop computer. He sent a reply text, 'Available now, if you need. Skype okay'

Not three minutes later, the incoming call tone on Skype sounded in his headphones. He answered the video call to see a rather odd sight. Tim was still in the squad room at NCIS; he looked as though he'd been mainlining Abby's Caf-POW!

"Hey, Tim; what's up?" Tony tried to play it as usual for their video calls.

"Tony! I'm gonna be a dad!" Tim had a deer-in-the-headlights look that almost made Tony laugh.

Tony had to suppress a smirk; Tim had already told him this news. "Um, Probie, you told me that months ago. Before Paraguay…"

"No, Tony, I'm gonna be a DAD!"

"Yeah, I know you and Delilah are expecting a little McTiny soon."

"No, Tony. I'M GONNA BE A DAD!" Tim was slightly frantic at this point; apparently something had changed, but Tony had no clue as to what had messed with Tim's head.

"Okay, Tim; take a deep breath," Tony watched as the younger man inhaled deeply. "Now, slowly let it out." Tim exhaled through his mouth. "Again." Tim did as told by his friend. He stared at the screen, and shook his head to clear it as Tony watched, trying not to laugh at the poor Probie.

"Now; what is it that has your head all crazy?" Tony asked gently, as though he were coaxing a reticent child. He had plenty of practice with that, given that Tali had inherited a stubborn streak a mile wide from both of her parents.

"Tony, I…" Tim took another deep breath. "Dee had to have an ultrasound…"

"Problems?" Tony hoped that the pregnancy was going smoothly, but given Delilah's spinal injuries, there could be complications.

"Not really," Tim sighed. "More like there's TWO of them!"

Tony was confused, "Two of what?"

"TWO BABIES!" Tim ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "There are two babies, Tony!"

"Whoa; McTwins! Did you find out genders?" Tony remembered Tim saying that he and Dee had argued about learning the gender of their baby, but he couldn't remember who wanted to know and who didn't.

"Yep; a boy and a girl. Tony, I'm gonna be a dad to TWO babies. How am I going to do this?"

"First of all, breathe, ProbieDaddy. You got this; it just takes practice. Second, as far as infants, I'm not really the one to be giving advice. I got mine a bit later than that…"

"But two of them, Tony! How are we going to deal with two of them?" Tim was worrying over things to come.

Tony grinned, "Timmy, remember that you are not the only one. You have Delilah, who is doing all the hard work right now, by the way. So you get two of everything; then you figure out how you are going to fit two kids in that apartment. You also gotta talk with your wife; she's the partner here. You two have to do it together..." He trailed off, as if in thought. Tim could see a slightly pained look in his best friend's eyes, even over the video chat.

"Yeah, I guess. What if I screw it up?"

"Probie, stop overthinking this. Parenting is probably the only thing that doesn't come with a manual, but you learn as you go. You got me, you got the Gremlin, you even got Gibbs. Gremlin was a huge help to me that first month or so," Tony added.

"Yeah, I can do this," Tim grinned. "But you better be ready for lots of texts and calls, just in case."

Tony gave a thumbs' up, "On your six, bro; on your six!"

Tim grinned back, "Hey, I need to get home to my wife; thanks, Tony." And my two babies to be… he thought with a smile.