I own nothing just so you know.

NCIS

"Sir….I mean Gibbs…I mean… Boss! Over here!" Keating stuttered out, after opening the door to the interrogation room unintentionally breaking one of Gibbs' ever-encompassing rules: interrupting an interrogation.

If it wasn't for the fact that he had gotten absolutely nothing out of the mouth of the fourteen year old girl that still seemed to be in shock.

The cops had come to the girls' house to find the girl holding a bat. Her step-father, a petty officer, lay dead in front of her gripping a golf club that had been used to beat the girl's mother to death.

They knew little about her, but all they needed was her story. No one would convict a kid for protecting their mother the only way they knew how.

Her name was Alexis Tonia Coffman. She had not said a word since she was found.

"Boss, you're never going to believe this." Keating continued, but Gibbs just glared at him. "The birth certificate names her father."

"You pulled me out of an interrogation for the name of her father, Keating?" Aggravation was clear in his voice, and Gibbs was now realizing just how much he missed his team. These three just didn't cut it.

"Just look." Langer said, backing up the genius.

Gibbs snatched the birth certificate determined to see just what had these two 'up in arms'.

He looked to the line that said father, simply to appease them, but stopped short at the name.

Anthony DiNozzo.

Gibbs turned around and marched straight into the interrogation room.

"I need to know who to call to come get you." Gibbs said, hoping to figure out what was going on here, "Should I call your father?"

"Father?" she whispered, "It's always been me and mom. Michael hurt mom. I'm alone now."

"So you don't know Anthony DiNozzo?"

Lexi's eyes jumped up, but she was in too much shock to make the connection between the name and her father, "That's the name. Mom always said if something ever came up to find DiNozzo. Tony DiNozzo I think. Mom said I could trust him."

"DiNozzo is a friend of mine, and your mom is right. He can be trusted, and he'd tell you to trust me too. Can you tell me what happened?"

"She was lying on the floor and not moving, but he was still swinging that club at her, and I yelled stop, and he just kept swinging. I don't remember anything else, but the paramedics saying she was dead. Did I hurt Michael?"

Gibbs slowly and very gently told the girl, "Petty Officer Michael Rainer died in surgery two hours ago."

Gibbs saw the water pooling in her eyes, "I killed him? No, I just wanted him to stop hurting mom. I didn't kill him. I couldn't have killed him."

There was nothing that was going to make the girl feel better, except maybe rest. Gibbs offered his hand to the teenager, "Come on, I'm going to take you down to Abby's lab. You'll like her, and I want you to lie down and try to rest, okay?"

She just nodded and minutes later, Abby had a mini-cot set up for the kid, "Gibbs,"

"I'll tell you later Abs. Right now, I have to go to M-TAC it's important." With that, she heard the ding of an elevator before it closed.

NCIS

Anthony DiNozzo fingered the glass holding the liquor he had been drinking since right after Jenny's death. Two and a half months later, he still sat drinking, trying to forget. It didn't help the least bit that he was trapped on this ship, and everyone he cared about was somewhere that was else.

At the knock on the door to his 'office,' he once again hid the bottle before the sailor came in the door. "Is something wrong, Captain?"

"Agent Gibbs needs you to video conference him." DiNozzo basically got up and ran in hopes that Gibbs had found a way to get him back home.

"DiNozzo, pack your bags now." Tony smiled to see his boss, the first familiar face in months.

"I'm going home. You did it. I owe you Boss."

"Don't get your hopes up DiNozzo. This is about a case. I haven't been able to get more than temporary leave out of Vance yet."

"Just as long as I get to blow this pop stand, I'm not going to complain." Tony said, with a big DiNozzo smile on his face before running to pack his stuff.

The last thing he packed were the pictures of his NCIS family. It took a few seconds staring at Jenny's picture before throwing in the bag, along with the ones of Gibbs, McGee, and Abby's pictures.

Finally he pulled down the ones of Ziva from the beach that she had insisted Probie needed to burn, forgetting that Tony could keep his own copy from the camera.

With all his stuff packed, DiNozzo hopped aboard the aircraft, almost literally, ecstatic to be going home.

NCIS

Tony knew better than to enter the Naval Yard without going to see Abby first. The flight had taken several hours, and knowing Gibbs he hadn't even let Abby know he was coming yet.

At the ding of the elevator, Tony stepped out to hear music, but not the kind Abby to which usually listened, and a small voice sang along with the Avril Lavigne in a slightly off-tune voice. Tony watch for a minute before Abby noticed him standing there.

"TONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Abby nearly squealed as latched herself to her friend. "I missed you!"

"Abs…need…to… breathe…" he squeaked as he tried to take in breaths.

"Oh yeah. Gibbs got you back. Yay!!!!!!!"

Tony heard the little girl whisper, "She's like the Energizer bunny on speed…"

He chuckled to himself, "and you are?"

She stuck a hand out to shake his, "Lexi Coffman."

Abby saw his eyes widen slightly, "Do you know Madison Coffman?"

Lexi just nodded, "My mom. They still haven't let me see her."

"Mom? Maddie has a kid?" Tony nearly rasped, and if Abby didn't know any better, she would've sworn Tony looked like an arrow had been shot through his shoulder.

"You know my mom?" She quizzed him, only to receive a slow nod, before he said, "Yeah, we dated a long time ago. Tony DiNozzo. If you want to see her, I'll take you to her."

Abby noticed the slight quiver in his voice, before asking, "You have gone to see Bossman yet, have you?" At his nod, she simply said, "I'm not sure Ducky is completely done."

Tony gulped, "I'll see if Ducky is finished, you want to come with me? You'll have to wait outside until I say it is okay, but Ducky is a good friend of mine."

Lexi nodded and followed Tony; her mom had told her she could trust this man.

NCIS

So that is how I met my father, and through these last six months I have really gotten to know him. It wasn't long before I was calling him dad, and we were watching movies well into the night. I asked him about his family about a week after mom's funeral, but his response was, "The team at NCIS is my family."

Vance reinstated both dad and Uncle Tim to the team after Gibbs brought caught Agent Lee in the act of treason. Vance had even tried to get back the other teammate, Ziva David. I have been told so much about her, but her father, the Director of Mossad told the Director of NCIS that she was deep undercover.

No matter how many times they have tried, they have been unable to bring her back.

I only know what I've been told of her, but the others have quickly become a part of me.

Aunt Abby, as she had been for about three months was so cool. She is just like everything I've always imagined an older sister or aunt to be.

Uncle Tim was one of the most intelligent and caring men I had ever met. I started calling him Uncle Tim around the same time as I started calling Abby my aunt.

Gibbs stayed Gibbs, except when I really want to get his attention. So far, I have yet to ask Uncle Gibbs something without getting it. It worked better than a puppy face. Dad would never admit this aloud, but he thinks of Gibbs as a father figure in his life.

Jimmy is hard to explain. He's kind of that odd cousin that weasels his way into your heart and one day you wake up and realize that you love him just like you would an older brother. He wasn't someone that could be overlooked, even if he was really socially awkward.

Ducky is like the grandfather, probably patriarch if I understood the definition correctly when the teacher told me yesterday. He takes care of everyone, and so far spoils me almost as much as Dad, Gibbs, or Aunt Abby.

As much as I've never met Ziva, she's still somehow a part of my life. Abby bugs Vance and Gibbs about bringing her back all the time. McGee has told me so many stories of their missions and cases together. Dad barely mentions her, but I really think there's something behind that that I don't really know about.

That was when I found a piece of my dad's journal, about two months ago, and stopped wondering so much what the problem was. It was obvious. Dad still doesn't know that I know, and would probably kill me for going through his stuff.

According to the journal, he felt guilty for a couple of things. One of those was about former Director Jenny Sheppard whom I know very little about. The wounds still seem to be too recent, and I know that I don't want to talk about my mom, so I guess it makes sense.

The second was the part that dad probably didn't want me to know. On the night that Director Vance separated the team, dad had gotten really drunk with Ziva. They had also made love that night.

I don't know if Dad is in love with her, but I do know he really misses her, and prays in Italian every night for her to come back.

I have really got to go. Dad planned a movie night for us, apparently we're watching some 'cinematic masterpiece.'

Hope Dad never gets a hold of this, because I think it would be bad.

Always

Lexi