One Year Later
Gibbs stood in the kitchen, smiling down at the chocolate cake he had made that morning. He carefully wrote with pink sugar icing on it and then pushed one candle into the cake before he carried it into the living room, where Tony, McGee, Abby, Ducky, Ziva, Palmer and Jackson were awaiting him. Grace sat on Tony's lap and started to laughed in joy as she saw the cake. "She really has your sweet tooth." Gibbs said smiling as he put down the cake.
"Well, she's definitely has your smile," Tony told him. "Now everybody, sing!" They all started to sing happy birthday to Grace, who smiled, giggled and clapped as they sang. "Gracie, blow the candle out, Daddy and Papa will help you," Tony told his daughter.
Gibbs helped Tony to hold her up and she more blew raspberries at the cake and Tony Gibbs blew out the candle. "Yay, you made it!" Gibbs said and kissed her on the cheek. "I hope you made a great wish!"
"Stay right like that!" Abby said, brandishing a camera. "I know you'll want one for the album before she demolishes that cake and ruins her dress." They all stayed close together and Abby clicked the camera, capturing forever Grace Kelly Gibbs' first birthday with her two fathers.
Four Years Later
"C'mon, honey, smile for Papa." Gibbs almost begged but the little girl with the dark brown, curly hair just shook her head. "You're right, she has my smile, it's mostly hidden." Gibbs said to Tony. "Honey, why don't you wanna smile?" He tried again but the four year old just started to pout. He sighed and looked at Tony for help.
"Tell Daddy why you don't want to smile," Tony said, pulling Grace into a hug. "You don't want to go to kindergarten?"
"I wanna go back to day care," Grace said, pouting.
Tony looked from his daughter to his partner.
Gibbs knelt down. "Why would you want to go back to day care? I thought you want to learn and study?" He said softly.
"But all my friends are there." She pouted a little more.
"You'll make new friends," Tony promised. "Now, smile for Papa."
"What if I don't make any friends?"
"You are the cutest, sweetest and funniest four year old I have ever met. Why would anyone not want to be your friend?" Gibbs asked and stroke through her hair. A little smile finally broke through. "So, can Papa take a picture for your album now?"
"Okay, Papa," Grace said, smiling as Gibbs took her picture.
"I can't believe our little girl is starting school," Tony added, checking the picture on the display.
Gibbs sighed deeply. "Yeah. In a few years she'll start college and then she'll be gone." He joked. "She really is growing up way too fast." He said with another sigh.
"Right, Honey, you ready to go to school?" Tony asked Grace. She nodded and they all got in the car, heading off to drop Grace at Kindergarten. Another momentous occasion over.
Six Years Later
Tony was doing an internet search when Gibbs' phone rang, he wasn't at his desk so it went to voice mail, but just after it stopped ringing, his own started to ring and he immediately thought of Grace. "DiNozzo," he said, answering the phone.
"Is this Grace's father?"
"Yes."
"I'm afraid Grace had an accident, she'd been taken to emergency at Bethesda."
"I'll grab my partner and be on my way."
He jumped out of his chair and rushed down the stairs to Abby's lab where Gibbs was. Once he was there, he interrupted Abby "I'm sorry, Abs, this is more important."
"What could be more important that what I've found?"
"It's Grace, she's had an accident and she's at Bethesda emergency," he told Gibbs.
"What?" Gibbs exclaimed. "Is she alright? What happened?" He already hurried Tony out of the lab and into the elevator.
"I don't know, they just told me she'd been taken to emergency. I assume she's fallen or something," he told Gibbs as they hurried out of the building towards the sedan. Gibbs got into the drivers seat and barely waited for Tony to climb into the passenger side before speeding off.
Gibbs raced through the streets and finally reached Bethesda, parking the car with squeaking tires. He rushed out of the car, into the hospital, only coming to a halt when he reached the front desk. "I'm Leroy Jethro Gibbs. We were called because of our daughter Grace Kelly Gibbs."
"Okay sir, if you take a seat, I'll just find out her condition," the receptionist said.
Gibbs looked like he was about to strangle her so Tony stepped in, "she's six, she's our daughter and we don't know what happened, so please, just let us go and see her," he pleaded.
"Sirs, you'll have to wait," she said again.
Gibbs gritted his teeth, but sat down finally.
Tony paced, and was rewarded for being up by the receptionist beckoning for him to come over. "Grace Gibbs was brought in an hour ago, she's in x-ray right now but you can go back through when she gets back."
"What happened?" Tony asked, when Gibbs joined him.
"As far as I can tell she fell over at school and hurt her arm, I'm sure she'll be okay."
Gibbs let out a breath. "By the way, next time you call the parents of a six year old, you might want to tell them at least a little bit of what happened! She could have been hit by a car or something!" He said annoyed.
"I'm sorry about that sir, I wasn't the one who made the call, I'll call back now and see if you can meet her in x-ray," she said, picking up the phone. They waited for a few minutes and then she nodded and hung up the phone.
"You can go back now," she told them, pressing the buzzers to open the doors to the ER. Tony and Gibbs rushed back and headed to the main area to find where Grace was when Tony heard,
"Daddy!" Grace called out. "I broke my wrist!"
Gibbs came to Grace a moment after Tony and therefore had to wait to hug her. "What happened, sweety?"
"Brian pushed me in recess and I fell," Grace told them.
"Are you her fathers?" the doctor asked.
"No, we're just two men that like to hang out around the ER. Of course we're her fathers!" Gibbs barked.
"What's wrong with her?" Tony asked, ignoring Gibbs' bad mood, though he didn't blame him.
"She broke her wrist when she landed, we were about to put a cast on it. Grace was about to choose a colour," he explained.
"What colour do you want, Gracie?" Tony asked her, "Does it hurt much?"
She shook her head and shrugged a little at the same time. "Hurts a little..." Then she looked at the doctor. "I think I want blue."
"Cool, let's get you all plastered up," Tony said, helping her down from the gurney and following the doctor. Gibbs held back and Tony had to call him to get him to join them. "We were worried, Gracie, they didn't tell us why you were taken to the hospital and we came straight from work and Auntie Abby is probably worrying herself stupid right now," Tony told his daughter.
"I didn't want you to worry, Daddy..." Grace said sadly.
"It's ok, Gracy, we're not mad at you." Gibbs promised.
Later when they were at home, Abby, who had come round to check on Grace, took a photo of the three of them, with Grace and her blue plaster. Another snapshot of her life captured forever.
Fifteen Years Later
Gibbs paced the living room up and down, glaring at the clock on the wall now and then. "He's late." He finally told Tony the moment it was one minute after 5 pm.
"Give the poor boy a chance," Tony replied.
"He's about to take out my little princess." Gibbs told Tony seriously. "The boy never had a chance."
"Well, can we pretend for Grace's sake that he did?" Tony half-whispered as the girl in question appeared in the doorway.
"What you think, Dad, Pa?" she asked, twirling in her dress.
Gibbs took a deep breath as he looked at his little girl, who wasn't as little anymore. "You look absolutely beautiful." He said stunned.
There was a knock at the door and Tony opened it, "Good evening, sir," Brian said, holding his hand out for Tony to shake.
"You better come in, Brian," Tony said, taking his hand. This poor boy was about to get ripped to shreds by Gibbs and from the look on his face, he knew it.
"Aren't you the boy who broke Gracy's wrist?" He asked frowning and crossing his arms over his chest.
"It was an accident," Brian said, sweating.
"Pa, that was years ago, we were six, leave the boy be," Grace said, ignoring the look her father was giving her.
"Before you go, I think Pa has some ground rules he wants to go over with your date and I want a photo," Tony said.
Gibbs nodded. "No drinking, no drugs, no smoking, you two don't go anywhere you're not allowed to, nor do you go to that hill teenagers sit around in their car kissing. And you're home by midnight." He told them, giving Brian an extra hard look. "And you better take good care of her."
"Yes, sir, of course, sir," Brian replied, taking Grace's hand.
"See you later, Pa, Dad," she said, blowing them both a kiss.
"Wait, before you go, I want a photo," Tony said, brandishing the camera. Brian and Grace posed and Tony took a picture. They left and Grace was off on her first date.
Eighteen Years Later
Gibbs sat in the audience, among hundreds of parents, with Tony by his side. Abby and McGee, were there, of course, to see the big day of their goddaughter. This was it, then. Their little girl had finished high school and would soon start college.
Tony reached for Gibbs' hand and squeezed it tightly as the announcer came close to calling Grace's name. Finally, the moment arrived. "Grace Kelly Gibbs," the announcer called and their daughter walked onto the stage. Tony leaned over to Gibbs and whispered, "can you believe she's eighteen now?"
Gibbs smiled slightly. "For me she'll always be that little pink baby, Tony." He shook his head slowly. "If anyone told me twenty years ago that you and me actually managed to raise a girl to be a smart and altogether great person, I'd have laughed at them."
"It'd be them laughing now," Tony replied. "I can't believe we actually did it, you know?"
Abby and McGee took a picture just a Grace was handed her diploma. "That'll be one for the album," Abby said, sitting back down after cheering for Grace as she crossed the stage.
"Sure will be," Tony said, thoughtfully.
After the official graduation was over they all gathered in Gibbs' garden to celebrate Grace's graduation. After three years of constant dating Gibbs even warmed up to Brian and - although he was as protective of Grace as a father could be - he and Tony actually allowed them to move in together in college.
After the all had dinner, Gibbs stood. "Gracie, you know how much Tony and I love you and we will miss you much more than you will miss us, but, still I have a little present for you, so you don't forget us." He took a thick folder and handed it to Grace. She frowned and opened it, seeing that it contained the same pictures that were in the album that stood in the living room. "Pa, you made copies of all the pictures?" She asked skimming through it. Pictures of her first ultra sound, her first birthday, her first broken bone - with x-rays, her first date with Brian, the first time she held Abby and Tim's baby and many more.
"That's so sweet, Pa." She smiled widely and gave him a tight hug, and then hugged Tony, too.
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