**Chapter Nineteen -- Never Say Never**
**December 5, 2010**
Jack spoke up about ten minutes into their movie, breaking the silence of the empty house. "Thanks for not calling my Mama. She would've made me go to the hospital for sure."
The older man shrugged. "No big deal. I owed you one anyway."
"What for?" The boy asked, his voice quiet as he looked up at his uncle.
"For taking care of your Auntie when I couldn't. I really appreciate it."
He blushed, looking back to the TV. "I didn't do anything."
"You did. You pulled her out of that car and made sure that both her and the baby were safe. You even got a battle scar to prove it." Tony chuckled, pointing to his arm. "Thank you, Jack."
He looked away, dropping his head slightly. "'M not lookin' forward to school." He mumbled.
"Why not?" Tony laughed, nudging the boy in the side. "Can you imagine how many girls you're gonna have lined up to carry your books? Tons. Trust me."
"Really?" Jack asked, meeting his eyes again, looking unconvinced. "I don't think so. The girls at school don't like me."
"Oh, really? Well, after they find out what you did for your Auntie they will. Believe me..." He draped his arm over his nephew's shoulder, releasing a quiet sigh. "There's nothing a woman loves more than a strong, brave guy."
"Not teaching my son pick up lines, are you, DiNozzo?"
Both Tony and Jack turned at the sound of the voice to see Bradley, Britty and Abby walking in the door.
"Hey guys. Of course not! Why would I do such a thing?" He chuckled, pulling his girl down on his lap and kissing her. "Missed you. How was lunch?"
"Good." She smiled, holding up a bag. "Brought you some."
"Ah, you're the best," Tony grinned, pressing another kiss to her cheek. Resting his hand on her belly, he looked over at Jack and winked. "We were just watching a movie. Interested?"
"Of course. What are we watching?" She asked, glancing over at her nephew, wrinkling her nose when she realized his bandage had been changed. "Jackie...why'd you change your bandage?"
"He did what?" Britty asked, narrowing her eyes as she rounded the couch, grabbing her son's arm to inspect his injury. "Jack! I told you not to take the bandage off! I told you I would do it when I got back!"
"Mama..."
"Is it that hard for you to follow a simple instruction? We were only gone for a few hours, Jack!"
"B, don't pull on his arm like that!" Bradley hissed, pulling his wife's hand away. "Give him a chance to explain before you jump down his throat, huh?"
The redhead sighed, looking up at her husband and backing down slightly. "Why did you take the bandage off?" She asked, her voice tense.
"We were taking a nap and I woke up to J tossing and turning. When I checked him, I realized he had a fever, and when I woke him up, he vomited. So I called Ducky." Tony explained, nudging Abby off his lap gently and standing up.
"You called...Ducky? Why didn't you call us, Tony? He should have gone to the hospital! Did you even bother to take his temperature? Or did you just need a reason to call your ME buddy for some chit chat?" She exclaimed, losing control of her voice.
"Brittany..." Bradley growled quietly, his eyes narrowing when she brushed him off.
"No! So, what did he tell you? Probably to take *my* son to the hospital, right? And let me guess, you didn't listen. You really are a stubborn ass, Tony. I can't believe I let you talk me into leaving my son here with you!"
"Britty, please." Abby pleaded, starting to stand up when Tony shook his head. "He didn't do anything that would compromise Jackie's health, I'm sure of it. Right T?"
He stepped forward, making eye contact with the younger woman. "His arm's infected, Britty. Ducky told me how to clean it and re-bandage it, so that's what I did. He also faxed me a prescription for some antibiotics for him, I was just waiting for you guys to get back so that I can go get it filled."
"Yeah well, you'll have to forgive me if I'm not crazy about you playing doctor with my kid. Jesus, Bradley! I told you I didn't want to leave him alone with Jack!"
"Britty..." Bradley growled again.
She paid no attention to her husband as she turned to her best friend, her eyes narrowed at her. "And truthfully, I don't know what the hell you were thinking. If you want to let him fuck up your child, that's on you, but he's not to be left alone with my son again."
The Italian flinched visibly at the redhead's harsh words. Almost immediately, Britty realized what she said and her eyes widened in embarrassment. "I'm...I didn't..."
"Upstairs." Bradley growled, gripping his wife's arm roughly. "Now."
Abby watched in a stunned silence as her friend hurried from the room, a quiet sob escaping her as she reached the stairs. Turning back to Tony, she reached for him, tears filling her eyes when he jerked back.
"I'm...I'm gonna go, okay?" Leaning over, he pressed a gentle kiss to his girl's forehead before he pulled away, turning back to the little boy on the couch. "Sorry I got you in trouble, buddy."
"You're not going anywhere," Bradley decided, narrowing his eyes at the Italian as if daring him to argue. Once he was convinced that the younger man wasn't going to try to leave the house, he headed up the stairs to the Master bedroom.
As he approached the door, he could hear his wife's pained sobs coming from inside, only serving to make him more upset with her. After the stunt she pulled in the living room by overreacting about their son, he didn't know if he was going to be able to control his temper. Pushing open the bedroom door, he stepped inside and closed it behind him, crossing his arms over his chest.
"B." He said, his voice short. He watched as she pushed herself off the bed and made her way across the room quickly, her arms open for a hug.
"I'm so so sorry. I..." She stopped when her husband raised his hand, signaling for her to be quiet.
"What the fuck were you thinking?" He asked, already losing the battle to control his voice. "You embarrassed the hell out of me down there, Britty. In front of my sister no less!"
She hung her head, sobbing quietly as Bradley began pacing the room. "Bradley, I..."
"Stop!" He roared, turning on her. He walked toward her until she was backed against the wall, shrinking away from him. He pulled back and ran a hand through his hair, frowning. "Just...stop. You had no right to say those things to Abby. Especially not with Tony in the room."
The redhead nodded silently, remaining against the wall as her husband sat in an armchair.
"Damn, B. I hope you're not this overbearing and bitchy for the rest of your pregnancy. I can't take it."
Her head snapped up, tears streaking her cheeks as they fell from her eyes. "I...I'll try not to be." She whispered.
Bradley stood up and crossed the room again, opening the bedroom door. "Don't just try, Britty. You gotta do more than that. I'm goin' back downstairs. If you can stop bein' a bitch to our guests and our son, then you can join us."
**Later That Night -- 1900 Hours**
"T?" Abby asked, her voice hardly above a whisper as she walked into the kitchen.
He had been avoiding everyone since Britty's tirade earlier, letting what she had said get under his skin. He poured himself another shot, ignoring the Goth as he let the liquid burn his throat.
"Tony...please." She begged, peeling the shot glass out of his hand as he leaned against the counter. "Talk to me."
"Nothin' to talk about. She's right. I'm a class A fuckup."
"No, you're not." Bradley said, entering the kitchen carrying a few bags of Chinese food. "Look...don't let what she said get to you, Tony."
He scoffed. "Easier said than done." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to his girl's forehead before putting some distance between them. "I know I'm not gonna be a good father."
"Don't say that!" The raven haired woman cried, tears forming in her eyes again. "Don't you dare even think that." Approaching him, she put her hand against his cheek gently. "You're gonna be a great daddy, because you know what makes a bad one."
He was silent, pulling away from her again. His chest tightened uncomfortably when she sobbed and left the kitchen, making her way to the bathroom. Sighing heavily, he ran a hand through his hair.
"What are you doin', man?" Bradley asked, looking pointedly at the younger man as he pulled some paper plates out of the cabinet. When he remained quiet, the sandy haired man set the plates aside and leaned on the counter next to him. "You haven't had a drink since you've been here...don't prove Britty right by fucking it all up now." He pointed toward the bathroom. "That woman loves you, and I can tell by the way you look at her you feel the same. Don't push her away because of what B said."
"You think that this is all because of what Britty said earlier?" Tony scoffed again. "I've been second guessing myself this whole time, Bradley. Wondering if maybe Abby would have been better off if I had left her alone. I have no idea what makes for a happy childhood...I have no reason to believe I'll be a good father."
"Abby has faith in you. Isn't that enough?"
He looked at his feet, contemplating the question. "I don't know."
The older man sighed. "You know..." He started, moving back to the opposite counter to dish up the food. "Our parents were big into church and all that. I never really understood the point, but Abby took to it like a fish to water. After they died, things switched a little bit. I found a reason to believe, but Abby..." He paused, looking over at Tony, who was listening intently. "Abby was angry. She didn't understand why God would them away from us. It took her a long time to come back around after that."
"I've heard all this before." The brunette said, cutting Bradley off before he could say any more.
"Oh, good. 'Cause it's not really a story I like telling. You've heard it, so you know what she went through. You should also know how much it means for her to have faith in something. It's not something she takes lightly."
"I know, okay? I know! I...I just think that sometimes she's lookin' through the rose-colored glasses, you know? Like...she's only seeing the parts of me she wants to see. The parts that make me who she wants me to be. She doesn't see the rest."
Bradley laughed. "You think she overlooks your flaws? Really?" He shook his head and poured some soda for himself and Jack. "Sounds to me like you two need to have a serious talk. Because you're the one lookin' through the rose-colored glasses if you think she doesn't know *exactly* what she's gettin' into with you."
He picked up the plates for himself and Jack and walked out of the kitchen without another word to the younger man. "Abby! Dinner!" He called, pausing in front of the bathroom door on his way to the dining room.
Tony heard the bathroom door open quietly a few minutes later, and Abby stepped out, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of the hoodie she was wearing. He watched as she made her way into the dining room without a single glance in his direction.
Tony hesitated for a moment before he followed after his girl, his shoulders slumped sadly. Taking his seat beside her, he reached for her hand, pleased when she didn't pull away immediately. "I'm sorry baby." He mumbled, linking their fingers. "I'm so sorry."
She pulled her hand away from his, refusing to look in his direction. "I'm not hungry." She muttered, dropping her green eyes to the plate in front of her.
"Well that's just too bad." Bradley informed her, cocking an eyebrow in her direction as he helped his son to his chair. "You need to eat for the baby."
"Baby's not hungry either." She growled, crossing her arms over her chest.
Releasing a quiet sigh, it was all Tony could do to keep from getting up and bolting out of the house. He'd caused more than enough trouble for one day and the last thing he wanted was for Abby to go without dinner because she couldn't stand to be in the room with him.
"Maybe I should just..."
"No. No one's goin' anywhere. We're all gonna sit here and have a nice dinner."
"Where's Mama?" Jack asked after a moment, frowning when his father started handing out their plates. "Isn't she comin' down to eat?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"She's not feelin' well."
Abby snorted, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I'll bet she's not." The Goth muttered, frowning at the way Jack shifted uncomfortable in his seat at the irritation in his aunt's voice. "I'm sorry, Jackie."
"Shouldn't someone see if she's feelin' better? She might be hungry."
"She's not." Bradley growled. "Drop it."
"I'll go." The Goth offered, pushing herself up from the hard chair slowly.
"Abby, sit. You're eating."
She narrowed her eyes at her brother as she walked out of the room and up the stairs, despite his order. He sighed, dropping into his chair heavily. "That damn girl..." He mumbled, looking across the table at Tony and Jack. "Well? Eat up."
**Upstairs**
Abby paused outside the door to the Master bedroom and took a deep breath before entering. She had been waiting to talk to her best friend all day, hoping that the anger she had been feeling about the argument earlier would subside, but with no luck.
Pushing the door open, she finally felt the pent up frustration leave her body as she saw her friend curled up on the king sized bed, her body shaking with sobs.
"Oh, Britty..." She cried, hurrying over to the bed and sitting next to her, pulling the redhead into her lap as much as possible. "Oh...I'm so sorry..."
"N...no..." The slightly older woman hiccuped, feeling her tears soaking the Goth's shirt. "'M sorry...I...I shouldn't have...tell Tony I'm sorry?"
Abby was silent, unsure of what to say to her friend. "I...you should tell him yourself, B. It'll mean more coming from you than it will from me."
The redhead nodded, sniffling quietly. "I *am* sorry, Abby. I...I've got a lot on my plate right now."
"I know the whole thing with Jack is hard, but Tony really was only trying to help. He wouldn't have done it if there was any chance that he would hurt him, you know that."
"It's not just the thing with Jack and Tony. I mean...that's part of it, but..." She paused, sitting up against the headboard and taking a deep breath. "I'm pregnant, Abby."
"Congratulations!" She cried, hugging the redhead tightly. "Oh...I've been wondering when it would happen for you two! I'm so happy for you!"
Britty disentangled herself from the raven haired woman and pushed herself off the bed, walking over toward the window.
"B?" Abby asked hesitantly, seeing her friend's shoulders slumped sadly. "Oh, no. Don't tell me..."
She simply nodded, not turning back to face her friend. "He...I don't know what I'm gonna do. I have an appointment on Friday to see what options I have."
The Goth moved off the bed carefully, walking over to where her friend was standing and hugging her tightly. "Bradley doesn't want that, B...you know that."
"He doesn't want this baby, Abby. We've done nothing but fight about it since we found out...I don't have a choice if I wanna salvage what we have." She paused, reaching up to wipe her tears away as Abby's arms tightened around her. "He blames me. I know he does."
"No...he loves you, Britty. You two have been together since...forever."
"What does that have to do with anything? He doesn't want another baby. I...I'm not entirely sure he ever wanted Jack."
The raven haired woman released her friend, a deep frown on her face. "Don't you dare say something like that! Bradley loves Jack with every fiber of his being!"
"I know he does." She sighed, pulling away from her friend. "But you know as well as I do that he probably wasn't happy about it initially. He's never been much of a 'kid' person, you know?"
Abby nodded sadly. If there was one thing that she knew about her brother, it was that he had an inability to control his emotions, especially anger. "When did you guys find out?"
"The morning of the accident. I woke up and puked, Bradley took me to the doctor...that's why we asked you to pick Jack up from practice...I'm so sorry, Abs."
"No, no. You didn't do anything wrong, okay? You couldn't have known that we would get into a car accident." She sighed quietly, looking her sullen friend over closely. "Want me to bring you up some dinner?"
The redhead shook her head. "No. You go eat though. That baby needs all the strength it can get." She said, forcing a smile for her younger friend. "I don't feel very good anyway. I doubt I should be eating Chinese."
"Okay." The Goth agreed, leaving the room and closing the door behind her quietly.
As she walked down the stairs, she caught sight of Bradley walking into his study that was just off the formal living room. She followed him quietly, and once she was inside the room with him, she spoke.
"How dare you."
"How dare I what?" He asked, turning to face her with a confused look on her face.
She stepped forward and slapped him as hard as she could across his face, making him jerk backward. "What the fuck, Abby?"
"You seriously didn't think she'd tell me?" She yelled, pushing his shoulder with her hand.
Bradley grabbed her wrists gently. "What are you talking about?"
"I can't believe you, Bradley. Even after all these years...you know she's thinking about an abortion?"
His eyes widened slightly as he looked down at her, releasing her wrists. "She...what? I didn't...I never said for her to do that!"
"You may not have, but did you even think for one second about the way your reaction was gonna affect her? She told me you've been fighting non-stop since you found out."
"I...we haven't had time to sit down and discuss it, with the accident and everything! It all happened at once!"
Abby scoffed, planting her hands on her hips. "So that's the best excuse you could come up with? Are you forgetting I know what you did to her senior year when you guys thought she was pregnant?"
Her brother turned away from her, his eyes darkening. "I thought we agreed we weren't gonna bring that up again."
"We did. But with you being just as pigheaded and stupid as you were then, I don't see how it can be avoided!" She sighed and plopped down in his recliner, staring at his back. "You know, you were ready to fly to DC and kill Tony in his sleep when I told you I what happened. And yet here you are, putting *your wife* through this for the second time!" She snorted loudly. "I thought you loved her."
"I do love her!" He growled, turning around and walking over to where she was sitting. Placing his hands on the arms of the chair, he leaned down and got in her face, his eyes softening slightly. "I love her more than anything. Her *and* Jack. I just..." He pushed away again, sitting on the table in front of the recliner. "I don't know that we can handle starting over."
"Look...I know that Jackie wasn't an easy baby, but you guys got through it. And you can do it again. If...Bradley, if you're having doubts, you need to talk to her. Don't guilt trip her...it's not her fault."
Bradley rolled his eyes. "Don't start the whole fate argument with me, Abby. I can't handle it right now."
"If there was ever a time for it, it's now, BB. Why else do you think that you two would suddenly get pregnant again after 12 years? I know that you guys weren't trying to, that much is clear." She sighed again, pushing herself out of the chair. "You know...you're too much like Dad. Mama could never get through to him either."
The older man closed his eyes at her words, and when he opened them a moment later, she was gone, closing the door behind her with a quiet click. Taking a deep breath, it was everything he could do to not put a hole in the wall.
He sat in the quiet room for a while longer, not really paying attention to how much time was passing. Glancing at the clock, he realized it was almost midnight and stood up, deciding to go to bed. He considered using the second spare bedroom for a moment, until he went over his sister's words again in his head. He knew he was going to have to talk to Britty eventually, and sooner was always better than later.
Heading upstairs, he pushed open their bedroom door quietly and was surprised to see his wife sitting on the window bench, curled up with a blanket and staring out the window. Even without the lights on, he could see that her eyes were puffy from crying, and as he stepped closer, he could hear her ragged sobs.
"Britty?" He whispered, taking another step toward her. "Baby...it's me."
"I know. Abby and Tony went to bed hours ago."
Running a hand over his face, he sat down on the window bench, leaning against the opposite wall. "C'mere." He offered his hand to her, smiling sadly when she took it and allowed him to pull her into his arms.
He could feel her relaxing against his chest, curled up in the fetal position. "I'm sorry, Britty. I..."
"Stop."
"Stop? Why? I'm trying to tell you I'm sorry. I was an ass..."
She pressed a finger to his lips, turning around and kneeling in front of him on the bench. "She told you." Britty groaned, dropping her head back. "I'll kill her."
"She was right to tell me, B. You were considering it? Honestly?"
"Don't get all high and mighty with me, Sciuto. What are my options? Huh? Either the baby goes or you do? What kind of decision is that for me to make? Of course I'm choosing you. I'll always choose you."
Bradley ran a hand through his hair, realizing what he had unintentionally done. "Britty...I never wanted you to feel like that was the way this was going to end. I...I'm just not sure that we're ready for this."
"And you think that I'm 100% confident? No, I'm not. But I know that we can love this baby."
He reached out and pulled her back into his arms, wrapping himself around her tightly. They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither one knowing what to say to the other, when he heard her quiet sniffling against his shirt.
"Baby...I'm so sorry."
Not trusting her voice, the redhead simply nodded, silently accepting his apology even though both of them knew that she shouldn't have.
"I..." Bradley started, closing his eyes briefly, trying to sort his thoughts. "I never meant to make you think that you had to choose. I'm sorry I put you in that position. I love you more than anything else in this world, and nothing..." He tipped her chin up and kissed her gently. "Nothing can break us. Okay?"
The woman nodded weakly, crushing herself against his chest again as she began sobbing. His chest ached at the sound of her cries, knowing that he was part of the reason for them. Running his hands over her back, he shushed her, rocking their bodies back and forth on the small bench.
"I'm here, B. I'm here and I'm not goin' anywhere."
Chapter End Notes:
"Never Say Never" by The Fray