Tony shook his head.
“Then who?”
His sister Alexandra ran up to him and pulled him into a hug that could rival Abby’s. He picked her up and looked at her, she was younger them him by two years but didn’t look it. She had brown long wavy hair and blue eyes and people said they could have been twins.
“Hey big-brother! How was your flight?” She asked him once he put her down.
“Not too bad.” He replied as they made their way to pick up Tony’s bag. “How’s Logan?”
Alex blushed and hung her head with embarrassment. Logan had been Tony’s best friend in high school and was now dating his sister. Things had been rough for a while with Tony not sure whether to kill him or congratulate him, but he realized that he should just be happy for them and he had warned Logan of the consequences if he ever hurt Alex.
“He’s great. Did I tell you he’s living with me now?” She told him.
“Wow. Really? That’s great. When did this happen?” He asked her giving her a small hug.
She hugged him back before reaching down to grab his bag. “Recently. At graduation.” She replied shyly.
He grimaced. “Sorry about not being able to be there.”
“Yeah well you got sick and then hurt yourself.” She replied sarcastically as they headed out the door and towards her car. A red Volkswagen Beetle. She unlocked it but instead of putting it in the boot she put it in the back-seat and got into the driver’s seat.
“I had the plague and I got shot.” Tony said defending himself. “Oh man I forgot you drove this thing. Couldn’t you have borrowed Logan’s car? This is just embarrassing!” He complained as he reluctantly got into the passenger seat.
“Yeah well this is punishment for not even calling me to let me know you couldn’t make it.” She replied, “Besides Logan kinda needed his car to get to work this morning.”
Tony grumped and complained all the way to Alex’s house. It looked like any other house in San Francisco, an old Victorian style, two stories, coloured in rich terracotta, and had a small garden out the front. He got out of the car and after retrieving his bag he followed Alex inside.
She held the door open for him and directed him up the stairs and into the spare room.
“I’ll be in the kitchen making dinner. Come down once you’re all unpacked.” She told him as she left the room.
He sighed as he checked his phone again to see if Sasha had of called him or even texted him back and threw his phone across the room in frustration. He threw himself down on the bed. What had he done wrong? All he did was save her life. What’s wrong with that?
He’d treated her like a goddess, stayed faithful, and even put her before his friends (against the ‘bro code’ 101, bros before hoes) but as soon as he saves her life she ignores him. Maybe Alex could tell him what to do. She was a woman, who better to ask then a woman. Yes he decided, he would unpack and then go downstairs and ask her opinion.
He sat up and reached for his bag. He started pulling out his clothes and stuffing them into the draws and put the few DVDs Abby (who he guessed had put in there when she was packing his stuff) had packed on the small bookshelf but then he noticed something in the bottom of the bag. He cautiously pulled it out before he realised what it was, the package Sasha gave him in the elevator to give to Megan Ryan. He sighed remembering that morning.
He stared down at the strange package wondering what could be so important that it had to be hand delivered. Alex’s voice calling him brought him out of his thoughts. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and shoved the package under his bed before leaving the room to find his sister leaning over two steaming pots in the kitchen.
“Mmm, smells delicious.” He commented as he walked over to her and leant on the bench.
“Thanks, I hope you like it.” She replied.
“What exactly is it?” He asked nervously as his sister had a habit of experimenting with food whenever he came to visit her.
“Spaghetti Bolognese; Mom’s old family recipe.” She replied making him grin. Their mum’s Spaghetti Bolognese was the best they’d ever tasted and ever would and only true DiNozzo’s knew the secret recipe. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. “Oh can you get that? It’s just Logan; he doesn’t have a key yet.” Alex asked him.
He obediently went and opened the door. Logan stood there for a moment before they embraced in a brotherly hug. He hadn’t changed at all since the last time they’d seen each other, he was as tall as Tony with brown hair and eyes, and a big warm smile.
“Ant. How you been? Ain’t seen you in ages.” Logan greeted him.
“Hey Logan. Great to see you again. I’ve been alright. How about you? Heard you finally shacked up with my lovely sister. Good for you.” Tony replied as they walked through into the kitchen to join Alex, as soon as Logan saw Alex he pulled her close to him and kissed tenderly making Tony feel a bit awkward.
Alex seemed to sense his feeling because she quickly pulled away and turned back to the pots. “Well dinner’s almost ready why don’t you set the table Logan?” She suggested and without complaining Logan went and grabbed cutlery and went into the dining room to set the table.
“You’ve got him well trained, haven’t you?” Tony commented.
“He just knows he has to do what I ask, within reason if he wants what’s best for him.” Alex replied with a grin as she grabbed some plates and began serving up.
Tony wasn’t sure what to say to that but he was certain he knew what she meant and didn’t need her to expand on her answer. Instead he helped carry the food out to the table.
After dinner they went into the lounge and Tony told Logan and Alex the tale of how he got the plague and then was shot protecting Sasha but skipped the details of their relationship �" he planned to talk to Alex about it once they were alone. Once the tale was finished they watched one of Tony’s movies before Logan went to bed saying he needed an early night, as soon as they were alone Alex turned to Tony.
“So who’s the girl?” She asked him sensing he needed to tell her something.
He laughed at how she could always seem to sense when he needed to tell her something or ask her advice. “Okay so you remember how I told you about my co-worker.”
“Sasha. Oh my god. You finally asked her out.” Alex exclaimed excitedly.
“Yeah we’ve been dating for a while. I even told her I loved her and I do.”
“Wow, impressive.”
“Yeah I know, but things have gotten a bit more complicated. She freaked out when I saved her life, she thinks that by saving her life I exposed our relationship to Gibbs and she was really upset about it. She left abruptly to see her parents and isn’t answering my calls or texts I just don’t know what I’ve done or how to fix it.” He explained.
Alex moved closer and gave him a hug. “Well Tony as much as you love and care about her it sounds like she needs her space. Give it a few weeks and then see what happens.”
He nodded. “I think I might head to bed now.”
“So then what happened? Did you go upstairs to find you had missed calls from her and texts telling you how much she misses you and loves you?” Maya asked him eagerly. “What about the package?”
“No I went to bed without another thought about Sasha or the strange package and didn’t think about them for a week until one day I was cleaning my room and I found the package again.”
Tony stood up and sat down on the bed without taking his eyes off the package. What was it? Should he look at it? What was so important it had to be hand delivered? Would Sasha still want him to give it to Megan even though she wasn’t talking to him?
* * *
For the next week every spare moment he had he stared at the package whether he was alone in his room or with Alex or Logan.
Late one night the mystery of the package was bugging him so much that he had to get out of bed and go downstairs to get a warm cocoa and stare at it.
He was sitting at the dining room table having the familiar debate over whether he should open it or not when he heard footsteps behind him and he turned to see Alex walking into the kitchen.
“What are you doing up?” She asked him making herself a cocoa.
“Hey Alex.” He said without taking his eyes off the package.
“Come on, you’ve been staring at that package for about a week now.” She pointed out taking a seat next to him.
“Couldn’t sleep either I take it?” He said changing the subject.
“No, I had nightmares and it’s always harder to sleep when Logan takes the night shift.”
“You really like him don’t you?”
“Yes and that’s the problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well it doesn’t really fit in with the plan.” Alex replied.
Tony laughed. Ever since she was a teenager Alex had this plan of moving to San Francisco and becoming a doctor and after working in Africa for a few years she was going to move back here and settle down and have a family. “Plans change.”
She put her mug down and stared him straight in the eye. “Open it.” She ordered him. “I know your dying to know what’s inside. Just her name alone, Megan Ryan, is driving me…Look at it! You’ve got a tear right there! I see it. C’mon though. You can do it.” She said watching him carefully tear at it. Finally he gave in and tore right into it. He unwrapped it to reveal;
“It’s a diary!” He exclaimed staring at it.
“Oh god. Let me see.” She said reaching for it.
“No! Stop! Stop right there!” He said pushing her arms away. “We’re not gonna read this. We can’t.”
“You can’t but I can since I’m a woman.” She pointed out as she quickly snatched it out of his hands, opened it and began reading. “The boy’s room is across from ours, their windows visible from ours. The evenings are hot and sticky. We are all half-dressed, pretending we can’t be seen by the boys. Some of us are bold. My new friend Sasha (who earlier today won the wet t-shirt contest) is sweet and embarrassed by it all, always waiting to see what I will do.”
She paused and he anxiously grabbed the diary. “Don’t! Stop! What’s wrong? Where were you okay? It’s our last night of summer vacation and the plan has been in place for days. Sasha and I are the last to leave, and as we reach the stairs I grab Sasha firmly by her wrist. She looks up at me expectantly and I know what will happen next. Do you?”
“I think I have a pretty good idea.” Alex said snatching it back out of his hands.
“Oh my god! What are you doing? This is good stuff!”
She ignored him and put the diary across the table out of his reach.
“Wait a minute.” He said as realisation hit him. “Is that my Sasha?”
She left the diary where it was and took her mug over to the basin where she washed it before heading up the stairs. “Good night Tony!”
“I can’t believe it! She’s a freak!” He said reaching for the diary.
“Put the diary down and go to bed!” She called behind her. Tony couldn’t help himself, as soon as he heard Alex’s bedroom door close he grabbed the diary and didn’t put it down until the next morning when he’d finished it.
* * *
He made breakfast for himself and once Alex was up he didn’t mention the diary but instead they spent the day together watching movies and gossiping like they hadn’t done since they were children.
“Hey since its Friday and neither Logan nor I have work until Monday what do you say to a night out at the local pub?” Alex said to him between movies.
“Yeah that sounds like fun.” Tony agreed.
So later that night they met up with Logan at a small pub near the hospital where Alex worked, it started off with a few quiet drinks with some of Alex’s friends but a few soon
turned into Tony buying the entire bar a round and before he knew it he was sitting in a quiet corner away from everyone else dialling Sasha’s number waiting for her all too familiar answering machine. But to his surprise she answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey! It’s me Tony.” He told her proudly.
“Is that Sasha?” An extremely drunk Alex asked him. “Hi, Sasha!”
“What’s all that noise?” Sasha asked him.
“Nothing; it’s just my idiot sister making fun of me because she doesn’t have a beautiful girlfriend she’s eternity devoted to!” Tony said loudly making Alex give him the thumbs up before walking back over to Logan.
“You’re drunk.”
“You’re beautiful.”
“Tony, don’t.”
“Why Sasha? I thought you loved me! I thought we were happy. What changed?” He said getting frustrated.
“It’s complicated Tony.”
“No it’s not Sasha. Just tell me what the hell’s wrong.”
“I will Tony. Here, I tell you what; call me when you’re sober and we’ll meet up.” She told him angrily before she hung up on him.
* * *
The next morning he woke up feeling extremely ill with an extremely sore head. He grumbled as he made his way downstairs and into the kitchen to get some coffee and some pain killers. He found Alex and Logan sitting at the dining room looking as bad as he felt. He grabbed the pain medication and coffee is so desperately required and sat down at the table.
He spent the rest of the weekend sleeping off the hangover.
“Wait. Stop. You drank!” Maya exclaimed shocked. “And what is a hangover?”
“Umm, it’s god’s punishment for people who drink.” Tony explained hoping she believed him.
“Yeah…so then what happened? Did you call Sasha back? Did you take the diary to Megan?”
“You’ll see…anyway;”
* * *
Tony woke up feeling refreshed on Monday morning ready for anything, that was until he went downstairs and found the house empty and a note from Alex on the dining room table reminding him she had work and suggesting that he rewrap the diary and take it round to Megan Ryan’s place.
He sighed knowing she was right so he rang Megan to ask if he could drop off the package and organised a time, had a quick piece of toast and a cup of coffee before searching the house for something to wrap the diary in.
It took him all morning until he finally found some old jelly bean wrapping paper and then after wrapping it up he realised he was running late. He rushed out the door (almost forgetting the diary) and called a cab.
After a long and anxious cab ride he eventually arrived at the apartment block he was looking for he quickly paid the driver and nervously walked into the building and up the old creaky stairs until he came to the right door.
He knocked cautiously and was surprised when he heard a gruff voice call out: “Who is it?”
Tony gulped before answering. “Tony DiNozzo. I called earlier.”
“You a Jehovah’s Witness?” The gruff voice asked.
“No.”
“Christ your tall.” The gruff voice commented as whoever was inside unlatched the door.
“Hi.” Tony said to the man who was standing in the doorway wearing only a dressing robe. He was probably in his early forty’s and had light brown hair and brown eyes. He squinted at Tony closely before telling in to come in and to shut and lock the door behind him.
“Megan said to hang tight. She’ll be back. She wants you to wait.” The man told him before glancing at the package in Tony’s hands. “What do you got in there?”
“I don’t know.” Tony lied. “Who are you?”
“Me? I’m a man.” The man replied with a grin as he walked into the bedroom and returned with a cigarette in his mouth. “Drink?” He asked Tony.
“No. No. It’s a little too early for me.” Tony replied politely.
“Early. You’re fresh off the boat aren’t you?” The man asked him as he walked into the kitchen and returned with a bottle of whiskey. “So tell me about yourself. What’s your deal? What do you aspire to? What are your dreams? What are your fancies? What do you want to be when you grow up? Sit down!”
“Okay.” Tony obeyed taking a seat.
“What do you do now? You…” The man continued. “Wait, don’t tell me. You work for your daddy.”
“No.”
“No, don’t tell me! Wall Straight. No! You kiss ass for some fancy uptown law firm.”
“Actually-”
“No! I give up. What do you do?”
“I’m a federal agent. I work at NCIS.”
“No.” The man jumped back in mock surprise. “I know what NCIS is. Yeah in fact I even know more about it then the people who run it.” He said as he handing Tony a glass and poured some whiskey into it.
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“What do you do?” Tony asked him intrigued by this strange man.
“What do I do? I drink!” He replied as he filled up his own glass and ordered Tony to drink with him. “Drink! Be a man!” and with that he hastily skulled his own drink and refilled it while Tony slowly drunk his own cautiously.
“There you go!” The man congratulated him as he skulled the last mouthful. “Isn’t that better?”
Tony nodded as he held it in his mouth for a moment not sure whether to swallow.
“Swallow!” The man ordered him and Tony did obediently as the man refilled the glass. “So tell me about NCIS.”
* * *
“Hey. Wake up.” A voice whispered to him making his eyes open to stare at a beautiful woman who looked to be around the same age as him staring at him with curious blue eyes, She had long straight blonde hair that went down to her shoulders.
He stretched and sat up watching her take the empty bottle of whiskey into the kitchen. “You want some aspirin?” She asked him.
He nodded and she went into the kitchen and returned with the aspirin and a bottle of water.
“You must be Tony.” She said to him.
“Hi.”
“I see you drank my boyfriend under the table.” She said as he glanced to the now unconscious man lying on the couch.
Tony almost chocked on his water. “He’s your boyfriend?”
Megan chuckled. “Why so surprised?”
“Uhh…”
“He’s my boss.”
“Oh.”
“What did he tell you?” She asked him curiously as she carefully moved the man’s legs and sat down on the couch next to the man.
“He was telling me how to be a real man as opposed to the sort of boy-man I seem to be.” Tony replied.
She raised her eye brows curiously. “Did you learn anything?”
“Yeah there’s a lot of drinking involved. Also cursing and fighting.”
“Sex?”
“Yes. Although that’s not what we real men call it.”
“What do you call it?”
“I have something for you.” Tony said changing the subject and reaching down to pick up the package. “This is from Sasha.”
“Haven’t talked to her in ages.” Megan said as Tony handed her the package and she began to unwrap it.
“We’re sort of dating.”
“Uh-huh.” She replied. The man suddenly stuck a foot in her face. “Oh, please! Daddy...” She complained laughing. “Oh, come on! No.” She said looking at the diary. “Oh, this is…” She trailed off as she read through it. She looked up at him when she realised what was in it. “Did you read this?”
“I didn’t.” He lied.
She glanced at him clearly not believing him.
“I read a page.” He admitted.
“A page.”
“Two pages at the most.”
“Two?”
“And the part about you and Sasha touching each other and kissing.”
“Oh! That part, yeah.”
“Incredibly descriptive. I felt like I was there.” He complimented her. “You’re a great writer I mean…”
“I think you should keep it.” She said throwing it at him. “You should read it when you’re lonely.”
“I can’t. It’s your diary, so I can’t do that.”
“No, really, really. I just, I don’t need it.”
“I’ve already got it memorised, and Sash would kill me if she saw it, so I’ll just leave it on the table.” He joked as he stood up. “Keep a hard copy. That might be nice for me.”
They laughed, before she glanced seriously at him again. “I wonder why Sasha gave it to you to give to me.”
“Hmm.”
She turned to the man still unconscious on the couch and slapped his leg. “Stark.”
“Stark?” Tony wondered if he’d heard right.
“Are you gonna join us?” Megan called to him again.
“That’s Sebastian Stark,” Tony stated as realisation hit him. “He’s a charismatic, supremely self-confident defence attorney”
“Yeah.”
“You…” Tony said as he realised another detail.
“Yeah. We do.” She replied simply. “Look have you ever actually had sex with a sexagenarian?”
He shrugged. “I haven’t.”
“Well, then you shouldn’t really judge.”
“Well actually, I’m not judging. Look at you. You’re beautiful. You’re sophisticated. You’re a very talented writer.” He said with a wink,
“Thank you.”
“I mean, to please a woman like you it would obviously take a-”
“Real man.” She said pointing at Stark.
“Exactly; hard to compete with that.”
“Well, unless you’re the competitive type.”
He stood there for a moment unable to speak. Once upon a time he would’ve jumped at the chance to sleep with a woman like her but not now he’d met Sasha. “I better go.” He told her heading for the door.
“Yeah, it was nice to meet you.”
“Yeah it was great meeting you too.” He said as he stepped out the door. “I feel horrible about taking the-” He was stopped when she stepped close to him and kissed him passionately on the lips.
“Sorry.” Megan said when she pulled away, “I was just curious. Stark encourages me to cultivate my curiosity. He says it’s the key to being a good defence lawyer.”
“Yeah.” Tony agreed.
“Megan!” Stark called from inside. “Daddy’s hungry!”
“Speak of the devil. Better go. Yeah.” Megan told him.
“Hmm.”
“Where the hell are you?” Stark called again.
“Okay, bye.” She said as she walked back inside the apartment.
“Bye.”
“Yeah, give us a call sometime. We should all go out for dinner.” She said to him before she closed the door a little.
“I’d…Yeah, I’d love dinner.”
“Yeah.”
“Hey!” Stark called again.
* * *
“Are you gonna call her?” Alex asked him when he returned to her place and told her what happened.
“Are you insane?” He asked her.
“Well, what are you gonna do?”
“What am I gonna do? I’m gonna keep my eye on the ball. I’m gonna sort stuff out with Sasha. We have a future together.” Tony told her.
“Which you hope may involve some type of threesome now? Or foursome if that old dude is still in the picture.”
“You’re not helping. I never should’ve opened that diary. It’s like Pandora’s hot, sexy box.”
“What’s a threesome?” Maya asked him.
“What?” He asked.
“A threesome.” She reminded him.
Tony gulped. He’d been so caught up in the story he’d forgotten that he was telling it to his ten year old daughter. “That’s a game that adult’s play sometimes …when they’re bored.”
She considered this for a moment. “Whatever. So what happened with Sasha?”
“Nothing. I wanted to wait till I got back to DC to call her and organise to meet up, and then I decided to do something really dramatic.”
* * *
Late that night after Alex and Logan had both gone to bed Tony pulled out his cell phone to call Sasha but as he was about to start dialling her number the cell phone started to ring. He stared at it for a moment before he realised he better answer.
“Hello?”
“Agent DiNozzo?” A female voice asked.
“Speaking. Who is this?” Tony asked cautiously.
“Director Jennifer Sheppard.”
Tony felt like he was unable to speak. Why was the new director of NCIS ringing him? Maybe he was being fired? He gulped before asking, “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you calling me Madam Director?”
“Director Sheppard.” She corrected him. “I’m sorry to disrupt your leave, but you are needed here urgently.”
“Why?”
“You will find out when you arrive.”
“Okay I’ll catch the first flight out of here and be at NCIS tomorrow.”
“Thank you Agent DiNozzo.” She said before she hung up leaving Tony to stare blankly at his phone for a moment before he remembered he desperately needed to pack and he hurriedly grabbed his stuff, and after leaving a quick note for Alex he called a cab and left for the airport.
Author's Chapter Notes:
In San Francisco Tony sees the package from Sasha to Megan and decides to read it before giving it back to the lawyer Megan who is an ambitious and talented prosecutor that doesn't agree with the legal approach taken by her boss, and meets her older boyfriend Sebastian Stark, a charismatic, supremely self-confident defense attorney, who gets him drunk and then after he leaves Megan runs after him and kisses him passionately which makes him feel extremely guilty. Even though Sasha’s not even talking to him for unknown reasons until that night he decides to go out to a local bar with his sister and her boyfriend gets extremely drunk and calls Sasha begging for her to talk to him and angry at how she's avoided him. She asks him to call her back when he's in DC and sober then he mops around his sister’s place for a few weeks before jenny calls him and asks him to get back into the office immediately.