Tony had intended to offer Ziva a ride back to her car, but she looked like she just wanted to be alone, so he let her leave without even offering. She had agreed to meet them for dinner, and that was a start. He figured she would probably use the time by herself to think over everything that had happened.

It was November, but it wasn’t cold outside. Instead it was one of those unseasonably warm days, with a cloudless sky that was a beautiful bright blue, nearly the color of Gibbs’ eyes. Both men got into Gibbs’ car and drove to the hospital, Gibbs terrorizing everyone else on the road and Tony hanging on for dear life.

It was about 10:30 now. It hadn’t taken nearly as long to bring Madame Director down as they had anticipated. And Tony thanked God Gibbs hadn’t had to go so far as to seduce her. She had been too sure of herself and her charms to even think she was being set up.

"So who do you think they’ll get to replace the bitch?" Tony asked.

"Not sure."

"Maybe you’ll get it," Tony said with a smile. "That would put a whole new light on sleeping with the boss."

Without even looking at Tony, Gibbs reached out and popped him on the back of the head.

"Ouch! That hurt, Boss. I’m still sick, you know. You can’t hit a sick person."

Gibbs snorted. "Honey, after last night and this morning, I don’t think you can use that excuse anymore. You seemed just fine to me." Gibbs was smiling ear to ear. His ass still twinged from the unaccustomed invasion, but it was a good kind of twinge.

"Yeah, it was okay, I guess."

"Just okay?" Gibbs glared.

Tony grinned. He loved that glare. "Nah, it was perfection. I just wanted THE LOOK."

"THE LOOK?"

"Yes, THE LOOK. Gibbs, you have this look about you when you want something and you say it all with those beautiful blue eyes of yours," Tony stated, putting his hand on Gibbs’ thigh.

"You know, if you move that hand too much, we might get into an accident."

"Well now, we wouldn’t want that." Tony moved his hand a little, closer to the swelling that was beginning behind Gibbs’ fly.

"Tony?"

"Yes, Boss?"

" I- Never mind." Gibbs paused, then said, "Tony can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Boss, what is it?" Tony removed his hand because he heard something in Gibbs’ voice that made him think this was going to be more than a casual conversation.

"How did you know about Megan?"

Tony saw the hurt in his eyes. He knew it wasn’t directed at him but was rather a heart-felt hurt, the hurt of having lost a child too young.

Tony licked his lips, knowing it was time to confess. "Well, to tell you the truth, I had this really hot guy offer me a job, and like a good investigator, I investigated him. I hope you’re not mad at me for looking into your past," he said, looking at Gibbs.

Gibbs took his eyes off the road long enough to look at Tony. He turned his attention back to the road, but one hand came off the wheel and grasped Tony’s hand, raising it to his mouth to kiss the back of it. There were no words, just the kiss.

"So, I was thinking," he said after a while." If Jenny wants it, we can give her the attic since it’s bigger. She can have a sleeping space, a sitting room and a place to do homework. Since she’s young and growing, I thought she might like the extra room."

"That would be cool. I think she might like that. So, tomorrow I’m calling my lawyer and getting some paperwork started about her and us, and well, Jethro, I know you said you wanted to put the house in my name, too, and I want you to be part of my life just as much, so I’m having your name put on everything of mine as well. You were already the beneficiary of my will, but now you’ll have half of all my assets."

Gibbs shot Tony a look, one eyebrow raised. "You made me your beneficiary already?"

"Boss, I did that the day I started working for you."

"Tony, what made you do that?"

"I found a job I loved and someone I loved to work for. It just so happened I fell in love with that same person, and even if Abby and Ducky hadn’t kept pushing me to talk to you about it, I would have still loved you and wanted you to have what was mine."

Gibbs smiled. "They ganged up on you, too, huh?"

"What? They tried to get you to say something?"

"Yep."

"I think we so owe them some big time Christmas gift."

"I think you’re right, we do. Shit, Christmas will be here before we know it. It’s already almost Thanksgiving."

"Yep, and if I remember correctly, we’re off for both holidays."

"About that. When the new director is appointed, I might not be going back."

"What? Why?"

"Tony I had one marriage and family pay for me not bring there for them. I will not let that happen again."

Tony was a bit shocked that Gibbs would compare their fledgling relationship to a marriage, but he let that slide for now. ""Jethro, you love the job. I was planning on not going back."

"No, Tony, you love it even more than I do."

"I don’t know about that, but still you have more time in."

"How about this: for now we both take time off, enough to get Jenny and you moved in and settled and a life going again. Then we can talk about it with the new director about what will happen from there. Sound like a plan to you?"

"Yeah, I can live with that."

They were pulling up to the hospital. Gibbs used valet parking. Both men got out of the car.

Tony said, "But I’m not having someone else raise her. If we’re going to be part of her life, we do it. I had-"

Gibbs was around the car and taking Tony’ hand, not letting him finish the thought about his own childhood. Tony was a bit uncomfortable with the gesture. Not that he had a problem with PDA, but this was Gibbs, ex-marine, a man’s kind of man, and he was showing PDA. To another man. Tony went with it, though.

Gibbs looked into Tony’s eyes as he stroked his hand. "Tony, we won’t have someone else raise her. Yes, at times we’ll have to have someone else watch her because of the job. Whenever possible we’ll ask Abby or McGee or Ducky or even Ziva to watch her so we can go out on a date, but it will only be ever so often. Tony, we will be her guardians in every sense of the word. And about that; I don’t want to push her to call us anything but what she wants to, okay?"

Tony was almost in tears for Gibbs being so okay with this and holding his hand in a public place.

"Yes," Tony said, then hesitated and just to get a reaction, added, "Pookie."

Gibbs shook his head and smiled. He continued to hold Tony’s hand as they walked into the hospital, only releasing it when they got to the front desk to get their visitor’s badges to allow them into the pediatric ward to visit Jenny.

The pediatric ward was on the seventh floor. Once the elevator stopped on that floor, the security guard checked their badges and let them into the ward, sending them in the direction of her room. They got to her room and saw that she had a roommate, as well as a visitor in the room.

The visitor was an average looking woman of about middle age, and she was talking to Jenny. When Jenny saw the boys walking into the room though, she stopped talking to the woman, her face lighting up with a wide smile.

"Hey there, Sunshine," Gibbs said.

"Hey, honey, how are you today?" Tony asked.

"Hi, Tony, Mr. Gibbs."

"Okay, I thought we already talked about this. You have to stop the Mr. part. It’s just Gibbs or Jethro, okay?"

She smiled and nodded. The lady sitting next to the bed had a chart in her hands and stood up when they entered the room.

She held out her hand to each of them. "Mr. DiNozzo, Mr. Gibbs, nice to meet you both. I’m Miss Parks, Jenny’s social worker. May I please have a word with you gentlemen in the hallway?"

"Sure," Gibbs said, motioning to Tony with his head to follow.

Tony leaned down and kissed Jenny’s cheek, saying, "Be right back, Jenny," before following Gibbs and Miss Parks out into the hallway.

"Once again I’d like to say it’s nice to meet the both of you."

"Likewise. Is there something we should be concerned about?"

"Oh, no, gentleman. I just wanted to introduce myself and make sure you understand Child Services is only doing it’s job. It should be an easy transition to make the little girl your ward since her mother expressed she live with you, Mr. DiNozzo."

"Yeah, can’t say I wasn’t shocked by that. I had no idea."

"I’ve talked to the hospital staff already, and they said both of you were great when she was downstairs. We also tried to call Director Sheppard today to start the process of vetting the both of you but was told she was no longer with NCIS."

"Yes, she had some issues and was removed form the position just earlier today."

"Oh, I’m sorry to hear that."

"Why?" Tony said. "I’m not."

Gibbs glared at him. Not because it wasn’t true but because he’d said it in front of Miss Parks.

Miss Parks looked at him curiously, but all she said was, "Well, anyway, the temporary custody hearing is planned for Wednesday, and she should be released to you at that point. We’ll bring her to the trial, and you can take her home from there. I’m just glad she has two people who want to look after her."

"Even though I wasn’t expecting Monica to want this, Jenny is a great kid, and it won’t be a hardship."

Miss Parks smiled. "I’ll leave you to your visit with the little girl. Have a nice day, gentlemen."

Tony smiled and went back into Jenny’s room while Gibbs shook the social worker’s hand and thanked her for her help.

"So, they said you get out on Wednesday," Tony said, sitting in a chair between Jenny’s bed and the wall, her bed being the second one in the room.

"Yeah, Miss Parks said she’ll take me to the courthouse and then you guys can take me home."

"That’s right."

Gibbs took the chair Miss Parks had been sitting in, the one closer to the door. "On the way back to our house we can stop and pick up some of your stuff."

"NO!" Jenny snapped at Gibbs’ words.

Tony and Gibbs shared a look of surprise.

"What’s the matter, honey?" Tony asked, trying to take her hand.

"Nothing," Jenny whispered, looking down at her hands where they were twisted in the covers. "I just don’t want to go back to that place. It hurts."

"Jenny, I understand it hurts, but you need-"

"No, please don’t make me go there," Jenny pleaded, almost in tears. "I don’t want anything from that place."

Tony and Gibbs both stood and sat on their respective edges of the bed. Tony held out his arms, and Jenny fell into them.

"It’s okay, honey, we can get you all new stuff if you want," Gibbs said, rubbing her hand, wishing he knew how to make this easier for her.

"Really?" Jenny asked, pulling away from her spot on Tony’s chest and looking at Gibbs.

Gibbs put his arms out to hug the little girl, and she went into them willingly. Tony wasn’t jealous or mad; he knew Gibbs was being the protector of his family in the same way he was with his team.

"Yes, really. Jenny, we just want to help. In time you might want to go back or want some of your things, but until then we’ll go shopping and get you new stuff. How does that sound?"

Jenny was returning the hug now. Gibbs pulled back a bit and looked into her face. "Tony and I were talking. How does the whole attic sound for a room for you? It’s the same size as the other floors. We can set it up so that it would be like two different rooms, a place to sleep and a place for you to have your desk, computer and everything else."

"I can have my own computer?"

"Of course. You’ll need it for schoolwork."

"Thank you, Jethro." She hugged the ex-Marine while Tony put his hand on her back.

"Do you have a favorite color?" Tony asked.

"I love pink. Just like the ribbon around the bear Jethro brought me. See?" she added, picking up the bear and showing off the ribbon.

Gibbs almost lost it at that point. Tony could see his control was being tested, he just didn’t know why. But it didn’t matter. He put his hand on Gibbs’ arm, showing his silent support for whatever he needed.

"Jenny," Tony said hesitantly, "it might not be easy for you at school."

"What do you mean, Tony?" Jenny asked, letting go of Gibbs and turning to Tony.

"Well, honey, having two men looking after you, two men who love each other is what I’m talking about. There are people who won’t like it and will say bad things to you because of it."

"But why? Mom-" Jenny stopped and drew a shuddering breath because it still hurt to even think about her mother. She couldn’t hold back the sob that escaped her.

Gibbs took her in his arms again. "It’s okay, honey. Cry if you want to."

Jenny did just that. She cried. Tony was rubbing her back while Gibbs held her. She cried for a good fifteen minutes till she was able to get herself under control again.

Wiping at her cheeks, she said, "Mom said it was okay for two men to love each other. I asked her once `cause I was confused about Jethro and you. When we first moved in and we had you over for dinner."

"I remember that. And your mom was right. It is okay, but some people in this world just don’t think it is."

Jenny was still holding tightly to Gibbs. She was scared and hurt. Losing her mother was painful, and she hurt inside. And now to know that people might not like her living with Tony and Jethro…

"So what do I call the both of you?" she asked after about thirty minutes of silent crying in Gibbs’ arms with Tony rubbing her back soothingly.

"Whatever you want, honey," Tony said, looking at Gibbs for support on that one.

"You can call us whatever you want, honey," he agreed.

"Okay," she said sleepily.

Gibbs could feel the exhaustion seeping into her little body and helped her lay down. She was still being given pain meds, and the nurse had just come in and given her a little more of the meds. Jenny fell asleep with each man holding a hand at around 1:00 PM.

One of the nurses came into the room a bit later and coughed quietly to get their attention, nodding her head in the direction of the hall. Gibbs looked at her, then looked at Tony, asking him with his eyes if he should go. Tony nodded, staying where he was on the side of the bed but watching Gibbs and the nurse talking in the hall. He looked at Gibbs questioningly when he came back in.

"Abby needs us to go to Headquarters. The SecNav and the new Director need to talk to both of us right now."

Tony’s brows drew together. "About what?"

"I don’t know, Tony. We have to go, but it’s hard," Gibbs said softly as he put his hand on Jenny’s shoulder and shook her gently. "Hey, sunshine, can you wake up for a moment, please?"

"Um, Jethro, what’s wrong?" she asked groggily, seeing the concern in his face.

"Tony and I have to leave for a little while. Our boss needs to talk to us. If we can come back again tonight, we will. Okay?"

"Do you have to leave?" she murmured, trying to sit up but having difficulty because she was lightheaded from the meds.

"Yes, honey, we do."

"Boss, do both of us have to go?"

"Abby told the nurse we both have to go. The whole team is being called in. Emergency meeting."

"Okay, got it. Jenny, I’m sorry honey, but both of us need to go. But if we get done before visiting hours are over we’ll come back. If not we’ll be here first thing in the morning. Okay?"

"Okay," she said quietly, voice quivering in an effort not to cry again.

Gibbs took over again, holding her. When she was almost asleep, he laid her back down. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow, traces of tears streaking her flushed cheeks.

"This sucks."

"I know, Tony. I’m not happy about it either, but we go play nice, find out what the SecNav wants, then get our asses back here."

"Sounds like a plan."

With one last look at a sleeping Jenny, both men left the room, hands occasionally brushing as they went down to their car for their trip to NCIS HQ.