Melinda

Chapter 13

Tony got out of his car as the driver opened the door for him, deftly stepping over the ball of fur that was Max the puppy. Ed, the driver smiled as he reached down to stroke the puppy, "Will that be all for tonight Sir?" he asked.

"Yeah, thanks Ed, you have a nice weekend won't you." Tony smiled as he climbed out of the car and picked up the puppy with his one free hand.

"You too director, enjoy your weekend off." Ed said and climbed back into the car and drove off.

Tony saw Gibbs' truck parked in front of the house and grinned, he knew he'd get there early.

"ANTHONY JETHRO DINOZZO!" Tony yelled at the top of his lungs as he opened the door.

"Dad!" AJ yelled running in from the backyard.

Tony put his briefcase down and stroked the puppy while looking at his son, "Did you lose something?" He asked the sarcasm evident in his tone.

"Er….Nope." AJ grinned; Tony nearly lost it there and then.

"Ed nearly made puppy pizza from Max, so I'm gonna ask you again, did you lose something?" Tony said sternly trying really hard not to laugh.

"Daaaaad!" AJ moaned, "I couldn't help it, he was in the backyard with me and grandpa, he just heard you coming and shot off."

"Did you leave the side gate open again?" Tony asked.

AJ nodded, "'orry" he mumbled.

Tony cocked and eyebrow, "What was that?"

"Grandpa says apologies are a sign of weakness, and I'm a DiNozzo, so I will go and shut the gate and I will try not to do it again." AJ said pulling himself up to his full height, all four foot two of him, and walked towards the garden. "MAX!" AJ yelled and the puppy scrambled out of his grasp.

Gibbs walked in and Tony couldn't help but laugh.

"Gibbs, you can't go teaching my son that apologies are a sign of weakness, he needs to learn to apologize when he's done wrong." Tony said.

"Sorry Tony, force of habit, I've started the barbeque for you, Abby will be here later, she still has to shut her babies down from our latest case, Ducky will be coming with her, Palmer and McGee are already here." He told him.

"I read the case, pretty open and shut then." Tony said taking his coat off and hanging it up.

"Yeah." Gibbs replied.

Jenny got up as she heard Tony walk out to the garden, she handed him and beer and sat on his lap as he drunk it, kissing him as she did so, "Missed you," she breathed in his ear.

Tony smiled, "Me too, you got everything?" he asked.

"Yep he still has no idea." She whispered back.

He wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her deeply.

"I have a surprise for you too." She smiled sweetly and climbed off him. Tony took another drink and went over to Gibbs, "I got burgers, hot-dogs and steak," he said

"Your house, your grill." Gibbs said handing him the BBQ tools, "I got a grandson to play with."

Jimmy and Tim went over to stand near Tony, Tim pressing play on the remote that allowed music to fill the garden.

Ducky and Abby finally arrived along with Director Vance and Kayla, Jared and AJ were down in the garden showing Gibbs the finer points of soccer and Gibbs was pretending he didn't have a clue, last to arrive was Ana, she threw her bag in the door and grabbed a vodka, after complaining it was too warm she took a seat next to Jimmy, whom although she wouldn't admit it, she did have the hot's for.

After they had all eaten their fill, the children going back down to the garden to play with the dog, and the adults were dotted around the large garden table; Jen looked at Tony and at a nod went into the house.

Tony banged his glass a few times, "Attention please." He said and waited as they all settled down, Abby leaning against Tim comfortably.

"I have an announcement to make, Firstly I would like to thank you all for your help in reuniting my family and I am sorry that this get together has taken two months to get off the ground. Settling in as the Director of NCS has taken time." Tony explained.

The others smiled and nodded as he went on, "Jen and I have an announcement to make," Tony said looking up as his beautiful wife sat on his lap and handed him an envelope. "As you know, my father is a…. (He looked to make sure the kids were out of earshot) an asshole… (Ana nodded enthusiastically at this) and Jen's is in prison for the rest of his life," Tony said.

"AJ hasn't got a real Grandpa; Gibbs has stepped up and fulfilled the role wonderfully." Jenny added, "So we were hoping you'd sign these…" Jen handed Gibbs his glasses and the envelope.

Gibbs read through the paperwork… "You can do this? Legally?" Gibbs asked.

Tony grinned, "Being a Director of a federal agency and knowing a judge or two has privileges Gibbs"

Gibbs gulped at the lump in his throat and tears in his eyes as the others looked on confused. "I'd be honored" He managed to get out.

"We are adopting Gibbs as AJ's legal grandfather." Tony explained to the confused others.

The adults jumped up and congratulated Gibbs as he looked at the paperwork.

"And any subsequent children from this union?" Gibbs asked reading on.

"Just a formality," Tony said

"Not really," Jen said and Tony stopped and looked at her.

"Jen?" he asked now it was his turn to be confused.

"Remember I said I had a surprise," She showed him a picture, and Tony looked at it not understanding.

"You found a sonogram picture of AJ?" he asked.

"Look at the date, because of my age I didn't want to say until I was sure….Tony, say hi to your daughter." Jen said.

Tony sat down with a bump, "m…my…d….daughter?" He breathed as Jimmy grinned at his best friend.

"When?"

"In about four and a half months, Jimmy was awesome keeping it a secret…Are you ok?" she asked as he sat there in shock not moving.

Tony put the bottle down and walked over to his wife, picked her up and kissed her and then her stomach. He smiled the biggest grin anyone there had ever seen.

"Hey Boss….We're having a baby!"

Gibbs smiled "So I heard DiNozzo, Congratulations."

"What are you going to call her?" Abby asked all excited.

Tony looked at Jen, "Melinda!" they said at exactly the same time.