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Tony lies back against Gibbs chest, breathing heavily. Sweat plasters his hair against his head and he looks exhausted. But there's a happy light in his eyes as Gibbs looks down at him.

"Hey," says Gibbs, softly. He's wrapped his arms around Tony and now he drops a kiss on the top of his head. "You have done an amazing job...so strong...I don't know how you did it."

Tony takes Gibbs's hand and kisses it. "Couldn't have done it without you, Jethro." He laughs weakly, "At least not without a *lot* more drugs!"

"Excuse me, gentlemen." Gibbs looks away from Tony to see the nurse beside them with a blanket wrapped bundle in her arms. "Would you like to hold her now?"

Tony reaches out his arms gathering the precious bundle close to him. He pushes aside the blanket so that both he and Gibbs can look into the face of their daughter. "She has your nose, Jethro," says Tony, softly. There's a note of joy and wonder in his voice, as Gibbs encircles his family within his arms. He's going to hold on to them forever, nothing is going to part them.

The nurse has approached again, "Are you planning on breast feeding?"

-------------------------------

"And that's right about the time where I usually wake up," said Gibbs. He waited for a reaction, but when none was forthcoming, he asked, "Aren't you going to say anything, Ducky?"

Ducky looked at him, "For once Jethro, I'm lost for words. You've just told me that you've been having recurring dreams about getting Tony pregnant and having him give birth to your baby...and you want me to say what exactly?"

Gibbs shrugged, his legs swinging as he sat on the edge of an Autopsy table. "I don't know, I just figured that you'd be able to tell me what it meant."

"Well I believe that Abby would be far more knowledgeable than I on the matter of dream interpretation. Perhaps you should ask her."

Gibbs shook his head, "Not gonna happen Ducky, she doesn't even know that Tony and I have been sleeping together."

"And you say that the dreams only started *after* your first night together?"

Gibbs nodded.

"Then perhaps this is something you should be discussing with *Tony*."

Gibbs hopped down off the autopsy table. "I came here for advice, Duck. Sensible advice. Telling somebody I've just started a relationship with that I'm dreaming about them having my baby...that's just the thing to scare them off... Even if it's something that can't possibly happen, it's gonna send all sorts of signals to Tony, telling him that I'm seeing this relationship as a serious one. You know DiNozzo as well as...almost as well as I do. If he thinks this relationship is anything more than a quick fling, I won't see him for dust."

"And do *you* see this relationship as more than a quick fling?"

"I want to," said Gibbs, simply.

Ducky sighed, "Maybe this dream...maybe it's all about recreating what you had with Kelly." He hesitated before continuing, "Of all your marriages, it *was* the happiest. Shannon's birth...perhaps now that you're in a happy place again, your subconscious is trying to merge all the happy periods in your life."

Gibbs sighed, "There's only one flaw in that theory, Ducky...I wasn't there for Shannon's birth. Kelly was six months pregnant when I shipped out. She had to go through her labor, the c-section...all on her own. Hell, Shannon was three months old before I saw her for the first time." Gibbs looked away, "I don't think Kelly ever forgave me for not being there enough when Shannon was a baby." Gibbs turned back to Ducky. "Shannon was six years old when I left the service, and I hadn't seen her blow out the candles on a single cake. She hardly knew who I was. Just some guy in a uniform who showed up every now and then and made her mother cry when he left."

Ducky had heard all this before but he knew that Gibbs needed to tell it again.

"I only joined N.C.I.S. because I figured at least I'd be living under the same roof, but I was new and inexperienced and I figured that I needed to put in the extra hours to prove myself."

"You were still a good father to her," reminded Ducky.

Gibbs didn't seem to hear him as he continued, "And what did I get to show for it? Some nutcase terrorist didn't like what I was doing to his group and tries to take me out with a sniper rifle...and Kelly and Shannon end up as collateral damage."

Gibbs slumped against the autopsy table, breathing heavily. "Maybe this dream is a warning, Ducky."

"A warning, Jethro?"

"Yeah, warning me not to get too complacent...not to get too used to the idea of being happy, because sooner or later everything goes away."

"I'm not going away, Jethro."

Gibbs looked up in shock to see Tony standing in the doorway to Ducky's office.

"Ah, I meant to tell you, Gibbs," said Ducky, unapologetically. "He showed up a few minutes before you did. Was rather worried about you, something about you having bad dreams that you wouldn't tell him about."

"I was afraid you'd had second thoughts about you and me," said Tony as he moved over to sit on the table beside Gibbs. "Figured you were trying to push me away." He reached out and brushed his hand against Gibbs. "Or that maybe you'd realized you and me was a bad idea, and you were having bad dreams about it...I just wish you'd told me what was bothering you."

"How could I, when I didn't even know it myself?" Gibbs found himself leaning into Tony as the younger man put his arm around him. He let his head fall against Tony's chest.

"Then you should have told me anyway so we coulda figured it out together," said Tony, simply. "That's what being in a relationship is all about."

"I've got three ex-wives, Tony. I think you could say that I suck at relationships."

"Well aren't we lucky that there's one of us who knows what to do," said Tony with a grin as he rested his chin on top of Gibbs's head.

There was a snort of disbelief from Ducky.

"Hey," said Tony, "Just cause I never had a relationship last longer than a carton of milk, doesn't mean that I screwed them up...I just never wanted them to last." He hugged Gibbs tighter. "But this one I *do* want to last." His grin faded and he hesitated before continuing, "But only if that's what you want *too*, Jethro. Do you want this to last?"

"I do," said Gibbs, softly. "I really do."

And it did.