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Tony watched Jeanne’s note burn with a heavy heart, as much as he wanted to tell himself that it was for the best, that their relationship would’ve never recovered from her finding out the truth, the thought of never seeing her again hurt him in a way he’d never thought possible.
All his adult life, he’d run from any kind of serious commitment; apartments, relationships, jobs, especially jobs. He’d never stayed in one place long enough to put down any roots until he’d met Jethro Gibbs and moved to D.C. Even then, he’d never really expected to stay; Gibbs was a hardass and not the easiest person to work for under the best of circumstances and Tony had quit jobs working under more easy-going supervisors. But there had been something about NCIS, Gibbs and his team that had satisfied something in Tony and kept him from running off.
But until Jenny had come to him with an undercover op, his romantic relationships had pretty much followed the status quo of every other city he’d lived in; flirt, get a number, go on a date, have sex, get the hell out of there before things got too serious.
Jeanne had changed that, she’d made him want something more than just a quickie relationship. Being with her, even if a lot of it had been a big lie, had been something special. Being with Jeanne had made him want things that he’d always thought he’d never feel; the desire to settle down and have children. Now all those hopes were up in smoke like her Dear John note.
“You done, DiNozzo?” The sound of Gibbs’ voice jolted Tony out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Gibbs, McGee, Ziva and Ducky watching him from the living room. All of them had similar looks of concern on their faces.
He nodded as he got to his feet, “Yeah boss.” Thankfully, he was mostly dried off so there was little worry about him catching cold. He got to his feet and followed the team out of the house, pausing to take one last look at the happy parents cuddling their baby. The image tugged at him, and he tried to tell himself that he’d get over it with time, his heart didn’t believe him.
The End