Chapter 35
After the graduation ceremony was over Tony and Olivia strolled to Olivia's car. Upon reaching it she turned and gave Tony a huge hug.
"You really surprised me." Olivia told Tony. "It was so nice to have everybody here. Grampy, Abby, Ziva…I…. It was just really, really nice."
"The surprises aren't over yet." Tony opened his coat and produced an envelope. He handed it to her.
Olivia looked at him, completely bewildered. Then she opened the envelope. There were two tickets to Italy and what looked like $1500.00 in cash. She stared at the contents in amazement. "Italy…Really!" She began to jump up and down. "We're going to Italy?"
Tony nodded as Olivia did her best 'Abby-hug' imitation. "Italy…I'm going to Italy." Olivia paused. "This is so…awesome!"
Tony nodded. "It's a present from all of us. The money that was not used to buy the ticket is there for you to use as spending money." Tony explained.
Olivia looked at them all with tears in her eyes. She, for once in her life was speechless. She regained her voice after a minute. "Thank you…so much. There…there are two tickets here." She looked at Tony. "I assume you're going, why is your ticket here?"
"To make sure you knew this was going to be a father-daughter thing." Tony explained.
Olivia smiled broadly at Tony then she hugged each of them in turn, thanking them profusely. "I don't know what to say." Olivia said shaking her head. She kept looking at the ticket.
"Just start packing. We'll leave in a week and we're staying for a month." Tony informed her.
"Leaving in a week? Staying for a month?" Olivia repeated. It was all happening so fast. "Does Mom and Dad know?"
Tony nodded. "I wanted to keep you abroad for the whole summer. But they need time with you too. And you do have to get ready for…Harvard." Tony said proudly.
"I know, Harvard." Olivia started jumping up and down again. "Harvard…can you believe it?"
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"What?" Tony said as he nursed his bourbon, sitting on the stairs in Gibbs' basement.
Gibbs shook his head and smiled as he sanded the rib he was working on.
"What is it, Gibbs?" Tony asked.
"It's amazing how much a person's life can be changed, turned upside down."
Tony nodded. "I went from having no children to being the father of a teenager. And you got to be a grandfather."
Gibbs looked at Tony. "And I really, honestly, thank you for that." Gibbs said sincerely. "Olivia is just…."
"What is it, Gibbs?" Tony asked, again. He knew that was something Gibbs wanted to say.
"It's going to be a long month…." Gibbs started.
"Aww, you're gonna miss me." Tony chided.
"Tim and Ziva will be doing your work." Gibbs continued as if mentally checking things off a list.
"Not as well as me." Tony said, grinning.
"I may have to pull a probie from the float pool."
"Yeah," Tony said. "…they DO need someone to pick on." Tony replied. "I won't be there to pick on them."
"Tim would probably be the better at training." Gibbs continued, thinking out loud.
"Yeah." Tony agreed. "Ziva would only confuse them with words like 'porcu-swine' or phrases like 'passed on' instead of 'passed out.'"
"DiNozzo." Gibbs said.
"Yeah, Boss." Tony replied.
"Shut up." Gibbs said, smiling.
"On it, Boss." Tony replied. "I'm going miss you, too."
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"I know, Abby." Tony replied as Abby lamented.
"A month, Tony!" Abby said, pacing the length of the lab. "Do you know how long that is?"
Tony kept silent.
"Well, I'll tell you. It's 720 hours. It's 43,200 minutes." Abby hugged him again. "It's too damned long."
"I'll miss you too." Tony said as Abby let go. "But we'll have Olivia's laptop. We can web chat and email." Tony paused. "And I will probably be posting pictures to my Facebook page daily. It'll be just like I'm home."
"Except you won't be." Abby pouted.
"I really need this time with Olivia, Abby." Tony explained. "She is going to be so far away, in Cambridge. She gonna be so busy. She…."
Abby nodded. "I know. I understand, Tony. I really do. I…I am just going to miss you."
Tony kissed her cheek. "The time will fly by. You just watch. I'll be back in no time."
Abby nodded into his chest as he hugged her tightly.
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"Ducky, that book on Italy you gave me a few Christmases ago is going to come in really handy. I practically gave it to Olivia. I want her to be familiar with the places we will be going to. I even marked a few of them in the book. I'm going to surprise her with a few though. She's going to love the less 'touristy' places I'm going to take her to."
Ducky nodded. "Good. I am quite sure, Anthony. That you and Olivia will have a marvelous time."
Tony nodded. "Have you ever been?"
Ducky shook his head. "I am afraid not. But I did meet a lovely Italian lady on holiday once. She spoke excellent English. She told me she loved Scotsmen. She loved Scottish history and music. She loved kilts and bagpipes."
Tony smiled. "You wore a kilt and played the bagpipes." He tried to imagine the sight.
Ducky nodded. "It's kind of like you with your sauce and pasta, a rite of passage."
Tony nodded.
"I look forward to many stories when you get back, Anthony."
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"It is very nice." Ziva said to Tony. "You doing this for Olivia. It is very important to know where you came from. I realize that much more since coming to live in the United States."
Tony nodded. "You ever been to Italy?"
Ziva nodded. "Once, on a mission. I took a little time for shopping in Milan."
Tony nodded. "Beautiful city."
Ziva nodded. "I even managed to take some pictures that were not for my work." Ziva explained. "I will have to show them to you sometime."
Tony smiled. "I look forward to it."
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"You gonna miss me, McGoo?"
Tim shook his head.
Tony put his hand to his chest. "You wound me."
"Lets just say I will enjoy a month of being just 'McGee.'" Tim replied. "Olivia's turned out to be quite a young woman."
"That's my daughter you're talking about, Tim." Tony said, taking on a defensive daddy tone.
Tim smiled. "I just meant she's a lot like her dad."
Tony smiled. "That a good thing?"
Tim replied. "Her dad's grown up a lot in the last 4 years."
Tony nodded, but didn't' reply.
"She's just so much like you. It's still…it's unreal. She's so smart." Tim replied. "Seeing, watching her has made me understand some things about you."
"Oh, how so?" Tony asked.
"I just…the things you do. I understand why you make us laugh so much around here, the jokes." Tim explained.
"Oh, Timmy…" Tony said. "You just had an 'ah-ha moment.' Should we call Oprah?"
They both looked at each other for just a second before they each burst out laughing.
TBC
END NOTE: A special bit of thanks goes out to AlexDN for the information supplied to me about Italy. I have used just a little in this chapter and plan to be using a lot in the next. Thanks
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.