Chapter 44
"Gibbs?" Tony asked.
"No, Tony!" Gibbs replied for the 10th time. "I will not help you spy on your daughter."
"But I need your security level clearance to…." Tony pleaded.
"No!" Gibbs replied. "Not gonna happen."
"How did you even…?" Tony asked.
"Olivia called me. She told me about the…conversation you two had the other night." Gibbs explained.
"Whose side are you on anyway?" Tony pouted.
"Olivia's." Gibbs stated. "You need to let her have this. She's dated a few boys. This is just one you found out about. This one is special, obviously. He has to be for her to want you to get to know him." Gibbs paused. "Don't go playing 'bad cop' with this guy or he is going to run, and you are going to lose your daughter."
Tony considered what Gibbs said. And he was right. If Tony went into this with all guns blazing he would chase Kevin away. And he would lose his daughter in the process.
Tony nodded. "Okay, I'll wait. I'll take it slow. But…I'm not really sure I know how to do that." Tony paused. "I mean, of course, I knew she dated. She's a pretty girl. I just, since she doesn't live with me…I didn't have to hear about it. I didn't have to think about it."
Gibbs watched Tony pace.
"I don't know how to react around this kid, Gibbs. I mean, they are both adults. I…." Tony shook his head.
"She needs more of a friendly ear, less of a father." Gibbs explained. "You're at the part of the relationship, now, that you really get to see the kind of person your child has grown up to be. You get to develop almost a friendship with them. You're still her father. But now you move from discipline to listening and offering advice."
"Sounds like the better part of the deal."
Gibbs nodded. "In a lot of ways it is."
"Olivia is a bright, wonderful woman and I just need to let her go…a little." Tony reasoned.
"Just a little."
"It's hard." Tony replied.
"Letting go is not supposed to be easy, especially when you haven't had her whole life to hang on." Gibbs agreed.
"Jacob and Sallie did a hell of a job raising her." Tony stated.
Gibbs nodded. "You were pretty special to Sallie for her to keep up with you, for her to encourage Olivia to find you. It takes a special kind of strength to do that. It would have been a lot easier for Sallie just to close the door on that part of Olivia's life."
Tony sat down on Gibbs staircase and rubbed his hands together. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Guess so? She would have missed out on a great dad and an awesome grandpa."
"I don't know if I can wait 4 more months." Tony confessed.
"Who says we have to?" Gibbs replied. He reasoned he was almost as anxious as Tony to meet Kevin. "A dad and a grandpa can't make a surprise visit?"
TBC
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