Chapter 48

2K 40 0
                                    

A few days later, Tony arrived home from work early. AJ was asleep in his bassinet and Charity was setting on the couch with a large book in her lap. "What are you reading?" He asked.

Charity looked up from the book and smiled at him. "I'm not reading anything." She replied and then held up the book. "It's a photo album."

Tony walked over and sat down beside Charity. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned his head close. "So, are there any pictures of you when you were a kid in here?" He asked.

Charity giggled. "Yes."

"Any embarrassing ones?" He asked.

"What? Naked baby pictures?" She asked.

"Well, duh." Tony answered.

"Nope. I took those out a long time ago. They are his somewhere safe. You will never find them." She replied with a wink.

"No embarrassing pictures of you? That's just boring." Tony teased.

"There are pictures of Dad you might consider embarrassing." Charity said with a devilish grin.

"Oh really?" Tony inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." She answered and flipped through the pages. Then she pointed to a picture that she loved. "This one is my favorite."

Tony looked at the picture. Gibbs sat at the head of a very very tiny table. Two little girls sat on either side of him. The two little girls were wearing hats and fake pearls. Gibbs was wearing a big hat and a necklace holding a pink tea cup. "I never thought I would see something like this." Tony said.

Charity grinned. "He's the best." She said. "Kelly and I could talk him into anything. He would do it just to spend time with us."

Tony smiled at Charity. "Yeah, I can't hold that against him. Let's see some more pictures. I wanna see how adorale you were."

Charity giggled. She flipped through more pictures and showed him who was who and all the good times she'd had. The last few pages of the album had titles across the top. One page read Me and Papaw Jackson. On this page were pictures of Charity and her grandfather, Jackson Gibbs. "I loved my summers with Papaw." She said as she flipped through her memories.

"Wait, what is that thing you two are standing in front of?" Tony asked pointing to a picture of her and Jackson standing in front of an old rusty car.

"Believe it or not, that is Lola." Charity said. "Papaw bought her for me from a scrap yard when I turned thirteen. We spent the next three summers rebuilding her."

"Okay, that is sexy." Tony remarked.

Charity grinned at him. She leaned over and kissed his lips.

"Okay, let's finish this album." Tony said with a grin.

Charity laughed. Then she flipped to the last page. The title on the top of the page was scribbled out and every picture had a tear in them, as if someone had been ripped out of the pictures. "I had forgotten that this was that album." She said and then quickly closed the photo album.

"Charity, what's wrong?" Tony asked. "Who was ripped out of those pictures?"

"Nobody." Charity answered. "Just someone I haven't seen in a very long time. Someone I never want to see again."

Tony looked at Charity, a worried look on his face. "Charity, honey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She answered, holding back tears.

Before anything else could be said, AJ woke up crying. Charity instantly stood up and scooped her son into her arms. "Is mommy's chunky monkey getting hungry, again?" She cooed at him, her face instantly changing from one of sadness and a hint of anger to the loving face of motherhood.

Tony watched as Charity headed to their room with their son. He looked at the seat next to him, empty except for the photo album. He picked up the album and flipped to the last page. The pictures had Charity in them from the time the time she was a tiny baby until she was about twelve. She was with someone in these pictures, but that someone was torn out. "Whoever this person was, must have really hurt her." Tony muttered to himself.

He looked back up the stairs, a concerned look on his face. Then he looked back down at the pictures in the albums. I wish I knew what to do to help her. Tony thought. She had given him so much and he wanted to do something for her in return. He wanted to help her with whatever it was that was bothering her, but he couldn't help her if he didn't know what was going on. He sat there a while longer before an idea hit him. He knew exactly what to do to get her to open up about this to him. I hope this works. He thought to himself.

Protecting GibbsWhere stories live. Discover now