Our Life, Our Family

Chapter 11

wo hours later, Tony woke up to find that Charity was no longer in bed. He looked around the room, but there was no sign of her. He got up and got dressed. He headed to AJ's room and found that AJ was no longer asleep either.

Tony headed downstairs and found Charity in the kitchen. She was cooking, but she didn't have her music playing and she wasn't dancing. AJ was sitting at the counter munching on a cookie.

AJ looked up and smiled at his dad. "Daddy!"

Tony couldn't help but smile at his son. "Hey buddy. Why don't you go up to your room and play with your toys for a little bit. Daddy needs to talk to Mommy."

"Otay." AJ said, exasperated. He hopped off the stool and headed to his room.

Tony walked over to Charity who was standing in front of the stove. "Hey are you, okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine." She answered.

"You aren't playing music." He said.

"I just didn't feel like listening to it right now." She answered. She bent down and opened up the oven. She pulled out a huge ham.

Tony decided to take a closer look at the top of the stove. He noticed that every burner had something on it. She had mashed potatoes, corn, beans, and even a stew going. "That's a lot of food." Tony said.

"I just felt like cooking a lot. It's been a while since I have." She replied, putting the ham on the counter and returning to the stove.

Tony gently grabbed her arm. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.

Charity looked up at Tony. "I just want to forget it ever happened." She answered. "I just want to focus on our family."

Tony nodded. "Okay, but if you want to talk, I'm here."

"I know." She told him. She stretched up and kissed his cheek.

That night, Tony, Gibbs, and AJ all enjoyed the large spread Charity had made. Once they had all finished dinner, Charity had gotten up and started to clean the dishes. She and Tony put AJ to bed and then went to bed themselves.

Tony woke up in the middle of the night to find Charity doing and ironing laundry. "Honey, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Ironing." She answered.

"Charity, baby, it's two in the morning."

"I know. I couldn't sleep." She answered. "I kept thinking about how many clothes we had that were all wrinkled. So I decided to get up and iron." She then put a large amount of starch on the piece of clothing that was in front of her.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk?" He asked.

She sat the iron down, the hot part off the ironing table, and looked at Tony. "I'm fine." She replied. Then she picked the iron back up and went to work.

Tony decided he would get nowhere at that time, so he went back to bed. The next day he got dressed and went to work. When he arrived, he headed towards his desk, walking a little funny.

"Tony? Is there a reason you are walking like you have a stick up your spine?" Ziva asked.

"The phrase is a stick up your butt." Tony replied. "And yes there is."

"Well, I would love to hear it." Ziva said.

"I would, too." McGee added. "I mean you look like you're in pain."

"Well, at two in the morning, Charity decided she was going to start ironing clothes because she couldn't sleep. She ironed and put starch in my shorts." Tony answered.

"Why was she ironing at two in the morning?" Ziva asked.

"She's bothered by what happened and she won't talk about it." Tony answered. "I have got to get her to talk about it soon, I don't think I can handle this starch in my shorts all the time."

The next three days passed in very much the same fashion. Charity wasn't always ironing, sometimes she would be cooking and other times she would be cleaning. One night, Tony found Charity cleaning in the basement.

"Oh, hey honey." She greeted him, cheerfully. "I never realized just how dusty it was down here."

Tony walked further down the steps. He walked over to his wife and pulled the broom she was using out of her hands. He gently grabbed her by the shoulders and held her at arms' length. "Charity, you need to stop this."

"Need to stop what?" She asked.

"Quit all this insane cooking and cleaning at two in the morning and talk to me." Tony said.

Charity looked up at Tony and saw the worry in his eyes. Then she saw her reflection in his eyes. For a moment, she thought she could see herself how he saw her. She could see that what she was doing was completely insane and that if she didn't do anything about it, if she didn't let it out, it was going to eat her away. The stress wasn't good for her and it wasn't good for the baby she was carrying.

Tears instantly filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "I killed him." She blurted out. "I didn't want to, but I did."

Tony pulled Charity into his arms and held her tight. "You had no choice."

"I know, if I hadn't of he would have killed me." She said, the tears rolling down her face. "If it had just been me to worry about...I probably would...have just let him kill me."

"Don't talk like that." Tony told her.

"But when he said...when he said that...he would go after...after AJ...I...I just..."

"I know." Tony stroked her hair. "You did what you had to do to protect AJ."

"But I still killed a man." She said. "I don't know how to deal with that."

Tony pulled back and placed both hands on either side of Charity's face. He pulled her face up to look at him. "You are Charity Faith Gibbs DiNozzo." He told her. "You fought your way out of a coma when you were only six. You engineered our escape when we weere kidnapped together. Then you gave birth to our son in an elevator. And most of all, you have chosen to put up with me for the rest of your life. If you can get through all that, you can get through anything."

Charity let out a small laugh and a tiny smile tugged at one corner of her mouth. "Thank you." She said.

"Any time." He told her, pulling her closer and placing a tender kiss on her lips. "Oh and I forgot to mention one thing when I was cheering you up."

"What's that?" She asked.

"You are also your father's daughter."

Charity let out another laugh, this one was a little louder. Then she hugged herself closer to her husband. "I don't know what I'd do without you. You are my rock."

"Are you saying that I'm as dumb as a rock?" Tony teased.

"No." She said.

Tony smiled and then gave Charity a devilish look.

"What are you thinking?" She inquired suspiciously.

Tony wrapped his arms around Charity and hoisted her up and over his shoulder. "I'm getting you in bed now." Tony said with a false evil chuckle.

Charity giggled, feeling much better. Tony had known just what she needed and exactly what to do and say to make her feel better.