32Okay, so today has been a pretty good day for you readers out there. Two uploads from me in one day. Wow. That's a record. Anyways, I had this idea a few months ago at like 3am, so I jotted it down and totally forgot about it . . . until like 4 hours ago. And the result was my muse surfacing for about an hour or so, therefore, I wrote this. Hope you like it. I own Taylor. Nothing else. So sad.
She finally mustered up the courage to call.
Ring.
Ring.
"Hello?" a female voice answered.
"I must have the wrong number."
"And may I ask who you were trying to reach?"
"Anthony DiNozzo." she said timidly
"No, this is the DiNozzo residence. But he's out right now. Would you like me to tell him you called?"
"Uh, yes, if you could." Although, why would he want to call her back? Looks like he found someone else.
"I'm sorry, what is your name?"
"Uh, Sophie, Sophie Rainer."
"Got it. I will tell him."
"Thank you. Have a nice day."
Click.
Ziva sighed, knowing that he will know that she had called, and while on the verge of tears, she knew that she had missed her chance.
"Taylor, I'm home!"
"Hi, Uncle Tony."
Ever since his sister had passed away, Taylor had been his. Her mom had left all parental rights and guardianship to him of all people. Taylor's dad had left before she was even born, so Tony had helped raise
his sister raise her, until he moved from Baltimore to D.C., and joined NCIS.
"How was your day?"
"It was good. Nothing too exciting. Just nice to be out of school."
"Yeah, I bet. So, any preferences on dinner, kiddo?"
"Can we get Chinese?"
"Sure. The usual?"
"Yep. Oh, and Uncle Tony?"
"Yeah, Taylor?"
"Someone called for you today. Sophie. Uh, Sophie Rainer."
Tony's face looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
"Uncle Tony, you okay?"
He ran a hand over his face and let out a sigh.
"Yeah, Taylor. I'll be okay. Um, you didn't happen to jot that number down by any chance did you?"
"I got it. I am a much better message taker than you, you know."
"The number please?"
"Okay, okay, Mr. Anxious. Who is this Sophie?"
Tony gladly accepted the slip of paper and placed it in his pocket.
"A friend."
Taylor gave him a mischievous grin.
"Really? Where did you meet her?"
"Work."
The doorbell rang, signaling to the pair that their food had arrived. Tony got up to answer it, attempting to avoid the next question on the tip of Taylor's tongue.
They ate their meal in a comfortable silence. When they finished and cleaned up, Tony was picking out a movie when Taylor popped the next question.
"She was your partner wasn't she?"
Tony froze. Turning on his heal, he faced his niece with a quizzical look plastered on his face.
"And what makes you think that?"
Taylor smirked. "The way you reacted when I mentioned her name."
"Oh. Alright. Yeah, she was my partner." Tony said almost mechanically.
Suddenly, the mood of the conversation changed.
"Hey kiddo. You know what?" Tony stifled a yawn. "I don't think I'm up for a movie tonight. It's been a long day and we've caught a somewhat difficult case."
"Okay, Uncle Tony. It's fine. I think we've watched them all anyway."
They both laughed.
"Goodnight, Uncle Tony. Love you."
Tony pulled Taylor into a hug and kissed her head. "Night, kiddo. And Taylor, you don't have to call me Uncle. Tony's fine."
"Okay . . . Tony."
"Love you, Taylor."
He flipped off her light and began his way to the door.
"Tony?"
"Yeah?" He said from down the hall.
"Can I go to work with you tomorrow? Being in this apartment all day gets kinda boring."
"Yeah, Taylor, that's fine. Abby's been begging me to bring you anyway. She'll be excited to see you, as will everyone else. I gotta be in early so get some sleep, alright?"
"Alrighty. Night." Taylor said enthusiastically.
Tony chucked. "Night kiddo."
After taking a shower and changing, Tony lay awake in his bed. He couldn't believe she had called. He couldn't believe he had missed her call either. And he wondered how she reacted when Taylor had
answered. Oh God, he thought. She must have thought that Taylor was . . . . he couldn't even fathom what she could have thought.
He looked at the clock. How on earth did it get to be one in the morning? He had been laying there thinking about her for almost 2 hours. He definitely missed her more than he thought he had. And he hadn't
heard that name in God knows how long. He sighed as he flipped off his light. Tomorrow was going to be on heck of a day. He was going to call her back. No matter how much it hurt him to know that she had
moved on so long ago, he was going to call her.