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After drying his face off with a dish towel Tony decided he should start figuring out what to do with the boxes of his possessions. Other than his clothes, books, CD�s, and movies everything was still packed and taking up space that he would need when his niece and nephew arrived in two weeks time.
He found an Exact-o-Knife in one of the drawers in the kitchen and then went into the living room where the majority of the boxes had found themselves. First, he decided, he would deal with the framed pictures. They were out of date and he was pretty sure the glass had been broken in a few of the frames during his impromptu packing-and-skipping-town act, but that was easy enough to deal with.
Pictures of his sisters and their children; of his parents and grandparents; a group picture of his fraternity and an updated one from their spring break reunion in Panama City; of him and his partners from when he was a cop, and even some older pictures of beloved childhood pets, including a Shih Tzu that had died when he was seven or eight. He stopped and sat down when he found the box that was full of pictures of the team with all its different members. Gibbs was in them all, as were Ducky and Abby. Viv Blackadder was in some. Kate in others. McGee started showing up later on, always in a suit even though Gibbs had told him more than once that it wasn�t necessary, that the dress code was lax and that he was a field agent now, not a computer tech, and casual clothing was much more logical a choice in the field.
He found his favourite picture easily, though. Just him and Kate in Paraguay. Their guide had snapped the picture. They were in the room they had gone to when they first arrived and were both sweating profusely, standing in front of the open fridge to cool down a little. Tony remembered debating with Kate whether or not it would be wise to take a Corona from the fridge and split it. It had been so hot and there was nothing in the fridge but Corona�s and limes. The picture had been taken just as he grabbed some flaky ice from the freezer and dropped it down the front of Kate�s tee shirt, making her jump and giggle and elbow him in the gut all at the same time.
�That was a good trip,� Tony said softly. He didn�t much care for the outcome, their mark getting taken out by someone who was supposed to be on their side, but they had saved the girl and solved the case and had gotten out of Virginia for a little while without Gibbs lurking over their shoulders.
Tony was just about to go put the picture on the mantle place when a car pulled up and parked at the curb. One man got out and approached Tony�s house quickly. He reached the door and hit the doorbell before knocking firmly and loudly.