Chapter One

There was nothing special about the place, just a medium priced hotel amongst the all the others. It was the type of place that usually attracted vacationers because of its location, close to all the tourist attractions that D.C. had to offer. But the group that was gathered in one of the rooms tonight was not vacationers; they were FBI. The agent in charge, Tobias Fornell, did not look happy, far from it.

He turned to one of the other agents, “What in the hell happened here?”

The other agent grimaced, “I’m not sure, he had finished eating dinner, said he wasn’t feeling well and was going to lie down.”

A second agent joined in, “When I went to check on him around 9 o’clock, this is what I found.”

“Damn it” Fornell said, “This should have been a simple witness protection detail. You know what this means now, don’t you?”

As he glared at the other two agents, they just shook their heads, Fornell sighed, “NCIS is going to want in on the investigation.”

“God I hate making these kind of calls” Fornell thought to him self as he entered the apartment building.

He knew that Leroy Jethro Gibbs, although a friend, was NOT going to be happy that he didn’t come to him first. But Fornell was hoping that he could convince the next of kin to let the FBI handle everything. Even though he knew that the chance was small, he had to try. He approached the door, raised his hand to knock and thought, “Well here goes nothing.”

Anthony DiNozzo had only been home from work long enough to grab a bite to eat. He was headed off to take a shower and go to bed when there was a knock at the door. Looking at his watch, he wondered who it could be at this time of night. Looking thru the peephole in his door, he was surprised at who he saw there. Tony opened the door and just leaned against the frame, hands in his pockets.

Fornell just grumbled, “DiNutso.”

Tony replied with a solemn “Fornell. What do you want?”

“You going to let me in?” Fornell asked.

“That depends.” Tony said as he raised his eyebrow, “You here to arrest me for Murder again?”

“Smart ass” Fornell muttered then looked him in the eye, “We need to talk, Dinozzo.”

The proper use of his name alerted Tony that something was up. So he gestured for him to enter, wondering how long it would be before he had a chance to call Gibbs.

Fornell followed Tony into the kitchen, taking a seat at the table while Tony leaned against the counter.

Fornell, not one for small talk, jumped right in. “When’s the last time you talked to your Father?”

Tony’s eyes narrowed, “Why?”

“Did you know he was here in D.C.?” Fornell asked.

Tony was starting to get a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach; he just shook his head no as he stood up straight.

Fornell continued, “He was here to testify about a case, we had him set up in a hotel as a material witness.” He paused for a second, “He died earlier this evening. I’m sorry DiNozzo.”

Tony leaned back against the counter again, no emotion on his face as he stared at a spot above Fornells head. “How?” he asked quietly.

Fornell sighed, “We’re not sure, our M.E. was just arriving when I left to come here.”

Tony straightened up from the counter. “I want Ducky to do the,” he paused, “the autopsy.”

Fornell stood up then, “Listen DiNozzo, this IS NOT an NCIS case. I’m only here to notify next of kin.”

Tony cringed slightly at those words. Then a cold mask slipped over his face as he took a step closer to Fornell, determined to get his way.

Chapter 2

The two men stood facing each other, one with an angry look on his face; the other had a determined, steely look on his.

Tony said, “I repeat, I want Ducky to do the post mortem. As you already stated, I AM next of kin, I should at least be able to decide this much.”

“Listen here DiNozzo,” Fornell said angrily, “This is an FBI case, and you have no say here.”

Tony interrupted him “ Yea, now that you bring that up, what kind of case are we talking about?”

“None of your business” Fornell snapped. “Just stay out of it.” He was now regretting coming here in person.

Tony’s eyes went cold, “Fornell, what ever this case is about? Getting into my Fathers business and personal papers could probably help, right?”

Fornell didn’t answer but Tony could see he was on to something. “As his only son, what I say could make a difference. The right word in the right ear?” Tony paused with cold stare, then stepping up into his personal space; he said softly “It could become a long and expensive legal battle that you might not win.”

Fornell stiffened “Is that a threat?”

Tony leaned in and whispered, “Just try me.”

Fornell stared at him for a minute, then his shoulders relaxed slightly “What, are you channeling Gibbs now?” he sighed.

Tony stepped back and said “That a good thing or bad?”

“Neither” Fornell muttered, “Just scary.” He then turned towards the door, motioning for Tony to follow, “Come on DiNozzo, you can call your M.E. on the way.”

Tony decided it would be best to take his own vehicle, getting the address from Fornell he then called Ducky. “Hey Ducky, it’s me.” He said when the M.E. answered. “Sorry for calling so late.”

“That’s o.k, Mother is staying with friends tonight. Do we have a case?” Ducky asked.

Tony sighed, “Not really, it’s a personal favor. And Ducky?” he paused, “Can you just keep it quiet for now? I’ll call Gibbs when I get back to the office.”

“What did you need Anthony?” Ducky said.

Tony answered quietly, “The FBI will be dropping off a,” he paused, “someone I need you to do a autopsy on, see if you can tell me cause of death.”

Ducky could hear the gravity in Tony’s voice, “I’ll be there shortly and Anthony? As long as you realize that if you don’t call Jethro, I’ll have to. I won’t lie to him.”

“Don’t worry Ducky, I’ll take care of it.” Tony replied.

As he arrived at NCIS, Tony decided to go down to Autopsy to wait for his Fathers body to arrive before calling Gibbs.

“How ironic” Tony thought. He had spent most of his childhood “waiting” for his Father and even now, in death, he was STILL waiting for him. He ran his hands across his face and then massaged his temples; he could feel a migraine coming on. It was the middle of the night, he was exhausted and his head was killing him. Tony decided to just bite the bullet and call Gibbs now, not realizing that Fornell had beat him to it.

Gibbs had got the call from Fornell and agreed to meet him at NCIS. As he hung up the phone he thought, “Damn it DiNozzo, why didn’t you call me straight away.”

Gibbs made it to work in record time, meeting up with Fornell at the elevators. They acknowledge each other as they got on the elevator, “Jethro”, then with a nod answered back, “Tobias.”

As the elevator started to move, Gibbs reached over to pull the emergency stop button. He then turned to the man next to him and with a stony face said “o.k. Tobias, what’s going on?”

Fornell sighed and said, “Listen Jethro, there’s not a lot I can tell you. Mr. DiNozzo was to be a material witness in a case; we had him set up in a local hotel. He had his dinner, went to lie down and when one of my agents went to check up on him, that’s when they found him.”

“Why not call me first?” Gibbs asked.

“Listen, I called DiNutso first cause he was next of kin,” Fornell answered “I didn’t have to call YOU at all, I only did it because of our friendship.” He then smirked, “I’ll tell you this much, your boy did you proud. Thought I was dealing with you for a minute there.”

Gibbs allowed himself a small smile, and then hit the button to start the elevator moving. “Wait for me upstairs, I’ll be there shortly.”

As Gibbs left the elevator and approached Autopsy, his phone rang. He looked at the caller I.D.; it was DiNozzo. Just ahead of him was Tony; his shoulders slumped, leaned up against the wall with his phone to his ear.

Gibbs called his name and Tony, talking into his phone. “Hey Boss, it’s me.” Then he realized that the voice came from behind him and that his phone was still ringing. Tony turned around quickly as he closed his phone, “Oh hey there Boss, was just calling you.”

As he took in the look on Gibbs face, he said, “ I take it you heard already?”

Gibbs answered, the words stern but the tone soft, “Should have heard about it from you, DiNozzo.” He stepped a little closer, his eyes taking in the strain on Tony’s face, he asked “You o.k?”

Tony straightened his shoulders and answered with his typical “I’m fine Boss.”

Gibbs knew he was lying but let it drop, “I’ll be upstairs with Fornell, get up there as soon as your done.”

“Sure thing Boss,” Tony said, then added “Thanks.”

Gibbs just nodded to him as he headed back to the elevator. Both of them were thinking, for different reasons that the worst was yet to come.

Ducky entered his office and hung up his coat. He looked at the clock; it was just after 1:00 a.m. As he started to get ready for the arrival of the body he thought, “This is going to be another all-nighter.” When he had entered Autopsy, he didn’t see Tony standing in the darkened hallway, slumped against the wall. If he had, Ducky might have been more prepared for just whose body it was coming in. Once the body arrived, he couldn’t quite hide the look of shock on his face when he saw the name on the paperwork.

Ducky said softly, as he read over the papers, “Oh Anthony, you just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to your family.”

Ducky was just about to pull the sheet off the body when he heard the doors swoosh open. He turned around and saw Tony standing there, hands in his pockets as he stared at the covered body on the autopsy table.

Ducky went over to him, put a hand on his shoulder and said, “My dear boy, I am so sorry. You have my deepest sympathies.”

“Thank you Ducky.” He said.

Ducky then said “Why didn’t you say something when you called?” Tony just shrugged, his eyes not leaving the sheet covered body of his Father. Ducky asked softly “Would you like a moment alone?”

Tony, his gaze still fixated on his Father, replied “That’s o.k. It can wait.”

“Just so you know,” Ducky said, “I called Abigail to come in and run some tests, but that was before I knew who it was. She won’t be happy that you didn’t call her yourself.”

Tony dragged his eyes away from the table and said with a ghost of a smile, “Thanks for the warning.” He then drew in a deep breath, “I’d better get upstairs, Gibbs is waiting for me.”

After Tony left, Ducky called Gibbs. When he answered with his usual abruptness, Ducky told him, “Anthony is on his way up, I hope you tread lightly here Jethro. I believe the poor boy is hurting more than even HE knows.”

Gibbs said quietly, “Don’t worry Ducky, I’ll take care of it.”

Just as Gibbs was hanging up the phone, Tony came into the bullpen, walked over to Fornell who was seated at McGee’s desk. “We need to talk. Now.”



Fornell just looked at him, and then glanced over at Gibbs. Not liking the way either one was looking at him he just sighed, “Fine, but we need to talk somewhere private and not your ‘conference room’.” He said as he pointed at Gibbs.

“Fine, follow me then.” Gibbs said as he got up from his desk.

Fornell followed him with Tony bringing up the rear as they went to one of the empty interrogation rooms. Gibbs and Fornell sat at the table as Tony leaned against the wall, appearing casual but even Fornell could sense the tension coming off of him.

“You need to keep in mind,” Fornell began “This is still an open case. I don’t need EITHER of you to do anything to jeopardize that.”

Tony just scoffed, “We’re not amateurs here.”

Fornell looked over to Tony and said, “Yea, well I know how things go when a case gets personnel, people get sloppy and this couldn’t GET any more personnel for you.”

“What are you trying to say Fornell?” Tony said as he straightened up, his eyes narrowing.

“I’ve seen how you are DiNozzo, with all your playing around. You don’t exactly follow the rules all the time.” Fornell replied, his voice getting louder. “We don’t need anything screwed up on this case!”

Tony, just as loud, said, “Don’t you mean anything MORE screwed up? Your guys are the ones that messed up here!”

“Enough!” Gibbs said forcefully, his hand hitting the table.

Tony leaned back against the wall, “Sorry Boss” he said quietly, but his eyes never left Fornell.

“So Tobias” Gibbs said, “Can we just get on with this?”

“Fine with me” Fornell said “We were investigating a group that we suspected of money laundering.” Looking at Tony, he continued, “ Your Father was one of the names that came up.”

Tony met Gibbs eyes for a second, and then looked back at Fornell, “So how did he become a witness for the FBI?” he asked.

“He came to us.” Fornell replied, “He offered to testify about what he knew in exchange for immunity.” Then as he looked at Tony he said almost accusingly, “It seems Daddy DiNozzo got wind of our investigation.”

Gibbs eyes narrowed, he didn’t like where this was going. He was a little worried how Tony would react, given the events of the last couple of hours. But as soon as Tony started to speak he knew he had nothing to worry about.

Tony just rolled his eyes at Fornells comment, “Oh please, like I don’t have better things to do with my time than to follow YOUR cases, let alone report back to my Father.” He said with a hint of his typical mocking humor.

Gibbs allowed a smile to briefly flicker across his face. Then putting the scowl back on his face, he turned to the FBI agent seated across from him saying, “I’d better not hear you say anything like that outside of this room. Not against one of my agents and not without hard evidence to back it up.”

“Come on Gibbs,” Fornell said, gesturing towards Tony, “I was just yanking his chain.”

Tony sighed, shaking his head as he stood up from the wall and turned to leave. As he exited he threw over his shoulder, “You’re a real laugh riot Fornell.”

As Fornell looked at Gibbs, he shrugged his shoulders saying “What?”

As Tony left the interrogation room and headed for his desk in the bullpen, he thought, “Great, not only am I tired; now I’m tired and pissed off.” As he sat as his desk, he thought over everything that had happened in the last couple of hours. After seeing his Father’s body down in Autopsy, he was glad he had decided NOT to go to the crime scene.

“O.k., so he hadn’t actually SEEN his body” Tony cringed, but he knew he was going to have to at some point. He didn’t know if he wanted to look at the crime scene photos though; he would just have to play it by ear, see how things went.

Tony realized that his headache was getting worse, so he started to dig around in his desk for some aspirin. After what seemed like an hour but was actually only a few minutes, he finally found some in his bottom desk drawer. Sitting up, holding the bottle of aspirin up in the air as if it were a trophy, Tony shouted “Ah Ha!” There stood Gibbs, just looking at him with one eyebrow raised.

“Oh, hey there Boss.” Tony said a little sheepishly, “I was just looking for, well actually I found,” he paused “but that doesn’t matter, does it?”

Tony noticed that Gibbs had a coffee cup in each hand and a file folder under his arm. Gibbs set one of the cups down on Tony’s desk. He said, “Here, you look like you could use this.”

Tony, clearly surprised, smiled and said softly “Thanks Boss.”

Gibbs then took the file folder out from under his arm and set it in front of Tony. “Fornell gave me this. It’s some of what the FBI had dug up on your Father.”

The smile immediately left Tony’s face. As he just put his hand on the file but not opening it, he looked up at Gibbs and asked, “Have you looked at it yet?”

Gibbs shook his head no, “Not yet, I figured you might be able to spot something that the FBI might have missed.”

Tony frowned “I was never involved in his business, don’t know how I would see something they didn’t.”

“He was your Father, DiNozzo” Gibbs said, “Think.”

A look of comprehension came across Tony’s face as it dawned on him what Gibbs meant. “I’ll know how he thinks, his M.O. so to speak.” He replied.

Noticing that the file seemed kind of thin, he then asked, “Is this all they have?”

“No, just the basics.” Gibbs said. As he walked over and sat at his own desk, “Apparently Fornell has to get approval from his superiors before he can show us the rest.”

“I’ll get right on it, Boss.” Tony said solemnly.

As his finger traced over his Fathers name at the top of the file, he just hoped that there weren’t any nasty surprises in there. He opened the file, as he took a sip of his coffee. A small smile crossed Tony’s face when he realized that Gibbs had gotten it just the way he liked it.

Meanwhile, down in Autopsy, Ducky was still working on Tony’s Father when Abby came bustling in with her pigtails bouncing.

“Hey Ducky, got here as soon as I could.” She said “Would have been here sooner but I was at this party and when I went to leave I had a flat tire and then I had to stop for gas. I’ve already been to my lab and I’ve got my babies all warmed up, ready to get to work. So, ya got some samples for me?”

Ducky smiled to himself at her rambling. He wondered how much caffeine she had drank this evening, looking at the clock he corrected himself; it was actually morning now, almost 4 a.m.

“I have the blood and tissue samples right over here.” Ducky said “I’m not done yet, so there will be a few more after these.”

Abby signed off on the evidence. “What kind of case do we have?”

Ducky handed her a clipboard saying, “I’m sorry to say Abigail, this one hits a little close to home.”

Reading the name at the top, Abby gasped “Oh no, Poor Tony! Does he know yet?”

“Yes, he does my dear.” Ducky replied, “Anthony was actually the one that convinced the FBI to have me do the Autopsy.”

“The FBI? Why are they involved?” She asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t have the details yet.” He said, “I was just asked to find the cause of death.”

Abby, now quiet somber asked “Do you know where Tony is now?”

“I believe he is upstairs.” Ducky continued “Don’t worry Abigail, Jethro is with him right now. He’ll make sure Anthony is o.k.”

“Good, that gives me time to get my tests started first. I want to see how Tony is for myself.” Abby said as she marched out with a determined look on her face.

Ducky said to the now empty room, “Well Anthony, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Tony was at his desk, he had been reading thru the FBI file. He let out a deep sigh as he sat back. There wasn’t a lot in there but on the surface, it certainly looked like his Father had been involved. He would just have to wait for Fornell to show them the rest; he hoped that it would help clear a few things up. Tony had just decided to go and get more coffee when he heard the elevator and the unmistakable sound of Abby’s boots as she came towards him. He stood up and braced himself; he knew what was coming.

“Tony!” Abby shouted as she flung herself at him, embracing him in one of her infamous hugs. “I’m SO sorry about your Father.”

“Thanks Abby” then choked out “Kind of need to breath here.”

“Oh, sorry” she said as she let go. Then she punched him in the shoulder.

“Ouch! What was THAT for?” Tony whimpered as he rubbed his shoulder.

“For not calling me yourself. I thought we were friends Tony?” Abby looked mad.

“Kind of had other things on my mind Abby.” He said quietly as he looked down at the ground.

Abby immediately grabbed Tony into another hug. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like it sounded.” She said guiltily. Tony let himself be enveloped by her hug. He rested his head on her shoulder with his eyes shut as she slowly rubbed circles on his back.

Gibbs had been watching the whole scene unfold and decided to give Tony a little “alone time” with Abby. He knew that Tony often went to her to talk thing s over and that he probably needed this time with her. He left quietly without either of them noticing.

As Abby stepped back slightly, she took his face between her hands forcing him to look at her. “So, how are you, really?” she asked as she looked him straight in the eye.

Tony just shrugged “I don’t know, sad, confused, numb, pissed off and not necessarily in that order.”

Abby’s eyes ran over his face, taking in the pain and stress she could see etched there. “O.k. mister, you’re coming with me.” She exclaimed as she grabbed his hand.

“Where are you taking me?” Tony barely had time to grab the jacket off the back of his chair before Abby pulled him toward the elevators.

“Well, first we’re going to get something to drink and then there’s someone down in my lab that I think you need.” Abby said with a determined look. Tony knew better than to argue with her when she got this way. But secretly he was glad for the distraction that Abby offered.

After refilling his coffee, Gibbs made his way down to Autopsy to talk with Ducky. He hoped he had made some progress so he could get this solved as quickly as possible, for Tony’s sake. As he walked into Autopsy, he could see Ducky was just cleaning things up.

Ducky looked up “Ah, Jethro, I was wondering how long it would be before you came down here.”

“Do you have anything yet Ducky?” Gibbs asked as he drank his coffee.

“Nothing conclusive, I’m afraid. Although Mr. DiNozzo was not in the best of health, I don’t believe it was why he died.” Ducky replied as he made his way over to his desk.

“What do you mean by ‘not the best of health’?” Gibbs said his brow furrowed.

“Well” Ducky began “His liver had the beginning signs of Cirrhosis, too much alcohol for too many years I’m afraid. His heart was damaged; I believe it wouldn’t have been too long before he had a massive coronary.”

Gibbs just sighed, “Anything else?”

“Well I’ve sent blood and tissue samples to Abigail. We’ll have to wait and see what she finds.” Then Ducky asked. “How is Anthony doing?”

“Seems to be getting thru it” Gibbs said “He was upstairs talking with Abby when I left.”

Ducky nodded “Good, Those two are close and I think being with Abigail will be the best thing for him right now.”

As Gibbs nodded in agreement “I’m going to go check in with Abby, see if she’s come up with anything yet.”


After getting herself a Cafpow and Tony another cup of coffee, Abby practically dragged him down to her lab. She led him over to a darkened corner where her futon mattress was, practically pushing him down. “Sit!” she ordered.

Grabbing Bert, she handed the stuffed animal to Tony “Lay down” Abby ordered again.

Tony grumbled “What am I, your dog?” but made no move to lie down.

Abby grinned at him “Roll over?”

Tony smirked back “As long as you don’t ask me to beg.”

They just grinned at each other, and then Abby said, “Fine, you stay there and finish your drink. I’ve got to check on my test results.”

The grin immediately disappeared from his face. Faking a nonchalance that he didn’t feel, Tony asked, “Are those about my Father?”

After glancing at her machines, only to see that the test weren’t done yet, Abby went over and sat down next to him. With a guilty tone to her voice “Sorry about that, I forgot for a moment.”

“That’s o.k. Abby” he said as he leaned against her.

Abby immediately wrapped her arms around Tony, stroking his hair with one of her hands. They just sat there in silence for a while, she didn’t have to ask him any questions, and she knew he would talk if and when he was ready. After a few minutes, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I never thought it would hit me this hard, that I would actually miss him.” Tony said

Abby replied, “He’s your Father, of course you’re going to miss him.”

He turned to look at her “You don’t understand, we never had much of a relationship, we’ve barely spoken to each for years.”

“Doesn’t matter Tony, he’s still your Father.”

He leaned his head back on her shoulder and closed his eyes. All he wanted to do was sleep, but with all the caffeine he had drank, he knew that wasn’t going to happen for a while. So he just sat there, perfectly still, as Abby held him.

Gibbs had been watching them thru the glass, not wanting to interrupt. He smiled slightly at the sight of the two of them, especially Tony clutching the stuffed hippo. He just shook his head; he would never understand their attachment to that thing.

He waited for a few minutes after he had seen them stop talking and then entered the lab silently. Gibbs signed to Abby “Is he asleep?”

She signed back “Not sure”

Tony, with his eyes still closed, suddenly spoke “You CAN talk out loud you know, I’m not asleep.”

This caused Abby to jump; she then said, “You know, it’s not nice to pretend to be asleep.”

Tony answered back, with a smile “Well, it’s not nice to talk about someone in front of them in a way that they can’t understand either.”

Gibbs just smirked “Point taken, DiNozzo” He turned to Abby “You have any results yet?”

Abby jumped up and went to her machines “Nothing yet Gibbs.”

His phone rang “Gibbs” he answered. He listened for a second then hung up without saying anything. “With me DiNozzo, Director wants to talk to us.”

“On your six, Boss” Tony said, groaning as he got up off the floor.

“Get me those test results” Gibbs threw over his shoulder to Abby.

“You’ll know as soon as I do, Boss man.” She replied

As Tony followed Gibbs onto the elevator, they looked at each other with the same expression; that this was NOT going to be fun.

As Gibbs and Tony climbed the stairs to the directors’ office, they were both deep in thought. Gibbs was thinking about how he was going to get Jen to let them continue to look into DiNozzo Sr.’s death, the only NCIS connection being he was Tony’s Father. Tony was thinking about how he was going to get thru this meeting without having to go too deep into his relationship with his Father.

When they got to the directors office, Gibbs strode right in without knocking, as usual, while Tony paused briefly to give her assistant a smile. They both went in front of her desk and stood at attention, hands clasped behind their backs.

As Director Shepard looked at them over the top of her reading glasses she said, “Go ahead and take a seat.”

After seating themselves, Gibbs kept his gaze trained on the director’s face while Tony couldn’t quite look her in the eye. Staring instead just above her head.

“Agent Gibbs” she began “Care to explain why, when I came in this morning, I had an urgent message waiting for me from the director of the FBI?”

“That’s probably my fault Director” Tony responded before Gibbs could say anything.

Gibbs shot Tony a look that clearly said what in the hell do you think you’re doing, which Tony was trying hard to ignore.

“Go ahead Agent DiNozzo” Director Shepard said as she leaned forward on her desk, removing her glasses.

“Fornell informed me of my Fathers passing” he hesitated slightly “I’m the one that insisted Ducky do the Autopsy”

She raised her eyebrows “Do I even want to know how you got him to agree to that?”

“Probably not” Tony said with a small smile.

“I see,” she said as she sat back in her chair. The two agents sat silently as the director just looked at them both.

“Very well,” she sighed. “Agent DiNozzo, if you could just wait outside for a moment, I’d like a word with Agent Gibbs.”

As he started to rise out of the chair she continued “And Tony? I’m sorry about your Father, I do understand.”

“Thank you” Tony said quietly.

As soon as Tony shut the door, Gibbs began “Listen Jen, I know we might have overstepped our authority here a little bit”

“Just a little Jethro?” she smiled.

Gibbs smiled back, and then turned serious, “We need to do this investigation Jen, for Tony’s sake”

“I know Jethro. That’s why I’ve already talked to the FBI Director and he’s agreed to let you handle it, for now.” She replied.

Gibbs just raised an eyebrow, “What’s the catch?”

“There are two actually,” Jen answered “One, they want two of their agents to work with you. And before you say anything yes, Fornell will be one of them.”

Gibbs just snorted “And the second?”

“Tony is to have as little to do with the investigation as possible,” she said firmly. “I don’t want him going rouge on us.”

As Gibbs started to say something, she interrupted “There’s no negotiation on this Jethro.”

“I was about to agree with you, Jen.” Then as he got up to leave, Gibbs said, “I know one of my rules is to anticipate,” he paused, “ but you have to make sure that you anticipate correctly.”

As he left, she just smiled “You don’t make it easy Jethro.”

When Gibbs came out of the directors’ office, he found Tony standing at the railing. As he approached he saw that Tony was watching McGee and Ziva enter the bullpen. They both stood there silently, observing the other two agents as they talked.

“You ready for this?” Gibbs asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Tony responded.

Down in the bullpen McGee had arrived first, Ziva right behind him. McGee turned to her and asked “Did you see the news this morning?”

“No, was there a large story?” she said.

“Big story” Tim answered

“What?” Ziva said.

“Never mind” he muttered, shaking his head. Picking up the remote for the plasma, he said, “Look, It’s all over the news”

As they both stood there and watched, scrolling across the bottom of the screen was a report of how businessman Dominick DiNozzo had been found dead in a D.C. hotel room of unknown causes. Ziva stood there, staring at the screen with a look of concern on her face.

McGee said softly “Do you think Tony knows yet?”

“He knows” Gibbs said from behind them, causing them both to jump.

They both turned around to find Tony already seated at his desk with Gibbs standing there, looking at them with no expression on his face. Ziva noticed immediately that Tony was still wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday, causing her concern to go up a notch.

McGee turned to Tony “I’m sorry about your Father.” He said sympathetically.

“Thanks McGee” he replied soberly.

Ziva approached Tony’s desk “Is there anything I can do?”

Tony wiggled his eyebrows up and down “Anything Ziva?”

Ziva just rolled her eyes as she went back to her desk “Never mind”

Tony just smiled and thought to himself “God I love giving her a hard time”

As the team got settled at their desk, McGee and Ziva looked at each other then at Tony. Ziva got up and went over to Gibbs desk and just stood there waiting. Gibbs looked up at her.

Ziva said, “So, are you going to fill us in?”

“What do you mean Officer David?”

“We are investigating Mr. DiNozzo’s death, yes?” Ziva replied. “We need to know what happened.”

Tony and Gibbs looked at each other across the room, Tony giving a slight nod of his head to him. Just then Gibbs phone rang.

“Gibbs” he answered. Silent for a moment, he then said, “Be right down.”
Saying to his team “Let’s go, Abby’s got something. I’ll fill you all in when we get down there.”

They all hurried on to the elevator behind him. McGee and Ziva curious to find out what was going on and Tony, he was anxious to find out what had killed his Father.

As the team approached Abby’s lab, they could hear the pounding beat of her music thru the walls. As they entered, they could see Abby nodding her head to the beat, pigtails bouncing. Gibbs went over and turned the music off.

“Hey!” she exclaimed, “That was my favorite song.”

Gibbs replied with a slight smile’ “Need to be able to hear myself think, Abs.”

“You said you had something?” he continued.

Abby stood with her hands on her hips “Aren’t you forgetting something? My Cafpow?”

“I’ll owe you one, o.k?” said Gibbs. “What did you find?”

They all gathered around her desk, except for Tony; who hug back slightly. As they looked at her computer screen, she began.

“So I was going thru the results and noticed something kind of hinky. The potassium level was really low, almost non-existent.”

Ziva asked, “Why is that dangerous?”

“Well, it depends on what causes it. If it were that low naturally, it’s something that his Doctor would have noticed.”

“So your saying something caused it? Some kind of drug maybe?” Gibbs asked.

“Exactly!” Abby said as she turned back to her computer and began typing furiously.

“It’s called Digitalis Toxicity, he ingested one lethal dose of a drug called Digoxin.” Abby said as she pointed at the test results on her screen.

“So it was deliberate, he was murdered?” McGee said quietly as he looked at Abby.

“Yea.” Abby sighed. She then turned towards Gibbs, looked behind him and said “Hey, where’s Tony?”

Gibbs whipped around, saw that Tony was gone and muttered “Damn it DiNozzo” as he strode out of the lab.

As they hurried after Gibbs, Ziva was kicking herself for not noticing that he had left; McGee was thinking about what he would do if he had just found out that his Father had been murdered.

After hearing Abby reveal the test results, Tony knew he had to get out of there. He slipped out and took the stairs, deciding to go for a walk to get himself together. He stopped and got some coffee and then went to a nearby park. As Tony sat on one of the benches, just sipping his coffee, he was thinking to himself “O.k. DiNozzo, you need to pull yourself together.”

Tony’s emotions were all over the place. He was having a hard enough time dealing with the fact that his Father had just died, the sadness he felt was unexpected and a little overwhelming. But what was REALLY throwing him for a loop was the intense anger he had felt when he found out that his Father had been murdered.

Back at NCIS, Gibbs marched off the elevator with Ziva and McGee right behind him. When they saw that Tony wasn’t there, they all three headed for their desk.

“David, get DiNozzo on his phone.” Gibbs said “McGee, see if you can get a GPS trace on it.”

“On it Boss” they replied in unison.

Gibbs was thinking, “Where in the hell are you, Dinozzo.” Hoping he wasn’t about to do anything stupid.

Ziva then said, “He’s not answering his cell phone.”

“McGee!” Gibbs barked.

“Tracking now Boss” McGee said as he typed on his keyboard, intent on his computer screen. “Got it,” he said after moment.

“Where is he?” Gibbs said, rising from his desk.

“Um, he’s at the park down the street.” McGee said looking up from his monitor.

Just then the elevator sounded and out came Agent Fornell with another man behind him. They were both carrying some file folders.

“Gibbs” Fornell said as he walked over to his desk. Then gesturing to the man with him. “This is Agent Crimson, he was on duty at the hotel last night.”

Gibbs said “Those the rest of the files?”

At Fornells nod, he continued, “McGee and David can look thru those. Stay here incase they have any questions.”

“Where are you going?” Fornell said.

“Out” Gibbs answered with his usual curtness as he left.

As Agent Crimson leaned against Tony’s desk, Fornell sat behind Gibbs desk. Looking at Ziva, he asked, “Where’s DiNozzo?”

Not looking up, she replied, “Out”, sounding just as curt as Gibbs.

Fornell just snorted then said, “Do you guys have a contest going to see who can be more like your boss?”

As both the agents just looked at him blankly, he muttered, “Never mind.”

Meanwhile at the park, having finished his coffee already, Tony just sat there. Not looking at anything in particular, he just stared straight ahead when he felt Gibbs standing behind him.

“Would have bought you a coffee too Boss, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take you to get here and I didn’t want it to get cold.” he said without turning around.

Gibbs just sat down next to Tony, not saying anything. They both sat there silently for a few minutes. Finally Tony spoke.

“I had to get out of there, Boss.” He said quietly. “It just felt like, I don’t know, the walls were closing in or something.”

“You o.k?” he replied.

“Not really, but I will be.” Tony said as he looked at Gibbs.

Then Tony looked away and said, “I just need a few more minutes.”

“DiNozzo” Gibbs began “ If you ever leave like that again without telling me where you’re going”

Tony cut him off, “I know, I know, you’ll head slap me into next week.”

Gibbs just smirked. As he raised his hand, Tony tensed, expecting a head slap. Gibbs instead put his hand on his shoulder.

“C’mon Tony, let’s go.” He said gently.

As they got up from the bench, Tony faced Gibbs looking him straight in the eye.

“Thanks Gibbs, for you know, everything.”

Letting his feelings of concern show in his eyes, Gibbs just nodded once.

Then he replied, “Time to get back to work” as he started to walk away.

“On your six Boss” Tony said as he let the warmth of Gibbs concern wash over him, adding a little more spring to his step.

Arriving back at NCIS, Gibbs and DiNozzo were the center of attention when they entered the bullpen. At Gibbs glare, Ziva and McGee quickly lowered their eyes back down to the files in front of them. As Gibbs walked over to his own desk, he scowled at Fornell.

“Uh oh” thought Fornell, “I’ve seen that look before” as he slowly got out of the chair. Without saying a word, Fornell grabbed an empty chair and sat in front of Gibbs desk so that they were facing each other.

When Tony had approached his desk, he saw a man leaning against his desk. Tony just snapped his fingers, and then motioned with his thumb.

“Move it or else.” Tony said as he sat down behind his desk.

“Or else what?” the FBI agent said but not moving.

“Or else I’ll have Ziva over there” he said pointing at her “show you #5 on the list of ways she can kill you with a paperclip.”

“Oh I don’t know Tony” Ziva said, holding a paperclip between her fingers “I think #3 is much more interesting, yes?”

“Really? Well, maybe, I’ll let you decide.” He replied as he leaned back in his chair.

As he got up from Tony’s desk, Agent Crimson muttered, “Sacks was right, you guys are all crazy.”

McGee, keeping his head down was trying, but not quite succeeding, to keep the smile off his face. Gibbs was having more success at hiding his grin, and then he put on his scowl.

“Back to work, you two.” He barked. “Ziva, give some of those files to DiNozzo.”

He knew that he had told the director that he would keep Tony out of the investigation, as much as possible. But after what had just happened with Tony taking off like that, he wanted him close, where he could keep an eye on him.

Gibbs was going over the Autopsy results with Fornell and Crimson. When they found out that the tests showed conclusively that Mr. DiNozzo had been murdered, Fornell looked pissed off. Gibbs began to question them about the details of their protection detail.

“So who all knew that Mr. DiNozzo was there?” He asked.

“The usual people; his lawyer, the prosecutor, Agent Crimson and his partner along with the two other agents that were working the detail.” Fornell replied “Along with me and my boss, of course.”

Gibbs frowned “Any chance one of them could have leaked his location?”

“Hell yes, one of them could have, but I don’t think they did.” Fornell sounded frustrated.

Gibbs turned to Agent Crimson “Where did you get his meal from?”

“We had it sent up thru room service.” He replied.

“Which one of you checked out the kitchen and watched over the food?” Gibbs asked.

“Well, neither of us.” Crimson answered, “Didn’t think it was necessary.”

Fornell turned to his agent “Didn’t think it was necessary? What in the hell were you thinking?”

“We were thinking that it didn’t matter, it wasn’t like he was being threatened or anything.” Crimson said. “He was just there to testify”

Gibbs got angry after hearing that. The way those two agents had run this protection detail was both stupid and careless. He was just about to say so when Fornell beat him to it.

“Damn it Crimson, could you have been anymore careless?” Fornell ground out. “I can’t believe you did something so stupid, your mistake cost a man his life.”

Tony had been trying to eavesdrop on Gibbs and Fornell, without them knowing of course, while he looked over the files in front of him. After that last bit, his head came up and he was openly staring at them with a look of disbelief and then anger on his face.

Fornell continued, “I want you to go back to our office and wait for me. You’ll be lucky if you only get suspended, you could loose your job over this.”

Agent Crimson jumped up “I don’t get what the big deal is here, this guy wasn’t innocent.” He spat out “He was just another rich fat cat businessman who was breaking the law just so he could get even richer!”

Gibbs had noticed Tony watching them and looked over at him just then. He saw him start to get up from behind his desk and thought “Oh crap, don’t do anything stupid DiNozzo”

Agent Crimson turned and started to leave, only to find his path blocked by Tony.

“You better get out of my way” Crimson said.

When Tony didn’t move, he continued, “Do you have a problem?”

“Yea, you” Tony replied coldly.

“I’ve read all about you Agent DiNozzo” Crimson sneered

Tony stepped closer to the FBI agent. As they watched what was going on, McGee and Ziva had stood up from behind their desk and started to come closer. They could tell by the look on Tony’s face that this wasn’t going to end well.

Crimson continued, “I don’t know why you’re so upset. From what I hear, Daddy cut you out of his life years ago, you should be glad he’s gone.”

When the FBI agent went to step around him, Tony blocked his path. Crimson then shoved Tony and he shoved back. When Crimson went to take a swing at Tony, that’s when everyone jumped in. Fornell and Ziva grabbed Crimson while McGee and Gibbs grabbed Tony.

“Enough!” Gibbs yelled.

Not letting go of Crimson, Fornell escorted him to the elevator with Ziva following to make sure there was no trouble. Tony shook off McGee and Gibbs, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“I’m fine,” he said as he went to sit behind his desk.

Ziva and McGee slowly made their way back to their desk, eyes never leaving Tony. Gibbs stayed standing in front of Tony’s desk, watching him too.

Tony was stacking the files on his desk into one pile, his movements sharp and abrupt. He could sense Gibbs standing there, feeling his stare. He sighed as he slammed another file onto the pile, and then looked up at Gibbs.

“What?” he said abruptly.

“Go home DiNozzo” Gibbs said.

“I said I’m fine” Tony replied without emotion.

Gibbs reached down and put a hand on Tony’s arm, stopping its movement.

“Tony” he said softly “Go home.”

Tony looked up at Gibbs, saw the concern in his eyes and just sighed.
He then mumbled as he gathered his things together, “What ever you say Boss”

After Tony left, Gibbs turned around and saw his team staring at him.

“Get back to work people” he said sharply.

Ziva and McGee hurried back to work, sneaking looks at each other. Both letting their concerns for Tony show in their eyes.

As Gibbs sat at his desk he was thinking about what had just happened, he knew that he would be stopping at Tony’s place tonight to check up on him. He just hoped that DiNozzo stayed out of trouble until then.

Gibbs had let his team go home, telling them to be back early. He had decided that he would go home to shower and change before he headed back to work, to continue the investigation into the death of Tony’s Father.

“Ah hell,” he thought who was he trying to kid. He knew he would have to check on Tony before he went back to work, just to make sure he was doing ok.

As he pulled up in front of his house, two things happened at once; his cell phone began to ring and he saw someone sitting on his front porch. As he recognized the man sitting there, he answered his phone with his usual curt “Gibbs.” It was Abby.

“Gibbs” she almost shouted, “You’ve got to help me, I can’t find Tony. I went over to his place to see if he needed anything and he wasn’t there!” She was starting to sound upset. “I’m really worried.”

Gibbs tried to interrupt “Abs.” She kept talking.

“You order him to go home and he should be there because Tony would never disobey an order from you.” Abby continued on, “I mean, what if something happened to him?”

“Abby!” Gibbs said forcefully “Stop!” It was silent on the phone now. “Tony’s here, at my place.”

“Oh thank god.” Abby sighed, “How is he?”

“I just got here Abs, but it looks to me like he might have been drinking.” He replied as he took in the sight in front of him.

Tony was sitting on the porch, his legs straight out in front of him with his back leaned up against the side of the house. His jacket was in a crumpled ball next to him, shirt untucked and it looked like he had been running his hands thru his hair. His general appearance was disheveled. Tony had his head leaned back and his eyes were closed.

Gibbs looked a little closer and saw some kind of half empty liquor bottle on the porch next to him. Gibbs thought to himself, “I hope he’s not passed out.”

“I hate to say this Gibbs, but that might not be such a bad thing.” Abby said.

“What do you mean Abs?” he inquired.

“Well, there have been a couple of times, after a really bad case, that I would take Tony out and get him drunk. You know, to kind of get him to de-stress.” She said.

“And?” Gibbs responded.

“Well, when Tony’s drunk he talks.” Abby replied.

“Abby, Tony’s ALWAYS talking.” Gibbs said in a slightly sarcastic tone.

“I don’t mean it like THAT.” She said “What I mean is he SAYS things, you know reveals things. About his feelings, his past and his childhood.”

Abby continued quietly “Why do you think I know as much as I do about him.”

As Gibbs watched Tony, he sighed and then said, “I’ll take care of him Abs, don’t worry.”

Satisfied with his answer, Abby replied “Just call me later, so I know he’s ok. Got it?”

Gibbs hung up the phone without responding as he headed towards Tony.

Abby, glaring at her phone, said, “I hate it when he does that.”

Gibbs went over and just stood there, watching Tony. Shaking his head, he was about to reach down to check on him when Tony suddenly spoke.

“Hey there Boss, about time you got home.” He said not opening his eyes.

Surprised once again, at the way Tony was able to sense when someone was there while he was sleeping, Gibbs hid a smile. With no expression he said, “You drunk DiNozzo?”

“Not yet” Tony said as he opened his eyes and looked up at Gibbs.

“What are you doing here?” Gibbs asked.

Tony closed his eyes again “Don’t know, just kind of found myself here.”

Gibbs eyebrow raised, then he said, “Lets go inside. You think you can walk by yourself DiNozzo?”

“Since I was one years old Boss” he replied.

Holding out a hand to help him up, Gibbs smirked “C’mon.”

Grabbing his hand Tony got to his feet, swaying slightly; Gibbs put a steadying hand on his back.

“Whoa, head rush.” Tony said

Guiding Tony into the house, Gibbs helped him find his way to the couch. As Gibbs went to put on a pot of coffee, Tony sat down. He laid his head back, closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

Gibbs yelled from the kitchen, “You’d better not pass out on me.”

His eyes popping back open he replied, “DiNozzos DO NOT pass out”

Gibbs came back in and sat in a chair across from Tony “Coffee will be ready shortly.”

“Don’t want any Boss.” He said.

“Didn’t say it was for you” Gibbs replied.

The two of them just sat there in silence. Tony looking straight ahead and Gibbs looking at Tony. Not one for small talk or for all that sharing your feelings crap, Gibbs was trying to think of a way to get Tony to talk: God knows he had to get him to let it out before he self destructed.

Deciding to just bite the bullet and go for it, Gibbs asked, “What were you doing out there Tony?”

Tony turned to stare at him, a quizzical look on his face. “What do you mean?”

“Sitting out there in the dark, half drunk.” He said.

“Oh, that.” Tony mumbled, hoping his Boss wasn’t too pissed.

“That’s not like you” Gibbs said gently.

Realizing that Gibbs WASN”T mad and that he seemed to really want to help, Tony decided he would let him. Laying his head back, staring at the ceiling, he began.

“I was just out there thinking, making one of my ‘why’ list.”

“A what list?” Gibbs asked.

“A ‘why’ list. I make a list of question asking myself why things have happened.” Tony’s gaze flickered to Gibbs before looking back at the ceiling again.

Gibbs just sat there silently as Tony continued.

“It usually starts with why did my Mother have to die when I was so young, then goes to why couldn’t I ever do anything right in my Fathers eyes, why didn’t he ever want to spend any time with me?”

Gibbs stared intently at Tony, noticing that his eyes looked suspiciously wet. “Why are some people allowed to be parents?” he thought to himself. Not liking where this was headed, he was tempted to interrupt but knew that Tony had to keep going.

Tony took a deep breath, continuing to stare at the ceiling and went on “Then the tough questions, why did my Father feel the need to punish me as much as he did, did he really hate me that much? I usually end with why wasn’t I good enough for him to love me, but now I get to add why did my Father have to die before I got the chance to fix things with him?”

Gibbs was truly angry now but tried not to let it show. He had always known that Tony’s childhood was no picnic but now he had other suspicions and he needed to find out if they were true.

“Tony” he said. “Did your Father hit you?”

Tony just turned his head and looked Gibbs straight in the eye. Gibbs could see the answer there and swore under his breath. He could no longer keep his feelings from showing.

Tony, seeing the anger on his face and wanting to calm his boss down a bit, replied, “You know, my Father was the ‘spare the rod, spoil the child’ kind of parent. That was just his way of disciplining me.”

“Doesn’t make it right DiNozzo.” Gibbs ground out.

“I know that” Tony sighed “But hey, it’s not like he beat me everyday or something.”

They sat there in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts. Tony was wondering if he had said too much, if it would change Gibbs opinion of him. Gibbs was wondering what he could do to change Tony’s opinion of himself.

Tony suddenly yawned, “God, I’m tired. Hey, would it be ok If I…”

Gibbs cut him off “Don’t even have to ask Tony, spare room is always ready.”

“Thanks Boss” Tony grinned sheepishly.

“Going to make it upstairs on your own?” Gibbs asked.

“I’ll be fine.” Tony grunted as he got up from the couch and stumbled slightly.

Gibbs made a move as if to help him but Tony just waved him off, mumbling, “Said I was fine.”

Gibbs went out to the kitchen to get himself some coffee as Tony made his way up the stairs. As he stood there drinking his coffee, he could hear Tony make his way from the bathroom to the spare bedroom. After about ten minutes of silence, he decided that he had better go check up on him.

When he reached the bedroom door, Gibbs smiled at the sight before him. There lay Tony, fully clothed, sprawled out on top of the covers on the bed. Gibbs went over to the closet, got a spare blanket and covered him with it. After pulling the blanket up around Tony’s shoulders, Gibbs reached out and brushed the hair off his forehead. Resting his hand there for a moment, he didn’t realize that Tony was still awake.

Tony suddenly spoke, “Aren’t you going to read me a bedtime story?”

With a small smile, Gibbs said, “Go to sleep DiNozzo.” Then he reached up and gave Tony a small smack on the top of his head.

Tony, with a grin, said softly, “That’s my favorite”

Gibbs just chuckled quietly as he left the room.

After leaving Tony to sleep it off in the spare bedroom, Gibbs went down to his basement to work on his boat. He had stopped to refill his coffee and grab his phone on the way down. Once he got down there, he called Abby as promised.

“So, how is he?” she asked.

“Asleep, right now.” He replied.

“C’mon Gibbs, you know what I mean.” Abby said.

“What do you want me to say Abs,” Gibbs sighed, “He’s doing as well as could be expected.”

“Did you guys talk?”

“Well HE talked, I just listened” Gibbs continued in a steely tone “and I TRIED not to let my feelings about his Father show.”

“Uh oh, that bad huh?” Abby asked.

“Lets just say it’s a good thing Mr. DiNozzo is already dead.” He said heatedly.

“Aw Gibbs, I love it when you get all protective of Tony.” She said.

Gibbs could hear the smile in her voice. It calmed him down a bit; he couldn’t help but smile himself.

Abby kept talking “ I WAS going to come over but I can see that Tony will be ok now.”

“Don’t worry Abby, I’ll watch his six.” Gibbs said and then hung up the phone before she could respond.

Abby wasn’t as irritated by his hang up this time because she knew that Tony was safe, and that was what was most important to her right now.

Gibbs worked late into the night on his boat, checking up on Tony once or twice. When he finally decided to call it a night he made one last stop at the spare bedroom before going on to his own.

As he stood in the doorway, he could see Tony thrashing about, mumbling in his sleep. It looked as if he was having some kind of a nightmare. Tony’s mumbling was getting louder now and Gibbs could make out some of what he was saying.

“No, please don’t.” he mumbled. “Not my fault.”
Gibbs, not wanting to leave him alone, took a couple of steps into the room.

“Won’t happen again” Tony muttered “Promise”

Tony started to flay about even more. He was getting even more agitated.

Gibbs was torn as to what to do. He knew that you weren’t supposed to wake someone during a nightmare; that it could cause more harm than good. But he didn’t like to see Tony like this either.

“Not that, please” Tony was practically frantic.

He suddenly shot up in bed, yelling “NO!”

Gibbs was there in a flash. Sitting on the bed in front of Tony, he grabbed him by the shoulders.

“It’s ok Tony, it’s only a nightmare,” he said soothingly.

Breathing heavy, practically gasping for air Tony leaned towards Gibbs, resting his forehead on his shoulder. The parent instinct in Gibbs kicked in, rubbing his hands up and down Tony’s arms to calm him.

After awhile, Tony’s breathing evened out. When Gibbs felt him begin to pull away, he let go. Tony lay back on the pillows, rubbing his hands over his face. Feeling embarrassed and vulnerable, he couldn’t bring himself to look at Gibbs.

“You going to be ok?” Gibbs asked softly as he put his hand on Tony’s arm.

Not used to Gibbs openly showing how much he cared, Tony avoided the question saying, “ Sorry for waking you up, won’t happen again Boss.”

Sensing that Tony didn’t want to talk about it he said, “Wasn’t asleep yet.”

As Gibbs got up from the edge of the bed, he then said, “It’s late, go back to sleep”

“Yea, like THAT’S going to happen.” Tony just mumbled.

Before he exited the room, Gibbs threw over his shoulder, “That’s an order DiNozzo.”

Gibbs, having already decided that he probably wouldn’t be getting much sleep himself tonight, headed back downstairs for one more cup of coffee. He cursed the senior DiNozzo, knowing he was the cause of Tony’s nightmare, wishing he were still alive so he could have a go at him.

As he headed back upstairs to go to bed, he made a stop to check on Tony one last time. Seeing that he had, indeed, fallen back to sleep. Gibbs just smiled, thinking to himself, “ I knew that he would follow orders.”


Morning came too soon for Tony, the smell of coffee waking him up. He was confused as to where he was for a moment then he realized he was in Gibbs spare bedroom. As the memories from the night before came flooding back, Tony was a little embarrassed. He got up and had a quick shower before he got dressed into one of the spare jeans and shirts that he had left at Gibbs place.

As he went down the stairs, Tony hoped that if he acted as if nothing had happened, maybe Gibbs would too. At the bottom, he paused and put on his ‘I don’t have care in the world’ face.

Entering the kitchen, Tony said breezily “Morning Boss.”

“DiNozzo” Gibbs replied stoically, as he sat at the table drinking his coffee.

As Tony went over and got himself some coffee, he could feel Gibbs watching him. He turned and leaned against the counter, drinking his own coffee. He stared back at Gibbs with an innocent look.

After the revelations last night, Gibbs now had a better understanding as to how and why Tony had become so good at hiding his true feelings. He decided it would be best to just let it go for now.

Getting up from the table, Gibbs said, “About time you got up. We’ve got to leave now if we’re going to stop and get your car on the way into work.”

Tony glanced at his watch, it was barely 7 a.m. He just rolled his eyes as he followed his Boss out to his car. He had forgot about that getting up before the sun thing that Gibbs had.

The car ride was silent except for the directions that Tony gave as to where he had left his car the night before. When he got alone in his own car, Tony tried not to let his mask slip. He knew he was going to have to keep it up all day and if he let it slip, even just a little, it might be too hard to put the mask back in place.

They both arrived at work at the same time, Gibbs having stopped for coffee along the way. As they got on the elevator, Gibbs handed Tony a cup.

“Thanks Boss” Tony said taken aback.

The elevator ride was just as silent as the car ride. When they exited, they both went straight to their desk. McGee and Ziva arrived a few minutes later. They all exchanged greetings and as McGee and Ziva sat down, they looked at each other and shrugged. Both were glad that Tony, although a little quieter, seemed to be his old self again.

They had only been working for a short time when Tony got up and approached Gibbs desk.

“Boss, I’ve been thinking.” He began “I’m not sure how much more I’m going to learn from these files.”

Gibbs looked up at Tony, “Go on.”

“I just thought that maybe” he hesitated for a second. “I’d like to make a trip back home, I mean back to my Father’s place. I thought that if I went thru some of his things back there, I might find something.”

Tony went on “He’s always had a home office, he could have some things in it that the FBI doesn’t have yet, you never know.”

Gibbs knew that there was more to this trip than just looking for information. He thought about it for a minute then made a decision.

“All right” he nodded “On two conditions”

“Ok, what?” Tony asked.

“Number one, you go see Abby first.” He said.

Tony grinned, that one would be easy.

Gibbs continued “And number two, I’m going with you.”

Tony’s grin faded a little “Gotcha Boss.”

After Tony left to go see Abby, Gibbs said to the rest of the team. “DiNozzo and I probably won’t be back until late tomorrow. I want you two to find out everything you can about the case involving his Father. Who would want him out of the way and why, got it?”

“Yes Boss” both McGee and Ziva answered together.

As Tony walked into Abby’s lab, he had no idea that her and Gibbs had talked the night before.

“Tony!” Abby squealed as she threw herself at him. Tony staggered backwards a step or two as he returned her hug.

“Good morning to you too.” He said with a grin.

“I’m so glad that you’re ok.” She said as she hugged him tighter.

Holding her back from him so he could see her face, Tony asked, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Realizing that he didn’t know that SHE knew about last night, she tried to cover.

“Oh, um, you know. Just that with everything that’s happened, you know, with your Father and all. I’m just happy you’re ok.”

Tony, who could read Abby almost as well as she could read him, suddenly figured it out. Slightly embarrassed, he grimaced at her.

“You know about last night, don’t you?”

“Yea, I’m sorry. I went by your place last night and when I couldn’t find you, I called Gibbs.” She said with a note of apology in her voice.

Tony couldn’t be mad at her, he knew that she meant well. He gave her a smile, leaned over giving her a kiss on the cheek, saying, “That’s ok Abby, you’ve got nothing to be sorry about.”

Abby was relieved that Tony wasn’t upset with her. But she wanted to find out more about last night and not one to beat around the bush, she came right out and asked.

“So Tony, what happened last night? C’mon, tell Abby all about it”

“That’s a discussion for later.” Tony smiled at her “Don’t have time right now”

“Why? What’s up?”

Tony’s smile dimmed a little “I’m going back to my Fathers house to go thru his office, see if I can dig up anything”

When he saw that she was about to say something, he put a hand over her mouth to stop her and continued “And no, I’m not going alone, Gibbs is going with me. So you don’t have to worry, got it?”

As Abby nodded her head yes, she couldn’t resist teasing him a little. So she took a playful bite at his hand that was over her mouth, he gave a small yelp as he yanked it away.

“You know that when you do that, it only gets me excited” Abby said teasingly.

Raising an eyebrow Tony teased back “What do you think biting does to me?”

Giggling as she pushed him out of her lab “Go. Now. Before we BOTH get in to trouble.”

Tony went to the elevator, smiling from ear to ear and as the doors opened, there stood Gibbs.

“Just coming to get you, ready to leave?” Gibbs asked.

“Yep, just got to grab my gear.” He replied.

As they rode the elevator in silence, Gibbs was wondering why Tony had such a huge grin on his face. Then realizing that he was just with Abby, Gibbs decided he really didn’t want to know.

After grabbing his stuff from his desk, Tony met Gibbs at his car.

“We’ll swing by your place first so you can pack an overnight bag then go to mine before we leave.” Gibbs told him.

“What time is our flight?” Tony asked.

“We’re driving, less hassle and it will be quicker.” Gibbs replied, but thinking to himself that maybe he could use that time in the car to get Tony to talk about his Father.

Tony said hesitantly “Sure about that Boss? It’s close to 300 miles, could take awhile, what with traffic and all.”

After getting a glare from him, Tony continued, “Right Boss, you’re driving, won’t take that long at all.”

Tony visibly paled when he suddenly realized that not only would he be spending a couple of hours alone in a car with him; Gibbs would be the one driving.



They had been on the road for a while, the silence finally getting to Tony.

He began “So Boss, about last night.” His voice trailed off.

Gibbs glanced at him “What about it?”

“I just wanted to apologize for showing up like that” Tony said “And for, you know, what happened later.” He added quietly, looking out the side window.

“You know what I say about apologies DiNozzo.” Gibbs replied

“I know, I know but still”

“Tony” he said gently

“Fine” Tony sighed as he put his head back on the headrest.

After a few minutes, Gibbs spoke up.

“Let me ask you something DiNozzo and I want you to tell me the truth.”

“OK” Tony said warily.

“Do you have those nightmares often?” he said.

Tony went back to looking out the side window. Shrugging he replied, “I don’t know, it depends.”

“On what?” he asked as he glanced over at Tony.

Tony made the decision that since Gibbs had never asked before now, he might as well be as honest as he could.

“Well, sometimes, after a particular nasty case it happens; especially if that case involves kids.” He then sighed, “Of course if the subject of my Father comes up, then it’s a for sure thing.”

Tony looked over at Gibbs now, wondering if he had said too much.

Gibbs pressed on “So that’s what, a couple times a year?”

“More or less” he murmured.

Feeling Gibbs looking at him, Tony quickly continued, “It was more often when I was a cop, because I dealt with cases involving kids a lot more. But the last few years it’s happened a lot less.”

Gibbs just nodded, sitting quietly in thought for a moment. He wanted to ask more questions but knew he probably wouldn’t like the answers. After debating the issue with himself for a few minutes, Gibbs continued.

“So what was your Father like when you were growing up?” He asked.

Tony raised his eyebrow and thought, what’s up here? Why is Gibbs suddenly interested in my childhood? What Tony DIDN’T know was that this was Gibbs way of getting Tony to deal with his Fathers death, and his nightmares, to get him talking about it.

“Well, he was ok I guess.” Tony said, “I mean, he wasn’t around a whole lot. It seemed like he was working all the time but my Mother was there sometimes and I had the servants to keep me company most of the time.”

Not liking what he was hearing but knowing that he had to finish what he had started, Gibbs kept the questions coming.

“What about after?”

“You mean after my Mother died?” Tony asked.

Gibbs just nodded his head.

“Well” Tony sighed, “They certainly didn’t get any better. My Father worked even more than before.”

He then took a deep breath and continued, “That’s also when he started drinking more too.”

Gibbs looked over at Tony, who was staring intently out the side window absently twisting the watch on his wrist.

“Is that when” Gibbs paused, choosing his words carefully “the punishments started?”

“Pretty much” Tony was speaking softly “There were a few times while my Mother was still alive; my Father was pretty strict, but most of it happened afterwards.”

“How long?” Gibbs said firmly but without emotion, he didn’t want Tony to find out just how angry he was for fear he would stop talking.

Tony just shrugged again “I don’t know, a couple of years, I guess. Once he sent me away and disowned me, it pretty much all stopped.”

“And you were how old again?” Gibbs asked.

“Twelve” Tony responded starting to feel drained by this whole conversation.

Feeling intense anger that a parent could treat their child that way and incredible sadness for what Tony’s childhood must have been like, Gibbs needed a break and he knew Tony did too.

He suddenly swerved towards the nearest exit saying, “I need some coffee.”

As he grabbed at the dashboard to steady himself, Tony raised his eyes up towards the sky, silently thanking God for Gibbs caffeine addiction.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat and some coffee for the drive, the two got back on the road. Tony, wanting to avoid any more questions, dug out his Ipod to listen to. Seeing this, Gibbs wanted to give him a break and decided he would stop with the questions, for now.

The rest of the trip was made in silence. Once they hit Long Island, Tony shut off his Ipod and gave Gibbs directions to his Fathers Estate. As they approached the front gate, even Gibbs had a hard time hiding his surprise at the size of the place. After Tony showed his ID and they gained access, Gibbs drove up to the front of the house and parked their car.

Gibbs got out of the car and started to walk towards the front door when he realized that Tony wasn’t with him. He turned around and saw him just standing by the car, staring up at the house.

As he stood there, Tony was thinking that even after all these years the place hadn’t changed.

“DiNozzo” Gibbs yelled.

Tony jumped, “Coming Boss” he said as he hurried towards him.

The two of them approached the front door. Tony wondering if he should knock or just walk right in, it had been years since he had last been here. Just then the door opened and there stood someone that could only have been described as your typical butler. Tony had a look of surprise on his face as he stepped forward.

“Marcus” Tony said with a smile “I didn’t know you were still here, would have thought you’d have retired by now.”

The grey haired gentleman had a smile on his face as he shook hands with Tony.

“Mr. Anthony, this is a pleasant surprise” Marcus said, “We didn’t know you would be coming here.”

“I know Marcus, it was spur of the moment.” Tony replied.

Seeing Marcus look behind him, Tony suddenly remembered who was with him.

“Marcus, this is my Boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.” He said turning to make the introductions. “ Boss, this is Marcus. He kind of runs the place.”

The two men shook hands, both seeming to size each other up. As the hand shake ended, Marcus opened the door wider and both men entered the hallway. “Impressive” Gibbs thought, as he took it all in.

“Mr. Anthony, I want to offer you my condolences.” Marcus said, “We heard about your Father’s passing yesterday.”

“Thank you” Tony said.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I must go inform Bella and Nina that you’re here.” Marcus said, “Then I’ll make sure that the guest rooms are ready for you.”

“You don’t have to go to any trouble.” Tony answered.

“It’s no trouble, Sir.” Marcus said.

As the Butler left the room, Gibbs raised an eyebrow and said “Mr. Anthony?”

Tony groaned “Can we keep that just between us? Because if the rest of the team finds out, I’ll never hear the end of it.” He gave Gibbs a pleading look.

“Not making any promises DiNozzo.” Gibbs smirked.

“C’mon, let’s go into the living room.” Tony said as he started to walk away.

As Gibbs started to follow him, he heard a woman’s voice from behind them.

“Oh my god! Is that really you Anthony?”

Coming towards them was an older, slightly plump woman. She had dark hair with streaks of grey and wasn’t very tall, maybe 5’3” or so.

As Tony turned around, Gibbs saw a genuine smile come over his face.

“Bella.” Tony said as he opened his arms, ready to hug the older woman.

Bella rushed over and gave him a hug. She then grabbed his face between her hands, as she kissed both of his cheeks she said, “It’s so good to see you Anthony, it’s been too long.”

“I know, I know,” he said as he kissed both of her cheeks in return. “It’s good to see you too.”

“So” she asked, “Why come back now?”

“Well, you see Bella,” Tony said as he took one of her hands with both of his. “I finally realized that you are the love of my life and I’ve come back to take you away from all of this”

He then gave her a wink along with his best flirtatious DiNozzo smile as he kissed her hand.

Bella smacked his shoulder with her free hand saying, “One of these days young man, that flirting is going to get you into big trouble.”

As Gibbs watched the whole scene unfold, he couldn’t quite hold back a smile. After Bella’s last comment, he spoke up.

“Oh believe me, it has.” He said with a smirk.

As they both turned towards Gibbs, Tony let go of her hand saying, “Sorry Boss, I almost forgot you were there”

As Gibbs just raised his eyebrow at him, Tony replied, “I said ALMOST.”

He then continued, “This is Bella, she runs the kitchen and is a better cook than most of the Chefs on the eastern seaboard. Bella, this is my Boss.”

Bella cut him off with the wave of her hand “Yes, I know, Marcus told me.” She then gave him the same hug and kiss treatment that she gave Tony.

“Well Agent Gibbs, It’s so nice to meet you. Any friend of Anthony’s is always welcome here.”

“Thank you Bella, it’s nice to meet you too.” Gibbs replied with a smile. He then thought to himself “ This woman could almost be related to Abby with the way she hugs.”

She then turned to Tony, “I’ve told Nina to prepare the two guest rooms in the East Wing. They should be ready by now if you wanted to go freshen up.”

As Tony’s mood sobered slightly, Gibbs decided to let HIM set the pace of their visit.

“Actually Bella, I wanted to stop in my Fathers study first.” Tony said, “Don’t worry, I remember the way up to the guest rooms.”

“Very well,” she said, “I had better get started on dinner. Will 7:00 p.m. be ok?”

“That’s just fine” he replied.

As Bella walked away, Tony turned to Gibbs and jerked his head towards the hallway.

“This way” he said

As they both started down the long hallway, walking side by side, Tony tried not to let his apprehension show.

At the end of the hall were large double doors, Tony stopped in front of them but made no move to open the doors. Gibbs was just about to say something when Tony took a deep breath, grabbed the handle and as he opened the door said “ This is the first time I’ve ever entered this room without knocking first.”

Gibbs really didn’t know what to say to that. So he just followed him into the room hoping that this would be worth it, for Tony’s sake.

As Tony and Gibbs entered the room, they both looked around.

Gibbs took in how dark and somber the place looked. His gaze went from the windows with the heavy curtains on them to the wall that had the built-in shelving and cupboards with a bar in the middle. He saw a matching dark brown leather sofa and chair off to one side, he then turned to the large heavy desk that seemed to be the focal point of the room.

It was there that he saw his Senior Field Agent standing, running his finger along the edge of the desktop, seemingly lost in thought.

When Tony had entered the room, he was hit with a wave of memories and emotions, none of them good. As he walked over to his Fathers desk, Tony’s mind immediately flashed back to just one of the many times as a child he had stood in this exact spot. Being made to stand at attention while his Father admonished him for another one of his childhood indiscretions.

Gibbs watched him for a minute and then tried to get his attention.

“Tony” There was no response.

He tried again, a little more firmly. “Hey Tony”

When that didn’t work, Gibbs barked out “DiNozzo!”

Startled and still lost in a memory, Tony automatically responded “Yes Sir”

As Tony turned towards him, Gibbs could only guess at what had brought on that response so he answered back with his typical “Don’t Sir me.”

Seeing the confused and slightly dazed look on Tony’s face, Gibbs asked “You with me DiNozzo?”

As he shook away the last twinges of the memory, Tony looked at Gibbs.

“What?” he said “Oh yea, sure thing Boss.”

Gibbs asked, “You want to start with the desk?”

Tony moved around to behind the desk and slowly sat down in the large comfortable chair. As he just sat there with his hands laid flat on the top of the desk, Gibbs cleared his throat to get Tony’s attention. As he looked up and saw the impatient look on Gibbs face, Tony immediately responded.

“Right Boss, starting on the desk now.”

As Tony started going through the drawers, Gibbs pulled a chair up to the front of the desk. He started looking through some of the files that Tony was stacking on top of the desk.

Tony picked up the phone and after pressing a button, he asked the person on the other end if they could bring in some coffee. When Gibbs looked up, Tony gave him a small smile.

“Figured you were ready for a caffeine boost right about now, I know I am.”

Gibbs nodded his head and gave him a look that told him he had figured right.

The two of them spent the next hour or so going through some of the files that they found. Finally Tony sat back and rubbed his hands over his face. Glancing at his watch, he looked over at Gibbs.

“Hey Boss, we should probably take a break right now.”

Gibbs looked up at Tony.

Tony continued, “Dinner will be served in about an hour, this will give us time to freshen up first.”

Gibbs looked at his watch, “Ok DiNozzo.” He then got up and gestured towards the door with his hand. “Lead the way.”

Gibbs followed Tony up the elegant stairway, then down a long hallway that had a few antique chairs strategically placed against the walls. On those walls were some paintings that looked as if they should be hanging in an Art Gallery. All Gibbs could think of as he took it all in, was that this place smelled of money.

There were two doors towards the end of the hallway, Tony stopped at the first one. As he opened the door, Tony said “They’re both pretty much the same but if you don’t like this room, you can have the other one.”

The room was the size of a Hotel Suite, with a separate bathroom on one side of the room and double doors on the other side leading off to a balcony. But what really got Gibbs attention was the huge four-poster bed that seemed to dominate the room.

As Gibbs raised an eyebrow at the sight of the bed, Tony leaned over his shoulder and said softly “Just be glad it’s not a Canopy Bed, my Mother had a fondness for those.”

Gibbs turned around but Tony was already down the hall at the door to his own room.

“Be out here in 45 minutes DiNozzo, and don’t be late.” Gibbs said.

“Gotcha Boss, I’ll be here,” Tony said as he went into his room.

It was 40 minutes later when Tony exited his room, not wanting to be late, only to find Gibbs already waiting in the hallway. He was standing there, looking at one of the paintings and turned around when he heard Tony come down the hall.

Nodding his head towards the painting, Gibbs asked, “Is that an original?”

Tony just shrugged his shoulders “I’m not sure, probably.”

He then turned towards the stairs “We should probably head down to dinner now.”

As the two of them entered the Dinning Room, Gibbs took in every detail. There was a large over-sized table in the middle of the room, an ornate chandelier hung over the center of the table. Under the table was what looked like a Persian rug in dark red and black. Keeping with what seemed to be tradition in this house were dark heavy curtains on the windows.

The table was set with two place settings at one end, facing each other. As soon as they sat down, Bella arrived with their food.

“I’ll be serving you myself, seeing as most of the staff had been given the day off.” She said.

“You didn’t need to go to all this trouble,” Gibbs said.

“You know” Tony said, “We could have just eaten in the kitchen.”

“Don’t be ridicules.” Bella responded, “It’s no trouble at all”

“Besides” she continued softly as she patted Tony’s cheek “I’ve missed mothering you.”

Tony gave her a shy smile and then ducked his head. Gibbs could swear he saw Tony blush, thinking to himself “Well, that’s something I thought I’d never see.”

As they ate dinner, Gibbs observed the interaction between Tony and Bella in a new light. Picking up on the almost Mother/Son relationship the two seemed to have, he was glad to see that Tony seemed to have had someone that cared about him when he was growing up.

After dinner Tony and Gibbs went back into the study to finish going through his Fathers desk. They spent another couple of hours in there but didn’t find anything that would help with their investigation.

They both sat back in their chairs, frustration clearly showing on their faces. After a few minutes, Tony slammed his fist on the desk.

“Damn it, I know I’m missing something.” Tony growled.

Gibbs eyes narrowed “What do you mean?”

“Listen, I know how my Father ran things.” Tony leaned forward “He liked to have the upper hand when dealing with business associates.”

Tony’s voice lowered slightly “He would have had files on them, with private information. Some business, some personal.” He raised his eyebrows, knowing Gibbs would know what he meant.

“Ah” Gibbs said “Blackmail”

Tony just nodded his head in agreement. He sat back in his chair again.

“From what I saw of the FBI files, they don’t have them.” Tony said.

“If there had been anything on his computer, Fornell would have said something.” Gibbs replied.

“Unless he’s had some major personality change in the last few years, he wouldn’t have kept anything on his computer.” Tony answered.

At Gibbs questioning look, he explained, “Last I knew, he could be a little obsessive about keeping things private. He wouldn’t want them on his computer where anyone could find them.”

As he massaged his temples with his fingertips, Tony murmured, “I just feel like I’m missing something.”

Seeing the stress on Tony’s face Gibbs said, “C’mon DiNozzo, let’s call it a night.”

“Are you sure Boss?”

“Just get some rest DiNozzo, we’ll start fresh in the morning” Gibbs replied.

Both men then got up and left the study. Once they got into their own rooms, Gibbs hoped that Tony actually GOT some rest tonight. Thinking to himself that maybe he should have made it an order.

It had been a couple of hours since Tony had gone to bed but he hadn’t fallen asleep yet, not really. He had dozed off a little at one point only to wake up even less sleepy than before.

Tony looked at the clock and groaned, it was after 1:00 a.m. He got out of bed and although he had on sweatpants, he threw on a t-shirt too.

“I need something to help me sleep,” he thought to himself.

Tony left his room and quietly went downstairs, still in his bare feet. He had planned on going to the kitchen, thinking that maybe a snack would help him sleep. As he neared his Fathers study, his steps slowed. Tony walked over and slowly opened the door. As he stood there scanning the room, his eyes stopped at the bar.

Knowing that what was there would help him sleep better than anything he would find in the kitchen; Tony thought, “Oh what the hell, might as well.”

He walked over to the bar and poured him himself a glass of brandy. As he went over and sat on the sofa, slowly sipping the dark liquid, he started thinking about his Father. Tony let his mind wander; remembering things from his childhood that he hadn’t thought about in years, until he finally dozed off.

It was here that Gibbs found him in the morning.

Gibbs got up early and got dressed. It was only about 6:00 a.m. and not wanting to wake Tony yet, he went in search of the kitchen and some coffee. As he got to the bottom of the stairs he saw that the door to the study was open slightly. Gibbs went to check it out because he knew that they had shut the door last night.

When he opened the door and looked in, he was surprised to see Tony there. He smiled a little at the sight; Tony was on the sofa asleep, with his legs stretched out in front of him. Gibbs was always surprised at how much younger Tony looked when he was asleep. When he spotted the empty tumbler in Tony’s hand, he frowned slightly.

“I hope he doesn’t make a habit of this” Gibbs thought.

He walked over and said quietly “Hey Tony, wake up”

When he didn’t move, he nudged Tony’s foot with his.

“DiNozzo” he said a little louder.

“I heard you the first time” Tony responded without opening his eyes.

Tony opened his eyes and looked around the room.

“What time is it?” he said yawning.

Gibbs responded with a curt “Early”

As Tony went to look at his watch, he switched the empty glass from one hand to the other. When he looked up he was staring straight into Gibbs eyes, he could read the question in them.

“No, I didn’t get drunk last night.” Tony said.

Gibbs eyes went to the empty glass and back to Tony’s, eyebrow raised.

Tony just sighed “I had a half a glass of brandy, just enough to help me relax. You know, take the edge off, I couldn’t sleep.”

“Why are you still in here then?” Gibbs asked

“Well, you know, I was just sitting here last night reminiscing” Tony got up off the sofa, stretching as he tried to work the stiffness out of his body. “Must have dozed off.”

Gibbs studied him for a moment, noting that although he had gotten a couple of hours sleep, he still looked tired.

“I don’t suppose you have any coffee in here?” Gibbs asked.

“Nope but I know that Bella should have some ready by now.” Tony replied as he started out the door. “She makes the best coffee, you’re going to love it.”

As Tony led the way to the kitchen he said grinning “You know Boss, if Bella were a redhead, she would make a great wife #4.”

“Ouch!” Tony said as Gibbs smacked the back of his head. “Right Boss, shutting up until you’ve had your coffee.”

Tony entered the kitchen and greeted Bella with a hug, kissing both cheeks.

“Buon giorno Bella” Tony said. (Good Morning/Hello)

“Buon giorno Anthony” she replied.

“Come stai?” he asked. (How are you?)

“Io sono buono grazie.” Bella answered. (I am good thank you)

Then asked, “E voi?” (And you?)

“Sto bene.” Tony replied. (I am well)

As Bella reached up and patted his cheek she said. “Glad to see you’ve kept up on your Italian. Now, can I get you gentlemen some breakfast?”

As the two of them sat down at the table, Gibbs answered her.

“Just coffee will be fine” Then giving her a smile “I hear your coffee is the best.”

With a smile she said, “Once you’ve tried it, you’ll never want to leave.” Then added with a wink “Hopefully.”

As she turned to get their coffee, Tony leaned over to Gibbs and said, “You know that I was just kidding about the wife #4 comment, don’t you?”

At Gibbs glare he continued “Right, still shutting up Boss.”

After Bella gave them the coffee, Gibbs asked Tony, “So what were you two talking about?”

Tony looked up “What? Oh you mean in Italian? Nothing important.”

Then with a smug smile he continued, “Now you know what it feels like to not be able to understand what people are talking about.”

Gibbs just snorted as he went back to drinking his coffee.

They didn’t escape the kitchen without eating, Bella made sure of that, lecturing them about how it’s the most important meal of the day.

Since Tony was still in his sweatpants and t-shirt, he went to go upstairs and change. Gibbs decided to stay in the kitchen and have some more coffee.

As he went to leave, Bella stopped Tony with a hand on his arm.

“Cercate stanchi” she said quietly. (You are looking tired)

Tony gave her a smile and a kiss on the cheek.

“Vi preoccupate troppo.” He said. (You worry too much)

Gibbs had been watching the two, wondering what that was all about. Some of his concern must have still been showing on his face, because when Bella turned around, she looked Gibbs straight in the eye.

“You’re worried about him,” she stated.

“As are you,” he replied, sipping at his coffee.

Bella just sighed, and then as she walked past she patted Gibbs on the shoulder.

“It’s not easy being a parent to that one, is it?”

Gibbs was about to respond with “you have no idea”, but then realized that since she had known Tony as a child, she knew EXACTLY what it was like.

Tony had gone back to his room for a quick shower. After he got dressed he was standing in front of the mirror, running a comb through his hair. He paused and took a good, long look at himself. Bella was right he did look tired. “God I need to get more sleep” he said to himself.

Tony had only been gone about 20 minutes when he made his way back downstairs. He headed straight for his Father’s study. Something had been at the back of his mind ever since he arrived yesterday, nagging at him to remember but he just couldn’t figure out what it was but he knew it had to do with the study.

When he walked into the study Gibbs was already there. He was sitting at his Father’s desk, gathering some of the files together. Tony stood there and looked around the room, studying it as if it were a crime scene. “Damn it” Tony thought, “Why can’t I figure this out?”

As he walked over to the desk, Gibbs looked up saying, “Lets pack up these files and take them with us.”

“Why?” Tony asked. “We already went through them and didn’t find anything.”

“I want them with us, just in case.” He replied.

“Fine” Tony sighed as helped Gibbs with the files.

Tony went to grab a stack of the files when he knocked some onto the floor. He saw the annoyed look on Gibbs face.

“Sorry” he mumbled.

He got down on the floor and began to gather all the papers together. As he was down there, Tony was eye level with the panels on the wall below the built-in shelves. He froze as his mind suddenly flashed on a memory from years ago.

Tony could see his Father dragging him across the room, telling him that he needed to be taught a lesson. He felt the fear as if it were happening now. Tony now knew what it was he had forgotten and why.

Gibbs noticed that Tony had gone quiet. He looked at him and was immediately concerned. Tony was just staring at the wall, not moving.

Gibbs stood up, his eyes narrowed and he said gently “Tony? What is it?”

He saw Tony reach out a shaky hand and touch a corner on the molding around the panel. Suddenly the panel slid back to reveal a crawl space, there were a couple of boxes inside.

It was at this point that Marcus entered the room, carrying an empty cardboard box.

“Agent Gibbs” he said “I got that box that you wanted.” His voice trailed off as he saw Tony on the floor and the panel on the wall that was open.

Tony looked pale, he suddenly stood up.

“I need some air,” he mumbled as he turned to leave.

“Tony, wait.” Gibbs said. Tony just kept walking as if he didn’t hear him and left the room.

For the first time in a long time, Gibbs was at a loss as to what to do. He looked at Marcus, who was standing there staring at the now empty doorway that Tony had just walked through.

“Marcus” Gibbs ground out.

Marcus turned and looked him straight in the eye. Gibbs could see the concern on his face.

“Can you tell me what in the hell just happened?” Gibbs growled.

Marcus had picked up on the fact that Gibbs thought of himself as more than just Tony’s boss yesterday and he could see the concern that he felt reflected in his eyes. He took a deep breath and asked Gibbs.

“How much do you know about Anthony’s childhood?”

“Enough” Gibbs snapped out.

“Then you know that his Father could be rather” he paused “strict?” Marcus asked.

Gibbs just nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

“Well, you see,” Marcus replied, “Anthony was rather rambunctious as a child.”

Gibbs couldn’t help the look that said no kidding.

He continued, “His Father felt that a child should be seen and not heard. He didn’t like a lot of noise.”

Marcus then walked over toward the wall with the open panel. Not sure if he should be revealing family secrets, he decided that it didn’t really matter now that the senior DiNozzo was no longer alive and it would probably help Tony more than hurt him.

“He used to give Anthony what they now call a ‘time out’. Only his version was to lock him in there.” Marcus said as he looked at the crawl space.

When he turned back to Gibbs, he could feel the anger radiating off him.

Barely containing himself, Gibbs spit out, “Why in the hell didn’t anyone report him to the authorities?”

“There was one Nanny, she tried to but then she was fired and from what I heard, she was never able to get another job. She ended up being deported back to South America.”

Marcus walked back to the center of the room and turned back to face Gibbs.

“After that, I guess we were all just too afraid. We tried to protect Anthony as much as we could.” Then he sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly.

“Looking back now? I realize that we should have done more.”

Knowing how some tyrants used fear and intimidation to rule, Gibbs couldn’t totally fault the staff at the DiNozzo mansion for their lack of response.

Gibbs started to walk toward the door but Marcus stepped in front of him.

“Don’t worry Agent Gibbs, Bella is probably with him.” He said.

Gibbs just glared at him “How would you know that?”

“She has always had a sixth sense where Anthony is concerned. If he didn’t go to her, she will have gone to him by now.”

Gibbs looked at the empty doorway and then back at Marcus.

“If you don’t trust me,” Marcus said, “Then trust Bella.”

As Gibbs met his gaze, he could read the sincerity in Marcus’ eyes. Gibbs nodded his head in agreement thinking to himself, “I’ll give them 30 minutes”. Then he turned back toward the open crawl space. He wanted to see what was in those boxes although he already had a pretty good idea.

When Tony had left the study, he didn’t know where he was going; he just knew that he had to get out of that room. He suddenly felt as if he couldn’t breath. Quickening his pace, Tony headed to the kitchen and then through the doors that led to the pool area. Once outside Tony took a couple of deep breaths, and then headed to one of the chairs on the patio near the pool.

Bella had been in the pantry when she heard the door to the patio open and shut. She came into the kitchen just in time to see Tony walking toward the pool. When he turned and sat in one of the chairs, she got a look at his face.

“Uh oh” she thought “This can’t be good.”

Bella went outside and walked across the patio toward Tony. He was now sitting with his head down, the heel of his hands pressed against his eyes. She went up and stood beside him then put a hand on his shoulder. When he stiffened she slowly began to rub circles across his back until he started to relax.

Bella sighed as she asked him. “What happened?”

“Nothing” He mumbled.

“Don’t lie to me Anthony.” She said “If I didn’t let you get away with it when you were a child, I certainly won’t let you get away with it now.”

Tony slumped back in the chair, his hands dropping into his lap.

“Really, It’s no big deal.” He said.

Bella waited silently, she knew he would tell her what was wrong on his own, as long as she didn’t push it. It only took a couple of minutes.

“I was in my Fathers study and well…I think I might have over-reacted to something.”

Tony glanced up at Bella; she nodded for him to continue. Tony took a deep breath and went on.

“I hade this flash of memory, of my Father putting me…you know, locking me in that space.”

Tony suddenly jumped up and started pacing.

“God, I just feel so stupid.” He practically spit out. “I mean it’s not like he actually hurt me or anything.” He continued pacing back and forth.

“I can’t believe I ran from the room like that, it’s embarrassing.” Tony stopped in front of Bella, not quite meeting her gaze.

“How am I going to explain myself to Gibbs? I wasn’t exactly acting like a Federal Agent now, was I.”

Bella just reached out and hugged him, saying softly into his ear, “Just because he didn’t hit you then, doesn’t mean he didn’t hurt you.”

Stepping back, she took Tony’s face between her hands “and don’t you worry about your boss, he’ll understand. Trust me on that one.”

Tony gave her a shy smile and went back to hugging her, whispering in her ear “Thank you.”

Tony stepped back from her and looked toward the house. “I’d better get back in there, don’t want to keep the Boss waiting.”

Back in the study at the DiNozzo mansion, Gibbs was pulling the boxes out of the hidden crawl space. As he started to go through a couple of the files, he realized that they were exactly what he thought they would be. It seems that Tony’s Father kept some very detailed records on the private lives of his business associates.

Tony had paused outside the doorway; he took a couple of deep breaths and entered the room.

“Hey Boss” he said, trying to act as if nothing had happened.

Gibbs looked up, then came over and stood in front of him. Looking him straight in the eye, he asked, “You ok?”

“I’m fine” Tony said, trying to act nonchalant. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I had a little talk with Marcus.” Gibbs gestured with his head toward the open panel, his eyes never leaving Tony’s.

“Oh, that” Tony said as he looked away and took a step back. “I’m sorry about, you know, over reacting the way I did.”

Feeling a little embarrassed, Tony ducked his head and tried to walk around him. Gibbs stopped him with a hand on his arm He then raised Tony’s chin with his other hand, forcing Tony to look at him.

“Tony, you did NOT over react.” Gibbs said gently

Tony look unconvinced. Gibbs eyes narrowed as he continued.

“What your Father did? That’s on him, not you. You’ve got nothing to be sorry about, got it?”

“Got it Boss” he almost whispered. Then with his voice a little stronger “Thanks Gibbs.”

Gibbs gave him a small smile as he just patted his cheek. He then turned around and became all business again.

“C’mon DiNozzo, we’ve got to get this stuff to the car so we can get on the road.”

Tony went over to the boxes and as he looked at a couple of the files he asked “Is this what we were looking for?”

“Looks like it. I want to get it back to headquarters so Ziva and McGee can help us go through it all.” Gibbs replied.


“What about the FBI?” Tony asked.

“What about them?” he said firmly.

“I thought that they could help go through these files” he saw the glare that Gibbs was giving him, “Except that we don’t need any help, gotcha Boss.”

“I’m just going to put these in the car.” Tony said as he grabbed two of the boxes and hurried out the door.

Gibbs grabbed the last two boxes and met Tony at the car. After stowing them in the rear seat, they both went back inside and up to their rooms to get their bags. They stopped in the foyer to say their good byes to Marcus and Bella.

As Tony and Marcus said their good byes, Bella went over to Gibbs. As she handed him a thermos filled with coffee, she began to talk to him in a low tone.

“I know I don’t have to tell you how much Anthony means to me. You’ll make sure he’s ok?”

“Always” he said as he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

Bella then turned to Tony to say good-bye as Marcus and Gibbs looked on.

Bella kissed Tony’s cheeks “Prendere cura di te stesso.” (Take care of yourself)

Returning her kisses he said, “Ho sempre fare” (I always do)

She took his face in her hands. “Promessa?” (Promise)

He just smiled at her. “Promessa.”

As she hugged him good-bye, Bella whispered in his ear.

“Sapete che io vi amo” (You know that I love you)

In a voice so soft that she barely heard him, Tony responded.

“Anche io vi amo” (I love you too)

Tony hurried out to the car ahead of Gibbs as he discreetly wiped at his eyes. After they were on the road, Tony reached behind him and started digging in one of the boxes.

“Sit back DiNozzo.” Gibbs said, “What do you think your doing?”

“Just wanted to get a start on the files,” He said as he settled back in his seat.

Over the next 30 minutes or so, Tony had reached into the back seat a couple of times.

After the third time Gibbs barked out “DiNozzo! Are you going to be doing that the whole trip?”

Looking at him with an innocent look pasted on his face, Tony said, “Probably”

“Or not” he continued when Gibbs reached over and smacked the back of his head. Tony settled into his seat, having to be satisfied with the few files that he had in his hands.

Gibbs just shook his head, thinking that although it was good to see that Tony seemed to be getting back to normal, it was like driving with a fidgety 5 year old in the car.


Back at NCIS, Ziva and McGee had been going through the files that they had gotten from the FBI since early that morning. They weren’t finding anything useful, but they knew that they had to try and at least find SOMETHING before Gibbs and Tony got back.

McGee had actually given up on the FBI files, deciding to do some investigating into the computer files instead. McGee thought to himself that ‘technically’ it was hacking but, given the circumstances, he didn’t think anyone would mind.

As he started digging up some background information, he came across something that peaked his interest.

“Hey Ziva?” He said.

Ziva looked up from her paper work. “Yes Tim?”

“How much do you know about off-shore banking?” he asked.

“I know that there are countries whose banks some businesses like to use, to avoid taxes or to hide their money.” She said as she sat back in her chair.

Her eyes narrowed “Why do you ask?”

“Well” McGee began, “It looks like Tony’s Father like to use some of these banks.”

Now curious, Ziva got up and went over to his desk. “You have found proof of this?”

“I’ve been able to trace deposits he had made but it looks like the money trail pretty much ends there.”

McGee continued, “The security at these banks is pretty high, I don’t know if I’ll be able to find out much more.”

Ziva leaned over his shoulder and said quietly “So you are doing, what do they call it, chopping?”

“Hacking” McGee mumbled.

“Ah yes, hacking” she said louder as she stood up.

“Ziva, not so loud.” McGee whispered as he looked around.

McGee was now looking into the background of the DiNozzo family. He was curious to see what he would find, since Tony didn’t talk about his family very much, but at the same time feeling a little uncomfortable because it was one of his co-workers.

Ziva had been watching over his shoulder when she suddenly pointed at something on the screen. “What is that?”

“It looks like some kind of police report that was sealed.”

“Can you get into it?” Ziva asked.

“I don’t know Ziva, it’s from almost 30 years ago.” McGee looked up at her. “I can’t imagine it would have anything to do with what we’re investigating.”

“McGee, how will we know that unless we check?” she said, “Do you want to be the one to tell Gibbs that we missed something because you thought it wasn’t connected?”

Truth be told, Ziva was curious about Tony’s family too. The dossier she compiled on everyone when she first came to NCIS had contained just basic information. Most of the things in Tony’s file had been gathered from public records.

She has a point, thought McGee. His fear of Gibbs was stronger than the discomfort he felt about digging into the DiNozzo family background. Once he got the file opened and began to read it, McGee began to feel uncomfortable again.

“I don’t think this has anything to do with our case.” He said as he closed the file.

Ziva picked up on his uneasiness, now she was really curious. “Tell me McGee.”

Reluctantly he reopened the file. He began to quietly read out loud as Ziva stood over his shoulder.

“A staff member at the DiNozzo Mansion filed a complaint against Tony’s Father, he claimed she was a disgruntled employee. Doesn’t look like there was much of an investigation though. The case was closed immediately and then sealed.”

“What was the complaint?” she asked.

“Suspected child abuse.” He said even quieter.

As they looked each other in the eye, a silent communication passed between the two. They would not mention this file to anyone.

As Ziva went back to her desk, she was thinking that she now understood some of Tony’s behavior a little more. McGee, on the other hand, was just trying to figure out how he was going to face Tony again, without letting on that he knew about this file.

Chapter 17

Gibbs and Tony were on their way back to NCIS, stopping only briefly for a quick lunch and a coffee refill. Once they got back on the road Tony immediately took out his Ipod, settled back and watched out the car window as the scenery sped by. As he drove, Gibbs snuck glances at Tony out of the corner of his eye, trying to gauge his mood.

Tony seemed calm and relaxed as he stared out the window, but Gibbs knew that appearances could be deceiving.

“Damn Tony and his masks” thought Gibbs. He knew that if he could just get a look into Tony’s eyes, he’d be able to tell how he was really feeling. He just sighed to himself; knowing that they would soon be approaching the Navy Yard, Gibbs didn’t want to start something that he wouldn’t be able to finish.

As they got closer to NCIS, Tony put away his Ipod and got out his cell phone. At Gibbs questioning look, Tony raised an eyebrow as he said “Just going to call McGee to help with the boxes.”

As Gibbs gave a nod of approval, Tony called McGee.

“Special Agent McGee, how may I help you?”

“Hey McGee, It’s me.” Tony said. “I need you to meet us downstairs, we have some boxes to bring up.”

“How far away are you?”

“We’ll be there in about 15 minutes.” Glancing over at Gibbs and lowering his voice, he continued “Probably less with the Boss driving.”

“Gotcha, I’m headed down now.”

As McGee grabbed his coat and headed towards the elevators, Ziva stopped him.

“Was that Gibbs?” she asked.

“No, Tony. He wants me to help bring up some boxes from the car.”

“Did he say what was in them?”

“No, but I assume it has to do with this case.” McGee answered as he continued to the exit.

Finally, she thought, some new evidence to go through. Ziva was getting bored and frustrated. They had been going over the same files since yesterday, some of it 3 or 4 times, just to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. So far they hadn’t come up with anything new, at least not anything that pointed at one suspect.

McGee had made it downstairs just as Gibbs pulled in to the parking garage. As he helped carry a box from the car to the elevator, he noticed that Tony seemed kind of quiet. McGee couldn’t quite get that police report from when Tony was young out of his head. Once in the elevator, he tried to sneak a look at Tony without him noticing but no such luck.

“What?” Tony said as he raised an eyebrow at him.

McGee ducked his head, as he mumbled “Nothing”.

Just then the elevator doors pinged as they opened and McGee breathed a sigh of relief. Saved by the bell, he thought to himself, as he quickly exited. Tony and McGee put the boxes they were carrying on their own desks, while Gibbs put his on Ziva’s. As Gibbs began to speak, McGee came over to Ziva’s desk but Tony had sat down behind his.

“Ok, so in these boxes are files that Mr. DiNozzo kept on everyone he did business with.”

Ziva had been glancing through the files when she looked up, interrupting Gibbs.

“I thought the FBI had given us his files already?” she asked.

Before he could respond, Tony, who was pulling files out of the box on his desk, spoke up.

“These are his private files, they contain” he paused “personal information.”

Ziva glanced over at Tony, who was already reading over the papers in front of him. As she started to ask him to explain, Gibbs cut her off.

“You two get to work.” He said as he glared at both Ziva and McGee.

Both of them hurried to their desks and began to pull out files from the boxes. Gibbs went over and stood silently in front of Tony’s desk. When Tony looked up, he could read the question in his eyes.

“I’m fine.” Tony said soft enough so that the others couldn’t hear.

Gibbs eyes narrowed as he studied his face. Satisfied with what he saw, he gave a curt nod then turned and headed to the elevators.

“Where you going Boss?” Tony asked louder.

“Coffee” Gibbs threw over his shoulder.

The team worked in silence for a few minutes, and then Ziva began to speak.

“So, Tony, about these files?”

Tony looked up, “Yes?”

“Your Father, he used this information to, oh how do you say it, persuade his business associates to do things his way?” Ziva asked as she looked up from the papers on her desk.

“You can say it Ziva.” Tony smiled, “The word is blackmail.”

As Ziva studied Tony’s face, she noticed that his smile didn’t reach his eyes. She was about to say something when he continued.

“Nothing you could say about him would shock or offend me Ziva. I’ve been aware of the way my Father ran his business for a very long time.”

As Tony went back to studying the papers in front of him, she watched him for a moment then went back to looking over the files in front of her. The whole time contemplating all the new information she had learned about Tony over the last few days.

McGee had been following their conversation while appearing to look busy. Tony’s demeanor surprised him. McGee knew that if were HIM that this was happening to, that there was no way he could be that calm.

Chapter 18

Gibbs got into the elevator, sipping at his coffee as he started to feel a bit calmer. He had already finished one cup on his way from the coffee shop and was now on his second. As Gibbs leaned against the wall, he contemplated this whole situation with DiNozzo’s Father; his gut telling him the worst was yet to come.

Once the doors opened, Gibbs straightened up and put on his game face as he walked off the elevator. He was about to head to the bullpen when a movement from above caught his eye. Standing there, watching his team was the director. As she turned to Gibbs, she gave a slight motion with her head, indicating he should join her.

Gibbs jogged up the stairs and joined the director at the railing. Copying her stance, they both leaned on the railing, sipping their coffee as they looked out over the bullpen.

“Agent Gibbs” Jen began.

“Director” he said as he nodded his head.

“Do you have an update for me?”

“We found some more files at DiNozzo’s Fathers house, they contain some confidential information about his business. The team is going through them now.”

“We?” she asked.

“DiNozzo and me.”

She turned her head toward Gibbs; “I thought I told you to keep him out of this as much as possible?”

“I know what you said Jen, but let’s be honest here.” Gibbs said as he turned and faced her. “I wouldn’t have gotten those files without him and they’re probably our best chance at catching our killer.”

Jen looked him in the eye and as she read the truth in what he was saying, she smiled.

“So this isn’t just another case of you defying me just for the hell of it.”

With a smirk, Gibbs turned back to looking out over the bullpen. “No comment” he said as he sipped his coffee.

That’s what I thought she said to herself as she turned back to face the bullpen again. As her gaze settled on Tony, she spoke quietly.

“So how is he really doing?”

“He’s fine.”

“Jethro” she said with a disbelieving tone to her voice.

“Jen, he’s fine” Gibbs insisted, or at least he will be he thought to himself as he turned and walked away. He headed toward Autopsy to check in with Ducky and pick up the final report on DiNozzo Sr.’s autopsy.

Tony sat at his desk, trying to concentrate on the papers in front of him but was getting distracted; he kept feeling as if someone was watching him. He glanced up at Ziva a few times but she always seemed to be focused on the file in front of her. As if he would ever be able to catch her watching him Tony thought to him self.

Tony was convinced that he was just being paranoid when he spotted the director out of the corner of his eye. She was standing at the railing looking out over the bullpen. Tony was somewhat relieved, figuring that it was the director that he felt watching him. Just as he started to get back to work the same feeling came over him. This time when he looked up there was no one there but as his gaze drifted to the right, he caught McGee looking at him.

McGee quickly averted his gaze, “Damn, I hope Tony didn’t notice” he was thinking. He was considering sneaking another look when McGee was startled by a voice behind him.

“Is there a problem McGee?” Tony asked.

McGee whipped around in his chair, “I…um…I don’t know what your talking about” he stammered.

“You keep staring at me.”

McGee turned back around to his desk “I do not, your just imagining things.”

As he began nervously shuffling the papers on his desk, Tony’s eyes narrowed. He could tell that McGee was lying and now he just had to figure out why.

Tony leaned over McGee’s shoulder and said quietly “You’re lying”.

Then he straightened up and as he started to walk away he threw over his shoulder “With me McGee, now.”

McGee struggled with what he should do. He knew that he should follow Tony; he WAS the Senior Field Agent after all. But he also knew that if he went with him, McGee would probably let slip what he knew about Tony’s childhood.

Having made the decision that it was better to just get this over with, McGee got up and slowly started to follow Tony. But when Tony turned and saw that McGee wasn’t right behind him, he shouted “Probie!” As he jerked his head towards the elevator, indicating that McGee should follow, then kept walking; McGee practically ran to catch up.

Once inside the elevator, Tony took a page out of Gibbs book and pulled the emergency stop button. He then drew himself up to his full height and turned to McGee, who unconsciously took a step back.

“OK McGee, start talking.” Tony said as he crossed his arms.

“About what?”

“Oh, I don’t know, how about the fact that you keep staring at me. Or that you seem more nervous than usual and you can’t seem to look me in the eye.”

McGee had been nervously shifting from foot to foot but at that last statement he looked Tony straight in the eye, just to prove him wrong. Something must have reflected in his eyes because Tony’s gaze narrowed as he said, “You know something. What is it? C’mon McGee, spill.”

They just stared at each other for a few seconds before McGee finally lowered his eyes, took a deep breath and then looked back at Tony’s face.

“Earlier I was doing some background searches on your…on the case. I came across a file.”

McGee paused, not sure how far to go or what Tony’s reaction would be. Tony meanwhile, had taken a step back but had started to tense up.

“What file?” Tony asked quietly.

“It was a Police report.” McGee paused “Filed by a nanny of yours.”

Tony knew about the report but needed to know how much McGee knew.

“Did you read it?”

“Well, I…um…I skimmed it.”

Tony turned his back to him and hit the button to start the elevator moving again. McGee could see he was embarrassed as a slight flush start up the back of Tony’s neck.

“You had no right McGee, it had nothing to do with this case.” Tony mumbled.

Without thinking about what he was saying or doing, McGee reached over and hit the button; stopping the elevator himself this time.

“Listen Tony, I had no intention of invading your privacy or anything. But Ziva said that we should…”

Tony cut him off as he turned and said “Ziva! Ziva knows?”

As he turned back and slammed his hand against the button to restart the elevator a second time, Tony muttered “Great, just great. It’s bad enough that you dig into my personal business but you couldn’t even keep it to yourself.”

Damn it thought McGee, me and my big mouth. He could see that Tony was both angry and embarrassed. Trying to smooth things over he began, “It wasn’t like that Tony.”

Just then the doors opened to reveal Abby. She had just come from her lab and been waiting for the elevator.

“Hey guys, what’s the hold up?” she turned to Tony, “Were you pretending to be Gibbs again?”

As she got a close look at his face, her eyes narrowed “What’s wrong?”

Tony brushed past her as he exited the elevator. “Nothing”

As he walked briskly down the hall towards the stairwell, Abby shouted after him “Tony! Talk to me”

“Just drop it Abby.” He threw over his shoulder as he disappeared around the corner.

McGee had come off the elevator and was standing next to her when she turned and suddenly punched him hard in the shoulder.

“Ouch! What was that for?” he said as he began to rub the spot where she had hit him.

“What did you do to piss off Tony?” Abby glared at him.

With a guilty look on his face he said, “I didn’t mean to Abby. I just…I don’t know, I always seem to mess things up.” McGee sighed, “Can we go somewhere and talk, in private?”

As much as she liked McGee, Abby was more protective of Tony right now. Her gaze softened, but only a little.

“OK McGee, I’ll give you one chance to explain. Just one.”

Abby headed back to the lab with McGee slowly trailing behind her. He was just trying to figure out the best way to explain everything to her without getting hit again.

As McGee stood facing Abby in her lab, he began explain everything. How guilty he felt over digging into the DiNozzo family background. Discovering that file and what was in it; then Ziva finding out. As he started to tell her about what had happened with Tony in the elevator, it slowly dawned on him that her expression had barely changed, just softened a bit. That’s when it hit him.

“You already knew, didn’t you.” He said.

“Knew what?”

“About that report from Tony’s nanny. That’s why you’re not surprised by what I told you.”

Abby just sighed as she sat down at her desk. “I didn’t know about the report specifically but I kind of already knew about what was in it.”

McGee looked confused “How?”

“Because Tony told me.” She looked at him as if that should have been obvious.

McGee sat down next to her “He just came out and told you?”

“Well, no. I sort of had to drag it out of him. But McGee that was a long time ago, it doesn’t really matter does it?”

He shook his head “no” as he digested this new information. He knew that Abby and Tony were good friends but he hadn’t realized how close they really were. McGee squashed the twinge of jealousy he felt at that thought, he knew that he had no reason to feel that way, when he realized that that Abby was speaking to him.

“Listen McGee, you have to talk to Tony. Make sure that he knows that you don’t feel any different about him, now that you know about his childhood.”

“You’re right” McGee sighed

“Of course I am” she grinned

McGee got up from his chair “I’ll talk to him first thing in the morning.”

“No!” Abby exclaimed as she jumped up and grabbed his arm.

“You have to talk to him right away.” She said lowering her voice.

“Now?” he questioned.

“Yes, now” Abby insisted. “You need to clear this up, the sooner the better.”

“Fine” McGee sighed, “I’ll try to find Tony but I don’t know how much luck I’m going to have, this is a pretty big building.”

“Not a problem” she said as she turned to her computer and started typing away.

As she brought up footage from the security cameras and scanned through it, McGee looked over her shoulder. She suddenly pointed at the screen.

“There he is! Down in the gym.” As she looked up at him with a grin “See how easy that was?”

As he watched Tony working out with a punching bag the first thing he noticed was just how hard he was hitting the bag. Even though he knew that was kind of the point, it still made him a little nervous.

“Maybe I should wait until he’s done.” He wondered out loud.

“No McGee, go now.” Abby said as she pushed him towards the door. “C’mon Tim, it’s only Tony.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of” McGee thought as he headed for the elevator, then concentrated on what he was going to say to him.


Meanwhile, Gibbs had arrived back in the bullpen. Seeing that Ziva was the only one there, he stopped at her desk.

“Where is everyone?” he asked.

Ziva looked up “McGee is with Tony.”

“They left?” his eyes narrowed.

“I believe that they are still in the building as their coats are still here.” Wanting to keep Gibbs from getting upset, she offered, “Maybe they are just taking a break?”

Not saying anything, Gibbs went to his desk and sat down. Picking up his phone he called down to Abby’s lab.

“Speak to me” Abby answered with her music in the background.

“Abby” Gibbs said loudly.

“Oh hey Boss,” she said as she turned off her music “What can I do for you?”

“Are DiNozzo and McGee down there?”

“McGee just left, he should be with Tony now.” Abby replied.

“Where are they?” he asked.

Abby almost pleaded, “Gibbs, can’t you just give them a few minutes? I think they need a little alone time.”

“Abby, what happened?” Although he had lowered his voice, Gibbs still managed to convey a commanding tone that she knew not to ignore.

She took a deep breath before she began “Well, you see, Tony found out that McGee found out about well…you know…some of what happened when Tony was a kid and now he’s pissed so McGee went to talk to him. Oh yea and Ziva knows too” she finished quietly.

Gibbs had been rubbing his free hand across his forehead in a weary gesture then glanced over at Ziva. He knew from experience that Ziva could keep a secret and that she wouldn’t say anything unless Tony brought the subject up.

“I’ll give them 30 minutes until I go looking for them.” He said before cutting off the phone connection in his usual manner.

As Abby put the phone down all she could think about was that McGee better come through, for both of their sakes.


McGee had paused at the gym door to gather his thoughts and yes, he thought to himself, his courage too. Taking a couple of deep breaths first, he then entered the gym and slowly walked towards Tony. He just stood there for a few minutes and watched as Tony continued to hit the bag until he suddenly stopped and turned to face McGee.

“Did you need something Probie?” Tony asked abruptly.

Not wanting to be swayed from his mission he pulled himself up to his full height and looked Tony straight in the eye.

“I wanted to talk to you” he paused “about what happened in the elevator.”

Tony just stared at him for a minute before turning back towards the bag.

“There’s nothing to talk about” he said quietly.

“I think there is” McGee answered back quickly.

Tony paused, not moving for a minute. He then bowed his head, dropped his arms to his sides and sighed loudly “Fine”

As he walked over to the bench he took his gloves off, grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his face. McGee followed and sat down, as soon as Tony sat next to him he began.

“I just thought that I should clear a few things up. Let you know how I felt about, you know, what I found out.”

Tony cut him off. “You don’t have to go on McGee, I can guess what you think about me now.” His voice lowered “Probably the same thing I think about myself.”

“What would that be?” he asked, now curious.

Tony refused to look up, concentrating instead on the gloves he had pulled off and was now turning around and around in his hands.

“That I should have done something, said something to stop what happened.” Tony’s shoulders slumped a little “That I’m weak to have let it go on.”

“Oh God Tony, it’s the exact opposite.” McGee said causing Tony to go still.

“First of all you were only a kid, there was only so much you could do. And secondly,” he took a breath and continued “To have gone what you went through, or at least what little I know about what you went through, and to have turned out to be the type of person you are? I think that makes you one of the strongest people I know.”

Tony’s head snapped up at that last bit, and as he stared at McGee he could read the sincerity in his face. After a moment Tony looked back at his hands “Thanks Tim” he whispered.

They both just sat there silently for a few minutes until McGee finally spoke up.

“So, are we good?”

“Yea McGee, we’re good.” Tony then looked at him and said with a slight smile, “You don’t want to hug, do you?”

“Ah no, that’s ok.” He responded with a smile of his own, glad to see that a little of the old Tony was back.

They both got up from the bench and as Tony headed for the locker room he threw over his shoulder. “I’m going to change, see you upstairs in 10 minutes.”

As McGee headed for the elevators, he called Abby on his cell phone to let her know how things had went. He knew if he stopped by the lab it would take him forever to get back to work. Realizing how long they had been gone, he didn’t want to keep Gibbs waiting.

Gibbs sat at his desk trying to keep a lid on his growing impatience and concern. Even though he had decided to give his agents 30 minutes to settle their dispute, after only 15 he began to wonder if he should have gone after them. A smack to the back of their heads was what they really needed, in his opinion.

Ziva was sitting quietly at her desk. While sneaking a few glances at Gibbs she had also been keeping an eye on the clock, not to mention listening for any sound that would indicate the return of McGee and Tony. Although she had only heard Gibbs side of the conversation, she wasn’t stupid; she had pretty much figured out what was going on.

McGee was still standing in front of the elevators, talking to Abby on the phone, when Tony came out of the gym.

“I’ve already told you everything Abby.” McGee said.

“But I want more details” she practically whined.

McGee was about to respond when Tony suddenly grabbed the phone out of his hand from behind.

“Hey Abby” Tony said into the phone.

“Tony!” she squealed, “Just the person I wanted to talk to.”

“Don’t have time right now, gotta get back to work.”

“But Tony, I have questions.”

“Later Abby” Tony said then hung up, cutting her off.

“Hey!” Abby said to the now dead phone.

As they got on the elevator, McGee just shook his head.

“I can’t believe you just hung up on Abby.”

“What’s the big deal?” Tony shrugged.

“Aren’t you afraid she’s going to, you know, get back at you somehow?”

“Nah, she loves me.” Tony said as he gave one of his patented grins.

As the elevator doors opened McGee just shook his head, he was once again amazed at some of the things Tony got away with.

That was the scene that greeted Gibbs and Ziva when the other two agents walked into the bullpen. McGee with a slight smile, shaking his head while Tony followed behind grinning.

As Gibbs studied the two, all appeared ok with them. He turned his gaze to Tony noting that the relaxed pose meant nothing; with him it was all in the eyes. As he sat down behind his desk Tony could feel Gibbs looking at him so he raised his head, returning the stare. He tried to convey to Gibbs that everything was fine. Tony was relieved when Gibbs gave him a slight nod and went back to work, to see that the message had been received.

Gibbs glanced up about an hour later and seeing that it was now dark outside he looked at his watch; he hadn’t realized how late it was. He looked at each of his agents and noticed how tired they looked; it was then that he made a decision.

“Listen up” Gibbs said to his team. As they all 3 looked up he continued, “Go home but I want you all back here early tomorrow, we can continue the investigation then.”

McGee and Ziva hurried to gather their things and head for the elevator, both realizing what a rare occurrence this was, but Tony stayed seated at his desk.

“DiNozzo” Gibbs said.

“Yeah Boss?” Tony looked up.

“Go home”

“I just wanted to finish going through this.”

“Tony” Gibbs began but was interrupted by Abby.

When the elevator doors had opened for McGee and Ziva, Abby exited. She gave a passing “Hey guys” to them before heading straight for Tony.

“Hey there Abby, what’s up?” Tony asked with a smile.

“What’s up? What’s up mister is you have some explaining to do.” Abby said as she crossed her arms and planted herself in front of Tony.

“About what?” he replied innocently.

Abby scowled “Don’t you act all innocent Anthony DiNozzo. You know what I’m talking about, our conversation on the phone? You know, the one where you hung up on me?”


“Abs, that was like over an hour ago.” Tony raised his eyebrows “It took you this long to come up here?”

“Yeah, well, I had some tests to finish for another case.” She said as she waved her hand in the air. “ But that doesn’t change the fact that you hung up on me.” She crossed her arms again.

“I did not hang up on you,” he said as he stood up “I said good bye.” At her disbelieving look he continued, “OK technically I didn’t say the words good bye but it wasn’t like I pulled a Gibbs and hung up without…hey” Tony yelped as he was cut off when Gibbs smacked the back of his head.

“What was that for?” he asked, turning to face Gibbs as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Hanging up on Abby.” Gibbs said with no expression on his face. Abby meanwhile, had trouble keeping the grin off of hers.

“Like I already said I didn’t” he paused for just a fraction of a second getting a look at Gibbs face “mean to do it. Won’t happen again Boss.”

Gibbs gave a short nod with his head then headed back to his desk, throwing over his shoulder. “Go home, both of you.”

Abby waited as Tony gathered his things together. As they headed out, Tony turned and asked “You coming Boss?”

Gibbs just waved them off and the two of them continued on to the elevator. They rode in silence until the doors opened up to the parking garage and Tony finally spoke.

“I know I’m probably going to regret asking this but how come Gibbs always takes your side?”

“Cause I’m his favorite.” Abby said with a smile as she leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. She then waved good-bye as she headed towards her car. Tony rolled his eyes at her and headed to his own car, a smile slowly spreading across his own face.

Tony drove straight home and after grabbing a quick bite to eat, went straight to bed. He was exhausted and hoped to get in a good night of sleep. But those plans were shot to hell when he was woken up in the middle of the night by one of his nightmares. When he looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 3 a.m., Tony knew that he wouldn’t be falling back to sleep anytime soon, so he decided to head back into work.

Tony had been back at work for a couple of hours, going over the same file for what seemed like the tenth time. Something had been bugging him about this particular file; it just seemed, well, hinky was the one word that came to his mind. He sat back in his chair and massaged his temples, letting his mind wander. After just sitting there zoning out he suddenly sat up straight, what he had been missing hit him like a lightening bolt. “Damn it” he said to himself “why didn’t I make the connection sooner.”

Tony spent some time trying to dig up information on the computer but wasn’t having a whole lot of luck. He sighed as he realized that the call he was about to make was not going to be fun and might get him into trouble but he didn’t think he really had a choice. After dialing a number, Tony tapped his pen impatiently while he waited when he finally heard someone answer.

“Hey it’s me, DiNozzo” he said, “We need to talk.”

“Yeah, fine you can shoot me later.” He responded to the person on the phone. “I’m at work, how soon can you get here?”

After a pause Tony continued “I’ll see you when you get here.”

He hung up and then gathered what little he had found along with the file. Knowing that he had some time before help arrived, Tony headed out for coffee.

Tony decided to go out to the local coffee shop for his caffeine fix; the stuff at work just wasn’t going to cut it this morning. As he made his way back to work he pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial number for his boss while balancing the tray with three coffees on it. It only took two rings for him to answer; Tony knew that although it was early Gibbs would be up.

“Gibbs” came the gruff response.

“Hey Boss” Tony began. Not wanting to start the day off on Gibbs bad side, he came straight to the point.

“I found something. How soon can you get here?” he continued.

“You at work?” Gibbs asked.

“Yeah” Tony replied.

“Be there in 15 minutes”. Gibbs hung up, cutting off any response from Tony.

As he made his way through security and to the elevators, Tony tried to come up with a reason to give his boss as to why he didn’t call him first. When nothing came to mind, Tony leaned back against the wall of the elevator and slowly banged his head; I am so screwed he thought.


As Gibbs made his way into work he had a couple of questions running through his mind. The first being what was Tony doing at work so early, although he already had a pretty good idea, and just how long had he been there. The next question, just what had he found, he couldn’t answer.

Gibbs parked his car and made his way over to the elevator but was surprised by who he saw standing there.

“Tobias” he said “What brings you out this early?”

“Your boy DiNozzo called me” Fornell grumbled as they got on the elevator “Woke me up out of a sound sleep about a half an hour ago.”

Gibbs was surprised not to mention a little pissed off that DiNozzo hadn’t called him first but didn’t let it show; he would deal with him later.

“So why bother coming in?” Gibbs asked as he sipped at his coffee.

“I figured that if he called ME of all people it has to important.” Fornell said with a raised eyebrow.

As they made their way off the elevator and into the bullpen Tony stood up. With a tentative smile on his face, he came out from behind his desk.

“Morning Boss” he said as he handed him a cup of coffee. Gibbs just grunted his response as he tossed his now empty cup into the trashcan and took the fresh one.

Tony turned to Fornell and handed him the remaining coffee cup.

“Fornell” he said with a more serious tone to his voice.

“DiNutso” Fornell replied as he took the coffee from him.

The two older agents just stood there silently, drinking their coffee while they stared at him. Tony began to shift uneasily under their gaze, his eyes flickering back and forth between the two.

“What?” he said trying to look innocent.

Gibbs glared at him, his hand twitching as he held back on the impulse to smack the back of Tony’s head.

“You’re the one who called this little pow wow DiNutso.” Fornell began. As he took a step closer he lowered his voice “Or am I going to have to take you up on your offer from our phone call earlier?”

To his credit he stood his ground, Tony didn’t get intimidated that easily; he had worked too long with Gibbs. As he took in the pissed off look on his bosses face Tony smiled at Fornell and nodded his head in Gibbs direction.

“I think you may have to get in line.” He said trying to ease the tension a bit.

Gibbs gave in to his impulse this time and smacked Tony’s head.

“Just tell us what you have.” Gibbs practically growled.

Tony reached behind him to grab a file off his desk and then handed it to Gibbs, who set down his coffee so he could hold it open for both Fornell and him to look at.

“Out of all the files I’ve gone through I kept coming back to this one.” Tony began. “Something about it was bugging me but I couldn’t figure out what it was.”

“Until now.” Gibbs said.

“Until now.” Tony nodded but before he could continue he was interrupted.

“Where did you get this?” Fornell asked as he looked at Tony, his tone sharp.

“From my Fathers place.” Tony answered

At Fornells raised eyebrow Tony just shrugged “He had files on all his business contacts.”

“Why wasn’t I told about these?” Fornell directed at Gibbs.

“I’m telling you now.” He replied calmly.

“And you wonder why other agencies don’t like to work with you” Fornell grumbled.

Ignoring the comment Gibbs handed the file back to Tony then picked up his coffee and took a long drink before asking him. “So what are we supposed to be looking at?”

Tony took a deep breath before he began.

“This file is on one Albert Pearson. Back in the early eighties he owned a small import/export business that my Father wanted. According to this, Mr. Pearson had been having an affair and my Father threatened to tell his wife if he didn’t sell his business to him.”

“Nice” Fornell muttered sarcastically while Gibbs remained silent. Tony ignored the comment as he continued.

“From what I’ve been able to find out through public records Mr. Pearson must not have taken him seriously. Big mistake because shortly there after his wife filed for divorce. She asked for and was awarded sole custody of their son. Desperate for money during the custody fight, he had ended up selling his business to my Father anyway; but at a much lower price.”

As he had been talking, Tony had grabbed the remote and brought the records up on the plasma screen. Gibbs was standing next to him as he read over the documents that were displayed.

“From what you’ve said, this sounds like business as usual for your Father.” Gibbs said.

“Oh, it gets worse.” Tony clicked the remote bringing up a newspaper article.

“After the divorce his ex-wife disappeared with their kid. Apparently distraught and now broke, Mr. Pearson committed suicide.”

While the two of them had stood there talking, neither one of them noticed Fornell studying Tony out of the corner of his eye. Having had limited contact with the senior DiNozzo he didn’t realize what a bastard he could be, at least where business was concerned. Fornell grudgingly admitted to himself that his opinion of DiNozzo was raised slightly now that he knew what kind of man his Father had been. He mentally shook himself, the last thing he needed was for DiNozzo to find out that he actually kind of liked the kid.

“While this is all very interesting DiNutso, just why in the hell am I here?” he asked.

Tony took a couple of steps away from them and then turned around and faced Fornell.

“Because I need your help getting into a certain file that I think you can access.”

“What are you talking about Tony?” Gibbs eyes narrowed.

Tony turned back to the plasma and brought up what looked like some legal documents.

Gibbs squinted at the screen “What are those?”

“Copies of the Pearson’s divorce decree.” Tony said.

“I’m surprised you didn’t realize what they were, you’ve seen enough of them.” Fornell smirked.

“Shut up Fornell” Gibbs growled.

Clearing his throat Tony continued. “After their divorce Pearson’s ex-wife went back to her maiden name, Cremisi.”

“And?” Fornell asked.

“And I was hoping to get access to a certain FBI personnel file.”

“What in the hell for?” Fornell sounded pissed.

Tony took a deep breath and looked at Gibbs, “I know how you feel about coincidences Boss.”

Turning to Fornell he continued “Because Cremisi is Italian for Crimson.”




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE: It was made known to me that people might not remember who Crimson is...he is one of the FBI Agents that was with DiNozzo Sr.(fromone of the early chapters)

Tony stood there silently letting what he said sink in. Fornell just stared at him and then he started to get angry.

“What the hell DiNozzo! Are you saying that one of MY agents…?”

Tony cut him off “I don’t know! That’s why I, or should I say we, need to see his personnel file. To see if the information matches up.”

As the two had a stare down of sorts, Gibbs watched from the sidelines ready to intervene if needed. Finally Fornell sighed as he walked over to Gibbs desk and sat in front of the computer. Once he had gotten over the initial shock, he knew that what DiNozzo had dug up had to be checked out.

Tony leaned against the edge of his desk as he ran his hands through his hair and then crossed his arms in front of him while he waited.

Gibbs grabbed the Pearson file and went to stand next to Fornell, spreading open the file for both of them to look at. As Fornell brought up the personnel file on Agent Crimson they began to compare the information contained in both. After a few minutes Fornell sat back in his chair with a sigh while Gibbs stood up straight with no expression on his face as he continued to stare at the computer screen.

Tony stood up and walked towards Gibbs desk as he watched the other two, looking for some kind of clue as to what they had found. He finally spoke up, not able to take the silence anymore.

“Boss?”

Gibbs looked up, his expression serious “The stats all match. It’s the same date of birth, birthplace, everything. It’s him.”

Tony came around the desk to stand behind Fornell and read what was on the computer over his shoulder.

“All this proves is that his Father knew DiNozzo’s.” Fornell spoke up, sounding defensive. “It doesn’t mean he killed him.”

“Why didn’t he ever mention his connection to DiNozzo when he got assigned this case?” Gibbs asked.

“Maybe he didn’t know.” Fornell said sounding uncertain. “He was just a kid when this all went down.”

“I don’t believe that” Gibbs said “And neither do you.”

Fornell didn’t say anything at first; he just went back to looking at the computer. After a moment he looked up at Gibbs.

“You realize that there’s no real proof here that he did anything wrong. ” he said now resigned to the fact that his agent might be involved.

“I know” Gibbs replied. He could sympathize with Fornell; it wasn’t easy having one of your own accused of a crime. He briefly thought back to the whole Tony/Chip incident as he glanced over at Tony, who had now gone back to his own desk. He was leaning against the edge like before but was now staring at the floor, deep in thought.

Gibbs faced Fornell “How do you want to proceed?”

“Don’t tell me you’re actually going to let me take the lead on this?”

Gibbs raised his eyebrows as he stared at him.

“That’s what I thought.” Fornell scoffed. “So why even ask?”

“I wanted your opinion” Gibbs answered “Figured I owed you that much.”

Fornell nodded as a look of understanding passed between the two.

“We’re going to need a confession.” Gibbs continued.

“Won’t be easy.” Fornell sighed “If we take him into interrogation, he’ll know something’s up.”

“I know. We need to approach him outside of work, on neutral ground. That way he won’t be suspicious.”

“Agreed” Fornell said, then with a smirk continued, “So do you want to draw straws to see which one of us gets that honor?”

“I’ve got a better idea.” Gibbs paused “Tony.”

They both turned around to find that Tony was gone. The two of them had been so involved in their discussion of the case that they hadn’t notice him slip away from the bullpen and exit using the stairs.

“Damn it DiNozzo” Gibbs muttered “Not again”

He headed for the exit with Fornell right behind him. Before he could find out what he meant by that statement, Gibbs gave him a look that said, “Don’t ask”.

As they got on the elevator Gibbs was thinking about the fact that this was twice now that DiNozzo had been able to slip away without him noticing. He was either getting slower as he got older or Tony was getting better at it; he preferred to believe it was the second option.

Gibbs decided to check Abby’s lab first. He had his suspicions about where Tony had gone but he hoped he was wrong. His gut was telling him that if they weren’t careful this whole thing would blow up in their faces. Gibbs exited the elevator and headed to the lab, Fornell right behind him. He was quiet, thinking pretty much the same thing as Gibbs.

As they approached they could hear the pounding beat of Abby’s music. Upon entering the lab Gibbs went over and turned the music down while Fornell screwed his face up at the assault on his eardrums. Abby whipped around, her pigtails flying.

“Hey boss man,” she said cheerily.

Then a little more somber as she looked behind him “Agent Fornell.”

“So what can I help you with?” she asked turning back to Gibbs.

“Have you seen DiNozzo this morning?” he asked

“Yeah, he just left. I’m surprised you didn’t run into him.” She replied “Why?”

“Did he say where he was going?” Gibbs ignored her question.

“You don’t know?” Abby’s gaze narrowed. She then began pacing back and forth.

“I knew it! I knew something seemed off when he came down to borrow that equipment and I hadn’t heard about any operation. But he seemed so sincere and I didn’t think…”

Gibbs stopped her pacing and her rant by stepping in front of her, placing both hands on her shoulders.

“Abby” he said “Calm down. Just tell me what he borrowed.”

She took a breath then answered, “One of my mikes and a recorder. He said he needed it because he was going to talk to someone and he would be by himself.” Her voice trailed off as she saw the look that passed between Gibbs and Fornell.

Abby turned to Gibbs, “Tony’s going to do something stupid, isn’t he?” She then pleaded, “You’ve got to stop him Gibbs.”

Gibbs leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, “Don’t worry Abs, I’ve got his six.”
As the two men hurried to the elevator, Abby slumped into her chair. A determined look came over her face as she muttered out loud, “You’d better be OK Tony cause I’m SO going to kick your ass when you get back.”

Once on the elevator Fornell turned to Gibbs. “Should I be worried?”

“About?”

“About Agent Crimson. We both know that’s where DiNozzo’s headed.”

“Tony wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize a case.” Gibbs said.

“Maybe not normally, but this is personal.” Fornell sighed, “I just hope your right.”

Gibbs glanced at Fornell but didn’t respond. He hoped he was right too.

As they exited the elevator into the parking garage, Gibbs saw Ziva getting out of her car.

“David” he yelled across to her.

Ziva turned and hurried over to them. “Yes Gibbs”

“I need you to call McGee and the two of you meet us at this address.”

He turned to Fornell who had taken out his notebook, wrote something down before handing the piece of paper to Ziva.

“We have a suspect, yes?” she asked.

“Maybe” Fornell said.

“Is Tony going to meet us there?” Ziva didn’t miss the look that passed between the two.

“Just get McGee and meet us there.” Gibbs barked out, ignoring her question as Fornell and him got into his car.

Ziva guessed that Tony was already on his way there and that he hadn’t told anyone he was going, judging from Gibbs reaction. As Ziva called McGee she thought about Tony and what she knew about his personality. She had always wondered if he hid a dark side behind his many smiles and knew that she was about to find out.

Chapter 23

Tony sat in his car just a few blocks from Agent Crimsons apartment, adjusting the microphone he had hidden under his shirt. He just hoped he had concealed it and the recorder well enough so that it wouldn’t be noticed. As he sat there with his hands on the steering wheel, he thought about all that had happened with his Father in the past. His knuckles turned white as his gripped tightened when Tony contemplated the fact that his Fathers death had ended any hope he harbored of resolving his issues with him and that Agent Crimson may be the one responsible.

Tony closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to calm down then gave an involuntary shudder when he suddenly thought about his boss. He didn’t want to think about what Gibbs was going to do when he caught up with him. Pushing that to the back of his mind Tony reached over and started his car. As he pulled away from the curb he muttered out loud “Let’s hope you can pull this one off Anthony, because it just may cost you more than your job if you don’t.”

Tony pulled into the parking lot of Crimson’s apartment complex and parked in the first empty space that he saw. As he got out of his car he grabbed his jacket and pulled it on, making sure that it helped conceal the small bump that the recorder made that he had taped to his side earlier.

Making his way to Crimson’s apartment Tony concentrated on what he was going to say to him. Sighing to himself, Tony knew that in all probability the most he would get would be a few incriminating statements but held out hope for an out and out confession.

Tony paused and steeled himself before he knocked on the apartment door, letting one of his many masks slip into place. The last thing he wanted was for Crimson to see the true depth of his emotions.

When Agent Crimson opened the door he looked surprised to see Tony there.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

“I think we should talk.”

Tony had adopted a casual pose, standing with one hand in his pocket while leaning against the doorframe with his other.

“I’ve got nothing to say to you Agent DiNozzo.” He said with a hint of anger in his voice.

“Why so defensive? I just wanted to ask you a few questions, It’s not like I’m here to accuse you of something.” Tony had put his best innocent smile on. “You know, you kind of remind me of this character I saw in a movie last month.”

Crimson cut him off before he could continue, his frustration clearly showing on his face.

“I don’t have time for this.” He ground out as he started to shut the door in Tony’s face.

Tony’s hand shot out and stopped the door before it was even shut half way, his quick reaction surprising Crimson.

Tony leaned in and said quietly but firmly. “Faccia il tempo.” (Make the time)

Crimson saw a flash of something in Tony’s eyes. Anger maybe? He couldn’t be sure because it came and went so fast. He automatically stepped back and let Tony enter his apartment, shutting the door behind him. Tony just smiled as he walked past him. It was then that Crimson realized his mistake, that the other agent now knew that he understood Italian.

Crimson stood there with his arms crossed as he watched Tony, trying to figure out just what he knew while not letting his nervousness show. Tony walked around the living room looking things over, touching or picking up random objects while not saying a word. He stopped in front of the bookcase and picked up one the picture frames, it was obviously from when Crimson was just a child. It showed what appeared to be a happy family but Tony knew all too well how appearances could be deceiving; especially when it came to family photos.

Not being able to take the silence any longer Crimson marched over and grabbed the picture frame out of Tony’s hand, setting it back on the shelf.

“I thought you said you wanted to talk?” he snapped.

Tony raised his eyebrow at Crimson’s reaction, turned and took a few steps away then turned back to face him.

“You know, when we first met back at NCIS.” Tony began as he adopted both a casual stance and tone to his voice. “I couldn’t quite figure out why you seemed to hate me so much seeing as we had only just met.”

He watched as Crimson just stood there, his expression giving nothing away.

Tony tilted his head to the side as he continued “Admittedly I had more important things on my mind so I just chalked it up to another case of our two agencies not getting along.
Not to mention the fact that you had just spent the last couple of days cooped up in a hotel room with my father.”

Tony didn’t miss the slight stiffening of Crimsons body at the mention of his father.

“Once things had calmed down a bit, I decided to do a little digging.” Tony took a step closer “Would you like to know what I discovered?”

“Do I have a choice?” Crimson mumbled as he crossed his arms.

“Funny you should say that cause that’s kind of what this is all about. Choices.” Tony took another step forward causing Crimson to take a step back. “About how there are consequences for the choices we make in life and taking responsibility for them.”

“What in the hell are you talking about?” he was starting to sound angry.

“I’ll get straight to the point.” Tony started.

Crimson cut him off “It’s about time.” he snapped.

“Listen, I know about your father and his connection to mine” Tony continued, all politeness gone from his voice. “I know about how your father lost his business, your parents divorce and what happened after that.”

“You need to leave. Now!”

Tony could see that Crimson was starting to loose control. He got up into his face “Did you really think you would get away with it?”

“Get away with what?” Crimson spit out.

“Killing my Father.”

“You don’t have proof that I did anything otherwise you would arrest me.” He sounded almost smug.

Tony knew he would have to push Crimson harder if he wanted a confession. He changed tactics and took a couple of steps back. He hated what he was about to say.

“You know what, you’re right.” Tony’s gaze swept over him “There’s no way you could have killed him because I can tell by looking at you that you’re just as much of a coward as your father was.”

“My Father was not a coward!” Crimson practically shouted.

“Sure he was, he took his own life. Isn’t that the cowards way out?”

Crimson lunged at Tony, shoving him up against the wall and holding him there as his tirade began.

“Your father wasn’t much braver DiNozzo. You should have seen the fear in his eyes when he realized he was dying. Having him know that I was the one responsible?” Crimson sneered “Well, that was just icing on the cake.”

Tony was too stunned to fight back.

“You were there? In the room?” He asked with his voice barely above a whisper.

“Oh yeah, it was like a dream come true. To see the great Dominick DiNozzo begging for help.” Crimson leaned in and said with a slightly crazed look in his eye.

Tony snapped out of the daze he was in. Barely containing his anger he pushed Crimson away and said “Too bad your life is about to become a nightmare.”

Crimson laughed, “Like I already said you don’t have any evidence.”

“I think your confession will be more than enough for a conviction.”

“It’s your word against mine.” Crimson scoffed “Do you really think anyone will believe you?”

“But they will believe you.” Tony reached under his shirt and pulled out the recorder, holding it up for the other man to see.

Tony saw the look of shock on Crimson’s face quickly turn to rage. As he took a swing at Tony he heard Crimson yell “You bastard!”

Tony tried to dodge out of the way but wasn’t quite fast enough and caught a glancing blow to his cheek. Staggering back slightly he was able to block the next one and take a swing back, catching Crimson square on the jaw knocking him backwards. Loosing what little control he had on his anger Tony then rushed at Crimson, the momentum sending them both crashing into the entertainment center shattering the glass doors on the unit.

As the fight continued neither of them heard when the door of the apartment crashed open. Tony thought he heard someone calling his name, telling him to stop but he didn’t pay any attention to it. Not until he felt himself being pulled away from Crimson did his brain even register the fact that there were other people in the room.

Tony could hear Gibbs voice in his ear.

“Tony” Gibbs said, “Do you hear me? I said that’s enough.”

As Tony turned his head towards Gibbs he could see the concern in his eyes. He took a deep breath and answered.

“Yeah, I hear you Boss.”

Tony had felt himself being pulled off of Agent Crimson but it wasn’t until he turned and answered his question that he felt Gibbs let go of him. Gibbs walked over, picked the recorder up off the floor and turned to Fornell.

“This should have everything you need.” He said.

Fornell, who had a hold of Crimson along with McGee, reached over and took the recorder from Gibbs. He rewound the tape and then played it back for everyone to hear. As they all listened to what had occurred Tony glanced at his teammates to gauge their reactions. If the situation weren’t so serious he would have found it amusing. It was pretty much what he expected.

The look on McGee’s face was a combination of shock and surprise, he had seen Tony get mad but had never heard him so angry. Ziva on the other hand showed no emotion. She simply raised an eyebrow as she listened, as if this was how Tony acted all the time. But it wasn’t until he looked at Gibbs face that Tony started to worry. At first glance it appeared as if Gibbs had no reaction at all but as Tony looked closer he could see that his boss was barely containing his anger. What had Tony worried was that he wasn’t sure exactly who Gibbs was angry with.

Gibbs turned to Tony and held out his hand “Keys” he said.

“Boss?”

“Your car keys DiNozzo. Now!” he practically snapped.

Tony quickly dug his keys out of his pants pocket and dropped them into Gibbs hand. At least now he knew whom Gibbs was angry with.

Turning to Ziva who was standing next to him, Gibbs handed her Tony’s keys as he took hers. “Take him back to the office and make sure he stays there this time. I don’t care what you have to do, he is not to leave until I get there.”

“My pleasure.” Ziva said as she gave Tony a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. He knew it was designed to make him nervous.

“C’mon Boss, you can’t expect me to let Ziva...” Tony began.

When Gibbs turned and glared at him Tony took a step back “But with her driving we’ll get back there faster. Gotcha Boss.”

Tony turned and followed Ziva out to his car. He was just about to try and convince her to let him drive when she spoke.

“I am driving Tony.” She said as she dangled the keys from her finger. “ I do not think it wise for you to disobey Gibbs right now, yes?”

Tony just hung his head and sighed. “Your right” he said as he got into the passenger side of his car. As soon as Ziva got in and started the engine Tony turned to her and pleaded “Please Ziva, can you take it easy while driving my car? I’d like to keep her in one piece.”

“Tony, it is only a car.” She replied with an eyebrow raised.

“You’re paying for any and all damages.” He said as he pointed a finger in her face.

Ziva’s only response was to hit the accelerator causing the tires to squeal as she exited the parking lot. She smiled as she heard Tony mutter a curse under his breath as he grabbed for something to hold on to.


Back in the apartment Fornell was reading Agent Crimson his rights as he placed him under arrest. After putting him in handcuffs Fornell turned to McGee.

“Take him down to my car, I need to talk to Gibbs.” Fornell said.

After getting a nod from his boss McGee took Crimson by the arm and escorted him out of the apartment. The two Senior Agents stood there in silence for a few moments before Fornell finally spoke.

“Not to sound ungrateful or anything but you realize this pretty much ends the involvement of NCIS in this case.”

Gibbs just snorted. “You wouldn’t have your suspect if it weren’t for us Tobias.”

“Whatever. It’s still an FBI case.” Fornell replied as he rolled his eyes. “But I am going to need to get a statement from DiNutso about what happened here.”

Gibbs nodded “Later?”

Fornell nodded his head in agreement “I’ll come by in a couple of hours. I want to get Crimson back to headquarters and processed first.”

As the two men started to leave the apartment Fornell suddenly stopped and turned to Gibbs.

“Listen Jethro, take it easy on the kid huh?”

He saw the surprised look come across Gibbs face but before he could respond Fornell continued. “All things considered? I think DiNozzo showed a restraint and control that I didn’t think he had. I know you have every right to be your usual bastard self but maybe you should give him a break.”

When he turned away and mumbled, “I can’t believe I just defended DiNutso”, he missed the softening of Gibbs expression.

“Since when do you care Tobias?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.

Seeing the glint of humor in Gibbs eye, he responded with a deadpanned look.

“Oh it’s not a matter of caring, I just need to make sure he stays alive in case I need him to testify.”

Fornell then turned and pulled out his phone as he exited the apartment but not before he saw the smirk on Gibbs face.

As he followed him out of the building Gibbs considered what Fornell had said, thinking that maybe he had a point about DiNozzo. But the more he thought about it the more he realized that the reason he had been so pissed off was not that he had been worried about Tony hurting Crimson, but that Crimson would hurt Tony. This caused the angry scowl to return to his face, which is what McGee saw when the two men approached him.

“Did he give you any trouble?” Fornell asked.

“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” McGee replied.

“He say anything?” Gibbs asked.

“Not a word”

“Oh he will.” Fornell said as he scowled at the handcuffed agent in the back seat of his car.

Gibbs turned towards Fornell “Do you want any help taking him in?”

“Nah, I’ve got back-up on the way here.”

Gibbs nodded and started walking across the parking lot towards Ziva’s car with McGee hurrying behind. Seeing that the angry look had returned to his boss’s face McGee sent up a silent prayer that they didn’t run into any traffic on the way back.



Having arrived back at NCIS Headquarters Ziva had parked Tony’s car and was headed to the elevator when she realized she was alone. Turning around she saw Tony bent over, rubbing his hand across the hood of his car as he murmured softly.

“Tony” she yelled.

Tony straightened up and hurried over. At Ziva’s inquisitive look he responded.

“What?”

She tilted her head to the side as she asked, “Were you just talking to your car?”

“So what if I was.” Tony said as he walked over to the elevator.

Ziva followed and stood next to him “Why were you talking to your car?”

“I was just apologizing and reassuring her that you would never drive her again.”

“Her?” She said as she quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Never mind, you wouldn’t understand.” He said as they got on the elevator. “It’s a guy thing.”

She was just about to ask him another question when Ziva noticed that he had pressed the button for the floor where Abby’s lab was and not the one for the bullpen.

“Tony, Gibbs said you are to wait…”

He cut her off “I’m just going to see Abby. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving the building.”

“I will go with you then.” Ziva turned and faced the doors.

“Ziva, I just need to talk to Abby.”

Ziva continued to stare straight ahead but didn’t answer.

“Privately” Tony insisted.

Ziva turned to face him, “Fine, I will wait outside the doors for you but you are not leaving my sight.”

Tony rolled his eyes at her as the elevator doors opened and they both stepped out.

Chapter 25

As Tony and Ziva exited the elevator and headed in the direction of Abby’s lab, Ziva stopped just before the entrance and placed her hand on Tony’s arm to stop him.

“I will wait here for you but don’t forget that I am watching, so that you don’t leave.” she said.

Tony rolled his eyes at her then continued to the lab. He hesitated at the doors, taking a deep breath as he thought about how he was going to explain things to Abby. Putting what he hoped was a convincing innocent look on his face Tony entered the lab. He was hit with the pulsing beat of Abby’s music and walked over to turn it down.

“Hey! I was listening to that.” Abby said as she spun around.

“Hey Abby” Tony smiled.

“That won’t work on me Anthony DiNozzo.” Abby glared.

The smile immediately dropped from his face. Not wanting to get too close until he knew just how angry she was, Tony took a few small steps forward.

“What won’t work?” he tried to sound innocent.

“Your charm and that smile. You’re in deep trouble mister,” she said as she marched over to him.

Tony barely restrained himself from stepping back, knowing that whatever Abby was about to dish out he had coming. Without warning she punched him in the arm causing Tony to yelp before he could stop him self.

“That’s for lying to me.” Abby said. “And that” she said as she hit him a second time “Is for making me worry.”

Tony silently mouthed ‘ouch’ as he rubbed his arm. Trying to sound appropriately apologetic he said, “I’m sorry Abby.”

Abby stood there with her hands on her hips as she glared for a moment then relented as she hugged him “Apology accepted” she replied.

Tony hugged her back with as much enthusiasm as he could gather up as he realized just how tired he was. The effects from the stress of the last few days were starting to make itself felt. As Abby stepped back from the hug she got a good look at the red mark on Tony’s cheek that was now starting to turn into a bruise.

The unexpected punch to his arm caused Tony to yelp yet again. “Hey, what was that one for?” He exclaimed.

“For not telling me that you were hurt.”

“But I’m not.” Tony looked genuinely confused at her statement.

“What do you call that?” she said as she pointed at his face.

“That?” he replied as he lightly touched his own cheek. “C’mon that’s nothing Abs.”

“Nothing?” she raised her eyebrows. Abby had thought Tony was doing better with his whole ‘I’m not worth worrying about’ thing. Hugging him again she continued, “You getting hurt, however small, is not ‘nothing’ Tony.”

Returning her hug, Tony then gave her a kiss on her forehead and smiled as he whispered “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome” she smiled back.

Abby then grabbed her chair from by her desk and pushed it towards Tony. “Here, stay awhile. Keep me company.”

“I can’t.” Tony sighed, “ Gibbs will be expecting me to be waiting for him upstairs.”

“Speaking of the Boss man” Abby lowered her voice “ What did he say when he, you know, caught up with you?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Abby sounded surprised.

Tony shook his head no. “Not even a head slap. Wouldn’t let me drive myself back here either.” Nodding his head towards Ziva standing out in the hall.

“Wow, no head slap.” Abby said as she glanced out in the hall “AND Ziva as a babysitter. That’s bad. You must have really pissed him off.”

“Gee thanks Abby” he replied sarcastically “I feel SO much better now. Maybe I will just stay down here a bit longer.”

“C’mon Tony, suck it up.” Abby grinned. “You’re going to have to face him sooner or later.”

“Fine.” Tony said rolling his eyes as he turned away. He then stopped and turned back asking “I don’t suppose you have change for a Twenty?”

“Why?”

Tony gestured to Ziva “Need to pay the babysitter.” he said with a grin.

“Just go” she smirked as she pushed him out the door.

As he joined up with Ziva and started to the elevator Abby yelled to him.

“Hey Tony. Gibbs hired her, he can pay for her.”

Tony just smiled and when Ziva asked what Abby meant he only smiled bigger, shook his head and said “Never mind.”

As the two of them stood at the elevator waiting, Ziva was watching Tony out of the corner of her eye. She was just thinking that he looked a bit more relaxed when she heard the elevator doors open and then saw Tony tense as his smile faltered slightly. When she looked in the elevator she saw Gibbs standing there.

“Ah…Hey there Boss. We were just headed upstairs.” Tony said.

Glancing from one to the other and sensing the tension Ziva spoke up. “I think I will just take the stairs.”

Chapter 26

Ziva turned and walked briskly to the stairwell, eager to make her escape. As much as she enjoyed seeing Tony get into trouble once in awhile, this was not one of those times. She had considered taking the elevator but one look at Gibbs face changed her mind instantly.

Tony wished he could follow Ziva into the stairwell but instead stayed where he was. He waited for a few seconds hoping that Gibbs was going to get out of the elevator before he stepped in. Those hopes were dashed when Gibbs actually took a step back and with a jerk of his head indicated that Tony should get in the elevator.

Taking a deep breath he stepped in, turned, faced forward and stood at attention with his hands clasped behind his back. Once the doors closed and the elevator started to move, Gibbs reached over and hit the emergency stop switch. He immediately started in on Tony.

“What the hell were you doing?” Gibbs didn’t keep the anger out of his voice.

Tony stayed staring forward, knowing better than to interrupt.

“Taking off like that, on your own?” Gibbs took a step closer getting into his face “Did it even occur to you all that could have gone wrong?”

“I didn’t think that…” Tony began before Gibbs cut him off.

“That’s your problem DiNozzo, you don’t think!” Gibbs then turned away and marched the few steps to the other side of the elevator as he rubbed a hand across the back of his neck.

Tony’s shoulders slumped slightly as he lowered gaze to the floor “I’m sorry boss, I know I could have jeopardized the case but I was sure I could get him to confess.”

Gibbs turned back around and looked at him for a second before he said. “Do you think I give a damn about the case?”

Tony looked up, confusion clear in his expression as Gibbs just stood there, staring at him. Keeping in mind Fornells comment earlier about taking it easy he continued, softening his tone a little.

“You went in without back up. You could have been seriously hurt.” Gibbs paused “Or worse.”

Tony lowered his gaze back to the ground now looking a little uncomfortable as well as confused.

“Do you really care so little about your own safety or are you just trying to get yourself killed?” Gibbs continued.

Tony’s head snapped up at that last statement. “Is that what you think?” he asked taken aback.

Gibbs sighed as he walked over and stood close, his gaze locked with Tony’s “I don’t know DiNozzo, I sometimes wonder. But before you give me that line of bull of yours that ‘It’s no big deal’, keep in mind who you’re talking to.”

As they stood there practically toe-to-toe, Gibbs could see the variety of emotions that came and went in Tony’s eyes; confusion, surprise, anger with the final one being resignation. Tony took a deep breath before he began, his eyes never leaving Gibbs.

“Listen boss, I AM NOT suicidal. I don’t have to tell you that danger comes with the job. I swore years ago to serve and protect, you know that”

Tony then sighed as he dropped his gaze and continued, “I just know that the victims of the crimes that we investigate have loved ones that are counting on us and I’ll do whatever I can to help them.”

“No matter what the cost?” Gibbs asked.

When Tony just shrugged it finally hit Gibbs like a bolt of lightening, the reason he was always so nonchalant about his own safety. Gibbs wasn’t comfortable with all this ‘expressing your feelings’ crap but he knew he had to get through to Tony. He put one hand on Tony’s shoulder and lifted his chin with the other.

“Listen Tony, you have loved ones too and they’re counting on you to keep yourself safe. You got it?”

Tony was silent as he looked into his eyes then cleared his throat. “Got it boss” he answered softly.

“Good.” Gibbs nodded. He gave Tony’s shoulder a final squeeze before letting go. Turning around he then hit the switch setting the elevator back in motion. They stood side by side for a few seconds then Gibbs reached up swatting the back of Tony’s head.

“Hey!” Tony yelped reaching back to rub his head, “What now?”

“You ever pull a stunt like that again and I’ll fire your ass so fast it will make your children’s heads spin.” Gibbs said back to his usual gruffness, “Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal, boss.” Tony answered still rubbing his head.

As the elevator approached their floor Gibbs told Tony that he needed to head to the interview rooms to give his statement.


Meanwhile Ziva had made her way back up to the bullpen to find McGee already sitting at his desk.

“Where’s Tony?” he asked her.

“With Gibbs” she answered pointing at the elevator, “In his office.”

“Oh” he said. “Do you think Tony will be OK? Should we call someone?”

“Like who?”

“I don’t know, the paramedics maybe” McGee said with a small smile.

Ziva smiled back before she remembered the way Gibbs had looked downstairs. “I say we give them a few minutes then call Ducky.” She answered sounding serious.

The smile dropped from his face “That bad?”

Ziva just gave him a look that said ‘What do you think?’ before turning back to the paperwork on her desk.

Both of their heads snapped up when they heard the elevator sound its arrival. They watched as their boss and Tony exited, with the second one rubbing the back of his head. Tony headed down the hall towards the interview rooms while Gibbs came into the bullpen. He went to his desk and as he grabbed his coffee Ziva spoke up.

“Where did Tony go?”

“He has to give his statement to Fornell.” Gibbs grimaced as he realized his coffee was now lukewarm. “That’s where I’ll be but I don’t want to be bothered.”

Ziva nodded as Gibbs walked past her then went back to her work, hoping that nothing important came up. Even with all her Mossad training, she really did not want to be the one to interrupt them.

Chapter 27

Gibbs was watching through the glass as Tony gave his statement. Fornell didn’t object to him being there but only as an observer and definitely not in the same room. They had only just begun when the director entered the observation room and stood next to Gibbs. They both stood there for moment, neither one talking, before she finally spoke.

“I heard about what happened.”

Gibbs remained quiet, his eyes flickered in her direction but he stayed facing forward.

“You do realize I should write him up for what he did?”

Gibbs turned to her, anger flaring briefly in his eyes.

“Listen Jen” he began.

She held up a hand silencing him “But I won’t. I will have to at least make a note in his file about this incident, there’s no getting around that.”

Gibbs turned back to watching Tony before taking a deep breath and nodded once.

“Understood”

Jen nodded back then exited the room silently, leaving Gibbs to continue his quiet observation. As he watched Tony in the room with Fornell and another FBI agent, Gibbs finally allowed himself to relax; but only a little bit. Even though the murderer had been found and the case was essentially closed he knew that his work wasn’t finished, at least as far as Tony was concerned.

As Gibbs studied the younger agent he could see how tired he looked but what bothered him more were the lines of stress he could still see etched on his face. He knew that having to go over everything that had happened at Agent Crimsons apartment when giving his statement would be hard, but Gibbs had thought that with the case wrapping up the stress would have eased up a bit.

Before he could come to any conclusions Gibbs heard the door behind him open and he tensed up. When he turned to find that it was Ducky that had entered he relaxed again and not just because of the cup of coffee that he was carrying.

“I believe you could probably use this about now.” Ducky said with a smile.

“What happened to you wanting me to cut back?” Gibbs said with an eyebrow raised as he took the cup from him.

“Yes, well it has been quite a day so this time I think that I can make an exception.”

After taking a long drink from his coffee Gibbs asked, “How did you know where I was?”

Turning to look at Tony through the glass Ducky then turned back to Gibbs and with a knowing look said, “Where else would you be Jethro?”

Gibbs gave a small smile but didn’t respond as he took another sip of his coffee.

As they both turned back to look at Tony they noticed that it looked like the FBI were just about done taking his statement. Ducky looked him over with a critical eye. He nodded his head once as if coming to a decision and then asked with a more serious tone.

“How is Anthony doing?”

“I don’t know Duck” Gibbs sighed “As well as can be expected I guess.”

Knowing that Gibbs wouldn’t tolerate one of his long explanations or stories right now he decided to get straight to the point.

“Did you know that he hasn’t been down to autopsy since that first night?” Ducky said.

“What?” Gibbs looked confused as he turned to face him.

“Anthony. He hasn’t been down to autopsy.”

Gibbs still looked puzzled so Ducky continued, “To see his father.”

Gibbs said nothing as a look of comprehension came across his face.

“He should come down and see him, before it is too late.”

“What do you mean, before it’s too late?” Gibbs asked.

“I was just notified by the DiNozzo family attorney that they would have someone here tomorrow to pick up the body.” Ducky sighed “And seeing as I don’t know if Anthony plans on attending the funeral considering what I know of their relationship or even if he would be welcome, this may be his last chance to say good bye.”

“Don’t you think this should be his decision, whether or not to see his fathers body?”

“You know him best,” Ducky said softly as he placed a hand on Gibbs shoulder “But I do believe that in the long run it would be in his best interest to do this.”

“I won’t force him Ducky” Gibbs said his voice equally soft.

“Of course not Jethro” he replied as he patted his shoulder. As he stepped back he continued, “But Anthony will listen to you, at least talk to him about this.”

Before he could respond a movement on the other side of the glass caught Gibbs attention. He saw that Fornell and his agent were leaving. He watched as Tony just sat there for a moment, rubbing his hands across his face before he then pushed himself up from the table and headed for the door.

Wanting to get to his agent before he could go too far Gibbs headed out the door himself as he threw over his shoulder to Ducky “I’ll see what I can do.”

Tony had only gotten a few steps ahead of him so Gibbs was able to catch up right away. As he fell in step next to him Tony acknowledged his presences with a quiet “Hey boss.”

“DiNozzo.” Gibbs answered with a nod “You OK?”

Tony’s “I’m fine” was a little too quick for Gibbs liking but he remained silent until they reached the elevators. Gibbs pushed the button for the elevator and the doors immediately opened.

“DiNozzo” Gibbs said with a nod towards the elevator stopping Tony, who had been headed towards the bullpen, in his tracks. Following his boss into the elevator he stood there quietly seemingly lost in his own thoughts, until Gibbs reached over and hit the switch to stop them from moving. Tony stiffened thinking that they were possibly going to continue their conversation from earlier but seeing only concern and not reprimand in Gibbs eyes he relaxed.

Not one for beating around the bush Gibbs got straight to the point. “I just talked with Ducky. He told me that someone would be here tomorrow to pick up your father.”

“OK” Tony said drawing the word out.

“He also said you haven’t been down there since this all started.”

Tony sighed as he leaned against the back wall of the elevator, head bowed as he stared at the floor.

“What does that have to do with anything?” he mumbled.

“He seems to think that you should see him.” Gibbs paused for a moment “That it might be your last chance and that it would help.”

Tony raised his head, eyes locked with Gibbs, “What do you think?”

“It’s your decision” he replied. His gaze still locked with Tony’s he stepped up next to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. Never having been comfortable with expressing his emotions, Gibbs paused as he struggled to come up with the right words.

“But if it were me Tony?” Gibbs finally said, “I would want the chance to say goodbye. The chance to say the things I never got to say before.” Gibbs voice softened “I think you need to do this if you’re ever going to get past everything that’s happened.”

Tony held his gaze for a moment before nodding his head. Dropping his hand from his shoulder Gibbs took a step back before reaching over to start the elevator moving again.

“Out with it.” Gibbs sighed when he saw the smirk on Tony’s face.

“Didn’t know you watched Dr. Phil boss.” Tony grinned.

The smack to the back of his head wasn’t unexpected.

Chapter 28

The elevator ride was a short one, when the doors opened to the garage Tony looked at Gibbs questioningly. “Coffee” was all that his boss said as he stepped off the elevator and walked away. As the doors slid close Tony decided that it was now or never and hit the button for autopsy. When the elevator started moving he gave a small smile and shook his head as he realized that Gibbs knew him better than he had thought, sneaky bastard.

As he exited the elevator and headed towards autopsy his steps slowed until he came to a complete stop just outside the doors sensors. He wanted to make sure that he was alone; for this he did not want an audience. Taking a couple of steps forward the doors swooshed open and Tony walked through but he came to a quick stop as the enormity of what he was about to do hit him. Taking a deep breath to try and calm him self he jumped when the doors behind him suddenly closed.

‘Get a grip’ he thought before walking over to look at the clipboard that would tell him where his father was. Most of the lights were turned off but he didn’t bother to switch any more on as he turned and headed over to the wall of drawers, stopping when he reached the one that held his fathers body. Tony grabbed the handle and quickly opened the door. When he reached in to pull out the drawer he saw that his hand was shaking slightly. “C’mon DiNozzo” he whispered, “You can do this.” It’s not like this is the first body you’ve seen he mentally chided himself.

Tony didn’t pull the drawer out very far, only a couple of feet or so. He closed his eyes as he took another deep breath then reached over and pulled the sheet back just far enough to show his fathers face. He couldn’t help but grimace slightly as he got his first look at his father. He hadn’t seen him in years and didn’t really expect him to look the same but Tony didn’t think he would look so…well…old.

He stood there silently for a while, hands in his pants pockets as he tried to gather his thoughts, not really sure what to say.

“Hello Father” Tony finally whispered. He cleared his throat and continued, his voice a little stronger.

“So, my boss said I should come here” he paused “To say good bye, I guess” Among other things he thought.

“Who would of thought it would take you dying for us to finally get together.” He then scoffed “Pretty much anyone who knows you.” Sighing he continued, “I really thought I’d have more time. That’s why I kept putting this off, didn’t want to deal with it I guess.”

Tony shifted uncomfortably running a hand through his hair before he continued.

“What do you say to someone you haven’t missed, that you thought was out of your life for good? I figured we were done. Finished. And I had accepted that.”

“But now?” he said as he shook his head slightly “I realize I was lying to myself. I did miss you. You were my father, my only living parent. How could I not miss you?”

Tony blinked his eyes rapidly at the unexpected tears. Leaning back against the wall he crossed his arms while he tried to gain control over his emotions. He wouldn’t do this. Even dead, he would not cry in front of his father. After a couple of minutes and a couple of deep breaths he continued.

“But you didn’t miss me, did you? You never wanted me around because I didn’t live up to your expectations. I was nothing to you, worthless, a failure. Even if you hadn’t shown me by your actions, you sure as hell told me that often enough.”

As images from his childhood flashed thru his mind Tony struggled with the emotions that came with them. From disappointment to fear then shame and a sense of worthlessness ending with hurt and anger. Before he could stop himself Tony turned and slammed his fist into one of the metal drawers leaving a small dent behind. Sagging against the wall of drawers he rested his forehead against the cool metal as he dragged air into his lungs and tried to compose himself. He stayed like that for a while before he finally turned back towards his father.

“You know, I grew up thinking that there was nothing wrong with what you did. That I must have done something to make you treat me the way that you did.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “And after I became a cop, with all the training and experience I had received in dealing with domestic violence, I never really applied that to myself. Those people were victims and I was no victim.” Tony paused for a moment then continued, “The last few days have made me look at things differently, brought up memories that had been long forgotten or so I thought. But it also made me remember something that I had read somewhere, not even sure I know where.”

“In order for me to move on with my life and not let my past influence my future, I need to forgive you. And as crazy as it sounds I understand that, I get it. But I’m doing this for me not you; I just wish I had realized this sooner. That I could have done this while you were still alive.” The corner of Tony’s mouth lifted in a almost smile, “Pretty deep for someone who you thought was an idiot and would never amount to anything.”

Tony reached over to pull the sheet up to cover his father’s face and whispered, “I forgive you Father. Whether or not anyone thinks you deserve it, I forgive you.”

After covering his father, pushing the drawer in and closing the door Tony sagged against the wall as he felt a peace settle over him. He also felt the exhaustion, both physical and emotional, as he slid down to sit on the floor. With his elbows resting on his knees Tony pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes as he tried to prevent the tears from escaping.



Back up in the bullpen Gibbs had come back from getting his coffee and was sitting at his desk looking as if he was busy doing paperwork. What he was really doing was just shuffling papers back and forth while his mind was on Tony. He agreed with Ducky that Tony needed to see his father’s body but a part of him was wondering if he had made the right decision in not going with him. Glancing at the clock Gibbs was surprised at how late it was. He had already sent McGee and Ziva home even though they had protested somewhat. They had been concerned when Gibbs had come back to the office without Tony but he had assured them that everything was fine. Truth was he had just stared at them and then ordered them to go home, telling them “DiNozzo was fine”, trying to let them know with a look that he would take care of him.

Gibbs decided he would go down to autopsy and check on Tony and if he was still saying goodbye or whatever he would just leave; making sure that he was OK first, of course. He took the elevator instead of the stairs wanting the few extra seconds that route would take to come up with something to say, some words of comfort should the need arise. He knew that his verbal skills when it came to dealing with emotions were severely lacking, just ask any of his ex-wives, but Gibbs was hoping that the parental feelings that he had towards Tony would be enough to get them through this.

Exiting the elevator Gibbs quietly made his way to autopsy careful to stay out of range of the doors sensors. As he looked through the glass the room appeared to be empty and most of the lights were off. He was just about to leave and go in search of his missing agent when something caught his eye. When he looked closer he spotted Tony sitting on the floor half hid in the darkness. Gibbs could make out the disheveled hair but couldn’t see his face; it was hidden behind his hands. But what had him concerned was the slump of Tony’s shoulders.

“Aw, hell” he muttered just before he stepped forward.

Chapter 29

Gibbs stepped towards the entrance to autopsy and the doors swished open but Tony didn’t react. He took a couple of steps forward letting the doors close behind him.

“Tony” Gibbs said quietly.

No reaction.

“Tony” he tried again.

There was still no reaction.

“DiNozzo” he said louder.

“Heard you the first time boss.” He replied without moving.

“Then why didn’t you answer me?” Gibbs asked.

Tony took his hands away from his face and rested his arms on his knees. With his head against the wall behind him and eyes closed, his only response was a shrug of his shoulders.

Gibbs walked over to stand in front of him. His face showed his worry until he got a closer look at Tony, even though he still looked tired and his eyes were red, most of the stress was gone from his face.

“You OK?” he asked with a concerned tone.

“I’m fine” Tony looked up at Gibbs “All things considered”

“Are you sure? If you need more time I can…” Gibbs made a gesture towards the door but Tony cut him off.

“Nah, I’m good.” Tony made a move to get up off the floor when Gibbs held out his hand to help him up.

Without thinking Tony grabbed Gibbs hand with the one he had slammed into the wall and couldn’t quite hide the hiss of pain at his boss’s tight grip. Once he was standing Gibbs, not letting go of Tony’s hand, looked at the bruises that had started to form on the knuckles.

“What did you do?” he practically ground out.

Tony’s eyes flickered to the dent in the wall as he pulled his hand away.

“It’s nothing.” He replied nonchalantly.

Gibbs gaze went from Tony’s hand to the dent in the wall back to his hand and then up to his eyes. He raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“No, really boss. See?” Tony held up his hand and wriggled his fingers. “It’s fine, nothings broken. Just a little bruise.” This time he was able to hide the pain…almost.

“We’re stopping by the hospital on the way home.” Gibbs declared.

“No way! C’mon boss, it’s really not that bad.” he insisted.

“Would you rather I call Ducky back in? You’re going to have to explain THAT to him anyway” Gibbs pointed at the dent.

Tony really wasn’t in the mood right now for a lecture from Ducky about how inanimate objects can’t fight back or something along those lines. He dropped his head for a moment then looked back up at Gibbs.

“Hospital” he sighed.

Gibbs nodded his head once then motioned for Tony to follow as he headed out.


Thankfully the ER wasn’t too busy and they were in and out in a couple of hours. Tony was right that his hand was only bruised and if he had been with anyone else but Gibbs he might have had an “I told you so” attitude.

On the car ride home Tony laid his head back as he stared out the side window and tried not to fall asleep. He noticed that they were going towards Gibbs house and not his own place. Secretly he was glad, he really didn’t feel like being alone tonight. Tony then gave up on his efforts to stay awake.

Gibbs glanced over as he was driving and saw that Tony had dozed off. “Good” he thought, he could use the rest.

Tony jerked awake when the car came to a stop, biting back the apology that had sprung to his lips. By the time he got the seatbelt undone and out of the car Gibbs was standing there waiting for him. When he stumbled on his first step Gibbs reached out to help but Tony waved him off with an “I’m fine.” But that didn’t stop his boss from walking right next to him, just inches away.

Once inside Tony followed his boss into the kitchen sitting at the table. Gibbs got the coffee started then sat across from him. The two sat there silently, the only noise in the room coming from the coffee maker. Tony kept his eyes lowered, his finger tracing a random pattern across the top of the table while Gibbs had his gaze locked on Tony. Once the machine signaled that it was done Gibbs got up and filled two mugs setting one in front of Tony before he sat back down.

Gibbs waited silently; he knew it wouldn’t be long before the younger man broke.

“So” Tony suddenly spoke keeping his gaze lowered “I suppose you want to know how it went.”

“Only if you want to tell me,” he responded quietly.

“Well, I got some things off my chest. Cleared the air a bit.” Tony sighed “Just wish I had done it sooner, you know, while he was still alive.”

Gibbs nodded letting him know he understood as he drank his coffee but stayed silent, not wanting to interrupt.

After a couple of minutes Tony looked up meeting his boss’s eyes and whispered, “I forgave him.”

The mug he had been raising to drink from froze half way up as his eyebrows shot up in surprise “You what?” he asked.

Tony held his gaze as he leaned forward resting his arms on the table as both hands wrapped around the mug of coffee. “I forgave him,” he repeated a little louder.

When Gibbs lowered his mug but didn’t respond right away Tony began to get nervous, thinking that maybe he shouldn’t have said anything. Gibbs was about to speak when Tony stopped him before he could even start.

“I don’t really expect you to understand or even approve but it was something I had to do.” Dropping his gaze Tony began to fidget, his hands twirling his mug of coffee. He started to ramble “You know what, I think I’m just going to go home now. Don’t worry, I’ll call a taxi and we can just forget I even said anything.”

When he started to stand up Gibbs reached out and grabbed his arm; Tony froze.

“DiNozzo” he said firmly “Sit.”

He slowly sat back down and Gibbs not only saw but also felt the tension in Tony so he didn’t remove his hand.

“Look at me” Gibbs said and when he didn’t look up Gibbs sighed.

“Tony” he said softening his tone “Look at me.”

When Tony finally raised his head and looked him in the eye Gibbs made sure that all his care and concern showed as he spoke.

“It’s OK.” At his look of disbelief Gibbs continued “Really. It’s OK.”

Tony searched his face and finding only understanding there he started to relax and Gibbs let go of his arm.

“Don’t you remember when we were at your father’s house? I told you then that this was all on him, not you. I’m glad to see that you finally understand that.”

When Gibbs mentioned his father’s house Tony couldn’t help the childhood memories that flashed through his mind. Seeing him start to tense up again and the doubt that flickered across his face Gibbs pressed on.

“You DO know that you didn’t do anything wrong, don’t you?”

Tony dropped his eyes back down to the table his only answer a slight shrug and a muttered “Sure boss”.

Gibbs laid his hand back on Tony’s arm determined to get through to him.

“Tony” he said his voice gentle yet insistent.

Tony raised his eyes to meet his.

“It wasn’t your fault, how your father treated you. It never was.” Gibbs squeezed his arm with each word. “It’s. Not. Your. Fault.”

Tony studied his face and saw the sincerity there but he was so confused. Even though he had forgiven his father, everything that had been drilled into him as a child had stuck. And now here was his boss saying the exact opposite. He must be telling the truth; Gibbs would never lie to him about something like this. Once he thought about it, really thought about it, he knew what the truth was. Tony felt twenty pounds lighter as the pain and insecurities he had been carrying around all of these years started to fall away.

Gibbs could tell the minute that it sank in by the look on his face.

“Got it?” he asked.

“Got it” Tony choked out as he ducked his head to hide the tears that suddenly sprang up.

“Good” Gibbs said as he patted his arm then sat back and drained the last of the liquid in his mug. Seeing Tony fight to control his emotions Gibbs got up to refill his coffee, giving the younger man time to pull himself together.

Filling his mug Gibbs kept his back to Tony as he spoke. “The guest room is ready, why don’t you go on up and get some sleep.”

He heard the chair being pushed back from the table and Gibbs turned to say goodnight, thinking Tony was headed upstairs. Instead he saw him just standing there next to the table. Before he could say anything Tony swiftly walked over and gave him a quick hard hug with a whispered “Thanks.” Gibbs instinctively returned the hug but before he could say anything Tony quickly left the room, not that Gibbs could have gotten anything past the unexpected lump in his throat.