When Tony DiNozzo got up that morning, something just felt “off”. He couldn’t put his finger on it but he just had this sense of foreboding. He arrived to work on time and his boss seemed to be in a somewhat civil mood. So far, so good he thought. It was lunchtime, they hadn’t caught any new cases and his boss hadn’t slapped the back of his head once yet.


Just as Tony started to think that maybe he had been wrong this morning; his phone rang. It was one of the Security Guards at the front desk, letting him know that he had a visitor and that they were on their way up. Tony swore softly, under his breath. “Damn, what was he doing here” he thought to himself. He was just thankful that both McGee and Ziva had left for lunch already. This was one scene he did not want to have to explain to his coworkers.


Tony was just about to get up from his chair when the elevator pinged sounding its arrival. He looked up and saw him step out from the elevator and walk towards his desk. “Hello Anthony” he said as Tony rose from his chair. “Good afternoon Sir” Tony responded, “What are you doing here?”

Gibbs left the Directors office, after one of his weekly sit-downs, not in the best of moods. He stopped at the railing overlooking the bullpen, drained the last of his coffee and was just about to head down the stairs when he heard the elevator. As he glanced at the man exiting the elevator, he noticed Tony stiffen his shoulders and rise up to greet the visitor. Gibbs could see the tension in Tony’s body and decided to see what was going on. As he approached, he could hear Tony ask the man what he wanted. What he heard next surprised him but Gibbs made sure to keep his expression blank.

“So” the man answered, “I need permission to visit my son at work?”

His son? Gibbs thought to himself, I didn’t know Tony was in contact with him.

Tony responded, somewhat sarcastically, “Seeing as I haven’t seen you in over ten years, what do you think?”

His Fathers eyes narrowed, his voice a bit more stern, “There’s no need to use that tone with me” he said.

Tony stood a bit straighter “I’m sorry Sir, was there something you needed?”

Gibbs decided now would be a good time to interrupt. “DiNozzo” he said sharply, causing both men to turn in his direction. Looking at Tony he asked, “What’s going on? Did we catch a new case?”

As Gibbs turned to face the stranger he now knew was Tony’s Father, Tony replied “Ah, no boss, just some personal business”.

As Gibbs threw a glare at Tony he continued, “Which shouldn’t be conducted while at work, gotcha boss.”

The man in front of Gibbs extended his hand, “Excuse my sons lack of manners, I’m Dominick DiNozzo, Anthony’s Father.”

Gibbs responded as he shook his hand, “Special Agent Gibbs, Tony’s boss”.

Gibbs studied the man in front of him. He could see the family resemblance. Even though Tony’s Father was slightly taller and maybe a bit broader, the biggest difference was in the eyes. Where as Tony’s were lighter and almost always had a mischievous look to them, his Fathers were darker. The one word that popped into Gibbs head, while studying the senior DiNozzo’s eyes, was “unforgiving”.

As the two men stood there, sizing each other up, Tony decided he needed to do something to break the tension. He turned to his Father, “I can’t really talk right now, could we meet later?”

DiNozzo Sr. said “Walk me out, we’ll discuss it.”

As they walked to the elevator, Gibbs eyes followed them. He noted the almost submissive way that Tony followed his Father. As Gibbs went to his desk, his thoughts were on Tony’s Father and what in the hell he could want after all this time.

By the time Tony made his way back to his desk, McGee and Ziva had come back from lunch. Tony was acting as if nothing had happened, keeping up his usual banter with his coworkers. “Acting” was the exact word that described how Tony was behaving; at least that’s what Gibbs thought. As he watched him, Gibbs decided he would wait until the end of their shift to talk to Tony. He needed to get to the bottom of this and soon.

As the afternoon dragged on, Tony could feel Gibbs watching him every once in awhile. It was really starting to get to him; he had to get away even if just for a short time. As Tony got up from his desk and headed to the elevators, he threw over his shoulder, “I’m going to see Abby, be right back”. He then ducked into the elevator before anyone could say anything.

As Tony approached the lab, the sound of Abby’s music made him smile. “Just what I need”, he thought to himself, “A little normalcy”. That made him grin even more, never thought he would put the words “Abby” and “Normal” in the same sentence. Tony walked into the lab and as he reached to turn down the music Abby turned around.

“Tony!” she almost squealed.

Tony smiled back at her “Hey Abby, you busy?”

As Abby gave him a hug she said “I always have time for you Tony. What’s up?” She could tell that something was not quite right.

As he sat down on her stool, Tony tried to think of the best way to bring up the subject of his Father.

“This should be easy,” he thought. Abby was one of the few people he had talked to about his Father, but he had only told her part of the story. Tony decided it was best to just jump right in.

“So, I had a visitor at lunch today” he said.

“Oh really, who?” she said.

Tony just sighed, raised his eyebrow “Him”.

Abby look a little confused at first, then it was like a light bulb went off in her head. “Him? Him…oh HIM!” she said. She had been sitting on her desk but jumped down and grab Tony’s arm “Oh my god, what did HE want?”

“I’m not exactly sure and by the way Abby, ouch,” Tony said as he tried to pry her fingers off his arm.

“Oh, sorry.” Abby said as she started to rub the spot she had been squeezing.

“Gibbs interrupted us, so as I was walking him out we made plans for dinner.” Tony continued “He did say something about wanting my help but he didn’t want to get into it right then.”

Abby chewed on her bottom lip and asked, “So, are you going to do it? You know, the whole dinner and helping him out thing?”

Tony rubbed his hands across his face, sighed and looked up at her. “Yes to dinner and not sure about the helping out part.”

Abby stood up and with a determined look on her face said, “I’m going with you and you’re NOT meeting him alone.”

Tony stood up, leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He then gave her a smile and said, “That’s really sweet of you Abs but first of all, we’ll be in a public place and second, I AM a Federal Agent you know.”

Abby just crossed her arms and said “But this is YOU we’re talking about Tony, you know, trouble magnet?”

Tony just rolled his eyes and said, “You worry too much. I’ve got to get back upstairs now before Gibbs notices how long I’ve been gone.” As he left, he told her “I’ll call you tomorrow and give you all the details”

After he left Abby thought to herself, “I don’t care what you say Tony, you’re not going to that dinner alone.”

As Tony made his way from Abby’s lab back to the bullpen and his desk, he tried to come up with something to tell Gibbs, incase he questioned him about the entire goings on today. He was relieved to find that Gibbs wasn’t there; apparently he had gone on a coffee run. Tony had pulled out some cold case files, trying to make it look like he was working, but it was really all an act. Tony had decided to do a little investigating of his father, discreetly of course.

He knew something was wrong, seriously wrong for his father to have come to him. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, he would just have to wait and see. But one thing was for sure, Tony was going to go to their dinner with as much information on his father as he could find, he wasn’t stupid. As he started looking into the financial records of his father, something caught his eye.

Tony started to dig a little deeper, what he found wasn’t good although he wasn’t surprised. “Damn it” he thought, “Could his Father really be that greedy, not to mention careless?”

When Gibbs came back into the office from his coffee run, he saw that everyone was busy working at his or her desk, at least that was the impression they were giving. When he looked around at his team, he could see that all seemed normal.

McGee seemed to be in his own little world, typing away and concentrating on what ever he was doing, probably something that was technology based and that Gibbs would never understand.

As his gaze shifted to Ziva he saw that although she looked slightly bored, being the professional that she was, she at least was trying to keep busy by going thru some of the paperwork that was on her desk.

When he looked at Tony he could see that he had some file folders on his desk, probably cold cases. But it looked like he hadn’t touched them and was instead very intent on something that was on his computer. He could tell that it wasn’t one of his usual games that he like to try and play on the sly, mainly because he looked way too serious. “What are you up to DiNozzo” Gibbs thought.

It was at that moment that Gibbs decided to do a little investigating on his own of DiNozzo Sr. As he started to dig a little, he didn’t like what he was seeing. He made the decision to NOT question Tony about what had gone down at lunch. Partly because he knew he’d probably have a hard time getting a straight answer out of him, Tony was too good and too practiced at the art of evasion when it came to his family. Plus he knew he would learn more by just observing, for now.

It was the end of their shift; so Gibbs told them to all go home, he’d see them in the morning. As Ziva and McGee grabbed their stuff and headed for the elevator, Tony was still concentrating on something that was on his computer.

“DiNozzo” Gibbs practically barked, causing Tony to jump as he looked over at him, “You planning on staying all night?”

Tony looked slightly embarrassed at being caught off guard, “Sorry boss, didn’t hear you,” Tony said as he gathered his things and headed for the exit, “See you tomorrow”.

Gibbs just waved him off as he went back to his work, thinking “I may see you sooner than that”. He waited until the elevator doors shut before he too grabbed his coat and headed for the stairs.

Little did Gibbs know that Abby had a similar idea. She had left the lab a few minutes early and was now sitting in her car, waiting for Tony to leave. As Abby sat there, fingers tapping on the steering wheel, she thought “As Gibbs would say, you need someone to watch your six Tony and that’s just what I’m going to do, whether you like it or not.”

After going home for a quick shower and a change of clothes, Tony was back in his car, headed for the restaurant where he was to meet his father. After parking his car he just sat for a minute, gathering his thoughts and yes, even a little extra courage. Even after all this time his father still had the ability to make him feel like he was twelve years old again.

Tony glanced at his watch and decided that he’d better go in, he knew better than to make his father wait. After he entered the restaurant he stopped and looked around. At first glance the place seemed like your typical high end D.C. eatery.

There were two rooms, one was your typical bar and the other was the restaurant but that area had a different feel to it. First of all the lighting was dim and the few tables that were there had a discreet distance between them to allow for some privacy. Along one wall was a row of booths; there was a smoky glass partition between each one to allow for even more privacy. This is where Tony spotted his father sitting as the hostess lead him over.

As he ran a hand thru his hair in a kind of nervous type gesture, Tony thought, “Well, here we go, Showtime.”

Meanwhile outside in a darkened corner of the parking lot was a strange sight, if anyone bothered to pay attention. A hearse had pulled up and a woman dressed in a long black coat with pigtails emerged. Abby stood there for just a minute, trying to decide whether she should go in or not.

Just as she started to move, a hand grabbed her elbow. “Eek” she cried as she spun around, there stood Gibbs. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!” she said as she smacked at his hand.

“Why not”, he said with a small smirk; “I do it to you all the time at work.”

Abby pouted “Yea, well that’s different.” When he didn’t say anything, she continued, “O.k. it’s different cause it’s like dark out and it’s a half empty parking lot and” she paused for a second then tilted her head to the side with a questioning look on her face. “Wait a minute, what are you doing here?” she asked.

When he didn’t answer she said, “Are you following Tony too?”

Gibbs face turned serious, “No, his Father”, he said.

Abby smiled at him and said with her usual energy, “O.k. boss man, so what’s the plan? Do we go in separately or together? Maybe just one of us should go in or what do you”

Gibbs cut her off with a look and a curt “Abby. Stop.”

Back in the restaurant as Tony came to his Fathers booth and slid in, DiNozzo Sr. said, “Glad to see that you’ve learned to be punctual.”

Mentally, Tony just rolled his eyes but on the outside he didn’t let anything show.

Before he could respond, his Father continued, “I took the liberty of ordering already. Something has come up and I have to take the jet back home as soon as we finish here.”

Tony just raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment as the waiter had arrived to take his drink order. Deciding he could probably use something stronger than his usual beer, Tony went ahead, gesturing towards his fathers drink saying, “I’ll have the same.”

Neither man spoke while they waited for the waiter to return.

Outside things weren’t going that well either. “You are NOT going into that place.” Gibbs said.

“But why?” Abby said.

Gibbs just sighed “Think about it Abby, you really think you could just blend in dressed like that?”

“Hey! What’s wrong with the way I’m dressed?” she almost shouted.

Gibbs just raised his eyebrow, “Nothing, if you were going to one your clubs, but here you would just attract too much attention.”

Abby calmed down a bit ”O.k. you have a point. So what are WE going to do?”

Gibbs suddenly got serious “I’ll go in there and keep an eye on things and YOU will go home, got it?”

Abby just pouted, Gibbs sighed and leaned over to kiss her cheek saying “Don’t worry Abs, I’ll watch his six.”

As she hugged him she whispered “I just love it when you go all papa grizzly bear over Tony.”

Gibbs watched to make sure Abby left, and then went into the restaurant. He told the hostess he would seat himself and made his way to the booth behind Tony, being careful not to let either DiNozzo see him.

After the waiter brought Tony his drink, he stopped at Gibbs booth but he just silently waved him away. He then leaned back, pretending to try and read the menu as he discreetly listened in on the father and son conversation. O.k. so he really WAS having problems reading the menu, thinking, “I really should have brought some reading glasses.”

As Tony sipped on his drink, his father said, “So Anthony, how are you? How’s work going?”

Tony responded, “Enough of the small talk Father, you don’t really care about my job. Never have; never will.”

Even though his words were polite, his tone was not. That last bit got Gibbs attention and he knew right then and there that this would be an interesting if not enlightening evening.

Tony’s Father just stared at him for a minute before he spoke, “I have a small problem that seems you might be able to help me with.”

“A small problem?” Tony said, “That’s what you call it, a small problem?”

His father looked surprised. Tony continued “After you left NCIS today, I did a little digging. I know all about your ‘small problem’ Father.”

His father started to get angry, his voice rising slightly, “How dare you investigate me!”

Tony shot back, keeping his voice lowered, “Because I’m a Federal Agent, that’s what I do.”

Tony sat back, giving the appearance that he was relaxed, “Did you really think you could come to me, after all this time and I would just automatically do what you asked?”


His father sighed, “How much do you know?”

“Enough” Tony replied, then leaned forward and said in almost a whisper “Insider trading? I thought you were smarter than that.”

Father and son just stared at each other, neither one speaking for a few minutes and not giving any ground either.

Tony was the first to speak, “Just what is it that you think I can do to help? It’s not like you killed a Marine or something.” He paused, then said with a note of humor and raised an eyebrow, “Did you?”

“Of course not, don’t be ridiculous Anthony.” His father said with a note of exasperation.

As Gibbs listened in, he smirked at the last bit. Noting that Tony seemed to be acting as his usual annoying self, he was glad to see someone else be on the receiving end this time. But he also knew it was just an act, his way of getting suspects to reveal more than they intended and he wondered how much Tony would get his father to let slip.

“So, again, why come to me?” Tony asked.

“Anthony, you know how things work in the business world, people do favors for one another, a kind of ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’ scenario?” DiNozzo Sr. said. “I just figured it was the same in Law Enforcement.”

“Of course you would think that” Tony mumbled not quite loud enough for his father to hear but Gibbs heard it; it just helped to lower his opinion of Tony’s father even more.

Tony took a deep breath “So you want me to try and get this swept under the rug, make it go away?” Tony then said, “Why don’t you just get your lawyer to get you a deal? You know, since this is your first offence you could probably just pay a hefty fine, maybe a little community service.” Adding sarcastically, ”You’re always bragging about how you have the best lawyers money can buy.”

His father shifted a little in his seat, took a breath and said’ “Well, this isn’t exactly the first offence.”

Tony’s head shot up as his eyes narrowed, “What are you talking about? When I was looking into this I didn’t see anything, your record was clean.”

Gibbs was equally surprised by this latest revelation. He, too, had looked into DiNozzo Sr.’s past and hadn’t found anything.

Tony’s father, now sounding a little defensive said, “It was just a misunderstanding, I borrowed some money from the family business. I planned on paying it back but there was an audit before I had a chance to do that.”

Tony said, “You embezzled? From the family?” his voice void of any emotion.

Tony’s father, now starting to get upset, “I TOLD you, it wasn’t like that. Besides, that’s all been settled now.”

Tony studied him for a moment, then it dawned on him, “You paid someone off, or used blackmail knowing you.”

Still sounding angry but more in control, his father said, “That doesn’t really matter now, does it? The point is…”

Tony cut him off, now sounding angry too, “The point is you’ve now used up all your favors and have to come crawling to me for help. What makes you think I can help you? No wait let me rephrase that, what makes you think that I WILL help you?”

Although their voices were low, Gibbs could hear the anger and feel the tension growing between the two. He shifted in his seat wanting to be prepared for anything.

DiNozzo Sr., sounding as arrogant as ever, said, “You’re my son Anthony. I raised you, clothed you, feed you, put a roof over your head. We’re family.”

Before he could continue Tony shot back, “Yea, right” Then ticking off on his fingers, “First of all you DID NOT raise me, that was the nannies job. Second? As for the clothing and feeding bit, you only did that for twelve years. That goes for the ‘roof over my head’ line too. All that ended when you sent me away to school.”

Pausing to take a breath, he finished, “And we are only ‘Family’ when it’s convenient for you.”

As he listened in, Gibbs was proud of the way Tony stood up to his father. He couldn’t see the anger that was gathering in DiNozzo Sr.’s face but Tony could. He knew he had probably crossed the line but he just hoped his father could control his temper out in public.

“So” his father practically ground out between clenched teeth, “You won’t try and help?”

Tony leaned back, shook his head no and then said, “You know, a little time on the inside might be good for you. Look what it did for Martha Stewart.” Gibbs smirked at that, “Typical Tony, always pushing it” he thought

The silverware on the table clanged as Tony’s father grabbed his wrist in a vice like grip, he practically hissed at Tony, “I don’t know why I bother, you’re just as worthless to me as you ever were.”

Gibbs was about to jump up and intervene but Tony’s response stopped him.

In a low voice, with a coldness that Gibbs didn’t think he had ever come from Tony before, he heard him say, “Unless you want me to add the charge of assaulting a federal officer to all the other crimes you just admitted to, I suggest you let go of my arm.”

As they stared at each other, Tony continued, “I said. Let. Go. Now!”

He let go and Tony resisted the urge to rub his wrist in front of his father, he wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. DiNozzo Sr. just glared at Tony as he got up, threw some money on the table and stormed out.

Tony let out the breath he had been holding, got up and then leaned over to Gibbs behind him and said, “I’ll be in the bar.”

Gibbs just stared at Tony’s back for a second before he allowed a small smile to cross his face. He should have figured that Tony would know he was here.

Gibbs entered the bar, scanning the room and finding Tony immediately; he was down towards the end. Casually leaning against the bar with a drink in hand, he had his back to the bartender so he could watch the entrance. Gibbs walked over and adopted the same pose.

While looking straight ahead Tony said, “So” as he sipped on his drink, “You heard everything?”

Gibbs responded, “Pretty much.” not looking at Tony either.

Gesturing towards the door with the hand that held his drink, “And THAT is why we haven’t talked in over ten years.” Tony said without emotion.

“So what now?” Gibbs asked.

Glancing at him, Tony replied, “What do you mean?”

Knowing some of Tony’s history with his father, Gibbs turned and looked him straight in the eye, “You could press assault charges.” Silently adding, “this time.”

Tony held his gaze for a minute, then looked away saying, “No thanks, that would mean I would have to see him again.”

Throwing back the rest of his drink he continued, “I think tonight will last me another ten years.”

Straightening up from the bar, Tony turned to Gibbs, “Well, this was fun but I’m out of here. You coming?”

“On your six DiNozzo” he answered.

“Oh and by the way,” Tony said “ can you tell Abby that next time she wants to ‘tale’ somebody, she might not want to use her own car.”

Gibbs just gave a small smile and as they headed to the parking lot, he put his hand on Tony’s arm. “I’m driving,” He said as he steered Tony towards his car.

“Come on Boss, I can drive.”

Gibbs just stared at him, “You’ve been drinking DiNozzo.”

Tony just rolled his eyes but suddenly stopped walking. “Oh crap, I just remembered.”

“What now?” Gibbs said.

“I told Abby I would call her tomorrow to give her all the details.”

Gibbs told Tony “You’ve got all night to think about what to tell her.”

Tony grimaced, “Don’t think so Boss, she’s standing by your car.”

Gibbs turned to look at Abby, frowning as he walked over to her, “I thought I told you to go home?”

“You did” Abby smiled “But you never said I couldn’t come back.”

As she turned and hugged Tony, she asked, “How ARE you?”

“Fine, except Gibbs won’t let me drive.” Tony almost pouted.

“Hey Boss man, I can give Tony a ride, it’s on my way.” Abby said.

Gibbs knew that Tony would tell Abby more, about what had went down tonight, than he would him so he said to her, “He’s all yours.”

Practically jumping up and down, Abby grabbed Tony’s hand and as she started to drag him towards her car, she squealed “Oh we are going to have so much fun tonight!”

“Don’t I have a say in this?” Tony asked.

“No!” both Gibbs and Abby answered. As Gibbs got to his car, he said to Abby, over his shoulder “Just make sure I get him back in one piece tomorrow.”