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.
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