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.”
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