Chapter Forty-Eight
THREE MONTHS LATER
Tony was the first to get up, he headed to the kitchen and started to make himself some breakfast. He thought about maybe surprising Gibbs with breakfast in bed, but then remembered what had happened the last time he’d done that and decided against it.
It hadn’t been Tony’s fault that Gibbs had been so wound up about keeping him safe that he slept with his hand on the gun under his pillow, so that if he heard something or someone managed to get into the bedroom he was armed and ready to protect Tony and himself if need be. It hadn’t been Tony’s fault that Gibbs had been having a bad dream - borderline nightmare - about Kamisnski finding his way into Gibbs’ house and raping and murdering Tony in front of Gibbs, which was why when Tony shook his shoulder to wake him, with a tray of hot coffee, toast and cereal balanced in the other hand, Gibbs pulled the gun out from under the pillow and went for Tony’s throat - causing the tray to tip and spill its contents all over Tony and the bed.
Gibbs had apologised profusely once he was awake and aware of his surroundings. He’d reacted almost instantly and gotten a cold compress for Tony’s chest and legs where the hot coffee had hit and scalded the skin. He was lucky that it was only a bad scaled and not a burn. Since then, though, Tony had been reluctant to go to wake Gibbs with anything in his hands, so that if need be he could jump back out of harms way until Gibbs was fully orientated.
So, instead of preparing breakfast in bed, Tony prepared breakfast in the kitchen. His shoulder had long since healed and he could once again drive himself around to get to places and appointments. He was still seeing Dr. Clark at the outpatient facility and was still take the low dose of anti-depressant he had prescribed. The nightmares occurred far less than they had during the first few weeks home, but they had a system in place.
If Gibbs was asleep next to him, he would wake Tony and calm him down, lay with him awake until Tony fell back to sleep and if Gibbs was working on the boat in the basement, then Tony would wake afterwards alone and bang on the floor a couple of times and Gibbs would get upstairs as quickly as his legs would take him. Mostly though, Gibbs slept with him, having spent less time on the boat since Tony had come to stay with him…to live with him even.
Gibbs arrived in the kitchen just as Tony was putting the finishing touches on the breakfast table. He yawned and stretched, showing off his flat stomach, “good morning, Tony,” he said.
“Morning, Gibbs, I made breakfast,” Tony replied.
“So I see.”
“What do you want?” Tony asked.
“Eggs, bacon and some grits.”
“Coming right up!”
“Tony, we need to talk about what’s going to happen today.”
“I’m busy right now with your breakfast; we can talk about it later.”
“Tony, listen to me.”
“Hang on, let’s have breakfast and then we can talk all you want.”
Gibbs sighed; Tony had been avoiding the subject ever since the summons had arrived. Today, Kamisnski’s trial started and Tony was first up to give evidence and talk about what happened to him. The trial date had been set a month ago and the JAG lawyer in charge of the prosecution had tried to set a date to deposition Tony. In the end it had taken Gibbs setting up the date without telling Tony and then taking him there himself to get it done, without Tony’s testimony, there was a chance that Kamisnski would walk and Gibbs just couldn’t allow that to happen, no matter how scared Tony was.
He could never truly understand what it was like to have been raped and to deal with the aftermath of it because it had never happened to him, but on the other hand, Tony’s testimony was going to help put away the very man who had deemed it a suitable punishment for him. He knew - they both knew - that there was a chance that Kamisnski would not go to jail on the conviction of arranging and paying for the rape and physical assault of a Federal Agent because of the lack of evidence, something Tony would have to live with because of his actions the night of the rape, though no one who knew him blamed him for the way he’d behaved - not even Gibbs because, like he’d said so many times before, none of them knew what it was like to deal with the aftermath of being raped.
Tony placed a plated in front of Gibbs with eggs, sunny side up, some crispy bacon and a generous helping of grits, before putting down his own plate on the opposite side of the table. Tony had made himself scrambled eggs, some sausages and bacon and a small helping of grits. He dug into his meal, while Gibbs grabbed a cup of coffee from the percolator and looked at Tony eating. They needed to have this conversation, timing be damned.
“Tony, the trial starts at ten am this morning, you’re due to give evidence from eleven onwards, don’t you think that maybe we need to talk about it before we leave for the courthouse?” Gibbs asked, watching Tony eat and sipping from his coffee cup.
“I…I’m scared, Gibbs.”
“I know, Tony, but I’ll be with you the whole time and you know Abby and McGee and Ziva will be there as expert witnesses because they helped build up the case so you won’t be alone while you’re waiting and I’ll be watching the trial and once you’ve given evidence you’ll be allowed to come in and watch with me so don’t worry, we’re going to get you through this,” Gibbs told him, leaning over and squeezing his hand.
“I just, I haven’t seen Woodman since the attack and although I know what he looks like because I remember the way he looked at me that night, seeing him in the flesh is going to be hard and I’m going to have to wait with him because he’s giving evidence too,” Tony said, sounding fed up. “Same with Agent Lee, I thought she liked me and it turns out the whole time she was feeding information about me to Kamisnski so that he could arrange for me to be raped. It hardly seems right that I, as the victim in the case, should have to sit with two of the people who contributed to what happened to me.”
“I understand that, Tony, I do, but you won’t have to wait with Lee or Woodman, they’ll be kept in custody while they wait to give evidence and even though they’re getting lighter sentences for helping us prosecute, they’re still going to jail for what they did. The Navy doesn’t look too kindly on crimes of this nature and NCIS certainly doesn’t look too kindly on employees who betray their country.”
“But she didn’t betray the country, she betrayed me, and only me.”
“Yeah, but the way they see it is if she was willing to sell secrets about a colleague what the hell would she have sold to a terrorist?”
“I just want it all to be over and me to go back to work.”
“I know, Tony, and getting through the deposition and then getting through the trial is the next step. Once that is over, you have to get through the sentencing and then you’ll almost be ready to go back to work and trust me, we need you there.”
“My replacement is still pissing you off, isn’t he?”
“He’s an incompetent jackass,” Gibbs complained. “I don’t know why the Director assigned him to my team to cover your leave, because most of the time we solve the cases without his help so it’s not like we need him.”
Tony went back to eating his breakfast, looking up at Gibbs between bites. “I better get my best suit on then,” Tony said, pushing away his almost empty plate.
“Don’t forget to put your seizure pills in your pocket and take your other pills before we go,” Gibbs called out as Tony climbed the stairs. His medication had become part of his daily regime as if it had always been there. The only thing he had to carry around with him were his seizure meds in case he had one so that the paramedics - if they were called - knew what to give him to stop the seizure. Since he’d come home from the hospital three months ago, he’d only had a handful of seizures, but that’s what happened when you took an overdose and gave yourself minimal brain damage and as much as he regretted his actions, he also didn’t because without what had happened to him, he wouldn’t be living with Gibbs right now - the man he loved. Though he doubted anyone else would understand that reasoning.
Tony dressed in his best suit, it was dark blue and made him look rather handsome - at least Gibbs thought so and greeted him with a kiss to the cheek, which brought a smile to Tony’s face. Gibbs had dressed in a suit that he wore to work occasionally so that he looked smart enough for court. They locked the house as they left - an action that had become second nature to Gibbs once Tony had returned from the hospital and moved all his stuff over from his apartment. Gibbs drove at his normal speed and they got to the courthouse with time to spare.
The first thing they did was book Tony in as a witness and he was led away to wait in seclusion so that his testimony was not influenced by what he heard in court. They had time to share a quick kiss before Tony left and Gibbs headed to the courtroom where the trial would take place.
The trial started at ten am on the dot and they went through the motions of reading the charges against Kamisnski - who didn’t look like prison suited a man of his tastes - before they started to call witnesses, Tony being first on the list.
At exactly 10:35am, Tony DiNozzo was called into the courtroom to give evidence.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Who will catch DiNozzo when he falls?