Chapter Two
Four months later
Nathan Powers looked at the young man who was bruised and beaten and sighed heavily. The boy had booked a dental appointment and his receptionist had not turned away the son of controversial business scion Giovanni DiNozzo. Giovanni was a man rumored to have very shady dealings but who seemed to remain above judgment despite it all. Much like John Gotti, he was an institution in New York and the boy, Anthony, was his son and heir apparent
Many teens came for dental appointments on their Easter break so Nate was used to young adults walking into his office alone. Most of these rich kids had little or no parental supervision. It was a darned shame.
Nathan had never expected this though. The boy had been heavily worked over and had shied away when the receptionist and dental assistant had tried to talk to him. He’d repeated that he needed Nathan and Nathan alone. And now that Nathan was here standing in the doorway, the boy was fighting tears, trying to curl around himself, looking more scared than any teenage boy ought to be. He’d never even met the young man and couldn’t understand what sort of help he could be.
“Anthony?” he asked quietly. “How can I help you? Can I call the police for you?”
“No!” The boy’s bright green eyes went wild. “I just need…someone told me to come to you if I was in trouble.”
“Who?” he asked, approaching and pulling a chair closer in slow motions designed to put the boy at ease.
“Jay.”
Nathan frowned. “I’m afraid I don’t know anyone named Jay. Anthony.” He watched as the young man’s eyes flicked to a photo of his daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter taken this last Christmas. They’d spent the holidays in New York and had posed in Rockefeller Center, Kelly’s head thrown back in laughter, Jethro and Shannon smiling brightly.
“Yeah, you do. Jay.” Nathan followed the boy’s gaze where it was now fixed on the framed photo.
“Jay? You mean the dark haired man in that picture?”
Anthony nodded. “Jay. He told me if I was in trouble to call one of the numbers and since my dad cut me off, I don’t have long distance so I had to see you.” He pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Nathan. It was a small laminated square clearly written by Jethro. “Please don’t kick me out. Jay promised… He told me if I ever needed him to call. And that he was only a train trip away.” He started choking back tears even though Nate knew he was trying to be under control. “He promised and a Marine’s word means a lot.”
Nate stroked a hand through the battered boy’s hair, wincing as the young man cringed away. “We call him Jethro, Anthony. He’s my son-in-law and I’ll call him right now. We’ll take care of this and make sure you’re safe.”
The words seemed to break whatever internal struggle the teen was having and a few tears ran down Tony’s bruised cheeks.
~*~
Gibbs stalked around the house like he was a caged beast. His last deployment had gone badly and he was on medical leave, even though he knew he wanted to be with his men again. A sniper with blurred and sometimes double vision, screwed up depth perception, not to mention the nausea, wasn’t any good to anyone and he was forced to slow down until his next medical evaluation in two weeks. Damn concussion, not to mention the other injuries.
He knew he’d come damn close to dying in Colombia, though he wouldn’t admit it to anyone. And he knew he had to heal, but he didn’t want to slow down. What if they wouldn’t take him back? He had to build himself back up to a hundred percent.
Shannon and he had argued about him doing woodworking in his workshop but the day he’d missed a step and went crashing to the basement floor had made her decision firm. He couldn’t work downstairs, his depth perception was too far off for him to be tackling stairs. He could whittle on the main level if he wanted, but no unsupervised climbing and descending of stairs.
He’d growled as expected but he understood her concerns. What if he’d been carrying Kelly?
But he was unsettled. The early spring weather had allowed him to landscape the heck out of the place, but there was only so much he could do there. He wasn’t going to become like Frank next door who worked his lawn with shears. And he wasn’t all that domestic. Dinner was simmering in the crock pot and the house was spotless. That was the limit of his domestic abilities.
Shannon and Kelly were at school, their last day before Easter break. Nate and Sarah were coming down tomorrow and staying a few extra days. Kelly was so excited to see her grandparents and had planned bunny-seeking activities. Gibbs had mapped out an Easter Egg hunt for his baby girl and her friend Maddie Tyler but above and beyond that he was ready for a new project. Maybe he and Nate could figure something out.
He was about to jump out of his skin when the phone rang. “Nate?” he asked in surprise as he heard the gruff hello. His father in law never called, leaving the women to discuss their travel plans.
“Jethro, have someone here you need to talk to. Anthony DiNozzo.”
“DiNozzo?” Gibbs repeated, unable to place the name though it sounded familiar somehow.
“Yeah, teenaged boy. Had a bunch of numbers you gave him. Calls you Jay.” Nate looked over at Anthony and lowered his voice. “Someone hurt him, Jethro, beat him severely. You know him?” Nate stalked to the door suddenly, blocking the young man’s effort to bolt. “Skittish. Has your phone number and mine.”
Anthony? Tony? Gibbs’ eyes widened. He had hoped he’d hear from the teenager but he hadn’t really expected to. “Yeah, Nate,” he replied over the sounds of shuffling. “Put him on, willya.”
Tony looked up as the dentist handed him the phone. Things had gotten too intense and he’d tried to run, but the man was standing in front of the door now, the cord from the phone stretching across the room. This was a dumb idea and he was gonna get other people hurt. But he remembered how Jay had made him feel wanted and when the dentist held the phone out, he took it in a sweat-dampened hand.
“Jay?” he asked, his voice shaking.
“Hey, Tony. You okay?” Jay’s voice was soft and reassuring and Tony felt a couple more tears threatening to leak out.
“Not so much,” he whispered. “I um…got kicked out. Beat up. I have nowhere to go, Jay. Nobody… You were the only one I could think of who could help… Help me, Jay? Please?”
He heard Jay suck in a deep breath. “Okay, Tony. Put Nate back on. You stick with him until I can get to you. I’ll be there, Son. You have me. I’m gonna come to you and you’re gonna be okay.”
He was coming? He was really gonna help? Tony sniffled again, coughing as his broken ribs ground against themselves. “Okay.”
As soon as Gibbs heard Nate’s more measured breathing on the line, he began talking, ramming his fury down by sheer self-control. “I’m heading up there, Nate. I’ll get the next US Air shuttle out of National. He can come back with us tomorrow. Can he bunk with you tonight?”
“Of course, Jethro. But are you sure you’re healthy enough?” Nate sounded shocked and Gibbs supposed his father in law had never heard him in command mode before.
“I’ll be fine, Nate. He’s gonna try to run, I can hear it in his voice. No medical attention and no police yet unless he’s really bad off but first aid and Sarah’s cookies wouldn’t hurt. Take care of him for me, Nate. Keep him safe.”
“Who is he to you?” Nate’s voice held his confusion and suspicion.
“Complicated. I’ll explain when I get there. Just keep him safe for me.”
Gibbs hung up before Nate could ask any more questions he couldn’t answer and scrawled a note to Shannon before he threw a couple of changes of clothes in an overnight bag. Almost as an afterthought, he grabbed one of the stuffed animals Kelly liked the least, a black panther. He didn’t try to puzzle out his reasoning or feelings right now, he just knew he had to get up to New York and soon.
He couldn’t drive, he didn’t trust his vision enough, so he took the metro to the National Airport stop and went into the small terminal at the north end. The US Air shuttle had its own boarding gates in this out of the way part of the airport and he was able to get a ticket for the plane that was just leaving.
Ignoring his dizziness, he jogged to the gate and made it onto the plane, slumping in his seat. While he felt he had a purpose in the here and now, the flight and the preps for it had taken a lot out of him.
And it was only just beginning.
~*~
Nate’s dental assistant could handle the last two cleanings of the day, so he decided to bring Tony home immediately rather than run the risk that the boy might run. The teen had perked up when speaking with Jethro, but Nate wasn’t sure if his emotional mood was fleeting or not. Nate dialed Sarah and told her he was bringing a guest over, a young friend of Jethro’s and she must have heard something in his voice. She offered to make some soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and Nate agreed that would be an excellent idea.
He kept his hand firmly on Tony’s shoulder the entire time they made the short walk to his car, but it didn’t seem necessary. Tony had settled down after speaking with Jethro, had calmed down and brightened up a bit.
As they made the short drive home, Nate observed the young boy and the way he curled around a stuffed backpack, his only possession. “It’s going to be just fine, Tony. Jethro’s a good man. I don’t know how you know him, but he’s a good man and he’ll get to the bottom of this. He’ll find out what happened and we’ll get whoever did this.”
“My father did it,” Tony whispered and Nate tapped reflexively on the gas before he got the car under control. He reached out to touch the boy, but Tony pulled away, doubling over, protecting his internal organs.
Nate nodded, watching the boy out of the corner of his eye. “You will never be hurt under my roof or with Jethro. You understand that, I hope. If I reach out to touch you, I’m just offering comfort, Son. I know you’re not able to take it yet, but I hope you won’t see it as an aggressive gesture.”
“Please don’t call me that. Only he can call me that,” Tony replied quietly.
“Who?” Nate asked equally as quietly.
“Jay. He’s the only one who can call me son. Okay?”
Nate nodded, his confusion and worry growing. Who was this boy to Jethro? “Can I call you Tony?”
“Sure.”
Nate pulled to a stop and motioned to his brownstone. “My place. Your father won’t have any idea that you’re here. You’re safe with us.”
Tony nodded but didn’t say a word and Nate wondered just how nervous the boy was, if he was in a lot more danger than it appeared. Was this a one time thing or even more serious?
“Come on now, Tony. My wife will fawn all over you and feed you. Just let her do so, okay? It’ll be therapeutic for you both. Can I take your pack for you?”
“I have it,” Tony whispered. “I’m good.”
“Okay then…okay.” Nate led Tony inside and to the large kitchen that overlooked the private back yard. Sarah was puttering around there; some soup simmering on the stove and a grilled cheese was sizzling in a skillet. A fire was crackling in the living room and Nate knew the house felt warm and inviting.
“Come in, Tony. Relax. You’re among friends here. Sarah, this is Tony, a friend of Jethro’s.”
His wife moved forward, squeezing Tony’s hands, not reacting to his bruises and obvious physical and emotional pain wracking the teen. “Thank you,” Nate mouthed to his wife.
“Come, Tony. You look hungry. Nathan, go shower and get comfortable. Tony and I will be just fine here.”
Tony was basking in his wife’s attention and Nate nodded, the stress slowly dissipating. The boy was safe here. He couldn’t imagine why the father had battered the boy but with Jethro on the case, Tony would be safe. What this meant for their family was another story entirely and Nate couldn’t even begin to imagine what was in store for all of them. The one thing he knew was that Jethro was as loyal a man and a Marine as they came. Jethro had chosen this boy to champion for whatever reason and Tony’s life would never be the same. He was safe now. He was family.
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