Chapter Four
Gibbs gripped his father in law’s arms a few extra moments as he got his bearings. For all his tone of command, he was feeling pretty rough after the plane flight and taxi ride and, when the boy had launched himself at him, he’d nearly lost his balance.
“Jethro?” Nate said in a quiet voice. “You’re still seeing double, aren’t you? You shouldn’t have flown up here.”
“Had to,” Gibbs replied.
Nate shook his head. “No, you didn’t. I could have cared for the boy.”
“But he trusts me, Nate. He needs me. Surprised he opened up to you like he did.”
Nate gave him a very level look. “There are no secrets I need to know about. Correct, Jethro? Nothing in your past…” He jerked his head toward the kitchen.
Gibbs cocked his head slowly, regarding the older man. “Nate, what are you getting at?”
“You were a young teen when you and Shannon met. You didn’t have any girlfriends…or…”
Gibbs immediately saw what his father in law was getting at and shook his head as well as he could manage. “No. Absolutely not, Nate. Shannon was my first girlfriend.” His first…everything.
Nate nodded, sighing. “I have to ask, Jethro. What do you know of Giovanni DiNozzo?”
Gibbs had heard the name before but it wasn’t so familiar he could place it or remember where he’d heard. “Nothing, Nate. Heard the name in passing. Tell me what I need to know.”
Nate sighed, staring into Jethro’s eyes, and he swore he could read trepidation and nervousness there. “What have you gotten yourself into, Jethro?”
“Nate, cut the dramatics and tell me.” Gibbs wasn’t usually so short tempered with his father in law, but he wasn’t in the mood and Dad was pushing hard. Gibbs understood the reasons why but he didn’t have the time and energy.
Nate sighed, stepping back and sinking into his wing chair, reaching for the pipe he rarely smoked and only fiddled with when he was worried or very nervous. A trail of unease settled in Gibbs’ stomach, shoving the nausea away. “Jethro, I’m worried. DiNozzo has delusions of being the next Gotti. His stamp is all over Long Island. I don’t know what his affiliations are but he has a lot of money, a lot of prestige, and a lot of big hulking associates. Import-export business. You know what that is a code word for.”
Gibbs nodded, sighing. “Nate, he looked like a lot of flash and no substance when I saw him at the Christmas show. You sure he’s someone to worry about.”
“So you saw him?” Nate sounded a little relieved.
“Yeah, he was with some cheap, bleached blonde. They were ignoring the kid completely. Didn’t have the look of old money about them.” Not like you, Gibbs added silently. Nate came from a family that had been well heeled for generations. Sarah had come from Stillwater but it appeared that she’d moved right into the higher echelons of society and Shannon seemed as at home in a designer gown as she did in a T-shirt and sweats working beside him on the boat.
Nate nodded, steepling his fingers.
“There’s something else, isn’t there?” Something that Gibbs should have remembered, but his aching head wasn’t allowing him to. It was there, almost at the surface before it fluttered away. He knew Nate was giving him a chance to work it out before speaking. Gibbs tried for a few minutes before admitting defeat.
“What am I missing, Nate?”
“Your head that bad?” Nate asked, his voice less stern, more concerned.
“It’s…bad.” Gibbs hated admitting weakness but Nate was a father in all but blood to him and he knew Nate wouldn’t judge him. “Depth perception problems, bad headaches, seeing double, sometimes triple.” He paused, not wanting to admit this but knowing he had to. “A couple of blackouts.”
Nate stood now, coming close, brushing Gibbs’ hair back in a gentle hand. His father in law had a very gentle touch; long elegant fingers that were warm as he gently stroked over the right temple. “Got ya just above here, huh?”
“Yeah. Three times that I remember.” It was a credit to Nate’s gentle touch that Gibbs didn’t wince. Even washing his hair could irritate the area so much he’d become sick.
“Damn lucky it didn’t kill ya. Bet they were aiming for the temple.”
Gibbs was done with this. He shot Nate his most disarming grin. “I ducked.”
Nate shook his head and sighed. “All right. I get it. Conversation over. Just take one thing along, Jethro.”
“Yeah?”
“Giovanni DiNozzo is a swarthy, southern Mediterranean Italian. Dark hair and eyes. How did he create that boy in there with sandy brown hair and green eyes.”
Gibbs blinked a couple of times. That was what he’d forgotten! The guy had looked olive skinned, inky-colored hair and eyes. “Thanks, Nate. I’ll keep that in mind. But now that boy needs me and I made a promise I intend to keep.”
Those elegant hands tightened on Gibbs’ shoulders now. “Remember your promises to my daughter and grandchild as well.”
“Yes, sir,” Gibbs replied utterly seriously. Kelly and Shannon were never far from his mind.
~*~
“Mommy, where is Daddy? When is he coming back?” Kelly whined. Shannon winced. Her daughter had asked the questions a half dozen times in one viewing of Tom and Jerry. “Did he go away again?”
Shannon didn’t have any answers yet but she couldn’t avoid her daughter’s questions forever.
“I think Daddy’s talking with Grandmom and Grandpop,” she said instead.
Kelly screwed her face up in a pout. “But he isn’t on the phone. He isn’t here, Mommy.” Kelly spoke with extra patience, as if Shannon didn’t understand.
“I know.” Shannon sighed. “I think he went up for a quick visit before Grandmom and Grandpop come down tomorrow. He had someone he needed to see in New York.”
“Oh,” Kelly’s lower lip trembled. “I just wanted to know ‘cause Maddie’s dad is away now and it stinks, Mommy. I miss him.”
“I know.” Shannon hugged her little girl, wishing Kelly didn’t have to get used to Jethro being away. Kelly had taken his injury very hard. Heck, so had she. It had been the first and only time Shannon had begged him to consider retirement, but Jethro was having none of it, was a Marine to the core.
In a gesture meant to comfort them both, Shannon pulled Kelly onto her lap, unbraiding and rebraiding her hair. “How about this, honey? Why don’t we call Aunt Lynn and Aunt Jane, and Aunt Annie and Maddie. We can pop some corn and watch some cartoons and I bet Aunt Lynn and Aunt Jane will let you feel their bellies and the babies moving inside.”
Kelly’s eyes lit up at that and Shannon let out a quiet sigh of relief. Kelly and Maddie were fascinated by the pregnancies of Lynn Kiley and Jane Cameron, and Jethro was quite close with their husbands, Lieutenants Pat Kiley and Dave Cameron. The young wives had adopted each other and they were far enough off base that it didn’t matter that Bruce Tyler and Jethro were non-commissioned officers.
“Please, Mommy! I want to have a hen’s night. Silly Daddy doesn’t know what he’s missing!”
Crisis averted. At least the crisis with her child. Jethro’s situation remained to be seen.
~*~
Jethro walked into the kitchen and leaned against the wall in a nonchalant gesture that he knew Sarah saw through but hoped Tony wouldn’t.
“Are you hungry, honey?” Sarah asked, crossing the room and looking into his eyes. “You don’t look good, Jethro. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah,” he said in an undertone. A grilled cheese was sizzling on the stove and his stomach gave an obedient growl. “Sandwich will be great, and coffee.”
“Brewing now.” She motioned to the old-fashioner percolator that he swore made the richest brew.
“Thanks.” He leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Can you leave us alone for a bit, Sarah?”
“Of course.” She patted his cheek and left. Gibbs took the sandwich off the stove and glanced over at Tony. All the life seemed to have gone out of him since the exuberant welcome. He was sitting at the table, listlessly toying with a cookie, an untouched glass of milk beside the plate overfilled with treats.
Gibbs slid his sandwich on a plate and came closer, snagging Tony’s milk and taking a gulp, hand gently stroking over the boy’s hair.
“What happened?”
“Got beat up.”
“Know that, Tony. I mean, what happened between you running and hugging me to now.”
The boy turned sullen eyes on him, eyes even more brilliantly green when framed by the bruises along his face, eyes glistening with a sheen of tears. “She told me not to call you that, ‘cause you’re not.”
Gibbs took a few big bites of the sandwich before answering. “Not what, Tony?”
“My D-dad.” The young man’s voice wavered, almost breaking. “B-but I want…” He stopped himself, lip trembling as the first fat tear clung to an eyelash for a moment before slipping out.
Gibbs hesitated only a moment before scooting their chairs together. “You need a dad, don’t you, Tony? A dad who cares? A dad who doesn’t do this? A dad who doesn’t work you over like this?” It hadn’t been the first time, never was in cases like this.
“Yeah.” Tony nodded, one more tear slipping out to run its way down his cheek. “Would you, Jay? Would you be that dad?”
Gibbs didn’t hesitate before answering, even though he knew his answer changed everything. “Yup, Tony. I’ll be that dad for you.”
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