Chapter Nine
To some people this might have been creepy, but for Gibbs, comforting Tony, holding him close, felt right in a way he couldn’t explain. Maybe it was his need to be needed, maybe it was Kelly’s independence even though she was still so young, maybe it was just his longing to be a big brother that had never been fulfilled.
Or maybe it was the deep yearning he had to father a son of his own.
Gibbs let out a relived sigh when Tony’s breathing evened out. In gentle slow motions, Gibbs adjusted himself so that his hands weren’t pressing on Tony’s injuries, making sure that Tony was as comfortable and as safe as Gibbs could possibly make him. The overwhelming need to protect the young man was something Gibbs had never felt outside of combat situations and never for anyone but his family and his brothers in arms, but this felt completely right. It was something Gibbs couldn’t deny even if he wanted to.
Tony’s head was tipped up slightly, purpling bruises marring his face, dark blonde eyelashes resting on swollen skin. The boy was extraordinarily good looking, would be a heartbreaker one day soon, when the puppyish look faded into the leaner lines of a man.
Tony was at the age where manhood and boyhood were clashing, where the potential of the man he’d become was so clear, and yet the little boy was dominant. It chilled Gibbs to think that elder DiNozzo could have taken this kid’s life. If he hadn’t wanted the responsibility of the teenager, there were a hell of a lot better ways to deal with it.
Gibbs smoothed Tony’s hair back off his face, offering what comfort he could to the sleeping boy. It was clear that Tony had had a rough road in life, well before this beating. There had been something in his eyes that Gibbs had responded to even before the boy had started speaking the very first time. Gibbs knew that lost and alone look in someone’s gaze, had gravitated to it a few months ago.
Gibbs remembered what losing a mother so young did to a boy. At least Jack, while distant, hadn’t ever hurt Gibbs. Physically, anyway. Though if Gibbs was honest with himself, Jack didn’t engage in emotional warfare either. It was more him pulling back and away from his son that had hurt the most. Finding refuge in a bottle when his son needed him wasn’t abuse per se, but it had caused some deep scars in their relationship, scars that hadn’t yet healed.
For the first time since his mother died, Gibbs found himself giving Jack the benefit of the doubt. It couldn’t have been easy for his father to suddenly lose the woman he’d loved, even if their marriage was on the rocks. Maybe Gibbs needed to make inroads with the old man, at least try to talk to him man to man. Neither of them were getting any younger…
And Jack could be good for Tony.
“Jethro?” His mother in law’s soft voice broke the silence and Tony jerked at the sound, even though it was through a heavy door.
“Yeah?” Gibbs asked, smoothing Tony’s hair down in gentle sweeps of his hand.
“The doctor is here. You boys need to come downstairs and be examined. It is possible that Tony or you will need to get some X-rays as well, but we’ll take that as it comes…” Her voice trailed off and she sighed heavily. “I’ll put a pot of coffee on. Don’t make him wait too long.”
“We won’t,” Gibbs promised, turning his attention to Tony. “Feel any better with that sleep? Your body took a pretty deep shock and that screws your whole system up pretty bad.”
“Been there, huh?” Tony asked.
“Just in the Corps. Not…this. Never got battered like that.” Gibbs stood slowly, testing his head, preparing himself for a wave of dizziness. He was woozy, his vision slightly distorted and blurry at the edges, but was hanging in, all things considered.
“Recently, huh?” Tony asked, giving Gibbs a worried look. Gibbs bent down gingerly, grabbing his clothes and dressing, eyes locked on Tony’s all the while.
“Yeah,” Gibbs said quietly, unwilling to expand on it right now. At Tony’s expression of concern, Gibbs gave him what he knew had to be an affectionate smile.
“It’ll be okay. I’m healing now, Tony. And you will too. It’s all gonna hurt like hell for a while, but one day you’ll wake up and see that you’re doing a little better day by day.”
“We’re not talking injuries here, are we, Jay?” The look Tony gave him was almost sardonic and Gibbs winced. There was no way a kid that young should have been exposed to so much life that he’d become bitter. Gibbs had to help Tony regain his innocence, to feel safe and be a kid again.
“Not the physical ones,” Gibbs replied quietly. “I’m here to work on the rest of it with you, Tony. Come on, let’s get poked and prodded together.”
~*~
Shannon was pacing in front of the door by the time Jane arrived, a plastic bag in hand. Shannon threw open the door and leaned in to the hug Jane was giving her.
“You’re shaking, Shannon. What’s going on?”
“Long story,” Shannon said softly. “Let me make sure Kel is situated and then we can talk.”
Jane nodded, hand absently running over her swollen stomach. The need and longing to be in that position almost overcame Shannon. She and Jethro had tried for some time before shelving it. There was just simply no way she could have gotten pregnant on the Pill.
“I’ll check on the princess. You go pee on the stick.”
“Thanks.’ Shannon fled up the stairs and into the master bathroom, following the instructions on the pregnancy kit to the letter. She washed her hands and waited, beginning to pace the small confines of her bathroom.
Jane peered into the room. “Kelly’s fine. You want to tell me what has you so rattled, Shan? This isn’t it alone. You’re so cool and collected normally that something has you shaken up. What is it?”
Shannon was so relieved to have a friend with her now, someone who might understand what she was thinking and feeling, someone who knew what it was like being a Marine wife and how she didn’t just break apart like this on cue.
“Jethro met someone…”
“A woman?” Jane asked, aghast.
“No…a teenaged boy. He took this boy under his wing a little when we were in New York over Christmas. The boy was at the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City with the Rockettes. We were backstage and you know how Jethro hates that stuff. Anyway…he disappeared to get a hot chocolate with a boy who was there as well.”
“Okay,” Jane said hesitatingly, watching Shannon with a deeply worried expression on her face.
“They formed some sort of a connection. Big brother, little brother or something. He said that the boy seemed very alone and you know how Jethro can be.”
“Bring us your tired, your poor, your oppressed,” Jane quipped, pressing her lips together.
Shannon nodded, trying to figure out how to explain the rest of this in a way that made sense, especially since it didn’t to her. “I came home from work and he’d left a note. He went up to New York on an emergency trip.”
“What?” Jane’s eyes widened. “With his head as bad as it is? Shannon, what was he thinking?”
“That a boy was in trouble. This boy. He was beaten from what Jethro said and he called either us or my parents, I’m not exactly clear on that. Jethro got involved and because the boy seems to have nobody, he went up to New York to help him.”
“With such a bad head injury, it seems very extreme, Shan. What do you think is going on? You don’t think anything…untoward is happening, do you? The boy could be a druggie or on the streets.”
Shannon shook her head rapidly and then ran to the toilet, emptying her lunch. The bout of nausea had hit her so fast and so completely. She didn’t speak again until she’d rinsed her mouth out and brushed her teeth.
“You okay?” Jane asked softly.
“Yeah,” Shannon felt her mouth twist up in a grimace. “And no, nothing like that is going on. My parents would have said something. Jethro and the boy are staying with them. Kel and I are flying up tomorrow. I’m just worried. It isn’t like Jethro to do this for anyone but his men.”
“I know,” Jane said, giving Shannon a gentle hug. “Tell me if there’s anything I can do.”
Shannon lifted the pregnancy test. She studied her reflection in the mirror, a small smile playing over her mouth even though her eyes were stormy. “Booties might be a good start. I’m pregnant.”
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