“Why don’t you start with the first time you saw Tony?” the team leader suggested.
Gibbs had finally prepared himself to hear what Tony’s life had been like this past year and Olivia and Megan Carter were going to provide those details. He just hoped that what he discovered could help DiNozzo regain his memory and his life.
Before Olivia could begin, his cell phone rang. “Gibbs,” he impatiently answered.
“Jethro,” Ducky greeted. “Where are you? I wanted to talk to you about Anthony.”
“I’m in the conference room,” he replied. “Abby’s on her way up here. Why don’t you join us? You probably need to hear this.”
“Hear what?” the ME inquired.
Ignoring the ME’s question, Gibbs said, “See you in a minute, Duck.”
Gibbs shut his phone and slipped it back in his pocket; turning his attention back to the mother. “Do you mind waiting a couple of minutes? I’ve asked a couple of friends to join us.”
“Of course,” Olivia agreed.
He nodded his thanks to the woman, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Olivia’s daughter, Megan, was staring at him. Gibbs smiled at the young girl. “Something wrong, sweetheart?”
Megan sat up in her chair, placing her hands in her lap. “You really shouldn’t hang up on people,” she stated. “It’s very rude.”
The former Marine was speechless as he tried to remember the last time that he had been reprimanded by a child. This girl had a spirit that had yet to be tainted by living on the streets. “Well, uh yeah, I guess it is,” he finally managed to reply.
“Megan!” Olivia admonished. “I’m sorry Agent Gibbs; she has a tendency to be rather blunt at times.”
“It’s quite all right,” he assured the mother. “I like a girl who speaks her mind.”
“You should also try saying hello,” Megan whispered.
Gibbs winked at the girl, her persistence reminding him so much of Kelly. “I’ll try and remember that.”
“Do or do not, there is no try.”
“What?”
“That’s from ‘Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back’,” Megan explained. “Yoda says it to Luke.”
“She loves movies,” Olivia added. “Before we lost our home, she used to have quite a collection.”
His heart went out to the mother and daughter; he could see why Tony was drawn to them. They were people who having lost everything, still managed to care about the well being of others. “Do you mind me asking what happened? How did you lose your home?”
“It’s a rather long story, but the short version is that…”
“My dad ran off with another woman after draining us dry,” Megan blurted out.
Gibbs saw Olivia’s cheeks flush with embarrassment. “Megan also has a way of getting right to the point in a conversation,” she said.
“I told you I like a girl with spunk,” Gibbs reminded her. “I am sorry, though. You’re husband is a fool.”
“Todd, I mean Tony, said the same thing, although I think that he used some slightly more colorful words.”
Megan eagerly agreed. “Yeah, he called him a pompous son of a….”
“Megan Renee Carter! Do I need to take you to the restroom and wash your mouth out with soap again?”
The team leader grinned. “You better listen to your mom,” he warned. “She used all three names.”
“I know,” Megan muttered, rolling her eyes simultaneously.
The door opened and Ducky and Abby entered the room. The Goth was carrying a tray of drinks with a bag setting on top. She handed a coffee to Gibbs and then picked up another cup.
“Did someone here order hot chocolate?” she asked.
“I did!” the young girl excitedly proclaimed.
Gibbs took the other coffee and gave it to Olivia as he introduced Abby and Ducky to their guests. “This is Olivia Carter and her daughter Megan. They came here looking for Todd Gibbs, but I’ve explained to them who Todd really is. They’re going to try and fill us in on some of DiNozzo’s life this past year.” He turned to the mother and daughter. “Olivia and Megan, this is Abby Scuito and Dr. Donald Mallard; they’re some of Tony’s friends as well.”
The small group quickly exchanged pleasantries waited for Ducky and Abby to sit down at the table. “Mrs. Carter, you can begin when you’re ready,” Gibbs urged.
“Well, the first time I saw Tony was in the alley out behind the shelter. He was huddled in a corner, sitting in his own filth and vomit. The clothes he had on were torn and dirty and he didn’t have any shoes. I tried to approach him, but anytime I got near him, he would start cursing and fighting.. I remember thinking that he looked so scared.
“I started leaving him a plate of food and a cup of coffee where he could get it, but he wouldn’t touch it. He kept mumbling something about his name being Todd Gibbs and that he had never heard of NCIS. Tony stayed in that alley for about two days before he finally passed out.”
“Then what happened?” Gibbs wanted to know.
“I got several men from the shelter and they carried him inside. He woke up as soon as we laid him on the cot. He started fighting them and they finally just left him alone. I tried to tell him who I was, but I’m not sure he could even understand what I was saying.”
Gibbs swallowed hard. He couldn’t start having second thoughts now; the team leader had to know what happened. How else could he help Tony?
“Are you all right, Agent Gibbs?” Olivia asked, concern evident in her weary features.
“Yeah. Please continue,” he insisted.
“Tony stayed in the corner of the room talking to himself, always watching his surroundings. I’m not sure what or whom he was looking for, but he always had this cautious air about him as if he were guarding something precious. He was very sick, I could see needle tracks on his arms, but I’m not sure if he was shooting up or…”
“Tony would never shoot up!” Abby declared.
The team leader placed a calming hand on Abby’s shoulder. “Abby, let her finish.”
“Gibbs, you know that Tony would never do drugs,” she argued.
“Not intentionally, Abs. Let Olivia finish.”
Abby nodded and sat back in her chair and listened. Gibbs knew that he should have expected the outburst; Abby would defend Tony with her dying breath. “Go on, Ms. Carter.”
“He finally passed out again, but this time he slept for three days. The first two days, he tossed and turned and would scream out in the night. I guess he was dreaming,” Olivia surmised. “The third day, he just slept. One of the doctors from the free clinic came by and looked him over. He found some bruises and burns on his body as well as the needle marks on his arms.”
Gibbs clenched his jaw. Someone had tortured Tony, that much was for certain, but the ex-Marine had yet to figure out why.
“Did the doctor say anything about a head injury?” Ducky asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Olivia replied.
“Did he do a tox screen to see what kind of drugs was in Tony’s system?”
“I don’t know. Probably not. Some of these doctors at the free clinic, let’s just say, they aren’t there because they want to be.”
“What was the doctor’s name and what clinic was he from?” Gibbs knew that he would need the name for future reference.
“Dr. Philip Samuels and he works out of the Harbor Missionary Free Clinic.”
The team leader jotted the name down on his notepad and then nodded for Olivia to continue.
“When Tony woke up, he was still very confused but he wasn’t trying to fight us. He ate some soup, cleaned up, and put some fresh clothes on. He could barely stand, but he was determined to leave. He kept saying that he didn’t want them to find him.”
“Them?” Gibbs wondered who Tony would be referring to; was he talking about the ones who tortured him?
“Again, I don’t know. We didn’t see him for about week after that. Then he came in one day for something to eat and ended up staying for a few hours.”
“How was he?”
“He looked tired. He sat and down and ate with us and he thanked me for taking care of him,” she recalled. “I told him that he needed to rest, but he didn’t want to stay. He was still afraid of something, but he never would say what had him so terrified. It was almost a month before he would even stay the night and that only happened when he had been drinking too much.”
“Do you have any idea when he started drinking?” Gibbs pressed.
“I really don’t know,” she admitted. “I just know that his drinking became worse as time went on. There were a couple of times when he passed out, I wasn’t sure that he was ever going to wake up again.”
Knowing Tony’s penchant for talking about his past whenever he drank, prompted Gibbs to ask, “Did he say ever say anything that you found odd?”
“Yes. He kept saying that he didn’t mean to tell. Whenever I questioned him, he would become very guarded and defensive, and angry. Very angry.”
“He told me that some bad men were after him,” Megan chimed in.
“He did?” Gibbs questioned.
Megan nodded. “He told me that the bad men had hurt him and he didn’t know why. He was scared of them. Todd, I mean Tony, didn’t like to talk about it. He’d get this strange look in his eyes like he was seeing something, and then he’d just go off somewhere by himself. Sometimes he’d just start crying.”
Gibbs realized that he was only being provided a glimpse of the hell that Tony went through, but he had learned enough to know that something terrible had happened to his senior agent and whatever it was, had forced Tony to hide behind the false persona that he had created for this undercover case.
“Is there anything else that you think we should know?” team leader asked.
“He was afraid of cops,” Megan said. “He told me one night when we were playing checkers. I had asked him if he had told the police about the bad men that were after him and he got really quiet and just said that he couldn’t.”
The ex-Marine glanced over at Ducky and Abby. Another piece of the puzzle seemed to be falling into place. “He saw something he shouldn’t have,” he deduced.
“A plausible theory, Jethro,” Ducky conceded. “A difficult one to prove, especially since Anthony has no memory of what happened to him.”
“There has to be a way,” Gibbs muttered to himself.
“And we’ll find it,” the ME stated with confidence.
Gibbs stood up and motioned for Ducky to follow him. “Abby, make sure that Olivia and Megan are treated well,” he instructed. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The two men stepped outside the conference room. “Well, the information that Ms. Carter and her daughter provided was quite illuminating,” the older man said.
“Yes it was. But, we still have a lot of questions that need answers, Duck.”
“And we shall find them, but first we have to help Anthony get through the next couple of days.”
Gibbs nodded. “I know. I take it you talked to his doctor,” the team leader assumed.
“I did and I have to say that I feel very confident that Dr. Cole has Tony’s best interests in mind. He knows what he’s talking about and I agree that we should not subject Tony to rapid detox. Dr. Cole has a great deal of experience in this area, both professionally and personally.”
He stared at his the ME. “Dr. Cole is an alcoholic?”
“No, but his son was.”
“Was?”
“He died as a result of complications from the rapid detoxification process and…”
Gibbs held his hand up, interrupting the doctor in mid-sentence. “You don’t have to say anymore. Tony’s been through enough and I won’t fight you on this. I just want what’s best for him. I want him to get better and I want him back on my team. I want to see him at his desk, shooting spit wads at Ziva or super gluing McGee’s fingers to his keyboard. I just want him to…”
The team leader paused, taking a few seconds to compose himself. “I trust your judgment, Duck.”
“I’ll call Dr. Cole and talk to him and you need to go home and rest.”
“I will in a little bit. I’m going to swing by the hospital and check on Ziva and Tony before I head home.”
“Just don’t stay too long,” Ducky cautioned.
“I won’t,” he promised. “Hey Duck, do me a favor?”
“Of course, Jethro.”
“Check out this doctor that treated DiNozzo and this clinic.”
“I intend to do so first thing in the morning.”
The former Marine grinned. “Thanks.”
“Any time.”
He watched the Scotsman make his way down the corridor. Sometimes Gibbs wondered what he had done to deserve such loyalty from his team. After Shannon and Kelly died, he assumed that he had lost his chance of having a family, especially after three failed marriages, but since then, his team had become his family. Gibbs would do anything to protect his family and especially his son.
“Don’t worry, Tony,” he whispered. “Everything’s going to be all right. I swear it.”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Todd opened his eyes and blinked several times in an effort to bring the room into focus. He ached all over and he couldn’t remember why. His gaze came to rest on the dark haired woman dozing in the chair beside him. Ziva. Ziva was her name; at least that’s what she told him.
He licked his parched lips in an effort to moisten them, but it didn’t seem to help any. Todd was thirsty, but he couldn’t seem to form the words to ask for something. A moan escaped his lips as he attempted to sit up. “Damn,” he gasped.
“Do you need something?”
“Should have known,” he panted, absently struggling against his restraints.
“What?” Ziva asked.
“That you wouldn’t…be asleep.”
“You snore,” she deadpanned.
“At least I…don’t sound…like…a drunken sailor with…emphysema,” he retorted, unable to disguise the fatigue in his voice.
His eyes met hers, an image of two people making love flashed through his mind. There was no doubt that the woman was Ziva, but who was the man? It couldn’t be him, could it? What would someone as beautiful as Ziva be doing with someone like him? He was a drunk; his home was a cardboard box and he ate his meals at a homeless shelter.
He didn’t flinch when she reached out to him and called his name. “Todd?”
“Are we…are we…um…you know, um…”
“What?” Ziva pressed.
“Are we together?”
Ziva smiled and shook her head. “No, we’re not. Why do you ask?”
“Must be…a dream.”
“No, you weren’t dreaming. I think you are remembering,” Ziva reasoned.
“What do you mean?”
Despite his pain and discomfort, he could sense Ziva’s reluctance to answer his question. What if they had been lovers and it ended badly? Maybe she was trying to spare his feelings because he was sick. “Ziva?” he whispered. “What was…I remembering?”
She took his hand. “We were working undercover as married assassins. We didn’t know who was watching us and so we had to act married. You told me that I snored like a drunken sailor with emphysema.”
He stared at her, searching her eyes for a hint of deceit. Todd always knew when people were lying to him, but Ziva was difficult for him to read. He believed that she was telling him the truth, but his confusion only grew as did his doubts.
“Todd? Are you all right?” she gently inquired.
“No,” he whispered. “I’m not.”
“You can talk to me,” Ziva reminded him.
He swallowed hard, hoping that he wouldn’t be sick to his stomach again. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Gibbs wasn’t lying, was he? My name isn’t Todd, is it?”
Ziva shook her head. “No, it’s not.”
Closing his eyes again, he studied the images playing in his mind. He shuddered as his memories started to become jumbled once again, which didn’t help his throbbing head. Squeezing Ziva’s hand, he opened his eyes and met her gaze. “You can call me Tony.”
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