To say that the temperature of the room dropped would be an understatement. Tony looked around nervously; why were they even here? Did they really have to put him down even more than they already had behind his back? How did Senior even find him? He was pulled out of his musings by his father’s voice.
“Jethro, take my son to call Abby so she’ll calm down,” Mike ordered with venom in his voice.
Gibbs knew what was going to happen next and recognized that two active federal agents couldn’t be present. He took out his extra knife and threw it to Mike; he couldn’t say he had NOTHING to do with it; he’d never be able to live with himself. Quickly Jethro took Tony’s arm then grabbed the bag that was still packed from the foot of the bed.
“Dad…” The younger man tried to say but Mike held up a silencing hand and pointed to the door.
“Go with Jethro, I’ll be out in a moment,” he explained slowly. What happened in this room next didn’t need to be in anyone else’s head.
He watched as Gibbs led his son from the room; they shared a look from the old day that clearly said one thing.
Revenge is bloody!
…
Neither man said a word as Gibbs put Tony’s things into his car. There were so many things that they both wanted, and needed, to say but neither could find the words.
“Call Abby before her head explodes,” Gibbs finally barked; he hadn’t meant to but he wasn’t good with emotions.
Tony didn’t move, barely blinked, before asking, “What’s he doing in there?”
Jethro looked toward the rom and then out to the ocean, “He’s taking care of his own. Look, Tony, I’m not good at this, neither is your old man, but you need to know that it wasn’t your fault, and none of us look at you any differently. We all love you and we’re not letting you go anywhere.”
Tony slipped into his offered embrace, “Thanks Jet.”
“You also need to understand that when we leave here, you were never at this hotel, neither were we. Mike’s taken care of all the papers that point to the contrary. Here comes the devil himself, it’s time to go.” Gibbs told him, pushing Tony towards the passenger seat.
“I don’t let strange men drive my car.”
…
Mike watched from his car as Jethro slapped his son on the back of the head before speeding off. He’d hate to be the probie as rough as he was treating his boy’s car. The retired special agent drove behind them on auto-pilot for a few minutes, taking a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.
After a good five minutes he picked up his phone and called Abby.
“Mike, oh my god, do you have him? Is he okay? Please tell me nothing happened! Shepard called Anthony DiNozzo Senior! What if…” she was blabbering so fast he barely caught half of it.
“Abby, calm down, the smug rat bastard was there, but it’s taken care of. Tony’s fine, he’s in his car with Jethro now. Call him, ring him out a little, and then do your thing!” Mike told her.
“Okay and I’ll meet you guys at the restraunt.”
Once he’d hung up Mike took one more deep breath before dialing another number.
“Hey J.P.”
“Oh, hey Mike, what can I do for you?”
“Do you remember those papers I called you about last night?”
“Sure, do you want me to get those changed now?”
“You’ve already done it; you did it two months ago.”
“Of course I have!”
Mike hung up again and erased the phone calls. Jethro only needed to know so much about this but he already knew that they were meeting Abby at Tony’s favorite restraunt. The rest was up to both federal agents’ interpretation.
…
They pulled into the parking lot of the restraunt two hours later, Abby was bouncing on the side walk and came wandering over to them as soon as they were parked. Mike and Jethro looked into Tony’s window, he was crossing his chest and looking to they sky before opening his door.
Once he was out, Abby slapped him so hard, his lip started bleeding. He looked back up and she tackled him in a bone crushing hug.
“If you ever run off like that again I will kill you, bring you back to life, and then kill you again! Is that clear?” She screeched.
“Crystal,” Tony said dryly, still holding his jaw.
They went into the restraunt and took seats, after ordering their meals; there was an awkward silence, until the news reporter on the television broke it.
“We have breaking news from Washington D.C. The director of Naval Criminal Investigation Service was found dead, cause of death was speculated as a heart attack. There will be an autopsy report done by Dr. Donald Mallard and it will be released by the end of the week. She was found by Special Agents Ziva David and Timothy McGee around one thirty this afternoon.” The perky woman announced, “Evidence was found that she has been involved in extortion and blackmail to multiple people and rumors have it that she will be discharged from the military dishonorably before any services are held.”
Tony rested his head on his hands for a moment, just trying to find the words, not knowing how to react, but the bitch on screen wasn’t done yet.
“In other news, the millionaire Anthony DiNozzo was found brutally murdered at the ‘Sun Spot Inn’ around the same time. Some speculate that he was meeting hired ‘escorts’ while away from home but no comment has been made by his widow, who is also his fifth wife,” Tony couldn’t help but snort.
Just then his phone started to ring and he looked at the people around the table, “I’m going to answer this outside. We are going to discuss then when I come back.”
After he was outside Jethro turned to his friends, “Explain!” he barked at both of them
“There is nothing to explain Jethro. The dear director had a heart attack, as it will state on her medical report at the end of the week. Your team IS going to be working this week with the exception of Tony who the director gave the week off. And poor millionaire Anthony DiNozzo was killed by a whore he was meeting at a rat’s nest. That’s it, that’s as far at this conversation is going to go,” Mike said firmly.
“What he said!” Abby chimed in.
“So the whole team knows?” Gibbs questioned.
Shaking his head Mike spoke again, “No, you and I know what I did in San Francisco. Ducky, Ziva, and Tim know what Abby might have done it D.C.”
“And Tony,” Gibbs questioned them both.
Mike ran a hand over his face, “He might be upset with us for a while but it’s better for him in the long run. If he’s hell bent on discussing this when he comes back in, I’ll tell him the exact same thing I just told you, although I might be a bit nicer to him.”
…
While outside Tony flipped open his phone, “Hello”
“Hello Mr. DiNozzo, I’m Jason Patrick, your father’s attorney. I don’t know if you’ve been informed of your father’s passing but I want to give you my condolences.”
“Yeah, I know about it, look, I know I don’t get anything, so why are you calling me?” Tony question just a little bit bitter because he was still trying to sort through what had happened.
“Actually, your father came in here about two months ago and had his will changed. He filed for divorce from his wife and left everything to you. He did leave half of his insurance policy to be split up by his multiple ex-wives, but the other half, his company, land, homes, stock, and cars, he’s left to you.”
Tony sat there stunned for a moment, opening and closing his mouth a few times before answering, “I’m just a little shocked, if you could just give me some time…”
“Of course, I expected nothing less. I’ll have the papers mailed to you and hopefully by the time they arrive you’ll have gathered yourself enough to look over, sign, and send them back. Thank-you for your time.”
Tony walked back in, and just looked across the table at the people who had risked everything for him, “Thank-You.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
It's all going to end right here right now, but in whose favor?