Gibbs knew who it was by the sound of the footsteps. He had heard his front door open and had listened as the steps progressed to the head of the stairs. But then the steps did something they wouldn’t normally do. They stopped. Gibbs started to put down his sandpaper and head up when he heard the steps progress again. Gibbs smiled, but still never looked at his visitor.
Tony stopped a few steps from the bottom and sat down on the stairs. He sighed and for about the hundreth time rubbed his eyes.
Gibbs had begun to get worried again when the other man did not speak. Gibbs looked up at his visitor. He was disturbed to see tears in the man’s eyes. Gibbs put down his sandpaper turned to his work bench and poured two glasses of bourbon. He walked over and handed one to his visitor and then sat down on the bottom step. Gibbs scooted over until his back was against the wall. He stretched his left leg out over the length of the step and crossed his right over it. He took a sip of his bourbon and looked up at his visitor.
Tony had not really looked at Gibbs when he accepted the glass and even now he was just holding it.
“You saw your dad off?” Gibbs asked.
Tony nodded. “In a manner of speaking.”
Gibbs feel silent again, unsure what Tony meant.
“Right now he is probably figuring out a way to pay his hotel bill.”
“I thought you….” Gibbs asked, looking up at him.
“I did. I had paid the whole damn thing. But I then called the bank and cancelled the check.”
Again Gibbs remained silent.
Tony sighed. “He asked me why I didn’t tell him about the plague. “ Tony laughed, but there was no humor in it. He wiped the tears from his eyes again. “I asked him if he had talked to you. He said he had. He told me what you had said, and he said you were right. He did need to get to know his grown son.”
“It didn’t go well.” Gibbs stated more than questioned.
“No, it didn’t. I told him off. I left him standing stunned, with his mouth dragging the floor in the lobby of the hotel.” Tony paused. “His excuse growing up was always business meetings. Everything, every time, was always a business meeting. Now, I know he’s lying, and it’s still a business meeting. I asked him about leaving me in the hotel room at age 12, business meeting again. He never gave me a chance to explain how I felt. What that did to me. He didn’t care. Like I told him, if it didn’t make him money he didn’t give a damn.”
Gibbs put his hand on Tony’s knee in a gesture of sympathy.
“I told him that the ‘DiNozzo man don’t…’ thing was bullshit.” Tony paused. “I…Why do I still care so much? That was 28 years ago. Why does it still hurt?”
Gibb patted Tony’s knee for support. “Because the reason he gave you wasn’t good enough for you.” Gibbs paused. “IT IS the sorriest excuse I have ever heard, Tony.”
Tony nodded but didn’t speak for a few moments. “Well, I told him that he sucked at being a father. I told him he had just run out of chances to get to know me. That I was 40 years old and that I had waited long enough.” Tony laughed again and this one was a real one. “I told him he got my mother pregnant. That made him a sperm donor not a father.”
Gibbs just looked at Tony. He really does know how to press people’s buttons. Gibbs thought, but still, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“I thought he was going to take a swing at me?” Tony stated.
“If he had?” Gibbs asked.
Tony paused. “I don’t know.”
“Why did he come here? I mean really. Why just drop in on you like that?”
Tony shook his head. “He never comes and sees me without a reason.” Tony took a drink of his bourbon for the first time. “I guess he wanted to tell me about the business.”
“But he never said anything to you?”
Tony shook his head.
“Too ashamed?”
Tony took another swig. “Who the hell knows with my father, Gibbs?” He took another sip. “Maybe he’s dying. Maybe he needs a kidney.”
“Is he going back to…? Where does he live anyway?” Gibbs asked.
“No clue. I did though find out he has been married and divorced again.”
“So, the money, you missed the chance to go on that trip with your frat brothers. What are you going to do with it?”
Tony smiled. “Oh, I have something very special planned for that money.” He stood and stretched. He then turned and headed upstairs.
“Your toothbrush is in the medicine cabinet.” Gibbs said, getting up from the stairs and picking up the sandpaper again.
“Thanks, Dad.” Tony said, ascending the stairs.
Three days later Gibb received tickets for himself and his father for a trip to Hawaii in the mail. Jackson Gibbs had always wanted to go and had various pictures of the islands up in his store. He would sit and look at them and dream of being on that beach. Now he could go, his and Jethro’s plane ride, hotel and spending money were taken care of by a not-so-anonymous donor.
THE END
Author's Chapter Notes:
Someone suggested I write a story where Tony tells Gibbs about his meeting with his dad after reading my story “Dad’s Response.” So here it is, ENJOY!