Author’s Note: 4th Story in the With Honors Series.
Warning: Spoilers for previous stories in the series. Spoilers also, if you don’t know about Gibbs’ past on the show and what happened with his first wife/daughter.
Disclaimer: Not mine, but I wish they were! The timeline is not accurate to the show or to the Tony/Gibbs you all know, but I’m chuckin’ it up to creative license. Work with me on it.
Faith Like A Child
by WCUGirl
Chapter One
Baltimore, Maryland
July 1995
The ring of the door bell pulled Tony out of a sound sleep. He ran a hand over his eyes and blinked blearily at the alarm clock on the bedside table. 11:43am. He’d been asleep exactly three hours. The three hours he’d slept was the first sleep he’d had in almost four days. This better be important. He staggered sleepily to the door, didn’t bother to check it and unhooked the chain and the lock. He opened the door and blinked in surprise.
“Dad?”
“Hey Tony! Did I not teach you anything? You didn’t even check your door before you opened it! Are you trying to get yourself shot, killed or kidnapped?” His dad bantered with him easily, though there was a trace of seriousness in his tone as he entered his son’s apartment.
“What are you doing here at lunch time on a Monday morning Dad?”
“Well I know with your work rotation you’d be off today, so I thought I’d come take you out for the afternoon for your birthday.”
His birthday. He’d completely forgotten it. He fought down a yawn. Gibbs noticed.
“You ok? You look like hell.”
“Had an undercover op this weekend.”
“You sleep any?”
“Thursday night.”
Gibbs eyed his son carefully. Deep circles of exhaustion ran under his boy’s eyes. The slump of his shoulders told of his fatigue and the droopiness of his eyelids showed him he was dead on his feet. Gibbs’ eyes narrowed.
“They didn’t give you a break at all in four days?”
“Nah, there was no one else.”
“You were working an undercover op alone?”
Tony scratched the back of his head and had the audacity to look sheepishly at his dad. “Um…yeah?”
“And there was no one watching your six?”
“Sure there was.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
Gibbs walked into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. Tony followed him. While the coffee was brewing, Gibbs looked at Tony.
“How long are you off?”
“You mean when do I have to be back at work?”
“Yep.”
“Tonight.”
“You’ve worked four days straight with no sleep and no backup and they don’t even give you an entire day off to rest?”
“Nope.”
They were starting down a familiar road; one Tony knew would lead to an argument. In his current state of exhaustion he didn’t think he’d manage to win, so he decided to nip the conversation early. His dad beat him to the punch when he pulled out his cell phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Shh.”
“Dad!”
Gibbs raised his eyebrows at his boy. “I said be quiet,” he said. Then he spoke into the phone. “I need to speak to Detective Sam Boyes…yes it’s important!”
“Dad you really don’t have to�"” Tony was silenced by the infamous Gibbs Glare. He was surprised when Gibbs pushed the phone into his hands.
“Tell him you’re not coming in tonight. You’re coming home with me.”
“Dad�"Heeeeeyy Sam it’s Tony. Yeah look I’m not gonna make it in tonight…why? Because I’m beat man. I covered the whole weekend by myself without you backing me up…Yeah I know you had a hot date…I’m glad it all worked out…no there’s no hard feelings, but it’s my birthday and I’m exhausted…nah the op’s not supposed to go down til this weekend. It’s purely observation right now…yeah I know you hate watching and waiting, so do I…no I’m not gonna rat you out to the lieutenant unless you rat me out for calling in…I know…yeah I hear ya…ok man thanks…uh huh…alright later.”
Tony snapped the phone shut and handed it to Gibbs without a word. Then he turned around and walked back to his bedroom. The room was dark thanks to the shades he’d gotten that were like the ones in his room back at Gibbs’ house. He flopped down on his bed. At least now he could sleep for…thirty six hours at least before someone woke him up.
He made it twelve minutes.
Gibbs was furious. Boyes had a date this past weekend and had left Tony with no backup while he was undercover? Listening to Tony, it seemed that no one knew Tony had been without backup. Boyes hadn’t called to tell anyone, because he knew he’d get in trouble for leaving in the middle of an op. He watched the coffee pot as it trickled then dripped and then finally stopped. He reached into the cabinet and pulled out the coffee mug he always used here. He figured Tony had gone back to bed. Gibbs carried the cup of coffee down the hall to his boy’s room.
Tony was lying sideways across his bed, ankles and feet dangling off one side, mouth hanging open, snoring softly in the dimly lit room. Gibbs walked over to his son, smacked him lightly twice on the bottom of his right foot and grunted at him to wake up. Tony raised his head and blearily looked around.
“Christ Dad what? I just want to sleep!”
“Get up and grab your go-bag. You’re coming home with me. Come on. I’ll bring you back when you’ve rested enough to satisfy me.”
Tony looked at him. “Now wait a minute. I’ll go with you but only under the condition that you bring me back in time for the op to go down this weekend. I’m a key player. I’m the contact person. You have to have me back here.”
Gibbs smirked at Tony and nodded. “Alright. Back by the weekend, sure I got it, no problem. You’re the undercover star after all. Can’t have you missing out on the fun. They won’t miss you until that point?”
Tony shook his head. “We’ve set it up so that it looks like I’m in and out of town a lot so I can work on other stuff in the mean time. They figure I won’t be back til the weekend.”
Gibbs nodded. “Let’s make it a believable image. Get your bag. C’mon.”
Jethro waited in the living room while Tony gathered his things. He recalled what had taken place four years earlier, just after Gibbs had married his first ex-wife, Lauren. Tony had been stalked and eventually his apartment was attacked by someone who turned out to be working for his father. Tony’d been deeply hurt and upset by the ordeal, but his relationship with Gibbs had only gotten stronger in the time since then.
When Gibbs had met his new wife, Diane, Jethro did things differently. He’d learned from his mistakes. He was up front and honest with Diane about what had happened with Shannon and Kelly, as well as up front and honest about Tony. Diane didn’t like that Gibbs had a “son” who drifted in and out, popping in for unexpected visits and sometimes staying for days at a time.
Gibbs had maintained Tony as his top priority in the years since his father’s attack. If the boy was injured or sick (which seemed to happen rather frequently�"especially the injuries) Tony came to stay at Gibbs’ home until he was better�"by Gibbs’ standards, if not the doctors’. It drove Diane batty. She had always wanted children, but she’d wanted a little girl�"someone she could teach to play with dolls and play with their hair and do their make up. She didn’t want a full-grown boy’s boy who sometimes gets in bar fights, who watches football, beats up bad guys and steals the attention of her husband away. Indeed whenever Tony was around, it seemed to Diane that she didn’t exist.
Gibbs looked up when Tony entered the room. He really looked awful.
“C’mon son,” he said softly. “You can sleep on the way home.”
A while later they pulled up in front of Gibbs’ home. Gibbs turned and looked at Tony who was slumped heavily against the door, head bent forward and caught on the seatbelt, hands hanging listlessly in his lap.
“Some birthday,” he whispered. He reached out a hand, calling Tony’s name softly before he touched his son on the shoulder.
Tony jerked awake. He looked around for a moment, trying to piece together where he was, then blinked at Gibbs.
“We here?”
Gibbs nodded. “We’re here. Let’s get you inside so you can rest some more.”
Tony nodded and opened the door. He stood up and stretched, his spine cracking and popping delightfully and making Gibbs shiver. Tony seemed half asleep still; Gibbs knew it would probably be tomorrow at the earliest before his boy woke up if he was left alone and undisturbed. Gibbs opened the door to the house and stood aside to let Tony go in first. Tony made a bee-line for the staircase and started toward his bedroom without a word.
Gibbs shut the door and looked around. He’d seen Diane’s car in the garage, but there wasn’t any evidence of her downstairs. Before he could call her name, a yelp of surprise came from upstairs and had Gibbs hurrying to intervene.
Tony had gone to hit the head on his way to bed, and in his sleepy state hadn’t really noticed that the shower was running, complete with a very naked step-mother inside. He’d just gone about his business, lowered the lid and flushed. He’d turned to wash his hands when the water scalded its showering beauty, thanks to the flushing of the toilet. She’d yelped in surprise at the sudden heat on her skin, and this had caused Tony to snap to attention and realize that he wasn’t alone in the bathroom.
“You sick sonofabitch what the hell are you doing in this bathroom? What are you even doing here? Why are you here in the middle of the week? GET OUT OF HERE!!!”
Gibbs suddenly appeared in the doorway. Tony held up his hands placatingly. “I can explain Dad, honest. I just went to hit the head and was so sleepy I just didn’t realize the shower was running. Diane I am SO sorry, oh God I am so embarrassed. I’m just going to go to my room now. Forget I’m here. Carry on as normal.” He moved to duck out of the bathroom but Gibbs stopped him.
“Diane that was uncalled for. I mean he didn’t try to look in on you or anything, right? It’s not as though you’ve been violated�"besides, why didn’t you use the en suite shower? It’s why we put it in�"because you wanted it?”
“You’re going to stand here in my house and defend that…that deviant boy of yours after he practically attacked me in the shower? Jethro Gibbs this has gone far enough!”
“Tony went to take a piss is all that happened; Diane will ya calm down?” He looked at Tony. “Just to clarify�"you didn’t try anything, correct?”
Tony shivered. “Please Dad, that’s my step-mother. I wouldn’t do that. That’d be just…” he shivered again, “just weird. Eew.” Gibbs nodded. He knew his boy wouldn’t lie to him.
“Get to bed kiddo. I’ll check on ya later and wake you for dinner.”
He affectionately swatted Tony on the back of the head as he walked by and then turned his burning gaze on his wife.
“I don’t know what your issue with Tony is, but Diane this was totally uncalled for. I get that you didn’t know he was in here. I get that you were surprised. But he wouldn’t do anything�"he didn’t do anything, except flush the toilet and inadvertently scald you. Now come on, we can work this out…right honey?”
Diane narrowed her eyes and ran a comb through her hair.
“It just seems like every time I turn around he’s here, Jethro. He’s twenty five years old, when’s he going to get out on his own?”
“Actually today he is turning twenty-seven. He’s been on his own basically since birth, if you recall anything I’ve told you about Tony’s past. I’m his dad in all but blood Diane, and you have got to understand that. Too many people in his life have made Tony think he’s not worth being loved, and I refuse to be another person on that list.”
Diane huffed but didn’t say anything. She knew Gibbs was right. She didn’t have to like it, but she had to accept it. It was basically carved in stone�"it wasn’t going anywhere. But there was nothing that said she had to stay…
TBC…
Story Notes:
No slash. Tony/Gibbs father-son. 4th Story in With Honors Series.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Story 4 in With Honors Series. Tony works undercover in Baltimore to solve a drug case...but everything may not be as it seems. What is Tony missing? No slash. Tony/Gibbs father-son.