Chapter 19: Breaking Ground
Dr. Corkran determined that additional surgery wouldn’t be needed for Tony’s knee, but he’d likely need more physical therapy in the end. After inspecting both Tony’s knee and his ankle, the doctor turned his attention to Tony’s collar bone. He carefully inspected the x-ray screens and then gently ran his fingers over the place where the bone had broken, feeling for the upset in the healing process. Dr. Corkran frowned slightly when he felt the slight protrusion of bone and made quick work of resetting the bone once again.
“In the morning I’ll get some x-rays and see how it looks. I’ve reduced the worst of it for now,” Dr. Corkran told Gibbs. He glanced at the clock. “I think for now the best thing we can do for Tony is keep him pain free with the medications and let him rest. That will give the swelling a chance to go down. I want to examine his ankle and knee again in the morning to make sure I didn’t miss anything with my examination today.”
Gibbs nodded. He could handle that. Dr. Corkran opened Tony’s chart and made a couple of notes. “I don’t want him out of bed. I know he doesn’t like to rely on people for help, but in this case he is not to put any weight on those legs. Especially his knee. If he needs the bathroom he can use the bedpan. Just call for a nurse or--”
“I can help him,” Gibbs said softly. “He’d probably be more comfortable that way.”
Dr. Corkran nodded. “That’s fine--just keep him off his legs. I’m going to raise the foot of his bed a bit to help keep the swelling down, and I will have a nurse bring some fresh ice packs. 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off for the rest of the day,” he instructed.
Gibbs nodded.
Finally the three men were alone and Gibbs shot an unreadable look at Ducky. “My dear boy,” Ducky said softly. “You need to get some rest. It’s been, to quote a wise man, a rough couple of days.”
Gibbs smirked and looked at the clock. Nearly 5pm. Tony was sound asleep, thanks to the strong pain medications he’d been given. “I’m not leaving Ducky,” he said firmly. “I’ll rest later. For now I gotta keep an eye on Tony.” He cut Ducky off at he started to speak. “I need it. For me. My own sanity. I have to help him. I have to take care of him,” Gibbs whispered, running his fingers lightly through Tony’s hair.
“I understand Jethro. Would you like me to keep the others away?”
Gibbs nodded and didn’t take his eyes off of Tony. Ducky could see the walls being constructed around the two men right before his very eyes. It would require an extreme measure of diligence on everyone’s behalf to penetrate these barriers. Gibbs was practically oozing of protectiveness, and Ducky pitied the poor soul who would undoubtedly encounter his wrath before the evening was over.
xxx
On Thursday morning, two days after everything came to a head at Ducky’s house, Kate scooped the teabag out of her mug with a spoon and carefully wrapped the string around it to squeeze the excess tea into her mug. With one hand she held her cup, the other she clicked her mouse, opening her email and nodding silently when she saw the email from Ducky that he’d finished the autopsy on Declan O’Sullivan.
She heard the ding of the elevator followed almost immediately by the voice of one of the security guards, “ma’am! Miss you’ve got to--”
And then suddenly there was a woman standing in front of Kate’s desk. She had dark hair, and a pointed nose; her frame was petite, but well toned and strong. Her hair was pulled back into a severe bun and she wore what was obviously a power suit, black rimmed glasses and heels. In one hand she held a smart phone, the other hand a handbag.
“Are you the agent I am needing to talk to about this farce of an investigation?” The woman’s voice was as cold as her eyes, her tone snappish, and she looked down at Kate as though she were somehow below her status.
Kate set her mug down and stood up. “My name is Agent Caitlyn Todd. May I ask which investigation you’re needing to speak with someone about?” She flashed her badge just for effect and the woman sneered at it. The profiler in Kate immediately set to work.
“My name is Caroline O’Sullivan. I was informed yesterday that an investigation involving my son is being conducted and that my son is dead. His name is Declan O’Sullivan. Perhaps you’ve heard of him? They’re trying to tell me he injured an NCIS agent.”
Fury welled up in Kate but she didn’t let it show. “I can assist you Mrs. O’Sullivan. I am on the team that is investigating this case. What can I do for you?”
“I have come to collect my son’s body, to take it to Ohio for a proper burial.”
xxx
Gibbs was reading the newspaper in Tony’s hospital room shortly after breakfast. Tony had just finished a short PT session for his collarbone and was now lying listlessly on the bed trying not to move, breathe too hard or do anything sudden to cause himself more pain. His eyes were closed and he was resting, but Gibbs knew he wasn’t asleep. Together they enjoyed a comfortable silence in the warm, sunny room.
The sudden ringing of his cell phone startled him just slightly and Tony’s eyes slid open. “Who’s zat,” he asked softly, his words still slightly slurred from his sore jaw.
Gibbs pulled the phone from his belt hook and frowned at it. “It’s Kate,” he said.
Tony perked up a bit at this and watched as Gibbs answered. “Yeah, Gibbs.” He listened and Tony strained to hear what Kate was saying. From the look on Gibbs’ face it wasn’t anything good. Gibbs was quiet as he listened to Kate and with each passing second, with each word from the other agent, Gibbs’ frown grew deeper, and deeper, until his entire face was dark and stormy, his eyes clouded with rage.
Just as Tony was about to ask what was going on, Gibbs suddenly got up and strode from the room. The door shut sharply behind him and Tony was alone. He glanced around, wondering if there was some way he could get up and follow Gibbs, but even the slightest movement of his shoulder sent shooting pains down through his collarbone and into his ribcage; and he knew he wasn’t supposed to put any weight on his legs. Frustrated, scared, and feeling suddenly very alone, Tony flopped his head back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling, and let out a quiet sigh.
Outside in the hall, Gibbs squeezed his eyes shut tightly and tried not to growl at Kate.
“Boss I’ve never seen anything like her. She was just here all of the sudden, spewing venom and threatening lawsuits against all of us. She’s saying Tony made it all up and that we staged an unjustified investigation against her son without probable cause. The director finally took her up to his office and called in someone from legal. This is a mess Gibbs. It’s a huge mess.”
Gibbs took a breath and somewhere in the back of his mind a little voice told him to count to three before he spoke. Kate wasn’t the problem; she didn’t deserve his fury…
“Kate I need you to have the director call me as soon as he’s available,” Gibbs forced out through gritted teeth.
He snapped the phone shut and slapped his hand against the wall, being careful not to punch a hole in it, nor bust any knuckles. Gibbs knew Tony would pick up on that immediately. He put his hand on Tony’s door and just before he opened it his cell phone rang.
“Gibbs it’s Morrow,” the director said without preamble. “We have a problem.”
“I already heard from Kate,” Gibbs said. “What do we do about it? Does she have grounds for a suit?”
“No. And even if she did, we’ve got medical records to back up DiNozzo’s injuries, proof of residency for both DiNozzo and O’Sullivan, and I’ve got the vacation log as well. Tony’s covered Jethro. But this bastard’s mama is out for blood. It could get ugly.”
“I’m not leaving Tony alone,” Gibbs said. “Every time I leave him something happens. I’m not leaving him again.”
“A wise plan. I’ll keep you posted and you do likewise.”
“Will do, sir.”
“Jethro…how is he doing?”
Gibbs paused. Tony’d been really quiet the last two days and Gibbs wasn’t entirely sure if it was because of his jaw or because of Declan or the situation or what--but he hadn’t been himself. “It’s hard to say,” Gibbs said softly. “He’s been really quiet--too quiet. I think it’s bothering him.”
“Well I can’t think of a better place for him to be than with you,” the director said. “Take care of your boy. I’m heading up there now. We need to go over the evidence together. I’ve got something that may prove interesting to show you both.”
“Thank you sir,” Gibbs said softly and hung up.
Gibbs quietly stepped back into Tony’s room and frowned at the image the younger man presented. He was the portrait of misery, his head back listlessly on the pillow, eyes closed, and a deep frown on his face. The older man stared sadly down at his partner before leaning over and kissing him softly.
“I love you,” he whispered.
A ghost of a smile crept across Tony’s face and he cracked one eye open. “I love you too,” he murmured. “Why all the secrets?”
“No secrets Tony. I knew you were trying to rest and didn’t want to disturb you,” Gibbs said, knowing he was lying, and knowing Tony knew it.
“Declan’s mother showed up at NCIS to collect Declan’s body,” Gibbs said quietly. “She’s pretty upset.”
“I’d imagine so,” Tony said softly. “She was always kind of a loose cannon. Bet she caused a scene didn’t she?”
“You’ve met her?”
At Tony’s silent nod, Gibbs raised one eyebrow.
“First summer after I started dating Declan I went home with him for the summer. She’s…intense,” Tony said quietly, eyes on his lap.
“Does she know how Declan treated you?”
Tony didn’t respond for a moment then shook his head. “No,” he whispered. “She could never see it. Said the bruises looked like I’d just been clumsy, and her Declan would never do anything like that.” Tony stretched out the words to exaggerate them and spoke in a quiet falsetto. “She gonna take him back to Ohio?”
Gibbs nodded. “Wants to give him a proper burial.”
Tony nodded. “Good,” he said softly. “He deserves that.”
Gibbs’ face was unreadable and Tony was too tired to try to figure it out. “What,” he asked.
“Why does he deserve that?”
“Oh c’mon Gibbs, everyone deserves a decent funeral and burial,” Tony said. “Even if you’re going straight to hell, everyone deserves a proper sending off! Besides…he already had the plot and everything.”
“He bought himself a burial plot?”
“Well…he bought a burial plot,” Tony said softly, his eyes on his lap again. “Don’t know if he intended it for himself or not.”
The implication of Tony’s words hit Gibbs hard and it felt like he’d been dealt a physical blow. Tony looked shocked at his own words and blinked in surprise and let out a soft gasp. Gibbs sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Tony close, wrapping his arms around the younger man and breathing in his scent.
“It’s alright now,” Gibbs soothed before the panic attack could take hold. “He can’t hurt you anymore babe. You’re safe now.”
A soft knock at the door drew both men’s attention and a dark haired woman came in unannounced.
“Who the hell are--”
“Quiet,” she snapped.
“Caroline,” Tony said with a resigned sigh. “How nice to see you.”
“You sniveling little slut. All these years you did nothing but cause Declan grief and now he’s not even in the grave yet and you’re already shacking up with another man?” She sniffed with disgust. “I might have known.”
“Now wait just one fucking minute,” Gibbs snapped. “Who the hell do you think you are barging into a hospital room and insulting my agent?”
“So you fuck your subordinates? That’s interesting Agent Gibbs. Do you do this with all of them or just a select few,” she said. Her voice was raw and her words implied trouble was to come from this.
“That’s none of your business. I wanna know who the hell you are!”
“Gibbs, Jesus, stop. This is Caroline O’Sullivan. Declan’s mother.”
“Oh so you do remember his name? I thought maybe you’d forgotten it. You do know you’re insulting the memory of his love for you by your actions?”
Tony snorted. “If he loved me he had a funny way of showing it,” he snapped.
“He loved you,” she growled angrily. Her eyes flashed with fury and her face colored with rage. “You were always so terrible! Oh why couldn’t you just listen to him? All he wanted was to love you!”
“No Caroline. All he wanted was to hurt me. To control me. To run my life. He forced me to move, made me quit my job anytime he screwed up and left too much evidence about what he was doing to me. I ran away from him to move to DC but he followed me. Do you know how many times I’ve been hospitalized in the last ten years? Do you know how many times your son has tried to kill me? DO YOU EVEN FUCKING CARE?!”
Tony broke off, breathing hard, his face red with anger and his eyes flashing.
Gibbs inserted himself between the two. “It’s time for you to leave,” he said. “Tony’s taken enough abuse from your son. He doesn’t need to take anymore from your family. Leave him alone or I’ll bring up charges of harassment.”
She stood defiantly, chin raised and a sneering smirk on her lips. The door opened behind her and Director Morrow’s eyebrows shot up when he saw who the guest in the room was.
“Mrs. O’Sullivan?”
She whipped around and glared at the NCIS Director. “What are you doing here?!”
“I came to check on my agent,” he said. “But since you are here I can show you this information as well.”
“What information?”
While Director Morrow opened his briefcase and pulled out his laptop, Gibbs moved back to Tony’s side and sat on the edge of the bed. Morrow carefully inserted a disc into it and pulled up the video on it. “Now if you’ll all watch closely, Tony, I think you and Gibbs may recognize the images you are about to see.”
Tony turned his face away the instant he recognized himself on the video. He’d forgotten about the tiny security cameras that had been set up for video feed around Ducky’s house as part of his protection. He buried his face in Gibbs’ side. He couldn’t bear to watch Declan die again. The first time had been bad enough.
Gibbs watched with barely restrained fury as Declan grabbed Tony from behind and threatened him with the needle. It was the first time he’d witnessed those events. He’d heard Tony quietly give his statement the day before, but to see it…Gibbs fought the urge to shudder.
He heard a gasp and spared a glimpse at Mrs. O’Sullivan as she witnessed her son’s last moments. She watched as Tony struggled to avoid the needle, and then the knife, and finally the gun, all of them wielded by her son. She sighed softly when Declan shot Balboa and when he hit Tony in the jaw with the butt of the gun. She covered her mouth with her hand when she heard the voices of Gibbs and Balboa as they asked him to stop struggling, drop his weapons, and surrender, and she watched as her son refused.
Caroline watched her precious son--her only son--raise the gun towards the agents again and saw Tony dive on him to knock the shot wild. She watched the final struggle between Tony and Declan in horror, and she watched as Declan died after he’d been shot during the struggle.
She saw the devastation on Tony’s face and glanced at him now, only to see him still buried in Gibbs’ side, unable to look at the horror on the small screen. The last thing she saw was Gibbs moving over to Tony and Declan, pulling Tony off of him, and checking Declan’s pulse…Caroline O’Sullivan covered her eyes with her hands. How had it come to this?
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Oh my…what was wrong with him? Why would he do those things?”
“It’s all he knew how to do,” Tony said softly, lifting his face from Gibbs’ shirt.
“What! What do you mean,” she snapped at him. Tony didn’t even flinch; he realized that her reaction now was likely more from shock and horror than resentment towards him. At least he hoped so.
“Your husband…how many years has he been beating on you?” Tony looked evenly at her and watched as she immediately tried to provide some smoke and mirrors.
“He hasn’t ever laid a hand on me!”
“No? Then how many years did he beat Declan? And you. You controlled his every move. He couldn’t wait to get out from under you.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Caroline whispered, taken aback by what Tony was saying. “Declan was always getting into trouble he was always…”
“Breaking the rules?”
Gibbs glanced at Tony, recalling one of the nights when Tony had been delirious with pain and mumbling about breaking the rules. He squeezed his hand gently.
“I tried to get him to listen. He always made his father so angry…I just wanted him to not get into so much trouble,” Caroline said softly.
“Well he learned everything you and his father taught him. He…he had to have total control. He had to have everything go exactly his way…if it didn’t…” Tony grinned sadly, “well then I guess those were the days I was just more clumsy,” he said softly.
Gibbs ran a hand gently over Tony’s shoulders. “I’m tired Jethro,” Tony said softly. “I’d like to go to sleep now.”
Gibbs looked at Morrow and Declan’s mother. “It’s time to go now,” he said softly. “Tony needs to rest. Morrow if you’ve got all the information you need based on the autopsy, I see no reason not to release Mr. O’Sullivan to his mother’s custody for her to accompany it back to Ohio.”
Morrow nodded. “I have no problem with that. Come Mrs. O’Sullivan, if you’ll accompany me back to NCIS we’ll get everything squared away.”
Caroline O’Sullivan nodded silently and grabbed a tissue to wipe several stray tears from her face. She walked to the door and she stopped. Turning back to Tony she sniffed several times trying to get her emotions under control.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “Truly. For everything I said and implied about you, and for everything my son did to you. You…you didn’t deserve it. Any of it. I’m sorry.”
Tony nodded. “Goodbye Mrs. O’Sullivan,” he said softly.
Gibbs and Tony watched as the door closed behind the two visitors. Gibbs dropped an arm around Tony’s shoulders again and Tony leaned against him.
“Goddammit,” Tony said softly. He leaned heavily against Gibbs and laid awake for a long time, obviously troubled.
Gibbs figured that pretty much summed it up.
xxx
Calvary Cemetery
Dayton, Ohio
Monday Afternoon
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to celebrate the life and mourn the death of our Brother Declan O’Sullivan. Oh Loving Savior he drifted from you in life and it is our ardent prayer that you will encompass him in your endless love in the hereafter…”
Caroline and William O’Sullivan stood side by side, sharing an umbrella on the warm rainy day. Caroline lifted a handkerchief to her face and elegantly wiped tears from her eyes.
As the minister spoke, William O’Sullivan’s hands balled into fists. “Dirty bastard,” he muttered. “Killed my son…he killed my boy…hurt him…”
Caroline looked at her husband and shook her head sadly. “No Billy,” she said softly, “Tony didn’t kill Declan.” She watched silently as the coffin was lowered slowly into the grave. “We did.”
Once the casket was lowered, Caroline picked up a handful of dirt and sprinkled it into the grave slowly. Her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head sadly. “Rest well my darling,” she whispered. “I am so sorry we did this to you.”
Caroline and William walked away from their son’s grave sadly. Their faces held the strain and wrinkles of their plight--of their years of struggle. Caroline knew, she just knew, that she’d never forgive herself for her son’s death or for Tony’s injuries.
It was all their fault.
TBC...
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