[Reviews - 0]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Warning: PHYSICAL CHILD ABUSE WARNING!!! Content may be disturbing to some readers!
Spoiler Warning: Pre-Series Episode Tag: JAG, Ice Queen and Meltdownâ€"my own versions though, of course hehe

Grounded In Truth
Chapter 3
by WCUGirl

The team had been completely focused on getting the evidence and details together on the arms deal in Rota. They hadn’t counted on getting another case just before the deal went downâ€"a dead JAG officer, found in the river by some boy scouts practicing their archery skills.

Tony drove the three of them out to the scene and on the way recounted humorous tales of his rookie days.

“…then there was one murder case where a rookie emptied his whole magazine into a corpse because he thought it moaned. I was there, so I am totally not making this up,” Tony chuckled, giving his turn signal and checking the mirrors before moving the NCIS truck into the right lane.

“You know what I think DiNozzo?”

“That he’s full of bull, Gibbs,” Blackadder asked mildly. She already had a reprimand coming at herâ€"might as well make it worth her time.

Gibbs shot her a dirty look and then grinned at Tony. “I think you were the rookie, that’s what I say,” Gibbs snarked at him, knowing in fact that it had not been Tony who’d emptied his magazine, but instead was Tony’s first partner in Peoriaâ€"nice kid, but too green to keep them alive. He hadn’t lasted long before he resigned.

Tony shot Gibbs an incredulous lookâ€"eyebrows high, green eyes wide, jaw droppedâ€"“you wound me Boss. Absolutely wound me,” he quipped.

Blackadder watched the interaction between the two of them. Yeah…she was definitely missing something here. They were too comfortable around each other…but there was more…Tony wasn’t scared of Gibbs. How could you NOT be scared of Gibbs? Everyone was scared of Gibbs. Vivian bet even Director Morrow was scared of Gibbs! But Tony wasn’t. She didn’t know if that made him wise or stupid.

And then it happenedâ€"Gibbs laughed at something Tony said.

Blackadder blinked. Gibbs…laughing? Did he…do that?

“Okay, okay, wait a minute, I have a question,” she bit out, unable to restrain herself anymore.

“What’s that Viv,” Tony asked, the congeniality in his tone made her want to vomit.

“Why aren’t you scared of Gibbs, Tony? EVERYONE is scared of Gibbs.”

Tony shrugged and didn’t take his eyes off the road. “Way I figure it…Gibbs is my boss…til I do something to warrant him being pissed off at me, I haven’t got anything to be scared of. And even if I do piss him off I trust that he will still have my six if I need it, so what’s there to be scared of?”

“You’ve obviously never experienced the wrath of Gibbs then.”

Flashback

Gibbs was sleeping soundly, exhausted after a hard week’s work full of bad cases when the phone rang. He heard Shannon groan and she turned over as he reached for the phone.

“mmm…’lo?” Gibbs asked into the phone, still mostly asleep.

“Dad?”

“Tony?” Gibbs sat bolt upright, wide awake. He glanced at the clock. Why was his son calling him at 1:14am?

“What’s wrong Tony?”

“Um…well…hang on.”

A moment later a voice he didn’t recognize spoke into his ear. “Is this Mr. Gibbs?”

“It is,” Jethro said into the phone, putting a hand up to quiet Shannon as she realized something must be wrong.

“Mr. Gibbs we have your son in custody here at the Columbus Police Department.”

Gibbs blinked. “What happened?”

“Seems he was at a frat party and decided he wanted to go get some chicken nuggets from the local McDonalds.”

“Is it illegal to go get chicken nuggets from McDonalds,” Gibbs asked, still not fully awake and not comprehending what he was being told.

“It is when you blow a point-one-oh on the breathalyzer,” the officer responded.

“And you have him in custody?”

“For drinking and driving yes, as well as being under-age.”

Gibbs closed his eyes and flopped back on the bed. “Is there bail?”

“Bail is set at $1500.”

“And his friends…”

“He used his one phone call to contact you. Said you would know what to do.”

Gibbs grinned into the dark. “Oh he’s right, I know what to do. Tell you what officer. My boy will be bailed out in the morning. I’m in DC and will need some time to get to Columbus.”

“So I should just leave him in the drunk tank til then?”

“Is he with anyone?”

“There was a girl in the car with him, whom we also arrested, but her friends have already bailed her out.”

“If you don’t mind, move him into a cell on his own. I will be there in the morning. Do me a favor,” Gibbs asked, “Tell Tony that his dad coming down to bail his ass out of jail is how he’s getting to spend his first weekend off in six weeks.”

A moment later Tony was back on the phone. “Dad I know you’ve been working real hard; look you don’t need to come all the way out here to bail my sorry ass out of jail! I’ll get my friends to take up a collection or something and I’ll get out that way.”

“You telling me what to do?”

“Uh…no sir.”

“Don’t call me ‘sir’ I work for a living. I taught you better than that!”

“I know Dad…” Tony whispered.

“You’ll be spending the night in jail, tonight. I’ll get you out in the morning.”

“Ok.”

Tony hadn’t been expecting the punishment that Gibbs invoked. He wasn’t expecting to have to resign from the fraternity as a result of his behaviors. But he knew better than to try to stay in behind Gibbs’ back, because…well he’s Gibbs and Gibbs knew everything! He also wasn’t expecting to be pinned with all of the backbreaking outside chores for the entire summer when he’d returned home either. He’d managed to get the charges reduced down to a warning since he’d been so cooperative and hadn’t caused any trouble at allâ€"the state had not revoked his driver’s license…but Gibbs personally revoked his driver’s license for the entire summer he was home and in the fall didn’t let him take his car back to school with him for the first semester.

There had been no yelling, no arguing. Gibbs told Tony exactly what his punishment would be and it was as good as carved in stoneâ€"there was no bending the manâ€"no trying to convince him to bend either. But there had also been no hitting, no whippings, no cutting, no burnings, no…physical harm done to Tony in any way. Gibbs had punished him in exactly the way he’d spelled out and in fact, Gibbs just seemed grateful that his boy was safe, though stupid. It had been wonderful and awful all at the same time and in the end Tony found he had even more respect for Gibbs because of the very appropriate punishment he’d received.

End Flashback

Tony glanced at Blackadder and realized she was still waiting for a response. “I have experienced the wrath of Gibbs before,” Tony said softly, shooting his dad a look. He still didn’t understand why Gibbs hadn’t beaten the shit out of him for what he’d done. If it had been his biological father, there was no guarantee Tony would have survived it. “I know all about the wrath of Gibbs and believe meâ€"it’s not scary. Not scary at all.”

***
Later when Tony was on the bridge, looking for fingerprints, blood spatters, anything that could help them figure out what had happened to their JAG officer; he looked up at the railing from his position on his knees and was overwhelmed by a memory…

Flashback: Christmas 1974

Six year old Tony stood at the railing overlooking the first floor of the house on Christmas morning. He was trying to be super quiet because it was still dark outsideâ€"far too early to be up, even on this momentous holiday! Tony was clutching Gilbert the Gorilla in his left arm and the railing with his right hand. From his vantage point, young Tony could see the dim lights from the Christmas tree in the front room, as well as hear the soft sound of Christmas carols as they wafted softly through the house.

He didn’t know how long he’d been standing there, when he suddenly couldn’t hold back the desire to go down the stairs any longer. He tiptoed along the hallway toward the stairs. He would just have a quick peek then he would go back to bed.

Down the stairs he went silently, making absolutely no sound. He tiptoed through the foyer into the front room and there beheld the Christmas tree. And on top of thatâ€"SANTA CLAUS HAD COME!! He tiptoed forward a bit more, and underneath the tree…there it was…the best gift everâ€"

The James Bond Aston Martin. It was only the fastest, most amazing car ever!!! And Tony had his very own version of itâ€"the little model was in the box, just waiting for him to build it. Tony knew he would paint it silver, just like Bond’s, and that it would be absolutely the best. gift. ever. in the history of toys for Christmas.

He didn’t make a sound, but sat looking at the marvelous gift. There was a tag on it, even though it wasn’t wrapped, and he saw that it was from Maria. Maria was their housekeeper and Tony’s best friend. Of course she would know that Tony would love this gift. Tony couldn’t hide his gleeful smileâ€"until suddenly from behind someone grabbed his collar and jerked him up backwards.

Tony gasped in surprised and turned. He was standing there at the feet of his fatherâ€"still in his night coat and obviously extremely intoxicated.

“WHA’ TH’HELL ‘RE YOU DOIN’ D’WNST’RS,” his father slurred at him, weaving on his feet and looking quite angry.

“I…I couldn’t sleep, and I thought that maybe if I just…took a look at the tree…perhaps it would help me not…”

“NOT WHAT,” his father roared.

“Not be so excited,” Tony whispered, his eyes on his feet.

He flinched hard when his father grabbed his wrist and began dragging up the stairs. Tony struggled and tugged against his father’s iron grip until the man twisted his arm. Tony gasped in pain when he felt the bones in his wrist crunch together and he let out a quiet whimper when the bone in his forearm snapped.

Tony frozeâ€"immediately he knew his mistakeâ€"he was never to make a sound in response to pain. Nothing made his father angrier than weakness. He spared a glance up at his father and cringed when he saw the look of both malice and hatred in his father’s eyes. Tony never understood why he made his father so madâ€"he didn’t mean to honest!â€"but it was as though him simply being in the house made his father angry.

“So the little priss is excited about Christmas,” his father taunted, “I bet Santa Claus even brought you a pretty pink dolly to play with too,” his father sneered. The smell of the alcohol on his father’s breath turned Tony’s stomach and he turned his head away.

“YOU LOOK AT ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU, YOU LITTLE BASTARD,” his father roared again. Tony tugged desperately on his arm, despite its brokenness, trying with everything in him to get away from the anger this man was capable of unleashing.

His father turned him and smashed his face against the railing surrounding the balcony. He opened his eyes and saw the bars of the rail right at his face and he reached out and grabbed one with his free hand. His father, not to be denied his right to punish, grabbed Tony by the short hair on his head and pulled his face back.

“Merry Christmas Tony,” his father smiled evilly at him before slamming his head right into the railing. Tony blinked dazed, knowing he was hurt badly now and knowing he needed to get away, but unable to do so. He realized belatedly that he’d let go of the rail and now was being dragged toward the stairs, his legs boneless and useless under him. He glanced up at his father, and in his gut knew there would be no escape from his wrath tonight.

“You want to go down the stairs boy? Well go on…get down there!”

A solid slap to the side of his head burst his right ear drum and sent him plummeting to the bottom of the stairs. Tony bounced and rolled, his body thumping and thudding along the hard stairs all the way to the bottom. When he finally crashed into the floor of the foyer, he’d been blissfully unconscious.

Three days later, Tony was finally coherent enough to remember what had taken place that Christmas morning. When he returned home from the hospitalâ€"after getting a lecture from the doctor about sneaking around the stairs in the dark, “It will make naughty boys fall all the way to the bottom and break their arms and crack their heads and ribs,” the doctor had saidâ€"he was dismayed once back at home to realize that all of his wonderful Christmas gifts had disappeared, and he never heard from or saw Maria ever again.

End flashback.

It was the persistent ringing of his cell phone that finally drew Tony out of the memory. Tony blinked and realized he was clinging to the railing, his forehead resting on the handle, his eyes shut tightly and tears leaking pitifully from beneath the lids. He fumbled for his phone, still confused and shaken by what had happened, glad no one had witnessed…whatever that was…and saw that it was his dad calling.

“DiNozzo,” he said softly.

“What the hell are you doing Tony? I called you four times! Rule number threeâ€"never be unreachable.”

“Right Boss. I’m still out here at the bridge looking for blood spatter and finger prints but I…” There. Right there next to where his face had been. Could it really be…?

“Hang on boss, I think I just found something. I’ll call ya back.”

Tony hung up the phone and was quiet for just a moment. He finally blinked away the memory again and got out the materials he needed to capture the blood sample to take to Abby. He collected the blood sample and then peeked over the railing into the icy river.

“Lt. Singer, I hope this is you I’ve found,” Tony whispered softly into the cold afternoon air. He fought down a shudder as the memory of what happened on Christmas so many years ago tried to fight its way back to the surface again. Why was he thinking about that right now?! He stood up and looked around, one hand moving unconsciously over the arm that had been broken so badly it had needed an operation to repair.

Tony blinked again and realized what he was doing. He shook his head in disgust at himself. “I don’t have time for this right now.”

His phone rang. “DiNozzo,” he said.

“Tony, what the hell are you doing,” his dad asked, starting to sound pissed.

“Dad I…I found a blood sample.”

“That’s good work Tony. C’mon back to the office now.”

“Yeah, okay,” Tony said, his mind starting to drift away on that memory again.

“Are you alright Tony? You don’t sound like yourself.”

Tony knew Gibbs must be alone or with Ducky for him to ask such a question during working hours.

“I’m fine Dad, I was just out here at the railing and it reminded me of…something that happened a long time ago,” he said finally.

“You don’t sound fine. Steak tonight. My house. We’re talking. You didn’t talk last time you were over, but I know something was bothering you. It’s been coming for some time. You aren’t getting off the hook here Tony.”

Tony nodded. “Steak tonight. I’ll bring the beer,” he said.

“Tony?

“Yeah Boss?”

“You…you’re alright to wait til tonight to talk, right? If you need to talk sooner, we can get coffee orâ€"”

Tony blinked back the sudden tears that sprang to his eyes. He was touched by the gentleness and concern in his dad’s voice, but still mystified by it at the same time because they were working! That, coupled with the memory itself…Tony shuddered.

“I’m good,” he said softly, cutting his dad off. “It can wait til this evening.”

“1800 hours. My house. Get the blood samples to Abby. We’ll have to wait on those before we can go forward. This case isn’t going to break before tonight, so we can take the evening off.”

“On it Boss,” Tony said, packing up his supplies.

“And Tony?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t make me come find you.”

TBC…
Chapter End Notes:
Some disturbing imagery and mention of severe physical abuse on a child.
You must login (register) to review.