Tony lay on the hard mattress thinking about the moment it all went wrong for him. He supposed it started about the time Gibbs walked in and told us to grab our gear we're heading to Quantico. It was there we found the leg of a woman. It all went rapidly downhill from there. Tony sighed and tried to shift into a more comfortable position but his ribs cried out at him to stop.
Flashback
"Gibbs I didn't do it you have to believe me, I swear I didn't do this!" Tony cried out. They were alone in a spare interrogation room. If Gibbs didn't believe him then Tony would lose all hope and fall into that black hole that's been threatening to swallow him up ever since he turned out to be the prime suspect in the murder case.
"Tony I know you didn't do this, but if this went to court now you wouldn't see the light of day for years. You know I'm doing everything I can to prevent this but with the FBI breathing down our throats and Madame Director doing nothing to help, you will eventually have to go to custody with them until we can figure out what the hell is going on."
"Boss if I go in there I wont come out I can feel it. I just know that I'll lose everything my job, my friends, my Gucci shoes!" Silently thinking to himself he didn't really care if he lost all those things because he knew if he went to jail he would lose the only important thing in his life…..Gibbs.
"Don't panic Tony, look at me, Look at me!" Gibbs tilts his chin up to stare into those deep hazel eyes. "I will clear your name DiNozzo I swear to you." He saw some of the fear leave Tony replaced by something he hadn't seen in many people, a great faith and trust in him. Why the hell DiNozzo seemed to trust him with his very life was beyond him, after all he had lost one good agent who trusted him with her life, and it was possible that he was going to loose another. Thinking of Kate still hurt, but the anger and guilt that used to go with that pain was beginning to recede.
"Excuse me Agent Gibbs, I have to take Tony into custody now. It's only a formality I assure you." Gibbs watched as Tony slowly got up and began to walk away from him led of by Fornell. Gibbs couldn't help feeling his gut was telling him that Tony wasn't just walking away from him here, but was also slowly walking out of his life too. But Gibbs being who he was, was not about to let that happen without one serious fight. Whoever was doing this to Tony was going to find out what happened to people who hurt someone he loved and also why people said the second B stood for Bastard. You could almost feel sorry for the person who was going to the fullness of Gibb's wrath. Almost.
Present
It's hard to believe that was only 3 weeks ago, thought Tony. It felt much longer to him. He knew Gibbs was trying to come here as often as possible, but traveling up to Baltimore prison wasn't something he expected him to do very often. He looked to the opposite cell to see a familiar face grinning manically back at him. He tried to suppress a shudder but couldn't quite hold it back. He had at first, he had refused to let them all see that he was bursting to the brim of fear inside. But soon he felt his braveness, like all other emotions, die away within him. He felt like his very soul was dieing. He knew, even if he miraculously managed to get out of here, that the Tony DiNozzo everyone knew and loved, the few of them there are Tony muttered to himself, would be lost to them forever.
"Lights out"
Left in the darkness once more, with only his memories of Gibbs to comfort him, he could even pinpoint the exact moment he gave up hope.
Flashback
"DiNozzo you have a visitor, get your ass up here now!"
Tony, relieved for the excuse to get away from all the prying eyes in the yard, most of who belonged to people he had helped put away during his time as a Baltimore Cop, ran up the stairs to the awaiting Guard. He was led into a room where he got the biggest shock of his life, across the table sat his father. It was then that the stone dropped and he realised what the hell was going on. For across the table sat his most hated enemy.
"Tony I hope you are keeping well, it is such an unfortunate incident this wouldn't you agree?"
"Father, I should have known, I really should have. It is so obvious that you fingerprints are all over this. The move to Baltimore Prison, of all the places in the world, it was Baltimore. No-one else could have got me moved. I never should have been moved in the first place, but you and your bloody "contacts" seen to that didn't you? The impending court date being so soon, usually there would be months and months to wait, but no mine is next week! God I'm so stupid, how I could not have realised this was you is beyond me."
"I shall neither confirm nor deny those accusations, but I will say this. I have the only evidence that will clear your name son, I know we haven't gotten on in the past but we should put that behind us now, your life is at stake here and you know that aswell as I. For god sake look at yourself, you're a mess. I can see they did not waste too much time getting round to beating the crap out of you for putting them in here in the first place. If you get tried and found guilty you won't last more than another week in here. Let me help you and then this can all be over."
"Help me, you want to ….help….me…. Well that is something you don't hear everyday now isn't it? You get me thrown in year, sorry, sorry, not YOU personally but we all know that you're behind this. You know that I will die in here and so you offer the only evidence to free me but my question is at what cost?"
"You're a smart boy son, I always knew that right from the beginning. You're right Ofcourse I do want a small favour in return for me helping you, but seeing what is at stake is your life I hardly see you are in any position to refuse me. I want you to sign a contract stating that when I die you will take over my company and run it according to the rules stated in the contract. If you do sign the contract and then decide once I am dead that you won't fulfill the terms then you shall go directly back here, and we all know what comes after that part don't we?"
"I knew this was coming, for 15 years know you have been on at me to run your bloody company, which makes money by killing other peoples businesses, forcing people out onto the street, the usual crap that goes with a git being in charge of things and using his "influence" to get what he wants. You really think that I want to be the next face of that company, you think that money and sitting in a fancy chair is what I really want from life? I loved every job I've ever had, each town I was in grew to be my home until you came along each and every time and tore down what I had built. After all you have done to me, what you did when I was a kid, what you are doing to me now, you still think that the lust of money and power will pull me over to your side. You're pathetic really, when will you get it into your head, I am not you, I have never wanted to be you, and I am no son of yours!"
With that said Tony stood up quite calmly went to the door and told the guard that they were quite done here.
"Tony you walk out those doors and your ticket out of here walks with you……Tony…….TONY!!"
Tony had already left and was striding down the corridor to his awaiting cell. But inside he was dieing just to crumple down on the floor and cry and never leave that spot. Because he knew now that the team would never find anything, his father was better than that. He truly believed that his father had the only evidence to free him, but he would not sell his soul just to be a free man. Tony lost all hope he ever had, and from each passing day a little bit of him died inside, until eventually he knew there would be nothing left inside him but a hollow shell. Ofcourse he could die first Tony thought to himself….that cheered him up rightly.
He got back to his cell and eased himself slowly onto the bed, his ribs were severely battered and it hurt even to move at the minute. He woke up sometime later to find someone prodding his shoulder. He thought to himself oh crap Gibbs has found me sleeping on the job again… I wonder why I feel asleep this time… This train of thought which was leading rapidly to a Gibbs Tony make-out was interrupted by a punch to the stomach.
"What the hell?" Tony bolted upright only to grown in pain at his ribs protesting loudly.
"It's been too long Tony, far too long."
Tony knew that voice, it had been haunting his dreams for years after he caught the serial killer. Cold dread washed over him as he looked up into the eyes of the rapist he had brought down in Baltimore, the man who had sworn revenge on him no matter the cost. Cheesy as it had sounded at the time it scared the crap out of Tony after what he had seen the man do to his victims.
"My dear, dear Tony, I've prayed for this day for far too long. It must be fate that landed us in the same cell."
Fate, Tony thought, fate or one very pissed off Father whose reach knew no bounds.
"We are going to have such fun you and I, I hear you will be in here for quite some time. Your know, the guys in here just aren't as much fun as the guys I met out there."
"The guys you met, raped, tortured and finally killed you mean, you sick son of a bitch." In his head Tony was chanting Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, it seemed incapable to comprehend anything else.
"Aw Tony come on now is there need for such rude name calling. We're all adults here and as such should act like one. You can start by laying yourself back down on your bed, incase you haven't noticed the lights are off for the night, and you know Tony the night is when I have my most fun."
Tony tried to think of a way to get out of here, he thought of screaming for help, but how could he do that every night? Maybe he could overpower Luke, but in the battered condition he was in he could barely overpower kitten never mind the bloody giant who was now looming over him. Tony was quickly running out of options as Luke got sick of waiting and threw him down on the bed.
Present
He had considered telling Gibbs about his fathers visit Ofcourse but then a lot of other crap would have to come out aswell. And since he knew there was no way he was getting out of here anytime soon he would really rather not have to do the whole screwed-up childhood story while starting out a window full of bars.
His life in prison was getting into a repetitive nature. The days spent staring out at the sky hoping that a meteor would come and knock the prison down and he could just dander out, hop into Gibbs' car and promptly proceeding to ravishing the living daylights out of him. The nights were spent trying to fend of Luke, but his attempts were futile and his body was steadily getting weaker and weaker. All it would take now was one good beating and he would be gone.
It happened in the showers. 3 men jumped him, from his much weakened condition there was barely anything he could do to fend them of, and in seconds he was on the ground. He was beaten until there wasn't an inch of him that wasn't screaming out in pain. Two men where hold him down while the third landed blow after blow on his body. He recognized the man hitting him, he had thrown him in here in his 2nd year as a cop. He felt his ribs break after a kick to the chest left him winded. He struggled to get enough air into his lungs but was having serious trouble. A blow to the head left his vision blurred and he could feel himself being dragged under and forced into a deep sleep.
This is it he thought, several thoughts ran through his head, but the one that took dominance was of Gibbs. Tears welled up in his eyes at the thought of never seeing him again, never feeling the contact of the slap to the head, never feeling the tingling on his skin when Gibbs crept up behind him. He had always known when Gibbs entered a room just by the affect it had on his skin and his pulse. He wish he hadn't been so scared of telling Gibbs how he really felt, how much he loved the man. Now he would never get a chance. As sleep took him a single tear ran down his cheek at the thought that his love for Jethro had been denied to him.
NCIS- hours before Tony's attack.
Gibbs had never truly earned the second B than over these past 3 weeks. They had been the longest, darkest and hardest of his life, and he had not had an easy life that was damn sure. Everyone knew after the first day Tony had been moved to Baltimore that anyone who got in Gibbs' way was likely to need medical help after he was through with him. The only one who dared cross his path was Ducky, but eventually even he learned the lesson to stay clear of Gibbs.
He tried to visit Tony as often as he could but it was hard with all the cases they were getting. The second one was finished another would pop up and Gibbs' team would be the ones that had to handle it. One would think the director was overloading them purposely but he didn't have the time to deal with her right now.
He knew Abby was working all out to try and find something, anything that could help Tony. He watched helplessly as his team lost the flare they once had. It was as if Tony was the stitches that held everything together, and now that he had been torn out of their lives everything was just falling apart around his feet. Himself included. He had never realised before how much he had depended on the younger man, but it was becoming more apparent that he had grown to rely on Tony's gentle caring nature to get him through the day. He had known he loved the man the second he saw him walk out that door in interrogation. It took all his strength not to run after him and drag him back into the room and lock the door, and god help anyone who tried to take him away. But he let him go, ignoring his gut feeling that he missed his final chance with Tony, trusting that his team would find something, anything to get Tony out of this mess. But they hadn't.
Days went by, and then weeks, and still they hadn't found anything. He went to visit Tony a week ago, and it was like the life had been taken clean out of Tony's eyes. The spark that was what made the younger man who he was had died, and Gibbs wanted nothing more than to kiss the man to death to help bring it back.
Walking into the lab with a vague hope that something had turned up, he found Abby sleeping on the desk. He stood and watched her for a few minutes. She had lost the most out of his team during all this. She no longer believed that the forensics would always lead her down the right path. She started to question everything she did. He knew that nightmares kept her up at night, nightmares that the evidence she had giving has wrongfully put many other people in jail, people who don't deserve to be there like Tony. He walked over to her desk and stroked her hair.
"Abby come on wake up."
She woke with a start, wide eyes that now looked like they were constantly on the verge of tears looked up at Gibbs.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep again."
"Don't worry about it Abby, here I brought you something to drink. Is it warm in here or is that just me?"
"It's not just you I turned the heat up a bit in here in an attempt to stay awake, I guess it didn't work." She watched as a drop of sweat from Gibbs landed on the table.
"Sweat" she murmured.
"What?"
"Sweat!! SWEAT! That's it! How could I not think of this before?!" Abby raced over and grabbed the fibre that was found on the legs. "I can test for sweat. The killer must have carried this fibre around to plant it on the body to frame Tony since it matches his car. Sweat could have dropped onto it, or cigar residue, anything that says that it didn't come from Tony!"
"Well what the hell are you waiting for Ab's? We have to bring our boy home and soon!"
*later*
"Gibbs I found sweat on the carpet fibre I can pull DNA from it and run it through to database and see who the hell has been messing with my Tony."
During all this Chip started to sneak out to the elevator. He knew it was his sweat on the carpet fiber and he also knew when a good time was to make his getaway. The past 3weeks had been pure bliss for him, with Tony out of the picture it was like living on cloud 9. But they were soon going to see his name pop up and he didn't want to be in a 100mile radius of Gibbs when it did.
Baltimore
Gibbs had got here as fast as humanly possible. The name had come up as Chips and as soon as he found the little rat, well it's probably not polite to mention what he had in store for him. Lets just say it involves a dark alley, a very pissed of ex-marine by the name of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and a set of pliers. He rushed down to Tony's cell to find it empty.
"Where is he?"
"H-He was here the last time we checked, sir."
By this stage Gibbs had taken all he could handle. He pulled a gun on the guards.
"Where the hell is my agent" he said calmly. The men's eyes widened in fear, a quiet Gibbs was much more dangerous than a loud one. Even if these guards didn't know Gibbs they could see the look in his eyes and it was one that said find my agent quickly before I put this bullet between your eyes.
"W-w-we'll send out the guards to t-track him down s-sir."
"You do that" whispered Gibbs.
Gibbs found a naked Tony in a pool of his own blood. He rushed over and felt for a pulse. Nothing.
"Get an ambulance!" He was too late. He left him here too long, he knew this would happen, he should have stopped this, he should have found this evidence sooner, and now all he can do is hold his dead lover in his arms.
Medics rushed in and Gibbs was pulled from his feet, wracked with guilt and pain Gibbs fought to get back to Tony, all he could see was Tony, if he just held him one minute more everything would be okay, he just needed to hold him again, just needed to tell him he loved him and Tony would wake up and tell him the same thing. It took 4 guards to hold him back and another to repeat over and over "Sir you need to let the medics work, sir it's out of your hands now."
It finally got through to him. It's out of your hands now. It's out of your hands. For 3 weeks it was in his hands, Tony's freedom sat in his hands all he needed to do was find the key to let it out. But he didn't, he let it sit there for 3 weeks while he worked on other cases. Sure in every spare moment he did everything he could, but he let his cases take priority over Tony and now Tony payed for his mistake with his life. He could never live with himself now. Nothing should ever have taken priority over Tony. He stood and watched as people he didn't even know pounded at his lover's chest. All he wanted to do was shove them aside, tell them to sod off and just sit and rock Tony, just like he was only sleeping. A tear slide town his face as it finally sunk in, Tony was gone, he was in front of him not 2 paces away, but he was further away than he had ever been from Tony in his life. He couldn't reach out and touch the glow that was once Tony, couldn't stroke his hair and tell him how foolish he was not to have realised his love for the man sooner. Now all he could do was stand and look down into Tony's vacant eyes and realised that his love for Tony has been denied a chance.
As the tear hit the ground someone shouted out "We've got a pulse!"
Story Notes:
There will be a 2nd part to this story.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Gibbs desperatly tries to save an imprisoned Tony.
Chapter End Notes:
There will be a 2nd part to this story.