Tony emerged from his own shower, dressed in a Baltimore PD T-Shirt and a pair of sweats, to see Gibbs paying off the Pizza delivery boy at the door.
"I thought we'd eat in. You mind?"
Tony inhaled. "Pepperoni, sausage and extra cheese? How could I mind?"
"DiNozzo, I don't care how observant you are there is no way you can tell that from just the smell." Gibbs carried the box into the lounge area, leaving DiNozzo to trail after him.
"Of course not, Boss, I just know that .." Tony switched focus. "You think I'm observant?"
Gibbs hid his smile as he made his way towards the couch. Trust DiNozzo to pick up on that.
"Can I have that in writing?"
"No."
"On tape?"
"Not a chance."
"In front of witnesses?"
"Only if you are unconscious."
"Fine, I'll tell Abby, then she can tape it." Satisfied, DiNozzo took the box from him, sank down on the couch and opened the box, pulling out a slice.
"There's beer in the bar," Gibbs offered, as he settled beside him. "Or we could break open that bottle of Jack?"
"No," Tony tensed slightly. "I'm fine."
Gibbs sighed. He wasn't good with words. Not anymore. It was one of the reasons he had ex-wives. But he'd never had any problem with actions. Levering himself to his feet he crossed to the well stocked bar and picked up the bottle of Jack and two glasses and carried then back to the couch, settling all three down with a clink on the glass coffee table. Without a word he broke the seal on the bottle of Jack, pouring a generous measure into each glass.
"You are not your father." he said quietly, holding out a glass.
Tony hesitated, but finally reached out, his fingers curling around the glass. "Thanks."
"You don't usually have a problem." Gibbs observed, as he picked up his own glass and sat back.
"No," Tony agreed, taking a sip of the amber liquid, feeling its comforting burn ease the tightness in his throat. "I'm not usually thinking about him either."
"He drink a lot?"
"Its not in my file?"
"I can't have a conversation with your file."
"Every evening, on a good day. On a bad day, it was just better to be off his radar."
Something about the way he said that caused Gibbs' gut to twist. He gave DiNozzo a mild sideways glance as he asked. "He hit you?"
"Usually he was too busy working to even notice what I did." Tony shook his head.
Anyone else might have missed it. The tone was so casual, unconcerned, it sounded like Tony had answered in the negative. Gibbs reached over and took a piece of Pizza, chewing slowly and swallowing before he spoke.
"Usually?"
"He broke my nose once," Tony shrugged. "I had it fixed when I was in College. They showed me all these pictures of noses and told me they belonged to different movies stars. Turned out the one I picked belonged to Melanie Griffith."
"It's a good look on you."
"Thanks, I thought so."
"How old were you?"
"I was twelve. My Principal wanted to enter me into programme for academic achievers. He wanted me to ship me off to boarding school so I could concentrate on Sports. He figured I'd be more popular and meet more of the right people that way. Marry the right girl. Learn the right social skills. We fought. He won. I lost."
"Really? You'll have to introduce me to her sometime."
"Who?"
"This society girl you married."
"Oh. Right. Got it Boss." DiNozzo smiled. Maybe he had won that round after all.
"You gonna eat that?" Gibbs waved at the Pizza Box.
"Yeah, sure." DiNozzo snatched up the last slice and began stuffing it into his mouth.
"And you're two for two." Gibbs murmured.
***
Tony woke to find that he had fallen asleep on the couch and that someone had thrown the comforter from his bed over him. Blinking slightly he tried to remember what had happened the night before and was relieved to see that the bottle of Jack on the coffee table was still two thirds full. Gibbs was sitting on the floor near his shoulder, reading a book.
"There's coffee." Gibbs spoke without looking up.
"Tell me something I don't know." Tony rolled off the couch, wrapping the comforter around his shoulders and padding towards the kitchen area, rotating his neck slightly to work out some kinks.
"You talked about Stuart Warren in your sleep."
"Oh." Dinozzo filled a mug and took a long swallow, barely noticing as the hot liquid burnt its way down his throat. "I haven't done that in a while."
It had been one of his first cases at NCIS. A Marine intent on turning his slight, bookish, step-son into a real-man had taken the child out into the wilderness to teach him survival skills. On the final day of their trip he had dumped the boy with a compass and minimal supplies several miles from civilisation and told him to find his way back. Three days later a Hunter had come across the child's mauled body, still wearing his step-father's baseball cap, in the woods. It had haunted him for months afterwards.
"You better not be lying to me, DiNozzo."
"I swear," he brought his coffee back to the living area and sat on the coffee table so he could look Gibbs in the eyes. "I thought I was over that."
"I told you back then. Some things you never get over. You just learn to live with them better." Gibbs rose gracefully to his feet and padded barefoot over to the coffee machine. "Grab a shower. We have to go down for registration at 0900."
Afterwards, Tony was glad that some sixth sense warned his that this was definitely a suit day. The well cut jacket and nicely tailored pants earned him several admiring looks as they went out for breakfast and then lined up with the rest of the conference delegates for their badges and schedules for the day.
"Advances in Chemical and Biological Threat Detection?" DiNozzo read, as they settled into their seats for the first session. "Sounds like Abs kind of thing."
"You need Abby to tell you the difference between Anthrax and Athlete's foot power DiNozzo and you'd better start looking for another job." Gibbs growled, earning a shocked look from a female delegate settling into the seat on the other side of him.
"You'll have to excuse my Boss," DiNozzo leant over him to smile at her. "He doesn't like enemies he can't shoot."
***
Four hours later DiNozzo felt like he could recite every white power known to man. He rubbed his nose. All right, so the session hadn't been entirely useless, but no detective worth his salt would investigate a suspicious packet by simply opening it.
"Why do they always say that?" He wondered out loud, trailing after Gibbs who already half way down the escalator as he made a beeline for the Starbucks in the lobby. "I mean, when they train us to look for suspicious packages they always say that the address might be misspell or wrong, right?" He plunged on, not waiting for an answer. "Well, how can that be? If a guy is smart enough to make a bomb he's got to be smart enough to figure how to write the address."
Gibbs gave him an odd look as he waited in line for his coffee.
"So, the funeral is tomorrow?"
"Yeah," DiNozzo sucked in a breath. He had been trying not to think about that. "There's a Funeral Mass at 10am, then a service at the Graveside. I have the details back at the Hotel."
"Seems kind of short notice." Gibbs observed mildly.
"I wouldn't have known at all if an old buddy hadn't called Philly. Someone there got in touch."
"Your father didn't call?"
"Didn't call. Didn't tell me. Doesn't know I'm coming."
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs fist clenched as he resisted the urge to smack the younger Agent. "You haven't seen him since you graduated College. You planning on just walking on in there?"
"Pretty much," DiNozzo paused. "That in my file?"
"No," Gibbs almost winced. He hadn't actually planned on letting that slip. "I spoke to your Aunt."
"Aunt Teresa called you?"
"About two months after you joined NCIS. She wanted to be sure that I'd give you a fair chance. For what's its worth I liked her. She was a feisty lady."
"Redhead." Tony's lips quirked a smile.
"Really?" Gibbs smiled as he placed his order and then paid for his coffee. "I wish I could have met her."
With unspoken accord they headed out towards the exit, in search of something better for lunch than the finger food provided by the conference organisers.
"Um, about that Boss. You don't have to come with me tomorrow."
"Yes, Tony. I do."
"Really? Thanks Boss. That .. um .. means a lot to me."
"Because if I have to sit through another of those techno geeks psycho babble lectures. I'm going to rip someone's head off."
"I knew that."
Gibbs hid his smile as he pushed open the heavy plate glass door, only to feel the hairs on the back of his neck go up at the sight of a large, expensive looking, black car parked at the kerb. As he watched the chauffer came around the car to open the door. As the man emerged onto the sidewalk Gibbs didn't need Tony's gasp of surprise to recognise Anthony DiNozzo Snr.
Author's Chapter Notes:
When an unexpected death means DiNozzo has to face his estranged father, Gibbs is determined he won't face this ordeal alone.