Important A/N: So, here is another AU that wouldn't leave me alone! I mean I've read some very good Kid!Tony stories by great fic-writers and I couldn't resist the idea. So here's my own version.

This is a collection of separate stories, but one story-line might not end in one chapter.

The stories of this collection are not exactly related to one another. When one story-line ends and a new one starts, it won't have anything to do with the events of the last one; there won't be a reference to it or anything; you could even pretend the last one has never happened if you like! They're totally separated. The only common thing between all of them is the fact that Gibbs and Shannon have adopted Tony and Abby and Kate and Tim might come to their house for some of the stories.

It all will become clear once you read the first part of the first chapter and that's why you need to read at least the first story to get familiar with the idea.

Also, there's no order in the way I post the stories of the series; that is to say in one story Tony could be 8 and in the next one 7. It merely depends on how they come to my mind, but in any case, the information about their ages and all other needed explanations would be given during the story; pretty sure you won't feel lost.

Again, all you need to know about how the kids have come to stay with Gibbs, who Gibbs and Shannon are and the information about everyone's past are given in the first chapter of the first story -this one-, and these are the things that'd remain the same for every story of this collection.

Also, in this universe, Kelly has never been born. No more explanation is needed, I guess; If you read the first chapter, everything will be clear.

WARNING: Beware of the references to disturbing images such as child abuse.

Remember that these stories all take place when the four kids of this series were actually kids; that'd make it sometime before 1980, so far.

Hope you like it.

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- Miles to Go -

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They had Tony the longest; it was now the third year that Tony was living with them and the 8 year old boy -or as Tony liked to say; almost 9- was doing much better than when he'd first come to their house. He now laughed easily and seemed full of life and of course he was a little mischievous, like any other boy his age would be.

Sadly, he was still being haunted by the nightmares of the years he'd spent with his real father; the guy who'd been either absent or if he'd been present, he'd be drunk and punishing his small son for one reason or another.

Tony didn't remember much of his real Mom; she'd died when he'd been just three; had killed herself to be exact. What Tony remembered about her was her lifeless, glazed over eyes, gazing at the ceiling, and the blood that had covered her clothes, her wrists and hands and the very colorful Persian carpet on which she was lying. Tony also clearly remembered the horror he'd felt when he'd seen that scene; the crippling fear, that to this day, he still felt in his bones. He'd been the one who'd found his mother's body and had been so shocked and scared that he'd stood there for very long minutes until one of the staff had finally come to that room and her screams had brought everyone else running to the scene to see what had happened.

That had been precisely the beginning of Tony's extended nightmare; his father who prior to that day always ignored his existence and never even answered his calls and questions, was now completely aware of having a son; a son who could be the punching bag for his rage and he'd made sure to take advantage of that opportunity whenever he was nearby. The words that had been said to the boy during those years and the damage that had been done to him, mentally and physically would never completely disappear, but, at least, after two and a half years of living with the Gibbs, he was now able to hide his immense pain, his fears and even smile and laugh like the little boy he was.

The Gibbs had first seen him when he'd tried to escape his father's house when he'd been 6; they'd almost run him over with their car, but fortunately Gibbs' reflexes, and of course the brakes of their car, were good enough to prevent a tragedy from happening. They hadn't hit Tony with their car, but the boy had collapsed nevertheless and once they got him to the hospital, they realized that the internal bleeding from the beating that he'd suffered at his father's hands and probably the pain had been the cause of his collapse.

The CPS had been called next and after months of trying to prove themselves, Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Shannon Gibbs were the proud parents of little Tony, who at the time was so traumatized that he barely spoke, barely ate and never even smiled. But well, they were good parents and did everything in their power to fix those problems the best way they could.

They'd been unable to have any kids of their own; they'd tried for years and had finally given up and if either of them believed in coincidences or luck they'd have called it their luck that they had decided to get a certificate of being eligible for adopting children right before they'd run into Tony. Their prior efforts made it much easier for them to prevent Tony from getting lost in the system and they were thrilled about it and about the fact that they'd found an amazing boy like little Tony, who despite being traumatized, was very polite and well-behaved, really kind to everyone -young and old- and truly sharp and clever.

After Tony, they soon adopted another child; a little girl, named Abby, this time. She was full of life and energy from the beginning; she'd lost both her parents in an accident and although she missed them, she didn't remember much to mourn; she was only four, two years younger than Tony and had spent a while in a foster home, because people didn't want to adopt a girl who collected bugs and loved to play with spiders.

Abby didn't take to Tony straightaway; she didn't like that Tony wouldn't talk to her and wouldn't play with her and thought he was one of those boys who thought girls had cooties and she hated those boys. But after a while, she realized that it wasn't just her that Tony didn't talk to or play with; Tony was very quiet in general and liked to just either read his books or watch TV and even that happened when he was alone; for some reasons, Tony always shied away from everyone and that made Abby think of him as a little bunny who was stuck in a hole and so was scared of everything and since she loved helping bunnies, she made it her special mission to make Tony realize he didn't need to be scared.

Jethro and Shannon were very pleased with how Abby brought Tony out of his shell and they helped any way they could; making it clear to Tony that things were different in his new house; that he was loved and wouldn't be punished for just being alive; or for anything else, in case Tony wondered.

Those two were their real kids now and they'd decided that they wouldn't adopt any more kids; but it didn't stop them from taking care of other kids if it was needed; for example, there was Katie, who was 9 the first time she came to stay with them; she was the daughter of one of Shannon's friends and since she'd been really sick, Shannon had volunteered to take care of her daughter so she could concentrate on getting better; Katie was bitter because of that and what she enjoyed the most was bickering with Tony and teaming up with Abby against Tony who was the only boy there. Tony didn't mind it; he was sharp and always came up with his own ways of teasing Kate; so they were good; and if every now and then they did things that'd hurt each other, they'd move on quickly. Sometimes, Kate would say things that reminded Tony of his time with his father, but he always hid it, because he didn't want to be mocked by the two girls who were always around him and besides, he loved Abby and he liked that Kate was there to play with them, even if they, sometimes, excluded him from their games or would team up against him.

Then came Tim; he wasn't an orphan either and he wasn't taken from his abusive family; he did have a family and they weren't abusive at all; in fact his mother always showed him that he was loved and his father, although very strict and scarce with positive words; never hurt his child, not even with his words; he just had a very high expectation of his son, but he'd never let anyone hurt his son. But because of his job, they had to move around a lot and lately they'd realized that all the moving was leaving negative effects on their child and after some talks, they'd been convinced to let the boy stay with a family for a few weeks and if that worked out, he'd stay with them for the school year and go home to his parents, wherever they were, for the holidays and the whole summer.
The Gibbs were the family that Timmy was sent to; Gibbs' military background had been approved by Tim's father and the Gibbs had thought the addition of a little boy to their family could balance the situation since it seemed like that Abby and Kate had taken control of everything in the house.

What they hadn't expected was Tim getting so close to Abby so quickly; they were both almost 7 now and shared many interests when it came to books and video games.

What Gibbs and Shannon didn't notice even after Tim came to live with them for the school year was that now all the three children were teaming up against Tony most of the time and that they all excluded him from their games; Tony had tried to keep up, refusing to let his playful mind go to that dark place where his father and his blood-covered mother were hiding and waiting for him. But little by little, the boy started to see more glimpses of those scary shadows and to keep them away, he started to get more creative; more mischievous and more desperate to make the other kids play with him or the parents notice him. And it became a cycle; the more he tried, the more snappish the other kids became and even Abby didn't play with him much; she preferred spending her time with Kate and Timmy now and she seemed to never have time to play with Tony with his action figures. Tony was willing to play video games with them, even though he didn't like those games all that much; but they wouldn't let him; a couple of times, they'd even told him that he wouldn't get how to play those games because he wasn't as smart as the rest of them and he'd just make them lose.

That had hurt Tony, which led to him trying to play tricks on them, which was a step towards them getting more upset with him and complaining to the grownups about it; Shannon was more patient with them, but Gibbs was losing it; he'd snap at Tony to play nice or not to tease the others or just leave them alone and Tony would stop for like 5 minute, looking chastised, but then he'd start again, which was grating on Gibbs nerves.

So you see, a vicious cycle, really! There was no way to get out of it and what happened because of it was a disaster waiting to happen.

When it happened, it was an evening when Shannon was at the hospital working a night shift, so the kids were alone with Gibbs. The man was making dinner for them and at the same time was trying to figure out what they were missing in their case that they couldn't solve it. He had recently become a Junior Agent at NIS and was actually enjoying his new job and the mystery that came with it; but Mike Franks, his boss, could be really irritating at times and it wasn't always easy to make a breakthrough in their cases. So, that night, his mind was occupied; he was tired from work and the kids wouldn't stop running around.

"For the last time; do not run in the house." He hollered from the Kitchen.

Just as he was trying to concentrate on the notes he'd taken during the case, a girlish scream came from the staircase and then a loud thud followed it. With his heart in his throat, he ran out of the kitchen to find Abby lying on the ground with Tony kneeling beside her, looking at her worriedly, murmuring words of apologies.

"What the hell is going on here?" He knew that Shannon would have his head if she heard him using that language, but she wasn't there and well, he was.

"It's Tony's fault." Kate spat angrily.

"What? No." Tony looked frightened, but Gibbs was seeing red; his baby girl was lying on the floor, crying her eyes out, with blood on her arm and a forming bruise on her forehead. Seeing that, something in Gibbs snapped; he rushed to her side and in the process of reaching her, he grabbed Tony's arm and with much more force than needed on a kid, he pulled him away from Abby and shoved him aside. His mind didn't even register the gasp that left Tony's mouth; all his focus was on Abby.

"Shhh, it's alright, baby. Let me see your arm." He soothed.

"It hurts." Abby wailed.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry, but let me see. OK?"

"Dad?" Tony's tentative voice irritated him even more.

"I told you not to run in the house." Gibbs turned his head and snapped at the little boy. "You've been getting more and more irritating and I don't know what the hell to do with you anymore. I'm this close-..." Taking a deep breath, he used a calmer, yet colder voice to say, "Get the hell out of my sight."

"Da-"

"Don't." He cut the boy's word off. "Don't say a word. I don't wanna hear you. I don't wanna see you. Get to your room and stay there. I'll deal with you later."

The angry, reddened face; the harsh words and threats and the behavior Tony saw in the man, in that moment, were the exact things that he'd wished and thought he'd never see again; but here he was; he'd screwed up again and now he was going to be punished. His father had been right; it was all his fault; he should've never been born. Gibbs was the nicest man he'd known and now even he couldn't stand him and was going to deal with him. Deal with him! Those were the words that his father always used when it came to him.

With trembling chin and fearful eyes, Tony dropped his head to his chest, muttered a quiet 'sorry' and walked up the stairs to his room to wait for his punishment there. He'd always known that his life here was too good to be true, but he'd let himself feel comfortable; he'd let his guard down; he'd become a bad boy and now he was going to pay for it; maybe Gibbs would send him away; or maybe he'd keep him and punish him for being there like his father used to do. And once again, Tony felt he deserved to be punished; because he was a screw-up who always ruined everything. He didn't mean to, but it happened nevertheless; he'd just wanted to play with Abby and the other kids, but... No; he couldn't blame anyone but himself; it was all his fault; he should've just stayed in his room; quiet and out of sight; that was what he was supposed to do; his father had always told him that he was nothing but a disappointment and that he shouldn't be seen or heard and he'd forgotten those rules here and now Abby was hurt because of it.

Downstairs, Kate and Tim who didn't know anything about Tony's past, felt satisfied that he was going to be punished; maybe this way he'd leave them alone. Abby was too distracted to realize what had happened and Gibbs was too worried about his baby girl to notice what kind of damage he'd caused.

Picking the small girl up in his arms, he walked to the bathroom to clean her scratched arm and to check her for any other injury; after half an hour of close examination, he finally sighed with relief. The girl was fine; no broken bones and no serious injury; the bump to her head wasn't anything serious either and the girl had calmed down and was now giggling at something Kate had said.

"OK, let's go eat dinner." He said when his nose registered the smell coming from the Kitchen. "We don't wanna waste the food that I've spent so much time on, do we?"

The kids giggled and followed him to the kitchen; none of them caring that Tony wasn't there with them and Gibbs still too mad or maybe shaken to remember they weren't all at the dinner table; there were so many things going on in his head that he simply didn't see what was happening in front of him or who was there and who was not.

Once the dinner was eaten, the kids were sent to get ready for bed. An hour later, they were all tucked in their beds and Gibbs felt quite happy with himself, feeling like a good, capable father. With a content sigh, he grabbed a mug of coffee and went to the living room to once again go through his notes and see if he could find a way to crack the case. Unaware that that night, Tony didn't go to bed; he didn't do anything; he just sat in the corner of his room, shaking quietly with fear as he waited to be dealt with. The little boy finally fell asleep in the corner of his room around two in the morning.

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TBC ...

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A/N: Share your thoughts with me?

Also, I know this is just a Kid-fic and completely AU, but some of the ideas I use are triggered by the actual events of the show; I sure have exaggerated here because this is a fiction and an AU for that; but some of the behaviors we saw on the show were actually kinda childish or they were problems that weren't dealt with properly, so, they seemed kinda appropriate for these stories.

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I don't own the show and its characters and all mistakes are mine.