I don't own NCIS or the characters I'm only borrowing them for my own enjoyment.
"You eat when the case is solved." Gibbs growled as Tony took a bite of his burger.
"But." Tony protested.
"No buts" Gibbs growled again. "Go back to the marina, and find me something."
"Yes boss." Tony sighed dropping the burger back down on his desk and grabbing his bag.
Tony took one of the cars and went back to the marina where a young Petty Officer had been found dead near his father's boat. There were signs of a struggle but no prints on the body or on the boat. Petty officer McPherson had been on a week's leave and it was thought he was spending time with his father. His father and his 14 year old brother were nowhere to be found.
Tony sighed as he parked the car. He pulled his coat tight around him to help block some of the cold. He found it a bit strange that the petty officer chose the middle of January for a vacation, especially if they were planning on sailing.
After grabbing his bag Tony hurried onto the boat and started going over everything again. The boat was small enough, it had 2 tiny bedrooms and a kitchen area below deck it seemed well kept and tidy with the exception of 1 of the bedrooms where the brothers most likely stayed. It was in here Tony left for last and started searching.
After half an hour of going through everything Tony discovered a small hollow area under the bottom bunk. He carefully removed the mattress and looked underneath to find several books and sketch pads. He removed these and started looking through them. He was disturbed by the images shown. Whoever drew them was very good and very detailed. They were done in a comic book style and they showed a teenager being beaten up by an older man. In later drawings it showed the teenager being rescued by a man in his mid twenties. Tony went through all the sketch pads to find they all have similar drawings telling similar stories. He bagged them as evidence and after doing another sweep of the boat he went up on deck. The rain had started pouring down at this stage so Tony quickly ran back to the car. After putting the evidence in the trunk Tony was soaked through. He got into the car and headed back to the office. After dropping the car off he went to the bull pen to show every what he had found.
"Did you find anything?" Gibbs asked when he saw the younger man enter.
"Maybe." Tony replied holding out the sketch pads. "I found these in the bedroom with the bunk-beds."
"Where did you find them?" Gibbs asked angrily. "I searched that room and found nothing."
"They were in a small compartment under the bed." Tony explained. "We used to have similar ones on my father's yacht although they were much bigger. Anyway I remembered those on my father's boat so I decided to check."
"And you couldn't have thought of this earlier DiNozzo." Gibbs yelled.
"Ah sorry Boss won't happen again." Tony apologised. "These sketches show a young kid being beat up by what appears to be his father, and then being rescued by what appears to be his brother. I think that the father is beating, Raymond the younger brother, and our Petty Officer tried to save him. It resulted in a struggle and the father knocked Petty Officer McPherson over and he hit his head off the boat and died."
"We need evidence to back up this theory." Gibbs said. "Did you find anything DiNozzo?"
"Not at the scene boss." Tony replied. "I'll just ah get on that."
"You do that." Gibbs replied and headed up to the director's office.
Tony sat down behind his computer and started searching as did Ziva and McGee.
Gibbs returned half an hour later not looking very happy.
"What have you got?" Gibbs growled
"I ah, got onto Raymond's school and they aren't aware of any problems at home." McGee said.
"I have spoken to their Doctor and he has never noticed anything out of the ordinary. Raymond plays sports and has had some injuries because of it." Ziva added.
"DiNozzo?" Gibbs said.
"Well I've contacted one of his friends through his my-space page and he seems to think that the father was beating him up, but the Ray never said anything. He apparently always had a lot of bruises."
"But the bruises could be explained by football injuries Yes." Ziva asked.
"He only started playing football last year." Tony continued. "And according to Philip he had bruises long before he started playing football. He possibly took up football as a way to explain the bruises."
"That is stupid." Ziva said. "Why would you take up football to hide bruises?"
"Because that way, when teachers and Doctors ask you about them, you can explain them, without being worried that your father is going to kill you when you get home." Tony replied.
"Why would the child not just tell someone?" McGee asked.
"Because the 'someone' they tell doesn't always believe them." Tony replied getting angry. "Then when they are brought home they get beaten again. Eventually they stop telling."
Ziva and McGee exchanged a worried glance, before looking back to Tony who had since sat back down.
"We need a way to find them." Gibbs ordered. "If he was beating the kid up and he told his brother, then the kid is going to be in trouble for telling."
"We have a BOLO out on his car with pictures of Ray and his father." Tony said.
"Why would a parent hit their child." Ziva asked "And why would he only start hitting Ray now and not his brother."
"His wife died 4 years ago." Tony said. "Our Petty Officer had moved out by then."
"Why would he start hitting Ray because his wife had died?" Ziva asked.
"Some blame the child, or sometimes if the child looks like the dead mother it makes the father angry to look at the child." Tony said. "Sometimes it's because the father used to hit the mother, and now that the mothers isn't around, he moves to the kid."
"You seem to know a lot about this Tony." Ziva said missing the looks from both Gibbs and McGee.
"Yeah." Tony agreed not looking up from his computer.
Ziva said nothing more and the room filled with an awkward silence.
Tony's phone rang a few minutes later with a hit on the BOLO.
"Gear up." Gibbs ordered and the group rushed out.
20 minutes later they arrived at a small petrol station on the outskirts of town. They quickly went inside to talk to the owners.
They confirmed the pictures and said that the boy looked a bit beat up. They told them the father had bought some food and a map of the local woods.
"Ok McGee, Ziva head back and see if you can find anything that might be of interest to him in this area. Tony and I are going to look in the woods."
"Sure boss." McGee agreed and he and Ziva hurried away.
Gibbs and Tony spent the next 2 hours searching the area for any signs of the pair. By the time Gibbs called it a night they were both soaked and freezing.
Gibbs told McGee and Ziva to go home and be back early in the morning. Gibbs drove Tony back to NCIS to collect his car and then they both headed home.
When Tony arrived home he jumped into a hot shower and stood there for half an hour trying to get warm. When he finished he went to bed and quickly fell asleep.
Tony woke to his cell ringing. Checking the time to make sure he wasn't late, he answered the phone.
"DiNozzo get your ass in here." Gibbs barked. "We've got a sighting of the McPherson's."
"On it boss." Tony replied quickly getting out of bed.
He quickly got dressed and had a quick wash and shave before driving to work. There was no traffic at 5 am so he got there in 15 minutes.
"Where the hell have you been?" Gibbs barked as Tony came out of the elevator.
"Uh I came as soon as you rang." Tony defended.
"Ziva and McGee managed to get here." Gibbs growled. "Get to the car we need to go."
Tony sighed and the group quickly headed to the garage and took 2 cars.
They had received a call from some hunters who had spotted a car that matched the BOLO. It was parked outside an abandoned cabin in the woods.
They arrived near the cabin 20 minutes later. They all got out and surrounded the cabin, with Tony and Gibbs taking the front door, and Ziva and McGee the back.
"On three." Gibbs said to the others.
"1, 2, 3."
"NCIS. We're coming in." Gibbs called as Tony opened the door.
"What the hell." The man grumbled sitting up.
"Maurice McPherson, You are under arrest for the murder of Petty officer Adrian McPherson." Gibbs said as Tony cuffed the older man.
"Are you ok?" Ziva asked Ray who had shoved himself into a corner.
"Yeah." Ray answered softly.
"McGee, David." Take Mr. McPherson to the car.
Ziva and McGee took the suspect as Tony moved near to the boy/
"Hey, he won't be hurting you anymore." Tony said crouching beside Ray.
"Yeah sure." Ray replied. "That's what Adrian said."
"Your father is going away for a long time." Tony assured. "I won't let him touch you."
"You little bastard." The father growled as he broke free from McGee and rushed towards Ray.
Tony quickly got between the two and tackled Maurice bringing them both down hard.
McGee and Ziva pulled the man up and dragged him out to the car.
"You ok Tony?" Gibbs asked pulling Tony to his feet.
"Yeah I'm fine." Tony replied. "Come on Ray lets get out of here. You can come in our car."
"Yeah ok." Ray agreed with a small smile and followed the two men to the car.
When they arrived back at NCIS Maurice was lead to interrogation room 1 and locked in, still cuffed. Tony brought Ray down to autopsy so Ducky could check him to make sure he was ok.
Ducky quickly checked the teenager
and after cleaning him up sent him back up to the others. After
getting Ray some soda and candy, Tony let him to interrogation room 3
and they both sat down.
"Ok Ray, I need to take your
statement about what happened." Tony explained.
"Yeah ok." Ray agreed hesitantly.
"Don't worry your father won't know what you've said." Tony assured. "So why don't you start by telling me why you were in Washington.
"My father decided he wanted to come to see Adrian. Adrian was taking a week off work so we could hang out. He said that if I told Adrian that he was hitting me that he'd kill me."
"How long has your father been hitting you?" Tony asked softly.
"He started soon after my Mom died. Before that he never touched me or Adrian."
"Did he ever hit your Mom?"
"Yeah I think so. I didn't really notice before, but she always had bruises and sometime cuts. I thought she was just clumsy, cos I'd never seen him hit her. After she died he started hitting me and I realised he had been doing the same to her. When I was trying to explain the bruises I sounded the same as my mother used to. One of the teachers at school saw the bruises and rang my father. He hit me hard that night. I started playing football a while after that. It was a good way to explain the bruises."
"Did you tell your brother what had been happening?"
"No, I was afraid my father would find out and beat me worse than he normally does."
"What happened the night your brother died?"
"Adrian arrived at the boat early and saw my father hitting me. He said nothing at first and we went out for dinner. When my father was gone to the toilet he told me what I saw and asked if had happened before, so I told him.
When we got back to the boat, Adrian confronted my father about it. My father got mad and started yelling at me. He went to hit me but Adrian stopped him. They started fighting then and my father pushed Adrian and he tripped over a rope and slammed his head off the side of the boat. My father checked and said he was dead. He dragged me onto the boat and after hitting me some, he made me gather my things. Then we went to the car and drove away. He brought me up to the cabin where you found me."
"We are going to do all we can, to make sure he doesn't lay another hand on you." Tony assured the boy.
"Thanks." Ray replied. "I actually believe you. Did your father hit you?"
"What makes you ask that?"
"You are thee first person I've spoken to who really seems to know what you're talking about. You're the first to ask about my Mom."
"Yeah my father used to hit me." Tony confirmed to the shock of the rest of his team who were watching.
"What age were you?"
"I was six. It started after my mother killed herself."
"My mom killed herself." Ray added. "I was so angry with her at first, but now…now I understand why she did it."
"Yeah I felt the same at first. But after a while, I even thought that she had the right idea." Tony said.
"Yeah me too." Ray agreed and held out his arm, showing Tony his wrist, which had a small scar. "I even tried once, but I couldn't go through with it. How did you explain the bruises?"
"I was apparently a very clumsy child, that's what my father told everyone. Most people didn't notice. I had a nanny; she noticed, but was too afraid to do anything about it. I took up basketball and football at school so I always said it was related to them. I got very good at hiding when I was hurt."
"Yeah like now you're hiding that your ribs are soar." Ray smiled slightly. "You get good at seeing these things in other people, when you do it yourself."
"Yeah." Tony agreed.
"How did you get away from your father?" Ray asked.
"I didn't." Tony sighed.
"When I was 12 he disowned me and sent me to boarding school. He still hit me every time I came home. I moved out when I finished school."
"Oh, that sucks." Ray replied.
"Yeah it did. But hey I'm still here and now I'm in a position to help kids in the same boat as I was."
"Yeah that's cool." Ray agreed. "Is that why you are doing this?"
"It's why I became a cop." Tony replied. "It felt good to be able to do something to help. At NCIS I don't get as many cases like yours but I'm still helping other people."
"That's cool Tony. Thanks for talking to me."
"No problem kid." Tony replied standing up. "I'm going to get this processed. Do you have any relatives you could stay with?"
"Yeah I have an aunt who's really nice. She's my Moms sister."
"Ok I'll give her a call." Tony said as he left the room and headed back to his desk.
Tony sat at his desk and gave Rays Aunt a call. She was very upset by what had happened and was on her way. She would be there in the next few hours.
"His aunt is on her way." Tony said, seeing Gibbs and the others walking towards him.
"Good job Tony." Gibbs said. "Now how about you get yourself down to Ducky and let him check you out."
"I'm fine boss." Tony assured.
"This isn't negotiable." Gibbs growled.
"Someone needs to let Ray know his aunt is coming and let him out of the interrogation room." Tony protested.
"McGee will do that." Gibbs assured
"Fine." Tony growled pushing his chair back and standing up.
The next thing they know Tony had collapsed in a heap beside his desk.
"Ah crap." Gibbs said quickly moving beside his agent. "Ziva get Ducky up here."
Ziva quickly called Ducky as Gibbs gently moved Tony into the recovery position.
Ducky and Palmer arrived a few minutes later to find Tony still unconscious.
"What's happened here Jethro?" Ducky asked.
"Not sure Duck." Gibbs replied. "I think he might have hurt his ribs earlier."
Duck moved beside his patient and after doing some checks he pulled out the smelling salts.
"Mmm." Tony mumbled as the salts were held under his nose.
"Ah there we go Anthony. Are you back with us?" Ducky asked.
"Um yeah, where'd I go?" Tony replied looking around.
"You fainted." Ziva explained.
"DiNozzos don't faint." Tony said and sat himself up.
"Easy Anthony." Ducky scolded. "Now would you like to tell me what happened?"
"I don't know Duck." Tony replied
"Lets get you down stairs and I can have a look at you."
"Fine." Tony sighed and stood up.
He started swaying so Ducky and Gibbs steadied him at either side and brought him down stairs.
When they reached autopsy, they helped him up onto one of the tables.
"Now Anthony tell me what's wrong." Ducky said as he stuck a thermometer in Tony's mouth.
"I'm a bit dizzy." Tony admitted as Ducky attached the blood pressure cuff.
"Mmm. Your temperature is up a bit as is your blood pressure." Ducky observed. "Ok get your top off and I'll have a look at your ribs."
Tony sighed but done as Ducky had ordered and removed his top.
"My, my, that must have been some impacted." Ducky said as he looked at the already forming bruise on Tony chest side and back.
"Yeah he was fairly strong." Tony agreed.
"This wouldn't explain why you fainted." Ducky said. "Have you been feeling unwell?"
"No." Tony replied as Ducky started listening to his chest.
"Has Brad said anything about your lungs at your last check up?"
"No he said they were the same."
"Well that's good. I assume he warned you about being out in the rain and cold weather for too long." Ducky continued.
"Yeah he has."
"Ok lad from the sounds of it I say you might be developing a cold. But that still doesn't explain the fainting. This reminds me of a friend I had in college, who fainted once a week for no reason at all. It was most peculiar"
"Ducky." Gibbs interrupted.
"Oh yes." Ducky said turning back to Tony. "You seem to have lost some weight dear boy. Have you been eating properly?"
"All that junk food he eats wouldn't be considered proper eating." Gibbs said.
"When was the last time you had a proper meal?" Ducky asked.
"Ah um I'm not sure." Tony replied awkwardly.
"When was the last time you ate?" Ducky asked.
"Um yesterday." Tony admitted.
"What did you have yesterday?"
"Um a slice of toast."
"What else?" Ducky asked.
"Nothing." Tony replied.
"Good god, no wonder you collapsed." Ducky scolded. "I'm going to get your blood sugar levels, hold out your hand."
Tony did as instructed and Ducky pricked his finger and placed the blood on a slide.
"Jimmy would you go and get some candy for Tony so we can get his blood sugar levels up." Ducky asked as he checked the levels
"Yes of course Doctor." Jimmy replied and hurried out the door.
"Yes your blood sugar levels are dangerously low." Ducky confirmed. "You need to take better care of yourself."
"Are you trying to get yourself killed DiNozzo?" Gibbs barked. "Why didn't you eat?"
"Why didn't I eat?" Tony laughed. "If you remember, you ordered me not to eat until we had this case solved. I was about to have a burger and fries yesterday but you made me leave it and go back to the marina. I didn't get home till near midnight, so I just fell asleep and this morning I didn't have time."
"Jethro you can't stop the boy from eating." Ducky scolded just as Palmer returned followed by McGee, Ziva, Abby and Ray.
"Why weren't you letting him eat Gibbs?" Abby asked crossly.
"I didn't mean for him not to eat." Gibbs defended "Just not while he was supposed to be working."
"Gibbs he's spent the last 3 days working from the time he gets up till the time he goes to sleep. When do you expect him to eat?" Abby yelled.
"Somewhere in between." Gibbs sighed.
"When did you eat yesterday?" Abby asked him.
"I had Tony's burger and fries." Gibbs admitted.
"So while you had Tony out in the pouring rain yesterday, you ate his dinner while you should have been working. That is not nice mister."
Tony had started eating the bar Jimmy had gave him and watched the argument somewhat amused. Tony gave a small laugh which caused Abby attention to snap to him.
"Tony you need to take better care of yourself." She said looking hi over. "You've lost weight and you can't afford to get sick. How long were you in wet cloths yesterday?"
"A few hours." Tony admitted as he pulled his shirt back on. "Look I'm fine, nothing to worry about."
"You are most certainly not fine." Ducky said. "You are in need of a good meal and some rest."
"Yeah ok." Tony agreed. "Me and Ray here are going to go get a bite to eat."
"Me." Ray asked.
"Yeah I'm sure you haven't had much to eat in the past few days."
"Yeah your right I could eat." He agreed.
"Great, we'll be back in an hour or so." Tony said standing up from the table.
"See you guys later." Tony called and he and Ray went into the elevator.
"So Ray, where would you like to go?" Tony asked as they walked along the street.
"I don't mind, I'll eat anything."
"There's a nice Italian place around the corner." Tony suggested. "I think that would be considered proper food."
"Yeah I love Italian." Ray said.
Tony led the way to the restaurant and they both ordered big portions and tucked into the food. The food was gorgeous and neither of them left a scrap of food on the plate.
"I'm stuffed." Ray said leaning back in his chair.
"Me too." Tony agreed. "We should head back; your aunt should be here soon."
"Yeah." Ray agreed as they headed out the door. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Does it get any easier? I mean dealing with what your father done to you."
"Yeah eventually." Tony replied. "It still hurts, to think that my father hated me so much, and I think I'd be terrified if I saw him again, but normally I'm ok with it."
"Do other people know what he did to you?"
"No I've never told anyone" Tony replied.
"Thanks for telling me. I know the guys you work with will probably know about it now. So thanks."
"It's no problem kid." Tony assured and they headed back to NCIS.
When they arrived back Ray's aunt was there waiting for him
"Oh Ray you poor thing." she gasped when she saw him enter. She pulled the boy into a tight hug with tears running down both their faces.
"Hey Aunt Karen." Ray greeted pulling away from her. "Thanks for coming."
"I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner. I left straight away but with traffic." Karen sighed
"It's fine. Tony brought me out for lunch." Ray said nodding to Tony.
"Thank you for taking care of him." Karen said to Tony.
"No problem." Tony smiled. "Have you signed all the paper work?"
"Yes, Agent Gibbs had me sign some forms." She replied "I'm going to be Ray's guardian."
"That's good." Tony replied.
"You are free to take him now. We have your number if we need to get you." Gibbs said.
"Ok so Ray, take care of yourself." Tony said handing the teenager his card. "Call me if you need anything, or if you just need to talk."
"Thanks Tony." Ray said and hesitantly moved away.
"What's wrong?" Karen asked as Ray stopped and turned around to Tony.
"You need to stop letting people abuse you Tony." Ray said glancing at Gibbs. "It may not be the same as what your father did but well."
"I'll be fine Ray. Thanks." Tony said.
"Thanks again, for you card I don't know how its going to be but it's good to know I can talk to you."
"No problem Ray. It will get easier." Tony assured the boy and after a quick smile Ray and his aunt headed for the elevator.
When the elevator door closed Tony sighed and returned to his desk and sat down.
"What do you think your doing DiNozzo?" Gibbs growled
"Ah doing my report boss." Tony replied avoiding the older mans eyes.
"Ducky said you need to get some rest." Gibbs said
"Yeah but I need to finish my report first."
"You can do it tomorrow." Gibbs said.
"We both know that isn't going to happen." Tony said. "If I don't do it now I'll be back in later to do it. Let me finish it then I'll go home."
"Damn it DiNozzo." Gibbs growled.
Tony gave him a quick smirk and continued writing his report.
A half an hour later Ducky arrived in the bull pen.
"What are still doing here Anthony?"
"Just finishing off my report." Tony replied. "Then I'm going home."
"You see that you do." Ducky scolded. "What did you have for your lunch?"
"I had a big plate of pasta." Tony replied. "And some chocolate cake."
"Good, you need to put on some weight." Ducky said.
"He needs to finish his report so he can go." Gibbs interrupted. "And he can't do that while you're talking to him."
"Quite right Jethro." Ducky agreed and turned to face Gibbs. "Now why didn't you make him go home?"
"He said he'd only come back later to finish it." Gibbs defended.
"If it was the other way around, you would make him stay." Ducky said.
"The last thing he needs today is for someone to be bullying him around." Jethro said quietly.
"But it was ok every other day that you've done it." Ducky sighed.
"No." Jethro agreed. "But I didn't know about his father."
"No, you weren't sure about his father, but you've had suspicions for years." Ducky replied.
"You know I can here you." Tony interrupted. "I'm the same guy I was yesterday. Don't treat me any differently just because I had a crappy childhood."
"I'm sorry Anthony. I didn't mean anything by it." Ducky apologised.
"Here's my report Gibbs." Tony said not acknowledging what Ducky had said.
"Go home and get some rest Tony." Gibbs ordered as he looked over the report. "Good work."
"I'll see you guys tomorrow." Tony said as he picked up his bag.
"Make sure to have a good dinner." Ducky added as Tony reached the elevator.
"I will Duck."
"I cannot believe that Tony's father beat him." Ziva said when the elevator closed.
"Is it really that unbelievable?" Duck asked "We have heard many tales from his childhood. His father certainly did not show him any affection. Is it such a leap to think his father may have hit him?"
"No, not when you put it that way." Ziva admitted.
"Should we say something to him?" McGee asked.
"Like what." Gibbs asked. "You heard what he just said."
"Yeah." McGee agreed.
"We just need to treat him normally." Ducky said. "But Jethro, you do need to give the boy a break every now and then.
"I know Duck." He admitted
"Tell him he did a good job every once in a while." Ducky continued. "The boy looks up to you as a father figure. Your praise would do him a world of good."
"I'll try Duck. I'm just not good with feelings. I have 3 ex wives who will testify to that." Gibbs said. "Look just finish up for the day. We'll see how we get on tomorrow."
"All right Jethro." Ducky agreed and headed off.
"You too can go as well." Gibbs said. "I'm going to go to Abby and fill her in."
With that Gibbs quickly headed to Abby's lab.
"Gibbs what are you doing down here." She asked as he entered. "I have nothing for you."
"I know Abbs. I just came to talk about Tony." Gibbs admitted.
"Is he gone home yet? You know you really need to be nicer to him. This thing with not letting him eat, it isn't the first time. And you never do it to any of the others."
"Yes he's gone home. And he knows I'm just pushing him to make him a better agent." Gibbs defended. "But I know sometimes I push him too hard."
"Too hard? I'm surprised he hasn't left NCIS already with the way you push him. No one has managed to stay with you as long as he has" Abby said. "And if he does leave, you will be in big trouble mister. You need to make sure that he knows you don't feel any different about him now that you know about his father."
"I'll talk to him tomorrow." Gibbs said.
"No you go over to his place now and talk to him. Tomorrow might be too late." Abby ordered.
"What do you mean too late?" Gibbs barked. "Too late for what?"
"He came down here earlier. He had his backpack so I think he was leaving." Abby explained. "He was really quite and gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead and said goodbye. I think he might be leaving us. He never says good bye, it's always see ya later or something. I'm worried Gibbs."
"I know Abby I'll go talk to him." Gibbs assured and after giving her a kiss and telling her to go home, he headed for his car.
Gibbs headed home and changed his clothes. He then headed to Tony's with a quick detour to get some beer. When he arrived at Tony's apartment the door was locked, so he gave a hard knock and waited. He heard some noise on the other side and after a minute the door opened.
"Boss, what are you doing here?" Tony asked in surprise.
"I came to see how you were." Gibbs replied. "I brought some beer."
"Right." Tony replied still standing at the door.
"Are you going to leave me standing here all night?" Gibbs asked.
"No, ah come in." Tony sighed and stepped away from the door to allow the older man in.
"Have you eaten yet?" Gibbs asked as he stepped inside.
"No, not yet." Tony admitted. "I'm only after getting in."
"Why where were you until now?" Gibbs asked as they went to the sitting room.
"Ducky called Brad to see if I was telling the truth." Tony explained. "Brad then called me and asked me to come in so he could check me himself. So I've been at the hospital."
"And what did he say?"
"Same thing as Ducky. He gave me a shot." Tony said rubbing his arm. "Just some vitamins or something and he gave me antibiotics."
"I thought Ducky said you were just getting a cold." Gibbs said as they when they had sat down.
"Yeah but Brad said my lungs sounded a bit wheezy so I needed them. Ducky told him I'd been out in the rain, so he said he wants me to take them just in case."
"Did he tell you to take time off work?" Gibbs asked
"He said to rest and take time off if I felt any worse." Tony replied. "Do you want some coffee boss, I just put some on."
"Yeah sure, you stay there and I'll get us both some." Gibbs said standing up. "What do you want to order in for dinner?"
"Whatever you want is fine." Tony replied as Gibbs went to the kitchen.
Gibbs returned a few minutes later with 2 mugs of coffee and a menu for a Chinese.
"You had Italian today so I thought we could have Chinese." Gibbs said as he handed the coffee to Tony.
"Yeah ok." Tony agreed and looked through the menu.
When Gibbs had picked what he wanted Tony placed the order.
"So Gibbs what are you really doing here?" Tony asked.
"I came to make sure you were alright." Gibbs replied. "I know I pushed you too hard. And I'm sure today was no picnic."
"Because of the case or because I collapsed." Tony asked.
"Both."
"Yeah." Tony agreed.
They sat in silence just sipping their coffee for nearly half an hour. When the food arrived Gibbs insisted on paying to make up for the food he stole from Tony.
Tony grabbed some plates and they took the food and started eating.
"That was good." Tony said laying down his empty plate.
"Sure was." Gibbs agreed putting his plate down.
"Do you want to watch a movie or something?" Tony asked.
"Sure." Gibbs agreed. "I'll bring the plates to the kitchen, you pick something out."
Tony picked out a film and had it set up and ready to go when Gibbs returned carrying beer.
"Can you drink this if you're on the antibiotic?"
"Yeah I don't have to start them until tomorrow." Tony assured and took the offered drink.
The two men sat and enjoyed the beer and the movie. When it finished Gibbs decided to try and talk to Tony again.
"Abby's worried you might leave." Gibbs said.
"Oh."
"Yeah she thinks I might have pushed you too far." Gibbs continued.
"Did I push you too far?" Gibbs asked when he received no reply from Tony.
"Maybe, I'm not sure." Tony replied looking at the floor.
"I'm sorry Tony; I never meant to push you that much"
"Thought apologising was a sign of weakness."
"Not between friends." Gibbs replied. "Look I'm not good at this stuff but if you ever need to talk about anything I'll listen."
"I'm good." Tony replied awkwardly.
"I know you think everyone will look at you different, because we know about how your father treated you, but we won't."
"Yeah that's what they said in Philly, but it didn't quite work out like that." Tony sighed.
"As Ducky said it's something I've suspected for a while." Gibbs replied "Same for the others. You've told us enough stories about your father that it wasn't that surprising. You're a good man and a good agent despite of everything you've been through."
"Thanks." Tony replied.
"I know I can be an ass at times, that's not going to change, but if it's getting too much, tell me. I've told you often enough that the second B is for……"
"Bastard. Yeah I know." Tony interrupted.
"Take tomorrow and the weekend off and get some rest Tony." Gibbs said standing up. "I'll see you back at the office on Monday."
"Yeah thanks boss." Tony replied as he stood to see Gibbs to the door.
"And call if you need anything." Gibbs added as he walked out.
"Will do boss." Tony smiled before he closed the door and headed back to the sitting room. After Tony tidied up a bit he went to his bedroom. He pulled the open suitcase off the top of his bed and put it back in the closet.
"Maybe I'll stay here another while." He said to himself and got ready for bed.
The end