Return to the Innocence
By Glow60
Summary – This story is a sequel to "I See You". I wanted to write it for the reviewers who wanted another story about Tony's purple friend Tac. This story is pure fantasy so if you do not like this type story please do not read it.
Early one morning, three children disappear without a trace? When Gibbs and his team are sent to investigate, they uncover something almost out of one of Grimm's fairy tales. With the help of Tac, Gibbs and Tony are transformed into small children so they can go into Tac's world and bring these children back to their families.
Things to remember
Gibbs – seven year old
Tony – five year old
Tac – When Tac is in his human form he is called Thomas.
If I mess up please forgive me.
Chapter 1
Tony had spent the last two weeks looking for a new apartment. He knew it was time for him to move out of Gibbs' house before they ended up killing each other. He could tell they were both getting on each other's nerves. To Tony the last straw was the day he accidently threw the older man's coffee out by mistake. He had to run out to the store in the middle of the night to find Gibbs' special brand of coffee before Gibbs found out. It took him over two hours to find it. Tony had really appreciated everything Gibbs had done for him but he needed and wanted his own space.
Ducky had called him early this morning because he had a friend who owned several nice apartment buildings not too far from NCIS. One of the apartments had just become available. The M.E. took Tony over to check the place out. Tony liked it the moment he saw it. In many ways this apartment was much better than the one he use to have. It was a two-bedroom apartment with very spacious rooms. It also had an outside private balcony that overlooked the swimming pool. What he really liked the best about the building was that it had a working elevator and if the elevator broke down he only had two flights of stairs to climb. Tony with the help of Gibbs, McGee, Palmer, Ziva and Abby moved into it that Saturday.
On Monday, Tony was cleared to go back to work as long as he stayed at his desk. He needed to see Dr. Rachel Cranston for a couple more sessions before she would clear him for fieldwork. Tony was still having some nightmares about being left alone in that white padded cell for so long. The sessions were kind of hard for Tony because he had to be careful what he said. If Cranston knew the truth she would probably have him locked away forever.
It was two weeks later when Tony was finally allowed back into the field. Things were starting to get back to normal. Tony was his usually annoying self but nobody was complaining. They were just too happy to have him back especially Abby, McGee and Ziva. Even Gibbs would smile every now and then at his senior field agent when nobody was looking.
A month had passed since he had last seen Thomas at the party. Tony had hoped it would also be the last time he saw his purple friend for a while but Tac had decided to hang around. Tony laughed to himself when he remembered Tac showing up at one of the crime scene.
Tac the Investigator…
The purple creature started showing up at some of the crime scenes and wanted to help with their investigations. Only Tony and Gibbs could see him. Tony knew he was in trouble the moment he saw Gibbs trying to stare down his purple friend. Tac just kept smiling at him, which made Gibbs even angrier.
Gibbs finally pulled Tony, "DiNozzo, if you want to keep your job you had better tell your friend to stay way from these investigations. We don't need him here."
"He's your friend too. Besides Boss, all he wants to do is help us. He doesn't really mean anything about it."
Gibbs smacked the back of Tony's head, "If it wasn't for you I would have never met him. Now you tell our friend to stay away or you will be working delivering pizzas. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Boss, I will have a talk with him."
Tony did as he was told and finally convinced Tac that he was fine and to go spend some time with his other children. Tac looked like his feelings were hurt a little but he knew his Smiley was right. He should go and see his other children.
Present Time…
Several months passed; SecNav wanted to impress a foreign diplomat friend of his. Jarvis told him that he would have two of his best field agents escort him and his wife around the Washington DC. Vance had given that protection detail to Tony and Ziva. Gibbs was not happy about it but there wasn't much he could do at the time.
It was early in the morning when a call came in that three small children were missing. Each child had a parent that was in the marines and that parent was serving a tour overseas. Gibbs and McGee left to interview the families and friends to see if they could find out what happened and return the children to their families. The mothers of the missing children had told them that the power had gone out throughout the neighborhood. When they went to check on their children it was when they discovered them missing. Gibbs and McGee asked each of the mothers if they noticed any strangers hanging around the neighborhood recently. The parents told them no but they did mention for the last few weeks their children kept talking about a purple man hanging around the outside of the window asking to come in. The parents had called the military police but nothing became of it. All three mothers just wrote it off as their children's imagination. Gibbs remained calm as he wrote the information down. He needed to talk with Tony as soon as they all got back to the office.
Just outside of DC…
He stood there and watched as the three little human children were huddled together. They had not stopped crying since he brought them here. He could see the fear in their eyes and at the moment he really didn't care because now they belong to him. He took one last look around. He really hated this place and swears he will never come back. He was going home and he was taking these younglings with him. A few seconds later a bright light surrounded them and he and the children vanished. The power went out throughout the area...
Back at NCIS…
It was late in the evening when Tony and Ziva finally returned to the office. Gibbs grabbed his senior field agent and dragged him into the elevator leaving Ziva standing there by herself. She immediately ran to McGee to find out what was up with that. McGee told her he had no idea what was going on.
Gibbs pressed the down button and immediately stopped the elevator between the floors. He told the younger man what he found out about the missing children. He wanted to know if it was possible that Tac could have taken these children. Tony looked surprised. He couldn't ever picture Tac taking the children from their homes. Tony shook his head. "No…No Boss there is no way Tac would have done anything like that. He might do something to the person who neglects or hurts children but he would never take them away from people that love them."
"Are you so sure DiNozzo? How many purple people do you know?"
"Boss, I know Tac and he would never do that and I would bet my life on it."
"You better be damn sure about this because back when we were not sure if you were ever going to be back to your normal self, the doctor had wanted to send you to some kind of nursing home. Tac threatened me if I did that he would take you away from here and I would never find you. Who is to say he wouldn't do that with some small child?"
"Boss, I still don't believe Tac would have done that besides he says there are others of his kind that exist here in our world. Maybe it was one of them?"
Gibbs just stared at Tony for a few seconds, "Alright, is there a way you can contact Tac so we can talk to him."
"I don't know, I have never tried to do that."
Thomas/Tac Returns…
It was Saturday and Thomas/Tac finally showed up at Tony's apartment door. He knew eventually his child would need him but it didn't expect it so soon. Instead of just popping into Tony's apartment, he decided to be polite and ring the doorbell first.
Tony was hungry and getting ready to make himself a sandwich when he heard the doorbell chime. He walked to the front door and looked through the peephole and saw Thomas/Tac. Tony immediately opened the door and pulled his friend inside. Tony was so afraid Thomas/Tac would take off before they could talk.
"Where have you been? It's about time you showed up. I have been trying to get a hold of you since yesterday."
"I have been here and there visiting my children just as you suggested I do. Smiley, don't you remember a certain person telling me to go visit my other children?"
"Yes I remember, but right now something has happened and Gibbs needs to talk to you. Please don't go anywhere. You just stay right where you are. I need to call Gibbs and let him know you are here."
While Tony made the call, Thomas/Tac decided to look around Tony's new apartment. He really liked the setup. He was now wondering if there was a vacant apartment in this building. He could just imagine Smiley's face when he finds out they were neighbors. It would be so much fun.
Once Tony got off the phone he noticed that Thomas/Tac was no longer in the room with him. He immediately started to panic. As he ran from room to room, he finally found his friend in the kitchen checking out Tony's refrigerator. "Smiley, I thought Ducky told you to start eating more fruits and vegetables? I don't think strawberry ice cream or cold pizza can count as a fruit or vegetable."
Tony just gave him a dirty look. "I didn't ask you here to talk about my eating habits."
It took Gibbs only ten minutes to arrive at Tony's apartment. As soon as he walked into the apartment he immediately began to question Thomas/Tac about the missing children.
"Whoa…Gibbs, I don't know what you are talking about. I have not taken anybody's children. I have been tempted many times but I have never done it. It's not my way of doing things."
"We interviewed the parents of the missing children. They said before their children disappeared their children saw a purple looking man hanging just outside their windows and he was trying to get them to let him inside. The parents called the military police and they could not find any trace of anyone being by the window. A couple of the parents were so worried they had put cameras by the window to see if they could catch the man. All they saw on the video were their children talking to nobody. They called the experts but they were told their children will not grow out of it and not to worry."
"Gibbs…I promise you I didn't do it but someone from my world might have."
"Why would one of your people take three human children?"
Thomas/Tac looked at Gibbs, "As I told you months ago, we cannot have our own younglings anymore. We love children and miss them in our world. If one of them thought these children were in danger they might have taking them."
"Have your people taken human children before?"
"Yes under certain circumstances."
"And what were they?"
"In the past, there have been many bad unthinkable things happen to children. Some of my people may have taken them back to our world to save their lives."
"We have talked with the neighbors about these children and their parents. These children are from very good homes and their parents love them dearly. The neighbors whom we interviewed said the only complaint the children ever had against their parents was that they missed their fathers and wanted them to come home. Why would one of your people take these kids?"
"I cannot speak for my kind. I can only speak for myself. I know it is getting harder for us to find children we can bond with. If we do not we will fade away. Most of lonely children these days spend a lot of time watching TV's and playing on the computers and no longer need an imaginary friend."
"There are many kids that live in poverty all over this planet. Why not help these kids?"
At the moment, Thomas/Tac didn't care for Gibbs' attitude or his questioning. He was starting to feel as if he had to defend himself and his people. "Gibbs…you are wrong about the children who live in poverty. Yes…many of them are growing up in very bad horrible situations but they still have family members who love them. My friend, what you seem to be having trouble understanding about my kind is we befriend and bond with the younglings who have nobody to love or care for them. These are the children who can live in a house full of family members and yet nobody even acts like these little ones ever existed. They need a friend even if it is an imaginary one and we supply them with that need. In today's world it is getting harder and harder for my kind to find these children because of the Internet or TV have taken over their attention. They just don't seem to need us anymore."
"What do you mean by bond with?"
"We take them into our hearts. Just like I did with my Smiley here. I was there as a companion and protector for him while he was young. I will always be in his life. I can sense when he was hurting or in trouble."
"I am going to asked you again. Would any of them have taking these children?"
"I won't lie to you Gibbs, but it is very possible that one of my kinsmen could have taken them. As to why they did it I can't tell you."
"Is there a way you can find out?"
"Sure, give me a few minutes. Where do these children live?"
Gibbs gave Thomas/Tac the information. Tony realized what Thomas/Tac was about to do and tried to stop him but he was too late. Thomas/Tac had already disappeared in a flash of light and then the power went out. Tony hoped his landlord could not trace the power failure back to him. He really liked this apartment.
It wasn't long before Thomas/Tac reappeared. He realized the power was out and apologized to Tony. He turned and looked at looked at Gibbs. "I went to the site and I could tell by the smell that one of my kind had been there."
Gibbs looked at Tony and then back to Thomas/Tac. "Okay…where would have taken these kids?"
"I don't believe they are still here on Earth. I believe he would have taken them to my world."
"Why would you think that?"
"Trust me if my kind has taken these children then that have taken them to my world."
"How do you travel to your planet?"
"The same way I travel on Earth?"
"Is there a way you can go to your world and find out if these children are there or not?"
"If I were to go alone, I might bring suspicion to myself." Thomas/Tac looked at the two humans. He smiled as an idea came to him at the moment. "I got it, I can take you both to my world but there will be one stipulation."
Gibbs was almost afraid to ask, "And what is the stipulation?"
Thomas/Tac had a wide grin on his face, "You will have to go as children."
Tony looked at Gibbs and then back to Thomas/Tac and smiled, "I hate to break the news to you my old friend but Gibbs and I have already gone through puberty years ago."
Gibbs couldn't help it, "DiNozzo I will be the judge of when you went through puberty. I am still waiting for it to happen."
"Boss that really hurt."
Thomas/Tac ignored their bantering, "Well, do you want me to take you there or not?"
"Why can't we go as ourselves?"
"Adult humans are not allowed in my world. A couple of millenniums ago, one of my kinsmen invited a human into our world. He stayed with us for very long time. Eventually the human decided to return to his world and he had convinced my kinsman to allow him to take several of our sacred creatures with him. When our leader found out he became very angry because these creatures were precious to our world and him. We tried to bring the creatures back to our world but they didn't survive. It broke our leader's heart and he was so distraught over the deaths of his precious creatures that he himself faded away. His wife took his place as leader; she banned all adult humans from our world. If any of us tried to bring a human into our world we would be forever locked away with no contact with anyone. To us it would be a death sentence…"
Thomas/Tac looked at the two humans, "Gibbs and Smiley…in your world these creatures were know as the Unicorn, Griffin, Phoenix and the Pegasus."
Tony couldn't help it, "Are you telling me these creatures are not a myth and that they really did exist?"
"They still do exist in my world."
Gibbs spoke next, "If humans adults are banned on your world why would your people take human children who will eventually turned into adults?"
"As long as they stayed in our world they will never grew up. They will always remain as children. Eventually some of them will want to go home. My kinsmen would take them back to earth and try and help them to assimilate back into the human society. It usually ended up being a bad experience for them. They very seldom live to adulthood. Most of them would commit suicide. They just couldn't handle the change. It was then decided that we would not bring any of them to our planet but not all of my kind agreed to it. There are some in other parts of my world who still keep children as their own."
Gibbs just stared at Thomas/Tac for a few seconds out of disbelief. To him all this sounded like a fairytale or some very bad nightmare depending on how you looked at it.
Thomas/Tac waited a few seconds and then he finally asked, "Do you want me to take you there or not?"
Gibbs looked at Tony. He could tell the younger man didn't like the idea any more than he did. Gibbs thought about it for a few minutes but he didn't see any other way around it. They needed to go there and see if they can find the kids and bring them home. "Okay, I will need to let Vance know that Tony and I will be undercover for a while."
Thomas/Tac smiled, "You won't need to make any calls because that is the beauty of spending time in my world. Time has no meaning. When we return not even a minute will have passed."
Gibbs took a deep breath, "Okay…what do we need to do?"
"You two just need to sit down and close your eyes. I have never done this before so I am not sure how it is going to affect you."
Gibbs and Tony sat down and closed their eyes like they were told. It didn't take them long before they started to feel funny and then blackness took over. It was a few minutes later they started to come around. "You can open your eyes now."
When Gibbs finally opened his eyes and looked around the room. His eyes settled on the five-year-old boy sitting next to him. The child was wearing clothes that were too big for him. Gibbs had seen pictures of Tony when he was just a little boy and knew this little child could be nobody else but his senior field agent. Gibbs looked down at himself he was also wearing clothes that were too big. He hopped off the couch and walked over to the TV and looked at the reflection of himself. He couldn't get over how young he looked. He couldn't have been more than seven years old. He looked back at Tony. The little boy was smiling at him. "Hey Boss, you were really a cute kid when you were young…"
Please let me know if you are interested in reading more. If you are I will try my best to post weekly.
