The Truth Shall Set You Free

-Sfortuna

Spoilers: Only if you don't know who Ned Dorneget is.

Chapter 1: Rough Hands

Ned Dorneget should have known better. Tim was a trained investigator, he caught criminals for a living and was on probably the best team NCIS had, definitely the best team in North America. With the little breadcrumbs he'd inadvertently dropped, it wasn't surprising that Tim had figured it out. Which would have been fine, if he wasn't close friends with people like Abby Sciuto and Tony DiNozzo. They were some of the nosiest people when something intrigued them. Tim must have said or done something to set one of their radar's off and put them on the trail.

How else would Ned have found himself pinned against a bar room wall by Tony DiNozzo?

-NCIS-

Growing up, Veronica Dorneget had always told her son to be true to himself. That had the by-product of getting a young Ned to speak his mind, rather often and most times unwanted. His father called his son "that goddamn motormouth" and could only bear to be with his own flesh and blood when they practiced baseball together. Of course, that also tended to involve the rest of the Dorneget clan; Ned was, at the age of 5, the youngest of four. By the time he was 16 his parents had nearly created enough kids to field a baseball diamond.

One could say that Veronica's advice to Ned was one of the best things she could have told him. In such a large farming family Ned could have gotten lost in the crowd and turned into a neurotic man overpaying a shrink who would only tell him he had an Oedipus Complex and his siblings were really just envious of his talents.

There were a lot of things that could have happened to young Ned. Some of them did, some of them didn't, and that special blend of experiences brought him to attending FLETC and becoming an NCIS Probationary Agent.

-NCIS-

"Uh, Tony? What are you doing?"

Ned's voice came out an octave higher than usual. Special Agent DiNozzo had experience, charm, and at least 15 pounds on him. Not to mention the potential of knowing something that Ned absolutely did not want him to know.

"I discovered something interesting Monday, Dorney. Want to know what it is?"

"Sure?"

Dressed in what was clearly an expensive suit, Tony adjusted his tie (not absent-mindedly, the Very Special Agent was a bit too clever for that) and widened the space between their bodies. That wasn't saying too much, since Ned now had about a foot of personal space instead of a mere three inches. He could still smell Tony's cologne, teasing his nose unfairly.

-NCIS-

"This is a bad idea."

Ten year old Ned got dragged along by his older siblings all the time. Especially since their mom had the new baby.

"Shut up, you have no say in this."

Kenneth, second oldest but first son, was sixteen. He and the next child, Spencer, were thick as thieves and loved to get into trouble just because they could. On the flip side, they were also amazing at baseball and had made the high school team. Kenneth was the second string pitcher, would be the starter as soon as the current one graduated, and Spencer had the makings of a great hitter and outfielder. Them being Ned's older brothers, however, usually meant they were stuck with him instead of their sisters. 'Girl stuff' was always Sandra (seventeen with a face full of acne) and Kaley's (twelve but shot up like a weed and taller than even the boys in the class above her) excuse. Mrs. Dorneget of course took up for them, claiming that girls needed room to grow without a male hormone cloud stifling them. Yet another of her pearls of wisdom.

"Kenny, Spence, we really shouldn't be doing this." Ned started to whine. It got him nothing but a dirty look from Kenneth and a punch on the arm from Spencer. So he shut up and rubbed his arm, eyes darting around the parking lot for someone who would catch them and get him in trouble.

"Done! Okay, let's get outta here."

Kenny and Spence ran off with Ned trying to keep up. The next day their dad grumbled at "goddamn punks" who had delinquent parents. One of the math teachers at the local high school had the back half of their truck blown up by cherry bombs that had been stuck in the exhaust pipe. He was lucky that pressure hadn't built up and a spark didn't travel to the engine.

-NCIS-

Scratching at his chin, Ned thought he probably should have shaved this morning. But it was Saturday, he didn't have to be at the Navy Yard, so he'd slept in and not shaved. Like any other guy.

"See, Probie and I, that is, our McGeek, let slip something very interesting." Tony continued on, shark smile glinting in the dimness of the bar.

Ned shrugged, hunching his shoulders and bending his knees a little in an attempt to make himself smaller. It was a skill he'd learned in junior high and perfected in high school. His t-shirt shifted and gathered at his belt and he tugged self-consciously at the soft fabric. Saturday's meant t-shirts, worn jeans, and sneakers as well as the unshaven jaw. Cornered to a wall in casual wear, he looked like a scrub next to the precise lines of Tony's expensive suit and shoes. Even at work, when he did dress in not-exactly-cheap suits he still felt a piece of space trash next to the star that was Tony DiNozzo.

"Anything you want to tell me?" Tony asked, smile still in place.

-NCIS-

Carol McQueen was the first girl Ned kissed that wasn't a family member. It was in junior high, three months before he would move on up to high school. After baseball practice he went to his locker, remembering to pick up a book that he needed for homework that night. Carol had a thing for the baseball players and followed Ned into the school. There were no teachers to catch or harass them; Carol surprised him while he knelt to dig into his locker. At fifteen Ned was nearly six feet tall and still growing. Little Carol McQueen needed the advantage.

"You looked so hot out there Neddy." She cooed, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He blinked up at her, surprised that she was still around. "Thanks Carol?"

She smiled sweetly and leaned over, giving Ned a great view down her sundress to her still developing breasts, and planted one right on his lips. Rapidly blinking, he grabbed her shoulders to keep her from pushing him over and knelt there while she moved her lips wetly over his. If she'd kissed any other guy on the team they would have had her on the floor in five seconds, mauling her mouth. But Carol kissed Ned.

The now number five out of eight Dorneget children felt none of the feelings other guys on the team would have. Anxiety, fear, a little disgust, all of it adding up to a guy that wanted nothing more than to end this weird misery.

He pushed her back, their lips separating with a petite 'pop' that rang as loud as a bell to Ned.

"T-t-thanks Carol." He muttered, slamming his locker and booking it out of the school.

Ned walked home, wiping at his still-unpleasantly-tingling mouth and spitting a couple of times. Inside, the disgust grew and he knew, he finally knew for absolute certain, that he was even more different from his brothers. He didn't realize he'd forgotten his book for that homework until he lay on the bottom bunk that evening, listening to Garrett (five years old with a terrible lisp that he would need a tutor to get rid of) whimper in his sleep.

-NCIS-

Tony stared into Ned, making the younger man feel like the investigator could see into everything he'd ever said and be able to parse whether it was the truth or a lie.

"Maybe?"

Ned cleared his throat, shrugged his shoulders, and finally straightened. This Very Special Agent had a lot going for him but he was the least of many evils that Ned had lived through.

"Yeah, yeah I do."

Don't Ask, Don't Tell had been revoked; the pseudo-military-ness of NCIS wasn't working against his life anymore. Now it was just individuals and their preferences/prejudices.

"I like you... Tony." He stumbled over the first name, almost spitting out the older man's surname. Habit, more than anything. "I think you're attractive. And... and that's it. You're straight, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable."

He braced for the repercussions of his words and feelings.

-NCIS-

Ned sat at the kitchen table while his mom wiped the blood off his face with a washcloth in one hand and applied styptic with her other. He could already feel the swelling bubbling near his eye and nose while his lip simply bled out. He kind of really wanted to cry, but that would have only made everything so much worse. He glanced over at his brothers, sharing the kitchen sink as they wiped at their superficial scratches and couldn't bring himself to hate them.

"God dammit! You hear me? God fucking dammit I said!" Their father swore and raged in the living room, kicking at the couch as he paced around it. Or at least that's what he probably was doing by the sounds of the thumping and the swearing.

"What is this family coming to." His mom complained under her breath. Ned winced as she wiped hard at a particularly stubborn spot of dried blood. "Brother against brother, what is this?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his brother's glancing back at him.

"I want you to listen!" Their father had probably done nothing quiet in his life. "We are a goddamn family and y'all are going to act like one!" He stalked over to the three brothers at the sink, looming over them. Their father was a tall man, and always would be to his children, but Ned was so far the only one that was within inches of looking the man in the eye.

"Dad, you didn't see-"

SMACK!

Kenneth always did like to aggravate their father. You'd think he would have learned by finally making it to this age.

"I don't give a flying fuck what you thought you saw or did see or fucking whatever!" The red of his face made Ned think of the descriptions of Santa Claus. 'Cheeks all aglow' or something like that. "Ned can be as queer as he goddamn pleases but you will never, never do what you did today ever again. Are we clear?" He glared them down.

Garrett, only eight but clearly being heavily influenced by his older brothers. He mostly watched but couldn't resist getting a couple of kicks in. Spencer, twenty-two and already closing in on an unhealthy fondness for alcohol. Kenneth, twenty-three and the eldest son, playing baseball for the University of Nebraska and with a pregnant girlfriend.

"And you." Daddy Dorneget swung around and pointed a thick finger at his middle child. "As soon as you graduate, I want you out of the house."

Their mom bolted upright, an argument immediately springing to her lips, but she knew all too well what happened to those who argued with Ed not-Edward-or-Eddy Dorneget. He watched her clench her fists, the washcloth dripping cold bloody water onto the linoleum.

-NCIS-

Tony and Ned sized each other up. Ned was more worried about whether or not he should prepare for bodily harm or just the usual DiNozzo wise-cracks. Neither were particularly appealing but, wise-cracks would be a good sign at this point. He'd heard about the very few times Tony had gotten physical with people that were not criminals. He hoped to never bring out that kind of anger in the man.

"That wasn't too hard, was it?" Tony chuckled, and Ned knew he was going to get the embarrassment of the century for a long time to come.

"Hard has nothing to do with it." Realizing what he said, he blushed, the red painting his cheeks down to his neck. Tony chuckled again, and Ned felt a little bit of anger throw itself into the melting pot of his emotions. "I know about how you teased McGee about being gay, I didn't want to make a target out of myself. And if that's all, I'd really like to leave."

Ned darted around Tony, heading for the door, but Tony caught his arm and used his own momentum against him. Against that same section of wall, Ned found his body fully pinned by Tony.

"That really isn't all." Tony breathed into Ned's neck, the moist air raising goosebumps on Ned's arms and the back of his neck. Tony edged back a little, head canted up a bit to be able to look into his eyes. Ned couldn't suppress a shiver as the Special Agent ran his hands across the thin shirt over his chest and down his arms, caressing his wrist bones and then moving laterally to his hips. Ned's brain temporarily blanked, fully not expecting this kind of outcome. Could it be Tony's sense of humor going twisted?

"I'm not messing around. You're hearing from serious Tony right now." The Very Special Agent quirked his lips upwards, just a pale version of his usual smile. "I understand why you wouldn't tell me. I get it, no hard feelings. But I know now, and my question is this: are you willing to try the Real DiNozzo, or do you just want Fantasy Tony?"

-NCIS-

Next Chapter: Ned answers Tony, a trip is made, things are done that cannot be undone...

After seeing the last episode that Dorney was in, I couldn't help but write this. Especially after the season finale! How am I supposed to last until September?