The Aftermath

A story to right a couple of wrongs, imo. Which are: The season13 finale and The disintegration of the father/son relationship between Gibbs and Tony. And, it's fast becoming a kind of catch-all for the crappy things that have happened in the series.

"What are you going to do?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, first I'm gonna get a blood test on her. And if she's mine, I'm gonna take her home." Tony answered, his head still spinning over this latest revelation.

"If?" Gibbs started.

"Yeah if, Gibbs." Tony replied a little annoyed. "We didn't have a relationship. It was a one-time thing. Nothing that…should have produced…."

"A tiny DiNozzo?"

"Exactly." The agent replied. "I was careful. She was on the pill…she said."

"Accidents happen." The Team Leader replied.

"Tali's what…18 months old? That's what they said, right? A year and a half…that's 547 days. That's 547 times she could have told me. Oh, and plus the 9 months before that. That's 270 more days." Tony paused and sighed. "So, two years, let's say. She had two years to tell me about this little…miracle of ours. Technically, it 2 years and 3 months, but since I don't know when she found out she was pregnant…."

"Can you get over this?" Gibbs asked.

Tony just looked at him.

"Can you get over your anger and raise your daughter?" Gibbs asked.

"If she is mine, yes." Tony replied. "It's not Tali's fault she was brought into the world under these circumstances. I can't blame her for that. She is the only innocent in all this."

"What if Ziva had told you?" Gibbs asked.

Tony looked at him for a moment.

"Would you have dropped everything and went to Israel? Would you have resigned? What?" The team leader asked.

"I don't know." Tony answered honestly. And he didn't know. He had no idea. He had not had time to even think about the 'what-if's.' There was too much reality staring him in the face. "I haven't even had time to think about the reality of it all, Gibbs. I'm a dad. Just a few minutes ago, I was just a guy working for NCIS. Now I'm a dad working for NCIS. I need a little time to process here."

Gibbs looked at Tony and smiled.

"What?"

"You're gonna be a good Dad." Gibbs replied.

"She might not be mine, you know." Tony replied.

"Consensus is that she is."

"Well, consensus is gonna have to wait until the blood tests come back." Tony retorted. "It's not like I can call Ziva up and ask her."

"Ziva told her friend that you were the father." Gibbs reminded him. "And she said Ziva regretted not telling you."

"Maybe she did, Gibbs. May all that is true, I don't know. I have to take the word of a woman I have never met before about somebody else who had been lying to me for two years." The agent sighed. "But it doesn't change the fact she kept it from me. What else am gonna find out, Gibbs? What else don't I know?"

Gibbs shook his head. He didn't know how he would have felt if something similar would have happened to him. He couldn't imagine the betrayal and anger Tony must be feeling right now.

Tony had gotten up and started to pace, he ran his fingers through his hair.

"How long did Abby say it would take?' Gibbs asked.

"An hour…a day…I don't know. She started explaining how the test worked. I just zoned out. I have no idea." Tony admitted.

"Ziva was…." Gibbs started.

"I know how you felt about her, Gibbs. And I don't want to tarnish that memory. But she was not, at all, what she seemed. I mean the first thing she did was lie. Don't you remember that? The real reason she was even here, in the states, was to take care of Ari. Have you forgotten that? I wonder if Sheppard knew about her ulterior motive."

Gibbs looked at Tony, surprised.

"She takes family leave at the same time Ari's body is sent back to Israel?" Tony replied. "That didn't strike you the least bit…odd? Of course, I didn't find that bit of information out until a year later."

Gibbs didn't know what to say. He had no idea how Tony found out, or that he even knew.

"Jenny and I got…chatty when I was working undercover." Tony explained.

The team leader looked at his agent. Something else was going on. "What aren't you telling me?"

Tony sighed and sat back down. He paused for just a second. "When we were on the homegrown terrorist case…."

Gibbs nodded. He remembered the case.

"Well, I came back to the car after checking the neighborhood…. They had no idea I was coming back to the car, Gibbs. They had turned down the volume. I had told them, over the mike, that I was done, and I was coming back to the car. But, when I got there, they were shocked. They hadn't even unlocked the door for me. They jumped when I knocked on the window. Ziva had a crossword puzzle in her lap and McGee was checking his email. They told me the thing about the volume when I got into the car. Ziva actually told me, as a joke."

Gibbs couldn't believe his ears. He opened his mouth to speak.

Tony shook his head. "I didn't' tell you because, well, at the time I didn't want to get them in trouble. I thought I could have been wrong. I don't want to think that my partners would be that careless with my safety." Tony shook his head, again. "Then, of course, there's Israel."

"What about Israel?" Gibbs asked, almost afraid of what the agent would tell him.

"Ziva knocked me to the ground and held a loaded gun on me." Tony replied.

"What!" Gibbs couldn't believe his ears. "What you said…that actually happened?"

"Yes, it did."

"What? Why?" Gibbs didn't know how to reply. He was far, far too shocked.

"I didn't think that you would believe me, Gibbs. That's why! That's exactly why I didn't tell you."

"Tony, I…."

"No Gibbs, you two had this…thing going. She saved your life, or so you thought." Tony said, stopping him. "You two were…you were thick as thieves. I mean…you hand-picked me and liked me and we didn't get that close that quickly. I knew that there was something…there. I just didn't know what."

Tony stood and paced and Gibbs watched him silently. He knew the young man was not finished with what he had to say.

"I had a moment of weakness…lust…drunken abandon. I don't know. But, I admit it. I admit it happened. We had a one night. That was it." Tony shook his head. "I would never have a relationship with a woman who treated me the way she did." He paused. "She said that I was dead weight. You have to remember that particular episode, Gibbs, because you were standing right there. You let her get away with a whole hell of a lot of crap, Boss. She was not Kelly. She could never replace Kelly."

"Don't tell me how I felt about my daughter, DiNozzo!" Gibbs said, standing to confront Tony.

"I'm not telling you how to feel about anybody. I am telling you the truth!" Tony replied. "Ziva was not capable of being the person you wanted her to be, Gibbs. I'm sorry, but fact is fact."

Gibbs brooded, but didn't speak.

"Get angry with me if you want, Gibbs. Walk away, whatever! But don't act like you don't know what I'm saying is true. The guy that I knew before, before the explosion and PinPin Pulha, that guy would have kicked her to the curb as soon as he found out she had duped him. But the mustache-wearing, Hawaiian-shirted beach bum. He…I didn't know that guy. That guy let her stay. He let her stay and then actually had the nerve to give me grief about the fact she had called him and asked him for help." Tony was getting angry again. But he wanted to get it all out. "She didn't trust me anyway. And then you rip me a new one in front of her, God, and everybody else, showing them all that you didn't trust me either. You didn't have enough respect for me to even pull me aside and talk to me in private." Toy paused again. "She took her cues from you!"

Gibbs stood again and walked away mumbling something about coffee. Tony watched him until he turned the corner walking right past the NCIS elevators. He got an idea of how pissed Gibbs was when he heard the door to the stairway swing open and slam against the wall. He then heard Gibbs feet as he pounded his way up the stairs.

Tony groaned and put his head in his hands. He sat quietly as he waited to see whether or not his life would drastically change.

THE END

END NOTES: I'm ending this story like this, by not telling you if Tony is Tali's dad or not, because that was really not the point of this story. I wanted to show the conversation I felt Tony should have had with Gibbs. As always, thanks for being my grammar police and for faithfully reading, reviewing and alerting. WOO HOO school is out! JL