At six am sharp the next morning. Gibbs was awakened by his alarm clock. He slowly rolled over and switched it off before it woke Tony across the hall. He had to be sure that Tony stayed asleep if he wanted to go for his morning jog. Back in the days before he became a caretaker her would run for an hour every morning. Now he could only go for about fifteen minutes. Which was better than nothing. Sometimes if he had a really rough day. McGee or Ducky would come and sit with Tony in the evening so Gibbs could run. He was beyond grateful to the team for stepping up and helping care for Tony. Even Vance offered help when he could. After dressing himself Gibbs walked across the hall to Tony's room. It had been Kelly's room so long ago but after she and Shannon were killed. It basically became a storage room. The only time anyone slept in it was when he passed out in there after a night of drinking. The room was so different from when Kelly occupied it. The once pink walls were now a restful blue. The Ariel and Strawberry Shortcake posters were replaced by superheros and Mighty Mouse. Several action figures were strewn across the floor. In the far back corner sat a small red table with Tony's tools on it flash cards first grade lined paper and large pencils. The book shelf was lined with kindergarten and first grade level books mainly about sports and hero's both super and everyday. Of course being Tony there was a nice movie collection mainly children's but there were a few classics mixed in naturally including "It's A Wonderful Life". Sitting on a table was a red "Cars" TV with a built-in DVD player and across from the learning table was a desk and laptop computer. With several games provided by McGee and Jimmy. On the dresser by the bed sat the dry erase board. Gibbs waked over to the race car bed he had built and gently kissed Tony on the forehead.
"I love you son." Gibbs whispered before sneaking out of the room.
After his run Gibbs returned to his house, had a shower, and changed into a fresh shirt and pair of blue jeans. Tony appointment was at eleven but it was so hard to pull him away from his activities that it was easier to keep him home all day. If everything went well he was planning to bring Tony by NCIS for a visit afterwards. He made his way into the kitchen and made lunch for himself and Tony. Once everything was ready. He walked upstairs and back into Tony's room.
"Tony, son wake up!" Gibbs called.
"Five more minutes dad." Tony pleaded.
"Come on Tony breakfast is ready." Gibbs replied.
"Oh alright." Tony sighed.
"Come on I'll help you get ready." Gibbs replied.
"Boss guess what?!" Tony cried excitedly.
"What?" Gibbs asked.
"I'm dry!" Tony cried.
"Are you sure?" Gibbs asked.
"Uh huh no alarm or anything." Tony replied.
"Well good for you." Gibbs replied.
"You gotta write it down!" Tony cried pointing to the dry erase board on the dresser.
"Alright five days good job." Gibbs replied changing the number on the board.
"Five days! Is that my longest?!" Tony asked.
"Yes it is." Gibbs replied.
"Yeah! Yeah! I hope it keeps up!" Tony cried.
"Me too Tony but, remember there's no shame in it and that your brain doesn't always send the signal that you have to go until it's too late. Especially at night." Gibbs assured.
"Just wanna make you proud." Tony replied.
"Tony I am proud of you everyday. Now come on let's get you dressed and ready." Gibbs replied.
"Okay" Tony replied.
Once Tony was dressed and fed. Gibbs took him back upstairs for a quick lesson. Teaching was the hardest part of the whole ordeal. It killed Gibbs to see Tony struggle so much. Luckily most days he got tutoring at the center. It was only the days that Tony wanted extra help or had to miss school for whatever reason.
"Tony, what is six plus six?" Gibbs asked.
"Eleven" Tony replied.
"No, Tony the answer is twelve." Gibbs told him.
"I'm so stupid!" Tony cried.
"No you're not Tony. You are still learning." Gibbs assured.
"I can't do math! I can't read or write! I can't do anything!" Tony cried jumping up and kicking his chair over.
"Tony you can do all those things. It just doesn't come as easy as it used to but you are getting better everyday. You got all the way to six plus six with no wrong answers and when I first brought you home you couldn't even tell me one plus one. You can also almost write your name. At first you couldn't even make letters." Gibbs explained.
"I don't wanna do anymore!" Tony yelled kicking his chair again.
"Tony, don't kick the chair please and pick it up." Gibbs replied.
"Sorry. I still wanna stop." Tony replied picking up the chair and pushing into the table.
"Well we should get to your appointment anyway." Gibbs replied.
"Good" Tony replied.
Tony was fairly quiet on the drive to Bethesda. Gibbs knew that it was because he was embarrassed and upset about making that mistake during his lesson. Gibbs had told him everything he could think of. Right now the easiest thing he could do was to just let Tony work through it on his own. He pulled into the parking lot and parked in the nearest non-handicap stop he could find.
"Alright Tony we're here. Now this is a very big place. I want you to stay with me at all times. No wandering off." Gibbs said.
"What if I need a bathroom?" Tony asked.
"Then I will go with you. It is too easy to get turned around and besides you can't read well and they may not have pictures on the door." Gibbs explained.
"Okay" Tony replied.
"Very good now let's go." Gibbs replied.
"This is a hospital." Tony said.
"Yes it is." Gibbs replied.
"You said no hospital!" Tony yelled.
"You don't have to be admitted Tony but this is where Dr. Pitt's office is." Gibbs explained.
"NO! I DON'T WANNA GO!" Tony yelled.
"Tony you have to go. You need to get your lungs checked." Gibbs replied.
Gibbs practically had to drag Tony into the hospital and up to Brad's office. Gibbs didn't even let go of Tony when he was opening the elevator. A lot had changed about Tony after the accident but he was still as tricky and cunning as he always had been. They rode the elevator up to the second floor where the pulmonology department was. Once the doors slid open Gibbs led Tony down the hall to the information desk.
"May I help you?" The receptionist asked.
"Yes Jethro Gibbs. I brought Tony in for his eleven am with Dr. Pitt." Gibbs replied.
"Alright take this and go to the waiting room." The receptionist replied.
"Thank you." Gibbs replied.
"I wanna go there!" Tony cried pointing to the children's waiting area.
"Sorry Tony that's only for little kids." Gibbs apologized.
"Why can't I go?" Tony asked.
"Because parents may not feel comfortable with a grown man playing with their kids." Gibbs explained.
"But I'm nice." Tony argued.
"I know you are but other people don't know that." Gibbs explained.
"But I wanna color!" Tony whined.
"I'm sorry Tony." Gibbs apologized.
"I wanna color. Not fair. Wanna color." Tony whimpered.
Gibbs hated it when Tony cried. His injury had returned him to a childlike innocence and he didn't understand that people could think that he was bad. Tony truly was harmless but in this day and age any time a grown man went near kids fear was raised. Especially one who was as excitable as Tony. While Tony never talked about anything inappropriate or touched people. His enthusiastic personality could be taken the wrong way.
"Tony DiNozzo?" Emma called.
"Come on Tony." Gibbs said shaking Tony's shoulder.
"Alright" Tony sighed.
"Tony it's good to see you." Dr. Pitt greeted happily.
"Tony what do you say?" Gibbs asked.
"Good to see you too." Tony replied.
"How are you doing?" Dr. Pitt asked.
"Not good." Tony replied.
"What's wrong?" Brad asked.
"He feels bad because he didn't do well on his tutoring today." Gibbs explained.
"I couldn't color too." Tony added.
"Oh why not?" Dr. Pitt asked.
"Cause Gibbs said. People may think I'm bad guy." Tony explained.
"Oh well how about I get you a special Tony bag with your own coloring books and activities for when you come and see me?" Brad offered.
"Okay" Tony replied.
"Thank you Brad." Gibbs replied.
Gibbs was relieved that Tony got a clean bill of health. Getting him out of the hospital was much easier than getting him in. Tony practically skipped out. Gibbs had to tell him two different times to slow down. They got back to the parking lot and headed towards the car. Gibbs was unlocking the driver's side door when he heard a thud followed by a scream. He ran around the car and found Tony lying on the ground crying.
"Ow" Tony whimpered.
"Tony are you alright?" Gibbs asked.
"I fell down!" Tony cried.
"Well are you alright?" Gibbs asked.
"My knee and hands hurt!" Tony cried.
"Well let me see." Gibbs said kneeling down beside him.
"Okay" Tony replied sitting up and showing Gibbs his wounds.
"It's alright it's just scrapes. Come on I will get you cleaned up." Gibbs replied.
The next morning Gibbs woke up and started to get ready for his run. He prayed that today would be better than the day before. Tony had spent most of the previous day in tears. He heard a commotion from across the and ran into Tony's room. He found the dry erase board lying on the floor and Tony was balled up on the bed. He knew immediately what had happened.
"Tony?" Gibbs asked gently.
"It... it just started coming out." Tony replied.
"It's okay." Gibbs assured.
"The alarm went off but I couldn't stop." Tony replied.
"It's okay I'll get you changed.
"It's real bad." Tony replied.
"It's alright you had the Goodnight on it's no big deal." Gibbs assured.
"I leaked." Tony whispered.
"It's okay I will wash you pajamas and sheets." Gibbs assured,
"I wanted ice cream." Tony replied. Ducky had promised him ice cream if he could go a whole week without wetting the bed.
"It's okay we will try again." Gibbs assured.
"Promise?" Tony asked.
"Yes, now let's get you cleaned up." Gibbs replied patting Tony on the back.
A/N: I will update soon. Please review and thanks for reading.