Gibbs and Max sat by watching Tony sleep. Gibbs hated to watch Tony struggling to breathe as he slept. It reminded him of the time Tony had the plague.
"I have known Tony a long time and the hypoglycemic I understand. Seeing him this sick, I don't. What happened to him?" Max asked.
Gibbs looked at Max, he originally had every intention in telling him; but decided that maybe he could get some answers as well.
"I will answer your questions, if you answer mine."
"Agreed, so what happened?" Max asked.
"On May 10th 2005, a cold stop being a cold. That was the day that Tony contracted pneumonic plague. It almost killed him and there was nothing anyone could do to but sit back and watch." Gibbs began.
"How on earth did that happened?"
"Some crazy lady with an axe to grind against NCIS sent it in a letter to the office. The strain of pneumonic plague that she sent had been genetically altered to resist antibiotics. She promised a cure, only there wasn't one. Tony was given a15 percent chance to survive. Obviously he did, but his lungs were scarred by the whole thing. Now with the scarring on his lungs the smallest cold could turn into something major." Gibbs finished now he was ready to ask his question.
"My turn. You seemed to know where he worked but not any of us. Just what do you know about Tony's work?"
"Not much. Tony will tell me about some of the cases he has worked after the fact, but nothing about his coworkers." Max answered.
"What cases?"
"The ones that seem to affect him the most and he can't talk to anyone else. One time on a break, I called Tony to talk, to see how he is doing. No big deal, I usually did call him on my breaks. He seemed so down, depressed. I immediately went to my CO to get emergency leave and showed up on Tony's doorstep."
"What had Tony so down?"
"The case he was working; a missing marine. Tony ended up getting drugged and kidnapped. He ended up in the sewer, but he found the marine."
"I remember that case. I was grateful when we discover the other marines in Atlas's unit died of starvation. It meant that Atlas and Tony were still alive. Tony rescued Atlas; why did that depress him so much." Gibbs questioned.
"One of the last things Tony's father said to him before he left him at the military academy was that one day Tony would end up in the gutter. Being down there in that sewer trying to get himself and the marine to safety while someone else is down there to kill them; it reminded him of what his father said. That had been the last time Tony had seen his father, so those words hit to close to home given his current his situation. We stayed up all night talking. By the time I went back to my base, Tony was feeling better."
"Alright ask your question?" Gibbs said.
Max thought hard about a question he had to ask; but realized that there isn't anything he doesn't know about his brother, other than his health.
"I have no more questions, but I do want to say this. Thank you."
Gibbs look at him confused. What on earth could this guy be thanking him for?
"What?"
"I don't know if it is the job; or the people. But Tony has actually stayed in this job for more than 2 years. You recruited him from Baltimore PD."
"I just took a chance on a guy that I saw potential in. Needless to say, I wasn't wrong. Tony is one of the best agents I have ever worked with." Gibbs answered. "How did you meet him?"
"I was at Rhode Island Military Academy. I was 15 and there were 5 boys around my age; the youngest being 13. Our DI told us we were getting a new kid, he was 12. The kid didn't come until lights out. About 2 in the morning, I got up to use the head and found this scrawny little kid trying to fold clothes the military way. This kid who should be in bed, is staying up all night trying to get his clothes folded right. I told him I will help him tomorrow if he goes to sleep right now. I worked with Tony every day, trying to teach him the military way of doing things. The more he tried the worse he got. He would give it 100 percent and it only got worse."
"I couldn't understand where his determination was coming from. Everyone else always seems to pick it up quicker and didn't have to try so hard. I noticed the same thing when Tony is dealing with kids. The harder he tries, the worse the situation gets; and he is the one left feeling like a failure." Max explained.
Gibbs could see that trait in Tony and he has seen him trying to hard when kids are involved in their cases. But he didn't know that the situation left Tony feeling like a failure. He never wanted Tony to feel that way; because if there is one thing he is not, is a failure.
"Did you ever find out why he was so determined that he was staying up all night?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah I did. But not until after we got busted. See all the while I was teaching him to do it; I was doing it for him so that it would pass inspection. Every morning he watched me as I made his bed; then later after classes I would strip the bed to teach him. The whole time the DI thought Tony was doing it himself. That was until he walked in on me making Tony's bed. He sent us both to the commander office. I was nervous, but I couldn't tell anything about Tony's reaction. In the commander's office, I explained that yes I was doing it for him; but that I was also teaching him to do it as well.
"Tony finally admitted that the reason he was trying so hard was that he was afraid. Afraid that if he couldn't do it they would kick him out and he has no place to go. The commander promised him that he wouldn't kick him out for not being able to make the bed correctly; but Tony didn't seem to believe him and still had that same determination as he did in the beginning. So the adults just ignored it and I went back to doing it for Tony until he could manage to do it on his own. Took about 5 months, but he did finally managed to do thing the way it was expected of us."
Gibbs listened to Max's story. For the first time, he felt as if he was really getting to know the real Tony. Tony didn't wake up once while they were talking. Gibbs and Max settled in for the night watching their friend sleep. Max fell asleep first. Gibbs stayed up a little while longer thinking about Tony. He knows that he has to deal with the fact that Tony lied about being hypoglycemic; but he doesn't know what he is going to do about it.
Any ideas on how Gibbs should deal with Tony about his lie
May 10th 2005 is SWAK's airdate. At least in the US.
