That night when the parents got home they felt the heavy atmosphere, which really didn't take a genius to notice; the kids weren't playing; they weren't talking to each other and while it might seem normal between Tony and Kate after a prank, it wasn't like Abby not to talk or play with them; although, it seemed more like Tony wasn't in the mood to play with Abby -or at all- than the other way around if the way she was clinging to Tony was anything to go by. Kate, on the other hand, looked upset that Abby wouldn't even look her way and kept giving Tony the evil eye.

Both Shannon and Gibbs wondered if the kids had gone too far with their jokes, but decided to give them some time and space and see if they'd resolve their problems themselves; but the following night they both came home to the same situation and even though the kids seemed civil enough to answer their questions and not snap at each other, something seemed totally off. Especially since the sweet, happy Abby always kept wrinkling her nose when Kate talked and Tony seemed to be pulling away from everyone except Abby.

Before saying goodnight to Kate, Gibbs asked her if everything was alright, while Shannon did the same with Tony and both kids had answered the same way; that there was no problem at all; the only difference was that Kate had sounded defiant when she uttered those words, while Tony had been clearly subdued and quiet, worried that he wouldn't be believed and therefore scolded.

There was only one way to find out the truth. Abby was clearly the only one who knew everything and if she was taking Tony's side, then there was a good chance that Kate had done something to cause the distress; now they just had to find out what had happened and whether or not anyone was at fault.

The talk with Abby had been enlightening, yet very shocking; the little girl had told them everything she'd heard and seen and then had put her own two cents, claiming that Kate should go live with her own family if she thought it was so bad here and if she wanted to hurt them because they didn't have real moms and dads anymore. The young parents had of course calmed her down and told her that of course Abby and Tony had real parents, too and she should never doubt that or their love for her and Tony.

They'd never thought that Kate would be capable of spitting such hurtful words and decided that she must be under more stress than she was letting on, regarding her sick mother and being forced to stay away from her family; that didn't give her a free pass to snap at people and certainly it didn't mean she could say things like that to Tony. True, she didn't know what Tony had been through, but somehow Gibbs and Shannon, both thought that even if she'd known, she probably would've used them against Tony, as well.

"Should we talk to her, first? Or to Tony?" Gibbs asked his wife, that night; knowing that she always had the best solutions.

"God, what a mess." She blurted out instead of giving an answer.

"Hmm."

"Maybe we made a mistake. Maybe we shouldn't have taken Kate in; she's clearly having a hard time dealing with being away from her mom and dad and can't understand that things aren't the same here as they were in her home."

Jethro shook his head. "Well, she's here now and I don't think we made a mistake; they needed to be sure she's safe and taken care of while they concentrate on Melisa's treatment."

"Yeah." She sighed. "But what about Tony? You heard Abby; Tony already thinks it's his fault his parents were such bastards."

Gibbs snorted. "Language."

Shannon rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. We're alone."

Gibbs took a deep breath. "You're right. The poor kid; Kate does have a sharp tongue and I think we should do something about it if she's gonna stay here."

"Yup." She nodded. "We can't tell her the truth about Tony's past, though. It's really not our story to tell and Tony might lose his trust in us if we do; besides, I'm afraid she might use it against him later if she gets angry again."

"But she needs to apologize to Tony." Gibbs frowned.

"So?" She raised an eyebrow. "She's old enough to get how wrong she's been saying those things to Tony, especially since she's accused Tony falsely of messing with her photos."

"So, Kate first, then?"

"Nah. I think we first gotta talk to Tony." Shannon decided. "Although, it sure will take a long time for him to believe what his biological parents did to him hadn't been his fault and only they are to blame for those things."

Sighing, Gibbs let himself fall on his back on their bad and stared at the ceiling of their room. "Somehow I think he'll never really believe it. Call it a gut feeling, but I feel he'll always, deep down, doubt the love of others for him."

The woman winced. "Can't blame him. The crucial years that should've been spent to show him the meaning of unconditional love and support had been spent on telling him he was all alone and not worthy of anyone's time. We were already 6 years too late to get to him."

"At least we've got him now." Gibbs pointed out.

"True and we can't change the past."

"So we work on the present and the future." Gibbs added wisely.

Shannon bent down and kissed her husband. "Glad we've got him now. He deserves the best."

"You mean us?" Gibbs laughed and pulled her down to bed by an arm around her neck.

"Well, you know it." She joined him in his laughter.

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"Hey, Son. How you doing?" Gibbs asked as he opened the door to his son's room and entered, being followed by his wife. They'd both just gotten back home from work and Elise, their babysitter was still downstairs with Kate while Abby stayed in her room to play with her spiders.

Looking up with confusion from the book he was reading, Tony eyed his parents. "I'm... fine. Thanks?"

Shannon gave a little chuckle. "Yeah, it's kinda weird, isn't it?"

"What?" Gibbs frowned.

"Come on; if my parents came to my room like this when I was a kid, I'd be sure that they wanted something. Like, there was this time that they wanted to talk to me about... Umm, about where babies come from and God I was 15! I knew those things already and well, let's say it was very awkward."

Gibbs laughed out loud, but Tony looked horrified.

"Is that what you wanna talk about?" He gulped. "Please don't. I know where babies come from. Please don't talk about it."

Both parents laughed at his horrified expression before they realized what he'd said.

"What?"... "You know where babies come from?" They asked in unison; now it was their turn to look aghast.

"Where? How?" Jethro asked further, sounding appalled.

"Where they come from?" Tony grimaced and hoped they weren't actually asking that to make sure he knew where babies came from.

"Shit, no!" Gibbs exclaimed hurriedly, not sure how their discussion had gotten so out of hand.

"How do you know it? You're just 7, Tony!" Shannon clarified, looking disturbed that his son knew things like that at such a young age.

"I... Umm, my father told me."

Gibbs' eyebrows rose comically. "Your..." He trailed off; he was pretty sure that DiNozzo Sr. had never had a normal conversation with his son and yet he'd told him about this?

Shannon was pretty confused too.

Tony sighed and looked embarrassed; he knew he had to explain now, even though he really hated to talk about the kinda things that had happened in that house, "I... I once walked... I was 5. One night, I was thirsty so I woke up to go get some water and I saw my father with a woman in the hallway. They were... I... They-" He stammered quietly, looking away from his parents. "They didn't care that I was there and I was scared and I wanted to go back to my room, but he... he was drunk, and he kinda told me that that's how babies are produced if you're not careful and said I was a mistake because he hadn't been careful and... And then he made me watch them because I was supposed to learn it so that... So when I grow up I won't screw up like he had before me." He was now looking down, feeling once again grossed out and wished he could unsee and unhear everything from that night. He'd gotten sick and hadn't been able to sleep or eat for days and it'd taken a severe beating from his father to bring him out of his funk, or well, force him out of it.

Both Gibbs and Shannon looked disgusted at hearing that. They knew their son had been through hell, but to expose him to that kind of thing at 5? It pretty much counted as sexual abuse.

"Oh, God! Baby, I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Shannon pulled her son to herself and hugged him tightly.

Gibbs got up and started to pace up and down the room, trying to bring his anger under control; he wished he could just find the bastard who was Tony's biological father and break every single bone in his body and leave him for a slow, painful death.

Tony, from where he was being squeezed by his mom, eyed his dad and wondered if he was mad at him.

Shannon felt Tony's doubt and fear and quietly murmured reassuring words to him. "It's OK, baby. Your dad is just thinking about what to do to your biological father for hurting you."

Tony gasped. "You're not gonna kill him, are you?"

"Hurting others is never right, but just this once, I will if you want me to." Gibbs said it with a tight smile, but he meant every word.

"No." Tony shook his head vigorously. "Then you'll go to jail. And he's strong, what if he hurts you?"

"Oh, you're saying I can't take him?" Gibbs sat down on Tony's bed and gave him a mock-hurt look.

"He was bigger." Tony shrugged.

Gibbs seemed to consider it and then shrugged. "But, I'm better trained." He sounded very proud of himself.

Tony smiled at his dad's antics and the smile loosened the knot in Gibbs' chest.

"Come here, Son."

Shannon let go of him so he could go to his dad.

Tony walked to him and sat beside the man on the bed.

"Like I said, hurting people is never alright; but some people don't deserve to see the light of day, and your biological father is one of them. We're sorry you had to live with him for years."

Tony looked down and shrugged. "It was bad for him, too. He didn't want me."

"Well, it's his loss. We've already agreed that he's cruel and very very very stupid. But at least because of his stupidity, we got to have an amazing son like you."

Tony looked up to see if the man he now thought of as his dad meant what he'd said and he saw nothing but kindness and sincerity in his eyes. That brought a shy smile to his face.

Shannon didn't want to ruin the moment, so she got up to go get the dinner ready, but before leaving the room, she bent down and kissed Tony's hair. "You made us a real family. Thank you, Tony."

"Dad? Can I ask you something?" He asked once they were alone; he needed to ask this question, but he didn't want to embarrass himself too much, so he preferred to ask it from just one of his new parents.

"Sure. Go ahead." Gibbs replied and readied himself like he was about to be tested. "Make it easy, though. I haven't had enough coffee, today. I can't answer complicated questions."

Tony chuckled, thankful that Gibbs was trying to make it easy for him. "I... You..."

"OK, you don't have to make it that easy." Gibbs smiled, gently pushing his son to ask his question without being so worried.

"Did you take me in because you felt sorry for me?" He finally asked and then looked down.

Gibbs winced slightly; after talking to Abby, he knew this had come to Tony's mind from what Kate had said. "What?" He feigned shock, though; no need for Tony to think they'd prepared their answers beforehand. Knowing him, he'd think that they didn't mean it if their answers weren't spontaneous. "Where has that come from?"

Tony just shrugged.

OK, so he wasn't going to rat Kate out. Good boy. Gibbs silently approved. "Of course not. Wait, did you accept us as your parents out of pity?"

Tony frowned with confusion. He wasn't sure how that worked. "I... No. It's not like I chose you."

"Well, we were childless; we desperately wanted a son like you; you could've felt sorry for this poor childless couple and let them adopt you and then called them mom and dad just to make them happy." Gibbs reasoned, sounding serious.

Tony thought about it; it sounded weird; kinda. But Tony loved Gibbs and Shannon; he hadn't felt sorry for them. "You were desperate?"

Gibbs sighed and looked forlorn. "Very. We didn't know what we were supposed to do if you had said no to us. You didn't know? Does that mean you didn't do it out of pity?"

Tony shook his head. "It really doesn't work like that, Dad." he smiled nevertheless. "Thanks, though."

Gibbs smiled back. "No, son, thank you. You might not think it, but it does work like that. You could've refused to accept us as your parents; you could be living with us, but not see us as your family; you could refuse to call us mom and dad. So, you see? You've let us in."

"But you're the best parents any kid could have." Tony stated honestly, not getting how his dad thought there was a way they could be rejected as anyone's parents.

"And you are the best son anyone could wish for."

"My real parents didn't want me, though. They knew I was worthless. My dad threw me out."

"No, Tony. They didn't know anything at all. They didn't know what it means to be a family; what it means to be parents and what it means to love someone. They were miserable. And just because they were sick in the head and couldn't understand or appreciate the gift they'd been given, it doesn't mean that you'd done something wrong or that anything had been wrong with you. You're precious and you're part of our family now and like your mom just said, you made us a real family. So, don't ever think that those people knew anything. Besides, we're way wiser and cooler and we say you're amazing. Which one of us are you gonna believe?"

Tony grinned, but then again the grin faded slightly. "So, you're not gonna get rid of me when you get tired of me?"

Quietly praying for patience so he wouldn't go and actually murder Tony's father or go and snap at Kate, Gibbs squeezed Tony's shoulder. "First of all, we're never gonna get tired of you; we might all get frustrated with each other; because that's what happens in a family; people frustrate each other and then they remember good moments and move on and create more of those good moments together; but they never get tired of each other. And second, get rid of? What are you? A shirt? You're already getting bigger than me..." He paused and regarded Tony. "OK, no, that's not true; it probably won't happen for a few more years; thank God! But yeah, you know what I mean."

Tony chuckled happily. It was good to know that he, too, had a real family. Kate had been wrong; he didn't need to pretend; he was already with his family and had a mom and dad and an amazing little sister who loved him as much as he loved them.

"Thanks for not letting me become a street kid." He said as Gibbs stood up and took his hand so they could go have dinner.

Hiding his wince with a snort, Gibbs said, "If we haven't seen you first, another couple would've snatched you. Believe me, Son, we just won the prize." He stated firmly and his chest swelled with pride and happiness when Tony squeezed his hand tightly.

A crisis had been averted and Gibbs was truly delighted about it; now if only he could also erase the images of the abuse that the boy had suffered from his own mind and of course from Tony's mind, that'd be perfect; and he was sure that there were still things in Tony's past that the boy hadn't told anyone about. He wished he could took them away, too; because if what had just been revealed minutes ago about how Tony had found out about sex was anything to go by, then things were a lot worse in Tony's head than they'd first anticipated. But well, they couldn't take away every problem all at once; thankfully, this time, they'd been successful and hopefully they'd be every other time, as well. Tony was theirs now and Gibbs knew they all cared too much about that kid to let anything happen to him, physically or emotionally.

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To be concluded...

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Thanks for your reviews and support. Share your thoughts with me?

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I don't own the show and its characters and all mistakes are mine.