Riding side by side on their horses, Jethro had to smile whenever he looked at his boy who rode with such elegant ease while also looking like a cowboy who had seen life. That last thought made his smile falter. He still didn't know anything about Tony's life before he came to them and certainly not after he disappeared. It was obvious to his trained eyes that the young man hadn't had an easy life before and after that short period of time living with them. The knowledge made his heart ache.

Looking at the blue sky above them, Jethro found himself silently praying for things to end up well between them. Maybe even a chance to go back in time and change the wrong choices he had made. Or perhaps for this all to be a very long and horrible nightmare and he'd wake up with his whole family still there to greet him in the morning... Shannon, Jethro formed the name with his mouth and like he had done so often during the years, he spoke to her, begging for forgiveness even though he knew she wouldn't be there to answer him.

"Gibbs."

The almost too silent voice snapped him out of the painful moment of his and Jethro was saddened once again when he saw the emotionless look staring back at him. It had been that way since they left Baltimore, days ago, after Tony had finally agreed to come home with him. After he had practically begged and even nearly went down on his knees, which was something anyone knowing him in these days would never believe to have happened. Well, saying 'agreed' might be a bit too much, if the look of extreme distaste on Tony's face was anything to go by.

"We're almost there," Jethro said.

"Yes. I am aware of that, but it's not what I asked. I was wondering if your business in Baltimore wasn't that important?"

Jethro froze and then he cursed harshly. He'd completely forgotten that he was supposed to meet with the Sheriff there. How on earth was he supposed to explain this to Tom? Not that his reason wasn't good enough... He looked up at the sound of laughter. "I'm glad that my displeasure brings you joy." Jethro snorted, unable to stop the wide smile spreading on his face at the sound of his son's laughter. Although so much more mature now, it still had that same sound to it as it had been a long time ago; a sparkle that made his heart swell whenever he heard it.

Tony chuckled. "Well, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm sure Fornell will come to you instead. Just don't tell him you and I know each other. Like I said, I'm not exactly his favorite person."

Jethro looked at him with cautious interest. "And why is that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I'm always in his way. You know, I am a bounty hunter. He prefers to catch the outlaws his own way, but usually I'm faster and I have my own methods. Did you know that although it says 'wanted dead or alive ', they won't thank you if you bring in a dead guy? I can't even count all the times Fornell has tried to lock me up instead. He actually did once, but had to let me go by the next morning."

"Bounty hunter, eh?" Jethro wasn't sure how to feel about that; his son living a life like that and obviously with no one to watch his back either... A lone rider, just like he was, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"I'm a big boy now, pops," Tony said, not seeing the way Jethro's head perked up.

It wasn't 'daddy ' or 'dad ', but it was a start, right? Jethro swallowed down the lump forming in his throat and focused on the road ahead of them.


"Abigail. Sit down. Jethro should be back soon," Ducky spoke to the young woman spacing furiously in his house. He kept his eyes on her more than a little worriedly whenever her long flowing skirt brushed over one of his more delicate glass bottles and other equipment.

"But, Ducky... Something is different this time. I can feel it. What if he's hurt? I mean, more hurt than usually."

"Abigail..."

"And why did he have to leave like that, without even saying anything? To me. We're a family."

Ducky smiled sadly. Family was a very sore spot for Jethro and had it been anyone else forcing the subject on him, over and over again, that someone would have gotten seriously hurt or never heard from again. Or both. Hesitating for a moment, he spoke, "Abigail, you do know Jethro cares about you dearly."

Abigail—or Abby to most people—stopped her pacing and he dared to breath again. "What are you saying?"

Before Ducky had a chance to answer, his young assistant rushed inside the house, stuttering as he tried to form the words in his mouth.

"Take a deep breath and calm down, Mr. Palmer," Ducky said to the young man who blushed furiously and nodded.

"It's Gibbs. He's back."

Abby let out a happy squeal and hurried outside, but when she saw that Jethro wasn't alone, she stopped with a confused frown.

Ducky made his way to the two horses and saw that both the horses and men looked exhausted. "Jethro! You're back early. How did it go?" He eyed with interest the now fading coloring around Jethro's eye.

"About that..." Jethro hesitated and looked as Tony jumped on the ground. He followed the example, but much more carefully. Ten years may have been a short time, but his body disagreed.

"And who is this young man?" Ducky smiled and studied the young man standing there, staring back at him wordlessly. Looking at him properly caused Ducky's breath to get caught in his throat and he nearly choked at his own words, when he could actually get them out of his mouth. "Jethro?" This time there was a question in his voice. He had his suspicions, but he had to make sure Jethro was aware of it first. Although, surely his friend wouldn't be ignorant of something this important?

"Yes," Jethro said, having understood the unsaid question and unable to say much else; not with that lump forming in his throat again. It seemed to be happening a lot lately.

"Oh... My boy... My dear boy..." Ducky's eyes were filled with unshed tears, until one of them finally escaped and he rushed to the young man who was now trying very hard to hide his own strong emotions. "Anthony..." Ducky pulled Tony into a strong hug, which the young man returned without any hesitation. It hadn't gone unnoticed by Jethro who had his trembling hand on Tony's shoulder. The special moment between the three of them was cut short by their Sheriff.

Tom Morrow rushed past the few people blocking his way. "Jethro! You are back early."

"So I've been told." Jethro smiled slightly, wondering how he should explain that he hadn't even seen Fornell.

"How did it go?" Tom asked, sounding awfully impatient since the mission had been a matter of great importance.

"Well... About that..."

"Thomas," Ducky interrupted them. "This... Do you see this young man here? Do you recognize him?"

"No. Should I?" Tom was confused. At this point Tony stepped forward holding out his hand, which Tom took, still trying to figure out how he was supposed to know this man.

"Anthony DiNozzo."

Jethro flinched at the name. DiNozzo, not Gibbs...

"DiNozzo? Anthony? No, I'm afraid I don't— Oh." Tom's eyes went huge and he finally realized how familiar the young man looked.

"Yeah, oh." There was a cheeky smile on Tony's face and Tom found himself returning the smile, although he was still confused. Now, that smile he recognized; the kid had given him so many gray hairs... He and his father both had.

"Tony?"

"The one and only."

"My... Well... Look at you. Aren't you just..."

"Gorgeous?" Tony flashed a blinding smile and Tom chuckled. Well, at least the kid wasn't being modest...

"Big. Grown up. Almost an adult now. You're now what, twenty years old?"

Tony put a hand over his heart and faked hurt. "What? Almost? I can show you my— Ow!"

Jethro had listened and watched, feeling very much left out. It was only when his son didn't seem to be having any kind of problem heading the conversation toward inappropriate things that he moved. Or rather his hand had moved and before he knew it, he had head slapped the kid, cursing himself over it. At this rate he really was going to push his son away even faster...

Tony glared, rubbing the back of his head with some angry swearing. "What do you think you're doing, old man!"

"Watch your mouth or I will wash it with a soap, boy!" Jethro returned before he had time to stop himself.

"Really? I'd like to see you try, dad." Had Tony not sneered it, Jethro would've felt happy to hear it. He opened his mouth to say something again, but Tony was faster. "As I was saying, Tom, I can show you my gun. We can have a shooting match whenever you want to."

"Ah. That's alright..." Tom said, feeling uncertain how to deal with this situation, which felt like something that could blow up on their faces.

Ducky saved the day, or at least for those at the shooting range, which was being too close to the father and son. "My dear boy, why don't you and Jethro go home for now? I'm sure you have much to discuss. I will visit you later and then we can all talk."

"I don't—" Tony began.

"See you later, Ducky." Jethro nodded and glared at Tony, daring him to argue back. As the two left, Abby finally stepped forward.

"Ducky! What just happened? Who was he? Gibbs didn't even notice me!" she whined. And that's what was upsetting her the most, to have been like the air, which Jethro hadn't even noticed although he must have known she was there. Especially with the way she had tried to get his attention.

"My dear girl, let's go back inside and then I can perhaps explain..."


Opening the door, Jethro entered the house and only then he noticed that Tony hadn't followed him. Panicking, he rushed outside, fearing the worst. The relief, which he felt when he saw Tony standing there, was beyond words. "What's wrong? Come inside." Jethro had gone back to the soft and gentle tone when speaking to the kid. Then he noticed the boy was white as a sheet and he was trembling. "Son?" He took a cautious step closer.

"I don't... I don't think I can do this... I'm sorry," Tony whispered and before Jethro had time to realize what was happening, he took of, running fast. It was almost eerie reminiscence from the past.

"Tony!"


He was running again. It seemed like that was the only thing he was good at. Running. Always running from something, rarely running to get to somewhere instead. His work didn't count.

It was strange. He must have been making some noise in the forest while running—even with how quietly he usually ran, with soft steps instead of heavy as his tall and strong body would suggest—but he didn't hear anything. He only heard his heartbeats and breathing, although it was all sounding to him as if it came from far away.

Why did I come back? he questioned himself. He had promised to never go back home, to never forgive the hell on earth he had to go through because dad had walked away from him. That hell had been twice as bad than it had been before he met the Gibbs family. Yet somehow all that pain and heartache had been worth those short moments of happiness. Had he never met them, he would have never known what he'd been missing and it had kept him alive all these years. He missed them. Mom, Kelly. Dad... He missed his dad.

Seeing a fallen tree blocking his way, he didn't give it much thought. Distantly he knew he should have, but he was at this point too far gone to be able to think rationally. Running faster, Tony jumped and for a moment the time seemed to slow down. It felt almost like he had wings. He almost made it over the huge tree trunk, but then as amazing as the moment up in the air had been, it was even more painful crashing down on the ground. Distantly he heard something snap; a bone, he realized just as the darkness wrapped him into its tight hold. Before it completely took him over, he thought he heard someone calling for him, shouting his name. Terrified.

"Dad..."


His awareness came back slowly and then he wished he could slip back into the darkness where he felt nothing. That glorious darkness... Groaning, Tony opened his eyes. He was in a bedroom. His bedroom.

"Tony!" Jethro stood up fast. He had almost fallen asleep when he felt the movement and heard the voice of someone in pain.

"Wha' hap'n?" Tony mumbled and looked around the dimly lit room; only one candle from what he could see without moving his head too much. His head hurt, his right leg was killing him and felt strangely heavy.

"You fell. Hit your head pretty bad and broke your leg."

The moment Tony took off, Jethro had wasted those first precious few seconds admiring the speed and way of running. By the time he had made it in the forest, following the trail of dust from the dry ground, the young man had been nowhere near to be found and so all he had left was his gut, which thankfully had pointed him in the right direction. The scene that he had to see however... It would surely be haunting him in his sleep for months to come. Lying on the ground, bleeding and looking so very... dead. For a moment Jethro had feared he lost his son. Truly lost him this time. Then he had heard his son calling out to him, not using any snarky nicknames or calling him Gibbs, but instead he called him dad... Carrying his now very big and tall son back to the house had proven to be awfully hard thing to do. He had grown up indeed... It was only the arrival of Ducky, when he could put his mind at ease. His son would be just fine.

Seeing the too pale young man in bed and now in pain, Jethro wasn't sure if he could trust Ducky's judgment.

Tony took Jethro's hand in his. "Sure it hurts... bad... But I'll be alright. Been through much worse than this... You remember..? Don't you, dad?"

How could he forget? Jethro sat on the bed and gathered his son into his arms, trying to be as careful as he could with the broken leg. "It's a memory I can never wipe off..."

They were both silent for a while, both comfortable with the silence. Somehow it seemed to work for them both, using as few words as possible.

"I missed you, you know," Tony finally said.

"Really?" Jethro felt his heart both swell and break at the same time.

"So many times I... For so many years I would look out from the window and wish that you would come to take me home."

"I'm sorry..." Jethro whispered. He had lost the count of how many times he'd been apologizing now, but then again he could never say sorry too many times.

Tony shrugged slightly. "It's alright I guess. You had your mess to deal with, I had mine."

"You were ten years old!"

Tony flinched at the loud noise, booming too close to his ears.

"Sorry..." Jethro mumbled, frustrated how he couldn't do anything right.

"It's fine."

"No it's not. What I did to you... It was wrong. Way more than just wrong. I should have been there for you, instead of... Ducky told me you were there when they..."

"I'm sorry."

Jethro was startled. "You're sorry? Son, you have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing."

"It's my fault. My fault that they are dead. If we had never met... It would be much better. They would be still alive."

"No. Don't say that." Jethro frowned, seeing how his words held no weight.

"Why not? You're blaming me."

"What? I could never blame you."

"Then why did you walk away from me?"

"Tony... The only one you and I should blame is your father." The mention of his 'father' made Tony go stiff and Jethro noticed how he was starting to shut off. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Don't shut me out, Tony. Whatever it may be, no matter how bad, I want to hear it. All of it."

"Hear what?"

"You know what I'm talking about... What happened to you after you left? Before we even met. I want to hear all of it. Your life, Tony, tell me about it."

After some more hesitation, Tony finally talked. He began from his early childhood days before Jethro, what he remembered. He shared the abuse he lived with; how from the outside his life was all glamour and riches, but behind closed doors his father was nothing but a drunkard, using his only son as a punching bag. How his mother hadn't been the kind of mom Shannon had been, but he had loved her nevertheless, even after she had died and left him alone with his father.

Although he never spoke of the moment he found Shannon and Kelly with their murderer, Tony spoke how he had ran away after Jethro left him and that the only place he knew to go back to was his father's place. Senior himself wasn't there, but a servant sent him to the man who was living overseas at the time.

When he saw his father first time in a long time, he had known he might not make it out alive. Instead of a beating however, the bastard had ordered one of his men to cut his little toe off; calling it a lesson. Tony had actually been glad afterwards since loss of a toe was hardly as bad of a punishment as he thought he'd be getting. The beatings continued, but as he started to grow up, he became much more thick-skinned, until DiNozzo Senior got bored of him and threw him out of his house, disowning him.

"I was fifteen by then, alone in a strange land, living on the streets. It's not a life I wish for anyone... That's why I became a stowaway after only few weeks."

"A stowaway!"

"There was this ship I had heard would go to America. There was no doubt in my mind then what I had to do. I had nothing to lose and figured I had much better chance of survival in a country I was more familiar with."

"Tony... That was stupid and dangerous thing to do..." Jethro shuddered, knowing what some people did to their stowaways.

"And I did get caught, on the first day. How pathetic is that?" Tony laughed, but Jethro stared at him in horror. "It's alright. The Captain of the ship was nice enough to make me work. He even gave me food, a place to sleep and new clothes to wear. Kept me safe and taught me many things; how to be a good man. We became close friends."

"Oh. Well, that's good..." Jealousy was such a nasty feeling and it didn't look good on anyone.

"Ernie was a good man. You would've liked him."

"Was?"

"He died a few years ago... I'll never forget him. I owe him that much."

"I'm sorry..." Brushing away that stubborn hair from his son's face, Jethro felt something wet against his hand. He didn't have to see it to know what it was.

"I miss them so much..."

"So do I, son. So do I..." Jethro hugged his son, who was suddenly sobbing uncontrollably in his arms. Years worth of tears. Soon he found tears rolling down his own cheeks.

At the door, Ducky slowly turned around, wiping tears from his eyes and he took the young woman downstairs with him. "Let's leave our boys to have their moment for now, Abigail."

"It's so sad, Ducky... Will they be alright now? They are finally together again."

"We can only hope so."