I know Kate didn't meet Tony's dad, but it seems to fit here. I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV or on the internet, so I hope I didn't mess up too much on the (few) medical details in this story. If I did, feel free to let me know (politely, please :) ) This one got away from me a little, it definitely ended someplace I didn't expect.
Thanks for all the comments. I really appreciate them :) I haven't figured out yet how to reply to comments directly.. so
TonyFan - I put Baltimore back in the right state :) And I've been to Baltimore. I like it. I just don't know where it is LOL!
Jackie - the last chapter, I tried to get the same kind of attitude that's in the GapTheorem. Not sure if I got it, but it felt like it worked.
DS2010 - In JackieLeigh's Dr DiNozzo story, Tony does go full-time to the ER
. . . . .
"Very Special Agent Tony DiNozzo," Tony answered the phone, wondering why the security desk downstairs was calling him at 11 in the morning. "He's here? Now?" Tony sighed, "yeah, bring him up." Tony hung up the phone, relieved that they didn't have an active case to deal with on top of his unexpected visitor.
"Who is it Tony? Your last 'girlfriend's' husband?" Kate asked, making air quotes around 'girlfriend'.
Tony gave her a tight smile. "No Kate. It's no one's husband," he answered, looking up when he heard the elevator ding. He saw two men heading his way. One was the new security officer from the desk downstairs, followed by his visitor.
"Junior!" Tony's father stepped around his escort and walked over to Tony's desk. Tony nodded to the security officer letting him know it was ok to return to his desk. Tony made a mental note to find out what the young man's name was. He made it a point of knowing all of the security staff.
"Dad," Tony greeted him warily. His father wasn't known to come to DC to visit Tony unexpectedly. In fact, Tony knew there were plenty of times when his father came to DC and beyond a short phone call, didn't make any effort to contact him.
Anthony DiNozzo Senior looked around the bullpen. "Interesting color," he waved vaguely at the bright orange walls, "Took me a while to find you, Junior. I thought you'd be working at- "
"Dad!" Tony interrupted sharply. "Dad, what are you doing here?"
Gibbs walked over to his senior agent, "Tony?" he asked calmly, silently asking for introductions.
Tony nodded and took a deep breath before answering, "right. Dad, this is Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, my boss. And Special Agents Kate Todd and Timothy McGee. Gibbs, Kate, McGee, this is my father, Anthony DiNozzo Senior." The other agents had followed Gibbs to Tony's desk. Kate smiled warmly when the elder DiNozzo gave her an elegantly shallow bow in greeting. Tony rolled his eyes. Kate was at least twenty-five years younger than his father, and here he was trying to impress her. Tony hoped he'd at least wait until Tony was out of earshot before flirting openly with Kate.
"Dad, why are you here? And why are you limping?" Tony couldn't help asking.
"Hmm?" his father was shaking hands with Gibbs after a cordial greeting. "Oh right, here, this will explain everything. I hope," his father pulled a folder out of his briefcase and handed it to Tony.
Tony's eyebrows pulled together in confusion as he opened the folder. "What is...oh," Tony recognized the medical record forms. The conversation between his father and his team mates faded into the background as he read through his father's medical information.
"Did you fly?" Tony asked as he turned the page. His father sighed, "No, Junior. I took the train. I listened to the doctor." Tony nodded, "Good, you shouldn't fly with thrombophlebitis and deep vein thrombosis."
"Did they teach you to pronounce that at Ohio State?" Kate asked, the amusement clear in her voice.
"I don't have throm...whatever. It's just a blood clot," Tony Sr said at the same time.
Tony held up the CD that was in the folder, "yes, Kate, they did. And thrombophlebitis are blood clots, Dad. What's on the CD?"
His father shrugged, "the scan I guess. My doctor wanted to operate, but I'm not doing that in New York. I figured I have it down here."
"Here?" Tony asked in surprise. Gibbs spoke up, "send the disk to Ducky, DiNozzo. He can-" Gibbs raised an eyebrow in surprise when Tony interrupted him.
"No, that's ok, Gibbs," Tony popped up open the CD reader in his computer and slid the CD in. McGee, who'd already moved to take the CD from Tony when Gibbs had started speaking, stopped in confusion. "Uh, ok, I'll uh, call Ducky to come up here."
Tony shook his head, but didn't say anything as he studied the scan. Kate watched her partner trace something on the screen, "they teach you that at Ohio State too? I didn't think a phys ed majors learned to read CT scans."
"Yeah, I did, and they don't, and it's not a CT" Tony said absently, still studying the scan. He flipped through the pages of the medical report again.
"Phys ed major? You still tell people that?" his father asked with a small laugh.
"Huh? Yeah." Tony looked up. "You do need surgery, Dad. Why not do it in New York? It's not a specialty procedure, the hospitals in New York are fine."
Gibbs spoke up again. Tony had to admit he was suprised at the restraint the team leader had shown during the conversation. "What should he tell people about his major, Mr DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked politely. The question was aimed at Tony's father, but Gibbs' attention was fixed on the younger DiNozzo. Kate and McGee were watching silently, obviously interested in the answer, but unwilling to draw attention to themselves.
Tony hesitated a split-second too long. His father answered first. "Pre-med. And medical school," he said proudly. "Junior's a real doctor. " his father finished.
"A doctor?" Gibbs asked. Tony nodded silently, unsure of how to answer his father's question. The same question that Gibbs, Kate, and McGee obviously wanted an answer to.
Tony's father answered for him, "yup, a doctor. A Trauma, Emergency Room specialist. And now? NCIS instead. At least he still does some medical work sometimes." Tony's father was obviously confused, and a little disapproving, of Tony's career choices.
Tony tried to get the conversation away from his career path, "Dad, why are you here?" Gibbs shook his head, letting his second in command know that his attempt at changing topics won't let him avoid the real question for long.
At least DiNozzo Senior was willing to let the topic be changed. Somewhat. "The surgery. I know, it's not major, but I arranged to have it here at Bethesda. I convinced the surgeon to let you watch."
Tony's jaw dropped open. "let me watch?! Dad, I...I, why? I haven't been in an OR since, since, I don't know when. Med school sometime. I don't know."
His father brushed off the complaint, "you won't be doing the surgery Junior. Just watching."
Tony clenched his jaw. He was not going to discuss this in front of the team. Especially not in front of the team. "Are you staying at the Adams Inn?" he asked, knowing his father's favorite hotel. When his father nodded, Tony continued speaking, not giving his father or anyone else, a chance to interrupt, "good, why don't you go there now," Tony took his father's arm and started nudging him toward the elevator, "and I'll meet you there tonight for dinner and we can talk about this then. In private." Tony had a tight grip on his father's arm and kept them moving toward the elevator even while his father attempted to say his goodbyes to Gibbs, Kate, and McGee.
Ten minutes later Tony walked back in the bullpen. He'd taken his father downstairs and waited for the taxi he'd called to show up. Tony had spent most of the waiting time wondering what questions, or rather, what answers he'd give to the team. He'd barely paid attention to his father's detailed explanation of his newest business venture. Tony figured he'd get all the details again at dinner.
Tony looked around the bullpen at his teammates. They were sitting at their desks working. At least, Gibbs was. Tony was sure Kate and McGee were just pretending to work, waiting for him to come back. In the few seconds it took to walk to his desk, all three had stopped working and were watching him. Tony wondered what they'd said to each other while he was gone.
Gibbs, not surprisingly, spoke first. "Any particular reason why you lied about your college degree, DiNozzo?" Tony smiled to himself. Trust Gibbs to get to the point right away. "I didn't. HR asked when and where I got my undergraduate degree. I told them Ohio State and the year. They didn't ask me for the major, or if I have a post-grad degree," he shrugged, "I liked being a cop, and I like being a field agent. The higher-up's find out I've got a MD, I'll be out of the field, and probably out of a job. NCIS doesn't need another doctor, and I'm not qualified to be an ME anyway."
Gibbs said nothing and kept a steady look aimed at the younger man. Tony had a sinking feeling. Did he just get himself fired? Kate and McGee kept quiet, not wanting to break into Gibbs' silence. They all knew that Gibbs being silent did not mean Gibbs was finished. Tony wondered if losing this job was a sign to quit law enforcement and go into trauma medicine full-time.
"Good. Ducky doesn't need another ME as emergency backup," Gibbs spoke in his usual brisk manner. He picked up one of the case folders on his desk and held it out to DiNozzo, "Matthers. Suspected of selling prescription drugs on the black market. You're his new supplier."
Automatically, Tony took the case folder. It was one of the barely-cold cases they'd gotten from another team in the usual case rotation. Gibbs was the only one who'd read the case folder so far. "Supplier? Me? But-"
Gibbs interrupted his protest, "you're the doctor. You can convince him that you're got the right contacts. Or do you want to get qualified as an ME?" Gibbs nodded at Tony's silence, "thought so." Gibbs stood up and headed for the elevator, "going for coffee. Have something for me when I get back."
Kate and McGee walked over to Tony. Tony sighed again, "Ok, say it, get it over with."
The two agents looked at each other. McGee nodded for Kate to speak for them both. "You should've trusted us with this Tony. You can't hide something this big from us." McGee nodded in agreement. Tony shrugged a shoulder, "it's not trust, Kate, it's relevance. Being a doctor doesn't overlap with being an agent. Not usually," Tony corrected himself, glancing down at the folder in his hand. This would be new, he'd never gone undercover as a doctor.
He looked at McGee, "what about you, McGee?"
Tim gave a small nod, "do you want to use your own medical license number or do you want a fake one when you talk to Matthers?"
