Rating: T

Disclaimer: I think that everyone gets it by now.

A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed including the guests. I appreciate everyone who leaves feedback and I encourage lurkers to leave their comments. Thanks for the alerts and favs too. This story is not beta'd and while I do proof read before posting, things do unfortunately slip through, so apologies in advance.

The next chapter will take a short break in the Ducky and Gibbs confrontation for story flow and balance but rest assured that Ducky still has plenty left to say. He may have been slow to get going but he has definitely gotten his second wind. Oh and content in this chapter is pretty much straight up canon with a little bit of creative license, for example the details about FLETC. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

Halloween Remembrances

Chapter 10

When they were done and the dishes were loaded into the dishwasher, Ducky refilled Gibbs' mug with more black coffee that was strong enough to strip paint; just the way he liked it. Ducky shuddered, not wanting to consider what it was doing to Jethro's gastrointestinal tract. By mutual assent, they returned to Ducky's cosy sitting room and assumed their former positions, after Ducky tended the fire.

The Scottish born medical examiner sat impassively, eyeing his friend and waited for him to pick up the conversational slack. Gibbs sighed and Duck knew that this was extremely difficult for him. Three ex-wives would attest to that and Ducky was having trouble believing it was even happening, it seemed totally surreal. Finally he provided the opening salvo/

"So Ducky, ya trying to tell me DiNozzo doesn't trust me?"

"What do you think, Jethro?"

"He trusts me to watch his six Duck. I haven't let him down. Always been there for him but you obviously don't agree." Gibbs glared at his old friend. "What did he tell ya?"

Ducky stared at him. "If Anthony had said anything, I wouldn't betray that confidence but I will share my own observations and suspicions with you. I do think that when it comes to watching his six in the field he trusts you implicitly but not so much in the bullpen any more. Oh not your profession opinions... I'm talking about you having his back and while he used to trust you to watch his six as a friend... well I'm afraid you have well and truly lost that trust a while ago. He's felt alone for some time now."

Ducky took a breath and waited for the explosion and they hadn't even got to the really big one yet. He wasn't disappointed.

"What the crap ya taking about, Duck? I always have his back, professionally and in every other way too."

"Gibbs, you know as well as I do, that the only reason he joined NCIS was because his partner betrayed his trust. He placed his trust in you and followed you back here and found a family with you, Abigail and I. You became his mentor and in some ways you became almost like a father to him. As much as he could let anyone be. He looked up to you and a part of him still does and he longs to win your approval, even though he now despises his weakness in needing it. But you HAVE hurt him over the years. The sad thing is that you did it and didn't even seem to realise what you'd done."

"Ya gonna have to give me some concrete examples here Duck, cuz I'm drowning."

"Alright then Gibbs, let me lay it out for you. When it was just the two of you, Anthony was your partner and although it was a mentor and protégé relationship, it was much more equitable. He was a mature investigator who had confidence in his skills and his place watching your six. Then after Caitlyn and Timothy joined the team, your relationship changed. Your damned management strategy, making your agents compete against each other to win brownie points and earn your approval, believing it increases team effectiveness; well it shifted the dynamic back to him being much more subordinate.

Apart from that, it is simply a pile of horse hockey, as management theories go, as any organisational psychologist or human resources expert can attest! You forced him to compete alongside the junior agents and he reacted by becoming more juvenile and insecure as he tried to get you attention, even if he couldn't win your approval or respect."

That's crap Duck! DiNozzo's my second in command and I don't trust anyone else to watch my six like he does."

"That may be Jethro, but have you told him that? More importantly, have you told the team that, in word or deed because that's not what I see and it isn't what they see either. And as to him being your SFA, sure he does all the scutt work plus a heap of your paper work too if I know you, and don't forget that I do know you... But you don't treat him with the respect that he deserves...with the respect he's earned.

"So the junior members of the team have no respect for him or the chain of command, if it comes down to it. They ignore his directives, they don't think he deserves his position and they argue, when he gives them direct orders. I've heard them in the field, personally. Timothy makes it plain he is much smarter and Ziva is probably worse than Caitlyn was, when it comes to ignoring the chain of command... and the worst thing about it all is, that he has started to doubt himself."

"Then when you retired to Mexico, the chain of command issue just snowballed because they didn't think he deserved to be the senior field agent and they definitely didn't think he could replace you as supervisory team leader. Which they told him, at every opportunity and they fought him every step of the way. They were angry that you abandoned them all and they took out their anger on Anthony."

"They were insubordinate and arrogant and they wouldn't follow orders and because he understood all too well what it means to be abandoned because it isn't his first time, he let all of them get away with it. Especially young Abigail, who should have known better and they all used him as a human punching bag. Goodness knows, he was used to being yours' for so long, but Jethro he was hurting worse than the rest of them put together. And why? Because his mentor, his father- substitute had walked away from him and left him, without any support. Just like his biological father did, when he sent him away and told him he would end up in the gutter. You left him with a less than glowing endorsement, that everybody in the bull pen interpreted as being that you thought he was inferior slops."

"Ducky saw that Gibbs was about to interrupt and he held up his hand. "Oh I know, Jethro that it wasn't your intention to suggest that he was the best of a bad bunch but simply your pathetically, woeful inability, to give him honest praise when it's due. And our young friend would have known it too, once upon a time, before he began to buy into the team philosophy that he was a mediocre agent at best, who gained his promotion by longevity alone.

When he lost you, he did what he thought would make you proud. He held the team together, even though he didn't have their support. He held Abigail together despite her constantly telling him he wasn't you and never would be. She made him a training sign to remind him he could never measure up to the Legendary Leroy Jethro Gibbs, did you know that? Even I was too damn busy, nursing my own hurt and anger at you and I wasn't there for him, like I should have. And that shames me no end."

"So alone and hurting, he tried to make you proud of him. With no warning or transitional phase, he had to step up. He led the team, in spite of the chain of command issues you had left him with. Despite the fact that they took your handing over of the keys speech to be derogatory, he stepped up and led. He not only maintained your legendary closure rate, he did it with a team that was far from cohesive or supportive."

"He had an acting Senior Field Agent who he had to train and who wouldn't listen to him, plus a green probie that was even more of a frightened rabbit than McGee was, when he first arrived. He did it with a Mossad agent that let him plainly see, that she thought she should be in charge rather than him and constantly challenged his orders. He did it while running a covert undercover operation for the director; without anyone having his six. More importantly he did it all with no support, apart from one lone autopsy gremlin."

"Would you have been able to juggle all of that when you first took over the Team Lead Jethro? You had the benefit of Mike Franks ensuring that there was a clear chain of command. So that when you were given the lead, your team wasn't questioning your fitness to assume control and fighting against you at every turn. You had the benefit of years of leading teams as a Gunny where there was a clear chain of command. And you never had to try and run undercover missions at the same time as the MCRT for the first time or conceal the fact that you were working on the sly, for the director of the agency. Not to mention, you were considerably older than Anthony when you assumed the mantle of leadership and you didn't have to contend with an emotionally volatile forensic scientist, who would have a meltdown at least every other day and the only one who could talk her down, was Anthony."

"Frankly he was an outstanding leader Jethro, and what did you do? Did you come back and thank him for keeping the team together, that he had helped you build? Did you tell him that you were proud of the job that he had done and thank him for keeping your seat warm for you, while maintaining that damned closure rate that you are so inordinately proud of? Did you tell him that you had changed your mind and that you decided to come out of retirement and wanted the team back again? No Jethro, in your usual jackboot diplomacy style, you came in early one morning and cleared out his desk and that's how he found out he was demoted, back to being your second in command."

Ducky could see that Gibbs was girding his loins to jump in but Ducky hadn't finished yet. So he held up his hand and said, "Haven't finished yet! You get to speak when I've finished as per our agreement."

'Then when we all tried to tell you what an ass you were being, and what an outstanding job Anthony had done in your absence, you were too damned busy. Too damned busy, basking in all the arse licking for want of a better phrase, that Timothy, Abigail and Ziva were doing and listening to their bitching about Anthony. You let them rub excrement in his face and you joined in, just to make sure he knew that the rightful Sovereign was back on his throne and taken back his kingdom...again. While Anthony was worrying about how much of your memory remained AWOL and how it might affect the team when they were under fire. While he was feeling guilty about his probie getting dumped unceremoniously off the team, you were all enjoying yourselves, putting the boot into him and telling him what a lousy leader he was.

He even turned down the chance to lead his own team because he thought he wasn't good enough. Plus he knew that Ziva and McGee would never have the gonads to stand up to you, if someone needed to watch your six or even over rule you, in your impaired condition. He was told that an offer like that might not come up for a long time and he put his team's welfare, ahead of any professional aspirations; or his need to get away from a truly untenable situation.

Gibbs couldn't help it, he had to know. "What team lead? No one ever said anything about a promotion, god damn it! I'm his supervisor," he roared.

"Anthony didn't want you to know, Jethro but Jenny tried to drop you enough hints. If you're head hadn't been so far up your er fundament at the time... well you would have read between the lines of what she was telling you and joined the dots. Jenny offered Anthony the Team Lead in Rota, Spain when you returned. Mr Palmer said that not long before he turned it down, McGee taunted him, saying that he didn't deserve his own team and Anthony just took it on the chin, like every other time. Your precious agents owe him their careers not just the existence of the team, when you left."

"He had plenty of opportunities to write both of them up for gross insubordination; they would have been tossed out on their proverbial posteriors and I for one would have applauded loudly and I wouldn't have been Robinson Caruso either! Several of the other team leads tried to get him to report them but he just did what he always does. He took one of the team... again and again. He is a fine man and a great agent, Jethro."

"I know that Duck, I trained him." Gibbs smiled indulgently.

"God damn you Gibbs!" Ducky shouted and stood up and strode out of the room fuming. He called to his mother's pack of corgis and decided he needed to take a walk to calm down. Either that or he'd go back in there and pound Jethro senseless; Marquess of Queensbury rules be damned! Honestly, he counted Gibbs as a good friend but he could be thick as two planks sometimes and Ducky longed to pummel some sense into Jethro's thick skull, for once. Though he recognised that taking on the former gunny wasn't exactly prudent, so a bracing constitutional was much more sensible, all round.

He hoped that in his absence, Gibbs was processing everything he had said. He decided that they needed to take a break and get some sleep. Pick up the discussion again in the morning but Ducky knew that he couldn't leave things like this, either. He needed to draw a line in the conversational sand, so to speak. Tomorrow would be extremely difficult for them both but hopefully it would help Anthony, if Gibbs finally had some insight into how much damage they had caused him since he joined their family. The truth hurt and Jethro was not good at dealing with emotional pain. He would not take it well.

Ducky walked at a surprisingly brisk pace, with the corgi crew in tow and tried to breathe deeply, so that he could calm himself and then finish up and sleep for a few hours. Although as he got older, he found his need for sleep diminished, today had been an exceptionally trying day, what with Anthony's injury and nightmare. Then to hear what Marion had to say and deal with the emotional fallout of her attempted apology to their young man, well it would have been more than enough to send him to his bed early. But to have to hold this conversation with Jethro on top of everything else that had happened, it made him weary down to his very bones and he longed to fall asleep in his freshly laundered sheets.

It was time to go back and finish this and with a sharp whistle to the corgi clan, he headed for home. He grinned, wondering what Gibbs was doing right now. He probably had no idea why Ducky had stormed off, so it was time to educate him on that score. Ducky pondered in his absence which of his crutches he had opted to indulge in – bourbon or coffee? As he let himself and the corgis back into the house, he could smell fresh brewed coffee and he smirked. Jethro, being on someone else's territory hadn't felt comfortable enough to get drunk, which was one of the reasons why Ducky insisted on having this showdown at his place. He wanted the home town advantage.

When he returned to the sitting room, Gibbs looked up and regarded him cautiously. "Not sure what it was I said, Duck but I didn't mean to upset you."

It was the closest to an apology that he had ever likely to get from Jethro but Ducky wasn't feeling like crowing because Gibbs still didn't get what it was, that was so wrong. Ducky knew that they needed to settle this point before shutting up shop for the night.

Ducky glared at Jethro and said, "I saw red, Jethro because you insist on perpetuating the myth that you are responsible for Anthony's brilliance. I know the truth though, because I was there when you stumbled across him. He was a fine investigator long before he joined us, which was precisely why you wouldn't rest, until you had him."

"You wanted someone you could trust, to watch your six. He was a highly respected detective with plenty of commendations, an impressive closure rate of his own, especially in light of the lack of resources of Baltimore PD and the multiple cases he was assigned to work simultaneously. He had earned a gold shield at a freakishly young age and he had a very impressive track record and gift for undercover work.

The FBI had been trying to lure him away from Baltimore long before you showed up. He sailed through FLETC and graduated in the top three, even though he joined the class right at the tail end of the course. When he joined the MCRT he was so far from being a probie in all but a technical capacity, as you well know. Anthony was never your probie but he is your protégé. To hear you talk, it sounds like you got him, hatched right out of the egg, still totally wet behind the ears.

Instead of taking credit for training him, you need to acknowledge the investigator he was when you were lucky enough to get hold him. It might help his colleagues to see that Anthony more than merits his position as senior field agent. He earned the right to have his own team, damn it and he is worthy of professional respect, just as much as you are. I don't see Ziva or Timothy ever bringing down a mafia family."

"Give him the credit he is due. You took him and moulded him into a federal agent, absolutely but let's be honest Gibbs, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. And if it wasn't for him, those two junior agents that think so highly of themselves well, they wouldn't be half a good as they think they are."

Ducky stood up, "now I suggest that we resume this discussion in the morning. I've made up the spare bedroom with fresh sheets, so I'll say goodnight. I'm going to ask James to go and keep Anthony company, tomorrow so that we can finish what we started." Then he turned to head off to bed.

"Oh and Jethro, unless you want to wake up with at least one of Mother's damn dogs in bed with you, I suggest that you make sure the bedroom door is well and truly latched. Sleep well my friend."

Next Chapter: A little intra-species make out session and Marion meets her sponsor.