The dinner with Emma left him feeling off kilter for some reason. He'd come to trust her implicitly, yet after one semi personal dinner with her he knew something was off. Not with her necessarily. Maybe it was him. Emma was a mother hen, problem was, Tony had never experienced something like that until Gibbs came into his life and he was still trying to wrap his head around that! He still had moments where he thought his dad might decide he didn't want him anymore, and now Emma was trying to take care of him, as well. He wanted to talk to someone, too bad Emma and Gibbs were really good friends. He didn't want to bother anyone else with his problems. What to do. What to do.
"Tony, move it! We have a case."
"On it, Boss."
The case, it turned out was a missing Navy Seal who had gone hiking for the weekend to get away from his girlfriend. After meeting said girlfriend, Tony understood perfectly why the man wanted to get away. Hell, he only spoke to her all of eight minutes and he wanted to run away! After she threw her best China at him, he decided to call it a day. After she slung her cast iron skillet at Gibbs, he decided to take her in for assaulting a federal officer.
"Any one ever threw cookware at you before?"
"No but wife number two thought my head made a nice golf ball and took a swing at me. Seven stitches later I threw the clubs out. Any one ever throw dishes at you before?"
"Actually…yeah."
"Do I even want to know?"
"Probably not."
"Let me guess, ex girlfriend?"
"Mother"
"Your ex girlfriend's mother threw plates at you?"
"No my mother. When I was five or six. I was trying to reach a spoon for my ice cream and I spilled the whole drawer. She picked up the first thing within reach and flung it at my head. A platter that was going to be used for the dinner she was hosting that night. Needless to say, after it cracked me in the head, it was of no use to her anymore. The ginormous dent in it saw to that."
"Your mother threw a serving platter at you?"
Tony absentmindedly rubbed the side of his head, letting Gibbs see the long thin scar on his scalp.
"Yeah. First concussion I ever had."
And, thought Gibbs, that explains why he acted so strange with Emma at dinner. Emma had three kids of her own and hundreds more she unofficially "adopted". She was a mother to her very core. Tony had no experience with that kind of thing. It was a small miracle that he let her get as close as she had. It was really a testament to his faith in Gibbs himself that he had allowed her into his personal life.
The pained expression in his dad's eyes made him wonder if maybe he shouldn't have shared that particular tid-bit of information with the older man. He was beginning to see just how protective Gibbs was of him. His abuse filled childhood irked the man, and Tony had no clue why. It wasn't like he could have prevented it.
"I'm sorry."
"What? Why?"
"You look really sad, Dad. I didn't mean to upset you."
Gibbs had to tamp down all his anger toward Tony's parents at the moment. The kid had been abused seven different ways from Sunday by the people who were supposed to love him, yet here he was apologizing for that, like it was somehow his fault he got stuck with lousy parents.
"You didn't upset me. What those THINGS you call parents did to you upsets me. They didn't deserve you. I'm glad you father disowned you. If he had not, I would never have found you. He doesn't know what he missing. Stupid bastard."
The rest of the night passed in slow motion. Until Gibbs brought up Emma. Luckily he understood his son's reluctance to let her into his life on a more personal level. He even help him see that Emma was nothing like Diana DiNozzo. By the end of the night he felt better than he had in a long while.
Sorry I didn't update sooner. I had finals which are now finished. I did great on them, one less worry! Hope to finish this thing in a few more chapters. Thanks 4 the great reviews. You guys are wonderful. Hope you guys have a great Christmas!