A/N: See the first chapter for the disclaimer. I'm sorry this is so late, but the site's not working too well for me. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and please review. :)

Chapter 10: Starry Night

Tony leaned back outside on the grass in front of NCIS, staring up at the starry sky while he lay in the cool of the evening. Gibbs walked over, standing by Tony's head. "I'm not completely losing my mind," Tony said, still staring at the sky.

"I know that," Gibbs said.

"It's just a nice night, and there's nowhere at my apartment that I can do this."

Gibbs just looked down.

"The stars are pretty," Tony said, shrugging.

Gibbs nodded, sitting down next to Tony's shoulders.

"You ever talk about the stars with Kelly?" Tony asked, his voice soft and genuinely inquisitive as he stared at the sky.

Gibbs shrugged, looking at the sky above them.

"Too personal. Right."

Both of them were silent for a moment. "Shannon and I used to tell her that Daddy looked at the same stars she did," Gibbs said softly.

"That's nice," Tony said.

Gibbs tilted his head back and forth.

"Know what my dad used to tell me about the stars?"

"What's that?"

"'There's nothing special about them.'"

Gibbs looked over at Tony.

"Of course, for Cari, they were full of wonder."

"Cari your sister?" Gibbs asked.

Tony nodded. "Carrilynn Abigail DiNozzo."

Gibbs arched his eyebrows. "Abigail?"

"Yeah. I know you don't believe in coincidences, but…"

Gibbs chuckled softly, looking out across the river.

They fell quiet again, and after a moment, Tony said, "You know, I've always been jealous of Cari."

"Why's that?" Gibbs asked.

"She had no pressure, no expectations. If she ended up marrying rich, that would've been just as fine as if she had gone on to be a high powered executive. Me? I was supposed to take over my father's business, marry a beautiful woman and cheat on her as she got older."

Gibbs arched his eyebrows again, looking over.

"Never said my father wasn't a sleaze," Tony said dismissively.

Gibbs shrugged, looking away again.

"Pretty sure my mother knew. She used to work hard to make sure that I wouldn't turn out like him. Which, I like to think she won that battle."

"She did," Gibbs said.

"You didn't meet my dad," Tony said, looking over. "Well, at least not through anything but people's stories at the funeral services. I'm not sure those even did him any justice."

"Goal of those is to honor the life."

"He didn't deserve it."

Gibbs said nothing.

"Well, maybe that's not true. It wasn't all bad."

"No?" Gibbs asked.

"There were a few good moments, I think. Mostly nights that he was away on 'business.' Of course, that usually meant he was off with a new mistress or another hooker. Sometimes, it was legitimate business, but more often than not… I'm still not being fair."

Gibbs half-scoffed, half-shrugging. "That's your right."

"You feel that way about your father?"

Gibbs stiffened slightly, a movement he doubted Tony noticed. "My father wasn't like yours," he said softly.

"Was he a good man?" Tony asked, glancing over.

"Yeah."

"He's not really dead, is he?"

Gibbs looked over, saying nothing.

Tony snorted, looking back up to the sky. "I would ask why would you lie, but I don't think I'd get an answer out of you."

Gibbs turned back to the river. "Haven't talked to him in years," Gibbs admitted after a moment.

Tony nodded, letting a silence fall between them rather than probe the conversation further. After a moment, he turned to Gibbs and said, "You know how people always tell their kids that they can see their loved ones if they look into the stars?"

Gibbs nodded.

"Do you think that's true?"

Gibbs shrugged.

Tony looked back up at the stars. "Mom was big into believing that. Cari too, I guess."

Gibbs said nothing, just looked over toward the entrance of NCIS.

"I always wished things would've been different."

Gibbs looked at Tony.

Tony looked over. "If Cari hadn't been hit… I don't think the family would've fallen apart. Mom had no intention of leaving Dad. Cari would've been a beautiful young woman, I bet. I'm sure I would've been beating the boys back with a stick until I became a cop and could just shoot them."

Gibbs chuckled.

"It wouldn't have been happy or Norman Rockwell by any means, because it was nowhere near that before Cari died. But it would've been a little better. I don't know that military school would've happened. I just know that Mom probably never would've committed suicide. Dad would've still resented me for not doing what he wanted, but he wouldn't have hated me as much as he did." Tony shook his head, looking to the sky again. "Seven years later, and I still get bothered by the fact that he hated me until the day he died."

Gibbs shrugged. "You don't like leaving things," he said.

"What do you mean by that?" Tony replied, looking over.

"You don't like unresolved issues."

Tony shrugged, looking up again. "Seems like that's all I got, unresolved issues. Issues I can't resolve."

Gibbs cleared his throat softly.

"You'd think by now I'd be used to that idea. I can solve everyone else's problems, but for some reason, I can't ever fix my own."

Gibbs looked down at the grass. "Yours are usually a little more complicated," he said softly.

Tony shrugged again. "Shouldn't matter," he whispered.

"On the contrary, it matters a lot," Ducky said as he walked up. "It's easy to help people out with the more simple of life's problems."

"Anyone ever tell you that sometimes, you sound like a fortune cookie?"

Ducky laughed gently. "Why are you two sitting on the front lawn?"

"It's a nice night. You can see all the stars."

Gibbs simply gave Ducky a look.

"I see," Ducky said.

"We were just talking about families and stuff," Tony said. "Speaking of which, how's your mom doing?"

"Quite well, actually. Thank you for asking."

"That's good to hear." Tony smiled genuinely, looking away from Ducky and back to the night sky.

Ducky looked over at Gibbs, who shook his head. "Anthony," Ducky started. "Is everything alright?"

Tony shrugged. "Everything's going," he offered.

"That… isn't the same thing."

"What do you wanna know, Ducky? Am I sleeping well? No. Am I eating? Sometimes, but that's mostly because I'm not very hungry. Am I drinking? Not as much as I used to. Do I still blame myself? Yes."

Ducky shifted uncomfortably, swallowing a lump in his throat. "Is there…"

"Anything you can do?" Tony sighed softly, moving slightly in the grass. "I wish."

Ducky frowned, looking down at the grass.

"I wish there was something someone could do," Tony said. "But, it's like you said," Tony gestured at Gibbs. "It's complicated."

"I imagine it is," Ducky replied quietly. "You'll let us know if we can do something, right?"

"Promise." Tony sat up, bringing his knees halfway into his torso and resting his arms on top of them comfortably. "Right now, though, I think it's time to go home and try to get some rest."

"Sounds like a good idea."

Tony nodded, getting up slowly. "Night, Boss, Ducky."

"Good night, Anthony."

"Night," Gibbs said quietly, watching as Tony walked off toward the parking lot. Ducky remained standing as Gibbs finally got up off the grass.

"Is he better or worse than you thought?" Ducky asked, looking to Gibbs.

"Depends," Gibbs replied.

"On what?"

"The day."