I feel bad because this is such a short chapter, and I made you wait so long. Honestly, I've been so swamped this week that I never seemed to find time to update. I am so sorry, and I am really trying to be faster with this.

Fair warning, but on Tuesday, I am going out of town, again, and I won't be back until Saturday. Hopefully I'll be able to get internet access at the hotel, but I'm going out of town with my mother, and I highly doubt that she'll let me spend any time on Tosh, but I promise I will get the next chapter up by Sunday at the latest. If I don't, I give you all permission to Gibbsslap me and throw rotten vegetables and fruit at my head.


12

The more Jethro learned about DiNozzo, the angrier he grew. Now was no exception. "Scarring on his prostate?"

Rick nodded. He wiped at his eyes before he sat down. "He likes to have it checked out, in case of complications, and make sure that nothing develops—"

Jethro cut him off. "Scarring on his prostate?" His anger started to rise again. "How the hell did DiNozzo get scarring on his prostate?" Of all things that he could have learned, it had to be this. He just kept wondering if DiNozzo had any breaks in his life.

Rick just stared at him for a moment. "He never told you anything, did he?"

"Why don't you start?" Jethro glared.

The doctor shook his head. "I don't know the exact details."

"Well, what do you know?"

At first, it looked like Rick was going to stop talking, complaining about 'doctor-patient confidentiality' again. But Jethro cut him off.

"Did it happen when he was a kid?" he all but shouted.

Rick paused for a moment, before he said, "Yes."

Jethro sat down. "What did they do to him?"

Rick leaned forwards and kept his eyes trained on the floor. "According to Tony, somebody burned him."

For a moment, Jethro felt his heart stop. "Somebody burned his prostate?" Even after saying it himself, he couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that somebody could be that cruel to a child. Even people that bought and sold children for sex. Who could be that cruel to anybody?

Rick just nodded. "Unfortunately, that's all I really know. I mean, he told me a few details about his childhood, but I have no idea who would do this to him."

"Why did you agree to treat him away from the office?"

Rick stared straight in his eyes. Jethro could see that it pained him to admit all of this. It was going against every code of ethics he knew. The longer Jethro sat there, the more he learned about the 'good' doctor. "Because he convinced me that people would kill me and my family if his check-ups were discovered."

Jethro chuckled bitterly. "And giving you free sex probably had nothing to do with it." He stood up. A part of him wanted to beat Rick to death. And when the doctor had the nerve to look insulted, his urge grew.

"How dare you! I'm married!"

"Yeah! You got a nice house, a nice car, you really expect me to believe you did any of this out of the goodness of your heart?"

Rick stood up. "Is it really that hard to believe?"

"I think that DiNozzo's greatest weapon is sex. And a man like you isn't strong enough to turn away from that."

"Why? Because you're not?"

Jethro didn't even realize he had done it. Not until he looked down and saw Rick lying on the floor, holding his bloody lip did he know that he had hit the man. Jethro's fists were by his sides, shaking with rage. No matter what, he couldn't suppress the anger this time. He knelt down and drew his weapon. He pressed it against the doctor's temple. "What did you do to my agent?" he all but screamed at him.

"I—"

Jethro cut him off with another yell. "You what?"

"I let him give me a blow job a couple times, but I never fucked him!"

Oh how noble, Jethro thought. The fury was still bubbling inside of him, but he still managed to put his gun away. "Yeah, you're a great guy." He stood up and headed for the door.

"Hey!" The doctor called after him. Jethro didn't stop. "You wanna know why I never fucked Agent DiNozzo?"

Actually, he didn't. "Because you're a better man than me?" he asked sarcastically. He really didn't care. Rick knew about Tony's past. He treated him every month for that scarring. Jethro wasn't privy to any of that. His hands were clean. Rick was another story entirely.

"Because I would never torture him like that!"

That finally got Jethro to stop. His hand was on the doorknob when he turned around. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Rick chuckled sickeningly. "I told you that hypertrophic scarring hurts. And that kind of pain that Tony feels every time bastards like you decide to use him is excruciating." Jethro was barely listening. He didn't believe it. He had a few scars, they didn't hurt like that. "Whatever they did to him is permanent." He stepped closer. His lip was already starting to swell. "Did you even notice the pain that he was in when you were pummeling into him? Or did you just not care?"

Before he hit the man again, Jethro ripped the door open and stepped out of the plush house.

Rick was making that up, Jethro knew it. DiNozzo wasn't weak like that. He wouldn't just let Jethro fuck him if it hurt that badly. Rick was pissed about the punch, but knew that he couldn't turn Jethro in. If he did, Jethro could easily report him to the Medical Board. Although, Jethro wasn't sure he still wouldn't. He bargained sexual pleasures for treatment out of a terrified, traumatized man. A guy like that didn't deserve to live, let alone practice medicine. Who knew how many other men he was examining off the books in exchange for sexual favors?

Jethro climbed into his car and drove away. At first, he thought about heading to the office, but he wasn't sure if he could deal with Kate and McGee just yet. They would no doubt have questions about what he just learned, and it wasn't any of their business.

Then a thought came to him. The burning must have been what made DiNozzo decide to run. But that didn't make any sense. If DiNozzo was strong enough to run when they hurt him, why was he so weak to allow himself to be used by his doctor? Why let himself be used by Morrow for his pleasure?

What if Rick had been lying to him? Maybe he made it all up to cover his own ass. Hell, DiNozzo was offering him a free monthly blowjob. For all Jethro knew, he somehow managed to convince DiNozzo that he needed monthly prostate exams just so he could use the younger man for his own desires. And now he was telling Jethro something to throw any suspicion off of himself. Jethro had gone there asking questions about what other people had done to his agent, but he never thought to question what the doctor had personally done.

He needed to confirm. He turned the car towards his house. Whitmore was DiNozzo's roommate. Maybe he could confirm if 'burning the prostate' was a real punishment. And if it was, maybe he could confirm if DiNozzo received it once or not.

But as soon as he arrived in his driveway, he knew something was wrong. He couldn't explain how, just his gut. Something just felt off.

Pulling his sidearm, he approached his front door quickly, with his head down. He turned the knob and it easily sprung open. His gut twisted harder. He remembered that he locked the door when he left. He had an important witness in his house, he knew he locked it.

Slowly and quietly, he cleared the first floor before moving upstairs to clear that. Both were empty. He didn't even think about calling out for Whitmore, if there was somebody else in his house, he didn't want them to get the drop on him. So carefully, Jethro made it down the stairs and went straight for the basement. His gun was still raised before him, entering every room before his body did. His steps were light, not making any sound on the linoleum. But the stairs to the basement were wood and there'd be no way of covering his steps then.

He grabbed the knob to the basement door and quickly pushed it open. He crouched low and kept hidden behind the frame.

He saw it immediately. Or rather, he saw him immediately.

The wood from the rafters creaked as Whitmore swung side to side. Rope was wrapped around his throat. His skin had lost its color. He had been dead for quite a while.

Jethro closed his eyes and held back a curse. Quickly, he stood back up and went down the stairs, making sure to sweep the entire area before he put his gun back at his hip. Unable to hold back his rage, he punched one of the ribs of his boat. But all that did was hurt his hand, which made his anger intensify.

He didn't for a second think that Whitmore committed suicide. His childhood was horrible, but he didn't want to die. There was no way that that thought changed in a handful of hours.

Not even Jethro's home was safe from these people. Nothing that he did helped. Every time he took a step forward, they came and knocked him back half a mile.

Whitmore was dead, and Jethro honestly had no clue what to do next.


Yes, I feel like crap for making you wait so long for this, only to end it there. Yes, I wish I could say things get better in the next couple of chapters, but sadly no, I honestly can't say that with a guilt free conscience. Next chapter has a lot of crap being thrown at you and the one after that actually hurts me just to look at. But! I am close to writing Tony back into the story. Almost there, almost there. We just have to cling to that!

Bob