Rating: T

Disclaimer: NCIS does not belong to me and I am not profiting from them financially.

A/N Sorry to keep you all hanging between chapters. Some technical issues with my computer and also a chapter that wanted to wrestle with me before it would cooperate with being written are my excuses. Hopefully it is all good now. Due to the long time between chapters, I hope people will excuse me if I just post this without me taking the time to personally thank reviewers. Thought you'd appreciate getting a chapter sooner and that I turn my attention to the next chapter. Thanks to the people still alerting and favouriting as we move into the back end of the story.

Thanks to BuckeyeGirl00000 for beta-reading this chapter. I rewrote parts of this after it was beta'ed and therefore any remaining mistakes are my bad :(

Halloween Remembrance

Chapter 21

Gibbs stood in front of his boat, sandpaper in hand as he caressed the graceful curves of the hull, sanding with the grain of course. He was striving for his usual state of nothingness that he normal achieved when working on the boat in his basement. He considered it akin to meditation, yoga or that silly damned, pyjama clad dancing around, chai tea thingy that geeky types did in the park, early in the mornings. Sadly his attempts didn't come close to the calmness that Jethro normally experienced, when he communed with his boat after an upsetting day at work. Normally being the operative word here. Tonight, his hands were simply going through the motions, with a familiarity born out of years of muscle memory that could shape wood, even in the dark.

His mind however, was far from calm, as he kept replaying situations, conversations and memories over and over in his head. Ducky last week, had cautioned him against demanding DiNozzo spill his guts about personal matters. He had never been able to understand why his old friend made such a big deal about it. That was until the crafty doctor had finally dropped his bombshell today. Now as the various mental images flashed across his brain, one in particular wouldn't leave him alone.

Gibbs recalled the clipped angry tone of his senior agent describing how he had to report to his father's study each evening as a child. He was expected to deliver a report upon his daily activities and to act as valet for his father, pouring his nightly drinks. Tony would then have to stand at attention, listening as his father berated him, for grades that weren't ever good enough for the monster who shared the same name as his agent.

He also had a vivid image of DiNozzo at NCIS, striding around the bull pen, a ball of pure kinetic energy that had difficulty staying still for long. How his second would fall over his feet in his rush to get into position, either in front of Gibbs' desk or the plasma screen when Gibbs roared, wanting some lead. Once there, he would be proceed to deliver a succinct Sit Rep, as he knew too well, what happened if they didn't have anything for him. Tony also viewed it as his responsibility to ensure adequate supplies of Gibbs' next caffeine fix before his infamous temper consumed the bull pen.

He saw a team lead who not only pounced on his agents' flaws and errors, castigating them publically, especially his second if he was being brutally honest but, just like Senior, couldn't manage to give him the smallest amount of praise. Ducky was right, he really was no better than Tony's dad, when it came down to it. Oh yeah, the parallels were there, if he had been man enough to seek them out, he winced disgustedly.

When it came to DiNozzo, it wasn't just his lack of praise... or more accurately, his lack of acknowledgement that he had done something noteworthy. He was always so busy trying to make him the exceptional agent he believed he could be, due to his potential, that he never told him he was already great at his job. Just like Senior was never satisfied with his son's achievements either. Anyone else, would be proud to have a son like Tony.

Jethro was had difficulty understanding why he found it so easy to jump to the conclusion that DiNozzo was slacking around now that he had started examining his own attitude and behaviour. He'd worked with him for so many years and knew damned well, that he always came up with the goods, never once disappointing him or failing to have Gibbs' six. Yet time and again, he'd chewed DiNozzo out in front of the whole squad room for messing around, when in reality he was coming up with leads or connections in his own unique way.

Being the second 'B' bastard he was though, he never ever said sorry for constantly underestimating him, or falsely accusing him in front of his peers. I'll bet that Senior never apologised to his son either, his traitorous Ducky inner voice berated him. Of course it was damned convenient for him, having a rule that declared that apologies were a sign of weakness. It meant he never needed to consider when he was in the wrong. Just pretend that it never happened and move on.

The irony was that what was definitely required in this situation, to stop the most valuable member of his team leaving, was a honking huge apology about how he had been treating his senior field agent. Yet the problem was, even if he could get Tony to listen to him long enough to hear his apology, he doubted very much he would actually believe him after years of hiding behind Rule Six. Why indeed, should his loyal Saint Bernard listen to one lame-assed apology that would seem as if he was apologising because he thought he was going to lose a loyal companion. A fact that was true to some extent which didn't necessarily make for a palatable apology either.

His need to apologise had been more pragmatic up until now but it was so much more complicated at this point. Once he'd found out that DiNozzo had been keeping a Mother of All Secrets as Abby called them, yeah it had made him angry. Angry, protective and with a deep seated longing to be able disembowel something, preferably of the Senior DiNozzo persuasion. Trouble was he already knew that Tony would not welcome that reason for his apology, either. He'd already been rebuffed him, when he tried it.

While he had known what was required, since the night of the Halloween shooting, when it became apparent that things were so bad that Tony was seriously considering leaving his team, he chaffed against the inevitable. Now, after processing Ducky's five megaton neutron bomb, things were different. Now he wanted, no he had to say he was sorry, for being a bastard... for being anything like Tony's father. The old oblivious Gibbs would have probably given a half assed apology, told him to suck it up and maybe invited the kid back for a steak and half a bottle of Jack and that would have been it. Problem solved... well as far as he was concerned.

The more self- aware, albeit guilt riddled Gibbs, had to offer a heartfelt apology for being even remotely like the monster that was Tony's sperm donor. And the crux of his dilemma was that due to his idiotic rules and abhorrence of appearing anything less than the omnipotent Gibbs, Tony would struggle to believe him when he said sorry.

He already reacted negatively whenever Jethro was less of a bastard to him. Clearly it was something that was very foreign in his relationship with his father and went a long way to explain why Tony had such a distorted idea of what constituted kindness, after all. He also believed Gibbs' head slaps were his way of expressing affection, which was not strictly the case. It was often a convenient way of Gibbs relieving his frustration and anger with a handily situated senior field agent who never complained. It had served his mentor well enough too.

So now he had a problem that he was ill-equipped to deal with. And he couldn't afford to bury his head or his emotions and hope that it all went away. He was going to have to move way out of his usual comfort zone.

HRHRHR

FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell was negotiating the evening traffic, heading to Gibbs house. As he drove, he pondered why he had received the summons from Jethro out of the blue. As far as he knew, there were no cases pending that might involve the FBI or even any clandestine Ops that Gibbs might want the skinny on. Well of course it was possible that there were but then, if there were, he hadn't been read in on them. And as far as he knew, their ex-wife Dianne hadn't gone on the rampage with a nine iron, at least not lately anyway which might explain why Gibbs would called upon him, if it wasn't professional.

Guess I'll find out soon enough why Gibbs demanded an audience with me, he chided himself, as he pulled into Gibbs driveway. Dr Mallard's beloved Morgan was already ensconced in the driveway in front of the garage although though there was no sign of Gibbs vehicle. Tobias decided to go in and interrogate Ducky about what they were doing there while they waited for Gibbs.

As he entered the perpetually unlocked house, he could smell the familiar smell of fresh coffee invading his nostrils and smirked. In the same way that a smoker's years of nicotine use pervaded their homes, furnishings, clothes, even their hair; Gibbs' home and person simply oozed coffee odour. Tobias noticed automatically, that Ducky was brewing coffee and had also made himself a pot of tea that he was slowly pouring into a cup. Tobias smiled at the doctor, who was definitely rather eccentric but still the best in the biz.

"Hey Ducky, any chance of a cup of that coffee you've brewed?"

Ducky smiled and poured him a cup of coffee before handing it to him.

"Jethro's down in the basement, reinforcing some of his Marine stoicism, I suspect, Tobias. You might want to give him a bit of space before you head down there."

"Where's his car Ducky and why are you and I, here?"

" I brought him home tonight, because I didn't want him driving and the answer to why we are here, is known only to Jethro, I'm afraid. I'm certain that all will be revealed in his own sweet time. Meanwhile, why don't you and I order the food?"

Ducky thrust a menu at him and he quickly made his selection. Although they made small talk, he could tell that the usually ebullient medical examiner's thoughts were elsewhere. When the food arrived, Tobias descended down into Gibbs' man cave, to see what was going on with him. He was curious about what was going on and Ducky seemed to be content for him to coax Gibbs up from the basement.

The relationship between him and Gibbs' was a strange mix of camaraderie, based partly upon their mutually shared survival of the devil incarnate, aka Dianne. That and the mutual respect they had forged for each other, after years of trying to one-up each other with joint investigations. While they maintained a healthy competitiveness, mostly born out of the antipathy that existed within the various federal alphabet agencies, they had also ended up watching each other's sixes too. But that didn't mean that they didn't enjoy getting on each other's wick, though.

With this in mind, Tobias crossed the basement floor, unable to resist teasing his old friend. "So I hear that there might be a place opening up on your team soon, Gibbs. Is Probie going to move up to the SFA position? If DiNutso's serious about a upwardly mobile career move, I know my superiors are keen to finally snap him up. I still haven't forgiven you for stealing him out from under me, back in Baltimore. I'd been cultivating him for months, trying to get him on board."

Gibbs simply glared at him. It was a glower that was designed to strip paint off the walls or cause a junior agent to shrivel up like a well salted leech. Tobias was impervious to it though. He may not have a second B for bastard to call upon but he was more than a match for Jethro's patented glare.

He just grinned like he'd seen Jethro's loyal Saint Bernard do, hundreds of times in the past. Of course DiNutzo had also earned hundreds of head slaps too but he figured that there was no way, Gibbs would try it on him. He'd find out pretty damn quick, that the FBI agent could give as good as he got, even if Gibbs was a Marine. Fornell knew a few down and dirty moves of his own too.

C'mon Gibbs, grubs here and I am dying to eat. Haven't had anything since breakfast. Get your ass upstairs now and where's Jack?"

Gibbs gave him a feral smirk but picked up the bottle of bourbon before heading upstairs to join Ducky, who had been mercifully silent since they'd left NCIS headquarters earlier.

HRHRHRHR

Ducky placed the various containers of Chinese takeout food on Gibbs dining table. He had organised plates and spied beer in Gibbs fridge, which he retrieved and placed on the table, too. He was curious about why Jethro had wanted Tobias and himself to join him. He wondered what he had in common with the two federal agents.

Initially, when Tobias and Jethro emerged from the basement, they were occupied by the food that was laid out on the table. Gradually though, Ducky felt as if he was being watched, so he looked up to find them staring in amazement, as he tucked into his healthy choice of stir fried Asian green vegetables and bean curd in Blackbean Sauce. Ducky smiled and offered the container to his two dining companions but they acted as if he had two heads.

"Didn't know ya ate that crap, Duck. Thought Cate was the only one who used to eat satiny tofu?" Gibbs gagged dramatically, while Tobias rolled his eyes

"Try it Jethro," Ducky urged, "fermented beancurd is an extremely healthful food and at my age, I need to be careful with my diet. I'm not as young as I used to be." Although he didn't say it, the subtext of his statement was that Fornell and Gibbs weren't either.

In an effort to change the topic, Gibbs began to outline why he had requested their attendance. "I need your help, guys. There's a possibility that DiNozzo is getting ready to jump ship and I wanta put a stop to it. Duck here, says that it started going haywire cuz my junior agents don't respect the chain of command. Investigated that ... and it's not just Duck that sees it that way either." He glanced at Fornell who nodded his agreement.

"Was real bad apparently, when I took a break down at Mike's place and I reckon it's my fault that those knuckleheads don't respect him like they should. Need to fix it, but aside from making them swab the decks on a battleship or toothbrushes to clean out the heads, I need some help. Figure we could brainstorm ideas. Have a few of my own but need some help to pull em off."

Ducky saw Tobias open his mouth and it didn't take a genius to know what he was about to say. "What makes you think I want help you hold onto DiNutzo Jethro. I've been after him for years. You pinched him out from under me," he teased, not entirely joking.

Ducky smothered a grin as Jethro glared at the Fibbie. "Cuz if I lose him, I'm not gonna feel real sympathetic, next time ya show up at 0100 and ya drunk as a skunk, over Dianne."

He couldn't help himself. Ducky chuckled at the irony that found these two self declared bastards as the ex- husbands of the fiery titian haired Dianne. Fate had fashioned an odd, yet comfortable partnership between the pair. As he cogitated, Tobias and Jethro were off and running, as Fornell seemed to have decided to get with the program.

At first, the suggestions were pretty frivolous. Popular schemes involving toothbrushes and aircraft carriers but gradually they decided on a few key strategies which they hoped would result in attitudinal change. Tobias thought it might help to have an exchange program operating between the teams and he could hammer chain of command issues and Gibbs team might inject a bit of unorthodox investigatory of the DiNozzo variety into his FBI agents in return. He grinned in a feral manner and Ducky could tell he was thinking of getting Anthony onto his team temporarily. Gibbs scowled, although the idea had merit.

Gibbs had been thinking that it would be good for McGee and Ziva to have to use methods favoured by DiNozzo and minus parameters and giga-bitty-bobs in McGee's case and minus lock picks, physical interrogations and spook etiquette in Ziva's case. Having them swap with Fornell's team, especially if it was one at a time, might be a good way to do just that.

Team McGee with the Tobias' agents and not replace Tobias' computer techno-geek, so he was not required in that role. With Ziva, Fornell would slap her down hard if she tried any of her Mossad spy crap with him, because even if he was willing to turn a blind eye to her methods, he simply couldn't afford to do so in the behemoth bureaucracy. Let them both try to generate ideas and leads without access to their usual strengths and see if they were still so blasé about how DiNozzo did what he did. They tossed around dozens of ideas before settling on two more that would need cooperation to pull off.

The medical examiner spluttered when Jethro made a stunningly brilliant suggestion. "Oh my Jethro, you may have accused me of being Machiavellian this afternoon but that is pure evil. No one plays mind games like you do. I already feel sorry for the lad. She is going to eat him for breakfast and coupled with the task and his team, it seems almost evil."

Tobias glanced back and forth between the two friends as they reminisced about the previous encounter, before Ducky took pity on him and let him in of the joke. Tobias started laughing and before long all three were overwhelmed by paroxysm of laughter before they refocused on the job at hand.

"Duck, I need your Mensa contacts and need you to do some psychological profiling on the FLETC recruits and probies so we pick the right candidates. Tobias, is the Prodigy program still operating?"

"Jethro, there is NO prodigy Program." Despite his emphatic denial, his expression said otherwise.

"Fine, Fornell, can ya look for individuals NOT in the Prodigy Program that might be looking for some undercover training experience?"

"Sure Gibbs, I'll do that. Let ya know."

Ducky was smiling again. "So Jethro, you do realise that you borrowed that mentoring idea from our good friend Assistant Chief Amos, don't you? Credit where credits due, dear boy!"

Gibbs' spluttered, hating the thought that his arch nemesis was also the genesis of one of the key elements of his plan to keep his senior agent from jumping ship to Metro PD. He really hated that guy. Maybe not as much as Kort but still, at least the CIA spook wasn't running around, trying to steal his best agent out from under him.

It was blatantly obvious to Fornell and Ducky, that Jethro resented Darryl. He had learnt some interesting Intel about the assistant police chief over the week-end that he thought might give Jethro some insight into Darryl's behaviour.

"I was talking to Stuart Kershaw... the Metro detective after the match on Saturday, Jethro. He told me that a couple of years ago, Darryl and his lovely wife Shandra lost their only child to depression. Apparently, he was at graduate school and was popular and outgoing, so no one had any idea that he was struggling because he was such a good actor. I suspect that our Anthony reminds Darryl of his boy, and that is why he has a soft spot for him. Darryl's marriage never survived Matthew's suicide and now he is alone my friend, apart from his officers."

Ducky could see Jethro processing that information, no doubt noting the parallels with his own personal life. He thought it was ironic that both of these childless men had zeroed in on Anthony, intuitively determining his need of a supportive father influence. Yet they were worlds apart in demeanour. While Darryl definitely wore his heart on his sleeve when it came to young Anthony, Gibbs on the other hand was more likely to chew his arm off than admit that he needed Anthony just as much as the young man needed him too.

HRHRHR

Ducky turned his pride and joy towards home, thinking about the night with the two curmudgeonly, federal agents. They maintained this facade at work that they couldn't stand each other, but the truth was that they were strangely good friends. It had certainly been an interesting night on top of an emotionally fraught discussion in Autopsy.

Luckily Jethro seemed to be more centred than he had been during that most difficult conversation. He had refused to have Tobias stay over with him and was equally pig headed about coming home with him. It would seem he had developed a rather extreme aversion to little old ladies and randy Welsh corgis but the medical examiner was feeling much more sanguine about leaving Jethro to his own devices.

A night of convivial food and fellowship seemed to work miracles for the taciturn team leader. He was his gruff, growly, constipated self again and busy making plans to fix what was broken.

Next Chapter: A much needed conversation.