Death rarely is pretty. The most ideal way of dying would be when you're old and in your own bed, surrounded by your loved ones and with a peace of mind, acceptance and understanding that 'this is it. It's my time. No regrets. I've lived a good life and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I've done my part and finally I will get some rest.' There was nothing pretty nor peaceful about the bloody body of Frank Raimey; the way his unseeing eyes stared at him with accusation and anger. Tony stood farther away, watching as the people in the room worked with the scene as they would with any other crime scene out there. Shuddering inwardly, he finally turned away and walked straight into Gibbs.

"You okay?" Gibbs didn't have to say more for the young man to understand what he was really asking.

"I've seen crime scenes far worse than this. I'll be fine. Let's go." Tony turned around and walked away past the onlookers.

Gibbs turned around to see the body himself. Unlike Tony, he saw a man with seemingly no other way out. He hurried after Tony who was at his desk, putting in the small box the few things he wanted to take with him.

"Need some help with that, kid?" Mark asked. He looked like he had aged ten years.

"Can't wait to get rid of me, huh?" Tony grinned teasingly.

"Hey, now. We're losing our star player and I'm losing a good student. How can I be happy?"

"I was a prankster way before I met you. You know it, old man."

Mark growled, but there was playful glint in his eyes. "Your favorite kind of pranks involve superglue."

Tony laughed, but then he frowned. What if everything from his dream would indeed happen in real life? He could still remember that phone call... He barely left the work for a week after the funeral and even then it was only after Gibbs threatened to fire him if he didn't go home to sleep.

- DREAM REALITY FLASHBACK -

"Hey, Rachel! How's Mark?"

"Anthony... Tony, he's dead..."

"Tony?" Mark worried when the boy stared at him, but clearly wasn't even seeing him and had turned pale.

Tony shook his head. "Sorry... Did you say something?"

"You spaced out... I thought you were past doing that." By that Mark meant all those moments for about a month after Tony woke up from the coma where he would space out in the middle of a conversation, which was why he hadn't been allowed to work 'outside' for a while. Much to Tony's annoyance. "Hey, kid," he said and decided to change the subject when Tony merely shrugged. "Rachel and I... You know she loves you like one of her own. If you ever need someone to talk to or a place to escape to... You know where to find us."

"I sure do. Thanks, Mark." Tony grinned, thinking about the woman who kept trying to feed him whenever she saw him. She was almost as bad as Ducky when it came to his health and diet. "Say hi to your wife when you get home and... Do me a favor, old man."

Rolling his eyes, Mark smiled. Only Tony got away with calling him an old man. "Anything. As long as it doesn't involve giving your superglue a chance because that's not going to happen."

Tony laughed. "No. Not that. It's about your fishing trips. I know how much you love and need those times alone. Just... Promise me to find someone to go with you. Don't go alone. Ever."

"Kid..."

"Promise me. I don't like you being on your own in a place like that, with no other people around when you might need some help or..."

"Alright, alright."

Tony looked like he wanted to say more, but at this point Gibbs started to get impatient and he needed more coffee. "DiNozzo! You done yet?!" he growled. He stood at the door and looked rather grumpy.

"Gotta go. Don't want to piss off the bear." Tony rolled his eyes, not one bit scared by Gibbs' worsening mood. If anything, he was amused.

"Call me. Maybe even visit me and Rachel. You haven't seen our grandchild yet."

"Of course." Tony put down the box and wrapped his arm around the old Detective. Before the older man had time to return the awkward hug, he took his box and hurried away.

Later on, the entire Baltimore PD cursed the name of one Anthony D. DiNozzo for a week when they were plagued by pranks involving superglue. Although there was no evidence of who did it, everyone knew the culprit. Mark was the only one who laughed and even made copies of some of the best reactions, caught by their security cameras, and one of the copies found a way to Tony's mailbox.

Entering the mansion, Teddy could feel the heated glares from the men standing on guard. It was pure hatred with some reluctantly fearful respect. His only response to them was to grin widely and keep walking. He was the outsider, the plain old American. Not one drop of blood in him was Italian, as far as he knew. He couldn't even pretend to be Italian and neither did he speak the language. Yet here he was, the boss' right hand man. He had even been given the old man's daughter as his fiancée.

"Teo," Paolo, one of the boss' sons, murmured disdainfully when they met on the way. His twin brother didn't say anything, didn't even glance toward Teddy. He would never forgive that his sister was to become this man's wife. None of them were happy about it, but he had stopped speaking to him completely. He was bitter and angry, and made it no secret.

"Paolo." Teddy had to hide his smirk since he wasn't about to start another fight so soon. Not when he finally had his father-in-law's acceptance on the first man he chose to bring in the family. Even more than giving his daughter, this proved just how much the old bastard was trusting him. Old fool. Not that he would ever say that out loud of course. "How's the boss doing? Or should I call him father now?" He enjoyed seeing the look of fury.

"You little—"

"Teo!"

Teddy turned around and smiled widely at the old man walking toward them. "Boss. It's good to see you."

"You are early." If the heavy accent wasn't enough then the way the man looked was a complete give away; the old man looked as Italian as you possibly could get. It always amazed Teddy how a man like Angelo seemed to be completely oblivious of the hate everyone else showed toward him, Teddy. Perhaps the man really was getting too old, which only made things much easier...

"I am trying, boss." Teddy let the old man lead him to his own private room. There the man even went so far as letting him sit down in the big armchair next to his own.

"So tell me..." Angelo started.

"His name is Anthony D. DiNozzo Junior; although I don't know what the D stands for. He is half Italian. As far as I know he does speak the language and possibly some other languages as well. He's a Detective here in Baltimore, but he quit today after some guy offered him a job. I don't know yet where or in what place. I've watched him for a while now and he is exactly what we could use." Teddy took out a small photograph he had taken of Tony and gave it to the old man. It was hard to tell what the man was thinking, but he had a positive feeling about this so he kept talking, "He is very much against joining us, but I have ways to make him more agreeable. Plus, he's still young. Twenty seven. Just a kid really. It'll be easier to mold him into the kind of man we need." Angelo had been brushing his thumb over the picture with almost gentle look in his eyes, but at this point he stopped and looked up. Teddy cursed inwardly. "I meant the kind of man you need, boss."

Angelo dropped his gaze back to the picture. "I am sure you know who he looks like, Teo." He sounded calm, but there was a dangerous undertone to it.

"Yes. I am aware of that... Believe me, it was not the reason I chose him as my first one." Not the the only reason, but that was better to remain unsaid.

His boss gave him a long hard stare. "If you let me down, you know what the price is."

"I know."

There was a long silence, which was broken only by the sound of the fire dancing in the fireplace.

"Bring him in."

"Thank you," Teddy said and stood up when Angelo did and he watched as the man walked away.

"Do not let me down, Theodore." The man never called him by his full name. This was serious business and Teddy knew he was gambling by bringing in Anthony.

As he was about to leave, Teddy realized the old man had taken the photo with him and he smiled. It was worth it. He didn't believe in God or anything else, but right now he thanked his luck for literally running into the young Detective about a year ago. It almost disappointed him the man didn't even remember him.

- FLASHBACK -

It was pouring rain from the heavens, but he didn't really mind. If anything the rain was better than a shower, washing away the blood and any remaining evidence of what he had done. He never thought he would go this far when he first started working his way up the 'food chain' to become the right hand man to Arcangelo Voltolini, the mafia boss whose actual name was known by a very few people. But to murder a man for the old bastard was better than anything else he could possibly do. The most exciting discovery had been how easy taking another life was. Who would've known when he started to worm his way in that he would end up selling his very soul. He was almost there. So close... There was something more he had to do that would fill the missing gap. It would be so much easier had he been born Italian. He cursed his parents for doing that to him.

Pulling the hood of his jacket over his head, Teddy started jogging. It was dark and still raining so he didn't notice the dark figure running toward him. The moment they noticed each other it was too late and they collided.

"Oh man... Like I didn't already have a concussion... Sorry. You alright?"

Teddy let the young man help him up and he couldn't help but notice his face even if it was hard to see in the dark. Thankfully he had good eyes. That face, those eyes; he knew he had seen that same face before.

"Hello? Anybody home?" The man grinned widely when Teddy finally nodded, still staring. "Good. Sorry, but I can't stay chatting. I'm kind of in the middle of a work right now."

Teddy grabbed the man's arm as he was about to leave. "Wait. What's your name?"

"My name?" The man looked confused and then he hesitated, looking suspicious. "It's Alan. Look, I really have to go now. Take care, man." Then he left, running again.

Ever since that day he'd been watching him. As soon as he found him first of course, which was not easy. After that he learned everything he could without letting himself be known; found out that his real name was Anthony, not Alan, and that he was a cop. The universe had a weird sense of humor, was his first thought at the discovery. Then the day came when he was going to approach him with his offer, only to find out the young Detective had ended up in a hospital. He nearly missed out his chance again when Anthony disappeared somewhere, only to reappear with that old man in tow.

Walking to his car, Teddy took out his gun and smiled pleasantly. It was time. The boss wasn't known for his patience. He was running out of time and it was now or never, before Anthony disappeared again.

Stopping his car, Tony waited for Gibbs to get out. They were back at Danny's place, where Gibbs' own car still was.

"DiNozzo. I'm telling you this again; leave the car in Baltimore and get it back later. You can't drive with only one arm."

"Watch me."

"DiNozzo..."

"Look, not everyone drives the way you do. I can drive just fine with one good arm. I'm not going to crash or anything. I will not however leave my baby in here again and I will not let you drive it either."

"What's wrong with the way I drive?" Gibbs growled.

"Never said anything was wrong with the way you drive..." Tony gave the man his big and wide eyes of innocence.

"Ducky will have my head for this, DiNozzo."

"Not if you don't tell him."

"He's going to find out."

"Not if you don't tell him."

"He'll know when he realizes both our cars are in the city."

"I'll figure out something if he finds out."

Gibbs felt like tearing his hair out. "Stop being so stubborn and listen to me for a change!"

"So who did you call?" Tony questioned smoothly.

"Don't change the subject."

"What will happen to Danny? I mean, I hope it was worth it to bring in the FBI for this. Are you really so sure they'll help?"

"He'll be fine. Obviously they can't completely overlook what he did and some cases will have to be reopened, but he'll be fine. No jail time."

Tony let out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding. For a cop to end up in jail, that was the worst possible thing to happen, so it had been his biggest fear. "Thank you."

"Don't mention." Gibbs had that half-smile of his and understanding look in his eyes.

"I suppose they couldn't find out anything with the name Teddy. Don't think that's even his real name..."

"No, but they'll be still looking."

"I'm pretty sure they're not going to find anything... So. When will I meet this guy? This friend of yours."

Gibbs growled something under his breath. It was obvious that, after Tony's 'threat' to join the FBI, he wasn't fond of the idea of letting them meet.

"Go to your car, Gibbs. We'll get some coffee first and maybe something to eat for our long drive. You can go Marine crazy on me later. Right now I really would much rather hit the road already."

Gibbs looked like he'd argue some more, but changed his mind and walked toward his own car, after one last pointed glare.

"He can give me his Marine glare all he wants..." Tony muttered and rubbed his hurt arm with his good one. It was both hurting and itchy to the point it made him almost crazy. The sling really didn't seem to help either and so he kept 'losing' it whenever he could. While he waited for Gibbs to drive past him, Tony kept tapping his fingers impatiently against the steering wheel. Did the man have trouble with the car or why did it take so long? Finally getting out of his car and locking it up just in case, Tony went toward where he assumed Gibbs would be, when he suddenly felt almost painful twist in his gut. Without really thinking much, he took out his gun and turned around.

"I wouldn't do that."

"Teddy..." Tony stared at the man in front of him, standing behind Gibbs and with awfully big gun firmly against the older man's head. It would leave a really big mess, Tony realized and then winced. "He has nothing to do with this. Let him go."

"DiNozzo..." Gibbs growled, only to have the gun pushed harder against the back of his head.

"See, that's where you're wrong, Anthony. Now be a good boy and put your gun on the ground and then kick it here. No tricks, both of you. I might accidentally pull the trigger. We wouldn't want that."

Seething in anger, Tony carefully dropped his gun and kicked it toward Teddy, who barely even looked at it as he somehow managed to pick it up while still holding his own gun against Gibbs.

"Now, your knives. I believe there was five of them. Drop them on the ground."

Tony took out his hidden knives and dropped them on the ground one by one, trying to buy them some time. Not once during this whole time had he let his eyes look away from the two men in front of him.

"Good. Very good. Now turn around. Come on now... Good. You see that car over there? The blue one. Start walking and no funny business."

Trying his very best to think of a way for both him and Gibbs—or at least for Gibbs—to get away, Tony found no other option but to do as he was told, for now. He could hear the other two following him from behind.

"Open the door. See those handcuffs on the seat? Take them."

Tony gave Teddy his blank stare, then nearly flinched as the gun was again pressed harder against Gibbs' head. The older man himself had been barely showing any emotions on his face. With calmness he didn't feel, Tony picked up the handcuffs, already able to guess what he had to do with them and he didn't like it one bit.

"Good. Now come out and handcuff your friend here. No tricks. Both hands behind his back and make sure they're nice and tight. I'll be watching." There was almost predator's look in Teddy's eyes as he observed Tony doing as told. "Perfect. Now get on the driver's seat. You're going to have to drive. Your friend and I will be taking the back seat."

Looking Gibbs in the eyes, Tony could see that the older man was over his limits and prepared to soon snap someone's neck, or die trying. However, with the gun still firmly there in the hands of a man who had no trouble murdering innocent people, they couldn't take any chances. Not yet. Tony shook his head and Gibbs sighed inwardly, getting in the car when he was pushed in there. Once they were finally on the road, Tony berated himself for not taking this guy more seriously before. Gibbs on the other hand went through different scenarios of what he'd do the moment he was free. It would not be pretty if he had his way.