"He okay, Leroy?" Jackson asked as Gibbs came back to the kitchen.

"Yeah, he will be," he replied. "He's takin' a shower. I think we should probably skip pizza for now. I'll order some Chinese. Want anything?"

"Not a fan of cat-meat," Jackson chuckled. "I think I saw some stuff to make sandwiches. I'll just make myself one of those."

"They don't actually serve cat, Dad," Gibbs shook his head.

"Well, if it's all the same to you, I don't much care for the stuff. MSG isn't good for your old man anyway."

"Okay," Gibbs surrendered and grabbed his phone from the counter.

"Ya know, I could save ya the cash and just make sandwiches for all of us," he offered.

"I don't want you to go to any trouble, Dad. You're already fixin' to make stew."

"It's no trouble, son. Really. What do ya think I came here for?"

"Not to be our personal chef," Gibbs smirked.

"Well, I gotta do somethin', Leroy. Seems to me you've got pretty much everything else covered; you and your team, that is."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes, "Wouldn't have called ya down here if I hadn't needed ya." Jackson looked over at him, and Gibbs took a few steps back toward his father. "I'm glad you came, Dad; I mean that. And I didn't ask ya here to cook or clean for me, or even to take care of Tony. I asked ya here because... I needed someone to keep my own head on straight," he looked down for a moment, clearly a bit embarrassed to have to admit this. "Couldn't ask that of my team; they have enough on their minds with Tony. I needed someone who could read my moods a little better; even if I don't readily admit to it being possible," he smirked as he met Jackson's eyes again.

The corners of Jackson's lips turned up slowly, and he simply stood there and looked at his son for a few moments. "Well, then," he said eventually, "You can help your old man fix lunch, in that case, eh?"

Gibbs let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, I can do that," he said as he set his phone down again.

*~.~*

They'd just about finished making lunch and a good amount of small talk, which wasn't completely unheard of between the two; but rare. Jackson was reminding his son of some of the things he'd done as a child that had just about sent him off to the nuthouse, or so he called it, and Gibbs was mid-laughter when they heard a seemingly frightened shout come from upstairs.

Gibbs dropped the knife in his hand to the counter and sprinted out of the kitchen and up the stairs. "DiNozzo?" he yelled as he rounded the corner into the room.

"Sonofabitch!" Tony yelled from the bathroom, and Gibbs went to the door.

"What happened?" he asked as he pushed open the door.

Tony had finished his shower and slipped on a pair of jeans, and was standing in front of the mirror that he'd just wiped down. He turned to face Gibbs and pointed to his hair, "This happened, Gibbs!" he wasn't yelling anymore, but his frustration was clear. "Is it unhealthy to want to murder one's inner child? Seriously?" he turned back to face the mirror. "I...can't believe he did this to me. Not that...this particular cut doesn't look good on some people, Boss," he said, gazing at Gibbs' smirking reflection. "But this? This isn't me!" he messed with the hair on top of his head and moved it around as if to test a way to hide the Marine cut.

"It'll grow back. It's just hair, Tony," Gibbs told him.

"Yeah...I guess so," he sighed and pulled up his jeans as they began to droop. "I can't believe McGee went through my closet enough to find these. I've had them since high school. First club I ever went to, I wore these jeans," he looked up with a reminiscent smile on his face. "They're more of a memento than anything; never thought I'd ever fit into them again," the smile dropped from his face as he turned to look into the mirror again. "I could probably wear McGoo's clothes right now," his eye twitched. "And I'm fairly certain he's got a tape worm or something."

Gibbs fought to bite back a smile. "McGee has been doin' a lot for you," he defended. "And none of it particularly pertaining to work."

"Yeah, I know," Tony focused somewhere on the sink. "He's a good friend; I just tease him outta love, Boss," he glanced back up at Gibbs' reflected with narrowed eyes and a slight grin. Then he sighed and rubbed his hands down his face, "God I'm so embarrassed..." He turned away from the mirror and grabbed his tee shirt from the towel rack. "I can't believe you all had to babysit my ten-year old self," he pulled the shirt over his head and tugged it down into place.

"Didn't really have to babysit ya, DiNozzo," Gibbs retorted. "You were pretty self-sustainable, aside from physical injury. Understandably so, now that I know a little more about your life when you were that age."

"You've been stayin' home from work!" Tony shot back, incredulously.

"I wanted to," Gibbs remained calm. "Past five weeks have been a living hell. I know yours was worse. But it wasn't exactly a cake-walk for us, either. What makes ya think I wouldn't want some time off?"

"You never take time off, Boss."

"Maybe I felt the stakes were a little higher this time," he gave Tony the infamous glare that dared him to say otherwise. Tony didn't look away, but blinked as a memory replayed in his mind...

"The bad man...broke us. Both of us," Tony said...

"We're gonna fix this," Gibbs told him.

"But what if you can't?" fresh tears streamed his cheeks. "What if we're broken forever? I don't wanna be scared all the time, Gibbs. I don't wanna be that way in front of my friends. They won't wanna see me anymore..." his faced scrunched in anguish. "You won't wanna see me anymore."

"What do I need to say to get you to understand?" he began, "Hell, you could accidentally burn my house down and I still would never cut you outta my life, Tony... No matter what, I will always be here for you. You got that?"

"Think I get it," Tony said in a small voice. After a moment, Gibbs nodded and turned to walk out of the bathroom; Tony following behind. "Still...I can't help but to recall that I've cried in front of nearly everyone on the team," he continued. "And I vaguely recall rolling around in the yard with a dog..." he looked up and to the right in thought.

Gibbs smirked again, only turning to halfway face him as he stood by the door, "So the secret's out; you used to cry a bit more when you were ten. And ya like McGee's dog more than ya let on."

"Hey, now! I like a lot of things I don't let on about. But if he knows I like Jethro, he's gonna ask me to dog-sit sometimes. I'm not a good sitter, Boss. Don't let my inner-child fool you; he might've been okay with running around all afternoon, giving a hundred percent of his attention to the mutt. But I've got things to do!"

"Like what?" Gibbs cocked his head.

"Like...like things, Gibbs. Things that don't involve drooly, sheddy, smelly creatures."

"Funny, I don't recall him being any of those things."

"Yeah, well..." Tony panicked slightly, "Just...just no, Gibbs. He cannot know. Last thing I need is for people to start thinkin' I'm some kinda animal-enthusiast. Next, Abby will be hounding me to go adopt one, myself; no pun intended. And so help me God, Boss! Don't blow my cover, or yours is toast!" he mockingly threatened.

"Mine?" he raised his brows.

"Yes, yours! The fact that you're not really the cold-hearted bastard you so purposefully make yourself out to be," he smirked.

Gibbs just shook his head, though a smile played on his lips. "You ready for lunch? We made some sandwiches."

"Sure, Boss. I'll be down in a minute," he replied.

Gibbs gave a short nod and left the room. As he descended the stairs, there came a rapid knocking at the front door. He picked up his pace a bit and opened it.

"Gibbs!" Abby rushed in and gave him a quick hug. "McGee told me about Tony! Where is he? I need to see him!"

"Calm down, Abs. He's upstairs," he gave her a quick smirk and shook his head as she rushed up the staircase. He shook his head and headed back into the kitchen

Abby reached the top of the stairs just as Tony came out into the hall. "Tony!" she immediately enveloped him into a big, yet moderately gentle hug. "Ohmygod I'm so glad you're back! I missed you so much!" she squeezed.

"Ah thanks, Abby," he said as he hugged her back. "But it's getting difficult to breathe."

She released him and took his hands in hers as she looked him in the eyes, "So are you okay? Is everything...back to normal? Not that I won't miss the ten-year old you; he was downright adorable! But I'm so so so glad you're back to yourself," she smiled.

"I'm okay. And uh...thanks? Adorable, Abs?" he cocked his head.

"Adorable like a puppy," she grinned. "I just wanted to scoop you up and give you lots of kisses. Not that I don't always wanna do that, " she winked. "But it was so cute watching you with Gibbs and McGee...oh and Jethro! Cutest thing ever!"

Tony rubbed a hand down his face, "Oh god..."

"Aw, c'mon, Tony!" her face became more serious. "Ya know...it coulda been a lot worse," she met his eyes with almost tearful ones. "We could've lost you...That little part of you that you've been hiding away, he's so much stronger than you think. He kept you together. Who knows if you ever would've come out of that. I hate to think that you could still be in the hospital, trapped inside your own mind...but it's a possibility. He toughed it out; got you better, and brought you back to us. Well...technically you did all of this...but you know what I mean..."

Tony gave her a lopsided smile as he put both hands on her arms, "Yeah, I do. Thanks, Abby," he said as he leaned in and kissed her forehead.

11 00 11 00 11

Tbc...

A/N: Shorter chapter... but I'm trying to decide on something for the coming future of this story...so bear with me :) Also...I didn't proofread, cuz I've got a headache. So feel free to point anything out, and I'll be sure to fix it. Thanks!

By the way! The Abby costume was a complete success! I won 3rd place for it :) I'll try and get a picture that I can use for the profile...