A/N: We continue to go on. The end is near, but it is not here yet. As I've mentioned, I will continue to write until there is nothing left to write. Thank you to all who continue to read and review. It is very much appreciated.

Chapter Thirty Five

Boss is coming today. I'm so excited I almost forgot to feed Denny and Bella. And that was bad because his horses needed to eat. Denny didn't like it when he didn't get to eat, and I know that I wouldn't like it either.

I feed Baron too, but not as much. Dad said that Baron was getting heavy, which was just the nice way of saying that Baron was getting fat but I'm not sure if Baron is heavy. Baron always looks nice to me, especially after I brushed and brushed Baron's coat.

I brush Baron's coat a lot, and he doesn't mind when I do it. I make sure to brush it cause if I don't, his hair goes all over the place and when I brush his coat, it help my hands and my muscle and I can brush a lot longer than I could before. My hand is getting stronger, especially my bad hand, and my PT says that's really good.

But I already brushed Baron's coat and feed the horses. I had to feed them today cause I'm going with Boss. All day. I'm going to see everyone today and I'm so excited because no one is working today, they get to see me and no one has to work.

We are going to go do something, but I'm not sure yet. I think we are going to go watch a movie or go bowling but I don't know if I can bowl. Abby says I'm really good at it, but I think she means I was good before my head went to fast and got broke but since its almost fixed now, my head, I think I can be good at it again. Because that's what happens when something gets fixed.

I called Zach to see if he wanted to come, but he didn't. Zach said he had to work, but I listened to what he was really saying, cause sometimes that's different than what you want to say, and Zach is nervous. And I'm nervous too. I don't think Boss would like my surprise, but Boss would never be mean to anyone, cause he's Boss, and I think he's the one that makes Zach nervous maybe.

I don't want Zach to be nervous. Zach is my friend, well, I want Zach to be my friend and I think he is my friend. Cause Zach doesn't have anyone, and he's alone and he was so sad when he came. He thought I was gonna be mean to him, but I'm not mean to him. I did what Boss said to do, I forgave him cause Zach didn't mean to make my head go fast. He could have done stuff that made him not do the things he did but I like Zach.

And if Zach hadn't done everything, and if everything hadn't happened the way it had, then I wouldn't have a lot of things that I like and that I love. So Zach is my friend. And I don't want him to be nervous, so I told him it was okay that he didn't come. And he promised to come see me again, when he didn't have to work.

But I am excited right now though, cause Boss is going to pick me up in the truck. Just Boss and Probie are coming to get me, cause everyone else is gonna meet us where we are going, and that's okay. I miss Boss a lot sometimes, but I like living with my Dad. My dad is nice and he's not the same as Boss but that's okay.

Dad is only a little bit different than the one I kinda remember before my head went to fast. Now, dad says the things he really wants to say, and means them. Before, I don't think he said them cause he didn't know how, or cause he was afraid of the words.

I wanted Dad to come today, I wanted him to come and see all the things with everyone else, but Dad and Sal had to go and go other places today. Dad said they were boring things that he had to do but I don't think he was saying what he meant.

He got really sad, and I didn't want him to be sad for missing a fun day so I made him promise that he would come next time. And he said yes.

Now I just have to wait for Boss to come in the truck. I can't wait for them to come. I'm ready, Baron's ready, and everyone else is ready. I even gave my dad a hug goodbye already.

I can't wait till Boss and Probie get here in the truck.

McGee knocked on the door, glancing back at Gibbs back in the truck. Gibbs had wanted to get down to get Tony, but right as they pulled up the Director had called. And based off the look that was on Gibbs' face, McGee could only guess that Gibbs was not happy with the call.

"Probie!" Tony practically tackled him, "Are you ready? I'm ready."

McGee laughed, glad to see his friend so excited. He had missed Tony in the weeks they hadn't been able to see him, and he was glad that DiNozzo Senior allowed Tony to come with them on a rare weekday off.

"Hello to you too Tony," McGee smiled and returned the hug that Tony gave him.

"Blue. No blue helmet. My head's all good, not going too fast. Let's go Probie. I'm excited. Is Boss in the car? Go. Go," Tony practically barreled past McGee, Baron right behind him.

"Hold up Tony," McGee turned to make sure Tony made it down the steps alright before turning back and calling into the house, "Mr. DiNozzo?"

"Timothy?" Tony's father called out, "I thought that was you. Good to see you again Timothy."

"Good to see you too Mr. DiNozzo," McGee responded.

"Please, call me Senior. I would say call me Tony, but my son's very insistent that that is his name, and his alone," Senior smiled, "Here is his emergency medication, in case anything happens. He hasn't had a seizure in a week after the doctor adjusted the last medication. Watch what he eats though, will you? He's getting heavy."

McGee nodded, "Thank you Senior. We'll probably be done later today."

"Wherever's fine Timothy, I've already said my goodbyes, have fun," Senior ushered Tony's friend outside and waved to Tony, who was currently sitting in the shotgun seat, smiling at McGee.

"I think he just stole your seat," Senior chuckled.

"Since I've known Tony, Tony always steals my seat," McGee gave Senior one last wave before walking back towards the truck and getting into the backseat of the truck.

"Shotgun!" Tony yelled, "Go go go."

"We're going Tony," Gibbs smiled, Tony's presence obviously changing the team leader's previous mood, "You got everything you need?"

"Shotgun," Tony yelled again and laughed at himself, "No gun. Yes Boss, all ready."

"Alright then, let's get out of here."

"Go go go!"

"I think you're losing Boss," Tony squinted and huffed, "Shush shush."

Tony was currently in second place, behind Abby of course, and the rest of the team would be lucky to break 100.

Bowling just wasn't their game.

"Shush shush," Tony said again, his brain for whatever reason stuck on that phrase after he had said it to Ziva when she had started making fun of Probie.

"Probie," Tony yelled out, "You're doing it wrong again."

"This is how I do it Tony," McGee laughed, stopping mid-swing and turning back to face Tony, who was sitting on the chair nearest him. McGee was lining up to take another show and wishing he could have added bumpers to his lane.

"That's the wrong hand!"

"Tony, McGee is left-handed. He uses that hand for everything," Ziva tried to explain from where she was sneakily eating all the chips that were plain in the supreme nacho basket that Abby had bought.

"Shush Shush. But bowling is not everything Ziva," Tony laughed when another one of Probie's bowling balls went into the gutter.

"Strike," Tony said, and then laughed again when he realized that now Probie was losing.

"Tony, I did not know you could bowl so well. Next time, you will be on my team," Ziva said, gently patting his hand and fixing his shirt.

"I don't," Tony scowled and he could remember, like it was fuzzy or something, yelling strike lots of times with people who only dressed in black and white.

He rubbed his head and smacked his lips, wondering why it was so hard to wipe the fuzzy out of his memory.

"Tony?" Gibbs asked, turning to the younger man. A headache was often a sign of an impending seizure and the bowling alley, though it was relatively quiet, was not the place Gibbs wanted Tony to be if he was going to have a one.

Glancing at Baron and his relaxed demeanor, Gibbs hoped the dog was right.

"I'm having…I'm remembering," Tony said, rubbing his head again, "Strike. Strike. Lots of times. With people who only wore black and white clothes."

Abby, who had been standing behind Gibbs, reached out and grabbed one of Tony's hands, "You came bowling before Tony. With me and the nuns. Do you remember?"

Tony rubbed his head and then shook it, "It's too fuzzy."

"Hmm," Abby said, reaching forward and giving Tony a hug and a kiss, "That's alright. But that's why you are good at bowling Tony. You played a whole lot before."

"Before my brain went to fast?" Tony asked even though he knew the answer.

"Yeah Tony, before that," Abby tried to keep the sadness out of her voice but it must have shown through because this time Tony was the one who reached out and hugged her.

"Shush shush. It's not going fast anymore Abby," Tony hugged her harder so she wouldn't be sad, "And I can still bowl really good. Look, I'm beating almost everyone."

"You are Tony," Abby smiled and fixed his hair with her fingers. DiNozzo Senior had let Tony's hair grow a bit longer than what they were used to but the longer hair did a good job at hiding all of the scares on Tony's head.

"Your turn buddy," Gibbs gently touched Tony's knees, "Let's see a strike."

"Strike strike," Tony said quickly and smiled. He said lots of wrong words now but most of the time he thought they were funny. It was like his brain and his mouth couldn't agree what to say and sometimes, they said pretty weird stuff.

Like the one time Tony had called his dad a frog, which was really funny. It had made his dad turn red cause they were laughing so hard, and then they had gone out and actually seen a frog outside by the place where the food was for Denny and Bella and Tony had scared Baron cause he had laughed so much.

"My turn," Tony said, getting his bowling ball with the hand you were suppose to use. He'd have to make sure and tell Probie again, just in case he wasn't listen to him. Probie didn't always listen, Tony knew.

And now that Tony could talk better, he was starting to realize that everyone didn't always listen.

Which was good, cause Tony couldn't either and at least that way, he was like everyone else.

"Strike!" Tony threw his arms up in the arm and laughed when all the pins fell down. He was gonna beat everyone maybe.

Probie and Ziva just laughed at him and Boss looked at him with a smile, the kind of smile Tony liked to see. It showed the wrinkles on Boss' face and even though there were a lot of them, Tony knew that the ones that came from Boss smiling were the best.

"Strike strike!" Tony said and sat down.

He was going to need a nap soon. He was so tired it was good.

"Boss, next week after I get back from the doctor's, dad said if it's okay I get to get on Denny, which is gonna be fun cause I've been taking good care of him and making sure he's brushed and that he's got food cause he doesn't like it when he doesn't have food Boss, which is okay cause I don't like it either but he's really tall Boss and I want to get on him but I don't want to fall down."

Gibbs tried to wipe the shock expression off his face, "You're gonna get on Denny, Tony?"

"Yeah! That's what I said," Tony nodded, "Jenny, that's the lady that gave me the new brace for my bad foot, said that riding Denny will help a lot. And that's why Dad got Denny, Boss. Cause Denny use to help lots of people who couldn't walk really good."

"Oh," Gibbs nodded. He had remembered hearing about horse therapy, especially with cerebral palsy or TBI patients. Supposedly, the movement of the horse's gait was extremely similar to how a person walked and it helped the rider use and strengthen similar muscles.

"When are you going to ride him Tony?" Gibbs continued to talk to Tony as they drove home. Today had been a wonderful day. They had gone to an Italian place for lunch and Tony had chosen to go bowling after looking at the selection of movies and not finding one that he liked.

Bowling had been wonderful, Tony had indeed beaten them all, and now Gibbs could see that while Tony could last longer through the day, he would most certainly be falling asleep shortly after Gibbs dropped him off.

"There are lots of places there," Tony rambled, and Gibbs shook his head, having not been paying attention to Tony and the change of direction his thoughts had taken.

"But I don't know Boss, that's a long way away," Tony said and yawned.

"Where Tony?" Gibbs asked.

"Italy," Tony said again, he stretched his bad had out and Gibbs smiled. He remembered when he had to do that for Tony but now it seemed Tony was pretty much self-sufficient.

Most of the time anyway.

"Who wants to go there?" Gibbs asked once more.

"Dad," Tony said, "He wants to go visit but I told him we can't go for very long, cause then Denny and Bella would miss us and he said that we could only go for a little bit which would be nice. I think I went there when I was smaller, but I don't remember it very much anymore."

A jolt of panic shot through Gibbs' chest. If Senior left the country, could Gibbs ever get Tony back, short of kidnapping him? Would Senior even do something like that to his son?

Shaking his head, Gibbs tried to see the good in the man. So far, he had done nothing to make Gibbs think he was trying to cut Gibbs out of Tony's life. He let Gibbs come and visit, and had already let Tony come with them a few times.

Tony was happy, Gibbs knew. Whenever he picked Tony up or talked to Tony, Tony always had good things to say about his house or his room or the things him and his dad did throughout the week.

It was almost, Gibbs realized, making him jealous. Because of his financial means, Senior was able to do something that Gibbs was not ready or willing to do- retire and spend his days enjoying his family.

Gibbs shook his head. No, he was not ready to retire. And Tony had been happy when he had lived with Gibbs. Elijah, who was doing well in school and working at the hospital, had loved Tony like a brother.

Tony had loved living with Gibbs and yet, seeing Tony now, Gibbs wondered if maybe…

"And then Zach, Boss, Zach doesn't like horses very much but that's okay. He's scared of lots of things but that's okay cause I was scared of lots of things too after the accident that made me head go to fast and Zach got a different kind of hurt I think and that's not the same either but it's different from mine."

Gibbs gut, which had been slightly folding upon itself, started churning almost instantly, "Tony, who's Zach?"

Tony stopped talking instantly, and looked at Gibbs with a look that Gibbs knew all too well.

"Secret. Secret surprise," Tony whispered and bit his lip. He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"Tony," Gibbs said again as he pulled into the gravel driveway that lead back to Senior's house, "Who is Zach?"

"Secret secret," Tony shook his head and closed his eyes.

Gibbs did not ask the question again, knowing it would just cause Tony to become upset with him. Instead, he waited until the truck was parked before turning to Tony, "Tony?"

"My secret," Tony said and bit his lip, harder than normal which showed that he was becoming frustrated, "My friend. He's my friend. Secret secret surprise."

"Tony," Gibbs said again but stopped when Senior walked out of the house. Tony, who caught his dad presence out of the corner of his eye, fumbled with the seat belt before opening the passenger door. He almost fell down getting out of the truck and Baron, who had fallen asleep on the ride home, gave a bark and jumped to the front seat, following Tony out the passenger door when Tony didn't open the back door for him.

"Tony," Gibbs called again as Tony rounded the truck, making a beeline for his dad.

"Junior, did you have a good day?" Senior asked but his face fell and a fire ignited in his gaze when he saw the look on his son's face.

"Junior, what's wrong?" Senior asked as Tony came stumbling towards him.

He was mumbling, his words not clear and all Senior could get out of his son was something about a secret and a surprise and Boss mad.

"Gibbs?" Senior turned to the other man, a man who had most likely caused Tony to become so frustrated he had bit his lip bad enough to bleed.

"I don't," Gibbs started talking and then the pieces fell into place. The uncertainty he felt became worry and the worry turned into the only thing Gibbs knew how to deal with properly: anger.

"You let that boy see Tony?" Gibbs practically yelled though he did his best to keep his voice under control.

"Who?" Senior said, revealing nothing.

"Zachary Lewis, the one who almost killed Tony," Gibbs said, unable to keep the anger out of his voice when he said that awful man's name, "You let him see that man, even after I did everything possible to make sure he suffered for what he had done?"

"My friend!" Tony yelled, and turned to face Gibbs, "My secret. Surprise. My friend. He's my friend."

"Tony," Gibbs faltered, not knowing what to do. He had been ready to rip Senior a new one but now, Tony was looking at him as if he had just discovered that Gibbs wasn't the superhero he had always thought him to be.

"You," Tony said and his mouth opened and closed and he bit his lip again, "You. You hurt Zach?"

"Tony," Gibbs reached out to try and get the situation under control. How had it spiraled out so quickly?

"No, no you said," Tony said, and he bit his lip harder, reaching up with his good hand and pulling on his hair, something he hadn't done in ages.

"Tony I," Gibbs reached for Tony again but the younger man practically fell backward trying to avoid Gibbs' hand.

"Tony you need to calm down," Senior said, grabbing Tony's good arm and gently stroking Tony's face with his other hand, "I made some tea. Let's go inside. Then you are going to go lay down. Do you have a headache?"

Tony nodded and bit his lip again.

"None of that," Senior said, and stoked the side of Tony's face tenderly, his thumb brushing Tony's chin to get the boy to relax, "Now let's go. Tea and then we're going to relax for awhile."

"But, dad he-he," Tony reached to pull his hair and Senior once again stopped him.

"Let's go inside now Tony," Senior said and glanced back at Gibbs. It was the sort of look that Gibbs knew meant that he needed to stay and wait.

He had forgotten, because it had been so long since it happened, that Tony's moods sometimes could be extremely volatile. Despite that fact that Tony was a happy go lucky sort of guy, when he had a bad "mood swing" as they called it, it was bad.

It didn't help anything either that Gibbs had just done something awful. No wonder the poor kid reacted the way he had.

Sometimes, Gibbs realized, it was his own fault.

Rubbing his face, Gibbs sat down on the porch and wondered if he really had any business trying to get Tony back at all.

My head hurts.

And I don't understand what's happened. Boss did not like my secret. He was mad. Really mad.

And he was mad at me. Even though he yelled at Dad, he was mad at me cause I had done the thing he had blamed dad for. But it wasn't Dad. It was me.

I started to cry, which didn't help. Nothing made sense. Boss was the one that told me that it was okay to say sorry if you were friends. He was the one who was nice to me and that took me places.

He gave me hugs and made me feel better when I got scare or hurt.

But he had been so mad.

He had scared me.

And then he said he had hurt one of my friends. He had hurt Zach.

Was he the reason that Zach was so afraid of everything? Had Boss made Zach afraid? Had Boss been the one to make Zach so sad that he didn't smile a lot? I thought Boss had just made Zach nervous, but what had Boss done to make Zach afraid and sad?

Had Boss done that?

Boss couldn't have. I don't understand. Today was supposed to be a good day, I was so excited. I was gonna go see everyone and we were gonna have fun and it was going to be a good day.

But now I just want to lay in my bed and hug Baron and hope that I don't understand things right and that I'm wrong.

Cause Boss couldn't.

It is not a good day, not a good day at all.