Disclaimer: I still don't own NCIS.

Thanks for all the great reviews people.

I've tried to use American terminology when describing things because this is the way Tony would think but I'm not American so it's probable that I've made some mistakes. If you see any please point them out to me so I don't make them again. Enjoy.

Family Ties - Part 3

Tony glanced at his watch, 18:57, good, he thought, being too early is as bad as being late. Straightening his tie, Tony walked into the restaurant and told the waiter that he was meeting some friends. The older man nodded politely and motioned for Tony to follow him. Tony took a deep breath; he had butterflies in his stomach and was beginning to feel sick. -You have to do this Tony. Things can't get any worse. If they kill you, you'll be reunited with Gulia. What if I'm not? What if she's in heaven and I get sent to hell? No! Cut it out Tony! They aren't going to kill you! And if you do die, you will be reunited with Gulia! Now pull yourself together; you have to get at least on thing right!-

The first thing Tony noticed as he approached the table was the black baseball cap worn backwards. Luigi Diablo, his childhood 'guardian' and one of his best friends. Sam allowed his mind to wander back to the day that Luigi had become forever engraved in his heart a young boy's hero. Tony had been about six years old at the time. It had been a sunny day and Luigi and Tony were playing catch in the grounds behind the house. Tony had been using the glove he had just got for his birthday.

They'd been playing from when the sun was hidden just behind the roof of the house until it was almost in the middle of the sky, when Tony felt something warm dribble down his ear. Luigi had started to laugh and when Tony had wiped his ear he saw why, bird poop.

"Argh! That's disgusting!" He had shouted, glaring angrily at Luigi for laughing at him. Luigi had shaken his head, the way adults do at the things children do and say.

"No Antonio. I've heard that it's lucky." He walked over and picked Tony up, putting him on his shoulders. "Now you'll play like a superstar." Luigi looked up at Tony and grinned, his eyes shining with amusement.

Tony had spent the rest of the day with his 'luck cap' on. He had been crushed when his father, spotting the bird poo on the hat, had told him to throw it in the trash and not bring such filthy things into the house again. After reluctantly doing as his father had instructed, Tony had gone in a sulk. However, when Luigi had seen the change in mood, he had asked Tony what was wrong. Tony had put on the big puppy dog eyes and stuck out his bottom lip.

"Pops made me bin my lucky cap and now I'm gonna be really unlucky." Luigi had obviously fallen for Tony's little display, or at least he let Tony think that he had, because he had taken Tony by the hand and led him to his room. He had sat Tony on his bed and dug out an old baseball cap from the wardrobe. Luigi had pointed to the rabbit's foot and four leafed clover badges that his mother had sown on for him and told Tony,

"These are both lucky. If you wear this cap you'll be twice as lucky as when you wore your old cap." He pulled the cap down onto Tony's head, gaining an ear to ear grin in return from the young boy.

"Thanks Luigi!" Luigi smiled in return.

"You're welcome Antonio. Now go wash your hands and face ready for dinner." Tony ran to wash up and had been on top of the moon for the rest of the evening. To this day Tony still loved to wear baseball caps; he just didn't believe in luck anymore. But that's another story, for another time.

Sitting opposite Luigi, Tony could now see was Marco DiNozzo, Gulia's childhood 'guardian'. The man who had gotten both he and Gulia hooked on Movies and how they could be compared to things that happened in your everyday life. Marco had been more of a teacher than a friend to Tony and Gulia but they had enjoyed all of his lessons. Tony remembered the last lesson with such clarity because the events that had followed it had impacted his life so greatly.

Marco must have sensed that all was not right and that soon something bad was going to happen. After all mafia families weren't known for being safe. That day he had taken Tony and Gulia to the cinema. Luigi had a job to take care of for Tony's father; Luigi wasn't just good with children, he was also an accomplished hit-man. Tony was twelve at the time; Gulia had been ten and a half. Back then that half had been very important to her.

Tony remembered that Marco had looked decidedly cramped in the small movie theatre seats. They had seemed big enough to Tony but then Tony was small for his age. Tony couldn't remember what the movie was called or the exact plotline but he did remember what it had been about. It had been about a family who suffered a tragedy and as a result had been separated. Later one of the children had, unknowingly, betrayed the parents. Tony remembered that the movie had made him feel sad and even a little afraid. He swore that he would never do that.

After the movie Marco had stood Tony and Gulia side by side and grasped their shoulders. He knelt down in front of them and looked them straight in the eye.

"You children gotta make me a promise. No matter what happens and no matter how far from your family you end up, you will always remain loyal to your family and look out for each other"

Tony clearly remembers that h had pulled his eyebrows together in what he had hoped was an adult-like frown and asked,

"Why Marco? What's gonna happen? Where we gonna go?" Marco had shaken his head firmly and squeezed their shoulders tightly. His tone had been more urgent, maybe even desperate, the second time.

"No Antonio. That's not what you need to worry about. You both have to promise me, promise each other, that you will always stay loyal to your family and always look out for each other. Promise me!" Marco's glare had frightened Tony.

"Okay Marco. I promise I will always be loyal to my family and always look out for my little sister."

- I guess I've already broke at least half of that promise, huh? - Tony thought sadly.

Marco had nodded at Tony before turning to Gulia.

"Gulia?" Gulia had looked at Tony; he could see the worry in her eyes. Deciding to make good on the promise he had just made, Tony had wriggled out of Marco's grasp and pulled Gulia's curly black hair.

"Come on Gulia. You gonna watch my back?" Gulia had laughed and chased Tony.

"Sure I'd watch your back 'Tonio but I'm too little" Tony had stopped running and put his arm around his little sister's shoulders.

"You'll get bigger and you're always gonna remember you're a Zito aren't you?" Gulia had looked at Tony as if he was out of his mind

"Ye, course I am 'Tonio."

"Promise?" Gulia had nodded enthusiastically.

"Great!" Tony had looked at Marco and asked, "Okay now? We both promised." Marco nodded once in agreement. That had been the end of their last lesson from Marco.

Tony was now close enough to the table to see that his older brothers were sitting opposite each other on the far side of the booth. Vincent and Joey were the spitting image of each other, identical in every way except their left ears. Joey's was missing the top half; instead he had a thick scar over the top of it and another along the side of his head, in line with the top of his ear. Vincent and Joey had taught Tony everything he knew about chasing, and possibly catching, women. They had also taught him how to put on the appearance of a persistent skirt chaser while really looking for other information; this wasn't just useful for mafia hit-men on a job but was also very useful for cops undercover.

Seeing his brother's facing each other and talking animatedly reminded Tony of the time they had first taken him out - to show him the meaning of life, they had told him. He had been 16 years old and already very interested in chasing girls; they had been 21 years old. It had been the first time that Tony had seen any member of his family, other than Gulia, for 3 ½ years and he was already using the surname 'DiNozzo' by that point in time. Many things had changed since the happy days of his childhood, but his brothers were still an amazing double act. They reminded Tony of a show he had watched not long before he had to leave home, MASH. His brothers were Hawkeye and BJ but Vincent and Joey definitely had more of a taste for guns and were more likely to take your life than save it.

It was the first day of his spring break; Gulia was staying with a friend for the first few days and was going to meet him at their adoptive parents' home on the third day of their break. Joey had picked Tony up from school in his new sports car, earning Tony a few piercing looks from his classmates, he knew that he would have a lot of questions to answer when he got back to school and that he would, likely, have to lie in response to 90 of them. Tony hadn't cared about that at that moment though, he was too mesmerised by the fact that he was going to ride in the best sports car available on the market. He'd also hoped that he could convince Joey to let him have a go behind the wheel.

They had driven for a couple of hours when Joey pulled over on a quite road and offered Tony a chance behind the wheel. Tony could just make out a cop car in the distance and knew that Joey wasn't just offering him a chance to drive the car for the hell of it, he was testing him; everything was a test with The Family. Tony nodded eagerly.

"Yes please Joey!" Manners, he had been taught from an early age, were also very important to The Family. Tony knew that he was old enough to legally drive a car while supervised and that Joey was old enough to supervise. He also knew that the cop had probably seen him and Joey swap places and would be watching him like a hawk. He took a moment to familiarise himself with the controls, it had been a long time since he had last seen the inside a sports car. He checked that the road was clear before indicating and pulling out. He took advantage of the swift acceleration in the car but didn't break the speed limit. Stopping at the stop sign he checked both ways before setting off again. Tony knew that he had passed the test when Joey turned and waved at Vincent, who was standing next to the cop car, talking to the copper. Joey instructed Tony to pull over; Tony did as he was told. Vincent soon caught up with them and the three brothers set off again, with Joey back behind the wheel.

The twins took Tony to their favourite clothes shop. They had him try on numerous outfits before deciding that he one that he should wear to their lesson consisted of a pair of expensive black Italian leather shoes, smart black trousers and a dark blue silk shirt with the top 3 buttons undone. Tony had grown a lot in the last 3 years; he was no longer small for his age, his muscles were well defined and many people thought, before they got to know him, that he was older than he was. The style of clothes that his brothers had picked out for him had made Tony look like he was only bout a year younger than them.

That night Joey and Vincent had taken Tony to a local nightclub. There he began the longest lesson of his life. Joey and Tony had sat in the corner watching Vincent 'at work'. Vincent was flirting with a beautiful blonde girl who was lapping up all of his attentions. Anyone who had walked past the pair would have sworn that Vincent was putting all of his energies into getting the girl's telephone number and they would have felt that they had been proved correct when Vincent walked back to join his brothers with her number on a napkin in his pocket. Tony was soon to learn that this wasn't the case.

"Hey Vince" Joey had greeted his brother upon his return. "What were the couple to your right talking about and who was the man sitting at the far end of the bar?" Tony had looked at Joey in confusion but he soon turned that to a look of stunned admiration aimed at Vincent when he began to talk.

"Ok. The man at the bar was new to this bar; he had to ask where the restroom was. He was waiting for someone who was obviously late, was called James or Jimmy and this wasn't the first time he was late or had stood up the man at the bar. The man kept looking at his watch and muttered 'come on Jimmy, why do you always do this to me?'" Vincent had paused to take a breath and watch the couple in the corner. "The couple in the corner are cops. They're looking for a female suspect who is known to frequent the bars in this area. There are also cops in several other bars on this street. The suspect is between 5'3 and 5'6, is Caucasian, slender built and has a slight limp when she walks in heels." Tony had opened and closed his mouth several times before his question found its way out.

"How do you know all that?" Vincent had looked at Tony as if the answer was obvious.

"Well Antonio, firstly the guy keeps cocking his head to the right as if listening to something in an earpiece. Secondly they keep pointing out white females with either a limp or flat shoes on to each other. Thirdly the female cop tilts her head down and to the right when describing the women and all of the women she describes when doing this have fitted into the categories that I just listed. And finally I heard them say that Smith and White weren't having any more luck in that new club just up the street. Then they said that Benson and Eames' possible sighting two doors down had been a false alert and that they were to keep looking."

"Cool," was all Tony could think to say in reply. The twins nodded and a new round of drinks was bought. Tony couldn't remember the rest of that night with any degree of accuracy. He had spent years afterwards perfecting and practising the skill that Vincent had demonstrated for him. So much so, in fact, that he was now well known as a womaniser.

Tony was just a few paces from the table now and could, quite clearly, see his father sitting between Joey and Luigi with his back to Tony. Seeing his father brought back the memory that Tony kept forever suppressed at the back of his mind, never to be thought of or analysed but, at the same time, never quite forgotten.

Tony had been 12 ½ but considered himself too old to be worried about the ½ anymore. Gulia had been 10 ¾ which would, by the end of the day, change to 'nearly 11' because she felt it made her sound older, ready to take on the responsibilities of her role in The Family. They had been out on a rare family outing with their father, mother, older brothers and Luigi and Marco. Their mother had said how happy she was to be able to spend time with her four babies all together. Tony was glad that she had been so happy that day, it made it easier for him to remember her smiling.

They had stopped at a café on their way to the park. Tony remembered his mother was telling a joke that her friend had told her the day before, when the car drove slowly past. He wasn't sure what it was that made him look at the car but he had felt compelled to turn and face it. What he saw made his eyes widen in fear.

"Gun!" He had screamed, whilst pulling Gulia to the ground. Luigi had crouched between the children and the gunmen firing at the car in an attempt to protect Tony and Gulia. Marco had leapt and knocked Tony's father to the ground, using his body to shield the oldest Zito from the bullets. Joey and Vincent had grabbed their mother but as they were pushing her to the ground a bullet had sailed through the middle of them, slicing the top of Joey's ear off, and burrowed into their mother's head. Tony could remember seeing her fall to the ground in slow motion and how he had looked into her eyes and been unable to see his mother's soul looking out of them. He remembered the intense cold he had felt looking into those unfocussed eyes and how frightened he had been by her unmoving features. When the pool of dark red blood had begun to form around her head he had shut his eyes and pulled his sister closer to him, then he had silently thanked God for not letting his baby sister see what he had just seen.

When The Family caught up with the people who had killed Tony's mother they had found an FBI agent amongst their ranks. Normally they would have just shot the agent along with everyone else involved but Tony's father that they were at the beginning of a new mafia war and so made a deal with the FBI. He promised to return their agent to them, unharmed, if they promised to take Tony and Gulia into a witness protection scheme. He told the FBI that they could make sure that no-one at home gave the youngest Zitos' identities away if the FBI could make sure that the got a fair chance at a new life. A deal was made and Tony and Gulia were whisked away straight after the funeral. They spent 2 weeks in an orphanage, learning all there was to know about their new identities. They were given names that they would feel at ease claiming were their own and then they were adopted by a reasonably wealthy family who believed that boarding school was the only way that children gained a proper education. Tony had just been glad that he and Gulia were kept together. He knew that his father hadn't let them go out of compassion but rather as assurance that the Zito bloodline would still continue even if the expected war wiped out the whole of The Family.

Tony had caught the attention of the table by now and knew that soon the moment of truth would be upon him.

Like it? Hate it? Why? Please let me know so I can get better.