Disclaimer: Yep you guessed it! I still don't own NCIS.

Thanks for the reviews everyone. Thanks to TheNaggingCube for pointing out that bin is a British word and I will endeavour to use the words you mentioned in the future.

Family Ties - Part 4

Luigi stood to allow Tony's father to exit the booth. Tony held his arms behind his back and tilted his head forward in a show of respect and submission. Tony wasn't surprised to note that his father was beginning to look his age, he had been involved in a brutal war with the Martello family for the last 20 years and he had already reached the ripe old age of 43 before the war had started. Tony looked up at his father when he put his hands on either side of Tony's face. He gave Tony a kiss on each of his cheeks before stepping back to get a better look at his youngest son. He wasn't disappointed by what he saw.

"Antonio, I see you have grown into a fine young man and, don't get me wrong, I am happy to see you, but what are you doing here? You know it is dangerous for you to be seen with us. It is dangerous for you because the Martellos may link you to this family and it is dangerous for me because they may decide to use you against me in an attempt to win this war." Tony lowered his head again before speaking.

"I know sir and I'm sorry but I have some news that you need to hear. When you hear what I have to say then maybe you'll decide to kill me yourself. If the Martellos shoot me, it'll be nothing less than what I deserve." Tony's father's face had hardened and his expression went cold, he motioned for Marco to stand to allow Tony to sit between him and Vincent. Tony took the hint and sat down next to Vincent; Marco, Luigi and his father all took their places at the table. Tony suddenly felt trapped by the men around him and wished, for a moment, that he had asked his boss to watch his back. Then he remembered why he'd had to come in the first place. His father's deep growling voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"Start talking Antonio. What have you done?" Tony studied his fingernail for a moment before speaking.

"Three days ago a hit and run driver knocked down and killed a Navy Lieutenant commander. Her face had impacted with the car and was almost completely unrecognisable, one of my colleagues said that he doubted even her mother could recognise her now. All I could think was her mother is dead but I recognise her." Tony paused, now wasn't the time for tears. He looked up at his family, wondering if they had cottoned on to what he was trying to tell them. They hadn't. Luigi, Marco and his brothers were looking at him with confused expressions, while his father was looking unimpressed.

"Touching story Antonio" he began sarcastically before making his tone more threatening. "So you recognised who? Some skirt you had once chased? Get over it, people die every day." Tony looked straight at his father, his vision blurred by unshed ears. Swallowing the huge lump in his throat, Tony forced himself to continue."

"No sir she wasn't just some skirt I once chased. She was a bubbly woman who loved life. She is also going to be buried under the wrong name if something isn't done to stop that. See, everyone in her new life thinks her name is Diablo, Gulia Diablo." Tony heard Marco's strangled gasp.

"Baby Gulia is dead?" Tony nodded slowly. Vincent and Joe looked to their father for a clue as to how they should react to the news, they didn't really know Gulia the way the others at the table did. Their father just sat there staring at Tony in shock, anger beginning to show on his face. Luigi showed no reaction at all, he was working their would be a time for grieving but right now a car that had been sitting across the road from them ever since Tony's arrival had about 70 percentof his attention, 29 percentof his attention was focussed on looking for other possible threats, while just 1 percentof his attention was focussing on what was being discussed at the table. Tony's father took a deep breath and squared up his shoulders.

"You were supposed to protect her. You gave Marco; you gave her, your word that you would always protect her." Tony saw the meaning behind his father's words all too clearly; he had failed in his duties and had broken his word. That was unforgivable. Tony was surprised by and thankful for, his father's next words. "Normally I would kill someone who had failed The Family as badly as you just have. However, for the same reason that I let you and Gulia leave the life of The Family I am going to spare your life. I need to know that, if all of The Family is wiped out, there will still be a Zito left to carry on the family line. You will never again contact us because, while you may be carrying our bloodline, you are not a member of The Family and you are not welcome in our part of town anymore." Tony nodded in defeat and Marco stood to let him out. When Tony was about to walk away from the table he turned around to say a final goodbye to his family. None of them would look him in the eye so Tony turned around and walked out of the Pizzeria in silence, his eyes on the ground and his shoulders slumped forwards. The meeting, he thought, had gone surprisingly well.

Gibbs watched Tony leaving the pizzeria and took in the younger man's body language and how sad he looked before following starting the car's engine. It was a sure sign that Tony was deep in thought when he didn't react to the sound of the car engine starting. He drove past Tony and pulled up not far in front of him. This time Tony noticed the car and Gibbs saw him reach for his weapon. His eyes widened when he realised that he hadn't brought his weapon with him. Gibbs could see the fear in his eyes and rolled his window down before calling out to Tony.

"Tony! Quit standing there and get in the damn car!" Gibbs had almost laughed at the confused expression on Tony's face and the way he had replied automatically.

"Boss? Uh… coming Boss!" Tony got in the car and Gibbs allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. There had been a few moments when Gibbs had thought that he was going to have to run into that restaurant to back Tony up. He had followed Tony from NCIS to his home and then to the train station. When he found out what train Tony was going to be on he had jumped in his car and drove to the station that Tony would be getting off at. He had called Abby and explained that Tony was going into a potentially dangerous situation and that he needed her to trace Tony's cell. She had wanted an explanation, he had growled, she agreed to do what he wanted. Typical Abby, thought Gibbs.

Abby had given Gibbs directions over the phone, explaining Tony's whereabouts to him constantly. When he had got to the restaurant he had thanked Abby before hanging up. He had picked up his binoculars and focussed in on Tony. Gibbs had been a little surprised by Tony's reaction to the older man when he stood up to greet Tony. Everything about the way Tony had stood screamed submission; Tony had never seemed the type to completely accept someone's authority, Tony always tried to see how far he could push someone, without crossing the line.

When Gibbs had seen how uncomfortable Tony had looked when he first sat down he had been tempted to walk into the restaurant and ask for a table, just to let the young man know that he was there for him. Then Tony had started talking and Gibbs could see that the story was difficult for him to tell, he had known that his presence would have just made it more difficult for Tony. When the discussion had become more heated Gibbs had reached for his gun and was about to go in when he saw the taller man, he suspected that he was a bodyguard, was looking straight at him. Gibbs had known instinctively that if he left his car now he wouldn't reach Tony alive and he could very well put Tony in even more danger. - Shit - he had thought - well done Gibbs, you just left one of your people in danger because you took to long to get your ass into position. If DiNozzo is hurt now, it will be on your head. -

Gibbs turned to look at Tony, who was sitting silently beside him in the car. He put a hand on the young man's shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"Come on Tony I'm taking you home. I want you to take as long as you need off, but I want you to do it in a safer neighbourhood than this one." Tony turned to look at Gibbs a blank look on his face.

"He kicked me out of The Family boss. How can I bury my sister if I'm not a part of The Family anymore?" Gibbs frowned at that. He put a hand on either side of Tony's face and turned Tony's head to face him, but Tony refused to look Gibbs in the eye.

"Tony look at me." Tony did as he was told. "You have a family, all of your co-workers at NCIS. Your sister was Navy. That puts her in our family too. If your heart thinks of Gulia as your sister then she was your sister." Tony nodded slowly and lowered his eyes, he closed them briefly and then looked back up at Gibbs.

"What should I put on her grave Diablo or Zito? Her friends know her as a Diablo but she was born a Zito." Gibbs shook his head; he didn't know how to answer that. He moved his hands from Tony's head and patted him gently on the shoulder before setting the car moving again.

"I don't know DiNozzo. Maybe you could just put 'Gulia, beloved sister' on it. Now it's time to head back. I've got an investigation to complete and you need to get some rest and have some more time to grieve for your sister. There will be a lot of stuff for you to take care of soon enough and you need to be ready." Tony was nodding off, the lack of sleep over he past few days catching up to him.

"You know, you're kind of scary when your nice boss." Gibbs just smiled and glanced at the now sleeping man.

"Sweet dreams DiNozzo." He whispered as he drove towards home. - I'm going to find the bastard who killed your sister Tony and, when I do, I'm going to make him pay for the pain he caused you. I promise you that. -

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