AN: BIG thanks for all the reviews! Sorry for the long wait and this isn't a really a full update but some changes that I felt was necessary and I hope you like it. Keep the reviews coming if you wanna make me happy!

Chapter 9

Tony woke up slowly the next day, feeling sore and his head were fuzzy, the painkillers always made him feel like that the day after. He sat up slowly, shook his head to clear the cobwebs from his mind and was just about to move into the bathroom when his phone started to ring.

"Are you up yet?" It was Gibbs on the other side.

"Yes, boss." Tony said smiling a little to himself as he stretched carefully.

"Good, how are you?"

"I'm fine, just a little sore. Do we have a case? I can be at the office in twenty minutes."

"No, no case and you will stay home and rest today. I'll come and check up on you later so I can decide if you can go back to work tomorrow."

"Sure, boss." Tony said trying not to sound sulky but he recognized Gibbs' don't mess with me tone.

"Good, see you later."

Tony shook his head as he made his way to his bathroom then he took off his clothes and stepped into the shower. He turned on the hot water, let it cascade down his back and let out a big sigh of pleasure.

A half an hour later he stepped out, dried himself and put on a pair of sweatpants, not bothering with a shirt and sat down on the sofa. He turned on the TV to watch the news and was just about to go to the kitchen when the reporter started to talk about a man that had been found murdered and as she spoke about how the man had been found and how he had been killed Tony sat down again, staring at the picture of a Luigi Bellarous.

He had never seen the man before but how he was killed were very familiar to Tony, it was how thieves and snitcher died.

The hair on Tony's arms stood up as he remembered when one of those killings had been performed right in front of him, he had been forced to watch by one of his mother's lovers after he had walked in on them and it had forced him to see what his father and brothers really did for a living.

Tony changed the channel but his thoughts was still on the murdered Luigi Bellarous and the fact that he thought he had seen his mothers lover yesterday, seemed to strange to be a coincidence and he started to get an icy feeling in his stomach.

Where they still after him? Had they found him?

If they were after him, what should he do? Run? Tell Gibbs? Tony got up and started to pace.


Gibbs hung up the phone and turned back to his computer. Tony had sounded ok but something was up with the younger agent.

He had looked thru Tony's personal file but it stood nothing about Tony having a brother, it actually didn't say much at all when you looked closely.

It only held his education from that he was 18 years old and it stood nothing about his family history, it only had one name that was listed as a close contact but when Gibbs had called the number the person who answered told him that he was dead since about for years back.

So a dead end, literally.

Tony's sleep talking and the events from the past days kept nagging him and his gut told him that something was about to happen.


Marco and Emilio sat at the big dinner table eating, Vinnie sat with them and the room was silent, each one engrossed in their newspapers. One of the men that were with them from home came in and walked over to Vinnie, who got up and followed him out after a low conversation.

The twins looked after them and when the door closed behind the two men, leaving a small crack that the twins didn't notice. They laid down their newspapers and looked at each other

"So what do you want to do?" Marco asked his brother.

"I think that we, just you and me, should go and talk to him. Tomorrow, if we can slip pass Vinnie."

"What about father's orders?"

"You know that we can't do as he says all the time." Emilio said looking deeply into his brother's eyes.

Marco nodded, he knew that Emilio was right he felt it but if it went wrong and if their dad found out there would be hell to pay.

"Let's do it, what have you planned?"

"I was thinking that…." Emilio started to say and Marco listened carefully.


Al stepped away from the doors to the dinning room, so the twins were planning to sneak out to meet the kid.

So he had to get to the kid before them and make sure that the kid still remembered what happened to people that squealed and if he was lucky he could get some of the money that she had promised him.

He still had a few connections that he could use so he could reassure himself that the youngest DiNozzo still remembered.


Tony walked into the bullpen with a smile on his face, it felt good to be back at work even if he only been home a day. He sat down at his desk, laid his feet on the desk and leaned back in his chair.

"Good morning Tony." McGee said as he and Ziva walked to Tony's desk with a cup of coffee which he handed over to Tony. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Thanks, Probie." Tony said as he sipped on the coffee. "Admit that you and Ziva missed me."

"As much as a thorn in the eye." Ziva said smiling.

"A thorn in the side, Ziva." Tony said as he smiled his big smile.

"He is not dying." Gibbs said in a dry voice as he stepped into the bullpen. "Get back to work!"

McGee and Ziva scrambled back to their desks and Gibbs smiled, but it was only Tony who saw it.

"You okay, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked in a low voice as he leaned across Tony's desk.

"I'm fine, boss."

"Good, keep it that way." Gibbs said laying a hand on Tony's shoulder and squeezed it a little.

"Ahm, Special Agent Gibbs." The Director was standing behind Gibbs and had an annoyed look on her face.

"Yes, Madam Director?" Gibbs said with a small sigh.

"We have that meeting now."

"I'm on my way. Let me just grab some coffee." Gibbs said then he looked at Tony making sure that the young agent really was ok. Than he stepped out to the break room to get him a cup of coffee.

Tony turned back to his desk to turn on his computer so he could start to work but he felt watched so he looked up. The Director was still standing a few paces from his desk and looking at him with ice cold eyes.

"Madame Director, did you need something?" Tony asked as he looked up at her.

"Nothing that you could help me with, Special Agent DiNozzo." She said with her voice cold ice and then Gibbs walked into the bullpen. She smiled warmly and laid a hand around Gibbs waist as they walked up the stairs to her office.

"What was that all about?" Tony wondered out loud.

"Maybe she feels, ah what do you call it? Threatened?" Ziva said wiggling her eyebrows and she smiled an evil little smile.

Tony just shook his head and turned back to work.

About an hour later Gibbs made his way down the stairs, looking really annoyed as he walked into the break room to get a big cup of coffee. Then he walked into the bullpen to check on his team. He gave them a short briefing about the meeting but the Director called on him and he had to get back to the meeting. But before the Director followed him she told the team that she and Gibbs shouldn't be disturbed under any circumstances.

A few minutes after Gibbs had gone up, Tony's phone started to ring and he answered it.

"Special Agent DiNozzo." It was the Director's secretary. "The director and Special Agent Gibbs want you to go and talk to the officer and his family."

Tony hung up the phone and grabbed his gear as he told Ziva and McGee what the secretary said.

Tony jumped into the car again sighing a little to himself. The officer and the family had been surprised when he had knocked on their door but they had wanted to thank him for saving little Jim, so now he was on his way back to the office.

Suddenly he got a strange feeling so he started to look in the review mirror a bit more and so he became aware of that he was being followed. So he decided to call Gibbs but his boss phone was turned off so he called McGee instead.

"Hey McGee, I'm on my way back but I need you to run a license plate for me." Tony said the plate number to McGee. It didn't take long for McGee to run it and when he said a company name Tony paled as he looked at the car behind him.

"Tony, is everything alright?" McGee asked worried when the other agent didn't say anything.

"Is Gibbs there?"

"No, still in the meeting. What's up, Tony?" McGee was starting to get really worried. "Are you being followed?"

"Yes." Tony said thinking hard. "Hold on, I'll try to slow down to see if he wants something."

"Be careful, Tony." McGee said and he jumped al little when he noticed Ziva standing in front of his desk. She looked at him with questioning eyes.

"Call down to Abby and see if she can get his position." McGee said and Ziva just nodded before she went to her desk to call Abby. McGee really wanted to go up to the Director's office and tell Gibbs about what was happening but she had said not to disturb them and before he could think more about it his thoughts was interrupted by:

"Shit!" Tony said.

"What's happening, Tony?"

"I tried to wave him by me but he didn't drive past me."

"What aren't you telling me?" McGee asked as he mentioned to Ziva to grab her gear and they were on their way towards the elevator.

"Don't freak out now Probie but I think the guy in the car have a gun."

"Are you shitting me, Tony?" McGee almost yelled thru the phone as he and Ziva jumped into the car with Ziva behind the wheel. She was talking to Abby on her cell phone.

"Probie…" Tony was just about to tell McGee to calm down when the car behind him drove into him, making him almost lose control of the car. "Shit!"

"Tony?" McGee held on to the door handle as Ziva drove recklessly. Ziva looked over to McGee and she watched as he paled.

"What's up, McGee?" She asked in a high pitched voice.

"I think he crashed…" McGee tried to swallow the big lump that was forming in his throat.

"We will be there in a second." Ziva said as she pushed down the gas pedal. They turned and drove into a straight stretch.

"There!" McGee yelled.

A few miles ahead he saw Tony's crashed car, then he saw another car standing beside and when he looked closer he saw a man standing next to Tony's car.

As the man noticed their car moving fast towards them, he ran to his car and drove off before they could stop him.

Ziva drove up the car not far away from Tony's crashed car and McGee was out of car before she had stopped it.

"Tony! Are you ok?"


"Shit" Tony said as the car drove up next to him and rammed into him. He lost control of the car and suddenly the passenger side was slammed into a tree beside the road. The impact made him hit the wheel and his vision became black, he almost passed out. Suddenly he heard someone next to him and that made him wide awake.

"So here we are." The raspy voice said. "Again."

"What do you want?" Tony asked trying to keep calm.

"Well, I just want to make sure that you still remembered the lesson." The voice laughed a little and the laugh made Tony close his eyes, sending shivers down his spine.

"Damit!" The voice said before reaching into the car and a hand grabbed Tony's throat squeezing hard, cutting of Tony's air. "The twins will find you soon and when they do, I'll be with them and you aren't going to tell them anything about our past or our present's meetings. Understood?"

Before Tony could answer the hand squeezed a little tighter then it let him go and he could breathe again.

"Tony! Are you okay?" Thank God it was Probie! Tony thought before he answered:

"I'm fine, Probie." His voice was raspy.

"Don't move, I'll call an ambulance."

"Don't you dare!" Tony said as he glared at McGee. "I don't need to go to the hospital."

"But…"

"No but." Tony said as he slowly got out of the car and smiled a little when he saw McGee's worried look and Ziva running up to them. "Tim, I promise you that I'm only a little banged up but nothing serious." That made McGee seem a little less worried but only a little.

"Abby got a hold on Gibbs, he is on his way." Ziva said and just as she finished her sentence another car pulled up and Gibbs literally flew out.

"What happened?" He asked as he looked at Tony. "Is the ambulance on its way?"

"Uh, boss…" McGee started to say but Tony interrupted him.

"I'm fine, boss. I don't need to go to the hospital." Tony looked Gibbs deep into his eyes.

"Alright but you will have to see Ducky and if he want to send you to the hospital I'll carry you there myself. Understood?"

"Yes, boss."

"Tell me what happened on the way back..."

"Jethro?" The Directors voice cut Gibbs off and she stepped out of the car and walked slowly up to them. "If Special Agent DiNozzo isn't badly hurt, we need to get back to the meeting."

"Ziva here will drive you back, if you are in such a hurry. I'll be there when I have heard the report from my agents." Gibbs voice was as hard as steel. "I think that an attack on a federal agent are more important that a meeting."

The Director opened her mouth but closed it when she saw Gibbs look. Then she turned back and walked back to the car and got in after telling Ziva to drive her back now.

Ziva looked at Gibbs, who nodded, then she made her way towards the car.

"Let's go." Gibbs said and the three men started to walk towards the other car.

As they walked Tony stumbled and Gibbs caught him immediately, the Director saw it and sent Tony an ice cold glare that only Ziva saw.


Al walked into the big house with a big smile on his face, content on what he had accomplished today.

"What happened to the car, Al?" Vinnie was standing in front of him and didn't have a happy look on his face.

"I'm sorry Vinnie. I lost control of the car and rammed a railing. Nothing serious."

Vinnie nodded to him and Al walked into the house and the smile came back on his face.


Gibbs drove as he listened to Tony's and McGee's story as he drove back to the office. He was more than a little pissed at the Director and her behaviour but his concern for Tony grew stronger as he noticed that McGee was talking and Tony only grunting when his name was mentioned.

"So, DiNozzo. Something you want to tell me?" Gibbs said as he stopped the car.

"Uh, boss?" Tony looked at Gibbs questionly.

Gibbs shook his head, and then they all got out off the car. Tony took a deep breath as he stood up, stretched his sore body and got a little dizzy.

Then they walked into the building and towards Ducky's morgue. Gibbs and McGee walked closely behind Tony in case if he should falter.

Ducky did a quick exam of Tony behind closed doors, even after Gibbs protests. After he told Gibbs that Tony was quite alright but banged up so he would recommend that the boy should go home and rest.

Gibbs nodded and then told Ziva and McGee to take the rest of the day off, and then he shuffled Tony into the car and drove the young man home.

"Thanks, boss." Tony said as they stopped outside his apartment. "I can take it from here."

"Tony, we need to talk." Gibbs said with his most serious voice.

Tony sighed and nodded. He knew that he had to talk to Gibbs about what had happened these last few days. He waved for Gibbs to follow him and their walked up to his apartment.

Tony jumped into the shower and Gibbs ordered in some food that came to the door a few minutes after Tony came out of the shower.

They ate in silence, the tension hung in the air while they ate and Tony dreaded the coming conversation.

Then they cleared the table and were just about start talking when there was a hard knock on the door. Instantly Tony remembered what HE had said earlier today: the twins will find you soon. And he had a feeling that it was them now.

Gibbs noticed the change in Tony's body language so he laid a hand on Tony's hand and looked him in the eyes.

"I think I'm in real trouble, boss." Tony paled it knocked on the door again. Then he took a deep breath and moved towards the door.

Tony stopped and closed his eyes before he reached for the door handle. Gibbs stood close behind Tony, he wanted to be there for him and he was ready to do anything to help Tony out of whatever trouble he had gotten himself into but the two men standing behind the door out in the hallway made him stare and a little shocked.

The two men was the blond and older version of Tony, they all had the same green eyes and he knew that one of them was Emilio, he just wondered which one.

Gibbs saw that Tony was shocked also and a hint of fear showed in the young mans eyes for a second, why would Tony be afraid of his brothers?

More questions lined up in his mind as he looked at the two brothers: both were good looking, not like Tony but almost, those green eyes showed clearly that they were related.

They looked self-confident, had an air around them that meant that people around them usually did what they told them and both men had a hardness that Tony didn't usually showed.

A hardness that showed in people that they had seen to much in their life. That meant that Tony's brothers were dangerous men.

He had seen that hardness in Tony also, but on very few and hard cases, involving children mostly, and when Kate died. That memory made him take a step closer to his agent.

Emilio and Marco just stood still, frozen, as the door opened and when they saw their younger brother both just stared.

Emilio took a little step forward, he just wanted to give his younger brother a big hug and then yell at him for being gone so long.

Marco laid a hand on his arm, like he knew what his twin brother was thinking and sensing that Tony was a little reserved, but Emilio could see the emotions in his brother's eyes and he knew that they shared the same feelings.

Both brothers jumped a little when Gibbs cleared his throat behind Tony, no one had noticed the older man, and Emilio took a long look at the older man as he laid a hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Tony…." Gibbs said in a low voice, feeling the tension in the young mans shoulders under his hand. "Do you wanna let them in or should I get rid of them?"

"Hey, who do you think you are?" Emilio growled and took a step forward but was restrained by Marco.

"He still has the same temper." Marco said in an excusing voice as he looked at Gibbs first and then locked eyes with Tony.

Marco's comment made Tony smile a little and a few good memories where Emilio's temper had gotten them into trouble played in his mind. He really had missed them so he opened the door wider and nodded before walking into his apartment, to the kitchen, Gibbs closely behind him.

Marco and Emilio followed, after Marco hit Emilio lightly in the head, both took of their shoes and walking into Tony's apartment.

They sat down at the kitchen table, Tony and Gibbs at one side and Marco and Emilio at the other so they were facing each other.

Marco and Emilio took a good look at their younger brother, they saw the wrapped wrist, a bruise on the side of Tony's face and both saw the small fine lines around the young mans eyes that showed that he was in some pain and it brought back some not so happy memories for them.

"So, you are his boss? How bad are his injuries from the fall?" Marco asked as he turned to Gibbs.

"Hey, I'm sitting right here." Tony said but was silenced by a look from Emilio.

"We want to know the facts and we still remember how you played down your injuries when you were younger. And I can bet my life on it that it still hasn't changed." Marco said as he looked at Tony and then at Gibbs again, Emilio nodding his head in agreement.

"I heard he landed on a guy?" Emilio said with an amused voice. "A thing only you could do. Push a guy thru a window and land on him instead of taking the stairs."

"Like you didn't do stupid things?" Tony said with a small smile playing on his lips. Emilio tried to look innocent but failed.

"He still does but that wasn't what we wanted to know." Marco said, worried about his little brother.

"I'm fine."

"We didn't ask you." Marco said looking at Gibbs. "I'm Marco and that is Emilio, we are Antonio's brothers, tell us about his condition."

Gibbs looked at Tony first, raising an eyebrow when Marco called Tony Antonio, but Tony just shrugged his shoulders, then he looked at the twins before he started to talk.

"Well I take it that you already know my name?" Gibbs said, knowing that if they knew already about Tony's fall out the window they probably knew something about Tony's co workers so when they nodded in agreement, Gibbs wasn't surprised. "He was lucky, breaking no bones but sprained his left wrist, a small concussion and got a bruised back. Nothing serious."

"I could have told you that." Tony said.

"No, you couldn't." Marco said ignoring Tony's look.

Marco and Emilio looked at each other, then at Tony and the kitchen went silent. Questions hung in the air and made it fill with a little tension.

"So what happened?" Emilio said after a minute of silence, his voice sounded a little bitter. "Why did you leave and why did you never call us? We never stopped looking for you."

"Why are you here?" Tony avoided Emilio's question with a question.

Marco looked at Gibbs before answering Tony's question. "Emilio was here doing some business when he thought he saw you. He persuaded dad to let me come here and look for you."

"Does he know that I'm here?" Tony paled a little and Gibbs moved a little closer to him.

"Vinnie have kept him in the loop, but we haven't spoken to him." Marco said. "So can you tell us what happened?"

Tony looked at both his brothers, then at Gibbs and back to the twins. Should he tell them what she had told him? Did his father still wanted him dead?

A headache started to form, the pain in his bruised body surfaced and made him think of what happened yesterday in the hospital.

Had they something to do with it? He frowned a little, why would they be here and talking to him if they wanted him dead? They didn't look like they wanted him dead. He closed his eyes and massaged his temple as the headache grew stronger

"You ok, Tony?" Gibbs asked. "Did you take your painkillers?"

"No, don't like or need them." Tony whispered.

"Some things never change." Emilio said. "You didn't flush them this time, huh?"

"No, I didn't."

"DiNozzo, tell me where they are or you will be very sorry." Gibbs said in his don't mess with me voice.

"Bathroom." Gibbs got up and went to get the painkillers. On his way back he slowed down a little when he heard the DiNozzo's talking.

"We looked for you and when we found Daniella dead, we assumed the worst." Emilio was talking. "What happened?"

"She took an overdose. I found her there and I knew that I had to get out of there before her drug dealer showed up."

"Dad found her two days later, still in the hotel room." Marco said. "Where did you go? How did you manage? Why didn't you call us?"

"She told me…" Tony started to say but trailed off as he looked at his brothers, pain showing in his eyes.

"What did she tell you? Whatever the lie was, I can't understand why you would believe her over us?" Emilio said upset.

Gibbs took it as his cue to go in and give Tony the painkillers. He took out a glass, filled it with water, gave it to Tony and shook out some pills from the bottle before handing them to him. Tony accepted them and swallowed them down.

"I think it's time for you to go now." Gibbs said.

"But we just got here. We want to talk about what happened 12 years ago." Emilio said as he was getting more frustrated and angrier.

"Take a look at your brother." Gibbs said in a hard voice. "He is in pain and you are bombarding him with questions. You can see him tomorrow, if he wants. Now get out before I throw you out head first."

"Let's go." Marco said, grabbing Emilio's arm and started to move towards the hallway. "Can we have your numbers so we can call tomorrow?"

"Here." Gibbs handed Marco his card after he had written down Tony's phone number on it. "I'll stay with him tonight, so call tomorrow, if he feels better, we can meet."

Marco nodded, and then he and Emilio walked out of the apartment with Gibbs looking at them before he closed the door and locked it.

"Thanks, boss." Tony said as Gibbs helped him up and into the bedroom. "But you don't need to stay, I can handle them."

"If I say that I would stay, then I'm going to stay." Gibbs said in a determined voice. "I don't fully understand what's going on but I'm going to help you."

Tony took off his shirt before getting into bed, he smiled as Gibbs arranged his covers over him.

"I'll be on the couch." Gibbs said as he walked out of the bed room but he paused a little when he heard Tony whisper:

"Good night, Jethro."