"Hi" Tony greeted nervously as he came to a halt just outside the area of the bullpen his Dad's team considered theirs.
"Boss Kid!" Daniel Flynn immediately greeted and rose up to give Tony a hug.
"Dan?! You're back?!"
"Yeah, somebody has to keep your Dad from exploding while working with these kids."
"Hey!" Louis protested, glancing up from the computer where he was working. "I'm not a kid. Hi Tony."
"Speaking of kids, where did you leave your Dad and Boss Baby?"
"Tim's at home and Dad went straight upstairs."
"Ooohh trouble. Louis! You are busted, whatever you did."
"News flash Dan, it's usually you."
"Anyhow, are you okay?" Dan asked quietly. The older man wasn't just the first person to join his Dad's team and senior field agent, he had worked with Gibbs on Mike's team as well.
"Getting there." Tony answered honestly. "Have a week here though to observe you and put everything you do wrong on paper."
"Cool, as long as you don't tell your Dad anything I do when he isn't here, like this." Dan reached over his desk, opened a drawer and flung a candy bar at Tony.
"Thanks Dan, where are the girls? It must be a new record if they got tired of you this early."
"You are too funny, has somebody ever told you that?!"
"They drew the short straw this morning. Coffee run." Louis explained.
"It took two?!"
"With the amount of coffee your Dad drinks…yes. Hi Tony." Elisabeth Sawyer greeted as she and Willa Rivers entered the bullpen.
"Hi Liz, hi Willa."
"Good morning to yourself Boss Kid, are you taking over for your Dad today? It'd be a welcome break."
"Not so lucky Rivers."
"Good morning Boss."
"Grab your gear, we've got a case."
-The Other Tony-
"What happens now?" Tony wasn't stupid, he knew that even though he and his Dad both had made the most of the alone time they had, there was one difficult question left to answer. This was their last night in the cabin by the lake and tomorrow he'd go back to school in the morning.
"You are grounded. Indefinitely."
"Until you trust me again."
"Until I trust that I have driven into your skull that you are perfect just the way you are Anthony." Gibbs replied firmly, squeezing his son to his side for a minute.
"I'm getting there, Dad."
"Good. I have something for you to help you remember."
"It's not my birthday Dad." Tony protested.
"Nope, but I needed some time to think so I worked on this when you fell asleep one night and Mike went on a little errand for me along with your brother and delivered the last piece last night. You were already asleep by then, but Mike went up and looked in on you."
"I thought I heard something."
"He isn't known for being undetectable, kiddo." Reaching under the sofa, Gibbs withdrew a box that he gave to Tony. Taking it with both hands Tony ran a hand over the smooth wood with Anthony carved into the lid.
"Thank you, Dad, it's beautiful."
"Open it Kiddo." Tony did so, uncovering a ton of photos of him and his Dad, even a few of him and Timmy as well as him with Mike or Ducky and the whole family together. Even one with him and Dad's team. Taking out the last one, one with him and his Mom, Tony paused for a minute before casting his eyes downwards as he felt the tars form and caught sight of the bottom. Carved into the bottom of the box was: Just the way you are. Hugging his Dad hard Tony felt the tears start filling his eyes which led him to quietly burry his head closer to his Dad's chest, settling in as close as possible.
"Both me and Mom are proud of you Kiddo and love you no matter what, but I wanted you to have a reminder of that."
"I love you Dad." Tony said once he calmed down enough to talk.
"Love you more Bud. Now go shower so you don't stink when you fall asleep on me." Gibbs teased and gently pushed his son to get him going.
"Sorry to tell you Dad, but I'm not the only one who stinks."
"Unless you want me to throw you in the lake, get going. I'll take a shower once you are finished."
"Admit it old man, your legs have yet to wake up."
"Admit it, you really want to take a swim."
"I'm going." Tony said with his hands in the air and backing away. "No need for icy lakes"
-The other Tony-
Tony sat in the car taking notes. He wasn't allowed onto the crime scene for obvious reasons, but from where he sat he could still hear the conversations his Dad wanted him to hear. The ones that weren't for his ears were discussed a bit away and so far it had been a good system. Tony had about half a page of notes with everything from Dan being ordered to talk gently to a witness to Willa diving into a dumpster and finding some evidence. He must have fallen asleep sometime during the wait though because the next thing he knew he woke up in the autopsy staring at Ducky trying to drape a quilt over him.
"Ducky!"
"Hello my boy. How are you feeling Anthony?"
"I'm good Duck. How did I get here though?" Tony carefully stretched his arms and legs mentally checking himself over for any injuries.
"No need to worry lad, you fell asleep, so Jethro thought it'd be better to let you sleep for a few hours than wake you up."
"Not that I mind you Ducky, but do you know where Dad is? I need to keep working on my essay."
"He's picking up a particularly disagreeable witness, but he left this for you" Ducky held up a pencil and the note pad.
"Thanks Duck. Do you mind if I work down here?" Tony asked almost shyly.
"Of course not, Anthony, take over my desk if you want to and don't look like I'm going to eat you alive. You know you remind me of myself when I was just a boy and got in trouble with Mother. I'm not sure what it was…oh yes, it was this teacher, now what was his name?"
"Uhm Ducky that sounds really interesting, but Dad expects me to have some of this written today so…"
"Oh well, maybe later then. Though I'm sure Jethro will show up at dinnertime latest to steal you away from me." Tony felt a sudden pang of guilt, he really hadn't spent much time lately with Ducky. With all the trouble he had been in the last couple of months the limited free time he had had he'd spent with friends or girls. He'd do better, he promised himself. Maybe even talk to his Dad about spending some time with Ducky this weekend.
"Hi Tony, good, you are awake."
"Hi Palmer. Yeah, since a few minutes, why?"
"Your Dad mentioned that you might be hungry when you wake up so I got you this:" Palmer handed him a take-out bag.
"It smells good in here." Spotting the bag with take out in Tony's hand Dan quickly advanced on him. "Any fries in that bag are automatically mine."
"That might have worked when I was younger Dan, but not anymore."
"Spoil sport." Dan ruffled his hair before turning towards Ducky: "Anything at all indicating our guess?"
"I looked over everything I could find and this is the best profile I can give you. The easy answer to your question though is no." Ducky answered as he motioned towards the stack of papers spread out on the autopsy table next to Tony's.
"Hey Tony…"
"Closing eyes and ears now." Tony sighed exasperated as he turned his back towards them and stuck his fingers in his ears. It wasn't the first time he'd been asked to do that and after years of similar situations he knew Dan would try his hardest to keep the conversation as short as possible.
"Okay Bud all done." Dan had placed his hand on Tony's shoulder to catch his attention. "And these…"
"Are still not yours." Tony slowly withdrew everything from the take out bag, ending with the fries Dan had smelled. As soon as they were out in the open Dan quickly grabbed a few and put them in his mouth.
"Uhmm, good."
"All these years of working with my Dad and you still don't have any manners."
"Hate to break it to you Kid, but I had manners before I started to work with your Dad and Grandpa. They are the reason I don't have any anymore."
"Dare you to tell Dad that."
"Oooh that I want to see." Jimmy Palmer instantly got excited.
"I'm sure you children have better things to do than mess with Jethro." Ducky chastised.
"Not really. But I should head up anyway before the Boss gets back."
"Why aren't you in the field?"
"We needed a female there and Louis needed the experience so it wasn't really up for debate."
"So you obviously volunteered to stay behind." Tony stated knowingly.
"In a few more words."
"I could guess." Tony knew full well Dan's intentions.
"And Liz is helping out in the lab, so I am all alone."
"You just want more fries."
"Believe what you want but your Dad isn't here and his desk is free…"
"Ducky?"
"Whatever you want Anthony." Ducky said soothingly knowing Tony loved sitting at his Dad's desk
"Thanks Duck" Tony quickly gave the older man a hug before grabbing his pen and pencil and racing after Dan who had started for the elevators.
-The Other Tony-
"Something on your mind?"
"Can we do this again? You know I love Tim, but it's good to have you just to myself at times too."
"That's good to hear kiddo. And yeah, we can, but I think your brother wants a turn first."
"He'd be fine with a museum trip though."
"Yeah, and you'd despise it I hear."
"As long as it isn't about sports, yeah."
"I could somehow guess."
"How do I make things right with Tim?"
"You've figured it out before, I'm sure your mind has some sort of idea already forming."
"Kind of, but I'm not sure it will work."
"The only thing your brother wants right now is to see with his own eyes that you are okay."
"Still, I want to do something nice for him."
"Be there for him, spend time with him. Talk to him Tony."
"You make it sound easy."
"It doesn't have to be hard."
"Is Uncle Steve mad?" Tony asked nestling into his Dad more.
"You can ask him yourself tomorrow."
"Da-ad."
"Anthony."
"Fine."
"It will be fine Tony, he isn't thinking any less of you. At the end of the day you are a teenager Tony, you make mistakes and that's normal. You and Steve will talk about it and then move on. He isn't going anywhere for a long while and that's why he is taking this hard, he wants to be there for you and Tim."
"And because of me he feels like he has failed." Tony stated bitterly
"Because of you he knows exactly what it will take, and he's prepared to do anything and everything to make sure you know you can talk to him about anything."
"Thanks for always being here Dad."
"Thanks for being my son."
"I can't help that Dad."
"Well I can't help loving you endlessly and unconditionally."
"Neither can I."
"Are we good Buddy?"
"Yeah. We are good."
-The Other Tony-
"Keeping eyes on Dan for me Bud?"
"Thinking about hiring him." Leon Vance called from the balcony. "He does the job better than anybody I've seen."
"Oh yeah?! Kicking me out Leon?!"
"Yeah, you and your team take the night off, the case can wait."
"Really?!"
"Really Tony." Director Vance answered with a smile. "You and your dad go home and spend some quality time with Tim."
"Grab your gear son, we're heading home." As soon as Tony was next to him, Jethro draped an arm around his shoulders.
"See you guys tomorrow."
"Bye!"
"Bye Boss, bye Tony!"
"Bye Louis!" Tony called out as the elevator door started closing, The rest of the team had already entered, but Louis was struggling with getting off his chair causing Tony to give Dan a knowing gaze. Dan winked at him and shouted:
"Hey Louis! Right hand desk drawer." Tony never got to see Louis response, but taking one look around the elevator he realized that both Willa and Liz had been in on it too.
"Nothing permanent Dan, right?!"
"Of course not, Boss. The kid will be free in like ten seconds."
"Good." With that Gibbs gave him a headslap and Tony started laughing at Dan's dumbfounded face. Not long after all the others started laughing as well and once the elevator doors dinged open in the garage, they continued laughing all the way to their cars.
A/N: I had no idea that I actually had this much written on it but that just makes it better. I didn't have any idea either that my brother's computer charger works on mine (he doesn't live at home though) so during Christmas I'll try to update a little more. I'm sorry for the kind of abrupt ending, but I had no memory of half this story so I figured I was best to trust my earlier writings and not change anything up. Hope you like it!