Tony sat alone in the interrogation room. He waited for Fornell to come back and take him to jail. He doesn't really want to go to jail, I mean seriously who does. But there is no other option. He doesn't ever want anyone to know why he paid that guy 50,000 dollars. If anyone ever found out, his life would be over anyway.

Tony hadn't slowed down since he received the text and email. Now alone in interrogation with nothing but his thoughts, he was starting to lose it. He backed up to the wall and slid down to the ground pulling his legs up to his body.


"Tobias, please. Let it go. Don't arrest him." Gibbs begged.

"Gibbs. This is our chance to get Marcus Malcolm. Blackmail isn't much; unless you consider who he is blackmailing."

"This isn't about blackmailing Tony over some graffiti in high school, or driving drunk in college. It even isn't about accepting a bribe at any of the 3 precincts he worked for in the past. Marcus Malcolm blackmailed Tony with photos of child abuse. I can't even begin to imagine how he is feeling. In the end it is not Marcus who will be paying the ultimate price, it is Tony." Gibbs answered.

"I agree. All I really want to do is go get Emily from Diane and give her the world's biggest hug. How could somebody do that to a child or worse take pictures of it to be used against him at a later date. I won't arrest Tony; he doesn't deserve any of what has happened to him. I won't pursue Tony giving into the blackmail."


Ron Sacks walked into NCIS ready to bring DiNozzo back to the FBI building for questioning. He never liked Tony in the first place; ever since they first met when Tony was being accused of murder. While NCIS did manage to prove that DiNozzo was framed. They got off on the wrong foot and everything went downhill from there.

"Is DiNozzo ready to go? Where is he?" Ron asked Tobias.

"We are not bringing him in." Tobias answered.

"Why not? He met with Marcus Malcolm, paid him 50,000 dollars. Malcolm is on the FBI watch list."

"I am the lead agent on this case and I decided that we are not going to pursue DiNozzo in this case. You will just have to go back and find something else on Malcolm that doesn't involve DiNozzo." Fornell ordered.

Ron stormed off.

"Thank You." Gibbs said to Fornell after Ron left.


Gibbs walked into the interrogation room and saw Tony silently crying on the floor; with his back to the wall. Tony heard Gibbs walked in and immediately stopped crying and stood up.

"Fornell is ready to take me to jail?" Tony asked quietly.

"No, he decided not to arrest you." Gibbs answered.

"Why? I said I would plead guilty. This will be his easiest case."

"NO! DiNozzo don't give up so easily. Why are you so willing to throw your life and career away for the likes of Marcus Malcolm?" Gibbs growled.

Tony took a step back from Gibbs, he seemed really angry and right now that type of anger is making him afraid. Gibbs saw the wide eyed terror in Tony's eyes and toned it down a bit. The last thing he wanted was to make Tony afraid of him.

"Fornell is dropping the charges. You are free to go." Gibbs said in a calm voice.

Tony nodded looking down. He has no place to go and staying at headquarters is now out of the question. He will be lucky if he still has a job at the end of the day.

"Tony, you are going to be staying with me until you are back on your feet." Gibbs told him placing one hand on Tony's shoulder and the other one under his chin forcing him to look up.

"Boss, you don't have to. You shouldn't waste your time with me anymore."

"Tony, you are not a waste of my time. You have been the best thing to happen to me since I lost Shannon and Kelly. You are a son to me and I will never turn my back on you." Gibbs replied he could see Tony was having a hard time believing him. After seeing those pictures, he couldn't even imagine the type of pain that haunts his agent. He knew he had to tell Tony that he saw those pictures. "Tony, I saw the pictures."

Tony's face paled but he tried to hide it. "What pictures?"

"The reason you paid Marcus Malcolm 50,000 dollars. Where did you get that type of money anyway?"

Tony pulled away from Gibbs and stared out the window into the observation room. He couldn't believe that the man he admired the most saw the reminders of how horrible his childhood was. All his life he tried to forget; now that he knows that those pictures exist, he will never be able to forget.


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