"Who does he look like?"
"Who?"
"Tony's father!"
" I haven't seen him."
Gibbs could understand Abby's curiosity. And for once he wasn't avoiding her questions just because he wanted to focus on the case. He actually had no idea what Tony's father looked like, or whether father and son shared the same sense of humour. Oh, he'd been curious enough over the years, but he had never gone digging beyond the regulation enquires required for DiNozzo's initial background check. He remembered the first time the issue had come up, mere months into Tony's tenure at NCIS.
"Honestly, Jethro," Mallard had complained. "If you are so concerned that Agent DiNozzo's father is a less than stellar example of parenthood, why don't you find out for yourself?"
"Can't do that, Duck."
"You have the resources of an entire Federal Agency, not to mention one or two unofficial channels of your own. I am sure you could call in a favour or two, Agent Fornell, perhaps?"
"After what happened with Diane? I doubt he'll ever speak to me again." Gibbs shook his head. "Besides, I'm not going to Fornell over this."
"Then perhaps one of your colleagues from "Black Ops," Ducky suggested. "I'm sure they have their ways and means."
"I'm not looking to off the guy, Duck."
"You know, if you investigated you might find that your fears are unfounded," Ducky pressed. "Whilst it is true that Agent DiNozzo has an excessive need for admiration, that is not in itself evidence of parental neglect. Then we could perhaps all rest a little easier. And if not then surely the man deserves everything he has coming to him. You are usually the first to want to see justice done."
"You think that's what's best forDiNozzo?" Gibbs demanded.
"In matters of his own health and well being I am beginning to realise that Tony doesn't know what's best for him," Ducky pointed out. "Frankly, given your obvious fondness for the boy. I'm amazed you can show such restraint."
Gibbs hadn't given an answer back then. The subsequent revelation of the murder of his first wife and daughter had become a partial explanation. Confidences were something to be shared over time, not profiled in some Agency dossier. If he expected Tony to respect the memories he chose not to share then he had to do the same. His estrangement from his own father had been another clue. Gibbs had felt like he was the last person to judge how things should stand between a father and a son. And then there was the fledgling, gossamer silk thread of trust between him and DiNozzo, which had been gradually weaving into a band of steel.
Poking his nose into DiNozzo's business like that would have blown that trust sky high.
Still might.
Just thinking about that stiffened Gibbs resolve to keep his focus firmly on the case. Those boundaries had softened over the years. He could be kinda proud that DiNozzo had hacked into his NCIS file to find out small titbits like the name of his hometown. Tony tolerated Gibbs complete disregard of his privacy when his health was at risk with good-natured teasing. But the big things, Shannon, Kelly, Tony's mother, Gibbs father, Tony's father. Those things remained a matter of disclosure rather than discovery. Each man exchanging moments and fragments they felt comfortable sharing, but both respecting each other's discomfort at opening old wounds.
By the time the team lead relayed the information from MTAC to his Agents on the ground at the Adams House Hotel, about a possible Jihad al Hariri operative in the guest business centre Gibbs was pretty much resigned to the fact that he was only going to meet DiNozzo Snr on Tony's terms. Which could well mean not at all. Flipping his phone open to see Ziva's caller ID he was not prepared for what followed.
"Gibbs, Tony and I have apprehended the individual who was writing the suspect e-mail."
"Yeah, so? What are you waiting for Special Agent David?, Bring 'em in."
"We are making our way to the car as we speak. But Gibbs, there is something you should know."
"They try resisting arrest?" Gibbs hazarded.
"Um," Ziva hedged. "We have not exactly arrested him. He has promised to come quietly and he assures us of his full co-operation."
"Let me get this straight," Gibbs moved away from Vance and the others so that he could not be overheard. "You and your partner have just apprehended a key suspect in an assassination attempt on a foreign national and a member of their royal family to boot and you decided not to slap the cuffs on him because he promised to behave himself? What the hell were you thinking?"
"Gibbs the man we apprehended is Anthony DiNozzo Snr Tony's father."
"What?" Gibbs couldn't believe his ears, of all the dumb luck. He'd thought catching a disease from the dark ages or being accused of murder three times was about as bad as things could get for his senior field Agent. Seems he had been wrong about that. Belatedly, he realised that Ziva would be expecting some sort of command decision from him. "Alright, have Tony bring him in. You may as well stay on the Prince for now. I'll have someone relieve you later."
"On it, Gibbs."
Closing his phone with a sigh Gibbs personally took care of collating all the evidence that had about the suspect e-mail and making enquires with the Adams House Hotel and the train station to try and verify DiNozzo Snr's purpose in DC. The news that the man had taken a cab straight from the train station to the Navy Yard where Prince Sayif was being held under protection was unwelcome but just might be explained by a strong desire to see his son after such a long absence. The revelation that DiNozzo Snr had only tried to check into the Adams House Hotel after he left the Navy Yard was too much of a damned co-incidence. And Leroy Jethro Gibbs didn't believe in co-incidences.
"Damn it, DiNozzo." He growled.
Part of him sympathised. Back in Stillwater he had felt like a damned teenager every time his Dad has so much as glanced in his direction. But Tony was also an experienced Federal Agent who should have known better than to spill the details of an ongoing investigation. If Vance found out the senior field Agent could be in line for some serious disciplinary action. Lifting the receiver to make another call on his desk phone, Gibbs stilled and then replaced it as the intended recipient of his call emerged from the elevator.
"Given recent developments, I have taken the liberty of expediting my investigations into Tony's father's well being. According, to his latest physical, Tony's father is in as good health as a man of his years, who drank rather heavily at once time, can reasonably expect to be." At Gibbs enquiring look, Mallard shrugged unapologetically. "Abby told me Tony was brining his father in for questioning. I don't think there is anything that occurs in this building that girl doesn't know about."
"So, he's not sick," Gibbs pushed back in his chair and eyed the ME. If Tony's father wasn't here because of some illness then he had to have another reason for being in DC. "Wish that sounded like better news, Duck."
"You aren't seriously thinking that Tony's father is involved in the assassination attempt, are you?" Mallard worried.
"Right now, I don't know what I'm thinking," Gibbs admitted. "Except that, I'm gonna tear a strip off DiNozzo for being a damned idiot."