Tony paled as he stared at father in shock. "W-what are you…I-I mean..."
DiNozzo SR. stared at his son and shook his head in, "Stop stuttering boy."
Tony's mouth snapped shut. He turned silently back to the window and handed the girl the five dollars he'd gotten from his own wallet.
"Thank you," Tony smiled at the girl, trying to hide his nervousness.
He took a few steps but was stopped by a hand on his arm.
"I'm talking to you son," DiNozzo SR's voice was calm…too calm.
"I'm not your son," Tony replied, suddenly feeling stronger at the thought of Gibbs.
DiNozzo SR's hold got tighter and Tony had to hold a wince. "I taught you better manners then that son."
Tony didn't reply. He tried to get his arm away from the man holding it but the hold was too strong. For the first time since his before his father had disowned him, Tony was scared. He called upon all his under cover work to hide it.
"Let go before I charge you with assaulting a federal agent," Tony looked into his father's eyes.
"Of course," Senior let go and smiled disarmingly. "How's your father treating you?"
"My dad is treating me better then you ever did," Tony answered.
"I'm sure he's making you think so." Senior agreed.
Tony's eyebrow's furrowed, "What does that mean?"
"Don't worry son," the older man spoke softly, "I'll make everything right again."
"You better not try anything, you bastard," Tony spoke through clenched teeth.
Before Senior could react Abby was at Tony's side, "You ok Tony?"
Abby looked between the two men. She could tell something was off from her seat and had rushed to be by her friend's side.
"Everything's fine," Tony replied, his eyes flashing as he looked at Abby and handed her, her ice cream.
Abby nodded, saying nothing just as Tony's eyes had told her. Another look had her dialing on the phone she was holding behind her back.
Senior watched the exchange without saying a word. When Tony still kept silent he finally spoke, "Aren't you going to introduce me Anthony?"
Tony stepped in front of Abby. "It's none of your business."
"I only want to meet your friend," Senior's voice held sincerity that Tony didn't trust. "Why don't we all sit down and talk."
"We were just leaving." With that statement Tony grabbed Abby's arm with his free hand and dragged her towards the basketball courts.
"Where are we going?" Abby asked, rushing to keep up.
"Where's there's more people," Tony answered. "He won't make a scene."
"Who? Tony, you're scaring me," Abby admitted. She regretted it when she saw the look of passing Tony's eyes, "Just tell me what's going on Tony."
"Did you call Gibbs?" Tony ignored the female's plea.
Abby silently handed him the phone. On the other end Gibbs was holding his phone as tight to his ear as possible with one hand and driving with the other. He heard Tony's question, "Tony?"
"I'm here dad," Tony replied, looking around the park after motioning for Abby to eat her ice cream cone, his own ice cream had been dropped when he started to rush Abby away from the man who had showed up too suddenly.
"What's going on?" Gibbs barked, fear over taking his tone.
"Just come pick us up," Tony replied still nervous, "We're at the basketball courts."
"I'm almost there son," Gibbs soothed.
As they waited Tony noticed the men on the basketball court looking between him and Abby and the man who was still watching them. Instinctively Tony stood in front of Abby once again.
Tony was stunned when two men from each team suddenly got out of the game and made a wall between him and Senior. He nodded a silent thank you to the men.
Abby licked at her ice cream cone absent mindedly unsure what to think about the going on of the day.
OoOoOoOo
The normally twenty minute drive only took Gibbs eight minutes, a record for even him. He jumped out of his car, barely managing to put the vehicle in park, and rushed to the basketball courts where Tony and Abby were standing and waiting.
"Tony," Gibbs called spotting his son, "Abby. You guys alright?"
The two nodded but Gibbs wasn't reassured when Abby clung to him and he could tell that Tony was fighting to grab hold of him too. Gibbs eyes never left Tony's face as he watched Tony nervously tug at his hair.
"Tony," Gibbs voice was a gentle no one would believe. "What happened son?"
"I-I don't…I mean…" Tony looked down embarrassed by his stuttering, "Sorry."
"Its fine," Gibbs assured him. "Take a deep breath and tell me what happened?"
Gibbs had never seen Tony so spooked before and in truth it was starting to scare even him. He watched as Tony put up every one of his shields, trying to hide his every emotion. It was Abby who broke the tense silence.
"Tony, that man…was he…" Abby's voice trailed off as she finally made the connection. Her eyes went wide, "Oh my god Tony, was that your father?"
Tony stared at her for a moment before nodding his head. Gibbs felt his heart beat faster as he moved to embrace the younger man. "Did he hurt you?"
"No," Tony answered, "I got us out of there as fast as I could. They," Tony nodded to the men now standing around the basketball court, "helped me keep an eye out."
"Is he still here?" Gibbs spun around looking.
"No," Tony quickly replied. "He left a few minutes ago. Can we go home now; please dad?"
Gibbs nodded and started to usher the two to his car when one of the basketball players stepped forward.
"Gunny…" The man gave Gibbs a searching look.
"Colonial," Gibbs put out a hand. "Thanks for watching out for my boy." Gibbs turned to Tony. "This is Mr. Welling's dad."
Tony blinked, "Our attorney?"
"Yup," Gibbs laughed, tension releasing from him and his son. "You think I just hired a man at random?"
Tony rolled his eyes, "Should have known."
"I'll let my boy know you'll be calling," the man patted Tony on the shoulder. "You should be proud, you're boy handled the situation better then I would have."
"Always am," Gibbs smiled, a hand resting on the small of Tony's back.
Gibbs and the Colonial shook hands again before Gibbs ushered his son and Abby to his car.
OoOoOoOo
The trio took off to Gibbs place after stopping and letting Abby pack a bag from her place. Gibbs could tell Tony was uneasy about letting Abby alone after his encounter.
As they walked into the living room Abby and Tony found Ducky sitting on the couch waiting for them.
"Hey Ducky," Abby greeted the older man with a smile while Tony greeted him with a nod of his head.
"Abigail, Anthony," Ducky greeted back, "I hope everything is alright."
"Fine," Tony answered for them.
Ducky and Gibbs shared a looked that clearly said everything was not fine. Neither knew what to do so they let the lie side for the moment.
Instead Ducky's eyes narrowed, "Is that ice cream?"
TBC…
A/N: I wanted to end on a lighter note…I hope it worked!
A/N2: PLEASE REVIEW!! Please! It's real simple; just push the little button that says 'go'. That's it…you don't even have to log in! THANKS!