A/N: Woot. Another chapter to this little slice of pie. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Also a BIG thank you to my little sister who helped type a majority of this chapter even though she doesn't like NCIS (I know, I can hear all your gasps of horror and shock from where she is typing this right now). Now on this the story!
Chapter Four
"No," Benny said, standing in front of the door of the garage. He was dressed in his favorite outfit- his camouflage pants, his Superman cape, his rain boots and a mini OSU t-shirt- and had his arms spread open across the door, blocking Tony's path.
"Benny, I have to go to work," Tony said quietly. After almost being hospitalized the day after leaving the doctor's office, Benny had been referred to a child's psychiatrist to help treat and discover what was causing Benny's anxiety.
Tony had called Gibbs the next day and requested emergency leave for at least a week- or at least until they could get Benny settled.
That week leaved had turned into two and it was only when Benny had almost been given a feeding tube and had a major panic attack upon leaving the house that Benny's psychiatrist placed him on a low level of an anti-anxiety medication to help calm his nervous stomach and frequent and terrible nightmares.
Benny had been a zombie for the first week and a half that he was on the drug and he and Morgan were so distraught with the whole situation that Morgan had almost threatened to kill the psychiatrist and Tony had completely forgotten about work.
It had only been an enraged call from Vance that had gotten to realize he had been out of work for almost a month.
After explaining the situation to Director, Vance had ended the call with his encouragement and a reminder to not forget call in and request more time if he needed it.
Finally, after just over one month since this whole mess had started, Tony was going back to work.
"NO!" Benny stomped his feet in frustration, "No, no, no, no!" Benny started crying, his little legs already trembling as he tried to maintain his sentry over the garage door, "Please!"
"Benny," Tony went into a catcher's stance so he could be eye to eye with his nephew, "I got to stay home a lot lately while you were really sick. But I have to go to work now. Your Mom's going to be here all day Benny. AJ and April are at school and when they get home, they'll do their homework and by the time they're done, I promise I'll be home."
"No Uncle Tony, please!" Benny shook his head and grabbed onto Tony's pant leg, "Please stay here with me and Momma!"
Tony heart broke looking at the fear and devastation in his little nephew's eyes. Even now, neither Morgan nor Tony knew exactly what Benny was so worried about but Benny's psychiatrist said that a lot of times, anxiety like this wasn't just one major event- that it could stem from many smaller cumulative events.
"I have to go to work Benny," Tony drew him close and rubbed his back, "But what if you and Mom came and ate lunch with me at work?"
Benny shook his head and squeezed tighter, "No."
Tony sighed, trying to figure out a solution to the situation, "How about you and Morgan come with me right now? You can drive me to work."
"I don't wanna go outside Uncle Tony," Benny whispered, "The monsters are out there."
"We'll go through the garage and use the back alleys," Tony whispered back, "They'll never find us."
After a moment Benny nodded solemnly, "Let me go get my camie-jacket so I'm invisible."
Smiling, Tony set the little boy down and watched as he slowly made his way to Tony's room, where he had been sleeping for the past month instead of his own room. Tony missed the days were Benny would run through the house, playing imaginary games about war or superheroes. Even though the medication helped with Benny's anxiety-making it more manageable, some of Benny's spontaneity had left ever since this all had started.
"Let me go put on my shoes," Morgan smiled tiredly, having observed the whole conversation, "Gibbs won't mind if you're a little late?"
"No," Tony smiled, hugging Morgan briefly, hoping to transfer some strength to the worried mother, "He won't mind at all."
Morgan sighed, smoothed her hair before going up the stairs to her own room.
"Good morning Agent DiNozzo," Vance greeted, two Visitor badges in hand, "Are these your two guests?"
"Good morning Director," Tony said, thankful that Vance had agreed to this last minute visit on Tony's way to work, "This is," Not knowing how to introduce her exactly, Tony just went with her name, "Morgan Welsh and her youngest son, Benny."
"Nice to finally meet you Ms. Welsh," Vance shook Morgan's hand before bending down slightly, "And hello to you Benny. How old are you?"
Benny, who was currently hiding behind Tony's leg, held up a shaking hand, "Five," Benny whispered.
"Five?" Vance said, clearly impressed, "I have a son who's a couple years older than you. He likes those transformer toys. Do you like those toys?"
Benny shook his head, "I like Lincoln logs."
"Lincoln logs!" Vance smiled, "I use to play with those too!"
Benny gave Vance a small smile before disappearing behind the tree that was Tony's leg.
"Your team is just wrapping up a case, as I'm sure you know," Vance said handing Tony the visitors badges, "It's been a slow week."
Nodding his understanding, Tony took the badges, handing one to Morgan, "Thank you Director."
Giving his goodbyes, Vance nodded, "Nice meeting you Ms. Welsh. And you too Benny."
"And you too, Director Vance," Morgan smiled as the Director made his way back into the building.
"Come on Benny," Tony took the young boy's hand in his own before clipping the visitors badge on the camouflage jacket that Benny refused to take off if they had to leave the house, "You get to see where I work."
"And no bad guys right?" Benny looked up at his Uncle, "Is Bear here?"
Tony couldn't wait till Gibbs heard the nickname that Benny, and consequently all the children, had started calling him, "Yeah Benny, he's here too."
"Good," Benny held Tony's hand tighter before reaching for his mom's hand too, "Cause you promised I get to talk to him."
"Is this Benny the Superhero Tony's been telling me about?" Abby smiled, turning her music off and bending down, "You got to come with your Uncle today to work?"
Benny, who was now in Tony's arms, buried his face deep into his Uncle's neck, not responding to Abby's kind words.
Frowning slightly but not at all perturbed, Abby went and fetched Bert from her desk before walking back to Benny.
Squeezing the hippo expertly, Abby made sure Bert made the loudest fart noise possible.
Curious as to what made the farting noise, Benny lifted his head ever so slightly, his gaze flickering from Abby to Bert the hippo quickly.
"Did he fart?" Benny asked after a few silent moments.
Abby beamed, happy to get the little boy to talk to her. Tony had kept everyone on the team informed with Benny's progress and while it had killed each person on the team to not go and see how he was doing personally, they had all stayed away, knowing that they did not know Morgan and her family nowhere near enough for Benny to be comfortable around them.
"Yes," Abby answered, "He's a farting Hippo. They're a rare species. Not all Hippos can fart."
Adjusting himself in his Uncle's arms, Benny extended a hand forward, "Can I see him?"
"Sure!" Abby agreed, handing Bert the Hippo over to be admired by his new fan, "Just squeeze. He won't mind."
Benny took Bert in his hand and let go of his death grip on Tony's t-shirt to squeeze the hippo's belly.
When Bert performed wonderfully, Benny smiled before handing the hippo back to Abby.
"Can you hold on to him for me?" Abby asked, pushing the plush animal gently back into Benny's arms, "He likes to sneak off a lot," Abby whispered, covering Bert's ears so that he wouldn't overhear, "And I don't think I'll be able to watch him today. Think you can help me?"
Nodding confidently, Benny took Bert back in his arms, squeezing the hippo again.
Looking around for Benny's mother, Abby raised an eyebrow when she wasn't to be found.
"And Morgan?" Abby asked when the woman failed to magically appear.
"She's talking to April's principal," Tony sighed before letting out a small chuckle, "It seems she decided to punch a boy who kept trying to "steal her away" from her boyfriend."
"Whoo," Abby smiled, "I like April. I'll have to meet her too."
Smiling, Tony opened his mouth to respond to that comment when Morgan walked inside the lab.
"Hello Abby," Morgan gave Abby a kind, small smile, "Nice seeing you again."
"You too Morgan," Abby smiled but restrained herself from hugging Morgan. She had tried once while Tony was in the hospital and it hadn't worked out as well as she hoped, "Tony was just telling me about April's dilemmas."
"You could call them that," Morgan huffed, her weariness showing once again, "Tony, I'm afraid April's been suspended for the rest of this week. I'm going to have to go pick her up. I'm sorry Benny but-"
"No!" Benny yelled suddenly, as if sensing what his Momma was about to ask, "I'm not leaving without Uncle Tony!"
Morgan sighed tiredly. She just wished…
"Benny, we talked about this in the car remember? We were only going to walk around for a bit and then go back home. Uncle Tony has work he needs to do-"
"No," Benny shook his head, one hand clenched around Bert, the other fisted in Tony's shirt, "I wanna stay Momma!"
"Benny-" Morgan tried again but stopped when Benny started crying, burying his head in Tony's shirt.
"I don't w-wanna leave! Unc-Uncle Tony gonna stay with me!" Benny started hiccupping, making it a bit harder to understand his pleas, especially since his head was pressed up against his Uncle's chest.
"Go get April Morgan," Tony whispered quietly, rubbing Benny's back to get the boy to stop crying, "The team is out finishing a case. Even if they finish today, we probably won't be assigned a new one till tomorrow. He'll be fine with me here. Go get April and after you've talked with her principal, we can go out and grab some lunch."
"Are you sure Tony?" Morgan asked hesitantly, reaching up to rub Benny's back but pulling back sharply when the little boy shied away from her grasp.
"Positive," Tony smiled supportively, knowing that even though Benny didn't mean too, his previous actions had hurt Morgan, "We'll be okay."
"Alright," Morgan sighed tiredly. She's been doing that a lot lately.
"Let me walk you to the front," Tony said, waving goodbye to Abby, "And I'm make sure Benny takes good care of Bert!"
"Not a problem," Abby waved back, wiping the fear tears in her eyes. Seeing Benny so scared to leave Tony made her incredibly sad. What was the poor boy afraid of?
"Just wait till I tell Tony!" Ziva smiled triumphantly, "He is about to become 10 dollars richer."
"Again," Tim grumbled as they left the elevator. Even when Tony wasn't in the office he still managed to swindle money out of McGee, "I can't believe I made that stupid bet with him."
"It was the wife?" Tony chimed in when his teammates entered the bullpen.
"Tony!" Ziva and McGee said happily, seeing their Senior Field Agent in his rightful spot behind his desk, "You're back!"
"In the flesh," Tony smirked, "Now cough it over McGee. I heard what you two said just now."
"Can I give you an IOU?" McGee asked, "I left my wallet at home this morning."
"Compound interest McGee, for every hour that your debt remains unpaid," Tony smiled, "And McGee, Ziva, I believe you both have met my nephew, Benny."
Ziva and McGee nodded, finally taking notice of the small boy sitting on the office chair besides Tony. Benny looked up when Tony tapped his shoulders and gave each Agent a small shy smile before looking back down at Tony's iPod.
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," Tony said, indicating to the iPod Benny was looking at.
"Excuse me?" McGee asked, laughing.
"He's watching," Tony pointed to the iPod and raising an eyebrow at his partners apparent lack of little kid movies, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs."
"And is this some cooking and weather show geared towards children?" Ziva asked, perplexed with the name.
"No," Tony chuckled, "I don't even think they have those."
"Have what DiNozzo?" Gibbs strode in, "And good to see you back, though I see you've brought along a visitor."
Tony smiled, eliciting a similar smile from his Boss. Taking the earphones out of Benny's ears, Tony picked Benny up and placed him on the other side of the desk, "Benny, look who's here."
Looking around expectantly for a second, Benny's eyes landed on Gibbs and he let out a dazzling smile, "BEAR!"
"Huh?" Gibbs asked a moment before Benny propelled himself into the older man's legs.
"You've been given a nickname," Tony smiled ruefully, hoping Gibbs wouldn't mind.
"Really now?" Gibbs spoke softly, bending down to be eye to eye with the young boy, "Am I a bear?"
Benny smiled and nodded, "It's cause you sound like a polar bear but Uncle Tony says that you really are big teddy bear."
"Uncle Tony said that?" Gibbs looked up at DiNozzo to see that same smile that had gotten him hired on his second's face.
Benny nodded in answer but looked behind him, as if wanting confirmation from his Uncle to ask the next question.
Knowing what Benny had been waiting to ask his Boss all day, Tony nodded and smiled encouragingly.
"Um, Bear?" Benny asked quietly a few seconds, "Can I ask you somethin'? It's really serious."
Gibbs glanced up at Tony to see if he would give him a quick idea of what Benny was about to ask.
Unable to make out anything in the Agent's eyes, Gibbs turned back to Benny, "I'm listening."
Benny sighed, his hands fiddling with his Superman cape and his visitor's badge. He looked back one more time at his Uncle before continuing with his question, "You, um, you're the Boss, right?"
"I am."
"So you um," Benny shifted his footing, his rain boots squeaking as he did, "You're with Uncle Tony a lot right?"
"Yep."
"So that means," Benny smoothed his hair, a nervous habit Gibbs' recognized as Tony's, "That means you watch his six right?"
"I do," Gibbs smiled, making sure to keep his voice calm and reassuring. If the updates from Tony were anything to go by, Benny was still having a hard time and Gibbs knew Tony would skin him alive (and Tony would find a way) if he scared the little boy, "That's part of my job."
"So that means," Benny said, quirking an eyebrow, "Um, I mean…Uncle Tony said that means that you take care of him, right?"
"I watch out for him, like he does for you," Gibbs nodded.
"All the time?"
"Yes."
"Thank you," sighing in relief, Benny gave Gibbs a quick hug before hurrying back towards his Uncle and whispering something into Tony's ear.
The team watched as Tony had a quiet conversation with his nephew, his eyes slowly getting wet.
"That's great Benny," Tony finally said loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Yeah," Benny nodded, "Can I watch the movie now please?"
"Um, yeah," Tony agreed, a frog in his throat, "Just, um, let me get it ready for you."
"That's okay Uncle Tony," Benny said, patting Tony carefully on the cheek, "AJ taught me how to do it cause he said you have problems with technology."
Letting out a sharp laugh, Tony hugged Benny fiercely before setting him back on the extra chair and handing him the iPod.
Suddenly incredibly happy, Tony smiled to the rest of his team, "What?" he said, a twinkle in his eye.
Not understanding what happen just now, the rest of the team just shrugged and smiled before going back to work.
"So you must be the infamous April," Abby smiled at the young girl standing by her mom's leg.
Morgan had gone and picked up April, making it back to the Navy Yard a bit too early for lunch. Since they had yet to receive a case from dispatch, Tony offered to show his niece around, not wanting her to feel left out.
Their first stop had been Abby's lab, since the forensic scientist had yet to meet her.
"Mom," April looked up at her mom, whispering loudly, "Why did you tell her my name was Infamous April?"
Laughing at her daughter's seriousness, Morgan shook her head, "She's not calling you that. She's just said that because she's heard a lot of things about you."
Looking at Abby and smiling slightly, April put on her best innocent face, "Everything you heard about me is gossip, unless it's a good thing."
Rolling her eyes at her daughter's very "political" answer, Morgan smiled at Abby, "Well, go introduce yourself."
"But Momma, she already knows my name," April said indignantly.
"But do you know hers?" Morgan raised an eyebrow in warning.
Shaking her head, "Sorry Momma." April trudged forward, extending her hand, "My name's April Mayberry. Momma says I was named after her Mom but I think she just uses that excuse cause she doesn't like telling people she named me after the calendar. But I tell people it could be worse. I could have been named Cassiopeia or something like that."
"Nice to meet you April Mayberry," Abby shook the girl's hand, "My name is Abby."
"You're Abby?" April suddenly said, excited, "Uncle Tony's told me lots of story's about you!"
"Is that a good thing?" Abby asked.
"Oh yeah," April nodded, before turning to Morgan, "Momma, can you give us some privacy? I have some questions I need to ask Abby."
Smiling sweetly, April continued, "Please?"
"Hey," Tony popped in quickly, "Everyone's coming to lunch. Is that alright Morgan?"
"That's fine," Morgan smiled, putting a stray stand of hair behind her hair, "Come on April."
"Awh," April sighed, devastated, "Abby, can you come with us, please?"
"I would be honored," Abby didn't think she needed to mention to April that she had already planned on coming, "As long as you sit by me."
"Yes!" April agreed, grabbing Abby's hand, "Momma, I should get suspended more often!"
"I don't think so," Morgan followed her wayward daughter out of the lab. Turning to Tony suddenly, Morgan looked for his ever present shadow, "Benny?" Morgan asked worriedly.
"He's with Gibbs," Tony answered, squeezing Morgan's hand to calm the anxious mother, "He's alright."
Morgan nodded, before tears sprung to her eyes.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Tony waved to Abby, who had glanced back when she heard Morgan's sob. Knowing that Tony would take care of Morgan, Abby quickly herded April into the elevator, nodded and agreeing to whatever the girl was going on about.
"It's just," Morgan let out another sob before burying her face into Tony's chest.
"Hey, Benny's alright, I promise," Tony hugged her and held her close, not totally understanding why Morgan had suddenly broken down, "Are you okay?"
Nodded again, Morgan stayed buried in Tony's broad chest before lifting her head and wiping her eyes, thankful that she had used water-proof mascara this morning, "It's just,-I'm just so relieved that Benny's not with you-I mean, that he, that he was okay with letting you come down here."
"Oh," Tony said, understanding dawning on him, "Little guy hasn't left my side in awhile huh?"
"No," Morgan shook her head, reaching into her purse and pulling out a Kleenex, "I've gone a bit crazy, haven't I?"
Nodding, Tony hugged Morgan once more before shrugging, "I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are."
Smiling at the movie line, Morgan let out a small laugh, "You know, I think you and Benny have an unhealthy obsession with that movie."
"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe," Tony smiled cheekily, expertly avoiding that smack that Morgan had aimed for his shoulder as they made their way up the stairs, "All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe."
"I can't believe you went home and memorized that poem," Morgan chuckled before following Tony out of the stairwell.
Walking and seeing his partner in crime, Tony yelled out the next part of the poem, knowing Benny would do the same,
"Beware the Jabberwock my son! The jaws that bite the claws that catch!" Tony said, causing his team to turn and for Benny to lift his head from behind Gibbs' desk and smile, "Beware the Jubjub bird and shun, the frumious Bandersnatch!"
Knowing that Benny knew only his one part of the poem by heart, Tony silently mouthed the next words along with his nephew.
"One two, one two! And through and through, the vorpal blade went snicker-snack!" Benny said, not stumbling over any of the words. This was his favorite part of the whole story because the little boy defeated the monster that was hiding in the forest, "He left it dead and with its head, He went galumphing back!"
Tony continued, nearing the end of the poem. Catch Gibbs eye, Tony lifted his own eyes in merriment and let the corner of his lips raise in a smile, "And hast though slain the Jabberwock?"
Benny nodded and squeezed past Gibbs, setting Bert on Gibbs desk. He loved this next part.
"Come to my arms, my beamish boy," Tony said and Benny took off, running as fast as his rain boot covered feet could carry him, "Oh frajous day!"
"Callooh! Callay!" Benny said as Tony caught him and swung him in the air before hugging him. Tony smiled and sent Benny on his feet.
"He chortled in his joy." Tony finished.
"Mom," April said, breaking the moment, "Boys are so weird."
The whole team started laughing at that and made their way out of the bullpen to go eat lunch.
Wishing AJ was here too, Tony held Benny's smaller hand in his own, squeezing it as they followed the group.
"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe…"
A/N2: Can you guess the movie? Lol. Anyway, one can only do so much when you are resting and "recovering" –rolls eyes- and so I am channeling my inner DiNozzo and watching TONS of movies. This chapter was un-beta-ed and was posted at an ungodly hour of the night so you guys could read it soon. Hopefully when I'm not taknig pain medications and stupid muscle relaxers, I will look over it again (although my sister did say it made sense...)
Next chapter should be up soon, probably after I go in for my X-Ray for my elbow Tuesday…hopefully. As always, reviews are very much appreciated. And for those waiting, as soon as this story is over, the next story in the Rhapsody series should be up (pending the removal of my elbow brace).
Thanks for reading!