Colors of the winddd

"Tony, it's your sister's first night home from college. Don't you want to go out to dinner with us?" Jenny asked with pleading eyes.

"Mom, I am going to be home for nearly a month. I will take this as an early Christmas present…" Kate smiled with sarcasm as she walked into the kitchen. "An extra meal away from Tony The Human Garbage Disposal!"

"Sounds good to me," Tim piped up jokingly.

"Ohh aren't you two funny," Tony said unenthusiastically as he put his winter coat on. "As I was saying Mom, before a certain foghorn took over," he looked pointedly at Kate, earning a snuff. "I don't have a choice. Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson said I was the last on their list-"

"Go figure," Kate interjected with an amused smile. Tony shot her a look, his green eyes almost amused.

He continued talking anyways,"-last on their list and it was an emergency. Their daughter went into labor or something."

"Cara did? Oh wow, we will have to get her a card while we are out!" Jenny smiled and stood up.

"So they are letting you house sit for the night? A Friday night I might add… are you sure the emergency wasn't a debilitating illness suddenly onset?" Kate pushed her brother's head forward as she passed behind him.

"Tony's not coming out to dinner?" Abby asked sounding heartbroken as she made a pouty face at her handsome brother across the room.

"Yeah, is he sick, or dying?" Tim added back to the conversation with a smile, knowing that Tony wouldn't ever willingly skip out on a meal.

"He's housesitting," Jenny

"Are they sick or dying?" Jethro joked as he met with the congregation in the large kitchen.

"I live in a house full of comedians," Tony deadpanned. "I will miss you guys too!" He zipped his coat up.

Tony was a junior in high school and at 17 he had gotten into his fair share of trouble, but in the end his parents knew he was a trustworthy kid when things came down to it. Usually. They would be the first to admit that sometimes Tony needed a little direction.

"Hey its cold out there, you gonna drive or walk it?" Jethro asked, the Jeffersons only lived two blocks away or so.

"Drive," was the answer.

"Alright," Jethro grabbed a hat from the hall table, the hat he knew was his favorite and roughly jammed it on Tony's sporadic tufts of hair, earning a smirk from the squirming kid. He let his hands linger on son's shoulders. "Tony, don't mess this one up. Be smart.." Jethro locked eyes.

"You guys act like I ruin everything I touch, I swear…" He smiled and shook his head. "I can manage one night, I think."

"We'll miss you at dinner Toh-neee," Abby said caringly. She wanted, and knew that deep down everyone else had wanted – Tony included—to have the whole family present at the restaurant for the first time in a long time.

"Im so sure," Tony began to exit the kitchen and headed towards the front door. "See ya guys later," he threw his packed gym bag around his shoulder.

"Bye Tony, see you in the morning." Jenny said calmly with a smile, happy that her family was reunited at last. She missed this, the banter, the jokes, the laughs.

"Yep," Tony turned as he was headed out the door.

Something wasn't sitting right in Jethro's gut, and then he remembered he'd almost forgotten to say it. "Love ya, Tony."

"Love you too, Dad." He smirked and left the house with a slam of the front door, the Christmas bells Jenny had decorated the door with clanging loud with a lingering effect.

"Okay," he clapped his hands and turned back to the rest of his family. "Who's ready for some dinner?"

"Meeee".

Tony had gotten situated in the Jefferson's house fairly quickly, and made himself right at home. The only problem was their house, which seemed in good order and taste, had the most sour smell to it. The Jefferson's had been cooking a stew before they had left in a hurry apparently, and whatever old Mrs. J was cooking- in combination with something that reeked of bad eggs, trash, a scent of what may have been their lingering body odors, and the fact that their Golden Retriever Rocky had apparently been sickened with diarrhea and vomiting in the hour the house was left unattended—really had him thankful for the stuffy nose which he had been previously cursing all week.

A good half hour later, Tony had Rocky's "accidents" all covered in baking soda. He had his feet up on the coffee table as he finished his six piece of Sausage Extra Cheese delivery pizza, his eyes locked on the TV that was playing the first of what was certainly to become many James Bond movies from Mr. Jefferson's fine movie collection, and he was texting his girl Lacey who he's been going out with since this summer when he and Kelly called it quits.

In the middle of a text, the phone in his hand buzzed he saw it was his Dad calling, "Hello?"

"Hey, we are just getting to the table at Polizzi's," One of Tony's favorite Italian restaurants Jethro knew. "Did you want us to pick up some take out before we leave and drop some off to ya?"

"Aah mann!" Tony groaned dramatically. "My favorite! Ughh I just ate a pizza, that's okay. Thanks though.. . Im sure there will be plenty of leftovers I can steal from Kate." Tony smiled at the thought.

"You bonehead," Jethro responded with a smile. "Alright son, everything's going good?"

"Yeah so far… their house kind of smells though. Their dog took a big dump in the middle of almost every room in the house.. and threw up everywhere else." Tony sounded less than thrilled with his duties for tonight. "It's giving me a stinkin headache… I don't know what they fed the poor guy." Tony petted the dog curled up next to him on the sofa.

"Oh, ouch." Jethro sympathized. "No parties there tonight, or anything like that riiiight?" he thought he better say it.. you almost never know with his second born.

"Nah.. nothing. I'm almost finished with this Bond movie, then im gonna take a little cat nap in the upstairs guest room they left for me before I finish the rest of the BOND collection." He added the last part with a bit of enthusiasm.

"Sounds good to me. Good night, Tony." Jethro ended the call and returned his attention back to his family who was just getting started on ordering.

'Hey, Im just gonna catch a little nap for like 10-15 minutes before ya get here, kay?"

'Suuure, take your time cause I still have to get ready '

'Alright, I wanna be rested for when ya get here ;)'

'ha, your funny. Well have a nice nap and I will see ya soooon TonyBologna'

"Never mind, your not invited because you called me that… haha jk cya in a bit baybayy "

Tony got up and stretched, doing his best attempt at ignoring the headache from the constant aroma of shit assaulting his nostrils. Rocky jumped from his place on the couch, bolted to the front door, picked up a leash and began hopping and whining pathetically.

Tony always had a soft spot for dogs, and took a glance at his wristwatch and decided he could put off his nap and take the poor pooch for a ten minute walk around the neighborhood. Getting out of this smelly house at any excuse was fine with him, really.

He bundled up in his coat, and headed out the front door, cursing himself as he got halfway around the black when he realized his father was right about it being frigid out and he'd forgotten his favorite hat. Damn it.

Lacey got ready for about an hour after her last text with Tony, and finally took off for the short drive over to the Jefferson's house, hopefully making Tony wait a little bit in anticipation like she had hoped to do. She knew better than to make things predictable/easy for Tony Gibbs.

As she turned the corner to The Jefferson's street, her eyes were bombarded with the red sirens and flashes of what appeared to be an entire fire department. She had a bad feeling immediately.

Tony was A. prone for trouble and B. On this block. The overlap of A and B in a Tony Gibbs situation is 5:1. She didn't believe in coincidences… she's learned that from Tony. Oh god… what did he do this time.

She continued down the street and as she got closer, it seemed her suspicions became more and more confirmed that it was likely to involve Tony in some way. She could feel her heart starting to race as she parked as close as she could to the scene. She was at the opposite end of the block and she could see neighbors out in their front yards and in the street, staring in shock at the beautiful Jefferson house completely engulfed in flames. She felt like she was floating, like her body was being carried closer to the burning house without effort—like her legs had a mind of their own.

As she reached a fireman telling her to stay back, she saw Tony's family running from a screeching Charger and onto the front lawn of the damned house.

"Let's go drop off the leftovers to your bottomless pit of a son," Jenny smiled at her husband from the passenger seat as they turned down a main road by their neighborhood.

"Smells like smoke!" Tim observed first from the back seat. "Do you guys smell that?" his face turned in disgust.

The rest of the car began a round of intermittent sniffs and snorts and came to the conclusion it did indeed smell strongly of smoke. Not like a campfire smell. Like a dirty burn.. the smell if things like wood and metal and everything you can imagine burning. It smelled like a structure fire..

Jethro turned on the next street, the Jefferson's street, and felt his gut drop clean out of his system. He gunned it immediately…

"Oh my god… you don't think-" Kate sat forward in her seat and looked curiously at the firetrucks, and then from a good 500 yards aways yellow and orange was lapping up in the wind, spreading across the roof in rage, leaping out of all the windows. Black releasing exponentially into the dark winter night.

"Huuhh!" Abby recognized the burning house as the one her brother was supposed to be watching. "Tony!" Was all she could muster.

"oh my – Jethro, oh god." Jenny undid her seatbelt and anticipated the stop her husband screeched the tires to halt just beside a firetruck, and they all piled out.

"Sir you need stay back," A tall man stated calmly.

"Like hell, what happened? Where's my son?" Jethro pushed past the fireman and continued walking towards the house peaking around all the trucks, looking for Tony wherever he was. Jenny following the man in uniform chasing down her husband like a lost puppy.

The other three kids remained back by the rest of the gathered crowd, biting their nails and looking around for Tony. Kate was calling his cell phone on repeat and getting no response, making her even more nervous.

"Sir!" Jethro looked around, his eyes pleading with sadness at the man in front of him as he realized Tony wasn't anywhere.

"My son –" Jethro pointed to the house that was crackling and roaring a few meters away, that being all he was able to say.

"Sir, we had a search and rescue team scour the house as best as we could before the house became unsa-"

"Where is Tony?" Jenny pleaded, surely he got out. "Surely he made it out, right?"

The fireman was then accompanied by another fireman, the Chief, and the sheriff on scene as they picked up on what was happening.

"Ma'am we didn't find anyone when we went in," the fireman said his voice shaking low and waveringly. He hadn't been sure that anyone was in the home, and was relieved when they didn't find anyone on their attempt to make it through the whole house. It had been too fast, too strong, and too dangerous of a fire. He had tried .. damn it … not a kid in there… please..

"Are you sure your son was inside?" The Chief asked hoping for a no.

"I—I had just talked to him a little bit before I left and he said he—"Lacey ran frantically up to the group of nervous adults, and immediately began choking on her words as realization was dawning on her that Tony wasn't out here. "He was gonna lay down- and take a nap upstairs!" She cried.

Jethro was off like a freight train, and was halfway up the front walkway in a second when the heat became toxic, but he pressed on until he felt strong, gloved hands wrench him back from reaching the front porch.

No, he wasn't leaving here without his son. Tony was fine.. he was gonna go in and get him if no one else would. He's just sleeping, that's all. Tony is a deep sleeper, everyone knows that. He's just asleep up in the guest room. He had to go get his son.

"Stop! Stop it! Let me go! My son is in there!" He fought hard with the three firemen now struggling hard to keep the man from advancing towards the house.

"Sir you need to stay back! Please! It's not safe!"

"No, no I have to go get my son! Please! No, my son he needs help!" Jethro wrenched his pulled back arms, kicked his feet up, wriggled his body and yelled with everything he had. His son was in there.. his Tony. "I have to help my son!"

He managed to break free from the men who were desperately trying to control the devastated, yet nearly superhuman father. Why did things like this have to happen? The firemen fought their own emotions and failures as they battled the strong man barely in their grasps. They felt him break free, and just as he'd gotten a few steps forward, the entire front wall of the house caved in and exposed a blackened, charred and gutted ruins of what used to be a house; littered now only by small patches of flames.. the rest was gone. Everything … his son was included in those ashes. His boy.. Tony.

Jethro dropped to his knees right there on the lawn. "Tony!" The yell had to of sent a shockwave of anguish across the entire universe. It cut like a knife into the souls of all who heard it. The sounds of a man losing what he loved most in this world.. his child.

The firemen fell in place beside the broken woman who had collapsed in heap as well a few yards behind her husband, their kids covering their eyes and ears, looks of pure horror, shock so clearly evident on their faces that no one knew how to approach such a heart wrenching scene. It was as if no matter what they did or said now it was too late, it would never be right again. Their sobs and mantras of 'no' and disbelief beating the chests of every worker and spectator with each syllable like a hammer.

Tony had been walking for about four blocks when he was crossing the four way intersection that would eventually into the alleyway he needed to reach to get back to the Jefferson's. With Rocky in tow he started across the street, it was a four way stop so the approaching car that was coming would have to stop no matter.

He began the walk across the icy winter road, Rocky just a few steps in front of him, when he noticed the jeep's engine had the distinct sound of one which was still receiving gas. He turned his head to the right to see the Jeep careening towards the intersection. He stopped and began to pedal backwards, yanking on the leash to hurry up and get Rocky outta the way, but Rocky had other plans. His eyes set on a bird sitting on the other side of the crosswalk. The Jeep was fatly approaching, and he fought with Rocky to go backwards when he knew what he needed to do.. he let go of the leash to allow Rocky to get out of the path of the Jeep, but Rocky stopped and turned to see what the sound was of the approaching vehicle.

A deer in headlights…

Tony couldn't sit idly by, and the Jeep and suddenly hit his brakes… Tony took a giant stride forward, then another and made a dive for the dumbfounded golden retriever which he managed to roughly push out of the way and to the curb, before sliding there beside the dog, and watching in horror as the Jeep slid, wheels locked out, right past he and Rocky, and slammed with a loud bang into a car attempting to cross the other way.

Tony quickly made sure Rocky was okay, and tied his leash up to the stop sign, which hadn't been of much use to them before, but finally held a specific purpose now. Tony jogged over to the tboned cars and asked if they were okay. The driver of the jeep, a guy around his own age, but one he did not recognize, rolled down his window and said he was for the most part okay. The driver of buick and its passenger were probably around 80 years old at least, and it was taking them a little longer to convey their status.

He was gonna call 911… he reached for his phone out of his pocket and realized it wasn't there. He returned to where he had taken the dive-for-Rocky's-life .. and saw his precious cell as flat as a pancake, crushed into useless plastic in the snow, a jeep's tread mark visible all around it. What are the odds of that?

"Figures!" Tony was starting to believe what his family had been teasing him about earlier.

He ran over to the jeep to see if he could use that kids cell to call 911, and when he did, he realized the reason the jeep had failed to stop and rammed into the buick, nearly taking him and Rocky with it. The guys was in the middle of texting while driving … great. He disregarded that text, and called 911 and gave them all the info.

Just as he hung up he heard sirens.

"Damn, that's impressive.." Tony opened the backseat to the Buick and began telling the elderly and shaken couple what he had done and that the cops were on their way. The collision was far from high speed, and Tony didn't think that there were any serious injuries here. Just some driving miss daisies in the ole thinking department.

The sirens had grown louder and louder, signifying their approach, but had stopped in their increase in volume a few blocks away… and the same happened with more nad more approaching sirens. He knew his luck wasn't that good.

About fifteen minutes later and five more sets of sirens later, he realized that whatever was going on musta been pretty serious for that type of siren-age. He climbed back in the buick.

"Hey, so are you guys still feeling alright?" Tony asked.

"Yes, son thank you. I was just a bit shaken at first I apologize, I think I am fine except a splendid little bruise from the seat belt." The old woman turned her head and smiled at the boy for reassurance.

"Yeah, me too… Id get out and walk around to see but it seems pretty chilly out there.." The old man added.

"Your right there… could really use a nice warm fire to stoke up to right about now, eh?" Tony smiled as he rubbed his painfully numb fingers together.

"How- how did it happen?" Jenny's tearstained eyes looked questioningly at the Chief as he gave her a glass of water as she sat next to Jethro and her crying kids in their laps on the back of a fire engine, blankets wrapped around them.

"Fire Marshall just came out and confirmed; it was a gas leak. Was probably ignited by the tiniest of things.. the house it.. it went up in flames and come down pretty quick. The gas must have been leaking for a while, spread throughout the whole house—" He didn't know where he was taking that, so he stole a glance at the remains of the house.

"Oh god," Jethro buried his face in his hands. "Tony said the house smelled bad. But—he said the dog had gotten sick.. he didn't say gas. I—I should've known! I didn't come check I could've easily smelled it… tony has… he had a cold he.. Oh god damn it, tony." Jethro buried his face into Abby's shoulders as she cried along with him, and the everyone else.

"Did he suffer?" Kate piped up from her spot beside her mom, eyes full of sorrow and of hope, that his answer was no, and that this was all just a terrible dream. Why did he have to house sit? Why! Why didn't she volunteer to stay with him! He was all alone, they were all out to dinner together having a great time while he.. died. If only she woulda have done something anything… she would give anything right now just to give that cocky little, arrogant, son of gun, handsome, athletic, funny, smart kid a hug. Or tell him she loves him, and how much she misses him while she is away at school. How much she needs her brother here… and how he cant be gone. Tony just cant be… Kate would give anything to hug her brother right now.. smell his hair, rub her hands through it.. see his smile, hear his laugh. God damn it Tony…

"No, I don't think he would have suffered at all. The gas poisoning him is probably what did it for him, and he probably went in his sleep." The Chief tried to make that sound as comforting as it could. Better than death my melting/burning flesh and suffocating from smoke inhalation like he very well may have.

Kate thought hearing him say he didn't suffer would make the pain hurt less, but it did the exact opposite. She pictured her sweet little brother dozing off like he always does with his little catnaps and never having the chance to know what was happening or fight or ….

"I cant believe this, I can't—I shoulda came over sooner! I should have called him or had him pick me up or done something! Anything! I shoulda—" Lacey was spoke up from her spot on the ground where she rocked in despair and irrational guilt with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her eyes distant.

Kate could swear that her Dad's yell of pain of Tony's name was echoing constantly in her ears, the angst trapped within them, vowing never to leave when all she wanted to do was forget. Seeing her dad like that was soul moving, it cuts like a knife.

"I just can't believe it either," Jenny cried. "My baby boy, Tony." She leaned into Jethro's shoulder and let the pain consume her as she felt her husband's shoulders shake with sobs. Sadness and helplessness in the strongest man she had ever known.

"Dad? " Jethro snapped his head up so fast Tony swore it shoulda popped right off. "Mom?"

"Tony?" Jenny said questioningly as Jethro sat the unmoving Abby on the bumper and pushed the few gathered firemen who were looking back at the source of the voice as well, before pausing, tears in his eyes just in front of … Tony? He was alive and okay… Jethro was almost afraid he'd completely lost it. Tony looked exactly the same he had when he'd left the house.. but then Jethro remembered he didn't believe in ghosts.

He crashed into a stunned Tony, and squeezed him into the biggest hug Tony had ever gotten.

"Tony, your okay!" Tim ran forward and was followed by everyone else. As they all grabbed at their hair and rubbed at their eyes, looked at the firemen and at the scene of Jethro holding Tony to his chest and apparently never letting go. His hand rubbing the back of Tony's head, which is often the target for Jethro's wake up calls, but the popular hair was being used for a different purpose right now.

Jenny had her hands folded in front of her, her mouth was moving whispers of thankfulness and graciousness to whomever it was that had answered her prayers from a moment earlier.

"Dad?" Tony said in a scared tone, not really sure what he should be thinking or saying right now. Shouldn't he be getting in massive amounts of trouble for being the one responsible for the house when it met it's untimely and scorch-full death?

"Tony, we thought you were in the house … we thought—" Oh shit Tony realized, they thought I was a crispy critter, dead and gone, ashes to ashes, fried potatoes. Yikes…

"Oh man, I- I uh took Rocky for a walk," he threw his thumb over his shoulder at the Golden Retriever sitting with a fireman behind him. "And when were crossing the road this car didn't stop and almost ran us down, but banged into another car and 911 wouldn't let me leave, they—I was a witness and .. oh god. Im sorry…" Tony hugged his mom hard, and let her squeeze him and kiss his face and feel his hair, things he usually would complain about and shy away from.

"It doesn't matter, Im just … I thought you were—gone." Jenny cried again and hugged Jethro who was waiting with the same tears of joy and they rocked together while Kate launched herself at the little brother she loved to hate so much and hated to love so much.

"Tony, I'm so glad your okay," Kate cried into his chest and he soothed her back.

"Hey, im not that easy to get rid of, you guys gotta remember that.." Tony tried a small smile and it worked. Kate hugged him hard before she drew back. Tony wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks with his thumbs and looked her in the eyes. He felt bad making them all so upset..

"I love you, Tony," Kate hugged him again… she had never thought she'd be able to do it again just mere minutes ago… and now she didn't wanna let go. It felt so good to be there in his arms … how could she leave?

She realized how Tony had once again managed to get her all worked up, and pretty much catatonic, and she found the gal to release herself from the hug and slap him hard in the arm a few times.

"Don't ever do that again, Tony. I never wanna feel like that ever again Tony, you cant do that to us .." She began to cry again and Jenny pulled her into a hug and they swayed in comfort as they let the relief and emotions consume them because in the end it was all gonna be alright, they didn't have to live without Tony… because for a while there they weren't sure that they could.

"Tony..." Lacey ran up and jumped into Tony's arms. "You scared me so much!" She hugged and kissed him happily as she realized there was no reason to be sad anymore, she gotten the one thing she'd wanted back, and he was a-okay. She would let him spend this time with his family though, and she dismounted from his hips and made way for whoever was next in line, wiping her own tears of joy as she stepped back.

Abby ran and jumped up into Tony's arms, "I missed you so much already Tony!" Abby cried. "Don't do that to me again, okay?"

"I can try Abs, Im sorry.." He kissed her forehead, and turned a little to pull Tim who looked like a broken and sad little puppy in the back into a big hug.

"Good to have you back Tony, I-I don't know what I woulda—" Tim's voice cracked at the thought, his emotions a little fragile after the ups and downs of the past hour or so.

"Hey Tim, its no worries. We don't have to talk like that … im just fine," Tony released him from the hug and playfully punched him in the arm with a hint of a smile before Jethro was back on top of him, putting his arms tightly around Tony's neck and kissing the top of his trademark hair.

"Love you Dad," Tony mumbled through Jethro's chest.

Jethro hugged even tighter and kissed his forehead before grabbing his chin and making their eyes meet, "I love you more, Tony. And don't you ever scare me like that again.. Kapeesh?" He smiled.

"Kapeesh." And then Tony was bombarded by an army of hugs and found himself the center of one of their family bear hugs.

Tony was humbled by the fact that they really did care a lot about him, and he realized even though he wasn't the smartest or the most vibrant or most driven of the Gibbs… he was clearly something special to them, and he vowed to never let them go through the real thing of what they just went through. At least not for as long as he can help it…

The firemen watched as the family got their kid back, like some sort of damned miracle. But one they were unearthly thankful and gracious for. The kid, Tony, was clearly quite a kid. He had a place in each of his family member's hearts, and that was something most people would always wish for but never get. He was a golden child…

The Chief looked over to his Captain, "That's some kid I'm willing to bet." He had cried his own sets of tears in this relief of a heart wrenching case.

"A special one, that's for sure." He allowed himself to breathe easy finally.

Jethro felt his arms around his wife and around his four kids, and he felt their arms around him and all the others. This was his family. They are finally all back together, and it had better damned well stay that way for a long time coming. He heard a smothered sounding Tony say something about a lack of oxygen and heard the rest of his family laugh and sniffle.

Jethro smiled the biggest he had in a while. He had no reason not to. He was the luckiest man on Earth, he had his entire family right here in his arms, he had his son Tony right there with him, just like he would be every step of his life.

"Ohh Tony, what are we gonna do with you?" Jethro smiled as he sipped his morning coffee and put the phone he'd just hung up back on the receiver.

Tony smiled bashfully, and shook his head slowly as he stared at his hands. The door bell rang, and they all knew who it was. The Jefferson's.

They heard Jenny answer the door and tell them to come on in, and soon they were all seated awkwardly at the dining room table ready to talk about the other night.

"Tony," Mrs. Jefferson reached across the table and grabbed the top of one of his hands and rubbed it gently. "You've got to know how sick with guilt and shame I feel, that we feel, for putting you in such a dangerous position."

"Hey, it's fine I made it okay, Rocky made it okay.." Tony tried to reassure her.

"Tony, we knew that stove handle was broken, and that's where it was leaking from. We have to shut it on and off by wrench in the back, and the gas scent additive was low too. I had cooked some soup before he baby came, and then blew out the flame but never shut off the valve in the back." Mrs. Jefferson cried as she spoke this.

"I cant believe I did something like this … If you wouldn't of done just one of the things you did that night it would have been completely our fault, and I am so sorry, son." Mrs. J Cries.

"Hey now, Mrs. Jefferson don't worry, okay. Accidents happen and Tony is okay, and we will all be a little bit careful next time. That's all that matters…: jenny said soothingly, Jethro nodding his head in agreeance, Tony as well.