Sunday

Chapter 18

Back home at the DiNozzo residence, Jamie is sleeping on the couch in the family room. She lays there peacefully on the couch. A hand begins to gently stroke her hair. Jamie's eyes slowly open. A face smiles at her.

"Tony, is that you?" Jamie asked as she's trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness since the source of light is from the fish tank.

"Yes it's me." Tony answered. Chioke finds the light switch. The light in the room turns on. Jamie's heartbeat increases and her eyes widen from the happiness of seeing her husband.

"Tony!" Jamie exclaimed in excitement. She sits up and quickly wraps her arms around Tony's neck.

Chioke smiles from where he stands by the light switch. Tony has an expression of pain on his face as Jamie is holding him too tightly and pressing against bodily wounds acquired while trapped in North Korea. Tony plays it off and allows the pain to continue because overall, he's just happy to be home. Jamie's eyes catch a glimpse of Chioke.

"Chioke!" Jamie exclaimed in excitement. Chioke's face lights up. Jamie takes her arms off of Tony. She slides off the couch and opens her arms for Chioke to come to her. Chioke runs into Jamie's arms. Once in Jamie's arms, she gives him kiss after kiss after kiss on the forehead and cheeks. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry for not preventing this from happening. Will you ever forgive me?" Jamie pleaded. Chioke backs away from her.

'Not your fault.' Chioke signed with his hands. 'Not need to forgive. Nothing to forgive. Me love you, Mommy.'

Jamie giggles in happiness. She wraps her arms around Chioke and starts kissing him again.

"I must be a ghost because for some reason I don't exist here." Tony stated in jealousy of Chioke getting all the attention.

"Did you hear something?" Jamie asked Chioke as she backs away from him.

'I hear nothing.' Chioke signed with his hands.

"You two are hilarious." Tony said. "Come on… Show me love."

Jamie and Chioke look at each other. There's a brief moment of silence.

"I'll order a pizza." Tony stated.

"I love you!" Jamie exclaimed.

'Me love you too.' Chioke signed with his hands.

"You two only love me for my pizza ordering skills."

Jamie and Chioke both wrap their arms around Tony. The arms wrapped tightly around him are actually hurting him. There's an expression of pain on Tony's face.

"Ow…" Tony cried softly. "Being loved hurts." They two of them back away from him slightly. "Go wash up and I'll order the pizza." He said to Chioke.

'And listen to Llama Song?' Chioke signed with his hands.

"Yes..." Tony chuckled. "We'll listen to the Llama Song too."

Chioke's face lights up. He stands and runs to the bathroom. Tony and Jamie are left on the floor in front of the couch. Jamie lifts her hand toward the side of Tony's face where there's a slightly huge wound near his ear.

"I have many more you can take care of." Tony said as he shies away from Jamie's hand because he's in enough pain.

"I'll take care of you." Jamie leans forward and gently kisses Tony on the lips. She grabs onto the bottom and Tony's shirt. The shirt is slowly and gently lifted upward to Tony's shoulder. Jamie sees a massive amount of bruising on his chest and stomach. There are also some cuts and scrapes. She keeps the shirt lifted so she can look at his back. On Tony's back she sees the ten scab marks from the lashes he received from the whip. The skin of the lash marks look disgustingly gross because they were never properly treated. The surrounding area of skin around the lash marks is badly bruised skin. Jamie's heart breaks. "It looks like one of the scabs recently broke. There's a little blood and puss. I'll clean it."

There's a moment of silence as they look into each other's eyes. Suddenly, a worry quickly takes over Jamie's mind.

"Where's my dad?" Jamie asked in concern.

"Your dad is fine." Tony replied. "He'll be dropping by shortly. He had to go take care of something before coming here. But don't worry. He'll be here soon."

Jamie sighs in the relief of knowing her father is safe.

"Is Chioke alright? Does he have any injuries?" Jamie asked in concern.

"His shoulder hurts a bit. But other than that, he seems to be fine." Tony replied. "When you get a better look you'll notice he has a burn mark on his right arm… It's from a cigar. And he has two lash marks on his back… The lash marks are from a cane. Only one of the lashes broke the skin. But it's not as bad as mine."

"Oh God…" Jamie is saddened by the knowledge of what happened.

"Chioke may only be six years old… But he's the bravest person I know." Tony stated proudly. "That little body of his is filled with more courage than the entire Navy."

"It's adorable how proud you are of Chioke. It truly is."

"We're his family. You're his mother. I'm his father." Tony said. "I'll always be proud of him."

Meanwhile, in a town just outside Washington D.C., Gibbs enters into the office of Mr. Geoffrey Benson. The father of Shawn and Wade Benson, the brothers from the bank heist a while back, is sitting at his desk signing a couple development papers which need to be sent to his contractors this coming week. Mr. Benson doesn't even glance upward from the papers. He just continues working.

"How may I help you Special Agent Gibbs?" Mr. Benson asked.

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Gibbs approaches the desk and slams his hands until it.

"Good help is always hard to find, Agent Gibbs."

The men run into the office and draw their guns. Mr. Benson waves his hand to signal the men to leave. The men leave the office. Mr. Benson stands up from behind his desk and walks to the side.

"What makes you think you can just barge into my home and disrespect me? Mr. Benson asked. "I'm a business man, Agent Gibbs. I'm very busy."

"You arranged for my son-in-law's adopted son to be kidnapped!" Gibbs shouted in anger.

"You're responsible for my son Shawn being incarcerated in a federal prison for the next twenty years!"

"It's not my fault your son is a moron!"

"Don't disrespect my family!" Mr. Benson exclaimed as he looks out the window. Suddenly, there's a loud crash of a vase shattering into a millions pieces. Mr. Benson turns away from the window to face the desk. At the bottom of the edge of the desk is a shattered vase on the floor.

"I slipped."

"That vase was an antique."

"What… You want me to buy you a new one?" Gibbs said jokingly.

"The vase cost over four hundred thousand dollars. I doubt you'd ever be able to afford it on your salary, Agent Gibbs."

There's a brief moment of silence as Mr. Benson looks out the window again.

"My money wasn't able to keep Shawn out of prison…" Mr. Benson begins to say.

"But it kept him from being incarcerated even longer." Gibbs said. "He'll probably be released in eleven years."

"I highly doubt my son Shawn will be released earlier due to good behavior, Agent Gibbs."

"You ever stop to think your criminal empire might have been the influence to your son being an asshole?"

"I'm not a criminal. Like I said before Agent Gibbs… I'm a business man."

"You keep telling yourself that."

"Shawn is in prison. Wade won't talk to me anymore…"

"You're breaking my heart." Gibbs joked.

"The men who kidnapped your son-in-law's precious child will never be found. I gave them a simple job. They fucked it up by hiring outside help. Can you believe hired goons would be stupid enough to give money to a man to borrow a van? I mean… If they needed a van all they had to do is ask. It's so hard to find competent help these days." Mr. Benson stated. "By the way, don't even bother looking for the two goons. They've been dealt with."

"In other words… I'll never find their bodies."

"Take as you will, Agent Gibbs. But know this… We're not through." Mr. Benson. "Now leave my home before one of your wounds opens up and bleeds onto my expensive rugs."

Gibbs turns around and walks away. After leaving the room, a side door to the office opens. A man steps out and approaches the desk where Mr. Benson is once again sitting down.

"Your brother is a very stubborn man, Jared." Mr. Benson said.

"He also has a death sentence." Jared Lucas Gibbs stated.

"All in due time…"

"I should kill him right now."

"You did a hell of a job at killing him when he confronted you in your childhood home. If I recall correctly… He kicked your ass."

"I gave him too many opportunities because I was preoccupied with…"

"You fucked up!"

"If you're not careful maybe you'll be my next victim, Geoffrey."

"I'm not afraid of a serial killer."

"You should be." Jared Lucas Gibbs walks away, toward the door he entered from.

"Your record is a clean slate, Jared. You were able to make that deal with the FBI because I allowed it. The Intel about the new terrorist organization came from me. Everything you know about your brother's team is from me. I gave you all the Intel you needed you play games with NCIS and to also be given a clean slate with that deal. You'll have your chance. So don't fuck things up by acting on those urges to kill people."

Jared Lucas Gibbs walks through the doorway he came out from and closes the door behind him. He's now all alone in the next room.

"And once I have what I want you'll cease to exist in this world, Geoffrey." Jared said softly to himself. "I'll play it your way… For now."

Jared Lucas Gibbs chuckles evilly as he walks away.