If there really is a song out there somewhere with the title "Reflections of the Imploding Hematophagia Soul" I am really sorry for using your name. Also if that really is your song name...interesting choice. That is some kind of special.
Please review and tell me what you think!

Mayer and Miguel looked at each other with apprehension. The restored two story house was nothing compared to the mansion that they had worked in for the past couple decades, but there something about it that was much more intimidating.

Or maybe it was the man living inside of it.

"Try the doorbell again."

Mayer shook his head.

"I don't think it works."

Miguel reached out and knocked on the door.

The two men stood in silence, anxiously waiting.

"He did ask us to come here..."

Miguel looked at Mayer skeptically.

"I don't know what you heard, but I don't remember much asking. I believe he told us to come here no asking involved. There's no answer."

Mayer sighed and tried the knob.

"It's open, should we just...?"

Together the men stepped into the house.

"Agent Gibbs?"

"Up here."

The two went up the stairs and followed the noise the last room down the hall. The men found themselves standing in a bedroom with boxes and old furniture stacked and piled in every spare corner.

"Agent Gibbs?"

"Here."

Gibbs handed Mayer a box and he stumbled back under the weight.

Miguel looked around in confusion.

"I don't understand."

Gibbs turned his back to the men as he began to open another box and sort through it's contents.

"Doctor Mallard is in the hospital with Tony, he'll be released by the end of the week and then you can see him, but for now you're helping me."

Miguel looked at Mayer in distress.

"We have to wait that long?"

Gibbs looked at the contents of a box and raised his eyebrows before sealing it back shut.

"Yes. Right now Tony is confused and hurting. This isn't the time for the two of you to go in and start baring your hearts. He knows you both love him and he'll need your help getting settled."

"Settled?"

"As soon as Tony gets out he's coming to stay with me."

Mayer looked around the room with new appreciation still holding the heavy box.

"So we're fixing up his room?"

"Yup."

Two men glanced at each other and agreed silently. They had been kept from Tony before during one of Senior's legendary fits of rage, a couple more days wouldn't hurt them. Besides the way Gibbs was talking, Tony wasn't spending any time alone.

Miguel nodded and picked up a box before looking back at the agent.

"We will gladly help our Tony Agent Gibbs, but why do you want us?"

Gibbs paused in his work and turned to the men.

"Because you're going to talk to me while you help. I need some answers."

Mayer and Miguel both took a half step back, knowing where this was going. They glanced at each other as Mayer choked out-

"No Agent Gibbs, you don't want to know. Can't you just let Tony move on?"

Gibbs straightened.

"Tony is moving on. He will be safe and cared for here, this information isn't for him, but for me. I need to understand."

Miguel sighed and looked to Mayer who ran a hand down his face.

"Alright Agent Gibbs, but it isn't a happy story."

Gibbs picked up another box.

"Of course it isn't. If it was, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

The three began sorting the room in silence before Miguel asked Gibbs what he wanted to know first.

"Tell me about his mother."

Mayer tilted his head to the ceiling and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Oh that woman. Tony thought the sun rose and set on her command. She was...very flawed, but she did love him in a way. Anthony and Angelica met in England and had an indiscretion that became our beloved Tony. Anthony was not pleased by the turn of events but Angelica was overjoyed, she was under the impression that she was unable to bear children. She was so happy...until she moved to America with Anthony and found just who she had married. She and Anthony fought all the time, over money, Anthony's affairs even over Tony, and Angelica began turning to alcohol and antidepressants to combat the stress of the situation. She began checking out from reality and had such mood swings. One day she would hold Tony close to her and act like she loved him more than anything and the next day she would shove him aside like he was nothing. It was very hard on him, but he would never stop going to her. Everyday he would search her out, the boy was starved for affection even then. He knew it was a fifty/fifty chance that she would smile at him or push him away, but he always took the chance. More often than not, if she was drunk enough she wouldn't even notice he was there and he would just sit by her, happy to be with her. It was odd though...at least once a week he would manage to get her to sit down and watch a movie with her. Something different each time, she would pick, and usually it was something a child shouldn't even watch. Many of them gave him nightmares, but if he could convince her to escape into a film instead of the bottle he would. I can remember every movie they ever watched. He can too, if you ask him. Kid remembers everything..."

Mayer paused and rubbed his hand over the top of a box before began speaking again.

"Angelica was a happy, beautiful woman who loved her son. We never doubted that she loved Tony, but years of being married to Anthony took its toll. And her love of Tony was lost somewhere in all the heartbreak. She simply couldn't do it anymore. Tony walked into the music room one day and found her. She had hanged herself."

Gibbs stopped the steady work he had been doing as he listened.

He didn't know Tony had been the one to find his mother.

"Tony interrupted a business meeting of his father's to tell him. The boy was inconsolable and created quite a scene in the meeting, understandable considering he was only six years old and what he had seen. His father was...enraged at the interruption. And then when he realized what had happened to Angelica. That was the first day he took his anger out on Tony. He had never paid attention to Tony, ignored him to point of neglect but he had never physically hurt him. Not until then. After discovering his wife, speaking to the police and realizing that he had lost a lucrative business deal, he just...snapped."

Miguel picked up from here.

"Tony was in his room Mayer and I. Mayer had found him in the hallway, left alone and heartbroken. We were trying to calm him down, comfort him, when his father came. We thought...we thought the loss of his wife had made Anthony realize what he still had. We thought he wanted to be with his son so they could grieve together. We went downstairs and didn't hear anything from them for hours."

Gibbs clenched his fists not wanting to hear the rest of the story. He knew where it was going just from hearing the guilt in Miguel's voice. The regret from not seeing what was about to happen.

Mayer began again.

"Anthony came back downstairs several hours later and left, saying he wouldn't be back for a few days. Didn't say where he was going or what he was doing, just left. I had a very bad feeling so we went looking for Tony. I found him in his closet, curled up under a rack of clothes. He wouldn't come out, wouldn't even let me touch him. I sat in there with him for hours trying to get him to come out so I could make sure he was okay. He didn't say a word, didn't cry, just buried himself as far back in the dark as he could. He would move away from me every time I came near. He stayed in the closet for over a day. Didn't eat, didn't make a sound, didn't even leave to use the restroom. Finally, finally he crawled into my lap and I carried him out. It was plain that something was wrong so I laid him on his bed and it was obvious to see..."

Mayer choked and turned away shaking his head.

Gibbs dipped his head and spoke quietly.

"That's when the abuse started."

Miguel nodded, looking to his friend.

"I had been with Mayer when Tony wouldn't come out and when Mayer laid him down, we didn't know what to do so we called Doctor Griffin, the DiNozzo's personal physician to come and check on him. There were several deep bruises, a cracked rib and some sprains. The doctor assured us he would file a police report and we trusted him to take care of it… we didn't realize that he was already bought and paid for. We stayed next to Tony all night and when he woke up… he had a stutter. Griffin said that Tony had suffered a psychotic break. Between the death of his mother, discovering her body and the fall out between him and his father, it was all too much. I told him he was full of sh*t."

Mayer leaned against the wall and rubbed his forehead.

"Tony has had the stutter since that day, it isn't apparent when he sings and some days it's worse than others, we honestly believe that if he was away from his father permanently it would go away. When his father leaves for business, we notice it less and less, but when he's home, it's hard to miss. Tony didn't suffer a psychotic anything, he was just tired and frightened and he's been frightened since that day."

Miguel stacked the last box in the hall.

"Please Agent Gibbs..."

Gibbs nodded. He had heard enough and he could see that Miguel and Mayer were at the edge of their composure.

"Yeah. Let's get these downstairs."

Mayer and Miguel nodded thankfully and shot out of the door, their arms full of boxes.

Gibbs paused in the room to glance around, his thoughts whirling with everything he had learned.

Oh Tony. Has anything ever gone right for you? I'm going to take care of you Kid, I promise no one is going to hurt you again.

XxxX

Abby was bouncing in her lab, music blaring and slowly going into caffeine withdrawals.

She spinning in a circle, holding the bloody tee-shirt that she had just finished analyzing, her work day was finally finished.

Off-key but making up for it with enthusiasm, she sang out-

"And the vampire screamed cheeeeessssseeeeee!"

"I thought vampires only ate blood? Where does cheese fit in?"

Abby turned, hair spinning and found herself face to face with the director who was holding a Caff-Pow.

"Director Morrow! Hi! Vampires drink blood. The vampire in the song isn't eating cheese, he's looking for himself in a world full of prejudice. And when he finds that he can't see himself in the mirror, he goes searching for someone to take his picture."

Director Morrow nodded in understanding.

"I see, so the vampire screaming cheese-"

"Is him getting his photo taken and finally discovering himself. It's a great song."

"Uh-Huh. I thought they couldn't be photographed either?"

Abby shrugged.

"Artist's creative license."

"Alright I'll buy that. What's it called?" Morrow asked while looking at the speakers, trying not to wince.

"Reflections of the Imploding Hematophagia Soul. Is that for me?"

She asked gesturing to the cup in his hand.

"Yes, it is. Doctor Mallard said you were probably running low. Would you mind...turning that down, I need to speak with you."

Abby snatched the remote from her skirt pocket and hit the button, curiosity overruling her need for music. She sipped the drink while waiting for the director to stop gazing around the lab.

"What can I do for you super Bossman?"

"Super-? Okay. Right. Did Special Agent Gibbs come to you about some custody papers regarding an Anthony DiNozzo Jr.?"

Abby narrowed her eyes and drew back her shoulders.

"That depends. Did he talk to you about these supposed papers? Because if he didn't, I have no idea what you are talking about and Gibbs has done nothing wrong."

Morrow chuckled.

"Relax Ms. Scuito, Gibbs isn't in any trouble, I'm helping him with the young boy's case. The child, Tony, is in the hospital and I was wondering if you could help us out."

Abby's eyes glittered. Anything to help Gibbs and especially anything for a kid in trouble.

"Of course, what do you need?"

Morrow held out a paper. Abby reached out and began reading, her face lighting up at the things listed. She smiled and looked up at the director, beaming.

"You want me to take NCIS money...and go buy board games?"

XxxX

Tony stared at the ceiling in confusion. He was still in the hospital.

This was so weird.

Normally his father had the family physician come and drag him out of there by now.

Actually most of the time, he never even made it to the hospital.

Mayer would just get him back to his bed and call Doctor Griffin and wait anxiously by his bedside until the doctor arrived to put him back together.

Whenever he was in the hospital it was bad.

Really bad.

And he was in an unbelievable amount of trouble when he got home.

He hated the hospital. The couple days of freedom wasn't worth the punishment when he got back. He would prefer to just be left alone.

Tony sighed as he wondered to himself.

Did other kids have to deal with this?

He didn't think so.

He blinked and tried to get the sleep out of his eyes without moving.

Yeah he was pretty sure other kids didn't have to go through things like this.

He sure wished he didn't have to anymore.

Maybe one day he wouldn't.

He would be going home soon and once his father got a hold of him...

Maybe this time he would take it too far.

Maybe this time he wouldn't wake up.

Tony wasn't sure if that scared him or relieved him.

He wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"Tony?"

Tony rolled his eyes over, lighting them on Gibbs' figure. The room was dark, the blinds pulled and the lights off. The man was illuminated by the glowing figures on the machines and the glow coming from the bathroom.

It took too much energy to look at him.

Why was he even here?

Oh that's right.

Painkillers.

They always made him see things, most the time things he didn't like.

Vampires in the canopy.

Shadows in his window.

His father.

Everywhere his father.

Tony swallowed a suddenly dry throat and forced his thoughts on something else. Anything else.

Gibbs.

The man was talking.

Wait….was he actually here?

"Wh-what?"

Gibbs reached a gentle hand out and brushed the hair out of Tony's face, keeping eye contact with him all the time.

"Yeah, I'm actually here Tony."

Tony looked at him incredulously.

"You're speaking out loud Tony."

He stared at the older man.

No I'm not.

I'm thinking.

Aren't I?

"No kid. You're talking."

"Oh. So-so-sorry. Did I w-w-wake you up?"

Gibbs sighed and shook his head.

"No, I was awake."

Tony nodded, happy to he hadn't woken the man but still looking confused.

So he had been talking aloud. That explained nothing. What was Gibbs doing here? And why would he want to be here? His father was never by his bedside when he was hurt. He was usually the one who put him the state where he needed to be in bed.

Tony looked closer at Gibbs. He had a funny look in his eye, like he was trying not to cry. His father always said that men didn't cry but Mr. Gibbs looked like he couldn't decide whether he was going to start sobbing or start shooting someone. Tony really wasn't sure which one would surprise him more. Mr. Gibbs did say he was like a police man. He could shoot people, if he wanted.

Focus Tony.

"Gi-Gi-Gibbs?"

"Yeah Tony?"

"Wh-why...what… I d-d-don't understand. I m-m-mean...you're here...b-b-but why?"

Gibbs gave a slight smile to the boy, his own thoughts reeling.

"Because you need me Tony."

That didn't clear anything up.

"Wh-what?"

"Tony, I need you to listen to me. Remember I told you, you could tell me anything?"

Tony nodded.

"No matter what you say, I will believe you and I will help you. Do you believe me?"

Tony didn't move.

Gibbs sighed and tried another tactic.

"Tony, I'm a marine, do you know what that means?"

He shook his head.

"Semper Fi. Always Faithful. No man gets left behind. I'm not leaving you Tony. Not ever. I've got your six. Do you trust me?"

Tony stared at him for a long moment, his gaze measured and careful, weighing what he had learned of Gibbs versus his experience with every other person who had promised to help him, to take care of him and then let him down.

Tony tilted his head and replied quietly.

"I d-don't know y-yet."

Gibbs dipped his head.

"Fair enough. Let me prove it to you."

"How?"

"Tell me what happened."

Tony paled.

"I…it w-w-was….an accident."

Gibbs kneeled next to the bed, eye level with Tony.

"Tony. If you tell me the truth, I promise that you don't have to go back. You will go somewhere safe. He will never hurt you again. Please. Tell me the truth."

Tony looked at him and Gibbs could see it.

He could see how badly Tony wanted to tell him.

How much he wanted to trust him.

He whispered.

"I can't."

Gibbs followed suit and whispered back.

"Why not?"

"He'll kn-know."

Gibbs shook his head.

"No Tony. I'll keep you safe. Semper Fi. No one will hurt you again. I promise."

Tony was quiet.

And then.

"I was in the k-kitchen. I wasn't s-s-supposed to b-be. He and his g-girlfriend found me. She d-d-didn't know...he told her he didn't h-h-have any kids."

Gibbs clenched his fists but kept them under the bed, where Tony wouldn't see.

"She was upset. Fa-fa-father w-w-was angry. And d-d-drunk. He's always d-d-drunk when he's around m-m-me."

He looked up at Gibbs, begging for him to understand.

"I d-disobeyed and he p-p-punished me for it. He just… when he d-d-d-drinks… he gets so angry. Wh-wh-when he's around me, h-h-he gets angry. H-he ca-came in and w-w-was y-yelling. He w-w-wanted to kn-kn-know-"

Tony looked at Gibbs then back at the ceiling.

He didn't need to know.

Not about the coat.

He would get angry.

Tony couldn't handle anymore angry adults.

"What did he want to know Tony?"

"Wh-why I was in the kitchen." He whispered.

Gibbs nodded, not quite believing.

"Tony, you need to tell me, did your father do this?"

It was so quiet he could barely hear it.

"Yes."

"Okay."

He stood.

Tony watched in fear as he stepped away.

He was leaving.

He was leaving him.

"Gi-Gibbs?"

He turned back, a soft smile gentling steel eyes.

"I have to make a phone call Tony. I'm going to make this better. I'll be right back. I promise. I told you I won't leave you remember?"

Tony nodded and whispered.

"Semper Fi."

Gibbs smiled.

"Exactly, Semper Fi. I'll be right back."

He put his hand on top of Tony's head and gently brushed his hair out of his face waiting until he saw Tony's small smile.

He leaned down until he was at eye level with the boy.

"Tony, I promise, I am coming right back. I am calling the people I work with and we are going to make sure that your father will never bother you again. I'm going to keep you safe. Okay?"

Tony nodded.

"Okay. You'll b-be r-right back?"

"Right back."

Tony dipped his head in permission for Gibbs to leave.

Gibbs slipped out the door and down the hall to the waiting room to call McGee and Todd. Turning towards the window he missed the man getting off the elevator and marching angrily to Tony's room.

Tony was considering the television. He seldom watched it when his father was home, he wasn't allowed in the den, and it wasn't worth getting caught to sneak in. But when his father was on business trips, Mayer would sit down with him and watch movies, countless movies. He loved it. He could spend hours escaping into the exploits of an imaginary character, for just a little bit pretending to be someone else.

And if it helped him hold on to the better memories of his mom...

He picked up the remote.

His room door swung back open and Tony looked up eagerly.

That was fast, maybe Gibbs would watch tv with him.

The excitement drained out of Tony when he saw who was standing at his door.

His hands grabbed for the blankets, searching for an anchor while hoping Gibbs would appear.

The man stepped further into the room.

"Anthony Junior."

Tony gripped the blankets tighter, his voice coming out in a squeak.

"D-d-doctor Gr-griffin."