Sorry this chapter took a couple days, I hit a bump in real life but things are smooth there again so I should be able to have some free time to write again. Another new chapter should be up within the next day or so. I hope you enjoy. Please tell me what you think!
Tony waited until the apartment door firmly closed before he collapsed into their arms.
Miguel and Mayer exchanged worried looks and then turned back to the boy who had pulled away and was now walking over to their kitchen and hauling himself up on a barstool.
"Tony? What is going on niño?"
He sighed and laid his head down on the counter mumbling something into the granite.
Mayer slid into the stood next to him while Miguel moved to their refrigerator and began to rummage through.
Mayer placed a hand on Tony's shoulders and drew his head back up.
"Tony, talk to us...what's happening?"
The boy sighed and stared at the ceiling before looking up Mayer.
"Do you think s-some people aren't s-supposed to get what they w-want? Maybe they d-did something r-really bad, and even though they d-don't know what it was it doesn't matter because it was so b-bad that they aren't s-supposed to get anything g-good?"
"Tony, what are you talking about? You aren't bad, you are a wonderful boy! You haven't done anything wrong."
Tony shook his head.
"I must h-have though. There's n-no other explanation. I j-just can't get away f-from him."
Miguel dropped the mixing bowl he pulled from the cabinet causing pieces of pottery to shatter all over the kitchen floor.
Tony jumped at the noise and gripped Mayer's sleeve, his fingers going white. The men froze at Tony's reaction and then Miguel slowly moved towards him until they were flanking him on both sides, ignoring the mess that was their kitchen floor.
"Tony? What are you talking about? Are you alright?"
The boy shuddered and took a deep breath.
"Yeah. I'm f-fine. Sorry, I've….it's just b-been..."
The boys hands fluttered as his eyes danced around the men's apartment unable to settle. Mayer carefully slid Tony off the stool and carried him to the living room. Easing himself onto the couch he settled the boy on his lap and looked into his eyes.
"Tony, you know you can talk to us about anything, please tell us what's going on."
Tony blinked a couple times then asked-
"Why did you de-decide to l-live together? Is it what m-made you happy?"
Mayer looked to Miguel who shrugged, they knew Tony, he would get around to talking about what was bothering him when he was ready. It was better just to do things his way and wait for him.
"Yes I suppose it made us happy. It was easier. We're friends and get along well and for the time neither of us are sure what we are going to do now that we are out of work, so to save money we just got the apartment. It has plenty of room and we work with each other just like we did at your old house."
Tony studied the two of them, the tension in his shoulders easing.
"So M-Miguel does all the cooking and you keep everything f-from falling apart?"
Miguel chuckled.
"That sounds about right."
Tony rubbed his arm and glanced around the living room filled with second hand furniture.
"What do you th-think you're going to do?"
Mayer hesitated.
"I...neither of us are sure yet. There are several families in the area who have accepted my resume and offered me a job, but I am still weighing my options."
"Miguel?"
The tall man brushed Tony's hair out of his face.
"I considered returning to my Mexico, but it has been so many years, I do not even know where my family has gone to. Besides, I am quite happy here in America. Your agent Gibbs has taken steps to ensure that I can become an actual citizen and the process is moving faster than I expected. I suspect I will stay close. Many of the places Mayer applied to expressed interest in my culinary abilities so I have a couple possibilities."
Tony grinned at that thought. He liked the idea of the men staying close, but he didn't want to be the reason they stayed behind. Not if that wasn't what they wanted.
"I can't r-really picture you guys somewhere w-without the other."
Mayer gave the boy a gentle hug.
"At this point my boy, neither can we."
The two friends who had become brothers in their fight for Tony smiled at each other and then turned to the child who was moving away from the couch.
"Tony?"
The boy sighed, his good mood faded again. He bit his lip and crossed his arms in front of him, as if to protect himself from his own words.
"Toby says my f-father is b-back in states."
Miguel cursed in Spanish, words that made even Tony's eyebrows raise.
Mayer ignored him and stood, Miguel quickly following him as they moved to kneel next to the child.
"Has he been arrested? What's happening?"
Tony's mouth twitched into a self depreciating smile and his eyes darkened.
"Of course not. They can't f-find him. They know he's here, but he's d-disappeared. Again."
XxxX
"I don't understand how the hell this can be so difficult! We've been searching for him for weeks, and your way isn't working."
"Agent Gibbs! I swear if you don't sit down I will have you tied to that d*mn chair! Now calm down, believe me, none of wants Tony put in the any danger but this just got a lot more complicated."
Gibbs glared at the director but sat on the edge of the chair, his foot tapping with nervous energy.
Tobias sighed and spoke up from the corner where he had been watching the mess unfold.
"It's not as bad you think Director Morrow. Having him under investigation for child abuse gave us the foot in the door we needed. We have him for embezzlement, fraud, even some ties to nearby mob connections though they're thin at best. Either way, we now have more than enough evidence to put him away for a long time."
Gibbs waved his hand towards Fornell.
"See, the FBI has what they need, I sure as hell have my evidence, what's stopping us?"
Morrow had about had enough, no one in this room was listening to him.
"The fact that we can't find him! We are doing everything we can, but I am not about to let the three of you go rouge in order to get your piece of flesh. It was bad enough dealing with the two of you, but now that you've dragged Franks up here, we have ourselves one hell of a mess."
Gibbs leveled his glare at the man, but before he could speak, Morrow cut him off.
"Look Gibbs, trust me, I want this man's head on a stick. If I had my way I would let the three of you hunt him down and ensure that he never saw the light of day again. I adore Tony, but if we do this wrong then that b*st*rd is going to walk. One of us has to be the voice of reason here."
Gibbs growled in the back of his throat and stood.
"You want a voice of reason? Here- you sit in your office and try to find him by jumping through hoops and chasing red tape and I'll go out there do things my way and let's see who finishes this first."
Gibbs stood and marched from the room, slamming the office door shut behind him.
Tobias glanced at the door he was amazed was still in one piece and smirked, looking back to the director who had a self satisfied expression on his face.
"You wanted him to get mad didn't you?"
"Yup."
"You do realize that if anyone finds out you approve of him doing this your career is over?"
Morrow grinned.
"Yup."
"He knows that this is what you wanted him to do?"
"Yup."
Tobias chuckled and shook his head. They certainly had their own way of getting things done at NCIS, but then again, no one had threatened the official kid of the FBI. He was pretty sure all of NCIS would be backing Gibbs if push came to shove on this.
Tom looked the FBI agent up and down.
"You still here? Aren't you supposed to be following him?"
Tobias grinned cheekily, a habit he had picked up from the kid, and walked towards the door.
"Yup."
…
Mayer swept up the pottery while Miguel slid the pizza in the oven.
"So then what happened?"
"Well Gibbs and T-Toby came up from the basement and woke everyone up. Me, Abby and Jimmy p-played cards while the other t-talked and then everyone looked r-really serious. And angry. Sc-scary angry. Gibbs sent everyone except Toby home and then he told me my f-father was back. He s-said that he wouldn't let anyone hurt me, including f-father and that he and T-Toby would stop him. That was almost a m-month ago."
Miguel leaned against the counter and muttered something under his breath.
"A month?"
Tony nodded and took a sip of his chocolate milk. Even though it was made by Miguel, the man who could make a five star meal out of anything, he preferred the flavor of the milk Gibbs made with Hershey syrup to the sweet confection that reminded him of nights sneaking into the kitchen and holding his breath to stay quiet.
"G-Gibbs is...frustrated. He doesn't want me to know but I c-can tell."
Miguel gave Mayer a knowing look. Tony could always pick out the emotions of adults around him, another trademark of his father, he had grown up avoiding the tell-tale feel of anger and listening to the confusion and misguided relief that came with alcoholism. He could read people's emotions so well it was scary.
"He finally c-called Mike up a c-couple days ago. I'm afraid they're g-going to do something..."
"Do something?"
Tony nodded, spinning his empty glass on the counter.
"Mike and G-Gibbs are...very unhappy. And Toby keeps l-looking at them like he's worried they m-might do s-something stupid."
Mayer felt his hands tighten around the broom handle as he imagined bashing a certain someone over the head with it.
Gibbs and Mike (whoever that was) should be angry. And if doing something "stupid" is what finally stops DiNozzo then so be it.
Mayer shook himself from thoughts and tried to focus on the boy.
"Tony, who's Mike?"
That at least got a smile.
"Mike is Gibbs' friend from Mexico. They used to w-work together a long t-time ago. According to T-Toby Mike is always calling calling G-Gibbs for some favor and g-getting him a in a lot of trouble so this time he thought it must h-have been Gibbs turn to ask a favor. I like M-Mike he's...different."
XxxX
"So probie, how'd it go?"
Gibbs gave him a tight smile as the three gathered in his basement.
"According to plan. Morrow threw a fit and all but told me to do what I had to."
Fornell grinned and leaned against the boat watching the two men.
"So where's the kid?"
"With Mayer and Miguel. McGee's outside their apartment keeping an eye on him and I'm going to pick him up in a few minutes, I just want to go over this again."
The two men nodded.
"So DiNozzo landed in New York-"
Tobias inturrupted.
"Which threw us for a loop, we had eyes on his Baltimore strip, but he came in on a commercial flight, right under our noses. Cocky b*st*rd."
Gibbs nodded.
"That's were we lost him. Caught him on a couple security camera's getting into a hired limo and the driver logs showed that he was dropped off a hotel but never checked in. He just started down the street and vanished. We checked with his associates in New York?"
Tobias stepped forward again.
"They all claim not to have seen him but we didn't have authorization to search their homes."
Mike rubbed his forehead.
"What about his businesses?"
Gibbs smirked.
"They're still being run perfectly without any evidence of tampering from DiNozzo."
"So basically he has his employees so scared they aren't going to roll over on him and they aren't going to go against his wishes."
Fornell nodded and flipped open a file.
"Apparently he had a contingency plan for if something like this happened. He must have everything set up in Europe in case he had to leave the United States abruptly. He has his own connections here must know that there are several agencies looking for him. We can only assume he doesn't plan to be in the US for long, he's just here to collect a few things. We just have to figure out what he wants bad enough to come back here to get it."
The room went quiet as the three looked at each other, none wanting to say what would bring DiNozzo all the way back to the states.
Mike huffed and barked out what none of them would admit aloud.
"Why would he even come for the kid? After landing him in the hospital and nearly killing him it's obvious that sure as hell ain't affection."
Fornell shrugged and rubbed a hand down his face.
"Don't know. He's his only child, could be a passing down the name sort of thing. Or it could simply be a matter of pride. To him, Tony is his and he wants what belongs to him."
The look on Gibbs' face was murderous.
"Tony is not his. And if I have my way he won't be a DiNozzo for much longer."
Mike looked at him in surprise.
"You're changing his name?"
Gibbs sent him a glare.
"Part of the adoption paperwork. It's taking its own sweet time, but he'll be a Gibbs before too much longer. Now if we're rolling with the theory that he's here for Tony..."
"It's our best bet. From what we've seen he has everything he needs in Europe and if he goes back before we get ahold of him, we've lost him. There's no way we're getting him out of Italy. And if he has Tony with him..."
Gibbs gripped the side of his boat, his eyes dark.
"That's not going to happen. He can't take Tony from me legally and if he even tries to come close to him...well there's a solution to that too."
Mike eyed the Sig sitting on the work bench and rubbed the gun on his side fondly.
"Yeah, a permanent one."
XxxX
Miguel slid the piece of pizza on Tony's plate and refilled his glass. The boy had lapsed into silence and Mayer's hair had fallen into disarray as he pushed his hands through it in worry trying to not to stress the boy further.
"So tell us about meeting Mike, how is he different?"
Tony grinned.
"Mike...he's… he's Mike."
~Flashback~
Tony was sitting on the couch, a book open on his lap while Gibbs kneeled in front of the fire place trying to warm the room.
"There we go, that should help."
Tony gave him a small smile. His laughter had quieted back down after hearing his father was coming back, he was retreating back into himself, and it was killing Gibbs to watch. Tony folded the edge of his page several times, his eyes moving from the window to the fireplace to Gibbs and back again.
"You know, we h-had four f-fire places and I d-don't remember a f-fire ever being lit. They were j-just s-sort of...there."
Gibbs leaned back on his haunches and studied the boy.
"Maybe you just needed several back up exits for Santa?"
Tony scoffed good naturally and closed his book.
"There's no such th-thing as Santa."
Gibbs raised his eyebrow.
Seriously? He didn't even let him believe in Santa? What would have been the harm in that? Did you have to take everything away from him?
"Really? That's news to me. Who told you that?"
As if he needed Tony to answer.
With sad eyes Tony looked at the growing fire and shrugged.
Gibbs sighed and stood, coming to sit by the boy.
"You know, Santa comes here every year."
Tony looked up at him with cautious eyes. Another thing that had come back that Gibbs hated. The carefulness. The caution. The jumpiness.
"Really?"
Gibbs nodded.
"Yup. I'm sure he'll show up again this year too."
Tony looked thoughtfully to the fire place as he mulled that over. Gibbs smiled and ruffled his hair but paused when he heard a bang and some colorful curses at the door. Tony tenses under his hand but Gibbs rolled his eyes at the noise.
"Don't worry, I know who it is."
Tony gave him a look as he stood.
"It's an old friend of mine I called to...help"
"L-like Toby?"
Gibbs chucked to himself.
"Not quite."
He opened the door and a grizzled older man walked in, a gun strapped to his waist and a flask in his hand.
"What the hell probie? The d*mn front door is stuck."
"It ain't stuck Mike, it's locked."
The look the man gave Gibbs was priceless.
"Locked. Since when do you lock the door?"
Tony crossed his arms and found himself smiling. Apparently before he came around Gibbs had an eternally unlocked door and having it locked was throwing everyone on the planet for a loop. And everyone seemed to react the same way.
"Since I have a reason, now get in here."
"A reason what- hey probie?"
"Yeah?"
"There's a kid in your living room."
"Yeah, I know. That's Tony."
Tony gave a little wave which Mike returned.
"Alright then. Just checking to make sure you saw 'em too."
Gibbs sighed and started towards the kitchen.
"Get in here Franks. I need your help and I need you to be sober."
"I am sober!"
At that proclamation the man spun around and almost ran into a wall. Tony jerked forward and grabbed ahold of the man's arm and carefully eased him to Gibbs' recliner with practiced motions.
While he had hoped to never have to do this again, somehow helping Mike felt nothing like helping his father. Helping his father felt like a duty, something he had to do or else there would be consequences. Helping Mike however felt like a mercy. He felt instinctively that the man meant no harm, especially since Gibbs left him in the room with him. Gibbs had barely let him out of his sight since this had began, he must trust Mike something fierce to leave Tony with him at all, let alone when he wasn't quite sober.
"Thanks kid."
"You're w-welcome...Mike."
"So you're Tony. What are ya doin here?"
"I l-l-live here."
"Ya live here? With Gibbs?"
Tony nodded.
"Huh. How's that goin?"
Tony gave a slight smile to the tipsy man.
"Great. I l-love it here. How d-do you know Gibbs?"
"I used to be his boss. Back in the good old days."
"You were his b-boss?"
"Yup."
Tony smiled at the thought of Gibbs being anything but the guy in charge and looked towards the man in question who walked back in the room with two mugs of coffee. Gibbs shoved one in the Mike's hand and pulled Tony to his side in a move that was both habit and giving comfort which he knew the boy was quietly longing for.
"Drink."
"Probie I-"
"Drink."
Mike sighed and took a sip, his eyes widening.
"Well your tastes in coffee certainly haven't improved, but your company has. I like the kid. What's he doing here? And why am I here? You said it was an emergency."
Gibbs glanced down at Tony and tried to think of a way to say it tactfully without scaring the kid more than he already was, but Tony took it out of his hands.
"Gibbs took me away f-from my f-father and g-gave me a n-new home but my f-father is b-back. G-Gibbs and Toby are looking for him but we c-can't f-find him."
Well...that about sums it up.
Mike looked at Tony, his eyes clearing.
"He took you away from your father? I take it there was a d*mn good reason?"
Tony looked away confirming Mikes reasoning.
"Well that explains why you look like you're about to kill someone Probie. The man's back and you think he's coming for..."
Gibbs nodded once, his eyes on Tony who was careful not to look at either of them.
"Well..." Mike took another big gulp of coffee and stood "I guess it's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen."
He stuck out a hand and looked Tony in the eye.
"Any kid of Probie's is friend of mine. Don't worry kid, we've got your back."
Tony looked up at him. If this man was a friend of Gibbs and Gibbs trusted him enough to call him from wherever he was hiding...then Tony guessed he could trust him too.
He reached out and shook his hand.
…
"You met the man while he was drunk?"
Tony took a bite of his pizza, the cheese stretching. He quickly swallowed so he could soothe the frantic look on Mayer's face.
"F-From my experience-" Mayer winced at that word, he hated the fact that Tony, at the age of nine, had spent so much time with alcoholics that he could honest use the word 'experience'. "people are at their most honest when they are dr-drunk. They s-say what they mean, wh-whether it is sad or angry or happy, they say it. N-no wall or f-filters. If he s-said that he w-would h-help me and that h-he would be m-my fr-friend, I b-believed him. B-besides Gibbs is his friend. Good enough for me."
Mayer sighed and Miguel leaned on the fridge.
"Tony, you can't just take someone you just met on their word, especially when they're inebriated."
Tony shrugged and looked past the men to the window, his thoughts far away.
"I d-don't have a lot of options. M-Mike is w-willing to help. And I t-told you, he's Gibbs's friend."
Miguel smiled despite himself. He knew that if Gibbs let the man anywhere near Tony, then he was a good person, the man was overprotective of Tony to a fault. The point still stood though, between the sneaking out to the park, the befriending of a man he met in the middle of night and now trusting a drunk just because of who he was friends with-
"Niño, you know we love you, but you have a really bad sense of self preservation."
Tony looked down at his pizza and took another bite before answering.
"Yeah, Gibbs s-said that t-too."