A/N: See first chapter for the disclaimer. As always, I hope you guys enjoy this one, and please review. :)

Chapter Five

December 1, 1990

Anthony DiNozzo Senior walked into the hospital room, most recent wife on his arm. He glanced over at the bed, where his son's girlfriend was sitting, holding their daughter.

The whole reason he came here in the first place.

Forcing himself to hold onto his disproval for the moment, he offered her a small smile as she looked up at her. "I'm not sure if Junior told you I was coming," he said.

"He mentioned you might," she replied. "I'm Keri."

"Tony. This is my wife, Jillian."

Jillian gave a tiny smile.

"Hi," Keri said softly. "How are you?"

"We're fine," Senior said simply. "Keri, may I be frank with you?"

"Uh, sure," she replied hesitantly.

"I don't know how you tricked my son into this…"

"I didn't trick your son into anything," she interrupted.

"Don't speak until I am finished," Senior cautioned.

She looked at him, but said nothing.

"As I was saying, I don't know how you tricked my son into this, but he isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. How much will it take for you to take this child and disappear?"

"Excuse me?" Keri asked incredulously.

"I'm offering you an out," Senior said. "Take this child as far away from my son as possible. You don't want to be involved with him. Trust me."

"Mr. DiNozzo, with all due respect, I'm in love with your son. And I'm not forcing anything here. I told him he could leave, and he wanted to stay. I'm not going to take that away from him."

"How could you even ask her to do that?" Tony said, making his way out of the bathroom.

Senior simply looked over at his son.

"What, do you think I'm just some big fuck-up?" Tony continued. "That I didn't know what I was doing? Keri and I are going to get married, Dad, when our lives are a little more stable."

"Maybe you should've thought about that before getting her pregnant," Senior countered.

"We live together, we have enough funds that we can raise our daughter. Especially when Keri starts her new job in the spring. We're going to be fine. And while I'm sure you may have been here to see your granddaughter, I'm positive you weren't here to be sure that I was going to be okay. So if the only reason you're here is to make my fiancée leave me, then I suggest you and Jillian go back home."

"You can't talk to me like that."

Tony faltered slightly, but didn't bend. Not another word was spoken as Senior and Jillian left the hospital room.

Still January 25, 2010

Tony jumped out of the car before Gibbs had even pulled to a stop, rushing toward the ambulance and campus police officers. After a quick flash of his badge, they stepped back, letting him pass.

There was a group of people near the front office and front door that Tony had to negotiate, but even once he was past them, he wasn't sure where he was going. He turned to a woman, who clearly was not a student and, rather, the in-hall director, and said, "NCIS. Hannah Branford."

"They should be bringing her down soon," the woman told him quietly.

Tony cut her a slight glare, as if to say, 'that's not what I asked.'

"Room 322," she said.

He nodded, running up the stairs before Gibbs managed to get inside the building. As Tony rounded the stairs on the second floor, he heard the group nearing the elevator on the third floor. He took the stairs two at a time, barely catching up with the EMTs. While the clear leader of the group was in her 30s, the others with her were in their 20s, and Tony wondered absently if they were even qualified for this job.

Then again, nothing could've prepared them for this.

Tony squeezed his way into the elevator by flashing his badge and practically jumping on the stretcher to assist them. "Hannah," he said softly.

She opened her eyes briefly, looking at him through hazy slits. "Tony?" she whispered.

He barely caught the question through the oxygen mask, but he nodded in response. "I'm here. You're gonna be okay."

She closed her eyes again in response, and one of the EMTs, the only one not in uniform, looked at him sharply.

"I'm going with you," Tony said.

The un-uniformed EMT looked like he was going to protest and say that he needed to be there, but the leader said, "Sure thing, Sir. We'll need you to ride up front, though."

"Understood."

The group squeezed through the crowd, and when Tony nodded at Hannah, Gibbs returned the nod.

It was some time later when Gibbs finally joined Tony at the emergency room, the latter caked in dried blood from the assistance he had offered earlier. The team leader handed his senior agent a cup of coffee, something the younger man accepted gratefully.

"Nothing yet?" Gibbs asked softly.

Tony shook his head. "Still in surgery. She's lost a lot of blood. One of the EMTs, a Nathaniel Morse, he works with Hannah, and he said that they were supposed to have a re-training seminar thing today. When Hannah didn't show up, they headed upstairs to her room. The, uh, the door was open when they got there. She was tied up after she was shot, Boss. Just so she couldn't call for help."

Gibbs closed his eyes at the pain in Tony's voice, but said nothing.

"McGee and Ziva processing?"

Gibbs nodded.

Tony nodded, sighing heavily as his phone rang. "DiNozzo," he answered it.

"Junior?" his father said.

Tony flinched. The last thing he really wanted to deal with right now. "Dad…"

"Son, where are you?"

"Dad, now's not…"

"Junior," Senior cut in. "Are you in the hospital?"

Tony sighed. "At, Dad. Not in. Working. What is so urgent that it can't wait?"

"So, you're okay?"

Tony furrowed his brow, completely confused. "Yeah, Dad, I'm okay," he said, glancing over to Gibbs.

Gibbs tilted his head slightly.

"Thank goodness," Senior breathed.

"Dad, what's going on?" Tony asked.

"After you called last night, I was concerned, so I came down to see you. Only your office told me you were in the hospital. And they looked rather worried."

"You're here? Or, well, at NCIS?"

Gibbs arched his eyebrows slightly.

"Yes," Senior said.

"Why?" Tony blurted before he could stop himself.

"I just told you. I was worried about you. You haven't brought up Heather in years. Why would you now? And the way you were talking, about how it couldn't wait… I needed to know you were okay."

"Since when? If I recall, you were the one who tried to get Keri to take her away from me."

Gibbs glanced down at his own coffee cup wordlessly.

"That was my mistake, Junior," Senior offered.

"You're damn right it was," Tony replied.

"I know I can't make up for it in a day, but…"

"What, are you in some kind of twelve-step program or something?"

"I need to know where you are."

"I'm working. I'll see you when I get back. Until then, if you need something, call Abby." Tony hung up before his father could reply.

"You could've told him," Gibbs mentioned softly.

Tony scoffed. "Yeah," he said. "'Yeah, Dad, you know that case? Well, it's really that someone tried to kill Hannah, or, well, Heather.' That would've gone over well."

"You gonna tell him?"

"I don't know. Gonna be hard to hide it from him, though, considering the fact that he's already at NCIS."

Gibbs shrugged.

Tony sighed softly. "I still don't get why he's here."

"What'd he say?"

"Said he was worried about me."

Gibbs glanced over.

"Two weeks ago, he came down and never got around to his reason. Now, he's coming down for almost no reason at all. I don't like it, Boss."

Gibbs watched his senior agent.

"I don't trust it. He's up to something. I can smell it."

"What're you gonna do?" Gibbs asked.

Tony shook his head. "I have no idea."