AN: So sorry for the long delay, life loves to interfere with my fantasy life. And my apologies for the cliffhanger I didn't intend for that large of a reaction. Sorry!

"Oh good boss" I hear a voice say, "You're awake."

"The hell am I" I choke out. My throat hurts and I can't seem to connect to the rest of my body.

"You're in a hospital" the voice says, my eyes clear and I'm looking into McGee's face.

"How are you feeling?"

"DiNozzo?"

"He's fine" McGee says looking quite relieved, "Your side got hit the worst."

My side?

"What happened?"

"Don't you remember boss?"

No McGee I'm asking you because I have full understanding and clarity as to today's events. I in fact remember everything so perfectly that I could paint it out for you complete with shadowing and advanced coloring techniques.

"McGee" I bark.

"Car accident" he says quickly, "You guys got hit. The other guy's car slipped on the ice, came over to your lane and hit you. Everyone's fine. You got the brunt of it."

"DiNozzo?"

McGee looks at me oddly, "Well like I said-"

"He's fine" I say, "But what happened to him, anything?"

"He got some stitches in his head, but that's it. He never lost consciousness, he's really fine."

"Where is he?"

"Just left ten minutes ago to grab some food so he could take his meds."

Which means he's in enough pain to realize that he needed them today. I get up and relearn how to stand. I ignore McGee's protest and offering of a wheelchair. Is he kidding me here? The hell I'm walking in that, and the kid should know better.

(DiNozzo)

Okay so here is the plan. As soon as my body learns to cooperate I am good to go. I will pick up Gibbs, who hopefully will be back in the land of the living and then that's it. Goodbye New York. Lesson learned. So eat and then go. A pang goes through my chest and you know what, sitting down with this fine cuisine might be excellent. And based on the way I can barely catch my breath I'm thinking that sooner would be better.

So I have my sandwich which I am sure is going to be as tasteless as all hospital food is, and now I have my drink and my tray. All I need is a place to sit. Wonderful. This is like middle school all over again. Why are there so many people in this damn cafeteria anyway? It's not like this is good food.

Ladies and gentlemen, wait a minute, hold your horses there seems to be movement on the east end. A huge construction worker looking man is pounding his chest and hunching over. Is he getting up or keeling over? And…keeling over. But ah ha! As three nurses run over to help they have abandoned their table.

I have no shame.

I grab my new seat and look over to make sure the guy is alright. It's not like I can do anything that they can't anyway. They help the man get the food out of his throat and I'm done watching. I open my sandwich, take a bite, and yes it is as disgusting as imagined.

"Ahem" I look up and see an angry nurse.

"Is there a problem sir" I ask him.

"We were sitting here" he says.

"We" I ask innocently.

The other two are now chatting it up with that man.

He points over to the other nurses. So I have two choices, I could get up and pass out, or I could show Bianca where exactly she got her con skills from.

"Oh sir"' I say, "I'm so sorry" I cough, "I hadn't realized" and then I start coughing myself into a fit. I lean back in my chair and exhale slowly.

"Sir" he asks, "Are you alright?"

I look up at him through the slits in my eye.

"I'm sorry" I say quietly, "I was just in a car accident."

"Were you looked at by a doctor" he asks me.

Move aside Leonardo.

I sniffle, "I just" and I stop and put my hands in my head.

"I'm fine" I muffle out. And let's go fake tears, anytime now. I blink furiously in my hands to push them out and once I have a few I'm set.

I look up at him with tears coming down my face.

"I'm fine" I repeat again, "But my dad..." I stop again and quiver lip like a true grieving son.

And in addition to my fantastic acting, I have these glorious bruises to further sell my case. Momma always did say to play the cards you were dealt.

"Hey" the man says, "I'm sorry, you know what um we were just about done anyway."

Yeah that's what I thought.

I'm not even sorry, hell I don't even care. We are after all in New York. Him and his little nurse friends take their trays away.

Truly, I have no shame.

Suddenly there is another person standing in front of me. Of course there is. I look up and it's my Aunt Louisa. Well hell.

"Anthony" she says, "Can I sit?"

No. Go away. Far away.

"Aunt Louisa" I manage to spit out, "Yeah of course."

She takes the seat across from me.

"Are you alright" she asks.

I glare at her. Yes I'm doing marvelously.

"Aunt Louisa" I say, "What are you doing here?"

Her eyes glare.

"Anthony" she puffs out, "We're family."

"I'm pretty sure we were family when I was hurt in DC too, and yet no call."

She sighs and looks away. I'm not giving any slack here. Let's call it what it is.

"Mistakes have been made" she says tiredly.

Ah the passive tense. Always a favorite of the educated and intelligent.

"Aunt Louisa" I say, "Come on."

She huffs, "Look, you don't understand."

"Aunt Louisa" I say respond taking another bite of this cardboard, "I've tried my whole life to understand him and why things were they way they were, but I've only recently started to not care."

She inhales deeply and tries again.

"When that kid McGee told us you were in an accident, your father locked himself in a bathroom sobbing."

That could be truthful or it could be just another lie. This family is smart and talented and one of those talents, the real good dirty talent that binds us all together is our ability to lie through our teeth. We can look you straight in the eye and lie. It's not exactly that I'm proud of it, but hey, I did make a career out of it. I'm not good at many things, I'll readily admit that, but I'm really good at undercover work because of my ability to lie.

"Look Tony" she says, "Your father, my brother, he's an idiot. He doesn't know how to talk, he never did, but to be fair, we were raised like animals as children. Your mother was all he ever had. You have to understand what that loss did to him. It robbed him of the little social skills he had at the time."

Still don't care. Doesn't excuse jack shit.

"Aunt Louisa" I say, "What do you want from me?"

"To forgive him."

I wonder what color the sky is in my aunt's world.

"Forgive him" I cry, "He's not looking for forgiveness, he's looking for blood! He wanted my apology, or did you miss that part?"

"He's an ass" she cries, "You know that. He didn't know what he was saying."

"No" I say stopping her, "He knew exactly what he was saying. He was saying what he thought all those years."

"Anthony" she says tiredly, "He's not well. He never has been."

"I don't care" I tell her back.

"Alright" she says, "would you just listen, please? Just listen. He doesn't know how to talk to you, but he wants to make things right. You of all people should know that you can't argue with a crazy mind."

"Aunt Louisa" I say, "I'm in pain, I almost died several times this week, this isn't a good time for me to sympathetic to his problems."

She ignores me. Yeah big surprise there. I go to say something but she plows on.

"He never was able to understand emotion, and he could never understand that people didn't think like he did. Your father is so defensive that any perceived slight he just takes to the next level, but deep down all he wants-"

She stops herself.

"He's your father" she says quietly, "Do the right thing."

The right thing? The right fucking thing? Are we being serious right now?

"Do you realize that Special Agent Gibbs is my boss" I ask her, "Do you realize that my father has been calling him Mr. Gibbs for the duration of this lovely trip?"

My aunt looks down.

"Do you have any idea how humiliating that is?"

"Anthony-"

"No" I say appetite flying out the window, "My boss and coworkers didn't need to witness all this! I didn't need this! You want to talk about the right thing? Fine. I came up to New York because it was the right thing to do for Aunt Donna's funeral. I stayed once I realized that there was a problem, and at great cost to myself, and my career I continued to do the right thing. Every birthday, every father's day, I send that jack ass a card. Why do I do that when I know that there's no chance he'll reciprocate? Because it's the right thing to do. So you know what, I'm I don't want to hear about doing the right thing. I have always done the right thing, except now I'm thinking I'm done with the doing the right thing, because it sure as hell hasn't gotten me far. It's someone else's turn to step up."

"He's old Anthony" she says to me, "He can't apologize. A man like that, with all that hubris, he can't do what you are asking of him. He's still your father damn it! No matter how impossible he was growing up, you always had clothes, heat, and food on the table, always. You can't take that away from him."

I can actually feel my blood pressure rising.

"Aunt Louisa" I say with some finality, "He is my father, and I love him. So don't sit here and patronize me with these details. It doesn't change the fact that he did what he always does."

"Anthony-"

"No" I say cutting her off, "He wanted to offer me to the mafia. The mafia Aunt Louisa. Should I spell that out for you? I didn't do this, and I didn't break this family. This isn't on me. So don't you sit there and pretend like it is. You're not doing this to me."

"He's dying" she says her voice breaking, "Despite what he says he wants to know that you love him. He just has too much pride to say it to you. He can't apologize."

"Then tell him to grow a pair" I say and stand up. "Fathers are supposed to take care of their kids."

And that's it. I'm done. I walk away leaving her there, which upon reflection I'll think is dick of me, but I can't do it anymore, especially now. I'm in too much pain, and I have too much shit going on. The sooner I get home the better.

(Gibbs)

I walk out to try and find a nurse to get to tell them I'm leaving, but stop dead in my tracks as I see Peter DiNozzo and Tony coming in from opposite directions of the room, As they spot each other, I point for McGee to go back to the room and get our stuff which he does. DiNozzo doesn't need an audience for this. I creep up closer to a wall and eaves drop in. I'm giving Peter one chance here and if he blows it I'm going in there and telling him to shove it. However, it seems that Peter is out to shock me and Tony.

Peter DiNozzo is crying.

Tony is frozen in his spot, which seems fine because Peter doesn't need any prompting. He walks over to his son and embraces him for all he's worth. Tony swallows back his shock but doesn't return the hug, arms limp at his side.

Peter DiNozzo sniffles and pulls away. He puts his hands on his son's face and then hugs him again. This time Tony is more with the program and reluctantly puts his arms around his father. It's not a tight embrace on Tony's part but if Peter's smart enough he'll know what it took for Tony to do even that and he'll appreciate the gesture.

"I thought God was punishing me" Peter says quietly, and I really have to strain to hear it, "by taking you the same way he took my Rosie."

Tony is blinking and can't seem to handle the brutal honesty. He puts his hands down from his father, but his father will not let go.

"I'm good dad" Tony says back, "Just some stitches."

Dad, not father, not padre, but dad.

"Ah let me see" his father says and steps back to examine Tony's head. I too am curious and lean to see where exactly they are.

Peter gently turns Tony's head to get a better view which is fine for me because it exposes the bruise right at his hairline on the side by his ear. Tony however is not fine with the careful examination and is repeatedly squeezing his fists and a way to expel the nervous energy.

"I'm alright" Tony says gently.

Peter nods to himself apparently satisfied with the work of the doctors.

"Are you in pain?"

I think Tony's eyes are going to fall out of his head.

He shakes his head no.

"Here" Peter says taking a seat from, "Sit, sit. You're hurt."

Tony sinks in the chair looking at his father like he had two heads.

"You sure you're alright now?"

Tony nods, jaw hanging wide open.

"Do you need anything?"

Tony shakes his head no, eyes in disbelief.

"Well alright then" Peter says patting Tony on the shoulder, "You be good now."

And with that Peter DiNozzo leaves. Time seems to stand still for DiNozzo and he just is sitting there without emotion or movement. Well that was unexpected. Finally Tony seems to snap out of his trance and throws his arms up and looks up to the sky and mouths, "the hell?" He shakes his head and collapses into his arms.

I clear my throat and his head shoots up.

"Oh hey Gibbs" he says tiredly, "You're awake. How are you feeling? Boss, you know you really should be in bed."

I shake my head and take a seat next to him.

"You alright" I ask.

"Who me" he asks surprised, "Yeah, didn't McGee tell you? You were the one that got hit, I was fine."

I gently finger the stitching, and try to ignore the crusted blood.

"I'm okay Gibbs" he says.

I raise an eyebrow.

"What was that with your father?"

His eyes light up.

"Did you see that? What the hell was that? I can't believe he's even here! When I was shot in Baltimore I didn't even get a phone call."

Yeah but Rosemarie was never shot. This struck a chord.

"I swear Gibbs" he says, "I think the man just likes to fuck with me. I think that's it. All these years I think is just him getting some genuine satisfaction with screwing with my head. This isn't normal, normal people don't do shit like this."

"You okay" I ask again.

"No" he proclaims, "No I am not okay. You good to go? I got to go, I have to go now."

"How are your ribs?"

"Fine, fine, everything's fine, come on let's get out of here. Our stuff is packed in the car."

"Define 'here' DiNozzo."

He just looks at me. I swear sometimes I think he's insane.

"You want to back to DC tonight?"

"No" he says back, "I want to go back to DC now."

He looks at me sheepishly.

"Unless of course you're not feeling up to it."

I can tell though he expects me to feel up to it. What the hell, I can sleep in the car. He's still in worse shape than I am, and if he can do it, so can I. Also, he's been through worse than a car accident and I still made him work, so really I need to be getting my ass in that car or I will never hear the end of it.

"Alright" I tell him, "Let's blow out of here."

He looks relieved and runs off to find a nurse and hopefully McGee.

Within thirty minutes we are all situated in the emergency room parking lot and ready to go. McGee and I are inside the car waiting for DiNozzo to say his goodbye to Dominic. Dominic expressed some outrage that he was just leaving without say goodbye to anyone else but he got it. I could see that deep down he was as tired as DiNozzo with all the drama and he too just needed everything to end. However, neither he nor DiNozzo are quite ready for leaving each other. They have been saying goodbye for a while now. McGee has been sighing and moving in attempt to get me to say something but I told him to just let Tony have the time he needs. Except now that was twenty minutes ago and the two of them don't seem to be ready to leave one another anytime soon. For cryin' out loud.

I poke my head out the window.

"Hey" I say, "Tony's birthday is in five weeks. Why don't the two of you plan for then?"

Dominic's eyes light up.

"Yeah Tone" he says happily, "That's a great idea! You want to?"

Tony smiles right back, "Yeah yeah man. That's perfect. You can come for my birthday."

Dominic suddenly hugs Tony with all the ferocity in the world. It's interesting because Tony has absolutely no reserve about fully embracing his cousin. A new wave of sadness washes over me realizing that Tony lost this relationship for so many years. Finally they depart both with tears in their eyes and assure each other to keep the date.

And with that we're off.