Gibbs had to fight to keep his face impassive as his careful fingers worked across the bruised and swollen skin. Despite what Tony had said he sat stoically, not making a sound, even when Gibbs knew it had to hurt like hell. Even so, the dark red blood, flowing sluggishly from a cut low on his back where the leather had bit deeper was a surprise. Crimson fluid had soaked into the waist band of DiNozzo's jeans in a dark crescent shape. Lifting his hands, Gibbs jaw clenched in fury. It was a dammed good job Matthews was already dead.
"Boss?" Tony twisted around, his eyes wide and concerned at the abrupt loss of contact.
"This one's still bleeding," Gibbs wiped all expression from his face, not wanting DiNozzo to think his fury was directed at him. He deliberately kept his tone matter of fact. But wild, anxious look on Tony's face compelled the parent in him to add a reassuring pat to his Agent's shoulder before he departed. "Hold on."
It only took a few moments to double time it downstairs to the basement and retrieved his first aid kit. As he returned to his patient and flipped open the lid he saw the way the investigator in DiNozzo instinctively narrowed his eyes at the professionally equipped box.
"You cut yourself a lot?" He asked curiously.
"Try not to." Gibbs allowed with a wry smile. Most people assumed that that the comprehensive kit he had had Ducky put together for him was just a refection of a Marine's need to anticipate and be prepared. He already knew DiNozzo wasn't most people. "This is going to need stitches."
Tony pressed his lips together. At the ER, the welts hadn't been that bad. But he knew that he had been pushing himself too hard, doing too much, more than enough to prise open the wounds. And if he was honest with himself Gibbs' deft touch was more welcome that the clinical but impersonal professionalism of the Hospital staff.
"I'm guessing you've done this before."
"Not my first time," Gibbs acknowledged, somewhat humbled by his Agent's faith in him. After all, it was at least partly his arrogance that had got DiNozzo into this mess. This was the least he could do. "But there's no aesthetic."
Tony nodded, accepting that. Given the choice he'd take pain over humiliation any day.
"Do it."
His tone was resolute but Gibbs didn't miss the way the younger man's shoulders stiffened and his spine straightened as he braced himself for the discomfort. Stalking over to one of his kitchen cabinets Gibbs pulled out a bottle of his better liquor and poured a generous measure into an actual glass, placing the glass on the table beside his Agent with an audible click.
"Drink." His tone brooked no argument.
"Boss," Predictably, Tony argued anyway. The prospective loss of control from a mixture of pills, exhaustion and alcohol scared him far more than the prospect of pain. "I can take it."
He wasn't prepared for the way Gibbs shook his head sharply, before grasping his jaw in one large, work calloused, hand, bringing his chin up to meet bright blue eyes, unexpectedly soft with concern, but no less determined for that.
"I know you can, but you don't have to. I've got your six."
"But," Tony bit his lip, before he raised his eyes, dark and questioning, trying to reconcile this overt concern with Gibbs actions in recent days. "You left. At the Hospital, you were mad as hell and then you left. I thought .."
Gibbs stilled. It hadn't occurred to him that DiNozzo would interpret his actions as abandonment. But then he hadn't exactly gone out of his way to explain himself either. He might have to think about that. Hadn't DiNozzo already made it crystal clear that he wasn't about to follow him blindly?
"You still haven't taken your mandatory physical," Gibbs reminded him. "And since you never mentioned Matthews' assault in your after action report Human Resources were refusing to class the assault as in the line of duty. They were refusing to cover the Hospital Bills."
"Gibbs," Tony paled slightly. His previous Health cover had lapsed as soon as he had left BPD That would have been a lot of money, which he simply didn't have right now.. Even worse he had spent enough time around the ex-marine to realise that Gibbs didn't always take no for an answer. "Please tell me you didn't actually main anyone."
"Someone had to set then straight." Gibbs was uncompromising. He had gone straight from the ER back to the crime scene, searching on hands and knees under weight benches and monkey bars until he found the wide leather belt were it had been flung in a corner. Hating himself for needing to ask, he had had Abby match the blood stains on it to DiNozzo's records. Admittedly, Morrow had been less than pleased by the way he had stormed into HR and slammed the physical and forensic evidence down on the desk of the guy in charge, almost causing him to loose control of his bladder as he brow beat him into changing his mind. But DiNozzo had already paid once for his mistake, Gibbs sure as hell wasn't gonna let that happen a second time.
"So, does this mean I don't have to take the physical?" Tony joked.
Gibbs shook his head, part in admiration, part in bemusement. DiNozzo was nothing if not unpredictable.
"Hell, no, they'll probably give you a whole bunch of shots you don't need in revenge." Gibbs snorted, before edging the glass a little closer to DiNozzo's elbow. The younger man might be able to distract most people most of the time but Gibbs was determined to be the exception. "Drink."
Helpless to do anything else, Tony pressed his lips together, before he simply nodded his acknowledgement and reached out to take a healthy swallow of the smooth, warm, liquid, feeling the comforting burn as it slid down his throat and into his chest, as Gibbs carefully swabbed the cut clean.
"I really do appreciate this, Boss," He felt the mixture of booze and pills loosening his tongue. "Especially, after everything that's happened. It's more than I deserve."
"You let me worry about what you deserve," Gibbs countered in his usual gruff manner. Then he shook his head. He remembered Shannon saying once that if you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you've always got or something not un-like that. If they were going to fix this thing he needed to go the extra mile. Swallowing hard he decided a little honestly was in order. "I wouldn't have been so hard on you if you hadn't been so damned stubborn and taken the sick leave like you were supposed to."
"I should have told you about, Matthews." Tony responded to his overture with an admission of his own.
"Yeah, you should have," Gibbs agreed. Then he sighed, remembering his own part in this whole mess. "But I should never have sent you in without back up. Morrow was right about that."
Tony's eyes widened slightly as he recognised the statement for the apology it was. More than that, Gibbs wasn't demanding answers about his actions that he wasn't yet ready to give. And much as Tony respected and admired the ex-marine a hot bath and a home cooked meal, weren't enough to make him spill his guts, although, the unexpected compassion in the way Gibbs had taken care of him was coming pretty damned close. He wasn't used to that.
"I'll bet you were a great Dad," He observed wistfully, not noticing the slight slur developing in his own voice. "Not everyone is you know, they should make people take some kind of test or something before they can conceive and mess up their kids for life."
"Your Dad mess you up?" Gibbs asked casually, focusing on his task of drawing the sterilised needle through the delicate skin, even as his chest tightened in anticipation of the answer.
"Technically, my Dad didn't do a damn thing, half the time, which was pretty much the problem," Tony acknowledged with a raw honesty cut Gibbs to the quick, as the younger man took another large swallow of the liquor. "Half the time I'm not sure he even noticed I was alive. Explains a whole lot, huh?"
Gibbs narrowed his eyes. In the circumstances he wasn't sure Tony would even remember having this conversation in the morning. And he knew he was being a grade 'A' bastard for taking advantage of the kid when he hurting, but he needed answers and DiNozzo was just too good at smoke and mirrors.
"What about the other half of the time?"
"He beat me," Tony observed flatly, as he drained the glass, looking sadly into the bottom of it, before turning it upside down as if to check it was really was empty. "With his belt, his hairbrush, his slipper, one time a piece of electrical wiring, not his hands though, never his hands. God forbid he should actually touch me."
"Aw, hell, DiNozzo." Gibbs breathed, feeling sickeningly like a voyeur.
He knew that Tony would never have shared such intimate personal details, if he hadn't been worn down by pills, alcohol and exhaustion, and worst of all, his inherent sense of safety and security being in Gibbs own home offering a sense of safety and security which simply would not have been achievable at the office or even in his own apartment.
"Um, Boss?" Tony turned to look at him, his face tinged with an unhealthy green as the alcohol mixed with pills and exhaustion, turned his empty stomach. "I don't feel so good."