AN: Here you go, chapter 28. I was really hoping to have this posted on Saturday, but a very scary situation happened where I lost vision in my left eye. After ER visits at three different hospitals, I found out I wasn't going blind (which I truly thought I was) and there's a good chance this will all resolve itself with time. Still made for a very emotional, tiring weekend though. In any case, as always, I appreciate your support and reviews so much. Not going to list everybody who reviewed this time, just because I'm really tired and need to go to bed, but I hopefully thanked you all individually. If I missed you, I'm really sorry and it definitely was nothing personal.
Thanks so much, all of you. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)
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From the look on Tony's face, it was obvious he was very upset and Ducky decided to forego the usual polite pleasantries. "Anthony? What is it? What's wrong?" he asked, looking at the young man worriedly.
Tony took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he tried to calm himself down. All he could think of though was that Gibbs had left him. "Nothing's wrong, Ducky," he finally managed to say in a relatively steady voice, in direct contrast to how he felt inside, his stomach tangled up in knots.
Ducky shook his head, not believing that for a second. "Something is most definitely wrong. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? Maybe I can help."
"No thanks," Tony said softly. "Its between me and Gibbs...you understand, don't you?" He looked at Ducky anxiously, not wanting to alienate yet another person in his life.
"Of course I understand, my boy." Ducky patted Tony's hand reassuringly. "If you change your mind though, I can be a very good listener."
Tony nodded and forced a faint smile. He knew that Ducky meant well and he usually would have been quite happy to visit with him, but the fact that Gibbs was gone was overshadowing everything else right now.
So, Abigail informed me that you had quite a nice visit earlier today..."
"Yeah...yeah we did..." Was that only today? It seemed much longer ago than that. He wondered where Gibbs had gone. He wondered if he was ever coming back.
Ducky sighed to himself. Tony was clearly preoccupied by whatever had transpired between him and Jethro. He wondered if it had anything to do with the earlier confrontation between Jethro and Tony's father. He couldn't imagine Jethro would have told Tony what his father had said though, not when the boy still clearly had some recovery time ahead of him.
"So what's new with you? Any interesting cases?"
"Ah yes, a most interesting one, reminds me of a similar case I had many years ago, in fact." Ducky launched into one of his tales and Tony went back to his thoughts of Gibbs and his father, the medical examiner's voice in the background providing some measure of comfort to him. At least he wasn't completely alone...
xxxxx
Gibbs got in his car and just drove with no real destination in mind. He was kicking himself for what had just happened with Tony. He had let his frustrations get the best of him. DiNozzo was sick and in an emotionally charged situation. He shouldn't have let things spiral out of control the way they had. Somehow, he ended up back at NCIS headquarters. He sat in his car, drumming his hands on his steering wheel, debating what to do. He certainly wasn't going to go anywhere near DiNozzo Sr., but he still had Luke O'Connell to contend with. He hadn't planned on talking with him today, but neither had he anticipated what had just happened with Tony. "Might as well just get it over with while I'm here," he mumbled to himself as he turned off the ignition and got out of his car.
xxxxx
Ducky stayed with Tony through dinner, patiently listening to the young man's complaints about the food which Ducky had to admit appeared to be valid. After dinner, Tony appeared very tired, yawning numerous times as he periodically rubbed his eyes. "I should go and let you get some rest, Tony," Ducky said as he stood up and stretched, feeling a bit stiff after the long time he had spent sitting in the chair by Tony's bedside.
Tony nodded. "Thanks, Ducky...I am pretty tired. I really appreciate you coming here."
"It was my pleasure. I'll be back to visit again," Ducky said as he began to head out. He had a slight twinge of conscience before he left though and turned back towards Tony. "Anthony? Are you quite certain that you're alright? Is there anything you'd like to talk about?"
"Well..." Tony suddenly realized there was one part of his plan that he hadn't considered. "Um...do you have any money you could lend me?" he asked. "Our wallets were taken when Bellingham and company first grabbed us."
"Of course I can loan you some," Ducky said, pulling out his wallet, "but please promise me you're not going to use it for pizza or other forbidden things."
"I promise, Ducky," Tony said with an easy smile. "I just want to use it for the television and phone. You have to pay for them with cash."
"Oh of course, that's no problem at all." Ducky handed the money to Tony and looked at him thoughtfully. "Are you sure that you're okay?" He knew he kept asking the same question, but he still did not believe all was well with him.
"I'm fine, Ducky...feeling much better since you've been here," Tony managed to pull off a relatively cheerful expression in an attempt to convince Ducky that all was well.
"I can stay longer," the older gentleman said as he started to head back to Tony's side.
"No! I mean...I'm really wiped out," Tony yawned again to emphasize his point. "I really need some sleep."
"Well...if you're sure…" He couldn't really put his finger on what was bothering him, but something seemed off with Tony.
"Honest, I'm doing good...just tired. It's been a long day..."
"Yes, I'm sure it has," Ducky said, nodding his head. "You get some rest then...I'll see you soon..."
"I'll see you, Ducky, thanks again..." Tony watched the older man as he left the room, then waited a few minutes before sitting up then reaching over to the nightstand beside his bed. He smiled to himself when he found his clothes and shoes neatly bundled in a plastic bag. Perfect.
xxxxx
Luke nervously watched Gibbs as he steadily paced back and forth across the interrogation room. He hadn't said a word and Luke found himself getting tenser by the second.
"How is your agent doing?" he finally asked when he couldn't bear the silence any longer. All he got from Gibbs in return was an intimidating glare.
Damn...Luke rubbed his forehead, finding that he was literally beginning to sweat. He was so pissed that he had ever answered DiNozzo's phone call. He was in a shitload of trouble and doubted he would ever get a chance to spend any of the money he had been given. This really sucked.
"Start from the beginning," Gibbs demanded, the sound of his voice unexpected and causing Luke to jump slightly.
"I...he...DiNozzo called me, offering me a job to take care of his kid..." Luke stammered.
"And you didn't think it was odd that he basically kidnapped him from the hospital?" Gibbs asked.
"Well…maybe a little bit, but he explained things and I just thought the guy was kinda odd, you know?"
Gibbs shook his head in disgust, but it wasn't really Luke he was mad at. His anger was stirring up all over again over how DiNozzo Sr. had endangered his son. "Then what?"
"Well, we went to the beach house and I still thought the guy was okay, at first. He spared no expense taking care of his kid, but then I started to have suspicions."
"About?"
"His son told me he was a federal agent...that he had been kidnapped. He seemed coherent and I believed him. I gave him my cell to call NCIS, but then his dad showed up and snatched the phone."
"Did he hurt him?" Gibbs asked bristling.
"No." Luke quickly shook his head. "He just said all this stuff...that his kid had some mental problems, lived in a fantasy world...that people didn't understand him." He shrugged. "It seemed plausible enough."
"You believed that?" Gibbs asked incredulously.
"Yes...no...I didn't know. I wasn't sure," Luke hesitated then met Gibbs' eyes. "He was always asking for you, constantly calling for his boss. His dad made up some story about how he was calling for a teddy bear he'd had as a kid."
Gibbs closed his eyes momentarily, trying to process everything. It sounded like Tony had been delirious through much of what had happened with his father. He had his doubts if his agent would ever be able to recall that time, he would have been too sick. "How did his father seem towards him during all this?"
"He seemed kind of cold...detached. He didn't seem to know how to take care of him, didn't even do anything simple like try to cool down his fever, simple stuff that would have seemed natural. Then..." he trailed off with a troubled expression on his face.
"Then what?" Gibbs asked.
"He was getting worse...fever of 104. I said we should bring him to the hospital...His father..."
"His father what?"
Luke shook his head, still not believing what had happened, even though he had been there and he knew that it had. "He said he was going to make a sandwich..."
"What?" Gibbs looked at Luke, dumbfounded. "A sandwich?"
"Yeah," Luke nodded. "I couldn't believe it...his kid is really sick, totally burning up with fever and his father wants to make a sandwich. I wanted to get him help, but hadn't figured out how to do it yet. Things just escalated from there. His kid was getting sicker and sicker, calling out for you to help him, which pissed his father off royally. He was screaming at him, telling him to shut up and then he just snapped and grabbed his neck, starting to choke him...that was when you came in..."
Gibbs nodded, pretty sure that Luke was telling him the truth and that this was how things had gone down. One thing he knew for sure was that Tony's father was a selfish bastard who didn't deserve to have a son like Tony. He had no idea how Tony had turned out as well as he had with a monster like that for a father.
"So...is his kid all right?" Luke asked after a few moments of silence.
"Tony..." Gibbs said. "His name is Tony."
"Is Tony going to be all right?"
Gibbs looked at Luke and believed that he was genuinely concerned about his agent. "Yeah. He's going to be fine."
"That's good," Luke said, seeming to be legitimately relieved. "I've been thinking about him. His father is a real whack job. No wonder he latched onto you."
Hearing that caused Gibbs' guilt to flare up all over again. He was pretty sure that Tony wouldn't take his leaving him very well. He needed to get back to the hospital to talk to the younger man and hopefully set things right with him.
"'Agent Gibbs?"
"Hmm?" Gibbs looked at Luke, momentarily brought out of his thoughts.
"What's going to happen to me now?"
Gibbs considered the question carefully. There were easily charges that he could bring against this man, but in the long run, he had definitely done Tony more good than harm. He shuddered to think of what might have happened if Luke had not been in the picture. There was a good chance Tony would have already been dead.
"You're going to have to stay in custody for a little bit longer, but I don't think there will be any charges filed against you," Gibbs said after giving the matter some thought.
"Really?" Luke gave Gibbs a surprised look, thinking that was too good to be true
Gibbs nodded. "You're going to have to be available as an eye witness, and this all hinges on what Agent DiNozzo wants to do, but I do believe you genuinely wanted to help him."
"Thank you. I really did want to help him," Luke stated, relieved beyond belief that this nightmare might truly be ending for him.
xxxxx
Tony had the timing down to a science. Now that he was getting better, the vital sign checks were a lot less frequent than they had been. He waited until the after dinner check before he made his move. If he could get out of there, he figured he would have some time before anyone noticed he was missing. Of course, if Gibbs came back, that would blow a hole through his plans, but he didn't really think Gibbs would be back, at least not tonight...maybe he wouldn't be coming back at all...
Painstakingly, he pulled out the IV and began to dress himself. His clothes smelled like smoke which brought back images of being trapped in the fire and made him feel a little bit nauseous. Getting dressed took a lot more effort than he anticipated, and he almost decided to abort the whole plan, but he needed to see his father. He had to determine for himself what the truth was and what he needed to do.
Once he was dressed, with Ducky's money firmly situated in his pocket, he carefully made his way out of his room and, avoiding the nurse's station, made his way down a side staircase. He felt spells of dizziness a couple of times and had to stop, tightly clinging to the railing on his way down. 'Anthony, this might not be your brightest move,' he said to himself when he finally reached the bottom. He was somewhat breathless and needed to stop for a bit to try to catch his breath. Finally, he felt well enough to exit the stairwell and make his way into the main lobby. He was easily able to blend in with the people milling about and moments later was on the sidewalk outside the main entrance of the hospital. Luckily, a taxi was dropping off a passenger and Tony was able to grab the cab.
A few minutes later, he was on his way to NCIS headquarters...