A.N! When a child with autism has a melt down it is through no fault of their own and can be caused by something minor or something more traumatic. It is difficult for them to get their emotions under control afterwards and even tougher to identify the reason they were upset in the first place. Never punish your Aspergers' child if they have a melt down, it is perfectly normal, as overwhelming emotions in reaction to daily situations are a common trait in Asperger's Syndrome. They do not like surprises or being surprised, so if the child is having a melt down do not go up to him/her and suddenly hug them, they are sure to react badly and the melt down will be much worse, if anything, ask the child persmission and respect their wishes if they simply want to be left alone to cope with their emotions at the moment.
Sorry for the long A.N, but I believe this information relevant in order to continue!
Btw, take these all as individual one-shots and try not to mind the ages of the older members from team Gibbs :O thanks, and enjoy.
The five year-old had been unusually quiet all day. Tony didn't like interacting with people much, but he was a blabber mouth, and had been since the age of two. Gibbs had been worried about bringing him into work today, but not having a last minute babysitter, and completely forgetting it was a half a day in Tonys' school that day, he'd been a half hour late to pick him up, and had had no choice but to bring him into work.
Gibbs wondered if him being late to pick his son up from school had been what had the five year-old so flustered. It had only been a few months since he'd found out about his sons' condition and he was still getting used to everything and more than anything reading up on the Syndrome. He was glad at times like these that he had Abby and Ducky in his corner to help.
His new team was rather probie-ish, and consisted of two females and a male. He hadn't appointed senior field agent to anyone as of yet, as they were still all learning, and on similar levels still. Caitlyn Todd was the oldest of the three, at twenty-six, and was an expert profiler and had been a body gaurd for the president of the U.S. Next came Ziva David, at twenty-five, a mossad agent, a trained killing machine at this point. And finally, Timothy McGee, also twenty-five, computer genius graduate from MIT. In short, Gibbs knew all three of his current agents were pretty untrianed when it came down to investigating, but knew that under the right leadership the three would make fine agents one day.
Gibbs had briefly explained to his co-workers of his sons' condition, when Abby had mentioned it in the lab once, thinking he'd come by himself, so he knew now the three were all waiting anxiously to meet his son in the bullpen.
Tony was moody today. He didn't know why school had ended early, or why his dad was the last to show up to pick him up, or why the teacher had yelled at him today when he got up and went to the bathroom without asking for permission. He simply didn't see why he had to ask that woman for permission to do something he did normally without having to ask beforehand.
So, he was in a bad mood, and he didn't want to talk and he hadn't acknowleged his fathers' apologies in the car for having forgot to pick him up and he didn't care that he was meeting his dads subordinates for the first time today, he just wanted to go down to autopsy and watch Ducky poke around in corpses. It held his interest in a mobid fashion.
Before he knew it, they were at the bullpen. He refused to look up at anyone, or anything. He'd never been to the bullpen before, only to Ducky and Abbys labs. There were far too many people here, it made him angsty and he pulled at his sleeve.
"Tony, this is my team." Gibbs introduced, feeling a little nervous himself for some reason.
Ziva stared at the boy. "You are very small for your age." she said, speaking directly to Tony, and not to Gibbs, as some adults would do. "My name is Ziva, it is a pleasure to meet you."
Tony looked up briefly, nodded. "It is a pleasure to meet you Zee-vah." he over-enunciated.
To Gibbs' utter shock, it was Ziva who his child ended up getting along with best out of his team. Although it really should not have come as a surprise. Ziva and Tony were alike in some aspects, like in that a lot of the time neither knew how to deal with people in social situations and never really comprehended idioms and metaphors.
Kate and McGee had not done as well. Kate felt awkward around Tony, didn't really understand anything about Aspergers' Syndrome, and at times it felt more like Tony was mocking her or being quite rude, when it was actually a part of his condition, and she couldn't tell when to brush it off and when to tell him to mind his manners. Tim had done a lot of research over the topic of Aspergers' as soon as his Boss had told him about his childs' condition, but being in the same room with an autistic child was nothing like reading about it online.
Since they'd been working on nothing but cold cases all day so far, Ziva volunteered to bring the young boy down to autopsy. "You have an odd name. Ducky says 'Don't say rude things', but I don't that's rude, I am only pointing out that your name isn't common." Tony told her, once they were on the elevator.
Ziva chuckled. "You are right. My name is not very common in this country, as yours is not in mine."
The five year old nodded, distracted by the numbers on the elevator. "Gibbs is a funny name too." he said. "Tony Gibbs. Isn't that funny? I think that's funny. A lot of people don't get my funny, but I think it's funny. Abby says it is eccentric. But I just think it's funny, because Gibbs sounds like a fish."
"Do not tell your father, but I believe his name in general to be quite funny." Ziva agreed.
Tony looked down and smiled a little. He liked the way she spoke. "This is my floor." he announced. "This is Duckys lab, he's waiting for me so I have to get off here." without waiting for a response he got off the elevator. She watched carefully as he made his way into Duckys lab, smiled, got back on the elevator, and went back upstairs. She was not usually fond of children, but this one, she thought maybe she could get along with.
"Anthony, dear lad, how are we today?" Ducky greeted the boy. Tony ignored Ducky, sat on the floor, took out a worn notebook from his backpack and a pencil, and starts writing numbers in it, math problems and factors. Ducky raised a brow. "Is something the matter?" he asked.
Tony continued to ignore the doctor, and Ducky left it at that for now, knowing that if he kept pushing for more, he'd only aggravate the small boy, but kept in mind that something might be wrong.
An hour later, Palmer and Ducky were examining the body of a young corporal, when Tony tossed his book to the side and started crying, startling both men. Jimmy crouched down next to Tony and asked, "Hey kiddo, what's wrong?"
Tony sobbed, "I want something orange to drink." he demanded, bawling his little eyes out, chest heaving.
Palmer immediately got up and went upstairs to the breakroom to get the five year-old a beverage. Ducky though, had learned enough about the ailment in these last several months that he knew something more was amiss. When Jimmy came back a few minutes later, an orange juice in his hands, and gave it to Tony, the five year-old yelled "No! I want something orange! Why can't I have something orange?" he cried, fat tears sliding down his cheeks.
Jimmy blanched. "Oh God, I'm sorry? Did you mean, like orange soda pop? Because I can go get tha-"
Ducky cut the young man off. "I see your intentions are good Mr. Palmer, but an orange drink is not what Anthony really wants right now." the older man clarified. "Can you go get Jethro for me, please?" he asked his associate, who scrammbled up from the floor and ran off to get Gibbs.
Gibbs had made is downstairs in record time, and Ducky was sure his old friend had used the stairs in the rush he'd been in. "What's wrong, what happened?"
"I believe something is wrong with Anthony, something besides what he claims to be crying about." Ducky explained.
Gibbs couldn't stand to see his son crying so helplessly like that, and went to swoop him off the floor and hold him close, when Ducky warned him against it, "Ask for permission Jethro, you will startle the poor lad."
Gibbs grimaced at the memories that came flooding back of the year prior to this one, could remember the four year-old toddler screaming for dear life in his arms, wanting to be put down, running away from him, thinking he had to be the worst father in the world, until his son had been diagnosed, he had blamed himself for Tonys' distant behaviour. He knew better now. "Hey baby-boy, it's Daddy," he crouched down next to the distraught five year-old. "Can I give you a hug?" he asked very cautiously, his voice soft.
Tony continued to sob, but after a minute, he nodded almost subtly. Gibbs gently cradled his son in his arms. "Baby, what's wrong? Did something bad happen today? Are you mad at me for being so late? I'm really sorry about that." he apologized genuinely, holding his boy closer.
Tony sniffled, "Th-the teacher yelled at me today. She yelled because I forgot to ask to go, I had to go to the bathroom, and she got mad at me. I don't like when people yell." he gasped, trying to stifle his sobs, "A-and then, everyone laughed at me. But I didn't think it was very funny so I don't know why they laughed. It wasn't funny. Ziva knows what's funny. They don't." He complained, rubbing his watery eyes, "You forgot me t-today, even though I reminded you this morning, I told you 'Pick me up at 12:30.' You still forgot, and you only remember i-important things, so that means I'm not important." he sobbed, tears and snot running down his cherubic little face. "And tha's not very nice, to forget people." he concluded.
Gibbs heart broke at his sons' explanation. For any five year-old, that morning alone would have been troubling, but for a child with Aspergers', the stress amounted and trippled. He felt like the crummiest Dad in the world right then. "Baby, I'm so so sorry. You are the most important thing in my life and I can't believe I forgot to pick you up earlier, I was in a rush this morning, but that's not a good excuse, I shouldn't have forgotten today was a half-day. I'm so sorry, honey, I am, and I promise never to forget again." he hugged his son, relieved when Tony didn't struggle to get away at the tighter grip.
"You have to keep promises, so you can't back out of it, because a promise is a promise, so you can't forget again or you'll be breaking your promise. You have to be sure when you make a promise, because those can't be taken lightly." Tony muttered into his Dads shirt.
Gibbs softly kissed the top of his sons head, "I promise." he whispered.