Previously...
Tony quickly thanked him as he took the eggs and walked out the front door, smiling to himself as he saw Abby, one of his best friends walk out with Ziva and two other Israeli's who he could only perceive as her siblings. "Yup, today's gonna be a good day." Tony thought to himself as he ran over to join them on the walk to the bus stop.
Tony made his way over to talk to Ziva, eating his eggs on the way. Immediately Abby perked up and ran over to him, much to the bemusement of the others. "Tony!" Abby squealed as she jumped on top of him, arms wrapped around his neck and legs wrapped around his midsection. Thankfully Tony had fast reactions, so by the time she was on top of him, he was holding his eggs above his head with one hand. "Abbs...can't...breathe..." Tony choked out. Abby jumped off him with a concerned expression on her face, "Oh sorry Tony! Are you ok?" Abby questioned, already hyper from the Caf-Pow she had that morning. "Yeah I'm ok." Tony responded nonchalantly as he continued to eat his eggs. Amused Ziva asked him, "Why are you still eating, Tony?" Trying to hide a smirk she took a piece of his scrambled eggs and threw it up so she could catch it in her mouth. Tony decided he would mess with her a bit, so he tipped the egg midair so it hit her cheek. As it fell off, he caught it in midair and put it in his own mouth. As Ziva stood there slightly shocked at seeing what just happened, Tony licked his finger and wiped off the smear of egg that got and Ziva's cheek. "I'll let you know when you can have my eggs." Tony said as he threw in a small piece of scrambled egg in Ziva's mouth that was slightly agape.
Ziva turned a light shade of pink as she walked to the bus stop with everyone else. "Tali," Ari whispered in Tali's ear, "Did you just see that? This is not the Anthony DiNozzo Abby told us about last night." Tali said, "I know what you mean. He doesn't seem so bad at all." as she glanced at Tony. As they approached the bus stop, they saw four figures crowding around another. As they got closer, Tony recognized them immediately. The four figures were the Seniors that just came last year. They were all on the Varsity Football Team; Dylan was the Middle Linebacker, Kyle was the Center, Jason was the Full-Back, and Eric was the Defensive End. The figure they were crowding around was McGee, and he was being shoved around.
"Haha McGeek!" Dylan chanted as he repeatedly shoved McGee into Jason, who in turn shoved him right back into Dylan. Kyle and Eric were standing on either side of him, laughing at him. "HEY!" Tony shouted as he dropped his eggs and stalked towards them. "What the FUCK do you think you're doing, huh!?" Tony shouted again as he got the attention of all five boys. They all turned towards Tony, the football players smirking as they let McGee fall to the ground. "Messing around with this nerd. What the hell are you going to do about it, Sophomore?" Dylan yelled back as he folded his arms across his chest, trying to appear intimidating. That's when Tony lost it, and he immediately threw two punches to his face, then kneeing him in the chest, sending him flying to the ground. Jason threw a punch at Tony, which he easily countered as he grabbed it and using his forward momentum, threw him towards the ground face-first. Kyle went to go tackle Tony to the ground, but he thrust his knee forward, catching him in the face, causing him to stumble backwards. Eric jumped on top of his back, trying to bring him down, but he threw him over his shoulder, causing him to land on top of Kyle.
Ari, Tali, Abby, and Ziva were already running over to help him, but by the time they got there, Tony was already helping McGee off the ground. "You alright McGee?" Tony asked with a concerned expression on his face as he carefully examined his face. "I'm fine Tony, thanks for helping me out." McGee said as he saw Abby barreling towards him, arms sticking out. "TIMMY! Are you ok?" Abby asked as she took McGee in an embrace. "I'm fine Abbs." McGee replied, sending a grateful look towards Tony who was picking up his leftover eggs. Ziva, Ari, and Tali were all shocked to see in person at how good a fighter Tony was, not to mention strong. "Tony, h-how did you do that?" Ari asked. He was already an eligible Mossad Operative, and not once had he ever seen such power, speed, and technique in someone's fighting. Tony simply shrugged his shoulders as he held up his eggs, "Protein." he replied nonchalantly, shoving another mouthful of eggs in his mouth. Ari, Ziva, and Tali just stood there staring at Tony who at this point was following the beat-up Seniors on the bus, Abby and McGee close behind. "You guys coming?" Tony shouted, snapping them out of their trance. They all simply nodded as they followed Abby and McGee onto the bus.
Tony took a seat in the back corner of the bus where none dared sit. The beat-up football players sulked as they plopped down in the front, earning stares from all the students on the bus, seeing their bodies bruised and battered. However, McGee, Abby, Ziva, Tali, and Ari all took a seat with him in the back, much to the surprise of the other students. Tony simply sat down and stared out the window, still thinking about that day. McGee and Abby sat next to each other in the seat in front of him, Tali, Ziva, and Ari sitting next to each other in the seat across his. Tony extracted a picture from his backpack, a picture of his mom and Tony at the movies, only a week before she was murdered. She wore a brilliant smile, completely forgetting her troubling husband, and Tony was grinning like an idiot, hugging his mom. He would stare at this picture every day when he was at home, but he just needed the extra comfort today. Today was the first day he had been happy without Chris.
Ziva noticed the tear slide down Tony's cheek, wearing a sad expression on his face. He was staring at some kind of picture, but she couldn't get a good look. Wanting to comfort him as well as see the picture, she moved over to sit next to Tony, not acknowledging her presence at all as he seemed lost in the picture. She lightly tapped his shoulder and he spun around immediately, a haunted look in his eyes. "Oh, it's just you. Is there something you need, Ziva?" Tony asked as he tore his gaze back to the window. Ziva pondered for a moment, wondering if she should press him for information, but feeling guilty for pressing him at a vulnerable moment. Eventually the curiosity won over, and she decided to ask him little by little. "Can I see the picture you were looking at?" Ziva asked, already trying to get a peak at the picture. Tony sat just staring into her eyes, looking for an explanation. They stared into each others eyes for a minute, before Tony glanced back at the photo. With a large sigh, he gave the photo to Ziva.
Taking it gently, she examined the photo. After staring at it for a couple of moments, she deduced that this was Tony with his mom at the movies, probably during summer break seeing as they were dressed in shorts and t-shirts, a bright sun shining in the back. Tony looked as if he didn't have a care in the world, just a silly and innocent kid who cared more about girls and sports than his future and school. Not wanting to make false assumptions, she looked back to Tony who was still staring at the picture. "Is this your mother?" Ziva asked as she pointed at the woman in the photo. Being snapped out of his trance, he blinked a couple times before answering with a simple "Yes." Ziva decided to take it slowly, so she waited another minute before asking another question. "When was this?" Ziva inquired, holding a steady gaze at Tony.
Tony sat there for a moment simply looking into Ziva's eyes, pondering what he could say. 'It was a week before my mother died' or 'it was before my dad became a serial killer and murdered my mom right in front of my eyes while I sat there tied to a chair, having to watch as he brutally ripped out her eyes and gutted her.' Nah, that would be a dick move. He quietly responded with, "A week into Summer Break, before I became a Freshman." Tony almost whispered as he look back out the window. Ziva couldn't help but feel guilty, seeing as how this was a difficult topic for Tony to talk about and she wasn't making it any easier. Still, there was something Tony wasn't telling her, and she wanted to know what it was.
McGee, Abby, Ari, and Tali all sat there pretending they weren't listening when in fact they heard all of it. This was new information to all of them, and it became obvious that something happened to his mom, and they too wanted to know. They all made a mental note not to push Tony into saying anything more, but would instead ask Jenny or Gibbs what they knew. A few minutes later they pulled into the school, ready to start the school day as they got off the bus.