A/N: Vacation was much fun, especially seeing all my family, but I am so glad to be home. I even missed my 106 degree heat. Summer is sadly over for me this year and since I start summer semester the first week of July, I'm going to try to get ahead on this story so the updates don't suffer to badly.

That being said, thanks so much for your reviews. If I don't reply, know that I enjoy each once and that I love hearing from your guys. And now, the next update.

Chapter Twenty

Boss goes to work a lot of the time now. But he doesn't work all the time which is good. Sometimes, he stays home with me and Baron and sometimes when he's home, Elijah will go somewhere else or stay with us too.

Elijah has his own room too, that Boss gave him cause sometimes Boss doesn't come home at night but most of the time he does which is good because I don't like going to bed when Boss isn't home.

But Elijah is always around when Boss isn't here and Elijah's pretty cool. He's big, taller than me and Boss, and he's really big. He's funny though, and he talks lots more than Boss sometimes does. Elijah is here when Boss isn't here and even though I don't like it when Boss isn't here, I like it when Elijah's here.

Elijah use to be in the Navy which is different from the Marines, which was what Boss was in. Elijah has dog tags too that he still wears only his don't go clink clink on his chest cause he doesn't walk funny like I do.

Elijah can cook lots of foods too, which is good and bad because I like his food but he just cooks even when I want pizza which is I guess okay but I really miss eating pizza.

Elijah likes watching movies with me but sometimes he does other stuff. He's taking a class or something, cause he reads a lot of stuff and he has to write things and sometimes, when I wake up from my nap, he's on the laptop clicking away and reading.

Elijah says he's reading all that stuff cause he wants to be a doctor, like Brad and Clarke and the other doctors that helped me get better. I told him I didn't want him to be a doctor though, cause all doctors carrying those things that listen to my lungs and those things are always cold.

Elijah laughed cause he knew what I meant cause a couple of days ago me and him and Baron went to go see Brad cause I started coughing. I had to keep this thing on my mouth and the air that came out of it wasn't like normal air. It made my tongue all gross and it smelled funny and Brad gave a machine just like it to Elijah for me to use because Brad said I have asthma that's bad which means my lungs sometimes tighten up and don't want to work right, just like my bad leg or my bad arm like to do sometimes.

I don't like the machine because Elijah makes me keep the thing over my mouth and nose after lunch and before I take a nap. Sometimes the stuff is okay though cause it doesn't taste gross because sometimes Elijah hooks it up to another thing which puts water-air out of the mask that's on my face.

But Elijah knows when I need it cause he says I get wheezy which means I sound like the penguin on Toy Story 2 even though my squeeker isn't broken.

But me and Elijah and Baron are going to visit Boss at work today cause I haven't seen him in two days and it's a surprise so I have to be real quiet about it because I'm really good at keeping secrets.

"Come on Tony," Elijah said, fiddling with Tony's nebulizer, "Let's get a treatment done before we go visit Boss."

"Secret. Gross. I don't like that," Tony scowled at the mask that Elijah was currently holding up for him. He bit his lip and looked up at Elijah almost sheepishly, as if he had just spoke a cardinal sin.

"I know Tony but you're getting wheezy and its cold outside. I don't want it to get worse," Elijah brought the machine over, closer to where Tony was sitting watching a TV show, and re-plugged it into the wall, "Here. You watch the rest of that Magnum episode and by the time it's done, we'll be ready to go surprise Boss."

"Episode. Secret. Promise?" Tony lifted his good hand slowly to retrieve the mask that Elijah was still holding. He was still looking at the mask doubtfully, as if he didn't completely believe the mask wasn't going to jump out of Elijah's hand and attack his face.

"Promise," Elijah nodded and smiled when Tony nodded in return and allowed Elijah to place the mask securely on his face, "Besides, this one is just steam. None of that gross stuff till tonight."

"Water. Gross. Okay," Tony's voice was muffled from behind the mask but Elijah could see the smile on Tony's face despite it, "Then secret? Surprise?"

"Yeah Tony, then we'll go surprise Boss," Elijah made sure Tony was set before heading to the front room to gather Tony's coat and make sure Tony had on a good pair of warm shoes. Tony had recently been re-fitted with a walking AFO for his weaker side and because of the added bulkiness, not all of Tony's shoes fit him anymore. Thankfully though, Tony's favorite pair of shoes still fit him perfectly.

Glancing at the clock after he had made sure to pack all of Tony's meds and a change of clothes, just in case, Elijah was just about to head back to retrieve Tony for their trip when Baron's barking alerted the aide that someone was at the front door.

Making sure real quick that Baron wasn't barking because of an oncoming seizure, Elijah looked through the view hole and quirked an eyebrow when a well dressed older man knocked patiently on the door once again.

"Hello?" Elijah asked after opening the door, "Can I help you?"

"Is Special Agent Gibbs here?" the man asked, a charming smile on his face as the stranger rubbed his hands together to ward off the mid-day chill.

"No," Elijah asked, his voice slightly weary but not suspicious, "He is currently unavailable at the moment. Can I ask who you are?"

"Ah, I was just wondering if you would happen to know where Tony DiNozzo is at the moment? I've been trying to get in contact with him as you see but-"

"Why do you need to get a hold of Tony?" Elijah asked, his instincts telling him that something was definitely "odd" about the guy in front of him. And while Elijah was certain he had never seen the guy before, something about him seemed familiar to Elijah, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"I'll just try another time," the man said, his eyes shifting really quick to something behind Elijah before he focused once again on the Elijah, "Thank you for your help anyway."

Elijah watched the man leave in the taxi he had come in and shook his head as he turned around.

"Blue. Run. Who's," Tony spoke, not two feet behind Elijah, "Boss?"

"No Tony," Elijah shook his head and reached over to lead Tony to the couch so that he could put on Tony's shoes, "We're going to go see Boss right now. Did the steam stop before you took off the mask?"

Tony nodded before opening his mouth, "Quiet. Big. Rain. Not Boss?" Tony asked, his eyes glancing from the door to Elijah as his good hand massaged his tense weaker hand, "At the door?"

"You saw who was at the door Tony?" Elijah asked as he tied up Tony's last shoe.

"Boss. Yes," Tony nodded and frowned, biting his lip as he looked from Elijah to the closed door.

"Do you know who it was Tony?" Elijah asked, not liking the look on Tony's face. Tony looked devastated and heartbroken for a few seconds before he closed his eyes.

"Secret. Can we go see Boss now?" Tony asked, opening his eyes but not meeting Elijah's gaze.

Realizing he wasn't going to get Tony to answer the question for whatever reason, Elijah tapped Tony on the knee to get his attention, "Yeah Tony. Let's go see Boss."

"Work. Good," Tony nodded before helping Elijah put on his coat so that they could go visit Boss at work.

When Gibbs' heard the ding of the elevator, he huffed in annoyance before looking back down at his desk. He wanted to wrap up this case.

He needed to.

Not just because he wanted to get the murderer and slam his or her butt in jail, but because he hadn't been home in two days.

And he had gotten use to seeing Tony every day since the boy had been released from the hospital.

He's not a boy, Gibbs' inner voice told him, He's a grown man with a severe traumatic brain injury, not a five year old child.

But, Gibbs responded to himself, he's my ward in all ways including legally.

He should know. About his father, the voice continued, picking at a sore spot for Gibbs, He's a grown man, he should make some decisions regarding-

Tony made his decision when he signed for me to be his power of attorney if anything were to happen to him, Gibbs scowled realizing he was arguing with himself, And I'm his guardian which means' I'm in charge of all decision making.

This is going to come and bite you back in the ass, the voice said before Gibbs let out a small growl of frustration and stood, throwing away his empty container of coffee. He was in the process of reaching into his desk drawer to pull out his wallet so he could go buy some more when he heard the familiar clink clink coming from the opening elevator.

"Boss!" Gibbs looked up just as Tony rounded the office divider. His boy's eyes were bright with happiness as he hurried forward to give his Boss a hug, "Secret. Surprise. You smell all scruffy Boss."

Seeing Tony, especially a genuinely happy Tony, made the anger Gibbs had been feeling dissipate. Tony's presence was the light that made Gibbs realize that his problems, his shadows, weren't as frustrating or as dark as he had thought they were.

"What are you doing here buddy?" Gibbs hugged Tony back and rubbed the younger man's back comfortingly, "Shouldn't you be at therapy today?"

"Secret. Surprise. Surpirse!" Tony pushed away from Gibbs so that he could look at his face when he spoke but he kept a firm hold of Gibbs' vest with his good hand as he talked, "Blue. Boss. We came to say surprise for you. Cause you haven't been house-um home in a long time."

Gibbs felt something lurch inside him and even though he knew Tony was well taken care of while he was at work, the scene in front of him suddenly made him miss the old days, back when he had worked side by side with Tony at NCIS.

But now instead of chasing down murderers, Gibbs and Tony worked together just to relearn how tie a shoelace.

"Sorry I've been gone for so long," Gibbs adjusted the strap on Tony's helmet, "I've been working at catching bad guys."

"Run. Bad. I missed you Boss," Tony nodded at Gibbs explanation though Gibbs doubted Tony was really listening. Suddenly, Tony's smile lost some of its brightness as his face crumbled, "Blue. Rain. Secret. I missed you."

Gibbs enveloped Tony in a hug again, feeling the small shudders of Tony's shoulders as his ward started to crying quietly.

"Hey Eli," Gibbs nodded towards Tony's aid, who was currently holding Baron's leash, a backpack slung over his broad shoulders, "Everything alright today?"

"Yeah," Elijah said, "His asthma is still pretty bad so no physical therapy till next week, which is why we decided to surprise you today."

Gibbs nodded at Elijah's explanation before rubbing Tony's back as Tony's cries reduced themselves to hiccups, "You okay Tony?"

"Rain. Cr-cry. I'm sad," Tony wheezed before biting his lip, "Breathe. Gross. I think my squeaker's broken Boss."

Not understanding what Tony meant, Gibbs just hugged his boy again and helped him use the emergency inhaler that Elijah produced from the backpack.

"That's alright Tony," Gibbs said, "I'm pretty good at fixing everything."

When I was shorter and littler, I had a big room.

It was big and the bed was high and I couldn't get up there by myself.

I remember sometimes I need help because I couldn't do it by myself. I remember that I would sometimes fall off but I could always catch myself because I didn't have a bad side when I was littler and both of my hands and both of my feet worked just fine.

But cause I couldn't get up on my bed, I had a secret.

Underneath my bed was a place I kept all the secret stuff, like thing I found that I knew I wasn't suppose to have like a pocket knife that wasn't mine.

But I never told anyone because it was a secret and to keep a secret you can't tell anyone cause once one person knows about it everyone's gonna know about it. Least that's what my father told me about secrets. At least I think it was him.

Me and Elijah had a secret. We went to Boss' work and that was our secret cause Boss didn't know we were coming and we went "Surprise!" and I got sad when I saw him but I was happy too which made my heart feel awful but I knew I was happy cause Boss was there. Probie and Ziva and Abby and Ducky and Jimmy were there too but we didn't see them till later cause Boss wanted to talk to just me and Elijah had to take Baron outside cause Baron had to go to the bathroom cause Boss and Elijah are training him and sometimes Baron had accidents like I do. But Baron's getting better like me and he doesn't have them anymore.

But I have a secret. Boss doesn't know and Elijah doesn't know and no one knows but I have one and I'm not going to tell.

Because once you tell someone about the secret then everyone knows about the secret and I like keeping my secrets to myself, like the secret place underneath my too tall bed.