A/N
Ziva learns some truths
Beta: Mike91848 Thank you for could and couldn't care less. I didn't know that, but the wording makes a big difference.
CINDERELLA REVISITED
Chapter Twelve
The bullpen two weeks later, close to 2000 hours and the office was in semidarkness
"Jarvis is still hospitalized? I thought he was being released yesterday?"
McGee was finishing up a report on a case of two fourteen year old twins, a boy and a girl, of a marine private 2nd class. They had been allegedly kidnapped by their millionaire grandfather who they accused of beating them and locking them in the cellar with no food or water, while the marine was serving her country.
While the grandfather was being interrogated, the kids had gone on a shopping spree with his credit card spending over ten thousand dollars on toys, electronics, clothes, cell phones and a motorcycle they had gotten their gardener to purchase for them.
Ultimately, Gibbs had gotten the children to confess to lying about their grandfather because he wouldn't give them carte blanche with the said credit card. The teens were last seen leaving with their mother, suffering from the embarrassment of being whacked repeatedly on their backsides with her purse. The marine had dared anyone, with one look while she was doing it, to complain about her heavy handiness, and not one person had any inclination to interfere with the brats' just desserts.
The team was just content the children were safe and this hadn't turned into something worse. Which gave Tony a little extra time to get some payback.
"Jarvis is suffering from some heart problems, McGee. He probably overdid it on the male enhancing performance and enlargement medication Auntie Annie was forcing down his gullet."
"Come on, Tony, you do not know that."
"You're right, Ms Zivaah. I do not know that. So, since I know nothing, I won't tell you how I know that. McGee are you finished with that report yet because I needed to be out of here twenty minutes ago. Come on, McTurtle, let's go." Tony stood by Tim's desk snapping his fingers to the beat of his tapping foot.
"It's printing now, DiNozzo. Hold your horses. It's your fault I'm behind with your stupid pranks. If you hadn't switched all the keys around on my keyboard in the first place..."
"Empty headed AND a moron sound familiar to you, McCranky?"
"Okay, so you got me back. Enough already!" McGee yelled to Tony's retreating back as he dropped the completed reports on Gibbs desk and trotted for the elevator.
"Go home before Gibbs gets back and finds something else for you to do. Night, Proby, Probette."
McGee agreed with a loud tired groan and started to pack up. The Boss had disappeared upstairs over an hour ago to the Director's office. Who knew what was going on up there and he for one did not want to know.
"Tony seems happy. He must have a new Barbie doll to play with this evening, no?"
Ziva watched as Tony entered the elevator and jabbed at the down button impatiently before the door closed.
"Or just a date he's running late for. He hates to be rude by being late. He deserves a little happiness after what just went down with his crazy not-family...un-family, estranged family?"
Tim contributed his lack of skill in recall and speech at the moment to his tiredness as he yawned behind his hand. He finished packing up and closing down his computer.
Ziva frowned at the perceived criticism from Tim at her words. Barbie doll, Bimbo, Broad, were they not the type of girls Tony dated until he found the right woman that could tame him? Making a sudden decision, she turned to Tim.
"Would you like to get a light meal, McGee? The Eggcelent Egg makes a delicious buttery cheese omelet and homemade seeded rye toast." Ziva had her bag ready to go.
"Aar, Ziva, rain check, please. I am so tired, I was just going to go home and go to bed."
"Bugs will be making a light meal of you soon enough when you're dead in a wooden box, McGee. Go get something to eat. You look a little pale." Gibbs breezed in, got a folder from his drawer and warped back upstairs without pausing.
"Good night, Gibbs."
"Night Boss. Well, I guess the boss has spoken, it's the Eggcelent Egg after all. Shall we proceed, Madam?" Tim held out his arm gallantly as they left.
Ncisncisncsi
Once seated and their order taken, Ziva sipped on her tea while Tim blew on his hot cocoa. Ziva pensively watched the slow traffic and few pedestrians through the restaurant window.
"What's up, Ziva? This case bothering you? It had a happy ending for once, nobody died, kids went home. I had the feeling you wanted to talk. So what's going on?"
Ziva looked at Tim in surprise. Surely, she wasn't that obvious. Or maybe he was just developing his own psychic gut.
"I did want to talk, McGee about some things. For one thing, I have not been able to reach Abby, or rather she is not answering my phone calls. Do you know how she is?"
"Not really, Ziva. She's isolating herself in the lab with the door locked. So far, we've managed to keep that information from Director Vance as I don't think that he would appreciate a multimillion dollar piece of property of the Federal government being held hostage by the lab Forensic Scientist in a crappy mood.
"The thing is, she's not getting the kind of comfort she thinks she deserves as the aggrieved party here. She's convinced none of this is her fault, Ziva. I agree that some of it is not her fault but she's not completely innocent, either."
So there's the dilemma, Abby knew he didn't find her blameless. Tim sat glumly leaning forward with his chin on his hand on the table.
"Well, I am not judging anyone, therefore, she should speak to me and stop behaving like such a spoiled brat."
"Really, Ziva?" He couldn't help looking at her doubtfully.
"Yes, of course. If anyone is to blame, it is Tony for not disclosing this whole other family situation and bad feeling's it has generated. Keeping this family a secret is where the problem rises as we are now playing catch-up."
"That's not really true, Ziva. Gibbs knows all about Tony's family situation. Ducky is his primary physician and knows some of it. Palmer is a good friend who he has shared certain information with."
Ziva's eye's had gotten bigger with annoyance. "And you, Tim? You knew about this family, also?"
"Ziva, it was not a deep, dark secret kept hidden out of shame and fear as though having a lousy family was Tony's fault. He would have told you some things if you had asked."
"You mean instead of blurting out like I did the other day that he had no brother, even though most of you knew otherwise. I must say I am embarrassed and feeling a bit left out of things. I thought we were a team.
"May I ask you something, Tim? About Tony? Of course if you are not comfortable answering some questions then we can just drop it and eat our very delicious omelets."
Oh boy. I'm cornered but I will not spill my guts. "I won't know 'til I hear them, Ziva, but I won't break any confidences of Tony's. So, ask away."
Just then, the waitress placed their food on the table and Tim dug into his cheesy mushroom and olive three egg omelet, and Ziva let him eat. She spread jam on her seedy toast before taking a bite of her whites only spinach, tomato and avocado with feta cheese frittata. They ate in relaxed silence for a while.
"I guess I was really hungry, Ziva, thanks for thinking about this. Now, what was your question?"
"Tony has a beautiful place, elegant and eclectic. So many beautiful things. The Steinway, does he play it?"
"Beautifully, Ziva. Classical when he's in the mood, but jazz or blues at other times. It's like he's one with the piano. And most of his furnishings are what his grandmother left him. Why so interested, Ziva?"
"When I first started working here, Abby told me that Kate had said Tony's place was a pigpen or is it pigsty?"
"Same difference. What about it?"
"I believed her and yet that is farthest from the truth. Also, when we were locked up together in that trailer, I realize now I may have come across as being arrogant when I assumed he could not play the piano and told him I would teach him. He never said that he could play although I wondered why he never took me up on the offer. I do not understand."
"Look, Ziva...Okay, Kate was a profiler but she missed some important facts about Tony. She couldn't see beyond his frat boy persona and didn't look far under the surface. I'm just saying, maybe we all had that problem except for Gibbs who wasn't blindsided and saw the good right away."
"So you are saying that I have been blind? I have not looked below the surface?"
"I'm not saying anything, Ziva. I'm just talking from my own perspective, what I have learned, that's all. I of all people should have been very careful not to judge a book by its cover because as a 'Geek' that's how I was judged, but there was more and is more to me than that. Likewise with Tony. That's what I've learned." Tim also had learned that Tony had, in fact, been waiting for Ziva at least since Somalia, but probably longer, and that in all probability, Tony's waiting was over and he had caught another bus.
Tim looked unhappily into his cocoa cup, wishing for some tea leaf inspiration or just that they could change the topic of conversation before it got any more awkward.
"Umm, so do you have any special plans for the weekend, Ziva?" That should steer the conversation to...anywhere else.
That didn't work as Ziva continued her train of thought.
"I guess I am trying to figure out what else I have missed, what I have not learned, Tim. You seemed familiar with his place. You knew where the coffee pot and coffee were so you have been there before and Gibbs drove right there. Yet, I have never been invited. Has he not forgiven me for not inviting him to my dinner party a few years ago? Is he holding a grudge because of that? Is that why our...friendship has not progressed any further?"
Tim responded with a frustrated groan. "I don't think Tony would be that petty, Ziva, but I don't know. And frankly, I'm the wrong person to be asking these questions."
Tim had finished his meal and was sitting stiffly, ignoring his second cup of cocoa, and looking towards the door like he was preparing to slide out of the booth and run for his car.
"I know, Tim, I know. I am sorry. It is just that the other day, after we swept through the house clearing it of any more mercenaries, I ended up in Tony's bathroom suite. And I must confess, Tim, I peaked.
"There were...feminine items in the medicine cabinet. And the very spacious two sink counter had ample cabinet space underneath that was filled with womanly things. I admit, I was very much in shock."
Tim was starting to look a mite panicky here. "Ziva, I don't think that's something..."
"Does Tony have a girlfriend, Tim? I mean, is he serious about a girl or is this just another one of his shack ups until something better comes along?"
Tim sighed. Okay, she asked for it. "By better, do you mean you, Ziva?"
Ziva pursed her lips, a little annoyed at Tim's overworking gut. But actually, she had thought that. They would both have their flings but eventually they would be together as a couple. She assumed he had felt the same way. Before she could answer Tim, he reached over and briefly patted her hand.
"Ziva, discuss this with Tony, not me. And my advice is to give up some of your preconceived notions about Tony's 'profile'." He used finger quotes.
"People change. They grow up. You have Tony stagnated in the same spot from almost when you first met him. For instance, he doesn't do casual shack ups, Ziva, and I don't even know that he ever did. One night stand's, yeah, he used to do that a lot, but having someone actually move their stuff into his very private place unless he's serious, no.
"And constantly using the word Bimbo, which is beyond derogatory, when referring to his dates, is insulting to the girl, and to Tony, and most of the time, it's not true."
"Has he told you this? Has he talked about me to you?" Was he showing some interest, then? This would change things.
Tim looked down at the table, frustrated that this was the price he had to pay for that delicious omelet. He should have stuck with his original plan. He'd be in bed now, hungry but asleep. Oh well, here goes, again. Would she ever get it?
"Tony doesn't talk to me about you at all, Ziva, in a personal way, okay? Your name never comes up unless it's job related."
"So he's not..." Glancing at Tim's face, was that pity she was seeing for her, before he lost the expression? She felt her face flush in embarrassment when she realized he was feeling sorry for her. How foolish it had been to try and pry information from Tim especially if she was not prepared to accept the answers.
"Perhaps we should leave Tim, I am full." She pushed her partially eaten frittata to the side and made to rise from her seat.
"Ziva, if I've said anything to upset you..." McGee looked dismayed that he might have inadvertently interfered or inferred something that wasn't his business. He could understand her dilemma. She was a strong woman. Programmed not to appear vulnerable and needing to know the layout before she entered into any situation. Was Tony available or not? That knowledge would show her the direction to proceed. But unfortunately, he couldn't help her with that.
"No, I am sorry, Tim. I should not have asked you those questions about Tony. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. I just need to know which way to go from here. I am not used to being so indecisive but I do not want to wait any longer. Tony has not pursued me in a long time. I will talk to him up front and see if there is a chance for us. If not, then I know I can move on."
Ziva thought but did not say out loud, Even though in my heart, I know that Tony has moved on already. There is just something in me that thought we would eventually be...something together. Now, I don't know if the interest to have a relationship with me had ever been there in the first place. "Tim, if Tony has found someone, I am truly happy for him. I will take your suggestion to heart and talk to him so I can put this elephant to rest."
"It's puppy to re...never mind, Ziva. But please talk to Tony. You'll get your answers. Now get some rest yourself. Did I just sound like the Boss, there?" They laughed, he more in relief, as he escorted her to her car. "See you on Monday" She said as she drove away.
Ncisncisncis
Back in the Director's office, conversation was continuing between Vance, Gibbs, and the recently arrived Fornell who had shown up with three gallon sized containers of coffee from the Galvanized Coffee Shop three blocks over. Coffee guaranteed to not let you sleep for three days straight. And if sugar or cream was added, a steel rod, not plastic, would be needed to stir the sludge.
"What the hell. What's with the coffee, Tobias?" Vance was wiping his mouth grumpily with a paper napkin trying to erase the taste.
"It's good stuff." Gibbs was sipping contentedly.
"I'm telling you...if you had had to sit and try to talk with that woman, much less get a straight answer from her, you'd be happily sipping antifreeze through a straw!"
They all three were sitting around Vance's table with the coffee and blueberry croissants.
"That bad?" Gibbs had stuffed half a croissant into his mouth.
"That's disgusting, Jethro. And yeah, I don't know why DiNutso isn't a crazier lunatic than he already is after being raised around that woman. Anton DiNozzo is seriously on the edge and the other one, Steve, stays in the background, never know what he's thinking or doing. And I'm telling you, the hairs on the back of my neck never laid down while I was in the room with her."
"Senior DiNozzo show his face yet?" Vance had dumped his coffee and returned with a pretty flowered teacup and saucer of soothing hibiscus rose hip rejuvenator tea with a dollop of honey and a squeeze of lemon.
Vance could see it from the expression on their faces, WIMP, MAMA'S BOOOYYY, at his choice of beverage but he couldn't care less. His stomach would not end up with a hole in it like these two were headed for. And, anyway, Jackie had given him this cup and box of tea for soothing and relaxing. Granted, he was supposed to be alone behind closed doors, but his macho image was up to the task with these two.
Tobias stared at Vance's teacup for another second before answering, "He's out of the country. Won't be back until Monday evening."
"Does he know what his wife has been doing?" Asked Gibbs.
"Who knows? She's not spilling the beans about how she got her grandson's name upped on the list. The Bureau has the names of some of the bottom feeders but they're out for bigger fish, the upper echelon's of this illegal business of selling human organs.
"So she won't talk, and her lawyer son Anton is making sure she keeps her mouth shut and that she stays out of jail. She says that she doesn't know how Gregor's name got in first place but since it's there, she demands that it stay there.
"We can't connect her to cuckoo Kohls and his bounty hunters, except that they knew each other. No evidence that she paid him to do that, no witnesses, no nothing. In other words, we had to let her go for lack of anything to hold her on except supposition and suspicion, none of which would hold up in court. Not even house arrest and an ankle bracelet for, what does DiNutso call her, the bitch?
"But what concerns me is that every male she comes in contact with eventually loses most of his mind and I was exclusively with her for over six hours. I'm starting to feel lightheaded and giddy and I'm even enjoying myself sitting here talking to you, so my future's not looking too good..."
"Fornell! Cut the crap!" Vance groaned, while Gibbs smirked.
Fornell leaned back and thought of putting his feet on the table but one glance at Vance and his pretty teacup discouraged that idea.
"What about the former SECNAV? I hear he's early retirement and locked up in the psych security ward?"
"Quit fishing, Fornell. He's not locked up anywhere. He's having some medical problems with his heart and they're trying to get it regulated. To be honest, I'm not sure what that whole scenario was about. It was quite disturbing. And I'm not sharing anything that you don't already know, Fornell, but while he was here at that meeting, there must have been something going on with his brain, a stroke or something weird.
"He was changing policies and procedures without going through any of the proper channels. Things that were not in his purview to change as SECNAV. I mean switching, rotating and floating the investigators all over the place, screwing with team dynamics.
"For instance, telling Simmons to report to Gibbs and DiNozzo to Johansen. Can you imagine how that would have gone down once Simmons plopped his ass down in Tony's chair on Monday. I shudder at the resulting gunshots fired.
"Not only that, but Johansen is on suspension for taking bribes. The SECNAV knew that. Maybe someone was slipping him something other than his horny pills. This whole thing is screwy and it's not looking good for the department, meaning me, so don't be surprised if there aren't some changes in the future. Just saying."
"They can't blame you for this, Leon. Simmons made it through every psych test the agency gave him but look what he was doing. More people had made complaints against him now that Johansen isn't there to block them. And Johansen himself was no upstanding citizen, either."
"Yeah, well, Gibbs, the buck stops at the top in this situation, so we'll see. Anything else or does that cover the last two weeks of hell?"
"Just curious. How's Ms Sciuto taking all of this?"
"Boy, you don't miss a thing, do you Fornell? Who do you have spying for you here?"
"That's for me to know, Leon."
"Gibbs, you want to answer that?"
"Not much to tell. She's been kinda quiet, sulky, I guess. Hasn't wanted to talk to me about anything but work. Think she's pissed that I didn't go to bat for her having the reprimand removed from her permanent file, and she's come to the conclusion that I don't agree that she didn't earn the official rebuke."
"She got off easy. I should have suspended her for two weeks without pay."
"Glad you didn't Leon. She's not dealing with this Simmons scandal and she's still blaming DiNozzo for most of it."
"As long as she keeps it professional here at work that's all that matters to me. It's bad enough she brought the man into the building, but the way she went off on McGee...We don't need her going off on Tony or anyone like she did that day. Yelling at the top of her lungs for Tim to butt out.
"Talking about the kettle calling the pot black. If she had minded her own business, the confrontation that happened here would have happened somewhere else and not in this building where I had to deal with it. And I'm including the boxing match and the four ring circus here in my office. That just pisses me off!"
A few minutes of silence while the three men sipped and contemplated the last weeks of weirdness before Gibbs turned to Fornell.
"So, what're you planning, Tobias. You're here for more than shooting the breeze with us? What'd ya want?"
"You're not gonna buy I'm just here on a social call, are you?"
"Nope, in spite of the tasty rolls."
"They're croissants, heathen. Look, we need DiNozzo for a sting we're planning. We want to play up his estrangement from the DiNozzo family, leave him vulnerable. See if someone approaches him to sell an organ. Maybe he's down on his luck or in some kind of trouble with your agency or...
"What? You've got something?" Fornell had noticed the shared look between the other two men.
"I'll check with DiNozzo and get back with you." Said Vance cagily, for once having something the FEBEE didn't already know.
"What, that's it? Come on guys, help me out here..."
"I'll get back with you tomorrow, or Monday morning might be better, Fornell." Vance rose from his chair and walked to the side table where he placed his dirty cup and saucer, effectively dismissing the meeting.
One last question from Gibbs had him pause and look at the other men.
"From the info you have right now, Tobias, is Tony in any danger now? Do we need to put a guard on him? You're not using him as bait and..."
"No way, Jethro, no way. Some other's may, but you should know I don't work that way. If DiNozzo wants in on this sting, he'll know, and so will you, Vance, Jethro, everything we've got so far."
"Fair enough, just as long as you keep us in the loop, a joint operation." Jethro wanted all the bases covered assuming DiNozzo wanted in.
"Yeah, like the FBI just loves to share." Bit back Vance sarcastically.
"So, you going to tell me what someone has over his head?"
"We'll fill you in on Monday, Tobias. Goodnight!" Could he make it any planer for the man to get out of his office?
"A word, Agent Gibbs."
Vance waited until Fornell left the office before speaking again.
"Do you know anything more about Antoney DiNozzo alias Steve Gregory alias who the hell knows what? Had my secretary do a background check and she could only go so far before she was blocked."
"Leon, I know he's covert ops and my gut's telling me he was in on something big, important recently, maybe Bin Laden, don't know, it's just a hunch. His team versus bodyguard that slithered in and out of the scene with the bounty hunters was so slick, you blink an eye and you would have missed them. Never saw any of their faces but there were six men all told plus Steve. And they appear pretty tight. No doubt he's the leader. Rank of captain.
"Plus, he said his men had to take a commercial flight to get to DC but I think Steve left out the helicopter they had to have had standing by because those guys were on our tails before we made it to the freeway. Why? What's going on?"
"Nothing to do with us. CIA's got a project for him and he's not interested. He and his team are highly coveted for special ops for the government but he's not always interested or available. I got this from a buddy at the CIA and that's all I got so don't ask me any questions. Just like to know what I'm dealing with because I have a feeling Steve is going to be hanging around now that he's found his big brother.
"And this is just between you and me Gibbs, but I think there's something wrong with those DiNozzo boys, you know where you can't tell the difference between genius and insanity. They're all a little...off."
Vance turned off the lights as he and Gibbs exited his office and he headed for the elevator while Gibbs took the stairs to his desk. Gibbs glared at Vance, but then realizing he was being serious, glared harder.
"You heard Fornell, Vance. Angela DiNozzo is insane. What do you expect? And there's nothing wrong with Tony that a few slaps on the back of the head won't remedy."
"Or cause more brain damage." Gibbs heard as the elevator door closed.
Ncisncisncisncis
"Oh yeah, man! Whooee! Oh, yeah, oh God! Pleeese, yes. Come on, let me have it! Yes, yes, yesssss! Aaa ah!
"Let go of the stick, Tony." Said a male voice on his right.
"What? No way, it's my turn. Oh boy, here we go, yoweee! Oooh, yeah! I just need to push this in..."
"Let go of the stick!" A deep, gravelly voice on his left repeated.
"Oops. Sorry, sorry, man. Just got a little carried away. It's a first time for me, and this is one big mother...uh just, sorry. I was gripping it pretty hard, but it's not bent outta shape so here you go. Good as new. No harm, no foul. Thanks, man."
Tony released the yoke and backed hastily out of the co-pilot's seat and away from the irate guy sitting next to him that Steve had introduced as the no-nonsense pilot, Jim Bower. The real co-pilot gave him a dirty look as he reclaimed his seat and adjusted his headphones.
"Look, nothing peculiar's going on up here, okay. Yeah, Steve's crazy brother had the radio on and...it's not what it sounded like so quit laughing."
Tony resumed his seat in the LearJet 70 series Bombarde that wouldn't be in production until 2013. Steve was sitting back in his chair with his glasses on, a cup of coffee in the
arm rest and his laptop on his lap.
He looked over his glasses at Tony. "What in the hell was all that dipping and jerking the plane around, and yelling up there, Tony? Felt like we were getting ready to nose dive into the ocean."
"Uh, well...really, Steve, you see, um...you know what, I'm not absolutely sure what all the commotion was about cause I was flying this plane like a pro." Tony gloated on a natural high.
"But thank you man, thank you so much. I actually flew this plane! McGee and Palmer will not believe this, ah the envy, the awesomeness. Man, this has been on my bucket list before there was a bucket list." Tony sat and glorified in his upcoming bragging rights and boasting to infinitum.
Steve smirked at Tony's enthusiasm. They weren't testing the flying capabilities of this baby, otherwise he would be flying the plane. The stress factor, wear and tear was ongoing and this plane had put in umpteen hours of test flights and nothing had cracked yet. Perfect. Now Tony could brag he had a part in it when the disclosure agreement he signed expired.
"You sure it's okay for me to be here. I know this is a highly classified, possibly government, billion dollar high speed jet that isn't even being produced yet and you guys are testing it for something. I mean, my government clearance is pretty high but..."
"Yeah, you're good. Did you learn anything?"
"Well, uh." Tony sneaked a seemingly innocent peak up front to the cockpit. "They're kind of intense up there so let's just say I'm going to need a few more lessons before Jim the pilot will let me near his control panel again, and we'll just leave it at that."
Tony had found the remote and was now watching the TV, entranced with the view of their flight broadcast from the hidden cameras outside the plane.
"Mother found your toy room."
"Hmm, wow, look at that, Steve. I can actually...What?!"
Tony looked over at Steve who had that expression on his face again. When Steve had called to say they were testing a plane and did he want to come along, he had jumped at the chance. He suddenly realized that he wasn't the only one who had suffered at the hands of the monsters, mother and father monsters. All of their psyche's had been irrevocably damaged but maybe not irreparably.
Tony sighed. Maybe by him talking about it, he could help Steve find whatever it was he was looking for to help him heal. Maybe he could help himself.
"How'd she find it?"
"Oh, she decided she wanted to put in an indoor pool and spa." When Steve saw that Tony was willing to talk, he put his glasses aside and the laptop on the seat next to him and got up and filled his coffee cup again. Steve had showed Tony where everything was and Tony was told in no uncertain terms that if he wanted something to be sure and get up and get it himself.
"She had people come in to survey the other...your side of the house. They found two or three rooms where the walls had been knocked down and interlocking tile flooring was put in there and a professional basketball hoop was set up. There was a smaller room that had all the toys you had outgrown, you know little trucks and a tricycle. Even a bicycle and a dirt bike.
"I remember one Christmas I tried to sneak my new fire engine truck to your room. I was pretty little and it was a big truck. Anyway, Father of all people caught me and wanted to know what I was doing with the truck. So I told him that I was giving it to you.
"You know what he said, Tony? 'All three of you boys got the same truck. Three trucks were ordered and no one truck is better than the other so take it back to your room.' He was drunk at eight o'clock in the morning and he didn't even know what the hell was going on in his own house. Sometimes, I just hated him because your truck was sitting on top of a pile of garbage where mother had put it to be thrown out with the rest of the trash the next day.
"Sorry, I know I'm not suppose to talk about him. Anyway, in the little room with your old toys there was a small table, you know child size but still big enough for an adult and an old tin of cookies that you could only get in England, the company wasn't importing them yet. There was a teapot and a tin of cocoa and a jar of hard candy that...grandmother use to get somewhere in Europe. It was a nice cozy room, had a stuffed chair and a rocking chair and the fireplace had obviously been in use. And there was even a cot with colorful blankets and even the throw rugs were colorful.
"So Mother knew that that's where grandmother and you use to hang out. Cause you see, she had thought that no one would disobey her orders and let grandmother in the house but the staff ignored her commands and it was obvious grandmother came and went as she pleased.
"Anyway, to make a long story shorter, she threw a fit. Went into a rage so violent that that little rat dog of her's ran out the open front door and wasn't seen again, though rumor had it that the coyotes had a tasty snack.
"She was so angry, she was pulling her hair out, literally. She screamed the house down, threw things, broke stuff, foamed at the mouth almost. The people doing the survey took their stuff and ran for their lives. She got the servants who would listen to her to drag all your stuff out to the front lawn, the rocking chair, the cot, all the toys, everything and had them pour gasoline over everything and then set the stuff on fire.
"The lawn table and chairs that were too close caught on fire and the big Sycamore tree was a victim, too. The koi pond accidentally got soaked with gas but the fish had already been removed for winter weather so the resulting fire only harmed the decorative items in the pond. By this time, the fire department had gotten wind of something wrong and when they got there they just managed to save the front of the mansion and porch. As it was there was extensive fire and water damage.
"When they found out how the fire had started, one of them called for the paddy wagon to come and get the crazy woman gone berserk on the front lawn. So mother spent a night and a day locked up in the Asylum psych ward at the local hospital because none of the servant's gave a rat's ass where they took her and when asked who she was, all the perfectly literate, English speaking people said, no hablo Ingles, even Pat Hendry, father's red-headed Irishman chauffeur. She only got out because they finally realized that she was, in fact, the mistress of the house and not some psycho Thing from outer space or having just escaped from the women's prison in the town across the bay."
Steve had only just managed to finish the story in spite of the guffaws, hysterical laughter and uproarious cackling, snorting and generalized hilarity of Tony, Jim the pilot, the flight attendant Jodyand the co-pilot, Ed.
Everyone honestly tried to stop laughing, well except for Tony who threw back his head and wheezed his amusement until Steve head slapped him like he had seen Gibbs do to get him breathing again. Because, after all it was the boss's mother they were laughing at. But Steve could tell a really funny story, exaggerating in just the right places. Both Tony and Steve laughed long and hard and felt no shame or guilt over their disrespect. The others finally went back to the business of flying the plane chuckling all the way.
"Needless to say, Mother never did get the indoor pool and spa but she did have to spend quite a bit of money to get the burned out front lawn reseeded and, of course, the old sycamore tree could not be replaced."
Said Steve with twinkling, watery eyes and that look gone from his face. And Tony didn't know if Steve was lying or not, but he knew that a little something had healed for Steve with the story of his mother's looniness that he could now share with him who had been there and not hold it to himself or feel like he had been a betrayer of sacred motherly things.
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"Okay, that was just shameful, Steve."
"But funny?"
"Yeah, it was funny. How much of it was true?"
Steve looked out of the plane window before answering seriously, "It was all true except it wasn't funny at the time. I think I was trying to save some of your stuff from the fire but I got burned pretty bad before the servants pulled me away."
"Why, Steve? Why would you do that?" Tony looked at him in bewilderment.
"I don't know. It just seemed important at the time that I save some of your things but I couldn't even do that. Anton was hysterical when they took mother away and tried to throw himself in front of the ambulance. As it was, he got clipped and thrown and a broken arm for his efforts. So they took both of us to the hospital..."
"Geez!"
Anton gave a quick shrug and came out of a seeming trance as he took his eyes away from the dark sky outside the plane window and turned to Tony.
"Anyway, that was not really a typical day in the DiNozzo asylum." Steve shrugged again while kicking his shoes off and putting his seat back. "I stayed in my room most of the time reading while Mother and Anton did their thing, and I was perfectly happy with things that way."
Steve suddenly leaned forward and met Tony's eyes. "Look, could you just tell me one thing and I promise not to ask anymore questions?"
"You want to know why? It'll be brutal." Tony put his seat back also and leaned back against the headrest, closing his eyes. "Can you handle the truth?"
"A few good men, Tony, really?"
"Hey, a few good men sounds normal. Now, Mourning Becomes Electra. Talk about one screwed up family. But I don't think the Oedipus and Electra complexes exactly fit the situation here, though there were loves of all the wrong kinds and everyone suffered.
"Husband who loved and was obsessed by his wife, wife who abhorred her husband but loved his brother, daughter who wanted her uncle but also coveted her father and hated versus loved her mother, mother obsessed son, incestuous feelings by son and brother for mother and sister. And then there was homicide, suicide, more homicide, more suicide and finally isolation by choice for the one still alive.
"So, okay, not exactly the same but what the heck. A snakes pit's a snakes pit, right? Tony took a deep breath. "Your father stalked my mother as the love of his life. She rejected him out of hate and disgust. A five year contract was set up to save her parents from poverty. I was the abysmal result. They both hated me and wished me dead. She ran off with her lover after the five years and tried never to look back.
"Your mother was his mistress and you were born when I was two. She swooped in when my mother escaped her prison and banished me to the dungeons. Your father loved my mother more than he loved your mother. I was a reminder of her to them both, and your mother hated me because I was her child."
Tony had by the end of this shortened version of his reality shredded pages of the current Engines Ahead magazine into strips, page by page without opening his eyes or raising his head. The strips he tore into tiny little pieces and let them fall to the floor.
Steve didn't know if he should interrupt him or not but he reached over across the isle and punched him non too gently on the arm. "You're going to clean that mess up you know."
Tony jerked in his chair violently like he had been woken abruptly and grabbed his arm. "What the hell did you do that for?"
"What you were doing didn't look too normal. Kinda creepy and ritualistic sort of. So, what were you doing?" Tony looked down at the mess in his lap and on the floor with a grimace.
"The doctor's have a name for it, cognitive behavioral something or other, that just means I have mental problems."
They sat quietly in the small passenger section listening, but even the engines were whispering.
"I'm a functional OCD and dysthymia. That's why I needed to get your things back, you know, fear of losing something important to me. I focus mainly on preciseness and order. I take nasal medication that helps."
Tony looked over at Steve. "How do you work for the military with obsessive compulsive disease?"
"I'm not in the military, they wouldn't take me. I just work for the different branches on a need only basis."
"I see."
"So. We're pretty screwed up, huh?"
Tony nodded. "Seems that way. What about your broth...Anton?"
"You know Anton's got the brains, right? He's up there with McGee. But, I think he's insane, Tony, really, really crazy. Our mother made him that way. His kid is the same, smart but...possibly some kind of autism?"
"Do you think there's something...incestuous happening there. I always wondered..."
"I don't know. She never bothered me that way." So Steve must have had that same guilty thought lurking in the back of his mind also. Steve suddenly turned a wide eyed look at Tony. "Good God, she didn't try any of that crap with you, did she, my God...!"
"Slow down, man, and HELL NO! When she was on one of her toot's which was most of the time, Janes or one of the other's slept on a cot in my room with the door locked. I was so protected in that house. I never knew how much so for a long time. I try to keep in touch with them, make sure they're okay.
"Cookie lived with me until five years ago when she died of cancer. She made me pay her a salary and considered her self my housekeeper and cook. Sometimes she'd be up late when I came home and fix me a snack cause I was 'too thin'. A little cheese, antipasto, some sliced fruit and wheat crackers. 'And brush your teeth when you're done' she'd holler from her room." Tony chuckled at the beloved memory.
"I talk to Janes once a week and he stays with me or Ducky during all the holidays. They're great friends." Tony turned to Steve with regret in his voice. "I realize now that while I was hating you with a vengeance, you were more alone and suffering in that house than I ever was. Sorry, man."
"I did okay." But they both knew the lonely little boy hadn't done okay.
"Anyway, Gregor plays the piano like you do...did? Remember how crazy mother got when she thought it was one of us playing the piano when Anton and I were in fact rolling around wrestling on the floor while you had your lesson. And when she came in the room and was yelling at the piano instructor, you slipped out through one of those hidden doors and she could never find you that day."
"Yeah, I remember. That was one stubborn instructor. She basically sneaked back on your mother's bridge nights so I could still have my lesson cause she thought I was that good. When they shipped me off to the Academy, my lessons continued. That was the only thing they could do to get me out of my bed."
"Yeah?" said Steve, somewhat dismally.
They sat a while morosely contemplating their shared past, when Jim the pilot came through to use the head. On his way back, Steve asked him to give Tony another try at flying the plane.
"Boss?" And Tony could hear, 'are you kidding me' in his head.
But the pilot and Steve communicated something silently and Tony ended up sitting in the co-pilots seat again with a little more self control under his belt. Steve got the sweeper and cleaned up the mess around Tony's seat and when a much more sedate Tony returned to his seat grinning from ear to ear, Steve pulled out the good stuff to celebrate. Some time later they landed at the private hanger where the plane was stored and guards were posted.
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"So, where should you drop me off? Back to the yard for my car or...nah, I'm not driving anywhere. I can't even feel my hands. Did we really finish off that bottle of...bottles of, what was that stuff?"
"It was good expensive booze."
"Yeah, that we drank right out of the bottle. Leave it to my little bro to help me to celebrate my initiation into the realm of fighter pilot elitism in style and...whatever."
"What?"
"What's wrong with you man, you gonna puke? Hey, where are you staying? I don't even know where you live, Steve. My place won't be available until tomorrow, all the renovation is done, just needs to air out. So that's out."
Tony threw his bag over his shoulder and started walking a not too straight line as Steve walked along beside him clutching his bag to his stomach and chest like a lifeline. "It looks like I'll be staying at Gibbs house another night." Tony mused. "Come on, we'll go over there. Hey, unless you've got other plans?
"Wait, you probably need to debrief somebody about the plane, right? Hotel room then? You don't talk a whole lot, do you? You communicate a lot better when you don't say anything, right, like Gibbs?
"I'll tell you what. You can park your carcass on Gibbs couch for the rest of the night and then the two of you can have a non conversation in the morning while drinking coffee and reading the paper in silence together. How's that sound?"
"Who are you talking to, Tony?" Steve looked around in the dark hanger. "Who's in here?" He yelled out turning around several times. "It's rude to interrupt when someone's talk...ing. Would he mind anot...her guest?" He continued at the top of his sing song voice.
"What? Who are you yelling at Steve?" Tony had to backtrack the conversation for a moment. "Oh, yeah. Gibbs doesn't care. Nobody enters his house if he doesn't want them to, so if you don't get kicked out the first three minutes or a gun pointed at your head and a bullet in your eye, you can stay. Just stay out of his basement until invited. Wait a minute, that won't work. He doesn't invite anybody down to his man cave, you've got to be...uh...what was I talking about?"
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Steve's chauffeur drove them to Gibbs house. The house was lit dimly from the inside as they stumbled through the unlocked front door and Tony showed Steve the couch, blankets and a pillow, and the downstairs bathroom.
"Where's Gibbs? He's not going to shoot me by mistake is he? I need my eye." Said Steve as he dropped his bag and plopped down on the surprisingly comfortable sofa.
"I don't think he will." Tony pondered, scratching his head. "But you never know.
"Say, Steve, that sofa?" Tony whispered loudly to a snoring, passed out Steve as he looked around furtively. "Don't tell him this but a while back, when Vance forced Gibbs to go on a two day seminar in Illinois, kicking and screaming, mind you, I had the thing reupholstered, and it was no easy task finding a pattern similar to that drab, colorless...uh, what was already on there, but Gibbs never said anything because I saved the old, ratty material in case he wanted to put it back on, so...anyway, now it's stuffed with the softest but firm organic cotton batting with a touch of down for that softness appeal and organic goose feathers finely shredded and weaved in for the needed firmness. It's like sleeping on a cloud of buttery soft..."
"DINOZZO!"
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A/N Boy, is Gibbs' mad. Thank you for reading, readers. Your comments are greatly appreciated and encouraging.