Family is family

Chapter 1: Flashback and a worried Gibbs

Tony knew it was a mistake asking Gibbs if he could look up Ryan's, the murdered 12 year old boy, medical history: firstly, he asked if he could look up the records and he never asked to anything unless it benefited him, and secondly, he knew reading the history on the pages, would bring up buried memories of his own ER road trips where he'd have to lie about how he sustained his injuries. He'd lost count of the amount of times he used the 'I fell down the stairs' line or the 'my friend threw the football at me too hard' line he fed the suspicious nurses who never believed him but didn't say anything because of who his 'father' was. If the nurses accused the powerful and rich Antony DiNozzo senior of abusing his son, it wouldn't have looked good for the nurses, so thanks to Tony's 1000 megawatt smile and right green eyes, they pretend to believe the lies the young boy was feeding them.

His eyes swam with tears as he read the words on the page in front of him, feeling like he was reading his own medical history.

Fractured arm, bruises on his upper arms, most likely cracked or broken ribs.

He couldn't read anymore once he felt a panic attack coming on and the bullpen disappearing around, throwing him back into his 12 year old self on the hospital bed, with his father standing near the door, his arms crossed around his chest, glaring daggers at twelve year old tony who was cradling his arm to his chest.

Flashback

"Listen to me you worthless rat, you're not to tell anyone here what I did to you otherwise you're grounded, is that understood?" His father hisses at him from the door. Tony nods, flinching when he hears the word 'grounded' and knowing what will happen when he's grounded. Father would hit him, whip him with his belt all over his body, throwing him into things that are guaranteed to leave scars where they won't be visible to anyone, physical or mental.

"Understood, sir." Tony replied meekly to his father.

"Good." Antony Senior says as the nurse comes into the private room, with a file in her hands. She's pretty with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Hi, gentlemen, what brings you two into today?" The nurse asks, yet to introduce herself. "My son was in his tree house and foolishly jumped out of it when his friend told him he wouldn't get hurt." The older DiNozzo lies. The nurse nods. "Can I look at your arm?" The nameless nurse asks softly. Tony hands the nurse his arm, not wincing as she probes it. "Well." she says after a minute "I'm afraid you'll need an x-ray but I'm certain you've only fractured it." Tony nods.

"Mr DiNozzo, mightn't I have a word with you in private?" Tony's doctor asks after he's put Tony's arm in a sling. Tony's father sighs and begrudgingly follows him out of the room, keeping the door open. Tony can only hear snippets of the conversation but it's enough to make his father ground him a long time.

"...concered about Tony, as he's been coming in sustained with multiple injuries for the past few years, Mr DiNozzo, are you physically abusing your son?" The doctor asks, his voice hard and demanding. Tony hears his father take a sharp, angry breath.

"NO, how dare you suggest such a thing. The boy has had a hard time ever since he found his mother's body after she committed suicide. He's always been a clumsy child." His father hisses before walking back into the hospital room. "Junior, let's go." His father orders as he walks over to the bed and wrenches his son off the bed and 'gently' guides him to the door and walks out of the hospital, ignoring the shouts to bring Tony back.

"Bastards." Tony's father mutters as they get into the limo, once the doors are shut, Tony feels the familiar snap of his head snapping back as his father backhands him. The stinging of his cheek doesn't bother him anymore, nothing does.

This hospital visit would be Tony's last one.

Fla

"DiNozzo?" Tony came back into the present with a shake of his head, the air returning back to his lungs. The hospital, his 12 year old self, his father and the stinging pulsating in his cheek from his father slap all melted away and the bullpen reappeared, Gibbs was knelt in front of the younger man, his hands on Tony's jean clad knees, looking concerned along with Kate who was standing by Gibbs' side.

"DiNozzo, you okay?" Gibbs asked softly Tony nodded, an obvious lie that he knew Gibbs would see straight through. Tony watched as Gibbs' blue eyes narrowed as he studied his Special Field Agent. "We'll talk about this later." Is all Gibbs told Tony before he walked back to his own desk and resumed doing whatever it was he was doing when he had that damn flashback and panic attack. Tony sighed as he cradled his head in his hand, knowing that no matter how much he told Gibbs he didn't want to talk, the silver haired man, the man he'd come to see as a father, would not let this go no matter how long he screamed or fought him. He knew Gibbs'd won, he always did, but Tony always liked trying to fight him harder every round they went, and Tony was prepared to make this fight the longest fight either Agents had endured without calling or a timeout or a truce.

He was prepared to fight Gibbs for however long the older man could handle go for if it meant keeping his secret his.

Gibbs should've known that something was wrong with his SFA when he asked to look up the boy's, AKA Ryan, medical records. That in itself was a huge red flag that Gibbs left unchecked. Tony never asked to do anything unless it involved hot girls or if it benefited him. He carefully kept his blue eyes fixated on Tony as he began reading the words. Gibbs noticed the shift in Tony before Kate did: he saw Tony's fingers trembling as he held the pages of the file in his hands and the light sheen of sweat starting to cover his agent's face and the gasping of breath Tony was struggling to get. Gibbs recognised those signs of a panic attack.

"Shit!" He swore. He was out of his chair in a flash, snapping at Kate to get Ducky in the bullpen now before he knelt in front of Tony, his hands on his knees, looking into Tony's green eyes which were growing dark as Tony started whimpering something about his father. Gibbs withheld a loud growl at the mention of Antony senior. He watched as Tony shrunk back in his desk chair, as if he was trying to make himself as small as possible.

Gibbs grit his teeth when he and Kate, who was standing a few feet behind the older Agent, saw Tony's green eyes filling up with tears as he re-lived something from his past. Gibbs, try as he might, could never get DiNozzo to open up about his childhood, only getting the bare minimum that happened to him after he graduated from the Police Academy and nothing before.

"DiNozzo, it's okay, come back to us." Gibbs whispered to his SFA, his surrogate son, who was trapped inside a flashback. He and Kate watched as Tony came out of his flashback.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked softly as he watched Tony slowly came out of his memory.

"DiNozzo, are you okay?" Gibbs asked again once Tony was looking at the former Marine and Kate, his green eyes wide. Tony nodded, a lie. Gibbs sighed, he should've known that Tony wouldn't have opened up right now or without a fight. "We'll talk about this later." Gibbs said as he patted Tony's knee and straightened up. Gibbs went back to his desk, his eyes trained on Kate and Tony. He knew Tony would fight him with opening up, but he was ready to go as many rounds as Tony wanted as long as it ended with his son opening up about his childhood.

He would not let Tony give up talking without a fight, so if a fight is what his son wants, Gibbs is more than happy to indulge him with it.

A\N: another chapter done, I'm sorry it took me so long to update but with my new internship, it's getting harder to post but I'll update when I can.