It had been two weeks since Tony had told his team about his childhood and he was glad that they were acting like normal: Kate disapproving of all the girls and sexual jokes he made, Tim snapping at Tony about messing up his keyboard, Abby blasting her music so that they're all deaf and consuming an unhealthy amounts of Caf-Pows everyday, Ducky telling the team stories from his youth, Palmer getting lost on the way to crime scenes and Gibbs head slapping Tony to keep him in check, but at the same time, the team was walking on eggshells when it came to child related cases. They had solved Ryan's murder case, the case that started all this with Tony, and once Tony saw Ryan's father exiting the elevator in handcuffs, he lunched and it took Gibbs, Kate and Jenny, who was there for updates from Gibbs, to get him off the Commander and keep him from going at him again. Abby slapped her hand over her surrogate brother's mouth to stop him shouting the most vile things his team had heard from DiNozzo's mouth.
"DiNozzo, stop it!" Gibbs ordered as he, Jenny and Kate tightened their holds on DiNozzo as the Commander went past them. "NO!" Tony howled as he fought against his boss, surrogate sister and Director. Tony was like a hellcat in their grasps, he wouldn't calm down.
"Abbs, go get Ducky now. We need to sedate Tony!" Gibbs ordered Abby who ran to the Morgue instantly, leaving a howling Tony with the two boss's and his sister.
"How dare he?!" Tony roared as tears poured down his face just as Abby came back into the bullpen with Ducky and Palmer on her tail, Ducky carried a syringe. Tony saw the syringe and started howling again.
"No, please no don't!" Tony begged fearfully as he looked around to see Jenny nodding at Ducky. Tony fought and fought against the three agents who were holding him still, or as still they could, but he didn't get out of their iron-clad grips. He felt a prick in his back and felt his eyes getting heavy.
"Why? Why, Gibbs, why?" Tony tearfully asked Gibbs as he was lowered onto the bullpen floor, his head in Abby's lap. He felt Kate's fingers combing through his sweaty hair, soothing him to sleep.
"I don't know, DiNozzo, I just don't know." Was the last thing Tony heard whispered to him by Gibbs before he fell unconscious with his concerned family surrounding him.
Director Jennifer Shepard looked at MCRT and frowned. She didn't know what the hell she just witnessed with Special Agent Tony DiNozzo but two things were for sure: she didn't like it and never wanted to witness it again.
She turned to her former lover for answers: she knew he'd tell her as soon as he knew Tony was calm and settled down, which he was. "Come with me, the girls can keep him calm and he'll be out for a few hours." Jethro whispered in her ear.
Jenny felt electricity run up her spine as Jethro took a hold of her elbow and guided her up the stairs and into the privacy of her office. Jenny watched as Jehro paced her office, his hands going to his hair as he mumbled ways to kill someone.
"Jethro, calm down." Jenny ordered softly as she stood behind him and rubbed his back. He was tense, extremely tense. The former lovers stood in silence: Gibbs breathing heavily and Jenny rubbing his back soothingly. After ten minutes of silence, Jenny decided it was time to find out what the hell happened in the bullpen.
"Jethro, do you mind telling me why the hell me, you and Agent Todd had to restrain Agent DiNozzo and why Ducky had to sedate him?" Jenny asked, she heard Jethro sigh as he turned around and enveloped her into a hug, something he clearly needed. Jenny smiled as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Don't let me go, not again." Jethro told her in her ear, not knowing what he meant, Jenny just nodded against his shoulder and replied with "never." Jenny stood in the middle of her office with her former lover in her arms. Even though she would never admit it to anyone, she felt disappointed when Jethro broke their embrace.
"What you witnessed in the bullpen with DiNozzo, it goes so far than just him attempting to attack a father who abused and murdered his own son, Tony's father physically and emotionally abused him as a child." Jethro told her, Jenny gasped. While she thought something had set DiNozzo off, she never dreamt that it would be because of a case that hit just a little too close to home for him.
"Oh Jethro, why didn't you tell me, I would've benched him if I'd known." Jethro shook his head. "We didn't know until he had a panic attack and a flashback two weeks ago as he read Ryan's medical history and by that time, it was too late to bench him." Jethro explained.
"I had Kate drive him home after he had the flashback. He told me and the team what his father had done to him the day he found his mothers body in the music room, that bastard blamed his mothers suicide on him and told his own son that Tony was the reason his mother was dead. I mean, Jesus Christ, Jen, why the hell would a father tell his 8 year old son that after his son found her?!" Jethro raged. Jenny sighed: it had been a long time since she had seen this side of Jethro and she hated it because she didn't have the answers for his questions.
"Only his father knows why he did what he did, so here's what we're going to do: once DiNozzo is awake, we'll send the team home then we're going to order some takeout and begin searching for Anthony DiNozzo Senior." Jenny said in her 'Director' tone of voice that made Jethro smile for a second before he nodded his agreement. He looked forward to spending time alone with Jen.
Jen walked to her door, opened it and walked out onto the catwalk, with Jethro beside her, and they both watched Abby and Kate sooth Tony who was still unconscious in Abby's lap.
"That's one hell of a team you've got down there, Agent Gibbs." Jen commented as she smiled at the team's efforts to make Tony more comfortable. Beside her, Jethro smiled down at the people he thought of as his family.
"They're much more than my team, Jen," he lifted his eyes to meet hers. "they're family."
A\N: Two chapters in one day, I'm on a roll, guys. Enjoy chapter 6.
YOU ARE READING
Family is family
FanfictionTony is forced to confront his demons when a case that has him flashing back to his childhood. Will Tony let Gibbs help him face his demons and open up or will he push the only father he's ever known away?
