A\N: This is chapter 5 of A secret revealed. I've published chapter 5, and in this chapter there are a lot of Tony and Gibbs father and son moments as Tony starts his grieving process. In this chapter, Tony gets drunk and shows up at his boss' place where he starts speaking about Ellie and his past. Enjoy this chapter, Angels.
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Tony knew that Ellie wouldn't have approved of this method of coping, she never had.
If Ellie were alive and with him right now, she would've wrenched the bottle from his hands, dumped the remaining alcohol down the drain, threw the bottle at the wall so it shattered into a thousand pieces before letting him sleep of the hangover until she kicked his ass the next morning. "You know drowning yourself in alcohol is not the way to cope, DiNozzo." She would growl at him as she pulled his arm behind his back, and if she really wanted to make a point, she'd call their CO to have a 'few words' with the former Marine in order to make sure it stuck.
Thankfully on the few times he had gotten blazed out of his mind, Ellie was on tour, but she always knew that he was using alcohol to cope.
He shook his head, ridding it of Ellie Hunter.
He didn't want to think about his best friend who had died in the most horrific way known to man. He didn't want to think about how some animal had raped her then strangled her.
What he did what to think about was how sweet it would be when he would shoot the bastard who raped and murdered his best friend. He would relish in the fact the person who hurt his sister would soon be dead.
He took another swig of the Vodka he held in his bandaged hand and exhaled as the alcohol burned its way down his throat.
The day had been long and draining as he had started to dig into his best friends past. He felt horrified at doing it but he needed to know anything that might lead him to her rapist and killer. Gibbs had kept an eye on him all day, asking him periodically if he was okay. He wanted to snap at the older man to stop asking him that but he knew it wouldn't stop the man from asking. Gibbs would never stop asking if he was alright.
He stood up, the nearly empty bottle of Vodka fell from his bandaged hand and shattered into pieces as it swam in what little alcohol remained, swaying on his feet. He needed to get out of this place, get away from the one place Ellie had invaded.
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Leroy Jethro Gibbs was alone tonight, his girlfriend was still at work which was a usual occurrence nowadays.
He sanded his latest boat, taking swallows of bourbon, when he heard it:
The heavy footfalls on the ground above him.
"Bosssss?" Came the slurred voice as it travelled down the basement steps. Gibbs sighed he had a feeling he'd get a visitor tonight which is why he already made up the guest bedroom.
"Down here, DiNozzo." He called, DiNozzo footsteps grew louder as he descended. Even from behind the boat, the silver haired agent could smell the alcohol on his agent's breath.
"Jesus, DiNozzo, why the hell are you drinking on a school night?" He always made it clear to his agents that drinking when they were on call was a big no-no. And Tony was the agent who broke it most often.
"You sound just like Ellie, boss, she'd hate to see me like this." His agent slurred as he sat himself on the bottom step. Gibbs sighed again as he took in his agent: the hand he punched Abby's wall with was bruised and wrapped up, he was in the suit he wore to the office that was all wrinkled and his hair was a rats nest.
He'd only seen his agent like that once: when Kate was killed in front of them by Ari, and he had her blood on his face.
"Well Ellie seemed like a smart girl." Gibbs commented, Tony laughed a little bit. "Yeah she was. She, and Kate, were the only people who knew that my father abused me. It started when I was four and all because I got sick with a cold." Tony suddenly said, Gibbs took another drink of his bourbon. He and Ducky always suspected that DiNozzo's father abused him but they could never find any proof proving it.
"Oh DiNozzo." He didn't know what to say to the admission, what could he say? That he suspected but didn't say anything?
"Ellie was my best friend, my sister, she had my six, and I should have had hers but I didn't. She died because I didn't have her six." Tony murmured. "She called me three nights ago, she was Stateside and wanted to meet, but we had the Rolstein case and I couldn't get away, and she knew that. The last thing she said to me was 'go get the bastard, and come back home to me, I love you, Tony.' She knew work was important to me, but she always had my six and I always had hers, until three nights ago." Tony said with clear regret in his voice. Gibbs could also hear the anger in Tony's voice as he stared at the older man that he had hidden all day and was releasing now that he was a safe place.
"I should have left work and went to her and maybe if I did, she would still be alive and not cut up with her organs removed lying in Ducky's cold storage!" He yelled. Gibbs only listened and watched as his agent struggled to his feet. "Ellie is dead because of you! Her death is your fault!" Tony continued to yell as he lent on the railing to support himself, Gibbs heard the telltale sign of heels then he heard her voice as it drifted down the stairs, along with her heels.
"Jethro, is everything okay down here? Is there someone else here?" Came his redheads concerned voice, Tony drunkenly spun around and saw Jen walking down the stairs and scoffed.
"Are you kidding me, Boss? You're banging the Director? What, she was just that good while you were her boss?" He looked at Jen, and Gibbs knew that he wasn't going to like this. "Did you sleep your way to the top, Director? Are all the men you sleep with ladders that can move you up higher and higher?" Tony spat at his boss' boss who looked like she was going to put a bullet through his shoulder just so he'd sober up.
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked. He knew his agent was drunk and grieving the loss of his friend, but that gave him no right to speak to Jen like that. He spun his agent around to face him and headslapped him so that he'd feel it along with his hangover in the morning.
"I suggest you get your ass up to the guest bedroom, and sleep it off before you say anything else." He ordered his SFA in a deadly calm tone of voice which meant trouble if it wasn't followed who only rolled his eyes but did as he was asked and left the two bosses alone.
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Jethro and Jen stared at each other, both mirroring concern. In two strides, Jethro had Jen in a hug. "He's drunk, Jen, he found the body of his best friend this morning. You know what DiNozzo's like when he's drunk, he says stuff he doesn't mean." Jethro tried to defend his SFA's actions to his girlfriend and boss. Jen just sighed into his shoulder.
"I know he is, Jethro but I think he needs to take a few days off. He shouldn't be working this case at all and I'd bench him if I thought he'd actually stay away from it but he won't so the least I can do is force him to take a few days of compassionate leave while you and the rest of the team try to solve it before Tony does something that'll get him killed." His boss said. He nodded, he agreed with her, but two questions remained:
Would Tony willingly take the compassionate leave?
And if he did, would he enough faith in his team to find Ellie's rapist and murder and let the justice system take care of them?
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A/N: This chapter has taken me all day to write but it's finally done. I have the start of chapter 6 written out and if I rush it, I should have it out by midnight, enjoy my Angels.
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A secret revealed
Short StorySneak peek: It was a secret that he didn't want anyone to know about. The close guarded secret, a life, that only two people knew about, would be known to all the people in his life, his work colleagues. Forever. His life would change.
