Never Alone

Chapter 10

Anthony DiNozzo Senior paled as he saw the name on the caller ID. He looked over at his new wife Linda.

"It's Gibbs honey, I have to take it." he said. He pulled a robe on and walked towards the large picture window that was overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

This was not how he had planned to spend his first anniversary.

"Gibbs." he said as he answered the call, "Is Anthony all right?" he asked the worry evident in his voice.

"Tony's fine." Gibbs' voice filtered through the phone. "I have a delicate question to ask you."

Anthony opened the sliding patio doors and took a coffee out to the balcony and watched as the early morning runners ran along a boardwalk in the distance.

"Ok Gibbs, go on, Is Tony in any trouble?" he remembered when his son told him about being accused of murder by the FBI.

"No, I want to talk to you about Elizabeth." Gibbs said.

Anthony stopped at that, "Hang on…" he got up and closed the patio doors giving himself privacy. "Alright, What's all this about Gibbs."

Gibbs sighed and checked no one was listening "Did Elizabeth have a second child?" he asked.

He listened as the sound of waves reached him, but no reply.

"...Senior?"

"She did, I think it was adopted, I never saw it. Did Tony find out somehow?" he asked his voice worried.

"No...no DiNozzo...Tony doesn't know, what can you tell me about it?" Gibbs asked.

"Leave it alone Gibbs, the child wasn't mine, Elizabeth died because she was going to see it, it was a sickly baby." Senior hoped Gibbs was going to let it go.

"Please." Gibbs asked.

There was silence again.

In Los Angeles, Anthony DiNozzo Senior gulped forcing down emotions he hadn't felt for a long time.

"This is painful Gibbs, there is a reason people don't talk about things…." He sighed, "In 1977 Elizabeth and I had some problems, Tony was a handful and I was...well, I was working and not spending enough time with my family." He admitted.

Gibbs bit back a retort at that and waited.

"Elizabeth met a naval captain, John...something, I think. He was kind and spent time with her, while I didn't. Elizabeth and I seperated for a while, Tony stayed with me while his mother moved into the guest house. Anyway, she dated this guy, he wasn't as squeaky clean as she thought, he hit her and treated her badly. I looked into him he was into some shady stuff, but when Elizabeth became pregnant he wanted to marry her, but she caught him hitting Tony."

"He hit him?" Gibbs' voice cut in shocked.

DiNozzo Senior nodded, even though Gibbs couldn't see him, "I went to take Elizabeth some papers, I was filing for divorce and I caught the Captain hitting Tony with a belt, he'd spoken out of turn and he was saying awful things. We had a fight but when Elizabeth found out she threw him out. It was a month after that she found out she was expecting."

"And you didn't want her or the baby?" Gibbs supplied remembering the conversation he had had with Angela McGee.

"No!" Senior exclaimed, "I took her back, I forgave her and was going to raise the child with her. She had the baby it was a boy about september that year, I think….She was taking Tony to meet his brother when she died. She didn't put me on the birth certificate Gibbs, she put the real father's name, He wouldn't let me take the boy, he insisted it was his mistake and he would deal with it."