Chapter Fourteen
Dante DiNozzo let out a shuddery sigh as he looked at Gibbs’ hand then into his eyes. There was a sheen of moisture in them and Gibbs had to tamp down his own emotions. He’d been so prepared to deal with this man as the bastard they’d all been led to believe. The phone conversation had twisted things on end, and now…
Gibbs knew he was a damned good judge of character. He’d always been excellent at reading body language and non-verbal signals. And in a few moments, he had an initial impression of Dante DiNozzo. And it tilted everything on end.
“Are you Gibbs?” The man’s voice was husky and exhausted sounding, clearly sleep hadn’t been an option.
“Yeah.”
Gibbs gave Ducky and Balboa a look, effectively shushing them for a second. “Duck, Tony’s gonna be undergoing tests for a while. Call me if he gets back before I do.” He jerked his head toward the elevator, pleased when the elder DiNozzo started walking that way. Ducky held off until Dante was waiting at the elevator.
“Jethro, is that"“
“Yeah, Duck.”
“But I thought"“
“Me too. Gonna talk with him and we’ll see what the story is.” Gibbs clapped Ducky on the shoulder and nodded at Balboa. “Call me if anything changes, Duck. Understand me?”
Looking momentarily at a loss for words, Ducky nodded.
“Good,” Gibbs muttered, joining DiNozzo at the elevator. He didn’t speak until the doors slid open, but when they were inside, he pressed the button for the lobby and extended his hand again. “Jethro Gibbs, Mr. DiNozzo. Tony’s boss.”
“Dante, please…Jethro?” Gibbs nodded, giving the other man permission to call him by his first name. “How is my son?”
“Coffee first. Think we both need it.” Dante sighed and nodded and they made their way to the diner Gibbs had eaten at with Jenny and Abby. He ordered only coffee while Dante got a light breakfast.
“Tony will recover,” Gibbs began as the waitress walked away. “But he’s got a hell of a long recovery time ahead of him, physically and emotionally. Need to know what is going on between you two, Dante. Need to know if you being here is gonna be a good or a bad thing for my boy.”
“Your boy?” Dante repeated, sad smile on his face. “I’m sure he’s told you the stories…”
Gibbs arched a brow. “What he’s said doesn’t paint a pretty picture.”
Dante nodded, closing his eyes and rubbing a hand over them. “No, it wouldn’t. I have no doubt that everything he’s told you is the truth, whitewashed. The thing is, Jethro, I doubt he’ll want to see me. The things I did to him aren’t forgivable.”
“What was it?” Gibbs asked quietly, trying to reconcile the man in front of him with the guy who would leave his son in a hotel room in Hawaii, who would beat the child for using his ski outfit as a Halloween costume. “Tell me, Dante. Full disclosure. I’m your only chance of seeing Tony right now. Was it drugs? Alcohol?” He leaned over the table, getting right in DiNozzo’s face even though he continued to speak quietly. “What caused you to hurt and abandon that kid?”
DiNozzo shook his head and sighed, a shudder ripping through him. Gibbs had seen regret before, knew that Tony’s father wasn’t faking any of this. Dante waited until their coffee had arrived, taking a huge gulp of the scalding brew without even a wince. He leaned forward, meeting Gibbs’ eyes without flinching. “Mental illness,” he said quietly. “I had some years when I was crazy, chemically speaking. Jethro, I tried to cover it with drinking and painkillers, though I wasn’t addicted to either. But that just hides the problem for a short while. It always comes out, worse, harder, sharper.”
Gibbs watched the man, evaluating that response carefully. “Mentally ill,” he repeated quietly. “You doing better now.” It wasn’t a question but an evaluation.
Dante nodded. “Much. Finally have the right medication mix, don’t drink anything stronger than coffee, don’t take anything beyond what I need to function normally.” He paused, gulping down another healthy measure of coffee. “The thing was, Jethro, there were a lot of years I did horrible things to Tony, from ignoring him to abandonment and emotional…” He swallowed hard, shaking his head, lips pressed tightly together. “And physical abuse a few times. Hell, I sent him to a boarding school and complete cut him off from the family resources.”
“And that was just the beginning, wasn’t it, Dante?” Gibbs had no reason to deny the man’s story. In fact, it had the ring of truth to him. He’d dealt with his own childhood and a mentally unstable parent and it made sense. In a strange way, it all made sense and served to bring him closer to both DiNozzos.
“Only the beginning,” Dante confirmed. “I went through three wives in the ten years after my first wife died. Each one was younger, larger busted, less interested in me and my son and more interested in my money and what I could do for her. Tony had my in laws, and our relationship was broken. But now that I’m back on track medically, I’ve been trying to establish a relationship with him. I understand his reticence, but it is so hard…” He trailed off, looking at the waitress as she placed his food in front of him.
Only when she was gone did he lean in again, watching Gibbs with shrewd eyes. “You became what I couldn’t for him, didn’t you? A father figure, more than a professional mentor. I always wondered why he stayed at NCIS when he’d never settled at one police department.”
“More,” Gibbs agreed with a brief nod. “Tony’s my boy.” It was all he dared say about their relationship at the moment. “Not interested in competing, Dante. Just telling you how it is.”
Dante nodded, fingers running over the table. “I know,” he said sadly. He sat silent for a few minutes, blinking rapidly, tears swimming in those green eyes so like his son’s. Gibbs knew this was a man who wanted a second chance, maybe one who deserved a second chance from Tony. But that wasn’t his business. He had to protect Tony, even if it was from his father.
Dante broke the silence. “Jethro, how was he injured? You said he was beaten and the perpetrators were still at large but I don’t have any more details yet. How badly hurt is he?”
Gibbs weighed what to say for a few moments before plunging forward. If Dante wanted to try with Tony, he needed full disclosure, just as he’d given. He hadn’t hesitated to answer Gibbs’ questions. And it would be better to know if Dante would reject Tony for his choices in life before Tony saw his father or before Gibbs mediated between them.
Mediating between them? He blinked a few times in shock. Was he really thinking that was the best option when he was estranged from his own father, with the same reason as the root cause, though the situations were so different? Watching Dante, Gibbs realized that he wanted to help. There was something truly regretful about this man and he held so many of the keys to helping Tony heal, to righting Tony’s self esteem once and for all, as impossible a task and that could prove to be.
He just hoped like hell Dante wouldn’t reject Tony when he learned the full picture of who his son was.
“Jethro?” Dante questioned quietly.
He gave the man a sheepish look and then began speaking. “Tony came here to Richmond to put a lot of distance between anyone who might recognize him and his…activities.” Why did that sound like a negative term? He sighed heavily.
“Far as we understand it, he came to a nightclub down here for a specific purpose.”
“Oh?” Dante looked guarded now.
“Yeah, he was…hoping to pick up a partner.”
“Sexual partner?” Dante qualified. “Since he went so far from home, there is something about this situation he didn’t want revealed. Was it a gay nightclub, Jethro?”
Gibbs nodded.
“Oh.” Dante mulled this over for a few moments, staring into the distance. Gibbs watched, coiled, ready to strike out emotionally if the man showed any sign of rejecting Tony.
“I didn’t know,” Dante said faintly. “My son is gay and I didn’t know…”
“Bisexual,” Gibbs clarified. “He’s bisexual, Dante. Does that bother you?”
Dante clenched his teeth, shaking his head. “No. Don’t care who he has relationships with. He’s my son, Jethro. I love him unconditionally. What bothers me is that someone hurt him. I assume it was a hate crime?”
“Oh yeah. He was beaten and tortured. And trust me, when we find who did this to him"and we will"they’re gonna pay. They screwed with the wrong person, Dante.”
Dante rubbed a hand over his eyes again and this time it came away moist, the sheen of tears evident on DiNozzo’s cheeks. “It’s been almost eight years since I’ve seen my son. And I could have lost him with so damned many regrets. So many pains I inflicted on him. Jethro, I’d like to see him.”
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