Chapter Twenty
Ducky glanced over at Tony as well and Gibbs had to squelch his impatience. He was a few seconds away from bellowing out some order for Ducky to talk faster, but he held himself back. DiNozzo was asleep and Gibbs wanted him to stay that way. At least until they determined what Dante DiNozzo’s true intentions were.
Gibbs’ whole body tensed and he breathed slowly and evenly, feeling a muscle in his jaw start twitching.
“Duck,” he finally said, breaking the long silence. He had to work at keeping his voice low and even toned when he wanted to raise it in a bid for more information. Intimidating Ducky with his voice alone never seemed to work.
“Ah yes, yes, Jethro. He is still sleeping, is he not? Do you want to do this outside?”
“I’m staying,” Gibbs replied, crossing his arms and making it clear that if Ducky didn’t start talking, he could leave. “And you’re telling me, Duck. Now. Not shrinking me, not pep talking me, not cheerleading Tony.”
“Very well,” Ducky said with a sigh. “Jennifer got back to me with her information as well. It appears that Mr. DiNozzo was completely on the level, my dear boy. He was diagnosed with a mental illness some time ago and has been on medication since. Finding the right combination of pills and therapy has been a work in progress, but his doctor reports that he is quite stable nowadays.”
“Has he taken responsibility for the hell he put Tony through?” Gibbs asked.
“Well, you’d be much better off asking him yourself, Jethro. I have no way of knowing that. I discussed his medical progress and not the specifics of his day to day therapy.”
“Is he to be trusted?”
“The professionals believe so, Jethro. Jenny’s background information seems to support that as well. There was some concern that Anthony’s mother had mental problems of her own.”
“Heard that.”
Ducky sighed and handed over a sheaf of papers spilling out of a manila folder. “Your best bet is to read through these. I’ll go collect you some coffee.”
Gibbs cracked the file, organizing the papers into a much more tidy pile, and began reading. Some of it he knew already. Both Dante and Liza had been born in 1950 to upper middle class families who eventually relocated from Manhattan to Long Island. Gibbs wondered if that had happened as the Long Island Railroad expanded services, or if the parents wanted the children to have that Baby Boomer suburban experience. Dante had been a brilliant student, finishing high school early and gaining acceptance to Columbia University at seventeen. He graduated college at twenty-one and got his MBA at the same school, which had a notoriously tough application process. He was smart and wasn’t afraid to show it.
After graduation, Dante married Liza Barclay, a long-time family friend. They’d had three pregnancies, two stillbirths and only one live child. Anthony Dante DiNozzo had been born on July 8, 1972.
Dante had at first worked for his father’s business, but then he struck out on his own, bringing Swiss watches and army knives to America, and tapping into the traveler’s spirit by importing favorite items from across the world. New York being such a melting pot, his import business had a built in clientel and his ideas were well ahead of his time. Before Tony’d even turned ten, his family were millionaires.
The long hours and pressure of building a business hadn’t been easy for the DiNozzos"especially Liza. She’d been hospitalized a dozen times or more throughout the years.
The medical portions of the background were a bit more vague, but Gibbs could connect the dots and realized that she’d had two stillbirths and the results had been a lifetime of hospitalizations for “female” problems, exhaustion, tension. Probably the depression and mental illness winning.
Gibbs could have Jenny dig deeper into records, but he knew what he’d find. Termed in the kindest words of the day would be explanations for Liza’s behavior, never once called what it was"mental illness. If someone had faced her situation head on, she might not have turned to drinking and prescription pills to self medicate. She might be alive today.
Gibbs gulped down bile, his mind swirling with memories he wanted to repress, putting Tony’s face on his own as he imagined the terror the little boy had gone through. There had been a lot of upheaval and heartache in Tony’s life and Gibbs understood what that was like.
He read deeper, finding a few mentions of law enforcement visits to the family home. Those records would no doubt need to be unsealed for Gibbs to get the whole story. He wasn’t sure he needed it though. At least Jackson had been a stabilizing force. Gibbs could only imagine what his childhood might have been like if both parents had been ill. It must have been a living hell for Tony.
Gibbs shook off his thoughts, wordlessly accepting the coffee Ducky handed him upon his return and sipping the dark brew. The next few pages were the company’s financials and a detailed business profile. Business was a little slower in the current economy, but the company was strong and solid and Dante seemed to have good people helping his company thrive.
Down even deeper was a letter from Dante’s primary care physician and another from his mental health team. He’d had everything from elaborate blood chemistry panels to brain scans and even a detailed and highly futuristic brain mapping technique. The doctors were very frank in explaining that Dante was much healthier, but that he needed to be on medication for the rest of his days. They also asserted that Dante’s medication regime was stable and had been for a time now.
Gibbs closed the folder slowly. He had all the information he needed now, and given Tony’s interest in seeing Dante, Gibbs would allow it to happen without any protest. But only in a very controlled social atmosphere and if Dante overstepped, Gibbs wouldn’t hesitate to kick his ass back to New York, permanently. Gibbs wanted to believe in all this, but he was still protective over Tony.
“Duck?” Gibbs asked quietly. “How do you think a boy with this mental illness in his family turns out?”
“Do you mean does he have those mental illness too? Are you asking if it is genetic?” Before Gibbs could answer and tell Ducky that he hadn’t been thinking that, the doctor answered. “No, I have never seen any of those behaviors in Anthony. He is an interesting study, but I do believe that much of this information explains and gives additional insight to how young Tony behaves. And how he feels about you, Jethro. As much as a part of his feelings for you are romantic and unrequited, he also has a more than healthy dose of hero worship for you. I believe the young boy was longing for a hero.”
“Noticed,” Gibbs replied. “Didn’t mean that exactly.” Gibbs didn’t know how to voice what he was saying, so he just shrugged. Ducky made a clucking sound, but he didn’t say anything and Gibbs wondered if the conversation had been dropped.
“I believe he turns out very well,” Ducky says after a lengthy silence. “Though the boy had a hellish upbringing, he’s a good man, a stand up agent, and he cares about the entire team. He’s warm and caring and a good man, Jethro. He turned out very well. As did the man who went through his own childhood hell. You, Jethro.”
Gibbs blinked at Ducky a half dozen times, wondering if his friend was bullshitting or if he actually knew the secrets of his past.
“Don’t question it, Jethro. I understand.” A quick read into Ducky’s gaze and Gibbs understood. Those eyes looking back were knowing and sympathetic.
“How did you?” he asked, keeping his fury at bay and focusing on his curiosity. For now, anyway.
“I didn’t until now,” Ducky told Gibbs. “I merely suspected. I’m so sorry, dear boy. Is there anything I can do?”
“Help him heal,” Gibbs growled out, gesturing to Tony.
“I will do my best, Jethro, but I think the lion’s share of that is up to you.”
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