Chapter 16
Gibbs' prayers for light traffic went unanswered as he raced to Piscataway. He weaved in and out of the cars, cursing as they went about their business, going at rates of speed far slower than he could tolerate as they seemed to be unaware of his need get to Tony as soon as possible. Unsurprisingly, by the time he made it to the entrance to the park, he found Ziva's car was right behind his as he turned and sped towards the location Abby had pinpointed.
He growled in frustration when the road he was on came to an end at the river's edge and forked to the left and right into crude dirt roads. Unsure of which way to go at first, he looked to the right first then his heart began to pump faster at the sight of smoke billowing at the far end. He stomped on the accelerator, fighting against the fishtails his wheels made while slipping onto the gravel road. Up ahead, he could make out a fire burning in a field with two cars sitting idle. Even from a distance, he immediately recognized Tony's car and another, a late model sedan with it's trunk popped open.
Unable to see past Tony's car and not seeing anyone around, he pushed his car even hard until he brought it to a skidding halt beside it. His weapon already drawn, Gibbs jumped out of the vehicle and ran around the Mustang, looking inside of it, but seeing no one.
“Over here, Boss!” Jerking his head to the source of the call, Gibbs turned, then lowered his weapon, taking in the sight before him. “We need an ambulance!”
Tony was sitting on the ground between two men, stripped down to just his jeans. Laying unconscious on the ground with his son struggling to hold a bloodied shirt against his back was Tony's father, while the other man, also unconscious and bloody, lay with a formerly white, but now soaked-red t-shirt tied around his thigh. He looked familiar to Gibbs, but at that distance, was unrecognizable due to his facial injuries.
Gibbs could only assume that there had been a helluva fight as Tony himself looked as though he had been put through a ringer and had the look of a man pushed beyond his physical limits. A cut above his right eye bled down his bruised and swollen face, but what troubled the former marine the most was the long, red gash that traveled across the width of his chest and stood in stark contrast to the pale skin of his senior agent.
Pushing aside his initial reaction to the scene and rushing over, Gibbs holstered his weapon and came to Tony's side. Seconds later Ziva and McGee pulled up and came running over as well.
“McGee, call 911, Ziva, check the other guy.” Gibbs ordered. “You okay?” He asked Tony, who just nodded, telling Gibbs that he was hurt worse than he was willing to let on.
“Oh my God...Foster.” Ziva give a little gasp when she went to help the other unconscious man and recognized him.
“Foster? What the hell happened, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, but Tony seemed to zone out as he tended to his father and for a moment Gibbs worried that he might pass out right there.
“Tony.”Calling him firmly by his first name seemed to snap him back and he blinked up at his boss.
“He just... he's....He went completely psycho, Boss....” he tried to explain and shook his head as though he didn't quite understand all that had happened either.
A cold wind picked up and the first drops of rain began to fall. Tony shivered reflexively and Gibbs whipped off his coat wrapping it around the younger man's bare shoulders, but he shrugged it off.
“Give it to him...He needs it more.” Tony indicated to his father, who was still clad in only his pajamas.
“Keep it on, DiNozzo.” recognizing the initial signs of shock in his agent, Gibbs pushed Tony bodily so that he was sitting up against the side of the sedan “Sit tight, I'll take care him.” He ordered while reassuring him at the same time, taking up the job of tending to the elder DiNozzo.
“Paramedics are on the way, Boss.” McGee announced.
“Go to the end of the road to flag them down, McGee.”
“On it, Boss.”
“Ziva? How is he?” Gibbs nodded to Foster, anger creeping in on him as he began to draw the conclusion that he had been responsible for all that was happening at that moment.
“He is alive, Gibbs.” That was all that he needed to know and he ordered Ziva to retrieve the first aid kit he kept in his trunk as he looked over again a Tony, who kept his gaze leveled on the prone figure of his father.
“He said he was wrong....he never says stuff like that....” Tony muttered tiredly before he finally closed his eyes in exhaustion.
Ziva came back a moment later with the first aid kit and she didn't need to be told to go and help Tony. She went to his side and began tending to his bleeding gash across his chest just as he heard a moan escape from the lips of the man under his hands. The elder DiNozzo tried to roll over to his back, but Gibbs held him fast.
“Hold still, Mr. DiNozzo.” He ordered as the movement made it nearly impossible to control the loss of blood.
“My son.....” He gasped painfully, seeing Tony with his eyes closed.
“He'll be fine. Try not to move.” he assured him.
“Agent Gibbs? Is that you?” He looked up in recognition.
“Yeah.”
“Anthony said you would come.”
Gibbs was unable to stop the man from rolling completely to his back this time to look up into his face. He could see that there was something he needed to say to him was more important than his own well-being for Gibbs had seen this look before in combat, in the faces of men that knew they were about to die and he began to plead feebly to the former marine.
“Please...tell my son.....I'm sorry....I was too stubborn and obstinate to apologize and for too many years I let him think that I didn't care....But it's not true, I know he's a good man... and...I'm proud.”
“Me too, but you need to tell him yourself.” Gibbs looked over towards his senior agent and saw that he was looking in their direction, waving Ziva off as he made his way over to his father's side. It was then that the skies opened up and rain began to fall in earnest.
“Anthony....”
“I heard, Dad...” Tony gulped back his fear and pain. “You don't have to say it again.”
“I do.....I'm so sorry...I let too much time pass.”
“Hey, you're not the only one that dropped the ball on the whole communication thing.” Tony tried to joke weakly, but failed miserably as he just couldn't hide his warring emotions.
“I wouldn't blame you if you never forgave me for not being the father I should have been.”
Tony shook his head and struggled to find his next words.
“And don't tell me I wasn't...I was too hard on you, too demanding....I thought it would make you stronger, but I just pushed you away....”
The older man raised his hand and Tony instinctively took it in his own. Gibbs could see Tony's father losing the battle to stay with them and he knew the end would be upon him soon. He knew that Tony was coming to this conclusion as well. Vincent fixed his gaze onto Gibbs before he spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Take care of my son, Agent Gibbs.”
“Always.” Gibbs replied sincerely with a nod as he watched the older man begin to fade. Still gripping Tony's hand, the younger man had to lean in close to hear the words his father was trying to form.
“Anthony...I...” He maintained an intense gaze on his son, speaking volumes into Tony's eyes. In those fleeting few moments the pain, the hurt, the disappointments, the bitterness and the harsh words that passed between them faded into nothingness as the bonds of blood were too strong to unbind. However, he was too weak to finish speaking the words on his tongue as his tentative hold on the physical world collapsed.
Gibbs felt much like an intruder as he watched the intimate scene between father and son and witnessed the dismay and heartbreak that enveloped Tony's features when the older man's eyes slipped closed for the last time and his grip relaxed within his son's hand. Holding tight to the limp hand, he knew what his father had wanted to say and Gibbs saw the tears well in the younger man's eyes before he bowed his head and bent low to speak softly into the now still man's ear.
“Me too, Dad....I love you, too.” He quietly uttered.
In the distance, the wails of approaching sirens announced the impending arrival of the ambulance, but both he and Tony knew that they would never make it in time.
All Gibbs could offer was a hand laid comfortingly across his young friend's back, letting him know he would be there for him as the grief and the rain poured down.
OOOOOOOOOO
A cool breeze blew colorful, fallen leaves into swirls along the path as the two men stood side by side near the long pile of dirt. He wasn't sure why he stayed to see this part, all the other friends, associates, ex-wives and other assorted distant cousins or acquaintances that his father had known but Tony had never met already left as soon as the final 'amen' was uttered by the priest. However, for some reason he felt compelled to stay, as if frozen to the spot like so many of the other statues and monuments that lined the rows of the cemetery grounds.
There was still to be a wake that afternoon at his father's home, hosted by ex-wife number three or was it two? He couldn't remember which, not that it really mattered to him at all, they were all strangers to him anyway. Besides, the only person he cared to have any sort of company with the past few days was standing right beside him and he wasn't going to be offering any empty condolences and platitudes like those others and that was just how he wanted it.
Now, even the cemetery workers were leaving, their task completed and it was just the two of them. Tony sighed heavily. He had finally told his father all that he had needed to say for so many years and he had actually made a connection with him only to have it severed so soon afterwards.
For the greater part of his childhood and all of his adult life, Tony had been on his own and had gone without the love, affection and approval of his father and he hadn't missed it. However, that one little taste of what it could have been like if he and his father had mended ways sooner left him with a hollowness that he had never experienced before and he wondered how it was it could hurt so much to miss someone that was barely in his life.
“Guess this is it, eh Boss?” Tony finally spoke.
“Take your time....There's no rush.” Gibbs assured him calmly, putting his hands into his pockets casually, as if willin to wait all day. Tony couldn't deny that his strong and stoic presence had been an anchor for Tony's fluctuating emotions the last three days, grounding him to the Earth and keeping him from thinking to hard in any one direction or another. He had hardly left his side since that afternoon by the river, staying with him while he was admitted overnight to the hospital then insisting that Tony stay at least a few days at his home while his latest concussion and injuries began to heal, but more than that, he knew Gibbs was making sure he was fulfilling his promise to his father to watch over Tony.
They were silent again for a long time until a realization struck him.
“You know, I really never thought much about it, but I've always known this day would come....the day when I would no longer have any family left....Not that I don't still have some colorful uncles and spiteful cousins still out there, but you know....real family...the people you came home to each day after school when you were a kid and ate dinner with every night, celebrated Christmas with, got annoyed at Thanksgiving by or embarrassed by their taste in music.....” Tony paused and blew out a breath. “I don't know why I would miss something I never really had in the first place, it doesn't make any sense really..... but I can't help it.”
“It makes sense, ” Gibbs replied evenly. “everyone needs family.”
“And now mine is gone....” Tony spoke softly, looking down and kicking at a leaf near his foot.
“Hey....” Feeling a hand land on his shoulder and gripping it tight caused Tony to look up into intense, blue eyes, seeing only truthfulness and unashamed concern. “You got a family, Tony. Only the blood is missing, but all that matters is there....got it?”
A small smile crept into the corners of Tony's mouth.
“Got it, Boss.”
TBC....
The T.A.D. by Angie