Gibbs ran a hand over his forehead stopping at the sunglasses he now wore all the time. Sighing he lowered his hand back to the page he was trying to read. Examining every sign slowly he got frustrated quickly but he kept going. He had to. The door bell rang and startled him so he lost the line.
"Damn it."
He murmured as he went to open. Lil was still at work but she was expecting a delivery. Opening the door he tried to listen for any sound.
"Yeah?"
He said and waited for the person to say something. By now his vision was down to zero and he couldn't even see light anymore.
"Gibbs..."
He recognized the voice immidiatly and cursed himself for opening the door.
"McGee? What the hell are you doing here?"
"Didn't you recognize me?"
He heard low talking and then litterly the coin fall.
"May we come in?"
Gibbs tried to hide his smile at the voice of his old friend Ducky and stepped aside. Now that they found him and saw him there was no way he could get away. He lead them into the kitchen and put two more cups on the table.
"Duck...I'd give you some tea but..."
He waved around the kitchen.
"It's nothing I usually need so I won't find it."
"That's fine, Jethro. Why don't you sit down so we can tell you why were here."
"I already know."
Gibbs said but sat down anyway.
"You came to ask me for the reason why I left."
"No, actually. We came for another reason."
"So this little meeting has nothing to do with Tony? Why don't I believe you?"
"Because it has to do with Tony."
"Then you can leave just as much..."
"Fuck, Gibbs! I don't care why you're such a stupid asshole. I don't even want to know what made you leave your family! But a friend of mine is missing. And apparently he's missing because of you! So get your head out of our ass and help Tony!"
"Wait! Tony's missing?"
His eyes started to burn. What did Lil say? He thinks it's his responsibility to protect his family? Well, he fucked up great deal!
"Steve Whishaw broke out on a revenge mission so it seems. He has taken Tony and demands you to come."
Ducky's voice was calm but Gibbs knew him too well to trust that.
"I'm afraid I can't help you."
"God damnit!"
McGee started but Gibbs waved him to stop.
"This has nothing to do with Tony and me, Tim. It's just...I'm blind. What should I do? If I go there he'll shoot me in front of Tony and then he'll kill Tony. You have a bigger chance without me."
For a moment there was silence and Gibbs was quite sure that McGee was staring at him with his mouth open.
"Timothy, please, let me have a word with Jethro."
He heard a chair being moved and then footsteps towards the door. When the door was closed Ducky sighed.
"Jethro, I do want to know what happened. I think I know you well enough to say that the reasons you told Anthony are not the real reasons for your departure. When did that happen with your eyes?"
Gibbs took a deep breath. What did he have to lose? The man he loved was in the hands of a psycho.
"A few weeks before I left my doc told me that I'm gonna be blind. When I came here I did an operation that could help but there were complications. It didn't make it worse, it just made it happen faster."
He sighed.
"I couldn't put Tony through that. After all that happened...I just couldn't."
"Did you ever consider..."
"That Tony wouldn't care? Yes, Ducky, I did. That's why I left the way I did."
"Jethro, do you have any idea what you did to Tony?"
Gibbs pressed his eyes closed.
"Duck, please..."
"No, Jethro, I think you should know what you did when you were protecting your family. A few months ago Tony had a collapse. Since you left we had to force him to eat and sleep. He doesn't care about himself anymore. Jethro, if it wasn't for Dom and the baby, I'm not sure he'd still be alive."
"The baby..."
"Yes. Luckily he wasn't foolish enough to do what you told him to do. Tell me, Jethro, did you want to destroy him or are you just damn stupid?"
Gibbs fought hard but couldn't hold back the single tear that ran down his cheek.
"I had to say it or he wouldn't have let me go. I don't ask you to understand it, nor do I ask for your approval. Just don't tell Tony all this."
"Jethro, if you don't help us I won't have the opportunity. Your son has already lost one father. Don't let him the only one left."
Gibbs nodded slowly.
Author's Chapter Notes:
A wake up call
Chapter End Notes:
Same as before