Chapter 3
Two adults, a six year old boy, silence. It was like that the way out of the school, the way home in the car, and then in the kitchen. Tony sat at the table, occasionally chancing glances at Gibbs, the older man stood against the counter and persisted in his non-communication. Dom kept looking at his hands and didn't much move at all.
"Dom, go to your room."
Tony finally said and the boy moved slowly.
"That wasn't your fault, Champ."
Gibbs kissed him on the top of the head and they both forced them to smile.
"See you later, honey."
Tony said and kissed him aswell before the boy left obviously relieved. As soon as they heard the door to his room close their faces fell back into the neutral mask they had put on since they had left the school. Tony just opened his mouth when there was a knock on the door.
"Hey, Tony, we just wanted to check that you're ok."
Susanne and Mike Smith from two doors to the right stood there and smiled reassuring at Tony.
"Thanks, Su. Hey, Jack, you wanna play with Dom? He's in his room."
The boy, Dom's best friend nodded and went past Tony. He lead Susanne and Mike into the kitchen where Gibbs had started coffee.
"Gibbs."
Mike said and they shook hands briefly. While Tony and Susanne were good friends Gibbs and Mike knew eachother only from passing children between them and occasional douple dates Tony had started to help Susanne with their problematic marriage.
"Lots of shit what happened at the school today."
Gibbs nodded his agreement at Mike's statement when they sat at the table.
"We heard a lot of them talking, and we saw how Mr. Miller had taken Dom by the arm. Mike tried to get him off Dom but..."
"It's ok, Su, really. I don't think we'll have problems with Mr. Miller again."
Gibbs said and all three shot him surprised looks.
"You won't take Dom off the school, will you? I mean, sure what happened today sucks, but there'll always people like them."
Mike stated and Tony shook his head.
"No, taking him off would only change the people involved, but not the situation."
Gibbs looked at the table at the tone of voice Tony used. Sometimes Tony forgot that Dom was his son aswell. He did a lot of things wrong, too often he was a bastard to Tony but he knew that if he start a fight when other people were there Tony first would yell at him and that would be followed by two days of silence.
"Kay, we'll leave you alone now. We only wanted to check you're alright."
Susanne said and they both got up.
"Jack can stay a bit, I could bring him home later."
Gibbs offered and Mike smiled.
"No, but thanks. He has to visit his ancestors."
He grimased theatrically and Gibbs winced in sympathy.
"Semper fi, Gibbs."
"Semper fi, Mike."
The two Marines said and they saluted sloppy, not as sloppy as Tony would have done but sloppy for Marines. The two others shared a head shake and a smile. Again they were silent until Dom was back in his room.
"So, you don't even consider taking him off the school?"
Gibbs said and he already sounded quite pissed.
"Jethro, it's like Mike said. There are million of people out there who think what we have is unnatural. That Dom is different from all the other kids in that school, and he is. He's more intelligent that that boy today. And he's polite and loving and lovable. He knows that he has to respect people but not let them do everything they want. His best friend goes to that school and that boy isn't in his class. Beth will keep an eye on him, he'll be fine, Jethro, as fine as he can be."
He turned to the fridge and took out the stuff for dinner.
"So, I have no word in this?"
"Sure you have. Say what you have to say. I told you that I wouldn't take him off the school and I told you my reasons. Give me a good reason for taking him off."
"He doesn't have to face those idiots. He could do home schooling."
"No."
Tony simply said and turned back to the food.
"Tony,..."
"No, Jethro. I won't let him have home schooling. He'll feel isolated and he won't be prepared for the shit you have to face when you're in the real world. Not only no, hell no!"
Gibbs didn't say anything but Tony soon squirmed under the glare.
"I had home schooling, ok? Mum was a teacher, when she died Dad sent me off for boarding school, you think that was easy? Coming from your mother to military drill? I hated it! I hated home schooling and I hated what it took me! Dom will go to school like every normal kid does because that's what he is, a normal kid! Fuck!"
His hands had started to shake and the glass container had slipped from his fingers smashing on the floor. He rubbed his hands over his face.
"Why, Jethro? Why can't anything go just fine?"
His eyes glistered with unshed tears. Gibbs was quickly at his side taking him in his arms.
"Don't worry, Tony. We'll just let him go there and see how it goes. And I'm sure there'll be a time when only good things happen to us."
He kissed him softly and the younger man finally smiled.
"When did you turn into such a fluffy man?"
"Always was just nobody ever noticed."
Author's Chapter Notes:
There are unclosed issues between Tony and Gibbs