"You have got to be kidding me!"
Tony slammed in the front door of his father's house, dropping his rucksack on the floor, he stormed down the stairs of the basement as Gibbs stood there sanding his latest boat.
He raised an eyebrow, turned poured his son a glass of bourbon and waited.
"You asked her to join us?" Tony took the drink and sat on the bottom step.
"I was impressed with how she handled the case." Gibbs replied with a shrug, "We've been a two man team since Blackadder left, I thought you'd appreciate the help."
"Humph." Tony sipped his drink and glared at him.
"Come on Tony, Kate helped us, and the Secret Service sacked her." Gibbs argued.
Tony smirked at him, "You like her?" He said.
"She's got the makings of a good agent." Gibbs agreed.
"So..." Tony finished off his drink and put the glass down. "You're not seeing Vivianne tonight?"
Gibbs shook his head, "Nope. Not tonight, figured I'd be needed here." He stood up and walked towards the stairs, "Steak?" He asked.
Tony nodded and followed him upstairs, "You staying tonight?" Gibbs asked.
Again Tony nodded, "My water heater's not working again and my back aches from where Fornell had my ass tossed on the beltway."
Gibbs shook his head, "You need to move." He sighed as he took two steaks out of the fridge and walked towards the fire.
"Maybe, but the rent is cheap and it's close to work. I have a boss who's a bear if I'm late."
Gibbs chuckled, "I could have left you in Baltimore."
For a second a dark look crossed his face, "You wouldn't have though?"
"It was either you joined me or I shot Danny."
Tony laughed, "I would have been right behind you." He said remembering his dirty ex partner.
Gibbs threw the steak on the fire, "SO..." He let the word linger for a moment, "Morrow wants us to be a three man team. What do you think about Kate joining?"
"Honestly, Dad, I think she'll be good for the team, but... we haven't mentioned about 'Our' situation, apart from Morrow no-one else knows. Didn't you say she was a profiler, what if she figures it out?"
Gibbs laughed, "You ashamed of me son?"
Tony looked abashed for a moment, "No, of course not. But Abby will rip you a new one if she finds out you're my dad and Ducky..." Tony smirked and launched into an imitation of the elderly Scotsman, "Well, Jethro.... This news reminds me of a time when..."
"Ok, okay." Gibbs laughed. "Let's just deal with that if and when it arises. Kate's joining us on Monday." He flipped Tony's steak onto a plate and handed it to him, "Eat your food, I'll come with you tomorrow and we'll fix that damn heater again."
Maria Macaluso held her son's hand. He was now eighteen years old and had been the light of his mother's life all her life.
"It's not fair mama." Tonio said as he looked at her fading in her hospital bed.
Maria smiled the light waning in her eyes.
"Tonio, it is as the good Lord wills it, I will soon be reunited with your father. I know he would have been as proud of you as I am now. You have been a good son."
Tonio looked away for a moment.
"Your Uncle Marco will be there for you if you need anything."
"I need you mama, please, don't leave me." He begged his green eyes filling with tears.
"It is beyond my power to stay my son, be good for your Grandfathers and for your Uncle Marco. Promise me." She said.
Tonio promised and dropped his head to his chest as his mother closed her eyes for one final time.
He sat there for what seemed like an age, unwilling to leave her until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Tonio, you need to leave." Marco said as he looked down at the boy.
He stood up and allowed his uncle to lead him away and let the nurses in to do their job.
"Your Grandfather wants to see you Tonio."
The boy stopped for a moment, "He wants to see me?" he asked surprised. He knew his grandfather loved him, he saw him a few times a year, but he had never spent a lot of time with any of his family apart from his mother and his Uncle Marco. Since moving to Peoria as a child, he had been kept away from the main members of his family. He was just about to start college when his mother got sick. His grandfather had paid for the hospital bills, but he had used most of his savings to help with the other things his mother had needed during her stay. He still had enough saved for his first year at college and was excited about his place at GW Business school. But now he thought maybe it was in doubt.
Walking up to the large Mansion the Macaluso family owned, he gulped as he nodded to the man guarding the door.
The man moved his gun as he looked at the boy, but then noticed Marco behind him.
"Afternoon Sir, The Don is in and will see you as soon as you arrive."
Marco walked past him and guided Tonio inside.
"It's been a long time hasn't it?" He said as the boy walked inside.
Tonio nodded, "I think I was six last time mother and I came here. Grandfather has only been to see me at mother's since then."
Marco knocked on the door and waited as a voice called him in.
"Tonio, son... come in..."
He opened the door and was enveloped in the arms of the older man, "I am sorry for your loss; My Maria was a ray of light." He looked sadder than Tonio remembered but then the man had lost his daughter.
"She would have wanted you there." Tonio said.
Mike Macaluso nodded, "I know, I know, but it is not easy for me. My heart breaks for you son."
"Thank you, Grandfather." Tonio said.
"You will be coming to stay here now. I talked to your dear mother before she passed. You do not need to go to College, but I have need of you here."
"Here? But Grandfather I was going to study business, surely I would be of more help if..."
"Tonio, your father was a good man, he helped his family until he died and your mother wanted you to follow in his footsteps. Your father worked for Don DiNozzo and it would be an insult to his memory and a slight on the family if you didn't follow in his footsteps."
"You want me to work for Don DiNozzo?" he asked, surprised, he didn't have much contact with his paternal grandfather.
"No, I want you to work for me. Marco will train you up and give you all you need to one day take my place as the head of the family. Maria was my only child, my heir. Now it falls to you to take your place as a member of the Macaluso family."
"But I am a DiNozzo, sir."
"Only by birth, you are a Macaluso by blood. Maybe you will heal the rift that has developed between our families."
Tonio looked at the photo of his father and mother, both teenagers at their wedding on his grandfather's desk.
He sighed as he let all thoughts of a career in business pass him by. "I could study online, and still work for you. After all the family is a business. I will do all I can to make you proud."
Mike pulled the boy into a hug, "I hope so." He smiled.
Phase one of his plan to get his revenge on the DiNozzo's for the pain his daughter had suffered was underway.
He had found out five years ago that Tonio's father wasn't dead as his daughter had been told. Then he had found out about the money the DiNozzo's had swindled from his Son in law and his daughter. Finding out that Tony DiNozzo was a policeman was a shock. He had just been about to tell him about his daughter being alive when the news had come through and Tony had disappeared and he himself had been arrested using evidence Detective DiNozzo had gathered.
He had done five years in jail until his lawyer had been able to get him out. He had sequestered Maria with Marco and they had helped raise the boy away from the prying eyes of the FBI. Tonio was to the FBI an unknown and until it was time he would stay that way.
Tony sat up in bed with a scream, within moments Gibbs was in his room.
"You ok son?" he asked.
Tony nodded, wiping his eyes. He'd had that dream a lot since he'd come back from Italy, it had taken years for him to talk to his dad about Maria and what had happened while he was away.
He had never forgiven Fornell for bringing it up in the Commandant's office at Remington. The Commandant, himself had never told anyone about the fact that he had a widowed cadet. But Tony had vowed not to mention it or Maria ever.
But one day, after Tony had come home from Remington for Summer vacation, Gibbs had been awoken by his son's screams.
"MARIA!" The scream had been heart wrenching and Gibbs had shot out of bed and raced down the hallway.
Tony sat upright, tears streaming down his face, his hands gripping tightly to the bed sheets.
Gibbs knelt down by his side and had pulled his son into his arms, slowly Tony had sobbed his heart out finally grieving for his wife and child, telling Gibbs all about her and how much he had loved her.
Years later when Tony had gotten engaged to Wendy, he had hoped that he was finally able to move on. However, finding out that his partner, Danny, had been sleeping with her just before the wedding had hurt, but what had clinched it was Tony, in his sleep calling for another woman. Wendy had called off the wedding and Tony and Gibbs had taken the honeymoon as a vacation. Gibbs helping his son heal a little bit more. Over time the nightmares had phased out and this one had caught Gibbs by surprise.
"Tony?"
Tony wiped his eyes as Gibbs strode over to wrap him in the hug he so desperately needed, "I don't know why I dreamed of it again." He shuddered, "I think it was being in the body bag that did it."
"I'm sorry son." Gibbs said.
Tony gave a short barking laugh, "If Abby could hear you now." He remarked.
"Apologizing doesn't count with family."
Tony smiled, "It's strange, I really dreamt of her Dad, not as I remembered her, but older. You remember when I was in Peoria, and they put me on the Macaluso case?"
Gibbs nodded with a grimace, "I always thought you were crazy to accept that assignment."
"I needed to, I needed closure and Mike had no idea who I was till my cover was blown. One day I was sure I saw her, with a kid about six years old, the same age our child would have been. That was the same day my cover was blown and I decided to leave and take the job in Baltimore. I just couldn't... you know dad. I thought I was seeing things, still think I was."
"I'll ask again, son, do you think you need counselling?"
Tony shook his head, "I can't talk about it, you know that." He shuddered as he had flashbacks of his childhood and memories of his father screaming at him to not ever talk about the family.
"Hey, it's ok son, you know I'll never push you and if you ever need to talk about it I'll be here." Gibbs said. He sat further down the bed as Tony lay back down.
"I know dad." He said as he closed his eyes again. Gibbs got up and walked to the door shutting off the light, "And thanks." Tony added as he shut the door.
Gibbs walked back to his room with a sour look on his face, he hated that in part he had been responsible for the nightmare his son had just suffered. It hadn't even crossed his mind at the time, but he was comforted by the fact that Tony knew he was there and safe. But the confession that he had thought he had seen Maria sat in his gut. He shook it off and headed back to be determined to get a little bit of sleep before the next day started.