Work Text:
A Familiar Face
Tony had lost track of time due to the current case he was working on. It had all started with the morning finding out that a Marine Recruiter had been killed. Though he had been tasked a few days ago to fetch the bullet that was in a box of dolls. Something he didn’t realize until after finding out the trajectory.
It had been back in Abby’s lab that she had figured out that the Marine Recruiter had been sniped at. It was through her trajectory that she figured out by how long range the sniper must have been. Though they still didn’t know what type of rifle it was. He had already checked out the warehouse with Gibbs and filed the evidence. They had figured out on how the sniper had shot at the recruiter. A single brick that could be removed from the wall. It was in the perfect place to take a shot at Gunnery Sergeant Freddy Alvarez.
But he was currently pulling an all nighter with Kate and Gibbs. He was trying to eat the Chow Mein from the Chinese restaurant. But was struggling because of the chop sticks. How did people eat this stuff with them? And there wasn’t one blasted fork!
It was starting to annoy him, especially as hungry as he was. He was tempted to just use his fingers but knew Kate would say something. She already was trying to coach him on how to use the sticks. But he still wasn’t getting it. Relax your fingers?
He ignored her snide comment about not being able to impress a girl. He didn’t really care much about dating; it was more of front to begin with. Force of habit when he was still a cop, even to back in Peoria. Apparently, it worked a little too well because Kate believed that about him. And he wasn’t about to correct her about it. He didn’t need a woman in his life. It was already preoccupied with work and his son. Which there were times that he slightly wondered about Harry. Something was constantly happening and he miraculous escaped danger each and every time.
He could deal with the muggle part of danger; it was the magic part he wasn’t so sure about. He understood a lot about it, but there were some things that he was left confused about. But that was Harry’s world, though he was technically part of it due to being his father. Though he loved that Harry tried to involve him as much as possible. But there had been times that things had flown over his head. But perhaps the real reason was, he didn’t want to have another emotional connection since Harry lost his mother. She had stayed with him the amount of times he had to move to each department. First meeting her before he had started in Peoria. She had been on an assignment as she had requested the transfer to America. That was how he knew she had been originally from England. Some type of school she had gone to out there. Her eyes had hooked him in and brought up a conversation and it went from there. There had never been any other woman.
He had been married to her for several years. Her death had been the reason he had left for Baltimore. Too many memories back in Philadelphia. She had saved his and Harry’s life. He could still remember the blood on his hands. But he had done his best to move past it and be there for Harry. So, he may have lost his wife, but Harry had lost his mother. But both of them had turned out alright. Harry had loved his school and it got easier as each day passed.
Even despite all of that, he felt proud of Harry. His son was sixteen years old and would graduate next year. He already had an apprenticeship that he did during the school year. Though he was still glad that Harry still wanted to hang around his dad. He knew a lot of teenagers had their moments that they didn’t want their parents interfering with their lives. But Harry just wanted to spend as much time as he could with him. He couldn’t help but treasure that. Maybe part of that was because he could only see Harry a few times out of the year. Usually that was around the Easter and Christmas holidays. Then of course, during the summer holidays while school was out. So, every moment meant the world to him.
He imagined that Harry would fully step into his career after finishing his seventh year. And he had seen his marks from last year. Though Harry had to explain what each grade meant. Even his training classes he had passed with flying colors. It was some type of healing but combat sort of job. He didn’t quite understand much of it. He said some of it involved curses, but his main job would be healing. Kind of like a doctor did, though different somehow. He would have a final set of examinations at the end of his last year. He knew that Harry was excited and nervous about it. But he knew why Harry had chosen it. He had felt just as helpless when he lost Lily.
It was by the late hour that he knew Harry was probably asleep at the moment. Perhaps within a few hours after midnight. He didn’t mind the days pulling extra hours. He was helping solve a case to catch a murderer.
But he was at the point of almost throwing the Chow Mein. He still couldn’t get the chop sticks to work. He was about to see if there was something else, because he was still hungry.
Then he smelled something new enter the office. Immediately recognizing the scent for what it was.
Pizza.
Pizza had always been a favorite food of his.
Kate was eating her shrimp and still glancing over the complaint file that Gibbs had asked her to organize by category.
Even her attention was diverted to the elevator opening.
The raven hair was unmistakable. Even more so the cap that he was wearing.
But Harry walked into the Bullpen with an NCIS cap on his head. The same cap that Tony had shot at the shooting range. Tony was going to throw it out, but Harry had wanted it. He couldn’t help the smile on his face before placing the cap on his sixteen-year-old son. Not before ruffling his hair, making it more of a mess than it already was.
“You would want a hat with a bullet hole?” Tony had asked him.
Harry had laughed, “its not everyday you get a hat with that, dad. Plus, it’s yours!”
Tony couldn’t help to grin at that. Harry had several shirts and clothes with the letters, NCIS on them. But if he wanted the hat, he wouldn’t fault him for it. He would later notice that Harry loved wearing that cap.
Though it wasn’t hard to Tony to recognize his son to begin with. Even they looked alike, even to the hair style. Though he couldn’t tell if Harry had gotten his green eyes from him or Lily. But the face structure was definitely from Lily. He liked to think that Harry got his smarts from both of them.
Tony watched as Harry walked closer to his desk, a visitor badge pinned to his chest. He had shown him the office before, just not really inside the first time. That had been when Harry was curious on where he worked. But there had been other times that he had brought him to the office. Though Harry had brought him food to work before when he wasn’t at school. Though this would be the first time that Gibbs and Kate were around. He honestly wasn’t sure of their reactions. He knew Gibbs probably wouldn’t be too bad, but Kate he wasn’t too sure about.
“Thought you might be hungry when you didn’t come home,” Harry said as he made it to Tony’s desk.
“Harry… I’m working,” Tony tried to be stern, but the smile showed through.
Harry rolled his eyes, “you’re always working. But I figured I could bring you food.”
Tony laughed, “and you didn’t think you could still be sleeping?”
Harry shrugged, “I know Chinese isn’t always the best and you always complain about the chopsticks.”
Kate raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Who was this kid? And how did Tony know him? She knew Gibbs was due to come back soon and didn’t want to be behind when he asked about the complaints.
Tony dug into the bag that Harry had been carrying in. It wasn’t a pizza box, so he hadn’t ordered a pizza in. But he could still smell it. He felt a wave of surprise when he saw the pizza. But it had been homemade, that meant that Harry had spent time at the house making a pizza for him. He knew that Harry didn’t need to.
“Appreciate it, kiddo,” Tony said before taking a bite out of the pizza and handing a piece to him. Even the cheese was nice and hot and stringy as he took a huge bite. It was delicious as it melted on his tongue.
Harry took a seat near Tony to look at what he was doing.
“Harry…” Tony warned.
Harry rolled his eyes, “fine…”
That was when the elevators doors opened again, and Gibbs strode in. He immediately noticed the kid sitting with DiNozzo. His eyebrows rose in surprise, not something he expected.
“Who’s the kid, DiNozzo?” Gibbs said before grabbing the soup he had ordered.
“This kid has a name,” Harry grumbled, it was more half heartly, but it was early.
“Harry…” Tony said.
Gibbs lips twitched in amusement.
“I’m Harry, you must be Gibbs,” Harry commented, stretching out a hand.
Gibbs nodded, shaking the boy’s hand, “okay… Harry. What are you doing here?”
“Dad needed food, knew he be stuck with Chinese again,” Harry said as if that explained everything.
Whatever Gibbs was expecting, he didn’t foresee that. Since when did DiNozzo have a kid?
“You have a kid?” Kate said in shock.
“It was a need to know,” Tony said, a bit defensive.
“Sounds like one of your escapades finally caught up to you. Wouldn’t have expect you to take responsibility. Did she get tired of you or were you tired of her?” Kate commented with a smirk.
Tony’s eyes narrowed at her. He had just finished half the pizza that Harry had brought him. He hadn’t realized he had risen to his feet.
“Don’t say stuff that you have no knowledge about!” Tony hissed at her. That was when he noticed that Harry was gone. He clenched his fists and wanted to yell at Kate for what she did. He didn’t even care that she didn’t know anything about what happened. But she had still scared off Harry.
“Now look what you did!” Tony snarled, before heading towards the bathrooms.
“I’m sorry, Tony. I didn’t realize…” Kate tried to say, knowing that she messed up.
“Maybe there is a reason for that,” Tony commented, turning his back on her.
Gibb didn’t comment on the exchange between his junior agent and senior agent. He was still a bit shocked himself. Would have never imagined that Tony had a kid, what else didn’t he know about DiNozzo? And how did he have a son? Nothing was making sense. But he watched as his senior field agent stormed off.
Tony did actually find Harry in the bathroom. He could see the tears falling as he hid under the sink. His arms were curled around his knees.
Tony sunk down and gathered Harry into his arms. Threading his fingers through his hair as the cap fell off his head. He could feel the wave of emotions that wanted to overwhelm him, but Harry needed him more.
“Its okay, I’m still here,” he whispered.
Harry let the tears fall as he clutched at his dad.
“Why did she have to say that!?” he cried.
“She doesn’t know. They still believe that I like to chase after women because that’s what I wanted them to think. I would never want to place you in any danger, you know that. Don’t let any of their comments bother you. They never knew Lily, your mother was a treasure, you know that.”
Tony could feel Harry nod into his arms. Even he had felt hurt by Kate’s words and knew that she hadn’t meant to be mean by them. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less. He knew that Harry had just been as hurt, if not worse. It probably would have been a slap to his face to remind him of his mother. And Lily was never like that. He had wanted to spend his life with her. Never was there a woman that kept his attention like she had.
“Is he alright?”
Tony looked up at the sound of Gibbs’ voice.
“No… but he will be,” Tony sighed.
“Okay, find me when you’re ready,” Gibbs said before walked out of the bathroom.
Tony was a bit surprised; he knew that his boss probably wanted answers. Answers on how he had a son. On why Harry had run into the bathroom and was down crying into his chest. He already knew he was surprised when finding out that Harry was his son to begin with. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to recount the story himself.
Tony wasn’t sure if Gibbs had actually said something to Kate about her words. He knew he must have by the guilty look she had. Though he wasn’t sure if the apology was that sincere. It made him wondered if he should have corrected her assumptions about his life.
He shook his head, no he didn’t think he should have. He would have assumed she would have caught on by now. He may talk about it and joke about it but that didn’t really mean it was true. And there hadn’t been a time he really flirted with a woman unless it was to get a case done. But he definitely hadn’t had sex ever since Lily. It would have felt like a betrayal to her and he wouldn’t put himself or Harry through that. Plus, he knew that Harry didn’t want another mother figure in his life. He had told him that he was happy with it just being him and nobody else.
What had surprised him was the lack of questions about Harry. He was almost expecting him the next day he came in for work. By then she had all the files organized of complains. Apparently, most of them had been letters thanking him. But they at least had a lead to go on. There were no questions to be had now, it was all work.
But one thing Tony knew was coming, was the conversation with Gibbs. He knew his boss would want to know. He had kept it a secret from the entire team after all. At first, it had been out of necessity to protect Harry. People tended to target him because of his career in law enforcement. So, if they didn’t know he had a son, it was easier to protect him. It was a bit easier since he went off to magic school at eleven. There, he knew his son would be protected by the school and professors there. Though that didn’t make it any easier when he missed him, but he did have his letters. But at least he knew that Harry could protect himself.
He had done it for so long that it became a force of habit. Never even mentioned anything when someone had mentioned their kids or spouse. Though there was a twinge of hurt sometimes seeing a husband with their wife. Reminding him of his loss, probably why he sympathized with a lot of the marines and navy when investigating their murders.
But there wasn’t time to think about that. He went along with Gibbs and Kate to talk to their one suspect. A marine that was selected for sniper school, which seemed to be their only lead until they had another recruiter murdered. Especially since their suspect was still in custody when the second murder happened. Though he could have done without the FBI trying to intervene in the crime scene and taking over. Though he did have fun pulling one over the FBI and getting the bullet before they did. No doubt they would hear about it later.
The conversation wouldn’t really happen until the case was closed and he took a shot at the sniper. Not even fazing him that the sniper tried to take a shot at him. Though he had wanted to strangle Gibbs since he didn’t even wear his vest. Especially since Gibbs was going to be the target, they were just lucky they had bullet resistant glass. Though he did have to admit that Gibbs did have a good plan for drawing the sniper out.
That didn’t mean he was going to look forward to the paperwork, and of course the FBI was going to take full credit. But instead of heading to his desk to do the paperwork, or at least get started. Gibbs had motioned for him to follow, leading into one of their conference rooms.
“Having second thoughts, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, a coffee in hand.
"What are you talking about?" Tony had been startled out of his thoughts about avoiding the conversation about Harry. He figured it was the reason for being called into the conference room to begin with.
“Today,” Gibbs elaborated.
Tony shook his head, “don’t get it any easier.”
Gibbs nodded before taking a sip of his coffee, “never does.”
Tony grimaced.
“Mind telling me about the other day. Why didn’t you say anything, Tony? It’s not every day we find out you have a kid.” Gibbs asked.
Tony snorted, “I imagine not. I never expected to have a kid, but it just happened. But there was no way we were going to regret him.”
“We?” Gibbs questioned.
Tony had a small smile, “her name was Lily. Met her while in school. She was doing some type of internship. She wanted to help people. She lost her parents at a young age and decided to be a doctor. She had a passion for helping those that couldn’t help themselves. We ran into each other and just started talking.”
“But something happened,” Gibbs guessed.
Tony nodded, “we had been married for several years while working at Philadelphia. I was following a drug lead. All I could remember was hearing the shooting when checking on a lead. Harry had been with her for the day, since it was her day off. Harry had wanted to go to the store with her. I ran when I heard the scream from Harry, and she had shielded him. She had been shot four times; I don’t even remember who had called. Just that I held her as she died,” Tony’s voice had gone quiet as tears rolled down his face.
“I couldn’t protect her…” Tony whispered.
Gibbs had an odd look on his face.
“Some days I wonder if Harry blames me…”
“Tony… I don’t know much about your son. He brought you food because he knew you liked it. And you provided comfort when he needed it. If there is anyone that he blames, is the person who killed her.”
Tony nodded; it was nice to actually say this out loud. Reminded him of the moments he enjoyed with her. Despite the bad memories of her death.
“Does it ever get easier?” Tony asked.
“No, but sometimes it gets easier to bear,” Gibbs admitted.
That made Tony look at Gibbs, really look at him.
“Are you speaking from experience, Boss?” he questioned.
Gibbs looked intense before he spoke only three words, “Shannon and Kelly.”
Tony was taken back by the answer, not expecting for his boss to answer him. It had been a very personal question. But he supposed since he was sharing about his own personal demons.
“Who were they?” Tony’s question was hesitant.
Tony wasn’t sure if Gibbs would actually answer him, but when he did it did shock him.
“My wife and daughter.”
Tony didn't know what to say. What do you say in response to someone who tells you that he lost his wife and child? So, he didn't say anything and instead squeezed his arm in comfort. They sat in silence for a little longer before Tony couldn't take it anymore, he was curious on something. Was that why Gibbs had been married that many times?
“Boss, how do you do it? It nearly killed me when I lost Lily. I don’t know what I would do if I had lost Harry too.”
Gibbs never gave Tony an actual answer but placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Which was basically his way of giving an answer. He doubted that he would have gave him an answer, it had been a personal question. Though perhaps there was a reason for that… He tried not to think of if he had lost Harry. Because he still had his son and still treasured every moment.
“Tony, you still have your son, focus on that,” Gibbs finally spoke.
Tony nodded, “thanks, Boss.”
He used that moment to make his way out of the office since everything was done for the day. So, that he could make his way to his car and head back home. The team may know about his son now, but he found he didn’t really mind.