Love/hate relationships with parents are so hard. All of us out our parents on pedestals, but when they fall... oh how far they fall. Even if you have a terrible relationship with your parent (s), at some point you loved them if you spent anytime with them, but whether you be 3 or 63 at some point the are going to let you down. You just have to remember you aren't perfect either and that may help you get past their errs. Abusive parents of course are harder to reconcile with, but if you hold onto the hate forever who are you punishing?

Perfect ending

Thank you!

Absolutely heart-wrenching story. Very well written. I wish this had been the Gibbs we saw on the show after the first two to three years.

You dont owe the bitch anything she acts like she understands it all just because your dad wanted to act like a good man and fuck up your head one finally time she's just helping and playing victim like all OCs/females do in fanfics.

And I am crying with him...

From a very brief snippet of conversation in canon, you have crafted an incredibly well done expansion of Tony's backstory, while also making us privy to the friendship between Tony and Gibbs. When I read stories like this, it makes me sad that the show's writers never really more of Tony. I recognize that, although a police procedural, the show's tone is very often lighthearted and humorous, especially in its B stories dealing with the characters. This is, I think, what has made it so successful. Still, we had several *seasons* in which Ziva's relationship with her father was explored and analyzed, and I can't help wishing the same had been done for Tony, rather than confining his backstory to an occasional episode. I find it interesting that so many writers of fan fiction have zeroed in on the depth of Tony's character, while those charged with bringing him to life onscreen dropped the ball so many times or, at the very least, missed so many opportunities to let us see behind his masks.

This evoked so many emotions in me. I found it to be plausible and believable...and I thank you for sharing it.

I usually wait to comment, when reading a completed work, until the end...but this chapter is far too powerful to wait for that.

In "Flesh and Blood," the discussion Tony and Senior shared about Senior leaving him in a hotel room was fairly brief...but the fact that Tony mentioned it signified its importance. With this chapter, you've done an incredible job of capturing Tony's feelings- and how this event shaped him into the man he'd become. What I found most interesting- and believable- was the way he morphed from the scared little boy, missing his mother desperately, to weighing his options in a way that was far too adult for his years, but already learned, to tamping down his emotions and deciding to make "the best of things" by ordering whatever he wanted from room service and indulging his love of movies. You took us from seeing Tony without his masks to putting them firmly in place, as he was already too aware of the consequences of showing weakness.

Also interesting and, in my opinion, spot on for his character, was his attempt to convince himself that he shouldn't have had a say in where his mother was kept because that wasn't his decision to make. To me, this represented a harbinger of what manifested in adult Tony as his need to make excuses for his father.

This was so well and thoughtfully done, and it really brings home just how damaging Senior's neglect really was to Tony's psyche.

Very real. Very hearbreaking and haunting. Lovely writing. I could see it all in my mind. This was just...wow! Thank you for this beautiful piece.

fabs. you made cry

I hardly know what to say about this, because I've admired all your stories which I've read so far, but THIS ONE nailed it. Absolutely. It's a masterpiece. Straight from the gut.
Thank you so much.

Lovely. You are a talented writer.

Man, this is a good story! You never disappoint! I look all the time for great stories, and I keep coming back to yours. Really well done! The dialogue, the conservation of words, the restrained movements-all so spot on!

Awesome.

Good job!

Beautiful. Teary and brutal and perfect. Well done.