Hello People, I am so sorry this last chapter has been so long coming. I killed my laptop and had to get a new one! I am so glad you've enjoyed this story. I have been contemplating ways of bringing Victor back in future tales. What do you think?

Anyway, thanks again from the bottom of my heart. Enjoy the concusion of 'Green- Eyes and Bullets'. XX Elaine XX

One minute Ziva was behind him the next she wasn't. After literally shoving him in the right direction she walked away, heading towards their car feeling that her work was done. She always did have a way of making him see what was right, Tony mused. The cemetary was a picture of beauty, if that was possible. The winter sun shone through the trees and cherry-blossom carpeted the floor. Birds twittered, destined never to stop until doomsday.

"Stop hiding, DiNozzo." Victor called. He hadn't even turned his head. There was no way he could have seen Tony. Fair-play, the guy had good instincts. "Face me."

Tony started towards him. He had been in some odd situations before God knew, but this? This was something else entirely. About to look into eachother's eyes for the first time they both cursed their father. Neither were surprised that he'd fallen off the face of the Earth. Tony stopped in front of Victor. As they sized each other up it were as if they were the only people on the planet.

"Victor." Said Tony, feeling the need to fill the silence. Everything he'd planned to say to his new-found brother escaped him.

"DiNozzo." Victor replied.

"My friends call me Tony." He heard it as it left his mouth but couldn't seem to stop it.

"Don't ever think you and I will be on the same side. You killed my boy!" Victor struggled not to raise his voice. This was a place of rest after-all.

Nobody could've felt guiltier than Tony did at that second but he wasn't going to be trodden into the ground. He hardly had the moral high-ground but neither was he the cold-blooded murderer that Victor saw him as.

"Yes." He said confidently, "I killed Luke. I killed your son. My nephew. You need to get it out of you system? Hit me. Go on. Take a free shot."

There was a time Victor did not have an ounce of violence in him. His fingers curled into a fist but his soul tried in earnest to channel the man Victor was before Luke's death. Succeeding in finding a sense of calm, he let his hand relax. He diverted his eyes away from Tony, resigned that he wouldn't just drop dead from the strength of a stare.

"I tried to get my vengeance but I couldn't do it. I couldn't end a human life. Even yours." Victor stated, "But you already knew that didn't you."

"I appreciate you not stabbing me to death."

Victor couldn't help smiling at the dry humor. It was one of Luke's traits that he missed the most. He glanced down at the grave stone.

"Is it true that Luke killed a U.S Marine?"

Tony nodded affirmitavly.

"It was as if never knew him." Victor confided, "How is the other man Luke shot?"

"Much like myself. He's recovering physically but its the mental scars that cause the most agony."

Victor whipped his gaze back to Tony, assessing him.

"What? You think it was an easy experience for us?"

"I fell apart when I found out Luke was dead. When I heard your name in the mix the world may as well have fallen through." Victor said.

"Until that day, I've never hesitated before." Tony explained, "Luke should've been dead before he hit the ground."

Victor was determined not to recoil by the statement's bluntness. He knew he was being tested. DiNozzo was scoping him out, seing what pushed his buttons.

"Why wasn't he?" He asked, forcibly calm.

"His eyes." Tony said, "They made me stop in my tracks. In hindsight, I realise they tapped into me. They were identical to my mother's."

"But the ending was still the same." Victor said bitterly, "You still shot Luke, he bled to death from the hole you put in his neck!"

"You weren't there." Tony said attempting to reign in his temper before it took-over.

"I didn't need to be."

"You didn't feel the pain and the fear. You didn't struggle up every stair not knowing what you'd find at the top. You didn't see the terror on my partner's face when he realised we both could die in that house. You weren't there, Victor. You weren't there to see him gasp for every breath or to feel the blood leak out of hole in your abdomen!"

He had a point. As much as Victor hated it, hated him, he had a point. His bravado sunk like a lead balloon and admitted defeat. Luke was his child but what he had done was unforgivable. Victor thought about the parents of that Marine. He knew exactly what they were going through and the thought of his own flesh and blood causing that was unbearable.

"What are we going to do?" He asked, "The fact still remains that we're related. You're by brother's for Heaven's sake."

Tony heaved an exhausted, exasperated sigh.

"You tell me." He replied, "I do know one thing, don't expect to have Dad's help in this. He'll show his face again, sure, but it won't be until after we've battled through the hard stuff without him."

"Charming guy." Victor observed, "Speaking of which... please send my regards and thanks to Agent Gibbs. The way he handled everything was extraordinary."

"You like Gibbs?" Tony smirked, "There may be hope for us yet."

"How so?"

"Well. There are two types of people in this world. Those who get on with Leroy Jethro Gibbs and those who don't. Anyone who does is a friend of mine." Tony answered.

Victor smiled. Smiled at him. It was the first genuine benevolence he'd felt since this whole thing began. He'd lost Luke but life had a sick sense of humor. He knew it wouldn't be easy, for either of them, but they were related and that mattered. That really, really mattered.