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"Secrets & Family"

Chapter 9.

At Miller's villa, the team searched every room. They opened every drawer and every wardrobe. They looked under every piece of furniture, under and inside every pillow but they didn't find anything.

Gibbs was about to order his team to leave the house, when McGee called them from Miller's office and said, "Found it!"

"Found something, McHacker ?" asked Tony as he stopped next to Tim in front of Miller's computer.

"More than something! I've got everything," smiled Tim.

"Everything?" asked Gibbs. He was standing behind McGee and next to Tony and Ziva.

"Yes, Boss. Names, dates, places, type and quantity of the 'goods' and earnings too. Mr. Miller is a very meticulous man," grinned McGee.

"Yep. You're right," said Gibbs.

"He seemed so honest," said Ziva as she shook her head.

"He was," Tony said. "Now he's just a villian. Divorce destroys a man!" he proclaimed, but Tony caught himself, "I mean, Boss... you know ... not every man. You... you for example..."

"You're right, DiNozzo. Divorce could destroy a man," said Gibbs and then he added,"McGee, take that computer."

"And now?" asked Ziva.

"We're arresting Mr. Miller," Tony sadly said. "And then..."

"We'll talk to his Boss," said Gibbs.

Two hours later they were back at the DiNozzo's villa. Gibbs immediately headed to Mr. DiNozzo office, but jsut before knocking on his father's office's door, Tony stopped and said, "Boss, I'll talk to him."

"Are you sure?"

"No, I'm not, but... I've got to."

Gibbs looked him intensely and said,"You seem more confident. Calmer. What's happened?"

"I've just talked to Sandy and... ya know, I've told her everything and ..." Tony sweetly smiled.

"Understood, you don't need to tell anything else, but remember...'' Gibbs reached out and squeezed Tony's shoulder, ''I'm here if you need."

"I know," Tony whispered as he softly smiled.

"You have a moment?" asked Tony, entering in his father's office.

"Sure," answered Sr.

He seemed more human Tony thought. He didn't know what his boss had told his father, but clearly Gibbs advice has worked.

"I just wanna to tell you that two hours ago, we've arrested Nigel and we're going back to DC."

"So, I'm innocent," his father grinned.

"Innocent?'' Tony asked raising his eyebrows. ''No, you're not innocent.''

"So why don't you arrest me, Special Agent ?" Sr. asked, sarcasm in his words.

"Because I can't. You're not innocent at all. I'm sure that you've always known something about all this mess, but you've pretending you didn't know anything. You're very good at hiding... you've always been good at that,'' Tony grimily whispered.

"What do you mean?"

They both seemed so polite, but it was just the calm before the storm...

"You do know what I mean. If you'd help Nigel, he'd never have done all those stupid things."

"Just that? You're angry, because I didn't help Nigel? I don't think so,'' Sr. pushed.

"You're right, I'm not angry just for this,'' Tony sharply answered. ''But it doesn't matter," Tony added calmer. He didn't want arguing with his father. He just wanted to go back home and forget all this mess.

"Come, Junior! Spit it out!" his father sneered. He wanted the encounter. He wanted the fight. "What do meant with 'you've always been good at that'?"

Tony exahaled deeply, this was it. He took the plunge."I meant that you've never payed for what you've done, because nobody has descovered you! Or better, someone did it, but he couldn't do anything."

"Who?"

"Me! But luckly for you, I was too young and to scared to rebel against your blackmails!"

The storm had burst. No turning back now.

"Blackmails? I don't understand what you're talking about!" Sr. smiled at his son's anger and discomfort.

"I'm talking about all the times that I've caught you with a lover. Do you remember the first time? I wasn't even 6 years old and we were in Aspen. Wait! What was her name? Nina, right? She was my baby-sitter,'' Tony sadly chuckled as he shook his head. ''When you realized that I had seen you,... you... you told me a weird story and I believed you, because you were my father and I trusted you, but when you forgot me at Maui Hilton for two days, your house of lies crumbled."

"Oh come on! It was a venial mistake!"

"Venial? You've realized I was missing only when you got the room service bill!" Years of disappointment and sorrow so clear in Tony's voice.

"It was an adventure for you !" Sr. dismissed him.

"Are you kidding? My mom has died just some years before. I was a child and I was alone thousands of miles far away from home!'' Tony shouted, unable to control his anger. ''A normal father'd have been ashamed of himself and he would have come to take me, but you were too busy with who? Molly? Gina? Dolores? I don't remember,'' Tony pointed a finger to his father. ''You paid the hotel director and he put me on a flight to LA, where I've found a driver that took me to Beverly Hills Hotel. I didn't see you until the next day when we flew home. Do you remember what you told me during the flight?"

Outside the door Ziva and Tim were with Gibbs and they could hear everything. Maybe it wasn't right, but they couldn't stop listening. They were astonished.

"No, I don't remember," Mr. DiNozzo lied, uncomfortable for the first time since the beginning of their fight.

"You told me that those things were man stuff and that we had to keep it just between the two of us. You told me that I couldn't go tell anybody anything otherwise I would never be a real man!"

"And you kept the secret," Mr. DiNozzo taunted.

"I was a child, what could I do?'' Tony asked as unwanted tears filled his eyes. "Do you know that I still have a sense of guilt to mom, because I didn't tell her the truth about your many lovers ?'' Tony swallowed hard. ''When she... when she died ... you shipped me off to boarding school the day after her funeral," Tony's voice broke at the memories of those painful days desperate, scared and alone among unknow people.

"I helped you to become a man!"

"No! You just got rid of a crying, desperate child that missed his mom, to relieve yourself of responsibility!"

"Have you finished whining?"

"You ruined my childhood. I was so angry with you and with the entire world that I acted like you for a long time,'' Tony looked disgusted at his father. ''I was a bastard that used women as objects. An annoying and arrogant guy that teased eveyone just to keep himself from admitting that he needs someone to loved him without an ulterior motive!"

Outside the three agents exchanged surprised glances.

"And now, are you changed?" asked his father as he sat down on a sofa.

"Yes, I am,'' Tony quietly answered. ''I've been lucky. I've met some great people that had the patience of bearing with me and helping me to understand what kind of man I could be,'' he softly smiled. ''They've made me understand that I deserve to be loved for who I am and not because I play the eternal teenager role. I've grown up."

"Grown up?" laughed his father. "And why are you still playing policeman?"

"Federal Agent,'' Tony stated. ''It's not a play, it's a serious and important job," Tony added as he stopped in front of his father.

"Wake up boy! Only the jobs that let you earn lots of money are real jobs!" Sr. stood up. ''You could have had everything! What have you done with your life? You're a Fed," he said with scorn. "You could have been a basketball champion! You even had a pre-contract with NY Knincks!"

"Is it my fault if someone had broken my knee on my sophomore year?''

"You lost your scholarship."

"And I had to beg from relatives, because you've cut me off from my money!"

"Of course I've cut you off! You told me that you would never work for me. It woudln't have been making a good investment with my money paying for you education!"

Outside Gibbs, Ziva and McGee were stricken in shock.

"Mr. DiNozzo, I'm not a business. I was your son, rememeber?'' Tony snapped. ''Do you know that Crispian wanted back the money that uncle Clive gave me for college?"

"That's a man that knows how to live!"

Tony understood that everything he could tell him would have never worked, so he changed his tactic. He needed to play his father's game, show him that he also knew how to live.

"Speaking of money..." Tony slowly said.

"Yes?" his father warily asked.

"I want what belongs to me," Tony firmly said.

"What are you talking about?" shouted his father.

"My mother's inheritance. I want MY 3,5 milion of US dollars with interests, her jewles, her properties. I want everything she'd left me in her will," Tony answered as he pierced his father with a perfect Gibbs' glare.

Ziva and Tim wided their eyes and looked at Gibbs. He nodded.

"We had joint assets..." Sr. tried to lie.

"Do not lie to me! I've talked to Jeff. Give me my inheritance and I'll not charge you for theft and fraud. You know that I'd win and you also know that I'd have the Paddington family support. They can't wait to ruin and put down you,'' Tony grinned. ''So , do what you should have done many years ago and I'll close all this mess here, at this moment," Tony glacialy concluded.

Outside Gibbs smiled. Yes, his boy had indeed become a strong man.

Mr. DiNozzo understood that he had no way of escape. For the first time in his life he had lost, and it was his son who had beated him at his own game. But he was Anthony DiNozzo Sr. and he couldn't give in. He'd got to have the last word! "You're very good at playing the bastard, blackmailer role," grinned.

"I learned from the best," answered Tony.

"Deal, you'll have your money. You know that this thing will ruin our relationship forever?"

"We've never had a relationship,'' Tony frozen him.

"You'll be alone."

"You left me alone a long time ago. Luckily, I didn't stay that way,'' Tony sadly said.

"Really?"

"I've a wonderful girlfriend and we love each other very much and... and I've a family too,'' Tony smiled softly. ''Maybe not a traditional family, but it's my family and I like it."

"Really? Who are the members of this family?" asked his father with that smirk.

"My colleagues," Tony seriously answered.

His words touched Ziva, Gibbs and Tim's hearts.

"Good for you, but some day you'll need a father and what will you do?" Sr. mocked, trying to push on Tony's button.

"I have a father... or better, I have the best father figure that I could find,'' Tony resolutely and sweetly said.

"Who's this superman?" his father sarcasticly asked.

"No, he's not a superman. He's just a man who knows what it means to love someone. A man that is always there for you, even if you don't know you need him. A man that accepts me for who I am, that respects me and does not put me down. A man that helped me grow up," Tony swallowed. "And... and, if one day, I'll fall down, he'll help me rise again because this is what a parent does."

"Who is this man?" asked his father, surprised and hurt by Tony's words.

"It doesn't matter to you. What matters is who he is to me."

"Who is he?" Sr. shouted.

"Gibbs,'' Tony simply said.

Outside, Ziva and Tim turned to look at their Boss, but they saw him going out in the garden.

Gibbs didn't want them to see the tears in his eyes. Yes, he felt protective of Tony and he had guessed that he had looked up to him and respected him, something Tony never really had for anyone else. But hearing those words had hit home.

In Mr. DiNozzo's office, Tony and his father were staring one another.

Tony felt finally serene. All his anger had disappeared and in its place there was a realization that he was a new man, a man without regret nor guilt.

DiNozzo Sr. was looking at his son and remembering the past when Tony was a child longing for his attention and his love. He remembered the day when Anthony was born. He was the most beautiful baby he had ever seen and he was so proud of him. What happened after? He didn't know. He'd just gone on with his own life and he's lost his son somewhere on his way to success. Now his child had become a man, without his help. How many regrets he had!

"So, that's all?" Anthony Sr. sadly asked.

"Yes... unfortunately," sighed Tony. He looked at his watch and added,"We've a flight to catch,"

Tony headed to the the office's door, but he stopped whe he heard his father whispering his name.

Tony turned and his father said, "I'm coming with you to the door."

They were ready to leave, but before getting in the car Tony hesitated and looked at Gibbs. The older man raised his eyebrows questioningly.

Tony turned and looked at his father. The 80-year-old who was turning back towards the door of his empty mansion, but Tony didn't see the man that has made him suffer for a long time. He just saw an old alone man.

"Dad !" Tony called as he reached him.

Sr. turned and looked him with the saddest look that Tony had even seen.

The younger man took one of his cards out of his wallet and said sottovoce, "These are my numbers... uhm... if you need anything... even just a chat," he shrugged as he softly smiled.

Anthony DiNozzo Sr. just nodded as some tears filled his eyes. My son's a good man and I was so stupid... such a bastard!

Tony went back to the car and, as he was about to get in, Gibbs whispered at his ear, ''I'm really proud of you."

Tony smiled and nodded as Gibbs loudly ordered, "Let's go home !"

The Past Was Closed... The Present Was Happening... The Future Was Waiting For Them...

THE END.

This is the end of 'Secrets & Family', but a old/new sequel is coming soon ;)