Disclaimer—I sadly do not own

AN: Ok guys here is the last chapter for this story. It has been an interesting and crazy ride and I just want to say it has been amazing! you guys have been so supportive and I cant tell you how much I truly appreciate it. I do plan on writing a sequel to this story eventually.

Also I am going to be posting a new story soon so keep your eyes open for that.

So once again thank you all so much and I hope you enjoy this last chapter. :)

Chapter 20

Beginning in the end

Gibbs stood looking out the window into the back yard of his childhood home. He was watching as his father and his son played catch in the early summer twilight. They had been in Stillwater for a little over four days now and things had definitely been interesting to say the least.

~~Flash Back~~

Gibbs entered the store with his son at his side and his friend at his back. At first it looked as if no one was there but Gibbs knew this to be untrue and sure enough a voice from the back of the store called out, "I'll be right with you."

Gibbs did not miss how Tony had stood a little further back when they heard that voice. It was a reminder to Gibbs that his son had yet to fully recover from his ordeal.

Gibbs gave him a reassuring smile and moved closer to the cash register. Soon an older man came bustling out from the storeroom saying, "Sorry for your wait folks. What ca . . ."

There were a few minutes of silence as father and son looked at each other, then finally Gibbs senior moved towards his son enveloping him in a hug and exclaiming, "Leroy! It's so good to see you!"

Gibbs smiled and returned the hug. When they finally pulled away from each other Gibbs took a step back saying, "Dad I have someone that I want you to meet."

Gibbs Senior finally looked past his son and saw the other two people standing back and off to the side. One was an older man, definitely of a refined breeding. The other was a younger man; Jackson couldn't quite tell but there was something off with the kid. Oh not mentally of course Jackson could see that right off, the kids was intelligent. No there was something else wrong with the kid; he was skittish, always looking around searching every corner of the store but never keeping his eyes on anything for longer than a second and not making eye contact no matter how many times Jackson caught him glancing at him. No; something had happened to the boy, something serious Jackson had seen that look on the men he had served with who had been POW's.

Jackson was brought out of his musings when his son said, " . . . My son Tony."

Jackson's heart leaped at that phrase. It was so hard for him to not be involved in his sons' life. Admittedly he had made mistakes. He wasn't perfect and had never claimed to be. Perfection he believed was for the God above only. That was why he was such an easygoing man, he looked at the persons soul not the perfection of their appearances. He swallowed hard; he wanted to ask a million questions. The boy in question didn't look like a Gibbs but genetics could be deceiving. So instead of grilling his son with a million questions he decided to keep to his easygoing nature and humorously looked at his son and questioningly asked, "Your son?" with raised eyebrows. "There something I need to know about Leroy?"

Gibbs just rolled his eyes and said, "Yah but we will discuss that latter and it's not what you think. Can we close the store early and go home to talk about this?"

Jackson smiled saying, "Not until I meet my grandson."

Just as sharp as he ever was, Jackson did not miss the change in body language of his grandson. He seemed to be less rigid but even more cautious and wary. Jackson felt a pang in his heart; something serious had happened to this boy.

Jackson was a little surprised when his grandson hesitantly came forward and stood by his son. He watched as Leroy wrapped a protective arm around the boy and said, "Dad this is Tony. Tony this is my dad Jackson Gibbs."

Tony smiled hesitantly and holding out his hand said, "It's nice to finally meet you."

In a split second decision Jackson grabbed the hand and instead of shaking it, pulled the reluctant teenager into a tight hug saying, "I'm so glad to meet you too Tony; so very, very glad."

Jackson wasn't surprised when the body in his arms remained stiff. He had guessed that positive physical contact was still a touchy subject. After a few seconds he released his grandson; God even just thinking about it made his heart soar. His son was home and he was a grandpa again. Wrapping his arms around his kids he smiled, saying, "Lets go home."

~~End Flash Back~~

Gibbs smiled again as he remembered that day. It had been a good one. The three Gibbs's had walked home while Ducky had taken the vehicle, claiming that his advanced age made it uncomfortable to walk such long distances. Gibbs saw it for what it was; a way to give the little family a chance for some privet time. Gibbs was appreciative of his efforts. The walk home had indeed been therapeutic. They had been able to walk and talk. Filling Tony in on the running's of the town. They had been able to point out people, places to visit, and things they were gonna see.

Tony had loved it. It played right into his inquisitive nature. Although he didn't really ask a lot of questions compared to a normal teenager; for Tony he had been a practical motor mouth. Gibbs had been happy to see this reaction from his son. He looked over Tony's head towards his father and smiled reassuringly at him. He knew that he had a lot of talking ahead of him, and surprisingly it didn't scare him like it normally would. He was ready to talk, ready to have his fathers advice. To allow him back in his life.

Gibbs smiled as he remembered the talk that he and his father had, had later after Ducky and Tony had turned in for the night. The conversation had gone on well into the early hours of the morning both men had apologized for their bad behavior and had promised to do better in the future. Because now there was someone else involved. Some one they both cared about very much. Gibbs smiled even wider as he remembered that particular conversation.

~~Flash Back~~

Gibbs sat at the table enjoying another cup of coffee in the cool of the early morning hours. He and his father had talked most of the night about how they wished things had been different and how they were going to try and make them better for Tony's sake. Finally his father had gotten around to the main issue.

He had looked up from his coffee and flat out asked, "What's his story Leroy?"

Gibbs had sighed as if it had come from the deepest part of his soul and from the very depths of each of his bones. He stared at his coffee for a few minutes before finally saying, "A very long and complicated one dad, full of abuse and abandonment. I don't know were to start."

The elder Gibbs sat and contemplated his sons' words. finally he himself said, "Just start from the beginning son; from the beginning,"

And Gibbs had. They spent the next several hours discussing and dissecting Tony's past and then predicting his future. Gibbs proclaimed all of his sons' achievements and talents like a proud peacock displaying his colorful plumage.

He made no attempt to cover his sons' faults and issues. Taking the appropriate amount of blame for his culpability in some of those bad habits and issues.

Jackson in turn sat there and soaked it all in. He delighted in hearing it all, the good and the bad. He elated in being able to learn of this exceptional boy who had stumbled into his sons life and had given him the opportunity to love again and to feel as though he was needed.

His heart wept with them through the trials. And rejoiced through the triumphs.

By the time they were done the sun was making its way into the sky, setting it aglow with colors only imagined.

Tired but exhilarated the men finally retired to their beds ready to face the new day with renewed hearts and minds.

~~End Flash Back~~

Gibbs was drawn back to reality with the sudden cry of pain from his son. Looking out the window he couldn't see Tony or his father anywhere. His keen hearing allowed him to hear muffled voices coming from the back of the property were a medium sized creek flowed hedged by a steep ravine.

He hadn't even realized that he was moving until he was stopping suddenly at the edge of the ravine. His heart was pounding in his ears, almost blocking out the sound of the overflowing creek, which rushed past his feet. Almost over it's banks. He looked up and down the length of the creek and finally saw his father a shorter ways down trying to drag a very wet and exhausted looking Tony up the bank.

His father while by no means weak; was definitely not as strong as he used to be and Gibbs could see that he was having trouble maneuvering an almost unconscious Tony. Gibbs rushed over and immediately took over for his father. Easily pulling his son the rest of the way up the bank and then cradling him to his chest. He checked his son for injuries. What he saw was a rather nasty looking cut on his head and it looked like his shoulder was displaced.

He looked up at his father and asked, "What happened?"

The older Gibbs took a second to catch his breath. "Tony threw the ball a little to hard; that boy sure has an arm on him, any ways it landed back here. We came back to look for it. We weren't close to the bank but we've had so much rain that a portion of the bank caved in, taking Tony with it. I saw him go down and grabbed him before he was swept away with the current. I'm so sorry Leroy."

"It's fine dad. You couldn't have known the ground was going to give way." Gibbs looked down to see his son had either passed out or fallen asleep. He searched his pockets looking for his phone before remembering that he had left it in the house on the kitchen table. He looked up to his father and asked, "You got your phone on you dad?"

The older man nodded and instantly pulled it out, dialing 911, before handing it to his son. Gibbs took the phone and dialed one of the only numbers that he had memorized. It felt like hours passed before Ducky's Scottish brogue was heard on the other end. "Hello?"

"Duck. It's Gibbs. I need you to come out to the back of the house. Tony's fallen and hurt himself. He's out of it right now, but I can't tell if he's unconscious or just asleep. We've already called for an ambulance."

Without giving him time to reply, Gibbs closed the phone and went back to holding his son. Ducky managed to beat the ambulance to their location and do a short assessment before the paramedics got to them. By the time they were ready to leave Tony had come around and was protesting as loudly as his concussed head would allow him too, all the time clinging to Gibbs' hand.

-NCIS-

Two Hours later:

Tony sat on the side of the gurney, swinging his feet back and forth with a wide smile on his face, humming; rather loudly, an old jazz song. Jack meanwhile stood next to him; charged with keeping his grandson out of trouble. He stood, watching on in obvious humor while waiting for Gibbs and Ducky to finish with the doctor.

The reason for Tony's sudden good mood was the very nice injection of painkillers that he had gotten, much to his displeasure. Realizing fairly early on that he wasn't going to be winning very many arguments at the moment, due to his head injury and that he usually tended to down play his injuries, Ducky and his dad were being overly cautious, and Tony had decided to just sit back and let them have their own way.

Tony happened to look up at the door just in time to see his dad staring back at him and gave him his biggest, loopiest smile he could manage. He went to wave at him, but frowned when he realized again that his arm was strapped firmly to his chest. He went to mess with the straps again but was stopped by Jack who shook his head saying, "Leave that be Tony."

Tony frowned at him and with an exaggerated whine said, "But its annoying Jack! Plus it itches!"

Jack gave him a sympathetic look and gently patted the back of his head saying, "I know bud, but you need it. Plus if you take it off now your dad might decide that you don't need your ice cream after all."

Tony instantly stopped fiddling with the straps and let his hand fall back to his lap. He really didn't want to miss out on the special treat. It was a promise made as an attempt to keep Tony from bolting off the gurney once they had doped him up and it had, had it's usual affect on the boy. Making him very hard to control. Jack had questioned the simplicity of the promise; surely the promise of ice cream was not nearly enough for a boy of Tony's age. Jack was definitely surprised to find out that Tony's reaction to sugar was akin to his reaction to pain meds; he became rather difficult to contain. Having had to learn this the hard way, Ducky and Gibbs made sure to keep the boys sugar intake to a minimum.

Jack shook his head in amusement. He really couldn't wait to see what his grandson was like hyped up on a combination of pain meds and sugar. He was sure the results would be thoroughly interesting. He once again blocked his young charges hand from playing with the straps and shook his head. He was getting ready to say something when Gibbs and Ducky came back into the room. Gibbs smiled at his son and asked, "He hasn't been giving you too much trouble has he dad?"

Jack smiled saying, "No more than you ever did when you were his age Leroy."

Gibbs just rolled his eyes and looking at his son more intently asked, "Are you ready to get out of here Tony?"

All three of the older men smiled when a wild whoop sounded through the room and Tony tried to jump off the table. Fortunately Gibbs was able to keep his hold on him and kept him from going to far.

Four Hours later:

Gibbs smiled as Tony snuggled as deeply into his side as he could possibly manage. It was ten-o-clock at night and they were still sitting up watching old movies. Tony had long since burned off both the pain meds and the ice cream and had crashed hard. But still he had been reluctant to go to bed. Gibbs knew why and it came as no surprise to him.

As it did every time Tony landed in the hospital, it brought bad memories that would plague him in his sleep as nightmares and in his waking hours as flashbacks. They usually only lasted the night depending on how long he had been in the hospital.

Tonight was no different. He would feel Tony start to drift off but then jerk him-self awake again. Gibbs had learned not to say anything; he just let Tony do his thing. He knew eventually exhaustion would win out, and then, then he would take his boy up to his bed and tuck him in, making sure that he was as comfortable as could be. Then he would stay up sitting by his side for however long Tony slept.

Some how Tony would know subconsciously that Gibbs was there and that would be enough to keep most of the nightmares away. Gibbs couldn't help but think about how he had missed being able to be this close to Tony in the last couple of months. Although their relationship was getting stronger, Tony had been careful to keep Gibbs at arms length in certain areas. But tonight that had changed; while he had been in the waiting room with Jack and Ducky filling out paper work Tony had been in the back, being examined.

-Flash Back-

Gibbs had just initialed on the very last dotted line when suddenly a nurse came running out of an exam room. Gibbs recognized her as the same nurse that had been working with Tony. His gut started to churn. He didn't like it one bit. He edged his way closer to the exam room with the pretense of dropping off the paperwork. While he was there he used his keen hearing to pick up anything unusual. Sure enough from down the hall he could hear Tony yelling. Without waiting Gibbs ran through the restricted doors and down the hall as fast as he could. They had taken Tony for x-rays and wouldn't let him go with and now he was cursing them and himself for the stupidity of the whole situation. As he traveled down the hall the yelling was getting louder, telling Gibbs that he was headed in the right direction.

Soon he was standing right outside the room were all the yelling was coming from. He had stopped to make sure that he was actually hearing what he thought he was, and wasn't just over reacting. Sure enough a few seconds later the yelling started again and what he heard made his heart soar. "If you don't back the f***k off and get my dad in here now I am going to kick you!"

Gibbs felt like he had heard enough. He pushed into the room and grimaced at what he saw. Tony sat on the far end of the x-ray table, as far away from the male x-ray technician and nurse as he could get. He clearly had become more alert since leaving the exam room. Gibbs pushed his way through the quickly growing crowd of hospital personnel. Once through the thick of them he growled and demanded, "Get back! Can't you see your only making him more upset!? Get back!"

-End Flash Back-

Gibbs had watched as Tony visibly deflated from his tense posture and after a few minutes of reassurances and promises, Tony had finally calmed down and allowed the hospital staff to do their job. It had taken mere moments but so much had happened in that time. The most important being that Tony and Gibbs were finally back to being father and son. Since the hospital Tony had being calling Gibbs dad, not seeming to notice the big smile that his dad wore constantly. Then at home he had been extra clingy, hardly allowing Gibbs out of his sight. Gibbs didn't mind. He was walking on cloud nine with just having his son call him dad again, let alone wanting him to take care of him. Later when Jack and Ducky had stepped out to get the promised ice cream, Gibbs had summoned all of his courage and had asked his son; "So why the change?"

Tony had been very thoughtful for a minute then said, "I realized when I was in the hospital, all confused and hurting that I wanted you; my dad. Not just Gibbs the guy who saved me. I wanted to be like we used to be and I figured that, that was as good a time as any to start again."

Gibbs had, had to clear his throat that had suddenly closed off with the sudden onset of emotions.

Now it was almost eleven o-clock at night, and Tony was slowly beginning to stay asleep longer and longer until finally he was out completely. Gibbs smiled down at his son and after turning off the TV, carefully picked him up and carried him up to his room. Tony had been so exhausted that he had barely stirred during the whole transfer process. Gibbs laid him down gently and smoothed back the overly long hair from his face. He smiled when Tony sighed and leaned into his touch. He pulled his chair closer and sat; making himself as comfortable as he could knowing that he was going to be there for the rest of the night. He leaned forward and gently took Tony's hand in his own. He smiled again as his son gently squeezed his hand back in acknowledgement.

Gibbs let out a sigh of relief. Things were finally starting to go back to normal. And it felt good.

The End.