Tony had spent some time trying to figure out how his father had found out where he lived—there was only a short note to go with, and compared to the Voltolini men, Senior wouldn't have been able to follow him unnoticed—and then the man was murdered, which was why it took a few more days before he even remembered to find out who smuggled the man inside the Navy Yard. He wasn't entirely surprised, but he was disappointed.

"It was you? You're the one who got my dad in this building, knowing full well that I had already made sure everyone knew he was to not set one foot past those doors, unless it was wearing handcuffs? He can't be trusted. He's a conman. He's the type who actually would sell his own mother if he could benefit from it."

"It's different. He's your father. Yes, I know that things hadn't been good between you two, but he told me he's sorry and he wanted to make it up to you, be the father to you and apologize. I only wanted what is best for you. Every child, even grown up, needs their parents. And now he's dead, but at least you got to see him one last time."

Tony shook his head. Maybe he was being cruel, but... "We don't know yet what went down, but for all we know, your actions could've pushed him to his death, so don't give me that." He spent a moment thinking about his father's final 'request' and then the threat. What if that threat wasn't merely a threat from the man himself? "Well, it's not likely, but it's something to think about next time you try to control the life of others. We never know where our actions lead." He knew that better than most people. "It's often not worth it, especially when I never asked or wanted you to do anything. You don't even know me well enough to get to decide what's good for me."

Abby's face twisted and then she looked horrified. "I never meant that to happen."

"You never do, Abby," Tony said tiredly. "You need to understand that not everything needs to be fixed. Some things can't and some don't even need fixing. This was both. You weren't there, so you don't get to tell me things like that I need to forgive my father, simply because we share blood. My forgiveness will be for my sake, not to make you feel good about yourself. I have no need for you to be my champion in a battle that has been over a long time ago."

"I only wanted to do something good... To prove that I am still your friend, a good one..."

"You can't force things like that. Work, yes, but not force it. And that's exactly what you tried to do."

"Tony..."

"No. I have work to do." Tony turned around and left the lab, leaving Abby stare after him silently, pondering over things.

Abby took a deep breath and then she finally rang the doorbell. This was it. The moment of truth, as they say. Her entire body was tingling with nervousness. For a moment she thought Tony wouldn't even open the door—because she knew he was home—but then he finally did. She nearly withered under the unreadable gaze. Tony was showing no emotions she could read, and then act accordingly.

"Sorry... Did I interrupt something?" Abby indicated at the phone now held loosely in his hand. Tony stared at her for a long time, but didn't reply.

"Tony?" the voice in the phone spoke, sounding quite worried.

Tony raised the phone to his ear to speak, "Something came up. Can I call you back later, Jack?"

"Of course. I'll see if I can bother my son for a while."

Tony snorted and then he ended the call, still staring at Abby.

"Jack who?" she asked.

He crossed his arms and stared her down. "What do you want?"

"Tony, please..." she pleaded quietly. "Can I come inside? For a little while."

He shook his head, but then moved aside and allowed her in. He eyed the door as if wondering what the neighbors would think if he slammed it, but closed it almost silently. And then he kept that unnerving silence.

Unable to take it any longer, she blurted, "I gave him your address. I'm sorry."

"Who?" Tony asked, although he already knew, had found out not too long ago after the little chat with Abby in her lab.

"Your father. I gave him your home address. He told me he missed you at work, so I gave it. I didn't think..."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm... I'm confessing my sins..."

"I'm not a priest, or Catholic."

"Really?" She eyed him somewhat dubiously, which for some reason irritated him.

"Just because I'm—half—Italian, doesn't automatically mean I'm Catholic. My father was, so I suppose you're not too far off. My mother wasn't either." That of course was yet another reason for both sides of their families to hate one another, but it was only an excuse to add more fuel into the already burning hot flames.

"Oh." She frowned. "But that's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to apologize, but then I realized I can't if you don't even know everything I'm apologizing for..."

"Abby..." He moved in the living room and sat down on the couch. She followed, but remained standing. He crossed his arms over his knees and looked at her. "Do you remember when I joined NCIS and we talked about apartments, what was my number one priority?"

She swallowed. "Safety. Not the neighborhood per se, but that it wouldn't be where anyone could just randomly show up if you didn't want them to. I'm paraphrasing of course."

"Exactly." Tony stared her down again.

"I just thought... family..." She withered. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'll never do that again."

"Yeah, well, that's not exactly going to be a problem anymore, is it?" Tony said and Abby flinched at the reminder. Tony rubbed his eyes—too many nights in a row in front of his laptop, doing his research on various subjects, and people—thinking about his next words carefully, so there wouldn't be too much or too little. "I am going to explain this only once, without all the details and some of them will be only footnotes. If I find out you've been sharing them with anyone else, even if it's just writing it in a diary and someone happens to find it—"

"I wouldn't!"

"If I find out you've been sharing this, you will find out just how unpleasant I can be. Same thing if you go snooping around without my say-so. No more chances to make this work. That'd be the end of our relationship, for good. You'd be just another McGee for me and nothing personal."

"I understand..."

Tony closed his eyes for a moment and indicated with his hand for her to sit down, which she did. This wasn't going to be easy, for both of them. She hadn't earned the right to know all the details, and yet she also needed the cold hard truth. He needed to speak calmly and slowly enough, to give himself time to pick and choose what to say and how. She had to understand that not all was what it seemed in real life. Although, you'd think she already knew that.

He talked about a young boy who lost his mother, a woman who for all her faults had probably loved him, who had been ruined by the man she foolishly married, while still too young and naive. The man who might have as well killed her himself, and then respected her by spending as little money as possible for her funeral, sleeping with her best friend and then having a string of marriages, the first one not too long after her death.

Tony then talked about growing up with the man whose god almighty was the money and power, and all the trouble and enemies that came with it. Talked about the mind games that were played, among other things. Leaving him behind in a hotel didn't even count on the list of things that had been done on purpose, because he had indeed been forgotten and not for the first time. Being left alone to fend for himself, practically raise himself, was not an unusual thing. His father was a man who didn't like getting his own hands dirty, but had no trouble selling his own son. Even to the predators of children. It never happened, Tony assured Abby, but it was a close thing.

Having shared the 'high points' where he played the main role, Tony shared some of the cases of the conman in action who stole left and right, was better at lying than telling the truth, charming even the most wary and distrustful people he met, leaving behind destruction and broken lives, and sometimes broken hearts.

The morning found the two still awake and Tony finally stopped talking when his alarm went off. He decided it would have to be enough for now, the sharing. It was now out of his hands. What she did from now on, that was in her hands.