Chapter 7

Gibbs grabbed the phone out of Tony's hand and hung it up. "I told her not to call you and I told you not to talk to her. Neither of you knows how to listen."

"She just wanted to know how I was." Tony replied.

"We just left her 15 minutes ago." Gibbs said, exasperated. "I told her to let me get you settled in first. You know that there are no short conversations with her."

"Abby's just looking out for her big brother." Tony said.

"Well, she's giving her old man fits." Gibbs stated.

"You didn't have to do this." Tony declared. "I could have gone home."

"Yeah, where you wouldn't have eaten properly or taken your medicine."

"You don't know me." Tony mumbled under his breath as he straightened his cover.

"Ducky will be over in a couple hours, and I have soup warming on the stove." Gibbs said glaring at Tony as if to prove his point. "And you're due for some more pain medication at 4 p.m."

"Don't you have some sanding to do?" Tony growled.

Gibbs chuckled. "McGee is coming over to set up your DVD thing. Abby's getting your movies." He looked at Tony. "What?"

"What's going to...?" Tony fumbled. "What did they do to Price?"

"Balboa said he lost his job." Gibbs replied.

"Balboa?"

Gibbs nodded. "They were the ones who worked the scene for us after we found you."

"We never really talked about that." Tony admitted.

"We don't have to…if you don't want to." Gibbs stated, giving Tony an out, if he wanted it.

"I want to. I just…I don't remember you, Tim or Kate being there." Tony shook his head. "Craig just kept insisting I had information I didn't have, just because I was Danny's partner."

Gibbs nodded, encouraging Tony to continue.

"I didn't know anything. The last day that I was at his place, the day you followed me there, that was the last day I spoke to him, about anything." Tony shook his head. "I just…I tried so hard after that. I tried…I distanced myself from him. That is part of the reason I took the job at NCIS. A whole different area of law enforcement, that helped broaden the gap. I just…." Tony shook his head.

"You are not your brother's keeper." Gibbs said. The Biblical quote seemed most appropriate.

Tony smiled. "Maybe I should have been. Maybe he wouldn't have gotten into this mess."

"Maybe he would have dragged you down with him." Gibbs countered.

Tony sighed. "He had me second guessing myself for a while there." He admitted grudgingly. "I mean, here I was, a detective and I couldn't detect what was literally under my own nose, for…I don't even know how long. I was so pissed off at Danny I never really asked. I thought it would just have added insult to injury if it had been a long time."

Gibbs sighed. "Why would you have been looking for a dirty cop?"

Tony shook his head. "It's a faulty rational, Gibbs."

"I mean he gave you no reason…." Gibbs started.

Tony sighed. "I don't know. I was dealing with my own personal crap around that time." Tony had proposed to his fiancée, Wendy. She had accepted, only to leave him at the altar. The proposal was before the Danny fiasco. And Gibbs knew Wendy existed, but not anyone else, not even Abby. It was just a door that was too painful to reopen. Wendy had never really told him why. And after a while, his pride had not let him ask.

Gibbs looked at Tony. That, Gibbs could tell, was a loaded statement. But he also knew that Tony would share when he was ready and not a moment before.

"I'll go get that soup." Gibb said, getting up from his spot on the bed.

THE END

END NOTE: I don't know the time line for the Wendy and Price incidents. Thanks for reading, you guys. I hope you enjoyed.