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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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2020-11-05
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Flowers That Perceive The Stars

Summary:

Kelly found the half-grown puppy a week after Daddy left again.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Flowers That Perceive The Stars
by tigriswolf

 

 

Kelly found the half-grown puppy a week after Daddy left again. He was black and tan, and Mommy called him a mutt, but said Kelly could keep him as long as she helped care for him. Kelly promised upside down and backwards that she would. They pinkyswore on it.

Mommy let her name the puppy. Kelly picked Sunflower, but she called him Sunny. She wrote Daddy letters about Sunny, and drew him pictures. You’ll love our puppy, she told him. He’ll be tough like you, Daddy, when he’s grown up. Mommy says he’ll be big.

When they had to go into hiding because Mommy saw something bad, they left Sunny with the neighbors. Just until we come home, Mommy promised. He’ll wait for you, baby girl.

But Kelly never saw Sunny or Daddy again.

o0o

A few months after Tony joined Jethro’s team, he went missing while undercover. A dozen agents helped Jethro clean up the clusterfuck, but while they caught the weapon’s dealers, there wasn’t any hint of Tony.

Yeah, we found out the boy, one of the fucker’s said when Pacci questioned him. He said a great deal more when Jethro got ahold of him.

We were gonna teach ‘im a lesson, but he got wind of it somehow and ran. We followed him to the river, and he was just gone. Had a bullet in ‘im, though. He’s dead either way. Look, he fucked with our operation, okay? We had to deal with him.

Morrow ordered Jethro to stand down before he beat the bastard bloody. Jethro went back to the river to supervise the search, but nothing was found.

Jethro knelt by the van, staring at the dark water. Sunset had come hours ago and tomorrow they’d tell him to stop looking. Two days already gone, no sign of DiNozzo. He’d told the kid things would be better here, and after five months he got Tony killed. He wanted to shoot something.

A dog slunk up to him, tail folded under its’ belly, ears drooping, the pitiful thing soaking wet. “Hey, boy,” he said, letting his hand trail along the dog’s spine. “Now’s not a good time.”

But the dog nosed in, until its face was right in front of Jethro, and Jethro laughed, burying his hands in the thick ruff. “You’re a big old boy,” Jethro muttered. By the floodlights, Jethro could tell the dog was black and tan, about the size of a Saint Bernard.    Less fluffy, though. In pretty good shape, for a stray.

The dog whimpered when Jethro’s hand brushed his shoulder. Carefully, Jethro leaned in, holding the fur aside.

The dog had a bullet in his shoulder. Jethro pulled back, looking into the dog’s familiar green eyes. “DiNozzo?”

The dog licked his cheek, tail wagging.

o0o

The report said that Jethro had a hunch and triple-checked a nearby building, where Tony was folded into a corner of a backroom, completely out of it but heartbeat steady.

That’s actually almost accurate.

o0o

Once Tony was all set to leave the hospital, Jethro took him home. He tucked the kid into his own bed because the guestroom still had Shannon’s last project spread out over it. While Tony slept, Jethro began sorting through the mess. Some went to the basement, some the trash, and some to donate. He found one of Kelly’s drawings, of that dog named Sunny he never met. By the time he’d remembered the dog, months had passed and he had no idea what Shannon did with Sunny.

Kelly’s depiction of the puppy looked just like Tony.

o0o

When Tony woke up the next afternoon, Jethro didn’t ask him. Tony talked anyway, about his mother’s family and his father’s overreaction, and the year between being disowned and military school. He talked like someone who’d never actually said any of it before, like a confession he had to get out before it destroyed him.

The only way I survived was by becoming something different, Boss. I still almost died. But this little girl, man, she was somethin’ else. Saved my life. I don’t—something happened and she left me behind, but it wasn’t her fault. I know that. I waited, long as I could, but finally I left, too. Went to an aunt and she helped. I… I only change if there’s no other way. Those guys, they were lookin’ for me, Boss. I know they’d have killed me. So I became something different.

Jethro listened and didn’t speak, and thought back to his daughter’s letters about a half-grown puppy named Sunflower.

Tony finally wound down, so Jethro ordered him to eat pizza. “Ducky should know,” Jethro said while Tony ate. “Anybody else, I’ll leave up to you, but I think you’ll be more comfortable with Ducky than another doctor.”

“Boss,” Tony said after gulping glass of water. “I’ve gone this long without a doctor.”

“Ducky,” Jethro repeated quietly, “should know.”

Tony blinked at him. “Gotcha, Boss. I’ll tell Ducky tomorrow.”

“Tonight,” Jethro corrected. “He’s comin’ by to check your shoulder.”

Muttering something Jethro pretended to not hear, Tony went back to his pizza. 

 

end

Notes:

This orphaned work was originally on Pejas WWOMB posted by author tigriswolf.
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