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Chapter Text

In case you haven’t read the other stories in the ‘Upside Down’ Universe, Tony is married to Faith Coleman and is senior to Gibbs at NCIS.  Some other characters are in non-canon positions.

I haven’t marked this story as complete as I think I may add some more to the continuing story of this version of the MCRT.

Warning – this may be angsty.

“Daddy!”

The scream from his daughter’s bedroom jolted Tony DiNozzo’s attention away from the agent appraisals he was poring over.

“Daddy!” came the cry again.

Tony was used to being summoned by Matilda but there was something different in her voice this time which had him running up the stairs as fast as he could.  He raced into the room and found Tilly sitting on the floor with tears streaming down her face.  She held out her hands to him when she saw him pausing at the door,

“It’s Cherry-pie,” she sobbed.

Tony felt his heart slow down slightly as he saw that his daughter was unhurt; the horrific scenarios he had pictured on his run to the bedroom faded away as he came to terms with another type of hurt.

“What is it, sweetheart?” he asked as he knelt beside his daughter.

“There’s something wrong,” Tilly replied as she cradled her hamster.

Tony sighed.  He remembered the long discussions he had had with his wife over whether to buy Tilly her first pet.  Tilly had wanted a hamster ever since Tony had shared the story of Ferrari, his own first pet: Tilly adored her father and always wanted to emulate him.  Tony and Faith DiNozzo had had done their research, thought about the request seriously and decided that a pet would teach Tilly responsibility and, hopefully not for a long time, about loss and bereavement. 

“And,” had said Faith with a smile, “Hamsters are very cute!”

So the cute hamster had been chosen with great care by Tilly who had also bestowed the name Cherry-pie for a reason unclear to her parents.  And, on the whole, Tilly had learned responsibility as she diligently cared for the small animal: Cherry-pie had fulfilled her purpose.  But now, thought Tony ruefully, she had fulfilled the other purpose: teaching the little girl about death and bereavement.  Why, he wondered, had he and Faith not thought this through properly?  He took breath as he began to think how to deal with this latest crisis but, before he could speak, Tilly said,

“You can make it better, can’t you, Daddy?”  And she held out her hands in which she held the cooling body of her golden hamster.

Tilly was mourning the death of Cherry-pie.  Her father realised he was about to be mourning the loss of his daughter’s absolute trust in him.  Until now Tony or Faith had mostly been able to make things better for Tilly.  When her adored soft toy Floopy had gone missing Tony’s junior agent Tim McGee had found a replacement; when Tilly’s brother Jacob was born her parents and their friends had made sure she still knew her importance to the family; when she broke her favourite mug, Tony glued it back together.  Faith and Tony DiNozzo had created a firm but loving structure for Tilly with themselves as loving guardians and teachers able to answer Tilly’s questions and assuage her fears.  Until today.

Hoping against hope, Tony took the creature in his hands.

“Do you know what happened?” he asked.

“Cherry-P was running up her ladder,” gulped Tilly.

“And?” asked Tony.

“She fell off!  And she didn’t get up,” said Tilly.

“Ah,” said Tony.  He gently felt along the hamster’s body and soon realised that her neck was broken.

“Daddy?” said Tilly anxiously, “You can fix her, can’t you?”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.  I can’t,” said Tony.

Tilly stared at her father in disbelief and then her expression cleared.  “I know, we’ll get Uncle Ducky – he’s a doctor, he’ll know what to do.”

Tony thought briefly about allowing Tilly a few more precious moments of hope … of allowing Ducky to break the bad news but knew he couldn’t do that.

“No, sweetheart.  Uncle Ducky couldn’t do anything either.  Cherry-pie is … isn’t going to wake up.”

“But she has to,” said Tilly, “I want her to.”

“I want her to wake up too,” said Tony wondering how much money he would give to have the small animal start breathing again, “But she isn’t going to.  She hurt herself too badly when she fell.”

“She’s broken?” asked Tilly.

“Yes,” said Tony.

“But when I broke my Finding Nemo mug, you fixed it,” said Tilly.

“I know.  But you couldn’t use it again, could you?” said Tony.  “You couldn’t have your drinks in it anymore, could you?”

“That’s all right,” insisted Tilly, “I can just look at Cherry-P.  I don’t need her to run around.  I’ll be gentle with her.”

Pictures of freeze-dried preserved deceased pets flashed through Tony’s mind but he resolutely banished them,

“It doesn’t work like that, darling,” he said.  “When animals go to sleep like this, well … they stay asleep.”

“And you can’t do anything?”

“No.”

“But you’re Daddy.  You can do anything,” said Tilly.

“I wish I could do something,” said Tony, “But I can’t.  Not this time.”

“Could Mommy do it?” asked Tilly hopefully.

Again, Tony thought about suggesting that they wait for Faith to return home to see if she could indeed do something but again managed to squash the delaying tactic.

“No, Tilly, I’m really sorry.  Mommy can do lots of things but she won’t be able to make Cherry-pie wake up.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Really, really sure?”

“Yes.”

Tilly took Cherry-pie back from her father and gently stroked her.  “Is Cherry-P dead?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Tony.

“I didn’t know what it was like,” said Tilly.  “They told us about it at school but I didn’t really understand.”

“I know,” said Tony.

“If I watched.  For a long time,” said Tilly, “Would she wake up?  If I was quiet and let her sleep as long as she wanted?”

“No, Tilly.  She won’t wake up.”

“I love her,” said Tilly.

“I know.”

Tilly was quiet for a few moments.  “Daddy?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Do people die too?”

“Yes, they do.”

“Even if we love them?”

“Yes.”

“Is that why you haven’t got a mommy?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“So, will you die one day?”

“Yes.”

“And Mommy?”

“Yes,”

“And Jacob?”

“Yes.  But not for a long time.”

“I don’t want you to die,” said Tilly and she began to sob again.

Tony pulled Tilly on to his lap and put his arms around her wondering if his daughter had really needed this life lesson.  All he wanted was to keep her safe and happy and, for a moment, cursed the day they had gone to the pet shop and picked out the adventurous Cherry-pie.  He let Tilly cry on until she finally seemed to run out of tears,

“It hurts, Daddy,” she hiccupped.

“I know, sweetheart.  But … you’re glad you had Cherry-pie, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“She made you laugh, didn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“And you looked after her well, didn’t you?”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“You did.  You were the best owner she could have had.  You got her the best food, cleaned out her cage …”  Tony smiled as he remembered how conscientious his daughter had been: in many ways she was her meticulous mother’s daughter.  “She was a lucky hamster.”

“Was she?” asked Tilly doubtfully.

“Of course she was.  And you’re sad that she’s not going to be around anymore.  Some animals die and there’s nobody to care,” said Tony.

“But it hurts,” wailed Tilly afresh.

“I know, I know,” said Tony hugging her close once more.  “But you’ll never forget her.  She’ll live inside of you forever.”

“She will?” asked Tilly.

“Yes, right there,” said Tony pointing to Tilly’s heart.

“You sure?” asked Tilly.  “Does Ferrari still live there?” she pointed to Tony’s heart.

“All the time,” said Tony.

“Oh,” said Tilly as she considered this new possibility.  “Oh, I think I’d like that.”

Tony breathed a sigh of relief as he began to hope that the worst was past.  Tilly leaned back into him and relaxed.  A few minutes she said,

“Daddy?”

“Yes, darling?”

“What shall we do with Cherry-pie?”

“What?”

“Do we throw her away?” asked Tony’s practical daughter.  “Because the men who come to collect the trash might not like it.”

Tony managed to keep a straight face, “No, we won’t throw her away.  We could have a funeral.”

“What’s a funeral?” asked Tilly who was always eager to learn.

“It’s when you say goodbye to someone who’s died.  We’d talk about Cherry-pie … remember what she was like, what she did, why we loved her …”

“You loved her too, didn’t you, Daddy?”

“Yes, I did.  So we’d say goodbye … that would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

“And then we put her in the trash?” asked Tilly.

Tony imagined a ceremonial procession to the trash can but decided against it, “No, we could bury her.”  He braced himself for outrage.

“Like planting a seed?” suggested Tilly.

“Yes,” said Tony but, perceiving a potential pitfall hastened to add, “But Cherry-pie wouldn’t grow like a seed would.”

“Oh,” said Tilly as she digested this possibility.  “Where would we bury her?”

“Where would you like to put her?”

“In the backyard,” said Tilly.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief that his daughter hadn’t chosen some exotic location.  “That would be fine,” he said.  “And perhaps we could plant a flower over her.  So we remember where she is.”  Tony didn’t want accidentally to disinter a dead hamster in a few years’ time.

“I’d like that,” said Tilly.  “A Cherry-pie flower.”

“If we put her in the corner,” said Tony with sudden inspiration, “We could plant a cherry tree there.  Then we’d never forget.”

Tilly nodded happily.  Tony didn’t think that the tears had gone for good but he felt that the worst of the crisis was over … for the moment at least.

NCISNCIS

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was sitting at his desk the next morning when he saw Tony walking in.  He knew that his Boss had taken the previous day to write up appraisals and, while it wasn’t a job he enjoyed, he was surprised to see the haggard look it seemed to have generated on Tony’s face.

“Ah, Jethro,” said Tony.  “I wanted to ask you a favour.”

Gibbs nodded and took a revivifying sip of coffee.

“I need you to make me a coffin.”

Tony sometimes wondered what Gibbs thought about him but he got a clue when he saw the normally stoical and unflappable Gibbs lose all the colour from his face and jump up in alarm.

“No, no,” Tony hastened to say, “Not like that.  It’s for Cherry-pie.  We’ve got to arrange a funeral.”

Gibbs sank back into his chair with relief wishing, not for the first time, that it would be acceptable to slap Tony’s head.

Chapter Text

Gibbs brought the coffin to the DiNozzos later that evening.  Somehow he felt that they would be glad to get the funeral out of the way as soon as possible.

“Thank you, Jethro,” said Faith gratefully.  “Tilly will love it.”

“Love it?” asked Gibbs sceptically.

“You’re right.  Love is probably the wrong word.  But she’ll be pleased you made it,” said Faith with a half-smile.

“DiNozzo in?” asked Gibbs.

“No, he’s gone to the airport to pick someone up.”

“His father?” asked Gibbs.

Faith politely suppressed a shudder, “No, not Senior … it’s … oh, excuse me, there goes Jacob!” she said as a wail sounded from the family room.

“I’ll leave you to it,” said Gibbs getting ready to beat a retreat.  “Er … when’s the …”

“Tomorrow,” said Faith, “Tilly has decided it should be at high noon on Saturday.  She thinks it’s the right time.”

“Huh,” said Gibbs non-committally.  “Hey, you’d better go.  Jake’s got healthy lungs.”

“You know,” said Faith, “The books say you should leave babies to cry sometimes.  That it can be good for them,” she sighed, “How could people do that?”

Gibbs nodded sympathetically and watched her hurry away.

NCISNCIS

The DiNozzo household prepared for Cherry-pie’s obsequies with due solemnity the next day.

“Cherry-pie’s what?” asked Tony.

“Obsequies, Daddy,” said Tilly importantly.  She saw Tony’s blank look and relented, “It’s another word for funerals.”

“Oh,” said Tony in what he felt was a rather weak response.

“You need to change, Daddy,” continued Tilly.

“I do?”

“Yes.  Wear that nice grey suit …”  Tony was about to protest about wearing a suit on the weekend but Tilly continued, “It makes you look handsome.”

“OK, sweetheart,” said Tony.  “And what does Mommy need to wear?”

“Mommy’s going to wear her little black dress,” said Tilly informatively.

Tony kept a straight face, “And what are you going to wear?” he asked politely.

“My new dress.  In the right light it looks purple.  And that’s what people wear for obsequies.”

Tony nodded gravely.  The purple dress was pink but he wasn’t going to argue.

Tilly went off to change and Tony went into the kitchen, “Obsequies?” he asked Faith.

“Ducky phoned yesterday afternoon,” said Faith simply.

“Say no more,” said Tony, pleased to have one mystery solved.  “Jethro made a good job of the casket.  Although I think it looks as if it was going to be a pencil box originally.”

Faith grinned but then her expression softened, “He carved little cherries on the top.”

“Yeah,” said Tony, “The man drives me insane and then he does something like that.”

“You want a coffee?” she asked.

Tilly came into the room before Tony could reply, “You need to get ready,” she said sternly, “We have to start on time.”

“Yes, Tilly,” said Faith.  She waited until her daughter had left the room once more before saying, “I think she’s beginning to enjoy this.”

“Yeah,” agreed Tony.  “Who do you think she gets it from?”

“Gets what from?”

“This flair for the dramatic?  ‘Cos you’ve got to admit that given a chance she’d have called the Pope and asked if he was free to take the service.”

Faith giggled but said, “You think she’s got it from me?  Have you looked at yourself in the mirror recently?”

“What do you mean?” protested Tony, “Who’s the one who makes a living standing up in court making people listen to her?”

“Mommy!  Daddy!” said Tilly appearing at the door looking as if she wanted to stamp her foot in impatience.

“To be resumed,” said Tony in a low voice.  “All right, Tilly, we’ll go and get changed.”

Tilly followed her parents up the stairs to make sure they didn’t get distracted.

NCISNCIS

Somehow Tony wasn’t surprised to find that the DiNozzos weren’t the only people to attend Cherry-pie’s obsequies.  Shortly before noon, Gibbs arrived,

“Thought you might need help with the coffin,” he said offhandedly.

Tony nodded his appreciation of the thought as well as Gibbs wearing his charcoal grey court suit.

“Hey, Boss,” said a smartly dressed McGee as he arrived a little later, “Gibbs told us about Cherry-pie.”

“Us?” asked Tony.

“Uh, yes.  Kate’s on her way.  We thought … well, we thought … er … is it OK for us to be here?”

“Yes,” said Tony feeling a surge of warmth towards his crazy team.  “Ah, here’s Kate.  Also in her court suit.”

“Well, sure,” said Kate as she drew near, “It’s a funeral.  You need to be respectful.”

“Actually,” said Tony, “I’m reliably informed it’s obsequies,” he added.  He saw the puzzled expressions on the faces of Tim and Kate, “Ducky called last night.”

“Ah,” said Kate.  “How’s Tilly?” she asked anxiously.

“Oh, she’s doing well,” said Tony.  He was about to explain further when he saw Ducky walking up the path carrying a large bag.  “Ducky,” he said, “Are you here for the obsequies?”

“If I’m not intruding,” said Ducky courteously.

“Never,” said Faith as she drew near.

“Um, Ducky,” said Tony who was looking at Ducky’s bag with curiosity and increasing trepidation, “What’s in the bag?  You haven’t brought your bagpipes, have you?”  Tony had a feeling that their neighbours already thought the DiNozzos were the eccentrics of the area and he didn’t want to enhance that reputation with the sound of bagpipes echoing through the streets.

“No,” said Ducky, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you wanted them.  I could go back and get them but I confess that I am sadly out of practice and I’m not sure my lungs are quite up to maintaining the notes in the way I was once accustomed.”

“That’s fine, Ducky,” said Faith soothingly, “It’ll be fine without them, I’m sure.”

“So what’s in the bag?” asked Tony.  “Ouch,” he said when Faith kicked him to be quiet.

Ducky was unperturbed, “I found my old croquet set.  I thought Matilda might enjoy learning the game.  Oh, my,” he added before Faith and Tony could reply.

Tony and Faith swivelled around and saw what had caught Ducky’s attention.  Tilly was walking towards them draped in a lacy black shawl she had found in the dressing up box.

“It’s time,” she announced.  “We’re going to have a profession …”

“Procession,” whispered Faith.

“We’re going to have a procession,” said Tilly grandly.  “I will go first because I’m the chief mourner.  Then Mommy and Daddy with Jacob.  Because they’re sad too.  Then Uncle Gibbs and Uncle Ducky.  Auntie Kate and Uncle Gee after them.”

Faith (the high-powered employment lawyer) and the elite MCRT got meekly in line and followed Tilly on her stately procession to the burial site.  At the tiny graveside, however, Tilly’s flair for the dramatic wavered in the face of what was really happening and she leaned into Tony and sobbed quietly as Ducky delivered a simple eulogy.

“Cherry-pie was not with us long,” he said, “But she brought joy and love to everyone and we are all better people for having known her.”  Several loud sniffs sounded from the congregation and he smiled benignly at the impact of his words.  “And now we lay her to rest in the home of the people who loved her and whom she loved in return.  A tree will blossom over her and remind us always of the fruit of love.  I remember …”  Gibbs coughed.  “Ah yes, that is a story for another time.  So now, we lay our dear Cherry-pie in her last resting place.”

The rest of the ceremony didn’t take long.  Tilly placed the former pencil box in the hole and sprinkled earth over the top.  Gibbs filled the rest of the hole while Tilly buried her face in the skirt of Faith’s little black dress.  The mourners stood respectfully for a moment or two and then someone spoke from behind them,

“I have made us all some tea.  And there are sandwiches and cakes.”

The MCRT and Ducky looked at the new arrival and Gibbs remembered Faith saying that Tony had gone to pick someone up from the airport.

“Consie!” squealed Tilly happily, “You’re awake!”

“Consie?” asked Ducky as he walked towards a statuesque brunette who was in late middle-age.

“It’s Consie,” said Tilly who had grabbed her by the hand and was swinging it enthusiastically.

“Gently, Chiquita.”

“Sorry, Consie,” said Tilly as she immediately stopped swinging the hand.  The others looked on impressed.

“Everyone,” said Tony as he remembered his responsibilities as host, “This is Consuela Marquez …”

“You’re the one who makes that drink that Tony likes!” said Tim.

Consuela smiled graciously, “Yes, that’s right.”

“Tony swears by it,” said Kate.

“And it is very good,” said Tim.

“It’s probably kept all of us going at some time,” smiled Gibbs.  He held out his hand, “I’m Jethro Gibbs.”

Faith and Tony exchanged a startled look as they sensed a change in tone from Gibbs.  Ducky took a position very close to Gibbs,

“Am I to understand that you were Anthony’s housekeeper when he was a boy?” he asked.  “He has always spoken most highly of you.”

“I do like to hear full names used,” said Consuela approvingly.

Ducky preened himself for a moment but Gibbs butted in, “This is Ducky Mallard,” he said.

“Ducky?” asked Consuela in surprise.

“A nickname,” confessed Ducky, “My actual name is Donald Mallard.  Dr Donald Mallard.”

“I am pleased to meet you,” said Consuela, “Dr Mallard.”

Faith broke the ensuing silence, “Consuela is staying with us for a little while,” she said.  “Before she starts her new … position.”

“Are you going to be a housekeeper here in DC?” asked Kate.

Consuela smiled at her, “I suppose you could say that.  In a manner of speaking.”

“Consuela,” said Tony …

“I would be happy to show you some of the sights of Washington,” interrupted Ducky.  “Although I am not a native of this fair city I like to think that I know it well.  Indeed, sometimes it takes a stranger’s eye truly to appreciate its beauties.”

“I know some places too,” said Gibbs, “I could show you some places off the beaten track.  Sometimes it takes someone who was born in a country to really understand it.”  He smiled at Ducky in a way that the others found hard to interpret.

“I think someone mentioned cake,” said Tony in a bid to get things back on track.

“Indeed.”  Consuela smiled at Tony: it was a smile quite different to the stately one she had employed with the other adults.  In the smile for Tony there was pure affection and delight and Tony smiled back in similar vein.  She led the others back to the house in the second procession of the day although this one took longer as Jacob had attached himself to Consuela and wanted to use his newfound walking skills.

It was clear that Consuela was on affectionate terms with the DiNozzos but also practised at meeting strangers and engaging with them.  The tea she had made was of a standard to please Ducky and, when she realised that Gibbs preferred coffee, that was made perfectly too.

“I thought you lived in Spain,” said Gibbs as he remembered a long-ago conversation with Tony.

“I lived there for some time,” she agreed.  “After I left the DiNozzo household I returned to Spain but then I married and moved to Santa Maria.”

“Santa Maria?” asked Kate.

“Married?” asked Ducky.

“It is a small island in the Caribbean,” replied Consuela, “A proud nation in its own right.”

“I went there,” said Tim.

“You did?” asked Consuela, turning a pleased look on him.

“Yes.  I was on board the USS Seahawk; we did a goodwill tour of the Caribbean.  We called into Santa Maria.  It was beautiful.”  Tim smiled a little smugly; he had enjoyed his temporary posting as Agent Afloat and now recognised another benefit of the assignment.  Kate looked a little glum, so far her own posting to the Arctic Ocean had not produced many benefits.

“Married?” repeated Ducky.

“Yes,” said Consuela sadly, “Unhappily, he died some years ago.  For a time, I worked in Spain once more but recently I returned to Santa Maria.  But I lived in many parts of the world.”

“And now, here,” said Gibbs.

“And now here,” agreed Consuela giving him a soulful look over her cup of tea.

Tony coughed, “Ducky, you said something about croquet?”

Ducky was always the soul of politeness but he looked a little irritated at this suggestion that he tear himself away from Consuela.

“Well,” he began, “I’m not sure …”

“Croquet?” said Consuela, “I haven’t played croquet in years.”

“You play croquet?” asked Ducky.

“Not well,” temporised Consuela, “But it brings back happy memories.  I once attended the Oxford/Cambridge match in Oxford.”

“Then we must set up the hoops,” said Ducky happily.

“Croquet?” asked Gibbs.

“It uses wooden balls,” said Tony cunningly.

“Really?” said Gibbs as he grasped at this excuse to become interested in the game.

“And mallets,” said Tony.

“Come on then, Ducky, let’s get this set up,” said Gibbs commandingly.

Faith watched as Gibbs, Ducky and Consuela trooped off to their lawn followed by Kate and Tim.  Tilly trailed behind them still holding a cookie.

“You sure it’s a good idea to give Gibbs and Ducky mallets?  The mood they’re in?” asked Faith disapprovingly.

“They’re adults,” said Tony confidently.  “They’ll be fine,” he thought a moment, “Won’t they?”

“And you denied that our daughter got her flair for the dramatic from you,” said Faith.

Tony lifted Jacob on to his knee, “I’d say she got it from both of us, wouldn’t you?”

“I guess,” agreed Faith reluctantly.

“And what about this one?” asked Tony as he hugged his son closer, “Is he going to be over dramatic or have we given all those genes to Tilly?”

“Who knows?” said Faith, “But my money is that he’s going to be a placid one.  Once he sleeps through the night, that is.”

“Daddy,” said Tilly as she came back for another cookie.

“Yes?”

“Can we go get Cherry-pie’s tree?  Please.”

Tony was about to say they should wait but then he realised that Tilly had come down from her chief mourner high and was once again just a very sad little girl.

“Of course we can,” he said.  “Mommy’s done lots of research about the right one to buy so we’ll go right now.”

“What about the others?” asked Faith as she gestured towards the game of croquet going on noisily in their back yard.

“Somehow,” said Tony, “I don’t think they’ll notice we’re gone!”

“Are we going?” said Tilly excitedly.

“Yes, we’re going,” said Faith.

As they all sat in the car, Tilly leaned forward and said,

“It was a lovely funer … I mean, obsequy, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, darling.  You organised it very well,” said Faith.

“I did, didn’t I?” said Tilly modestly.

“Yes, you did,” affirmed Tony.

“But I was very sad,” said Tilly.

“I know,” said Faith.

“Were you sad, Mommy?”

“Yes, I was,” said Faith.

“Were you sad, Daddy?”

“Yes, I was,” agreed Tony.

There was silence for a few seconds,

“Daddy …”

“Yes?”

“After we’ve got the tree …”

“Yes?”

“Could we get ice-cream?”

Tony and Faith smiled at their daughter’s changes of mood.

“Yes, of course,” said Faith.

“It was a lovely wake, wasn’t it?” asked Tilly as she used another of her new words.

Tony and Faith sighed as they submitted to another catalogue of questions from their daughter.

NCISNCIS

Faith DiNozzo had become used to members of Tony’s team dropping in unexpectedly but she found there was an increase in visitors once Consuela’s presence became known.  Kate and Tim still came for visits but Ducky and Gibbs arrived more frequently and somehow Faith didn’t think it was due to the attraction of her lasagne.

Tony largely watched on in amusement.  So far, Ducky had taken Consuela to the cultural jewels of Washington while Gibbs took her on long walks in the parks around the city.  Tony knew her well but couldn’t tell if she favoured one over the other as she bestowed the same gracious smile on each of her escorts.  Tony remembered hearing about a team leader who had imposed a rule against members of the same team dating: he was beginning to wonder if he would need to impose a variant of that … no trying to date the same person.

“You’re home early,” said Faith, one afternoon a few days after Consuela’s arrival.

“Yeah.  Thought I might pick Tilly up from kindergarten,” said Tony a little gloomily.

“OK,” said Faith cautiously, “Although Consuela said she’d go.  And Jethro went with her.”

“Gibbs?” said Tony.

“Gibbs,” confirmed Faith.  “You’re the one who gave him the day off.”

“Oh yeah,” said Tony.

“So?” asked Faith.

“So what?”

“Why are you home early?  You could’ve picked Tilly up on your way home.”

“Morrow,” said Tony still more gloomily.

“What’s the Director done now?”

“He’s decided he definitely wants to make the Assistant Director’s job permanent.”

“Ah,” said Faith.

 While on secondment to another agency, Director Tom Morrow had created the temporary positon of Assistant Director to lighten the load of the Acting Director.  Tony had taken the post which involved supporting and managing the teams at the DC field office.  Morrow had been impressed with how it worked and tried to persuade Tony to remain in the role when the secondment ended.  Tony had been hesitant and they had compromised by Tony continuing to lead the MCRT some of the time while helping lead the other teams as well.

“You know it can’t go on like it is,” said Faith.

“I guess,” said Tony a little sulkily.

Faith smiled at how like Tilly he looked.  “You’re working too hard,” she said, “Doing two jobs at once.”

“It’s been OK,” said Tony.

“And it’s not fair on Jethro,” said Faith, “He doesn’t know when he’s going to be lead or if you’re going to be with another team.”

“I guess,” said Tony again.

“So?”

“So, Tom said everything you said,” admitted Tony.

“And?”

“And he said he wanted to make it permanent … and full-time.”

“And what did you say?”

“That I’d think about it.”

“And what do you think?”

“I think the Director is cunning.”

“Do you?  Why?”

“He said if I didn’t take it, he’d think of offering it to Leon Vance!”

“Leon?  But I thought he didn’t want to work in DC?” said Faith.

“I think he could be persuaded, for a promotion,” said Tony.

“And what are you going to do?”

“What do you think I should do?”

“Do you want to report to Leon Vance?” asked Faith.

“No way,” said Tony.

“And you enjoy the work,” said Faith.

“I guess,” said Tony less sulkily this time.

“And you’re good at it,” said Faith.

“I am,” said Tony.

“Well then …”

“You’re right,” said Tony.  “I’ll tell him tomorrow.  You know the argument we were having about flairs for the dramatic …”

“Discussion,” said Faith firmly.

“Discussion,” said Tony.

“Yes?”

“It’s definitely you that Tilly gets it from.”

“If you say so,” said Faith serenely.  “But …”

“But?”

“The real master of the dramatic isn’t either of us.”

“It isn’t?”

“No, it’s definitely Tom Morrow!”

Tony laughed ruefully.  “True.  It’ll be weird …”

“What will?”

“Not sitting opposite Gibbs every day …”

“And the team will need a new Senior Field Agent,” said Faith thoughtfully, “And a new junior agent.  I guess Kate or Tim could step up.”

Tony groaned, “I’ve got a headache coming on at the thought of it all.  Perhaps I’ll change my mind.  Keep it simple.”

“And report to Leon Vance?” said Faith guilelessly.

“You’re a wicked woman,” complained Tony.

“Go and fetch your daughter,” laughed Faith.

“Thought you said Consuela and her shadow had gone?”

“Tilly would prefer to see her father,” said Faith.  “Go on!”

NCISNCIS

Tony arrived at Tilly’s school and found Gibbs and Consuela waiting outside.  As Tilly ran out, her teacher approached Tony,

“Mr DiNozzo?  May I have a word?”

“Tilly, stay with Gibbs and Consie.  I won’t be a moment,” said Tony hoping that he was telling the truth.

Tilly nodded happily and began chattering to Gibbs and Consuela about her day.

“Yes, Ms Garnett?” asked Tony wondering what his daughter had done this time.

“I just wanted to say that Tilly is coming along very well,” said the teacher.

“Good.  Thank you, that’s good to know,” said Tony with a pleased smile.  He went to turn away but Ms Garnett coughed.

“She could perhaps be a little less … enthusiastic.”

“Enthusiastic?”

“We had show and tell today.”

“Oh?”

“Tilly did very well.”

“Good?” said Tony hopefully.

“Yes, the class learned a lot about funeral practices.”

“Ah.”

“Your daughter has a flair for the dramatic,” said the teacher.

“Really?  I hadn’t noticed,” lied Tony.

“Yes.  The class was in tears when they heard the story about Apple-pie’s funeral …”

“Cherry-pie,” corrected Tony.

“Cherry-pie.  Yes, she was most eloquent.  It was very moving … but, perhaps you could suggest … a little less detail?”

“I understand,” said Tony, “I’ll … what?”

There was a sudden screech of brakes as a large van stopped by the sidewalk.  Three men jumped out with guns and run towards Tilly, Gibbs and Consuela.  They bundled all three into the vehicle and slammed the door.  As the van began to move off, the door opened and Tony saw Tilly being pushed out.

“Daddy!” she yelled.

Chapter Text

There was a sudden screech of brakes as a large van stopped by the sidewalk.  Three men jumped out with guns and ran towards Tilly, Gibbs and Consuela.  They bundled all three into the vehicle and slammed the door.  As the van began to move off, the door opened and Tony saw Tilly being pushed out.

“Daddy!” she yelled.

Tony raced down the path and cast a quick look at Tilly who was sitting shocked but apparently unharmed in a rose bush.  Tilly raised her arms towards him but he didn’t stop,

“Stay there, sweetheart,” he said, “I’ll be back!”

Tony ran into the street and drew his weapon as he saw the van in front of him with the doors now closed.  He fired two shots at the tyres and then saw the van door open again and Consuela tumble out closely followed by Gibbs.  The van screeched to a halt and two of the kidnappers jumped out and stepped towards the escapees.

“Federal agent!” bellowed Tony, “Get down on the ground!”

The kidnappers saw Tony advancing towards them along with a menacing Gibbs and seemed to decide the odds were against them.  They retreated back to the van which soon picked up speed and hurtled away.  Tony fired some more shots but it seemed that the vehicle had been fitted with some sort of run flat tyres.

“You all right?” he asked as he reached Gibbs and Consuela.

Gibbs nodded curtly, “Tilly all right?” he asked.

“Seems to be,” said Tony.  “Consuela?”

Consuela’s usual composure had frayed a little but she picked herself up from the ground and managed a smile, “I am fine.  Thanks to Jethro … and you.”

Tony didn’t answer, he was on his cell calling for assistance and putting out a BOLO on the van.

“What was that about?” asked Gibbs as he wiped his pants clean from the dust.

Gibbs and Consuela walked back to the school where Tilly was being comforted by Ms Garnett.

“You threw me out, Uncle Gibbs,” she complained when she saw Gibbs approaching.

“I had to,” said Gibbs, “I didn’t want you to be taken by those men.”

“But you threw me out,” repeated Tilly.

“Uncle Gibbs threw you into a bush,” said Tony as he came up and heard Tilly complaining.  “And it didn’t have thorns.”  The DiNozzos had carefully chosen a safety conscious school for their daughter; that care extended even to the plants grown there.  “He was trying to keep you safe.”

“And you ran past, Daddy,” said Tilly in a still more wounded tone.

“I know, baby.  And I’m sorry but I had to see that Uncle Gibbs and Consie were OK, didn’t I?”

“I needed you,” whined Tilly.

“I know, I know,” said Tony.  He stooped down and picked his daughter up.  She put her arms around his neck and began to sob.

“I called Mrs DiNozzo,” said Ms Garnett helpfully.  “She’s on her way.”

“What happened?” asked Faith who had driven like Gibbs to get to the school.

“Mommy!” cried Tilly as she stretched out her arms towards her mother, “Uncle Gibbs threw me into a bush.  And Daddy didn’t care!”

Faith took Tilly in her arms, “What?  What happened?”

“I think you should all go inside,” said Tony, “Three guys tried to kidnap Tilly, Consuela and Gibbs.  It’s probably safer indoors.”

Gibbs nodded his agreement and led them inside.  Tony’s cell rang and he answered the call from Metro PD.

“They found the van abandoned three blocks away,” he reported.  “They’ve got a forensics team on their way.  I’ll call the Director and get him to send a NCIS team as well.”  Tony moved away while Faith tried to soothe Tilly.  It wasn’t long before Tony was back, “Director wants us all back at the Navy Yard,” he announced, “Let’s go.”

“I want to go home,” announced Tilly.

“I know,” said Tony, “But we can’t.  We need to go the office.”

“You don’t care what I want,” wailed Tilly.

“Of course Daddy cares,” said Faith, “You know he does.”  Tilly shook her head and buried her face in Faith’s shoulder.  “What about Jacob?” asked Faith, “I left him with Lucy.”  Lucy was the DiNozzos’ obliging neighbour.

“I’ll go get him,” said Tony, “Do you need anything?”

“Why?” asked Faith, “How long are we going to be away?”

“Not long,” said Tony hopefully, “I’ll just bring Jacob’s go-bag.”

“How are we going to get there?” asked Faith.

“Director’s sending two cars.  Tilly, be good for Mommy, won’t you?”  Tilly’s face remained firmly in Faith’s shoulder and she didn’t answer.

Tony’s cell rang again, “DiNozzo.  Right.  Get it sent to NCIS headquarters.  Yes,” he ended the call.  “Gibbs, Metro PD are getting the van sent to the Navy Yard.  Tell Abby, will you?”

Gibbs nodded, “The cars are here.  You want me to go with you to your house?”

“No.  You go with Faith and Consuela,” said Tony briskly.  He kissed Faith goodbye and patted Tilly’s head.  “I’ll see you soon.  Gibbs will look after you.”  He watched Faith and Tilly into the car and then climbed into the other one.  He resolutely didn’t watch them drive off so didn’t see Tilly looking at him wistfully.

NCISNCIS

Consuela, Faith and Tilly were reunited with Jacob in one of the conference rooms at the Navy Yard while Tony and Gibbs went to look at the van.

“Thanks, Jethro, for what you did back there,” said Tony as they went down in the elevator.

“It’s one of my rules,” said Gibbs.

“What?”

“Hide the women and children.”

“You didn’t hide them,” objected Tony, “You threw them out of the van!”  Gibbs glared at him, “OK, Ok,” said Tony hastily, “I get it.  It’s a general principle.  I guess you’d have got around to hiding them next.”

“You’re welcome,” said Gibbs drily. “You all right?” continued Gibbs.  Tony was pale with anger at what had happened.

“Just peachy, thanks,” said Tony.  “Seeing my daughter getting kidnapped makes my day.”

“Hey,” said Gibbs, “She’s OK.  We all are.”

“Thanks to you,” said Tony, “I just watched while it all happened.”

“They’d have got us back in the van without you running up like the cavalry,” said Gibbs.  “You can’t blame yourself.”

“I think Tilly does,” said Tony.

“She’ll get over it,” said Gibbs. 

As the elevator opened into the evidence garage they saw Director Morrow standing by the kidnappers’ van speaking to Abby,

“You know what to do, Miss Scuito.  Let me know what you find.”

“Yes, Director.”  Abby, alerted by the sound of the elevator arriving, ran over to Gibbs and Tony, “I was so worried!  Are you all right?  Is Tilly OK?”  She gave them both a tight hug.

“We’re fine,” said Tony, “Gibbs threw the women out of the van.”

“Gibbs!” said Abby, “That’s very dangerous!”

“So’s getting kidnapped,” said Gibbs blandly.

“Oh … oh,” said Abby and gave him another hug.

“You found anything?” asked Tony in a bid to forestall another hug coming his way.

“Not yet,” said Abby.  “But I haven’t got started.  But I think the van was armoured … your bullets didn’t penetrate.  And the tyres didn’t deflate immediately although the two at the back have holes in.”

“Good shot,” praised Gibbs.

“Gentlemen,” said Morrow, “Let’s join the others.  We have things to discuss.  I’ve asked Agent Fornell to join us.”

The Director led the way to the conference room where they found that Ducky had decided to pay a visit to make sure that there were no ill effects from the attempted kidnapping. 

“There, there, Matilda,” he was saying as the others arrived, “A pink plaster for that little boo boo.”

“Thank you, Uncle Ducky.  Daddy didn’t care.  He left me.”

“Matilda,” said Faith firmly, “Daddy’s explained what happened.  You know he cares.”

“And Uncle Gibbs threw me into a bush,” continued Tilly.

“My my,” said Ducky, “You’ve had quite the adventure.”

“I don’t like adventures,” said Tilly decidedly.

Tony sighed but decided that making amends with his daughter would have to wait for a more opportune time and settled for being grateful that Jacob was serenely asleep.

Director Morrow took charge, “We need to determine the purpose of this afternoon’s attempted kidnapping.  I have asked Agents Todd and McGee to do some initial research.”  A knock at the door signalled Kate and Tim’s arrival.  Tony looked at Tilly hopefully but even the arrival of Uncle Gee didn’t bring a smile to her face.

“What have you found out?  Agent McGee, you go first,” ordered the Director.

“Well,” said McGee, “I’ve been looking into people who might be wanting revenge on Agents DiNozzo and Gibbs.”

“It was Gibbs who was the target, not Tony,” said Faith, “Why look for people who want revenge on Tony?”

“Because it might be a way of putting pressure on me … taking Tilly,” said Tony.

“Excuse me a moment,” said Faith.  “Tilly darling, why don’t you go and play in the corner.  Look I’ve got some paper and crayons for you.  Draw Uncle Ducky a picture to say thank you for looking after you.”  Tilly looked a little suspicious but drawing was one of her favourite activities so she took the paper and went and sat on the floor in the corner.  “I think we should speak a little more quietly,” continued Faith, “This is upsetting for Tilly.”

“Of course, Commander Coleman … I mean, Mrs DiNozzo,” said Tom.  Faith’s air of assuming control had taken him back to her days as a Navy commander.  “Agent McGee, please continue.”

“I checked recent releases from prison,” continued Tim, “And nobody stands out but that doesn’t mean they weren’t the target.”

“Wouldn’t someone after revenge just shoot them?” asked Kate.

“Thanks, Kate,” said Tony.

“I didn’t mean they should shoot you,” protested Kate.  “Just that if it was me after revenge, I’d just kill you.”

“Remind me not to get on your wrong side,” joked Tony.  He saw that Kate was preparing to argue more and raised a hand placatingly, “No, you’re right.  Revenge kidnapping seems a little off.”

“But I’ve only looked at recent releases,” said Tim, “I haven’t had time to look back further.  And then there may be people from Tony’s previous law enforcement days.”

“Or Gibbs’ days as a Marine,” suggested Tony.  “There may be some poor private that Jethro put on report and he’s been nursing a grievance all this time.”

“Tony,” said Faith warningly, worried that Tony seemed to be being too flippant.

“Sorry,” he said penitently.

“We’ll carry on looking at all those possibilities,” said McGee looking anxiously between the DiNozzos.

“Agent Todd, what have you found?” asked Morrow.

“I’ve been looking at Faith … Mrs DiNozzo,” said Kate with a slightly apologetic air.

“Me?” asked Faith.

“Yes.  In case you have a client at the moment who might want you out of the way,” replied Kate.

“But they didn’t target me,” said Faith.  “Oh, I see … you think it might be as Tony suggested – someone putting pressure on me through Tilly?”  She looked towards the corner of the room where her daughter was placidly sketching.

“Yes,” said Kate, “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t think it’s very likely,” said Faith thoughtfully.  “I mean, I’m doing employment law … and not a great deal of that.  I haven’t gone back full-time yet.”

“It could be someone from when you were a JAG officer,” suggested Tim.

“Look into that, Agent Todd,” ordered the Director.

There was another knock at the door followed by Agent Fornell’s entry along with another man in a grey suit.

“Ah, Agent Fornell, Agent Burgess,” said Tom, “Your arrival is well-timed.  I was about to explain that we need to establish who the attempted kidnapping was targeted at.  The FBI will assist us in looking at potential reasons why Agent Gibbs was kidnapped; also if taking Matilda was an attempt to put pressure on her parents.”

“Are we ruling out a financial motivation?” asked Fornell.

“Nobody’s going to pay to get me back,” said Gibbs grimly.

“You surprise me, Jethro,” said Tobias with a wry grin.  “But no, I meant a ransom for Matilda.”

“We’re not rich enough to tempt a kidnapper,” said Faith.

“I think, my love, that Agent Fornell is thinking of my father,” said Tony expressionlessly.

“Anthony?” said Faith, “But …”

“But,” continued Tony, “My father puts on a good show but is pretty much tapped out.  Toby, he wouldn’t be able to pay a ransom.”

“Don’t think that matters,” said Gibbs.  “If someone thought he could, then it might be a motive.”

“Great,” moaned Tony.  “What should we do?  Put out an ad saying Dad is broke?”

“There is, of course, another possibility,” said Tom, “Which is why Agent Burgess is here.”

“Thank you, Director,” said Agent Burgess.  “I’m Clay Burgess from the DSS.”

 “Diplomatic Security Service?” asked Gibbs.  “What are you doing here?”

Burgess nodded towards Consuela who had, up till now, sat quietly saying nothing.  “Your Excellency, do you want to explain?”

“You are a little premature, Agent Burgess,” she said.  “I have not yet taken up the position.”

“Position?  What position?” asked Gibbs.

“I am taking a vacation with Tony and Faith until I go to live at the Santa Maria embassy.”  Somehow, Gibbs didn’t think she was taking up a housekeeping job there.  “I am to be the next Santa Marian ambassador to the United States,” she continued.

“There is a possibility that Her Excellency … I mean, the Ambassador elect, was targeted.  There are factions on the island which would be willing to put pressure on the government by kidnapping a high profile diplomat,” said Burgess.

“And,” sighed Consuela, “There could be a financial motivation as well.  My late husband’s family is … rich.”

“You’re a diplomat?” said Gibbs.  “A diplomat?”

“You’re a diplomat?” said Ducky, “How splendid!  I look forward to hearing about your plans for the job.”

“I don’t think I ever met a diplomat before,” said Fornell as he smiled at Consuela.

Tony gave a low groan as he realised that the ménage à trois might have just expanded.

“Behave, Tony,” admonished Consuela although it looked as if she was hiding a smile.

“So,” said Tom, “It appears that there are potential motives for the snatching of each person.  We can’t rule any of them out.”

“I’ve spoken to the Secret Service,” said Burgess, “They are willing to assist.”

“Jeez,” said Gibbs, “How many more of the alphabet agencies are joining in?”

“As many as necessary, Agent Gibbs,” said Morrow severely.  “I have already spoken to the heads of the other agencies and we agree that it would be best to put you all in protective custody until we get a better handle on the situation.”

“Protective custody?” said Gibbs.  “I can look after myself.”

“Good to know,” said Morrow, “Nevertheless, you will also go into protective custody.  Understood?”

When the Director spoke in that tone of voice everyone obeyed.  Tom coughed as he realised that the next order might attract more comments.  “We agree that it would be best if you are all centred in one place.”

“What?” said Faith.

Morrow opened his mouth to explain but Tony got there first, “It makes sense, Faith.  We won’t let Tilly go on her own.  It will take less manpower to guard all of us in one place then if we all go separately.  Consuela is already living with us – she won’t mind.  And Gibbs is practically one of the family.”

“But if I am the target, I don’t wish to bring trouble on you, Tony,” said Consuela anxiously.

“We don’t know who the target is,” said Tony, “I may be bringing trouble on you.  But it’s probably all Gibbs’ fault.”

“Why me?” asked Gibbs irritably.

“Because I’ve decided it probably is some helpless private you shouted at all those years ago,” said Tony.

Gibbs looked as if he wanted to argue the point but Faith had had enough discussion.  “All right,” she said, “Where are we going to go?  It needs to be soon so we can get the children settled.  Will someone go to our house and pick up what we need?”

Faith’s calm acceptance of the situation seemed to have a soothing effect on the others and they hastened to reassure her.

“Give us a list of what you want, Mrs DiNozzo,” said Agent Burgess, “And I’ll arrange for an agent to go to your house.  Your Excellency … I mean …”

“Mrs Marquez will be sufficient,” said Consuela kindly, “And, yes I will also give you a list of things it would be good to have.”

“Gibbs?” asked Morrow.

“It’s all right.  I’ve got my go-bag under my desk,” said Gibbs grumpily.

“That’s settled then,” said Morrow.  “You’ll go to a Secret Service safe house in Reston, near Lake Fairfax park.  FBI, NCIS, DSS and Secret Service will co-ordinate security.”

“I think, Director,” said Ducky, “That it would be useful if I went along.  In case any medical treatment is needed.”

“Why would we need medical treatment?” asked Gibbs suspiciously.

“Well, of course, it may be an unnecessary precaution,” acknowledged Ducky smoothly, “But you and Consuela did take a nasty tumble from the van.  Who knows how that trauma may manifest itself?”

The Director sensed undercurrents which he didn’t quite understand, “That’s a kind offer, Dr Mallard.  However, I think we’ll manage for the moment.  I think our agents have enough people to guard without adding to the number.”

Ducky nodded a little glumly and Gibbs brightened.

“But I’ll be paying some visits,” said Fornell cheerfully, “To keep you all up to date with our progress.”

The groan was quieter from Tony this time.

NCISNCIS

Tilly had not taken kindly to the news that the family wasn’t going home after all and she fell into a sulk.

“I should leave her,” advised Consuela when she saw Tony and Faith trying to cheer her up.  “I don’t think you’ll persuade her at the moment.”

“I don’t know,” said Faith doubtfully, “She’s not usually like this.”

“She has had a trying day,” said Consuela.  “She reminds me of how Tony was sometimes when he was a child and things got too much for him.  I learned that it was often best just to let him be quiet for a while.”

Faith nodded reluctantly but recognised something of this in the adult Tony who sometimes needed space to come to terms with things.

As the evening in the safe house progressed, Tilly began to open up a little towards Consuela and Faith but seemed still to be bearing a grudge against Tony and Gibbs.

Consuela offered to put her to bed while Faith tended to Jacob.

“What is the matter, Chiquita?” she asked.

“Nothing,” said Tilly.

“Nothing?” repeated Consuela.

“Nothing.”

“Then why have you not spoken to your papa for hours?”

“I … I didn’t have anything to say,” said Tilly after a pause.

“Nothing to say to your papa?  This is most unlike you.”  Tilly remained silent.  “Matilda, are you angry with your papa?”

“Yes, I am,” said Tilly defiantly.

“But why?  You know he loves you.”

“He left me,” said Tilly.

“But he knew you were all right,” said Consuela, “He came to help Uncle Gibbs and me.”

“He loves you more than he loves me?” asked Tilly.

“No, no,” said Consuela, “Of course not.  But he had to help us too.”

“You sure?” asked Tilly.

“Of course I’m sure,” said Consuela, “Your papa loves you very much.  Very much.”

The pain of seeing her father ran past her was beginning to fade a little and Tilly was also finding that she was missing chatting with him so she decided to relent, “I suppose so,” she conceded.

“Would you like your papa to read your bedtime story to you instead of me?” suggested Consuela.

Tilly’s better self was beginning to exert itself and she had been brought up to be polite so she said, “I love you reading to me, Consie.  But p’raps …”

“Perhaps tonight should be a papa night,” said Consuela.

Tilly smiled for the first time in hours.  “I will go get him,” said Consuela.

Tony got there so quickly that it seemed possible he had been waiting outside the door.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he said, as he sat on her bed.  “Are we friends again?”

“Daddy?” said Tilly.

“Yes?”

“Is this what you do?”

“What, sit on your bed?” asked a puzzled Tony.

“No.  When you go to work.”

“I don’t understand,” said Tony.

“You were different today,” said Tilly.

“How was I different?”

“You shot with your gun.”

“Ah.”

“And then you ordered people about.  And you didn’t say please.”

Tony began to understand.  Tony rarely shouted in the house and, in his home life, was generally placid and gentle.  He and Faith tried to set an example of courtesy and good manners.  Tony had always known that Tilly might one day query what he did for a living but he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.  Today his daughter had seen him in full blown cop mode and, unsurprisingly, had found it confusing and possibly disturbing.

“You know I try to catch bad people,” he said cautiously.

“Yes.”

“Well, sometimes they don’t want to be caught.”

“And you have to use your gun?”

“Sometimes.  I don’t want to but yes, sometimes.”  He waited tensely, hoping Tilly wouldn’t ask if sometimes he hit them.

“And sometimes you have to shout at them?”

Tony breathed a sigh of relief.  “Yes, sometimes.”

“And not say please?”

“Sometimes.”

“But you weren’t talking to bad people on the phone, were you?”

“No, I wasn’t.  But when we’re at work people don’t always expect me to say please,” said Tony.  “They understood.  They knew we were in a hurry.”

“It would be nicer to say please, though?”

“Yes, it would.  And I’ll try to remember.  And I’ll do it if there’s time.”

“Promise?”

“Of course.  Now, do you want a story or do you want to go straight to sleep?”  Tony knew the answer but still liked to ask the question.

“A story,” said Tilly, “Of when you were little.  Tell me about Consie.”

This was new but Tony thought he could remember some episodes which would interest Tilly.  “All right,” he said, “So are we friends again?”

“No,” said Tilly.

Tony’s stomach lurched in dismay, “No?”

“No, we’re not friends.  You’re my daddy.”

“I see,” said Tony.  “And do you love your daddy?”

“Yes,” said Tilly.  “But I don’t like you running away from me.”

“I know,” said Tony, “But sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to.”

“Daddy,” said Tilly, “I was frightened.”

“I know, sweetheart.  But you’re safe now.”

“Daddy, I did very good at show and tell.”

“Well,” corrected Tony, “You did very well at show and tell.”

“I know,” said Tilly, “I just told you.”

Tony decided not to embark on a lesson on grammar, “That’s very good.”

“But it made me sad,” said Tilly, “You know, talking about Cherry-P.”

“I know.”

“And then the men grabbed me.”

“Yes.”

“And Uncle Gibbs threw me in a bush.”

“Yes.”

“And you ran past me.”

“Yes.”

“And shot at people.  And shouted.  And didn’t say please.”

Tony felt a wave of sadness at each added woe.

“I know, you’ve been very brave.”

“But I think I know what will make me feel better.”

“You do?” said Tony.

“Yes.”

“What’s that, darling?”

“A puppy!”

Tony often wondered if Tilly was more like him or her mother.  That evening he decided that he felt like a witness in court being trapped by Faith into confessing something he was trying to keep hidden – on that evening he decided Tilly was definitely more like her mother.  He kept his head, remembering that he was a highly skilled federal agent trained to cope with crises, “We’ll think about it,” he said.

Chapter Text

“So,” said Gibbs the next morning as he went into the safe house’s kitchen, “You’re an ambassador!”

Consuela looked up from the pancakes she was making and smiled,

“Bad night?” she asked.

“Like I told Faith,” said Gibbs, “Jakie has good lungs.”

“He is not a good sleeper,” acknowledged Consuela.

“Tilly was the same,” remembered Gibbs, “DiNozzo looked beat for the first two years.  I figured he’d only just got caught up on his sleep when the boy arrived!”

“You get used to it,” said Consuela serenely, “I have learned not to wake up completely when he makes his presence known.”

“I’m hoping we won’t be here long enough for me to get used to it,” said Gibbs.

“Yes, I hope that too,” admitted Consuela.

“So,” said Gibbs returning to his opening question, “A diplomat.  You kept that quiet.”

Consuela poured Gibbs a cup of coffee, “I would have answered a direct question,” she said, “The subject never came up.  I think you assumed that I was taking up another housekeeping job.”

Gibbs frowned at the thought that he might have broken one of his own rules, “But you didn’t contradict Kate when she asked if that’s what your new job was going to be,” he pointed out.

“No, that is true.  I suppose I am guilty of a little subterfuge.”

“But why?  And it wasn’t just me you didn’t tell.  From Ducky’s reaction yesterday, he didn’t know either.”

“I’m not sure why I didn’t tell you.  Although I assure you I would have told you if you had asked me a direct question.  I think I just wanted the period before I take up office to be a real vacation.  You saw how Agent Burgess reacted yesterday – all deference …”

“You don’t need to worry, Con,” said Gibbs, “I’m not known for my deference.”

“Indeed not, Jethro,” smiled Consuela, “It is one of the things I like about you.  Being a diplomat, becoming Ambassador is a very formal role, having to watch every word, always being interested in other people … I enjoy it but it is good to have a respite sometimes.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” said Gibbs.  “How did you end up being a diplomat anyway?”

“Mostly accident,” said Consuela.  “My husband was in the Santa Marian diplomatic service.  And I went with him on his postings.  When he died the government asked me to take over.  You have to know that our country’s population is small – there are not many people with the necessary skills.”

“Of course,” said Tony’s voice from the door, “The PhD in politics didn’t hurt.   Morning, people!”  He came in carrying a wriggling Jacob in his arms.  “Hope you don’t mind me bringing last night’s villain of the peace with me?”

“Of course not,” said Consuela turning from the stove to kiss Tony and Jacob.  “I think he must be a morning person … he certainly doesn’t appreciate the night time.”

Tony put Jacob in the high chair where he began to bang enthusiastically on its tray.

“Here,” said Consuela, “Give him a pancake.”

Gibbs moved strategically to the opposite end of the table where he hoped he’d be out of throwing range.  Tony noticed, “He’s got a good arm, Gibbs.  You’d be better off to one side.  He tends to throw straight ahead of him.”

Gibbs nodded his appreciation of the advice and shifted position.

“Should I be calling you Dr Marquez?” queried Gibbs as he remembered what Tony had said.

Consuela seemed to consider this, “If you wish to,” she said, “If you feel uneasy about not following protocol.”

Tony choked.

“Well,” said Gibbs thoughtfully, “That is the sort of thing that keeps me awake nights.”

Tony choked again and began to cut Jacob’s pancake up.

“Where did you get your doctorate from?” asked Gibbs.

“Why?  Are you looking for a recommendation?  So you can do one yourself?” replied Consuela.

Tony decided, for his own sanity, to intervene.  “Consuela came to work for my mom and dad when she was a student at Columbia doing a masters in philosophy.  She was only meant to stay a year but then my mom died and she stayed on another three years until they sent me off to boarding school.”

Consuela said something in Spanish and, after giving Tony some more pancakes, grasped his shoulder gently.  Tony briefly laid his hand on hers and smiled up at her.

“Someone had to look after him,” said Consuela briskly, “He was a terrible child.”

“Thought diplomats were supposed to be truthful,” said Gibbs suspecting that the gentle words in Spanish had been truer than those spoken in English.

“Sometimes,” shrugged Consuela.

“And in those three years she got her PhD,” said Tony.  “She put her life on hold for me.”

“You have just said that I got my PhD in those years,” said Consuela, “It suited me fine.”

“You deferred your entry into the Escuela Diplomática,” said Tony.  “It could have damaged your career.”

“But it didn’t,” retorted Consuela, “The Diplomatic School in Spain allowed me in.  And besides, life skills are sometimes more important than academic achievement.”

“It wasn’t accidental then,” said Gibbs, “You always intended being a diplomat?”

“I feel like one of your suspects,” joked Consuela, “Yes, I always wanted to be a diplomat.  Assuming that I couldn’t make it as an actress!”

“But you’re Spanish, aren’t you?” asked Gibbs.

“I was born Spanish, yes.  My husband was working for a Santa Marian mission in Jamaica where I had my first posting.  When we married I acquired joint Spanish/Santa Marian citizenship but when I was asked to join the Santa Maria diplomatic service I decided I should renounce my Spanish citizenship.”

“Any objections to that?” asked Gibbs.

“To my renouncing my citizenship?” asked Consuela in surprise.

“To you being a diplomat,” said Gibbs.  “Sometimes people still don’t approve of women in positions of power.”

“I don’t believe so,” said Consuela, “In many ways Santa Maria is an open and tolerant society, respectful of difference.  In fact, it is something of a matriarchal society – powerful women are not unusual.  Why?”

“I think Gibbs is putting his agent hat on,” said Tony perceptively, “Wondering if there are people who resent you being made Ambassador and trying to stop it.”

“Oh,” said Consuela.  “I see.  But no, Agent Gibbs, I don’t believe that would be the motivation.  The factions Agent Burgess referred to yesterday are more concerned about environmental issues, about the effects of tourism on our ecosystem – I do not think I am a figure of hate.  Does that answer your question?”

“I guess … ugh!”  Gibbs’ words were cut off as Jacob defied expectations and managed to throw his food in a curve and hit Gibbs full in the face with a piece of soggy pancake.

“Good shot!” said Tony delighted at his son’s exploit.  “You’re going to be a great ballplayer.  Did you see the spin he got on that?”  Consuela coughed and nodded towards Gibbs.  “Oh.  Oh, sorry, Jethro.  Of course that was naughty, Jake,” he added firmly as he took the spoon out of Jacob’s sticky hand.  Jacob beamed up at his father, somehow sensing that he wasn’t in trouble.

Gibbs wiped his face philosophically and chose another position where he thought it would be safe to sit.  “And you said that your husband’s family are wealthy?” he continued in agent mode.

“Damarae’s family owned many sugar plantations.  And they then moved into tourism.  They run several luxury hotels.  Damarae was the youngest in his family: his two brothers run the business,” said Consuela.

“So ransom could be a motive?” said Gibbs.

“I suppose so,” said Consuela.

“Seems odd though,” said Tony who was taking the precaution of feeding Jacob to prevent further missile attacks on Gibbs.

“Why?” asked Gibbs.

“Why wait until Consuela comes to the US?  Be simpler to have done it while she was on Santa Maria, wouldn’t it?  And there might have been a more vulnerable member of the family to target,” he replied.

“Are criminals always logical?” asked Consuela.

“Nope,” agreed Tony.  “And it’s probably just as well they’re not otherwise we’d never catch any. Oh, OK, you do it yourself then.  But no more throwing!”  This last was addressed to Jacob who was beginning to get restive about being fed.

“Is that pancakes I smell?” asked Faith as she joined them.  “Consuela, you don’t have to feed us, you know.”

“It is my pleasure,” said Consuela.  “When I move into the Embassy I will have to allow the chef to do all the cooking.  Let me do this while I can.”

Faith nodded and sat down next to Tony.  “Jacob’s doing well, isn’t he?” she said proudly as she watched her son feed himself.

“Yep,” said Tony with equal pride, “You should have seen him throw a pancake at Gibbs!  The spin he got was amazing.”

Faith sighed a longsuffering sigh at her sports mad husband’s quirks but said nothing.

“Where’s Tilly?” asked Gibbs.

“She didn’t want to get up,” said Faith.  “Considering how badly she slept when she was her brother’s age she certainly good at sleeping now!”

“Alas,” said Consuela, “As babies they don’t sleep.  When they become teenagers it’s all they want to do!”

Faith decided to take advantage of Tilly’s absence, “I’ve been thinking about my clients.  I really don’t think I’ve got anything at the moment which cause anyone to need to put pressure on me.”

“As we were just saying,” said Tony, “The criminal class aren’t always noted for being sensible.”

“I still think it’s more likely to be NCIS related,” said Faith, “Or about Consuela.”

“If it is NCIS,” said Gibbs, “Then it may be an old JAG case.”

“Do people really go for revenge?” said Faith doubtfully.

“I know that you’d just sue them,” said Tony, “But unfortunately …”

“The criminal class aren’t always noted for being sensible,” finished Faith.

“Kate and Tim will be over later,” said Tony, “We’d best let them do the research.”

“And that nice Agent Fornell will be coming too,” said Consuela brightly.

Gibbs’ reply to that was cut off by another faceful of pancake as Jacob got bored of eating and resorted to throwing straight again.  Tony forbore to praise the shot this time and simply scooped his son out of his chair and hurried him to the bathroom to clean up.

NCISNCIS

Three days passed.  NCIS, FBI, DSS and Secret Service agents looked through the JAG and NCIS records but could find no obvious candidates for people who wanted revenge on Tony, Faith or Gibbs.  They looked at Faith’s client base and could find no suspects there either.

“It must be Connie,” said Agent Fornell.

Consuela smiled graciously at him while Gibbs frowned at the nickname.  Tony settled for rolling his eyes while Faith kept a straight face.

“Did you see anyone following you to Tilly’s school?” asked Tony.

Gibbs looked offended at the idea that he wouldn’t have noticed a tail.  “You saw the size of the van,” he said, “You really think I wouldn’t have spotted it?”

“True,” said Fornell, “Although, if you weren’t wearing your glasses …”

“Perhaps they were following in a smaller vehicle,” said Faith tactfully, “And called in the bigger van when they spotted an opportunity.”

“Was it a regular thing?” asked Fornell, “Connie and Gibbs going to fetch Tilly?”

“Not exactly regular,” said Consuela, “It was the second or third time.”

Fornell looked pleased at the thought that it wasn’t routine for Consuela and Gibbs to be together.

“We usually go someplace else,” said Gibbs smugly.

“Odd that they thought their best opportunity to snatch Consuela was when she had someone with her,” said Tony.

“If they’d tailed Connie and Jethro in the van and hadn’t been spotted,” said Fornell, “Then they might have thought he wouldn’t be a threat.”

A shout of disapproval from the yard gave Tony an excuse to go see what was going on.  Jacob was supposed to be in an old fashioned outdoor play yard while Tilly watched over him.

“What’s the matter?  Hey, come back, McQueen!” said Tony.  Jacob had escaped and was joyfully, and surprisingly rapidly, crawling along the path.  He enjoyed walking but when speed was important he resorted to crawling.  Tony scampered down the path after him and brought him back to his play yard.  He was grateful that the garden was well-fenced and secure so that the children could play outside.

“He’s not McQueen, Daddy,” said Tilly, “He’s Jacob!”

“I know, sweetheart,” said Tony as he put Jacob back in his enclosure, “Steve McQueen was a famous actor.  Starred in a movie called The Great Escape.  I think your brother takes after him.”

“Oh,” said Tilly as she digested this, “It might be my fault.”

“How so?”

“I forgot to put the latch on the gate,” admitted Tilly.

“Don’t worry.  You were here to spot him go,” said Tony, “And you shouted for me.”

“But I forgot yesterday as well,” said Tilly.  “If we don’t lock him in, he’s bound to keep getting out.”

“Hmm,” said Tony.  “Tilly, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Yes, Daddy?”

“Your teacher …”

“Ms Garnett?”

“That’s the one.”

“Did you know her first name is Melody?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I think Melody’s a lovely name.  I wish I was called Melody.”

“Do you?” asked Tony.  “I like Matilda.  And you can shorten it to Tilly.”

“I suppose,” said Tilly.

“Or Mattie if you like,” offered Tony.

“No,” said Tilly firmly.  “Why didn’t you call me Melody?”

“We liked Matilda,” said Tony.  “And Mommy’s best friend at school was called Matilda.”

“Her best friend?” asked Tilly.

“Her very best,” affirmed Tony.

“Oh, that’s nice,” said Tilly.

“And some people get called by their middle name,” said Tony encouragingly.

“Lisbeth?” asked Tilly.

“That’s right.  And you shorten it … you could be Beth, or Lizzie or Lis.”

“Well,” said Tilly, “Perhaps I’ll do that.  Or maybe I’ll stay as Matilda.  It might be hard for people to remember that I’m really Melody.”

“That’s right,” said Tony gravely.  “Oops, come back Houdini,” he cried as Jacob made his escape once more.

“Daddy, you said he was McQueen before.  Now he’s Huddino?  I’m confused,” said Tilly.

Tony popped Jacob back into the play yard, “Sorry, sweetheart.  Houdini was famous for being able to escape.  Your brother looks as if he’s going to follow in his footsteps.”

“Daddy?” asked Tilly.

“Yes?”

“Why do you always call Jakie my brother when he’s done something naughty?  You don’t call him my brother when he’s being good.”

“I hadn’t realised,” said Tony.

“I don’t mind Jakie being my brother,” said Tilly.

“Good,” said Tony.

“But he’s not naughty because of me.”

“Of course not,” agreed Tony.

“Or not all the time,” added the honest Tilly.

“I’ll try to remember,” promised Tony.  “Now, you remember I said I wanted to ask you something?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“On the day when … well, you know, the people tried to put you in the van.”

“When Uncle Gibbs threw me in the bush and you ran past?” asked Tilly.

“Yes,” sighed Tony as he realised that the wound hadn’t completely healed.

“I remember,” said Tilly.

“Ms Garnett was talking to me,” said Tony, “About the Show and Tell.”

“It was good,” said Tilly.

“Yes, Ms Garnett said it was good.  She said you were very enthusiastic.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” said Tilly.

“Well, yes, it is,” said Tony.  “But she thought you might have gone into too much detail.”

“I only told them about the coffin Uncle Gibbs made,” said Tilly, “And my black shawl.  And the profession …”

“Procession,” corrected Tony.

“Procession.  I didn’t tell them about how Cherry-pie died.  Or how she went stiff and then soft.”

“Good,” said Tony, “That’s good.”

“I might have done,” said Tilly fairly, “But it made me sad.  And I cried.”

“And that made everyone cry,” said Tony.

“Lilly and Milly cried,” said Tilly.

Tony sighed as he reflected on how unlikely it had been that Tilly’s best friends at school had names which rhymed with hers.

“But they cried because they knew her,” said Tilly.  “I think I heard Derby and Ferdie laughing.  But they’re boys, they would!”

“OK,” said Tony, “Well, Ms Garnett suggested that you might need to be a little less … enthusiastic in future.”

Tilly turned sad eyes on her father and he suspected his daughter had just discovered the clay feet of another idol.  “I’m glad you didn’t call me Melody,” she announced.  “I think it’s a stupid name!”

Tony tried to take comfort in the fact that Tilly wasn’t going to change her name soon and then yelped as he realised that, yet again, he had forgotten to latch the play yard shut.

NCISNCIS

“We still haven’t found any clues about the identity of the kidnappers,” announced Tom Morrow later that afternoon when he visited the safe house with Tim and Kate.

“We can’t find anyone who did the work to armour the van,” said Kate.  “We figure they must have done the work themselves.”

“And bought the material somewhere else,” said McGee.

“Traffic cams didn’t help,” said Kate, “We picked them up coming through the busy parts of the city but nowhere else.”

“Were they tailing Gibbs’ car?” asked Tony.

“Oh,” said McGee, “I don’t think so.  We can check back.”

“Do that,” said Tony. 

“It might show whether they were after Con,” said Gibbs.

“We haven’t been able to find out where the van was stored,” said Kate.  “It was stolen months ago and the adaptations done since then.”

“Consuela wasn’t formally announced as the new Ambassador until a month ago.  Why would they have got the van that long ago?” asked Tony.

“Did anyone know?” asked Gibbs.

“Possibly,” said Tony, “There probably weren’t that many candidates.”

“Abby’s still working on the security camera footage from the school,” said Kate, “But the men were wearing stocking masks and she can’t get a picture.  All we’ve got is their general height and weight from your descriptions.”

“Keep working on it,” ordered Tom.

“Yes, Sir,” said Kate and Tim.

“How long do we have to stay here?” asked Gibbs.  “There don’t seem to have been any more attempts.  Surveillance on my house and the DiNozzos’ hasn’t shown anyone hanging around.”

“They may have given up,” said Tony.  “It was an opportunistic attempt which failed.”

“Not so opportunistic if they made themselves an armoured truck,” observed McGee.

“Agent McGee is right,” said Tom.  “I’d be happier if you all stay put a little while longer.”

Tony and Gibbs sighed but knew they couldn’t put Consuela or Tony’s family at risk.

“JAG was asking about the Haskell case,” said Kate as they stood to leave.

“What about it?” asked Tony.

“Should they ask for a postponement?” said McGee.

“I guess so,” said Tony.  The Haskell case was a case which he, Stan Burley and Gibbs had worked while Tim was agent afloat and Kate on vacation some six months before.  Staff Sergeant Kent Haskell had been discovered to be helping smugglers bring in contraband through Norfolk; he had stubbornly refused to name the smugglers even though, as a first offender, he stood a good chance of making a good plea bargain.

“Has to be me or DiNozzo testifying,” said Gibbs.

“Remind me of the details,” said Morrow.

McGee opened up his laptop and soon brought up the case file.

“Damn!” said Tony as pieces suddenly fell into place.

“DiNozzo?” asked Tom as he recognised the look of dawning understanding on his agent’s face.

“Wait a minute,” said Tony.  He went to the door and called for Faith.  When she came in, Tony pointed to the pictures of Kent Haskell showing on Tim’s laptop.  “Does he look familiar?” he asked.

Faith stared, “No, I don’t think I’ve seen him before.  Who is he?”

“You haven’t seen him,” said Tony, “But does he remind you of anyone?”

Faith looked again, “I don’t know.  Something about the eyes, perhaps?”

“DiNozzo!” said Tom again, “What’s going on?”

“McGee,” said Tony, “Do a family search on Kent Haskell.  Look for a sister.”

“DiNozzo?” asked Gibbs.

“Wait a moment,” said Tony.  “Well?” he asked when McGee looked up from his keyboard.

“Two sisters,” said McGee, “Sienna and …”

“Melody,” said Tony.

“That’s right,” said McGee, “Married to Huw Garnett.”

“Garnett?” said Faith, “That’s Tilly’s teacher.”

“Tony, explain,” said Morrow.

“I thought it was strange that Haskell wouldn’t take the plea,” said Tony.  “He looked the type who would.”

“So?” asked Kate.

“And as Tilly pointed out this morning, if you want someone to stay put you lock the door.”

“What’s your point?” asked Gibbs.

“The kidnappers didn’t lock the door.  Which I could understand the first time but after you’d got Tilly out and they shut the door again … well, if it was me I’d have made sure the door was locked.  Why go to the trouble of armouring your van and forgetting something like central locking?”

“You saying they wanted us to get away?” said Gibbs incredulously.

“Sure.  It makes sense.  Armour plate the van and fit run flat tyres so bullets wouldn’t stop them.  Kidnappers backed off pretty easily when we confronted them,” said Tony.

“But why?” asked McGee.

“Look what happened.  Gibbs and I have been hidden away for days and the Haskell case is about to be postponed.”

“But why do you think it’s the Haskell case?” asked Kate.

“Because of Tilly’s teacher,” said Gibbs.

“She pulled me back,” said Tony.  “Told me that Tilly had been too dramatic at Show and Tell.”  He saw the doubt on his co-workers’ faces and realised that they were all thinking that it wasn’t impossible that Tilly had gone over the top.  “Ms Garnett told me that Tilly had made the whole class cry.  When I spoke to Tilly, she said that only Lilly and Milly had cried.”

“Lilly and Milly?” asked Kate.

Tony waved a hand, “That’s not important.”

“Tilly might have been mistaken,” suggested Tim.

“She said that Derby and Ferdie laughed,” said Tony.  “That doesn’t sound like the whole class crying.”

“You think Ms Garnett kept you back?” asked Gibbs.

“Yes.  Why else would she tell me about Tilly’s class?  She must have thought that you and me together might be too much for the kidnappers.”

“But why go to all this trouble to get a postponement?” asked Tom.

“What if Haskell’s employers have promised to get him off?” suggested Gibbs as he thought things through.  “Or told Melody Garnett that they’ll get him off … spring him out of jail and get him somewhere safe.  That could explain why he refused to turn the smugglers in … he knew he had a way out if he could just hold on until they were ready.  Maybe he’s only just suggested it to them and Melody has been the go-between.”

“She’s only been at the school a couple of weeks,” said Faith.

“We thought Haskell was involved in something low-level,” said Tony.  “This suggests it’s something much bigger.  Something where the kidnappers could afford an armoured van.  They might have already had it in waiting.”

“OK,” said Tom decisively, “That makes sense to me.  When’s the case due to be heard?”

“Tomorrow,” said Tim.

“I’ll ask JAG to request a postponement,” said Tom.

“And?” asked Gibbs.

“We’ll keep a close eye on Kent Haskell.  Perhaps let him get away and see where it leads us.”

“So Tilly was the target?” asked Faith.

“And Gibbs.  Perhaps Melody phoned when Jethro showed up with Consuela.  Otherwise it might have been me and Tilly.  Or you and Tilly.  Let’s face it, whoever was taken would probably have resulted in the DiNozzos being in a safe house and the rest of the team racing around trying to solve the case.  Or they might have made a separate attempt on Gibbs.”

“And the attempt was designed to fail?” asked Faith.

“I think so,” said Tony, “Why go to all the risk of an actual kidnapping when they got the same effect by pretending to snatch people?  Consuela was an added bonus: she added a whole new element to us trying to work out the motives.”

“Good work,” praised the Director.  “I’ll let our sister agencies know the plan.  If it all works, you should be able to leave the safe house very soon.”

“Great,” said Tony.  “Oh, one thing, Director.”

“Yes?” asked Tom turning at the door.

“I don’t want to be the one to arrest Melody Garnett.  I don’t think the school would approve.”

“Or Tilly,” said Faith.

“Tilly won’t mind,” said Tony confidently.  “She’s gone off Ms Garnett.”

NCISNCIS

Two days later the safe house was empty.  Gibbs was back in his house while the DiNozzos and Consuela were also back home.

“At least Houdini McQueen can’t get out of this play yard,” said Tony with satisfaction as he watched Jacob playing with his green and blue striped cat in his state of the art play yard.

“Houdini McQueen?” queried Faith.

“Long story,” said Tony.  “Well, longish.  Suffice it to say that our children helped solve the latest mystery.”

“And the Director’s plan worked?” asked Faith.

“Like a charm.  Haskell ‘escaped’.  NCIS had planted a tracking device on him and he led them to his employers.  They’re all singing like canaries and NCIS has busted one of the biggest smuggling rings on the East Coast.  Tobias is green with envy.  And I was right.”

“Of course you were,” said Faith absently, “About what?”

“I looked back at Haskell’s service record.”

“And?”

“He and Gibbs were stationed at Camp Pendleton at the same time.  Gibbs didn’t know but he spotted some irregularity on a marksman’s course, turns out it was Haskell.  He reported it to the Colonel who put Haskell on report.”

“And this makes you right, how?”

“I said it would be all Gibbs’ fault.  Some poor private he’d put on report out for revenge.”

“But he wasn’t out for revenge,” said Faith.

“Hey,” said Tony, “Let me have my moment, would you?”

“Of course, darling,” said Faith.  “It’s good to be back to normal, isn’t it?”

“Apart from Gibbs, Fornell and Ducky all haunting the house and nearly coming to blows over Consuela?”

“Apart from that,” agreed Faith.

“And I’ve got to help Gibbs work out the dynamics of the team now that I’m coming off it for good,” said Tony.

“Dynamics?” asked Faith.

“Not a Gibbs’ word, I agree.  But it’s a tricky one.  Who becomes Senior Field Agent?  Tim or Kate?  Or do we bring in someone new?  Chris Pacci called today, he had a suggestion.”

“For Senior Field Agent?”

“No.  If we appoint Tim or Kate, the team will need a new member.  He’s got someone in mind.  Young woman called Paula Cassidy is just finishing her training.  Sounds interesting,” said Tony.

Chapter Text

“Hi, Jethro,” said Faith as she paused at the gate to her front yard.

“Faith,” returned Gibbs.

“Don’t tell Tilly,” smiled Faith, “But Jacob and I have just been to feed the ducks.”

“I won’t,” promised Gibbs.

“Are you coming or going?” asked Faith.

“Coming.”

“Is it Tony or Consuela you want?”

“Con,” said Gibbs. 

“OK,” said Faith.  “I left her and Tony a while ago.  Let’s see if she’s still here.”

Gibbs’ face darkened at the possibility that Consuela had been snatched away by Ducky or Fornell but he didn’t say anything.  As Faith opened the front door and they stepped into the hallway Gibbs was startled to hear shouting coming from the kitchen.  He instinctively put his hand to his gun ready to go and confront the trouble but Faith shook her head.  Gibbs continued to look puzzled but then realised that the impassioned shouting was in Spanish and seemed to be a lively disagreement between Tony and Consuela.  Relaxing slightly, he looked at Faith,

“They’re making a La Mancha Shepherd's Stew.  Tony remembers Consuela making it for him as a child but they can’t agree on what should go into it.  I decided to take Jacob out for a walk when they got started on how many cloves of garlic to put in.  When the Spanish started, I definitely knew it was time to walk away.”

Gibbs stared as he tried to absorb the notion of the seemingly placid Tony and Consuela being so quarrelsome.  He stared harder when a loud thump sounded from the kitchen.

Faith was untroubled, “Consuela likes to wield a cleaver to cut the meat!”

“I see,” said Gibbs wondering if this tendency to violence endeared Consuela to him even more.

“Although,” said Faith thoughtfully, “If Tilly finds out that one of the main ingredients in the stew is rabbit … well, we watched Bambi yesterday and she took a shine to Thumper.  We’re home,” she called out.

Tony and Consuela emerged from the kitchen with slightly red faces but apparently undisturbed by the noise they’d been making.

“Gibbs,” said Tony, “Did we get a case?”

“No,” said Gibbs gruffly, “I had the afternoon off.  Remember?”

“Oh yeah.  The dentist.  How’d it go?”

“It went,” said Gibbs as he touched a sore spot with his tongue. Not for the first time he had doubts about the wisdom of visiting a dentist recommended by Deputy Director Craig.

“I have the perfect thing for post-dentist trauma,” announced Consuela who was her normal tranquil self.  “Would you like some?”

It was unusual for Gibbs to drink anything other than coffee or bourbon but he agreed to this suggestion and followed Consuela into the kitchen.  Tony winked at Faith but said nothing.

“There’s a new restaurant opened near me,” he heard Gibbs saying, “Wondered if you’d like to try it sometime?  With me?”

“Has anyone else been by today?”  Tony whispered to Faith.

“No.  Although some flowers were delivered this morning,” she replied.  “And a haggis.”

“Good thing I supervised the stew,” said Tony, “She might have slipped chopped up haggis into it.  From Ducky, I presume?”

“Who else?” said Faith.

Tony looked at the closed kitchen door.  “Do you think this is what it will be like when Tilly starts dating?  You know, us not being sure if we should go into rooms where they’ve shut themselves away?”

Faith punched him on the arm.  “Behave!”

Tony put his hand to his heart in mock dismay but went to the door and shouted, “Don’t forget, Gibbs.  We’re meeting Paula Cassidy tomorrow!”

The mumble he got in reply could have meant almost anything.

NCISNCIS

Deputy Director Jerome Craig was recovering from an operation on his knee following an incident when he went extreme skiing in Vermont: this meant that he was desk bound in the Navy Yard for a few weeks.  He had spent some time reviewing staffing levels and decided, among other things, that Abby needed an assistant and that he and Tony would share a personal assistant if Tony finally made the jump to Assistant Director.

Tony and Gibbs had heard the news about Abby’s assistant with some concern.  Abby regarded her lab as something like holy ground and guarded it fiercely so it was some trepidation that they paid their first visit to the lab.

“Hey guys,” said Abby cheerfully when they walked in.

“Abs?” said Tony cautiously.

“Tony?” said Abby innocently.

“You OK?” asked Tony.

“Yes.  Are you?”

“I’m fine,” said Tony, “I’m surprised you are.”

“Why?” asked Abby.

“The lab assistant doll you were sticking pins in yesterday,” said Gibbs.

“Oh, yeah,” said Abby.  “Well, I may have been wrong about that.  Lottie is so cool!”

“Lottie?” asked Tony.

“Yes?” said someone emerging from Abby’s inner office.  “Can I help you?”

Gibbs and Tony stared at the newcomer.

“You’re Abby’s new assistant?” asked Tony.

“Yes.  I’m a big admirer of Dr Scuito,” said Lottie earnestly.

“Oh, please,” said Abby modestly, “I told you, call me Abby.”

“I’ve read all the articles Dr … Abby has published.  The Forensic Magazine, the Journal of Forensic Sciences and, of course, The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology.”

“Some pretty snappy titles there, Dr Scuito,” said Tony.

“Isn’t she great,” said Abby.  “I think Lottie’s going to fit right in.  I mean, look at her!”  Tony and Gibbs gazed at the black haired, pale skinned woman who had colourful tattoos showing beneath her lab coat and who was wearing pink Doc Martens boots.

“Yes,” said Tony who was feeling a little stunned.  “Welcome to NCIS, Lottie.  I’m Tony DiNozzo.”

The new assistant shook his hand, “Pleased to meet you.  But I prefer being called Charlotte, not Lottie.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” said Tony.

“Gibbs,” said Gibbs as he also shook hands.

“Charlotte Sterling,” she replied.

Gibbs and Tony left shortly afterwards.  “Got to hand it to Jerome,” said Tony, “He came up trumps there.”

NCISNCIS

Tony was less sure about Deputy Director Craig’s choice of personal assistant.  Devon Bland seemed to live up to his surname being of medium height and medium build with brown eyes and light brown hair.  He was softly spoken and deferential and was, no doubt, very efficient.  Tony had excellent observational skills but he wasn’t sure he’d have noticed Devon in a crowd and if he committed a crime it was unlikely that he’d be memorable enough to be picked out in a line-up.

“Good to meet you,” Tony said politely.

“I’m looking forward to working with you,” said Devon.  “Just let me know if there’s anything you need.  I’ve noticed that my route to work will take me past some health food cafés and I’ll be happy to bring you in some organic juice and high bran muffins for your breakfast.”

“Thank you,” said Tony wondering if Devon had spotted something amiss with his digestive system and was already working to heal it.  “I usually have a healthy breakfast at home.  But thanks for the offer.”  He crossed his fingers hoping that pancakes were healthy.  “And I find fruit juice to be too acidic,” he added virtuously.

“Oh, I know what you mean,” said Devon softly, “I’ve got just the thing.  I’ll make you one of my special wheatgrass and oat milk smoothies.  That’ll be perfect for you.”

Tony began to reconsider Devon.  Tony was renowned through NCIS for managing to rein in Gibbs but he suspected he had met his match with the gentle Devon and, if he wasn’t careful, he would soon be turning into a fruitarian who would never again be able to sample the delights of Consuela’s shepherd stew.  “That’s great,” he said insincerely, “We’ll see, shall we?”

“Of course,” said Devon gently but with a measuring look in his eye that made Tony uneasy.  Craig came in at that moment and Devon quietly removed himself from the room.

“Isn’t he great?” gushed Craig.

“I guess,” said Tony less effusively. “Er, he seems to have strong views on diet.”

“Yes.  He frowns when he sees me drinking coffee,” said Craig cheerfully.

“But you still drink it?” asked Tony.  Craig seemed to like extremes – extreme skiing and extreme coffees.

“Of course,” said Craig.

Tony left the office feeling that his world was rocking.  Abby liked her new assistant.  Easy going Deputy Director Craig was unfazed by a personal assistant who was already well on the way to cowing Tony into submission.  Tony hoped that Paula Cassidy would be less challenging.

NCISNCIS

“Hey, Boss,” said Tony when he went down to the squad room and found Chris Pacci there.  Pacci had been Tony’s first boss when he joined NCIS and Tony stubbornly clung to the title even though Pacci had been an instructor at FLETC for some years now.

“Tony,” said Pacci mildly.  He had given up trying to correct his former junior agent.

“What you doing here, Chris?” asked Gibbs from his desk.  “Looking for a job?”

“Don’t tempt me,” said Chris, “No, I came with Paula,”

“She can’t find her own way here?” said Gibbs.  “NCIS agents don’t get lost.”

“Well, they do,” said Tony, “But it’s not part of their training.”

“I wanted to come and check on some of the baby agents who finished with me a few months ago,” said Chris.  “Paula asked if she could hitch a ride.  Don’t worry, she aced her driving skills and navigation courses.”

“Where is she?” asked Gibbs.

“In the bathroom,” said Pacci.  “Oh, here she comes.  Paula, this is Agent Gibbs and Agent DiNozzo.”

“Agent DiNozzo,” said Paula as she held out her hand to Gibbs.

“I’m Agent DiNozzo,” said Tony.

“I’m Gibbs,” said Gibbs favouring her with a nod.

“Oh,” said Paula frowning as she realised that her first attempt at impressing had fallen flat.  “I thought that … I assumed …” she ground to a halt.

Gibbs huffed his annoyance while Tony smiled easily.  “Don’t sweat it.  I’m used to it.  People see the grizzled impressive personality that is Leroy Jethro Gibbs and assume he must be team lead.”

“No.  Well, yes.  But I wouldn’t say …” began Paula.

“Save it,” said Gibbs briskly.

“My advice,” said Tony amiably, “Stop digging.  I know you don’t want to admit either that you thought Gibbs was old or that I look too soft to be in charge.”

“But …” began Paula before falling silent again.  She wasn’t sure which of the two senior agents was the more dangerous and she decided to stop trying to find out.

“I’ve booked a conference room,” said Tony, “Shall we go?”  He smiled the smile that Paula was beginning to distrust.  Gibbs gave a brief bark of laughter as he saw Tony tie Paula in knots.

“So,” said Tony, when they were seated at the conference table, “I’ve looked at your file.  You’ve done well at FLETC.  Why do you want to work for the MCRT?”

Paula was suddenly grateful for her bad beginning which was preventing her from being overconfident now.  She had a feeling that Tony and Gibbs would appreciate honesty more than bravado.

“It seems to be a good place to work, to get experience,” she said.  “The MCRT has a great reputation.”

“You’re ambitious?” said Gibbs.

“Yes,” said Paula, “But I don’t think that’s a bad thing.  I think ambition makes me strive to do better … to deserve to get on.”

“You’re a Georgetown graduate,” said Tony.  “What was your major?”

Paula knew that Tony must know if he had read the file, “Philosophy.  With a minor in music.”

“Philosophy?” asked Gibbs, “You plan on holding discussions with our suspects?”

Paula held on to her temper, “It’s not what I plan, no.  But who knows?  It trained me to argue well, to reason, to see the holes in arguments … I think it could be useful.”

Tony smiled a more pleasant smile this time.  “I’m guessing you didn’t plan to go into law enforcement?”

“No.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do.  Thought about teaching.  But then NCIS caught Kyle Boone … you remember him?  Serial killer preying on young women in the DC area.  My group of friends were scared to go out nights because of him and I realised what a difference it made when he was caught.  Made me realise the importance of law enforcement – how it could make a difference.  I decided I wanted to make a difference too and NCIS seemed the natural choice.”

Gibbs and Tony exchanged a look of approval.

“OK,” said Tony.  “Now, here’s the thing.  We might have some changes to the team structure coming up.  If we do, there’ll be a space on the team.  We’ll consider you for that space.”

“Reporting to you?” asked Paula.

“Possibly.  Possibly not,” said Tony.  “If not to me, then to Agent Gibbs.”

“I see,” said Paula.

“Is that a problem, Cassidy?” asked Gibbs.

“To be honest, both of you terrify me,” said Paula honestly.

“Good answer,” said Gibbs.

“You want to be considered for the spot?” asked Tony.  “After finding out that we terrify you?”

“Yes, Sir.  I do,” said Paula.

“OK.  Here’s what I suggest.  Agents straight out of FLETC often do some orientation time at the Navy Yard before they get their first posting.  Makes sense, some of them will get posted to distant field offices and never get to know the mother ship.  How about I speak to HR and get you assigned to the MCRT for your orientation time?  That way we get to know one another before making a final decision.  How does that sound?”

“Good, Sir,” said Paula.

“I’ll get on to it,” said Tony.  He stood up to indicate the interview was at an end.  “Thank you for coming, Paula.  We’ll see you in a few days.”  Tony watched Paula leave.  “What do you think?” he asked Gibbs.

Gibbs sighed, “Makes me feel old.”

Tony laughed a little unsympathetically.

“Don’t suppose we could just stay the same?” asked Gibbs with a hint of a whine.  “Seems we just get agents house trained and they want to leave.”

“You think you’ve got me house trained?” asked Tony quizzically.

“Nowhere near,” deadpanned Gibbs.  “I thought you were decided.”

“On what?”

“On taking the Assistant Director job full-time,” said Gibbs.

“I am.  I guess … but I’ll miss the day to day team stuff,” said Tony.

“You think Cassidy would be a good fit for the team?” asked Gibbs.

“What do you think?”

“I think it’ll be interesting to see how Kate and Paula get on,” said Gibbs drily.

“They’ll either hate one another or bond and make McGee’s life a misery,” said Tony.  “Paula’s a lot like Kate was when she started.”

“I guess,” said Gibbs.  “Wonder how Tim will fit her into the books.”

“Who do you favour?  For senior field agent?” asked Tony.

Gibbs shrugged.  “McGee’s got seniority.”

“That simple?” said Tony in surprise.  “You think Tim could stand up to Kate?”

Gibbs shrugged again and Tony realised that he probably didn’t think his senior field agent would need to do much supervising of the team: Gibbs would do it all effortlessly and without thinking about it.

“You do know that the senior field agent is meant to do be the team lead’s second?  You know, take responsibility when the lead’s not there?”

“Sure,” said Gibbs.

“Your senior agent would have … well, seniority,” continued Tony, “Not just be one of the team.”

“My team, I’d run it my way,” said Gibbs.

Tony sighed.  “And you’d need to train your new Probie,” he said.

“They can learn by observation,” said Gibbs.  “That’s how I learned with Mike Franks.”

Tony suppressed the thought that Gibbs didn’t seem to have picked up anything about team dynamics by observing him but decided that perhaps Gibbs was trying to wind his boss up and would temper his behaviour.  “Good one,” he said.  “You had me going there.”

Gibbs nodded in honest bewilderment as he tried to work out what he had said to amuse Tony.

“Jacob’s first birthday is coming up,” said Tony, “We’re having a barbecue this weekend.  Everyone’s invited.”

“Everyone?” asked Gibbs.

Tony and Faith had long ago resolved to ignore the undercurrents surrounding Consuela’s social life so he simply said, “Everyone.  And that includes Ducky and Fornell.”

NCISNCIS

Gibbs arrived in good time for the barbecue but felt his stomach lurch as he saw that the DiNozzos had invited Lysander Brocklehurst to be in charge of the cooking.  Lysander was a family friend who owned a foodie restaurant called L’Ancien Regime Aujourd'hui – Gibbs liked Lysander well enough but was wary around someone who put snail porridge and octopus thermidor on his menu.

“Don’t look like that, Jethro,” said Tony when he saw Gibbs arrive.  “Lysander knows to keep it simple … although he has got a pot of something bubbling away that looks like one of Abby’s mould investigations.”

Gibbs nodded in appreciation of Tony’s reassurances and moved towards the cooking area when he saw Consuela standing there.

“There’s too much vinegar in the mustard,” he heard her say.  “And not enough pepper in the burgers.”

“Nonsense,” said Lysander, “You stay out of it.  And stop adding garlic to the mayonnaise.  It’ll be fine as it is.”

“What sort of food do you serve in that restaurant of yours?” asked Consuela heatedly, “Because … oh, hello, Jethro – how nice to see you.”

“Take her away, will you?” said Lysander, “Too many cooks – and I use the term loosely – spoil the broth.”

Consuela sniffed her annoyance but allowed herself to be led away by Gibbs towards the drinks table.  Gibbs decided he might have made a strategic error when he saw Ducky’s smiling face behind the punch bowl.

“Ah, welcome, Jethro!  Would you like a cup of punch?”  Gibbs opened his mouth to spurn this offer in disgust but Ducky was still talking, “I have based it on a recipe provided by dear Consuela.”  He rolled every syllable of her name on his tongue in a way designed to irritate Gibbs.

“Thanks, Duck,” he said, wanting to please Consuela, “That would be great.”

Consuela also accepted a cup and told Ducky that he had made a wonderful job.  “And tell me, what is this wonderful berry that you have added?” she asked.

Ducky swelled with pride, “It is a tayberry.  Not widely available in the United States but I found a supplier.  They are a cross between the loganberry and the blackberry and first cultivated in Scotland.  Named after the River Tay, you know.”

“Marvellous,” praised Consuela. “I do so appreciate someone with a fine palate.”

“Yeah, what she said,” said Gibbs.  “You’ve got people waiting, Duck.  We’ll let you get on.”  He steered a course towards a quiet corner where some chairs had been set out.

“This is nice,” said Consuela contentedly as she allowed Gibbs to help her down into the chair.  “Oh, there’s Tobias!”  She waved and gestured towards Fornell who hurried over.

“Jethro,” he said.

“Tobias,” said Gibbs.

“Why don’t you join us?” asked Consuela.

“I don’t mind if I do,” said Tobias as he took the vacant chair and drew it closer.

Consuela looked brightly at Fornell and Gibbs and, with the ease of long practice, began to make small talk.  Tony looking on from the other side of the yard smiled,

“That woman’s a marvel,” he said to Faith.  “She’s got them eating out of the palm of her hand.”

As they watched, they noticed that Consuela had got Gibbs and Fornell talking to each other and, a few minutes later, she quietly got up and walked away.  They were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn’t notice she’d gone.

“The dear boys,” she said as she walked up to Tony and Faith, “They are talking about a case they worked ten years ago.  The Carter case?”

“Is Fornell claiming that Gibbs got him shot?” asked Tony.

“Yes.  And Jethro is claiming that Tobias was responsible for him ending up in the Potomac,” said Consuela.

“And what’s the truth?” asked Faith.

“Somewhere in the middle, I suspect,” said Tony.  “But they brought down a kidnapping ring.  Director Morrow told me that it was almost a model of interagency co-operation.”

“Really?” said Faith.

“Really.  Until it came to the paperwork.  Things fell apart after that.”

“I don’t understand men,” said Consuela.  Tony looked at her sceptically; he rather thought that she understood men very well.  “Jethro and Tobias are good friends yet seem incapable of acknowledging it.  I … oh no, what’s he doing now?”  Tony and Faith followed Consuela’s eyes and saw they were focussed on Lysander who was throwing water on the barbecue.  They shrugged as she strode away to give him her opinion.

“Agent DiNozzo,” came a new voice.

“Lottie!  I mean, Charlotte,” said Tony to Abby’s new assistant.  “I’m glad you could come.  Faith, this is Charlotte Sterling.  Charlotte, my wife.”

“Thank you for inviting me,” said Lottie, “I’m new to DC so I don’t know many people.”

“Where do you come from?” asked Faith.

“Washington State.  My family has a farm there.  In fact, I hope you don’t mind, but I brought some apples for you.  My mom gave me a ton when I moved.  They’re Lady Alice, we grow them.”

“Thank you,” said Faith, “That’s kind of you.”

“I think I’ll just go and give them to people,” said Lottie.  She set off in the direction of Gibbs and Fornell; Tony watched as they nodded, accepted an apple and, under Lottie’s watchful eye, bit into them.

“I think I should set her up with Devon,” said Tony.  “I think they’d get on.”

“You don’t need to be afraid of him, you know,” said Faith, “Just be firm.”

“I guess,” said Tony discontentedly.

“And you could do with eating less red meat,” said Faith, “You know Ducky wasn’t pleased with your cholesterol readings.”

“I guess,” said Tony even more discontentedly.

“Is he coming today?” asked Faith.

“Devon?  No.  I invited him but he had a yoga retreat to go to.  And I’m not sure that barbecued animal flesh would be his scene.”

“Tony,” said Faith tentatively, “Have you given Tom a decision?  About the new job?”

“No, I haven’t got around to it,” said Tony.

“I thought you’d decided.”

“I had, well, I thought I had.  And I was going to tell him but when I got to work … and I saw my desk … well, I began to have second thoughts.”

“Second thoughts?  More like thirty-second,” said Faith.

“I know.  I mean, I know it’s the logical thing to do.  I’m just not sure …”

“What?”

“If it’s the right thing.  Do you mind?”

“Of course not.  It’s your decision.  I want you to do a job you enjoy – it’s just that …”

“What?”

“I’d prefer it if it wasn’t a job that might get you killed.”

Tony put his arm around her.  “I know.  And I will decide … soon.  I want to see how Paula Cassidy works out.”

“Is she coming today?”

“No.  I don’t think family barbecues are her thing.”

“Tim and Kate enjoy them,” said Faith with a hint of disapproval.  “Hey, did you even ask her?”

“Well,” hedged Tony, “She’s still at FLETC.  And …”

“And?”

“And I think I’m postponing her meeting the rest of the team,” confessed Tony.

“For a successful team leader you’re a wuss sometimes,” said Faith lovingly.

“Guilty as charged,” said Tony ruefully.  “Now let’s go get some burgers before Mr Bland bans meat altogether.

NCISNCIS

Director Morrow was on a two-week vacation after the weekend of the barbecue so Tony breathed a sigh of relief as he realised he had a grace period in which to finalise his decision.

“Agent Cassidy,” he said when he got to his desk in the squad room.  “I thought you were starting next week?”

“Agent Pacci suggested I start today,” said Paula, “He said there wouldn’t be much happening at FLETC this week, just finishing up.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed as he considered this and wondered if Pacci had been getting rid of Cassidy.

“OK.  Find yourself a desk.  I’ll make introductions when Agents Todd and McGee arrive.  You already know Agent Gibbs.”

Gibbs gave the briefest of nods and Paula gave him a smile in return.  The elevator dinged and then the doors opened to reveal Kate and Tim bickering as usual.

“Guys,” called Tony in the hope of allowing them to create a good impression, “This is Paula Cassidy.  Just finished at FLETC.  She’ll be doing her orientation with us.  Agent Cassidy – Agent Timothy McGee and Agent Kate Todd.”

Kate and Paula shook hands while staring fixedly at one another.  Tim shook hands as well and wondered, from Paula’s cool stare, if he had dropped food down his shirt that morning or left his fly undone.  “Pleased to meet you,” he said with more confidence than he felt.  The huff of laugher from Gibbs’ desk did not reassure him.

Tony sighed but his desk phone ringing saved him from having to comment.  He listened to the caller and then stood up,

“Agent Cassidy, did you enjoy your time at Quantico?”

“Er, yes.  It was good,” said Paula.

“Good, because you’re going back.”

“What?”

Tony grinned, “We have a case there.  Seems like something odd has been found there.  Get ready everyone!  Gibbs, I’m driving.  I don’t want Paula throwing up on her first day.”

Paula looked bewildered at this exchange but picked up her backpack and followed the rest of the team.  The sight that greeted them at Quantico was outside of everyone’s experience and certainly not something that had been covered at FLETC.  Teenagers at a party had come across a pair of severed legs.

“Er …” said Tim as they stared at the teenagers’ find.

“That’s different,” commented Kate.

“Cassidy, if you’re going to throw up, do it away from the crime scene,” said Tony firmly.

Paula swallowed and a look of determination came on her face and Tony was sure she would be holding on to her breakfast.

“McGee, shoot.  Kate, bag and tag with Cassidy,” ordered Gibbs.

“Gibbs,” said Tony, “Go and talk to the teenagers.  I’ll supervise here.”

Gibbs nodded knowing that Tony was the crime scene expert.

“Cassidy, make sure you look under vegetation,” said Tony.  “Imagine Agent Pacci is watching you.”  He observed her closely and was satisfied with what he saw. 

“What’s this?” asked Paula as she held up a piece of latex.

“Looks like the finger off a glove,” said McGee peering it at it.

“Bag it,” said Tony.  “We’ll work it out when we get it back to the Navy Yard.”

NCISNCIS

The team gathered in the squad room when they got back from Quantico.

“McGee, you and Paula work on trying to identify where the legs came from.  Kate, you work on security cameras – see if you can see if there’s anyone going on base who shouldn’t be there.  Gibbs, work on missing persons’ reports – I reckon the legs belong to a young woman, 5 foot eight, 125 pounds.”

“How do you know that?” asked Paula.

Tony stared at her.  “Experience.  But do the calculations if you want.”

“Anyone would think he knew her,” muttered Paula.

“I’m going down to Abby,” announced Tony.  “Cassidy, come visit Abby with me.”

As they got into the elevator he said, “You’ll like Abby.  She’s the most cheerful person I know.  Always happy.”

Paula looked sceptical when they got to the lab and heard soft meditative music playing and they saw Abby staring at her computer screen with tears running down her face.  Lottie was standing next to her looking uncertain.

“Abs?” said Tony, “What’s wrong?”  He looked around, “Has something happened to Bert?”

“No,” said Abby.  “But that’s what I need!”  She jumped up and grabbed Burt from her inner office.  She squeezed him and seemed to take comfort from the resultant fart.

“Don’t ask,” whispered Tony.

“I’ll run it again,” said Abby as she put Bert under one arm.

“Run what?” asked Tony.

Abby held up a hand to halt the questions, she gazed intently at her screen once more and then buried her face in her hands in despair.

“Abby?” asked Tony, “What’s going on?”

“I found a finger print on the glove you found at the scene.”

“Actually, I found it,” said Paula.

Abby turned a look of dislike on Paula, “Why did you do that?”

“Er …” began Paula.

“Because it was her job, Abs,” said Tony firmly.  “Now, tell me – what have you found?”

“Look!” said Abby.  She pressed a few keys and pointed at the large screen on the wall.  “This is who the fingerprints belong to!”

Tony gasped as he saw the face of Leroy Jethro Gibbs staring back at him.  “Gibbs?”

Chapter Text

“Check again,” said Tony curtly before turning on his heel and striding out of the lab.

“Uh, nice to meet you,” said Paula inadequately before scurrying after Tony.

Silence reigned as they travelled up in the elevator.

“McGee!  Go down to the truck.  Bring back the trash bag.  Bring Paula with you.”

“Boss?” said McGee, “I’m in the middle of …”

“Now, McGee!”

“Yes, Boss,” said Tim before gesturing to Paula to accompany him.

“What are we doing?” asked Paula when she was once more in the elevator.

“Don’t know,” said Tim.

“And that doesn’t bother you?”

Tim turned to look at his companion, “Tony is the most easy-going boss I’ve ever had.  But when he speaks in that tone of voice … well, you do what he says.”

Meanwhile in the squad room, Tony walked up to Gibbs’ desk,

“Gibbs, how many pairs of gloves did you use at the crime scene this morning?”

Gibbs looked puzzled, “None.”

“None?”

“No.  You had me talking to those teenagers.  Didn’t know I needed to put gloves on to do that.”

“Huh,” said Tony tapping his feet impatiently.

“Why?” asked Gibbs, “What’s the matter?  What did Abby have to say?”

“The finger of that glove?  Abby found a finger print on it.”

“Good,” said Gibbs.

“Not really.  First results show it’s yours,” said Tony.

“It must be a mistake.”

“Abby doesn’t make mistakes,” said Tony.  “But I told her to re-run the test.”  He looked up as he saw McGee hurrying in with the bag from that morning’s activities.  “Tim, find all the evidence gloves we used.”

Tim nodded and, putting on a pair of new gloves, went through them.  “Six pairs, Boss,” he said.

“All intact?” asked Tony.

“What?” asked McGee.

“They got all their fingers?”

McGee took another look, “Yes.  All OK.  Um, why am I looking?”

Kate drew near, “Abby found Gibbs’ fingerprint on the piece of glove Cassidy found.”

“What?  It must be a mistake.  I mean, I know Abby doesn’t make mistakes but perhaps Gibbs lost a glove when he was there before.  It could happen.”

“Yeah, must be something like that,” said Tony, “I’m going to see Ducky.”

“Anthony,” said Ducky cheerfully when he saw Tony walk in, “I wonder if I could trouble you to give the fair Consuela a message …”

“What you got?” asked Tony briskly.  This was so unlike Tony that Ducky stared in disbelief.  “I asked you to report, Ducky,” continued Tony when he got no reply.

“Is something amiss, Anthony?” asked Ducky.

“You could say that,” sighed Tony, “I need to know what you’ve found.”

“Very well,” said Ducky, “I fear I have very little to report.  I have sent some blood and tissue samples to Abby to see if they can help determine the cause of death.  As far as I can tell from a cursory examination the victim seems to have been in good health.  I would surmise that death was caused by some traumatic injury … to another part of the body.”

“Nothing else?” asked Tony.

“There is one curiosity,” said Ducky.

“I’ll take anything you can give me,” said Tony.

“There is a bite mark on one of the legs.  It could, of course, have happened ante mortem but I would surmise that it happened around the same time as death or at least around the same time that the limbs were removed.  Anthony, what has happened?  You are not normally this abrupt.”

“Can you get anything from the mark?” asked Tony.

“I could try to make an impression of the bite mark,” suggested Ducky.

“And could that identify the person who make the bite mark?” asked Tony.

“Possibly,” said Ducky.  “Anthony, you are worrying me.”

“You remember that glove that Paula found at the crime scene?” asked Tony.

“Indeed.  I thought it showed great skill and observation,” said Ducky.

“Yeah.  Well, it had Gibbs’ fingerprint on it.”

“So?”

“How did it get there?” asked Tony.

Ducky stared, “There must be an innocent explanation,” he said finally.

“I hope so,” said Tony.  “I haven’t been able to come up with one yet.”

“I will start work on the bite mark immediately,” said Ducky.

“Thank you, Doctor,” said Tony.

As he left autopsy, his cell rang and he saw it was a call from Abby.

“On my way, Abs,” he said.

When he arrived at the lab it was to find Abby in tears once more and Lottie looking on nervously.  Tony braced himself for bad news,

“I re-ran the fingerprint,” said Abby.  “And I got Lottie to run it was well.”

“And?” asked Tony.

Abby swallowed convulsively and seemed unable to answer so Lottie spoke for her, “Same result.  The fingerprint belongs to Agent Gibbs.”

“OK, thank you,” said Tony.  “Abby, get to work on the samples Ducky sent you.  See if you can work out a cause of death … anything you can find out about the victim.  Ducky’s working on a bite mark impression – he’ll send that to you as well.  Abby?”

Once again, Lottie answered for Abby, “Dr Mallard also found some traces of blood on the legs.  We’re testing that separately in case it doesn’t belong to the victim.”

“Keep me informed,” said Tony.  He put an arm around Abby’s shoulder and dropped a kiss on the top of her head.  “Time to step up, Abs.  For Gibbs.”

Abby nodded tremulously and wiped her eyes.

McGee was waiting for Tony when he left the lab.

“What you got, McGee?” asked Tony.

“Nothing much.  I’ve sent out requests to all the local hospitals about accidents with severed legs and to funeral homes in case they’ve lost some … clients.”

“And Kate?”

“Still checking CCTV at Quantico gates.  Nothing shown up yet but it’s tricky – we don’t know what time frame we’re looking at,” said Tim.

“Check with Ducky.  See if he can estimate a time of death or a time when the legs were cut off.”

“Yes, Boss.  Er, where are you going?”

“To see the Deputy Director,” said Tony.

“Oh,” said Tim.

Deputy Director Craig was defiantly drinking a cup of exotic coffee under the disapproving gaze of his personal assistant when Tony asked for a word.

“Of course,” said Craig.  “Devon, that will be all for now.”

Devon nodded graciously, “Would you like me to take that cup for you?” he asked.

“I haven’t finished it yet,” said Craig firmly.

Devon admitted defeat and left the room noiselessly.  “I’d offer you a cup,” said the Deputy Director, “But I seem to remember you prefer …”

“Froufrou coffee is what Agent Gibbs calls it,” said Tony with an attempt at a smile.

Craig recognised that Tony had not come for a chat, “What can I do for you?”

“We were called to a crime scene in Quantico this morning.  Teenagers found a pair of severed legs in some bushes.”

“Human legs?” asked Craig.

“Yes, Sir.  In perfect condition … well, apart from not being attached to the rest of the body.”

“And?”

“And when we were doing a search of the crime scene we found the finger of an evidence glove …”

“And?”

“And Abby … Ms Scuito … found a fingerprint on it.”

“And somehow this is not good news?”

“No, Sir.  The print belongs to Agent Gibbs.”

“Our Agent Gibbs?”

“Yes, Sir.  I thought I should let you know.”

“Are we sure this is not some sort of mistake?  Perhaps Agent Gibbs lost the glove at the crime scene?”

“He wasn’t involved with the search, Sir.  He didn’t need to wear any gloves.”

“Then on a previous visit to Quantico?”

“Possibly,” said Tony.  “We’re working on it.”

“And are there any other leads?” asked Craig.

“Dr Mallard is doing some work on a bite mark on the severed legs and there is some blood work to be done,” said Tony.  “We’re hoping … expecting … that will give us something more to go on.”

Craig stood up, “With me,” he ordered.  He led Tony down to the lab where they found a still-tearful Abby,

“Ms Scuito, how far have you got with your tests on the legs Agent DiNozzo’s team found this morning?”

“I’m about to run the blood samples.  And then I’m going to look at the bite mark.  I’m slower than usual … I’m finding it hard to use my microscope.”

Craig nodded; as he looked at Abby’s red swollen eyes, he was surprised she could see anything.  “Ms Sterling,” he said.

“Yes, Sir?” asked Lottie looking surprised to be addressed.

“You are fully certified to work in forensics here?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good.  Take over the tests Ms Scuito was about to perform.”

“But …” began Abby.

“Go home, Ms Scuito,” said Craig.  “You’re in no fit state to be working this case.”

“But …”

“No buts.  We need the best work here.  At the moment that won’t be done by you,” said Craig firmly.  “Ms Sterling, keep Agent DiNozzo and me informed.”

As Craig and Tony walked away, Tony said, “Guess that’s why you decided Abby needed an assistant.”

“Well, not because I thought Agent Gibbs was going to be the potential centre of an investigation,” said the Deputy Director drily, “But it’s crazy not to have a backup for Ms Scuito.  And now I need to phone the FBI.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I know you’d prefer to keep the investigation in-house but we can’t afford to do that.  I know you are concerned about Agent Gibbs …”

“Yes, Sir.”

“But we can’t risk any appearance of a cover-up.  I’ve got to be concerned about the reputation of this agency.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I will see if I can get Agent Fornell assigned to the case.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Is that all you’ve got to say?”

“Yes, Sir.  Well, no, Sir.  I knew we couldn’t keep this quiet.  That’s why I came to you.”

“Oh.  Well, that’s OK then,” said Craig.  “I’ll go make the phone call.”

Tony watched him go to his office and remembered, not for the first time, how easy it was to underestimate Jerome Craig.

NCISNCIS

“Gibbs,” said Tony a little later, “Lottie wants you in her lab.”

“What for?”

“She and Ducky want to take a cast of your mouth.”

“Excuse me?”

“Suck it up, Marine.  I’ll come with you,” said Tony.

Ducky was waiting for Gibbs.  “This will save time, Jethro.  And making a mould will be more accurate than looking at your dental records.”

Gibbs scowled through the whole process and mumbled incoherently.  “No, Jethro,” said Ducky severely, “They don’t do bourbon flavour.  Or coffee.”

Tony smiled for what seemed like the first time that day but the smile faded when Lottie did her technical wizardry and it seemed that Gibbs’ teeth were a perfect match to the indentation on the victim’s leg.

“There must be a mistake,” said Gibbs feeling that it was all he was saying that day.

“Uh no, Agent Gibbs,” said Lottie, “I was most careful with the test.  And Dr Mallard was watching me closely.”

“I am at a loss to explain it, Jethro,” said Ducky, “But I have to agree that it seems that your teeth were responsible for making the bite mark on our unfortunate young woman.”

“How?” snapped Gibbs, “Did I do it in my sleep?  I didn’t kill anyone and I’m certainly not in the habit of biting people!”

“We’ll work it out, Jethro,” said Tony calmly.  He put his hand reassuringly on Gibbs’ shoulder.  At that moment one of the pieces of equipment chirruped to indicate another test result.  Somehow Tony wasn’t surprised to see that one of the blood samples from the leg was of the same type as Gibbs’ and different to that of the legs.

“The DNA test is running,” said Lottie earnestly, “I’ll let you know when the results come back.

Gibbs and Tony nodded glumly and went back to the squad room.  Kate, Tim and Paula had nothing to report.  They had no leads on who the victim could be and there was no unusual activity at the gates to Quantico.

“Although, it wouldn’t be unusual for an NCIS agent to be in Quantico,” observed Paula.

“Thank you, Agent Cassidy,” said Gibbs coldly.

“Keep looking,” ordered Tony.

“Do we have any cases coming up where Gibbs has to testify?” asked Kate suddenly.

“Kate?” asked Tony.

“Well, the attempted kidnapping turned out to be a way of stalling the Haskell case.  Are we sure this isn’t something similar?  I mean, look how we’re all focussed on this case now,” said Kate.

“But wouldn’t you be focussed on it, anyway?” asked Paula.  “I mean, even if Agent Gibbs wasn’t the main suspect?”

Tony couldn’t fault Paula’s reasoning but thought she might need to learn a little tact or discretion.  On the other hand, her bluntness might make her a perfect match with Gibbs.

“Good point, Kate.  Why don’t you look into that?” he said.

“I suppose it might be revenge, you know, setting Gibbs up,” sighed Tim, “I’ve still got a list of possibilities from the last time.  You want me to look at it again?”

“Yes,” said Tony.  “No … get Agent Cassidy to look.  She’ll come to it with a fresh pair of eyes.  Might spot something we’ll miss.”

The others nodded at their assignments and Tony then noticed Deputy Director Craig drawing near with Agent Fornell and another man.

“Agent DiNozzo,” said Craig, “You know Agent Fornell.  FBI have assigned him to look at our case.  Agent Sacks will assist him.”

“We need to talk to you, Jethro,” said Fornell. 

“In an interrogation room,” inserted Sacks, “And we need to record it.”

“Wait a minute,” began Gibbs.

“It’s either here or at the Hoover Building,” said Craig, “The FBI was trying to be helpful here.”

“Let’s get this over with,” said Gibbs grumpily.

“Agent Sacks will be doing the interview,” announced Fornell as Tony led the way.  “My director seems to think that Gibbs and I are friends so I need to be hands-off.”

Tony mumbled something that might have been agreement.  He and Fornell went into the observation room while Sacks took Gibbs into the interrogation room.  Fornell cleared his throat, “We’ll need to take the evidence you’ve gathered so far,” he said casually.

“Seems reasonable,” said Tony equally casually.  He took his cell out and fired off a quick text to McGee.  “I just told Tim to get it all ready,” he said.

Fornell smiled and they settled down to watch Gibbs’ masterclass of deflection with Agent Sacks.

“He new?” asked Tony.

“Came on board a couple of weeks ago,” said Fornell.

“You sure he’s ready for this?” asked Tony as he nodded towards the window through which they could see an increasingly flustered Sacks and an infuriatingly calm Gibbs.

“It’ll do him good,” said Fornell blandly.

The interview ended inconclusively.  As Gibbs pointed out it was impossible for him to have an alibi when nobody knew who the victim was or when the alleged murder took place.  It looked as if Agent Sacks would have liked to arrest him just for being annoying.

“We need to take your evidence,” he said brusquely when emerging from Interrogation.

“No trouble,” said Tony serenely.  He had just received a text from Tim confirming that they had taken duplicates of everything.

Agent Sacks looked at him suspiciously and wondered if he’d made a strategic error in leaving Agent Fornell alone with the senior agent.  Back in the squad room, McGee handed all the evidence over with a polite smile on his face while making sure that Sacks signed for each piece.

Agent Sacks glared at Gibbs who said ‘helpfully’, “Don’t worry.  I won’t leave town.”

The FBI agents left more or less contentedly.  The MCRT sighed with relief as they watched them go.

“Going to see Ducky,” announced Tony.  “See if he’s got anything else.”

He found Ducky in Abby’s lab rather than Autopsy.

“Ah, Anthony,” he said, “Charlotte and I have discovered something.”

Lottie beamed her appreciation at being called by her full name.

“What you got?” asked Tony.

“I believe we may be able to identify the implement used to detach the legs,” said Ducky. 

“Well, not the exact one,” said Lottie.  “Although it is possible that if we found a candidate we could make a positive match.”

“I would surmise, my dear, that it would be difficult to clean the instrument completely,” speculated Ducky, “We might discover traces of blood, tissue, bone, muscle or …”

“Yeah, yeah, I get the idea,” said Tony hastily.  After years of police work he wasn’t particularly squeamish but he was tired and didn’t really want to picture what might still be adhering to the blade in question.

As always, Ducky looked disappointed that detail wasn’t required but decided to be compassionate.  “Indeed, DNA is a marvellous tool.  I think from looking at the cut marks we can deduce the type of blade.  If it is an unusual one, that might assist you in tracking it.”

“Sounds good.  Do the FBI know?” asked Tony.

“They have copies of the photographs I took,” said Ducky virtuously, “And, of course, they now have the limbs: they should be capable of reaching the same conclusions.”

Tony smiled.  “Any idea so far?”

“We think the cuts were made with a crosscut saw,” said Lottie.

“And manual rather than a power tool,” added Ducky.

“Are they rare?” asked the Tony who was not into DIY and usually managed to persuade Gibbs to do the repairs at home.

“No,” said Lottie.

Tony’s face fell but Ducky continued, “We believe, however, that the tool used was a vintage saw.  Quite old but very sharp.  Probably in excellent condition.”

“That should make it easier to trace,” said Lottie cheerfully.

“Great,” said Tony gloomily.

“This is good news, Anthony,” said Ducky, “Isn’t it?”

“Who do you know who uses vintage hand tools?” asked Tony.

“Oh, I see,” said Ducky as he pictured Gibbs working away in his cellar.

“Stick with it,” ordered Tony as he walked away.

Just as Tony was considering sending everyone home for the day, Lottie and Ducky came into the squad room.

“What now?” said Gibbs as he saw the glum looks on their faces.

“The DNA results came back,” said Ducky.

“And?” asked Tony.

“The blood found on the legs matches Agent Gibbs’ blood,” said Lottie.

Gibbs opened his mouth to say it was all a mistake but closed it again.  Saying it didn’t seem to be making a difference at the moment.

“We had to let the FBI know,” said Ducky apologetically.

NCISNCIS

“Good day?” asked Faith when Tony got home that evening.

“Just peachy.  How do you feel about going back into criminal law?”

“Why?” asked Faith cautiously.

“Jethro may need a good lawyer.”

“Why?”

“The FBI have taken him into custody on suspicion of murder,” said Tony.

“What?  Did his barista try to give him decaf?”

“I wish,” said Tony, “Then he’d have a plea of insanity.”

“What happened?” asked Faith.

Tony explained the events of the day and how when Agent Sacks had found out the results of the blood test he had insisted on taking Gibbs in.  “But at least they haven’t actually charged him yet.”

“Were you serious?  About me representing Jethro?” asked Faith.

“I don’t know,” said Tony wearily.  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Daddy,” said Tilly as she came into the room.

“Hello, sweetheart.  What are you doing up?” asked Tony, “You should be asleep by now.”

Tilly climbed into his lap, “I don’t like going to sleep without seeing you.”

“OK,” said Tony, “Just for a few minutes then.  What’s that you’ve got in your hand?”

Tilly produced an apple core.

“Tilly, I gave you that apple an hour ago,” said Faith.  “Why didn’t you throw the core away?”

“I wasn’t sure if I should,” said Tilly.

Faith and Tony exchanged looks as they wondered what eccentricity had entered into their daughter’s mind this time.

“Why not?” asked Tony.

“Auntie Abby’s Lottie didn’t,” said Tilly.

“Who?” said Faith.

“You know.  The lady who’s helping Auntie Abby,” said Tilly.

“What about her?” asked Tony.

“She brought all those apples to Jacob’s birthday party,” said Tilly.

“And?”

“Then she went around collecting the cores.  Especially the ones that people hadn’t eaten much of.  So, I thought perhaps I shouldn’t throw mine away,” said Tilly.

“I think you can throw this one away,” said Faith firmly and she took the soggy apple remains out of Tilly’s hand and took it into the kitchen.  When she came back she looked at Tony ready to share her amusement at Tilly’s latest foible but saw that he was staring into space, “Tony?  What’s the matter?”

“Probably nothing,” said Tony.  “I think …”

Chapter Text

Tony left home in thoughtful mood the next morning as he turned the ‘apple’ possibility over in his mind.  Lottie was undoubtedly a skilled forensic scientist and, he imagined, could have the skill to create some sort of mould from a half-eaten apple core so as to make a bite mark on the severed limb: the question was why would she have done such a thing?

Tony didn’t go straight to the Navy Yard but stopped off at FBI headquarters to visit Gibbs in his holding cell.

“Jethro, how you doing?” he asked.

“How d’you think?  I’m locked up in a FBI cell,” retorted Gibbs.

Tony wondered if Gibbs would have been less grumpy if it hadn’t been a FBI cell but decided this wouldn’t be a fruitful area of enquiry.

“Brought you a breakfast burrito,” he said instead.  “Got it from the diner, Elaine made it specially.”

“Thanks,” said Gibbs as he accepted the package through the bars.  “Don’t suppose there’s a file in there?”

“Even your teeth aren’t tough enough to eat one of those,” said Tony.  “And I think the guards would hear you hacking your way through.”

“Fair enough,” said Gibbs, “I’ll eat it later.”

“Yeah, sounds about right,” said Tony who preferred to inhale his food hot, “You always do seem to think food improves for lying around for hours!”

“Makes the grease taste better,” said Gibbs wryly.

“Coffee too,” said Tony.  “Had to get small cups to fit through the bars.”

“Still tastes the same,” said Gibbs.  “You worked out who ‘s doing this?” he asked after a gulp of coffee.

Tony considered telling him that he wouldn’t still be sitting in a cell if they’d found the real culprit but again decided there was no point in being argumentative.  “No, we’re working on it,” he said.  “McGee’s running down lists of people who might be out to get you.  Kate’s working on people going to Quantico.”

“And forensics?”

“Well, they’re not your friend at the moment.  So far, fingerprints, DNA and blood tests all link you to the legs.  And you already know about the bite mark.”

“I’m not getting out of this one, am I, Boss?” said Gibbs.

“Hey, our team is the best,” protested Tony, “Don’t give up.”

“If forensics say I did it,” said Gibbs, “It’s going to be tough going against them.”

“We don’t even know who the victim is,” said Tony, “Nobody can point to a motive if we don’t know who the legs belong to.  We don’t even know if we’re dealing with a murder.”

“I’m not exactly a sympathetic figure, am I?” said Gibbs.  “Surly, uncommunicative bastard.  Loner, no family.  Prosecution will paint me as some sort of psychopath.  There must be something wrong with me because otherwise why do I live like I do?  A jury won’t see past that.  They’ll probably decide I’ve killed dozens of women but I just got careless with this one … they may even figure I wanted to get caught so I was slipshod with this one.”  Tony watched as Gibbs paced his cell, unsure who Gibbs was talking to.  “Then the prosecution will tell them about me being in Desert Storm.  Maybe, if I’m lucky, they’ll put this all down to PTSD.  So when they find me guilty, they’ll send me to a mental hospital for life rather than giving me a dirt nap.”  Finally seeming to run out of steam, Gibbs threw himself on the cot.

Tony hardened his heart, “Thought you were a marine, Gibbs.”

“I am,” said Gibbs stiffly.

“Could’ve fooled me.  I didn’t think marines gave up.”

“I haven’t given up,” said Gibbs, “I’m just being realistic.”

“Sounds like giving up to me,” said Tony.  “Drink your coffee, Gibbs and quit feeling sorry for yourself.”

Gibbs grinned ruefully at Tony and held his coffee cup up in a salute.  “Thanks, Boss!”

Tony nodded, “You’re welcome.  And do us all a favour – eat that burrito before it gets up and walks out!”

NCISNCIS

Before leaving the FBI, Tony went to visit Fornell.

“Tobias, wanted to let you know about something Ducky found yesterday.”

“DiNutso,” said Fornell with a knowing grin, “Are you telling me this because you figure our guys will work it out anyway?”

“Of course not,” said Tony virtuously, “This is purely in the interests of interagency co-operation and to show that we’re not withholding anything.”  Tony knew this wasn’t entirely true; he had no intention of sharing his theory about the bite mark.

“OK, let’s have it,” said Fornell.

“The slice marks on the legs,” continued Tony, “Ducky and Ms Sterling think they were made with a saw.”

“And?  There must be more than that,” answered Fornell.

“A very sharp saw.  A vintage saw in perfect condition,” said Tony.  He waited to see if Fornell would make the connection.

“Ah.  And you’re thinking that it might be one of Jethro’s tools,” said Fornell.

“He’s being set up,” said Tony firmly, “Stands to reason one of his own tools could be used.”

“I’ll go along with that,” said Fornell.  “What do you want me to do about it?”

“I was going to swing by Gibbs’ place.  See if I can tell if anything is missing … “

“Or if there’s a bloodstained saw there,” said Fornell.  “Why would I let you go there?”

“I wasn’t suggesting going on my own,” said Tony.  “Thought you could come with me.  That way we can vouch for one another if necessary.”  He saw that Fornell was going to argue, “Hey, it’s meant to be a joint investigation.”

“All right,” said Fornell, “In the interests of interagency co-operation I guess we can do that.  But if we find anything, I’m bringing it back here.  NCIS can get copies of what we find.”

“Fair enough,” said Tony.

NCISNCIS

Gibbs hadn’t been away from his house for long but it seemed to Tony that it already had a forlorn and lonely feel.  He looked in the refrigerator to see if there was anything perishable which might need to be thrown away but, unsurprisingly, it contained nothing but beer and a hunk of hard cheese.

Tony and Fornell went down to the basement and looked at the walls on which Gibbs hung his tools.

“Can’t see any gaps,” commented Fornell, not sure if that was a good thing or not.

“No,” agreed Tony.  “Am I right to think this wall is usually full up?”

“Reckon so,” said Fornell.  “Why does he need so many tools anyway?”

“’Cos he’s Gibbs?” suggested Tony.  “I guess he’s as fond of his tools as Abby is of her machines.”

“What does this look like to you?” asked Fornell, pointing to a crosscut saw which was hanging slightly askew.

“A saw?” said Tony.

“A saw with some stains on it,” said Fornell.

Tony peered at the blade and, although he wanted to deny it, had to agree that there were marks on the saw. 

“Everything else down here is clean and bright,” said Fornell.

“Except his bourbon glasses,” said Tony.

“He gives you actual glasses?” asked Fornell momentarily diverted.

Tony managed a smile, “Only on the loosest possible definition of a glass,” he said.

Fornell nodded, relieved that Tony didn’t get preferential treatment from Gibbs.  “We’ll have to take all this back with us,” he said as he got down to business.

“I know,” said Tony wearily, “Tell your guys to take good care of it all.  Put the fear of Gibbs into them.”

“Tony,” said Fornell tentatively, “Things don’t look good for Jethro, you know.”

“You don’t think he did it, do you?” demanded Tony.

“Of course not,” said Fornell, “But you have to admit …”

“I don’t have to admit anything,” said Tony hotly.  “Keep me informed, Agent Fornell of what you find.”

NCISNCIS

Tony managed to calm down a little by the time he reached the Navy Yard.  He knew that Fornell was right in his warnings and he knew that Gibbs was right to be anxious: somehow he had to get justice for Gibbs.  He decided to go to Abby’s lab first; Abby had pleaded to be able to return to work and Deputy Director Craig had finally agreed that she could come in for afternoons only so Tony knew that he would find Lottie there on her own.

“I was re-running the tests,” said Lottie when she saw Tony coming into the lab.

“You are?” asked Tony.

“I could see how important they were to everyone,” said Lottie earnestly, “Although, of course, all the tests we run are important but … anyway, I thought I’d re-run them.  It’s the first time I’ve used this equipment so I thought it would be good to check.”

Tony felt a spurt of hope, “And?  Did you find anything?  Anything different, I mean?”

“No, I’m afraid not.  The results are the same.  The fingerprint is Agent Gibbs’.  The DNA and blood found on the limbs is also Agent Gibbs’.  The bite mark matches his teeth. There’s no doubt.  And I believe the FBI have confirmed this from the evidence we supplied to them.”

“I see, well, thank you for being so thorough,” said Tony.  “I expect Abby will want to look at the tests again,” he added.

“Of course.  And I’ll be interested to see her work,” said Lottie tranquilly.  Tony watched her closely but could see no sign that she was anxious about her work being examined.

“Let me know if you come across anything,” said Tony as he turned towards the door.

“There was something,” said Lottie.

“Yes?”

“It’s probably nothing.”

Tony hated those words: they almost inevitably meant that the speaker thought they were tremendously important.  “Go on,” he said pleasantly.

“I was at the coffee shop the other morning.”

“Yes?”

“The one that Agent Gibbs uses.”

“Yes?”

“And he was speaking with a young woman.”

“Yes?”

“Well, we believe that the severed legs belong to a young woman, don’t we?”

“Yes, as far as we can tell.  And Ducky thinks so too.”

“Well, Agent Gibbs seemed to be having an argument with her.”

“What sort of argument?” asked Tony.

“I wasn’t close enough to tell,” said Lottie, “So, I guess that means they weren’t shouting.  So perhaps it wasn’t an argument so much as a disagreement.  She looked upset.”

“OK,” said Tony.  “I’ll send Agent Todd down.  Give her a statement of what you saw.  Do you remember enough for Kate to be able to make a sketch of the young woman?”

“Oh, I think so.  I’m quite observant,” said Lottie. “I’ll do my best.”

NCISNCIS

“Where you been, Boss?” asked McGee when Tony walked into the squad room.

“Went to see Gibbs.  Then Fornell and I went to Gibbs’ house,” replied Tony.

“Looking for the saw?” asked Kate.  “Um, Ducky told us about his theory,” she added hastily.

“Yeah,” said Tony.

“And?” asked McGee.

“The FBI are taking all of Gibbs’ tools for testing,” said Tony.

“So, you didn’t find anything obvious?” said Kate hopefully.

“Didn’t say that,” said Tony heavily, “There was a saw which had marks on the blade.”

“Blood?” asked Paula.

“Possibly.  FBI will find out,” said Tony.

“It can’t be Gibbs’ saw that did the cutting, can it?” asked Paula.

“Why not?” asked Tony.

“Well, Gibbs is a federal agent.”

“Good observational skills there, Cassidy,” said Tony.

“You know what I mean.  He’ll be security conscious.  His house will be something like Fort Knox, won’t it?  If he’s being set up, nobody will be able to break into his house to steal anything.  What?” she asked as she saw the expressions on her co-workers’ faces.

“Gibbs doesn’t lock his doors,” said McGee.

“What?” asked Paula.

“Gibbs doesn’t lock his front door,” said Kate.

“Why not?” asked Paula.

“You’d have to ask Gibbs,” said Tony.  “But it seems to work, he doesn’t get burgled.”

“That’s nuts,” said Paula shaking her head.

“That’s Gibbs,” said Kate and it was unclear whether or not she was agreeing with Paula.

“So anyone could have snuck in and taken one of Gibbs’ saws?” asked Paula.

“Pretty much,” confirmed Tony.  “Listen up.  Kate, I want you to go and take a statement from Lottie.”

“Lottie?” asked Kate.

“Yes.  She just told me that she saw Gibbs arguing with a young woman at his coffee shop a few days ago.  Go get a statement.  Make a sketch if she can give you a good enough description.”

“On my way,” said Kate as she picked up a note book and sketch pad.

“And Kate …”

“Yes?”

“Work up a profile on her.  And get to know her,” said Tony.

“Why?” asked Kate.  “I mean, is there something wrong?”

“Not sure,” said Tony, “Might be nothing.  See what you can find out.”

Kate nodded and went off to the lab.

“McGee,” said Tony quietly, “Do a background check on Lottie,” then he said more loudly, “And see if you can get hold of any security camera footage around Gibbs’ coffee shop.  Go down and talk to them, see if they remember Gibbs and this girl.  Take Cassidy with you.”

McGee got to work on the background check but Paula came and stood in front of Tony’s desk.  Tony sighed, “Yes, Cassidy?”

“Look,” said Paula, “I don’t want to be out of line here …”

“Go on,” said Tony wearily.

“I mean, I know I’m the new guy here.  And I don’t know Agent Gibbs like you do …”

“Yes?”

“But are we sure he didn’t do this?  All this forensic evidence.  Now the argument with the young woman … it doesn’t look good.”

“Agent Gibbs is an experienced agent, Cassidy,” said Tony.

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it,” said Paula.

“No, it doesn’t,” agreed Tony.  “But it seems kinda careless for someone experienced in working crime scenes to leave so much evidence behind.  Not to mention using one of his own tools to cut the body up and then leaving blood on it.  Does that make sense to you?”

“I suppose not,” said Paula, “Unless it’s a double bluff.  Or he thought you’d ignore the evidence.”

“You’re wrong, Paula,” said Tony.  “About Gibbs and about this team.  We wouldn’t hide evidence or ignore a crime,” he decided to take pity on her, “But you’re right to challenge us.  Good work.”

NCISNCIS

“Well?” asked Tony when Kate returned sometime later.

“She gave a good description,” said Kate.

“You think she was telling the truth about what she saw?”

“No tell-tale signs that she was lying,” said Kate.  “Although people can learn the tells and avoid them.”

“OK.  Anything else?”

“No, she seems fairly open about things.  Said she liked forensics because it’s important to get justice for people.”

“Sounds reasonable,” commented Tony.

“I guess.  It seemed it was less about catching the guilty than making sure the innocent weren’t accused wrongly,” said Kate.

“Interesting,” said Tony.

“I got the feeling that there was something personal going on there,” said Kate.  “But Abby came in, so I thought it was best to stop there.”

“Good work, Kate,” said Tony.  He saw the rest of the team returning, “Tim, Paula!  What did you find?”

“We’ve got security footage,” said McGee.  He put a flash drive into his computer and began to show the footage.

“Two people remember it happening,” said Paula.  “Seems that this woman met Gibbs there two days running.  First day was just a conversation but the second day got a little heated.”

“Here it is,” said McGee.

Everyone gathered around the plasma screen and watched as a young blonde woman started waving her arms in the air and then begin crying.  She reached out to Gibbs who pushed her away and then strode out of the coffee shop.

“Wow,” said Paula.  “They were right.”

“Did the people at the coffee shop know who she was?” asked Tony.

“No, Boss,” said Tim.  “But we’ve got good pictures of her.  I can run facial recognition against drivers’ licences.”

“Do that,” said Tony.

“I could go back and see if she paid by card,” offered Paula.  “We might find out who she is that way?”

“Good idea,” said Tony.  “Kate, go with her.”  He saw Paula’s indignant expression, “You’re not cleared to go out in the field on your own, Paula.  Go with Kate.”

Paula and Kate came back triumphantly bearing a credit card receipt that showed the name Avon Gillespie.  Their finding coincided with McGee finding her Maryland drivers’ licence so both groups looked smug.

“Kate, you and I’ll go to her apartment.  Talk to her about how she knows Gibbs.  Tim, you carry on with that background check.  Paula, you carry on looking at that Quantico footage.”

NCISNCIS

Tony and Kate were soon back looking disappointed.

“She wasn’t there,” said Tony to Tim and Paula.

“Her neighbours haven’t seen her for a few days,” said Kate.  She looked apologetically at Tony, “Not since the day of the argument at the coffee shop.”

“She’s only been living there for a few weeks so the neighbours might not expect her to tell them anything.  And they don’t know her routine yet,” said Tony.  “But they told us where she works and her employers say they haven’t seen her either and she would know that she’s supposed to call them if she’s going to be out sick.”

Paula folded her arms in disapproval but decided it was best to stay silent.  She went back to looking at the Quantico security cameras.  Kate issued a BOLO for Avon Gillespie while McGee gestured that he wanted a word with Tony.

“Boss, the background check on Lottie …”

“Yes?”

“It came back clean.  All her qualifications are legit and what I found out about her matches what’s on her personnel file.”

“I sense a but,” said Tony.

“Her mother’s maiden name was Carter,” said McGee.

“So?”

“I was thinking of that case Fornell and Gibbs like to argue about.  You know, when Gibbs ended up in the Potomac and Fornell was shot,” said McGee.

“Ah, that Carter,” said Tony.  “And is there a connection?”

“Yes.  Not a close one.  Gerard Carter – the one who Gibbs and Fornell took down – is her father’s second cousin.”

“I see,” said Tony, “Kate said something about Lottie going into forensics because she wanted to make sure that innocent people didn’t get convicted on dodgy forensics.”

“It would be a neat twist to get revenge on someone with false forensics,” said Tim.

“Yes, it would,” said Tony.  “It feels as if we’re getting somewhere.  Let me know if anything comes back on the BOLO.  And see if you can get a court order to let us look at Avon Gillespie’s bank account – see if that can help us trace her.”

“Yes, Boss,” said Tim.

“Going to see Ducky,” announced Tony.  He felt a little happier for the progress they’d made and was ready to put his theory to Ducky now that he had some grounds for distrusting Lottie.

“How nice to see you, Anthony,” said Ducky, “Am I to suppose that you have not yet solved Jethro’s case?  I had planned to visit him this evening; would that be acceptable; do you suppose?”

“He’d be glad to see you, Ducky.”

“I suppose that means that you do not expect him to be released anytime soon,” said Ducky.

“’Fraid not.  But we’re working on it.  I’ve got something to run past you.”

“Run away,” said Ducky grandly.

“What?  Oh yes, well, I was trying to think how someone could make an impression of Jethro’s teeth without him knowing it,” said Tony.

“To be sure, it is a puzzle,” said Ducky.  “What have you thought of?”

“Lottie.  She collected up the half-eaten apples at the barbecue.”

“Yes?”

“I was wondering if she could have used the one that Gibbs bit into to make a cast or a mould.”

“Dear me,” said Ducky, “She told me that she was collecting them to take to a donkey sanctuary that she supports in Virginia.”

“Oh,” said Tony a little dashed.  “But it would be possible?”

Ducky thought about it.  “it would be most ingenious,” he acknowledged.  “And from the little I saw of Charlotte’s work; I would say that she might be capable of doing it.”

“Good,” said Tony, “It fits with other things we’ve found out about her.”

“But,” said Ducky, “I must say that I think it is highly unlikely that it would work.”

“Ducky?”

“If the bite mark had only been made using the incisors and canines then it might be feasible – they would be the teeth used to bite into an apple.”

“So?”

“But the bite mark I found on the severed limb contained the marks from the molars and premolars at the back of the mouth.  I fear that nobody bites into an apple using their whole mouth,” said Ducky.  “It would mean someone putting the whole apple in their mouth and then biting down – that would be an extraordinary feat.”

“Damn,” said Tony.

“And, even if someone were to be so … venturesome … I doubt that even the crispest of apples would be capable of providing such an exact replica of Jethro’s teeth.”

“So, the apples are a bust,” said Tony.

“I fear so, Anthony.  You will need to find an alternative explanation.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, Abby, how you doing?” asked McGee when he saw Abby arrive in the squad room.

“Better,” said Abby determinedly.

“You sure?” asked Kate a little doubtfully.  Abby was always pale and big-eyed but, to Kate’s discerning eyes, it didn’t look as if make-up had been needed to get that day’s effect.

“Yes,” said Abby, “It’s time to do my best work.  It’s for Gibbs!  I mean, I’d do the same for any of you, I really would but right now it’s Gibbs who needs me.  And when Gibbs needs me, I will answer the call.  Forensics is my life blood and I’m willing to shed it for Gibbs … or for whichever one of you needs it.  But I hope you don’t … need it, I mean because it’s emotionally draining.  And I have a lot of emotions so when they get drained I’m really, really empty.”

“Looks like you’ve topped up,” said Paula.

“What?” snapped Abby.

Paula looked startled at the reaction to her comment, “I just meant … well, you implied you’d been emotionally drained but from here it looks as if you’ve had a refill.  Didn’t mean anything by it.”

Abby narrowed her eyes and stared at Paula.  Kate and McGee held their breath while they awaited the outcome.

“Huh,” said Abby and she spun around as best she could in her platform boots and strode out of the squad room.

“Phew!” breathed Tim in relief.  He looked at Kate and she nodded back: both resolved not to eat or drink anything near Paula in case Abby exacted some revenge by adding something to her snacks or beverages and they got caught in the fallout.

“What was that about?” asked Paula.

“She’s …” began Kate.

“Touchy?” suggested Paula.

“Sensitive,” said Tim.

“And passionate,” added Kate.

“She seems fixated on Agent Gibbs,” commented Paula.

“Yeah,” said Tim, “And word of advice, Cassidy – don’t tell Abby that you suggested that Gibbs might be guilty.”

“Why not?”

“Partly because she’ll get mad again,” said Kate.

“But mostly because she’s one of the few people who could kill you and not leave a trace,” said Kate.

Paula laughed but then stopped when she realised that Kate didn’t appear to be joking.

NCISNCIS

Meanwhile, Tony was mulling over Ducky’s assertion that one of the apples at the barbecue could not have been the source of a mould of Gibbs’ teeth but he found himself reluctant to abandon the idea completely.  He decided to visit Lottie before Abby arrived for her afternoon shift.

“Lottie … I mean, Charlotte,” he said when he went into the lab.

“Oh, Agent DiNozzo!  Actually, I don’t mind if you call me Lottie … it sounds nice when you say it,” said Lottie bashfully.

“Oh … right – that’s good to know … Lottie,” said Tony.  “I wanted to thank you for the statement you gave Agent Todd.”

“I hope it’s helpful,” said Lottie.  “Although of course, I don’t want to be responsible for Agent Gibbs going to prison.  And I had an idea.”

“Yes?”

“We’ve got the DNA from the legs.  I’m going to start running it against as many DNA databases as I can think of.  If we find a match, it could tell us who the victim is … or was.”

“Sounds good,” said Tony.

“It’s a long shot,” said Lottie, “But it’s worth a try, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” said Tony.  “Lottie, I wanted to ask you something.  Something that’s been puzzling me.”

“I’d be happy to help,” said Lottie, “Is it some aspect of forensics you need explaining?  I like to think I’m good at explaining things.”

“I’m sure you are,” said Tony.  “No, it’s nothing like that.  It’s something my daughter told me.”

“She’s a sweet child,” said Lottie, “And she looks like you.”

Tony squirmed slightly, “A lot of people think she looks more like my wife,” he said, “You know, the hair and the complexion.”

“I suppose,” said Lottie consideringly, “But she has your eyes.  And you know what people say?”

“What’s that?”

“The eyes are the window of the soul.”

Tony found he had nothing to say to that.  “Right.  So, my daughter said she saw you collecting the half-eaten apples at the barbecue.”

Lottie blushed a deep red, “Oh …” she said in a stricken voice.  “Oh.”

Tony was pleased at this reaction and pressed what he hoped was an advantage, “And I wondered why?”

“Uh … er … um, well, I wanted to see if I could create tooth impressions from them,” stammered Lottie.

“You did?”

“Yes … I thought it might be a useful thing to do,” said Lottie.

“That’s odd.  Because Dr Mallard thought you told him you were collecting them for a donkey sanctuary.”

“Oh!”  This time Lottie lost all colour in her face.

“So which is it?” asked Tony sternly.

“The donkey sanctuary,” mumbled Lottie.

“Excuse me?”

“I collected them to take to the donkey sanctuary.  I hate to see waste and I didn’t think anyone would mind.  They were just going to be thrown away.  Unless, of course, you were going to compost them?”

Gardening, like DIY, was something that Tony left to others and he wasn’t entirely sure if there was a DiNozzo compost pile in the backyard.  He nodded sagely but didn’t answer directly, “Why did you tell me that you were collecting them for forensics?” he asked.

“I didn’t want you to think that I was scavenging,” said Lottie, “I thought you might think that the teeth moulds would be a better reason.  I’m so sorry.”

Tony looked at Lottie, trying to decide where the truth lay.  “So, do you think that apple cores could be used to make an impression?” he asked.

Lottie seemed to consider this, “I don’t know.  I think it would depend on the apple.  How crisp it was.  And I think you’d have to use it almost immediately – you know how apples go brown and mushy quite quickly.”

“Right.  Interesting,” said Tony.  He was wondering what else to say but Abby’s arrival in the lab prevented the need to say anything.

“Babies!” she squealed before running around and patting each of her machines.  “And Tony!  Lottie!” she squealed again before hugging both of them.

“You OK, Abs?” asked Tony.

“I’m fine,” she said, “So long as you don’t let Agent Cassidy come down here.”

“Why, what’s she done?” asked Tony.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean to imply that Agent Gibbs was guilty,” said Lottie, “I think she was just being thorough.”

“What?” hissed Abby.

“Um, Tim … Agent McGee mentioned that she said …” Lottie limped to a halt as she encountered Abby’s blazing stare.

“What did she say?” demanded Abby.

“Hey!” ordered Tony, “Calm down.  You know how it is.  We have discussions about cases.   Throw everything up in the air – doesn’t matter if it turns out to be right or not.”

“You’ve all been discussing Gibbs being guilty!” raged Abby.

“No, we haven’t.  Paula doesn’t know Gibbs like we do.  She was right to point out where the evidence was leading,” said Tony.  “Abby, we all need to be professional about this.  A court is only going to be impressed by hard evidence – us standing up and saying we’re sure Gibbs is innocent isn’t going to cut it.  Understood?”

Abby bit her lip but eventually said, “Understood.”

“Good.  We need your best work,” said Tony.

“I’m going to re-run the blood and DNA tests,” said Abby.  She turned to Lottie, “It’s not that I don’t trust you but …”

“I understand,” said Lottie.  “It’s always better to have more than one person run tests.”  Abby beamed at her appreciatively.  “Although,” added Lottie thoughtfully, “The FBI have got the same results as us.”

“FBI!” hissed Abby in a tone which suggested they were as popular as Paula.

“Let me know what you find,” said Tony relieved that Abby was going to re-run the tests as he was still unsure about Lottie.

NCISNCIS

“Boss,” said Tim when Tony returned to the squad room, “We’ve got the court order so we can look at Avon Gillespie’s accounts.”

“Get on it,” ordered Tony.  “Kate, you and Paula go to the FBI.  Take a picture of Avon Gillespie and ask Gibbs what he knows about her.”

“Are we telling the FBI about her?” asked Paula.

“Yes,” said Tony, “I sent Agent Fornell an email.”

Paula nodded with satisfaction and left with Kate.

“Er, Boss,” said Tim, “You do know that Agent Fornell isn’t exactly tech savvy?  I doubt he checks his emails too often.”  He encountered Tony’s amused gaze, “Ah,” he continued, “I get it.”

“We’re co-operating with the FBI,” said Tony blandly.  “Now, what’ve you found?”

“No activity on any of her accounts since the day she saw Gibbs in the coffee shop,” said Tim.

“What was the last thing?”

“Um, a cab fare.”

“Give me the details.  I’ll contact the cab firm and find out where they took her.  You carry on digging.”  A few minutes later, Tony put the phone down on the taxi firm with a grim expression on his face, “Damn.”

“Boss?” asked Tim.

“Driver dropped her off in Fuller Road.”

“The Fuller Road that runs past Quantico?”

“That’s the one,” said Tony.

Tim frowned and went back to his searches with renewed vigour.  “How much longer can Gibbs be held without being formally charged?” he asked.

“Maximum of 72 hours,” said Tony, “Still some time to go.  Although if we carry on like this we’ll be giving the FBI the evidence to let them charge him.”

“Avon Gillespie,” said Tim, “Been living in DC about a month.  Looks as if she moved from Wyoming to take up the new job.  Graduated with a BA in fine art in theatre studies five years ago.  Had a few jobs, moved around quite a lot.  No criminal record, nothing hinky.”

“OK,” sighed Tony, “Keep an eye on her accounts in case something pops up.  And look at the Quantico security footage for the time the cab dropped her.  See if you can spot her.”

NCISNCIS

“Kate … Cassidy,” said Gibbs when he saw them standing outside his cell.  “Come to get me out?”

“Sorry, Gibbs,” said Kate.  “But we brought you coffee.”

“Better than nothing,” said Gibbs.  “Guessing you haven’t worked out what’s going on yet?”

“No, sorry … I mean, not sorry,” said Kate.  She turned to a puzzled Paula, “Gibbs has a rule about apologies.”

“Only use them when you mean them?” suggested Paula.

“No, don’t use them at all,” replied Kate.

“Sign of weakness,” elaborated Gibbs.

“That’s stup …” began Paula.

“Tony sent us,” said Kate hastily before Paula could enrage a Gibbs in a confined space.  “Do you know this woman?”  She showed him a picture of Avon Gillespie.

“No,” said Gibbs promptly.

“She was seen with you in the coffee shop,” said Paula.  “Looks as if she was arguing with you.  You must know her.”

Gibbs scowled at Paula.  “I didn’t say I hadn’t seen her,” he said, “I said I didn’t know her.  And I don’t!”

“Gibbs?” asked Kate.

“I saw her a couple of times when I went to get coffee.  First day she smiled and asked if I was a regular at the shop.  Next day, she accused me of not turning up for a date with her.”

“And had you made a date?” asked Paula.

Gibbs glared at Cassidy again, “No, Agent Cassidy, I didn’t.  It didn’t make sense.”

“What did you do?” asked Kate.

“Brushed her off and walked out,” said Gibbs.  “I don’t hang around with crazy people.  Especially crazy women.”

“Why do you think she spoke to you?” asked Paula.

“I don’t know,” said Gibbs, “Like I said, I thought she was crazy.  What’s this about?”

“Lottie … Abby’s new assistant mentioned that she’d seen you in an altercation at the coffee shop,” said Kate, “She thought she looked a little like the woman whose legs you chopped off …” Kate seemed to sense an imminent explosion from Gibbs and hastened to correct herself, “I mean, allegedly chopped off.”

“We don’t know what the victim looked like,” protested Gibbs.

“I think it was an equivalent height and build that Lottie noticed,” said Paula, “And Ducky thinks that the victim was probably a young woman.  It was well-spotted by Lottie.”

Gibbs growled his disapproval of this praise for Lottie and tried to drown his sorrow in the fresh cup of coffee brought by Kate.

“We’d best be going,” said Kate as she realised they had nothing else to say to Gibbs.  “Don’t worry, Gibbs.  We’ll get you out of here.”

“Look on the bright side,” said Paula, “At least you don’t have share a cell.”

Kate tugged at Paula and they walked away.  “I’m guessing you were one of those children who put their fingers in electric sockets … and if you had a stick and a bear came running towards you, you poke it!  Are you crazy, winding Gibbs up like that?”

Paula shrugged, “I didn’t want him to sink into a decline.  Time to liven him up a little.”

“It’s an interesting approach,” said Kate, “I don’t want to be anywhere near you when it all blows up in your face.”

NCISNCIS

“Hey, Boss, what you doing here?” asked Tony when he saw Chris Pacci exiting the elevator.  “You after my job?”

“Don’t tempt me,” grinned Chris.  “No, I’m on vacation next week.  A road trip to Southern England.  Ducky promised to help me work out some routes.”

“OK,” said Tony, “Er … you do know that Ducky’s from Scotland, don’t you?  Is he an expert on the South?”

“It’s Ducky,” said Chris, “He’s an expert on everything.”

“You’re probably right,” said Tony a little abstractedly.

“How’s it going with Gibbs?” asked Chris.

“Still in a holding cell with the FBI.  At least they haven’t charged him yet.”

“You’ll solve it,” said Chris.

“Wish I had your confidence,” said Tony gloomily, grateful he was on his own in the squad room.  The habit of confiding in his former boss was still strong and it was a relief to relax his determinedly cheerful persona for a moment or two.

“Let me know if I can help,” said Chris.  “Fresh pair of eyes might help.”

“I might take you up on that,” said Tony.  “FLETC getting boring?”

“What makes you say that?” asked Pacci.

“Don’t know.  You seem to be here a lot recently.”

“You could be right,” conceded Chris, “Don’t get me wrong, I love my job but sometimes … well, training people to investigate crime is all well and good but sometimes I miss catching crooks.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  But I don’t miss the midnight calls or stakeouts with cold coffee and clammy burgers,” smiled Chris.  “Better go.  You know how Ducky feels about tardiness!”

Tony sighed as he waved Chris off.  He looked at the pile of paper on his desk and tried to think of a new angle to follow.  He hoped that Kate and Paula would come back with something.

“Boss!” said Tim excitedly as he came running into the squad room.  “I just went down to Abby.  She’s got something!”

“What?” asked Tony with a resurgence of hope.

“Well, actually it was Lottie,” said Tim fairly.

Tony’s optimism waned a little.  “Go on.”

“Abby’s rerunning the tests and that gave Lottie time to do something else.  She thought about running the DNA from legs against as many DNA databases as she could.”

“She told me,” said Tony.

“And she didn’t find a match,” said Tim.

“I thought you said they’d found something,” said Tony irritably.

“They have.  They have.  Lottie did some more testing on the blood in the leg and she noticed that there seems to be more than one type of DNA present.”

“How can that be?” asked Tony.

“I don’t know,” admitted Tim, “It might be that the victim had a transfusion of some type recently.  The donor DNA stays in the system for a while.”

“And?”

“And Lottie and Abby ran the extra DNA against databases and she found a match.  Carla Johnson – she’s a nurse at Compassion Hospital in Baltimore,” said Tim.

“Let’s go!” said Tony.

“Shall I send an email to Fornell?” asked Tim quietly to Tony’s back.

NCISNCIS

Tim had always thought that Gibbs was the fastest driver in NCIS but he learned that day that Tony had a turn of speed when needed.  Tony saw Tim’s expression and grinned,

“This is my old stomping ground, Tim.  I know every road and shortcut in Baltimore!”

Nurse Carla Johnson was a cheerful and bubbly nurse who, as she pointed out, still had her legs.  Tim couldn’t help but observe that they were rather shapely legs which went well with the rest of her.  Seeing the junior agent’s distraction, Tony explained how she had been traced, “Our lab techs matched your DNA from a bone marrow database.”

“Oh,” said Carla.  “But I haven’t actually donated any bone marrow.  I’m willing to do it, of course but I haven’t been a match to anyone yet.”

“Have you donated anything else?” asked Tony.  “Anything else that has DNA?”

“I gave blood a few days ago,” said Carla.  “The blood reserves were low and we had a patient in need.  It was easy for me to donate because I’m a universal donor.”

Tony winced at the thought of giving blood wishing he didn’t have a fear of needles.

“What happened to the patient?” asked Tim seeing that it was Tony’s turn to be distracted.

“She died,” said Carla sadly.

“Do you have her name?” asked Tony.  “Was it Avon Gillespie?”

“She was a Jane Doe,” said Carla.  “No ID and we’re still trying to trace her.”

“Do you have a picture?” asked Tim.

“I don’t know.  Probably, the autopsy records are probably on the computer.  Let’s check.”

The efficient Carla soon brought up the records.  Tony wasn’t sure whether it was a good or bad thing that the picture was clearly not of Avon Gillespie.  “What was the cause of death?” he asked.

“Trauma to the chest.  She was in a car crash.  The rest of the body was still in perfect condition but she just lost too much blood,” said Carla.

“Where’s the body now?” asked Tim.

“Transferred to the County Coroner’s office.  They’ll hold on to it while they try to find an ID,” said Carla.

NCISNCIS

Tony decided it was time to update Fornell now that the owner of the legs had been found and it seemed clear that whatever crime had been committed it wasn’t murder.  Fornell agreed that he and Agent Sacks would go to the morgue and look at the body and report back.

“We solved it, didn’t we, Boss?” said Tim happily as they drove back.

“We know it wasn’t murder,” agreed Tony, “And it must have been an attempt to set Gibbs up.  But we don’t know why and we don’t know who.  And we still don’t know how.  But, yes, apart from that, Agent McGee, we’ve solved it.”

“Oh,” said Tim, “I’d forgotten that part.”

By the time they got back to the Navy Yard, Fornell had called to say that they had located the Jane Doe’s body at the morgue and found that she was indeed missing her legs.

“Does this mean you can let Jethro go?” asked Tony.

“I guess so,” said Fornell.  “Agent Sacks has taken a dislike to him but I managed to persuade him that you can’t charge someone with being annoying … or the victim of a crime.  So, yes, you can come and collect him.  In fact, please come and collect him.”

Tony put the phone down and called over to Tim, “Go and pick Gibbs up, Tim.”

“Me?” said Tim in surprise, “Don’t you want to go?”

“No,” said Tony, “I want to carry on thinking about it.  Something’s niggling me but I can’t think what it is.”

Tim nodded in agreement.

“Boss,” said Kate, “I just found the footage of Avon Gillespie being dropped off near Quantico.”

“Show me,” said Tony as he pointed to the plasma.

Kate showed the pictures of a cab pulling up on the road leading to Quantico and Avon getting out.

“What’s she doing?” asked Paula as she also peered at the screen.

“She’s just standing there,” said Tony.

“Wait,” said Kate, “Look!”

As they watched, they saw another car pull up and Avon got into it.

“I’ll see if we can zoom in on it,” said Paula, “See if we can see the licence plate, put out an alert.”

“And I’ll look at traffic cams,” said Kate, “We might be able see where it went.”

“This whole thing with Gillespie was a setup, wasn’t it?” said Paula.

“Looks that way,” said Tony smugly.

“Hey,” said Paula indignantly, “I didn’t want Agent Gibbs to be guilty!”

“Get on with finding that car,” ordered Tony, “I’m going to see Abby.”

Tony was still ambivalent about Lottie although it seemed to be her work that had resulted in tracing Carla Johnson.  It didn’t mean, he reasoned, that she wasn’t behind it; it might have been that she realised it would be too suspicious not to run the test properly with Abby at her shoulder.

“Good work, ladies,” he said as he entered the lab.  “We found the owner of the legs.”

Abby jumped up and down, squealed with happiness, clapped her hands and hugged Bert.  Tony allowed her her moment of joy and noticed that Lottie looked pleased too.  “And Gibbs?” asked Abby.

“About to be a free man,” announced Tony, “Tim is on his way to liberate him.”

Abby went through her happiness routine again.

“You found anything else?” asked Tony.

“Possibly,” said Abby, “It’s a definite maybe but I don’t know what it may be.”

Tony sighed, “It’s been a long day, Abs.  Explain.”

“I can’t.  Not yet.  It’s just that there’s something else present in the blood sample from the leg … Gibbs’ blood, I mean.”

“What something else?” asked Tony.

“I don’t know.  Major Mass Spec is on it as we speak.  And I am waiting for him to ding but he’s being stubborn.  It’s what comes of me being out of the lab.  My babies go off the boil.  But we’ll get there.”

“Any idea?” asked Tony.

“It might be some sort of preservative … or cleansing agent … or antiseptic,” said Abby.  “And knowing what it is, might not help.”

“Do your best,” said Tony.  “Gibbs might be on his way out but we still need to work out who did this.”

Abby saluted briskly.  “Aye aye, Captain!”

“And I’ll help,” said Lottie.

Tony nodded, still unsure whether or not that was a good thing.

He went back to the squad room and sent Paula and Kate home feeling that the urgency of the case had diminished and they could return refreshed the next day.  Before going home himself, he realised he should let Ducky know that Gibbs had been freed.  He smiled when he went into Autopsy and saw Ducky and Chris still poring over several maps spread over the steel tables. 

 “I will have my sat nav,” Chris was protesting.

“Yes, yes,” said Ducky, “But I still feel there is a romance in maps.  The feel of the paper …”

“The curses when you can’t fold it back properly,” said Tony.

“You may scoff, young man,” said Ducky severely, “But there is a knack to it.  And I always feel great satisfaction when I see a well folded map.  Mr Bland was down here earlier and he says that he experiences a similar pleasure.  It was he who procured some of these maps for me.  I asked him if he knew of any good map shops when I knew Christopher was coming and he was able to oblige.  In fact, he seems adept at finding things for people.  But, I digress.  If I may say so, you look happier, Anthony.”

“Yes,” smiled Tony, “We found the owner of the legs.  A Jane Doe, killed in a motor accident.”

“Not murdered?” said Chris.

“No.”

“So Jethro was indeed set up,” said Ducky, “Although, of course, we never doubted it.”

“McGee’s on his way to spring him out of jail,” said Tony.  “Now all we have to do is work out who, why and how!”

“This is good news indeed,” said Ducky.  “And now that you have good news, I hope you are going to go home to the bosom of your family and get some rest.”

“On my way, Ducky,” said Tony, “Just stopped by to give you the good news.”

“That was most considerate of you, Anthony.  I am most grateful.  Now, Christopher, if I might suggest …”

NCISNCIS

Tony got into his car and began the drive home.  He and Faith were planning a big vacation later in the summer.  They had thought of visiting Denmark to show Tilly and Jacob where Faith’s mother had been born and possibly visiting Legoland.  Tony found, however, that Chris’s plans for a road trip to England had stirred a sudden wish to visit the place of his own mom’s birth.  Almost without thinking, Tony began to plan the trip.  Then, as so often before, when he stopped thinking about the case, he had a sudden sense of things falling into place.

“No.  It can’t be,” he said, “That’s crazy!”

Chapter Text

Tony spun the car around and headed back to the Navy Yard calling Faith on the way to say he'd been delayed. He hurried back to his desk and powered up his computer. He sighed when he checked his emails and saw one from the FBI belatedly confirming that the blood on the saw taken from Gibbs' basement had matched that on the legs.

Tony picked up his phone and called the Deputy Director,

"Sir. DiNozzo here. Gibbs said you recommended a dentist to him. How long have you been using him? Oh, I see. Thank you."

Tony smiled grimly and then made another call,

"Abby. Yes, it's me. Abby, that something else that was with Gibbs' blood sample … could it be something dentists use?" He lifted the phone away from his ear as Abby gave an excited squeal. "OK, let me know."

Tony looked around the empty squad room and considered calling the others back in but decided he was well able to do the searches he needed to so began to work. Sometime later he became aware of someone standing by his desk,

"Oh, hi, Boss. You finished all the route planning?" he asked Pacci.

"We've got the first two days planned," grinned Pacci, "Ducky's certainly thorough! Hey, I thought you were on your way home."

"I was," said Tony gazing a little distractedly at his computer screen. "I had an idea."

Chris smiled as he recognised the abstracted look on Tony's face. "I'll leave you to it," he said.

"'Night," said Tony as he resumed his focus.

A few minutes later Pacci was back. "Here, made you a coffee. You look as if you need it."

"Thanks, Chris," said Tony. "I'm nearly done." He took a grateful sip of his coffee, "Hmm, you remembered the creamer."

"How could I forget?" shuddered Chris, "The number of times I picked up your coffee by mistake! I don't know how you drink that stuff."

"Ambrosia," sighed Tony happily, "Or do I mean nectar? Anyway, it's the drink of the gods."

"If you say so," said Chris. "Happy hunting!"

Tony continued with his work until Ducky walked past on his way home.

"Anthony, I thought you were going home?" he said severely. "I'm sure that whatever busy work you are doing can wait until tomorrow. And if you are relying on caffeine to keep you awake, it must certainly can wait."

Tony looked up a little blearily. "Oh, hey, Ducky. Yeah, you may be right." He rubbed his eyes wearily.

"Come along, Anthony," said Ducky, "Why don't you pack up? Jethro is on his way home. The urgency of your task has diminished."

Tony gulped the rest of his coffee down and switched his computer off. "Yeah, you're right." He stood up and swayed slightly.

"Anthony? Are you all right?" asked Ducky.

"Yeah. Just a head rush," said Tony.

"I think I should drive you home," said Ducky, "I'm not sure you should be driving."

Tony shook his head to clear it and was about to turn down Ducky's offer down but then decided that he really did feel too tired to drive. "Thanks, Ducky," he said.

"Excellent," said Ducky, "Now, let's go."

With an unexpected turn of speed, Tony had got to the stairs before Ducky could steer him towards the elevator but it seemed that the hurry had cleared Tony's head a little and he seemed more steady on his feet. Ducky quickened his own pace and got to the door to the stairs just in time to see Tony tumbling down them as his sense of balance failed him once more.

NCISNCIS

Tim felt that the liberation of Gibbs from FBI custody had not gone as smoothly as might have been expected. On reflection, perhaps giving Gibbs the jawharp from Lottie had not been a good idea but she had insisted that he would find it soothing. Lottie had been wrong.

McGee offered to take Gibbs to the Navy Yard but, unexpectedly, Gibbs opted to go home because he wanted a shower.

"You know, Gibbs," said McGee earnestly, "If the FBI didn't let you take a shower that's probably a violation of your rights. You could complain about that."

Gibbs glared at him, "They let me shower, McGee. But I can still smell prison on me. And I want to get it off. Got a problem with that?"

"No, Gibbs. Of course not," he took breath to continue speaking but then closed his mouth as he realised that Gibbs was probably not in the mood for small talk.

"Well, Gibbs, here we are," said Tim brightly as he drew up in front of Gibbs' house.

"Thank you for pointing that out," said Gibbs glumly.

Tim wasn't sure why he did it but he got out of the car and followed Gibbs to his front door. Perhaps he felt there should be an element of ceremony attached to Gibbs return to his abode.

"Ow!" shouted Gibbs as he banged his face on the door. "Who locked the door?"

"Oh. Oh, I guess that was Tony … or Fornell. They probably thought they shouldn't leave the house open," said Tim.

"Give me the key," ordered Gibbs.

"Um, I don't have it," said Tim.

"What?"

"Um, I don't have the key," repeated Tim. "Don't you have it?"

"Why would I have the key?" demanded Gibbs.

The obvious answer died on Tim's lips. "Couldn't you pick the lock?" he asked.

"I'm not going to break into my own house!" said Gibbs. "Call Tony!"

"Why?"

"Because he's got a key," said Gibbs trying to be patient but making it sound as if he was talking to a five-year old.

"On it," said Tim beginning to wish he had abandoned the idea of ceremony and left Gibbs to his own devices. He called Tony's cell, "Um, it's gone to voice-mail," he said a few seconds later.

"Then you'll have to drive me to your place," said Gibbs.

"What?" squawked McGee in terror. "I mean, why?"

"I need somewhere to sleep," said Gibbs. "And to take a shower."

"Uh, yes, I understand that," said McGee, "But why my place?"

"It's closest," said Gibbs.

McGee wondered if his coffee machine would make coffee strong enough for Gibbs and whether his unlumpy couch would be suitable for Gibbs. Somehow, he didn't think he'd be spending his usual four hours on his computer if Gibbs was a house guest. "I'll try Tony again," he suggested. Before he could try again however, his phone rang.

"McGee. Ducky! What? What happened? Where? OK."

"What's wrong?" asked Gibbs as he saw the look on Tim's face. "Tim?"

"That was Ducky. Tony's had an accident. He fell downstairs."

"Fell downstairs?" said Gibbs.

Tim resisted the urge to enquire if Gibbs was deaf and simply nodded.

"Where is he?" asked Gibbs.

"They've taken him to Walter Reed," said McGee. "Ducky said he's unconscious."

Gibbs clapped Tim on the back, "He'll be fine, Tim." Tim looked at him gratefully for this moment of solidarity and then paled as Gibbs continued, "I'll drive," and snatched the keys out of McGee's hand.

NCISNCIS

"What happened?" Gibbs asked as he and Tim ran into the waiting area at the hospital and saw Ducky and Faith sitting there.

"Ah, Jethro," said Ducky, "It is good to see you unincarcerated. Although it would be better to have seen you in more congenial circumstances. It is as I told Timothy, I had offered to drive Anthony home as he seemed rather weary. We were on our way to the parking garage when he took a tumble down the stairs."

"How is he?" asked Tim.

"I believe he probably has a broken arm. And possibly a concussion," said Ducky, "We await his doctor's report. And lo, here is Dr McGregor now."

"Mrs DiNozzo, Dr Mallard," said Dr McGregor, "We have a slight puzzle."

Faith sighed a resigned sigh, "What is it?" she asked.

"Well, as we suspected your husband has a broken radius and a concussion – probably just a mild concussion."

"And what is the puzzle?" asked Ducky.

"Agent DiNozzo has not regained consciousness," said the doctor, "We have taken blood samples as we do not believe the unconsciousness is due to a blow to the head."

"What do you mean?" asked Faith.

"We believe he may have fallen because he lost consciousness," said Dr McGregor.

"What?" said Faith.

"It is difficult to tell," said the doctor, "But we believe he may have been drugged. We are hoping that the blood tests will confirm this."

"Is he going to be all right?" asked Faith.

"We believe so," said the doctor, "I think it is just a matter of allowing the effect of the drug to wear off. Although, of course, we would not normally recommend a strong opiate in a concussion case. I don't think you need worry too much; we have Agent DiNozzo under close observation."

"May I see him?" asked Faith.

"Certainly. I will send someone to bring you to his room. He is being transferred upstairs as we speak."

"I am sure Anthony will be fine," said Ducky reassuringly. "You know … why, Abby, what are you doing here?"

"I had to come when I heard," said Abby as she clumped in. "And Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs – it's so good to see you. But …"

"It would have been better in more congenial circumstances," said Gibbs drily.

"What?" said Abby. She gave him a fierce hug in lieu of a reply. She then turned to Faith and hugged her too. "Is he all right? Well, I mean, he can't be if he's in the hospital. But is he going to be OK?"

"We hope so," said Faith extricating herself from the embrace.

"What does that mean?" asked Abby. "I need to know. There's been too much uncertainty. I don't think I can take any more. He has to be OK. And I wanted to tell him that he was right."

"Right about what?" asked Tim.

"He phoned down and asked me if the mystery chemical …"

"What mystery chemical?" asked Tim.

"The mystery chemical that was in Gibbs' blood. Well, I mean, not in Gibbs' blood … I don't think it's swimming around in Gibbs' actual blood but there was something in the sample that we had."

"And what did Tony say about it?" asked Gibbs.

"Tell me later," interposed Faith as she saw a nurse approaching, "I'm going to see Tony."

"Tell him we're all here," said Abby. "Tell him we love him. Well, tell him I love him. I'm sure Tim and Gibbs and Ducky do as well but they might not want to admit it. Not in front of everyone. Although I think it's totally cool to do things like that. I think we're all too buttoned up about our feelings. Not that I want to criticize … we all have our ways of coping but studies have shown that it's good … oh, she went."

"Abs," said Gibbs, "What did Tony say about the blood?"

"Oh. Well, I'd told him that there was something odd about the samples. I didn't notice at first: it's the sort of thing that you only tend to spot on a re-examination but if I'd been on the top of my game I might have noticed earlier. I guess Deputy Director Craig was right to send me home. But I might have spotted it the same day if he hadn't sent me home," mused Abby. "I guess we'll never know."

"Feels like we'll also never know what Tony said about the blood," said Gibbs.

"Gibbs!" said Abby looking hurt, "That's not nice." Gibbs stared at her. "Have I been rambling?" she asked penitently.

"Just a little," said Ducky kindly, "Now, why don't you tell us what has happened?"

"Right. Tony phoned and asked if the mystery chemical I found could be something used by dentists. And when I narrowed the parameters for Major Mass Spec's search to chemicals used in dentists' offices, he came up trumps. It's an antiseptic widely used by dentists."

"That makes sense," said Ducky, "A dentist would be in a perfect position to make a cast of Jethro's teeth either by making an actual impression or by the use of X-rays."

"And he could get a sample of DNA as well," said Tim.

"And blood," winced Gibbs.

"Have you visited the dentist recently?" asked Ducky.

Gibbs winced again, "Yes. Couple weeks ago. Took X-rays and I had a filling replaced. Wouldn't be surprised if there was some bleeding."

"You want we should go talk to your dentist?" asked McGee.

"You think?" said Gibbs sarcastically. "On second thoughts, bring him to the Navy Yard. We'll talk to him there. What? Why are you still here?"

"Uh, I need the name and address of the dentist," said McGee tentatively.

"Oh, yeah. It's Dr Bligh. Wisconsin Ave. Don't remember the number," said Gibbs.

"I'll find it," said McGee."

NCISNCIS

Gibbs stayed at the hospital with Faith through the night while Abby went back to the Navy Yard clutching a sample of Tony's blood so she could also try to work out how he had been drugged.

"I don't know what we'll do when Consuela moves out," said Faith. "It's such a relief having someone available to babysit." Gibbs nodded wisely but frowned when Faith continued, "She's a treasure. She was meant to be going to some gala dinner tonight but she cancelled it without a second thought."

"Who was she going with?" asked Gibbs.

Faith could have made a good guess as to the identity of Consuela's companion but she held her peace. "What was that?" she asked when she heard Tony mutter,

"Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire … no, that's not right. Surrey, Hampshire …"

"Why's he got English place names on his mind?" asked Faith.

Gibbs shook his head, "No idea."

Dr McGregor returned during the night to confirm that Tony did indeed seem to have been drugged although they hadn't finally identified the drug used.

"Doctor," said Faith, "He seems to be muttering something. But it doesn't make sense."

"I think that's encouraging," said the doctor, "It shows he's beginning to fight the sedative. And it might not be nonsense, it may just be something on his mind which isn't yet coming out coherently."

Faith nodded and took hold of the hand on Tony's uninjured arm and reconciled herself to having to wait this one out. As dawn broke, Gibbs left her to go to the Navy Yard and see what McGee and the others had found.

"Report!" he snapped as he strode to his desk.

"Gibbs, how is Tony?" asked Kate.

"Still out of it," said Gibbs. "Seems fixated on taking a tour of Southern England."

"That might be my fault," said Pacci who seemed to have decided to remain at NCIS HQ for a while. "He came into Autopsy when Ducky and I were planning my vacation."

"Ah," said Gibbs as one mystery was solved.

"You found Dr Bligh?" he asked Tim.

"Went to his office last night," said Tim, "But he's out of town for a conference. He's booked on a flight into Dulles at 07.30. I'll be there to pick him up."

"Found anything out about him?" asked Gibbs.

"Seems to be a good dentist," said Paula, "No complaints against him but …"

"But?" said Gibbs.

"He's got some debts," said Kate. "Nothing too serious at the moment but he needs to get them sorted."

"What's going on?" asked Deputy Director Craig, "I heard about Agent DiNozzo. Is he OK?"

"Fell downstairs," said Gibbs, "Looks as if he was drugged."

"And I know how," said Abby arriving with a triumphant smile on her face with Ducky in tow.

"Abby?" asked Gibbs. "What you find?"

"Zolpidem. It's a sedative," said Abby. "And I think I know how it was given to him."

"How?" asked Gibbs.

"It's quite fast acting. So it must have been in what he was eating or drinking just before he fell down," said Abby.

"He was drinking coffee when I urged him to go home," said Ducky. "In fact, his last action was to finish off the drink."

"My God," said Pacci, "I made him that drink!"

"Where did you get the coffee from?" asked Gibbs.

"From the break room," said Pacci.

"Cassidy! Go get the coffee. And tell people not to drink any of it until we're sure it's OK," said Gibbs.

"Was there anything else?" asked Ducky. "It seems strange that nobody else in the office has fallen asleep overnight."

Pacci looked distressed as he tried to think, "I put some of that hazelnut creamer in," he remembered.

"I'll go get it," said Kate as she anticipated Gibbs' next order.

"Anthony is the only person who drinks that sugary nonsense," observed Ducky. "If the sedative was put in the creamer that would explain why nobody else has experienced any side-effects."

Kate and Paula returned with the ground coffee and the hazelnut creamer.

"I'll take those," said Abby, "And check them for fingerprints." She walked off with determination.

"Zolpidem is often used by dentists," observed Ducky.

"Why does that matter?" asked Jerome.

"We think it is possible that Jethro's dentist was responsible at least for obtaining the blood and DNA samples and creating the means of making the bite mark," said Ducky.

"It's time to go to the airport," said McGee.

"Take Cassidy," said Gibbs.

"Come on, Probie," said Tim.

Gibbs grinned at the note of authority in Tim's voice.

"Agent Gibbs," ordered Jerome, "Let Agent McGee do the interrogation. You can't do it. You were the victim of this crime."

Gibbs looked mulish for a moment but knew that Craig was right so simply nodded.

An hour and a half later, Craig and Gibbs were watching McGee confront Dr Bligh in interrogation with an excited Paula sitting in.

"Dr Bligh," said Tim pleasantly, "I'm sure you know why you're here."

"No," said the dentist, "I have no idea. I hope this isn't going to take too long. I have patients waiting for me. I have a root canal to perform as well as checking on how a brace has corrected a bad case of malocclusion."

"You obviously care about your patients," said Tim in the same pleasant voice.

"Yes, I do. A good smile is so important, don't you think?" said the dentist beginning to relax.

"I believe you had a new patient recently," said Tim.

"My practice is expanding," said Bligh with a touch of complacency.

"It probably needs to," put in Paula.

"Eh? What?" asked Bligh.

"We looked at your company's records," said Tim. "It's in trouble."

"Teething problems?" suggested Paula.

It looked as if Bligh wanted to ignore the annoying Paula and focus on the apparently more affable Tim, "I may have had some cash flow problems," he admitted.

"So it's good you had a new patient," said McGee gently.

"I guess," said Bligh a little shiftily.

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs," said McGee.

"You must be a brave man," said Paula.

"Excuse me?" said Bligh.

"I wouldn't want to get close to Agent Gibbs with a dentist drill," mused Paula.

In the observation room, Gibbs grinned grimly both at Paula's comment and Bligh's involuntary jump at learning that Gibbs was a federal agent.

"Mr Gibbs was a model patient," he said weakly.

"I guess he must have been," said Tim thoughtfully.

"Why's that, Agent McGee?" asked Paula.

"Well, he kept his blood, DNA and X-rays," said Tim conversationally, "He must have been real fond of it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Bligh.

"You mean you didn't keep all the samples?" asked Tim.

"Of course not," said Bligh.

"Of course he didn't, Agent McGee," said Paula in a critical voice.

"Oh, I see," said McGee, "You're right." A momentary look of relief dawned on Bligh's face. "I mean why would he do that?" The look of relief looked a little firmer. "I guess he didn't save the samples just because he was fond of Agent Gibbs. Do you agree, Agent Cassidy?"

"I guess so," said Paula, gazing at Bligh as if she could believe anything of their suspect.

"So it must be that he sold the samples to someone," said Tim severely. "And it would be best for you to tell us the truth now," said Tim.

"After all you don't want to be fixing your own teeth in prison," said Paula helpfully.

"They're a good team," said Jerome to Gibbs.

Gibbs nodded, it seemed an unlikely pairing but it was working.

On the other side of the glass, Bligh had crumpled.

"Who did you sell the samples to?" asked McGee.

"I don't know," said Bligh. Cassidy and McGee got up to go and Bligh hurried on, "It's the truth, I swear. It was all arranged by phone and he paid in cash."

"He?" asked Tim.

"Yes, it was a man. He seemed to know the company was in trouble."

"How much did he give you?" asked Paula.

"$1000," said Bligh. "I left the samples in a locker at the bus station. When I got to the locker the money was inside. That's all I know. I didn't think it would do any harm."

"Write it all down," ordered McGee. "Where and when you made the deposit. Cassidy, make sure he does it right."

When McGee got to the door, Dr Bligh spoke again, "Do you think this means that Mr … Agent Gibbs won't be my patient anymore?"

"Seriously?" said McGee.

"I'll admit he was a little scary," admitted Bligh, "But it's good to have someone so stoic. It made a nice change not to have a nervous patient. He'd have managed without an injection too."

"I'll ask him," said McGee.

"Well?" asked Jerome.

Gibbs shrugged, "Don't know. He was a good dentist."

Kate and Pacci went to the bus station to examine the locker and see if there was any security footage of people using the locker identified by Bligh.

"We took fingerprints," said Pacci.

"Lots of them," said Kate gloomily. "We think the locker has been rented out a few times since Bligh collected his cash and deposited the samples."

"It would be a textbook case for a forensics class," said Pacci wistfully.

"What about the footage?" asked McGee.

"It's a bust," said Kate, "We saw Bligh but whoever put the cash in and then retrieved the samples seems to have chosen a locker that was out of the way and made sure to keep his or her face covered."

"Male or female?" asked Paula.

"Couldn't even tell that," said Pacci. "Would be tall for a woman but not out of the way. Clothes were shapeless and without any logos on. Was wearing a jacket with the hood up."

"Get it down to Abby," ordered Gibbs. "Maybe she or that other woman … what's her name … Dottie can enhance it."

"Lottie," said Paula.

"What?" said Gibbs.

"It's Lottie, not Dottie," she sensed Gibbs' impatience, "But hey, it probably doesn't matter."

"Going down to Abby," announced Gibbs, "Cassidy, you're with me."

"Do you think that's a good idea?" asked Paula.

"What?" demanded Gibbs.

"It's just that Abby doesn't seem to like me much," said Paula.

Gibbs paused; it was unlike Abby to take a dislike to someone on the MCRT. "What you do?" he asked.

"What makes you think it was anything I did?" protested Paula. Gibbs didn't answer but just raised an eyebrow. "OK," continued Paula, "I might have suggested that you were guilty of murder and Abby might have heard about it."

Gibbs shrugged with apparent unconcern. "Hell, I'd have thought me guilty! Good work, Cassidy."

Paula looked pleased but also hesitated, "So, do I come down to Abby's with you?"

Gibbs also hesitated, he didn't want any areas to be no-go for his team but he felt he needed Abby at her best and not distracted by some internecine battle.

"Stay here," he ordered, "Take over from Kate. Kate, you're with me."

Abby and Lottie had nothing to report. The coffee and creamer containers had been wiped clean fairly recently. The coffee tin had a few prints on while the hazelnut creamer tin was still clean.

"Wow," said Abby, "Tony really is the only person who likes that creamer."

"He might not like it so much when he finds out what it did to him," remarked Kate.

"Oh well," said Abby philosophically, "Every cloud has a silver lining."

"Or every silver lining has a cloud," said Gibbs equally philosophically.

"I can see you're a glass half-empty sort of person, Agent Gibbs," said Lottie, "That's why I got the jawharp for you. It will soothe you. Have you used it yet?"

Abby and Kate waited tensely for Gibbs' response.

"No," he said curtly.

"Oh," said Lottie.

"Abby, check the prints you have got. See who it was who used the coffee tins," said Gibbs.

"Aye aye," said Abby, "But I don't think it will help."

"Why not?" asked Kate.

"Because Pacci's prints aren't there and we know he handled the tin," said Lottie. "Poor man."

"Why?" asked Abby.

"He must feel so guilty about having made Agent DiNozzo's drink. He could have died, you know," replied Lottie.

"Who? Pacci?" asked Gibbs.

"No, Agent DiNozzo. He could have been driving home and fallen asleep at the wheel. Who knows what might have happened?"

Abby's eyes filled with tears at this possibility and Gibbs glared at Lottie. He gave Abby a kiss on the cheek and said, "Keep on looking. Kate, come on."

In the elevator, Gibbs heard Kate sniff. For a moment he thought she was trying not to cry but when he looked at her, he saw that she looked pained.

"Kate?" he asked, "What's up?"

"No offence, Gibbs, but you stink!" she replied.

Gibbs was about to get angry with her but then realised that it had been nearly 24 hours since he had intended to have a shower and get rid of the prison smell. So far, he had not been near hot water and soap. "Oh, yeah," he said, "I've had other things on my mind." He was suddenly aware that the prison smell was mixed with a hospital smell as well. "I'll go home and shower," he announced.

"You could shower in the gym," suggested Kate.

"No, I'll go home. Get a change of clothes. Nothing's going to happen here for a while. I'll check in on Tony on my way back. Tell the others to keep looking," said Gibbs.

"Pacci said he thought Tony was on to something," said Kate, "When he saw him working here last night. He'd sent everyone else home, you know. Chris said Tony had that look on his face – that was why he got him the drink, to keep him going."

"Pacci's got to let it go," said Gibbs, "This wasn't his fault."

NCISNCIS

The rest of the team continued working in Gibbs' absence. They still hadn't found a trace of Avon Gillespie while Abby couldn't enhance the bus station pictures enough to make an identification.

"The guy who put the cash in the locker is the same build as Bligh," said Kate, "Are we sure he didn't do everything?"

"I think he was telling the truth," said Tim, "He smelled frightened."

At that moment they heard a voice from the elevator, "Five minutes, that's all and then I'm taking you home."

They turned and saw Faith leading a slightly wobbly Tony towards his desk. Ducky was hovering behind them.

"Tony!" said Kate. "Are you all right?"

"Of course he's not all right!" said Faith crossly, "He has a concussion and a broken arm and is recovering from being drugged. He should be at home in bed. Or better still, in hospital in bed!"

"I'm fine," said Tony. "And you know that the doctor said I had an overreaction to the drug."

"That does seem to be true, Faith," said Ducky. "We all know that Anthony tends to be sensitive to a number of medications. It may well be that the perpetrator of this malign action intended just to make Anthony a little sleepy. However, that does not make the situation any better and I concur with Faith that he should be resting quietly."

"And I will," said Tony. "I just want to know what's going on before I go home and rest. What did Abby find out about the chemical on the blood samples?"

"You were right," said Tim, "Used by a dentist."

"Have you found …"

"The dentist? Yes," said Kate, "It was Gibbs' dentist."

"And he did …"

"Yes, he did," said Paula, "We brought him in and he admitted that someone had paid him to put the samples in a locker."

"But we don't know who drugged you," said McGee.

"Or who bribed the dentist," said Kate.

Tony had begun to look a little putout at the amount of ground covered by his team in his absence but he looked brighter at this. "So you haven't worked it out?" he asked.

"Worked out what?" asked Paula.

"I suppose I had a head start on you," admitted Tony. "It was listening to Chris that made me wonder."

McGee, Kate and Paula looked at Pacci with a hint of suspicion although they couldn't believe Chris would have anything to do with Gibbs being framed but he had given Tony the drugged drink …

"It was when Chris and Ducky were planning the vacation route. And they had all these maps out," said Tony. "And it made me think of things my Mom used to say. She was British," he added for Paula's benefit.

"And what did the maps make you think of, Anthony?" asked Ducky. "Don't keep us in suspense."

"The number of people who were named after counties in England," said Tony.

"What?" asked Tim.

"Devon Bland. Avon Gillespie … and yes, Ducky, I know strictly speaking Avon's not a county anymore, but it was when she was born," said Tony.

"So?" said Kate.

"And Ducky said that Devon was good at finding things for people," said Tony.

"Again, so?" said McGee.

"I called Deputy Director Craig and asked him why he recommended Gibbs' new dentist to him. And he said that he'd asked Devon if he knew of a good dentist and he passed the suggestion on to him." Tony continued meditatively, "I suspect that our Deputy Director uses a New Agey sort of dentist, not really the type that Gibbs would go for."

"That's a bit thin, isn't it?" asked Kate. "I mean, Devon's not that uncommon a name."

"I agree," said Tony, "So I did some checking on Devon and Avon. Turns out they're cousins. Seems it was a family thing, giving children the names of English counties."

"Well," conceded Tim, "I guess that's more of a connection."

"And Avon majored in drama," said Tony, "She'd be more than capable of making a scene with Gibbs."

"But why?" said Paula, "Why did he do it?"

"You have to admit that he'd have had opportunity to spike the creamer," said McGee.

"And everyone knows Tony's the only one who likes it," said Kate.

Jerome Craig came down the stairs from his office and heard the part of the conversation about Devon and the dentist, "I'm afraid Devon was in my office when Tony called me last night. He heard me say that it was he who gave the recommendation. He also knew that Agent Gibbs had been released."

"It still seems a little unlikely," said Ducky, "I mean, two people named after counties."

"There were three," said Tony.

"Three?" said Paula, Tim and Kate in unison.

"Three," said Tony, "You're forgetting the guy in our previous case, the guy we went into protective custody for - Kent Haskell. Another cousin and someone else named after a county. I suspect that dear bland Devon Bland was out for a subtle revenge on Gibbs. And he nearly got there. Who wants the pleasure of arresting him? I have a feeling my wife is going to make me go home and not have any fun."

"Before you all volunteer," said Jerome, "There's a problem."

"Sir?" asked Tony.

"Devon didn't come into work today. And he hasn't reported in sick. That's most unlike our efficient Mr Bland," said Craig.

"Where's Gibbs?" asked Tony as he suddenly became aware of his senior agent's absence.

"Gone home," said Kate.

"BOLO on Devon Bland," ordered Tony, "Grab your gear, all of you. We're going to Gibbs' house!"

"But you can't go," protested Faith.

"I'll be careful," promised Tony, "But we've got to catch Bland. I've got a feeling he's in a corner now and he'll give up on the subtle approach. McGee, call Gibbs, tell him he's in danger!"

"No answer," said Tim, "Cell goes to voice mail and landline is dead."

"Move it!" ordered Tony

Chapter Text

The intruder had quickly found a vantage point in Gibbs’ house so he could take him down as soon as he came through the front door.  He settled down to wait and found that he was enjoying the sense of anticipation.  He pictured the look of surprise on Gibbs’ face as he saw his visitor and imagined how surprise would turn to shock, and perhaps even terror, as he realised that the end was near.  He wondered how it would feel to pull the trigger, to feel the recoil of the weapon and to see Gibbs crumple to the floor.  He allowed himself a smile and, although the wait was pleasurable, he wanted it to be over.  He tensed as he heard footsteps approaching and hands on the door: he raised the gun in readiness and jumped slightly as a flyer for pizza was shoved through the letter box.

A few minutes later he heard a car draw up outside and footsteps once more approaching.  He frowned when he heard talking and realised that someone had brought Gibbs home.  He knew he had a few moments’ grace as Gibbs would have to unlock the door so stole forwards to try and see who Gibbs’ companion was.  He saw Agent McGee standing uncomfortably next to Gibbs and then he jumped as Gibbs banged his head against the door when it didn’t open to his touch.

He drew back slightly, waiting for Gibbs to find his key.  It wasn’t ideal but he reckoned he might be able to shoot both Gibbs and McGee as they came in.  He waited tensely but then heard Gibbs and McGee bickering about why the door was locked and then he heard McGee get a phone call about Agent DiNozzo being hurt and both of them hurrying off.

He sat on the stairs as he considered what to do.  The injury to DiNozzo was unexpected but might play into his hands.  At first when Devon had learned that Gibbs was about to be released from custody he had been angry but then he resolved simply to wait for another opportunity.  It was DiNozzo’s phone call to Craig which had changed things: once his name was connected to the case he knew that things would unravel quickly.  He resolved to try and delay DiNozzo from making any more connections and he put another of his plans into operation.  Devon prided himself on being prepared; he pictured himself as a spider in a web or a predator with its lures and bait.  When he had learned of DiNozzo’s predilection for the coffee creamer he had taken the precaution of dosing some with a sedative procured from the obliging (and venal) Dr Bligh: he didn’t know if he’d ever need to use it but he liked the idea of it being there.

On learning both that Gibbs had been released and that DiNozzo knew who had recommended the dentist, Devon hurried down to the break room and put the doped creamer in place.  He had been wondering how to get a drink to DiNozzo but luck, as so often, had played into his hands – seeing Chris Pacci coming into the room, he had ducked out of sight and then watched as the newcomer made a drink and laced it liberally with the creamer.  Devon had relaxed, knowing that the coffee was destined for DiNozzo.  He had only intended to send DiNozzo to sleep but it seemed that he’d managed something else; his thoughts turned momentarily to the DiNozzo children but he resolutely put them to the back of his mind.

Devon considered his options.  He could follow Gibbs and McGee to the hospital but somehow he felt his best chance lay with waiting for Gibbs to return when he hoped that Gibbs would be on his own and easier to take by surprise.

Like Gibbs, Devon had been surprised to find the door locked when he arrived: on his previous visits to steal, and then return, the saw the door had been helpfully unlocked.  Finding the door barred to him meant that he had had to go around the back and break a window to get in.  Not knowing how soon Gibbs would be back from the FBI building he had taken up his position but now, with Gibbs likely to be away sometime, he decided to explore a little.

His first visit was to the basement but he found it changed from his first visits as most of the tools had been removed by the FBI.  Devon had not previously examined the basement thoroughly as he had only been after a saw but, with time to spare, he looked more closely and soon spotted a curious locked box.  He sprinted up to the kitchen and found a strong knife and used it to jimmy the box open.  Devon stared at the sniper rifle which lay within and then reached out to stroke it lovingly.  He lifted it out and put the sight to his eye, this would be even better: killing Gibbs with his own sniper rifle.  Devon rummaged around until he found bullets for the weapon and, as he loaded it, remembered how his cousin Kent had taught him to shoot. 

Devon’s times with Kent were almost the only happy times of his childhood.  He had never known his father and his mother had struggled to bring him and his sister up; money had been tight and she had been mentally unstable.  When things got really bad he and his sister Ely had been sent to stay with his aunt and her family.  Kent had been big, kind and willing to have a little kid trail around after him.  Devon had idolised Kent and had never believed the bad things people had begun to say about him when he joined the Marines and life went wrong for him.  Kent had always said everything would have been OK if Jethro Gibbs hadn’t reported him for the irregularity on the marksman’s course, he felt everything went downhill from there.  Devon smiled as he thought once more about the look on Gibbs’ face when he finally came home.

Devon explored the rest of the house and wondered why the upstairs bedrooms seemed unused with dust gathering.  He went into the largest room and saw that not everything was uncared for: there were photos on the nightstands which were obviously cherished.  In one, Gibbs was being hugged by a red-headed woman and a child and in another a small girl beamed out in trust and happiness.  The girl had Gibbs’ blue eyes but, unlike his cool version, hers were warm and sparkling.  Devon found himself smiling back but then, as his own memories of a little girl flooded in, he angrily swept the picture to the floor.  He furiously wiped tears from his eyes and went to look at the only room whose door was closed.

He entered a room almost overwhelming in its pinkness, a haven where a little girl had no doubt dreamt her dreams and hoped her hopes for the future.  The room was clean and polished but somehow Devon didn’t think Gibbs came into it for any other reason than to keep it clean, there was something pristine and untouched about it.  He didn’t come in to touch the lonely teddy-bears or re-read the children’s stories and Devon could empathise: he knew he wouldn’t have been able to throw Ely’s toys away but it would be too painful to touch them.  A familiar buzzing sounded in his head and he shook himself to try and get rid of the sound.

As the hours passed, Devon decided he needed something to eat but knew he couldn’t risk Gibbs returning home during a trip to the store.  He laughed to himself: in his persona as the bland Mr Bland he was law-abiding and thoughtful but he was leaving that version of himself behind and stealing from Gibbs’ kitchen was nothing to be feared.  After searching the kitchen, Devon wondered what Gibbs fed himself with as his kitchen cabinets seemed to be stocked mostly with baked beans and crackers.  He helped himself and took a perverse pleasure in leaving the plates unwashed, cans scattered on the work tops and crumbs on the floor.

Night began to fall and the shadows lengthened but Devon was wary of putting any lights on.  He sat in the gathering gloom and tried to keep alert for the sounds of Gibbs’ return.  Against expectation he found himself relaxing, there was something calming but Gibbs’ utilitarian and somewhat Spartan house.  The absence of ornaments and stuff was soothing to someone like Devon who was constantly on the alert, constantly trying to analyse what was going on, discern a hidden meaning, find a pattern.

As Devon unwound, he found himself thinking about the pattern of recent days.  He felt that the way things had fallen into place showed that the universe had wanted him to do what he was doing.  His cousin Avon had moved to DC and been more than ready, for $3000, to play a part with Gibbs and then take a vacation without use of phones or credit cards.  He had heard Gibbs talk about needing to find a new dentist and had been able to find an amenable dentist to harvest the DNA: Devon hadn’t heard Ducky’s praise of his finding abilities but would have been pleased to know that his talents were recognised and appreciated.  And then, just as a plan was forming in his mind, the friend in a nearby morgue who he had carefully cultivated, told him of a Jane Doe.  It was all perfect and he knew he should never have doubted.

Devon had been devastated to find out that Kent had been charged with a serious crime and even more devastated when, after the attempted kidnapping, his cousin had confessed to the crimes.  Devon knew that there was nothing to be done for Kent now but he wanted revenge.  Still hesitating, he had seen the advertisement for a vacancy in the Deputy Director’s office and decided that, if he was successful, this would be a sign that he should act against Gibbs.  In the event it had been easy and Jerome Craig had been impressed by his efficiency.  Devon decided that blandness with a quirky twist was probably a good tactic: people trusted him but did not seek his company in case he preached to them about veganism and yoga.

Devon waited through the long night, occasionally falling asleep but then jerking awake at the sound of someone walking past in the street or the hoot of an owl passing nearby.  Devon could vaguely remember a Christmas Eve at his aunt’s house, the sense of anticipation and excitement of the morning to come and, as he prepared for Gibbs’ homecoming he felt a similar sense of excitement.  As dawn broke he resumed his position on the stairs and waited.

But Gibbs didn’t come.  As the light strengthened the shadows receded; the world, and Devon, prepared for a day’s work but still Gibbs didn’t come.

Devon began walking through the house, opening drawers, examining closets and looking at the bookshelves.  He helped himself messily to more food but he avoided the upper rooms with their memories and reminders.  The day drew on and the house began to feel like a prison cell to Devon, a place he could not leave without the permission of his gaoler – the gaoler he identified as Gibbs.  A small voice murmured to him that he could just get up and leave and he was tempted for a moment but then he pictured Kent sitting in his own cell and his determination flared once more.

Devon was good at waiting but even he began to weary as morning turned to afternoon and still Gibbs did not return.  He wondered what would happen if somehow Gibbs had been killed, he began to picture a car crash or a shooting and didn’t know whether or not he would be pleased to be deprived of his prey.

He wandered into the kitchen to get a drink of water when he heard a noise at the door.  Devon was cautious as there had been many false alarms during the day with leaflets being delivered and even someone canvassing for an upcoming election and he had not heard a car drawing up.  He stood, poised for action, and then stiffened as he heard the key in the lock: it seemed that Gibbs had found his key and had come home.  Devon wasn’t in his preferred position and had indeed left the sniper rifle on the stairs but he had his own gun which would be enough.

Gibbs walked through the door and heaved a sigh of relief at being back in his refuge after days in custody and a night at the hospital.  And as he sighed, he smelt something.  Gibbs might have struggled to say what was different but his house didn’t smell as it should do after being left empty for so long.  It was perhaps like the three bears coming home and knowing that someone had been in their beds and eating their porridge but somehow Gibbs didn’t think his visitor would be as benign as Goldilocks.  And he suspected that, like the three bears, his visitor was still present.  The air was not quite as still as it should have been if he was the only occupant and there was an unfamiliar shadow in the kitchen.  Trusting that the intruder didn’t have a clear shot at him, he raced into his living room and dived behind the couch.

For a few moments, Gibbs huddled behind the couch wondering if he had been overly cautious but then he heard footsteps coming out of the kitchen.  He popped his head up and saw that the shadow had moved closer but that the body to which it belonged was tucked behind the doorway.

“Come out, Agent Gibbs,” came a voice which he could not quite identify.  Gibbs stayed silent.

“I know where you are, Agent Gibbs,” said the voice again, “You can’t get away.”

“Bland?” said Gibbs incredulously as he finally realised who his visitor was.

“That’s right,” said Devon.  “I’ve had a change of plan.”

“It was you?” asked Gibbs.  He felt for his cell and cursed to himself when he realised that it had gone off charge while being held by the FBI and he hadn’t taken time to charge it.  He gazed across at his landline and began to calculate if he could make a dash for it.

“Yes, it was me.  I’ve been very busy,” said Devon proudly.  “And one of the things I did was to cut your telephone line, so don’t think about using it.”

“Nobody to call,” said Gibbs nonchalantly.

“I guessed that, I’ve been looking through your house, Agent Gibbs.  It’s sad.”

Gibbs scowled at the thought of someone pawing through his stuff but he didn’t rise to Devon’s comment.  “You won’t get away with this,” he said instead.

“What makes you think I want to?” asked Devon.

NCISNCIS

Tony sent Pacci and Paula to Devon Bland’s address in case he was there while he went with Tim and Kate to Gibbs’ house.

“He’s not here,” said Tim as they pulled up a little way up the road from Gibbs’ house.  “His car’s not here.”

“Did he drive it?” asked Kate.

“It wasn’t in the garage when we left,” said Tony, “He must have.”

“Where did he go then?” asked Tim.

“He might have gone back to the hospital,” said Kate.  “He said he’d do it on the way back but maybe he changed his mind.”

“He might have gone to the diner,” suggested Tim, “I didn’t see him eat anything today.  Might have been hungry.”

Tony stared at the house but couldn’t see any sign of life.  “Kate, check the hospital.  Tim, call the diner – see if he’s shown up there.  Try and think of other places he might have gone.  Maybe check with Fornell too.”

“On it, Boss,” said Tim, “Where are you going?”

“I’ll check the house.  Make sure he’s not there.  Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

Kate and Tim nodded and began their calls.  Tony walked slowly up the path, wondering if coming out with his junior agents had been such a good idea after all: his bed felt a very attractive place at that moment.  He got to the front door and, out of habit, turned the door handle before remembering that the door was probably still locked.  His eyes widened as the handle turned and the door opened.  He gave brief thanks that he had remembered to put his weapon on his left side and drew the gun before going in quietly.

He couldn’t see anyone but, like Gibbs earlier, had a sense that the house was not empty.

“Tony, get back!” came Gibbs’ voice from behind the couch, he had spotted Tony at door but lacked time to stop him from coming in.

Tony had long trained himself to react immediately to a warning from a team member and he immediately flattened himself against the wall.

“Gibbs?  You all right?” he asked.

“Sure.  Though I need to vacuum behind the back of the couch!”

Tony managed a laugh at this evidence that Gibbs was OK.  “Didn’t think you were home,” he said.  “Your car’s not on the drive.”

“Took it in for a service,” said Gibbs.  “It was meant to go in the day the FBI took me into custody.  Hal promised to do a rush job.  I was going to pick it up on my way back.”

Tony looked around and saw a shadow in the kitchen, “I’m guessing you’ve got company?  Devon?”

“Yep.  How’d you know?”

“He’s Haskell’s cousin,” said Tony.  “Don’t know why he’s doing this …”

“It’s all his fault!” shouted Devon from the kitchen.

“How?” said Gibbs.

“You know how!  He was doing fine until you reported him.  You didn’t have to but you did anyway!”

Gibbs remembered that Tony had discovered that Gibbs had reported Haskell for an irregularity on a marksman’s course although he had no memory of having done so.  “It was my job,” he said, “I didn’t know who it was but it just looked as if someone had massaged their score so they’d pass.  I just told the colonel what I’d found.”

“Liar!” screeched Devon, “You knew.  You were just jealous that he was a better marksman than you.  But they said that he’d cheated.  Kent said they never really trusted him again, they were always watching him.  If it hadn’t been for you, he’d have done everything he’d ever wanted.”

“You mean lie and cheat?” asked Gibbs.

“Jethro,” said Tony warningly.  “Devon, you need to calm down.  There’s nothing you’ve done yet that can’t be sorted out.  Why don’t we talk this through?”

“I don’t want to talk about anything,” said Devon.  “What’s the point?”

“Works for me,” said Tony.  “Nothing’s so bad if you talk about it.  When my daughter gets upset, we try and talk it through.  Isn’t that what your parents used to do with you?”

“No!”

“That’s sad,” said Tony, thinking that it might explain something about Devon.  “Why not?”

“It’s all right for you,” said Devon, “With your perfect little family.  You don’t know what it’s like.”

Tony put aside his childhood memories of a not so perfect little family and said, “Tell me then, what’s it like?”

“My mom tried,” said Devon, “But it was hard.  Kent was the best person I had.  He was always there for me and for …”

“For who?” asked Tony.

“My sister … Ely,” said Devon.

“Ely – that’s a pretty name,” said Tony.  “Jethro, Devon’s family has a tradition of naming children after counties in England.”

“Where’s Ely?” asked Gibbs.

“It’s not a county,” said Devon.  “You’re wrong, it wasn’t always counties.  Sometimes it was places.  Mom said she’d run out of counties so she picked Ely for my sister.  It’s a city.”

“That’s nice,” said Tony, “Did Kent look out for Ely too?”

“He tried,” said Devon.

“Did something happen to Ely?” asked Gibbs.

Devon shook his head to stop the buzzing that had suddenly got louder, “Don’t say her name,” he ordered.  “I don’t want to …”

“Don’t want to what?” asked Tony.

“It’s none of your business,” said Devon.

“OK,” said Tony peaceably.  “Devon, what do you want to happen here?”

“I want to watch Gibbs die,” said Devon calmly.  “I had it all planned.”

“But your first plan wasn’t to kill him, was it?” asked Tony.  “It was to send him to prison.”

“That would have been good,” said Devon a little dreamily.  “Trapped and never able to get free again.”

“So, you’re not a killer,” said Tony hopefully.

“Kent taught me to shoot,” said Devon.  “And I think that’s what’s meant.”

“What you mean?” asked Gibbs.

“There’s a pattern,” said Devon.  “I like patterns.  They show you if you’re doing the right thing.  And I thought I was doing the right thing.  It all fell into place … it was a good plan.  But I was wrong.”

“Why were you wrong?” asked Tony.

“You found where the legs came from,” said Devon.  “And then you worked out it was my plan.  That showed me that I’d been wrong.  I wasn’t supposed to punish Gibbs I was meant to kill him.  The universe didn’t want him to live.”

“Devon, do you see lots of patterns?” asked Tony.

“They’re all around,” said Devon.  “But I can’t always see them.”

“Why not?  Why can’t you see them?” asked Gibbs.

“The meds,” said Devon, “When I take them, the patterns hide and slide.  They don’t make sense … but I need the patterns so I know what to do.”

 “Are you taking your meds now?” asked Tony.

“Not so many,” said Devon.  “And I can see the patterns … they make sense.  They tell me what to do.”

“But you’re taking some?” probed Tony.

“I have to take some,” said Devon, “They drown out the buzzing.  I hate the buzzing, it’s like having a drill in my head.  Drilling a hole in my head.  And if there’s a hole, then the patterns will all fall out.”

“Did your Mom see patterns?” asked Gibbs.

“She never said,” said Devon.  “But I think she had the buzzing … she used to say she could hear things … things we couldn’t.  It used to scare us.  When the noise was bad we used to go to stay with Kent’s mom.”

“What about Ely?” asked Tony gently.  “Did she hear things too?”

There was a sobbing noise from the kitchen, “I don’t know!  She never said.  But she looked sad whenever she looked at me.  And sometimes she cried.”

“What happened to her?” asked Tony.

“They took her away.  They said they didn’t want the noise and the voices to hurt her.  But they didn’t see the pattern.”

“Who are they?” asked Gibbs.

“You know!  Them!  The ones who take people away.”

“You missed her,” said Tony.

“I looked for her.  One day she was there … and the next she’d gone.  I’d have done anything for her.  But they took her and Kent was the only one who cared.  He listened.  He tried to find a pattern for me.”

“And did it work?” asked Gibbs.

“Sometimes.  Sometimes it worked but then the buzzing would come back and the pattern sort of twisted and I’d have to start looking again,” said Devon.

“I’ve got a little girl,” said Tony.  “I’d do anything for her.  And she loves her Uncle Gibbs.  I don’t know what she’d do if he wasn’t around.”

“I don’t care,” said Devon.

“She’s making patterns for herself,” said Tony, “Trying to make sense of life.  You know what that’s like.  Don’t mess up her patterns.  She can’t make a picture if there’s a piece missing.”

“We can get you help,” said Gibbs, “People who can help you get your pattern back.  Find the pieces and stop the noise.”

“Nobody can help!” wailed Devon, “Kent was the only person who understood.  He’s knew what to do with the pieces but you’ve taken him away.”

Tony felt like pointing out that if Kent had really cared he wouldn’t have gone off the rails so spectacularly but decided it was better to keep Devon calm rather than argumentative.  “What’s the pattern here?” he asked.  “What do you want to happen that brings the pieces together?”

“They won’t come together,” said Devon.

“Then why are we here?” asked Gibbs crossly.

“It’s meant to be.  I’m meant to kill you.  That’s what the pattern is.”

“And what about me?” asked Tony, “Where do I fit?  What’s my piece?”

“I don’t know,” said Devon, “I think I know and then the buzzing starts and things start falling out of the hole in my head.  I can’t see you in a pattern.”

Tony hoped this didn’t mean that the DiNozzo piece had to be destroyed but he was unclear what to do next.  He felt sorry for Devon and wanted to talk him down but he was acutely aware that Kate and Tim would be organizing some sort of assault if he and Gibbs didn’t emerge soon.

“Let DiNozzo go,” said Gibbs.  “I’m the one you want.  You heard what he said, he has a little girl at home.  Do you want Tilly to lose her daddy?”

“No,” said Devon.  “But I don’t trust you.  Stand up!”

“Not until I’m sure you’re going to let Agent DiNozzo go,” said Gibbs firmly.

“Gibbs,” said Tony, “You don’t get to do this.”

“It makes sense,” said Gibbs, “Devon will understand.”

“I’m not going to walk out and leave you behind,” said Tony.

“I sort of understand where Devon’s coming from,” said Gibbs, “He likes patterns and I like rules.”

Tony thought for a moment before saying, “You and your rules.  You know my favourite one?”

“Rule 9?” said Gibbs.

“That’s the one,” said Tony, “Never mess with a Marine’s coffee!  I’ve had to take that one on board working with you.”

“Stop talking,” said Devon.  “I let Agent DiNozzo walk out and Gibbs stands up.  Agreed?”

“Agreed,” said Tony and Gibbs with apparent reluctance.

“Put down your guns,” ordered Devon, “Slide them towards me.”

Tony slid his weapon towards the kitchen.  They could hear Gibbs’ gun sliding but it didn’t come out from under the couch.  “It got stuck,” said Gibbs in a slightly panicky voice.

Devon emerged more fully from the kitchen and moved towards the stairs where he had left Gibbs’s sniper rifle.  He kept a wary eye on both Tony and Gibbs before saying, “Get out, Agent DiNozzo.  Go home to your little girl.”

Tony nodded and moved slightly.  Devon gasped as the knife hit his arm and he fell to the ground in shock.  The sound of a shot from his gun rang through the house just as armed officers stormed through the front and back doors ordering everyone to get down.

“Boss, you all right?” asked McGee once Devon had been subdued.

“I’m fine,” said Tony a little wearily.  “But Faith’s going to be mad with me.”

“You didn’t come out,” scolded Kate.

Tony looked at her crossly, “Thanks, Agent Todd.  I noticed.”

“Why didn’t you come out?” asked Kate.

“Oh, I don’t know.  I thought I’d have a cup of tea and a rest,” said Tony sarcastically.

“Boss?” asked Tim.

“Devon stopped me leaving,” relented Tony.  “Believe me, I didn’t want to stay.”

“And Gibbs was here?” asked Kate.

“You know Gibbs, car mad.  He decided to put his car in for a service.  That’s why it wasn’t outside,” said Tony.

“Where is Gibbs?” asked Tim.

“Here,” said Gibbs huffily as he stood up from the couch.

“Gibbs?” asked Tony in sudden concern.

“You know those movies …” said Gibbs.

“Which movies?” asked Tony.

“Any movie.  You know, where a gun goes off by mistake …”

“Sure,” agreed Tony.

“And the bullet always seems to end up inside someone’s body?”

“Sure,” said Tim.

“I always thought that was farfetched,” said Gibbs.

“You did?” said Kate.

“Yeah.  Until today.  When it happened to me!”  Gibbs released his grip on his left arm and they all saw blood seeping through his shirt.

“Gibbs!  Are you all right?” asked Kate.

Gibbs grinned, “’Tis but a flesh wound!”

“Really?” said Tony, “You choose today to start quoting a movie?”

Gibbs shrugged, “Seemed as good a day as any!”

“McGee,” said Tony, “Get the medics in here,” he pointed to Gibbs, “And take this lunatic to the hospital!”  He wobbled slightly, “I’m going home.  It’s been a long day.”

Pacci and Paula came running through the door at that moment, “What’s happened?  We didn’t find Bland at his house,” said Paula.

“That’s because he was here all the time,” said Tony, pointing to where Devon was sitting handcuffed on the stairs.

“Is Jethro all right?” asked Pacci.

“Well, he’s got a hole in his arm,” said Tony, “But as he thinks he’s either Superman or the Black Knight, he’ll be fine.”

“Black Knight?” asked Paula.

“It’s a movie reference,” said Tim helpfully.

“Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” said Kate.  “You have to learn about movies if you’re on Tony’s team.”

“What?” asked Paula.

“Look it up,” said Tim, “There’s a scene in which this guy gets bits hacked off but insists it’s just a flesh wound.”

“Hey,” said Tony, “We’re renaissance people on the Major Case Response Team.  We take our inspiration from many sources.  We …”

“I thought you were going home,” said Gibbs cutting Tony off in full flow.

Tony looked sulky for a moment but tiredness and an aching arm made him think again, “You make a good point,” he acknowledged.  “Just make sure you go to the hospital.  I’ll phone Ducky and tell him he’s not allowed just to staple the hole in your arm shut.”

“Go on,” said Gibbs.  “Good job with the rules.  But just checking …”

“Don’t worry, I know: Never mess with a Marine’s coffee is actually Rule 23.  You really think I don’t know that one?”

“It’s a real important one,” said Gibbs.  “Although Rule 9 saved us today.”

“Rule 9?” asked Paula.

“Never go anywhere without a knife,” chorused Tim and Kate.

“And I’m assuming that your gun didn’t get stuck under the couch?” said Tony.

“You’d be wrong,” said Gibbs.  He grinned again, “But my backup didn’t!  I was about to use it when the cavalry came running in.”

“Good work everyone,” said Tony.  “Boss, do me a favour,” he turned to Chris.

“What do you need, Tony?” asked Chris.

“Look after Devon.  He’s got a lot of problems.  I think we need to get hold of his physician and get him back on his meds.”

Pacci nodded, “I got it.  Go home.  Faith is on her way in your car.  Someone’ll be by later to get your statement.”

“Thanks, Chris,” said Tony.  “Gibbs and I are going to be out of action for a while.  I think the team might be yours for a few days …”

Chapter Text

“Hello,” said Faith as she opened her front door the day after Devon Bland’s arrest.

“Commander Coleman!” said Agent Pacci, “I mean …”

Chris ground to a halt under Faith’s cool gaze which brought back memories of her disapproval of any lapses in procedure which could jeopardise a case.  Chris reminded himself that, like Faith Coleman, he had always been meticulous in his approach and even shared Faith’s legendary penchant for neatness.  He wondered if that fastidiousness had survived her life being merged with Tony who gave the impression of being haphazard and careless.  Even as he thought about this, however, he recalled visits to Tony’s immaculately kept apartment and that he was always deceptively well prepared.

“Agent Pacci?” said Faith.

Chris shook himself as he brought himself back to the present, “Sorry,” he said, “I was wool-gathering.”

“Do you want to see Tony?” asked Faith.

“If that’s OK,” said Chris, “I don’t want to disturb you.”

“No problem,” said Faith, “He’s taking a nap with our son.”

“I can come back,” said Chris.

“It’s all right,” said Faith, “We grab our sleep when we can in this house.  Come in.”

The ever considerate Pacci was still uncertain but decided to follow the still formidable Faith.  He came to a halt in the family room where Tony was sprawled in an arm chair with Jacob lying across him.  Both seemed fast asleep but Tony opened his eyes when he heard Pacci walking in.

“You come for my statement?” he asked.

“It can wait,” said Chris.

“No.  Let’s get it over with then I can get on with my sick leave.”

It didn’t take long for Chris to gather the information he needed.  Faith seemed to know that the main purpose of the visit was done and came back in with coffee and cake.  She sensed that Chris was about to refuse and said,

“You have to try Consuela’s cake.  It’s a Santa Marian speciality.  Chocolate, coffee and some sort of spice which she won’t tell us about.”

“Consuela?” asked Pacci.

“Our house guest … for a little while longer,” said Tony, “Man, we’re going to miss her cooking.”

Pacci closed his eyes in bliss as he tasted the cake.  “Where has this woman been all my life?” he moaned.

“We’re having a barbecue on Saturday,” said Tony, “Why not come?  You can meet her.”

“Great,” said Pacci.

“There’ll be fireworks,” said Tony.

“I love fireworks,” said Pacci.

Tony grinned but didn’t reply directly.  “Yeah, Ducky, Fornell and Gibbs will all be here.”

Pacci looked a little puzzled at this apparent non-sequitur but didn’t say anything, preferring instead to eat his cake.

“What’s happened with Devon?” asked Tony.

“He’s in the psychiatric wing of the George Washington hospital.  We contacted his doctor who told us what medication he should be on.  Seems he’s been OK for years so the doctor had been happy to sign him off as medically fit when he applied for the job at NCIS.  Looks as if the news about his cousin sent him off the rails,” said Pacci.

“He mentioned a sister – Ely,” said Tony.  “What happened to her?”

“She got taken into care when she was about ten years old.  Devon was already showing signs of instability and it was thought that she’d be better off in a more stable environment away from her mother and brother.  She was adopted and took her new family’s name.”

“She could try and trace her brother one day,” said Faith.

“That’s what he’s been hoping for,” said Pacci.  “Hasn’t happened yet.  He’s registered with the adoption agency to say he’d be willing to be contacted if she wants to reach out.”

“What a mess,” said Tony.  “Wonder how long it would have taken us to work it out if there hadn’t been that link with the names?  Jethro could still be facing years in jail.”

“It was a good spot,” praised Chris.

“Might not have happened if you hadn’t been planning that road trip,” said Tony.  “Hey, are you still going?”

“I’ve put it off for a couple of weeks.  The Director asked me to babysit your team while you and Gibbs are out.”

“You sure you’re OK with that?”

“Sure,” said Chris, “Extra time will be useful.  Ducky’s still got lots of places he thinks I should visit.  Although I’m surprised that Gibbs has agreed to take sick leave.”

“He’s got to get his basement back in order,” said Tony.  “He needs to do a full inventory of the tools that the FBI seized and then put them all back in their proper places.”

“Consuela’s helping him,” said Faith.  “That’s where she is this afternoon, otherwise you could have met her.”

“Although he doesn’t know that Ducky’s calling by later to take her to afternoon tea at this authentic English tea room he’s discovered,” mused Tony.

“And Agent Fornell is taking her to As You Like It in Rock Creek Park this evening,” added Faith.  “I hope it stays dry.”

“She seems popular,” said Chris.

“You have no idea,” said Tony.  “I’ll come in tomorrow just to clear my desk and then I’ll stay away,” he looked at Faith, “I promise.  We need some time.”

NCISNCIS

Tony’s first visit the next day was to Abby’s lab.  As he walked in, he heard Abby say,

“It’s very strange.  I don’t understand it.”

“What don’t you understand, Abs?” asked Tony.

After Abby’s enthusiastic, and slightly painful, welcome, he repeated his question.

“Devon,” said Abby, “He’s a vegan.”

“So?” asked Tony, surreptitiously rubbing the arm that Abby had jostled in her embrace.

“So, statistically vegans are very law abiding and gentle,” said Abby.  “That’s what I don’t understand.”

“Oh,” said Lottie, “He’s not a vegan.”

“What?” said Abby.  “How do you know?”

“I saw him eating a burger,” explained Lottie, “I was out shopping and saw him in a McDonalds.  It looked like a double quarter pounder with cheese.”  She looked a little sheepish.  “I like McDonalds … especially the cheese burgers, so I recognised it.”

“Huh,” said Abby, “See, I knew vegans are nice people.  I’m going to tell Kate and Tim: they didn’t believe me!”

Tony was about to follow Abby when Lottie spoke,

“Agent DiNozzo … about me seeing Agent Gibbs in the coffee shop with that girl …”

“Yes?”

“I think Devon might have set that up.”

“How so?” asked Tony.

“He asked me to bring him an Iced Cinnamon Almond Milk Macchiato every morning,” said Lottie.  “I’d told him that I walked past a coffee shop on my way to work.  He said it was his favourite shop …”

“I see,” said Tony.

“But I should have been suspicious,” said Lottie.

“Why?”

“I’d seen him eating that burger.  It seemed a bit out of character that he should drink almond milk,” said Lottie.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Tony, “He had us all fooled.”

Lottie nodded but still looked unhappy.  “Um, there’s something else,” she said.

Tony suppressed a sigh as he realised that his flying visit to work might be taking longer than planned.  “What?” he asked.

“My middle name is Kerry,” she blurted out.

“I see.  Er … that’s nice,” said Tony a little uncertainly.

“It’s a county in Ireland,” Lottie continued.

“Oh,” said Tony as he began to see the problem.

“I thought you might know,” said Lottie.

“I didn’t,” said Tony.

“But you might have found out,” said Lottie unhappily.

“I suppose so,” said Tony.

“And you might think that I was linked to Devon … you know, having a county name.”

“And are you?”

“No, I didn’t know anything about him,” said Lottie.  “I swear.”

“That’s OK then,” said Tony.  “Um, thank you for telling me.”  He turned to go.

“But …” said Lottie.

“Yes?” said Tony turning back.

“I do have a link to someone else.”

“Ah,” said Tony.  “Gerard Carter?”

“You know?”

Tony looked a little embarrassed, “I got McGee to run a background check after you told us about what you saw in the coffee shop.  It seemed a little convenient … so I got him to check.  The Carter connection came up.”

“He’s my dad’s second cousin,” said Lottie.

“And is there anything else I should know?” asked Tony.

“One of the reasons I went into Forensics was that I wanted to make sure people were convicted on sound evidence,” said Lottie.

“That’s good,” said Tony.

“My family have always wondered if Gerard was really guilty.  And I thought that getting the job here might give me a chance to check that,” said Lottie.  She hurried on, “But I wouldn’t have changed anything … I wouldn’t have done anything to falsify evidence.”

“And have you checked anything?” asked Tony.

“No.  When I got here, I realised that it was different to how I thought.  I saw the way you all worked and I stopped thinking that the forensics was bad.”

“Good,” said Tony.

“You’re not going to sack me?” said Lottie.

“Why would we do that?”

“Because I got the job under false pretences.”

“Did you fake your qualifications?”

“No, of course not.”

“And you’ve done your job properly?”

“Of course,” said Lottie.

“Then I don’t think there’s a problem,” said Tony.

“Really?”

“Really,” said Tony.  “In fact, if things get quiet, ask Abby to get the evidence on the Carter case out again.  She loves re-examining old cases; you can do it together.”

“Thank you!” said Lottie.

“No problem,” said Tony beginning to back away as the light of hero worship gleamed in Lottie’s eyes.

NCISNCIS

“Kate, Tim,” said Tony, “I’m going to be out for a week or two.  Gibbs is out for a few days so Chris will be team lead.  OK?”

Kate and Tim nodded.

“Be good,” said Tony.  “Treat him like you would me.  No, on second thoughts, don’t do that.  Be nice to him.”   He turned to Chris, “There are some cold cases in my drawer if you don’t get any live ones.”

“Actually,” said Chris, “I’ve got something else in mind.  If that’s OK?”

“Hey, it’s your team,” said Tony.  “Knock yourself out.  Or rather, don’t knock yourself out.  The way our injury rate is going, NCIS are going to have to pay increased insurance premiums!”

“I’ll be careful,” promised Chris.

“What you got in mind?” asked Tony.

“Case I worked on before.  A Navy Commander who was killed in a car crash while he was under investigation for stealing millions of dollars from the Navy.  Got a new lead.  I’d like to work the case …”

Chapter Text

The day of the barbecue dawned.

Jacob DiNozzo was unhappy but, at just over a year old, he wasn’t yet able to work out why.  His parents, watching him, had a better idea.  Jacob was a typically lively and boisterous little boy but he was also sensitive about people and seemed to pick up when they were sad and, in an unformed way, he tried to make them feel better.  He was beginning to learn that adults didn’t particularly want to play with his teddy bear but that sometimes being hugged would work.  The day of the barbecue was a day when he felt hugs were needed.

Tony watched his pensive son and decided to try and cheer him up.  Normally this would involve tossing Jacob up into the air and catching him but he couldn’t do that with a broken arm so had to settle for Jacob’s second favourite pastime of playing ball.  There was a double benefit to this activity: Jacob was made happy and Tony felt happier for having played with his son.  Faith watched on and wondered if Jacob would grow up to be a counsellor or a doctor; she couldn’t decide what Tilly would grow up to do but somehow she thought Jacob was destined for one of the caring professions.

Faith sniffed a little sadly and smelled the barbecue beginning.  She wandered across to where Lysander and Consuela were disagreeing over the salad dressing.  Tony walked up with Jacob slung blissfully over one shoulder,

“I’ll take him,” said Faith, “He needs a nap before all the excitement this afternoon,” she pointed to Lysander and Consuela, “I’ll leave you to be the referee.”

As she went into the house, she doubted the wisdom of this move when Tony queried how the chicken was going to be cooked leading to a dispute in Spanish with Consuela.  She shrugged as she reminded herself that Tony and Consuela seemed to find these arguments refreshing.

The barbecue was supposed to begin at 14.00 but somehow Faith was not surprised when McGee arrived some time before that.  Sometimes Faith enjoyed teasing Tim but, on this occasion, she took pity on him and simply said, “Tony’s down by the pond.”

“Tim!” said Tony, when he saw McGee approaching.  “How you doing?”  Tony took a look at McGee’s face and thought that, if Jacob had been awake, he would have been toddling through the grass to hug McGee’s legs.  “You’ve got to let it go, Tim,” said Tony gently.  “You did the right thing.”

Tim sat down on the bench next to Tony and groaned as he put his face in his hands.  “I know,” he said, “But it doesn’t help.”

“These things happen,” said Tony.  “It’s not quite what we signed up for but we all know that … stuff happens in this job.”

“I guess,” said Tim.

“You did well,” said Tony.  “Everyone says so.”

“Then why doesn’t it help?” asked Tim.

“I guess it’s because you don’t believe it yet.  But you will.  In time, I promise.”

“I … it just … it seems …” stuttered Tim.

“If you’d known what was going to happen, would you have done the same thing?” asked Tony.

“Yes …” conceded Tim.

“Then that’s what you have to hold on to, Tim.  You did what was necessary to get the job done.”

“But …”

Tony decided that the gentle approach wasn’t working so decided to be more direct, “Tim, you kissed a guy.  It’s not the end of the world!”

Tim groaned again as he remembered the events of the last few days.  Chris Pacci had put the team to work on the case of Commander Voss who had been being investigated for fraud at the time of his death in a car crash.  Chris had never quite been able to let go of the case and had continued to look at it during his years at FLETC.  He had discovered a potential accomplice – Amanda Reed – who had always lived close to wherever Voss had been posted.  When Pacci had learned that Amanda had moved to DC and made a cash purchase of an old Voss family home he was convinced that she was involved somehow and may even have murdered Voss to get the money.

Pacci and the team had worked the case.  Tim, Kate and Paula had done good work on looking into Amanda’s history and, while staking out her new house, Tim had fallen into conversation with her.  One thing had led to another and they had ended up going to a bar where Tim had taken one for the team and allowed himself to be kissed by the attractive Amanda.

If things had been timed better, Pacci might have been able to arrest Amanda before Tim had engaged in his game of tongue tennis but things hadn’t worked out that way.  While Tim was distracting Amanda the rest of the team discovered that the car crash had been staged and that Amanda had assumed Voss’s identity.  Amanda/Voss was due to fly to Bangkok shortly for the surgical completion of her transition to being a woman.

Pacci was delighted to have solved the old case and grateful for the help received from Tony’s team but Tim was devastated at finding out that he had kissed a man.

FLASHBACK

“No, not that,” he protested, “I mean, it’s not that I think it’s wrong to kiss a man … although it’s not something I particularly want to do … it’s the not knowing.”

“But if you had known,” said Paula practically, “You might not have done it so well.”

“She’s right,” said Kate, “You might have held back.”

“Although,” said Paula, “How could you not know?  I mean, are you sure it didn’t seem strange?”

“I think I’d know,” said Kate.

“You have more practice than me,” said Tim.

“What?” asked Kate.

“You kiss more men than I do.  You’d have outed him … her,” said Tim.

“But I wouldn’t have kissed him … her in the first place,” said Kate.

“Why?” asked Paula.

“Because I would have been kissing a woman,” said Kate.

“But you wouldn’t have been,” said Tim, “And surely you’d have known that.”

Paula looked at the other two agents and said, “Perhaps it’s a gap in FLETC training.  Or perhaps it’s just a gap in your experience,” she decided to give up on their circular arguments, “Good night.  See you in the morning.”

“Hey, don’t take it to heart, Tim,” said Kate, “You did good.  And it all ended up OK.”

END FLASHBACK

“Kate and Paula giving you a hard time over it?” asked Tony.

“Paula obviously finds the whole thing hilarious,” said Tim bitterly.

“And Kate?”

“Actually, Kate’s been OK.  I mean she thought it was hysterical as well but when she saw it had spooked me she backed off.  I think she’s been corralling Cassidy over it – I expected the ragging to go on for days but it didn’t.”

Tony nodded with satisfaction thinking it was a sign of how far Kate had come that she understood something of what Tim had been through.  “Like I said, you just have to let it go, Tim.”  Tony smiled as he saw the DiNozzo sadness detector toddling towards them.  Jacob looked up at Tim with huge eyes and flung his arms around Tim’s legs.  Tim smiled.

“There was one good thing that came out of it all,” he said.

“Yes?”

“It made me realise I can do more.  It’s time to step up.”

Tony clapped his shoulder in approval.

NCISNCIS

Chris arrived shortly afterwards, beaming with happiness at the successful outcome of the Voss case.  He greeted Tim and then allowed himself to be led towards the barbecue for introductions.

“You’ve got a good team, Tony,” he said as they walked along.  “They work well together and they look out for one another too.”

“Even Paula?” asked Tony.

“It’s tough joining a team that’s been together so long,” said Pacci.  “And Paula doesn’t really do tactful.  She’s more abrasive … but I think she’s got a good heart.”

“I think she and Gibbs would do all right together,” said Tony.  “He doesn’t want people pussyfooting around him.”

“Yes … hey, is that Sander Brocklehurst?” asked Chris, breaking off when he saw Lysander.

“That’s right.  You know him?” asked Tony.

“Not personally.  He owns that swanky restaurant on Pennsylvania Ave.  I’ve always wanted to go but you have to book a month in advance.  I only know him from his picture in Taste of Home – he has a weekly column, you know.  And he’s doing your barbecue?”

Tony grinned as he discovered Chris’s secret passion.  “Hey, Lysander,” he said, “Meet Chris Pacci, he’s a big fan of yours.”  Tony heard Consuela’s sniff at the idea of Lysander having fans and added, “Consuela, this is Chris Pacci …”

“Your former supervisor?” said Consuela.  “It is a pleasure to meet you, Christopher.  Tony always spoke so highly of you.  I am Consuela Marquez.”

Consuela proceeded to exercise her charm on Chris while occasionally muttering crossly about too much lemon juice going into the salad.

“Nonsense, woman!” said Lysander as he defiantly squeezed some more in.

Chris was clearly torn between the chef who he had always admired and the charming woman he had just met.  Tony was watching with interest when he saw the fireworks arrive.

“Ah, Donald, Jethro, Tobias,” said Consuela serenely as she greeted them.  She bestowed a gracious smile on each and allowed Ducky to kiss her hand.  They each tried to persuade her to come sit with them in a corner of the yard which they had marked out but she refused with a rueful smile, “Alas, I must maintain my station and keep a watchful eye on the cook.”

“I’m doing just fine, woman,” said Lysander irritably.  “Go, if you want.”

Consuela just smiled and stayed where she was so eventually her three admirers drifted away to the drinks table and then sat down together watching the barbecue intently.  Chris stayed where he was so he could admire Lysander at work although he also received a running commentary from Consuela on what he was doing wrong.

NCISNCIS

“Is that Stan?” asked Faith a little while later.

Tony looked up, “Yes, it is!  Stan, come over here! He’s in DC for a few days,” he whispered to his wife.

“Good to see you, Faith … Tony,” said Stan Burley as he shook hands.  “And hey, this little one isn’t so little anymore,” he added when he saw Jacob wandering by.  Jacob paused and stared at Stan but, not picking up any sad vibes, continued on his way.  “I hope it’s OK to come by like this.  Kate told me you were having a barbecue.”

“You’re always welcome, Stan,” said Tony.

“So,” said Faith, “Kate told you about the barbecue?”  She exchanged a look with Tony.  There had been a brief time when Kate and Stan had worked together on the MCRT and there had seemed to be an instant attraction.  Now, it seemed that they might have continued a long distance relationship.

Stan refused to look embarrassed, “Yes, she did,” he said stoutly. 

Tony was doubtful for a moment but then Stan’s colour changed as he saw Kate arriving and he reached a rapid conclusion.

“Congratulations,” said Tony.

“You told him?” asked Kate as she walked up and heard Tony’s words.

Tony looked smug but Faith spoke before he could say anything, “Stan hasn’t told us anything,” she said with a stern look at her husband.

Kate blushed in her turn, “Oh, it’s not really a secret.  Stan and I are engaged!”

There was a minor uproar as the news spread through the DiNozzo backyard.  Jacob sat down and beamed happily as all the happy feelings washed over him.

“Congratulations, Stanley,” said Ducky.  “Does this mean that your time as Agent Afloat is now at an end?”

“Yes, it’s time for him to stop having a girl in every port,” said Tony.  “Ow!  Why did you do that?” he scowled at Faith who had just trodden on his foot.  “Oh, I mean, well … not what I just said.  I’m sure Stan isn’t that sort of person.”  He trailed to a halt as he allowed himself to be pulled away.

“Yes, congratulations,” said Tim as he joined Kate and Stan.

“It’s worked out well,” said Kate.

“Timing was just right,” said Stan.  “Although I never quite figured you for being Agent Afloat, Tim.”

“It’s time to do something different,” said Tim.  “And I enjoyed the time when I covered for you.”

“You do know that ships go places other than the Caribbean, don’t you?” said Kate.

“Thank you.  Yes, I do know that,” said Tim resolutely, “Ducky’s recommending some great seasickness tablets.  I think I’ll be OK.”

The discussion might have continued but there was a summons from the barbecue.

“One of the reasons we’re having this barbecue is to make an announcement,” said Tony.  “As you know, we’ve had Consuela staying with us for a few weeks while she waited to become the Santa Marian ambassador to the United States.”  There was a round of applause, everyone had come to love Consuela.  Tony continued, “And she wanted to say goodbye to all of you.  Consuela?”

Consuela stepped forward, “It has been a great joy for me to spend time with Tony and his family and, of course, to get to know so many of you.  As Tony has just said, it was intended that I should take up the post of ambassador to the United States …”

“What does she mean, was the plan?” hissed Tobias in Jethro’s ear.

“How should I know?” Gibbs hissed back.

“Perhaps if we listened, we would find out, gentlemen,” said Ducky.

Consuela continued, “The current ambassador has, however, decided that he wishes to continue in his role and I have agreed to the request from our government.”  Fornell, Ducky and Gibbs scowled in displeasure and the current ambassador, had he visited the barbecue, might have found himself in a perilous position.  “But,” said Consuela, “I have been asked to take up another posting instead and it is one which is very pleasing to me.”  Hope stirred in the breasts of three men that she was going to live with the DiNozzos permanently.  “Yes, I have been asked to become ambassador to the United Kingdom.”  A mixture of cheers and sighs greeted the announcement.

“I will, of course, be sad to bid you farewell,” she bestowed a particular smile on Gibbs, Fornell and Ducky.  “You have all been so kind in giving up your time to show me the delights of your city.  But I look forward to living in London and there is another unexpected benefit to this,” she turned to Lysander, “My husband-to-be is setting up a new restaurant in London so we can be together in our new life!”

Gibbs, Fornell and Ducky managed to give somewhat half-hearted congratulations and then retreated to their previous seat.

“Him!” said Fornell.

“She doesn’t even like him!” groaned Gibbs.

“I feel as I have nursed a viper to my bosom,” said Ducky, “I can’t believe it of him.  The nephew of my best friend … although, to be fair, I haven’t seen him for many years … how could he do this to me?”

“What does she see in him?” demanded Fornell.

They all looked up as they heard a soft cough and saw Faith approaching.  “Jethro,” she said, “Do you remember that day you visited … when Tony and Consuela were in the kitchen?  You thought they were fighting?”

Gibbs nodded, “So?”

“So, Consuela is polite and courteous to everyone,” said Faith, “But the people she truly loves … well, she doesn’t hold back.  She has strong opinions which she shares with the people closest to her.  She argues fiercely with Tony sometimes and they love it but it doesn’t go deep.  And she quarrels with Lysander … and they love it.”  Faith nodded and retreated to let them work things out for themselves.

NCISNCIS

Tony caught up with Gibbs later on in the afternoon.

“You OK?” he asked as he sat down with Jacob on his knee.

“I’m fine,” said Gibbs gruffly.

Tony looked at him and, deciding he was telling the truth, put Jacob down and let him toddle away.  “You know, Jethro,” he said, “I think you, Fornell and Ducky enjoyed the chase more than anything.”

Gibbs looked ready to protest but then honesty prevailed and he huffed a laugh, “You might be right!  It was kinda fun! But she’s a wonderful woman.  D’you think the Brits know what’s about to hit them?”

Tony laughed but changed the subject, “You OK with Stan coming back on the team?  As Senior Field Agent?”

Gibbs nodded, “And you’re sure?  About finally coming off the team?”

“It’s time you were made team lead,” said Tony.  “Hell, some people thought it should have been you all along.  And Stan will be good as your second … he’ll keep you in line.”

“Good to have him back,” said Gibbs.  “And McGee’s sure about moving off to Agent Afloat?”

“Yeah, kissing Voss seems to have unleashed a hidden McGee.  He’ll do good.  But I’d buy shares in the company that makes Dramamine, they’re about to rocket!”

“What about Kate and Stan on the same team?” asked Gibbs.  “You think that’ll work?”

Tony coughed.  “It won’t need to.  She’s going to FLETC as a trainer.  You’ll be one down for a while until you pick someone else.  I’m guessing Cassidy will be staying on?”

“Sure.  She’s got a spark to her.  She might do better without Kate on the team … it’ll be like old times,” he said reminiscently.

“Old times?”

“You remember what Kate was like when she first came on board?”

Tony groaned, “Yeah.  So it’s old times you’re remembering, not good times?”

“They were good times, Tony.  You know that.”

“Thanks, Jethro.  We’ve been through a lot together … thank you.”

“Hey,” said Gibbs in alarm, “You’re not dying, are you?”

“No,” said Tony.  “But there’s something else to tell you.”  Jacob’s head shot up as he heard something in his father’s voice and he marched back and put his arms around Tony’s legs.

Chapter Text

The evening before the barbecue.

Tony put Jacob to bed and then went to the family room to join Faith and Tilly.

“Tilly,” said Faith, “There’s something Daddy and I need to talk to you about.”

“It’s all right,” said Tilly.  “Daddy told me.  And I was sad but I decided to be brave.”

“Daddy told you?” said Faith with a glare directed at Tony.

“Yes,” said Tilly blithely, “About Uncle Gee.”

“Uncle Gee?” asked Faith.

“Yes.  About him going to work on a boat … I mean, ship,” said Tilly.

“Ah,” said Faith, “That’s what he told you about?”  She nodded an apology to Tony.

“Yes, but Daddy said that Uncle Gee would send me lots of postcards – like he did before when he was on a boat, I mean ship.”

“And he’ll be able to Skype,” said Tony.

“So, I’m sad,” said Tilly, “But I’ll be brave.”

“Good girl,” praised Faith, “But that isn’t what Daddy and I want to talk to you about.”

“Is it about the puppy?” asked Tilly.

Tony and Faith exchanged anxious looks, they had hoped that the puppy had been forgotten.

“Er, no,” said Tony.

“Good,” said Tilly.

“Good?” queried Faith.

“Yes.  Lilly’s got a new puppy …”

“We know,” said Tony.  He was still slightly cross that Lilly’s parents had broken ranks with the other parents and succumbed to the demand for a puppy.

“She’s called Maisie … and she’s very cute and fluffy.”

“We know,” said Faith.  Tilly had been at pains to tell them all about the cuteness and the fluffiness.

“But she did something naughty in Lilly’s Daddy’s shoe,” said Tilly.

“Eww,” said Faith.

“And he didn’t know until he put his foot in it,” said Tilly informatively.

“That must not have been very nice,” said Tony secretly thinking that it had served him right.

“And I wouldn’t like a puppy doing anything naughty in my shoe,” said Tilly.  “So, I don’t think I want a puppy anymore.”

Faith’s training in seeing all sides of the argument came to the fore, “Well, darling, not all dogs do … that in people’s shoes.  And not all the time.”

Tony shook his head at his wife, anxious that they might inadvertently argue themselves into having a dog. “Well, if you’re sure,” he said, “You’re probably right.  We don’t want icky things in our shoes, do we?”

Tilly shook her head in agreement and Faith stood down from arguing the merits of dogs as pets.

“Can I go play now?” said Tilly.

“Not yet,” said Tony, “Like Mommy said, we have something to talk to you about.”

“OK,” said Tilly agreeably.  She obviously had a clear conscience as a talk with her parents held no fears for her.

“You see,” began Faith.

“You see,” said Tony, “Mommy and Daddy have got new jobs …”

“…in London,” said Faith.

“Is that near?” asked Tilly.

“No,” said Tony, “It’s not very near.”

“It’s in England,” explained Faith.

Tilly still looked a little puzzled so Faith produced an atlas and showed her where Washington was and where London was.

“That’s a long way, isn’t it?” asked Tilly.

“Yes, it is,” said Tony.

“How long will it take you to get to work?” asked Tilly.

“Well,” said Faith, “We won’t be able to do it in a day.”

“What will you do?” asked Tilly.

“We’ll have to move,” said Tony, “So we can get to work quicker.”

“It’ll be exciting,” said Faith, “London is a very nice place.”

“It has parks,” said Tony.

“And the Queen of England lives there,” said Faith.

“We’ll find a nice house,” said Tony.

Tilly stayed silent as her parents listed the attractions of London and then, to their horror, big tears began to form in her eyes.  “Where will I live?” she finally managed to say.

“What?” asked Faith.

“What?” asked Tony.

“Where will I live when you go to London?” she asked.

“With us,” said Tony.  “Where did you think you’d be living?”

“You said you and Mommy had new jobs and that you’d have to move,” said Tilly, “You never said that I’d be coming with you!”

“Of course you’ll be with us,” said Faith.  “We would never leave you behind.”

“Uncle Gibbs might let me live with him,” said Tilly thoughtfully, “But I’d rather go with you!”

“I think that would be better,” said Faith gravely.

“Do they have schools in England?” asked Tilly.

“Yes,” said Tony.

“Oh.  And will I have to go to one?”

“Yes,” said Faith.

“Do they have ducks in the parks?”

“Hundreds.  Thousands,” said Tony recklessly.  “You can take pictures and send them to people back here.”

“Is London where Consie’s going to be living?” asked Tilly.

“Yes,” said Faith.

“And it’s nearer to Mommy’s family in Denmark,” said Tony.

“And Daddy has family living in England,” said Faith.

Tony winced at this but smiled brightly.

“I’ll miss Lilly and Milly,” said Tilly sadly.

“I know,” said Faith, “But you’ll make new friends.”

“I will?”

“Yes, you will,” said Tony, “And it will be an adventure to live in a new country.”

“It will?”

“Yes,” said Faith, “It will.  We promise.”

“OK,” said Tilly.  “Is Jakie coming too?”

“Yes,” said Tony.

“Oh,” said Tilly in a tone which her parents couldn’t decide was relief or resignation.  “Can I take my toys with me?”

“Yes,” said Faith.

“When are we going?”

“August.  We want to be settled in so we can find you a new school to start in September.  That way you’ll start with other children,” said Tony.

“What language do they speak there?” asked Tilly in sudden anxiety.

“They speak English,” said Faith.

“Sort of,” said Tony, “You’ll understand most of what they say.”

“Promise?”

“Pinkie promise,” said Tony, holding out his hand.

“I think I’ll go tell my toys,” said Tillie,

“Good idea,” said Faith.  “Daddy will come in soon and tell you your bedtime story.”

“Can it be one about the Queen?” asked Tilly.

“Sure,” said Tony.

“And her corgis,” said Tilly.

“No problem,” said Tony wondering if he had time to phone Ducky and ask for corgi stories.

Tilly walked towards her bedroom but then ran back to hug her parents, “I’m glad you’re taking me with you,” she said.  “I’d have missed you … lots!”

NCISNCIS

Next day at the barbecue.

“So, what else is it that you’ve got to tell me about?” asked Gibbs.

Tony lifted Jacob onto his lap and Faith, sensing that the moment had come, came to join them.

“Well,” began Tony, “You know that Kate is going to FLETC?”

“Sure, you told me.”

“She’s going there because there’s a vacancy,” said Tony.

“I figured.  Didn’t think she was going there just in case,” said Gibbs.

“There’s a vacancy because Chris is leaving,” said Tony.

“He coming to the Navy Yard?”

“Yes.  Working the Voss case made him realise he missed being an investigator,” said Tony.

“Which team is he going to?” asked Gibbs.  “Not ours?  I know there’s a gap but he’s too experienced to be a junior agent and Stan’s been promised the Senior Field Agent slot.”

“He’s going to be Assistant Director,” said Tony.

“Assistant Director?” said Gibbs.  “I thought that was going to be your job?”

“He’ll be a good fit,” said Tony.                                                

“Didn’t say he wouldn’t but so would you,” said Gibbs grumpily.

“Maybe,” shrugged Tony, “But I’d find it hard not to interfere in your team.  You know how I kept on hanging around when I was meant to be doing the job before.”

“Then stay as you are,” said Gibbs.  “No need to move on.”

“It’s tempting,” said Tony.

“It really is,” said Faith.

“But we told Tilly last night,” said Tony, “And I don’t want to think that was all for nothing.”

“Why would Tilly be worried?” asked Gibbs.

Tony winced at this evidence of Gibbs’ sharpness.

“Well?” said Gibbs, “Your daughter wouldn’t be upset that you and Faith are changing jobs.”  He saw Jacob reaching out to hug Faith and recognised that his empathy detector had swung into action.  “And you can’t tell me that you’re not both upset about something, look at Jacob!”

“We’re not upset,” said Tony.

“But we are sad,” said Faith.

“We’ve thought about it a lot … and the timing seems right for both of us,” said Tony.

“What are these new jobs then?” asked Gibbs.

“My law firm is opening a new division in London,” said Faith.  “It’s going to work with US companies in the UK to make sure they know what UK laws they have to obey and which US laws still apply to them.  Same in reverse for UK companies working in the US.”

“And?” asked Gibbs.

“And they want Faith to head up the new division,” said Tony.

“The timing was right,” said Faith, “It’s almost as if it was meant to be.”

“And what are you going to do, DiNozzo?” asked Gibbs, “Unless you’re joining the law firm too?”

“Director Morrow knew I was hesitating about the Assistant Director job,” said Tony, “So he offered me a choice.”

“Go on … you spin out a story like Ducky does,” groused Gibbs.

“You’re not even team lead yet and you’re throwing your weight around,” groused Tony in turn.  “OK, so the Director suggested either the Assistant Director or the NCIS office in London.”

“London?” said Gibbs.

“Sure … why so surprised, it’s where my wife will be working.  Might not be an attraction to you but it is to me,” said Tony with a cheesy grin at Faith.

“You know what I mean,” said Gibbs, “It’s not a very big office.  Not exactly a step up for you, is it?”

“But he’ll be near me, Jethro,” said Faith, “That will make up for a lot, won’t it?”

“Cut it out,” said Gibbs sensing he was being teased.

“I’m disappointed,” said Tony with mock regret but then he caught sight of Gibbs’ growing belligerence and raised a hand in surrender, “OK.  The Director’s reorganizing the offices outside the USA.  The Europe and African Field Office is being split into a Europe and an African Office.  The Europe office will be run out of an expanded London office and I’ll be in charge of it.  There’s a plan to improve liaison with other criminal agencies, it’s exciting.”

“Tom suggested it just as my Boss suggested the London posting,” said Faith, “Like I said, the timing was perfect.”

“We probably wouldn’t have moved for just one of the jobs but for both … well, it seemed too good a chance to miss,” said Tony.

“How long will you be gone for?” asked Gibbs.

“Initial posting is for two years with an option for another five,” said Tony.

“Tilly will be in 7^th grade by then, time for her to settle down,” said Faith.

“So you’re coming back?” asked Gibbs.

“Definitely,” said Tony.

“We love this house so we’re renting it out.  We’ll come back to it,” said Faith.

“Apart from anything else, we can’t leave Cherry-Pie for ever,” said Tony.

“We will miss you, you’re a big part of our family,” said Faith.  She stood up, kissed Jethro on the cheek and gave Jacob back to his father before walking away.

“Especially your DIY skills,” said Tony.  “Oops, and that glare!  Seriously, Gibbs, it’s been a blast!  Couldn’t have done it without you.“

“You’ll do a good job,” conceded Gibbs.  “And I need to thank you, Tony.  Without you, I’d have turned into a grumpy old bastard.”

Tony looked surprised, “You mean you haven’t?”

“Did I ever tell you that I sometimes feel this overwhelming desire to give you a head-slap?” asked Gibbs.

“No,” said Tony, “But somehow it doesn’t surprise me!”

“This isn’t goodbye,” said Gibbs.

“Absolutely not,” said Tony.  “I’m not leaving NCIS.  I’m sure our paths will cross.”

“I hear the sailing’s good in UK waters,” said Gibbs.

“Yes.”

They sat in silence for a few moments before Tony stood up to go and talk to the other guests.  He put his hand on Gibbs’ shoulder for a moment and then turned away.  Jacob wriggled in his arms and Tony grinned,

“Looks like Jacob feels he’s needed here!  Shall I leave him?”

Gibbs shrugged, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”