Those Prison Blues
By: Mahiri Chuma
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own anything NCIS related – though I really wish I did, and *if* I did, oh the whumpage there would be!
Summary: "There are only guilty men in Sing Sing, Tony." The team goes undercover in Sing Sing Prison to unearth a most dangerous conspiracy. Team-Friendship-Fic; PoppaGibbs; Tiva
A/N: I wanted to work with Folsom Prison but honestly didn't want to deal with the horrible NCIS LA spin off team. I tried to like it, I did, but I'm a true Team Gibbs fan. So instead let's set the stage in the empire state.
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Those Prison Blues
Chapter One: When the Man Comes Around
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The corrections officer moved down the long aisle between the mass of identical prison cells to the chorus of angry shouts, a plethora of creative and innovative threats and the occasional sexual advance.
If this immense and strange cacophony wasn't the anti-mood music, the true opposite of ambience, he didn't know what was.
"Mail call, gentlemen!" He shouted above the noise. He was rewarded with whistles and hoots as he dug his hand into the cart in front of him, pulling out the already opened letters, packages and dog-eared postcards. The inmate's mail was thoroughly examined before delivery and many a great thing had been confiscated from several packages, much to the chagrin of their recipients.
He passed the packages and letters through the bars of the cells, reciting names as he went along the row and avoiding the occasional grab. Usually the inmates were better behaved with their CO's but he was new; they were doing their best to intimidate him.
The fresh-meat CO stopped in front of Cell #42 and produced a small parcel from the cart.
"DeMarco, mail call!" The CO peered into the cell and watched as the man stretched out his long legs and very lazily made his way to the small cells entrance.
Two lean arms came forward, resting on the cells gate, not yet accepting the package.
"Dead man walking, we've got a dead man walking," the man said in a voice lower than his true own. A fellow prisoner chuckled from across the row.
"Package, DeMarco." The CO offered hoping to keep the conversation decently short and spare himself unwarranted ridicule from the man in front of him.
"What? No 'hello, how is your day?" the CO resisted the urge to roll his eyes and lifted the package in the air.
"Take it or leave it, DeMarco." The man tilted his head to the side and smiled, acting as if they were about to exchange further pleasantries.
"My days going fine, thanks," the CO sighed but was forced to stand and listen knowing who couldn't actually just not deliver the package. He knew the other man was aware of this fact as well and was making him, effectively, a prisoner of his ramblings.
"The morning started alright, avoided being shanked, you know how it is, and then I spent some time contemplating my next tattoo, what do you think, "Thug Life" on my knuckles," he raised his hands in the air as to display the sight to be inked, "or should I just get it out there and plant a big 'Fudge the Police' on my forehead, of course it won't say fudge but I don't want to hurt those virgin ears of yours."
The CO dug a hand into his cart and pulled out a thin envelope, turning away from the chatty prisoner.
"Kane, mail call." He handed the envelopes to the man across from his verbal captives cell.
"But then the day took a turn for the worst, I just can't seem to find, and believe me I've tried, my poor Mr. Jingles, have you seen him Timmy?"
The man waggled his eyebrows, having caught the CO's attention. Another laugh sounded from across the row.
"DeMarco, you are one crazy son of a bitch!" said Kane, reaching his arms beyond the gate in a relaxed position.
"Sit down, Kane." The CO turned around pointing to the cot. He again offered the parcel to DeMarco and was finally relieved of it.
"I really need to see someone about helping me locate poor, lost, cold and probably scared Mr. Jingles."
Why Gibbs had allowed him to choose the trigger phrases was completely beyond him. They were asking for it if they gave the man this much leeway.
But then again, it was him putting his ass on the line undercover in a prison. He deserved some say, he supposed.
DeMarco looked at him expectantly, "Mr Jingles?"
Tim shook his head.
"Sorry, DeMarco." He gave him a glance before moving on and finished their unique call and response, "but I'll let the warden know we have a rat on our hands."
"A mouse, Timmy! Mr. Jingles is a mouse!" he shouted as the man retreated, handing out mail to the rest of the inmates. DeMarco turned the package over in his hands, giving it a brief shake before tearing at the package.
"Whatddya got over there, Big T?" Kane said, more interested in the other man's mail than in his own.
Big T, or Tony as he occasionally preferred, tugged at his uncomfortable, blue prison top. Before his time in prison he had always thought all prisoners wore the trademark orange jumpsuit. He had been looking forward to it, always believing he looked great in electric orange. So, it's only natural that he was filled with disappointment when he was given his new, boring, blue digs.
He pulled out a letter and scanned it briefly with a smile.
Dearest Hairy Bear,
I hope they are treating you well.
I've sent you a harmonica, you were always so good and I can just see you now, playing like you did before.
I will be visiting you soon.
Love, your Sweetcheeks
P.S. Bert says hello.
Tony grinned and put the letter down on his cot. He reached further into the package and pulled out a silver blues harmonica.
… and I can just see you now …
He put the harmonica down on the small, wooden shelf that stuck out from the cement wall. He pushed it slightly to the right, ensuring it was well positioned.
"Ha! I can tell by the smile. It's from a woman!" Tony turned towards the man across the row.
"Hey, a gentlemen never tells, Kane." The other man grinned and pointed a finger at Tony.
"Brother, you've already said enough. That's some shit right there, T. All I get is junk mail and a letter from the old lady."
Tony chuckled and stretched before lying down on his incredibly uncomfortable cot. He gave one final glance at the harmonica
"Well, Kane, it's better than getting letters from the old man, the guy's a real bastard."
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Leroy Jethro Gibbs took a sip of his very black coffee and watched as his agent put the camera in place. The sound quality was incredibly clear but the picture was somewhat grainy and suffered a 5-second delay.
"Well, Kane, it's better than getting letters from the old man, the guy's a real bastard."
Gibbs smirked and even allowed a small exhale of breath that could have passed for a laugh.
"You got that right DiNozzo."
The door behind him creaked, opening up to reveal the newest Sing Sing CO.
"That was good work, McGee."
McGee loosened his tie and removed the earwig that was suffering from interference; the ringing in his ear becoming increasingly irritating.
"Uh – thanks, Boss. Did you hear what …"
"Yep. DiNozzo came in loud and clear. You'll pull him out tonight, got it McGee?"
"How should I –" Gibbs cut off the younger agent once again.
"I don't know, McGee. You and Tony will figure something out."
"Right." McGee sat down and observed the feed for a moment, watching as Tony wagged his feet back and forth to a song he was currently humming. What the tune was, he had no clue.
"Ziva come up with anything, Boss?" Gibbs took a seat next to Tim whilst taking another long sip from the cardboard cup. He put the offensive cup down and resisted a grimace. They sure had some awful stuff in Sing Sing.
"She has a couple of hits on a few of the CO's, nothing concrete yet. She's coming in tomorrow to give DiNozzo a little visit."
"Boss?" McGee turned toward Gibbs, unaware that Ziva was to be playing a more active role in their operation.
"Ziva will be working to gain the trust of some of the target CO's." McGee nodded knowing that most of the CO's were in fact male and that he lack of estrogen in the facility meant Ziva's presence was like candy to a kid. There was one problem however…
"But Ziva is DeMarco's loving wife …" He thought back to the letter and package they had prepared. Tony's fellow inmates had gotten a kick out of her sometimes-suggestive letters. Only Tony knew what was behind the occasional innuendoes.
"Never said she was faithful, McGee."
"Does Vance know?" McGee knew Vance wasn't a fan of their occasional stints and escapades.
"Yep, it was his idea."
McGee let out a surprised 'huh' and turned back towards the screen. He tilted his head, unable to make out what Tony was doing, his head coming into view every few seconds before disappearing again.
'I can't believe this, he's doing sit ups."
The ends of Gibbs lips quirked slightly. Tony had always been quite good at assuming roles when undercover. Too good, at times.
"He sure is handling this better than the last time he was in this situation." Gibbs thought for a moment back to when Tony had been accused of chopping a woman's legs off. He would never forget the man's revealing two-sided monologue.
"Of course, last time he was facing life in prison and, well, I guess it was different."
"You think, McGee?" Despite the fact that he wasn't actually facing 'real' jail time, Gibbs still worried about his agent, though he would never admit it. He did know, however, that if someone could get this job done, it was Tony.
Gibbs thoughts on Tony were interrupted when his phone buzzed lightly in his pocket.
"Gibbs."
"How's the Big Apple, my silver haired fox!"
"You have anything for me Abs?"
"You mean you didn't do the tourist thing? Didn't see lady liberty herself? Didn't go to the Soup Man's –"
Gibbs sighed and glanced over at the small monitor as Tony switched to push-ups.
"Abs…"
He heard a sigh and what sounded like CaffPow being sipped threw a straw.
"Right. I checked out those prints you sent me from the dead CO's house annnd –" she drew out the word hoping to give the phone conversation the Abby touch.
"What Abs?"
"-annd nothing, the prints match both his wife and son."
McGee looked over as Gibbs sighed in slight frustration as Abby's voice grew louder through the earpiece.
"But there's always a but, Gibbs! The dead CO's prints turned up in our Navy inmates house! Our Navy boy didn't visit our CO but the CO visited our Navy boy!"
"Thanks Abs." Gibbs hung up and stood to retrieve the file of David Hawks, a current Sing Sing inmate imprisoned for smuggling massive amounts of heroine on his assigned carrier. His imprisonment set off a whole slew of events; like some sort of a chain reaction. They seemed to have stumbled upon something deeper and it became apparent that Sing Sing was in the throes of an internal uproar.
And now a dead Sing Sing CO was being connected to the former corpsman and NCIS needed to find out how, why and who. The what and the when were slightly less important.
He tossed the file into McGee's lap.
"Boss? I've been through this already …"
"So, go through it again, Mc –" his phone rang once more.
"Gibbs." From the shrill shout of annoyance, McGee identified the caller as Abby.
"You hung up on me! I wasn't finished!"
"So finish, Abs."
"Did Tony get my hello?"
McGee leaned back and shouted over his shoulder.
"You mean the one from Bert, Abby?"
"That's the one!"
"I'm sure he did Abs, anything else?" Gibbs listened as she took another long sip from her dangerously caffeinated beverage.
"Hmm, nope! That's it!"
Gibbs hung up once more and shook his head. Even over the phone Abby was still very much so, Abby.
"Let me know when you're through with that, McGee." McGee turned around, watching as the older man began to make his way out the door.
"Boss? Where you going?"
"To have a chat with the warden."
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Tony was bored. Very, very bored. Now he understood where the phrase "like a prison" came from. He had finished his workout regimen and was currently hunched over his blanket picking out the stray strands of thread.
Maybe next he would straighten the lint floating around on the floor or clean the prison bars with his toothbrush. The possibilities were endless.
He lay back and closed his eyes for a moment, attempting to fight back the headache that was forming in his temple. Prison was surprisingly loud. Not that he had expected it to be church-like in its quietness, but each day was riddled with shouted conversations, the sounds of verbal and physical confrontation and the cries of hysteria.
During the night it was hardly any better. The night brought the sounds of nightmares and nightmares brought out the worst in people.
He rubbed his temples and sighed. There was no point in complaining really; he had a list of things he didn't like as long as D-block and they weren't going to get any better.
"DeMarco!" Tony shot to a sitting position, startled by the shouting of his alias. His eyes narrowed, his wonderful CO was back.
"Geez, Timmy. You really shouldn't sneak up on a man in prison like that." he said putting emphasis on the "in prison" part.
"It's Officer McGregor, DeMarco." Tim tapped his badge and looked as though he were an actual, seriously annoyed CO.
"Alrighty, McGoo. What can I do for you on this fine afternoon?" Tony watched as McGee's eyes settled into a glare and he put a hand on his holstered gun.
"It's your lucky day, DeMarco, you're going out for highway garbage duty."
There was an awkward silence as Tony regarded McGee. He was about to order the faux-inmate when Tony clapped nearly causing McGee to jump.
"Well, looks like I'll get to work on my tan!" McGee signaled the block guard to release the prison bars.
"Number 42!" With a buzz and a heavy sounding click, the door rolled open and Tony began to exit the cell.
"Turn around, DeMarco." Tony sighed, giving McGee a pointed look before turning his back to his fellow undercover agent.
Tony grimaced as the cuffs clamped down tightly on his wrists and McGee pulled on his shoulder to turn him around.
"After you, DeMarco. Ladies first." Men in the cells around them hooted and hollered and Tony gave McGee a look that promised pain and death as soon as this was done with.
"Well, get moving inmate."
A slow and painful death.
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"Garbage duty, probie? Garbage duty?" Tony and McGee entered their make-shift MTAC and Tony turned to have his hand cuffs removed.
"Of all the things we could have done … garbage duty? We could have staged a riot or –"
"Tony, this isn't a movie." McGee said as he pulled his keys from his belt to undo the handcuffs.
"But man, it should be." Tony had that twinkle in his eye, the one that preceded his film associated rants, "Shawshank Redemption, 1994. Probie, you're going to help me fashion a tunnel in the wall …"
Tony's head jerked forward and he yelped, taken by surprise as an unseen hand smacked the back of his head.
"Hey, Boss."
"You're not a real criminal, DiNozzo."
"Yeah, well tell McGregor here he's not a real CO." DiNozzo rubbed his wrists acting as though they were terribly chafed by his short imprisonment.
Gibbs glanced at the man, taking in his appearance. He looked all right, albeit a bit stiff and thus seemed to be suffering from nothing but an uncomfortable bed and the anxiety that came from being surrounded by convicted felons. Yes, nothing but …
"DiNozzo," His voice was lighter, ready to listen to his agent and relieved that he was doing all right. Even though McGee and Gibbs spent most their time within the confines of Sing Sing, he was concerned about his agents well being. "What do you have for me?"
Tony's eyes lit up at the question. This was what he was good at. This is what he lived for.
With a grin, barely contained excitement and his best Bob Gunton impression he muttered:
"This is a conspiracy, that's what it is. One…big... damn conspiracy."
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There we are. I always thought this would be a fun situation to put the gang in. I thought of it before 'Chained' even appeared so I'd like to say there is some originality, of course Kate originally was involved but I want to stick closer to the present.
I guess I also need to say I don't own the Green Mile and Mr. Jingles or the Shawshank Redemption. If you haven't seen either of these movies go out and rent them.
My most recent chapter of Rookie Mistakes is ¾ done and I couldn't continue until I got this out of the way! That said RM will be updated by Saturday. I hope you enjoyed and as always, please review! Ziva will be making her appearance next chapter and McGee and Tony have a lot of work to do.