Author Stuff ~ Uh... Yeah, so you guys wanted me to make more, so more I shall give you! ;3 This is a Two-shot by the way... :)
Warning ~ Slash from here on out, though not anything graphic. (For now...)
No Courtship Like that of Objectified Love (But Money isn't Everything)
You could cut the tension in the room with a knife, Tony was sure of it. It had been five months since this game of cat and mouse had started–if it could even be called that–and they were no closer to finding out who this SimonSays character was other than the fact that they highly suspected the "Stevens" guy from the case before of being him.
But they had no solid evidence of even that.
So that's how he found himself, along with Gibbs, Ziva and McGee, sitting in a small conference room with the Director at the head of the table. She didn't look at all pleased. But honestly, he couldn't blame her.
For five months Tony had been receiving e-mails from 'Simon', all of them about the cases he and his fellow team members had been assigned, and almost every time the e-mail led them to a piece of evidence, or pointed them in the right direction for catching the killer. It grated on Gibb's nerves, as it did everyone's. (Mostly)
But that wasn't the worst of it, at least, not for Tony.
At the end of every case, DiNozzo would find some sort of gift either left on his desk at work, or somewhere in his home. It was beyond embarrassing, because it felt like, and dare he repeat what Abby had commented, SimonSays had a crush on him. After all, the e-mails were only sent to him, they only addressed him and he was the only one receiving gifts at the end of every case.
So again, if the Director reached into her pocket and pulled out a butter knife, and then proceeded to cut a slice of the tension filling the room for herself, Tony really wouldn't be surprised.
"Agent DiNozzo, go over exactly what you've received so far from this Simon character again please," it wasn't a request, the 'please' obviously there simply for the Hell of it.
"Ma'am we've been over this several times, it's in my written repor-"
"Humor me." And how could Tony argue with that?
"Uh… Well, after the McKath case, I found a um, thing of roses on my desk…" No matter how many times he'd gone over this, and even though Ziva, McGee and Gibbs had been there when he'd found the flowers, he still couldn't help the burning sensation creeping its way over his face and down his neck. "After the Lee Chung case, I found a jewelry case on my desk. There was a two-thousand dollar silver watch inside."
Tony risked a glance at Gibbs, who seemed as stoic as ever, and Ziva and McGeek, who both seemed like they were pissed. Again, couldn't blame them, they hadn't been able to close a case for themselves in the past five months, and if it wasn't for the fact that they were catching the bad guys; saving innocent people, Tony might have felt the same way.
Not that he was saying he was O.K. with what SimonSays was doing, no not at all he was just… just… He was just, okay? He was conflicted. How was he supposed to feel about some random stalker dude putting the badies in jail and giving him expensive, romantic gifts? He hadn't learned what to do in this kind of situation at cop school, alright?
"After the Garcia case I went home to find a thing of Wine and a steak dinner on my kitchen table…" That gift he had actually enjoyed, Tony was going to admit. The steak had been done just the way he liked it. Which, even though it creeped the Hell outta him, had been welcomed after a particularly grueling day of work. And the Wine, well, it was his favorite brand, which again, creepy, but not exactly unwanted or unliked. "With three other cases closed I've received an expensive suit, some really good Scotch and a… puppy."
The Director raised one of her delicate eyebrows at the last one, and hey, he didn't blame her, that one had thrown him for a loop too. He'd gone home expecting to either find dinner or another watch on his kitchen counter but instead, he'd found a big red box with a white bow sitting in the middle of his living room, and out popped a Boxer puppy with a collar and a card claiming her name was "Cassie".
Though still pretty young, the dog seemed to be precariously trained. Which made Tony just a little more than suspicious, because the only commands the pup knew were come, stay and attack. Those weren't exactly the first things you taught a dog…
"Uh, ma'ma, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly is this meeting about?" Because it sure as heck wasn't just to humiliate him in front of Gibbs, McGee and Ziva again, or at least he hoped not. Who knew, maybe the Director was secretly a sadist…
With a sigh the Director leaned back in her chair, pushing a folder across the table toward Gibbs, who pointedly did not lose eye contact with the fierce woman as he opened said folder.
"So far Simonsays has done nothing to breach NCIS security, and in all actuality, he's simply helped the NCIS along with cases," She broke away from the staring contest with Gibbs before pinning Tony with her gaze. "I for one wanted to go after the son of a bitch with everything we had, but others, people on a higher pay roll than myself to be specific, aren't too concerned seeing as he's done nothing but send a few e-mails–"
"And stalk one of their own; broke into his apartment!" Ziva looked beyond pissed, but Tony agreed with her protests. She'd just beaten him to the punch.
"On multiple occasions," McGee added.
The Director nodded in agreement. "Yes, but unfortunately they seem to think that letting the local law enforcement deal with that will more than suffice. But… I have added security to data files and personal files, and Tony," she looked at him again, and even though his frustration was telling him to be a pain in the ass, his common sense told him to shut up and hear the woman out. It was obvious she too was unhappy with the arrangements. "I'm assigning you a security team. I wasn't able to get clearance on a team to follow you throughout your day, but I was able to get someone to watch your house."
"Yes ma'am." Tony slouched in his chair. Well, it could be worse. He could have someone following him everywhere he went, like in the bathroom and stuff. Never mind the kind of stunt SimonSays would have to pull off in order for that to be necessary…
Tony cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um, are we done here?"
The Director nodded, a small bit of sympathy making its way into her eyes. "Yes, you are dismissed… Except for you Jethro."
Oh, well crap. Tony knew that voice, and he'd be damned if it didn't make him move a bit faster out of the room. That was her I'm-pissed-and-need-to-vent-on-some-inconspicuous-bastard voice. He did not envy Gibbs' position now, no sir-y.
Tony made his way back to his desk; watched as Ziva and McGee stiffly did the same before deciding to just bury himself in their newest case. They'd been on it for about a week and had gotten pretty far before hitting a metaphorical brick wall.
Mr. Finley was Ex-military, found dead in a cheap motel on the outskirts of town. The murder weapon was a hunting knife, found bloody but clean of prints at the scene of the crime. They had thought it had been Mr. Finley's neighbor, having been previously in the military and a hunter himself, but he had a good alibi. A very good alibi: dinner with his wife, Judy Finley.
Personally Tony thought the chick was lying through her teeth, but he had no proof, so they were back to square one again.
With a heavy sigh, Tony logged into his computer, planning on going over a few witness statements to see if they'd (Doubtfully) missed something so far.
That is, until he saw he had a new E-mail:
SimonSays gmail . com
You're on the right track
Mrs. Judy was nowhere near the Finley residence at the time of the murder. Alberta Garcia's birthday dinner halfway across town: Mr. Finley was not invited.
Photo's below will be all you need.
Sincerely,
Simon
Tony scrolled down and looked at several attached photo's of what looked like Mrs. Alberta Garcia and Judy at a small house party. (Birthday party…)
Still, there was no way to prove when these pictures were taken, but just as the thought had crossed his mind, Tony saw a picture of Judy and Alberta holding up a cake.
Happy 40th Birthday
Tony was gonna take a shot in the dark and say that Alberta had just turn the big 4'Oh. Smirking, Tony leaned back in his desk chair and waited for Gibb's to come back from the Directors office to share the news.
Tony may have been 'conflicted', but he at least didn't harbor all negative feelings for the mysterious Simonsays. So what if he left him expensive gifts after every solved case, he was helping putting the badies away, wasn't he? Tony was a little creeped out by it all, yes, but he was still grateful.
Flicking his eyes back to the pictures of Mrs. Finley and Alberta, Tony couldn't help but try and imagine Mr. Finley's face when his alibi blew up in his face. He smiled to himself, and (Though he'd deny it 'til his death bed) maybe, sorta, kinda prayed a little 'thank you', to whoever–wherever–Simonsays was.
Well...? I got a few requests to continue with my (What i'm now considering calling the 'Stalker!Verse', that is, if you don't think that sounds gay? Seriously, should I call it the 'Stalker!Verse' or something different? O_O ) series of Burn Notice/NCIS crosseovers so... here ya go. ;3 CHapter two will be posted soon~ ^^
