Abby took her headphones out of her ears, staring at her computer in horror, she couldn't believe what she had just heard. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't. Why hadn't Tony done something? Said something? To her, Gibbs or Ducky, why hadn't he mentioned it? Unless he thought they were just joking around on him.
She put her headphones back in and opened another file, preparing to listen to a secondary recording of the whole recording she had just listened to. Surely Tim and Ziva had just been kidding around and they hadn't really turned the sound off on Tony. The recording from inside the car would tell her whether or not there was any real cause for concern, or if they were just having a bit of fun at Tony's expense. She skipped forward through the recording, knowing that she was only looking for evidence that the recording was a complete recording of Tony's recording.
Yanking her headphones out for the second time she reached for her phone, calling Gibbs on speed dial, knowing that he was still in the building she knew she had to deal with this tonight. The others were probably long gone by now, having left not long after everything had been tied up at the baseball field. She knew that Gibbs would still be working on paperwork though, just as she was finishing up with the final checks and cataloguing of the evidence.
By the time that he made his way down to her lab Abby was pacing the room muttering to herself, trying to find a reason for Tim and Ziva actions but coming up short. Why would they do this to Tony? What had he ever done to them to be hung out in the wind like they had done? They broke protocol and had put Tony in danger.
"Gibbs, how's Tony is he okay?" Abby asked as soon as the man walked into her lab.
"He's fine Abs, Ducky says he just needs to try and not talk for a bit and he should be just fine." Gibbs replied. "You didn't call me down here to ask how Tony is, what have you got?"
"They left him in the wind Gibbs, anything could have happened to him, why would they do that to him, to Tony." Abby babbled, trying to tell Gibbs exactly what he needed to know, but getting caught up in her own thoughts.
"Abs." Gibbs said, placing his hands on her shoulders and trying to calm her down. "What's going on?"
"They left him without backup Gibbs, they turned the radio off and left Tony alone out there searching for a terrorist." Abby told him.
"Does he know?" Gibbs asked, the anger rolling off him in waves.
"I'm not sure." Abby replied, "They told him they weren't listening, but whether he believed them or just thought they were joking about I don't know. How could they Gibbs? Why would they do that to Tony?"
"I don't know Abs, but I am going to find out."Gibbs replied. "Are you finished with all the Royal Woods evidence?"
"I am now, I was just reviewing the tapes before logging them." Abby told him.
"Good. Before you log the tapes for Royal Woods I want you to make copies of them and log them separately to the Royal Woods case. I also want you to go over the com units they all had, check for anything wrong with them and log your evidence as well." Gibbs gave her a hug, "Then go home. I am going to see Tony and we will deal with this mess in the morning."
Abby watched as Gibbs left before turning back to her computer ready to set to work. She had a direction to go in now, something normal to hold onto in the sea of madness that seemed to be trying to carry her away. She would get answers from the evidence and Gibbs would find the motive and get answers from the people involved. It was the only normal she could focus on now.
X
Tony was startled by the banging on his front door, he had been lost in his own little world, watching a movie. He opened his gun safe and retrieved his weapon before going to the door, just in case the person trying to get his attention was less than friendly. Opening the door he was surprised to find that it was Gibbs who was trying to break his door down. He immediately went for his phone to check that it was working. Normally the other man would call him if he needed him urgently, rather than turning up and knocking violently on the door. He had no missed calls and his phone seemed to be working fine, he put his phone back in his pocket, closing the door and turning to face Gibbs who was now pacing around his living room.
"Boss?" Tony asked, the word coming out quietly.
"Don't speak DiNozzo." Gibbs barked at him, "Just nod yes or no. Did you know?"
Tony just stared at him in confusion, did he know what? Gibbs was angry, really angry and Tony wished he knew why, at least then he could figure out if he had anything to do with it. He wondered what it was that Gibbs thought he might know, but he couldn't figure it out. Instead he just shrugged hoping to convey that he had no idea what the man was talking about. It seemed to work, they had worked together a long time and could read each other well.
"Did you know they left you without backup?" Gibbs asked.
Tony felt his world be pulled out from under him, his legs certainly weren't as stable as they had been and he crashed to the floor. He had thought they had just been joking about on him, he would never have expected them to have not been listening to him. He just couldn't believe that they would leave him in the field with no backup, but if Gibbs was here and as angry as he was it must be true. He shook his head as confirmation he hadn't known, but Gibbs would have been able to tell that from his response to the situation.
"Boss, why?" Tony croaked out.
"Don't know DiNozzo, but we will find out. Get some sleep, we are going to see Vance first thing." Gibbs told him as he made himself comfortable on Tony's couch.
Leon Vance was hoping for a quiet day at the office, yesterday his main team had stopped a home-grown terrorist cell, he was hoping that today everyone would just catch up on paperwork. It would be nice to have a day where there were no major crimes, murders or terrorist activities. It was wishful thinking, but they were nice thoughts.
He had just sat down behind his desk when the door to his office burst open and Gibbs stormed through it, followed by DiNozzo and Abby. Leon sighed, knowing that his hopes for a peaceful day had just been shattered; whatever was going on was bound to be stressful, especially if Gibbs was arriving before his secretary had got in for the day.
DiNozzo was carrying some files and Abby appeared to have papers with her as well, and she was carrying a flash drive as well. Gibbs was lacking his customary cup of coffee, which showed the situation was really bad if he hadn't even stopped to pick up a cup of coffee before storming up to his office.
"Let's hear it." He told them, hoping to get through whatever it was before the day really began, but feeling that there was something really wrong. He didn't have Gibbs' gut, but he could tell that DiNozzo looked like someone had killed his puppy. Abby looked as though she thought DiNozzo was a puppy that needed protecting, she kept stroking his arm as if to reassure him about something, and Gibbs well, he looked like someone was going to wish they were the dead puppy.
"I want McGee and David off my team." Gibbs stated, the anger in his voice telling Leon that whatever they had done wasn't going to be swept under any rugs while Gibbs was about. "I want them in interrogation as soon as they get here, and I want them gone."
X
Leon looked at him, wondering exactly what was going on, yesterday the team had been working well together, he wondered how everything had changed so suddenly within the last twenty-four hours. "What is going on Gibbs? You can't just come in here making such demands."
"They broke protocol Leon, they left DiNozzo in the field without backup while searching for a terrorist, I want them off my team." Gibbs glared, "I have been here long enough to make hiring and firing decisions for the MCRT, don't try and force my hand, you can either back me on this, or I will go over your head."
Leon slumped backwards in his chair, he couldn't believe it, the MCRT had seemed to run like a family, Gibbs the father, DiNozzo the annoying older sibling, Ducky the grandfather, and the others falling in as Gibbs' other kids. It seemed inconceivable to him that they would fall apart like this, even when he had separated the team they had still been a family.
"They did what?" Leon was hoping that he had heard wrong. This really was going to mess up his idea of a quiet day. They were going to have to be questioned, he would have to get Internal Affairs involved and this was going to cause so much paperwork. He groaned at the thought of it, "You have proof of course?"
He looked at the papers that Abby was holding and the flash drive. She placed them on his desk in front of him and he began to look through the papers. They were tests on the equipment, proving that all the com units that had been used in the field yesterday were functioning properly. He then plugged the flash drive into his computer and Abby rounded his desk to open the files to the relevant sections.
Hearing McGee and David say they hadn't been listening to Tony when he returned to the car he assumed that they must have been joking by the way they said it, although he could tell by the stony look on Gibbs' face that it certainly wasn't a joke. When Abby opened the other file he listened to them talking in the car and turning off the sound on Tony's com unit so that they couldn't hear him anymore.
"I'll contact IA straight away, Gibbs you will let them handle this, I want this done by the book." Leon replied as he lifted his phone to contact internal affairs.
Gibbs looked ready to start a tirade, but Leon just shook his head. "We do this my way Gibbs, you can watch from observation, but you can't be in the room. Miss Scuito return to your lab, Gibbs, DiNozzo back to the bullpen, don't speak to anyone about this, and try to avoid speaking with McGee and David."
They left his office, Gibbs looking mightily pissed off and Leon began to speak to an agent with internal affairs bringing them up to speed on the situation and asking them to take over. He flipped through the pile of papers that DiNozzo had left on his desk on his way out, a report of the case and the actions taken in Royal Woods, two reports of dereliction of duty against McGee and David, and the paperwork for their removal from the MCRT.
Coming off the phone with Internal Affairs he sighed, knowing that it wasn't the hardest phone call he would have to make that day, and wondering if he could put off calling Tel Aviv for as long as possible. His hopes of a quiet day completely destroyed and it wasn't even nine am.
X
Ziva David arrived at work exactly on time, looking forward to the day ahead. Yesterday had been a good one, they had closed their case catching a home-grown terrorist group and she had been able to show that her undercover skills were superior to Tony's skills. She had infiltrated the group wheareas he had only been able to go around getting voice prints rather than being able to be of any real use in bringing down the terrorists like she had.
Arriving in the bullpen she did not expect Gibbs to be as angry as he appeared, especially after such a good result the day before. She sat at her desk, nodding good morning to him before turning to look at Tony. She wondered what it was that he had done to annoy Gibbs so much, so early in the morning, especially as he wasn't allowed to speak until he had been cleared by Ducky.
She stared at him trying to figure out what it was that he had done but was unable to make out any signs of guilt or even remorse from him. She wondered if it had been someone else who had made Gibbs angry, but it seemed unlikely, it was normally Tony that annoyed him, he was the only one that Gibbs ever really had to hit to keep in line.
She was just booting up her computer when two men came into the bullpen and nodded at Gibbs, she wondered who they were, and if they were possibly the reason for his anger. When they asked her to stand up and come with them to an interrogation room she realised that they must be the ones to have caused Gibb's ire.
They were obviously interrogating the team for some reason, and Gibbs was annoyed at the very thought. Knowing that Gibbs was angry on her behalf she decided just to get their questioning over with, it would mean that she could get back to her work sooner.
Once seated in interrogation she began to wonder what the questions were about, perhaps something Tony had done that was now impacting the whole team. She listened to the two agents, who told her they were from internal affairs, as they spoke about her rights and how the interview would be recorded. She agreed that she understood, it wasn't difficult to understand after all, and she could see that the camera light was on. She was a Federal Agent, she knew what that light meant, they didn't need to explain it to her, but then again she had probably done a lot more interrogations than they had and they were probably nervous.
She waited for them to begin questioning her, listening as they recounted their previous case and then brought up the canvassing of Royal Woods for voice prints. She knew it; she knew that it was something that Tony had done or hadn't done possibly that was the reason for all this palaver. She could just imagine how angry Gibbs was that his case was being looked at once it was shut and done with.
When they began to question her about turning off the radio she suddenly realised what had happened, Tony had taken their joking comments to him and complained, after all there was no way they could prove that they had actually turned the radio off. It was Tony's word against hers and McGee's. She just had to convince the IA Agents that they had just been joking and hadn't actually turned the radio off, and hope that McGee was intelligent enough to realise and do the same.
X
Timothy McGee was having a bad day, he had woken up late and as a result was running late to work. When he arrived in the bullpen his team were nowhere to be found. There were two men waiting in the bullpen though. Deciding that the day couldn't get any worse he asked them who they were, hoping that they weren't going to be making Gibbs angry in any way.
When they informed him that they were from Internal Affairs he almost groaned aloud, Gibbs was going to be unbearable if this ended up taking up too much of the day. He agreed to their questioning, thinking that it was better that he get it over with now, and he could at least make out that he was on time as Gibbs hadn't seen when he had shown up.
They passed Vance, Gibbs and Tony in the corridor, the three men having just left one of the observation rooms. Tim could only guess that Ziva was in the interrogation room and they had just watched as IA spoke with her. He wondered if she would join them to watch his question and answer session.
He wondered what it was they wanted to know about, Gibbs seemed angry and both Tony and Vance had looks of disappointment on their faces. He sat down and listened as the agents explained all his rights and that they would be recording the session. He agreed where necessary and asked them to begin, he wanted to get back to work before Gibbs got even angrier.
When they began to question him about their foray into Royal Woods the previous day he realised that somehow they had found out. It explained the looks on both Tony and Vance's faces and the anger Gibbs had. He and Ziva had broken rule one and screwed over their partner. He knew that he was done for at NCIS, even the suggestion that he had left a partner without backup would be enough to ruin him, but the fact that he had actually left Tony without backup, no-one in the agency would want to work with him.
He realised that his best option would to be to admit his wrongdoings and hope that the punishment, other than the loss of his job, wasn't too steep. Nothing had actually happened to Tony, other than him losing his voice, so there shouldn't be any criminal charges. He would lose his position with NCIS, but he could move into the private sector easily enough, his computer skills were in high demand.
X
Gibbs glared through the window into the interrogation room, not that the occupants could see him. Ziva had still been insisting that they had just been joking until she had been confronted with McGee's confession and Abby's evidence. Then she had tried to lie her way out of the situation pinning everything on McGee, and on Tony himself.
When the IA Agents had asked her to explain that she had launched into a vitriolic rant about how Tony was just an overgrown child who if he had been doing his job properly instead of his useless talking and flirting she wouldn't have turned the sound of in order to escape his annoying voice. They watched as the IA agents told her about her termination from NCIS before leaving the observation room, not caring about her anger at the situation of her own making.
They made their way back up to Vance's office to discuss the situation now and how they moved forward. Vance had already taken some time to have his secretary pull some staff files for Gibbs to look through but Gibbs protested.
He explained that they worked well as a two man team and they would stay that way for a while. They would find their new teammates, and they wouldn't have anyone forced upon them. Vance didn't seem happy, but he relented, realising that there would have to be a level of trust built up with both Tony and Gibbs before any new team member would be welcomed properly, forcing them to accept someone wouldn't help that.
Gibbs then led Tony down to Abby's lab where she was waiting for them with Jimmy and Ducky, waiting to hear the outcome of the IA interviews. She had obviously explained what happened to the autopsy team as they were waiting as anxiously as she was.
"They're gone." Gibbs stated, "We are a two man team again for now."
It was obvious that they wanted to know why they had done it, and Tony spoke up before Gibbs could say anything.
"They were sick of hearing my voice, so they turned the radio off." Tony told them, his tone self-deprecating.
Gibbs quickly moved and slapped him around the back of the head. "Enough of that DiNozzo, they are at fault, not you."
"How do we move on from this Gibbs?" Abby asked, "I don't get why they would betray us like this, betray Tony."
"We move on Abs. They are no longer part of my team, or part of NCIS. We start again with a clean slate. Tony and I will work as a two man team until we find someone we both agree on to take on as a probie." Gibbs told her, the others nodding. This was a new beginning.