Close to You.
Chapter 1.
The team had just got back from their latest crime scene and yet again it was looking as though their murderer had struck once again, but they were going to have to wait until they'd got the confirmation from Ducky to find out if it was the case or not. Just as they were all getting settled into going through everything about their victim, Gibbs looked up to see Vance standing watching them from above, as their eyes made contact, Vance gave an indication to him to go up and see him. So with that Gibbs headed for the elevator and went up to see him.
For once as Gibbs enters the office and Vance tells him as he hands him a file to take a seat, he does actually do so. After then looking at the file he says "What is this Leon?"
Vance says "I understand that you have Christian Wakefield as your suspect, but as yet have not got any direct evidence to prove that it's him."
Gibbs replies "We haven't, but I'm sure we'll get there. So why show me this file on his daughter."
Vance says "I want you to consider putting one of your team undercover and find out what she knows or suspects. The two of them don't have a very close relationship and she does live in her own apartment, but she was bought up by the man. Not only that as you can see he only somehow got custody after kidnapping her and bring her here to the US when his marriage broke down in the UK where she was born and bought up until he did it. I've got hold of the police reports and the social services reports from the UK, because throughout the marriage he regularly beat his wife up. She left him in the end taking their daughter with her and went into a refuge when she was released from hospital after he beat her up again and also raped her. After kidnapping his daughter and coming here, she fought for custody but she never won it back. Over the years he also made sure that mother and daughter never saw each other, in the end though she went to continue her education to the UK and ended up living with her mom once again. Since coming back here again she and her fathers relationship has begun to break down even more, so they don't know exactly how much her mom may have told her while she was living there with her. There's a chance that with the case being constantly being in the news she may be getting suspicious about things and may agree to help us, but I'm not sure that she will do it just off her own back."
Gibbs asks him "So what are you saying?"
Vance answers "I would like someone to go undercover and have some kind of relationship with her to find out what exactly she does know."
Gibbs then says "And when you say someone you're actually meaning that you want it to be DiNozzo? I doubt Leon that he will do it as after the Bennoit debacle he vowed he would never go undercover like that ever again and so far has stuck to that vow. I know that it is for our case, but I just can't see him agreeing to it."
Vance replies "That's why if he does do it we will be making things so very different to what it was before. This time round everyone on the team will know about the undercover op and he will have back-up on standby at all times. Not only that we haven't as yet been able to ascertain if Miss Wakefield has a partner or boyfriend, so until we can either find that out or if it ends up being down to DiNozzo to find out and if she does have either then I'm saying that I just expect them to have some kind of just friends relationship, so he won't have to worry about being romantically involved with her even if she is also single. I would at least like to put it to him and then give him a few days to have a think about it. Unlike what Jenny did to him as well, as I came to understand later that she supplied him with the barest minimum of information on Bennoit anyway, all he knew was that she was a student doctor and that her father was an arms dealer who NCIS in general were after, not just Jenny doing it because of her vendetta with La Granouille. All of that file you have there and any other info we can get on her and her family before he goes under will be available to him, as well as anything else that gets picked up as the case continues. I am going to make sure personally that with every step of the way during the op he will know completely everything that is going to be happening and have all that he needs for it."
Gibbs sighs and says "Ok talk to him and see what he says, but if he does say no I don't want to hear of him being pressured into changing his mind and he giving in to end up doing it."
Vance replies "I promise you Gibbs that I won't do that, if he says no, no will mean no."
When the call came in to his desk Tony had only just got back to it again following having gone on a coffee and snack run for himself and McGee, he'd just read a sentence from the file that he'd been looking at just before he'd gone on the run as his desk phone rang. When he heard Vance's voice on the other end asking him to come up and see him he said that he'd be right up, he then got up, had a mouthful of his coffee and steeled himself ready for what the director wanted, even so as he walked round his desk to head upstairs he gave McGee a shrug of his shoulders and headed off upstairs, although as he went up there he did still have a strange feeling of impending doom come over him.
As he walked into the office he was quite surprised that Gibbs was also still there, when he was then given Laura's file before Vance had uttered a word he just knew what was coming up, but before he could say anything Vance said "I know what you're about to say, but please just hear me out. This time things will be different I don't expect you to get romantically involved with this woman unless you feel that it does have to go that way, although as yet we haven't got any intel as to if she has a partner or boyfriend at the moment anyway. You will have full back-up at all times and there will be no secrecy surrounding any of this, you're team will be in full knowledge with what's going on. You will also be kept updated with anything that comes in that you also need to know at all times."
Tony replies "So I can see she's the daughter of our suspect, but how do you think this will help because even if this doesn't end up being like last time, this part could be just like Jeanne and her not knowing anything about her father being an arms dealer until I ended up having to tell her. What happens if this Laura doesn't know anything about her father's extra curricular activities, I don't want to have to hurt someone else by telling them something that they perhaps don't know what their father was actually capable of."
Vance says "We don't know what she knows, all we know is that since she has returned from the UK, the relationship between her and her father has gone down hill even more than it was before. But we do know from things we have got from the UK authorities that her mom got out of the marriage because of the abuse he did to her and when he raped her. So we don't know if there's a chance that her mom may have told her the truth while she was living there. We want to do this to find out what she exactly knows about her father or suspects, because we don't also know if she would ever actually come to us to report anything off her own back. Look give things a couple of days to make a choice about what you want to do about this and I promise you that you will not be pushed into making the choice to do it, if we have to we will find another way in there. Take the file and look through it, if you want anything else that you might think will help you I will make it available to you."
Tony looks down at the file in his lap once again and then says "Ok, I'll have a look into this and think about it, because if this goes badly I'm saying now this will be the very last time I do anything like this." With that he looks to Gibbs who returns a look of agreement to him and with that Vance tells them to get back to the investigation once again.
Just as the two of them start to come back down the stairs again Gibbs cell goes and when he ends the call Tony says "Please don't tell me that we've got another one?"
To which Gibbs answers "I'm afraid so DiNozzo, go grab your gear." He does so and McGee does the same as they then make their way to the crime scene. While they're at the crime scene Tony seems to start just working on everything on autopilot as he goes quiet thinking about their next possible victim in front of them as well as thinking about what the director had asked him to do. Part of him wants to do it so that they can finally put the case to bed and there's also the other side of him that doesn't want to do it because he's afraid that history will repeat itself again and he will end up falling in love with his mark again and he really doesn't know if he could go through that heartbreak again, or even possibly break another woman's heart again. But in a way he knows that he still wants to read about the woman more, if she does either know something or just suspect something about her father, then in a way he'd like to help her find either some courage to get through everything if there is any way in which he could do it. When Ducky and Palmer arrived and Gibbs had asked if he could confirm if it was another victim or not, on his cursory check over the body Ducky said that they were most probably looking at yet another victim, because the initial outward injuries were looking that way and it was also looking like the sexual assault had also happened, but he would have to confirm it all once they were back in autopsy.
When they got back to the Navy Yard again and got everything they could on their latest victim, finding out that his name was Joshua Reynolds he was a former petty officer, but now worked in a base office. He'd got a wife called Diana and also had four year old twin girls. As Gibbs and Tony then headed out to give her the news they were surprised to find that she was pregnant once again with another set of twins. As they told her the news and asked her some gentle questions about his life and things, Tony was quite surprised that Gibbs had left out some of the details they had already found out about him, like the fact that he was bisexual and they had also found out that he had had a couple of affairs during the early days of their marriage and shortly after the birth of the twins with a man. Those men had already been added to the list, especially as one of them was actually their prime suspect. As they returned back to the Navy Yard again Tony once again found his mind wandering to the undercover op, and how he could help bring justice to that family and all of the other family and friends of their victims. But he also started to think about how those two little girls would probably end up in time forgetting about who their father was, because of the age they were. Not only that the twins that his wife was now expecting wouldn't even get to know their father and wouldn't know him at all.
In the end as they worked through the afternoon Tony found that he was starting to unusually for him get a headache as he was trying to work through everything as well as work through the proposal, so in the end he decided on taking a break from it all. He then took out a couple of pills from the ibuprofen that he did keep in his desk just in case he needed something at anytime, before he headed to the break room to take them with some water, he then got himself a coffee and something to eat from the vending machine. As he sat there miles away but somehow mindlessly managing to eat his food and have the coffee, he was so far gone that he never even heard McGee come into the room as well. Because of the way Tony had been so quiet and growing quieter and quieter since their return from the crime scene and also his return from the visit with Gibbs, McGee had started to grow concerned about Tony and what was going through his head. His concern grew even more when he managed to get himself a coffee as well as something from the vending machine without Tony even realising that he was in there with him, he then finally got his attention as he sat down and waved his hand in front of Tony's face. As Tony shook himself out of things he said "Oh, hi Probie."
McGee asked with some concern "What's wrong Tony?"
Tony asked him back "How do you mean?"
McGee answered "Well ever since you came back from Vance's office you seem to be deep in thought and have got quieter the more that things have gone on this afternoon, so what is it?"
Tony let out a big sigh and replied "I'm fine; it's just that Vance wants me to go undercover again to try and get this case sorted once and for all. They want me to get with our suspects daughter to try and find out what she knows or suspects about her father. I've told them that I will think about things, but I don't know if I can honestly do it again, even if they have also said that because they haven't been able to get any intel on whether she has a boyfriend, partner or whatever I don't have to go into this thinking that I have to romance her. I know that there is also going to be some difference in it this time round, like all of you knowing what I'm doing and there being no secrecy in any of it, as well as ensuring that I do have back-up at any time I need it as well. Even though I know that it will help the case and seeing our latest victim and what his wife is going to have to go through, especially with those kids probably not ever remembering who their father is, and those babies she's expecting at the moment they won't even know who their father was. It's just that after before can I put myself through all this again, without me getting hurt in the process or this woman that I'm supposed to be seeing."
McGee says "Tony we all know what you went through with Jeanne, but as you say this time it will be different and you can talk about it. If you do decide to do it and feel that history is repeating itself you can always come and talk, even if we're stuck here at the office you can just call a time out and we'll go somewhere to talk. You're a good man Tony and I know that you don't want to hurt someone else or get yourself hurt, but in the end it could help the case, and who knows? Perhaps this time round you might end up coming out of this in a better position than you were the last time and I don't know end things coming out more amicable between you."
Tony replies "Thanks Tim I will think about it and I promise that I will tell you what I decide on."
Later on that night when they had all got home, Tony got himself a take out and as he ate it he started to look at the file properly that Vance had given him about the woman that they wanted him to go undercover with. As he read about her he realised that perhaps she didn't know exactly what was going on with her father, but did wonder if perhaps she may be suspicious about him instead and he also has a feeling that she was the type of person that would help them with it all and would do whatever she could to help them. The only trouble was that from looking at her picture in the file he knew instantly that she was his kind of woman, so if she was single then he knew that he was probably going to have a lot of trouble in trying not to fall for her, probably even harder than he found things with Jeanne. As with her it had taken time for him to actually fall in love with him because outwardly she most certainly wasn't his type. But in his heart this time round he just wanted everything to be so much different and well if he did fall for her then perhaps they could find a way of continuing a relationship afterwards. In the end though his conscious won out and he decided that perhaps he would do it after all, so with that he got up and headed to Gibbs to tell him that he was going to do it. He was also quite surprised though because Gibbs told him that if at any point he wanted out of the assignment then he only had to say the word. Plus at anytime he wanted to talk about anything then the basement would always be open for him to come and talk.