Squad Room
"Hey Tony, McGee might get lied down tonight." Ziva said enthusiastically.
"That is laid, Ziva." McGee corrected, surprised that DiNozzo did not get there first. "And, just because Grady asked me on a date does not mean that we will sleep together." McGee and Ziva looked stopped and looked suspiciously over a quiet DiNozzo.
"You okay Tony?" Ziva asked teasingly but she was now becoming more concerned.
"Yeah, I was expecting an insult of some kind on this." McGee stated almost as an invitation for Tony. Gibbs looked over at Ziva and McGee as he sat down. He watched DiNozzo closely, as did McGee and Ziva.
"What?" DiNozzo asked softly in confusion, as he saw everyone looking at him. He was looking at them both not knowing exactly what was going on.
"McGee has a date with Agent Grady of polygraph, Tony." Ziva restated, looking at him in concern.
"Oh, way to go there McStud-inator on a Mcdate with the McGrady McGee Magnet." DiNozzo said, when he realized everyone was still watching him. The delayed comments caused more concern from them. DiNozzo started looking at his emails.
"DiNozzo." DiNozzo picked up his ringing desk phone. "Yes, okay, yeah I am on my way right now." He said as he hung up the phone.
"Where are you going Tony?" McGee asked.
"I am due for a polygraph." DiNozzo stated.
"You too?" McGee asked curiously. "I thought it was just me. Why didn't you mention that earlier?"
"Am I due also?" Ziva asked.
"I just found out that I was due." DiNozzo said quickly as he raced out of the room.
"Boss. . .?" McGee started to ask Gibbs about the purpose behind their polygraphs.
"I don't know McGee." Gibbs answered shortly.
"I need to give this back to Abby." Ziva said as she headed for the elevator, now looking at Gibbs questionably.
"McGee, Grady still has a thing for you. Go on your date." Gibbs said. "DiNozzo is due for a polygraph for another reason." Gibbs stood up and walked over to McGee's desk.
"I need you to do a background check on these two names." Gibbs whispered as he handed a piece of paper to McGee.
"Paddington? Is there any relation to. . .?"
"That is Tony's mother, and the other one is his grandmother." Gibbs stated. "Keep this on the q.t., but I want to know specifically if they have any type of criminal record."
"On it Boss." McGee said with an overwhelming sense of both shock and deceitfulness.
After a few minutes of silence, McGee felt confident enough with the information that he had on the two women. "Boss, there is not much on the grandmother at all. I cannot even find out when she died. She does not even have her own driver's license. There are no criminal records and nothing about her is that unusual. His mother was arrested and charged with DUI's. The arresting officer both times was Frank Raimey, Tony's old boss from Baltimore."
"There is the connection. This might be where Raimey is going with this." Gibbs said getting up. McGee looked up at him curiously. Gibbs was heading towards Grady's office, when Vance approached him from that direction.
"Gibbs, walk with me." Vance said as they walked back down to Grady's office where DiNozzo was. "He passed." Vance said.
"But?" Gibbs asked, suspiciously of Vance coming to tell him this.
"His blood pressure really shot up with the questions about the juvy record and the suicide attempt." Vance informed him.
"You know something don't you?" Vance asked curiously.
"His mother was arrested for DUI's by Raimey." Gibbs informed him.
"Why didn't DiNozzo just say that to me?" Vance asked.
"I don't think he knew. She died when he was only 8 years old." Gibbs informed him.
"So, Raimey is using that? Why?" Vance asked. "Just to torment him or what?"
"I don't know, but it is working." Gibbs stated. Vance nodded in agreement.
Gibbs could see DiNozzo heading in their direction from Grady's office. He shot Vance a strong look to stop discussing this before DiNozzo could hear.
"You passed Agent DiNozzo. There is nothing to worry about." Vance said to him, giving a strong look to Gibbs.
"All right Tony. I am taking you home." Gibbs stated.
"Oh, you don't have to do that, Boss. I am good." DiNozzo said.
"I am taking you home, Tony." Gibbs repeated. "I know you are going home to drink, and I want to keep an eye on you."
"I don't have a problem, Boss." DiNozzo stated. There was a strong frustrated tone in his voice.
"You don't have to convince me of that Tony." Gibbs added. "But you have someone out to get you right now. You can't be too careful. Let's go."
DiNozzo's Apartment
After getting to DiNozzo's apartment in record time with Gibbs driving, DiNozzo started to key his apartment door. Gibbs picked up the newspaper on the floor in the hallway.
"Why are getting a Baltimore newspaper, Tony?" Gibbs asked suspiciously.
"What?" DiNozzo asked in confusion.
"The front page is all on Raimey. I see your name mentioned a lot in here Tony." Gibbs stated.
"Me?" DiNozzo said in a shaky tone. "What's it say?" DiNozzo asked as they stepped into his apartment. He turned on the lights and faced Gibbs with the newspaper.
"Awe Tony, you don't want to read this." Gibbs said wincing at the material he was reading.
"It is about me though, Boss." DiNozzo stated becoming increasingly nervous.
"Have a seat. I will read it to you." Gibbs said using a soft tone.
"Raimey accused you of covering for your old partner, who was taking bribes. He accused you of having a drinking problem. Specifically, he found out about Shepard's death and your excessive drinking aboard the USS Ronald Reagan." Gibbs said looking at DiNozzo critically. "There is a comment from an unknown sailor supposedly supporting that accusation."
"I don't have a drinking problem." DiNozzo said.
Gibbs went over to the kitchen and uncorked the wine bottle. He then poured a large glass for DiNozzo and for himself. Gibbs saw DiNozzo reaching over to pick up the newspaper.
"Hey, I will read that to you." Gibbs stated.
"Are you leaving stuff out?" DiNozzo asked suspiciously.
"No." Gibbs answered. "Sip that."
"Boss?" DiNozzo said.
"I'll read after you relax yourself a bit." Gibbs said.
"Raimey does continue to talk about how he arrested your mother. He mentions how he arrested her twice for a DUI charge. He implies that you have trouble with alcohol too like your old partner, Danny Price."
"Like mother like son I guess." DiNozzo said looking at his glass of wine.
"Hey." Gibbs shot back after the comment.
"Maybe I should stop drinking." DiNozzo said.
"Hey." Gibbs warned. "You drink, and I will read this." Gibbs looked at the haunted look in Tony's eyes.
"Are you okay?" Gibbs asked, putting down the newspaper. "He is just messing with you Tony."
"He said all of this is in the newspaper, though." DiNozzo said in concern.
"You ignore this. I am." Gibbs ordered softly. "Settle down, Tony."
"Boss, this. . ." DiNozzo started to argue.
"T-o-n-y." Gibbs said. "You need to settle down. You just ignore that for now."
DiNozzo looked as if he had eaten something very sour. His first reaction was relief that Raimey just chose to use a newspaper to seek revenge, but now Gibbs realized that Raimey knew the most effective way to really get to Tony. Gibbs could see how tormented DiNozzo was by this. DiNozzo reached for the newspaper again that Gibbs had just set down.
"Oh no, no you don't. Just leave it Tony." Gibbs ordered.
"What else does it say Boss?" DiNozzo asked.
"Let it go Tony." Gibbs repeated.
"I have family in Baltimore. I have friends from the Baltimore P.D. that will see this." DiNozzo started to frantically list off.
"Hey, they will understand. Raimey is lashing out at you for arresting him." Gibbs tried to calm him down. As Gibbs sat there, he watched DiNozzo become increasingly agitated. He was hyperventilating now, and he could not sit still.
"Tony, why don't we put on a movie or something. Where is the remote?" Gibbs asked.
"Boss, can I read that?" DiNozzo asked.
"No, you are too upset right now." Gibbs said. Gibbs found the TV remote and turned it on.
Gibbs started flipping the channels as he did see DiNozzo start to calm himself down as he sat on the couch looking down at the floor, trying to breathe slower.
"There is the Duke. Do you want to watch that?" Gibbs asked, not getting any type of reaction out of DiNozzo. As he flipped, he got a local news channel. Just as he flipped to it, he wished he had not.
"Former Baltimore Police Major Frank Raimey agreed to an interview with our own. . ." The reporter on the television said, as Gibbs winced and quickly flipped again.
"Wha—what was that?" DiNozzo asked frantically. "Boss, come on, please just let me watch that." He pleaded.
Gibbs reluctantly flipped back, seeing that DiNozzo was even more frantic from not knowing.
"The rest of the interview with Raimey will be played tomorrow evening." The reporter said. DiNozzo sat back down and buried his head in his hands.
"Tony." Gibbs said. "He hardly even says anything about you in this newspaper article."
"He said enough." DiNozzo said. He watched as Gibbs opened up the newspaper again.
"He implies that you have a drinking problem like your mother. Unlike her, you are a federal agent who carries a gun. He is trying to discredit you, like we already anticipated. Even the director thought this was Raimey's plan."
"I am more worried about some of my family members reading it." DiNozzo mumbled. "It is in there too, right?"
"What?" Gibbs asked giving DiNozzo a serious no-nonsense stare.
"He mentions the suicide attempt, doesn't he?" DiNozzo asked.
"Tony." Gibbs said sharply as DiNozzo looked as though he was having a panic attack.
"So he implies that I am mentally unstable, with a drinking problem, and carrying a gun." DiNozzo said. "And it is now on the evening news and in the newspaper. My career is over."
"Tony, I think we can have the network pull this from the air." Gibbs said unsure if that could be done, but he wanted to calm DiNozzo down. "We don't know for sure that he said anything about you in that interview." Gibbs watched how his comments actually did calm DiNozzo down. He was now sitting back on the couch with his head buried in his hands again. Gibbs finally put down the newspaper, knowing that DiNozzo knew all the information that he was trying to hide from him.
"I am going to make a quick call to the director, okay?" Gibbs said looking his distressed agent over. He stepped out onto the balcony where he could be out of ear shot of DiNozzo but where he could still watch him.
"Vance already had a retraction statement prepared. He needs to revise it a little now. One will be sent to the Baltimore newspaper and the other to the news station." Gibbs informed him. "He doesn't know if that will prevent the interview from being played, still. He wants me to bring you back to headquarters."
DiNozzo stood up, composed himself, and prepared to follow Gibbs as he shut off the television. Gibbs grabbed the newspaper as they left the apartment. The two men got into the car. Gibbs looked over at him, as he got extremely quiet and withdrawn.
"Hey." Gibbs said, watching him.
"Boss?" DiNozzo looked to him calmly. Gibbs looked him over, somewhat surprised at the way he calmed himself.
"What family members in Baltimore would have problems with this? Who are you trying to hide this from?" Gibbs asked.
"My mother's side of the family." DiNozzo answered.
"Yeah, I got that part. But, who in your mother's family?" Gibbs asked. "Your Uncle Clive died almost three years ago, right?"
"Yeah." DiNozzo said.
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs said sharply, but then he stopped himself. "T-o-n-y, who?"
After a long silence, DiNozzo finally answered his question. "My grandmother." DiNozzo answered with a wince.
"She is still alive?" Gibbs asked. "You made it sound like she was dead."
"She is in her 90's now." DiNozzo said. "Sh—she. . . we haven't spoken in a long time."
"Was she at your Uncle Clive's funeral in England?" Gibbs asked. DiNozzo nodded not looking up. "She is in Baltimore now?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah. But. . .Boss, please don't go see her." DiNozzo pleaded looking strongly at Gibbs with panic in eyes.
"This is the only thing you are worried about?" Gibbs asked.
"That and the fact that everyone from the BPD and NCIS might see that. How am I ever going to live this down?"
Gibbs said. "The facts are being twisted here."
