Chapter 2

Almost three hours later, Tony and Gibbs were back in the bull pen, sitting at their desks. Both were typing up reports on their computers, having solved the case in record time. The answer had been right in front of them from the beginning. The guy's phone had been one of the ones recently recalled for a manufacturing fault, but he hadn't returned it. The phone had caused a shortage in the power supply to the building the guy was in front of, which had caused the explosion. Insurance was going to pay to fix the building, the local council was coming out to clean up the mess in the street, and the guy's family would get death benefits. It had been a pretty easy case.

"DiNozzo, we need to talk about something," said Gibbs ten minutes later.

"About what?"

"You. I have a few questions about some things I read in your file that I want to get answers to."

"Sure. Ask away." Tony had no doubt in his mind what Gibbs was wanting to know, but he hadn't done anything wrong, so he had no problem talking about it.

"Follow me." Gibbs led Tony down a hallway to the conference room. "Have a seat."

Tony sat down in one of the comfortable chairs, facing his new boss.

"I noticed that you have a lot of awards and commendations in your file. I'm impressed."

"Thank you."

"But, I also saw quite a number of complaints."

"From my captain in Philly, right?"

"Yes."

"They aren't true. Well, not all of them. I did beat up my partner in the squad room, but that was self-defence."

"Why?"

"Because of a few things he did and said." Tony had hoped that his quick explanation on that one would be enough. It was the only real complaint in his file, but it was also the one complaint that he had trouble discussing.

"What did he say? What did he do, Tony?" Gibbs' tone was gentle, something that surprised Tony.

Hesitating for a moment or two, Tony finally spoke. "He murdered a suspect, shot him to death while we were looking for a drug dealer. There was no need for our weapons to even be out. The guy admitted his involvement in the drug ring we were investigating. I had already cuffed him and he was sitting in the back of our car. I had told my partner to leave the guy alone, that he was going too far and that I would report him, but he didn't listen, as usual. I was the 'new guy', the one that even the captain hated. My partner had been in the unit for nearly twenty years. He thought he had the right to do whatever he wanted to do."

"Did you report him?"

"I tried. Like I said, the captain hated me. He didn't listen, didn't believe me. There was nobody else in the room at the time, except my partner. He overheard me on the phone to my captain's boss and thought I was talking about him. The call was actually about a case that had just come in, but as usual, nobody wanted to believe me."

"What did your partner say when you told him about the call?"

"He called me a liar, said I was reporting him to the commissioner. I tried to get him to listen, but he was angry. When he gets angry, there's nothing to do except run in the other direction. But this time, he had been complaining loud enough for the captain to hear, and when I tried to run, my captain decided that I didn't deserve to get away from them. He blocked the exit with his body, and I couldn't get around him. We were on the eighth floor of the building, so the only way out was the single staircase."

"What happened?"

Tony shook his head. "I really don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?"

"I just don't."

Gibbs could hear the pain and hurt in his new agent's voice, and he didn't want to push Tony to talk, but he needed to know what had happened. He needed to be able to understand Tony's mindset when he had attacked his partner. He wanted to be able to help in the future should a similar situation arise.

"Tony, tell me what happened. What did your partner do?" Gibbs gently coaxed.

Tears started to fall from Tony's eyes. "I had made the mistake of telling him about my family, and he used it against me. I got angry with him, and I tried to get around Walter so I wouldn't do anything stupid. The captain still blocked my way. I had my back to my partner- stupid, I know- so I didn't see him coming towards me. In a flash, my captain had moved out of the way, so I went to get out of the squad room, but my partner had grabbed my jacket and pulled me back into the middle of the room. It was a small room, so our desks were all close to each other. The middle was the only space where several people could stand without being on top of each other."

"Keep going. I'm listening."

Taking a deep breath, Tony spoke, his voice quieter. "He started to push me up against a desk. I pushed back, not hard, just enough to get him off me. He was twice my size, and at the time, I was still getting used to him. I managed to push him back a little bit, but it wasn't enough to move out of the way. He came back towards me, his hand balled into a fist. Before I could even try to do anything, he had punched me in the face. I could feel blood coming out of my nose, but I pushed him back again, this time managing to make enough room to get away. I was trying to get to the stairs, to get out of the way, but he was fast. And with the captain egging him on, I had no chance."

"Is that when you hit him?"

"He punched me again, and I felt my nose break that time. By then, blood was dripping onto my t-shirt, and my face was so sore, I couldn't tell where the pain was coming from. I started to hit him, just to get rid of him. I got in a few punches before he hit me again. Then, the next thing I knew, I was on the ground, next to the top of the staircase. I could see people from the seventh floor looking up, shock clear on their faces. I had a lot of friends down there, people that actually liked having me around."

"Did anyone come and help?"

"One woman, Zoe, she was on her way up to us when I noticed her. She was maybe two flights away. I called out to her for help and she dropped the file she was carrying to almost fly up the stairs. But it wasn't fast enough. I had no energy left to fight my partner off, so I just tried to get away from the stairs. He stopped me before I had rolled out of the way, pushed me with his foot until I was at the stairs again. Next thing I knew, I was rolling down the staircase. If Zoe hadn't been on the landing, I would have kept rolling down the next flight. She stopped me with her foot and sat with me until an ambulance arrived. Several people from the seventh floor squad room were with me too, but I was so dizzy and I felt like I was going to be sick, that I didn't recognise any of them."

"Did you go to the hospital?"

"Yes. I must have blacked out at some point though. I remember two medics sitting next to me after Zoe had helped me into a seated position against the wall. I remember one of them trying to touch my face. I even remember them helping me down to the ambulance. I don't remember getting into the ambulance, or arriving at the hospital. The next thing I remember was being in a hospital bed with a nurse wrapping a blood pressure cuff around my arm. I couldn't really see much through my puffy eyes by that point, so I just let her do her job."

"How long were you in the hospital?"

"A day. The doctor wanted to keep me under observation, and I didn't argue. I wasn't interested in going to work or anything anyway."

"Did you make a report?"

"With the police commissioner. He and two detectives from Internal Affairs came to the hospital. Apparently, the commissioner had heard everything. I must have thought I hung up the phone after speaking to him, and not actually done it. He was on my side, and had given a statement to IA about what he had heard. The two detectives had come with the commissioner to get my statement."

"Did you go back to work after that?"

"No. I told the commissioner I refused to go back there as long as my partner worked there. He helped me put in papers for a transfer. That's how I ended up in Baltimore."

"Was your boss in Baltimore concerned about the complaint in your file?"

"Yes. But he spoke to the commissioner who explained what had happened. I was transferred maybe a week after it had happened, so I still had bandages on my nose, and my face was still bruised. It was obvious that I was the one that had gotten the worst of the fight. He never brought it up with me, except to tell me that the commissioner had explained everything and that he was giving me a clean slate. He wouldn't tell anyone about the fight so that I could try and start things off on the right foot."

"Were you partnered with Danny right from the start?"

"Yes. We got along so well until a few months ago. I can't believe he turned out to be a dirty cop. But at least I could work with him. He knew about my family, but he never once brought it up, and he never told it to anyone."

Gibbs smiled. "You know, I won't tell anyone either."