Tony picked at the slice of pizza in the box in front of him and put it back down. "I'm not hungry right now, maybe later."
Penelope said "I don't want you to waste away sweet pea."
He replied "I won't." "There's just too much in my head right now swirling around for me. I can't believe that they would hate my voice that much to turn the radio off on me in the middle of a case. I know I have played jokes on them and maybe my movie references are irritating but that's just a front. That's what I do at work and I still get the rest of the job done. I have pulled an all-nighter plenty of times fixing their mistakes."
She rubbed his arm gently. "I am sorry Tony, I wish I could make it better for you."
He smiled a little. "You're here and you're listening. That helps a lot. I don't even know who to trust anymore. When we are out in the field you need to think that your partner will have your six. It helps us stay safe. That's gone for me. I can't be looking over my shoulder and wonder if someone is going to be there with me or ignore me."
He took a bite of a slice of pizza slowly. "I know I am pretty much unloading on you right now and you would probably like to talk about other things."
She said "Tony I told you when we met each other years ago that I would always be here and always listen. That hasn't changed. I hope you weigh all the options and angles before you make a decision. Also you should talk to Gibbs and see what will happen to them. "
Tony nodded. "I will before I do anything but I do need to tell him I am taking the day off tomorrow. So I will call him right now."
He dialed Gibbs cell phone then. Gibbs answered "Yeah Gibbs."
He said "I think I am going to take that day tomorrow. I know I usually ride the desk when I have stitches but I don't know if my head will be in the game for it."
Gibbs replied "Ok, when you're good come in. There may be a few changes around the bullpen when you do. "
Tony said "All right, you and I need to have a talk and I would rather do it face to face not over the phone. I need to do a little more thinking though."
Gibbs replied "Take your time I am here when you feel better."
Tony said "Thanks boss." He went back to eating for a little while.
"Can you stay tonight Pen? There's an old shirt of mine on the door of the closet if you didn't bring any stuff to sleep in. I need you to hug."
She smiled. "Then I am here and I have my go bag which always has my PJ's in it for emergencies."
Tony touched her face gently. "Thank you."
She replied "For what silly boy?"
He said "Being here, putting up with my stuff. I don't know if I deserve you in my life."
She kissed him on the lips gently. "I love you and that comes with the deal. "
He smiled. "I love you too. Probably should have said it sooner than now."
She looked at him. "You said it when it felt right angelfish. That's all that mattered."
He said "I think I need to go to bed and shut things off, do you want to come with me?"
She smiled. "I can do that. I think you need a hug or two right now."
He nodded. "That I do sunshine that I do."
Gibbs called Leon Vance then from his home. He said "Dinozzo is taking a day tomorrow for his elbow to heal. I think it would be best if Agent David is not in the building when he gets back. Or McGee for that matter. I don't know if he could walk in here and look at them and be able to work. I couldn't. I feel like this is my fault in some way. I should have found that recording sooner and dealt with this shit before now. Before they thought that they got away with it or it was just a joke."
Vance replied "What matters is what we do now to fix this. Tony is a damn good agent. Sure he may have a different method to working cases but he gets the job done. Fornell would make room for him at the FBI in a minute and so would Tom Morrow at Homeland if he wanted to get out of here for any reason."
Gibbs sighed. "I have two field agents that I need replacements for now Leon. If Dinozzo decides to go I will have to build my whole team again." "I don't blame him though, he was betrayed big time. I let him down, it was hard enough for him to trust me when he first came here from Baltimore. He has issues thanks to his father with that, then he let me in and what did I do when he was hurt, nothing. I dropped the ball."
Vance exhaled. "We both did, nobody in my agency should ever have to feel they can't trust a partner in the field. I am going to pull Dinozzo's file. I want to look it over and add a few things to it, like a nice letter or two of recommendation."
Gibbs said "Good Leon I will work on one of my own in case we need it and also how I am going to make this clusterfuck up to him. He could have had his own team in Rota a while back. Jenny offered it to him. He stayed because I was still recovering from injuries in an explosion. Then what did I do, I went to Mexico on him. I left him here and said "You'll do, and I threw him into the lion's den. The whole frog mess wouldn't have happened had I been a little more with it. I have disappointed Tony too many times and I hope he can forgive me."
Vance replied "He just needs to heal a little. We'll both help him and make it better. We owe him that. I want Abby to go over that disc again and make sure the gap is still there. Then I am going to talk to Eli David and Sec Nav and see where to go about Ziva. I don't know if she could be on another team when she can't listen to orders or watch her partners back even if it gets annoying for her. I don't even know if anyone will work with her when this gets out. Tony has a lot of friends here that aren't on your team. John Balboa for one." "She has just become one big Israeli headache and I will have to remove her."
