Yay! I posted again. Personal accomplishment!
Gibbs was angry. No, Gibbs was furious.
"Jen!" he yelled, busting through the doors. Jenny sighed. She knew this was coming. "Yes, Jethro, I knew there was a possibility that he was alive. I did not know for sure."
"You could've told me, Jen." He fumed.
"He is my agent!"
"I know that, Jethro. Please calm down."
"No I will not calm down, Jen! My agent just came back from the dead!"
"I realize that, Jethro. I really, truly am sorry."
"Why the hell didn't you tell me?!"
"Because it was better for you to think that he was dead. In all probability he wouldn't come back."
"You sent him out there to die?"
"Possibly, though that was not what I meant." The Director sighed. "Once people go into these things, Jethro, they usually can't come out. I hoped it was different for Tony, being family and all, and I guess I was right." She attempted a smile, but only managed a sort of grimace. Gibbs felt anguished to have to watch her like this, but all was not forgiven, yet.
"You still should have told me, Jen."
"I had direct orders from the President."
Gibbs grunted. "Damn politics." And stormed out.
Downstairs, Tony had just finished telling his story to McGee and Ducky.
"Abby?" a foreign female voice called. "Do you know where everyone is?"
Tony looked questioningly at Kate. Kate looked away sheepishly. All those present suddenly found something better to do.
"Abby, what on dirt is going on?"
Tony was extremely confused now. Who was this strange woman? What did she do here? Why did her presence make everyone so uncomfortable? And, whydid she just say "what on dirt"?
"Abby, Kate, McGee, Ducky, will somebody please tell me what is going on?" Tony asked. The woman startled. She hadn't seen him.
"Who are you?" she questioned.
"I was about to ask you the same question." They stared at each other.
"Ummmmm, Tony, this is Ziva. Ziva, this is Tony." Kate interjected. She leaned up to whisper in his ear. "Tony, don't make her mad. Mossad assassin. She can kill you many ways with nothing but a paperclip.
"18 ways, to be exact." Ziva corrected with a smirk. Her expression turned serious. "Tony, Tony…"
You could almost see the cogs turning in her head. Then they clicked. She started to talk very fast and animatedly. "But this is impossible, no? He is dead, yes? That is why I am here, yes?"
"Ziva, Ziva, calm down! Tony has a story. Yes, he seemed to have died. But, he didn't. He was on an op. He's alive."
"Um, okay. Great." Awkward silence ensued.
"Wait a minute, what did you mean, 'that is why I am here?'" Tony broke the silence.
"Tony, Ziva is your… replacement." Kate said the last word so quietly, Tony barely heard her.
"Oh."
"Awkwaaard." Abby said.
Gibbs stormed in. "DiNozzo, come with me!" He half-yelled. Tony reluctantly followed, mouthing "help" to the room before disappearing around the corner.
He hurried into the elevator after Gibbs. Inevitably, the emergency switch was flicked. "You shouldn't have done that."
"Um, done what, Boss?"
"Left."
"Believe me, I didn't want to."
"Yeah. Well, its good to have you back." The older man muttered gruffly. Tony knew that was as good as he was going to get.
"Its good to be back."
"Yeah, well. Do you want a job?"
The question startled Tony. "Of course, Boss."
Gibbs nodded and let the elevator run again.
Tony was, yet again, confused. Was Gibbs offering, or what? Oh well, after all these years, he had learned just to go along with it. At these thoughts he grinned.
"Why are you smiling, DiNozzo?"
"Smile. It makes people wonder what you're up to."
WHACK.
Tony sighed and rubbed his head. "It's so good to be back."
Gibbs glared at him. Luckily, Tony was saved by the 'ding!' of the elevator as it stopped. The Director's floor? Tony wondered to himself. How could I have messed up so soon?
As usual, Gibbs burst through the doors without knocking. Jenny looked up from the file she was reading. "Yes, Jethro?" she asked exasperatedly, though a smile tugged at her lips.
"I want him back."
"As an agent?"
"No, Jen, as a personal trainer. What the hell do you think I want him for?"
"What about Ziva?"
"I want them both. They're both damn good agents."
"Hmmm, well. I suppose since most of the new recruits were let go, I guess I have an opening. Do you want your job back?" She directed the question at Tony.
"Well, yeah!" Tony replied with an emphatic wave of his head.
Jen reached behind her desk and pulled out a huge stack of papers.
"Here's all you'll need to start a new life."
Tony looked warily at the papers. "There's got to be a million pages in there."
"You've come back from the dead, Tony. It takes a lot to rebuild what was lost."
The younger man reached out his hand. "Fine." He whined.
"By the way, there really is everything in there. I would get it done."
"Yes, Director. Thank you."
"You can go."
The two men turned and left.
"Oh, and by the way, you guys have an unofficial day off. Reunion time."
Tony looked behind and grinned. "Thanks Director!" The older man didn't acknowledge the words and kept going.
Still bearing his 100- watt smile, Tony hopped down to the bullpen. Kate was already there. He stopped at his desk. "I guess this isn't mine anymore, huh?" he asked Kate. She came up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders, turning him so he was staring in the direction of Gibbs' desk.
"Huh?" he asked again, this time in confusion. The desks were arranged in a sort of u- shape. What he assumed to be Ziva's desk was up against the left wall, behind Gibbs, and the old partition had been removed.
"We couldn't stand to give up your desk at the time of your death. So, we rearranged things a little bit. We left your desk exactly the way it was, except we took out the food. We were going to clean it out today."
"Exactly the way it was?" Kate nodded. "Alright!" he reached in one of the drawers, reemerging with a change of clothes. One question, though: who's 'we'?"
"Abby and I. And, yes, we saw your boxers. Your pink boxers." Tony searched the drawers frantically. He heard a woman's laugh and looked up in horror. The boxers in question were dangling from the end of a pencil.
"Give me those!" he growled and lunged after her. Kate squealed in laughter and ran away. He chased her around and around the bullpen. All the other agents were staring, unable to take their eyes off the laughing pair. Finally, Kate ran into an open elevator that somebody had called, but not entered. Tony ran in behind her just as the doors slid shut. He hit the emergency stop.
"Neither of us are leaving until you give me those."
"No."
"Gimme!" he yelled, launching himself at her.
"No!" He landed on her back, but she stretched her arms out forward so he couldn't reach, still laughing hysterically. They stayed like that, their laughter slowly dying. Kate could feel his muscled chest rippling behind her. This wasn't what bothered her though. What bothered her was the fact that nothing bothered her. It felt so right, and that scared her. She looked behind her and into his eyes. Kate had never thought that she saw anything in Tony. He was a sexist playboy pig. But, in his eyes, she saw something that almost made her change her mind. It couldn't be what she thought it was, though.
"Here. We should get back to work." She said, handing him his boxers. Tony sighed, separating himself from her. "Yeah. I guess so." He flicked the switch and the doors opened again. The two walked out solemnly and back to their respective desks.
Gibbs watched the chase and their reemergence upstairs with Jenny.
"Dammit! Haven't I told them? Haven't I warned them?"
"Jethro! Calm down! First of all, you don't know if anything happened-"
"Of course something happened! Did you see them-"
"Let me finish, Gibbs." The redhead said coldly. "You don't know if anything happened. They could've just realized that they made a fool of themselves in front of the whole agency." She smirked at the idea. "Secondly, even if something did happen, they're not stupid. It may not end in sadness. Thirdly, it's none of your goddamn business." Gibbs glared at her. She glared right back. Eventually, he smirked.
"You learn well, Jen."
"I learned a lot from you, Jethro."
He smiled as her words brought back memories from long ago. He looked at her lips, wondering what would happen if he kissed her again. He almost took a step towards her before shaking himself from his reverie and walking out soundlessly.