CHAPTER 4

Gibbs pulled open the door to the conference room and gestured for Ziva to proceed him into the room. He flipped the 'in use' sign up so that they wouldn't be disturbed. He knew that this would not be as easy as the conversation he'd had earlier with McGee.

Ziva sat down without being directed and leaned back, crossing one leg over the other. Gibbs knew her well enough to know that she wasn't as relaxed as she wanted to appear. He could see the tenseness around her eyes and her fingers fidgeted slightly against her thigh. He took his time settling into a seat himself, wanting to un-nerve her just a bit more.

He wasn't happy with her arrogant attitude during the day, insisting that she be told what he and Tony had been discussing. She'd always been aggressive and blunt in her dealings with others, but the longer she'd been with NCIS, the more demanding she'd become. And he didn't like it. She was pushing him and attempting to control his actions. As Team Leader, he needed to make her aware of her place on the team, without undermining her drive and confidence as an agent. It was a fine line, but he felt it was worth the effort.

But he had to address the issue between her and DiNozzo. She had always been slightly, if not sometimes overtly, condescending toward his Senior Field Agent. When she'd first arrived, he hadn't really paid all that much attention, still reeling from Kate's death and the search for Ari Haswari. And after Ziva had killed her half-brother to save Gibbs' life, he began to trust her more.

But he hadn't taken into account that DiNozzo still didn't. Yet, over the intervening years, they seemed to develop a grudging trust and respect for each other. But after the death of Michael Rivkin and Ziva's kidnapping and reported death in Somalia, that trust seem to erode once again. And although it seemed like Tony welcomed her back into the fold, he was still not sure if the two had regained the trust they had in each other before that particular debacle.

He blamed himself for not addressing the issue earlier, knowing that if he had, this most recent incident might not have occurred. He gave himself a mental head slap for procrastinating and hoping that the problem would resolve itself. He'd never been one to bury his head in the sand and not handle the difficult issues, but he had this time.

He had told himself that Ziva had just needed time to adjust after her horrendous time in captivity. She refused to talk to him, or anyone else outside the therapist's office, about her time in Somalia. But knowing how terrorists worked, he knew that she'd faced daily torture and likely repeated and brutal sexual assault. He partially blamed himself for that, knowing that if he hadn't left her on that tarmac in Israel, she would have been safe and sound at NCIS.

But his own pride had been riled at being given an ultimatum and that put her in a position where her father was able to manipulate her into going on a suicide mission. It had cost her dearly, a price that no man would ever be able to fully understand. He had tried to give her the time to come to terms with that horror.

But yesterday, she had placed a teammate's life in danger. And she seemed to have no inkling that she'd even done anything wrong. He was brought out of his musing when she called his name.

"Gibbs, are you going to explain to me what all this secrecy has been about today or not?"

He narrowed his eyes at her tone. He could hear a touch of arrogance and snarkiness. And he didn't like it. "Why do you think we're keeping secrets from you, Agent David?"

It was Ziva's turn to narrow her eyes. Gibbs seldom used her title and last name, almost always just calling her by her given name, as did most everyone at NCIS. She saw a touch of…what? Anger? Disappointment? She wasn't sure but whichever it was, it made her nervous. She sat up, placing both feet flat on the floor and entwining her fingers together on the table in front of her. "You had McGee re-writing his report. You and Tony were in a closed-door conference, which you ordered me to leave. No one would tell me why."

"Ever hear of 'need-to-know', Agent David?"

"Of course. But as a member of this team, if it dealt with a case, do I not have a need to know?"

"You, and any other agent on my team, has the need to know, only what I feel I need to tell you."

She felt like she'd been slapped. Gibbs had never treated her this way before. He'd always seemed to accept her almost as an equal. In fact, she had often felt that if she'd been an agent when she first joined the team, and not a Mossad liaison officer, she might have been offered a higher position on the team. Possibly even as Senior Field Agent, as she had more experience than McGee, and was more skilled than DiNozzo.

Gibbs opened up the file in front of him and continued. "I am going over the reports from yesterday," he explained. "I needed to talk to each of you separately, to get your individual impressions of what you heard. There were a couple of suspicious things that came up and I wanted you each to give me your thoughts without being influenced by what the others said."

"Sounds reasonable," Ziva replied, knowing that her extensive expertise in counter-terrorism would likely, of all the agents, be the most helpful to Gibbs, possibly even more useful than Gibbs own experience.

"Good," Gibbs said, flipping through the file that Abby had completed and left on his desk earlier in the day. He'd had a chance to quickly peruse the report earlier that day. And he'd struggled to keep his ire from showing on his face. He planned to give Ziva the opportunity to realize exactly what she and McGee had done wrong. But if the former Mossad officer was unable to figure it out on her own, Gibbs had no problem pointing out, in no uncertain terms, just where she had screwed up.

They spent the next few minutes going over the early part of Tony's conversation, the ones the back-up agents should have heard. And he found her comments spot on. Just as he decided to speed things up and get to the part that they would have missed, a frantic knocking came at the door, followed by McGee hurriedly slipping into the room.

"Sorry, Gibbs, but we have an emergency…well, sort of…"

"What is it, McGee?" Gibbs asked, initially perturbed by the interruption, but quickly becoming concerned.

"Vance…Tony…I tried to tell him…he misunderstood…wouldn't listen…!" McGee stopped at the smack to the back of his head. He hadn't even noticed Gibbs stand up and moved next to him.

"In complete sentences, McGee!" Gibbs snarled.

Tim took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Sorry, sorry. Tony & I were talking...about what happened. I apologized and he…"

"Apologized? For what?" Ziva asked.

"Zip it!" Gibbs growled at her, before turning back to McGee and gesturing for him to continue.

"He was taking me to task about it, rightfully so, when Vance came in. The Director went after Tony about verbally attacking me! Gibbs, I tried to explain, but Vance wouldn't let me, told me Tony deserved it…"

"What? Deserved what?" Gibbs asked, a feeling of foreboding suddenly washing over him.

"Vance….he suspended Tony," McGee stated.

"He did what?!" Gibbs exploded. "Of all the stupid, asinine, ignorant…" Gibbs slammed open the door, nearly knocking down a passing agent, and yelling back over his shoulder. "Bring those files and follow me!"

Ziva wasn't sure if Gibbs meant McGee, her, or both of them, but she wasn't about to miss the show. Tony DiNozzo being suspended was a story she wanted to hear. She helped Tim grab everything on the table and they hurried after their leader, rushing to keep up with the irate former Marine. Gibbs took the steps two at a time, not having been this angry since Kate died. Vance was lucky he'd left his door open, because in the state Gibbs was in, he likely would have ripped the damn thing off its hinges.

"What have you done, Leon?" he barked. As soon as he stepping into the office.

"I assume that Agent McGee has informed you of the disciplinary action I've imposed on Agent DiNozzo," Vance replied calmly, shifting his ever-present toothpick to the opposite side of his mouth. He'd expected Gibbs' intrusion. It was the reason he'd left his door open. What he hadn't expected was the subsequent arrival of McGee and David.

"Well yes, Director, he did," Gibbs replied sarcastically. "What he couldn't explain was why you felt it necessary to suspend my agent for doing his damn job!"

"His job? His job does not include verbally attacking a fellow agent. Especially a subordinate!"

"He wasn't…" McGee began, only to be silenced by twin glares from both Gibbs and Vance.

"Agent DiNozzo was verbally correcting his subordinate," Gibbs insisted. "Correcting…not attacking."

"What I heard was a raised voice and a dressing down," Vance returned.

Before Gibbs could continue, McGee bravely stepped forward. "I deserved it, Director."

"McGee!" Gibbs snarled.

"I'm sorry, Boss, but you weren't there. I was," he said, nervously, not wanting to invite Gibbs' wrath, but needing to get his point across. He turned back to Vance. "Director, Tony…. Agent DiNozzo was conducting himself as my Senior Field Agent, going over what I did wrong. The fact of the matter is that I screwed up and it easily could have cost Agent DiNozzo his life. And then, I laughed about it. I'm ashamed to admit that I laughed about something that serious."

Vance removed the toothpick from his mouth. "Something happened that nearly cost DiNozzo his life?" He looked at Gibbs. "Why am I just hearing about this now, Agent Gibbs?"

"Because, Director, I just heard about it myself this morning and I was trying to get all the facts straight before I brought it to you!" Gibbs growled back. He grabbed the files from Ziva and pulled out the one he was looking for. Handing it over to Vance he said. "Agent DiNozzo approached me this morning with that."

Vance opened the file and read the top sheet, which was Tony's Official Dereliction of Duty complaint. While he did, Gibbs turned back to his agents. "McGee, go finish up what you were doing. David, wait for me back in the conference room." The two nodded and turned to leave the room. "And McGee, what I said earlier still stands. I'm not finished with my investigation yet."

"Yes, Boss. You want me to make a coffee run? Looks like it's gonna be a long day," McGee suggested.

"That would be great, McGee, thanks."

"Director?" McGee asked.

Vance shook his head distractedly. "No, thank you, Agent McGee."

Tim nodded and pulled the door closed, ushering Ziva out ahead of him. Once in the hall outside the office, Ziva turned to him.

She smirked. "So, McGee, what did you do that has everyone in a…what is the word…ah yes, an uproar?"

McGee just stared at her, then shook his head and turned to leave. Having not received an answer, Ziva grabbed his arm.

"McGee, I would like an answer," she demanded.

"Agent David, I have been ordered not to talk about this with anyone. And since I've already screwed up badly enough that I could lose my job, I don't plan to disobey that order. If I were you, I'd do what Gibbs said and go wait in the conference room."

With that, Tim spun around and headed toward the stairs. When he got to his desk, he grabbed his coat and rushed toward the elevator. He tried to call Tony, but the other man wasn't picking up his phone. He thought about stopping at the lab to ask Abby to call, but wasn't sure of his welcome now that Abby was aware of his stupid stunt two days before. Not wanting to get into an altercation with the woman, he decided to just let Gibbs handle it. Tony would not ignore his boss's calls.

While McGee headed for the nearest coffee shop, Ziva watched him get into the elevator as she stood by her desk. She debated searching through McGee's and DiNozzo's desks for any clue as to what had everyone so upset, but since she didn't know how long Gibbs would be in with the Director, she felt it prudent to just go wait where she'd been told.

She picked up her own notes and reports regarding their activities on their last case. Maybe by going over everything, she would be able to figure out what happened. She didn't recall anything occurring that had put Tony's life in jeopardy. Unless you count the married woman who tried to entice the flamboyant agent to join her in her home, she thought with a smirk.

She wondered if Tony and McGee had gone back out on something that she wasn't aware of. And if they had, why hadn't she been included. Although, she thought, she had left before the others, so maybe something had come in that didn't need the whole team, so Gibbs decided to just let the others handle it. That had obviously been a mistake, if something had happened that nearly got Tony killed. No matter. She shrugged and headed for the conference room. Tony was obviously fine and she would dig the truth out of him or McGee at another time.

An hour later, she was still alone in the room and beginning to wonder if she should go searching for Gibbs or if he was testing her in some way. Whatever had happened with McGee and DiNozzo must have been very serious for Gibbs to spend so much time in the Director's office. She finished going over her report and hadn't found anything there to warrant the drama of that morning. So whatever had occurred must have happened after she left. She stood and began to pace. Never good at waiting, she wished Gibbs would hurry, so that she could get back to work. Just as she was about to leave the room for a break to get a bottle of water or something else to drink, the door swung open and Gibbs walked in, pulling it closed behind him.

"Sit," he ordered.

She sat down, pushing her report toward her boss. "I went back over my report from the case," she said. "Everything is in order."

He glanced at her with a look on his face that should couldn't readily identify. She'd gotten better at reading her supervisor, but still was not as good at it as Tony. He seemed to be able to read Gibbs' mood even when the former Marine wasn't in the room! She'd asked him once how he did that and the only reply she'd received was that it 'was a gift'. A frustratingly non-helpful answer, to say the least.

She sat back and watched as Gibbs read her report, not liking the frown that settled on his face the further he got into the document. He closed the file and tossed it across the table. It stopped just short of falling off the other side.

"Gibbs, is something wrong with my report?"

He glared at her, then grabbed one of the files he'd brought back with him. "Let's get back to what we were doing before we were interrupted," he said.

He'd taken a few minutes with McGee before he came in to try to get an idea of just when he and Ziva had turned off the radio. McGee had located the last conversation they'd heard both on the transcript and on the disc itself. Gibbs marked the spot on the disc and began the recording a few minutes prior to that conversation. He hit 'play' and Tony's voice filled the room.

"Gibbs, I do not understand. We already caught the terrorist, why are we…"

"Listen!" he ordered. They listened silently for the next few minutes, when he heard the sound of the car door opening up. As the conversation in the car played out and he once again listened while McGee and Ziva admitted to Tony that they hadn't been providing him with the back-up that he thought he'd had, he saw a small smile play across Ziva's lips.

It enraged him. He slammed his hand down on the stop button. She jumped at the violent action. "Do you still want to pretend that you have no clue what McGee was talking about in Vance's office earlier?" he asked her through clenched teeth.

"Gibbs, I do not understand…"

"That, Agent David, is blatantly obvious. Should I play it back for you?"

"Play what back? Nothing happened!"

"Yes, I am aware of that as well. The only one doing his job that day was DiNozzo!"

"What?! McGee and I spent hours in that car, listening to him babble…"

"Babble?! He was doing what he was supposed to be doing, engaging the residents in conversation. Did you honestly expect him to just knock on their door and say 'hello, I believe you might be a terrorist. Could you please speak into this microphone so that we can get a sample of your voice?!'"

"Of course not."

"Tony was doing his job. What exactly was your job, Agent David?"

"McGee and I were assigned to monitor Tony's conver…sations," she replied, just then realizing the point Gibbs was trying to make.

Finally, Gibbs thought, only a day late and a dollar short, as his mother used to say.

"And just how did you expect to carry out your assignment," he asked, "if you TURNED OFF THE DAMN RADIO?!" His voice raised so loudly that he could be heard echoing down the hall outside the closed doors, garnering looks from more than one passing agent.

The agents weren't surprised at the raised voice, as it wasn't all that unusual an occurrence, and could only pity the poor slob who was the object of that rage. They wondered if NCIS would be down an agent when Gibbs was done. Some hoped it might be an FBI agent on the receiving end, but no one could recall seeing any of the Hoover boys in attendance that morning.

Several of the agents had seen Gibbs storming to and from Vance's office that morning, following DiNozzo's volatile exit. They knew that Vance had been involved in Tony's departure, which of course had likely accounted for Gibbs' anger. McGee was currently at his desk and keeping his head down and his eyes averted, which meant he was probably well aware of just what the heated discussion was about. By process of elimination then, most assumed that the poor agent on the receiving end of Gibbs' tirade was the former Mossad officer.

Now, some agents thought that even Gibbs was foolish to go face-to-face like that with a trained assassin. Others felt that it was long overdue, considering her normally arrogant attitude. Either way, many of the agents quickly found something to do…out of the office.

Fifteen minutes later, Gibbs stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. He turned toward the bullpen, then changed his mind and headed for the back stairs. Two minutes later, the doors of the autopsy room whooshed open before him. He glanced around, grateful to see the ME alone.

"Ah, Jethro," Donald 'Ducky' Mallard greeted him. "You're just in time. I've just completed my written report."

Gibbs grunted and began to pace around the large chilly room. Ducky gave him a minute before he ventured a comment.

"Something has obviously upset you. I would suspect it has something to do with the fact you had an altercation with the good Director this morning."

Gibbs just shook his head and snorted. "Good Director, my ass. If he was a good Director, he would find out facts of a situation before he suspends one of his best agents for doing his damned job!"

"Suspended? He suspended you?"

"NO! Not me! DiNozzo!"

"He suspended Anthony? Why?" Ducky asked, getting up from his desk and walking toward Gibbs.

The former Marine took a deep breath and blew it out hard before leaning back against one of the gleaming metal tables, crossing his arms across his chest. "Tell me something, Ducky. In all your experience, when an agent is assigned to monitor another agent who is undercover, have you ever heard of any agent who turned off the sound so he couldn't hear what the undercover was saying?"

Ducky was appalled. "Of course not! That would be a gross misjudgment, not to mention strictly forbidden by policy and just plain downright dangerous for the agent who was undercover." He got a baffled look on his face. "Certainly not Anthony! He would never do that, Jethro. He's too good an agent to ever do something so stupid," he insisted, now angry on Tony's behalf.

Gibbs raised a hand. "No, not DiNozzo. He was the undercover in this case."

"Then who…Timothy and Ziva?"

Gibbs sighed and ran a tired hand across his worn features. "Yeah. McGee fessed up on his own. But Ziva…she just doesn't get it, Ducky. I had to practically spell it out for her and I still don't think she understands exactly how badly she messed up."

"But that's…that's…" Ducky stopped, unable to articulate his consternation, pacing his autopsy and waving his arms as if that would assist him in grasping the proper word his was searching for.

Gibbs smiled, for the first time that day. "Ah, Dr. Mallard, at a loss for words? That's not like you."

Ducky spun around to face his friend. "This is not funny, Jethro!" he barked.

"Oh, trust me, I know just how un-funny this is. Tony presented me with a formal Dereliction of Duty complaint this morning."

"And well he should!"

"I agree. He told me he'd had a sleepless night, debating with himself whether he should make the report or not. In the end, he decided to do it so that no other agents' lives were endangered in the future."

Noticing the frown on Gibbs' face, Ducky ventured, "Surely you don't disagree."

"Hell no. It's just…. He only did it to protect other agents in the future, not because he himself was endangered, Duck. He didn't seem to think that those two putting his life on the line was important!"

The doctor could see how upset Gibbs was at the prospect that Tony didn't value his own life as highly as others. "You, of course, repudiated that silly notion," Ducky stated with certainty.

Gibbs' lip curled up. "Yeah, I did."

"Then why the suspension?" Ducky asked, getting back to the main point.

The former Gunnery Sergeant sighed and lifted himself onto the table he'd been leaning against.

"McGee decided to apologize to DiNozzo. Tony was explaining, as he should, just why what McGee did was such a mistake. I guess Tony raised his voice. Vance overheard, took DiNozzo to task for, 'verbally attacking' McGee," he said, using finger quotes. "Told DiNozzo it was improper conduct and put him on suspension."

"Surely, Timothy…"

"McGee tried to explain, but Vance refused to listen."

"Sometimes that man can be downright reactionary."

"Yeah, well, McGee came and got me, but Tony had already left, so I went and spoke to the Good Director," he said, the last bit dripping with sarcasm.

"Did you get it all worked out?" Ducky asked, moving over to lean against the table near where Gibbs sat.

"Yeah. He withdrew the suspension."

"And is Anthony back at his desk where he belongs?"

"No. I called him and let him know that Vance had screwed up, but told him to just take the rest of the day off. We're off rotation anyway until Vance decides what action to take towards McGee and David."

"Will they be terminated?" Ducky asked, not sure how he would feel if that occurred.

"I doubt it," Gibbs told him. "Tony doesn't want that and neither do I. They are both good agents who made a huge mistake and violated agency policy. I think he'll probably give them a lengthy suspension. He might kick McGee back to probationary status and send him back to FLETC for remedial training."

"And Ziva?" Ducky worried.

"I don't know. She's already probationary. He could terminate her employment with no cause."

"And with this, he has cause."

Gibbs nodded. "And she's the one who initiated the action to turn off the radio. Then when I spoke to her this morning and played back the part of the recording where they told DiNozzo that they hadn't been listening to him, she still thought it was a joke."

Ducky sighed and crossed his arms against his chest. "I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here." Gibbs looked skeptical but didn't comment. "Ziva David is a product of Mossad. By nature Mossad officers can often rely only on themselves…" He held up his hand when Gibbs started to speak up, the former Marine's eyes turning to flint. "I realize that she has been with NCIS for several years, but her Mossad training is deeply ingrained. She has had to learn an entirely new way of thinking."

"That's no excuse, Ducky! After this long, she should know the meaning of team, of backup…of partners for Christ's sake. She's been working with NCIS for years now!" He jumped off the table and began to pace the room again. "I've recommended that she go through the complete FLETC training, and Vance wants her to attend some additional courses that the FBI coordinates, specifically addressing teamwork and team building."

"She is not going to like that, but I believe she will benefit from the experience."

Gibbs snorted. "She'll hate it. And maybe that's a good thing. She hadn't been required to take the full training because she had so much prior experience, both with Mossad and as liaison officer with NCIS. But, maybe we were wrong not to at least send her to the abbreviated training that LEO's go through when they transfer to NCIS."

"Hindsight, Jethro. And really, that would have been Director Shepard's call and being that Ziva was a friend of hers, I'm not sure she would have insisted on that."

Gibbs rubbed a hand across his short hair and frowned. "Yeah. But the problem is, Ziva and McGee aren't the only ones who'll be attending the team building seminars."

Duck struggled not to grin at Gibbs' obvious distaste at the thought of attending the classes that Vance suggested. "It's not really a bad idea, Jethro."

Gibbs sighed. "No, I suppose not. I just hate those things."

Mallard walked over to his friend and gave him a sympathetic pat on the back. "Indeed. However, something else troubles you."

Gibbs turned to his friend and nodded. "As much as I think the re-training and classes will help McGee and Ziva, I'm just not sure that Tony's trust will be easily regained. And I won't force him to work with them again if he doesn't think that he can trust them."

"So then who goes and who stays?" he asked, hitting the cause of Gibbs' worry. "I don't envy you that dilemma, my friend."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Ducky. I don't plan to let DiNozzo go anywhere, unless he wants to go. Truthfully, I'm not feeling too much trust in McGee or David myself right now. And once word gets around…"

"….and it will," Ducky supplied.

"And it will…once others know what they did, they may not be welcome on any other team. And you know how DiNozzo is."

"Ah, yes. He will allow them to stay on the team and pretend to trust them, but will revert back to how he was when he first got here."

"Yeah and I don't want that. I need to make it clear to him that he has my trust and if need be, he will partner only with me whenever possible."

"And that would leave McGee and Ziva partnering together. Will Vance allow that, seeing as they will both technically be probationary agents?"

"And therein lies the real dilemma, Doctor Mallard." Gibbs replied with a rueful grin.

Ducky smiled. "You and Anthony worked quite well together as a two-man team before the arrival of Caitlin," he prompted.

"Yes we did. But you also know how long Tom Morrow busted my chops about filling out the team. I doubt that Vance will give me the same leeway. And I know that he won't allow me to choose my own team, like Morrow did."

"Likely not. So, when will you be speaking to Anthony about this?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Tonight. I want to go over some options with him, then wait and see what Vance decides. We'll go from there."

"You are going to keep a close eye on the boy in the meantime," Ducky said, more statement than question.

"As close as he'll let me, Duck. As close as he'll let me." He glanced at his watch. "Speaking of… I told him to be at my place at eighteen-hundred hours. I gotta go."

"Give him my regards, Jethro. And let him know that I believe he did the right thing-the only thing a good agent worthy of the title Senior Field Agent should have done."

Gibbs smiled. "I will, Ducky, Thanks." He turned at the door. "Ya know, you're welcome to join us if you want."

"Thank you, Jethro," he replied, grateful for the invitation. "But I think you and Anthony need this time alone. I will make my feelings known to him in the near future. And if this incident does make the rounds, as I'm sure it will, I hope that other senior agents will also assure him that he did the right thing."

Nodding, Gibbs moved through the doors, calling a good night over his shoulder.

"Good night, Jethro. Give my best to Anthony."

Gibbs waved an acknowledgement as the doors closed behind him.

/