Ok, I just want to make one comment clear, this story is not slash, it is a gen fic. I personally would love nothing more than to turn this story slash, but Tony is not going to end up with either Gibbs or Denny. I am sorry to all slash fans, but I am most likely going to throw in some innuendos around here and there, but they will generally be small. I am sorry again.

I have been rather depressed lately. Every day I seem to be turning more and more into a girl. I got teary eyed over Mamma Mia!, giddy over wedding dress shopping, and just all around become... feminine. There's something seriously wrong with me, I need help.

Hey, guess what. It's the first appearance of Gibbs! I would like to point out before you read this that the timing of the story jumps a bit. I wanted to write about Gibbs right away, but Tony and Denny's section is a couple hours behind. This is the only chapter that I do that with, I hope it isn't too confusing.

Three

It had been a bad night. It was the last night that Leroy Jethro Gibbs ever agreed to go out on the town with his best friend. Getting dragged to a play with a guy was bad enough. He almost slugged the tenth person who asked how long he and Ducky had been together. That was bad. But then, running into his ex-wife, that had made the evening a catastrophe. Stephanie was different than his first two ex-wives. They couldn't get away from him fast enough. Stephanie? Well, she wanted the divorce. She came to him right after he got out of work and said it. But afterwards, she wouldn't leave him alone. She practically turned into a stalker. The first anniversary after the divorce, she decided to get drunk and call him incessantly. The only time he picked up, she sobbed into his ear about why he didn't try and fight for her. Why was he so willing to just let her leave? Didn't he ever love her? He hung up and tossed his phone in paint thinner.

He was never accepting another offer to go to a play with Ducky again.

He tipped his head back and finished off his coffee. It was his third so far, and he hadn't even gotten to his floor yet. He was smart, and bought a few when he was still standing in the coffee shop and finishing off his first cup. He still had three more, and those would be lucky to last him until 0800. It was currently 0655.

The elevator finally opened on his floor. He stepped out and headed straight for his desk. He ignored the empty desk across from him. That was why he had accepted Ducky's offer. He pushed away yet another agent.

Agent Brent Langer, young, promising, but new and green, handed in his resignation letter last night before the day ended. Apparently, he had gotten a better job at the FBI. That was his excuse anyways. Truth was, he got sick of Jethro. They all did at some point. He wasn't surprised. He knew that Brent wouldn't stick around for long. He was a sweet kid. That was the problem. A guy like Brent just couldn't put up with a guy like Jethro for that long.

So that left Jethro with Stan, all alone again. Not much of a surprise there. In all the years they had been working together, somehow it always went back to Jethro and Stan.

He sat down at his desk and looked over at his Senior Field Agent's desk. It was still empty. Why was it… Oh yeah. Stan had taken the week off to spend with his new girlfriend. Jethro smiled inwardly. If they got a case, there was no way in hell he'd be working it alone. He was actually looking forward to messing up Stan's romantic weekend.

His phone rang. His smile grew. "Yeah, Gibbs," he said into the receiver.

"Jethro," that was the director's voice. "I need to see you up in MTAC."

Interesting. What could Morrow want to talk about?

Jethro hung up and went upstairs to the Multiple Threat Assessment Center. He normally found Morrow up there.

Director Morrow was an older fellow with thinning white hair. He was built strong. He wasn't always a bureaucrat, but he made a damn fine one. He handled people in power much better than Jethro could ever hope to. Not that he really wanted to handle people in power. That was what the director was for.

He walked into the dimly lit room and found Morrow almost immediately. It helped that he was the only one in the room, save for the MTAC Control Officers. But they never really left. He sat down next to the older man, never once actually looking at him.

"You wanted to see me, director?"

Out of his peripherals, he could see Morrow nod. "I just got a call from Captain Carnec from Baltimore P.D."

Jethro knew he heard that name before. He just couldn't place it. "They got a dead sailor or something?"

"One of his detectives found Jamie Taylor."

The agent tensed. He had been looking for that boy for months now. Neighbors heard him arguing with his parents the night before they had been found. Karen Taylor, the boy's mother had been strangled to death. Sergeant Taylor was still in a coma, even after four months. Blunt force trauma to the head. All evidence pointed to Jamie Taylor, and the fact that he fled just made him look all the more guilty.

"You want me to go pick him up?"

Morrow chuckled. "That'd be nice. But right after they found him, they lost him again."

Jethro rolled his eyes. "What kind of incompetent schmuck let him get away?"

Morrow finally turned to look at him. There was a twinkle in his eye. "Detective Anthony DiNozzo."

Jethro's jaw dropped.

He knew that name. He knew that name well. From what he had seen, he was a good cop. Hell, he was a great cop. And he saved Jethro's life.

The last time they met was three months ago in the middle of February. Jethro and his team headed up to Baltimore to work with the locals on a quadruple homicide. One of the victims was a Marine Corporal. Detective DiNozzo gave him crap about taking over the case. Eventually they just agreed to work together. Things had gone south from there.

But Jethro enjoyed working with the young man. And he was young. He wasn't even thirty when they met. But after only a few days working together, and DiNozzo already knew how Jethro worked, how he moved. He followed his lead when the time was right and stood up to him when Jethro got pigheaded. It took Stan years to get to that. Even now they didn't move with the same unity.

So just how in the hell did the kid screw up so bad?

He asked Morrow the exact same thing and waited for the answer.

The director sighed. "Taylor wouldn't give Detective DiNozzo anything, so he took fingerprints and waited for the reports. While he was waiting, Child Services showed up."

"He fled Child Services?"

Morrow shook his head. The story he then relayed to Jethro wasn't a good one. The social worker turned out to be a fake. She kidnapped Taylor. "Any ideas who would want to kidnap him?"

Jethro shook his head. "Not yet." But he was damn sure that he would find out.

Morrow nodded. "You'll be working with Baltimore P.D. on this one, Jethro. And no arguing. Detective DiNozzo was adamant—"

"Ok," Jethro cut him off.

The director looked at him, completely stunned. He didn't expect Jethro to give in so easily. It was understandable, he hated joint operations, especially with locals. Normally he did everything in his power to avoid them. And he here was now, agreeing. Without any sort of coaxing.

He stood up to leave.

"You offer him a job, Jethro?" Morrow called after him. Jethro turned around to see the grin on his director's face. "Now that you're down an agent."

"I did."

"And?"

Jethro started walking again. "He turned me down." He left the room before Morrow could say anything else.

That was true. After what happened between the two of them, he decided he wanted the young man on his team. But when he offered, DiNozzo declined.

Because he didn't want to leave his partner.

Absolutely pathetic, in Jethro's opinion. He personally couldn't stand Detective Morgan. He thought he was annoying, with too much attitude and too short of a fuse. The first time Jethro and his team met the two Baltimore cops, Morgan pulled his gun and threatened to shoot Jethro because he wanted the case. Things didn't get better between them.

But DiNozzo adored his partner. Best friends and other nauseating things. And he was too damn stubborn to leave without him.

Jethro grabbed the keys to his sedan off his desk and jogged to the elevator.

Maybe this time, he could get DiNozzo to change his mind.

.

Tony was still pacing. He had been pacing for the last half an hour. He was wearing the floor down with all his pacing.

Dennis' eyes just followed him. Tony had informed Carnec about the Social Services screw up. Carnec then proceeded to ream him out for a good twenty minutes. After the younger man was dismissed, the captain got on the phone and made a call. To who, Dennis didn't know. But if he had to guess, it would be NCIS. Taylor was a Marine dependent. His disappearance and the attack on his parents definitely constituted NCIS jurisdiction.

Dennis was worried, and furious that they let the boy get kidnapped and they didn't do a damn thing to stop it. And worse, he knew that NCIS was going to try and take the investigation away from them. And he didn't want to let it go. This was their mistake, they should have the right to fix it.

Carnec finally came out of his office. Tony finally stopped pacing.

Carnec nodded at the two of them. "Director Morrow is going to send the lead agent here when he gets in." Dennis looked down at his watch. It was almost five in the morning. Meaning they still had a few hours to wait before they even heard from the agent. "He's taking lead on this one."

"Cap—" Tony tried to argue before Carnec cut him off.

"If you two hadn't screwed up, then we wouldn't be in this position, Detective. Get your head out of your ass." Tony sighed heavily, but kept his mouth shut and let Carnec rip him a new one. Again. "You will follow every order that he gives you. He tells you to dumpster dive behind a Kentucky Fried Chicken, you better come back here smelling like old chicken and coleslaw. He says to lick the shit off his boots, I expect that boot be squeaky clean. Is that clear, detective?"

Tony ground his teeth together. "Crystal."

"Crystal what?"

"Sir."

Carnec nodded. "I want you to head over to Social Services. See if any of them have ever heard of Gloria Smith over there."

Tony nodded. He grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. Dennis stood to follow before Carnec stopped him. "Detective Morgan, I want you to stay back here and run a background check on Mrs. Smith."

Dennis' jaw dropped.

But Tony was the one who spoke first. "Cap—"

Again, Carnec cut him off. "You have a problem handling a simple interview, Detective?"

Dennis saw a vein pulse in Tony's temple. Again, he ground his teeth together. "No sir."

Carnec nodded. "Good." With that, he turned and headed back into his office, slamming the door as he went.

Tony looked like he was barely controlling his temper. Dennis could understand that. It wasn't just Tony's fault for this screw up. It was everyone's fault. The guys downstairs let Gloria Smith in the building, Tony and Dennis didn't question her, and Carnec gave the ok for them to leave. But Tony was the one bearing all the blame. And that just wasn't fair.

"Tony," he started before Tony cut him off.

"You heard the Captain. Get to work." He strode out of the bullpen without ever looking back at Dennis.

Dennis sighed heavily. It wasn't like his day hadn't been bad enough.

Things had changed with Tony, and he didn't know why or how. He just knew that they did. Ever since they worked that case with NCIS, the younger man had been moody, he lost his temper over everything. He even started sleeping around a lot more. Dennis was used to Tony screwing anything in a skirt—the second Dennis' half sister turned eighteen, she found herself in Tony's bed—but it was never this bad.

Tony smelled like beer when he first arrived. He was working even after he had been drinking. That was never a good sign. Ever.

But Tony wouldn't talk to him. Something went down in that butcher shop with Agent Gibbs, and Dennis was completely in the dark. He didn't like it.

With a heavy sigh, he booted up his computer to do the background check on Gloria Smith.

To all of you who read Slaughter House, you know why Tony and Gibbs are bothered by their last case, there really isn't anything new to work towards, but this does have some hurt/comfort drama going on that you wanted with the last story. It just took them a little bit of time. Talk to me!

Bob