A/N: Here's Chapter 7. I hope you like! Please review. Chapter 8 has Rhi, Den and Abby goodness plus some wolfie fun. Chapter 9 will have the action starting properly... suggestions for bad guy names greatly appreciated!
Thanks to Alder for her wonderful help, she is now a deity within the fanfiction pantheon *grin* her festival includes a red pen parade and the chant of 'tsk' :-p
Disclaimer: One day they will be miiiiiiine! *shakes fist dramatically*
Chapter 7
Gibbs left Ducky to his work and went in search of his team. The anger still stirred within him but at least now he was calm enough to look within himself and discover the cause of it. He hadn't realised just how much he considered his extended team as members of the pack, even before Tony's transformation. With Ziva badly hurt and his own injury he was forced to rely on DiNozzo to protect McGee, Abby, Ducky and Palmer and the frustration of being relegated to the sidelines chafed.
The issue of Tony being an Omega ranking wolf didn't help matters. Although Gibbs trusted the younger agent with his life and would have trusted his instincts as an Agent before his change, the Alpha was concerned that DiNozzo would still react poorly in some situations due to his new reactions. If it had been possible Gibbs would have taken his newest pack member to the retreat for at least a year before putting him back into the high stress world they worked in.
He headed up to the bullpen, McGee was most likely back at his desk by now. As he walked, Gibbs thought about the discussion…no…interrogation…with Abby earlier.
*****
"Abs…there something you want to tell me?" His voice was deceptively soft.
"Umn…no?" she said, squirming under his steely-eyed gaze.
"Abby... You are hiding something and I will find out what it is one way or another," Gibbs growled, allowing some of his Alpha intonation to come through.
"I promised them I wouldn't tell you Gibbs, not until they were ready..." Abby said before clapping her hands over her mouth.
Gibbs levelled a glare at her, something of a rare event in Abby's case. The lab tech turned her music off and stood, waiting for the explosion. Gibbs was not used to being denied information.
"Who did you promise Abs?" his voice still dangerously calm.
"Tony and Tim... It's nothing bad, I swear.. they just need to get things ready to show you Gibbs...can't you trust them?" Abby pleaded.
Gibbs just went over to the monitor that had suddenly changed as he entered the room and he pressed a couple of keys, proving to the Goth that, despite appearances, the older man had actually paid attention to her and McGee over the years. It brought up the last active program, the two displays of Tony and Tim's fake ID's. The silver-haired agent turned to Abby with a scowl.
"And just what are these about?" he asked.
Abby told him the whole plan as there was nothing else she could do. She tried to do as much damage control as possible but it was obvious the agent was fuming. She chewed her lip nervously as the two laughing agents entered the room. If the situation hadn't been so serious the change from laughter to nervous glances would have been amusing.
*****
Gibbs growled as he walked up the stairs, avoiding the confines of the elevator. Injured and avoiding pain relief, his Wolf was very close to the surface. Fighting his instinctive response to the situation, he forced himself to calm down, if he went into the bullpen in this state he would terrify McGee.
The Alpha scrubbed at his face and took a calming breath. Entering the Team area he saw McGee at his desk, subdued after the earlier scene. Gibbs came to a stop in front of the younger man's desk, he looked around and couldn't see DiNozzo anywhere in the room.
"McGee." He kept his voice soft.
"B-Boss?" McGee looked up from his screen, his shoulders still slightly bowed.
"This plan...you really think it could work?" Gibbs asked, his tone calm and non-confrontational.
"Yes Boss," McGee showed no hesitation, "Tony has planned it thoroughly, if we got your permission to go ahead we were going to request Thompson's team as backup, or maybe Cassie Yates and her team as this skirts on Vice territory."
Gibbs nodded slowly.
"Fine, carry on the preparations DiNozzo set for you to do...I'm going to go find him," Gibbs nodded firmly and started to walk off before coming back, "... and Tim? I'm sorry about earlier."
McGee could only gape as his team leader disappeared from sight.
*****
Tony shivered in the rain, he hunched his shoulders against the weather and stared out across the park. This was the same spot that Ari had sat in all those years ago when he had shot at Abby in her lab. Tony squinted through the falling water - with his enhanced sight he could just make out his friend as she worked in her lab, even at this distance he could see the sad slump to her shoulders.
The young Bane-Wolf turned as he sensed someone else approaching, his keen nose thwarted by the rain. He quickly recognised his boss and he sighed, not looking forward to their meeting. Tony jerked with surprise as Gibbs draped his own coat across the younger man's shoulders, causing him to shiver with delight at the warmth against his chilled skin. The older man grasped his friend by the elbow and led him to a nearby gazebo, the structure gave them privacy and got them out of the rain.
"Tony..." Gibbs started.
"Boss..." Tony spoke at the same time.
Both men's lips twitched and Tony ducked his head in submission, waiting for his Alpha to speak.
"Tony...about before... I was taken by surprise. I hadn't expected you to go ahead and plan an offensive, especially in so much depth and it...well, it caught me by surprise. I've been sticking pretty close to you these past months and you have barely left the house without me, Rhi or Den in tow and the idea of you going in deep undercover with no pack or Clan to back you up...well it shook me. I was worried that the Council could take it as me not controlling you and use it as an excuse to take you away from the pack." Gibbs tilted the younger man's face up so he could look him straight in the eye "I'm sorry I lost it like that...with the injury and no painkillers...I'm kinda on edge"
The silver-haired agent tilted his head, trying to read the grey-green eyes of his subordinate. Tony was giving nothing away beyond a slight widening of his eyes when his boss apologised. Now they were so close together and out of the rain Tony could use his enhanced senses and they all agreed that Gibbs was being honest. He pulled his Alpha's warm coat closer around him, inhaling the familiar and comforting scent. It astounded him anew how the sound and scent of his Alpha invoked feelings he always assumed were associated with a father figure... not that he'd ever felt that way about his own father.
The younger agent looked into the sincere blue gaze of his boss and his lips quirked up into a small smile.
"What about 'never apologise, it's a sign of weakness' Boss? Breaking rule six are we now?" Tony's smile was weak but at least it was there.
"I'll tell you the same thing I told Ducky... never between friends. DiNozzo, I was wrong. You repeat that to anyone and I'll deny it...and you'll be stuck doing deskwork for the next year," Gibbs smiled softy and rubbed the younger man's shoulder briefly before standing up.
"So... what now?" Tony remained seated, looking up at his boss through worried eyes.
"Now we make sure this idiotic plan of yours is foolproof, and make sure you have more than enough backup... Oh, Abby is coming over for dinner tonight, I told her it's your treat for getting her in trouble," Gibbs grinned as he lead his young pack-member back towards the NCIS building.
Tony smiled back, relaxing again...at least until he realised that meant an evening with both Abby and Rhi.
