Hey there, it's been another while but I had this sitting on my harddrive for quite some time but then I lost a bit of the drive to write for NCIS and especially for a story that's set in a time when all was still well in the team (or at least as well as it could be after Kate) but I ajust like the idea too much so here it goes. Hope you enjoy the back to season 11 story.
The next day, Gibbs visited Abby in her lab pretty early. He knew she spent the entire night there to run some tests on other cases but also because she wasn't sure what to do about Tony.
"Abby." he called into her lab as for once the deafening music was absent.
"Hey bossmann, what are you doing in my lab? You didn't give me anything to test so..." He held up a hand and Abby paused her ramble.
"Abs, it's important. I need you to listen closely." he said and immediately got her attention. If he spoke with her like this, all the immature behavior she endorsed in vanished in an instant.
"Will do Gibbs." she answered solemnly.
Gibbs nodded and began signing. He would not speak aloud about what he had done all these years, not in a freaking law enforcement agency that had to arrest him on the spot if they officially knew. Abby went very still when she interpreted his signing correctly. She sighed.
"Does Tony know what I did all these years ago?" he wanted to know if there was the possibility that his second-in-command would try to sacrifice his carreer or even his life for him.
"I never told him, but he isn't stupid. Nor gullible." While in verbal conversation Abby liked to talk round and round around the main subject, her signing has always been very precise and to the point. Maybe that was why she got Gibbs near muteness .
"That's was what I was afraid of. I think that he endangered himself to protect me in some way."
Abby looked at him shocked and covered her mouth with her hands.
Her hands started to shake but she continued the sign-language.
"You mean somebody else found out? But why would they go after Tony?"
Abby knew the answer in her heart but somehow she wanted Gibbs to admit it to her.
"Because everyone sees how important he is to me. It's not that far-fetched to get me through him. But it doesn't explain the jumpiness. And why he didn't come to me..."
If someone who signed instead of talked could sound sad, Gibbs would do now.
Abby twirled her hair around her fingers, she needed to think.
"I think you should talk to him, bossman. I mean really talk. Not your "don't do that again, stupid" but some deep heart to heart. I know you hate the mushy stuff, but Tony needs it. Especially if he's about to do something really stupid."
Like protecting him but getting into the line of fire. Gibbs knew what she meant, she didn't have to say it aloud.
"Maybe that's what we'll do then, Abs. Thanks." He leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek and Abby smiled. She loved her team and while it took her a bit to warm up to Tony in the first place, she quickly let him in her heart and cared for him. That didn't mean she was never wrong about him and not even always nice when she should have been. She had faults, too. It was no wonder that she was still single and without a lot of meaningful relationships in the past. The job came first but that wasn't everything.
"Go get him bossman!" she whooped and Gibbs shook his head leaving the lab. They all couldn't handle the truth it seemed and all of them found some way to cope with it.
Tony used his jokes and overgrown frat boy flair to deflect, Abby was overly cheerful when she was sad, McGee took to writing and he built a boat in his basement just to destroy it when finished and was downright cruel to his coworkers and friends.
On the ride up to the bullpen he tried to plan out what he wanted to say to Tony.
He would take him aside and get him to agree to come to his house once more, and then they would talk. Maybe even hide away their weekend in his cabin, just the two of them as friends. Maybe then Tony would actually tell him what was wrong.
When he got out of the elevator he walked directly into Vance. He never got to talk with Tony as they had a new case.
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"Grab your gear" he barked coming into view of their latest probie (which wouldn't last the whole day), McGee and finally Dinozzo. Forgotten was the plan to talk and spent the weekend together. Now they had a case and no time for sympathies or idling.
He gave his orders as usual. As it was with their cases, time was of the essence, so two weeks passed before any of them realized it. Well, probably anyone but Tony.
Nothing happened much in this time. The only thing he noticed was that DiNozzo always used his computer to email him or write a text message to his cell. But that fact was unimportant and they now had a serial killer on their hands and every minute they were working was dedicated to catch this monster who had killed two petty officers and their families and seemed to target even more people.
"DiNozzo, give me the address already." he growled impatiently and then Tony went to his desk to type it in his mail programm.
"Now, DiNozzo. Just write it down for me." he shouted, making the younger man flinch.
"Still not better..." he mused to himself but the case still took precedence.
Tony gulped. He knew what happened last time when he tried to hand write something but Gibbs was demanding this address now and stalling would make him angry.
He bit onto his lip and scribbled the few words and numbers down. If his pen shook a bit making the last three numbers completely illegible nobody seemed to notice.
"Here b-boss." he said, giving Gibbs the paper.
The senior agent took it brusquely and walked away to the elevator.
"Do you need an invitation, DiNozzo?" he shouted over his shoulder.
"I just need to hit the head, boss." Tony answered meekly and slid away to the male restrooms.
Opening a stall he retched into the toilet, his whole body shaking. The damn phone was vibrating nonstop as he received the three messages that corresponded with the shocks he had taken while writing the address down.
Of course he had tried to write a message to anyone on paper but had been electrocuted just before he had written a single letter on it. After that, he didn't try again till today. Luckily for him, they seemed to have hidden cameras or other access to the bullpen because the messages just taunted him and didn't treat to blow the whole navy-yard into bits and pieces. Of course, they could also be bluffing as he suspected for some time now but that didn't help him. Even if he took the risk and informed someone, he wouldn't experience his rescue because the shocks would most likely kill him.
He took in rushed breaths. He had managed to avoid another shock for nearly a week now and now his heart beat was highly irregular and the nausea was coming back too.
His arm was on fire and there was no way to even think about taking dirtbags down today. But he had to. If he told someone that he was sick, it would be the end.
Kort didn't dredge up anything that connected an American intelligence to this deed nor a foreign one. He kinda suspected Mossad of pulling this, they really hated his guts and perhaps this was some kind of orchestrating Eli Davids last will.
At least they were the culprit in his nightmares. Sometimes, it was Saleem Ulman, others Jeffrey White or Vanessa (he never got her last name he now realized).
"DiNozzo, today?" Gibbs booming voice sounded in front of the restroom, making him even more uncomfortable than before if that was even possible.
He was stuck in this shitty situation and didn't know any way out of it. He was also behaving like a coward, not even trying to rebel against it anymore. Getting shocked too much times to count does that to you. These damn bastards had succeeded in what neither his father nor Gibbs, any director he has had so far or terrorists, crazy scientists that hated his guts like Chip or downright cruel murderers like Jeffrey had achieved. He's given up, reacting accordingly to what they wanted and only went out of line if there was no other way around it. That meant he also tried to pull his usual fare of jokes and trash-talk but his heart wasn't in it anymore. He silently wondered why McGee hasn't picked up on it or Abby. Maybe, they didn't know him as well as he thought or it wasn't important to them. Ziva would have revelled in the mostly silent hours in the bullpen, she had always been quick to remind him to grow up.
"Coming Boss." He responded through the doors and washed up his face. Time to face the music.
"He looks awful." Gibbs immediately realized and regretted not talking to Tony about whatever was wrong before. He would do it this evening, no matter what this case would throw at them.
But then, Benim Parsa happened and introduced Bishop to their team and before he knew it, another week had gone by without saying anything to Tony that wasn't work related.
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"Is he ever this silent and brooding?" Ellie Bishop asked McGee one day and gestured towards Tony who was sitting in front of his computer, doing his report. He didn't even try to listen to his new teammate. In fact, he hadn't spared her any time at all. He downright ignored her if it wasn't for giving her a task. Gibbs suspected it had to do with her replacing Ziva but McGee was suspicious.
"Tony? He's quite annoying with his constant chatter and jokes. Normally." Only as he described her the way DiNozzo normally behaved he saw that there wasn't any of that behavoir present now. Tony was handling himself like a professional agent in charge but there wasn't even a trace of their Tony there. It was like seeing a shell with no life in it.
McGee knew something was deeply wrong and if nobody would do anything about it then he would. A shame that the new girl that didn't even know Tony recognized that something was wrong before them. They call themselves investigators and more importantly, his friends. Some of them even his family.
"Ah. Doesn't seem that way. I was wondering how he fit in in your little group of craziness." Bishop mused out loud towards McGee.
"I had the plague." Tony piqued up suddendly out of nowhere. "That crazy enough for you?" he asked Bishop directly with a smile on his face that was even more fake than usual.
She was taken aback by that, looking at Tim for confirm. He nodded.
"I nearly died. Sucks, by the way. Cannot recommend going that way. Still the worst..." Tony continued, looking lost and more like a small child than a grown special agent.
"What do you mean, the worst Tony?"
Trust McGee to pick the worst moment to be smart.
"I meant nothing. Not like I could compare it to anything. Just thinks it's nastier to drown in your own lungs than falling out of a plane or getting shot. At least it's quick and over." He tried to shrug it off but then excused himself to the restroom.
Bishop just stared after him, mouth agape.
"Finished your personal idea of refreshment, Tim?" Gibbs appeared out of nowhere and startled them both.
"It wasn't..." he began but Gibbs glare stopped him. "Yes Boss. We're done."
Tony sat on the ground of a stall trying to control his shaking body. Of course, the tiny slip up that wasn't even a real one if you asked him was punished immediately. It got harder each day to deal with the shocks. He couldn't resist flinching when his phone got a message and every other task was overlayed with fear of getting shocked.
He couldn't do this anymore. Could he just give up? What he did wasn't exactly living right now so should he just tell Gibbs what was going on and tried to apologize for running out of his house and cussing him out when he only wanted to help? The bomb came to mind but somehow he thought that risk was one he was willing to take.
His phone vibrated and he shuddered. He was going to have a panic attack.
Slowly he fumbled with the device and saw that it was a message from Korts alias.
Maybe he found out something that would end this all?
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"DiNozzo! Gear up, we have to bring in a suspect." Gibbs voice one again interupted everything. He sighed and got out of the restroom and only his bravorous acting skills held him together. He would call Kort later on. Right now that would only result in more shocks.
It was inevitable that he screwed up. He was surprised it had taken him nearly five weeks total before he was too distracted (not to admit scared out of his mind by a freaking vibration of his phone) to function properly.
While giving chase to a suspect, they just had to pick today to deal with a runner, his phone vibrated signaling an incoming message. Being in the field required him to silence his phone so he couldn't distinct the signals from normal messages and the shock ones. So he jumped in anticipation of being fried once more and that gave the suspect a clear view to shoot him. He ducked but the bullet tore through his shoulder.
"Fuck!" he cried out, alerting McGee to his precarious situation. Tim ran over to him and immediately called an ambulance with his phone. Simuntanously he radioed in to Gibbs.
"We have an agent down. The runner is armed. I repeat, we have an agent down." He knelt down in front of his friend who was cradling his arm, his shoulder a bloody mess.
"Shit. Tony, help is coming. Just stay still." Tony wasn't saying anything, not even making any sounds of pain. McGee used his jacket to bind it throughly around his arm, cutting off the blood flow at his shoulder.
"It's a through and through, Tony. You will be fine." He tried to reassure Tony who still wasn't saying anything to him. It was weird and the only times Tony was not complaining were the times when it was serious. So he thought the wound was more dangerous than he could see. It frightened him.
"It's fine Tim. I don't need the hospital." Tony said quietly.
"Yes you do." Gibbs had arrived and tended to Tony in his usual way. Being gruff and to the point. Tony didn't like him being nice so he wasn't.
What he wasn't prepared for was Tonys adamant refusal.
"No. I won't go to the hospital. It was a clean shot." He attempted to stand up but all his energy had been drained by the chase and the shocks from the last weeks. He couldn't stand up anymore. When it was clear that Gibbs wouldn't budge he changed tactics.
"Please don't make me go to the hospital, boss. You know how much I hate these places and they remind me of the plague. I'm still having nightmares about it. I will let Ducky patch me up and go home and stay on desk duty as long as you want me to. Just, don't make me go to the hospital?" Now he was pleading like a child and he hated it. But pride won't do him much good these days anyhow and he knew that he couldn't recieve medical treatment for this wound. It as the same arm that the chip was located in and they would discover it and then he was doomed. Or dead. Both, possibly.
Gibbs eyes softened. DiNozzo had had a rough time lately and he didn't come to him with any of it on his own so him opening up about something so personal it had to hurt to admit it was a sign that he hasn't lost his trust in him fully. Maybe he could coax it out of him while he was staying at his home.
"Alright. But you're going straight to Ducky and let him do what he must. And if he discovers anything else you'll go straight to the hospital, understood?" Tony blinked, then nodded. It was a good a deal he could get. If there was more than the bullet hole he was screwed anyway. Couldn't ignore that.
Well that's it for now. I hope I answered some of your questions (not all of them, but this story is from Tonys point of view and he is by no means just "a dumb jock" but also ne techy like McGee and therefore he cannot comprehend the exact way the chip is working and how they have eyes on him all the time. And it's now like he could just tell Tim to search for something like it or even Abby.
