Rubbing at his bottom and clenching his teeth at the sharp, shooting pain in his torso, Tony sat on the floor where he fell down. He stared at the young goth who looked for any 'wounds' on her plush toy, hippo. Bert?
"You're alright!" The woman hugged the toy tightly, making another farting sound with it. She then turned her attention to the young man. "You're lucky today, mister. If you had killed Bert, I would've had to kill you and leave no evidence. Just kidding." She put the toy away in a safe place and held out her hand, which Tony took, although there was a clear hesitation. Pulling the tall man up from the floor with surprising ease, Abby studied him with curiosity. "I'm Abigail Sciuto. Abby to you. Who are you?"
"Tony. Anthony DiNozzo."
"What are you doing here? Are you lost?"
"Not really. I'm Detective from Baltimore. Agent Gibbs forced me to work with him."
For some reason that got Abby's full attention and there was odd sparkle in her eyes. "Did he?"
"You don't believe me?"
"So Bossman actually brought you here? You're positive? He brought you here? He forced someone to work with him? He wants to work with a cop?"
"That's what I said."
Abby had almost predatory look in her eyes as she smirked. "Interesting, very interesting indeed... So, Detective. You look kind of young to be one."
Tony clenched his teeth. He was sick of everyone telling him that. "I'll be twenty-six this year."
Abby gave him a once over. "Really? I thought you're way younger than that. Then we are the same age, which is awesome. Finally someone from the same age group as I am and who isn't someone Gibbs is trying to get rid of. I swear, his latest probie has vanished somewhere. Maybe Bossman finally snapped and hid his body. But then he should have told me and I could have helped him hide the body and..."
The look on Tony's face darkened, but the woman didn't seem to notice. She just kept talking, which he mostly tuned out. A tap on his shoulder brought his attention back to Abby, who was now surprisingly close to him. Too close. Way over the line of his comfort zone, so he took a step back.
"Anyway. Since you're already a Detective, it must mean you're that good, which is great. Gibbs needs someone good."
Tony blinked. This was first. Usually people assumed he had done something unseemly to get his badge. It was even worse once they found out about his so called 'privileged' family background and what kind of mother hen the Police Chief Frost was toward him. The old man didn't understand that he did not want any protection from him. Did not want any added attention from anyone. He was trying his best to stay in the shadows just so he wouldn't be noticed too much, but no... Now he had people like his boss breathing down his neck, which made doing his own job so much harder.
"Since we're going to be seeing each other much more now..." Abby took one step closer and Tony found himself taking one step back again. Abby, clueless as she was, didn't see the warning signs and wrapped her arms around him in her usual bone crushing hug. She was giggling at the discomfort she could feel radiating from the stiff form. "You're not a hugger, are you? That's cute. Don't worry, I will make sure you get used to it." Stepping back, the smile on Abby's face fell. The mask on Tony's face had disappeared, replaced by a vulnerable look. "I didn't hurt you or anything? People keep telling me I sometimes forget my own strength."
Tony closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, forcing a shaky smile on his face. "I'm fine."
She didn't look convinced. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. I'm good."
Abby bit her lip. She had a strong feeling everything was not good. "If you're sure..."
"Yeah. I'm sure. I just don't like being touched. I can shake hands and such, but no hugging. Don't take it personally; I'm just not that kind of guy."
Abby narrowed her eyes, taking it as a challenge rather than a warning to be left alone. "Alright... And hey, it's good to have you here, Tony." Since Gibbs brought him here, it could only be a good sign, she mused.
Tony flashed his trademark smile as he lied, "I'm glad to be here."
Abby smiled widely and she had to hold herself back, to not hug the man again. Might be a little too soon for another one of her hugs, she figured. But there was just something so huggable about him.
"I better get going. Gibbs ordered me to stay in the bullpen, but here I am."
"Uh-oh..." Abby smirked when she saw the mischief in the young Detective's eyes.
Tony left the lab and soon enough the music was back on. He let his smile disappear. It was too easy manipulating the many masks on his face. It was a child's game to him; something he had been good at since the early days in his childhood. He could fool anyone with it and—
"Gibbs." Tony stared. The Agent was standing right outside the lab. One look and he knew Gibbs had seen and heard the whole thing. "Sorry. I know I was supposed to be staying where you told me to stay, but I'm not that great at following orders sometimes." Tony grinned, easily masking his nervousness.
Gibbs didn't say anything. He raised his hand toward the back of Tony's head, but the young man flinched away even before the hand touched him. Was it because of the head slap from before or..? Gibbs frowned and let his hand fall down, while Tony took a couple of steps away from him. They both stared at the empty space separating them.
"So. Are we ready to get to work then or what?" Tony finally asked, now masking the nervousness with sudden eagerness to get to work, when in reality he wanted to wake up from this nightmare.
"Follow me."
Tony was surprised that the man didn't say anything else, didn't ask anything; Gibbs didn't even look mad. It was not the kind of reaction Tony thought he'd get when he had decided to leave the bullpen against the man's orders. Feeling almost meek, yet angry at the same time, Tony followed the older man in the elevator where the silence for some reason felt even heavier than before.
Sitting in his car, Gibbs was driving slower than usual and he kept glancing at DiNozzo's car from the rearview mirror.
His mind kept replaying the scene in the lab where he had seen a whole different side of the young Detective, which somehow had destroyed every other image he'd had of the kid so far; arrogant, possibly dangerous, a brat and maybe even bit of a 'bad cop'. Now none of that seemed to fit and Gibbs found himself rethinking everything. Even if it had been just for a short moment, he had seen the kid being just that. A kid. So young and even scared. Then there had been a strange feeling of déjà vu and for the first time Gibbs had a feeling that he had met the Detective somewhere. Where and how? Those were the questions he couldn't find the answers to, no matter how hard he tried digging through his memory.
"Just who are you, DiNozzo?"
In his own car, Tony was equally frustrated, but for different reasons. Unlike Gibbs he had the answers, only he didn't know what to do with them.
They parked their cars across the street, which caused some of the people there give them nasty looks, but since it was Gibbs they were left alone pretty soon.
Walking toward the nice looking white house, Tony stopped for a moment to stare at it. All the houses on the street were the perfect family homes; the kind where you would think any child could be happy to grow up. Obviously the pretty picture wasn't always the truth and as a cop Tony was painfully aware of the truth behind many closed doors, but even so, he found himself full of longing. His childhood 'home' was nothing compared to these. There had been no warmth and the size of the building had been just plain ridiculous and complete waste of space and money.
"You coming today, DiNozzo?"
"Yeah, yeah..." Tony muttered and hurried after his 'temporary boss'. "Who did you say lives here?" he asked while they were standing behind the door, after ringing the doorbell.
Gibbs glared, knowing full well DiNozzo knew he hadn't said anything. "The victim's parents."
The door was opened, revealing a long-legged blonde young woman. Gibbs asked if the elderly couple living there was at home and she nodded. "Mom and dad are watching TV. Who did you say you are?"
"We're from NCIS. I'm afraid we have some bad news... Can we come inside?" Gibbs asked, after showing his ID. The woman's eyes went wide and she nodded again, letting them inside. Gibbs had completely surprised Tony with the almost compassionate and gentle tone of voice. Then Tony scowled at the 'we're from NCIS ' part, although he hid it from the woman.
Following the woman to where Tony assumed the parents were, he whispered to Gibbs, "Is she the victim's sister? Wow... I mean, wow... I could interview her— Ow!" He flinched at the sudden slap against the back of his head and took a step back, rubbing his head with wide eyes. "What was that for?" he hissed quietly. When he only received a glare as the answer, he kept walking, but kept a safe distance to the older man.
"Everything okay?" the woman asked, looking over her shoulder and Tony flashed his winning smile, which obviously had the right affect on her, but then he noticed something on the woman's finger. A ring. It had been too good to be true... Forcing the mask of professionalism on his face, Tony decided to let Gibbs handle things the way he wanted.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs spoke quietly. "You will interview her only after they've had some time to deal with the bad news first, got it?"
Tony glared at Gibbs. Did he think he was heartless or just plain stupid?
And just because Gibbs was Gibbs. "Not his sister. She's the victim's wife."
Tony flinched at that. Time to completely tune down his charm then.
"Mom... Dad..." the woman spoke once they were all in the living room. The old couple looked at them curiously. "These men are from the NCIS."
At the confused looks, Gibbs started explaining, "It stands for Naval—"
"Criminal Investigative Service. We know. What is it you people want from us?" the man questioned. Tony and Gibbs shared a look at the hostile tone.
"It's about your son," Gibbs carefully said, but in truth, there never was any careful way of putting it. "I'm sorry to have to say this... Your son was found dead."
Deadly silence took over the room, until the old woman's scream broke it. "No!" she screamed, but seeing the serious looks, she screamed again, which soon broke into a mother's heart broken sobs. "I knew it..! I knew something was wrong..!"
Tony was feeling as bad as one would feel in such situation, until from the corner of his eye he saw the smile; so small and gone so fast that he almost thought he had imagined it. He sighed inwardly. Not the wife again... Leaning closer, Tony whispered to Gibbs, "I'll take the wife, you take the parents."
Gibbs turned around to say something about not rushing with it, but he only saw DiNozzo's retreating back as he walked away with the woman.
"Really. I am grateful. You see, I have this bastard boss who doesn't really care about the need for a few breaks now and then. I'm so thirsty I bet my throat looks like a sandpaper right now. Feels like it..."
For a moment, Gibbs thought he heard the woman chuckle, but he dismissed the thought and hid a smile of his own at the young man's comment, which was obviously meant to irritate him. Somehow he didn't really mind, but instead found himself amused by it. Keeping the amusement away from his face, Gibbs calmly gave his answers to the sudden flow of questions from the grieving parents.
