Disclaimer: NCIS does not belong to me, neither does the characters. They are the creation of the ever brilliant Donold P. Bellisario and Don McGill.
Epilogue
"Do you believe in coincidence, agent Gibbs?" asked the white haired man, as they both waited in the corridor. The grey haired man glanced at the man and answered "there is no such thing as coincidence." The white haired man gazed at the stoic man and said "well, I believe that it was coincidence that landed us here." Gibbs turned to scrutinise the man, his hair was visibly whiter then he last saw him. Aging lines visible on the chiselled face and sedentary life style gave the formerly fit figure a slight belly. The agent stated "first of all, I'm retired. Second of all, we each have our own reasons being here. Third of all" Gibbs paused, attention shifted to the opening door "I was just performing my duty."
The wide opened door ushered out a frenzy of activity. First to come out were the spectators, rushing to get out of the way, and to spread the news. Following were a group of news cameras and reporters, snatching flashes of their victim, pecking at them with demanding questions and microphones. The reporters paved the way for the centre of their attention, a small group of men, surrounded by uniformed guards. Their stumbling motion and mass of movement expanded towards the two stoic men, causing the white haired man to stumble. The grey haired ex-agent grabbed his arm, steadying him and pulling him aside to get away from the chaos. The white haired man nodded his thanks.
The stream of people thinned as majority of the people in the court room followed the hubbub, thus revealing the intention of their visit. The young man, dressed in a finely tailored suit, was talking earnestly to an elderly couple. The female of the couple, were dabbling her eyes with her handkerchief as the male talked excitedly to the young man. The man glanced up and saw the duo, which were waiting patiently aside. His hazel eyes brighten at the sight of the grey haired man, and then frown when he saw the man standing next to him. He continued to finish his conversation with the elderly couple, receiving a hug and peck on the cheek from the elderly woman. He shook the hands of the man and waved them goodbye.
He stood proud and confidently strode towards the duo. He grinned widely and said "I feel like Matt Damon in 'The Rainmaker'*(1). Except more successful" he paused to give the ex-agent a hug "glad to see you here Gibbs." As they separated, Gibbs patted the shoulder of the man and said "congratulations on winning the case Di-" he paused, eyeing the white haired man and continued "Tony." Tony, now an adult in his early thirties, has the same height as Gibbs, and developed into a handsome young man. Especially, in the suit. Tony, looked at the man standing next to his mentor, offered his hand and greeted "father." DiNozzo senior took the hands and smiled sadly "Junior, good to see you." Missing out on the years that had made his son into this fine young man.
"Tony!" a shrill call alerted the target of the impending rush of a black haired Goth. The impact of the lithe woman threw the young man's balance off, causing them to stumble. "Oh Tony, I knew you could do it" gleamed the Goth, as she tighten her grasp. Making her fellow companions wince, not wishing to be in Tony's position. The scene making the retired agent smile. Tony gasped "Abby, can't breathe." The Goth released her clutch with a "oh." Then, Tony was able to observe the small group of people who had congregated around him. He smiled "didn't think all of you would come." The dark haired female agent hugged and pecked Tony on the cheek. She said "of course, wouldn't miss it for the planet." Tony giggled "ah, Ziva. Same ol' Ziva." The agent frowned as she was confused. The next person coming up to greet Tony answered her confusion "it's the world Ziva. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Shaking Tony's hand, the man half hugged Tony "congrats Tony." The young man smiled at his brotherly figure "Thanks, probie." Purposefully ignoring the slight frown on McGee's face.
After looking around, silently glad at the self-made family. Tony then suddenly thought of another familial figure, "wish that Ducky was here." Another voice agreed, "yah, me too." Suddenly noticing the guy, Tony said "Palmer. Didn't see you there." Palmer gave the young man a slight smile, "yah I tend to do that." Abby who was standing the closest to the ME, clapped on the man's shoulder, the attempt of comfort caused the man to cough. The group laughed, leaving the white haired man, unsure, of his position in this group. The Goth asked happily "so, how does it feel? Winning your first multi-million dollar case?" Tony beamed at the Goth, wrapping his arm around her shoulder "I feel like the King of the world."*(2)
A timid female voice on the side voiced "erm, Tony?" Whipping his head around, and seeing the brunet, Tony grinned even wider. "Jeanne!" he walked towards her, lifting her up into a hug, broadcasting "Jeanne, we won. Can you believe it! We won!" The woman laughed with glee "yes, I know Tony. I was there all the way." He settled her back on her feet, and looked towards his family. Keeping his hands on her waist, he walked towards the group and introduced "guys, this is Dr. Jeanne Benoit, a doctor I consulted on the case." He looked at the beautiful doctor and added "also my girlfriend." The statement caused the woman to blush. He then gestured to the group, introducing them "Jeanne, this is my family."
Jeanne beamed at the congregation of people. "You must be McGee" shaking the hands of the senior agent of the cyber crimes unit, eliciting a shy smile from the man. "Let me guess, Abby" said Jean, as she shook hands with the Goth. The Goth instead grabbed the unsuspecting woman into a hug and gleefully said "I heard so much about you from Tony." Letting her go, Abby frown in a half serious fashion and said "expect a 'if you hurt him, I will kill you without any evidence' speech later, young woman." This time, causing Tony to blush. Palmer had to introduce himself, and politely asking what was Jeanne's specialty, getting oncology as a reply. Moving on to the female agent, the two woman shook hands and peck at each other's face, they paused for one moment as Ziva whispered something into Jeanne's ears. Upon separating, the female doctor paled slightly. Tony threw concerning glances to the agent, receiving a disconcerting shrug in return.
As the young doctor faced the two men, she paused momentary, then decided on the white haired man "you must be Gibbs." At this, Tony stood forward, explained "no, this is my father, Antony DiNozzo Senior." The woman blushed slightly, and muttered "oh, sorry" as the white haired man brushed off the confusion. Leading to the grey haired ex-agent, Tony introduced "This is Leroy-Jethro Gibbs. A.K.A. The boss-man." They smiled at Tony's charade and shook hands in a firm and friendly fashion.
At this moment, DiNozzo Senior cut in with a slight cough "Junior, I need to speak to you." Tony frowned as he looked at the man. He then answered "alright father." Gibbs gently grasped the shoulder of the young man and asked "are you gonna be alright?" Tony's hazel eyes looked into the steel blue eyes and answered "yah, boss." Seeing the Goth already dragging the female doctor away, he laughed "take care of Jeanne for me." He stood by his father's side as he waved the group goodbye "see you guys tonight." Seeing his family walk away, he turned into the professional lawyer that he was, and turned to his father. He offered "Now, explain it to me like I'm a four-year-old."*(3)
~N~C~I~S~
"So what did your father want from you" asked McGee, in the warmth of Gibbs' kitchen. The team had separated in the afternoon and re-congregated during the evening, in Gibbs' house for a celebratory dinner. Nursing a bottle of beer, Tony leaned against the kitchen counter and signed. "Dad wanted me to represent him pro-bono" Tony said, sadly. Gibbs was working on the carbonare sauce in the pot, which was being heated on the stove top. He frowned and stopped his action, turning around to look at his surrogate son. Jeanne was standing next to Tony, she slowly stroke the arm of her boyfriend. Tony grabbed her hand and smiled at the comfort. He continued the story "he had some trouble with the company he worked for. Seemed like he was accused for embezzling. Not that he would admit it."
Abby stomped in, with her platform shoes and said "I'd kill him for you Tony. That man had the guts to ask his son to represent him for free after throwing him out 10 years ago." Jeanne picked up Tony's hand and gently kissed it; an offering of comfort, upon hearing Abby's comment. Tony smiled warmly, happy that his girl didn't mind his special condition. Jean asked gently "what did you say?" Tony shrugged and said "I just said embezzling wasn't my repertoire. Which was also the truth." He looked at the comforting woman next to him and continued "he then asked that I ask for someone to represent him. I was angry at the time." Looking down at his bottle of beer, he said "I told him to look for one himself." He was ashamed to be rude to his father.
Jeanne was lost for words; she didn't know how to react upon the confession. Abby stepped forward and comforted Tony by giving him a bone crushing hug and said "well, good riddance." Then, Abby stomped out again, after picking up bowls of spaghetti and shredded cheddar. McGee huffed, halfway through dressing the salad in front of him suggested "Ziva could kill him with a paper clip."*(4) Picking up on that sentence, Tony asked "where is that crazy ass ninja anyways?" Suddenly, a female voice came up from behind him and stated "right here DiNozzo." Tony slowly raised his hands in surrender, Jeanne snickered at their interaction. Pleasantly surprised at the tag-team of people cheering Tony up.
Ziva walked around and explained her tardiness "had to tell my team to finish up the case. Honestly Gibbs, I don't know how you did it. But those probies are how you say. Sucked." Tony huffed "now you get it right." Whist McGee answered "hey", since he somehow never managed to get rid of his 'probie' status in the group. Even after working in the agency for more than a decade now. Gibbs beckoned the now team leader to get closer. As she got closer, he said in a very serious tone "if I told you, I'd have to kill you." Finishing, just as he placed a stack of plates in her hands. Tony loudly murmured "o… did he just made a joke." Turned to Jean in a dramatic fashion, shook her shoulder and asked "please tell me that I'm not dreaming."
Stalking behind Tony, Gibbs slapped him on the head, leading to an exaggerated response on Tony's face. "You're not dreaming DiNozzo" ordered the former marine. Tony whipped around and stood at attention "no, boss." Gibbs barely raised an eyebrow as he continued "go help Ziva." Tony saluted and answered "on it, boss" and scurried off. Gibbs returned to turn off the stove, lifting the pot of sauce, moving towards the front of the house with it. McGee walked up to the stunned doctor and said "don't worry; you'll get use to it." He finished just as Abby's voice rang out "dinner's ready" causing McGee to nearly drop the bowl of salad in his hands. "We know Abs, no need to shout" reminded McGee as he walked to the dining room/living room. Jeanne followed, carrying the two bottles of red wine, reminding herself to come back for some wine glasses.
~E~N~D~
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A/N:
1) "The Rainmaker" is a movie starred by Matt Damon and Danny DeVito. It is based on a book written by John Grisham. The story is about a young aspiring lawyer going against another law firm protecting a health insurance company who denied paying for dying man's chemotherapy. In the book, the lawyer won the case, but the insurance company filed for bankruptcy, so there were no payout to the victim's family. In this story, Tony won, so the family got the payment they had deserved.
2) Everyone should know where that quote came from. To those who are too young to know, it's from the movie "Titanic". Directed by the same director as "Avatar".
3) That quote is from the Oscar winner movie "Philadelphia" (1993), starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. It is about a black lawyer helping a recently sacked white lawyer to sue his original law firm. This is a beautiful film.
4) This bit is due to a very infectious comic by an artist on Deviantart called Saisoto. Please do visit the webpage, apparently FF doesn't allow links
Lastly, I made Jeanne Tony's girlfriend because in the TV series, he seemed really happy with her. So I wanted Tony to be happy.
