Tony could feel Vance move him over to his office couch and help him sit down. He hated falling apart like this, especially in front of the director. Jackie Vance had been shot in front of the director and died in surgery and he had managed to keep his mask up, in the office. Mollie had been gone sixteen years and Tony could not keep himself together. Gibbs never fell apart about Kelly around people. Well maybe Ducky or Mike Franks but that was different. They were old and trusted friends. Tony and Vance got along OK but they were far from close friends.
"I'm sorry, I'm trying to stop." Tony sobbed.
"Tony you don't need to stop crying and you certainly don't need to apologize." Vance assured.
"Yes I do! You kept it together!" Tony cried.
"I did not keep it together so well after Jackie died and besides losing your child is far worse than losing your spouse. I would have died if I lost Jared or Kayla." Vance explained.
"Gibbs doesn't lose it." Tony commented.
"He doesn't fall apart when he is working but he has fallen apart." Vance corrected.
"I am at work." Tony reminded.
"You are at your office but you are not working." Vance clarified.
"Yeah because I am so fucked up, I can't go into the field." Tony scoffed.
"Nobody in your situation is OK." Vance stated.
Leon Vance held Tony in his arms as he sobbed uncontrollably. He had known about Mollie since he became director and he never saw him fall apart like this. In fact he had never really seen Tony fall apart at all. He had seen him get down a few times and wondered if the grief over Mollie had anything to do with it. Normally Tony would go to Gibbs or Jimmy when he needed a shoulder to cry on. He was shocked to learn that Tony had only recently told Gibbs about Mollie. Jimmy had known for years and truth be told besides Gibbs, Jimmy was the best person to know. Vance looked down and Tony was still inconsolable. It became obvious to the director that the MCRT, Senior Field Agent had no business being in the field. He had missed almost a full week of work over his breakdown and now that he was back. He was still in bad shape. He needed some mental health time to pull himself together.
"Gibbs" Tony whimpered.
"Do you need Gibbs? Because I bet that they will be back soon." Vance offered reassuringly.
"Need him now." Tony sniffed.
"I will call and see where they are but we need to have a talk first." Vance replied.
"What about? Am I fired?" Tony asked.
"You are not fired but I do want you to take psychiatric leave. You will start today and you will meet with an NCIS appointed therapist three times a week. The therapist will evaluate you weekly and hand me your reports directly. The only person who will be permitted to see your file, besides your therapist, and myself is Gibbs. It will be like this until the therapist, Gibbs, and myself deem you well enough to return to the field. I am sure that Gibbs will insist on having you stay with him until you are recovered. So I would be prepared for that." Vance explained.
"Great I am too crazy to work and have to be an imposition on Gibbs. Just fire me now. They will say that I am too broken." Tony sniffed.
"You are not crazy you are hurting and if you get help. You can get through this." Vance assured.
"I am still going to be imposing on Gibbs. Even if I don't stay with him, because of me they are an agent short." Tony explained.
"You will never be an imposition on me." Gibbs assured entering the office.
Tony stood in his apartment and debated what he to bring. He didn't want to take up too much space in Gibbs's house but he also knew that he would be gone for a while. His goldfish and the box of Mollie's things were definitely going. As well as his favorite suits and outfits. His laptop and portable DVD player as well. He just needed to decide what DVD's and books to bring. He made a mental note to get Gibbs to stop by Best Buy and grab a small television for Gibbs's guestroom. Finally he made his decisions. He loaded his clothes into his rolling suitcase, his DVDs and books into his duffle bag, grabbed his laptop and DVD player cases and made his way downstairs. He loaded them into his car, locked it and went back upstairs. He went down the hall to his neighbor June's house and told her that she could have any food he had in his kitchen. Her husband was deployed, her eldest son had just been cleared of cancer and now the younger boy was having serious health problems. On top of that she was in the middle of a tiresome pregnancy. He let her into the apartment, grabbed Mollie's things, and made his way back downstairs. He came back up one last time with plans of helping June carrying her things back to her apartment, before bringing the fish downstairs.
"God bless you Tony. This will help so much." June said, as they walked down the hall carrying bags of food.
"It is no trouble at all." Tony assured.
"So is work taking you away? If so please stay safe. I don't know how I would explain to Seth and Dane if anything happened to you." June questioned.
"No I am going to be uh staying with a friend for a while." Tony explained.
"Are you sick?" June asked.
"No it's just I am missing her a lot lately and nobody wants me to be alone." Tony explained.
"Mollie?" June asked.
"Yeah" Tony replied.
"I am sorry, I cannot imagine what you are going through." June explained.
"It's rough but I was doing really well... until this week anyway." Tony explained.
"Well I hope that your friend will help you out and you get better soon." June replied.
"Me too... Me too." Tony sighed.
Breena Palmer left the babysitters apartment, buckled Victoria into her cars-seat, and climbed into her car. She looked into her rear-view mirror and backed out of the driveway. She looked at the clock and breathed a sigh of relief. She should have time to stop by the grocery store and have Jimmy's favorite diner ready not to long after he got home. She managed to keep her grocery run quick, which was always a miracle when you had a baby with you. She got back to her car and found something in her windshield wiper. She cursed under her breath thinking that it was a ticket. She had to park at an angle. The person beside her had parked poorly and that was the closest regular space. She picked up the piece of paper and was shocked to see that it was a photograph. More specifically a picture of Tony at the park with Victoria last summer. She flipped it over and looked at the back. What she read caused her to feel sick to her stomach and her body to tremble.
"You really should find more responsible babysitters. This man couldn't even keep his own child alive. Do you really expect him to keep your brat safe?" The Trio
A/N: You knew about Tessie and Doug but, who is the third member of the trio? New chapter will be up soon. Please review and thanks for reading.