Mad love to Jo for letting me run the baby idea by her! I'm really excited about the feedback I've received and where things may or may not be going? Mwahaha! And thank you for your patience while I moved. I'm glad to be back!
As It Seems: Chapter Twenty-One
Elly had changed his clothes, and joined Ned as he was cleaning up after their late breakfast. They'd spent the meal discussing various hangover remedies, and how they had come to learn them. By the time they had gotten up from their third cups of coffee, emptying the pot and clearing their plates, Elly's hangover was almost completely gone.
He watched as Ned washed down the counter a second time as if he were furious with it. He waited until he was almost done, and when it looked like he was going to start again, he rested a hand on his arm.
"Hey man, you got it. It's gone."
He'd watched this happen a few times now, and he knew that if he didn't intervene, Ned would have the entire apartment smelling Clorox fresh to the point his nose burned.
Ned shook his head, and closed his eyes. The frustration was written across his face.
"I'm not sure why it's so bad this week," he said quietly.
"What is?" Elly asked, figuring he already knew the answer.
"The OCD. It's usually not this bad unless I'm really upset and stressed out. I just don't understand what happened this week that makes me feel like I need to scour a hole in the counters."
"What helps?" Elly asked, moving between Ned and the counter he was glaring at.
"Distraction usually. It's… I start thinking about all the creepy crawlies that can be on something, and how easily they, you know, can jump. I was prescribed a few different things, but the side effects are not worth it for me. I can touch other people just fine, but it's things that get to me, which is weird, because we carry more germs than that counter probably did covered in all of that bacon grease and egg shell pieces and… and…"
Elly noticed Ned's breathing was picking up, and he took the sponge from him. He sat it in the sink and then rinsed his hands, and pointed for Ned to do the same. Elly hung his hands over the sink, letting Ned pick up the fresh dishtowel hanging from the oven handle to have first use. Ned made sure to dry every inch of his hands, and then Elly snagged it from him. He dried a little faster, and then turned Ned by the shoulders so that he was facing the living room, and led him out of the kitchen.
"Breathe, man. Deep breaths." Ned nodded, and Elly led him to the couch. "It's been a stressful week, Ned. First time in MTAC, planning the op, thinking it through over and over again from every angle to make sure everything is covered and everyone stays safe. That's a lot on your shoulders. If you want to know why you're feeling stressed, it's because you are!"
"That's kind of good stress though, right? That's good stuff?" Ned looked at him with eyes that begged for clarity.
"Only you can answer that. What do you think?" Elly watched Ned carefully.
"Well, yeah! But it's important, so I need to make sure I'm getting it right. So that's kind of overwhelming."
Elly nodded in understanding. "Not to lay the pressure on you, but this is the single most important move of your career thus far. It's the launch pad for all other ops."
Ned's eyes grew wide. "You're not helping with the whole urge to scour thing."
"Would it help if I told you you're doing amazing?"
Ned stopped still and looked at Elly, seeing an honest expression on his face and in his eyes that said he was both awed and proud. It was the look he'd always hoped he'd see on his parents' faces when they'd come to a play he was in; the expression he had always imagined he would have seen them wear at his college graduation.
"Thanks," he croaked.
Elly felt a bewildering rush of warmth through him as he realized he and Ned were staring at each other. He suddenly felt a panic rising up in him, and his mouth opened before he thought.
"And though it's not the same for me, I definitely get where you're coming from with the germs."
Ned cracked a shy smile at him, and then looked down at his hands. "It's pretty poetic that I'm probably going to spend the majority of my life from here on out locked in a dark room that's probably rarely even vacuumed in order to fight germ warfare on a global front. Bioterrorists suck. Maybe we should build a Lysol bomb, and drop it on the next hut, or building, or whatever you want to call that thing they blew up in March."
Elly let out a bark of laughter. He was particularly fond of Ned's crazy sense of humor, and was glad he had someone he could act like a complete dork with. It reminded him of who he was in college and before, when the dork jokes ruled, and the time he spent in front of the computer was interrupted only by the need to go to a non-computer science class and sleeping.
"I may know a few engineers who you could pitch that project to. And McGee has the whole biomedical engineering thing. I'm sure he knows people who would love the chance to build a disinfectant bomb. Who do we know on the CDC?" He smirked at Ned, wondering if he might actually be able to give him a name.
"No one- yet. We'll talk to Ducky's girlfriend. I'm sure she'll be able to hook us up with all sorts of connections."
"Yeah, and she works in a school. She could probably score you a ton of latex gloves."
Ned reached over and pushed Elly back with a shove to the shoulder, a smile of disbelief at the diss. He found himself relieved to have someone he could joke about the OCD with despite himself.
Elly laughed gleefully and stayed leaning back against the arm of the couch for a minute, staring up at Ned's pink cheeks and dancing gray eyes. He felt comfortable there, he realized. Too comfortable. He shook the thought off, and sat up.
"I should probably get going. I have to call Christopher and get him to send me a tracklist from the club. I gotta have a serious jam session today so I'm ready for Friday. What are you going to do?"
"I need to get some groceries. I figured when I took you back to the car I would stop in at the street market and find some things, and then stop on the way home for anything else I need." He looked towards the kitchen and shook his head. "And I should probably get some more cleanser if this op is going to turn me into Mr. Clean."
Elly laughed again. "Oh, man!" he said between chuckles. "I totally just pictured you shaved bald with a gold earring." He shook the rest of the vision out of his head, and got to his feet to stretch while he laughed mirthfully.
Ned stood up and headed for his room. "Always knew he was gay!" he shouted over his shoulder, making Elly shake his head with a smile from ear to ear. "I'm going to change, and then we'll head out of here."
"Sounds good!" Elly said. As soon as Ned left the room, he ran his hand down his face.
What the hell is wrong with you, Elijah! Get it together! He scolded. This is not what you need, it's not what he needs. You haven't hit your year yet, and you have no business pulling him into your mess, especially with the-
His train of thought was halted when Ned came back from his room in summery khaki cargo shorts, a navy blue t-shirt and sandals.
Don't notice what he's wearing! Don't notice what he's wearing! Oh, that's not a good sign! He mentally sighed, and turned around to grab his bag. He was going to go home and have a long, stern talk with himself if it killed him.
AIS-NCIS-AIS-NCIS-AIS
Tony was waiting for Jethro at the kitchen table with coffee. He'd gotten a text asking if it was safe to come home, and Tony had texted back that Tim was gone, and that he was waiting whenever he was ready. He felt a little calmer about things, knowing his answer was to give it time to see if this is what he still thought he wanted tomorrow, and next week, and next month. They wouldn't dare start doing anything about it that summer anyway, so they had time to really think it over and decide.
There was no doubt at the moment that he was seriously hooked on the idea of having a little girl of his own to spoil to death, worry about, protect, and love. Maybe with blue eyes like Jethro's, and dark hair like his. He imagined sitting with her and a book the way he had been sitting with Amira earlier with the Lite Brite, and taking her to the movies as their special thing, like what he and his mom used to do. Maybe she'd be a graceful fashionista, or a tomboy that wanted Jethro to take her camping every weekend from May through September. Either way, the thought made him smile.
When the front door opened hesitantly, Tony almost chuckled to himself.
"I'm in here, Jethro," he called with as much of a lighthearted tone as he could muster.
Jethro came around the bend to the dining room, and looked at the table as if he was looking for a trap. Tony held his arms out like he wanted a hug, and Jethro smiled, shaking his head and coming over. Tony got to his feet and pulled him close, breathing in the comforting scent of the man in his arms. Jethro sighed in relief, and hugged him back.
"Are you mad at me?" Tony asked.
Jethro laughed. "Why would I be mad at you?"
"I sort of bombarded you there." Tony pulled back, but not out of the embrace, searching Jethro's face. "In my defense though, I was responding to a bomb that was dropped on me, and I had no idea what the hell was going on any more than you did."
Jethro nodded. "Yeah, I figured that out. Was McGee able to help you talk it through?"
"Yeah," Tony said with a nod. "I think so. He was at least able to get me to calm down so I could think it through with a clearer head."
"That's about what Ducky was able to do, too."
"You want to tell me what you figured out first, or do you want me to go?" They hadn't let go of one another, still clasped around each other for dear life at the end of the dining room table, and their grasps only got tighter at the idea of disclosing what was on their minds.
"You can go," Jethro said, his heart pounding harder than a moment before.
"Okay. Well, I'm still not sure if this is because of the emotional rush of the week, and finding out about being in Leyla's will, but the idea of maybe having a child of our own… Well, it has me really excited. I may wake up tomorrow feeling the complete opposite though. I want to think about it a while, if you think you might want it."
Jethro let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Okay."
"Okay? That's it?" Tony asked with a nervous chuckle.
"I need some time to think about it, too. I'm glad we're on that same page. I hadn't thought it was even a possibility until a few hours ago, and had no interest in trying parenthood again for going on twenty years now. The whole thing surprised the hell out of me earlier, but when I was able to think about it… you're right. It's an exciting feeling to think about having another chance to experience…" Jethro took a deep breath, and let it out as Tony waited patiently. "Another chance to experience what I had with Kelly."
"Tim had a good idea, and I was wondering if you might want to try it with me."
"What's that?"
"He was just throwing it out there, but I think it had merit. What if, well, he said every night, but I'm thinking once a week, before bed, for the next couple of months, we give each other a number between one and ten, one being, "I don't feel like having a kid at all", and ten being "I wish I was in the next room tucking her in"."
"Her?" Jethro asked with a curious smile.
Tony's eyes did a brief scan of the ceiling as he blushed and smiled from ear to ear.
"Tim asked me if I wanted a boy or a girl." He shrugged.
Jethro's grin widened. "I've got a soft spot for girls."
"I know!" Tony said as he laughed, leaning in to kiss Jethro quickly, but not too quickly.
"I still can't believe we're discussing even thinking about having a daughter," Jethro said.
"Wow," Tony said, suddenly stunned.
"What?"
"A daughter."
"A daughter," Jethro repeated, trying it out on his tongue intentionally.
"Five months ago, I was trying to explain to Wendy that I simply wasn't available, and you and I seemed like an impossible dream. Now, we're engaged, planning our wedding, living together, coming out at work, we have separate teams, I'm changing my name, and we're discussing having a daughter together."
They were silent for a long moment as it all sunk in.
"Daughter," Tony whispered again. "That's kind of intoxicating."
Jethro stared into Tony's green eyes, watching the way the amazement seemed to dance in them, devastating his worldview of everything he had ever believed about love, and laying out a new road in front of them both.
"I have no doubts in any of the darkest corners of my imagination that you'd make a wonderful dad, Tony. Where your folks let you down, you'll find the conviction to make sure our child never questions if she's loved."
Tony nodded. "I was thinking about that earlier. I learned everything not to do from my parents. And for all those things I don't know how to do, that I don't have the answers to, you'll be right there. Some of it you'll know, some of it we'll learn together, but I really think we can do this. We just need to take some time to figure out if we really want to."
Jethro nodded. "What would we do about our work schedules?"
"We already alternate weekends. The chances that we're both going to be stuck on a really late case is slim, though we'll have to make sure we have a great babysitter. Maybe Leyla will watch her sometimes for us, Abby would love a few hours now and then with her. We've got a lot of people in our lives that I'm sure would be able to help us if we need it outside of normal working hours."
"We'd figure it out," Jethro agreed, still in shock that they were even considering it.
"Oh, man!" Tony said, suddenly laughing.
"What?" Jethro asked, startled.
"Can you imagine me telling Vance?"
Jethro's eyes closed, and his head fell backwards as he laughed.
"Hey Leon?" Tony said, barely able to catch his breath. "I know we're pretty much turning the agency upside down by starting a relationship, being stalked by a guy on an op, taking over a team, chasing some kid in Pennsylvania, confronting a drug lord that shot one of my new agents, bringing Dorney up from the basement, announcing we're getting married, taking on a dangerous weapons faction, hiding three contract killers in our home, deciding to change my name and thus announcing to the entire agency that I'm marrying my former superior, but by the way, we've decided we're going to have a kid, too. So be ready for the time off required to do that. Oh, and we might wanna bring her in sometimes because we won't have nighttime care, but we figure our forensic scientist or ME or whatnot could watch her while we go chase bad guys."
"He'd kill us."
"I'm pretty sure he's already installing a trap door in front of his desk for the next time we're in there to give him news. He can't take much more."
"Well, we're not going to decide anytime soon. Let's agree that we'll do this "one to ten" thing, and then we'll decide when we get back from our honeymoon this fall, if we're ready. And as Ducky emphasized, we have to promise to be completely honest about it, and not agree just because we think the other wants us to or the vice versa."
"I can do that. If you need to be brutally honest with me, or if I need to be brutally honest with you, even if it kills us, we will, because we don't need to do that to her." They stared at one another a long moment. "We're way too comfortable with the words already. Daughter, her, ours…"
"That may change. It may not. We'll wait and see," Jethro said with a shrug. "Do you think the chicken is done?" He was suddenly starving.
"Should be soon. It probably needs another half an hour. There's some of that pasta salad you like in the fridge though." Jethro's eyebrows rose.
"The one with the little pieces of onions and broccoli…"
"And cheese. Yeah. I made sure to get some more." Jethro leaned in to kiss Tony quickly, then let go to head for the fridge. Tony chuckled and took his mug towards the kitchen to add some more coffee to it. He suddenly imagined a little girl running past him towards the fridge, waiting for Jethro to take the pasta out so she could steal a couple of bites before dinner. He could almost see Jethro lifting her up to sit her on the counter while he looked again, this time finding it on the second shelf. He'd take the fork and pick out a couple of noodles, offering it to her before taking a few for himself.
"Not the broccoli, Daddy! I don't like the broccoli!"
"You don't get to pick and choose. Besides, it's got so much cheese and dressing on it you can't taste it."
"I can, too!"
Jethro turned around to lean on the counter with a forkful of pasta in one hand, and the container in the other, watching Tony's imagination run wild. "You okay?" he asked, his voice breaking the daydream. Tony shook off the thought.
"Yeah. I'm just… at a ten."
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Tim came back to the townhouse and plopped down in a folding chair in what was supposed to be the dining room. Abby came down the stairs, pulling off a pair of yellow rubber gloves.
"You're back! Is everything okay? What can you tell me?" she asked, standing in the doorway and bouncing from foot to foot.
"Everything is fine. Great maybe. I can't say anything."
"Nothing?" she asked, wincing. Tim out-winced her, and shook his head.
"Nothing. Sorry."
Abby took a deep breath and nodded. "It's okay. I know you two have this whole… agreement… thingy. I respect that. It may drive me crazy, but I understand it, and I'm glad you're able to be there for him when he needs you."
"I hate to say it, but I think I need to go call Ducky."
Abby's eyes widened. "It was bad enough Gibbs went to Ducky?!" she asked. "Oh, man! This vow of silence thing sucks!"
"Abs! You just said you-"
"I know what I just said! And I stand by it. That doesn't mean it doesn't suck!"
Tim got up and went up to her, sliding his hands around her waist. "I can tell you that they are fine. Absolutely fine. I can also tell you that there won't be any signs of today that will carry over to work. I can tell you… I can tell you that a decision is being made, and that they need time and space to make it."
"Oh, you're evil. That's like giving me a puzzle, or like, a really great piece of evidence. I just want to dissect it, and test it, and research it, and figure out what the decision is about."
"As long as you don't do it by contacting either of them about it in any way. No phishing for clues when talking to either of them. Give them time. One decision will mean talking to everyone, and one decision will mean talking to no one. And," he added before Abby could say anything. "Neither of the decisions are bad decisions. Just let them do their thing, and if they want to talk to us, they will."
"Ooooo! This sounds good!"
"I need to go call Ducky. No eavesdropping!" He said over his shoulder as he walked back out to his car for the privacy he knew he'd need. He reminded himself to look away from the house so that Abby couldn't read his lips.
Ducky answered almost immediately. "Oh, Timothy. I was rather hoping you'd call."
"That was one hell of a bomb just dropped on me, Ducky. Did you get the same one?"
"That they are considering having a child together?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
"For a completely unexpected bit of news, I think it's splendid. I am afraid though that this is indeed a fleeting thought on Anthony's part, and Jethro's going to open himself up to the idea, and get his hopes crushed."
Tim was shaking his head vehemently. "Actually, I'm afraid of it being the other way around. I've never seen Tony like this, Ducky. He's so excited, and he's nervous, and he already knows he'd want it to be a girl."
"Oh, my. He's got a preference in gender already? I wonder if he might have actually been thinking about this already then."
"No, he told me that he's spent the week cleaning out Kelly's room with Gibbs, and that- well his words were that it was excruciating and yet the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen."
"Did he tell you about Jethro's goddaughter?"
"That she's now also Tony's goddaughter? Yeah. That has a lot to do with this. He's apparently gotten really attached to her. We talked for a while, and I didn't know this, but he spent Christmas with Gibbs, Leyla and Amira, and he's been making trips over there with Gibbs every now and then. He was telling me about taking Kelly's old toys to Amira today, and he was giving me this detailed play by play about how it happened, and about how great it was to spend time with her."
"I hope they take their time with this decision. It's not to be made lightly, and especially not to be made after a week like this one."
"That's what I've heard, too. While Tony seems to be enthralled by the idea, he's also really afraid he's going to wake up tomorrow and feel completely different. He plans on telling Gibbs that."
"He apparently already had in their initial conversation. He told Jethro that he was probably just going through a phase, and not to worry about it if he didn't want to pursue it."
"That's what Tony said to me too, but you didn't see him, Ducky. If he doesn't change his mind quickly, he's not going to change it at all."
"Oh, dear. I know that the idea is still very new to Jethro. He's excited by the prospect of having another child, but he wants, and needs, to think on it some more. I hope he doesn't chase Tony's wants before his own needs."
"That makes two of us."
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When Jethro woke up Sunday morning, he was on his back with Tony's head on his chest. He loved when that happened. He loved the feeling of Tony against him, and the way it felt so warm, intimate, perfect. He didn't want to get up for anything.
He thought about their latest developments, and he questioned if he would be okay with having to get up multiple times through the night to change and feed a baby. He wondered if they should skip that part and perhaps adopt older, should they choose to do it at all. He was sure that would have its own problems though, and waking up to feed and change a baby sounded a little bit better than waking up to console a child with nightmares. He was aware of the many reasons kids were put in foster care at ages that surpassed the diapers and feeding schedules, and he knew that they needed a lot of special attention to break past it. With their work schedules, he wasn't sure if that would be a good fit for them.
He remembered holding Kelly as a baby, walking up and down the halls with her pressed against his chest as she slept fitfully. For such a quiet and calm child, she was a hell of a fussy baby. He would rest her ear against his heart, and he would pace circles around the living room, to the kitchen and back while Shannon got a couple of hours of sleep. When he closed his eyes, he could almost feel her soft, wispy locks against his chin, and smell the baby shampoo they used. When he inhaled a second time, the scent was unmistakably Tony's shampoo, and he inhaled a third time with the intent to enjoy the scent anew.
As Tony started to awaken, Jethro buried his face in his hair, kissing the top of his head, and sighing happily. What they had now was perfect. As much as he loved kids, and as much as he knew he'd enjoy raising one with Tony, it was a toss-up still about whether or not he wanted to disturb what they already had. They were each other's worlds, and as much as he hated to admit it when up against the idea of adopting a child that needed love and care, he was pretty selfish with his Tony-time. He wasn't sure he was willing to share.
Tony woke up to the comforting sound of Jethro's breathing under his ear. He was a little warm under the blanket, and he wondered if a storm was coming in, because the air was thick and sticky. He wouldn't mind a rainy day in with Jethro. He could feel his lover kiss the top of his head, and he sighed in contentment. This was bliss, no doubt about it.
Thunder clapped loudly outside, and Tony smiled into Jethro's chest, feeling quite proud of himself for calling that one, even if just mentally.
An image rushed into his head of a little girl, no older than Amira, running into the room and trying to crawl under the blankets at the foot of the bed, and up between them. They would gladly pull apart to let her in, reassuring her, and making up stories about how it was just clouds ramming into each other, and telling her that everything was fine. She held tightly to a stuffed bunny, and she looked out the window fearfully at the dark skies as Jethro kissed her head and wrapped his arms around her.
He felt warm and giddy at the thought, and turned towards Jethro, smiling even wider at the quiet man under him.
"Good morning," Jethro whispered.
"Morning," Tony whispered back. "You're thinking pretty hard for this early in the morning."
Jethro shrugged. "You were, too."
"Daydreaming," he answered.
"Oh?"
Tony nodded.
"Wanna share?"
"You first," Tony said with a grin, making Jethro chuckle softly.
"I was thinking that this is really nice, and how as much as I think we'd enjoy raising a daughter, the idea of getting up three or four times a night to feed her could cut into my Tony-time."
"Your Tony-time?" Tony asked with an incredulous, yet gleeful tone.
"I'm a selfish bastard. What can I say?"
Tony had to admit that was kind of nice. To know that Jethro would want him all to himself made him feel loved and special.
"What about your daydream?" Jethro asked.
"Well, I was thinking it felt like it might rain, and then the thunder clapped, and I imagined our little girl running into the room and crawling into bed with us, afraid of the storm."
Jethro blinked at him, emotions running through him he didn't expect. He remembered many times that Kelly had come running into his and Shannon's room without knocking, desperate to find safety from the thunder and lightning that had woken her. It was definitely a "dad" moment. She would always want him to hold her, and he would do so willingly while Shannon smirked at him. He knew later he would hear about how she had him wrapped around his little finger, but Jethro knew that at the core of his personality was a protective nature, and to be able to keep Kelly safe from anything was all he wanted.
Tony's daydream made him think about how somewhere, out there, was a scared little girl this morning who didn't have anyone to tell her that it was all going to be okay.
"Hey," Tony's voice said, breaking through his thoughts. "You okay?"
Jethro nodded.
"You kinda went somewhere on me for a minute there," Tony prompted.
"Maybe we shouldn't do a newborn," he offered.
Tony looked surprised, but went with it. "Okay, what are you thinking?"
"Newborns take a lot of care and time, time that we don't really have with work. If we did this, maybe we should go with a toddler, someone who would be old enough to leave in a daycare setting without a problem. They'd still be a handful, but they'd hopefully sleep through the night."
Tony smiled. "I can see that."
"Just a thought. Still not at all sure yet of what I'm really wanting, but it's good that we can talk about options like that when they come up."
"I'm with Ducky on this one. Honesty, no matter how painful, is the only way to go. What makes you think that? About the toddler?"
"There's just a lot of kids out there that…" Jethro shrugged and looked around the room, then looked back into Tony's cool and calm green eyes. Everything felt okay again inside, and he remembered that no matter how hard the conversation may be, it was with Tony, and it was okay. "There's a lot of kids that don't have anyone to tell them that it's okay. That thunder is just thunder, and lightning is just lightning, and to make them feel safe, protected, and loved. Maybe we could give that to one of them."
Tony watched Jethro's face. He seemed pretty calm again, and he sighed inwardly in relief. "As much as a baby would be a once in a life time kind of experience, I'm not so good with the poopy diapers, screaming, puking… If it were our own child, it would probably be different, so I'm not saying to rule that out, but as of today, I'm definitely open to the idea of adopting someone older."
Jethro nodded with a smile.
Tony turned his head so that it was lying against Jethro's chest again, and he listened to the way his heart beat under one ear, and the sound of the rain that was starting to fall against the ground and roof out of the other.
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Ziva knew she was going to have to go home soon. The restaurant would be open for another four hours, and she wanted to stay and help close it down with Dion, but she had to be up for work the next day, and there were still responsibilities at home that she had to attend to. She was gathering her things in the back office when Dion joined her, leaning against the door frame with a smile and arms crossed.
"I wish I could stay," she said quietly, meeting his eyes.
"Maybe one day, if you choose to. Until then, you have a different life to live, and that is okay. I am merely grateful you have chosen to spend as much of this wonderful weekend with me as you have. You make my dream a brighter reality than I ever imagined it."
Ziva wasn't sure if she was ever going to get used to beautiful things coming from him with such sincerity that it took her off guard. She smiled as she took the few steps towards him, and wrapped her arms around his neck as she reached up for a kiss that he tilted his head for as his hands went to her waist.
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Monday morning was still gloomy. The day before had brought more than one torrential downpour, and everything was saturated. It had been a restful day indoors for most everyone on both teams, and coming back to work with the same atmosphere outside as their rest day, meant that no one wanted to be there now.
A couple of hours into their dreary day, Fornell stumbled in. He made sure to stop by to see Gibbs before moving over to Tony.
"Wanna show me what you have so far?" he asked.
Tony nodded to Elly who had been prepping since he got in. The team gathered around as they explained the entire Stafford case and the database.
"That's incredibly brilliant, especially because it's so simple. Even I could use this, so there's a pretty good shot that other dinosaurs could get it. Hey, Jethro!" Tobias shouted over the divider with a smirk. "What do you think about working this magical mystery machine these guys have created?"
Jethro shrugged. "Doesn't seem too complicated. I don't foresee any problems. Not looking forward to having to type in every cold case I'm looking through, but it's going to be well worth the time in the long run."
"I'm glad you feel that way, Gibbs," a voice said from back behind the group. Everyone turned to see Vance standing behind Dorney's currently vacant desk.
Elly was by far the most animated of the group for such a dingy morning. Being able to explain his pet project to a captive audience fueled it. His energy wasn't quite infectious, but it did make Tony proud to watch him take off running as they explained the database to Fornell, and he only got more excited about it after Vance had joined them.
"The simplicity of the design is probably my favorite part, as well. There's a time and place for complex engineering, but a tool like this needs to be just as user friendly to the most technophobic person using it as the most skilled. It also means that it can be applied to all of the different types of software used across the country, from the small town police department to the largest government agencies. Any files that were typed up to begin with will be able to transfer directly into the database, or be cut and paste in."
"You know that when you take this to court, the idea of this database project is going to probably be as much of a media highlight, if not more, than the closure of the cold cases." Fornell had his arms crossed as he leaned on Tony's desk next to where Tony himself was leaning back with his hands on the edge of the gray metal top.
"That could be a good thing," Tony said. "It would give the project exposure, and it would help us get the software, database, platform thingy out there. The more people that are putting the necessary information into the system, the better."
"There's still a few things we need to work out," Elly was quick to disclose. "We're going to need to develop a server capable of handling all of this information, and storing it. We're going to need backups of the backups of them, and we're going to need to secure it. Not to mention getting the files in to begin with is going to take serious time. We're talking years."
Vance nodded. "I have a few ideas already in the works about some of that. I'll let you know more when I get past a few kinks."
Tony watched Vance closely as he addressed Elly directly. As much as he was glad that Elly was getting some time in the spotlight, he knew that he joined a team for a reason, and he wanted to make sure that their director wasn't getting any wild ideas in his head about moving him elsewhere. He decided to voice his main concern with the project.
"I think the biggest issue is going to be proper training. If you have someone who gets mouse-happy with the highlight tool, and decides that everything is important, that case is going to be a mis-ping on every search ran. Multiply that by all the Gibbses in the world, and-"
"You'll be one of those "Gibbses" soon enough smartass!" Jethro shouted over the divider without even looking up from his printout, making everyone on both teams and the Director laugh.
Fornell looked back and forth between them with a cocked eyebrow.
"I've decided to take Jethro's name," Tony said quietly.
"And that's not causing tension around here?" he asked, looking between Tony and Vance.
"They're not hiding it anymore," Dorney said excitedly, however quietly. He grinned at Tony, glancing at Jethro over the divider, and then at Fornell.
"That should be interesting," Fornell said.
"Not as interesting as having to explain to Diane the other night that I was the one Jethro was with," Tony whispered. He reached up and smacked Fornell in the back of the head with the Gibbs-technique, and then turned back to the group with a satisfied smile as Fornell rubbed his noggin.
"Yeah, you're definitely a Gibbs," Fornell mused.
"Anyway," Tony said, bringing the case back to the forefront. "Only the original case has military ties. The rest of this is simply where it's led us. Now, we can probably move forward on our own, technically, but if we prosecute with FBI support, we'll not have to proceed on thin ice."
"What are you proposing?" Fornell asked.
"We need someone to review the data and be read on the case, effectively making this a joint investigation."
"And what do we get in return?" he asked.
Vance's voice rang through the group again. "In return, you can throw us a couple of your curveball cases, and we'll run them through the database in its beta to see what kind of feedback we get. That way you might get some forward momentum on your hard-to-cracks, and we also have more data to extrapolate and give this a thorough test run. It will look good if we're developing this thing with people from both of our agencies, and will hopefully show the rest of the law enforcement community that this is important enough to put aside our usual issues to work on it together."
Tony watched Elly's eyes light up in excitement at the idea of being able to run the data on some of the FBI's cases like he had ran the Stafford case. He turned towards Fornell eagerly, his fists clenched in front of him with his bottom lip wedged between his teeth.
"Sounds fair enough. I've got an agent in mind though. She's one of our best cold case crackers, and she'd would love to be on the forefront of anything that might be able to help her connect the dots a little faster. She's no McGee or Critten here, but she knows her way around a computer. She'll be able to understand anything you give her."
"Yes!" Elly exclaimed, jumping and turning so that he could drum his fists lightly on Dorney's arm. Parke and Tony exchanged smiles at his enthusiasm as Elly turned back to Fornell. "What's her name?"
"Courtney Gleason. I'll send her your contact info. If she's not in the middle of a case, she may come right over." Elly gave him a happy nod, then turned and beamed at Tony.
"This is your baby, kid," Tony said with a smile. "Parke, you're with him. Dorney, with me. We need to check in before we're scheduled in MTAC." He moved behind his desk to gather his files. "Thanks, Tobias," he said as Fornell headed for the elevator with his phone already to his ear.
"You two owe me dinner, and the story about Diane's rea-" He was stopped abruptly when the person on the other end of the phone answered. He waved and kept going.
"Mind if I sit in on your MTAC pre-game?" Vance asked. "Would like to see where this thing is headed."
Tony glanced at Dorney, and nodded with a shrug. "You got your stack?" he asked with a goofy grin at Ned, trying to lighten the mood when he saw him pale.
"Uh, yeah. Just need a minute." Vance moved out of the way as Dorney frantically gathered folder upon folder, and printed another ten sheets off from that morning's work. He stuck a pen in the spiral binding of a notebook, and then put it on top of a stack of folders almost a foot high. "Ready," he announced.
Tony nodded with a smile. "Let's go!"
Elly stood next to Parke as he watched the three men get in the elevator. "I hope he got more sponges," he whispered to himself.
"Huh?" Parke asked.
"Or maybe I should go…" He snapped his fingers. "I'll be back in a few," he said, and then headed for Abby's lab.
AIS-NCIS-AIS-NCIS-AIS
Vance looked at the spread of folders around them, and the printouts that he had in front of him. He was in shock, and he couldn't seem to hide it. Dorneget and Tony had just laid out the entire operation in front of him like it was nothing. They had backup plans of their backup plan's backup. Every possible scenario had been planned out, they were light years ahead of the current official chatter, and they would probably have the whole thing in the bag before anyone knew what was happening.
Tony looked at Vance, thoroughly enjoying his reaction, and feeling the most incredible pride in his agents. First, Elly had wowed both Fornell and Vance downstairs, and now Dorneget was blowing Vance's mind in regards to an operation meant to bring down a bioterrorist regime.
"That's incredible work," Vance said. "I'm very impressed. The gumption to follow the leads that you have takes a lot of courage. I'm starting to think I should be worried that we're going to have a different type of hellfire on our hands. I've got Gibbs running out of burning buildings, but you're figuring out how to blow them up from down the road."
Dorney felt a sudden vein of terror in him, and he knew he had to keep it in check. He flashed back to his conversation with Tony the week before about being trained under Gibbs, and he knew that he needed to put a stop to that train of thought before it began.
"I'm not sure that's quite the model I'm going for," Dorney said, looking at Tony. "I think it just appears that way because I'm so new at this that I'm not sure where the boundaries are. Tony was able to help with that, and was able to steer me into safer waters that yielded the same results. I think once I've been able to spend enough time working regular cases, I'll know better how to funnel my energies where they'll be maximized while still knowing which chances are necessary to take. As is, I'm going to have to explain this to the agents we're working with, and I can only hope I'll be able to do so effectively."
"You've been able to explain it to me just fine," Vance said.
"Yes, but you're not the one I'm sending into the proverbial burning building." He made himself maintain eye contact with the Director, and he suddenly remembered Elly's proud eyes a couple of days before on his couch. He felt a calming cool feeling rush through him, and the same kind of confidence he felt in MTAC settled into him. "I'm so wet behind the ears that I'm dripping, sir. I have never had to do the things I'm going to be asking these agents and servicemen to do. I've only been on a team for a couple of months, and even then, the exposure I've had has been limited with our focus on the Stafford case and this operation. There are aspects to operations and maneuvers that I'll never be able to anticipate until I spend the time doing this job that is required to think the way our operatives will think, feel the way they feel, and react the way an agent reacts.
"That's where Tony comes in. He's got the experience I need to learn from, but he's willing to let go of the reins enough to let me wander a while in order to learn what I need to. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want to blow up our proverbial building from a block away just to blow it up. I want to be able to plan its demolition so that it comes down safely without falling onto any of the standing structures around it, or onto any innocent bystanders."
Vance nodded, and Tony did too, but for a different reason. He had been lost in the way he saw that shift come over Dorney again. He was fascinated by the switch that he witnessed flip in Dorney's head from time to time, that turned a guy that was socially awkward and plagued with verbal diarrhea, into a walking encyclopedia with a spine. It was the difference between "Dorney" and "Agent Dorneget".
He had wondered how much of Dorney's research courage was courage, and how much was ignorance of what he was heading into at first, but now he was becoming convinced that he knew exactly what he was doing. As eloquent as Dorney's speech was, Tony knew that it was also perfectly stated to make Vance understand that he belonged in the field for years before moving into MTAC permanently, and he also made it a point to show that he wants to learn to run his ops differently than Gibbs does.
"I hear you loud and clear," Vance said, then got to his feet. He turned to Tony. "Keep me informed of any and all progress."
"Will do, sir," Tony said. He and Dorney held their breaths while Vance left the room. As soon as the door closed, Tony turned to Ned, whose head fell back as he slouched in the chair, suddenly pushing out and spinning it.
"That was awesome!" he whisper-shouted.
"I know!" Tony whisper-shouted back. He chuckled, and then in a normal voice said, "Congratulations. You not only just completely shocked the living hell out of him, but you were able to lay out what you want for your future with an extremely convincing and indisputable argument. I'm pretty excited for you, and really proud of you."
Dorney stopped spinning, and his eyes met Tony's. He saw the same thing in them that he saw in Elly's eyes two days prior, and he felt a lump forming in his throat. He was suddenly so angry that it confused him. Both Elly and Tony had shown obvious pride him, and the Director of the agency had just told him that he was impressed with him. How could his so-called family have left him in the dust like they did, looking down their noses at him and his work, when these incredible, highly respected, and very important people were so proud of him?
"You okay?" Tony asked, noticing the sudden change that came over him. Dorney shook his head to clear it.
"Yeah, just thinking about something I told Elly after dinner the other night, and I guess something you told me last week too. There are enough people in my life now to support me that the ones that never did can just go to hell."
Tony gave him a sad smile. "It's an empowering feeling when you finally decide that, but it's heartbreaking, too. If you need to talk, you know where I am."
Ned nodded. "Thanks."
Tony nodded back. "I have to go check in with Abby for a few minutes. We're doing cake tasting tonight, and we're on a mission to find the perfect photographer!"
Dorney lit up again in excitement at the thought of the wedding. "Sounds awesome! What kind of cake are you thinking?"
"A chocolate layer, a white layer, and a red velvet."
"I love red velvet!"
"That's pretty much the consensus. I'm thinking about making it the biggest layer at this point." Tony got to his feet and scooped up the few files that were his. "I'll see you in a few."
"Yup!" Dorney said, then got up to gather his stack. He finally got it all in his arms, and headed for the bullpen.
When he arrived at his desk, he plopped the files down, and saw a purple and white cylinder sitting next to his inbox. His eyes lit up, and he grabbed it. It was a tub of Lysol wipes. He looked over at where Elly and Parke were chatting excitedly about the database, and caught Elly's eye. He stopped and smiled at him sheepishly.
"Thought you might need them after that," Elly said with a shrug.
"Guess I'm not the only one who can strategize," he said, echoing Elly's statement about breakfast and coffee that weekend.
Elly shrugged. "What can I say? I learned from the best!" he laughed and winked at Dorney before he turned back to his conversation with Parke, who tuned him out as he tried to absorb and understand exactly what he had just witnessed.