Filler and tag for "An Eye for An Eye" (including the missing scene we later saw in "A Man Walks Into a Bar").
One of the reasons I believe Tony isn't officially recognized as Senior Field Agent until Gibbs makes his first reference to it in "Red Cell" (just a few episodes after this one) is Kate's attitude in the episode. She and Tony are not on the same page at all in regard to his place in the chain-of-command, and in my version of the NCIS universe, I think the events of this episode directly tie into the eventual recognition by Gibbs of Tony (publicly) as the Senior Field Agent.
"Following the Leader"
"You make your decision yet, DiNozzo?"
Seeking a private place to speak with his boss, Tony had tracked him down and met him as he'd exited the Director's office. "Yes, Boss. Can we meet in the conference room?"
Gibbs had expected a one- or two-word answer to his question, but it was apparent that his agent had something more complicated on his mind. "Sure, Tony."
They walked in to the room, Gibbs taking a seat at the head of the table as Tony took his place in the chair to his boss' right. "What's on your mind?" the Lead Agent asked.
"McGee really wants to go to Paraguay, but I think Kate is the best choice for this mission. I need someone more experienced for backup. We have no idea what we might be walking into down there."
"Agreed. Why do I get the feeling there's a 'but'?" Gibbs sensed that Tony was troubled by something, even though they both felt comfortable that he'd made the best choice.
"Cause there is…." Tony answered without surprise at the fact that the older man sensed a problem. "Boss, you know I've really been working my butt off lately."
Gibbs smiled. Of course he'd noticed. To the amazement of both Kate and McGee, DiNozzo had been the one to obtain most of the information on their current case. And while Kate assumed her partner's recent tiredness to be connected to excessive partying, their boss was aware that Tony had been putting in extra hours. "Noticed, DiNozzo," he affirmed. In fact, he'd tried to praise Tony more openly in the past few days to let him know his extra efforts were appreciated.
"Thanks, Boss. But I have a concern about Kate. We're going down there alone, and to tell you the truth, I'm a little worried. She doesn't respect me."
Gibbs' eyes narrowed. "Why do you think that?"
"You mean aside from the usual?" Tony asked dryly, causing Gibbs to smirk in understanding. "Since you've praised my work a couple of times lately, she's accused me of brown-nosing and she's been desperately trying to compete with me for your attention."
This caused his boss to raise his eyebrows, still amused, "Gee, DiNozzo. That sort of sounds like someone else I know."
He's got me there. Tony knew he often reacted exactly the same way, especially where Agent McGee was concerned. "Okay, granted, I'll give you that one. But it's different with Kate. If I do something right, she acts like I must've cheated or something. Like there's no way I could actually just be capable at my job."
Gibbs winced inwardly, knowing the words to be true. "If you feel that way, why aren't you taking Agent McGee to Paraguay?"
"I want to do what's best for the mission, and Agent Todd is the most qualified. But I need your support."
Wondering if this was going to lead into another discussion about recognizing Tony as the team's Senior Field Agent, Gibbs asked, "And what is it you're asking me to do?"
"I need you to make it very clear to Kate that I have the lead on this mission. If it only comes from me, she won't listen. She sees herself as my equal on the team, which means if I give her any directions she doesn't like, she's going to question me, argue with me…maybe even go running to you. I can't work like that. Not to mention that we may not even have time for that. She could blow the whole mission."
Gibbs could clearly see DiNozzo's point. Kate had been known to question his own instructions, and there was absolutely no question as to his authority. He could only imagine what she must be like when he wasn't around and Tony tried to give her orders. "I'll take care of it. But you're gonna have to talk to McGee."
Tony knew the younger man was going to be crushed to not have been picked for the mission, but he felt he could get McGee to understand. "Will do, Boss. You know, he's been better lately. He even called me 'boss' yesterday," Tony recalled, now smiling from ear-to-ear.
His boss knew how much his agent must've relished that moment.
With a pointed stare, Gibbs warned, "Don't get used to it."
When Kate returned from the intelligence training school where Purcell taught, she noticed there was no one left except for Gibbs.
"Tony already go home?"
"He's packing for Paraguay. Which is what you're going to be doing in a few minutes. He chose you to go with him." Gibbs watched Agent Todd carefully for her reaction, having chosen his words very purposefully.
There was initially a look of excitement, then one of consternation. "You let Tony pick?"
If he'd had any doubt before as to the accuracy of DiNozzo's observations regarding his partner, they were now erased. "Yes, I did. It's his mission. You have a problem with that Agent Todd?"
"No, no problem," she replied, but Gibbs could tell it wasn't entirely genuine.
"Good. Cause he's the Lead Agent on this assignment. Understood?"
"Of course," Kate responded, biting her tongue. She understood perfectly well that Tony had been doing a lot of sucking up lately, so naturally had somehow talked Gibbs into letting him take the lead. "I'll start packing right away."
Watching her leave, Gibbs' gut was churning. Something told him Agent Todd didn't understand as well as she thought she did. He just hoped it didn't end up putting either of his agents in danger.
As he was ringing McGee's number, Tony recalled the eager look on the younger agent's face earlier when Gibbs had given him the choice of who he wanted to take with him to Paraguay. And now it was up to him to crush the Probie's hopes. He just prayed it didn't undo the miniscule amount of progress he'd felt had been made between them since the poison ivy incident.
"Hey, Tony!" McGee answered hopefully.
Tony's heart sank as he wondered if this was how Gibbs felt on a daily basis, having three agents constantly vying for his attention. "Hi, Probie. Listen…" he jumped right in, reasoning that it was best to get the bad part of the conversation over with quickly and use the rest of the time smoothing things over. "I just wanted to be the one to tell you that….I'm taking Agent Todd to Paraguay."
"Oh," McGee replied quietly, his hope turning to disappointment. "Well, I guess I kind of figured that. Since no one said anything before I left."
At least the other man didn't sound angry, but that may have actually made Tony feel even worse. "Look, it's not personal. Really. It's just that the TBA….a lot of really bad stuff goes on down there. Drug smuggling, terrorist cells…."
"And you don't think I'm ready," McGee finished the thought for him.
"W-well, McGee,…no, not quite yet," Tony answered honestly. "Kate's the more experienced agent. But if we were going to, say, Bermuda….I'd take you in a heartbeat."
The probie agent was taken somewhat by surprise that Tony was showing so much sensitivity to him rather than rubbing salt in the wound as he was often known to do. "Thanks, Tony. I understand."
Tony wasn't certain what had gotten into him this evening. Maybe it was the expression on McGee's face earlier, or perhaps it was simply the unease he was feeling about taking Kate that far away and expecting her to follow his lead in place of Gibbs'. But he was compelled to try to make this better for the Probie. "You know, McGee, maybe when we get back you and I could spend some time at the shooting range. Just us. I know Gibbs kind of makes you nervous, and it would be good for you to get some more practice in."
There was a long pause during which Tony wondered if the other man had hung up on him, but then he heard an intake of breath accompanied by an interested, "Really?"
Relieved, Tony continued. "Yeah. And I need a really big favor from you while Kate and I are in Paraguay."
"What is it?"
"We're going to take our NCIS-issued cell phones. I need you to make sure you can track us with the GPS at all times. You know how the boss is with technology – he's gonna need you to take care of that for him. Think you can handle it, McGee?"
"I'm on it, Tony. Anything else?"
Tony smiled, thinking of how much the other agent's tone reminded him of the "On it, Boss," he often used to respond to Gibbs. In spite of his boss' earlier warning, he could seriously get used to this. "That's all for now, McGee. See you when we get back."
"Yeah, have a good trip." McGee almost added, "Be careful," but it seemed silly. Tony and Kate had been doing this a lot longer than he had. They'd both seen a lot of danger and they always seemed to come out relatively unscathed.
In fact, McGee was beginning to see his teammates as the closest thing to real-life superheroes that he knew. Along with Gibbs, he'd begun to think of the three agents as practically indestructible.
"Oh, come on Tony. Don't tell me you're still angry about the stupid cell phone thing."
He and Kate were on a middle-of-the-night flight back to the States. When McGee had called him to offer the option of taking the next-available flight home rather than spending the night in the hotel they'd previously booked, Tony had jumped at the opportunity to come home as soon as possible. He'd had enough of this assignment. And of his partner's attitude.
"It's not just about the 'stupid cell phone thing,' as you choose to call it," he replied tersely. "And the fact that you don't understand that proves my point."
"And what point is that exactly? You're angry that I don't jump at your every word like some little puppy dog? Like you do with G-" The dangerous look in her partner's eyes effectively silenced her before she finished speaking their boss' name.
"I respect Gibbs, a concept you clearly don't understand. I respect him for his position as our Team Leader and I respect him because he's the best at what he does. Which is why, when he gives me an order to follow someone like he did back there with Purcell, I don't feel the need to demand an explanation first the way you do."
"I didn't demand an explanation. I simply asked why we were following him instead of taking him into custody. I think it was a legitimate question."
"Meanwhile, every extra second you take to question every little thing costs us valuable time. You think Gibbs ever gives us an order without having a good reason? You ever know him to do that, Agent Todd?"
It was at least the second time today that her partner had referred to her as "Agent Todd." The first had been during the disputed earlier incident when he'd given her cell phone away without the benefit of offering her any insight into what he was planning. She had tried to argue with him and he'd practically bitten her head off with, "Agent Todd, you are interrupting my negotiation." And he'd been angry with her ever since. She really didn't understand the big deal. They were supposed to be partners, and as far as she was concerned, that meant they were on equal ground. If he had an idea, he should've let her in on it first.
"Not Gibbs, no. But you aren't really angry with me for questioning him. You're mad cause I questioned you."
"Yeah, Kate, I am. Gibbs made me the lead on this assignment."
"And you thought that meant you could come down here and tell me what to do. No explanations, no nothing. I'm supposed to just blindly follow you so you can feel like you're in charge."
"I don't need to feel like I'm in charge of anything. I am in charge, until we get back to DC. A concept you don't seem to understand. What did you think Gibbs meant when he said he was giving me the lead?"
"Not that I'm going to just blindly follow you when I don't have any idea what you're doing, that's for sure."
"See, the problem with that Kate is this. Sometimes this job requires you to think on your feet. I didn't plan to give Iggy your phone until he tried to trade us for it. That's when I realized we could use your phone to track him and he might lead us straight to Purcell. Unfortunately, I couldn't exactly ask your permission right there in front of him, could I," Tony inquired sarcastically.
"Well how am I supposed to know what you're thinking?" Kate huffed out in frustration.
"You aren't. You're supposed to trust me. Which you obviously don't." Tony answered quietly.
"Because, why? You're always so mature? You never try to trick me or McGee?"
"When have I ever done something like that to screw up a mission or put one of you in danger? Name once, Kate."
There was a tense silence before she answered, "I can't. But your juvenile behavior still doesn't exactly inspire confidence."
"I have Gibbs' confidence. That should be enough for you." Tony turned his back to her as much as possible before putting a definite end to the conversation. "I'm gonna try to get some sleep now. You should really do the same."
As he closed his eyes, Kate fumed silently beside him. How she hated giving him the last word.
For the second time in the past few days, Gibbs found himself seated at the conference room table facing DiNozzo.
Earlier, Tony had completed his report on the Purcell case, but just as he was handing it to Gibbs, he quietly requested another closed-door conference. When his boss had asked what it was regarding, he'd simply said, "It's about what's not in my report."
Gibbs began the discussion with, "This have something to do with Kate?"
Tony smiled tightly. "I guess you've noticed the tension today between us."
"Difficult not to. What happened this time?"
"What I was afraid would happen. I mean, not as bad as it could've been. She didn't put us in any real danger. But she still didn't respect my authority. Remember when I called McGee and told him I'd given Kate's phone to Iggy so we could track him?"
Gibbs nodded to indicate that he remembered and then added, "It was a good plan, too. Led us straight to Purcell."
"Yeah, well, it almost didn't happen. I came up with the idea when we were standing there talking to Iggy but Kate almost threw a hissy fit when I tried to give him her phone. Almost blew the whole plan."
"And did you address this directly with Agent Todd?"
"Yes I did, Boss. Two or three times." Tony replied defensively. "I'm not coming to you as some kind of tattletale. I put my foot down and she backed off. But when I discussed it with her later, it became clear to me that she doesn't respect my authority. She still sees us as equals in the chain-of-command, which means that she expects me to explain my every move to her before she'll cooperate."
"And you want me to talk to her."
"No, Boss. That's not why I'm here," Tony said in frustration, running his hand through his hair.
Tony's answer threw the older man slightly. The situation definitely concerned him, but if Tony didn't want him to discuss the issue with Kate, then why were they here? "I'm listening, Tony."
Taking a deep breath, Tony tried to collect his thoughts. "I appreciate that you gave me the lead on this assignment, Boss. I really do. But most of the time, you treat Kate and I as equals, so that's how she sees me. Seniority isn't important to her. She used to protect the President and I was a just a cop."
"You weren't just a cop. You were a detective. A good one," Gibbs interjected.
"Thanks. But I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you can't treat Kate and I as equals most of the time, and then expect me to take charge when you aren't there. It just isn't working. Kate and McGee need to see in no uncertain terms that you have confidence in my ability to lead when it's necessary."
"You want me to recognize you as the Senior Field Agent."
"I'm not trying to force you to do anything. I'm just saying if you expect me to be the Senior Field Agent of this team, I need you to acknowledge me as the Senior Field Agent. In front of the team. They need to know you believe in my ability to lead. And more than that, I guess I need to know you believe it too. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say, Boss. I'll respect your decision, whatever it is."
As the younger man got up to leave, Gibbs stopped him. "Tony…." As his agent turned around and caught his eye, he offered, "I do believe in you."
Tony didn't respond verbally, but the answer was understood just the same.
I need you to show me. And I need you to show everyone else, too.