Insomnia, you have struck again! So, here's a bonus for the weekend. Enjoy, and thanks for the reviews! You guys are the best!
Disclaimer: Don't own NCIS, just borrowing the characters for a little fun.
Chapter 21
Tony woke stiff and sore. His shoulder throbbed and ached, and the pain radiated across his back and up into his head. He sighed as he tried to stretch wondering if he'd ever manage to feel un-tired and un-hurting ever again. Heading down the stairs, he could smell coffee and pancakes. Now how did Gibbs know exactly when to make those pancakes?
As he walked into the kitchen, he winced as he noticed the clock – it was near noon. Gibbs pointed at the table where a plate of hot blueberry pancakes with bacon and OJ waited for him. Handing him a few pills Ducky had prescribed, he waited, watching until Tony sighed resignedly and tossed them back, washing them down with the OJ.
Finishing up with his meal, he sat back and tried stretching again. With Gibbs help with the sling and waterproofing his bandage, he managed a long hot shower which felt like sheer heaven. He ended up in jeans and a button-down shirt – comfortable, if not professional. He didn't know if it was the rest, the hot shower, the pills, the good food, or a combination, but he finally felt a little better. The throbbing pain had subsided to a gentle ache, and he could feel his headache melting away.
Gibbs handed Tony a cup of hot cocoa and pointed to the couch as they headed to the living room. "What now, boss? Any word on the hospital situation?"
"Still being swept for booby-traps. Eli's Kidon refused to stand down and were taken out. The one who ran was captured early this morning trying to cross the border into Canada. It'll take time to repair the damage, but it should be up and somewhat operational by tomorrow."
Staring into the fireplace where the logs had shifted and settled and only embers were left glowing, Tony asked, "Casualties?"
"Apart from the Kidon, one patient – a heart attack, one LEO, and two agents. The injuries are still being tallied. Considering the firefights going on in there, we got off light."
Tony winced. All because of Eli David and his insane desire for revenge, or whatever he wanted to call it. How did things get so screwed up? How could David gain so much power as to send teams of Kidon agents into the country? What possessed him to even consider targeting a hospital? Why didn't the Kidon question their orders? Surely they must have thought their orders were strange and made no sense.
"Don't know why. We may never have a satisfactory answer," Gibbs said, reading his mind. "Fornell has a fire lit under the agents who were supposed to be pulling protection at the hospital. I suspect there will be more than a few heads rolling by the time he's done. Vance isn't too happy with some of our agents either."
"What about the protection detail?" Tony asked, looking out the window for any activity.
"Pulled off this morning. The Israelis have eyes on the remaining officers who are suspected of ties to Eli David. Still looking for Eli though."
Tony rested his head on the chair back, closing his eyes. Please let this be over, he thought. "So what's up for today?"
Gibbs rose to his feet, "Headquarters for now. Ducky wants to check you over again now that you've had some rest. Your shoulder hurt where the harness you had on crossed it?"
"No, it's fine. DB made sure to keep the pressure off as we slid down the line. Nothing like feeling like a sack of potatoes tied to a mule. Wish I had my cell with me when Palmer came down strapped to that Marine he was buddied with – I thought he was going to puke down the front of the guy." His amused smile faded as he continued, "He did ok though. So did McGee and Abby. They all did."
Gibbs regarded him with a crooked half-smile, "Yeah, they did. Good enough to nominate them for commendations?"
Tony nodded, returning the smile, "Yeah. I'll fill the paperwork out and submit it to the Director."
With a start, Tony realized they'd forgotten someone, "Ziva - what about her?"
Gibbs looked at Tony with an unreadable expression. "She's still in FBI custody."
"She'll be released when this is over?" Tony watched Gibbs expression closely as he asked. He felt torn in so many different directions over Ziva. She was a part of the team, and eventually he hoped she'd forgive him for killing her friend, even if he had no choice in the matter.
"Hey!" Gibbs slammed a flat hand down on an end table.
Tony jumped, wondering what he'd done wrong this time.
Gibbs stared hard at him, eyes dead serious. "She's going to be charged with espionage, DiNozzo, at a minimum. She withheld information on an active investigation. She didn't report Rivkin's whereabouts or what she knew of his activities. And when her partner went above and beyond to give her a chance to come clean, she screwed him over."
Gibbs stood, and Tony followed suit. "But she wasn't there when Rivkin attacked me, Boss. That wasn't her fault. She shouldn't…"
Gibbs cut him off, "He shouldn't have been in her apartment in the first place, DiNozzo. He'd been ordered repeatedly to leave the country. He was out of control, and she should have reported him to his handler when she first realized he was have difficulties. She should have arrested him and taken him into custody when she learned he'd murdered Agent Sherman, but she didn't. She let her feelings for him interfere with doing her job. Rivkin is dead as much from her own failure to do her duty as he is from his drunken fight with you while resisting arrest."
Getting into Tony's face, Gibbs continued, seeing the distress in his SFA's eyes, and needing to end it before it tore at him. "You did your job. You did it in spite of personal conflict. You did it even though it involved your partner." Using his finger under Tony's chin to maintain eye contact, he said quietly, "You knew the cost of your actions, but did your duty regardless." Pausing to make sure Tony was paying attention, "You did good, Anthony. You did damn good." He waited, watching until Tony relaxed and nodded.
Taking a deep breath and shoving his continued misgivings down deep out of sight, Tony smiled, "Thanks, Boss. Though I wish it didn't…." He couldn't continue.
Gibbs grabbed his coffee cup and said, "Did it occur to you that, even if she could stay somehow, with Eli David dethroned, the liaison position might not even exist now?"
He watched Tony's eyes widen in realization, and nodded to himself, satisfied that Tony had one more reason to absolve himself of any guilt he may still feel about Ziva losing her position on the team.
Heading to the kitchen to refill his coffee mug, Gibbs said over his shoulder, "Grab your gear. Ducky's expecting us."
-000-
"What's the difference between what Rivkin did and what those Kidon did? They both murdered federal agents! Citizens! A police officer! They terrorized, bombed, kidnapped, shot…" Tony ran out of breath to yell further. He was furious at Vance, and at the SecNav on the big screen in MTAC.
Davenport waved a hand soothingly, "Son, let's not get carried away here. Yes, what those Israelis did wasn't what we would have wanted, but they were operating at the express order of…."
Tony interrupted, "What they were doing was outright criminal. Didn't any of them question their orders? Wonder at why they'd be ordered to carry out an assault operation on a hospital of all places?" Disgusted, Tony turned from the display and away from Vance, not sure he could keep his temper much longer.
Vance looked to Gibbs for help, but Gibbs just took a seat and stared back at him silently. The room just stank of politics at the moment.
The SecNav finally broke the silence, "Look, there will be restitution for the damages at Bethesda, some private acknowledgement of the culpability of the Israelis in this whole mess, but we can't afford to have this go public. The bill before the appropriations committee to provide Israel with badly needed armaments and funding for defense operations is scheduled for hearings this week. The media has been sold on the story of a homegrown terrorist attack on Bethesda. It needs to stay that way Agent DiNozzo. As hard as it might be after what you've experienced, you're going to have to accept…."
Tony tore off his headset and threw it on the floor, leaving MTAC without looking back.
Gibbs followed him after sending Vance a pointed look. He caught up with Tony at the bottom of the stairs. "Hey! DiNozzo."
Spinning around to face Gibbs, Tony hissed, "This is so much bullshit, and you know it. Those people at the hospital didn't deserve to suffer or die. This whole thing is because the Israeli government didn't keep Eli David under control. They didn't call him out on his self-aggrandizement and power grabs. Someone has to speak up for those people, to make sure their deaths and hours trapped in that nightmare weren't in vain. The Israeli government owes them an apology! At a minimum!"
"Let it go for now, DiNozzo. Let Vance and the SecNav have some time to come up with options. Meanwhile, we have another matter to attend too." He led Tony to an unused conference room, closing the door behind him, and motioning for Tony to sit.
Sinking into a chair, Tony groaned silently at the returning aches and tension running together into painful misery. All he wanted now was to put his head down and sleep, to forget this whole damn mess for a few hours.
Pouring a glass of cold water for Tony, Gibbs set it by the other man's hand before settling down into a chair himself. "Ziva."
Tony looked at him, "What?" He hadn't seen her since her visit at the hospital. Scrubbing his face with his free hand, he felt like that had been a long time ago - in another lifetime almost.
Gibbs sipped the coffee he'd gotten from the dispenser in the room, grimacing at the weak brew. "She was transferred here this morning by the FBI. She's being charged with espionage, assaulting a federal law enforcement officer, multiple counts of conspiracy to commit murder, obstructing a federal investigation, and more."
The memory of Ziva standing at the foot of his hospital bed looking pleased while he was being strapped down by his Israeli captors came back to him, blurry and vague. Tony involuntarily shook his head, feeling bitterness rise up, frustration, anger at her. "She didn't stop them. She was at the hospital when Ben-Gidon and Solah kidnapped me, watched them strap me down, give me an injection of something, let them wheel me out the door…."
Gibbs shook his head minutely. "Even if she were to realize how badly she's screwed up, she's not going to return to the team. You know that, Tony, right?"
Tony dropped his gaze to the tabletop, feeling so many conflicting emotions he wasn't sure what to think. Ziva had gone so far out of bounds that it was almost beyond his ability to forgive. Could he ever trust her again? She'd betrayed the team, betrayed NCIS, betrayed him. Yet….
"Hey," Gibbs said softly. "She made her decisions. Now she has to live with them. I don't like it, but it's gone beyond what can be overlooked. Even if I wanted her back, no investigation we work on with her would be free from suspicion or oversight. Convictions would be at risk. Past investigations reexamined, questioned."
Tony knew this was true. It'd open a huge can of worms if their past investigations were gone over with a fine tooth comb. They'd skirted the edge of the law at times when time was critical in stopping or preventing injury or death to innocent civilians.
Gibbs continued, "She's damaged the team. I can't trust her to do the right thing if she were faced with competing loyalties again."
Tony spoke, almost in a whisper, "She trusts you, Gibbs. She always will."
"And that's why she can't remain on the team." Gibbs told him. "This isn't a two person team of just her and me." He studied Tony, knowing his SFA was hurt by Ziva's distrust; knowing it played on Tony's lack of self-worth that she rejected him.
Giving Tony a gentle head-slap, he locked eyes with his Agent, and held out a finger between them to emphasize his next point. "She wanted me to choose between you and her, to transfer one of you off the team. If I had to choose, it wouldn't be her."
Tony stared at him, mouth opened. "She what?"
With a smirk, Gibbs said, "You want me to repeat that, DiNozzo?"
He paused just long enough to make sure his point had sunk in, then rose, "C'mon. It's time Fornell and I had a chat with her. She's been demanding to see me since she was taken into custody, so let's give her what she wants. I want you in observation."