US Court House
March 9th 2010
0900 hours.
Gibbs and Tony are standing out in front by the courtroom door. "My turn!" Tony anxiously says.
"You've testified before DiNozzo." Gibbs shrugs.
"This one is a little different boss." Tony frowns.
Inside the courtroom
"You may call your next witness." Flaherty nods down at Whelan from her bench.
"I would like to call Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo to the stand." Whelan sharply says
Tony walks into the courtroom with Gibbs following behind. Tony walks down the aisle and takes his place at the witness stand. Gibbs sits down next to Jenny behind Whelan's table. The court clerk approaches Tony. "Raise your right hand." The clerk instructs him. Tony raises his right hand. "Do you swear that you will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god."
"I do!" Tony nods down at him.
"You may be seated." The clerk answers and walks off for his chair.
Tony sits down in his seat as Whelan approaches the witness stand. "For the record, state your name." Whelan asks.
"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, Senior Field Agent on the Major Case Response Team." Tony answers roughly.
"Do you recall the events of November 1st 2008?" Whelan asks.
"Yes I do." Tony frowns.
"Director Shepard managed to get away from her Protection Detail rather easily." Whelan chastises him.
"That's because she told Officer David and myself that she was going up to her room to do paper work." Tony answers and shakes his head on how Jenny duped him.
"And you believed her." Whelan asks in disbelief.
"Yes!" Tony answers with regret.
"When did you realize there was something wrong?" Whelan asks.
"When she had Abby send over a photo to Officer David and my cell phone." "She wanted us to check up on a woman over at the Marriott at LAX." Tony answers smoothly.
"Who was it?" Whelan asks.
"Slvetlana!" Tony answers and recalls the events from November 1st 2008.
November 1st 2008
Marriott at LAX
1100 Hours PST
Tony waits in his car outside of the hotel. Ziva walks out and approaches his car. "According to the manager Slvetlana checked out a few hours ago." Ziva sighs and gets inside the car.
"Damn!" Tony groans at their lack of timing.
Present Time
"What did you do?" Whelan asks.
"Called Abby Scuito our Forensic Scientist back in Washington." Tony answers bluntly.
"What did ask her to do?" Whelan asks.
"To do a GPS location on the Director's cell phone." Tony frowns.
Washington, DC
NCIS Head Quarters
Abby's Lab
1430 Hours
Abby is drawing eyebrows on Tony's clothes hanger cut out when her phone at her workstation begins to ring. "Forensics!" Abby answers with a smile.
"Abby, we need a GPS trace on the Director's phone." Tony voices with concern.
"Why?" She says noting that McGee is standing next to her. Abby pushes the button in for speakerphone.
Tony rolls his eyes in frustration. "We've lost her." Tony groans in protest.
McGee raises his eyebrows. "You've lost the Director, Gibbs is going to kill you two." McGee chastises him.
"I know that McClueless." Tony sighs and puts his cell phone on to speakerphone.
"She's not alone, Mike Franks is with her at least, but we're still worried." Ziva frowns
McGee begins to trace Jenny's phone and notices she's out of the city. "She's not even in the city." "She's out in the Mojave Desert." McGee says with surprise.
Tony takes a pen and pad from Ziva. "Give me the address."
Present Time
"So you and Officer David drove off to the diner." Whelan asks.
"Yes, problem was we had to stop for gas on the way." "At the gas station we noticed a black Jeep Cherokee." Tony comments roughly.
"Anything similar to it." Whelan shrugs.
"Yes it was parked out in front of the diner when Ziva and I showed up." Tony frowns.
Mojave Desert
Outside the diner
Outside Tony and Ziva pull up in front of the diner. Tony notices a familiar Black Jeep Cherokee; it pulled out of the gas station as Tony was pulling in for gas. Ziva spots the shattered glass on the ground from the front windows and quickly gets out of the car.
FBI Special Agent Dave Chapman grabs a hold of Ziva as she tries to walk past him. "This is an active crime scene, ma'am." Chapman orders her.
Tony gets out of the car and shows Chapman his ID. "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo and this is my partner, Officer Ziva David of NCIS."
"Well this scene is now an FBI Crime Scene not NCIS by the orders of our Director." Chapman instructs them.
"Well we're here to locate our Director." Tony says urgently. Ziva looks up and spots a medivac helicopter trying to land behind the diner.
"Director Shepard was seriously wounded in a gun fight." Chapman says with regret.
Tony and Ziva quickly rush inside the diner, spotting Mike kneeling next to Jenny on the ground. 'Mike what happened?" Tony frantically asks and goes over to him.
"Slvetlana put out a hit on her." "We were here trying to find some evidence that Decker left behind." Mike says as he gets up from the floor.
Ziva glares over at Tony. "Damn it, I knew we should not of left her." Ziva angrily snaps at her partner. She rushes over and kneels by Jenny stroking her hair.
To keep Tony and Ziva from getting into an argument. "Then the two of you would have been in danger also." "She knew what she was doing." Mike lectures the two younger agents.
Jenny's Blackberry starts to ring.
Tony picks it up and notices it's an incoming call from Gibbs' mobile phone. "It's Gibbs what should I tell him."
Ziva in tears. "I don't know."
Tony hits the accept button and hears Gibbs' voice on the other end of the phone. "Jen!"
"Boss!" Tony choked up with emotion.
Washington, DC
Gibbs' Basement
"DiNozzo, what's going on?" Gibbs asks, sensing Tony's emotions through his voice on the phone.
Heartbroken and unable to give Gibbs the bad news, Tony hands Mike the phone and tearfully goes down on the floor with Ziva, holding his partner's hand.
"Probie you better get out here now." Mike looks down at Jenny who's fighting for her life.
Surprised to hear Mike's voice on the phone. "What happened?" Gibbs asks.
Mike watches the EMT's put Jenny into a gurney. "Jenny's been wounded in a gun fight."
Pissed off at Tony and Ziva. "Where were DiNozzo and David?" Gibbs snaps
"Forget about the why's, if she pulls through this by some miracle, she's going to need you." Mike hands the Blackberry over to Ziva. "I don't know how to shut that thing off."
Ziva hits the end button, getting up from the floor she stands next to Jenny's gurney. "I'm riding in the helicopter with her."
"Sorry Officer David, but there isn't any room on the helicopter." Special Agent Donald sadly informs her.
Present Time
"Then what happened?" Whelan asks.
"Ziva, Mike, and myself were questioned by the FBI, Mike mostly, because he was with Jenny the most." Tony shrugs.
"When did you arrive at the hospital?" Whelan asks.
"Two hours later the Director was still in surgery."
"How long was she in?" Whelan asks.
"Four or five, I lost track of time after the diner." "Seemed like forever." Tony sadly answers. "Then finally the Doctor came in."
UCLA Medical Center
After Jenny's surgery, Dr. Benton walks into the waiting to give Tony, Ziva, and Mike an update on Jenny's condition. Ziva gets up from her chair. "How is she?" Ziva anxiously asks.
"Weak, the first Seventy Two hours are critical." "She lost a lot of blood and will be in a coma." Dr. Benton informs them.
Concerned about the amount of blood Jenny lost. "Any damage from lack of oxygen." Ziva asks.
"No, she gets through the critical stage, Director Shepard should make a full recovery." "But the blood loss has me worried." Dr. Benton cautiously tells them.
"Can we see her?" Ziva asks.
"For short periods of time during this critical phase." Benton nods down at them.
ICU
Jenny's Room
Ziva is holding on to Jenny's left hand. "We need to go to Germany again." "Remember that one op where we drove on the Autobahn, I had to been doing at least 130 MPH." Ziva laughs and squeezes on to Jenny's hand. Tony watches from the window and smiles, as Ziva brings up one memory after another from the time that the two women were partner's together over in Europe.
Present Time
"While Ziva talked to the Director, they were partners over in Europe, before Jenny became the Director of NCIS, they ran post 9|11 Anti Terrorism Op's over in Europe and the Middle East." "Ziva was talking to her about some of the fun times they had over in Europe together." "This was the fun adventurous Jenny that I would hear Ziva, Ducky, and occasionally Gibbs talk about." " We only got to glimpse the Director version of her at work." Tony sadly answers.
"What was Mike Franks doing?" Whelan asks.
"On the phone giving Gibbs and Ducky an update on the Director's condition." Tony answers sharply.
"When did Agent Gibbs arrive?" Whelan asks.
"An hour later." Tony frowns.
UCLA Medical Center
In the waiting room
Ducky and Dr. Benton walk into the room, just as Ziva and Tony are returning from the cafeteria. Abby walks over to Tony and Ziva and the three of them hug each other affectionately. Dr. Benton sits in a chair next to Mike. "Since Director Shepard has no immediate family."
Abby interrupts her. "We're her immediate family." Abby protests.
"As I was saying for the first twenty-four hours which will be her critical phase." "I'm only allowing one visitor to stay with her." Dr. Benton looks over at Gibbs. "I've been told of your extra ordinary bond that you share with her, you might be the best medicine that she'll need." Benton smiles at him. Gibbs rushes out of the room with Ducky following behind him.
"Can we at least stay on the outside, I have to see her." Abby says and starts to cry.
"Half an hour for each person." Dr. Benton orders everyone in the room.
Ziva squeezes Abby's hand. "You go a head Abby, Tony and I have seen her already." Ziva smiles and watches Abby leave the room.
Present Time
"Agent Gibbs stay with the Director." Whelan asks.
"He wouldn't leave her side just as Jenny didn't leave his side for the first seventy-two hours when Gibbs was in a coma after an explosion in Norfolk back in 2006." "I've seen all types of emotion coming from my boss over the years, the loss of my partner in the line of duty Kate Todd, but nothing like this." Tony answers with his voice choking with emotion.
"You knew that they were lovers." Whelan smiles.
"I always assumed, because of the way they acted in work with their body language and the Director slipped it out on the phone when Gibbs was in his coma." Tony smiles at her.
Behind Whelan's table, Gibbs raises a curious eyebrow over at his wife. "I'll tell you later." Jenny whispers.
Back on the stand, "Was the Director improving? Whelan sheepishly asks.
"Yes, initially the Doctor gave her a fifty-fifty chance of surviving the night." "I guess Gibbs was good medicine for her." "He pushed her all night long." "The next afternoon inside the waiting room the Doctor gave us the good news." Tony smiles.
UCLA Medical Center
In the waiting room
Gibbs is waiting impatiently for Dr. Benton. "What's taking her so long?" He grumbles, as Dr. Benton walks in with Ducky, Gibbs stands up.
Dr. Benton smiles down at Gibbs. "What ever your doing Agent Gibbs keep it up her vital signs are improving." "But she's still critical, we still have that forty eight hour window to go through." Benton warns him.
"When will she regain consciousness?" Gibbs sheepishly asks.
"Hard to say." "And I'm going to open it up to other visitors, but only for half an hour intervals." Dr. Benton answers walks out of the room. Over come with relief, Gibbs rushes out of the room with Tony quickly following behind him.
Present Time
"So the Director was improving." Whelan smiles.
"Slowly you could see the color coming back to her face." "She was so pale and weak looking the night before." Tony sadly answers.
"And Agent Gibbs." Whelan asks.
"He wouldn't leave her side, even for coffee." Tony answers and smiles over at Gibbs.
"When did she come to?" Whelan asks.
"The following afternoon." Tony answers smoothly.
November 3rd 2008
UCLA Medical Center
Outside of the waiting room
1200 Hours
Tony is leaning against the wall, when Abby rushes out of Jenny's room. "She's awake!" Abby screams and rushes over to Tony.
Nurse Ryan over at the nurse's station glances over at Nurse Taylor. "Call Doctor Benton, stat." She nods at her and rushes off to Jenny's room. Tony, Ziva, Abby, and Mike run over to Jenny's window and stand outside as Nurse Ryan checks over Jenny's vitals.
Present Time
"The look on the boss' face when I came over to the window." Tony smiles at the memory. "Other than being around children, I've never seen the look of happiness in his eyes before." "The expression of joy and relief mixed in with tears." Tony fondly recalls.
"So the Doctor came in and examined the Director." Whelan asks.
"Yes!" Tony nods at Whelan. "The Director stayed in ICU for twenty-four hours for observation and moved into a private room the next day. " "We kept her room in ICU." "We had a feeling that another attempt was going to be made on Jenny's life and sure enough the next night to our surprise it was Michelle Lee one of our agents that worked over in legal." "She briefly was a Probationary Status Agent on the Major Case Response Team, when I was Team Leader while Gibbs had retired for four months in Mexico after his coma."
"Trent Kort had kidnapped her daughter." Whelan asks.
"Yes!" Tony answers sharply. "There was another player besides Lee and Kort involved with Jenny's assassination attempt, so McGee went back to Washington to watch over Vance, right away he figured out who the other person that was involved, Brett Langer." "McGee and the FBI searched Langer's apartment and found evidence in Jenny's poisoning along with being involved with her assassination attempt." "Langer was arrested, the next day Kort had arranged a meeting with Michelle to get her daughter back." "The look on Kort's face when he saw that Jenny was alive was priceless." Tony gloats.
"Then Vance was arrested." Whelan nods.
"I wasn't there when it happened but I saw him getting hauled out of MTAC by Ziva and several FBI Agents along with Agent Fornell." Tony answers.
"So everything went back to normal at NCIS." Whelan asks.
"No the Director had to recover from her gunshot wounds for about a month, so that meant that Gibbs had to fill in as Acting Director and I was temporary Team Leader." Tony grins over at Gibbs. "The Director came back to work a month later, then we were back to normal." Tony answers smoothly.
"I have no further questions." Whelan answers and walks over to her table and sits down.
"Mr. Hargrove!" Flaherty nods over at him.
Hargrove gets up from his table and walks over to the witness stand. "The Director managed to blow her Protection Detail with ease Agent DiNozzo." "You sure you weren't involved with the plot on her life." Hargrove sarcastically insinuates.
Whelan stands up from her table. "Objection!" She shouts.
"Does this question have any merit Mr. Hargrove?" Flaherty sharply asks from her bench.
"Yes it does your honor." Hargrove answers smoothly.
"Over ruled!" Flaherty nods over at Whelan.
"No I wasn't in on the plot to kill her." Tony answers raising a curious eyebrow over at Hargrove for his line of questioning.
"Didn't the Director have you on a undercover op." Hargrove asks.
"Objection!" Whelan protests.
"Over ruled!" Flaherty shouts back at her.
Hargrove looks at Tony for him to answer his question. "Yes and I believe the mission is classified, so I can't go into the details of it." Tony answers roughly.
"Didn't the mission almost get you killed?" Hargrove asks.
"Yes it did." Tony answers and has a flash back in Beniot's limo from 2007 when his Mustang exploded in a ball of flames.
"You were bitter at the Director weren't you?" Hargrove persists.
"I was, but that's in the past now." Tony shrugs.
"You were bitter enough that you wanted to kill her."
"No, just pissed, because of what the mission cost me." Tony snaps.
"But you did want to kill her?" Hargrove continues to hammer on Tony.
"No I didn't!" Tony shouts at him.
Whelan once again stands up from her table. "Your honor may we please approach the bench." Whelan sighs in protest at Hargrove's irrelevant questions.
"I want to see the both of you in chambers." "Agent DiNozzo stay seated on the stand." Flaherty instructs him, gets up from her bench, and walks off with Whelan and Hargrove following her into her chamber.
Behind Whelan's table. "The bastard is trying to pin this on Tony." Jenny hisses in protest.
"I guess he's using Jeane's strategy." Gibbs answers roughly.
Judge's Chamber
"There is no evidence against Agent DiNozzo." Whelan protests and glares over at Hargrove.
"I'm just throwing it out there that Agent DiNozzo might have been involved with the Director's assassination attempt." Hargrove shrugs.
"Unless you have evidence to pin this on Agent DiNozzo move on counselor." Flaherty snaps at him from behind her desk. Hargrove gives Flaherty a defeated look.
Back out in the courtroom, Tony glances down at his watch. "Come I have to take a leak for crying out loud." Tony groans inwardly.
Flaherty steps out of her chambers with Whelan and Hargrove following behind her. Flaherty sits behind the bench and glances over at the jury. "I'm instructing the jury to disregard Mr. Hargrove's questions on Agent DiNozzo on the attempt on Director Shepard's life." "He is and never was a suspect." Flaherty instructs them, and then looks over at Hargrove.
"I have no further questions for this witness." Hargrove answers and sits down over at his table and begins to whisper into Vance's ear.
"Ms. Whelan!" Flaherty nods over at her.
Whelan walks over to the witness stand. "If you had to do things differently that day what would it be Agent DiNozzo." Whelan smiles at him.
"I would of listen to Officer David's instinct's when she had a feeling that we shouldn't of left the Director." Tony answers firmly.
"It might of cost you, your life." Whelan sadly asks.
"But that was my job out in California to protect the Director." "Not off sightseeing in Los Angeles." Tony frowns.
"I have no further questions for this witness." Whelan says and walks off towards her table.
"Agent DiNozzo you man step down." Flaherty nods over at him.
Tony takes a deep breath and sighs with relief. "Thank you." He smiles and gets up from his seat and walks over to Gibbs and Jenny.
"Court will be in recess until 1:00 PM." Flaherty instructs the court and bangs her gavel on top of her bench.
Jenny's Towne Car
"Drop me off at Ziva's." "'I'm going to sit in the van with Metro PD tonight while she's on the street." Tony nods up at Gibbs.
"I'll be back in the Squad Room listening in." Gibbs answers smoothly. Tony looks over at Jenny as she quietly glances out the window. "She's tired DiNozzo." Gibbs answers and squeezes Jenny's hand.
"I meant what I said on the stand Jenny." Tony comments sharply.
"And put that on my conscious." "It was the reason why I lied to you and Ziva, to keep the two of you safe." Jenny answers softly.
"You had Mike in on it." Tony snaps.
"I had asked Mike to leave." Jenny sighs.
"But he stayed." Tony bitterly answers.
"And I sent him out back." Jenny hisses in protest.
Trying to keep Jenny's stress level down, Gibbs quickly interrupts them. "Let's focus on now." "We can't change what happened." Gibbs calmly says to them.
"The one thing that will never happen again, is Jenny will never ever blow her Protection Detail when I'm on it." Tony vows.
"She knows I'll kick her ass DiNozzo." Gibbs growls and glares over at his wife.
The Towne Car pulls outside of Ziva's apartment building. "I'll be in touch tonight boss." Tony smiles and gets out of the car and walks off for Ziva's apartment.
"Back to the house Melvin." Gibbs instructs him.
"Yes sir!" Melvin nods and pulls away.
Jenny's House
The Garage
Noemi walks over to Gibbs with a cup of coffee. She glances over at the nearly finished crib. "Your almost done the first crib." She smiles at him.
"Just need to paint it." Gibbs answers smoothly and takes his coffee cup from Noemi.
"Sure I can't get you anything for lunch." Noemi sweetly asks him.
"Not hungry, thanks anyway." Gibbs shrugs and takes a healthy sip from his cup of coffee.
"Senora Jenny sleeping." Noemi softly asks.
"Out of it in the bedroom." "Court really emotionally wears her out." "It's the reason why I have her go only twice a week now." Gibbs frowns and begins to sand down the crib rail. Noemi sensing that Senor Gibbs wants to be alone walks off for the stairs.
Hallway next to the Interrogation Room
1500 Hours
Jenny walks out of Observation Room number one and spots Margie Wyatt walking down the hallway towards the Squad Room. "Agent Wyatt, can I have a word with you a moment." Jenny calls out to her.
Observation Room Number Two
Jenny sits down in a chair. "I'm surprised at you Margie, you of all people." Jenny frowns at her. Wyatt avoids Jenny's intense gaze. "Why?"
"I filled in for you as Acting Director several times last year." Wyatt snaps at Jenny in disappointment.
"I get it." Jenny nods up at her. "You're pissed off that Cassie Yates got the job as Assistant Director." Jenny answers sharply.
"Damn straight I am." "I have five years seniority over her." "She was a Probationary Status Agent on the Major Case Response Team, while Gibbs was over in Europe with you." Wyatt angrily answers.
"Gibbs has five years seniority over me and the last time I looked, I'm his boss." Jenny viciously answers. "Cassie is skilled in many area's that you are not Margie." Jenny sadly answers.
"Wheeler's promotion?" Wyatt curiously asks.
"That was the SecNav's decision and again, Helen as much as I can not stand the woman on a personal level, she is more qualified for the position than you are." Jenny sighs.
"I ran Gibbs' team, while he was in Moscow and during his three month stint as agent afloat." "Morrow gave me my own team when Gibbs was reinstated as Supervisory Senior Field Agent of the Major Case Response Team." Wyatt bitterly answers.
"SecNav wanted Jethro running that team for Director Morrow." "He wants his best agents running his priority teams." Jenny answers and gets up from her chair.
"What am I?" Wyatt defiantly asks.
"Your not on Gibbs' level yet." Jenny sadly answers.
"Director I have every right to feel bitter about being passed over for a promotion." Wyatt frowns.
"Yes you do." Jenny agrees with her. "But you showed it in a wrong way by taking it out on Jethro's team and scheming with Helen Wheeler of all people, the woman is a user and you're not the first person that this has happened to unfortunately." Jenny mutters and shakes her head.
"You did have the right to know about Agent McGee hacking into your computer." Wyatt shrugs at her.
"Coming from you Margie." "What pissed me off is you got a laugh out of it, because Tim was getting into trouble." Jenny snaps at her. "Now as far as Tony goes, he'll never stop gossiping about everybody's sex life in the building, he's a teenager in a forty year old man's body." Jenny sighs and walks for the door.
"When will I get my due Director?" Wyatt asks with a frown on her face.
"When the next promotion comes up, I'll discuss it with the SecNav." Jenny answers dryly and walks out of the room.
China Town
In a van
2200 Hours
Tony is watching Ziva on the street. "See anything?" He asks through his headset.
Ziva dressed in a black leather skirt and red leather thigh high boots, casually walks on the sidewalk and makes sure that nobody is watching her before she answers. "No!" Ziva sighs as she approaches the corner in front of the bar.
"This is a pain in the ass." Tony grumbles in protest.
"I'm the one standing outside in the cold freezing while you're in the van." Ziva hisses in protest.
Squad Room
Gibbs is monoriting Ziva's moments from the plasma screen and listening in on her conversation with Tony from his headset. "The two of you quit complaining and do your job." Gibbs growls at them.
"It would be better if Tony would shut up Gibbs." "It was so much nicer with you and McGee last night." Ziva sighs.
"Shouldn't you be home boss?" Tony sheepishly asks.
"I'm not having McGee pull back to back late shifts." "Besides it's Ziva's turn to testify on Thursday so tomorrow night she won't be in fish net stocking and a leather mini." Gibbs answers roughly.
"Hopefully Hargrove won't pin Ziva on the attempt on Jenny's life like he did with me today." Tony bitterly snaps.
"Why doesn't Vance just plead out like the others?" Ziva groans.
"Because he had kids to think about." Gibbs answers smoothly.
"He should of thought about that when he got involved with Arms Dealers." Tony angrily answers.
Jenny's House
Master Bedroom
0300 Hours
Gibbs crawls into bed. Jenny in her sleep rolls into his arms and buries her face up against his chest. Gibbs looks down at Jenny. "And that wasn't a threat I gave you in the car today that was a promise." Gibbs whispers against her hair.