Eeeeeekkkk! I'm so excited to finally be moving towards this part of the story. Just to be clear, though I've mentioned real life musicians previously, DJ Rise and the other musicians mentioned towards the end of this chapter are completely fictional.
Y'all's feedback has been awesome, and it is very much appreciated :) 3 :) I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, and if I haven't been able to reply to you personally, just know I am reading each one and squealing! Happy reading my loves!
As It Seems: Chapter Twenty-Five
Tuesday went by quickly. Jethro got the call from Keith early saying the meeting was on Monday afternoons at one. He agreed to go with him the next week, and told him to feel free to call anytime between now then.
Their court order came through for the case files from Organized Crime, and they found it waiting at the front desk for them with surprisingly few redactions. However, the unfortunate truth was that it was going to be impossible to figure out exactly who pulled the trigger forensically, and it would mean getting someone a lighter sentence in exchange for information. Jethro wasn't sure if he wanted to do that, and wasn't sure Austin Lagger would've want him to do that. They put the case on hold until he could run it by Keith and get his opinion. He decided to wait until the following Monday before their meeting to ask him what he thought. He emailed Vance, and gave him the update on the matter.
Tony had his team put aside the database to dig into the biowaste company research, and spent all day picking apart hundreds of companies to see if any of them could be the one they were looking for. They were waiting for sources to get back to them on the company used for the clinics in South Africa. Tony wasn't too excited about the idea of traveling there, but the possibility was on the table. Ned seemed even less enthusiastic, though he kept saying he was willing.
Elly and Parke exchanged multiple looks as they saw Ned going paler and paler as he researched. Finally, Elly couldn't take it anymore. As soon as Tony got up to hit the head, he went over and bent down next to Ned.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. The research is just making me kind of squeamish. I'm specifically reading on transference right now." Ned's voice was low, and his hand was on his stomach.
"Oh," Elly said, looking up at the website. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys. On the keychain was a little bottle of hand sanitizer. "Here. Hold out your hands."
Ned looked at him in confusion, and Elly dropped some of the liquid into them. Ned rubbed his hands together and sighed deeply.
"Smart thinking," Ned said with a shy smile.
"I wouldn't get into the habit for as often as you want it. It really dries you out after a while, and your hands will crack and bleed. Talking about transference! This stuff is pretty good though. It has aloe and crap in it." Elly shrugged and got to his feet, sitting back down in his desk just as Tony came back into the bullpen.
Parke had watched, and felt like he was missing something important, which he had been feeling a lot lately as he'd watched how things were going between Dorney and Elly. He opened an IM window, and messaged Elly, unable to keep from being nosy any longer.
GParke01: What's going on?
ECritten01: Ned's OCD is kicking in because he's reading up on the germ stuff.
GParke01: Oh! That makes sense now. I didn't know he had it.
ECritten01: Yeah. That's what the wipes were about yesterday.
GParke01: I get it now. Does Boss know?
ECritten01: I think he's got an idea, but it's not that bad. He just gets worse when he's stressed, and being his first op, and it having to do with, ya know, germ warfare and all, it's hitting home.
GParke01: Shit. I bet.
ECritten01: I kinda figured everyone knew. Please don't say anything to him. I'd hate to break a confidence I didn't know I had.
GParke01: No, it's cool. My lips and fingers are silent.
ECritten01: Thanks :)
Elly sat back and thought a moment. He didn't realize that everyone else had been so blind to it. He had pretty much figured it out the first couple of days he knew Ned, but until the other day, didn't have a reason to breach such a personal subject. He hoped that he wasn't crossing a huge line by talking to Parke about it, but he figured that was the kind of thing that people working closely with you should know when you could be in a life or death situation together, and suddenly someone is paralyzed with fear. He'd been there, and he knew first hand. He decided he must have been paying closer attention to Ned than he thought this whole time. He sighed, and went back to his research.
AIS-NCIS-AIS-NCIS-AIS
Wednesday was just as eerily calm, and by Thursday, everyone was bored. They continued researching, and Balboa came over to sit with Elly and Courtney as they talked about the database project. He was excited about the idea of something that could bring back a cold case team, and from what Tony could overhear, was eager to lead it. Tony watched Elly interact with him, and he was happy to see that though Elly was supportive of the idea, he still made it clear that he wanted to stay where he was.
Ned watched them out of the corner of his eye as well, and he was relieved that Elly was just as excited about the project when talking to Balboa as he was when he talked to Courtney, though he refused to admit to himself why it mattered. He knew better than to fall for a straight guy, especially not one that was quickly becoming his best friend- even if said straight guy occasionally threw him curveballs that made his head spin. He shook the thought off, and went back to his research, determined to focus on the work and not the conversation across the room.
Parke felt a little out of his league. None of the current case material was psychologically based. He was able to do the research just fine, but it wasn't his favorite thing to do. It was what they needed him on the most though, so he was giving it his all. His mind kept drifting to Tiffany and their talk the night before about turning their office/second bedroom into a nursery. He smiled to himself as he worked, wondering if the ultrasound would be able to tell them soon if they were having a girl or a boy.
Ziva sat at her desk, going through a case file. She poured through it looking for something new, but she couldn't find anything. She began typing up the case notes like she had been asked, and saved it to a file that she was passing on to Critten for inserting into the database. She tried to think about what it would be like to work on cold cases all day, combing them for dead clues. The idea was mind numbing, but at least she would still be an agent. She looked up at the computer screen, and clicked the email she had gotten from the admissions counselor she had been working with at Georgetown. She'd been accepted, and the woman wanted to sit down with Ziva about laying out a course load. She hit reply, and started typing with a sigh.
Tim was working on updating the encryption key he used on the agents' thumb drives, and he was having trouble concentrating. Everything was too quiet. The only thing he could hear was the conversation between Elly, Balboa and Gleason. He didn't want to be sucked into the project. He knew he'd work on it from time to time, and eventually he would want to be involved, but right now, he wasn't in the mood. He wasn't in the mood to be encrypting the thumb drives, or sitting in front of his computer at all. The weather had finally broken, and he wanted to be outside.
"McGee!" Jethro barked. "Stop fidgeting! What's wrong?"
Tim's eyes snapped to him and he sighed. "Just got that trapped indoors feeling today, Boss. I'll get over it."
Jethro looked up at the large window and sighed. "Go grab Abby if she's not busy, and take a walk. Then come back with your head on."
Tim smiled and got to his feet, hitting the lock commands on his computer. "Thanks, Boss."
Tony had heard, and IMed Jethro.
TDiNozzo01: Wanna go get coffee with me?
"Yeah, let's go," Jethro said, bypassing the IM and getting to his feet. Tony smiled and got to his as well, grabbing his gun and creds.
"Grabbing coffee, Elly," Tony said, then headed for the stairwell with Gibbs. As soon as they were out of view, Balboa looked at Elly in confusion, then the rest of the team, and back at Elly.
"What?" Elly asked.
"Well, I'd heard this weird-ass rumor the other day, and I blew it off, but for some reason, them getting coffee together makes me wonder how true it might be."
Elly grit his teeth, trying to decide what to do. He looked at Ned, who looked back, and then Parke caught his eye, too. Elly wasn't sure if it was his place, but he felt like he had to defend them. He looked to Ned one more time, whose eyes were wide, and then looked back at Balboa.
"If you mean the talk about them getting married, it's true. And we're all going to the wedding this September. We couldn't be happier for them."
"Whoa! It's true?! That's crazy! I mean, they've been stuck together like glue for years, but I never thought of them as, you know, tying the knot or anything."
Elly smiled, relieved that his reaction was tension-free, even if shocked. He still felt like he needed to explain before all of the questions they had been afraid of could be asked.
"We're really lucky. When they broke the news that they were together to Vance, they had to put Tony somewhere, you know, so Vance had him fill in for Simmons when she went on maternity leave, and he was able to save us from her."
"Save you from her?" Balboa asked, looking confused again.
"Yeah," Parke said, his voice icy, causing everyone to turn and look at him. "She wasn't training me and Elly. She was going to get us killed. Was too concerned with making her way up the ladder to actually make sure we were doing things correctly. Overlooked some major things, constantly tore us down, never built us up. Tony's been in charge of us for, what? Two full months? Going on three? And we're building the database, working an op, feeling much more confident on cases. She was going to let us fail."
"I didn't realize that was going on," Balboa said sympathetically, looking at Parke with more than a little guilt in his eyes. "I'm sorry. One of the problems with being in the other room, I guess. We're so separated from the other teams. If I would have known, I would have said something to her."
"Don't feel bad," Parke said with a shrug. "Boss and Gibbs were right on the other side of the wall here, and they didn't realize it either."
"I'm glad he was able to pick up on it, and not just for your sake. That room back there's supposed to be the cold case team's room, and with any luck, with this puppy leading the way, we'll be a cold case team again."
"Hell yeah!" Gleason said. Balboa and Parke talked for another minute, but Elly's eyes met Ned's.
Thank you, Ned mouthed. Elly shrugged. He wasn't sure if he would have had the courage to speak so confidently if Ned wasn't right there. He couldn't bring himself to be a coward around him. He made him want to be braver than he felt. He smiled faintly at him as his stomach flipped, suddenly wondering if he would one day be able to tell his dad and brother about his Mr. Right. Courtney stole his attention, and he could have sworn that he saw Ned roll his eyes, which made him smile brightly as he tried not to turn red.
AIS-NCIS-AIS-NCIS-AIS
Tony and Jethro walked through the quad together with their coffees. Tony's was iced, and Jethro's hot, and they strolled pleasantly in the early summer warmth. It was nice, a breeze blowing past them to keep it from being uncomfortable, but no chill to the breeze like they'd had through May as they couldn't quite shrug the cold winter.
"I'm glad we're doing the whole "out at work" thing," Tony said. "I like being able to take walks like this with you without needing a purpose, or feeling awkward. I can concentrate on enjoying being with you, and not have to worry about what someone is going to say or do that could cause us trouble."
Jethro smiled at him. "I never thought in a million years we'd be doing this."
Tony chuckled. "Me neither, but I'm happy."
"So am I," Jethro said. Tony smiled at him, letting his shoulder bump against his tenderly as he looked down shyly at the sidewalk. His head suddenly snapped up as he remembered something.
"Oh! I wanted to tell you that I looked into the mats."
"The mats?" Jethro asked, looking at Tony, who nodded, raising an eyebrow at him. "Oh! The mats!"
"Yeah. They are definitely doable. Think you can clear the basement sometime in the next four to six weeks?"
"For that I can clear it in the next four to six hours."
Tony smiled from ear to ear. "I'm sure you could."
"Is it a done deal?"
"Yup. I'll be getting a confirmation to my phone anytime now."
"Best damn news I've gotten today, if not all week."
Tony chuckled. "I also emailed the lawyer back what I want to do with the will, and he's already sent me some wording for the trust for Amira. I printed it off for you, and it's sitting on my desk."
"He's quick."
"Well, when I brought her up in conjunction with the will, he made the assumption the trust was what I wanted to do. I'm actually kind of riding his thought with that, only he assumed it was in case we had custody of her. I like the idea of having someone to leave things to. If it can keep it out of Dad's grimy paws, even better."
"Do you think he's going to find out about the wedding?" Jethro asked.
"I don't know, and I don't really care. I don't want him to try to ruin it for us. I have these brief fantasies sometimes about after the ceremony, sending him a copy of the picture of our kiss, or a picture of the marriage license just to piss him off, but then I think, I don't want him to have anything that portrays our happiness. That brings him too close to it."
"I can understand that."
Tony heard an undertone to Jethro's voice, and stopped, resting a hand on his shoulder to make him stop as well.
"What's going on in there?" Tony asked.
"It's your decision, and I respect it, but I'm waiting for the next time he comes around and finds out. You know I'd rather see you in control of the situation when he learns about us than have him drop by unannounced to "surprise" you, and it turn into a stressful situation we're not in a good place to handle."
Tony nodded. "I can understand that." He tossed the idea around in his head a moment. "Let me think about it?" he asked.
"Like I said, it's your decision, and whatever you choose to do, I'll stand behind you."
"Thank you," Tony said, smiling softly at him before they continued walking again. "It's not like I'm ashamed of us, or even scared of telling him actually. I'm just not looking forward to whatever bullshit he's going to try to pull between now and the wedding."
"Do you really think he'll try to screw with us?" Jethro asked.
"You know my dad. He'll be hellbent on taking the spotlight, always needing to be the center of attention, and he'll show up at the ceremony and cause a scene, or try to storm into work and go off. I'll have to have him escorted off the property, and all that. Then, knowing him, he'll re-enter the property, get trespassing charges pressed against him, and then I'll get dragged into a court case. He tends to leave me alone these days, even when I'm trying to get close, so I can't imagine he'll come around again until he's ready to ruin our holidays."
"You know he tends to show up at the worst possible times," Jethro pointed out.
"True. And I did jinx the hell out of us by saying that, didn't I?"
"Don't believe in jinxing, but we seem to have a greater understanding of Murphy's Law than most people."
"You know that if I call to invite him to town to drop the bomb on him, he's going to cancel on me. Maybe I should just call him."
Jethro raised an eyebrow at Tony.
"Yeah, and maybe then again maybe I can ask the Qureshi and see if they have a real bomb I can drop on him," Tony said with a sigh. "Telling your dad in person was… nice. It was confusing, but he understood and supports us. Telling my dad is going to be like, 'Dad, I'm marrying Jethro. I don't give a damn what you think about it, and though I love you, I don't want you in my life anymore. You're nothing but a gigantic hurtful pain in my ass, and you've crapped all over my heart since I was able to walk. Consider this goodbye.' He's going to want to smooth things over, and I'm going to feel too bad to get up and walk away, and then I'll hear him talk, and feel even worse for when I reiterate what I've already said, and I'll feel like shit for months."
"You're the one making the decision to tell him to get lost. If you want it, you need to stand for it, and if you're standing for it, there's a reason. Remember the reasons. If you tell him now, he might be a pain in the ass for the wedding, but he won't be around when we're starting to look into the adoption process, and honestly, I'd rather deal with him before the wedding than that."
"Wow. That's a pretty big decision for us to make based on the adoption."
"If we're going to consider having a child, we need to consider the safety and wellbeing of that child in everything we're doing now, leading up to it. We're writing Amira into our wills based on Leyla's will. It's not much different than that. The real question is, do we want your father in our daughter's life?"
Tony stopped his slow stroll up the sidewalk. He lost all sense of the world around him for a long moment as flash after flash of memory ran in front of his mind's eye. From finding his mother, to coming home to find the house empty when he graduated from high school. It was a string of parental failures, and Tony's heart ached.
He blinked hard and pulled out his phone. Jethro watched, resting a hand on Tony's shoulder, not sure what was going through his fiancé's head, but knowing it wasn't good. The horrible heartache he saw in his eyes made his stomach roll.
"Hey, Sheila. This is Tony DiNozzo Jr. Is Tom available? Okay. Thanks."
Jethro moved so that he was standing in front of Tony, and Tony's eyes looked into his as he started talking again.
"Hey, Tom? It's Tony. Yeah, it looks good. I want Jethro to read it first. Look, I have a serious question to ask you. If Jethro and I were to adopt, what kind of recourse would I have to make sure my father has absolutely no right to see our child? In fact, is there a way I can keep him from being anywhere near her, and the rest of us for that matter?"
Jethro watched Tony, seeing the sad rage consuming his entire body. His eyes were wet, his stance was stiff and tight, and his jaw was clenched. He was glad Tony was cutting Senior out because he knew that he was seeing what Tony felt like every time he remembered his childhood with his dick of a father. No one deserved to live with that kind of pain welling up inside of them.
"Do I ever. Definitely, you know him. You know what he did when I graduated, and before that. You know what he did to my trust fund with my inheritance from Mom, and you know how many chances I've given him to redeem himself. Now that we're considering bringing a child into our lives, I want to make sure I can keep her safe from his insanity."
Jethro ran his hand up and down Tony's bicep, trying to calm him. He suddenly smiled, and Jethro listened closely to hear whether or not he could make out what the lawyer was saying. He couldn't, but Tony's grin said plenty.
"Thanks, Tom. I mean it. I'll look over it this weekend and get back to you soon. We're still a long ways away from deciding, but that may make or break our decision. Yeah, you have a good weekend. Thanks."
Tony took a deep breath and looked into Jethro's eyes. "He said he can have him stripped of grandparental rights if I'm able to prove parental negligence, and that by not telling me he was moving my senior year so that I came home to an empty house, and had to fend for myself most of the time, that should be enough to sink it without even having to bring up my mom."
Jethro smiled broadly at him, and ignoring their locale, pulled him into a tight embrace. "Thank you."
Tony sighed. "I didn't even think about it until you said that. Unless he's attempting to harm us or harassing us, we can't do a restraining order, and that's the only recourse we have with him, but I kind of figured that."
Jethro could feel Tony relax in his arms, and he felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach when he realized they should probably release their hug, and Tony held on a little bit until reluctantly letting go.
"As long as we know we can keep him away from our little girl, I'm happy."
"Our little girl," Tony said, echoing the phrase. Jethro smiled and shrugged.
"I think I'm a little attached to the idea," he admitted.
Tony smiled from ear to ear. "Me, too."
"We should probably get back in," Jethro said. "I promised Ducky I'd stop down and talk to him at some point this week, and I'm hoping Keith calls me to let me know how his appointment goes."
Tony turned to start the walk back to the building. "I think hell is freezing over. I'm breaking Rule Thirteen left and right without so much as a peep from you, and you're saying you want to talk to someone on the phone."
"Hell froze over three months ago, and it just keeps getting colder."
"You can say that again. I'm glad I'm getting out with Abby and the guys tomorrow night. Can use a lighthearted, drunken night on the town with Abby. We haven't really had our usual time for each other now that we're both in relationships, and when we do hang out, we're tiptoeing around personal things because we're all connected in this weird new way."
"Do you want to maybe tell her what we're thinking about? She's adopted after all. She may not have known it at the time, but losing her folks so early and having the sisters raise her, she'd probably appreciate the fact that we're thinking about it."
"Along the same logic, Parke might have some input for us, too. Especially if we're considering adopting older."
"Maybe we should wait a little longer to tell them," Jethro conceded. He wanted to share what he was thinking with Abby, but he also didn't want to be overwhelmed by her exuberance as they thought it through.
"Yeah. Let's give it a month or so. Not sure if I'm ready for that pressure yet."
"Agreed."
They got into the elevator together with two other people who were heading upstairs.
"Thought you were going to go see Ducky?" Tony asked.
"Going to check to see if McGee is back yet, or if I should hunt him down while I'm downstairs."
Tony chuckled. "I left the kids alone with Balboa and Gleason. By time I get up there, Balboa is going to have recruited Elly for the not-yet-existent Cold Case Team, and Elly's going to have Gleason signing up to switch agencies."
"She's been hanging onto every word the kid says."
"Yeah! She's totally behind the project, and totally into Elly."
Jethro smirked. The elevator stopped and let the two other people in the elevator off. Once the doors closed again, Jethro looked at Tony. "She's barking up the wrong tree," Jethro said to Tony with a smile and shake of his head.
"Wait? What? What do you know?" Tony asked as the elevator doors opened.
"Don't know anything. Just got a gut feeling."
Tony followed him out eagerly, looking down the aisle at the team, but talking to Jethro before he could get too far away.
"Damn it, Jethro!" he whispered. "About what?! You know I trust your gut more than anything! What are you thinking?"
Jethro shook his head, and kept walking towards his desk with a smirk.
Once Tony got to his desk, he leaned over the divider so that he was only two feet from Jethro's ear. "You're lucky I love you!" Tony whispered. "I'll get it out of you later."
"Nah. Just wait and see. You like surprises."
"You're such a bastard," Tony said quietly.
"Yeah, but you love me anyway."
"That I do," Tony said before sitting down with a smile, ignoring the glances from the people around him.
AIS-NCIS-AIS-NCIS-AIS
Thursday night, while Jethro hid in the basement to talk to Keith alone on the phone about how his appoint had gone with his therapist, Tony, Abby, Dorney, and Elly were texting about their Friday night plans. Since Elly had to get to the club before it opened, the rest of them decided that they would meet up beforehand, and planned on arriving somewhat early at about 9:30 before Elly had to attend to what they were hoping would be a busy crowd. Tony was going to drive over to Abby's, and then they were going to go pick up Dorney and help him figure out what to wear.
Ned didn't know that yet, but Elly had told them Ned was getting more and more nervous as the night drew closer. Tony and Abby spent the rest of the night trying to reassure him. He couldn't remember the last time he had gone out like that. Knowing Tony and Abby had his back made him feel a lot better, and Elly reassured him that everything was going to be fine about twenty times.
An hour after Tony and Abby dropped out of the conversation, Dorney slipped into bed and turned out the light. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, and then picked up the phone off the nightstand next to him.
You still up?
He waited to see if Elly would reply, and he only had to wait about thirty seconds.
Yeah :) What's up?
Ned smiled, feeling special because of the eager response.
Just wondered if you were nervous about tomorrow. I feel like a dick for not asking earlier.
I'm not nervous as much as I am excited! I have a great lineup planned, an awesome alternate lineup planned, some of my closest friends ever are coming out to party with me, and I'm going to get to hang with Rise a while beforehand! …Okay, yeah, I'm pretty nervous.
:) Ha! I'm glad you're so stoked. Focus on that. I'm starting to feel pretty excited, too, even though I'm nervous.
Really?
Yeah! For pretty much the same reasons you are actually. Hanging out with the people that matter to me, having a few drinks, relaxing. And who knows? It might be nice to be in a different kind of atmosphere for once.
I'm really glad you're coming, Ned.
:)
I think it's going to be good for us.
Ned got a warm feeling inside at the idea of "us", and he pushed it away. That's not what he meant you dumbass. You need to be careful about that. You don't want to ruin one of the most important friendships you've ever had because you're horny and lonely!
Me too :)
Elly sat frozen on the other end of the phone. He hadn't realized what he was typing before he hit send, and then he re-read it and stumbled over himself. It had sounded too intimate to him, and he reread it over and over again, praying it would sound less personal each time, but it didn't lose the effect. When Ned's response came through, his heart skipped a beat, and he had to tell himself aloud to let it go and stop reading into things.
I should probably try to get some sleep. I'm going to be up close to twenty-four hours straight tomorrow, and I'll be spending most of it working. I'm glad Boss is going to let me leave at three. I'm going to try to work in a nap before I have to go to the club.
I'm going to call it a night too. Well, I'm already in bed, so I guess I have called it a night, but I'm going to stop talking now and go to sleep.
Elly could almost hear Ned's voice in his head as the message rambled. He smiled to himself, and shook his head.
Goodnight Ned. Sleep well.
You too :)
AIS-NCIS-AIS-NCIS-AIS
The next day, Tony's team was on pins and needles all day, praying that they didn't get dragged into a case. Every time a phone rang on the other side of the bullpen, they stopped to stare and see if Jethro's team was getting a case. At a quarter to three, Abby bounded into the bullpen delivering a CafPow to Elly.
"I thought you might need this tonight," she said with a bright smile.
"Thanks, Abby! I'm going to try to take a nap when I get home though, so is it okay if I save it until later?" he asked,
"Definitely! As much as I love my CafPow, nothing beats a powernap. Break a leg tonight, and we'll see you soon!" she said. She turned to Tony. He touched the side of his nose, and she touched hers, the sign that everything was prepared for their mission that evening. She turn turned and waved to Parke and Dorney, and headed over to the MCRT's side of the bullpen.
"Are you sure you don't want to try to come with us tonight?" she asked Tim.
"Thanks, Abs, but I'm going to use the time to pack. You're so far ahead of me. This might give me the chance to catch up some."
"Smart thinking my smart cookie!" she said, bending to kiss him on the cheek before turning to Jethro.
"Gibbs! Are you really going to let your guy get all dressed up and go to a club by himself?"
"He's not going by himself, Abs. He's going with you and Dorneget, and I expect the two of you to keep him out of trouble."
Tony scoffed loudly in disbelief from his side of the bullpen. "Jethro! Do you really think I'd get into trouble simply because you're not with me?"
"Tony, you get into trouble even when I'm with you."
"No, I get into trouble because you're with me. Totally different. And if you think putting Abby, Dorney, Elly and I together doesn't equal trouble, you're not as brilliant as I've always believed you are! I fully expect to be sitting in a Waffle House eating greasy potatoes and bacon at sunrise."
Jethro turned, looked over the divider, and squinted at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Okay, well, maybe not sunrise," he conceded. "But as soon as we can pry Elly away."
"Told ya," Elly said, picking up his stuff and looking at Ned. "Bacon and greasy food is the ultimate hangover cure. Nothing beats it."
"Coffee and Tylenol," Jethro said.
"Bloody Mary and aspirin," Abby corrected.
"Gatorade the night before, and greasy food for breakfast," Tony agreed, turning to give Elly a thumbs up, receiving a nod in return.
"Dry toast and orange juice. Just don't brush your teeth first," Dorney said, grimacing at the idea of OJ after brushing.
"Never heard of that one," Jethro said over his shoulder.
"Water and something for a headache before bed," Ziva said, getting to her feet and moving towards their cold case filing cabinet. "Saltines in the morning."
"What about you, Greg?" Elly asked.
"A B vitamin and some serious hydration before bed. Then get up and do it again. Or, if you can get it, there's one of those teas, you know the one in the tall cans that you can get for like a buck, and it's their energy drink blend. Tons of B vitamins in those, too. Chug that before bed. Works every time for me."
"I've had that one!" Abby said. "It's actually pretty good. Never tried it for a hangover though."
"Try it! That gas station on Douglas usually has them."
"We'd pass that on the way back to my place from the club!" Abby looked at Tony excitedly.
"There's a good chance we're going to have to call our mommies and daddies to pick us up tonight, so I'm not so sure about a pit stop. I may be driving there, but I'm not planning on DDing. We're going out, we're all drinking. That's what cabs are for kiddos!"
"Damn it! I wish I was going with you guys, but we have the ultrasound in the morning," Parke said.
"What time is it?" Tony asked.
"8:45."
"Ouch. Yeah. That's not happening."
"Nope. Maybe next time. We all need to go out and celebrate once we find out what the sex of the baby is though. We doubt we'll know anything definitive tomorrow. Too early."
"Are you hoping for a girl or a boy?" Abby asked, leaning over the divider next to the plasma behind Jethro.
"Well, Tiff is hoping for a boy, but I'm rooting for a girl," he said with a bright smile.
Tim suddenly spun away from the filing cabinet where he was putting his files away, and one of them opened, spilling everywhere. Tony and Jethro's eyes met, and they both smiled sheepishly, and then turned back to their desks, trying to find something to do with themselves so that they didn't give their secret away.
Tim picked up his paperwork, trying not to look at Tony and Gibbs, afraid he was going to give up their secret. Thankfully his spill distracted Abby from them, because when he glanced up, he could see that Gibbs was actually blushing.
AIS-NCIS-AIS-NCIS-AIS
Tony was dressed for the night out, and was trying to get his hair to cooperate in the bathroom mirror. Jethro came to the doorway, leaning on the jamb, and checked him out with a smile. Tony looked back, feeling self-conscious in that way that Jethro made him when he stared at him with open appreciation. He chewed on his bottom lip, grinning into the mirror.
"Like what you see?" he asked, feigning confidence.
"Oh, yeah. Definitely. You never dress like this at work anymore. Don't get to see it very often."
Tony looked down at his black shirt over his red tshirt, and his antique-dark blue jeans. He smiled up at Jethro.
"The position requires a little something different," he said, shrugging. Jethro nodded.
"Yeah, it does. Doesn't mean I don't want to rip those clothes off of you on a regular basis too, but I really like casual Tony."
"I'll see what I can do about that," Tony said, rinsing his hands and then drying them quickly before stepping up to Jethro and slipping them around his waist. "You sure you don't want to come get all hot and sweaty on a dance floor with me for a while tonight?" he asked with a smirk.
"Mmmm. Tempting, but no. If you make it home before sunrise though, I can see me getting hot and sweaty with you doing other things."
"In that case, I'll make sure I'm home before sunrise. Or at least in time for a wake-up call."
"That could work," Jethro said, leaning forward to kiss Tony deeply. "Just don't expect me to pick your ass up in the middle of the night."
Tony laughed. "Will you take me back to get my car tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I think I can do that."
"Good. I gotta go. Abby and I are doing an impromptu dress up session with Dorney."
Jethro laughed. "Oh?"
"Yeah. Elly told us he was really nervous about going tonight, so we're going to see what we can do to boost his confidence a little."
Jethro leaned in and kissed him again. "You're really great with them, Tony."
"They're growing up so fast!" Tony joked.
"I thought we were busted today."
"I know!" Tony said, shaking his head. "I think we both turned red when Parke said he wanted a girl. I don't know how I'm going to keep it to myself if I get plastered and Abby starts prying tonight."
"I've been thinking about it, and that could end up being a nightmare," Jethro said, shaking his head. "If you get tempted, call me. I'm sure I can talk you out of it. That would be worth waking up in the middle of the night for."
"I can do that."
"Good," Jethro said, leaning in for another kiss. He didn't let Tony go though when the kiss was over, and Tony realized he had something on his mind.
"Whatcha thinking?"
"Can I ask you something?"
Tony was taken aback by that. "You know you can ask me anything."
Jethro nodded, and took a deep breath. "What number are you at today?"
Tony smiled. "Eight? Maybe even nine? You?"
Jethro smiled. "About a seven or eight."
Tony kissed him again, and it deepened. After a minute, he pulled back suddenly. "Okay! I so don't have time for where that's going, but hold that thought, and we'll pick it up in say eight or nine hours?" Jethro laughed as Tony broke out of his embrace and headed for the bedroom. Tony picked up a bag from the closet he had grabbed after work, and then gave Jethro another quick kiss before grabbing his lockbox, and heading out the bedroom door.
"Love you!" he called behind him.
"Love you, too! Behave!"
Tony came back to the bedroom door, giving Jethro a long once over. "Trust me, I know what I'm coming home to. I'll behave tonight because I know I get to come home and misbehave in the morning." He winked at Jethro and then jogged out to his car, running late.
AIS-NCIS-AIS-NCIS-AIS
Abby and Tony showed up at Ned's place half an hour earlier than they'd told him they would. They rang the buzzer, and Ned panicked. He wasn't anywhere near ready yet. He had no idea what he was going to wear, and he had pulled almost everything he owned from the closet. He'd tried on half of it, and he was fighting with himself about whether or not to text Elly for suggestions. As soon as Abby and Tony came through the door, they ushered him into his room.
"Thank god you guys are here! I don't have any idea what I'm doing. Maybe I just shouldn't go. This is already feeling like a disaster."
"No!" they both said at the same time.
"Elly is counting on us to be there. You have to go. No backing out," Abby said.
"Besides," Tony said. "We brought provisions. First things first, we need to discuss wardrobe. Now, I'm not one for stereotypes, but if there's anything dating men has taught me, it's a fashion sense. So, I grabbed a couple of shirts that would be suitable for this occasion, and Abby and I will help judge on which one will look best for tonight."
"Not to be a dick, but you definitely just out-gayed me," Dorney said, shaking his head.
"Eh. Maybe. Okay, we need pants. Abby, help me sift through this stuff." Abby and Tony started tossing through the clothes that were strewn around Dorney's bedroom.
"Tony! I think we may have something here!" She picked up a pair of black jeans, and held them up.
"Perfect. Will go with any of the shirts. As long as they aren't too tight or too loose, those should work. Okay, now we need a couple of shirts he can wear under one of these."
"Like t-shirts?" Dorney asked.
"Yeah," Tony said.
"Oh, I definitely have tshirts!" He opened a drawer in his dresser that was stuffed full of shirts in every color.
"You're right- I out-gay you." Tony squeezed Dorney's shoulder.
"Yeah. I would have at least expected them to be arranged by color," Abby joked, elbowing Dorney, making him laugh.
"What do you think, Abs?" Tony asked.
"Black, white, and that royal blue."
They handed the clothes to Ned, and sent him into the bathroom to get dressed. A few minutes later, he came out with the black jeans on, a black belt with it, a black button down shirt on over the blue tee.
"It's not bad!" Tony said.
"No. It doesn't look bad, but thinking about it, you're both in black shirts. That's weird. Next," Abby demanded, shooing Ned back to the bathroom.
"Good call," Tony said as the door shut behind Ned. A couple of minutes later, he opened the door again. This time, he was in the white tee with a white and purple pinstriped button down over it.
They looked at each other with a nod. "That might be the one," Abby said.
"Yeah, it might be. The last shirt is my favorite though." Tony pointed back to the bathroom. Ned turned around with a sigh.
Once behind closed doors, he put the black tee on, and slipped the last shirt in the bag on over it. He looked at himself in the mirror, and he froze. It was the same exact shade of gray as his eyes, and he had to admit that it did something for him. He left the top and bottom buttons unbuttoned, and then rolled the sleeves up a third of the way. He slipped his hands in his pockets, and he got that feeling that he felt when he was in MTAC. He was suddenly comfortable in his skin.
He stepped out into the bedroom.
"I'm wearing this one," he said. Abby and Tony stared at him a long moment.
"Yeah. You're definitely wearing that one," Tony said, taken aback at how the shirt not only did something for Ned, but the sudden confidence that came with it.
Abby reached over and smacked him in the back of his head, startling him as he reached to rub it, stopping only as he remembered his hair was gelled.
"Jeez, Abby!"
"That's from Gibbs," she said.
"Sure it was! No offense kid, but you're not really my type," he said, addressing Dorney. "However, that shirt definitely does something for you."
"I kind of think so, too. Now we just need to figure out shoes."
They looked through the pile of shoes in the bottom of the closet until they all agreed on a pair, and then Tony and Abby got him in front of the bathroom mirror with something Tony had to make his curls sleek and shiny. When Abby was finished playing with the curls and getting them just right, she sat the stuff on the sink ledge, and the three of them looked back at each other in the mirror.
"Mission complete!" Abby said with a grin, high-fiving Tony over Dorney's head while he rolled his eyes.
"Let's go!" Tony said, and ushered them out the door.
AIS-NCIS-AIS-NCIS-AIS
Elly was grinning from ear to ear when he walked into the club at 1900. He'd gotten a forty minute nap, started sipping on Abby's CafPow, took a shower, got dressed, and then ran through the track list one more time. He was stoked, and he couldn't wait to meet DJ Rise. He admitted to himself that he was a little star struck, and then told himself to tone it down.
Christopher met him at the door where a burly man was starting to approach him that couldn't look more like a bouncer if he tried. Elly knew he was fine, but the man was intimidating, even with his police, karate, and FLETC training.
"Elijah!" Christopher said happily.
"Hey, Christopher! How's it going?" he said, taking Christopher's hand in a sliding handshake.
"Everything's going pretty smoothly so far. Elijah, I want you to meet Nick. Nick, this is Elijah. He's guest DJing tonight."
"Nice to meetcha, Elijah. Christopher was telling us about you. We're lucky he came across you! You're saving our asses."
Elly shrugged, and shook Nick's offered hand with a smile. Once Nick knew who he was, he grinned in a way that was so friendly that he seemed harmless, though Elijah wasn't fooled by that for a moment.
"Nick is one of my co-owners," Christopher said.
"One of your co-owners?" Elly asked.
"Yeah, I have fifty percent of the company, and the rest is split evenly between Nick and my lead bartender Tyson, who is already instructed to give you anything you want tonight."
Elly froze, then forced himself to relax.
Nah, it couldn't be, he thought. That would be too fucked up.
"Why don't I give you the tour while we have a minute?" Christopher said.
"Yeah! Sounds great." He followed Christopher around the club, checking out the back room and the new patio level on the roof. The light system was first rate with multiple color and strobe settings, and he was anxious to play with it and figure out the controls. He'd used a couple of similar systems, but they weren't nearly as large as the one in the club. He felt like a kid in a candy store, other than the nagging fear in the back of his mind about this Tyson guy.
"So this is Elijah!" A voice suddenly said from behind them. Elly turned around with Christopher and Nick, and saw a man a few years older than him approaching them. He was an inch shorter than Elly's own 5'10", with dark hair, dark eyes, and whereas Elly was a more lean-muscular, this man was bulkier with large biceps. He wore a tight black t-shirt and black skinny jeans, but his body was adorned with glow necklaces and bracelets. Elly knew immediately it was Rise.
"Yeah! Hey!" he said, trying to maintain his cool.
"Awesome! I'm Michael, or Rise as I'm known around here. You can call me whichever."
"Just don't call him Mike," Christopher said with laughing eyes.
"Oh, hell no! I'm no 'Mike'. I'd rather be 'Hey Ugly!' than Mike. If you want to make an enemy, call me Mike. I'd rather not make enemies with you though," he said, giving Elly a once over that made him chuckle shyly.
"I'll do my very best to remember that," Elly said, unable to keep from flirting back.
"Has Christopher shown you how to work the light system yet?" Rise asked.
"Not yet," Elly said, looking between him and Christopher.
"I have to do a couple of things up here, but I can come down and show you in about five minutes if you want."
"Sure," Elly said, trying to rein in the overwhelming need to lay on the charm.
"I'll see you at the tables in a few then," Rise said with a smile, and gave Elly an obvious once over before heading over to the sound system.
"I'm going to go get back to work," Christopher said with a smirk. "Feel free to roam anywhere you please!"
"Thanks!" Elly watched him leave, and then headed downstairs. He stood back by the sound tables, watching the bar for the bartender, and barely looked at the system.
It only took a couple of minutes before Rise came down the stairs and beamed a bright smile at Elly, who returned it uncontrollably. He told himself to remember that he hadn't hit his year yet, and that he was trying to figure out what he felt for Ned. Looking at the man approaching him, his didn't give a damn about the two months left of his one year. It wasn't until he thought about how Ned was branching out of his comfort zone to come support him that night that he felt the blazing infatuation go into sizzle mode.
The two of them worked on the system for a few minutes, and they turned up a track so that Rise could demonstrate how the lights could be synced with the music. Elly still enjoyed how Rise leaned in extra close in order to speak to him over the loud music, but he was able to react a little more confidently to it. Five years earlier, and Elly knew he would be sticking to the older man like a magnet, fawning over him whenever he had the chance, but tonight, he realized just how far he had come, and it made him feel oddly good about himself.
After they finished going over everything, Elly left a couple of tracks running on a much lower volume to fill the empty building with some life. More people filtered in, heading for a locker room behind the bar, laughing and joking.
"Let's grab a drink before they get too busy with prep," Rise suggested.
"Sure," Elly said, following Rise to the counter. He'd completely forgotten his worry about the bartender until he saw a tall man with dusty brown hair come out from around the corner from the back room.
Elly's heart stopped, and he suddenly didn't feel so great. It really was a small world. He couldn't believe his eyes.
The man approached him and Rise, his eyes locked on Elly's in surprise. He looked somewhat confused as well, and Elly wondered if he might be trying to remember his name.
"Hey!" the man greeted, looking only at Elly, and completely ignoring the other DJ next to him. "What are you doing here?" he asked in a friendly tone that betrayed his confusion. "Wait!" he suddenly said, even more shocked than a moment before. "You're that Elijah?" He asked.
"Hey, Tyson," Elly said, surprising himself with how nonchalant he sounded.
"You two know each other?" Rise asked.
"Sorta," Elly said, smiling broadly at Rise. "We met last year. Weren't you tending at The Blue Note?" he asked.
"Yeah! A friend of mine owns it. I help her out sometimes when she's desperate. Club is only open Friday through Sunday, so I have a lot of free time on my hands. Didn't Christopher say you're a federal agent?" Tyson asked. Elly could see the pieces coming together in his head.
"Yeah! Some of my team is coming tonight to hang out with me." Elly turned towards Rise with a smile that he found being returned with a sense of intrigue.
"I hope I have a chance to meet them," Rise told Elly.
"That would be nice," he agreed, leaning back on the counter to give Rise his attention instead of Tyson. "Our forensic scientist is coming too. She's awesome, and I actually sent her one of your recent mixes last week."
"Oh?" Rise asked, suddenly looking flattered in a way that Elly found honestly endearing.
"Yeah! I have the Thundercloud Adrenaline Mix on my iPod right now. She really liked it!"
A stream of voices came rushing out of the room behind the bar as a long line of people came out.
"You two want anything before we start breaking the place in?" Tyson asked.
"Yeah!" Rise said. "I'd love a tall glass of Jack and Coke over ice that I can sip on for a while."
"Got it!" a blonde chick called over her shoulder at them.
"And you?" Tyson said, smiling at Elly.
"I think I'll do a Goose with cranberry."
"Coming right up!" Tyson turned around and grabbed a bottle and glass, and Elly watched him closely. As soon as the bottle was put away, he turned back to Rise.
"As much as I love Thundercloud, Rev It Up is an all time favorite," Elly said before turning casually to take his drink from Tyson. "Thanks!" he said, then turned back to watch that look come over Rise again that he got at the mention of his work. He stopped looking confident and cocky, and seemed genuinely interested in what Elly was saying, and not just what he appeared to be.
"That was one of my first recordings!" he responded excitedly. "Working with Rick Martinez was like a dream come true! It was so awesome! We mixed it twenty times that day. And his vocals weren't touched with autotune. He is pitch-freakin'-perfect! I love that track. It's my first real labor of love. The others were just demos, but when he called me it was like the world stopped on a dime, and my dreams came true."
"He does have an incredible set of pipes," Elly agreed, excited by how impassioned he was able to make the man next to him. He saw the way his eyes twinkled, and he was touched that he could do that.
"I'm actually going to be doing a collaboration with him and Noyz in two weeks. It's going to be this eerie, almost hollow sounding track for my album coming out in February called Winter Chill."
"Nice! She's got a hell of a voice, too! That's gonna be sick!"
"Have you ever recorded anything?"
"Nope. Love the tables, but my life is definitely in the field. Doesn't leave time for much else."
Rise sat his drink on the bar and pulled out his phone. He grinned as he pressed the screen a few times. "Gimme you info, and when I get the final details of our studio date for recording "Empty", I'll give you a call. You can come chill with us. Would love your input."
"Really?" Elly asked, feeling himself about to bubble out of his skin. He tried to stay collected, but it was extremely hard, and he knew he failed to at least some extent. "That would be awesome!" He gave Rise his number and email address, and he watched him choose a bright blue and green swirling neon graphic for the photo to identify him by in his contact list.
"Got it," Rise said, smiling up at Elly. "I should get upstairs, but trust me, you'll hear from me soon! If your friends are still around at closing time, come find me. I'd love to meet them."
"Definitely," Elly said, watching Rise walk away backwards a few steps before turning around and practically bouncing away. He waited for him to leave his view, and then started moving away from the counter when a voice called after him.
"Federal agent, huh?"
Elly turned back to Tyson, the smile gone from his face. He nodded slowly. "Yeah."
"Guess that explains the handcuffs," Tyson said, grimacing and looking away.
"Yeah. Most people don't just carry them around for fun."
Tyson nodded, and Elly shrugged.
"Kind of forgot they were back there. It was just a night of one mistake after another."
Tyson half-chuckled and half-scoffed. "Guess I deserve that."
"No, you deserve a lot worse than that." If looks could kill, Elly would have murdered Tyson three times over at that point, and he could tell that the blonde that had made Rise's drink had seen it, because she was suddenly watching them fairly discreetly in the mirrored glass behind the bottles in front of her. "But like I said, it was just one of those nights that I made one mistake after another, and trusting you was right there on top of that list. At least I've learned from it. More than I can say for you from what I've been told." Elly watched Tyson swallow as the words hit home, and then turned around and headed for the tables. He needed something to help his mood bounce back, and he knew just the song.
He slipped his jacket off, tossing it over a small table behind him, took a long gulp from his drink, and flipped through the track list. Thirty seconds later, and the song that was playing faded out seamlessly into a bass pumping energizing song that had him grinning from ear to ear. He cranked it up, set the lights, made a few sound adjustments, and then looked at his phone to check the time. He only smiled larger when he saw the text message from Rise.
:) The doors are all open, and I hear you loud and clear! I'm honored. You getting "revved up"?
Hell yeah! :)
Rock on! Have fun tonight!
You too!
Elly closed out of the messages and saw the background on his phone. His team smiled back at him, and he sighed happily. He couldn't wait for them to be there. He knew they couldn't protect him from his past mistakes, but just being around them made him feel great about his choices since, and he really needed that at the moment.
He opened his conversation history with Ned, and after re-reading a few messages, he added another.
You're still coming, right?
Definitely! Abby and Tony just got here and I'm getting ready. See you soon!
Elly sighed in relief and smiled.
You'd better be! See you soon Ned.
Elly stared at the picture again for a long moment before he realized he was only staring at Ned. He felt a rush of something in his stomach that he couldn't really say was unpleasant, and his heart was racing suddenly. As awesome as Rise was, he didn't manage to create the butterflies feeling that Ned was making him feel, and Elly sat his phone down with a shake of his head.
He decided he may as well admit it- he was falling in love.