Tony leaned on the wall and was happy that he had opted for the gray hoodie, as the wind once again swept through the streets. He looked at Richi, who today had decided to leave his house, and stood on the side of the road, smoking a cigarette. Tony barely thought about it, when he had been offered one himself. He wasn't about to turn down anything free. And even though he wasn't a regular smoker, he was experienced enough to not cough up his lungs.
"Tony-boy, can you hold this?" Tony nodded and took the pack of cigarettes as well as the lighter. He shoved it down his pocket and looked, as Richi nodded to someone. It must have been a regular since Richi didn't ask the normal questions, they just had a low conversation, and Tony lost interest relatively fast.
He actually had no idea how Richi even had enough to buy a house. Sure Tony didn't know him back then, but as far as he could tell, the young man was nothing short of the typical drug dealer. Thin and long, impulsive and never shaved. Using most of his money on getting high, more than anything else.
Though Tony didn't spend much time thinking about it. As far as he was concerned, Richi didn't mind Tony hanging around him, and that was the only thing he really cared about right now.
Tony led the remainder of the cigarette fall to the ground, he stepped on it, realizing two things. The first was the fact that Richi's client started saying 'i am sorry man' over and over again, the second thing was that the man who had been standing on the opposite side of the street, wasn't a potential buyer. He was a cop. But by the time Tony had realized that and was ready to turn around ready to run. It was already too late. He was stopped by a cop, fully uniformed, pulling a gun on him. He started swearing. He should really have gone to school.
Richi was slower to realize what was going on, and even slower to realize that there was no way out of it. He turned and started to run blindly, only to be tackled by two different men.
"uhhh" Tony mumbled, as the cop approached him "that must have hurt"
The cop laughed softly, and he even got a smile out of his partner. Tony jumped from one foot to another, as the handcuffs were pulled out. If they pulled him in he would spend a good amount of time in a holding cell. Not to talk about this would make it his second time being busted, not counting the dock, so he could look forward to a bit of time in juvie too. He couldn't do that. not only because it was juvie, but because he was needed out here.
"Hey man," Tony said as the cop started dragging him to a corner, where there was no doubt a police car located, perfectly out of sight. He really hated to be cuffed.
"Forget it, kid, I can't just look away, you are gonna go through the system no matter what"
Tony couldn't help but smile, the number of times someone must have tried to sweet-talk him out of arresting them "No No I get you are just trying to do your job, but I mean it, pal, I know an agent. Actually a special agent"
He was more than aware that it was a risky card to pull. Not only had he absolutely no idea how Gibbs was going to react when he found out Tony had been arrested, but he had also no idea who could hear them in the streets. It would only take one person who overheard him, and Tony would be dead.
The cop pulled to a stop next to his car and made eye contact with his partner.
"This special agent have a name kid"
"Gibbs. Special agent Gibbs"
There was that look again. "hey! I have his card and everything!" He really hoped they wouldn't ask for it. He was fairly sure it was laying on the floor next to his madras.
"We are good kid" Tony was showed into the car, and he was just about to beg them to call him when the cop shook his head looking at Tony "we are gonna give him a call, see what happens after that" The door was closed on Tony and he didn't even look at the cops as they started talking outside. Instead, he looked at the car in front of him, where Richi was being dragged into the backseat. It looked like he was shouting something.
Tony shrugged. Richi wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. He was probably gonna do time, or if he were lucky he would be left on parole or something. He found himself wondering if this was his first time getting arrested.
The other cop was on the phone. Tony looked at him, desperately trying to read his lips, getting nothing.
Tony felt like someone was holding a pillow over his nose and mouth. Allowing just enough air to get by it, and just too little. He was wondering where he would be put now. Silently wishing it wouldn't be interrogation again. He really didn't want to be in that room once more.
the cop holding his arm nods to a few on their way up. Tony just throws a smile their way, but most of them don't even look at him twice. Actually… most of them don't even look at him once. His mind suddenly drifted to what he had told Russo so a few days ago. When the man had demanded an explanation as to why.
"I saw how the cops treat people like us. They don't care whether or not we actually have done something. They hate us, without even knowing us. Then why not give them a reason to hate us?"
so he walked through the building like a ghost, no one really acknowledging his presence, he couldn't help to feel like the words stung him just a bit. He hadn't believed in them, at least he hadn't thought he believed in them. The noise in the squad room hit Tony once again, and he wondered how anyone could work there. The constant buzzing of voices, and the fragments of Conversations, was enough to leave Tony dizzy.
"Agent Gibbs"
Tony looked anywhere but at Gibbs as the cop shook hands with the elder man and gestured towards Tony "This one yours?"
Gibs smiled and shook his head before saying "yeah, uncuff him" Tony felt the pressure around his wrist be released, and he was grateful he had somewhere else to look as he rubbed the now red skin.
The cop left Tony to stand in the middle of the four desks, having no idea what to do. He still refused to look at Gibbs, half expecting the man to slap him, half still expecting to be dragged to interrogation. Instead, Gibbs went to the empty desk next to his, taking the chair and moving it over to his own desk.
"Sit"
Tony raised an eyebrow, still not looking directly at Gibbs he jokingly asked "you are not going to cuff me?"
"Should I cuff you?"
"Are you flirting with me, agent Gibbs"
The head slap wasn't unexpected, but it still made Tony jump. He sunk down into the chair. Gibbs disappeared leaving Tony to stare at the other agents, as they tried to pretend that they didn't stare at him.
"great" Tony mumbled, as Johnson half ran into the bullpen, before stopping dead in his tracks. Tony waved at him and placed his best smile on his face. Johnson didn't return it. He walked up to Tony, standing less than three centimeters from his chair, and asking in a quiet voice: "where's Gibbs?"
Tony opened his mouth to give some comeback but was interrupted.
"I am right here johnson, what have you got?
Gibbs came up behind Tony and practically threw a briefcase on the table in front of him.
"what's he doing here, Gibbs?" Johnson pointed at Tony, who crossed his arms. listening to them talking like he wasn't there.
"he is here looking at pictures"
Tony kept a straight face as Johnson looked down at him.
"would you like me to guess what you have?" the tone of Gibbs' voice left no space for argument, and Tony couldn't help but giggle as johnson jumped into action, starting to explain a bunch of things.
It didn't take long for Tony to stop laughing though. He realized it was his neighborhood they were talking about.
"local LEO's picked up four different drug dealers a few minutes ago. They are all being processed as we speak, and are being transferred here from the local station."
Tony leaned forward, recognizing all four of the men on the plasma. But most of all he recognized Ritchie. He frowned. So it had been planned. Tony couldn't see any advantage in taking four low-level drug dealers out of play.
"Are you sure we should be talking about this in front of him?"
Tony looked up at Johnson, who had turned towards him. Gibbs ignored the question, and Tony couldn't stop himself from sticking out his tongue at Johnson. He didn't care how childish it was.
"When will the drug dealers be here?"
"They should be arriving soon"
"rule one"
"You got it"
Johnson turned around and disappeared towards the elevator, while Gibbs walked back to Tony and mumbled something about coffee. He pointed at the folder "look at those pictures, see if anyone looks like the marines you saw last night"
Tony opened it and shot a look at the first page. "what's rule one?"
"Never let suspects sit together"
Tony looked back at the plasma "Are they suspect in anything?"
Gibbs raised an eyebrow at him "You mean anything other than drug dealing?" And with that Tony looked back at the file, nodding at Gibbs when he informed him that he was going for coffee.
Tony was about halfway through the pictures when Gibbs came back. "That was one long coffee run."
"with me"
Tony looked after Gibbs as he disappeared behind a corner. He then looked back around the bullpen. There was no one there. Only him. His eyes wandered to the people working next to them, but no one was following him. Gibbs goes around the corner once again and walks up to Tony. Standing in front of the boy, he raced an eyebrow "With me, means you get your butt off that chair, and start walking with me"
"ohh right" Tony jumped up and started to trail Gibbs. He kept his head down and was thankful that he wasn't still in handcuffs. Thought people still trailed him with their eyes when they passed. Tony's heart started to beat faster and he couldn't keep his hands still, as he realized they were headed towards interrogation.
Gibbs turned his head and caught Tony's eyes before he could look away. "relax, you are not in trouble"
Tony blinked and nodded. He didn't even try and figure out how Gibbs did it. He just kept walking. Tony held his breath as they walked past the room he had been in. He frowned when Gibbs stopped only one door down and waved Tony in. It wasn't hard to figure out that it would be the observation room, but Tony still stopped dead in his tracks when he recognized the man sitting behind the table.
"You were arrested with him" It wasn't a question, and Gibbs moved past Tony, standing right in front of the glass.
Johnson entered the interrogation room and, much like Gibbs had done when Tony was in there, Threw the case folder on the table. Gibbs turned up the sound, but Tony didn't want to hear it. Though he couldn't stop himself from moving to stand next to Gibbs, leaning forward and resting his head on the glass. His eyes never moving from Ritchie.
"You were friends?" Gibbs asked, and Tony realized he had actually gone for coffee, as he drank from the cup in his hand.
"No" Tony answered truthfully. They had never been friends… he felt the pit of his stomach crawl together, and stuffed his hands down his pockets. His head was still resting on the glass, and his eyes on Richi as he tried to ignore the sound of Johnson.
"Makes me sick" he mumbled before he could stop himself.
"Sick at him, or sick at us?"
That was a good question. Tony shot a brief look at Gibbs, but the man didn't give anything away. To be honest, he had no idea. He just felt sick. Sick about the interrogation. He was sick at the fact he couldn't just go in there, that he couldn't tell Richi to be quiet, to stop talking altogether. And he was sick at the fact that Richi was in there, in the first place. That he had been arrested. That he was looking at years in prison. There was no way he had enough info to cut a deal. Now that he thought about it, he was sick that he felt so weird at seeing the man on the other side of the glass.
"Sick at everything I guess"
"Kid" Gibbs laid a hand on Tony's shoulder, gently dragging his head from the glass "I am not gonna sugarcoat it, he is looking at a few years, but this was what he signed up for and he knows it"
Tony looked at Gibbs. His hand was still on Tony's shoulder.
"Is this your kind of a pep talk?"
Gibbs couldn't help the smile "nope" he said "This is my way of showing you what your future looks like if you keep going down this road"
Tony wanted to shake the hand off him, but Gibbs held on. He caught Tony's eyes and held them. Tony swallowed "I wasn't going down any road until you told me to"
Gibbs shook his head and let go of him "What do you think would have happened when you got out again? Without even a high school diploma? You wanna know why people don't look at you when you pass them in here? It's because the only thing they see is you in that room" He pointed to the interrogation, which was about to end "And you are way too young to end up in there"
Tony looked back at Richi, he looked at Gibbs and back at the room. He didn't like the way it sounded. He folded his arms over his stomach and shook his head. He was about to say something more, but the door opened and Tony shut up, before even knowing who it was.
"hey, i got the… "Johnson stopped and looked at Tony before he looked at Gibbs. "Uhm sorry, I didn't know the boy was in here … Uhm… I will just go again" Gibbs signed knowing tony wouldn't say more.
"Did you recognize any of the marines on the pictures?"
Tony was biting down on his lip and still looking at Richi inside the other room. He shook his head and Gibbs nodded.
"Okay, look at the rest in that folder I gave you, then you can go home"
Tony nodded again.
"need a lift somewhere?"
"Uhm… no I will be fine"
Gibbs didn't comment, as he turned Tony around and pushed him out the door.