"He's insufferable. He never follows orders without finding some loophole in them like he's some kind of undercover lawyer. He always has a smart answer for every eventuality and he is obsessed with obscure plays and playwrights that no one has ever heard or wants to hear of."
Tony threw down some more bourbon and scowled at a silently observing Gibbs.
"Not to mention that he is a womaniser. The kid can't have a professional conversation with a female counterpart if his life depended on it. I mean that literally. If his life depended on it, he could not hold down a non-actionable conversation with a woman. We had this case recently. Bomb on a ship. Big bomb, not a little bomb. We evacuate the ship when the detonator is counting down over a freaking loudspeaker system. With thirteen seconds to go, three of which I spend trying to move his ass, he stops to hit on a female petty officer who, bizarrely, was also happy to risk life and limb for a potential lay."
He rubbed a hand through his once solidly brown hair, now flecked with substantial grey.
"I don't know what to do with him," he continued, clearly on a roll. "He's insubordinate, cocky and annoying as hell but he has the makings of one hell of an Agent you know? It's like having a puppy that you know is gonna be a seriously cool dog in a couple of years but for now it's just chewing everything in sight and making your life hell."
Gibbs opened his mouth to offer some sage words of wisdom but a wearied Tony wasn't done.
"I spend all my days trying to make sure he doesn't get his ass canned. Vance has a target on his back as big as the Grand Canyon. Everyday it's something else I have to cover up or smooth over. Just last week he caused an incident with Interpol. Interpol, Boss. Freaking Interpol! The other two are literally angels compared to him but the younger guy, you know Jenkins? He looks up to this fool and gets caught up his stupidity. I mean, Wilkinson is supposed to be my SFA. He's supposed to have my back but the minute my back is turned he's off doing god knows what, with god knows who and bringing my JFA along for the ride."
He took another long-suffering draught of bourbon and looked at Gibbs in askance.
"You're lucky you're retired, Boss. I swear. You're lucky you don't have to deal with this crap."
For the first time in what seemed long a very long soliloquy, Gibbs managed to get a word in.
"Anymore."
His voice was light but Tony caught the very evident amusement in the man's tone.
"Anymore?"
Snorting, Gibbs threw back some bourbon of his own and settled back in his chair with a wince. Arthritis really didn't care what one had done for god and country prior to its arrival and it assailed his back with particular vengeance.
"Tony, who does Wilkinson remind you of?"
The blank expression that answered him was nothing short of hilarious.
"Huh? No one, I guess. He's pretty much in a league of his own when it comes to being an annoyance."
Gibbs chuckled.
"Let's go back to the early 2000s, shall we? Let's swap obscure plays and playwrights with movies and move quotes. Let's remember the insubordination, smart-ass comments and womanising tendencies. Let's add in the added frustration that underneath all that crap is the making of a fine Agent. Who are you thinking of right now?"
Tony flushed somewhat and rolled his eyes.
"McGee?"
Gibbs snorted.
"McGee is very much Jenkins in this situation. An impressionable JFA led astray by a perpetual pain-in-the-ass SFA? It's literally DiNozzo and McGee take two."
Tony huffed indignation.
"You're being ridiculous. I was nothing like him. He is nothing like me. We're literally the polar opposites of each other in every conceivable way. Plus, I never led McGee astray. He wasn't as innocent as you might remember you know."
Gibbs laughed and popped back another mouthful of bourbon.
"Oh, yes he was, and you know it. Face it, Tony, this is karma. More specifically, this is your karma."
Tony raised a brow.
"Karma? Karma for what? Being the best SFA that NCIS has ever seen?"
Gibbs rolled his eyes.
"Karma for all the years of insubordination, wise-cracking, womanising stunts that you put me through. Karma for all the years I had to cover for you with Vance, same as you're covering for Wilkinson now. Karma for all the inter-agency incidents I had to smooth over or cover up. Karma, in short, for making my hair greyer than it ever needed to be."
Tony stared blankly for a moment before huffing in good natured indignation.
"I guess he's a little like me," he admitted begrudgingly. "Nowhere near as good looking, obviously, or as intelligent. But I suppose he has the bare bones of me… which is more than can be said for anyone else. He's blessed, really, now that I come to think about it."
Gibbs shook his head with a chuckle.
"That's quite a turn around in opinion."
Leaning back in his chair and rubbing a hand over tired eyes, Tony thought quietly for a moment before turning serious.
"How do I handle him, Boss? He could have got himself killed today, hence my ranting. I… it was terrifying. We were taking down an organised crime gang and I told him not to move from the rear entry point. I told him at least three times. Of course, he doesn't listen and takes off after two armed perps on his own. I have no choice but to abandon Jenkinson and chase after them. I get there just in time to find him cornered in an alleyway with two guns to one. It took everything I had to diffuse the situation and stop him from getting his damned head blown off. I… I've never been so freaking angry on the job in all my life. I shouted at him to get the hell out of my sight and haven't seen him since…"
His voice had taken on a pained tinge and Gibbs felt a stab of sympathy.
He'd been there, done that, had about a thousand t-shirts.
"It ain't easy being the Boss, huh?"
Tony sighed.
"Not in the mood for an I told you so moment."
Gibbs acceded this as a fair point.
"Well, what do you want, Tony? My advice? Because I think we both know how I would handle that type of situation. How I did handle that type of situation and the hundreds like it over the years. Seems to me that the kid needs discipline, a firm hand. Also seems to me that it's your damned job to provide that discipline. Being the Boss really isn't easy and that's not an I told you so moment. It just is what it is. You got to make tough calls, Tony. That's the job."
Tony looked at him with a tired expression.
"I can't tan his ass, Boss if that's what you're suggesting. That's not me. I… don't have that in me."
Gibbs rolled his eyes.
"What kind of ridiculous statement is that? You don't have it in you? You think I had it in me every single time I had no alternative to but to tan your ass? You think it's something I was just born good at? It ain't rocket science and it ain't a momentous sacrifice. It's discipline, Tony, and you have to have it in you to discipline your people or you don't deserve people in the first place."
He shrugged his shoulders.
"I sure as hell didn't train you to be a spineless leader. I trained you to be the kind of leader that these new kids need and deserve. So, get your head out of your ass and put them before you. That's what the job is. Them before you, at all times, no exceptions. I know it ain't easy having to be the bad guy. Trust me, I know. You don't have to use corporal punishment if that's not your style. Hell, times are so different now it might not be an option in the first place and obviously, it's up to Wilkinson whether he would accept off the record discipline. But you got to find something that works and you got to find it fast. Otherwise, you're going to wind up with a dead Agent on your conscience and I tell you here and now, that'll… that'll change you."
Tony swallowed, taken aback by the sudden deep nature their conversation had taken.
"I just… I…" his voice trailed off in uncertainty.
"You want them to like you," Gibbs finished succinctly. "Right?"
Despite his advancing years, the man was as omniscient as ever and Tony huffed a grudging nod in his direction.
"Don't you ever get tired of knowing everything about everything?"
Gibbs nodded.
"Sure. It can be a headache but someone has to do it. Tony, listen to me. Take it from someone who knows. Your team will not always like you. There will be times when they feel like they hate you. There will be times when they feel like you're out to get them and only care about the end result. You have to suck that up and take it on the chin because you know that you're doing what's best for them, whether they know it or like it. That's what the job is and there's no way around it. You need to accept that or you will never get anywhere with them."
Tony silently absorbed this advice for a moment before speaking quietly.
"I never hated you, Boss. I'm sorry if I ever gave you that impression… wasn't my intention."
Gibbs waived a hand.
"Sure you did. So did McGee and so did the girls. It was rare and it was fleeting but it happened. That's what I'm trying to tell you. It doesn't matter if you're the best Boss that ever walked the Earth, there will come a time or times where your people don't agree with you. Where they think you're being a bastard. Where they don't know all the information they need to know to understand why you're doing what you're doing because that information is need to know. You can't let that hold you back from doing what needs to be done as a Boss. You're the Boss first and a friend second. That's the way it has to be."
Tony couldn't fault the argument and chewed it over in his mind.
"I guess it's harder than I thought it would be," he admitted quietly. "I always thought I'd just know what to do and when to do it. I also thought that I'd be a fun Boss and not like…"
Gibbs grinned as his protégé caught himself just in time.
"Not like me?"
Tony shrugged with a sheepish grin.
"Pretty much."
"Noted," the older man said dryly. "Look, Tony, you need to be your own type of Boss. I ain't saying I was the best Team Lead there ever was and I don't have all the answers… but I did manage to keep you four alive when it seemed at times like that was asking for a miracle. You need to find your own way and your own style but you cannot compromise on discipline because you want to be one of the guys. You ain't one of the guys anymore. The buck stops with you and that's a responsibility you got to take seriously."
Tony nodded slowly with a furrowed brow.
"I did think about tanning his ass today," he admitted slowly. "I was so freaking angry that I felt like dragging him by the scruff to the Conference Room… but I chickened out. Told him to get out of my sight and that I'd deal with him tomorrow. Was planning on landing him with Desk Duty but…"
"But that's a pointless punishment that teaches absolutely nothing?"
"Yeah," Tony sighed. "Pretty much."
Gibbs felt a surge of sympathy for his protégé. He knew the doubts he was grappling with.
"Just talk to the kid," he advised quietly. "It's clear to me that you care about him. That's half the battle. Talk to him and see what will work with him. You got good instincts, Tony, you always did. Trust them and go with your gut. You'll find your groove and so will he. These jumped-up pain-in-the-ass SFA's don't come with instruction manuals you know."
Tony shook his head with a small grin.
"Oh, please. I was a treasure and pleasure and you know it."
Gibbs spluttered.
"Maybe I did cause permanent brain damage by head slapping you."
"No doubt," said Tony dryly before asking the question he'd never envisaged himself asking. "Boss how did you know when enough was enough? If I do this with Wilkinson, and my gut tells me it's the way to go and that he will accept it, how do I know when enough is enough?. I don't… I don't want to hurt him…"
Gibbs felt a stab of fondness for the man across for him. He would be an excellent Boss.
"You just know," he said honestly. "It's instinctual, I promise. I know you and I know that you will never go too far. What I will tell you is that you should never discipline when you're still angry. I know you didn't appreciate being sent to stew in the Conference Room or upstairs here when you were in the shit with me but it was honestly for your own good. If I were to have taken my belt to you when I was still processing whatever the hell stunt you had pulled, I would have hurt you. You have to be absolutely positive that you are in full control of yourself. That you're calm. Do you understand? It's absolutely vital that you are calm and controlled at all times. Otherwise, it stops being discipline and becomes abuse and if you think that you're too old and grown for a hiding if I find out you've abused that boy you're mistaken. Clear?"
Tony nodded without hesitation. His respect for Gibbs superseded his new title.
"Of course."
Gibbs, satisfied with this, gave an approving jerk of his head.
"Good."
Realising the time, Tony drained the last of his drink and fished around in his pocket for his cell to call a cab. When the order was placed, he raised a hopeful brow in the direction of the all-knowing Gibbs.
"Any chance I can just send him over here for you to deal with?"
The former Team Lead shook his head vehemently.
"Hell no. Raise your own. You picked em' you manage em."
Tony sighed.
"Thought so. Though… I would like to you to meet him. To meet all of them. They don't need to know that I can't send them over here. The threat alone should be enough to keep them in line."
Gibbs chuckled.
"My days as the scary Boss are over, Tony. It's all fishing, drinking and black and white Westerns on my side of the fence these days. You can send em' over here as a safe space to get away from you but that's about it."
Tony gawked.
"You've gone soft, Boss. I thought you'd help me keep these migraines in line."
Gibbs took another swig of his bourbon and grinned unrepentantly.
"You thought wrong, Tony. The tables have been turned. Now you're the bad guy and I'm the good guy. It's about damned time, don't you think?"
Tony scowled.
"No I do not think."
Gibbs shrugged with zero regrets.
"Tough. Title or no title I'm still your Boss and that is my decree."
"But, Boss-"
Gibbs made a dramatic show of clinking his crystal glass loudly.
"Tap tap, DiNozzo. Case closed. Jury's in. You're the asshole of a Boss and I'm the joyful consultant type. They can come over here and we'll all bitch about what a jerk you are. I'll tell them all about how you used to do all the things you're now chewing them out for and we'll discuss what a hypocrite you are and how awful you are."
Tony gawped but Gibbs got the last word.
"Just like you four used to do with Mike Franks, remember?"
He grinned a wide grin as the lights of Tony's cab shone through the window.
"Oh, you thought I didn't know about that? I did. I did know about that and like I said…"
He paused for dramatic effect.
"Karma's a bitch."
…..
A/N: Random one-shot that popped into my head. I really think that Tony would need Gibbs' advice when grappling with a team of his own had the show gone in that direction and this is the result.
….