Chapter 2

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TIMESKIP SEVERAL WEEKS

Tony was intrigued, the young man never seemed to understand any of his modern movie references though he always expressed interest in Tony's explanations. His knowledge of old foreign classics was extensive though. Tony hadn't seen a lot of them claiming that too much of the depth of the film was lost when you were busy reading subtitles. Spencer agreed with that but then dumbfounded Tony by stating that he generally learned the language so he could appreciate the film properly.

"I barely speak Italian and I'm a DiNozzo" he replied.

"Have you every seriously tried to learn it?" Spencer asked. "Did your parents speak Italian?"

"No my mother was English Aristocracy and my father tried desperately to eliminate any sign of his being of a lower class than she was, including his ancestry. My Nonna, spoke Italian to me sometimes when my parents weren't around to object, but we didn't spend much time with her. Some of the house staff were Italian but they were forbidden to speak it in front of me."

"Do you get along with your Dad?" Spencer asked a little wistfully.

"Not since my mother died when I was nine" Tony replied. "He's more interested in the next business deal than his heir."

"My Dad walked out when I was ten, I haven't heard from him since" Spencer offered. "Mom was sick and she begged him to take me with him but he wouldn't. I was kind of glad though once I got over the shock of it, he wanted me to be normal, to like little league instead of books. I was never good enough."

"I know that feeling. Dad promised if I made the team he'd come to a game, and then it was if I made the varsity team, and then the championships, then a college team. It was always he'll come to the next game, that he got caught up with work, that there was some big deal he had to make that couldn't wait. I spent years trying to be good enough. You were smart to see it at ten and move on. Or lucky! Not that it's lucky that your dad moved out."

"It didn't feel like it at the time" Spencer agreed. "And Mom and I certainly had some hard times, but at least she loved me for who I was, still does though she doesn't like me working for the government."

"So she recovered then. From the illness that made her want you to leave with your father?" Tony asked.

"No, she has Schizophrenia, she's well medicated now but still not capable of living alone. She lives in a Sanatorium in Vegas" Spencer said sadly.

"My mother died of an overdose of alcohol and sleeping tablets, I found out later she was being treated for clinical depression" Tony shared his own problems with a mentally ill mother. "I looked into her death after I became a police officer. Her psychiatrist had recommended hospitalization but dad refused. He thought it would be bad for his business if people knew his wife was mentally ill. I wish someone had cared enough to put her into care."

"She probably wouldn't have needed long term residential care, depression can be cured" Spencer said grasping his forearm supportively.

TIMESKIP – ABOUT A WEEK

"How'd you get to be a SSA already anyway? You're still so young, even with your mind you should still be someone's Probie in an entry level position" Tony said.

"I was recruited by Gideon, specifically to be a profiler. He didn't want to waste time waiting for me to work my way up to being a SSA to qualify for the position. He wouldn't even have sent me to the academy to become an agent if his section chief would've approved for me to travel with the team full time as a consultant. And even then, I didn't actually pass a lot of the physical stuff. Gideon arranged a lot of exemptions for me." Spencer admitted.

"It must be nice to be that valued by someone" Tony said.

"Yeah it was rough at first though. He didn't exactly consult the rest of the team about hiring me before I started. I know the others were pissed off about it for a while" Spencer said cringing at the memories of his first few days at the BAU. "I am still the junior member of the team though they don't use the word Probie. The team are quite protective of me in the field."

"Has that made it hard to make friends?" Tony asked.

"Outside the team it would've been impossible anyway. Those that don't resent me for being able to walk into a position they'd been working towards for years still don't understand why I was promoted to SSA straight out of the academy. I don't fit the image of a successful FBI agent so they think I don't belong. My team are the only ones who accept me. I understand their resentment but there's nothing I can do about it" Spencer replied.

"I should introduce you to Tim. He's my Probie. He's pretty smart but not as smart as you. He helped us out on a couple of cases out at Norfolk and made an impression with Gibbs. There's some people that resent him for being on the MCRT but not so many because not many agents actually want to work with Gibbs" Tony said.

"Hmm," Spencer replied noncommittally. He hated being introduced to people because someone thought they should get along. From what he'd heard Tim and Abby would get along terrifically with Garcia but he wasn't sure he'd actually find enough in common with them that they'd overlook his social awkwardness.

Thankfully, Tony noticed his lack of enthusiasm and backed off. He didn't understand why Spencer lacked confidence. In his experience he was a great guy, a little geeky but his intelligence and interest in everything made it easy for them to find things to talk about. He suspected that Spencer was researching movies so he'd have things to say. It was kind of flattering that he made such an effort to be friends.

Spencer loved that Tony was interested in all the random facts he knew about old movies, especially the remakes of foreign films and subtitled films where Spencer couldn't help but point out where the subtitles didn't quite catch the nuances of the original language.

TIMESKIP ANOTHER WEEK

"What will you do if they don't let you back in the field?" Tony asked after one training session didn't go well, for either of them. Jodie had tried to change up their exercise program and had inadvertently increased the workload a little too much.

"The NSA wants me to work for them full time," Spencer said reluctantly. "Cryptography too if I wanted to stay at the FBI. They've always wanted me but I love the BAU, they're my family and the work I do there is important too. I can see that I'm making a difference. I don't want to leave it."

"At least you've got a job to go to if it comes to that. An important job too, that will still make a difference," Tony said.

"What about you?" Spencer asked.

"It won't be the first time I've had to turn around and start again," Tony said bravely. "I was a cop before I was an agent. It is all I've ever known. My degree is in Physical Education but I doubt that's going to do me any good now. I was headed to playing professional football until I out broke my leg in senior year. Turns out the guy who broke my leg is now my respiratory physician. He saved my life."

"That's a strange coincidence," Spencer said laughing a little. "But what will you do? Will you go back to school?"

"And learn what? I'd probably take a desk job somewhere, I'm not senior enough to be offered one at NCIS though. I'd probably end up as one of those people who work the front desk at a large police station," Tony said despondently.

"You were injured carrying out your job. They should compensate you for that," Spencer replied. "Including paying for your retraining in the career of your choice."

"I don't know where to begin," Tony said blankly, "I was never the sedentary type Spence. There's not a single thing that I'd be fit enough at the moment that I'm interested in doing for the rest of my life."

Spencer laid his hand on Tony's arm in silent support. There was nothing to say.

-o0o-

"Do you like her?" Spencer asked after Tony finished describing Kate. He blushed and stammered "I mean would you like to go out with her, have a relationship?"

Tony grinned. "Even if it wasn't breaking Rule twelve I wouldn't date a woman that straight laced and tightly strung. It's just fun to bait her. We have more of an annoying sibling type relationship," he described.

"Rule twelve?" Spencer asked. He'd heard a couple of Gibb's rules by now but not that one.

"Never date a co-worker," Tony said grinning.

"Did he make that rule for you?" Spencer teased.

"No actually it was one of the first rules he told me but he'd never tell me why," Tony replied.

"My friend Morgan has a similar rule. His rule is never date a woman who carries a gun" Spencer said.

"Yeah, that one makes a lot of sense," Tony replied. "But with all the traveling you guys do half the women you meet would be victims, their families and local LEO's, that puts quite a limit on things."

"Yeah but Morgan doesn't have any trouble meeting women," Spencer replied slightly flat.

Tony noticed and decided the best thing to do was to change the subject, "I think if Kate was going to break Rule twelve she'd be interested in the boss man," he said.

"You mean Gibbs or the Director?" Spencer asked.

"Our Director is a woman, in fact I think she might be the reason for Rule twelve. She and Gibbs were partners in Paris years ago, and there's definitely something between them," Tony confided.

"So your friend Kate's crush on the boss isn't returned?" Spencer said, "That must make it hard for her to work with him."

"It's pretty mild if she has one, or she keeps it hidden better than I thought she's capable of. She knew right from the start he wasn't single. On the case we worked with her before she left the secret service he had some mysterious redhead pick him up in his car," Tony dismissed his partners feelings. "What about your team, any secret romances?"

"Morgan and Garcia have this extreme flirting going on but I think they're just really good friends. He's never made a move on her, and he picks up other women in front of her when we go out as a team," Spencer said.

"So he's not interested in more than friendship but what about her?" Tony asked.

"I don't know, she flirts with everyone even me and I know she doesn't feel that way about me, I think it's just more with Morgan because he plays along," Spencer profiled. "She likes it because he makes her feel attractive."

"Isn't she?" Tony asked.

"Garcia's pretty and unique and her confidence to be herself is attractive but she isn't the type of woman guys hit on. That sounds bad but I didn't mean it to. She's lovely and bubbly and cheers up everyone around her just by her presence. It's just she's not fashionably thin. She comes across as tough and heaven knows with our job she's not innocent and naïve but inside she's pretty vulnerable," Spencer struggled to express himself clearly. He did think Garcia was pretty though he wasn't personally attracted to her.

"What about you, would you like to date any of the people on your team if you didn't work with them?" Tony asked.

"No they're my family. I couldn't see them like that," Spencer replied. "I had a bit of a crush on JJ when we first met but it was just because she was literally the first pretty girl that's ever been nice to me."

"So is there a pretty lady or handsome man elsewhere that you'd like to get to know romantically?" Tony asked.

"No I get too nervous to try to pick up women so it's difficult to get to know anyone to know if I want to ask them out. It's okay though I like being on my own and normally I'm too busy for a relationship," Spencer said blushing.

"Well when we're both well enough to hang around in smoky bars and clubs again I'm going to take you out and help you meet someone," Tony promised.

Spencer sighed. "Morgan tried that. It didn't go well," he admitted.

"That's because your friend Morgan doesn't have the DiNozzo charm," Tony said confidently.

TIMESKIP ANOTHER WEEK

They got to know each other quite well, and developed a supportive relationship encouraging each other to continue their therapy when gains seemed non-existent and celebrating together when they finally came. They ate out together or Spencer came over to Tony's for movies and takeout a couple of times a week while Spencer's team were out of town and Tony's were busy.

Eventually Tony got tired of pussyfooting around the issue of how they both ended up needing pulmonary rehab and one night while the two of them were eating and discussing what movie to watch, well Tony had been debating what movie Spencer should see and Spencer was listening eagerly and injecting his opinion and what stats he knew about each movie. Tony found it refreshing to have a friend that didn't expect him to play the clown to entertain them or to fit into the frat boy persona he'd had in college. Sure, he loved his frat buddies but as time went by it was harder and harder to find any real things in common with them and if he were honest he was starting to feel uncomfortable being the person he became in their presence. With Spencer, he could be himself, mostly because when they first met he didn't have the energy to be anyone but himself and Spencer had accepted that Tony as his friend unconditionally. He had the feeling that the profiler would see through any masks he tried to put up now anyway, and it felt good to know there was one person on this earth that he would never need to pretend for. Tony went quiet, thinking about this for a moment, then decided to tell Spencer his story.

"I had Plague. Y-Pestis," Tony said. "A crazy woman who was pissed off at NCIS for not finding her daughter's rapist years ago, sent it to us in a letter. I was stupid enough to open it and blow it all over the bullpen. I'm grateful that I didn't make anyone else sick."

"How'd it survive the security X-ray?" Spencer asked curiously. He felt slightly guilty, they weren't supposed to share secrets and if he didn't stop Tony now he'd have to choose between sharing a classified beyond top secret event and losing his new friend. "Wait stop! Before you tell me, what's your clearance?"

"What happened to you was more classified than the knowledge of how to send biological weapons via post?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Um yeah, maybe! Fort Detrick kind of classified," Spencer stammered. "Even my boss at the NSA wasn't cleared for this."

Tony told Spencer his classification. "It's okay if you want to check it before you tell me" he said comfortingly. "But my team handle terror threats all the time."

"Terror threats against military targets Tony," Spencer replied. "This was tested against civilians and even though the main target was military personnel they were willing to kill thousands of civilians to get to them, it had the potential to be the next 9/11 if the team hadn't stopped it in time."

Tony gulped. Yeah, he'd come to terms with the fact that the kid outranked him and that his security clearance was higher than his, not to mention being several times as smart as he was. But the thought that this kid who looked barely old enough to be a postgraduate student could have been on the front line in an event like that truly shook him. He went back to telling him about his own event so he wouldn't have to think about it.

"The bitch sent the virus in a high-quality envelope with an antique lipstick SWAK on both sides," Tony replied.

"What's a swak?" Spencer asked.

"A lipstick kiss mark, it's an acronym for 'Sealed With A Kiss'," Tony replied smirking. Sometimes what this kid knew and didn't know baffled him.

"Antique lipstick, you mean old enough to contain lead?" Spencer said looking at him for confirmation. "The kiss marks protected the virus from the X-ray?"

"Yeah one on the inside of the front of the envelope and one outside on the back in the same place and a moisture strip full of plague in the middle," Tony nodded amazed at how quickly Spencer was able to make the connection. "It was my fault I got infected. I was stupid. When I saw the kiss I arrogantly took the envelope from my Probie. I pretty much told him he wasn't cool enough to get letters with a kiss. I was teasing but I could see he was hurt by the insult. Then it turned out to be pneumonic plague and I was the only one affected though my partner was less than happy to have her favourite work outfit burnt. And to have to shower in the men's bathroom with just a curtain protecting her privacy. Kate's kind of a prude."

"At least she got a shower and a bathroom. I got scrubbed down in a decontamination tent by two strangers then transported to hospital naked. I'm just grateful that they set up the tent with the transparent wall facing the empty house and not the street," Spencer complained.

Tony couldn't help but laugh. The thought of the extremely self-conscious, touch phobic Spencer being stripped and scrubbed down in public was too much.

"Did they at least give you a blanket to cover up?" He asked.

"Yeah once I was in the stretcher," Spencer agreed. "I passed out in the ambulance and woke up in a hospital gown twenty-four hours later."

"They at least gave me swish new royal blue jammies, though I didn't get to keep them, they burnt them afterwards. I spent the night in this isolation tent inside the hospital with these blue lights to try to kill the bugs. It must have worked because Kate was with me and it turned out all she had was a cold. We were in isolation for hours before I began to get sick. Kate pretended to be infected too so I wouldn't have to stay in isolation alone. The plague had been modified to be antibiotic resistant and to have a suicide gene added. After twenty-four hours the virus killed itself but the damage was done," Tony said seriously.

"That's an incredible risk for her to take," Spencer said awed by the level of friendship Tony's teammate showed him.

"Yeah," Tony agreed. He was slightly embarrassed by the way he'd treated Kate while they were in isolation when he realised that she'd stayed for his sake. "Did your team stay with you?"

"Morgan offered but I told him to leave, the case was too important. Besides I didn't want him watching me be stripped and scrubbed down. It was embarrassing enough without having someone I was going to have to work with afterwards watching. By the time I got to the hospital I was too sick to know who was there or not," Spencer said blushing at the memory.

"How did you survive that?" Tony asked, ignoring his friend's blush.

"The professor that had weaponised the anthrax to kill had an antidote hidden in his office. After I was exposed I locked myself in there until I found it," Spencer replied. "Unfortunately, it was too late for a lot if the victims."

"There was a weaponised anthrax outbreak with casualties on American soil and they managed to cover it up?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Spencer said nervously. "They released it in a public park here in Annapolis. Twenty-one people died before I found the antidote, twelve of them before we even knew it was anthrax. That was the second attack, the first attack was inside a bookstore, luckily it occurred right on closing time but the three people infected received a large enough dose that they died too quickly to even be identified as anthrax, they didn't even develop the welts. If it became known about the attack, then people would be afraid to leave their houses."

"So that's the classified part, not how it was dispersed or anything technical?" Tony asked.

"Twenty-four people died in what was pretty much a couple of test runs," Spencer said dryly. "Even though I found the antidote within six hours of the military and the FBI being called in and within twenty-four hours of the initial exposure it was too late for most of them. The anthrax had been modified to be antibiotic resistant and to kill too quickly. Even knowing what the antidote was they couldn't have made enough of it to save the civilians or even most of the military personnel who would have been infected if my team hadn't caught the guy in time to prevent the next attack."

"How close was it?" Tony croaked.

"Morgan said less than a minute or two. The unsub was already on the platform with the anthrax. He'd packed it into light bulbs all he had to do was drop the bag," Spencer replied. "With the wind through the tunnels he could have taken out half the platforms on the red line by the time word got out to evacuate the stations and the trains aren't that sort of airtight, all people already on trains would have been dead before we could do anything, not to mention the chaos caused by having all the trains on the line running without drivers in peak hour."

"It was here in DC?" Tony gasped in horror.

"Yes, though the test case was in Annapolis," Spencer didn't elaborate.

"Why the red line? From what I've read, isn't the yellow line more vulnerable to that sort of attack," Tony asked.

"You read that report," Spencer said happily. "The others all laughed at me for having read it."

"Yeah because you've probably read the same reports on every city in the United States," Tony teased. "I live in this city."

You're right, luckily the red line was chosen for personal reasons which was what allowed the team to predict where he would attack. The unsub was rejected from his dream job by Fort Detrick and the closest he could get to attacking them was to attack their staff who used the train," Spencer replied. "Otherwise he could have used any platform along the loop and we might not have found him in time."

"And because you were already looking for him he would have got some of the FBI's finest as well," Tony said.

"As well as a lot of the top biological weapons experts in the country. First responders as well if we didn't manage to get the word out not to enter the underground to prevent his escape," Spencer agreed. "Worst case scenario easily 10,000 deaths, and our economy would grind to a halt because people would be afraid to travel into the cities to work for fear of another attack. At least we were able to prove the pilots involved in 9/11 died in the attack, this man wouldn't have if he'd taken the antidote, and even if we caught him there are many people that would never believe it, or believed he was working alone and the threat was over."

"And yet you're still planning to continue to ride the train to work when you're reinstated?" Tony replied. "You have the biggest balls of anyone I've ever met."

Spencer blushed.

"Do you do many anti-terrorism cases? I thought you guys chased serial killers," Tony asked.

"We do mostly, but we do some anti-terrorism cases where the targets are civilians. It depends what else is going on in the world. Several members of our team wrote the manual on negotiating with various forms of hostage takers so we sometimes get called in to those situations as well. We went to Gitmo several months ago to profile the leader of an El Qaeda cell who had a Anthrax bomb to work out where they were going to strike, luckily we got that one in time so there were no casualties," Spencer said, as if unaware he was totally shaking Tony's belief in the safety of everyone he knew.

"What was the target?" Tony asked faintly, now he was hearing that there had been not only one, but two attempted anthrax attacks on US soil in the past eighteen months.

"The grand opening of the huge new shopping monstrosity in McLean," Spencer replied.

"McLean Virginia?" Tony repeated. "And I thought doomsday preppers were the ones touched in the head."

Spencer chuckled mirthlessly, he'd had more time to get used to things like that but it still shook him that there were people out there willing to take thousands of innocent lives. He decided to return to the previous topic before Tony could ask him about more attacks. "Our jobs aren't so different sometimes, but yes we mostly get invited in on cases that involve serial offenders, murderers, rapists and arsonists."

"We do a bit of everything too so long as the victim or suspect is part of the navy or marine corps or a naval or marine dependent. As the major case response team, we mostly do murders, kidnappings, missing officers with high level security clearances or major threats. It's the best sort of team to work on. I'd go mad if we had to deal with terrorists or espionage cases full time," Tony said.

"I think we'd all become hypervigilant and paranoid if we did that all the time without a break," Spencer agreed. "Maybe that's why the CIA operatives are all a bit off."

Tony laughed and agreed.

A/N: Thank you to Rori Potter, shoppingnull, julschristine975, DS2010, Village-Mystic, xoshortnsassy09, Addictedtoreading452, blackgirl663, drdeth2000, DaemonWolfe, ShinyaDiey, Ashlin3, lizg12, Badenwill, Monchele1357, Lady Akina, ShadowSkill29, ahowell1993, Age0102, WickedMagic, addictedtoromanceandfanfiction and janiram for your support.