I don't remember which episode this is even a tag to, but I do know that I was not happy with what Ducky did in that episode. That was so not cool. Started out as just that, morphed into something completely different while being written.
"Dr. Mallard." Ducky answered his phone and listened for a second. "Slow down, m'dear. What's wrong with Anthony?" He asked. "Oh, dear. I'll be right up." He hung up the phone and rushed to grab his bag from under his desk.
"Dr. Mallard?" Jimmy asked, coming around the corner of the table where he'd just been sewing up their current guest. "Is everything alright?"
"No, Anthony has just collapsed in the bullpen. I'm going up to see him while we wait for EMT's to arrive. Finish up there and put him to bed." He instructed, pointing at the body on the table and rushing out the door.
"Out of my way." He said sharply a few minutes later when he came into the bullpen area and saw the back of a crowd. It looked like every agent in the building had decided to come gawk at young Anthony, much to his annoyance. Immediately, the crowd parted, and he slipped through, into the circle they were creating around Anthony and Timothy's desks. "Don't you lot have work to do?" He demanded, giving them all a glare that scattered them all. He nodded once in satisfaction.
Honestly, you would think that federal agents wouldn't find something as simple as this so interesting, not when they dealt with worse on a daily basis. Or maybe it was simply because it was Tony. Abby was sitting beside Tony, trying to talk to him, with a vial of smelling salts in her hand. He was barely lucid, and kept trying to close his eyes, saying he was tired. Abby refused to let him, though. Good girl.
"Alright, Anthony, lets see what's wrong." He lowered himself to his knees beside the young man and opened his bag. Out came the pen light. "Hmm... pupillary reaction is slow." He muttered, and took out the pressure cuff to test his blood pressure. He would test blood sugar levels next, just from touching his skin, he knew that his temperature wasn't up. Tony was one of those that when he had a fever, he had a fever. There was no mild temperature with him, oh no. Especially since he got the plague.
"Blood pressure is low... oh, my!" He exclaimed once he saw Tony's blood sugar levels. "Abigail, go to the vending machines, get me juice, and something to eat." He said urgently. She nodded once and left. "Anthony, Anthony, listen to me, when is the last time you ate?" He asked, trying to keep Tony's attention on him.
"Three days..." Tony slurred. Tim sucked in a breath in shock. "Tried to have a pizza, you took it away from me." He slurred again, glaring in accusation. Ducky mentally cursed himself.
Tim looked at his friend in horror. That pizza was the last time Tony had been able to eat, and... and he ate it instead... right in front of him. He'd mocked Tony as he did it, too. Shoved it in his face.
"Why haven't you... we'll discuss this later, when you are more coherent." Ducky started to ask, but cut himself off when he realized Tony was in no shape to be interrogated right now.
"Here." Abby fell back to her knees beside him and held out the juice. She'd even gone so far as to bring a straw for it, and a chocolate bar. It wasn't the healthiest, but it would have to do right now. His blood sugar was dangerously low.
"Excuse me." He glanced behind him to see two EMT's hurrying over to their new patient. "Are you the doctor on site?" One asked.
"Yes." Ducky said and rattled off the numbers he'd already taken for his blood pressure, his pupil reactions, and his blood sugar levels, while holding up the juice and instructing Tony to take small sips. "He says he hasn't eaten in a few days." He said, somewhat guiltily.
"Alright, I'd like to take him in, get him started on an IV, I don't want to play around with numbers like those." One of them said and both started helping Tony to his feet to sit him down on the gurney they'd brought with them, not being sure just what they'd find when they got upstairs. All they'd been told was that an agent had just collapsed at his desk.
"What the- Duck, what's going on here?" Ducky looked up to see Gibbs getting off the elevator, fresh coffee in hand. He left the EMT's to do their jobs, and left Abby to make sure Tony drank some more juice.
"I got a call from Abby, that young Anthony had collapsed, and EMT's had been called. He was barely coherent when I got up here, and his blood sugar levels tested as dangerously low." He said quietly. "I did manage to get out of him that he hasn't eaten in the last few days." He had no doubt that once they weighed him at the hospital, they would find him starting to rapidly lose weight, as well.
"McGee, keep going through records, find me something to use. Have Ziva join you when she returns." Gibbs instructed his junior agent, who nodded in agreement and went back to his desk with a worried glance at Tony. "Abby, don't you have evidence to run?" He suggested gently, and she nodded once before leaving after her own worried glance, and kiss on the cheek for both Tony and Gibbs. She handed him the juice and chocolate bar, already knowing that he was going with Tony to the hospital.
"I think I will come along, as well. I trust Mr. Palmer can finish up downstairs." They were already finished, anyway. If another body came in while he was gone, Jimmy could do the preliminary report, and get the X-rays and such done. The actual autopsy would just have to wait until he returned from the hospital. Both men chose to take the stairs while Tony and the paramedics went to the elevator, and met them at the front doors.
By the time they arrived at the hospital, Tony was more coherent, the juice had helped take the edge off, but he was still tired and wanting to sleep.
Unfortunately for the doctors and nurses, Gibbs was forced into a waiting room while Ducky and the ER doctor got Tony set up with the IV and comfortable in a room. He didn't like this. Why had Tony not been eating? Was he sick? Had something happened to mess with his head? He knew that Tony tended to go off his food if he was stressed enough, that was why he'd gone off on Ducky a few years ago to leave Tony alone about what he ate, because as long as he was eating something... But now he hadn't eaten in days? How had he not noticed that?
"Jethro. You can come in now." Ducky finally showed up at the door, only to see him pacing back and forth like a caged tiger. "The IV is starting to do it's job, he's much more coherent." He informed his friend, who nodded and stalked out of the door.
"Hey, Boss." Tony greeted morosely, picking at the blanket covering his legs.
"Ducky tells me that you haven't been eating lately." He said quietly, taking a seat beside the bed.
Tony shrugged. "Don't have anything in the apartment, and don't have any money." He said simply. "I had a pizza a few days ago... but I never got a chance to eat any of it. It was supposed to last the week until I get more money tomorrow." He said. His investment returns came in tomorrow, along with his paycheck, so he'd be able to go shopping and fill his freezer back up again with home-cooked meals.
Ducky gasped and said, "Oh, dear." To himself quietly.
"Why don't you have money?" Gibbs asked, confused. Tony was a wise investor. From a financial standpoint, he didn't need to work at all.
Tony shrugged. "All my accounts suddenly drained, no idea what happened. I have the bank looking into it, but they're not very optimistic on getting all of it back. They said it could have been my father, since his name suddenly showed up on my accounts again, even though I keep having them take it off, and keep leaving orders that he's not allowed access."
"Why didn't you say anything? McGee or somebody from Cyber could have taken care of it, Legal can handle it, heck, I would have handled it!" Gibbs stood up and loomed over his agent, hurt that Tony hadn't come to him. He would have given him money for food, he would have gone down to that bank and he wouldn't have left until every single cent to Tony's name was back where it belonged. So why hadn't Tony come to him?
Tony shrugged. "Didn't want to bother you." He muttered.
Gibbs cursed and stepped out into the hallway, pulling out his phone. "McGee. Take a break from that. Get into Tony's financials, find out who drained his accounts, and get everything back where it belongs. And make sure that DiNozzo Sr. never gets access again. He should have never had access to begin with, Tony says he'd taken him off the accounts years ago, but somehow he keeps getting himself back on. Take everything to legal once you know what's going on." He instructed.
"Yes, Tony'll be fine. I'll take him to my place to rest and get something to eat once they release him." He listened for a moment, shock and anger filling his face.
"Why would you... you know what? Forget about the pizza, we'll discuss it later. Just get on Tony's financials." He hung up without waiting for a reply and shook his head. Why would Ducky take food away from Tony? He knew better!
"Duck?" He stepped back into the room, where he saw Ducky guiltily apologizing to the man on the bed. "Why would you even begin to think it's alright to take food away from somebody?" He asked, staring at Ducky like he'd grown another head.
Ducky hung his head. "I'm sorry, Jethro, Anthony... I wasn't even thinking. I just... I'm so sorry, Anthony." Ducky looked down, devastated that he had helped create a situation that damaged a friends health in such a way. He'd been around enough to know what not enough food could do to a person's body.
Tony was silent for a second before he glanced at Gibbs, who just shrugged and waved a hand at Ducky, silently telling that it was his call, he was the one hurt here. Tony swallowed before he sighed. Ducky was just one of those people that you just couldn't stay mad at. "Forget about it. Just... never do it again?" He asked, quietly pleading.
Ducky smiled softly. "I will never understand your propensity to forgive, dear boy. It will never happen again." He promised.
"Did the docs say anything?" Gibbs finally asked with a sigh.
"Yeah... take it easy for a few days, let my body recover from the shock or something, and a few small meals at first more spread out throughout the day, before I can go back to eating normally. They'll be back in a few hours to check on me, that will give the IV enough time to drain." He pointed at the bag beside his table, and Ducky gently took his hand before it could start messing with the needle in his other hand.
"And what about how quickly this happened?" Gibbs asked, not at all liking how this only happened after three days of not being able to eat. He knew that a person could go for much longer then that without eating, not that it was at all advised.
"It appears that the combination of stress and overwork from the case, and worrying about his financial situation, as well as not having anything to eat, sent his body into shock, so to speak. Not eating would have caused his blood-sugar levels to drop, while the stress did the rest." Ducky explained. "Coupled with the fact that Anthony is not used to going days on end without eating..." He paused and glanced at Tony. "At least, I should hope not." He muttered. "His body had enough."
Gibbs sighed. "You'll have a few days off, relax. We'll find the scumbag." He promised Tony and left again to call it in that Tony was going on medical leave for a few days. Technically, after all, his doctors orders were to rest, relax, and eat.
Tony must have still been feeling like crap, because he didn't argue, merely sighed and sat back. Gibbs knew, though, that as soon as Tony'd had a few good meals and was feeling more like himself, it would be a fight to get him to relax and take a break.
The man came back to work a week after having the plague, after all.
It didn't take Tim long to get into Tony's financial records. As a federal agent, nothing about his life was private as far as needing search warrants and such was concerned, he just had to be careful that his search didn't raise red-flags and tag Tony for an IA investigation. They seemed to take pleasure in using the smallest doubt to trigger a witch hunt, and that was the last thing Tony needed right now.
It didn't take him long to find what Gibbs had been talking about on the phone, either. "What the-" He muttered. Until five days ago, Tony'd been sitting on a small fortune. "Whoa." His eyebrows shot up as he saw the numbers. He'd had no idea that Tony had so much money... maybe he should have taken Tony's investment advice after all.
But then it had all been transferred to another account... he jotted down the numbers to search for later, and carried out the next part of his orders; finding out how Tony's father kept getting added to Tony's account information. He could sort of understand it, considering the rocky relationship he had with his own dad, but at the same time... not even he refused to have his father anywhere near his accounts. He trusted his father with that much, at least.
"Hold on..." He said, looking at the account records. Anthony DiNozzo Sr. had been taken off the accounts a total of ten times in the last few years, but then a few months later, he was always added back on. Always by the same person within the bank. That person's name was jotted down as somebody for him to check out later. He would bet his computer that that person was getting a nice, tidy sum in their own bank account just before Sr.'s name was added back onto an account he shouldn't be added to.
If the bank worker were female, he might guess that they were being charmed and did it as a 'favor' for the man who was sure it was just some kind of mistake.
With a frown, he hacked the banks network and added blocks to keep it from happening again, and a spy program that would send alerts to his computer the next time somebody tried it. Then he removed him from the accounts, again. Satisfied that Sr. would never again be able to touch his friends money, he went back to the account number that all of Tony's accounts had been drained into.
"Just as I thought." The accounts belonged to a shell company owned by Anthony DiNozzo Sr. It didn't take much for him to find the transfer and reverse it, so that all the money was put back where it belonged, and then he switched to the bank employee that was adding names to other people's accounts. He dug through his entire financial history, put everything he found into an electronic file, along with the information on what he did to Tony's accounts with the relevant information highlighted, and sent it all to the FBI, specifically the White Collar division. They handled money fraud and such, they could handle it. Banks technically fell under their jurisdiction, anyway.
"Hey, Ziva." He said.
"Yes?"
"What are the odds that this is the first time DiNozzo Sr. has stolen from his son?" He asked, looking at her.
She leaned back from where she was doing her own computer searches, since she was suddenly the only person investigating their murdered Marine. "I do not think I like those odds." She said with an ugly look on her face at the thought of it. Not even her father would stoop so low as to steal her money, and there wasn't much that he wouldn't stoop to doing.
"That's what I thought." He muttered and started digging further into Tony's financial history. "I'll finish this up, then get back to helping you." He called while he worked, and barely heard her indicate that she heard him.
"Ok... what do we have here? Huh." He said an hour later, sitting back and looking at what he'd found. Every few years or so, Tony would have a healthy bank account, and then it would suddenly vanish. His 401K from Baltimore PD also seemed to have failed to transfer when Tony came to work for NCIS, instead he'd had to set up a completely new one. It had been a healthy account, too, after three different police departments. A cops salary may not be much, and a detective's salary was only slightly better, but police departments apparently set them up nicely for retirement.
Following the trail, all the missing money ended up in the same exact bank account. He sent all the new information straight to the FBI, since Tony technically fell under their jurisdiction as a Federal Agent and NCIS wasn't really equipped to handle something like this... Not in the civilian sector, at least. He then put a timed alert on Sr.'s accounts, when it went off, his accounts would be flagged with the IRS as something to take a look at. The timer was set to allow plenty of time for a proper investigation, and for the stolen funds to be returned to Tony, that way the IRS didn't just take the whole lot of it and say 'sorry'.
And then he emailed the whole mess to Legal, and sent a copy to Director Vance. He would want to know, after all, that one of his agents was regularly being stolen from by his own father. The legal department could handle it all from here.
"Boss." He said on the phone when Gibbs picked up. "Yeah, I just got done. I emailed everything I found to FBI, Legal, and Vance. I even got the IRS in on it... yeah, it was Sr. It looks like he had one of the bank employees in his pocket... It wasn't just this one time, either. He's been draining Tony's accounts every so often for years. Did you know that Tony's 401K never transferred from Baltimore when you first hired him? It disappeared, but I found it!... Yup. I got the money that disappeared a few days ago back where it belongs, and set some programs into place to ensure that Sr. never gets added to Tony's accounts again. I even set up an alert for if he tries again. The FBI and legal will work on getting back everything else that was stolen over the years." He looked up when a shadow fell across his desk, and bit his lip when he saw Vance standing there.
Obviously the man checked his email regularly.
"Yup... alright. How's Tony?" He asked. "Alright, I'll tell Ziva." He looked at his phone in annoyance when it cut off on him before he could even say 'bye'. Shaking his head, he set it back down and turned his attention to the Director. "Sir?" He asked.
"I just got an interesting email." Vance said, and stared with an eyebrow raised, expecting an explanation.
"Gibbs called, told me to dig into Tony's financials and find out what happened to his money. I just followed the money trail, and it all led to Anthony DiNozzo Sr." He shrugged. "I wanted to make sure that this was the only time, so I dug deeper, and found out this has been happening for years."
Vance worked his toothpick in his mouth and cursed.
"I'll talk to Legal about doing everything they can... you sent the file to the FBI, too? I'll find out who takes the case." He muttered and walked away, enraged that one of his agents had been stolen from, multiple times. The real kicker, though, was that DiNozzo had never said anything.
Gibbs snapped his phone shut and pinched his nose, already feeling a headache coming on. "McGee found your money, and put it all back where it belongs. He also tracked the accounts the funds were transferred into, and how your father kept getting his name added back to your accounts." He informed Tony, who was watching him.
He couldn't even begin to describe the emotions flitting across his Senior Field Agents face at that moment. "It was my father, wasn't it?" He asked quietly after a minute.
Gibbs sighed. "Yeah. McGee also traced your missing or stolen money every time it went missing, plus your 401K that never transferred over. It wasn't just lost in the system, it was absorbed into the same account as the rest of your money over the years." He said.
Ducky and Gibbs exchanged a worried look when all Tony did with this information was stare blankly at the wall.
"Tony?" Gibbs asked finally, concerned.
Tony slowly turned to look at them, resigned. "I've always suspected, but I never really... I always just let the bank deal with it, and they were usually able to recover some of it... I guess I just didn't want to know." He muttered. It wasn't a shock, though. His father only ever contacted him when he wanted something, after all.
Finally he sighed. "I guess that's it, then, isn't it?" He asked quietly. "Did McGee find out how he kept getting on my accounts?" He asked.
"He was paying one of the bank employees." Gibbs shook his head, amazed at the lengths Tony's father had gone to get his sons hard-earned money. Then again, he supposed that the amount he got from Tony made what he paid out irrelevant.
Tony blinked. "Seriously?" He deadpanned, surprised that his father would have put the money out for that. Gibbs shrugged, not knowing either. Ducky muttered something in Gaelic, which both Tony and Gibbs recognized as one of the rudest things the old Scott could say.
"What now?" Tony asked after a few seconds.
"Well... McGee emailed the whole mess to Legal and the FBI. I think he also called the IRS on your father." Gibbs grinned wryly.
"That'll tick him off." Tony muttered with a snort.
"That is not your problem, my boy. Your father is the one dipping his hand in your well-earned funds. He should know that there are consequences." Ducky said sternly, not at all liking how Tony always seemed to take his fathers actions against him as being his fault.
"What happens to your father from this point on is not your fault." Gibbs said quietly after a few moments of watching Tony.
Tony didn't say anything, just picked at the blanket covering his legs and at the chocolate bar Abby had gotten for him from the vending machine. Nothing else was said about his father, or his financials. They all knew that Tim had the mess sorted out and had the FBI and Legal on the case, so Tony could probably expect to hear from Sr. soon about the 'mix-up'. Gibbs had no intention of letting Tony drop any of the charges. And he knew that Vance wouldn't be dropping charges, either.
Despite his personal opinion of Tony, which had been changing little by little, the man took care of his agents. He had their backs when it counted, and he was just as angry as everybody else when something happened to one of them.
By the time the doctor came in to take out the IV and release Tony, Gibbs and Ducky had a very grumpy and restless SFA on their hands. He kept toying with the IV, then he kept trying to take it out, then he kept trying to get up to leave. "Tony, would you settle down?" Gibbs finally barked, exasperated.
"I hate hospitals, and you know I hate needles!" Tony almost whined.
Both Gibbs and Ducky sighed. "I know you do, but you gotta leave it in until doc takes it out." Gibbs said after a moment, catching Tony's hand again before it reached the needle in his arm.
Luckily, the doctor didn't seem too put-out by his patient trying to be difficult, he was probably used to it. "Let's see... levels are normal again, that's good..." He checked Tony over and quickly removed the I.V after pronouncing Tony fit to leave. "I recommend a good meal and some rest. You should be good alright to return to work tomorrow, as long as you take the rest of today off and get something to eat. That being said, I would prefer if you take tomorrow off as well." He advised before he left again, quickly followed by a nurse holding release paperwork. He knew Agent DiNozzo wouldn't take the recommended day off, everybody on this floor knew the man wasn't going to take the time.
Yes, he had a reputation at almost every hospital in the D.C area.
"Come on, you're staying with me tonight." Gibbs picked up Tony's jacket, which Ducky had grabbed on his way out of the squad room.
Tony paused for a second from jumping out of the bed in excitement before getting up more slowly. "Are you sure boss? I don't want to be a bother, I can go back to my apartment, it's not a big deal." He tried to wave off.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs gave him a glare. "You are staying with me tonight." He didn't give Tony any room to get out of it, he just handed him his jacket and waited for him to put it on while he collected the rest of Tony's things from the table in the room. "Come on." He chivvied him out the room and out to his truck.
Fornell sighed when he entered the elevator. He didn't know why he was here, this whole mess was the White Collar division's deal, they were the ones who dealt with financial stuff like this. He suspected his involvement was purely because the case involved Gibbs, and a member of Gibbs' team. For some reason the higher-ups at the FBI thought he was the only one who could control Gibbs or get him to be cooperative.
Ha!
They knew nothing about Gibbs if they thought he could get the man to cooperate with anything. If Gibbs cooperated, it was because he saw a use for it, nothing more. It certainly had nothing to do with him!
Besides, he usually looked back on those times and wondered how he ended up getting the raw end of the deal, instead of the better end of it like he was supposed to. DiNozzo was a bad influence on his friend in that regard.
"McGee. Where's Gibbs?" He asked, entering the retired Marine's area.
"Fornell!" Tim looked up, surprised. "Not here right now, I think he took the rest of the day to take care of Tony." He'd called shortly after leaving the hospital to let them know to keep searching, and that he'd be back in the morning. If they needed any help, Balboa knew to be nearby. He was pleased with the trust their boss was showing them in letting them handle it on their own.
"DiNutso? What happened to him?" Fornell asked, confused and concerned. The whole thing was because his father was stealing from him, after all.
"Ah, he collapsed earlier. His blood sugar levels and stuff tanked... so, he has a few days off. Gibbs dragged him to his house to rest." Tim explained a bit, not sure how much to really reveal to the FBI agent, but also knowing he could be trusted with the information.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Well, I'm here because the agent put in charge of Tony's case is too scared to come down here and deal with Gibbs himself." Fornell smirked briefly.
"Tony's case... oh! Right. So they sent you?" Tim asked, blinking. Fornell shrugged. "Well... I gave them all the information I'd found, not sure what else they could want." And he'd been able to find quite a bit. Tony's financial records were a cake-walk compared to hacking the CIA, or any of the other system's he'd hacked in his time. He also knew that the FBI had Penelope Garcia if they needed any more computer-related expertise, so...
"Yeah, I know. But... this involves a member of Gibbs team, so..." Fornell shrugged again.
Ziva barked a laugh. "Do not tell us that the FBI is afraid of Gibbs, so they sent you?" She asked, grinning.
"Apparently." He shared in her amusement. An entire agency of highly trained and skilled men and women were seemingly too scared of one man to be able to speak with him themselves, so they sent him every time they needed somebody to interact with anybody on Gibbs' team.
Everybody nearby who overheard Ziva shared a laugh at that. Sure, Gibbs could be a scary guy, but only if you were being stupid. The few FBI agents he'd had to interact with outside of Fornell happened to have been labeled as stupid very, very quickly by the Senior Agent.
"Agent Fornell. What brings you to our building?" Director Vance asked from behind the group.
"I am apparently the official liaison between Gibbs and the FBI." Fornell explained simply with an eyeroll.
"Ah. This is about DiNozzo and his father?" Vance asked, just to make sure. He had to work to hide his amusement at that statement.
"Yup. I don't know quite why I was sent though, not if McGee has already sent them everything he knows."
"I'm not sure either. Let's discuss this more in my office, though." Vance invited. He knew it wouldn't take long for the information to spread, if it hadn't already, but he would protect his agent's privacy as much as he could.
"What do you know?" He asked once they were in the privacy of his office.
"Sr's finances are being pulled, the amount of money that was Tony's is being flagged so that they know what is what, and where the rest of his money came from is being looked into. McGee only looked for Tony's money, he didn't dig into Sr too much." Fornell shrugged. "It looks like Tony will get all his money back, Sr's accounts can support that." He added, making Vance sigh in relief. That was something, at least, at least Sr hadn't spent all of his agents money. "Of course, it will take a while, McGee already returned the money that was taken a few days ago, but the rest of it was done years ago, and they're having to dig to verify McGee's findings, and well... there are few people as good with a computer."
"I understand that McGee put a timer on Sr's accounts. Once the FBI is done with him, he will be turned over to the IRS." Vance said.
"Really?" Fornell laughed. "That'll teach him to have sticky fingers." He snorted. An FBI investigation, and an IRS auditing? He was screwed. And with the amount of money they were talking, he might even see some jail time.
"Indeed." Vance agreed with a smirk.
Fornell shook his head and stood up. "Well, I suppose I better get to Gibbs' house, interview DiNutso for the agent in charge of his case." He grumbled. Why was he having to do the legwork of another agent? One that wasn't even in his department, at that.
"You'll have to get past Gibbs, first." Vance commented, amused. Fornell just scowled and walked out without another word.
"I don't need to stay, I'll be fine at my apartment." Tony tried to protest again, debating whether or not he should even get out of the car. Besides, McGee had already put his money back and made sure his accounts were working as they should, so he could get some groceries on his way home and do some cooking.
"You will stay right here." Gibbs said simply, pulling him out of the car and herding his agent into the house with an eyeroll, used to his protests when Gibbs dragged him to his home after an injury or illness. "Sit." He shoved Tony onto the couch and disappeared into the kitchen for a few seconds, emerging a few minutes later with a sandwich and water. "Eat." He demanded. The doctor had said smaller, more frequent meals for a couple of days before he could start eating like normal again, so he was going to make sure Tony followed doctor's orders.
Tony sighed and eyed the sandwich in contemplation before finally deciding that the chocolate bar and apple at the hospital was hours ago, and he was hungry, so he might as well not protest. While he did that, Gibbs turned on the news and made a few calls. He talked to Vance about what was going on with Tony's father, then McGee and Ziva about the case they were currently working. Tony offered some insight on a few avenues they could explore when McGee admitted they'd hit a wall in the case. McGee followed Tony's instructions once he realized where he was going with it and quickly got over the wall.
Gibbs hung up with a snort. "That's why I keep ya." He chuckled, tapping Tony on the back of the head fondly. He was an excellent investigator. Tony had no idea what was going on with the case aside from that brief phone call with McGee, and he was able to offer substantial advice.
"I thought it was my charming personality." Tony quipped, enjoying his sandwich. He knew that wasn't the only reason.
Gibbs just smiled slightly and handed Tony the remote. At some point over the years, a new T.V had shown up in his living room, replacing the antique he had before that. He knew it was Tony's doing, but the younger agent never said a word, not even a teasing quip about him finally getting a new set. Since the new T.V had shown up, a DVD player had sneakily joined it, along with a small range of movies, including copies of Gibbs' favorite westerns.
Tony accepted the remote and flipped the channel to something he knew Gibbs would watch that wasn't the history channel, the news, or sports. As much as he liked sports, he also knew there weren't any interesting games on at this time of day.
"You know that you aren't a bother? You never could be." Gibbs said quietly after a few moments of quiet between the two.
Tony sighed. "You might eventually." He muttered.
"Hey! It's not going to happen." Gibbs said more firmly, with a glare to go with it. He went to say something else, but was interrupted by the front door opening.
"Gibbs, you he- ah, there you are." Tobias Fornell came in, sighing when he saw the two of them on the couch, Tony finishing off what appeared to be a sandwich.
"Tobias." Gibbs greeted, watching the FBI agent warily. "I help you with something?"
Fornell sighed. "I'm here to get DiNutso's official statement for the investigation just opened into his father." He said, slightly apologetic.
Gibbs and Tony frowned. "You don't work White Collar. You handle organized crime. And didn't McGee send you guys everything he found?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah, well. I am apparently the go-to person whenever a member of your team is involved." Fornell shrugged and spread his hands out in a 'what-can-you-do' gesture. "So, I'm here on behalf of the agent who took the case."
Gibbs' frown deepened and he glanced at Tony, who shrugged. "What do you need?"
"Just DiNutso's official statement." Fornell said, relieved that Gibbs wasn't going to turn this into an uphill battle. He stepped forward and pulled a recorder and pad of paper out of his brief-case, setting up while Gibbs turned off the T.V and went to refill his coffee, giving them privacy.
"... Yeah. I understand. Thank you." Tony said into the phone, slowly hanging up afterwards.
"Well?" Gibbs asked from his desk.
"Dad's getting twenty years for embezzlement and bank fraud. Fornell is making sure that once they're done figuring everything out, that I get everything that's mine plus interest, that it doesn't 'disappear' into the system." Tony sighed and leaned back.
Apparently his father wasn't as wealthy as he'd always thought. He was a con man, he'd always suspected it but he'd never expected to have it confirmed. By the time all was said and done, his father only had enough in his accounts for him to get his money back. Everything else was money that they'd been able to trace back to other 'business partners', who'd been getting increasingly agitated when his father couldn't, or didn't, follow through with his promises. There had been several other 'back-door' deals that had been found out as well that were of questionable legality, that probably didn't help Senior's case.
"Twenty? Just how much did he take?" Tim asked, but then again, he'd seen those bank records for himself, and to find out that most of it wasn't Seniors, well... but he didn't think there was twenty years worth. But then again, if Senior had been at it a long time, then that was a lot of money over the years.
"Legal and Fornell wanted to make an example of him. Partly because of how long this had been going on, partly because I'm a federal agent..." Tony shrugged.
"Makes sense." Gibbs grunted. Vance and him had also talked, and Vance made it clear that he was not letting up on charges. There were going to be no 'plea deals', no bargains, none of that. To say that he was unhappy with what the man had been doing to his own son... was an understatement.
"Let's go out to eat tonight. My treat." Tony said suddenly, eyeing his bank account information on the screen in front of him.
He nodded his head at the round of agreements from his team, and picked up the phone to make reservations. Might as well make it a nice place.
