Notes: the nice English lady is checking my chapters now. Any mistakes are mine.

Chapter 4 – Battle Aftermath

Tony and Delores were guided to another room to sit for the after-show interview. They were expecting the DoD representative, Daniel Hill, to be there to guide the questions and were surprised when a tall young black woman introduced herself.

'Good afternoon, Agent DiNozzo, Ms Bromstead,' she shook their hands. 'Mr Hill went home for the day, so I will be the representative for the campaign for your interview. I'm Madeleine Myers, from the PR office of the Department of Justice.'

'Pleasure,' Delores answered.

'Any tips, Ms Myers?' Tony asked.

'The structure of the interview for the Baking Battle is more of a conversation. One of the producers will ask a question but they would prefer that you two run with it and say what you want.' She smiled. 'Of course, we expect you to remember this is a PR campaign and a child friendly show.'

Janelle Foster, the producer they talked on the first meeting, entered the room. She waved to the NCIS team but stopped to talk with the technicians before sitting in front of the team and invited Madeline Myers to sit by her side.

'I will be firing some questions to get you two going, but I want more of a conversation, okay? Please don't treat this as a debrief or whatever you guys call reporting,' she laughed.

Tony and Delores nodded and played along with the first innocuous questions about their interest in baking and what they thought about their performance in today's show.

'I teach cooking and baking techniques, but there's always something extra that the really good ones have that we can't explain,' Delores commented. 'Tony has this special touch.'

'I learned that food feeds the body and the soul, so you should always cook with your heart,' Tony responded bashfully.

'Maybe that's something I need to add to my lessons,' Delores smiled.

'You said that being in the show gives you exposure and attracts support for your trades school project,' the producer said, leading Delores to talk about it.

'We have a lot of volunteers; what we need is support for materials, space, maybe helping the students coming and going. If we get offers for internships and positions, that would be the best outcome,' Delores responded.

'Like with the charities each team here represents,' Tony started. 'Delores's work brings so much to those in need of support, confidence, a chance. I think all these connect well with baking. It's all a work of love.'

Delores smiled and patted Tony's hand. 'Well said.'

After that, the producer focused on Tony. 'Agent DiNozzo, you commented that cooking and baking are a form of stress relief for you,' the producer started. 'But I would expect a more physical activity would work better?'

'Intense physical activity can help to tire the body but not always relax the mind,' Tony answered. 'I love movies and use them to relax, most of the time. Delores here can confirm how I use humour, and jokes, to try to alleviate the stress at the office.' Both laughed. 'But producing something useful and good, like food, helps heal…' He stopped talking, as if he said something he shouldn't have.

'Heal?' The producer prodded.

Tony looked at Ms Myers and she nodded, encouraging him to continue.

'We see very bad and sad things in law enforcement, and in the military,' Tony started slowly. 'Finding a way to relax and… clear the mind helps us to be able to keep going.'

Delores touched his hand discreetly. 'The people who protect us, whether in law enforcement or military, have to keep up an image.'

'What do you mean by image?' the producer persisted.

'We are the defenders and protectors,' Tony answered. 'It's expected that we are always ready, always available, always doing the right thing. It isn't real. Every profession has bad apples, but it seems that this is not acceptable for us.' Tony felt like he was on a soap box but couldn't stop now. 'Mental health is a nationwide, no, worldwide problem, but isn't something that you're expected to talk about, especially when you are part of law enforcement or military.'

'You have a very personal experience with it…' the producer kept going.

Tony lowered his head, trying to control the emotions that the conversation was bringing up. Delores patted his back, nodding for him to continue. Madeline Myers had a soft and sad smile as she listened. The room was deadly quiet.

'Like I said, we see the worst of people and people on their worst day. We all have bills to pay, family problems, life stresses like everybody else. Every one of us has lost people they liked, people they respected, colleagues, partners, bosses, trainees. It's not easy. Around three years ago I saw a partner…' Tony gulped.. 'die right in front of me. My team ended up getting the person responsible but it didn't lessen the pain. And we never had the time to heal. And maybe that is the hardest part. We can't stop, we don't have time to stop.' He took a deep breath. He'd never articulated how hard it was to lose Kate that way, or how much he still hurt to have someone connected to her death being part of the team. What he said was the truth: they just keep going, not stopping to think about what anything meant or how it affected them. And that was why he got caught up in Shepard's schemes, how things deteriorated with Gibbs, how he lost the feeling of family and friendship with the team. All of them had suppressed their feelings and only the negative ones were being experienced now.

'I wish that there weren't bad apples among us, but, in the end, we are all human, and we may fail at some point. But I would like to say that all of us in law enforcement and military,' Tony paused and took another deep breath, 'at least most of us, are doing our best to be the protectors and warriors that the people expect and hope we are.'

Delores grabbed his arm and squeezed it to show her support. Tony kept taking steady breaths to try to control the emotions that he had never planned to let out like this.

'Thank you,' the producer said quietly and then turned to whisper with the DoJ representative. It seemed that everybody forgot they were still recording.

Tony rubbed a hand over his eyes. 'I shouldn't have said that.'

Delores kept hold of his other arm. 'That was beautiful, Tony, and so very true.'

He snorted. 'I don't think the DoD will let it be aired, so maybe I'm safe.'

Delores shook her head and patted his arm again. 'They should. Everything you said was true and very important.'

'But not what they want to project for this PR thing.' Tony took one final deep breath and turned to the cameraman behind the producer. The guy was draped over the camera, waiting for something, and Tony took his restful attitude to mean that the recording had finished. 'Are we done here?'

Janelle, the producer, finished her conversation with the DoJ representative and turned back to Tony and Delores. 'Yes, thank you very much, Agent DiNozzo, Ms Bromstead. We will see you again for the Friday recording.' She stood up and shook their hands before leaving with Madeline Myers.

Team Gibbs got another case, a real one, the day after McGee's promotion but it was going nowhere fast. Vance kept coming down to the bullpen, trying to curb Gibbs' angry outbursts but his interference seemed to cause more harm than good.

Wednesday night, the day Tony's episode of Baking Battle was to air, Vance told Gibbs and his team to go home around 6 pm, tired of the screams of the lead agent and the stuttering from McGee. Ziva seemed to be enjoying herself while Gibbs' anger was not focused on her and her lack of contribution to the case.

The bullpen was quiet, finally, and a few agents were milling around, finishing reports, doing small tasks, but actually waiting for Director Vance to leave for the night. When they heard him locking his office door and walking towards the back lift, since his secretary, Cynthia, had left at least an hour prior, the group rushed to convene in front of the plasma screens at Team Gibbs' bullpen area.

'I thought he would never leave,' Taylor Carson commented while making sure the big screen was able to show the correct channel.

'We could have gone to someone's house to watch it,' Mick Andrews, another agent from Balboa's team, responded.

'What would be the fun in that?' Hannah Corby, an agent from white-collar crimes said, pulling a chair up to the front.

'We had to wait for the final report to close our case,' Balboa said. 'We could miss the episode if we didn't watch it here.'

The introduction music for the Baking Battle series started and they all went silent and got comfortable to watch one of their own trying to survive with his honour intact.

Tony declared he was too tired to wait to watch the episode and went to bed soon after they had dinner. Delores couldn't contain her nervousness and needed to watch the final version of the episode.

By the end of the hour, she had tears in her eyes, moved again by Tony's comments in the interview, but she was also proud of how well the two of them had done in the show. She remembered the judges' comments, but she was a bit overwhelmed at the time to let them sink. Watching the episode made them more real and the interview showed that she accounted for herself well. Tony would always do well, no matter if he were joking or being serious. She felt good about the results and quite enthusiastic about the semi-final they would be going through next Friday.

The agents joked about Tony's proficiency in the kitchen, a bit surprised, but also to hide how emotional all of them felt with their colleague's words during the interview on the show.

'Hey, Tony's trending!' Hannah said, scrolling through her phone.

'What?' Balboa asked, still a bit misty eyes from Tony's comments.

'Social media, the comments on the show website,' Hannah continued.

Taylor went to his computer to check. 'Most of the comments are being really nice about the whole thing,'

'Considering the internet, that is a rarity,' Mick said.

'Oh, the trolls will come out from the woods soon enough,' Hannah responded, still reading her phone.

'The website says the donations for their charity of choice are over $10,000 already!' Taylor commented happily.

'Something good came from this thing then,' Balboa answered.

'I never thought the DoD would let Tony's comments go live,' Taylor logged out of his computer, preparing to leave the office for the night.

'They might have more than one person doing the screening,' Balboa responded, also going to his desk to clear up for the day.

'My friend at the DoJ said they would send someone from their PR department to work with the DoD. They might be more open to the comments.' Hannah closed the apps on her phone and picked up her bag, ready to follow the other agents out.

'Oh, let's hope that that doesn't cause DiNozzo any trouble then,' Balboa said.

'Well, it should be the problem of the person who approved the edition of the episode,' Taylor started walking towards the lift.

'Since when is Tony not blamed for other people's faults?' Mick asked.

The others nodded sadly but all hoped that this time it would not be like that.

The Director of the Public Relations Services of the Department of Defence turned off the tv and turned to the other staff watching the Baking Battle episode in the office with him.

'Who authorized this interview to go live?! I thought Hill was representing us with this show!' He didn't seem happy.

'He is sharing the work with a DoJ representative, sir,' his deputy answered.

'Well, looks like we will have to put a kibosh to that!'

'Wait, sir!' Parsons, the social media specialist, interrupted the director's action to pick up his phone. 'The comments online are very good!'

'Huh?'

'Social media, sir, and the show's website. We even have comments coming through the DoD PR page.'

'Already?!' The deputy leaned forward in his chair. 'We didn't get a lot of comments from the first two episodes.'

'We got mostly the show's fanbase before but tonight there wasn't any major competition on tv. The producers chose the order of the groups but Ms Foster, the executive producer, thought that the NCIS team would be very good on air. She was right,' the specialist continued without stopping to check her computer.

'But his comments,' the director tried.

'Were very well received by the public, sir,' the specialist answered. 'Considering he was sporting some injuries, that gave more credibility to his comments and certainly gained sympathy, that was the kind of response we were looking for with this campaign, sir.'

'That won't reflect badly on the troops?' The deputy asked.

'I think that the NCIS agent's point is praiseworthy, sir,' this time was the communication specialist talking. 'These issues are real and felt throughout the whole world of military and law enforcement personnel. Trying to hide it or ignore it doesn't make it go away, just makes us look like we don't care.'

'Oh my god!'

'Parsons?'

'The forum at the show's website is going crazy with comments! A lot of them are identifying themselves as retired or active law enforcement or military and they are happy to see an issue dear to them coming out in such a real way.'

'So, we do nothing?' The director asked, a bit discontented.

'I say we wait for the press in the morning, sir' his deputy responded.

'Yes, sir, we can always spin it if needed be, but right now we are getting the type of response we were looking for,' Parsons answered.

'Oh, well,' the director picked up his jacket. 'Let's go home then, people, and hope that everything is still good in the morning.'

Delores and Tony ended up working from the hotel for the day between their first episode and the semi-final one. They decided that it would be better to work remotely for one day and be ready for the long day of shooting. Both avoided checking comments and news about their tv appearance.

Delores was in the middle of a storm of paperwork, making the best use of the office space offered by the hotel; printing and scanning documents, exchanging emails non-stop, and having quiet but intense discussions on the phone.

Tony was in the corner of the office space, using his laptop to leisurely update reports and documents, making sure his CV was up to date, sending it to his contacts. He really wanted to have a new position before his official time with NCIS finished.

He answered his mobile phone without checking the caller ID, something he normally never did.

'Tone, the man!'

Tony laughed at the greeting.

'Henry, long time no see, brother!'

'Your schedule is worse than any of ours, Tony!' Henry Lewis, attorney at law, one of DiNozzo's brothers from Ohio State Alpha Chi Delta fraternity, complained. 'It should be easier to meet you now, on the other side of the country!'

'Meh, you guys just have a very structured life, so not like me,' Tony misdirected.

'Well, I'm in San Francisco too, so we could lunch together today.'

'How do you know…'

'I saw you in Baking Battle last night, brother!' Henry laughed out loud. 'Made me miss the food at the frat house.'

'Oh,' Tony felt the blush raise to his cheeks. 'Didn't think that was the kind of show you watched in your spare time.'

'Please, it's always funny! And Zoe loves it! How come you didn't tell us you would be on it?!'

'Ah, was a bit of last-minute thing…'

'Well, I texted and called most of the old crowd, and I'm sure they passed the information along. We're planning a watch-party for the semi-final! I'll be back home, so we should meet at Steve's house. It's the most spacious one.'

'Oh, Henry, no!' Tony felt mortified. 'Why did you do that?! The guys won't let me live it down!'

'As they shouldn't!' Henry laughed again but then changed his tone to a more serious, more intentional one. 'I know you didn't actually volunteer for this, Tony. You always valued your undercover work too much. It means someone in your work tried to funk with you, again! Time to move on, brother.'

Tony sighed. 'I know. I will.'

'What?!'

'You are up to lunch, then?' Tony asked. 'We can talk, and I'll explain what I can. Maybe you can even help me find a new job.'

'Tony…' Henry was surprised and sad. For all the frat brothers complained about Tony's NCIS job, they knew how much he liked it.

'You know, it's the little things. There were too many of them to keep up.'

'Lunch at 12, it can be at your hotel, wherever you want.'

'I'll meet you downstairs and we can decide. See you later, man.'

'See you, brother.'

Delores Bromstead took advantage of the lunch break, and the fact that Tony wasn't in the room to call Deputy Director of Homeland Tom Morrow.

'Ms Bromstead, a pleasure hearing from you.'

'How are you, sir?'

'I'm well, and you? I really liked the episode from last night.'

Delores laughed awkwardly. 'It was an experience, sir. But I liked it.'

'You and Tony did wonderfully.'

'Thank you, sir. I confess he surprised me.'

'He is always surprising me, Ms Bromstead. That was why he was on the top of my list of agents to poach.'

'Well, sir, I say this is the right moment. I'm glad he's here, working with me, but it wasn't his choice. He's ready to leave NCIS.'

'I thought Shepard was the worst thing to happen to the agency, but seems Vance is trying to prove me wrong.'

'He never looked at Agent DiNozzo's jacket. I believe he's going by gossip and his own prejudices.'

'His loss, my gain. When will you be back in DC? I could schedule a meeting with him.'

'We must stay until Sunday next week, after the final episode. If we don't pass the semi-final, there is still the chance to be voted in. We should travel on Monday to San Diego and stay a couple of days at the office before going back to DC.'

'Humm, maybe I should call him before that then.'

'Yes, sir, I would suggest talking to him as soon as you can. He's been sending his CV around this morning.'

'Oh, then I might just fly to speak with him in person. I want to put my offer first, that's for sure.'

'I think that after the semi-final episode would be a good time, sir. No matter the result, he should be in the right frame of mind to hear you.'

'Thank you, Ms Bromstead. I will reserve a flight for Saturday, and we could reserve the time for lunch and conversation on Sunday. You will be there too, right?'

'If you want, yes. We might need to team-tag him.'

Morrow laughed. 'Yes, it would be helpful to have your support. So, a lunch at your hotel on Sunday. Are we settled?'

'Yes, sir. I will make the reservations.'

'See you then, Ms Bromstead. All the best on your next Baking Battle.'