A/N: For some reason, poor Tony is a favorite target in many fanfics, mine included. To paraphrase ZivaFan, somewhere out in fanfictionland Tony is cringing every time I get a new idea for a story.
Why break tradition?
Huge thanks go to Rinne for her stellar beta work and encouragement.
Chapter Three
The floor shook with the force of the explosion.
"What the hell?" Gibbs jumped up from his desk and raced to the stairwell, followed closely by McGee and Ziva. Barely touching the steps, the three raced downstairs toward Abby's lab, bursting onto the floor. There was smoke pouring out of the broken sliding doors and Abby was lying in a crumpled heap against the elevator.
"ABBY!" yelled Gibbs, rushing over to her. The young woman was stunned but didn't appear to be injured seriously.
"Abby, are you okay?" Gibbs looked into her eyes worriedly, checking to see if she could focus and recognize him. Ducky hurried onto the floor, Palmer trailing behind.
"Ducky, come check Abby."
Abby started coughing as the ME knelt next to her. "Tony…" she managed to choke out.
"Where's Tony," Gibbs asked anxiously.
Abby pointed into the lab mutely, her expression a mixture of fear and sadness.
Gibbs stood and stared into the blackened rooms in horror. Flames were starting to lick at the cabinets and the rooms were filled with acrid smoke. Grabbing a fire extinguisher, Gibbs ran into the lab.
"Jethro, wait, you need a mask!" Ducky's admonition was ignored and Gibbs began putting out the small fires before they could grow and consume the rest of the lab and the building. His eyes watered as he searched frantically for his agent, spotting a crumpled body under Abby's desk.
"DINOZZO!" Dropping the fire extinguisher, Gibbs ran over and knelt next to Tony, carefully checking for a pulse and any broken bones. Groaning, Tony opening his eyes and started coughing. "Boss?"
"Come on, we've got to get out of this smoke." Gibbs pulled Tony to his feet and supported the young man as they fled the lab.
Coughing and choking, the two fell against the wall in the corridor and then slid down to the floor. Ducky and Palmer rushed over as firemen burst onto the floor.
Twenty minutes later Gibbs, Abby and Tony were sitting in the back of an ambulance, oxygen masks over their mouths and noses. Gibbs pulled his mask off. "What the hell happened?" he demanded.
Tony and Abby looked at each other, Abby started to say something when Tony interrupted, "There was a box in the Walker stuff, Boss. It was booby-trapped. I tossed it into one of Abby's ballistic testing machines and dove under her desk."
Gibbs glared. "You opened a box that hadn't been X-rayed or checked for booby traps?"
Abby started to say something when Tony interrupted her again, "I'm sorry, Boss, I thought it was okay."
"You could have gotten Abby killed," yelled Gibbs, his face red with fury.
Looking chagrined, Tony lowered her head. "I know, I made her get out, but yeah, I know, Boss. I'm sorry."
"SORRY?" bellowed Gibbs.
"Gibbs…" Abby said, but he didn't even look at her.
"That was a rookie mistake, DiNozzo!" he yelled. "Hell, it's worse than that. Anyone who watches any crime shows knows you don't do something as STUPID as that!" Tony cringed.
"Gibbs…" Abby tried again.
"Not only could you have gotten Abby killed, you could have destroyed the entire building!" The veins in his neck were sticking out.
"GIBBS!" Abby yelled right in his ear.
"WHAT?" Furious, Gibbs turned to her.
"It's not his fault, Gibbs! I handed him the box. I didn't think to tell him I didn't get a chance to check it." Abby's eyes were bright with unshed tears. "Tony didn't know, and when he looked and saw something was wrong he made me leave. He yelled at me to get out, and he never yells at me, Gibbs. It's my fault and Tony could have been blown to pieces." She started crying. Tony pulled her over to him and held her close, patting her back and whispering soothingly into her ear.
Gibbs stared at the two of them, still trembling about what could have happened to his best agent and the young woman he adored. He could have lost both of them, a thought that made him feel sick.
Taking a deep breath, Gibbs promptly started coughing. Tony reached over and held the oxygen mask up to Gibbs' face, which Gibbs accepted, embarrassed at the way he'd yelled at the young man. Tony had tried to protect Abby, even if it meant getting himself fired. He should have known that Abby wouldn't let Tony take the blame.
From outside the ambulance he heard Ziva say, "I think we have enough evidence on Walker to convict him, now. We just have to put the pieces back together." He closed his eyes and let his head drop back against the door of the ambulance.
Two months laterPetty Officer Wilson had been found murdered two days before, his body left to rot at the bottom of a small gully. The young man had worked in the IT department of an agency researching biological weapons. The Director feared that some classified, potentially damaging information had been tortured out of the Petty Officer, and was in the hands of terrorists, or someone who was going to sell the information to the highest bidder. For once, Gibbs agreed with her assessment.
The murdered man's wife hadn't been a suspect at first, but upon closer investigation the team had found that she had a separate secret bank account and had recently made several deposits, totaling two million dollars. She and her husband had only been married for six months, and Gibbs suspected that she had purposely stalked Wilson, arranged to meet him 'accidentally', and then proceeded to blind him with attention and convince him to marry her. Tony couldn't keep his eyes off her when they first went to the Wilson house to inform her of her husband's death. Mrs. Wilson was gorgeous; medium height, flowing dark hair, large deep-blue eyes, pouty lips and, as Tony put it, "a figure that would make Jessica Rabbit look dowdy."
Gibbs didn't know who that was, and he didn't really care. When they uncovered the information about the bank account, he told Tony to capitalize on the interest the woman showed in him, something which Tony was happy to oblige. Gibbs sent Tony out to question the widow further, sending McGee along with him, to cover his six and make sure Tony didn't get too dazzled by the woman's assets.
Being a polite, Southern woman, Mrs. Wilson offered the two agents some iced tea. Tony accepted, with a slow smile and appreciative look, but McGee didn't want any more caffeine and declined. Despite using all his charm, Tony couldn't get Mrs. Wilson to say anything incriminating. McGee was getting a little disgusted with all the flirting and dancing around different subjects.
On the drive back to the office, McGee was quiet.
"What's wrong, Probie?" asked Tony.
McGee remained silent, glowering out the window, watching the sky grow darker as dusk approached.
"Hey, come on!" Tony wheedled. "What crawled up your butt?"
"Nothing crawled up my butt, Tony, " said McGee irritated. "I just don't feel like talking."
"You're pouting," Tony accused.
"I'm not pouting."
"Yes, you are."
"Am not."
Yawning, Tony said, "Something's bothering you, I can tell. Your lower lip is sticking out so far it looks like you got stung by a bee."
"My lip does not stick out."
"Seriously, " Tony yawned again, "what's bothering you?"
"You want to know what's bothering me, Tony?" McGee turned slightly to face his partner.
"I wouldn't ask if I didn't, McGee."
"Why are you always the one to be the 'bait' for the female suspects?"
"What?" Tony laughed. "Are you kidding?"
"No, I'm not," huffed McGee. "I'm not bad looking, and I have my charm."
"Yes, you do," agreed Tony, shaking his head to get the cobwebs out, "but I don't think you could lie to a woman, or anyone, if your life depended on it, Probie."
"Sure I could… TONY, LOOK OUT!…"
Tony swerved to avoid hitting a huge tree branch that had fallen onto the road. The car skidded and crashed through a guardrail, flipping down an embankment. McGee's door flew open and, despite his seatbelt, he was thrown out onto the hillside as the car continued to tumble into a ravine.
Stunned, McGee could only watch in horror as his partner plummeted down the hill.
TBC