Title: Providence
Summary: AU. Between McGee and Ziva's constant bashing and Gibbs' coldness, Tony finally reaches the point of no return and quits, leaving NCIS and DC behind him. On the road again, he stops by the town of Providence, Missouri, and makes a series of meetings which might change his life, whilst Gibbs moves heaven and earth to find him. But isn't it too late?
Categories: NCIS
Rating: K+
Characters: Tony DiNozzo, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Abby Sciuto, Tim McGee, Ziva David, Dr Donald Mallard, Jimmy Palmer, Leon Vance, Agent Balboa, Original characters (Tillie Hackerman, Harvey Jackson, Father Henry Richmond, Sheriff Elliot Green, Dottie Ferris, Christina Lake, Jake Petersen, Doctor Adam Beltram).
Pairing: Tony/OFC (in the late chapters), no other pairing.
Genres: Alternate universe/friendship/hurt and comfort.
Warnings: Middle swearing, OOC and major team bashing, especially Ziva and McGee.
Spoilers: Set at the beginning of season 6. Spoilers for Dead man talking, Hiatus, Boxed in, Bury your dead, Judgment Day, Agent afloat and various other episodes.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: Special thanks to my precious beta reader badly_knitted. Also a huge thank you to everyone who has been so kind to review this fic and to those who have added me to their favorite author list and story alerts. It means so much to me. I would never have imagined such a fantastic reception.
To Siobhan369, mandy153, Pamsie 123, barbaratakuyaho, dragon, and my other anonymous Guest (s): Thank you for your kind words and your support.
To the guest who ask for it: I completed the summary. This fic isn't slash, but be warned that a homosexual character will make an appearance at some point. Just for your information.
To NCIS fan: Thank you! Did you read over my shoulder whilst I was writing? Lol. Hope this chapter meets your expectations.
To Phoenix Red Lion: Thanks. I agree that he should have left a long time ago. I hope you'll like this chapter.
To wytygr: Yeah. Working for NCIS can seriously damage your health… if your name is Tony DiNozzo. I agree that there is undeniably double standard between Tony and the rest of the team.
To terrisnape: Thank you. I didn't even know that the town existed for real. Mine is purely fictional and will be located in the heart of the Ozarks (but shh… I don't want to tell too much). I read the same fic as you and the similarities were amazing, but mine doesn't end the same way. The "jurisdiction" thing will be used in the sequel I've planned.
Chapter 3 – Without a trace
Washington, DC - September 16th – Saturday morning
When Tony got into NCIS headquarters on Saturday morning, he was relieved to see that, aside from a handful of agents on call, the place was mostly empty. Anyway, it wasn't unusual for him to come to the Yard during the week-end in order to finish some paperwork, and nobody seemed to pay attention to him as he walked through the bullpen.
In spite of the sleeping pills, he had woken up early and went for his usual four miles run, before a long hot shower and a quick breakfast.
Though he still felt exhausted, his mind was clear and his determination unwavering. He wanted it to be over. He wanted to leave his past behind him along with his cortege of ghosts.
He had spent almost an hour working on his laptop to terminate his lease and his miscellaneous subscriptions, finally making an appointment with his banker in order to close his accounts.
Once it was done, he had formatted the hard disk and erased the memory of his cell phone.
Cleaning the apartment from top to bottom had taken less than an hour, then, after a last glance around him, Tony had locked the front door for the last time and drove towards the Navy Yard.
After getting rid of the computer and the cell phone at a pawnshop, he had made a detour to a small shop downtown, where he knew he could get a good price for his collection. Selling it off this way was a heartbreak for him, but he couldn't afford this kind of excess baggage.
The last stop before reaching his destination had been to his bank, where he had withdrawn in cash the remaining money from his accounts, minus rent and payment of his last invoices. Three thousand five hundred dollars in banknotes, hundreds and fifties, which he had hastened to hide in his belt with his pocket knife.
Tossing his backpack on the floor, Tony sat at his desk and turned on his computer.
The fact that he was almost as much of a technophobe as Gibbs and had as little patience with computers as he did, didn't mean that he wasn't able to use them when needed.
In spite of what his apparent dilettantism might suggest, Tony was endowed with a great sense of observation and a remarkable capacity for memorization, when he took the trouble to use it. Which had often got him out of rather delicate situations and could be very useful when you were working under the orders of the infamous Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
At the beginning of the Frog operation, he had taken an active part in the creation of the character of Professor Anthony DiNardo, which had brought him to work closely with the technicians in charge of creating his cover. Given the complexity of the case and its ramifications, nothing should be left to chance. The experience had been at least positive inasmuch as it had allowed him to observe the technicians at work whilst they were creating the official documents relating to his undercover personae.
Even though he was far from having the necessary knowledge himself to carry out such elaborate work, he was not as helpless as McGee seemed to think. After sneaking through the databases, he began to draw up the documents needed for his plan. Nothing really fancy, just the essentials for daily life: driving license, ID card, the same degree in Phy Ed he had obtained at university.
He was aware this was only an empty shell and that his modest creation wouldn't withstand a deep examination, but he had neither the time nor the skills to create a truly new identity. Its sole purpose was to buy him some time.
He knew perfectly well that once Gibbs found out about his resignation, he would try to find him, if only to make his point about how much of a failure Tony was, before firing him anyway. There were only two ways to leave Gibbs' team: being kicked out of it, like Vivian Blackadder or having Gibbs' approval for a transfer, as for so many agents before Tony started to work for NCIS. Surprisingly, the first option had proved to be quicker and less painful and humiliating than the second one.
At the time, his father had a great time telling him how much he thought ill of him, before excluding him from his life and Tony was determined not to give this pleasure to Gibbs, just so it could spare the other man's pride.
Purely and simply disappearing might seem lax, but it was the only way that Tony had found to leave with head held high.
It was also a matter of survival. He was well aware that since things had started to deteriorate, and even more so since Jenny's death, he tended to drink too much and too often. His own father was an alcoholic. A social alcoholic, certainly, but an alcoholic all the same, and it was out of the question that Tony took the same path.
All he wanted was a respite to catch his breath. Buying some time to be forgotten. He needed a fresh start, somewhere else. And therefore, he had to sever all the connections.
After having erased his traces within the computer system, the same way he had seen McGee do on so many occasions, he put the files he had finished processing the day before on Gibbs' desk and finished clearing his own desk.
He couldn't help feeling a twinge in his heart, when he reached the bottom drawer where he kept Gibbs' medals. He slowly pulled the box out of the drawer and went to put it away in an empty drawer of the Ex-Marine's desk, where he also placed his service gun and badge.
Then, he threw his backpack over his shoulder and took the elevator to discreetly retrieve his new papers on the lower floor, before heading in the direction of the autopsy room.
The automatic door opened with a hissing and Tony stopped briefly at the entrance of the room where were lined the metallic tables over which he had spent so much time listening to Ducky chatting about one of his many youthful adventures, with his arms buried to the elbows in the bowels of a poor unfortunate who was waiting for the circumstances of his death to be unravelled.
Yeah, Tony would really miss Ducky and the Autopsy Gremlin.
Taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders, he went to the office shared by the M.E and his assistant. He retrieved a bottle of 30 year old single malt from his backpack and put it on the desk with a small card on which was written only "I'm sorry".
After that, he then went to Abby's lab. After making sure that she wasn't sleeping somewhere on her futon after a rough night out, he grabbed Bert the Hippo, which was waiting quietly on a shelf for the return of his owner and put it on one of the benches, just in front of the door. He tucked a copy of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" between the legs of the animal and stuck on it a post-it on which he scribbled a simple "I'll miss you" adorned with two small skulls.
After a last look around, he left the scene unnoticed.
Walking away from NCIS headquarters, he felt himself overwhelmed by a weird feeling, a mixture of sadness, trepidation and relief.
To be continued