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 note: Thanks to the wonderful badly_knitted who made it readable.
As always thank you to those who have reviewed my work or added it to their favorites list and story alerts.
This chapter is in certain manner a digression, but I think it's necessary in order to explain Tillie's state of mind. As announced, the next chapter will deal with the team and their reactions. Hope you'll enjoy.
To Rlmw, Guest (1), Guest (2), nando2k50: Thank you for your nice reviews and your support.
To Hope94: Thank you. There will be a lot of 'figures' in Tony's new life. Team's reaction is coming and there will be blood ;D)
To wytygr: Thanks. I'm glad the note was helpful and I hope you'll like this new chapter.
Chapter 8 – Echoes from the past
Providence, Missouri - September 17th – Sunday late evening
The bedroom was dark and silent except for the soft whisper of the breeze outside. Safely hidden behind the half closed curtains, Tillie was peering outside at the opposite window on the other side of the alley. The light was on and her brand new neighbor hadn't bothered to close his curtains, so she had a clear view of the room.
A deep furrow was creasing her forehead as she watched the younger man, hunched on his bed and holding his head with both hands in a perfect embodiment of despondency. He hadn't moved an inch for the last ten minutes and each passing second was breaking Tillie's heart even more.
She shook her head with dismay. It was a pity to see the poor boy so sad and dejected.
Although she could look as hard as steel at first sight, people who really knew her also knew that she was far from heartless and that her apparent harshness was more a defense mechanism built over the years and the circumstances than a real trait.
In all honesty, her first reaction when she had heard the tinkling of the bell, after the departure of Barry's family, had been to give the unwelcome visitor short shrift. But that was before she found that tall guy standing in the middle of her bar with his drop-dead looks and his sheepish smile.
Twenty years ago, she might have thought she had fallen under the spell of his amazing green eyes and his good nature. Except she was too old by now and also too rugged for that kind of stuff. As charming as Tony looked, it took a little more than a pretty face and good manners to send Tillie head over heels and none of this would have earned him more than a good meal.
No. It was something else that had incited her to make up her mind and offer him a job. Something so inconspicuous that she could have missed it, if she had been less observant. A split second when the mask had slipped, allowing her to catch a fleeting glimpse of the look haunting his emerald eyes. The same look she saw in Jason Monroe's eyes almost thirty years ago. The look she had wished to never see again and had sworn never to ignore.
Her hand unwittingly gripped the edge of the curtain and she closed her eyes, as long forgotten memories echoed through her mind.
Jason and Max, her late husband, had been serving in the same regiment and long before Tillie actually met Jason in person, she had already heard of him at great length through Max's letters. They both came from Missouri, were both married with a newly born daughter, so it hadn't been long before they became the best of friends. Jason was also slightly younger than Max and obviously saw him as a big brother figure.
Tillie and Jason had finally met a few months before Max's death, when their regiment had got leave for Christmas and Max had unexpectedly asked her to allow Jason to join them for a week. At first, she hadn't been so keen on sharing Max's leave with a stranger, but he had insisted, explaining to her that Jason's wife was visiting family in Arizona with their daughter and therefore the poor guy would be all alone for the holiday season. Although it had seemed weird to her that Jason's family wasn't there for his return from the front, there were very few things she could refuse Max and she had ended up agreeing.
And in spite of Tillie's prior misgivings, Jason had proved himself to be a charming guest, helping with the cooking and the dishes and spending a lot of time playing with Karen, who was only one year old at the time. Yet, though things had gone more than smoothly, a strange sense of unease had bothered Tillie all through his stay. Something was off, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
It was only two weeks after their regiment had returned to Vietnam that the pieces of the puzzle had finally clicked together, when a letter from Max had arrived, informing her of Jason's death. The letter had obviously been censored, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to understand that the young man hadn't died at the front, but instead had killed himself.
Only then had she recalled the uncanny emptiness filling his eyes whenever he thought nobody was watching him, as well as the fact that though he used to smile in plenty, his smiles never seemed to reach his eyes.
Later, Max had confided in her that, just before his leave, Jason's wife had filed for divorce and asked for complete custody of their child. She had also made it pretty clear that there was already someone else in her life. Stuck in a country at war, thousands of miles away from his home, betrayed by the woman he loved and cut off from his only child, the poor guy had simply ended a life he saw as meaningless.
She reopened her eyes and glanced at Max's photo on the chest of drawers. Even after his death and its attendant woes, she had never forgotten about Jason Monroe.
And that was exactly the same pain and weariness she had read in Tony's eyes this afternoon, before he managed to hide it behind shitloads of fake smiles and cheerful small talk.
Of course, she was fully aware that she had limited room to maneuver, but there was no way she could turn a blind eye this time. She pressed her lips together and shook her head once again. For now, there wasn't much more she could do, but the poor kid really looked like he could do with some human warmth and that was something she had in plenty. After all a little extra TLC had never hurt anyone.
Turning on her heel, she left the room and went downstairs. Once in the kitchen, she retrieved a saucepan from the fridge and heated it up, then she ladled out a generous amount of the thick soup into a Thermos.
She grabbed her keys, wrapped a shawl tightly around her shoulders and headed back to the garage.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
The knock at the door startled Tony. He ran his hands down his face and sighed before rising to his feet, his usual cheerful mask firmly plastered on his face. He opened the door and let Tillie into the room.
"Hey," she said with a grin.
"Hey too. You already miss me?" he ventured teasingly.
"Yep," she snorted. "Forgot to tuck you in and kiss you goodnight." She lifted the flask and added more seriously: "I won't be long. I was fixing dinner and thought you'd like a cup of soup."
Tony looked at the Thermos and slowly shook his head.
"That's nice, but I'm not really hun…"
He shut up almost immediately as Tillie sent him a glare which could easily translate into You'd better eat it, boy or I'm going to feed you myself.
With a soft chuckle, he took the Thermos and smirked, admitting his defeat.
"Thanks. But you didn't have to."
Tillie dismissed his qualms with a shrug and turned towards the stairs.
"You're welcome. Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite."
Tony huffed a laugh and shook his head.
"Really doubt any bed bug is gutsy enough to dare crossing the doorstep of your house."
Tillie tilted her head and raised her eyebrows reflectively.
"True enough. Goodnight, Tony."
"Goodnight Tillie."
Tony softly closed the door behind her and leant against it with a heavy sigh. Looking down at the flask in his hands, he smiled. He wasn't sure he could ever get used to such a level of mothering.
He sat back on his bed and unscrewed the lid. The rich aroma of Tillie's soup immediately filled the air, tickling his nostrils and though he wasn't really hungry, he felt his mouth watering. He took a tentatively sip, then another, soon feeling a pleasant warmth spread in his belly. Unsurprisingly, the soup was as delicious as the meal he had taken earlier at the Silver Fox and in no time, there wasn't a drop left. No doubt about it, Tillie was a damn good cook.
Taking his toilet bag out of his suitcase along with a clean pair of boxers and a t-shirt, he went to the bathroom and carefully rinsed the Thermos before placing it on the edge of the sink to dry. Then, he stripped off his crumpled clothes, stepped inside the inviting shower and turned the hot water tap on full. He washed thoroughly, then kept his head under the spray, letting the scalding hot water run down his back to ease the tension of his muscles. When the water started to cool off, he turned off the tap, dried himself and got dressed quickly before brushing his teeth.
Stifling a yawn, he went back to the room and closed the curtains. He didn't bother to put his clothes in the wardrobe, as he didn't plan on staying long enough to need to It wasn't a big deal, or really anything new since he'd lived that way for a long time, before joining Gibbs and NCIS.
He threw the comforter down towards the foot of the bed and plumped himself down onto it. It was still early, but exhaustion was starting to overwhelm him and all he wanted was to crawl into bed. As soon as he had set the alarm on his watch, he switched off the light and slipped between the sheets. They were thick and slightly scratchy, but at least they were clean and fresh against his skin. As he buried his head in the pillow, he could still smell a lingering fragrance of lavender.
In the DiNozzo house, sheets never smelt of lavender. They smelt of aloe vera or any other kind of exotic smell, but never lavender. It was too cheap, too… proletarian.
It was the kind of smell which Tony always associated with the 70's TV dramas he loved so much when he was a kid. Those shows where loving fathers built houses in the trees instead of cutting them down, and where lovely mothers never drank anything stronger than soda water and spent their spare-time baking apple pies.
He snuggled further into the soft pillow and inhaled deeply. Even though he knew full well that it was only fiction and no family would ever be so perfect, he would have bet his bottom dollar that, in real life, Richie Cunningham's sheets would have smelled of lavender.
He bit back a smile as he briefly wondered if the fact that he was currently living above the garage made him a sort of new version of Fonzie.
He didn't have much time though, to toy with the idea. In a matter of seconds and without even realizing it, he was sound asleep, dreaming of Richie Cunningham's mother inviting Fonzie to dinner with her family and serving him a delicious soup.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
Back in her kitchen, Tillie warmed up the rest of the soup for herself in the microwave. Whilst the device was humming softly, she picked up the phone and dialed. In spite of the late hour, the person she was phoning answered almost immediately.
"Harvey. It's Tillie. I know it's late, but I wanted to tell you I've found somebody for the job He should show up early morning, if you don't mind being there to meet him."
A soft smile spread on her lips.
"Yeah. No, you don't know him. But I bet you'll find him rather... interesting."
To be continued.