A/N: I'm baaccck! Sorry for the absence folks! But university is now over for the year.. YAY! So I'll hopefully be able to get back to writing this more regularly! Because I missed it soo sooo much! Thanks for sticking with me everyone! To my recent new followers/favourites, welcome! Very happy to have you with us! My reviewers, you rock! 250 reviews already, wow! I love knowing so many of you are loving this!
Now, let's not delay any further, let's check in Gibbs & co...
Donnelly took Delilah out to the bullpen area, when Brunswick caught her attention "you can use this desk" she motioned to her "I need both hard & soft copies of your file"
"Of course" Delilah replied as she watched the woman head off towards some other agents.
"Donnelly, you'll want in on this" Kruse called, seeing her reappear. He wanted to know how they'd gone with the DOD, but they also had to get this current dilemma sorted.
Donnelly's ears peaked "what's going on?" why were all the SSA's in a huddle? Was something wrong?
"Boss has given us the OK for one of us" Brunswick explained, motioning to all the SSA's in the current huddle "to go to the game, he's already ok'ed, McGee & 2 others, Jonas drew the lucky straw for SFA's & Dyson drew the straw for the Juniors"
Donnelly breathed a sigh of relief & nodded, it wasn't a serious problem so to speak, she felt torn about this situation, wanting both to go to the game & to be at NCIS working on finding Kaplan "I'm presuming Tony's taken himself out of it?"
"Yea, he took himself & the rest of his team out of the runnings" Wu confirmed.
"Let's do this" Donnelly remarked, and drew the first straw. She watched as Wu followed by Kruse, then Brunswick all drew, before Kruse drew for Vella, given he was absent. They compared their straws & she smiled "I'll be sure to tell you all how he goes" she was glad to have won the right to go, she'd never have requested it, but if Gibbs ok'd one of them & it happened to be her? She was glad & knew her husband & sons would be likewise.
"Take some video at least" Brunswick requested, she was a little annoyed at not getting to go, she loved her football!
"Of course Jess" Donnelly replied, she felt a little sorry for her friend knowing her love of football, but she was not sorry enough to offer the spot up! She wanted to go & see Phoenix play.
"Where are we at?" Kruse asked, motioning to that Fielding lady who was sitting at the desk, though he could tell she was taking in her surroundings.
Donnelly led Kruse & the others back to Delilah "Ms Fielding here is getting us their complete file on Withers and his associates" she remarked.
Delilah felt all the eyes fall to her, she was already sick of the death stares "Is there some problem you all have with me?"
"We don't know you" Kruse remarked, he saw McGee, Captain Bond & Kelly all descending the stairs "and I don't trust people we don't know"
"None of us do!" Wu added.
"Just because you may not trust me, doesn't mean you have to be rude" Delilah retorted gently.
All the SSA's just eyed her until they heard an all too familiar voice.
"Brunswick! Your warrant's just coming through, Alice has it" Tristan called from the stairs.
"Thank you ma'am" Brunswick replied, yes! Maybe she could get her case finished now & help Tony! She headed straight for the stairs "grab your gear team! We leave in 3!" she called to her people.
Tristan nodded at her agent in passing, she spotted all the SSA's and the extra person, she'd had to deal with a few urgent interagency matters that had just arisen today & as such had to miss the Senior Management meeting & had been in MTAC for a while now, she'd just seen an email from Gibbs about the presence of the DOD & a few other matters, time to see what these people wanted, she approached the group "And who do we have here?"
"Deputy Assistant Director Tristan this is DOD Analyst Delilah Fielding" Donnelly remarked "The Boss is in the conference room with DOD Agent Mann & DiN…" she was going to say Tony, but he'd just come into the area.
Tristan saw Tony & knew Donnelly was going to say his name "DiNozzo, where's Gibbs?"
"Ahh" Tony hesitated "He's in the conference room with Agent Mann ma'am. They need to discuss a few personal matters" while he was so glad to be out of there! Because the staring was getting to him, he wasn't sure how to tell Tristan about 'who' she was.
"I see" Tristan raised an eyebrow in response, wondering what that meant "well catch me up."
Hollis wondered just how long she'd have to wait for him to start speaking, he'd motioned Tony out a few minutes ago already, she gave up on waiting "are you actually going to speak?"
"Thought you retired" Gibbs remarked
"That's where you want to start? I walk in & everything's changed & we start with me?" Hollis asked surprised.
"Good as place as any" Gibbs remarked "wouldn't have expected to see you walk in, so I guess your situation has changed as well"
Hollis realised he had a small point "Retirement was a little boring after a while, so I moved back to DC when I got the offer from the DOD"
Gibbs had to admit, he'd considered when he would retire himself occasionally, but one thing he knew was his retirement wouldn't be boring! All day, every day with his beautiful wife, that just sounded like heaven!
"So?" Hollis prodded.
Gibbs took a deep breath "I have my family back, they were stolen from me by a man named MacDonald Fielding, him & his associates have been dealt with"
"What do you mean stole? And who was he?" Hollis asked concerned, this was obviously though why he had an issue with Delilah.
"He was the man that took them from me, but as I said, he was dealt with fittingly, as were his associates. We're still still on the hunt for any remaining loose ends & those people will be dealt with accordingly as well" Gibbs answered, wanting to explain up front that anyone, including that Delilah lady, would be dealt with harshly, if found to have connection with the man & aided him. His gut hadn't settled on her yet.
"How did he steal them Jethro? How'd you work it out? When did you figure it out? Why did he do it?" Hollis prodded, this wasn't sounding pleasant at all!
"Not even a year ago, but it's not really any of your business anymore Hollis, my family's troubles are private" Gibbs remarked, he wasn't going to go into details with her. He knew that the story had spread through NCIS, as well the FBI & even parts of the marine core and naval operations by sheer wildfire, but as a family, they'd made an agreement to not tell people full details anymore, it wasn't anyone's business.
"That's all you're going to tell me?" Hollis asked taken aback "what about where your son came from? Or why you're here in Naples?" while he'd told her something, he hadn't really said anything.
"He was a spring surprise" Gibbs smirked "and we're here so he can follow his dream"
"Follow his dream?" Hollis asked
"Yes, his dream to be a professional football player, he's on the books of SSC Napoli" Gibbs remarked proudly.
"He wants to be a football player and you've headed to Italy for it? That seems a little odd" Hollis remarked, that didn't sound right, football wasn't really an Italian thing..
"He doesn't want to be one, he is one now, he's a football player & why wouldn't we come here for it? Italy is one of the best countries for football in the world" Gibbs asked, he was confused himself.
"Italy is good at football? Didn't think they even played it" Hollis remarked, she was really confused now!
It suddenly dawned on Gibbs what she was talking about "I mean European Football, or soccer. Not Gridiron, American Football" he clarified. They'd changed the way they'd referenced both sports because they'd had the same confused conversations themselves, but they'd made the change enough months ago, that he'd gotten used to the change, to him football was now what his son played & that was that.
"Ohh, soccer, right, yes that makes much more sense" Hollis nodded, finally understanding.
"Don't let the locals hear you call it that" Gibbs remarked, he knew the locals hated when they heard that term & it only served to make it apparent that the person was from either North America, or Australasia, to the rest of world it was the only football code that mattered & using the term soccer was blasphemy.
"I'll remember that" Hollis remarked "So you all came here so Phoenix could be a football player? Even Tony and all the others?" she asked, that seemed a little much, for them all the come for that.
"Yes, we all moved, look I'm not going to sit in here & give you a run down of what's happened over the last year. Suffice to say, things happened that brought us all much closer together. And the chance & opportunity arose that enabled us to come, so we did" Gibbs remarked "if you're done asking questions, I'd like to get back out there, I have things to do"
Hollis could see she wasn't going to get anything further from him right now, so she resigned herself to trying to get more information as they dealt with the situation "of course, but I have to ask, you'd never considered a promotion before, why'd you take this step up?"
"There were a lot of things I never saw myself doing" Gibbs replied as he headed for the door, but he stopped & looked back at her "things have changed, I've changed, fair warning I'm not the person you knew" he thought it was only fair to warn her.
"That one I've figured out already" Hollis retorted, that was plain as day to her! She followed him back out to the main bullpen area, to her it looked like organised chaos. There were people moving around, she'd rarely seen so much activity in an office.
Kruse saw Gibbs emerge & headed straight for him with an update as he was the most senior agent on the floor right now "Boss, Tristan is in MTAC with DiNozzo, they're on with the Director, and she's asked that you head up as soon as you can. Donnelly & Wu are working on the data & information we've gotten from the DOD, Brunswick's headed out with her warrant, Vella's still on the Seahawk, Duncan also called, they're pursuing some leads that could lead them into Zimbabwe…"
Gibbs had been listening to the update but that one caught him "Duncan's going where?" he interrupted.
Kruse took a breath "he called in 10 minutes ago, said they'd found evidence of the murders being tied to some corrupt military groups, with an apparent base in Zimbabwe"
That didn't sit well with Gibbs "what backup is he going with?"
"He was trying to arrange a marine unit to go with, maybe South African SAS boss" Kruse replied.
Gibbs cast his mind to what assets they had in the area, he saw Alice not too far away "Alice!" he called, once she was looking at him he continued "get me Colonel Reeves, currently on-board USS Blue Ridge, I need one of his Seal teams"
"Of course Boss" Alice nodded "Dinner order again too?"
"Yes, no pizzas or baguettes though, pick something else" Gibbs agreed, dinner would definitely be required, but they'd been having Italian too much lately, they needed something else. He looked back to Kruse "is Vella progressing? Did you see to what I asked Brunswick to take care of? Anything from the NATO labs? McGee with my lawyer at JAG?"
"Nothing from the labs yet, McGee & the lawyer are at JAG right now, Vella has gone through the Petty Officers quarters & has just started the interrogation. With regards to what you asked Brunswick to organise, Donnelly, Jonas & Dyson are the straw poll winners. All three have said they will come into the office & then head to the stadium from here, unless you disagree boss" Kruse reported.
Gibbs nodded, he saw Jonas "Jonas! Collect the trio of ticket packs from my daughter & organise to book out a vehicle for you three to go in, straight there & back for the game" he instructed.
"Yes boss!" Jonas replied before getting back to what he was doing, but he had a request, it might be pushing it but he had to try "Chinese boss?"
Gibbs had to give his agent a wry smile, this kid's obsession with Asian was crazy "yea ok, get Alice to organise it, but you eat last Jonas!" he finished with a smirk to his man.
Hollis couldn't help but watch these exchanges with interest, the information just kept moving, and Jethro was more than taking charge of the entire situation, he was definitely dealing with more than one situation. She saw that Jonas man widen his eyes at Jethro's last remark & just sighed as headed towards that Alice lady, ok she'd need to majority readjust her views on Jethro now.
Gibbs turned back to Kruse "anything on Kaplan? Or Jake?"
Kruse sighed "nothing boss, the hospital is still stonewalling us & we haven't been able to locate where Kaplan went when she landed back in New Orleans. Tristan & DiNozzo are speaking with the Director about it"
Hollis's ears peaked, they were still unable to find Kaplan, that wasn't good news, but who was Jake? And why did they need information from a hospital?
Gibbs considered what next when his phone rang, he looked at the caller ID – Dispatch – he gave an internal groan, what now? "What have we got?" he answered.
Gibbs listened & cursed "Give it to Donnelly" he instructed & hung up, he scanned the area & spotted Donnelly coming back into the area "Donnelly!"
"Yes Boss?" Donnelly answered coming straight for him.
"Case, missing marine dependant, pass everything you're working on over to Wu & get moving, dispatch will be calling you any minute" Gibbs instructed, his blood boiled when it came to missing kids.
"Yes boss" Donnelly nodded just as her phone rang.
"Boss, I've got Colonel Reeves for you" Alice called.
Gibbs nodded but turned to the two people with him "Agent Mann, this is SSA Kevin Kruse, Kruse this is Agent Hollis Mann, see where Wu is up to, let's make the intel work for us"
"Will do Boss" Kruse nodded.
Gibbs headed up to his office & as he did he saw Donnelly & her team heading off "Find that kid Donnelly! Fast!"
"We will boss!" Donnelly replied back, she knew he'd said it for two reasons, one so her team could get back to helping Tony's case & the other, the one thing that Gibbs, along with all of them, hated the most was missing kids, it was something that affected them all, but especially him greatly.
Hollis watched him go, he was now in a discussion with that Alice lady, he wasn't kidding, he was certainly dealing with a lot, and he looked to be doing it so easily, everything just seemed to flow & everyone just seemed to roll with him, she was in awe! She still couldn't get over how good he looked, it was like he had de-aged by about 10 years, he looked more fit than she'd ever known him to be & his vibe was just so…. Well if she had to qualify it, he looked happy, he was clearly the happiest he'd ever been. She was still shocked at what she'd learnt, even though it wasn't a lot, hmm..
A/N: So hope you enjoyed that.. Hollis seems to still be struggling to deal with our new Gibbs & his new postion. But I think he was right in not telling her the details, its a family thing.. the whole soccer V football term was something I actually experienced in Europe, so thought it would be fun to throw in.
Question is, how will she react when she finds out just who the lawyer is? That's up next... and just maybe they'll be a little Telly action too..
You know I love hearing your thoughts/comments, so review away! Reading your comments just makes me smile & spurs me on to keep writing! More up soon!