Four months later and things at NCIS, and in Penny's life, had returned to normal, well sort of. McGee, Ziva and Tony were still missing from the team and they were still left with "the B team" as Ducky had put it earlier that day. Penny would often have lunch with McGee and Abby, but it just wasn't the same. Things with the new team were strained at best and they still had no real answers as to Vance's motives. If she was honest she couldn't stand the new agents as they weren't her family. None of them gelled like their predecessors had done and she and Gibbs were still being kept in the dark about a lot of things. But that was why Gibbs now had her sat in the director's office trying to find out the truth behind the team's break-up.
It had been the first time since Jenny's funeral that she had entered the office, and she could see that all of Jenny's black and white photographs had been removed and replaced by Vance's boxing ones. She found that the office was no longer warm and inviting as it had been previously and no longer held any source of comfort.
She struggled to stay focused on what it was that Vance was saying in the beginning, seeing as he was prattling on about boxing, but then Gibbs mentioned the one thing that brought her back to reality.
'You didn't break-up my team because of Jenny's death.' Gibbs said bluntly, and he noticed that Penny winced at his words.
Although she was coping and moving on, she still hated people pointing out that Jenny was dead and wouldn't becoming home, especially when they said it so bluntly.
'No, five months ago I got a series of anonymous calls from a navy petty officer. Eventually he identified himself as Steve Vargo. He said that he had gambling debts and that he was being blackmailed into supplying highly classified data to someone.' Vance explained calmly.
'What sort of data?' Gibbs asked, also calmly but Penny could hear the irritation in his voice and in his stance.
'He wouldn't tell me. But Vargo was a specialist in the middle-east. He said that he downloaded a critical file, but he hadn't passed it on.' Vance continued to explain, a slight glint to his eye.
'Change of heart.' Gibb added simply before Vance continued again.
'I believed him. On the Director's orders I flew to DC. I was supposed to meet him, he was going to give me the name of that contact, but he didn't turn up. Next day he didn't report for duty, now I know why.' He explained finally.
'You didn't answer the question Leon.' Gibbs added with a very small smile playing on his lips.
'The reason I broke up your team Gibbs was because whoever was blackmailing Vargo was an NCIS agent.'
'Not one of mine.' Gibbs replied quickly and in disbelief that any of his were suspects.
'No. From what Vargo told me I narrowed it down to three agents.' Vance explained before he turned round and walked over to the screen in the middle of the office. 'The only reason I broke up your team was so that I could form a new one. So that you can help me figure out which one of these three is betraying their country.'
Gibbs looked at Leon with confusion, irritation and annoyance. He was angry that he'd been left in the dark for so long. Penny was also angry that they'd been kept in the dark and that she'd been made to feel so guilty and responsible for the team's disbandment, when in fact it had nothing to do with her or her actions.
She listened as Vance explained in great detail about how he came to make his decision as to where to send McGee and Ziva, but she was still curious as to why Tony was made agent afloat. The fact that Ziva was sent back to Mossad and McGee was sent to cyber-crimes made sense, but there was still no reason, in her mind, as to why Tony was sent away. However, before she could ponder more on the subject Vance said something else that caught her attention.
'Our contact is currently in Moscow. They've kept their ear to the ground with this and managed to pick up a couple of pieces of information, but nothing substantial as of yet.' He explained to Gibbs cryptically, but Gibbs clearly knew who and what he was meaning.
On hearing the latest piece of information, Gibbs sent Penny out of the room. She could tell that he was angry about the whole situation, but for some reason this piece of news seemed to tip his anger over the edge.
'Penny I need to speak with Director Vance alone.' He said calmly without taking his eyes from Vance who was now sitting behind his desk.
Penny silently moved from her position in the centre of the room towards the door. She knew better than to argue with Gibbs and didn't want to get in the middle of their pissing match. However, just as she closed the door behind her she heard a small snippet of their argument.
'So you're telling me Leon, that even after four months into this investigation that you and our contact have nothing?' She heard Gibbs say angrily.
'It's not her primary assignment Gibbs. I only keep her up to date with information on a situation that she already knows about; but she needs to concentrate on the bigger mission at hand.' Leon spat back calmly.
Penny was curious to know who their contact was. In the last four months she had heard quite a few conversations like this one, or Gibbs would suddenly be called to MTAC which would then go into lock down. Occasionally he would even go running to Vance at his request, something he never usually did. Whatever it was though, she hated being kept in the dark and was determined to find out more.
She returned to the bullpen just as Gibbs and Vance were disappearing into MTAC. She stood in the centre of the bullpen and stared after them for a few moments, feeling frustrated by their constant secrecy.
'Right what've you got?' She asked as she turned her attentions to "the B team".
'Vargo's computers have been seized.' Langer said with his face contorted in confusion.
'Standard operating procedure.' Keating replied as he continued to stare at his own computer. 'It's in the agent's manual.'
'Section thirty-five subsection two clause E, seizure of evidence.' Penny added as she remembered all her mom's teachings.
Jenny had always ensured that Penny knew all of the regulations and laws for NCIS, even long before she had become an NCIS agent. She'd always wanted Penny to exceed in her endeavours as an agent and couldn't have been prouder when Penny had passed all of her exams with full merits. Penny had always been proud to call herself a little bit of a geek when it came to procedure.
'And this matters why?' Michelle asked.
'It was seized four months ago.' Langer explained, his brow still slightly furrowed.
'After he failed to report for duty, makes perfect sense.' Penny replied with a slightly annoyed tone to her voice.
'Who seized them?' Michelle said as she drew her attention to the agents in front of her.
'Us, this agency, NCIS.' Langer replied.
'Well then it will have been logged.' Keating said as he began tapping away on the keys of his computer. As he stared at his screen it was now his turn to look confused. 'It wasn't logged.'
'Well legally that could cause a chain of evidence problem.' Michelle explained, using her knowledge as a lawyer.
'It's got to be in the building somewhere.' Langer added as he picked up his phone.
'Evidence locker maybe?' Michelle suggested, but the suggestion made Penny realise where it probably was.
'Guys don't worry about the computer just now; you just concentrate on the current investigation.' She said as she returned to her own computer and began typing an email to McGee, just as Gibbs appeared in the bullpen.
'Talk to me.' He said as he entered.
He was used to saying short phrases and being bombarded by responses, ideas and solutions from his team, yet these three agents couldn't even master that simple task.
'Anyone?' He said loudly which resulted in a frenzy of babbling replies as the agents tried to talk over each other.
Penny heard the other three agents explain to Gibbs what they'd found as she carefully placed her telephone receiver to her ear. She could tell that Gibbs was irritable and annoyed, which he seemed to be a lot more of in recent weeks. Just as Gibbs sat behind his desk Penny finished speaking to McGee and replaced the receiver on the phone turret. She approached Gibbs desk with a note that she had written, but she noticed that he was looking at the team of agents from over his computer. Neither of them were used to it being so quiet.
Penny had to admit, in all fairness to the new team, they did concentrate on their work and any orders they were given, but she hated the silence. She was so used to hearing DiNozzo making some random quip about their case or referring to a movie. She missed his sexually agitated conversations with Ziva and her tendency for mispronouncing words or sayings. Most of all she missed McGee. She hated not working with him and she missed Tony picking on him, like a big brother would, and his little confused look he'd sometimes get. Deep down she knew Gibbs felt the same, even if he'd never admit it.
'What you got Penny?' Gibbs asked her quietly as she handed him her note.
He took the paper from her and read her neat handwriting, noting how similar it was to Jenny's. He subtly nodded his head at her before standing from behind his desk. He gently tugged on Penny's sleeve to indicate that he wanted her to follow him, which she did without saying a word. Neither said anything to the other team members.
Gibbs led her to the "basement" where McGee now worked with the cyber-crimes unit. Once there they waited, somewhat impatiently on Gibbs's part, for Vance to join them.
'Did you call him?' Gibbs asked McGee.
McGee looked uncomfortably at Gibbs, knowing how pissed about the situation he was, and tried to offer him some form of explanation; at least he owed him that.
'Director's on his way down.' He said, noting how Penny winced when he referred to Vance as "Director", something she did often when she heard it.
'You like working down here McGee?' Gibbs asked, feeling hurt by his agent's betrayal but determined not to show it.
'Boss I'm sorry, he made it very clear to me that I couldn't talk to anyone except for him.' McGee tried to offer as an explanation.
'Wouldn't have stopped you in the past.' He replied.
'It isn't like the past anymore Gibbs.' Penny replied quietly, just as the elevator doors pinged open.
'You can tell him.' Vance said as he walked out, causing an instant response from McGee.
'We've cracked the eighth code of encryption. Which is not actually accurate because they're not really levels of encryptions; some are just packets of information all encrypted with a new level of protection that…that you don't really need to know about.' He explained proudly before remembering how Gibbs favoured immediate answers. 'The day before he disappeared Vargo connected a thumb drive, about this size, to a classified computer and downloaded a two point seven five gigabyte file.' He explained quickly as he showed Vance and Gibbs his thumb drive.
'What sort of data?' Gibbs asked.
'Don't know yet; haven't been able to crack that level of encryption.' McGee replied.
'Something he could easily hide. Probably took it with him.' Vance explained as he listened to the young agent's findings.
'And put it somewhere safe.' Gibbs added.
'Maybe.' Vance replied as he stared directly at Gibbs. 'Thank you agent McGee. Keep Gibbs in the loop.' He added to McGee, making it clear to him that there was something that they both knew that he didn't.
'Will do.' He replied as he and Penny quickly exited the basement, leaving Gibbs and Vance to it.
Once they were inside the elevator and the doors were closed, Penny whacked McGee on the back of his head.
'Ow what was that for?' He asked as he gingerly touched the area.
'For insisting on calling Vance director.' She replied with a small smile.
She wasn't really mad at him, as in reality she knew that since Vance was the director everyone would be referring to him as such, but it pained her to hear her friends say it, and she'd already vowed that she never would.
McGee looked at her with a small frown until he saw her small smile, to which he then reciprocated. Although he and Penny had always been very close, in the last four months they'd become even closer and there was definitely something else on the cards that they were completely oblivious to.
'Gibbs is trying to get the team back together.' She said simply.
'I hope he can. I've really missed being a field agent and you guys.' He said.
'Yeah I've missed you all too. Including Tony.' She added. 'Do you think he's forgiven me for the way I treated him?'
'You don't have anything to feel guilty about you know. I'd have reacted the same if I'd been in your position, and I think he understands that.' He replied and placed his arm around her to give her a small hug.
'Do you fancy grabbing a quick drink before you go home?' She asked as the doors opened into the bullpen.
'Sure, why not?' He replied as they left the building together and headed to a bar nearby.
They were pleased to see it was reasonably quiet apart from a couple of regulars. McGee went to the bar to order their drinks whilst Penny went over to the pool table. She'd always loved playing pool and wasn't bad at it either. Her father used to have one in one of the spare rooms in the house. She remembered that he used to smoke a cigar whilst potting a few balls and drinking scotch. He used to teach her all about playing and she really enjoyed learning. What she couldn't remember was when it had disappeared. She knew it had been at some point after his death, but she couldn't pin point the exact time. Now it held all of her mom's gym equipment, which even she enjoyed using from time to time, although she hadn't done recently. At that point, just as McGee was walking over, she made the conscious decision to start using the gym equipment again.
'Are we all set?' He asked as he handed her a drink and grabbed a pool cue.
Being a gentleman he let her break first, sending the red and yellow balls scattering over the green cloth. After taking his shot McGee stepped back to allow Penny to take hers. He watched her as she looked at the balls intently; she pulled the cue back slightly and was just about to take her shot when McGee deliberately hit the end of the cue with his hand. She stayed in position and slowly turned her head to glare at him, a slight smile playing on her lips.
'Just goes to show that you shouldn't rush a shot.' McGee said playfully.
They began to laugh until they were joined by a bubbly Abby.
'What's so funny?' She asked.
'Just Timmy being a McCheater.' Penny replied, noticing how McGee winced slightly at her comment.
'Please don't you start with the Mc-nicknames.' He said, much to Penny's amusement.
'Aw come on McGee, admit it, you've missed Tony and his Mc-nicknames for you.' She replied.
'I miss Tony.' Abby said with a melancholy tone. 'I'm so glad we're getting him and Ziva back.'
'Has Vance definitely confirmed that yet?' Penny asked.
'Well, no…not yet anyway. But with Gibbs on his case it's inevitable. Right?' Abby replied, her previous confidence a little deflated.
'Well sadly Abs nothing is inevitable, especially not as far as Vance is concerned.' Penny replied, just as she lined up her cue once more and angrily potted her next ball.
Abby and McGee gave each other a knowing look, and wished there was something they could say or do to help their friend get over her clear dislike of their new boss. However, before they could contemplate this further, Ducky and Jimmy arrived. It was just like old times apart from the team members they were missing.
The next day Gibbs was up early to continue the investigation. There was something greatly troubling his gut about this case, but he couldn't figure out what it was. It was whilst he was in autopsy and speaking to Ducky that he finally got his epiphany. Now he found himself in Abby's lab looking at the pillow the shooter shot through. Abby confirmed his suspicions that the pillow wasn't used to silence the gun shot, but was placed over the face of the victim to shield their identity as he was shot. As Abby put it, they had a squeamish shooter.
Shortly after this discovery, McGee called him with some information. He'd found a calling list from a pay phone at the trailer park where Vargo stayed, and there were three calls listed to NCIS's legal team. The link to the legal team and the fact that their shooter was squeamish certainly made Gibbs believe that Michelle Lee could have been responsible. The only thing troubling his gut now was the fact that her explanation was plausible.
'Sounds credible.' Vance said, referring to Lee's explanation.
'Maybe.' Gibbs replied doubtfully.
At that point McGee joined them in the office along with Penny.
'McGee, check Lee's files on the days Vargo called and see if she logged any report.' Vance instructed the younger agent.
'Penny I want you to pull full background checks on all of them, Lee, Keating, Langer; phone records, bank cards, credit cards.' Gibbs said to Penny and she nodded in reply.
'Any update on the hard drive?' Vance asked.
'Well we're still trying to crack the encryption, but there may be another way.' McGee replied, giving Vance a slight nod and a look that told him that he wasn't offering to go through official channels. 'The only information we have is the file's hash number.'
'Every file has one.' Penny said with a small smile, realising where McGee was going with his train of thought.
'No two are the same.' He added, a small smile also forming on his lips. 'So if we can access the Pentagon's system we can scan for that hash number and it should lead us to that file Vargo downloaded. Of course we would have to go through some channels…' He explained.
'Is that the fastest way?' Gibbs asked.
'I was afraid you were going to ask me that.' McGee replied, again a small smile forming on his lip and Penny had to work hard to supress the one from her's.
'We didn't have this conversation.' Vance said coyly as he looked at the three agents before him.
'What conversation would that be?' Penny replied to Vance with an innocent look, giving a small wink to Gibbs who smiled at her response.
Penny and McGee left the office immediately and walked into MTAC. The only way they could access the information they required would be through a secure naval network, which meant only one thing…Tony. She felt a little excited about seeing him again, even if it was only on a screen, but she was apprehensive as well. She wasn't sure of the best way to deal with the situation, so she decided to stay out of sight in one of the chairs.
Gibbs also entered MTAC and he immediately noticed where Penny was sat. He'd been made aware that since Jenny's death Penny favoured the seat in MTAC that was next to what had been Jenny's favourite seat; the row on the right hand side of the room, bottom left. He then remembered an incident with her when she had sat in another seat within MTAC. It had been the seat on the bottom right on the row on the left hand side of the room; he had been sat at the very top talking to Tom Morrow when the red head in front had stood up to face him. His voice had stuck in his throat for a few seconds as his happy memories of them together had flashed before him. As he brought his mind back to the present day and to the task at hand, he felt a small pang of pain as he realised that he missed her.
'McGoo, it's true, TV really does add ten pounds; you been hitting those jelly donuts again?' Gibbs heard Tony say and a smile creased his face. He had to admit he did miss the younger agent. 'How do I look?' Tony added, ensuring he was presentable.
'Well Tony I never thought I'd say it and actually mean it, but it's good to see you.' McGee replied.
Tony leaned forward slightly and whispered into the camera.
'I miss you too Probie.' He said.
'First the USS Ronald Reagan and now the Sea Hawk, how's life afloat?' McGee replied.
'Ah life in the ocean blue me hearties, if the scurvy don't get you the pox will. And tell me this, my little McShipmate, how's that scurrilous, black hearted, pirate King of ours, Captain "One Shot" Gibbs?' Tony said, putting on his best "at sea" accent.
'I'm just fine DiNozzo.' Gibbs said, just before McGee could reply, causing a slightly fearful look in Tony's eyes.
Tony wondered what to say or do next so he glanced slightly behind him before Gibbs slapping himself.
'There you go Boss. Welcome aboard.' Tony replied sheepishly.
'Got work to do.' Gibbs said as he tried to prevent the smile threatening to crease his face. Penny was also fighting hard not to laugh.
'I'm on it Boss; what am I on McGee?' Tony replied immediately.
'Are you alone Tony?' McGee said as he began typing a few things into his computer.
'Oh yeah; just me and five thousand of my closest friends, I AM NEVER ALONE!' He replied as he raised his voice before lowering it again and leaned toward the camera. 'I really need to come home Boss.' He added.
'Working on it.' Gibbs replied simply.
Tony's statement made Penny feel guilty. She still could get passed the fact that it was Vance's doing that Tony was away and not her's.
'The only way we are going to access this information is through a secure naval communications room. So you are it Tony.' McGee explained as if nothing had happened, after all, he was used to Tony's melodramatics. 'Here it is. I'm going to give you a code, I want you to enter it into the keyboard and when you do it's going to ask you for an access code and an authorisation key.'
Tony leaned back in his chair, just as somebody passed behind him, as he loudly replied to Gibbs and McGee.
'Dad, see this is the reason I don't want Tim driving my car. You know I told Tim that it is my car, it's not a family car, it's my car.' He said with a laugh as he glanced behind him, before lowering his voice once more. 'This sounds suspiciously like illegal activity McGee, and, well, a man of my delicate disposition is not suited to that kind of thing.' He added quietly.
'Don't be such a girl Tony.' McGee replied with a roll of his eyes, and Penny had to stifle her laugh. 'Ready? Seven, delta, x-ray, four, nine, eight, three, three, zero, six, Zulu; the password is blue moon, one word. Authorisation key is foxtrot, Oscar, Charlie, bravo.' He explained quickly.
'Alright it's opened a search page.' Tony said before he glanced behind him once again. 'Is this hacking McGee, are we hacking?' He whispered.
'We are not hacking.' McGee replied in a tone that made Penny smile.
'But it is illegal right? Don't answer that, I know it's illegal. It's kinda fun.' Tony added causing Gibbs to smile this time. Tony clearly wasn't made to be agent afloat; he liked being a field agent too much.
'Search parameters, the hash symbol, then two, seven, five, three, one, nine, forward slash, delta, x-ray.' McGee said without replying to Tony's previous statement.
Penny had missed the comedic banter between the two friends. It made her realise that she missed being part of Team Gibbs, the original Team Gibbs, as the other three agents currently sat in her friends' seats were definitely not Team Gibbs material. She'd missed the next bit of the conversation but was brought back when she heard their conversation wrapping up.
'Well it's been great talking with you Pa. Thanks Tim. You know I love you guys it's just Tim always messes my stuff up; he doesn't know how to shift gears, he never changes the oil. Make sure you feed the chickens. Say hi to Penny from me and make sure you look after my little sister…' Tony said resulting in a small laugh from Gibbs, a worried look from McGee and a cold shiver up Penny's spine.
She felt responsible for him being in this predicament and wanted nothing more than to be the one to tell him she wanted him home. She realised that the only way he was going to come home though was if she spoke to Vance about the situation, and she hoped she could make him see sense. But that was going to have to wait as they had an investigation to conclude.
The next few hours were eventful for Penny, McGee and Gibbs. McGee and Penny worked together on the background checks of Langer, Keating and Lee, whilst Gibbs and Vance interrogated them. It was during the interrogations that Lee phoned Gibbs and they discovered that it was Langer who was the mole and that he was trying to kill her. Vance, Gibbs and Penny had gone immediately to her aid and discovered she'd already taken care of him.
She was visibly shaken and distressed, but Langer was dead on arrival and no longer posed a danger. His death marked the end of a long case, and meant that Team Gibbs could be reunited. Now they were just waiting for Ziva to arrive home from Israel.
Penny, McGee, Gibbs and Abby were all standing in the bullpen chatting when the elevator doors pinged open and Ziva quickly exited. After she exchanged a few words with Michelle she joined her NCIS family.
'There she is, ZIVA!' Abby shouted excitedly as she jumped up and down on the spot.
After a few moments Ziva joined her friends and received a hug from each. It was a very tender moment that was tinged with the sadness that they all weren't there. It was at that moment that Penny broke away from the team and began walking towards the stairs.
'Penny where are you going?' Ziva asked.
'To do something I should have done a long time ago.' She replied slightly cryptically, before returning to her rout upstairs.
'She isn't going to resign is she?' Ziva asked as she looked at the rest of the team.
'I hope not.' Gibbs replied as he passed everyone and ran after the youngest agent.
He caught up with her fairly quickly, just before she was able to enter the office. He gently grabbed her arm and pulled her back, holding her in place as he spoke to her.
'What are you doing Penny?' He asked her softly.
'I'm going to speak to Vance Gibbs. I want DiNozzo back and I don't think he's going to listen to you until I can prove that I can work with him again.' She explained, a little confused by his sudden look of unnecessary concern.
Gibbs visibly breathed a sigh of relief, and the realisation of his thoughts dawned on Penny.
'Ah you thought I was about to quit.' She said to him and he finally let go of her arm.
'Come on let's do it together.' He replied as he ushered her towards the door.