"Where the hell is DiNozzo?" Gibbs muttered. He grabbed is phone and called him for the sixth time in an hour. He flipped the phone shut in disgust when there was no answer.
"Maybe the interview is taking longer than he thought." Abby suggested. They were in Ducky's room. It didn't have a desk, but it had a couch and coffee table. The remains of a room-service late lunch littered the table. Abby was on the bed with her laptop as Gibbs paced the room like a caged animal.
"An hour and a half?" Gibbs pointed out.
Abby shrugged. "Maybe…he's watching the surveillance tapes?"
"What does your gut say, Jethro?" Ducky asked.
"It's telling me something's wrong." Gibbs muttered. "I'm going to the lobby."
"Wait! Let me come with you!" Abby yelped.
"No. Stay." Gibbs pointed at the bed and grabbed Tony's leash, storming from the room. He took the stairs three floors down to the lobby and glanced around. He caught the manager speaking to someone near the front door. He stiffened when he saw Gibbs coming.
"I had a slave with me," Gibbs began, "the one who did the interviews with your staff."
The manager nodded.
"Where is he?"
"He's been incarcerated, sir."
"What!"
"He attacked a free person and is currently residing in our in-house cells."
Gibbs stood there, stunned.
"Let me see him!" He roared finally.
"Of course, sir."
A guard was called to escort him. Gibbs fumed the entire way to the basement. Attacked? That didn't make sense. It couldn't be true—and if it was, he knew Tony would have a damn good explanation. The security guard flipped on a light at the end of the hall. Gibbs saw Tony, chained to the wall on his knees, a gag tied too tight around his head. Gibbs exploded.
"Get him out of there! What the hell kind of place is this? Did you bastards not read his collar? He's my slave!"
The security guard gulped and hastily opened the cell door. Gibbs yanked the keys from the guard's hand.
"Tony. Shit. I'm sorry." Gibbs undid the cuffs and gag.
"I'm sorry." Tony whispered.
"Nothin' to be sorry for." Gibbs squatted down beside him. "What happened?"
"She—I—I attacked her, master."
"I heard. But why?"
Tony stayed silent. Gibbs looked up at the guard who was watching them nervously, clearly unsure of what to do.
"I'm taking him back to our room." Gibbs said coldly.
"Uh, the manager has to sign off on any prisoners getting released—."
"Then get him down here!" Gibbs barked.
He scurried off, and Gibbs turned his attention back to Tony. He was trembling.
"Tony." Gibbs rested a hand on his head. "Who did you attack?"
"The Bergman woman."
Gibbs smiled, though Tony didn't see. He continued stroking his hair.
"What happened?"
"She…" Tony gulped. "She tried to take me—I told her I had a collar! She saw it!"
"Sh…sh…"Gibbs soothed. "We'll get this sorted out."
The manager returned, looking annoyed and rushed. Gibbs got off the floor and got into his face.
"I'm taking him back to my room."
"I'm afraid you can't do that, Mr. Gibbs." The manager said.
"Why the hell not?"
"He broke not only the hotel's rules, but a law as well. He attacked a free person and I'm commanding that he be punished for his actions."
Gibbs got into the manager's face and stared down at him, boring into the guy's brown eyes with his icy blue ones.
"You will release him to me."
"Sir," the manager swallowed, "he broke the rules. He's a loose cannon."
"You know that's not true." Gibbs said in a softer tone. "You saw him with me this morning in your office. He was fine. Docile and obedient, just like a good slave should be."
The manager paused, considering.
"He obeys my every word." Gibbs growled. "He was defending himself against that woman because she was trying to take him as her own—steal him from me. She broke a law by trying to steal my property."
"But he attacked her." The manager almost whined. Gibbs continued staring at him and the man straightened. "Fine." He said. "Take him back to your room and punish him accordingly. You may be running an investigation, but I'm running a business. Our patrons expect a certain level of security. Deal with him, Gibbs." The man hissed, "or I may have to place a call to a certain laoban."
Gibbs' jaw tightened. A call to Ching-Lan would only mean that Tony would get taken away. Not an option.
"Also, I want him on a short leash for the rest of your stay. He doesn't leave your room without you—only you, not the doctor—holding his leash, got it?"
Gibbs nodded.
"No more sending him off gallivanting after leads. You have my permission to investigate this case as you need to, Gibbs, but if something like this happens again, you won't be able to protect him."
"It won't." Gibbs said in as polite a tone as he could muster. He watched as the manager paced down the hallway and disappeared. "Tony." He said, schooling his voice. "Come on, we're going back to the room now." Tony got up and Gibbs clipped the leash to his collar, pausing when Tony wouldn't look him in the eye.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs said patiently. He felt a burst of exasperation. He hated feeling so damn helpless. "You're safe now."
"The punishment?" He mumbled.
"Aw hell, Tony. There won't be any. I'm sure whatever happened wasn't your fault. That bitch provoked you, am I right?"
Tony nodded.
"Then what happened?" Gibbs pressed.
"I defended myself."
"Good." Gibbs said. "I'm glad you defended yourself."
Tony took a deep breath, finally gathering the courage to look Gibbs in the eye.
"Guess she was mad you wouldn't sell me." Tony said with a hint of humor.
Gibbs snorted. "We have food in Ducky's room. He's worried about you. Abby is too." That seemed to help. Tony nodded bravely and followed his master back up to the room.
"Ah. There you are Anthony." Ducky said as they entered. "We were beginning to worry…"
"What happened?" Abby said, her eyes wide. Gibbs flashed hera glare but said nothing. He unclipped Tony's leash and threw it savagely onto the coffee table. Ducky got up and took Gibbs by the arm, leading him to a corner.
"What happened, Jethro?" He asked patiently. Gibbs watched Abby creep up to Tony and envelope him in a hug.
"He was in the house cells."
"Goodness, why?"
"Justine Bergman." Gibbs spat. "She provoked him and he attacked her."
"Attacked?" Ducky breathed.
"Yeah. I don't know how badly. Couldn't have been too bad if the manager released him into my custody. He told me to punish Tony, but screw him. Tony's never gonna get another punishment. We're just gonna go on with this case like nothing happened."
"Good man."
Gibbs looked at Tony and Abby on the opposite side of the room, hugging. He imagined what would happen if Tony got yanked again from their lives. He couldn't let that happen. Abby had shed enough tears over their friend. "There's more at stake here than just Ching-Lan's sister." Gibbs said.
"We still need to get that interview from McMurtry." Gibbs said to Ducky. "I want to get the hell out of here as fast as we can. The manager's got Tony on a short leash, he can't go anywhere I'm not. Except for our room." Gibbs shook his head. "That was stupid of me. I forgot he can't go around like Abby since he doesn't have those green and yellow tags."
"He'll forgive you, Jethro."
Gibbs nodded and Ducky stepped aside. Abby was talking quietly to Tony, and he seemed much more relaxed. Gibbs walked over to them.
"Hi Gibbs." Abby gave him a hug.
"Hi Abby."
"You okay?" She asked.
"I'm fine. Tony." He schooled his voice into a business-like tone. "Break's over, we gotta get that interview."
"You'll let me?" Tony said, perking up.
"Of course. You got the tip-off from Consuelo. You should get McMurtry's interview. I'm not changing my mind about that."
Tony grinned, his whole face brightening. "Really boss?"
"Keep asking me about it and I might change my mind, DiNozzo." Gibbs said dryly.
"Oh. Sure, boss. Shutting up, boss."
They went back to the basement. Gibbs made sure Tony's leash was wrapped firmly in his hand as they walked through the halls and down the stairs. Tony followed him with a perfect 'at heel' for every step until they came to the room. Gibbs gave Tony a reassuring grin before knocking on the door labeled 'surveillance.'
A pudgy, pasty man with small glasses and a confused look on his face answered the door.
"Are you Homer McMurtry?" Gibbs asked. He could almost feel DiNozzo itching to make some smart comment.
"Uh, yeah." The guy reached up to scratch his head. "Wass' going on? Who're you?"
Gibbs introduced himself, then Tony. The room itself was miniscule and filled to the brim with wires, tapes, VCRs, DVD players, old soda cans, and plenty of other bits of junk and garbage. There was barely enough room for one person to sit in here comfortably, much less three. Homer pushed a few pizza boxes off some folding chairs and they all sat down in the tiny space. Gibbs gestured for Tony to ask the first question. Tony clicked his pen importantly and tapped it on the notebook page.
"So, Doctor McMurtry. We need to see the videotapes dated between January sixth and January eleventh of this year."
"Uh, okay. Which part of the hotel do you need?"
"All of 'em." Tony said.
"All?"
"Yep."
"But, that's like over a hundred hours of video." Homer scratched himself, trying to wrap his round head around the idea of anyone wanting those tapes.
"Well, we need to watch every minute."
"Oh. Okay." Homer got up and turned around, bending down into a filing cabinet. Tony made a face as the man's wide ass invaded his personal space. "I have it somewhere…" Homer leaned back and Tony nearly fell off his chair. Gibbs looked like he was trying very hard not to bust out laughing. "Here." Homer stood and handed Tony some DVDs that were stacked in a container and surprisingly very neatly labeled.
"Thank you." Tony said. Gibbs asked if Homer had seen Mei-Lien or either of her keepers, just for good measure. Homer said no.
They went back to their shared room and Tony dumped the DVDs on the desk.
"Over a hundred hours! No kidding." Tony said, eyeing the shiny disks.
Gibbs divided the stack and passed two smaller piles to Abby and Ducky. They all had DVD players in their rooms, and for the next few hours the group spent the time watching the world's most boring reality TV.
"The outdoor pool?" Tony said after two hours. "Really, boss? It was January—the pool wasn't even open." He saw the glare in Gibbs' eyes get steadily darker. Tony switched tactics. "Which is why it's a good place to hide things." He grumbled. "Like large sums of money that may have been argued about in a hotel room." Gibbs gave him a nod and they watched.
At 1700 Gibbs rubbed his eyes.
"I think it's time for a break."
"Uh-huh. The glaze on my eyes has a glaze." Tony's stomach let out a long rumble.
"We'll fix that first. What do you want to eat?"
"Oh…uh…"
"Pizza?" Gibbs suggested. Tony brightened.
"Really?"
"Wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it. How's your stomach?"
"It's getting better boss. I can definitely eat real food. Maybe not as much as I used to, but…"
"Good. We can drive around, try and find some little hole in the wall place. I don't know about you, but I want to get the hell out of this room."
Tony nodded quickly.
Ducky and Abby agreed that pizza sounded wonderful and they were soon driving away from the hotel lot, the concierge having helpfully given them the names of a few pizza places nearby. They decided to skip the bigger names, instead trying out a little dive off the highway. Tony declared after the first bite that it was the best pizza he'd ever had. They ate well and returned to the hotel lobby, each of them returning to their rooms to pore over more videos.
Gibbs settled on the bed and hit the play button, but found he could hardly concentrate. Tony was on the other bed, watching, but looking just as distracted. He fiddled anxiously with his collar, his fingers running over the buckle. Gibbs didn't blame him for being distracted. Tony was going through a lot of crap right now. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like for him in the cell, tied and waiting. How many times had that happened without Tony knowing when or if he was going to get released?
Tony got up just then and came to his side. He knelt on the floor right beside Gibbs' leg, his head down submissively.
"Hey, DiNozzo." Gibbs paused the tape and looked down at his former agent, a bit alarmed at the new puppy-like behavior.
"Bronislav," Tony began. "He had a couple GSM's. He kept 'em in the back of his closet in a box. One day, when I was cleaning, I came across them." Tony opened his eyes and stared up at Gibbs. "You know me." He said with a grin. "I took one and opened it, and Ms. Elle Liberachi looked back—amazing body." Tony let out a low whistle. "Just gorgeous. Curves, tight ass…anyway. I was looking at it, after having spent all frickin' day cooking lunch for his kids, washing his car, scrubbing the toilets, and generally being a slave, and I swear, for about two seconds I felt normal. Looking at that magazine brought me back to the office for just a second." He caught Gibbs' eye. "Not that I read GSM at the office all that very often, boss. Definitely not when there was work to be done."
Gibbs rolled his eyes.
"But I felt normal, if only for a minute. It was weird how many memories a stupid girly-mag brought back. Then he caught me reading."
Tony lifted his head of Gibbs' knee and pulled up the back of his shirt. "See those two scars under my right shoulder blade?"
Gibbs gulped down a growl and nodded.
"After he caught me reading, he tied me down and gave me a strapping that I got nightmares about for a week."
Gibbs took a deep breath, feeling a physical ache from what he'd heard. "That won't be happening again, DiNozzo. Never."
"Good to know, boss." Tony got up and stretched. Then he went to his bag and rummaged. "I'm gonna shower. I smell like cell. You mind?"
"Nope." Gibbs rubbed his forehead as Tony disappeared into the bathroom. Dammit. He wished he had some bourbon. He knew people could be sick. Working at NCIS for as long as he had taught him that. Something about hearing those dark stories so casually from his friend's mouth made him squirm inside. Shaking it off, he returned to the DVDs, hoping to find more clues. There was no way he could go back to a master like that. Not while he was alive to stop it.
Seconds later, a frantic knock on the door drew Gibbs away from the video. He twisted the knob, only to be nearly bowled over by Abby.
"Guys! You'll never guess what I saw."
"Somethin' on the DVD, Abbs?" He said, noticing she was holding a disk.
"Good guess." She stuck it in the player and fast- forwarded through the grainy images. "I was watching the surveillance for the bunny hill ski rental desk, and look…" she found the correct place on the DVD and played it. A dark-skinned man stepped up to the counter and was speaking to the employee. A similar-looking man was beside him, and at their side, a young girl with black hair bounced up and down excitedly.
"Daljeet and Mei-Lien." Abby pronounced. "I double-checked their photos. It's them."
"And who's that?" Gibbs pointed at the third Indian man.
"I don't know." Abby said. "Someone we don't know about? Maybe the kidnapper or an accomplice?"
"That's a good catch, Abbs."
"This tape is dated the eighth, just three days before Daljeet's body turned up in Arlington."
"Abby," Gibbs said after processing this for a moment. "Bring me those profiles on Daljeet and Lewis again. I want to see something."
Tony reached for a towel and turned on the water, letting it run and warm up before taking the plunge. He clutched the plush fabric, staring idly at the water as it bubbled around the drain and was swallowed down. A familiar pressure built in his throat and eyes and he took a deep breath, willing the coming tears away. It didn't really help. Tony put the towel on the counter top and paused a moment, letting the sounds of the water wash over him.
He gripped the towel. "DiNozzos do not fucking cry…" The tears surprised him as much as the admission to Gibbs about the GSM thing. He was feeling antsy. He felt angry and full of energy and he didn't know why.
First it was Justine at dinner, then the embarrassment, the confrontation in the hall had been awful—and the genuine fear he'd felt when he was stuck in that cell. He hadn't told Gibbs how worried he was about being sold. After all, he'd been sold like a side of beef before, why not again? Tony reached up and rubbed the wetness away from his eyes.
God, had he really been whipped for reading a GSM once before? For glancing at it? Something he could once do for hours a day if he chose he now had to ask permission for. Tony sank to the tiled floor as more stupid tears leaked from his eyes. What the fuck had been happening all these years? It was like all that slave shit was happening to someone else. To a different part of him. A part that had accepted the slavery for what it was and just figured that at one point, someday, it would end. That part had grown into something that dominated his personality—his real, goofy, chauvinistic, funny, compassionate, generous soul. It was like two different versions of himself had been occupying this body and now they were meeting for the first time. The slave and the free person were eye to eye, and it was too much. Way too much.
Tony shut his eyes and let the tears fall. He cried silently into his knees, his body shuddering and the sounds muffled under the gurgle of the water. He fell silent after a knock on the door some time later. He could have been sitting there for hours for all he knew.
"DiNozzo?" Gibbs sounded scared, and that did nothing to help Tony deal. Not trusting himself to speak, he just sat there frozen, his face in his knees, silently damning the constant flow of shower water for drawing attention to him. "Tony…if you don't answer I'm coming in."
Tony found he didn't care if Gibbs saw him like this. He had already seen him shirtless and caned, on the grass under another man's foot, huddled on the floor because of a broken mug, nervous about sitting in a chair. After all that, plain crying was nothing.
From the corner of his eye, Tony saw the door open. Gibbs' feet and legs appeared, and there was a pause. Then he crossed the room and turned off the steaming water. Tony just sat there as Gibbs lowered himself to the floor beside him. Tony sensed him reach up, hesitate, then a warm hand carefully stroked his hair. He didn't say a word, and for that Tony was appreciative.
He welcomed the feel of Gibbs' hand on his scalp, gently stroking, thinking he'd never be able to get enough of those kind touches again. He was vaguely aware of the bathroom door opening again, and then someone else in the doorway. There may have been voices. His brain briefly registered the female voice, and then Gibbs shrugging and nodding. Another person entered and settled on his other side, gripping his waist carefully in a hug. He recognized her homemade gunpowder-y perfume and felt the blunt tips of the spiked collar on his arm.
He was safe. He knew he was. His real self knew that these arms around him would shield him from anything else life threw in his path. His tears abated and he was grateful that neither Gibbs nor Abby pulled away once he stopped crying. Tony smiled softly and took a deep breath. Abby's grip tightened and Tony cracked open an eye.
Too bright.
He shut it again and twisted his face towards Gibbs, comforted by the sawdust-coffee smell. The man hadn't been near his boat in days but he still managed to keep the sawdust smell. Abby refused to dislodge herself and Tony was fine with that. Gibbs reached forward and grabbed a length of toilet paper. He passed it to Tony who took it gratefully and blew his nose. He sat there a moment, suddenly sleepy. He wasn't sure who was supposed to break the silence first. Him, he supposed. He balled up the tissue and chucked it into the wastebasket. Swallowing, he slid his eyes to his boss. Gibbs was staring at him intently as if he were a complex mind teaser to be worked out. Tony gave the man a small grin and looked away.
"I'm okay." He said.
Gibbs nodded and Abby squeezed tighter.
"Good." Gibbs whispered. He got up, and offered a hand to Tony.
"Uh, Abbs…?" The girl pulled off of him instantly and took his elbow as Tony reached for Gibbs' hand. He let himself be led back to the bed where he sat down heavily. "I'm okay." He assured them. "All those grainy videos are hell on the eyes." He said, making a lame attempt at dismissing his tears.
"Sleep." Gibbs said.
"What about the footage?"
"We got it, DiNozzo. Abby found something."
"Really?" Tony perked up. "What?"
"Sleep a couple hours first." Gibbs said.
"But Gibbs—."
"That's an order, DiNozzo." Gibbs said in his best 'boss' voice.
Tony sighed. "Yes, boss."
Tony lay down and was asleep before they could cover him.
"Jethro, he'll be alright. Anthony is an incredibly resilient young man."
Gibbs, Abby, and Ducky had moved to Abby's room to give Tony some quiet. Abby had pulled up the file on Daljeet as Gibbs requested, but the computer lay forgotten momentarily as they sat in a circle and discussed the breakdown. Gibbs stared at the floor, unsure as ever now as to how to deal with his fragile subordinate.
"This was going to happen eventually, Jethro." Ducky soothed. "Tony is most likely going through some sort of PTSD. He's having nightmares, he could have memory loss, difficulty concentrating—well, you know the symptoms, my friend."
Gibbs grunted.
"Things that may seem normal to you and I can trigger certain memories for him. Things he may have not even realized he knew. Or things he'd forgotten about."
"I had trouble sleeping for a long while after you rescued me. Remember, Gibbs?" Abby said. "I couldn't sleep anywhere but under your boat for like two months."
"Yeah. And you barely ate anything." Gibbs said.
"The reasons I think Tony's traveling down the path of healing faster than most patients is because he has all the things PTSD patients need: a supportive group, a companion who endured something similar as he did." Ducky gestured to Abby, "people willing to be patient with him."
Abby handed him the laptop and Gibbs spent the next half hour poring over Daljeet's file and biography. Born in Bombay, came over to the US with the invasion of China, worked for Ching-Lan and then he was killed this past January. Nothing extraordinary, nothing to cause suspicion. Gibbs found himself glancing at the clock every ten minutes. He couldn't concentrate on this. He was in no state of mind to look over case details, not when he was this worried about Tony. He placed the laptop on the coffee table with a clatter and rubbed his eyes.
"You okay, Gibbs?" Abby said.
"No. I'm gonna go out—I'll be back." Gibbs got up and stalked from the room, slamming the door behind.
"Ducky," Abby said after a beat. "I'm worried about them both."
The M.E pulled her into a hug. "They'll both be alright, Abby. There is the old adage, time heals all."
Abby sniffed and pulled off of him, nodding.
"Yeah I know. I just want that healing time to be now."