Chapter 3
Jethro looked up as a shoe scuffed at the top of the stairs. "Come on down, Tony. You know you're welcomed here."
"I know that, just wanted to give you enough time to know I was coming down. I didn't want to get shot for not clearly announcing myself." Tony came down the stairs, sitting on the bottom one where he was able to see Jet clearly. "Pizza's ordered, will be here in a half hour or so. Toby's staying, where should I put him? He offered to take the basement, but I wasn't sure if you were planning on being down here or not. I suggested he take the room, but that I'd check with you first."
Jethro looked at Tony, running all the possibilities through in his mind, hands working the wood. "The bedroom is our bedroom. All of us, Even if I'm furious, we all stay there. No Emily's room. No basement. If we do that there'll be no hope."
"Wouldn't ask that of you, I know you'd do anything for me but that's too much. Toby knows he screwed up, not getting word to us. He's talking to Diane, pretty sure that's decent punishment in it's own right. But nether of us is going to push. I need to know what the hell was in that packet though. If it was enough for Tobias to give up everything, it can't mean good things for our future."
"Remember when we had that really wild week? You, me, Toby, in Toronto. Leashes, licking your boots, the rest? Only we knew it was a game, a joke, a bet. They threatened to expose that, but that was only the beginning. When Toby and I were with Diane we did some stupid bondage games too, including her with a strap on. They have all that in the file. What else is in there is fabricated, but it'll bury us."
"If I had even remotely thought they'd find us, I never would have agreed to play that way. We all knew it was a scene, obviously they either don't know or don't care." Whoever wanted to bring them down obviously had been doing their homework. If they had pictures of the guys with Diane, this was obviously a long term issue. "Who hates you and Toby enough to do this Jet? And what can we do to make sure that they pay for it?"
Jethro gave Tony a long look. "Leon Vance. I'm sure it is him. He suspected, came on to me, I wasn't interested, let him down easy. Not easily enough. He's the only one who could know, Tony. Beside Diane. And Diane wouldn't shit in her own nest. And who shows up today like the fucking cavalry. Leon Vance."
"What are we going to do about it then? Can we take him out? After what he did to me, I'd be happy to pull the trigger. We sweet talk Abby, offer to let her watch one night and she'll make sure none of us are caught." Tony had never heard the name of the man who came in and removed Jenny today. That was the last time he was caught unawares. He'd find out every last spec of dirt out there on the man, and bring him down. "We might want to bring her in anyway. Don't know anyone besides McGeek better on a computer. I'd say bring Timmy in, but he might be shocked at what he sees. Abby will take it in stride."
"We will take him out, Tony, it just has to be a matter of how. I don't know that we can rely on Jen." He drew in a couple of deep breaths. "Call Abby and McGee, Tony. We're going to pull them in now. I'm going to calm the hell down and then figure out Jen's involvement. I think she's clean, but I think she should be kept out anyway. They all have way too much on her and the Frog and that makes her a weak link. We'll save Ziva for the moment."
He gave Tony a gentle smile. "Guess we're outing ourselves to everyone who matters. You okay with that?"
"Abby isn't going to care. If I had to guess, she'll find it exciting and will have lots of suggestions for us. She's the position queen, and she's happy to share the wealth. McGeek will be shocked." Tony didn't figure that Tim would have a real problem with it, as long as they left him out of the sexual banter that Abby will be instigating. "We'll have to let Jen know at some point, but the longer we can keep her out the better. She deserves a chance to take the bastard down. He removed her from her office, railroaded her agents and you know Madam Director doesn't like when anyone other then her fucks with her agents."
Jethro nodded, mentally changing the plans. "I'll call, you get Toby up to speed, make sure he's okay with us having guests." He ran a hand over Tony's cheek. "We're gonna get through this, Batman."
"Does that make you Robin? Wouldn't mind seeing you in tights and not much else. In the privacy of our own house, once we install black out curtains and making sure that we do a sweep of the house making sure we have no bugs and cameras. Not going to give them anything else to burn us on."
"Superman, babe, to hear Emily say it. You know what she calls Toby? Underdog because he's small and has no hair." Jethro pulled Tony into a tight hug. "Go see to Toby, okay? I know it's a lot to ask. I guess I better let you drag that Tv in sometime soon."
"Wow, almost get framed for murder a second time and I start to get concessions like that. Should let it happen more often." Tony watched Jet for a minute, taking in the easy movements. "It's somehow going to work out you know. Might not be the same as it was before, but we'll make it out of this together. I'm not giving up either of you, not because some fuck head decided they wanted you more. He's going down."
"He's going down, "Jethro agreed softly, but he wasn't so sure about their relationship. "It'll work out." He knew Tony didn't believe the tone in his voice any more than he did. "All I can promise is that I'll try. When I thought he'd…" Jethro didn't allow himself to finish voicing the thought. "Yeah…anyway, go. He doesn't need to be alone now." Jethro reluctantly let Tony go, mussing his hair.
"You know how I feel about you, right, Tony?"
"Yeah, I know boss. Don't you worry bout me." Tony blew a girly kiss from the middle of the staircase, before heading all the way up into the living room to find Toby.
"I love you…" Jethro said into the empty room, hoping Tony knew—really knew—how much he loved him.
As soon as Tony had disappeared up the stairs, Jethro flipped his phone open and dialed Abby, feeling more relieved now that they were starting to get a plan together.
"Boss, where the hell did you go? No one can find you, no one can find the Director. And I mean the real director, not the ass puppet that some idiot put in her chair." Abby motioned to McGee, stopping him from walking out of her lab. "I've got Timmy here, we're trying to figure out what we need to be doing. What do you want us to do?"
"Jen isn't around? Has anyone called her?" Fuck, this was a complication he didn't need.
"Abby, I got Tony out of there. We're at my place. Bring McGee but not Ziva, not yet. Get over here as fast as you can with whatever electronic equipment you think you'll need. I have an adventure for you technical types. And I'm telling you up front, Fornell is here too. Don't get in his face until I tell you the facts. And this all stays off the record, so if you have any equipment for that, bring it, Abbs. Are you and McGee in?"
"I am. He will be when I tell him he is. You know, I'm the one who cracks the whip in this relationship. I'll bring over as much as I can, may need to swing by my place. I don't bring all my super secret computer tricks to the office. Need to be able to wow you with my brilliance, so I never show all my cards at once." Abby grabbed a notepad from her desk, and quickly started writing down what she'd need from around the lab handing it to Tim to gather. "Do you guys need anything else? Food, caffeine, change of underwear for Tony maybe? That offer is for you and Tony, not for Fornell. Don't want to know what tighty whitey brand that man wears for him to be so uptight. What else do you need?"
"You always wow me," Jethro said in a low voice. "Yeah, food, caffeine are good. Got Tony covered, Abbs. It'll make sense when you get here." He let out a relieved breath. "Get here double time, Abbs. Tony needs us."
Tim gave Abby a concerned look when she hung up. "Gibbs? He has Tony?"
"Yeah, we need to get everything on that list, and get over to Gibbs house with dinner. He's got Fornell there too, which makes no sense to me." Abby shrugged, knowing she'd get an acceptable answer as soon as they got to Gibbs' place. "I don't know what's going on, but he wants us both in. I told him I'd take care of you. I don't know what's going on, but something major is going down. And we're going to make sure nothing happens to our team."
"Fornell? Are you serious? Come on, let's go." Tim pulled Abby's hand. "Where are we stopping? Fast food? Barbeque? Gallon of coffee for Gibbs? What does Tony need, any idea? How is he doing? Ziva said…should we get Ziva? She told me that Tony told Jeanne it was all a lie."
"No, not Ziva. Not yet. Gibbs wants just the two of us for now. I don't know what is going on, but it's got to be big Tim." Abby looked around the lab once, but was pleased to see that McGee had gathered everything she had requested. "We'll stop for pizza, Tony doesn't need anything. I didn't push the boss, he sounded a little on edge. I didn't want to make it worse. He'll tell us if him and Tony need anything else when I get there."
"I bet he's got his hands full with Tony right now." Tim really was concerned about Tony. He'd changed a lot since he'd started dating Jeanne and Tony looked haunted a lot of the time.
"I'm sure. I can't imagine what was going through his head. To be framed for murder once is something that you'll never forget and probably never get over. It happens a second time, and I don't think any of us could know how much it would screw with his head." Abby couldn't help but wonder if some of her home town juju was coming to bite Tony in the ass. "We'll get him better, as much as we can. He's got us and we need to make sure this doesn't happen a third time
Tim placed the order for three large pizzas as he and Abby carried the stuff to his car. They'd leave hers here for now. Tim felt this urgency to get to Tony though he wouldn't admit it. It sounded stupid and would just open himself up to ridicule.
Jethro dialed Ducky next. Duck was a damn good student of psychology and they needed him, both for his knowledge and even keel. As soon as he picked up, Jethro began talking. "Duck. My place. I have Tony here and I could use you."
"Is he doing well Jethro? After what just happened, I can't say I'd blame him if he were falling apart. The poor woman is delusional, to believe Tony was at the root of her fathers death. The poor boy must be a wreck, having to go through that, and then face down the woman to try and give her closure." Ducky hadn't seen what happened, but he had heard about it from Abby, who heard about it from dear Timothy, who may or may not have seen what happened. "Our boy has grown up considerably since joining us. I'm proud of him."
"I'm taking care of him best I know how, Duck. I couldn't be prouder of him." Jethro's voice started to crack and he swallowed. "Bring some of your expensive liquor along, Duck. You may need it. We've got a lot to talk about." Jethro said a quiet goodbye and started to dial Jen when his phone rang. "Diane? Emily doing okay?"
"She's fine Jethro. She's concerned that you and Batman are mad at her, but I'm trying to work through that. It's you I wanted to talk to though." Diane smiled that Jethro asked about her daughter first, he was a great dad and she wondered once again what could have happened between them. "Are you doing ok? I talked to Tobias, and it sounds like you two are having some sort of issue. What do you two think you're doing? I didn't get divorced twice so you two could screw it up."
"Batman…" Toby had told her. And the fact that she was talking to him was a good sign too. "You don't need to worry about me, Diane. I'm not the one put through the wringer today." His ex had had a way of touching him still after all this time. "Worry about Toby, Di. He's made some choices and taken some stands today. No turning back. He shook us up bad, but…we'll make it"
He took a deep breath. "You get someplace safe, Diane, and make sure our girl doesn't worry too much. We're gonna have to send you away for a week to the place of your choice. Can I say hi, let Em know she's okay?"
"We're already on the way to the airport, Toby left us emergency money and passports, in case something like this ever happened. Never really thought we'd need it, but he keeps the passport pictures updated. Em thinks we're going on a special vacation to celebrate her last report card. She doesn't know anything's wrong, and I think it's best to keep it that way. Toby thought it was best. I expect the two of you to take care of one another. Emily needs you both." Diane watched her daughter in the back seat of the car, oblivious of anything going on. "I'll hand her over to you, just keep it light. She's to young to really get that her daddy and her papa do dangerous things for a living. I'd like to keep it that way as long as I can."
"Of course, Di. And thank you."
"Papa, are you and Tony mad at me?" Emily had never been sent away to her mom's house before, but today her bag was packed when she got back from school. "I didn't mean to do bad things, can I come home?"
When she called him Papa his heart always flooded and gentled, even when things were this bad. "Hey, Emily, you did nothing wrong. Remember what I told you? Your Mom just needs a little extra love and you're the love bunny who gives it to her best. You can come home in a couple of days, but Mom needs you to be snuggly for now and we don't want to hurt her, right? Maybe Dad and I can surprise you guys later on. We owe you something special for that great report card, don't we? Do you think you're responsible enough to have a pet?"
They had been talking about getting Emily a rabbit, or a cat. Maybe it was time. "Tony is sorry he's quiet, honey. He'll be silly when you get back, I promise."
"Can I get a kitty and a puppy?" Emily knew when ask for more then being offered, and this was one of those time. "You forgot my last report card was really really good too. I didn't get any B's then either. That's a lot of A's. Maybe one for each report card. Tony can help me pick them out, maybe that will make him feel better. Is he sick? Is that why he's sad?"
"I took you to tea. That wasn't good enough? You're a little scamp." She made Jethro laugh and he needed that today. "Tell ya what, Emily. When you get back, we'll have a family meeting, see what we can work out. How many pets we should get. And no, Tony's not sick. He's just had a hard day at work, honey. That's all. We'll get some ice cream into him and let him watch one of his favorite movies and you'll see. As soon as you get back, he'll be silly Batman all over again."
"I loved going to tea, and that you had to get all dressed up like Uncle Ducky said you did. You were so cute in your suit, and the way you kept trying to loosen your tie." Her uncle kept scolding her papa about manners and sitting still. Granny Victoria kept pinching him though, which made him wiggle more. "I'd like to do that again too. But I want a pet just as much. We'll talk when I get home, as long as Tony agrees. I don't want him to be any more sad then he is. Can he call me while we're on vacation?"
"A pet is different. Tea is an event. A pet is a lifetime responsibility. When you have memories of a nice tea, you'll have a pet you can cuddle for years to come. Just promise me you won't name anything after me." Jethro paused for a moment. "Honey, you have Mom write down this number, or you do it yourself. It's Tony's special Batphone. You call him right now. Surprise him. You'll make him really happy and turn his frown upside down."
"I can really do that? Hold on, let me find something to write with." After getting a pen from her mothers purse, she balanced the phone with her shoulder and was ready. "Go ahead papa. I'm ready, I want to talk to Tony, tell him not to be sad."
Jethro recited the number of Tony's secured throwaway phone off. "You call him for Papa, honey, okay? He needs to hear his Emmy Bear."
"I will papa. Love you. Take care of daddy and Tony for me. I don't want any thing to happen to any of you."
"Nothing will happen, Emily. We all love you, sunshine, me most of all."