Thank you so much for the reviews! I cyber-hug you all. And again, I'm really sorry if I don't reply personally. It isn't because I don't appreciate you taking the time to comment :) Anyway, I hope you like the next installment :)

Oh, and I hope everyone in the USA had a great Thanksgiving. I'm not really sure what it even is, but I hope yours rocked!! ;)

Chapter Nine

"Oh my god." Tony couldn't get out of the car fast enough, steadying himself on a pole while he concentrated on just breathing. Abby giggled, climbing out behind him. She wasn't as green, but she was a little pale. Gibbs was the last to emerge, slamming the driver side door shut and locking the car. He shook his head impatiently at the other two.

"You planning on coming inside?"

Tony held up a hand. "Yeah… just give me a minute."

Abby smiled, resting a hand on his back. "Don't worry, you get used to his driving."

Tony just stared at her. "I don't think I could ever get used to that. How does that man still have his license?"

"Never got a ticket, DiNozzo." Gibbs said as Abby and Tony caught up to him, walking into the police station.

"Then the traffic cops in DC must be blind. Or stupid. Maybe both."

"Nah, they're all scared of Gibbs." Abby said, linking arms with her boss.

"That doesn't surprise me," Tony replied, flashing his keycard at the door to get access to the building. The police-only side entrance allowed them to avoid the mob of reporters loitering at the front door. "Anyway, you're never getting behind the wheel of my Corvette."

Gibbs gave him a look. Tony's face sobered as they approached his desk. Not surprisingly, Dan wasn't there yet. It was early after all.

"Alright Abby," Tony led her to a spare chair then sat down at his own desk. "You probably already know this, but I'm gonna go through it again with you. We'll get your statement once Dan gets here, but I want to make sure you know what to expect."

Abby nodded. "Who am I going to be talking to?"

"Just me," Tony assured her. "We'll be recording your statement, and all I need you to do is to talk me through what happened on Friday night in as much detail as possible."

Gibbs returned with coffee. "Where's Becker?"

"He'll be here soon," Tony said.

"I want to talk to him," Gibbs growled.

Tony's eyes widened, but he didn't want to argue with Gibbs, especially when Gibbs was in that kind of mood. He stood up.

"Okay, I'm going downstairs to see if they got anything from the print."

"Oh!" Abby jumped up. "Can I come?"

Tony glanced at Gibbs, who gave a tiny nod of approval. "Sure."

By the time Tony managed to drag Abby out of the lab, away from all the shiny machinery and back to his desk, Becker had arrived.

"Nothing," Tony said before Gibbs could even ask about the lab results. "I'm going to do Abby's statement now. You coming?"

Becker shook his head. "No need for both of us to do it."

Tony raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, leading the way to a meeting room to record Abby's official statement. Gibbs smiled to himself. He'd been waiting for an opportunity to be alone with Tony's partner.

"Becker." Gibbs said gruffly.

The man in question glanced up from the filing cabinet drawer he'd just pulled out. His casual smile faded when he got a good look at Gibbs' face. "…yeah?"

Gibbs placed a hand on Becker's shoulder, forcibly pushing him down into the desk chair. "You wanna tell me what went down on Friday night?"

It wasn't a question.

Becker pointed in the direction of the meeting room now occupied by Abby and Tony. "Isn't that her job?"

Gibbs' eyes flashed. "SHE has a name. And it's not number seven. More to the point, you wouldn't need to be calling her number seven if you'd just done your job on Friday night. You wouldn't even be here, you'd be on the news, doing press interviews, being hailed as a hero. You know why? Because if you'd done your job, you would have caught the son of a bitch who's already raped six women!"

"I-" Becker tried to cut in, but Gibbs, red-faced, ignored him.

"You chose to sit on your ass inside the club. You chose to let your partner be beaten, be injured, while you were sipping lemonade. You chose to do nothing while an innocent young woman was attacked!" Gibbs sighed heavily, still fuming. "Thank god DiNozzo was competent enough, dedicated enough to do something."

"DiNozzo doesn't –" Another powerful glare from Gibbs shut Becker up.

"You are the sorriest excuse for a detective I've ever seen Becker. You wouldn't last a second on my team."

Becker stood up from his chair once it was obvious Gibbs' rant was complete. "Look, Agent Gibbs, I don't give a damn how much you yell at me. You're right, I'm not on your team. I sure as hell don't want to be, because I can't imagine having you as a boss. You have no jurisdiction. You have no right to talk to me like this in my office, in the Baltimore Police Department. Number seven is a civilian and it's only because I'm a good person that I'm allowing you to even be here."

Becker opened his mouth to say more, but Tony and Abby arrived back, preventing him from doing so. Abby was a little paler that before, if that was possible for the raven-haired Goth. It wasn't surprising, considering she'd just relived the assault.

"Everything okay?" Tony asked, the tension between his partner and Gibbs too strong to ignore. Gibbs grunted in reply, patting Abby on the shoulder and walking away, presumably in search of more coffee.

Becker glared at Tony. "DiNozzo, I don't really know why that man is here, or why you even let him in the door, but I want him gone. We have work to do."

"No." Tony stared back, giving as good as he got. "He stays. Abby is his man… woman…person... whatever. How would you feel if –" Tony faltered, trying to think of a lab technician who Dan didn't personally hate. He came up empty.

Dan smirked, interpreting this as a victory on his part. "He goes. And the girl too, we don't need her."

"Dan, you may be senior partner, but that doesn't allow you to override your superiors." Tony frowned. "Vernski gave Gibbs permission to be here. He stays. "

Tony was considerably taller than Becker, but even looking up Dan was a force to be reckoned with. "You watch your tone, DiNozzo. And you're right, I am senior partner. You don't get to tell me what to do, you're the cop who's bounced from so many different police stations the post office still has trouble figuring out where to forward your mail. Just because you're nice and tight with the old federal agent doesn't mean you can give me orders."

Becker snatched the folder out of Tony's hand, pushing his way past Abby as he stormed out of the room.

"Jesus, Tony. That guy is grumpier than Gibbs!" Abby offered, stepping out of the corner once Dan was safely out of earshot. "He treats you like crap, why do you put up with it?"

Tony chuckled half-heartedly, rubbing his bruised face as he sat back in his chair. "He's my partner, Abby. He may be a dick, but I know he always has my back."

"He didn't on Friday night." Abby said softly.

Tony said nothing.

TBC