Being A Pest

071108

Disclaimer: I don't own em, I just borrow them for a bit of torture once in a while.

Summary: Fornell visits and Tony's in trouble.

Reviews: Yes please. Readers Rock but Reviewers RULE!!

A/N: This is another short chapter but ends in a good spot. You might've noticed that most of my fics tend to be slow moving in that several chapters cover a short amount of time. I prefer to concentrate on character development. After this chapter there are only three more that are already written so I need to get my junky trunk in gear and start writing in order to keep up with the fast pace of this particular genre.

Thanks for the lovely reviews.

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Chapter 6

As soon as the new voice boomed through the morgue, Grant's dark blue eyes grew huge with panic. His head began to shake slowly. "No." he whispered. "He can't know. I'll lose my job." His voice was barely audible and his hands began to tremble again.

Tony turned to Gibbs with a visible plea in his green eyes. The Team Leader frowned but nodded. He looped an arm over Ducky's shoulder and whispered in the ME's ear. "Distract him." The Scotsman nodded with a twinkle in his eyes and left the office.

Louder, Gibbs addressed the others. "Abby? Are you feeling better?"

Almost quicker than the eye could see, Tony whipped the blanket off Grant and onto Abby. He pulled Grant to the edge of the sofa but did not make him stand up, he wanted to wait they could get food into him.

Ducky walked across the room to the man who was still a little breathless from descending the stairs. "Agent Fornell, what a pleasant surprise. I notice you're out of breath. Are you not getting enough exercise? I'm sorry but we've had a bit of problem with the elevator, there's something wrong with the control panel, you see. Did I hear you ask about an agent?"

Fornell, a balding man of medium height, scowled at the stream of words from the elderly doctor. "What's going on in there?" He motioned towards the small cluster of people he could see through the floor to ceiling plate glass wall but were blocking his view of the sofa.

Ducky threw a glance over his shoulder to assure himself that nothing could be ascertained from their angle. Palmer, picking up on Gibbs' cue, walked over to the older ME and, twisting the information about Mars just enough to fit, reported. "Abby says she'll be fine as soon as McGee and Ziva come back with lunch. She says she realizes it wasn't smart to drink all those Caff-Pows on an empty stomach."

Fornell scowled as he scrutinized the backs of the people still positioned by the sofa. He could now see his agent sitting next to the Goth scientist. "Are you sure it wasn't Mars that had a problem?" He commented loud enough to be heard through the open office door. He smirked when he saw DiNozzo rise from his crouch, slip through the doorway and head his way.

"What are you trying to imply?" Tony asked quietly.

Fornell didn't question the other man's interest in the situation. He'd read Mars' file before allowing the transfer and knew full well that Mars and DiNozzo had worked together quite closely for a year. He'd also noticed the extreme reluctance with which Mars approached just the mention of visiting a morgue. The younger agent had to almost visibly brace himself before entering a morgue and, as soon as he had what he needed, made sure he left as soon as possible.

"DiNutzo, did you really think I'd hire an agent without checking his file and employment history first? In the past month I've also noticed how much Agent Mars dislikes visiting morgues. What I figure happened here was that he wasn't paying attention to which button he pushed and when the elevator brought him down here he had a panic attack. He also has a bad habit of skipping meals. I may not be Gibbs but I do pay attention to my new agents until I know they're gonna work out. If you'd prefer, I can get Agent Sacks to take over and you won't have to put up with Mars again."

Tony frowned. He seriously hated Agent Sacks. Not only that but he desperately wanted to mend his friendship with Grant. "No. We don't want Slacks back. Mars has the intel we need for this case."

Fornell nodded with a smirk. "Yes, he does. In that computer he carries around but never uses."

Tony grimaced wryly. "Well, he was never much of a tech-geek." He lowered his voice so the others wouldn't hear. Ducky had drifted back into the office as soon as Fornell had revealed that their subterfuge hadn't worked. Palmer had retreated to his desk to place a call requesting repairs on the elevator. "You're not gonna fire him are you?"

The older FBI agent stared thoughtfully at Grant for enough time to make Tony very nervous. Finally he looked back at Tony. "If it made a difference, I wouldn't have approved the transfer in the first place." Fornell said slowly. "As long as it doesn't seriously interfere with his job, I'm not going to fire him. I understand you've got food coming?"

Tony hid his relief. "Yeah. Gibbs made McGee go pick it up. Too bad there won't be enough to share" He said, false disappointment evident in his tone.

Fornell's expression showed that he knew Tony didn't want him to stick around. "That's fine, I've already eaten. I just wanted to make sure Mars was making a pest of himself. This case has made him a bit mental, ya know?"

Tony smiled his patented 'you have no idea how wrong you are but I'm not telling you' version number 23. "Well, he can be a little... intense." He settled on commenting.

From the office, Grant watched his old friend work his magic on Fornell with no small amount of dread. "I'm so fired." He muttered mournfully.

"I doubt that." Gibbs said.

Grant blinked up at him. "Why?"

"Because if he gives you any grief you just tell me and I'll give you something to use to defend yourself. He can't fire you over something he knew about when he hired you." The Team Leader smirked.

Grant's mind latched onto the phrase 'he knew about'. "He knew?" He began to panic again. "How could he know? Do you know?" He started to stand up, intending to leave. Abby put her hand on his arm in an attempt to restrain him. He shook her off and got to his feet but swayed as his vision blurred.

Gibbs put a hand on each slender shoulder and pushed Grant back down gently. "Easy. He knows because he read your file before he approved the transfer. I know because he asked me to look your file over when he discovered your history with DiNozzo. He didn't want any conflict between the two of you to mess up any joint investigations. It's not hard to notice when one of your agents has an aversion 

to going into an area. All of your prior bosses noticed but it didn't affect your work so no one said anything other than the occasional note in the file. Fornell does not know the specifics and it will stay that way if you want."

Startled sapphire eyes flew up to Gibbs' face. "Of course I want it kept secret!" He blurted. A sickly suspicion curdled his already upset stomach. "Do you know the reason?" He asked, his voice unnervingly low. Gibbs refrained from answering but Grant could read the truth in the older man's icy blue eyes. He looked around at the people surrounding him, noting the sympathy that was prevalent in their expressions. "All of you know?" Silently, they nodded. His heart sank and embarrassment flushed his lean cheeks. Hatred seemed to sear the air as he glared at Tony's back through the glass wall. As far as he was concerned, Tony had just killed any hope of rekindling their old friendship.

DiNozzo stiffened suddenly as he watched Fornell exit through the stairwell door. He whirled around and his green eyes collided with the fiery rage in Grant's blue ones. A frown creased Tony's forehead and he rushed back into the office and over to the sofa. "Grant? What's wrong?" He asked, concern in his voice.

"Get away from me." Grant growled at Tony, who blinked in shock at the tone.

TBC