Thanks once again to everyone who has taken the time to review/message. Your encouragement and constructive criticism is much appreciated.
One reviewer was unhappy with the lack of action; this piece will have some drama but it is largely a character driven piece with plenty of introspection, focusing primarily on Tony and Gibbs getting to know each other and the challenges a new work place offers. Tony has already had his trial by fire in Baltimore and I can't believe any Federal Agency would throw their new agents in at the deep end without first establishing exactly what they are capable of doing. If you're looking for a story full of shootings and car chases, then this is not the one for you; sorry!
That said…Abby helps Tony look for an apartment of his own and learns a little about the latest member, while Gibbs tries to get the Director to back off.
"What do you mean?" Tony asked, exasperation leaking out from every fibre of his being. "What the hell is wrong with this one?"
Gibbs tried to hide his smile.
DiNozzo had been looking forward to the weekend. Despite the fact that he would never admit it, the week had tired him out; he was still not yet back up to full health after his shooting and the intensive week of FLETC courses and cold cases had exhausted him. A lie-in had been more than a little enticing.
Unfortunately, DiNozzo had not banked on one thing.
Abby.
The energetic Forensic Scientist had promised the newcomer that she would help him look for an apartment, and Abby never did anything half-assed.
DiNozzo had been dragged out of his bed long before he was ready to greet the new day and presented with a whole host of printouts containing more choice than Gibbs would have believed to be available in the surrounding area.
Abby had certainly done her homework.
Gibbs was a habitual early riser, and had been since his days in the USMC; he had been seated at his table knocking back his second coffee of the day when the young woman had burst through his door with little more than a loud but cheerful greeting before she worked her way up to the guest room.
He didn't know what Abby had done to get the younger man out of bed so quickly, but whatever tactic she had employed had clearly been effective and entirely unwelcome if the grumbles and glares from DiNozzo were anything to go by.
They had been seated at the kitchen table while Abby went through various potential candidates, illustrating their various strengths and weaknesses and completely disregarding anything DiNozzo had to say on the matter.
The younger man had eventually woken up enough to point out that he had his own, much smaller list of apartments that he wanted to check out.
So far, Abby had managed to dismiss all of them for one reason or another.
"Tony, have you even looked at the address?" Abby said with an impatient frown and a tone that implied she was talking to someone who still belonged in Kindergarten. "There is not one club within reasonable distance of this place; you'd be in the middle of nowhere."
"I'd be in the middle of DC," Tony pointed out, feeling more exhausted and exasperated as the morning went on. "It's not even a ten minute drive from the Navy Yard and there is a park a five minute run away."
He was very eager to have somewhere to run.
In Baltimore, Sam would take him down to the gym and have him vent all of his frustrations on a punching bag, but when he wasn't at the Precinct Tony liked to run off his problems. He knew that becoming an NCIS Special Agent was a good step up for a Homicide Detective, but he also knew that he would have more than enough bad days that he would have to work through; running would always help him there.
"Tony, there is more to finding a place to live than figuring out how close it is to work," Abby pointed out, not even trying to hide her disappointment. She had understood that Tony liked to hit the clubs every now and then and she'd been excited about finding someone from work to share her own passion. Where was his enthusiasm?
Tony was not feeling very enthusiastic about his afternoon. He didn't want much from an apartment, as he was rarely there anyway, but he did want somewhere comfortable and accessible. He wanted a park or a river-side path to run along, he wanted a local bar and he wanted to be close to work and shops.
He knew from his time as a Detective that sometimes the last thing you wanted to do after a hard case was take a long drive home and cook a meal. Somewhere close by with a steady supply of take-away restaurants and corner shops was ideal; he could pick up what he wanted when he needed it and wouldn't exhaust himself by driving from one side of the city to the other.
He thought those demands were pretty reasonable.
Abby thought otherwise.
Apparently he needed to know about the clubs in an area and what type of shops were on offer; the Goth had even printed out crime statistics on the various areas they were looking at. She had turned down one of Tony's potentials because of the high rate of drug related crimes in the area and another because of the rate of car theft.
Tony was touched that she was concerned enough about him and, more importantly, his car to look up and compare crime statistics, but everywhere had crime of one sort or another and other than his beloved car he had very little worth stealing. He carried a gun most of the time so he wasn't too worried about being held up in some dark alley-way and he knew the basics of hand-to-hand so even if someone did get the drop on him he could likely give back as good as he got.
"We are going to check out some of these," Tony said through gritted teeth as he waved about his own suggestions.
Abby pouted and Gibbs fought hard once again to hide his smile; he knew that an upset Abby could get him to do almost anything and he was sure that with time, Tony would be equally as biddable to her kicked puppy routine. Until then, it seemed as though Abby was destined to get to know the more stubborn side of DiNozzo; it was beyond compare as far as Gibbs was concerned, despite whatever the elderly M.E. might allude to with his comparisons to a certain Marine Scout Sniper.
Gibbs got himself ready to leave; there were a few things he wanted to sort out at NCIS and despite not being on call over the weekend, he didn't have a lot else to do with his time. He certainly didn't want to trail around DC looking at potential apartments, listening to the two of them as they bitched and moaned about the other's choices.
"Have fun children," Gibbs offered with no hint of the amusement he was really feeling at the image of a grumbling DiNozzo, complete with bed-head hair and a t-shirt on back to front and a Goth who was alternating between pouting at DiNozzo's choices and bouncing with excitement over the day's activities.
He was sure their day would be interesting, if nothing else.
Tony was feeling much more alive after being allowed a quick shower and breakfast, but he still dreaded what the day might bring.
He and Abby had been getting on well after their bumpy start and he didn't want to risk their burgeoning friendship with terse words of frustration; alternatively, he didn't want to spend his next few years stuck in the noisy clubbing district. He went clubbing as an escape after a bad day and he preferred to keep work, home and play separate; there was a reason he tried to avoid taking his one-night stands to his place.
So far the two of them had looked at a few of the properties on Abby's list; a couple of them had not been presented to him that morning. The apartments themselves were pretty reasonable; well-lit and spacious.
"Tony," Abby turned to him with both hands clasped together as if in prayer. "I can't let you live here," she said half pleading, half demanding and completely ignoring the affronted landlord.
Not surprisingly it was the first on Tony's list that he had earmarked.
He would be loath to admit it out loud, but he actually found himself agreeing with Abby's assessment. While he may never spend much time at his apartment, he would still like it to live up to certain standards.
The flat was well situated; very close to work, the river and a variety of take-away restaurants for those lazy days that were sure to follow some of the more intensive cases.
The flat itself however…well, Tony took little comfort in the fact that at least the rats and cockroaches were comfortable.
"Let's get some lunch and talk things over," Tony said diplomatically gesturing for Abby to leave and offering the landlord a small, forced smile.
Gibbs had been going over a few cold cases that had possible leads to follow up on, but he had turned up nothing; perhaps he'd get DiNozzo to look through them and see if he could find anything that might have been overlooked. The bottom drawer of his desk was getting full of open cases that he one day hoped to resolve; he had the feeling that DiNozzo would gladly share that burden, as he seemed tenacious enough himself not to leave a case open.
It was around lunch and he decided to head down to his favourite coffee shop; there he bumped into Agent Fornell, the Hoover Building's very own answer to Special Agent Gibbs. The two were more than content in sniping at each other, but they had both learnt to respect the other for their abilities.
Gibbs knew that if ever the FBI had to be involved, he would take dealing with Fornell any day of the week rather than deal with some wet behind the ears Fed who didn't know what he was doing. He had a low opinion of the FBI in general, but he knew that Fornell was a man he could rely upon.
"Jethro," came the jovial greeting as the other man saluted his presence with his own coffee cup.
"Tobias," Gibbs returned the greeting as he gathered up his own two cups and joined the FBI Agent at his table.
"Congratulations, Jethro; I hear you've adopted," Fornell said with a curious glance. "I'm afraid I forgot to bring the baby blue blanket, but I know where I can acquire a couple of rather exquisite Cuban Cigars; you'll have to keep that bit of information to yourself though."
Gibbs rolled his eyes; it seemed as though the rumour mill between the Navy Yard and the Hoover Building was still as efficient as ever.
"Something you wanted, Tobias?" Gibbs liked to cut straight to the point.
"I wanted to hear the truth directly from you; DiNozzo is now working for NCIS?" he asked curiously.
"Did you really think that he was going to stay in Baltimore?" Gibbs demanded incredulously, as he thought of everything that had gone wrong over the course of the case they had all been involved in.
"That is not an admission," Fornell pointed out, completely disregarding the NCIS Agent's tone.
"Morrow has him completing a few basic courses over at FLETC first, but yes, DiNozzo will soon be a fully-fledged Agent of NCIS;" he had no doubts that DiNozzo would end the probationary period with flying colours. "Tough luck, Fornell," Gibbs said with a smirk and sounding as though he was not at all sincere in his commiseration. "Looks like another one escaped your net."
"There is time yet, Jethro," Fornell said primly. He might have been the first to offer DiNozzo a job, but the events in Philadelphia had made any chance of the younger man accepting it far from likely. Fornell had noticed almost immediately upon his arrival in Baltimore that DiNozzo had trusted Gibbs and, once his partner had been injured, the younger man had even deferred to Gibbs' decisions.
"I can't promise that I won't try to poach him," Fornell finally said.
"I can't say that I'm worried," Gibbs shrugged nonchalantly; and he wasn't; he could remember all too well the openly hostile way DiNozzo had reacted to Fornell's presence on the Jennings' case in Baltimore.
The restaurant, as it turned out, was the same Italian Bistro that Pacci had taken him to when he had first arrived in DC; it was small but friendly and only a short walk from the Navy Yard. The food tasted as good as it smelt, and Tony was sure he would try to spend as many of his lunch breaks as possible in the family bistro.
"Buongiorno, welcome to Sorrentino's," came a heavily accented voice. Tony looked up and found himself looking at an older woman with a dark olive-skin complexion; despite her apparent age her hair was still as black as night and her dark eyes carefully scrutinised the newcomers. She hadn't been working the last time Tony had eaten there.
"Buongiorno," Tony returned the greeting with a flawless Italian accent that went a little way towards endearing himself to the formidable looking woman, whose searching look softened slightly as she took in the Italian accent, the dark circles under his eyes and the clothes that were slightly too loose on his frame.
"Here are menus," she offered them with a smile. "Specials are up on board; the carpaccio is excellente."
"Sounds good to me," Tony returned the smile. "Although I think before long I'll have tasted everything on the menu," he said, salivating as his eyes focused on the pasta dish being consumed at the next table.
They placed their orders and made small talk with the owner, who had insisted that her name was Mama Sorrentino, about their job and the various apartments they had visited over the morning; the woman had enjoyed the attention, used to the rush that most lunch-time customers seemed to be in. Mama Sorrentino delivered their meal with a flourish and instructed Tony to eat a proper meal.
With a firm promise from Tony to devour everything on his plate, the owner bustled off to deal with the latest batch of diners and Abby was forced to keep up the conversation without the vivacious old woman; normally she wouldn't find talking such a daunting task, but there was still so much to discover about the latest member of Team Gibbs, and she had yet to learn about which topics were safe and which were best avoided.
"So what was your place like in Baltimore?" Abby asked, diving in, eager to get to know something of substance about the man; DiNozzo was certainly verbose by nature but he rarely talked about anything that mattered, unless it involved work, she supposed.
"Small but comfortable," Tony shrugged. He wasn't really sure how else to describe his last place.
It had been in a rough neighbourhood but everyone had known him as a cop and so he got little trouble; many of the people living in the same building had appreciated sharing with a cop for the benefits that it brought them.
Mothers didn't have to worry about their youngsters seeing drug deals going down on their own doorstep anymore, as business moved away once Tony had made his presence known. Petty theft had also decreased and many of the older residents felt a lot safer with Tony around; that, in turn, brought benefits to the Detective, who had a steady supply of meals being delivered to his door by overly eager neighbours, desperate to show their gratitude and the older women hell bent on fattening him up.
Tony had never much felt like he deserved it, having done nothing more than be a cop and turn up, but after that first taste, he became a slave to Mrs. Tate's peach pie so he never complained too loudly.
Abby frowned, trying to think of a way to get her new friend to open up. She had managed a few conversations with DiNozzo over the past week, despite the imposing schedule that FLETC demanded, but she had yet to really get to know the newcomer.
"What was it like working in Baltimore?" she tried a work-related question and hoped he would feel comfortable enough to reveal something unintentionally.
"Busy," Tony smiled wryly. "There is never a lazy day in a Baltimore Homicide Department; murder is pretty big business there."
Abby nodded, all too aware of the reputation Baltimore had for being one of the most violent cities in the United States.
"The people that work there are just like everywhere else, though," Tony said with a supressed but still audible sigh. Yep…the people in Baltimore had given him just as much trouble there as anywhere else.
"Was the hazing pretty bad when you first started?" asked Abby curiously, guessing from the small frown that marred his forehead that his thoughts had turned to the negative. She couldn't imagine any hazing ritual going easy on such a young and newly decorated Detective as well as a guy with Tony's wealthy Long Island background.
"Things got pretty intense," Tony nodded, his eyes looking into the distance. "Coffee runs and trips to the basement digging through old case files were pretty standard fare, and I didn't mind that; it's about what you'd expect as the low man on the totem pole.
"Some people took things too far, though," he shook his head and turned to see that he had managed to capture Abby's complete attention. He hadn't thought she'd be interested in hearing about the antics of a Baltimore Precinct, but she was the most quiet and still she had been all day.
"A few of them started to make it personal; started in on my family or on some of the few friends I'd made there," he said as he thought of a few of the barbed comments that had been directed at some of his friends in patrol or in the lab.
"Most of the time, though, it was just stupid pranks…you know, things to make me look stupid in front of the higher ups," Tony shrugged nonchalantly.
"You saying it didn't bother you?" Abby asked, as she took note of the casual way he responded.
"Honestly? Not really…not most of the time, anyway. Like I said, stupid pranks and coffee runs are pretty much expected," Tony said with a smile, thinking of all the pranks he had managed in revenge; those times had been fun!
"I think the whole hazing thing is ridiculous," Abby shook her head. She'd always had a strong personality and had been confident in herself, able to stand up to anyone who thought bullying her would be easy sport, even through the awkward stages of high school; some of her friends had not been quite so lucky. There were days when it had seemed as though anyone who set much stock by their studies rather than their social lives were made viable targets for the rest of the high school flock. "I mean seriously, all that stuff should stay in school and in the frat houses."
"Nah," Tony disagreed as he finished his meal with a sated sigh. "I get the whole hazing thing; you need to know that the guy at your back is going to watch your six no matter what personal issues there may be between you at any given moment. You need to know that the other guy is committed to backing you up during a foot-chase or a fire-fight, without hesitation and without a moment of doubt.
"If someone is prepared to go through all the crap that is thrown their way during hazing and still be fully committed to the job and to the people, well…it means a hell of a lot to everyone involved. Something you have to work hard to gain means all the more in the end; in this job, the respect you have from the people you work with and, most of all, the respect you have for yourself means everything, and both of them have got to be earned."
"I guess," Abby relented. She could see the point and knew that, psychologically speaking, hazing could be a crucial aspect of building up some kind of solidarity between those involved, but she still though some of the practices crossed the line.
"I managed to do my job despite it all, and it did me no harm," Tony said with a grin that dared her to argue that point. "I reckon if I'd had an easier ride I wouldn't have felt quite so inclined to aim to be the best I could be and prove everyone wrong. The only thing Sam had to go on when he first started working with me was the rumours going round about me, and none of them were good.
"He gave me the crappy jobs and made me jump through all sorts of hoops; sometimes I got pissed off but most of the time I just got on with it. He began to see that he could trust me to do the job and do it right, no matter what. I gave a damn about proving myself to him; he was my partner and the one I was going to be reliant upon to do my job. His opinion was the only one that really mattered.
"Here at NCIS, I have to prove myself to Gibbs and probably the Director," although Tony did have doubts that there was any man alive who would willingly enforce orders on the uncompromising former Marine Scout Sniper. "I really have no reason to impress anyone else; if they want to treat me like crap, fine, but I don't owe them anything."
"You should know that a lot of people were hoping to get a position on Gibbs' team," Abby said, whether it was a knee-jerk reaction to protect some of her colleagues or an attempt to make Tony feel better about the rather malicious scuttlebutt that was making the rounds, she couldn't guess.
"And, er…I kind of think that you've already proved yourself to Gibbs, you know, given everything that happened in Baltimore," Abby informed him as she nodded to his chest, which she knew was still causing him some discomfort, if not pain. She knew that Tony had impressed her Bossman long before the end of the case, but getting himself shot saving a little girl seemed to have cemented Gibbs' good opinion and spurred him into offering DiNozzo a position on his team.
"Yeah," Tony added, sounding far from convinced. "I guess."
"Come on," Abby said as she got up and headed towards the counter, pulling out her purse as she went. "We need to find you a place to live," she offered him a grin as he unleashed a heavy, resigned sigh. "I think the next place we'll go to is about a ten minute car ride from here; I think this one might be what you're looking for, even if I think you could do better."
"Alright then…let's get back to your hearse," Tony threw up his hands in defeat.
"How is DiNozzo coming along?" came Morrow's eventual question.
He had entered the bullpen almost ten minutes earlier and had perched himself on the edge of Blackadder's desk. Clearly he had hoped that Gibbs would start the conversation, but in truth, the Senior Agent had very little new to say to the Director.
The man had managed to find several excuses to visit the bullpen during the past few days and he always asked about DiNozzo; it was obvious that his decision to allow Gibbs to form his own team was beginning to worry the older man.
"Fine," Gibbs answered with his custom curtness.
"Good, good," Morrow nodded to himself. "And is he settling in ok?"
"He's fine," Gibbs stated firmly, wishing that the man would just let him get on with training up his latest Agent without all the interference. "Abby's driving him around in her hearse looking at apartments with him," he offered a little extra information when it became obvious that Morrow was fishing for something more.
"His instructors at FLETC seem to be suitably impressed with him," Morrow idly commented, although he was closely watching his Agent's reaction.
"I'm sure they are," Gibbs said through gritted teeth as they finally got to the crux if the matter; he stared intently at the file in front of him. "I could have…I have told you that he is highly competent; you don't need to spy on him to know that."
He remembered Ducky's earlier words and knew without a shadow of doubt that if the younger man found out that he was being so closely watched, his insecurities would rise up and he would be plagued by self-doubt. Even Gibbs, who was not a great people person, could see that DiNozzo had some severe issues regarding self-perception; the job seemed to be one of the few things that Tony was confident about, and Gibbs was loath to take that away from him.
"You may have been the one to offer him the job, Jethro, but I'm the one that has to approve him," Morrow replied, with a hint of censure in his tone. "If he does well over the remainder of the probationary period then he will join your team, but he will still be my Agent."
Gibbs had nothing to say to that and hated to hear the truth behind those words; he would never have complete autonomy when it came to his team and he despised the idea of someone else…anyone else being able to interfere.
"So, everything is going ok at FLETC?" Abby asked as they drove to their next location.
"Yeah," Tony shrugged, still unhappy at the idea of being sent back to school to learn the basics of criminal law and protocol as well as the basics of forensic science; all of which he had gone over at the Police Academy and had learnt after several years on the job.
"The instructors seem to be keeping a closer eye on me than everyone else," Tony pointed out with a frown. "I'm not entirely sure why, though."
"Oh," Abby said quietly; she had heard Gibbs grumble at the fact that the Director was taking a far more active role in DiNozzo's training process.
"Oh?" Tony asked, sensing more to her exclamation.
"The Director might have asked them to keep an eye on you," she explained rather hesitantly. "I don't think it is because he doesn't think you're good enough, but Gibbs was the one to bring you in and he has never done that before; I think he's just worried that he doesn't know who he's getting," she rushed to say after catching the brief flicker of distress at the insinuation that he needed to be watched.
"Yeah, maybe," Tony said quietly; he was clearly unhappy with the latest discovery surrounding his employment at NCIS. Maybe the Director had his own money riding on the betting pool.
"This is it, Tony," Abby proclaimed as she clapped her hands together.
Tony found it hard to disagree.
He left Abby to answer her ringing phone as he went to look around the apartment, finding himself drawn to the view out of one of the windows in the main bedroom and ponder his options.
The apartment itself was not particularly big, but it was comfortable and well-lit, with windows looking out to the South. The main living quarters were open-plan, the polished granite counter being the only thing separating the kitchen from the living room. The main bedroom had an en-suite shower room and there was even a spare bedroom, as small as it was it would still serve its purpose.
The building's communal areas were clean and well cared for and the landlord had been nothing but polite; many of the places they had visited had been accompanied by some rather severe looking owners.
The location was ideal as well; the Potomac was only a stone's throw away, offering up the possibilities of refreshing runs along the river when he needed to work off some of the excess tension. They had passed a good selection of local shops, complete with speciality delicatessens and a mixture of restaurants. The Navy Yard was just over a fifteen minute drive away in light traffic, too.
Best of all, the building had secure parking, which would mean that there would be no sleepless nights as he worried about his baby parked out on the streets and open to the elements.
He had spent almost twenty minutes looking around the apartment, inspecting every closet and every feature, and asking the landlord about the rent and the estimated expense of bills, trying to figure out whether or not he could afford it.
He had been so absorbed in trying to figure out what he would do with the space that the slap up the back of his head had been totally unexpected and completely unwelcome.
"What was that for?" he whined as he rubbed as his sore head; he was sure the back of his head was going to suffer through a lot of abuse over the coming years working under Gibbs.
"Rule Three, DiNozzo: never be unreachable," Gibbs reprimanded the younger man; he'd had to call Abby in an effort to track him down.
"I wasn't," Tony denied as he mentally noted down another of the infamous rules. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone. "See…oh!" he said quietly as he realised that the battery must have died on him.
Gibbs rolled his eyes and let loose an impatient sigh; "Make sure it doesn't happen again!" he warned DiNozzo sternly.
"Yes Boss," Tony saluted with a mischievous glint in his eyes, only to receive another head-slap for his cheek.
"He'll take it," Gibbs turned to the landlord; he hadn't missed the way his latest recruit was so absorb by the apartment in front of him that he failed to notice his boss enter the room. "Abby, sort out contact details," he ordered the young woman. "Come on, DiNozzo, we've got a case."
Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed it. Half way through writing this chapter, I started on the next one, so it shouldn't take too long until it is posted, but as this statement tells you…I'm not necessarily logical when it comes to order and proper organisation.
USMC – United States Marine Corps.
FLETC – Federal Law Enforcement Training Centre
Next-up…Tony wakes up with a headache and Gibbs tries to come to terms with the fact that DiNozzo and concussions are synonymous.