I realised that I haven't done much about Tony, McGee or Abby. This chapter mostly focuses on Tony and the next two will focus on McGee and Abby.

Ziva's watch let out a loud beep, causing them all to jump. 'Six o'clock,' she remarked. 'Time for tea.'

Abby shook her head. 'I don't eat until half six,' she argued, looking to McGee for support.

McGee shrugged and folded his arms, trying to hide his protruding paunch. 'I just eat whenever,' he muttered.

Abby sighed. 'Fine,' she snapped. 'Let's go eat then.' She shot McGee a look. 'Tubby.'

McGee flushed but didn't reply. Climbing slowly off their stools, they formed a line at the foot of the steps. They all hobbled up the steps with Tony and Jimmy waiting impatiently for the others to get to the top. Stuck behind McGee's wobbling arse, they avoided making eye contact.

Tony suspected, quite rightly, that Jimmy was still harbouring feelings for what Tony had done – or more accurately, hadn't done – eighteen years previous.

Tony stubbed his cigarette out on the wooden banister and dropped it to the floor below. Already, he was reaching for another one.

He was looking forward to getting home, where he could smoke all he wanted without being reprimanded. His friends back in Philly never commented on his chain smoking; they all smoked a pack a day themselves. He fitted in with that crowd better than his old friends now and he didn't plan on changing that.

Emerging into the kitchen, they were all hit with the light from the sun. Their eyes did not adjust so easily from the gloom of the basement to the light beaming through the kitchen. They all walked, none talking, through the house and out the door.

Tony peered both ways down the street, noticing that none of the others did so. It was a natural instinct in an agent, yet they seemed to have forgotten about that life. He guessed he had too, but he had managed to hold on to the lessons he had learned.

They all climbed into their respective cars and set off, following Tony's navy saloon. Glancing repeatedly in his rear-view mirror, he saw that Ziva's driving had improved: slowing down and becoming more cautious. Abby had lost her quirky, black car too; she now drove a generic hatchback.

They reached the Travelodge and parked. They wandered into the reception in a straggled group; nobody waiting for anyone else. Twenty-five years ago, they would have helped each other out with bags, jostling each other, and sharing rooms in pairs to save money. Now, they each booked into a separate room and didn't even tell anyone else which room they had.

Tony sprawled on his bed, Ziva's question echoing in his ear. You have to go to work? He sat up and switched on the TV. A cop show popped onto the screen. Tony lay back and watched it idly. Half way through, he sat up in disgust and switched it off, muttering about how it was 'unrealistic, just done to get ratings...'

Ignoring the signs saying: 'No Smoking,' he stuck yet another cigarette between his teeth and lit it with his prized black lighter.

He stood up and moved towards the bathroom, unzipping his fly as he walked. A knock on the door stopped him just before he reached the bathroom, however, and he turned around to open it. Ziva was standing in the hallway, leaning against the opposite wall, a paper cup of coffee in her hand.

'Yeah?' he barked impatiently.

She eyed his crotch. 'Your pants are open,' she remarked lazily.

He did not make any attempt to zip his fly up. She had seen his dick before, he reasoned, and, since he was just going to undo it again when he walked back in, there didn't seem much point.

'Yeah?' he repeated impatiently.

She held out her hand. He frowned and took a step towards her to see what she was holding properly.

'Where did you get that?' he demanded.

She rolled her eyes. 'It must have fallen into my handbag,' she muttered dismissively.

He scowled darkly and snatched it out of her hand. He turned to go back into the room but she continued talking. 'Your friend called.'

Tony leaned against the door frame. 'Who?' he asked suspiciously.

She shrugged. 'Something childish...Benny?'

He stood up straight. 'Joey?'

She nodded. 'Yeah, that was it. Someone special?'

He growled through gritted teeth. 'You could say that.'

Tony's hand gravitated to his waist. Joey appeared by his side and gave Tony a toothy grin.

'You looking forward to this?' Tony asked, chuckling wryly.

Joey shrugged, giving Tony a lopsided grin. 'The adrenalin rush is not something you can get from drugs. This guy is...' He wrinkled his nose and pounded his fist into his open hand to demonstrate his point. '...not good. He beats his girl.'

Tony nodded. He almost felt guilty for what was coming next. Saving the life of a lowlife was not something he condoned. His eyes hardened, coming to an impulsive decision. 'I have to piss,' he muttered. He moved around the corner of the building and unzipped his fly.

Masked by the splashing of piss on grass, he put his finger to his ear. 'Wait for my signal,' he muttered. There was an affirmative crackling from his earpiece and then it went dead. Tony yanked up the zip and returned to Joey.

Joey offered him a cigarette. 'It helps with the noise,' he explained helpfully.

Tony took it and lit it. The day before, Joey had given him a black cigarette lighter. 'My mam gave it to me,' he had told Tony. 'I lit my first fag on that thing.' Tony had not taken Joey for a sentimental guy but the tone of his voice had touched a nerve in Tony.

Together, they watched the shadow move around in the man's house. In a few seconds, there would be more shadows, then...no more shadows until a well-meaning neighbour notes that they hadn't seen X for a while and peer nosily through the window. Tony did not attempt to conceal his smile at the mental image of the innocent neighbour's face.

'Come on,' Joey decided. 'Let's go.' He nodded at the other guys standing nearby and they all converged on the unsuspecting man's house.

Tony did the honours; kicking the man's door down easily. Eight heavily built, tattooed men barged into the living room, startling the man. He was puffing away on a cigarette but the smoke smelled more like weed than tobacco. There was blood on the carpet and the battered face of a woman was peering through the bedroom door like a frightened rabbit.

Joey and his muscle ignored her and instead began to beat the man.

Tony drew a deep breath and made up his mind. He reached into his ear and, under pretence of scratching an itch vigorously, he disabled the earpiece.

After a few minutes, Joey held up his hand. 'Enough,' he ordered. The men all backed off. Joey nodded at Tony. 'You do it.'

Tony looked down at the man and then at the whimpering, bloody woman. God, he wanted to shoot that man, but his superiors would like that. 'Fuck them,' he decided, reaching for his gun. He fired three shots, each one going straight into the man's head.

Joey spat on the corpse before calling his men to leave. They all trooped out and clambered into the waiting SUVs. Tony and Joey were left alone in the dead man's living room. Joey crossed the room and bent down to the woman. Tony readied his hand on his gun, prepared to shoot Joey if he tried to rape the defenceless woman. But, his action was not necessary.

'Get out of here,' Joey advised the beaten woman. 'You're a beautiful girl; find someone who treats you right.'

The woman smiled faintly and nodded. Joey straightened up. 'Let's go,' he said, walking out of the house towards the final SUV.

Tony watched him climb into the car and wait for Tony to join him. They were supposed to be riding back together.

'Shit,' he cursed under his breath. He reached into his ear and pulled out the earpiece. He had really fucked that up. Fixing the earpiece was a job for the geeks down in the FBI's basement; instead, he took out his phone. It rang twice before a frazzled agent picked up.

'Tony,' he snapped. 'What the hell happened?'

Tony did not hesitate before lying flatly. 'My earpiece went down. They've got another job next week, though. We can get them on that.'

Tony hung up, only catching the beginnings of a torrent of curses. He knew that particular man had wanted to wrap up this case before that evening so that they would get the weekend off. The next day was Father's Day. Despite this, Tony did not feel any guilt for deliberately botching the job.

Looking down at the man, killed by a FBI issue gun, lying prostrate on the floor, he felt a dull sense of dismal satisfaction. He nodded curtly at the woman and left the house, climbing in beside Joey.

'Hey, man. What took you so long?' Joey asked.

Tony grinned. 'I had to get in a few more kicks.'

Joey nodded in agreement and drove away.

The next day he was arrested by the FBI and sentenced to four years in jail before getting parole. Tony had never been revealed as the reason for his arrest and Joey had assumed that it was just as a matter of course.

That had been four years ago.

Tony eyed the phone warily. It was his secondary phone – not registered to the FBI. He used it for undercover work. If Joey was calling him, he must have been granted parole.

Tony knew that he should not be feeling pleased that the gang leader had been released but he couldn't help grinning to himself as he called his old friend back.

He fingered the space where his FBI badge had been as he listened to the dial tone.

'Joey,' he greeted. 'You got parole?...Yeah, man, let's definitely meet up...Sure...See you then...Bye.'

He fully intended to meet up with his ex-con buddy and did not intend to inform the FBI of the reunion.

Ziva eyed him curiously. 'Parole?' she asked.

Tony glared at her and stepped into his room, slamming the door in her face. She shrugged and turned away; the image of Tony's bulging boxers showing through his open fly imprinted in her mind. She couldn't help but hope that the bulge had been caused by her.

Tiva!

Does anyone know where you can watch NCIS episodes in German? I need to start on my German revision but I want to have fun doing it. I'm no good at boring revision. Which is why I keep updating this so punctually. I figure that this is improving my intellectual creativity so it's basically revision. Such a pity that all my English exams have been done... Anyway, does anyone know where you can get the eps in German?