Filler and tag for "Heart Break."

While not exactly a two-parter, the next story I'm planning (for "Forced Entry" – title TBD) will be sort of a continuation of this one – they are definitely connected. Also, the timeline of the next one will pick up right after where I left off at the end of "Special Order" – continuing on from the two weeks later tag.

"Hearts Break"

They'd had the case since early that morning – very early that morning - and all day Tony had waited for the instruction from his boss that had never come. Now, it was nearly 5pm, and the younger agent was antsy. He had been waiting all day for the words to simply come out of Gibbs' mouth so he could volunteer to take the assignment, responsible Special Agent that he was, and right now he could almost swear that the older man had delayed giving the order as long as possible on purpose. Tony was done playing it cool, pretending not to care. It was time to take action.

"You need something DiNozzo?" The minute Kate and McGee had been conveniently both absent from their workstations, Tony had planted himself in front of Gibbs' desk. The Lead Agent was about ninety percent certain he knew what Tony wanted, and had known all day. The only reason he wasn't one hundred percent certain was because this was DiNozzo he was thinking about, and with DiNozzo one could never be absolutely certain of anything.

"Commander Dornan was the Safety Officer on the USS Kennedy," Tony answered matter-of-factly.

Now the ninety percent certainty was up to one hundred percent. Still, Gibbs chose to play dumb for just a little while longer. "Yeah, you told me that this morning. So?"

"So," Tony said slowly, feeling both anticipation and a slight sense of dread, "shouldn't we be interviewing the NCIS Agent Afloat assigned to the Kennedy? You know, to get background on the victim. Find out who may have wanted him dead."

Giving his agent a hard look, Gibbs finally brought the conversation to its inevitable destination. "You mean Paula Cassidy. And don't pretend you didn't already know she'd been reassigned to the Kennedy. Or that you haven't been angling for me to send you to interview her since the second you figured out where Dornan was assigned. In spite of the fact that we just ruled out the death being an accident a few minutes ago."

"Wow, Boss. That was a lot of words for you." Seeing that Gibbs was not in a joking frame of mind, Tony quickly continued. "Ok, look. Obviously, someone is going to have to talk to her, and since she and I already have a rapport established…."

"And since that's not the only thing you and Cassidy have 'established,' you want me to send you to talk to her."

"Please, Boss," the younger man said earnestly.

The Lead Agent part of his brain told Gibbs that it made perfect sense to send DiNozzo, along with either Kate or McGee, to talk to Agent Cassidy, along with Dornan's other shipmates. The utterly irrational portion, however, the one with the fiercely protective streak towards the young man in front of him, screamed at him to keep Tony far away from the female agent who had caused him so much frustration in the past year.

"Haven't you had about enough of Agent Cassidy? Has she even bothered to contact you in the week she's been at Norfolk?"

Tony's defenses went up immediately, his expression making it clear that his boss had hit a sensitive spot. "That's not completely fair. I haven't contacted her either."

"As I recall, you were disappointed cause she made it clear to you she wasn't serious. And that's why you haven't contacted her."

"Well, maybe I've realized I was a little hasty."

"Maybe you had the right idea before, DiNozzo."

The two men were at a momentary impasse, staring at each other to determine who would back down first. However, Tony's features softened as he decided to take a less confrontational approach. "I have to try, Boss."

Gibbs briefly closed his eyes and sighed heavily. He knew it wasn't his place to interfere and from past experience he was well aware that the younger man would only resent him for it. And still wouldn't listen to him anyway. His mind was obviously already made up. "I'll send you and Kate to the Kennedy in the morning. But the case comes first, you got it DiNozzo? You get too distracted and I'll bring you in so fast…"

"I got it. Case is my first priority. Thanks, Boss," Tony said with one of those smiles that lit up his entire face.

Gibbs suspected the happiness wouldn't last long. But, oh, how he hoped he was wrong this time.

Thus far, nothing had gone the way Tony had hoped. Paula's reaction to his presence had been unenthusiastic, to say the least. He'd even go so far as to call it disappointed. The heat that had been so prominent between them in Cuba had become decidedly chilly. At least from her end.

To make matters even worse, Gibbs had chewed her out in front of the whole team for failing to write up a report on the incident with Ensign Hayes because his Commander had asked her not to. And when his boss had heatedly informed her that NCIS Special Agents don't look the other way simply because they are told to, he'd looked directly at Tony instead of Agent Cassidy. It was as good as saying, "I told you so" right there in the bullpen in front of his team.

Paula had felt humiliated as Gibbs had sent her to bring in Ensign Hayes, and then sent Tony after her to hold her hand and make sure she did as she was told. Tony had put his arm around her in an attempt at both providing comfort and showing his support, regardless of what his boss thought about it, but as soon as they'd reached the elevator, his gesture had been rebuffed.

And now that they'd reached the Kennedy, they had discovered that Ensign Hayes was nowhere to be found, and that Dornan had been carrying out a personal vendetta against Hayes' father by treating the young man so harshly that everyone had noticed. Hayes was now missing and looking more and more suspicious by the minute. And now Tony had to be the one to call and break the bad news to Gibbs. Mentally preparing himself for an even more pissed off Leroy Jethro Gibbs than the one he'd left at the Navy Yard just a few hours ago, Tony dialed the familiar number.

"What now, DiNozzo? Please tell me you've got Hayes."

"Hey, Boss. Hayes walked off the ship two days ago and no one knows where he is. And, apparently, Dornan served under Hayes' father and had to be put in his place on numerous occasions. And Dornan saw the opportunity to get a little revenge on the father through the son."

Tony really hated it when his boss was silent for so long.

"Well, that's just great, DiNozzo. So the guy Agent Cassidy felt so sorry for may very well be our killer and now we don't even know where he is."

"It's not her fault, you know. Writing up a report wouldn't have prevented any of this."

"And you know this, how, exactly?"

Tony was fighting to keep his cool. Gibbs had always disliked Paula, for reasons not entirely clear to him, and came down three times harder on her mistakes than he would if, say, Kate had screwed up. But he really didn't want to get into a fight with his boss, especially not right now. "I don't. But you don't know either."

Gibbs also didn't want a fight, particularly not after remembering the kicked puppy expression Tony had been wearing ever since he'd come back to the office from his first visit to the Kennedy with Agent Cassidy in tow. It was obvious she was giving Tony the cold shoulder. "Can't change it now either way. You and Cassidy see if you can find any clues to where Hayes might've gone."

To Tony's relief, Gibbs abruptly hung up.

Now he could go back to trying to melt the ice queen.

The aura of disappointment in the air was palpable and it was coming off of not just one, but two men Gibbs cared for deeply in waves. And there wasn't a thing he could do for either of them.

Ducky wandered off sadly to seek someone who could make use of the two opera tickets he'd procured, originally for himself and his lovely new doctor friend. Unfortunately, with Doctor Byers' revelation that she'd been involved not only in medical negligence resulting in death, but in the attempt to cover it up after the fact, neither of them now had the stomach to pursue what had seemed a promising relationship. Maybe I should expand Rule 12 to include anyone met through the course of an investigation. Not that I could ever tell Ducky how to run his love life.

Now Gibbs was left alone with one unhappy young agent. If ever there had been a situation where Rule 12 should have been strictly adhered to, he thought, it was the one between Tony and Paula Cassidy. It was no comfort to know that he'd accurately predicted the outcome long ago, because that didn't make Tony hurt any less.

But DiNozzo was more than just hurt; he was ticked off. And while Gibbs felt that Agent Cassidy was the more deserving target of the younger man's anger, he also realized it was in fact, at least at the moment, directed mostly at him.

"Be as mad at me as you want, DiNozzo, but Agent Cassidy screwed up by not writing that report. You know it, and she does too."

"Maybe. But you didn't have to embarrass her in front of the whole team. And you certainly didn't have to practically accuse her of being responsible for Hayes' death. And Dornan's."

"I never said that."

"You may as well have. And what about Kate? You tell her to just 'get over it'?"

"Kate's guilt is misdirected. And it doesn't solve anything. I needed her to get her head right and back on this case."

"Yeah, well, your methods leave a lot to be desired sometimes, Gibbs."

Gibbs. Not Boss. "Never claimed to be a touchy, feely guy. Kate'll be fine."

"And Paula?"

"I'm guessing Paula made it pretty clear to you that she's not your concern these days."

Tony was visibly stung but he bounced back admirably. "And what would make you think that?"

"Body language. Hers and yours."

"It doesn't help that she's so pissed at you. And humiliated. She won't even return my calls now."

"Tony," Gibbs said making an effort to sound more gentle than before, "you really think that made a difference? You've been tense ever since you walked in here with her yesterday. She moved on a long time ago. Accept it. Move on."

McGee's earlier words were echoing in his ears. Sometimes you just gotta know when to let go, Tony. What did either of them know? McGee was barely past puberty and Gibbs was thrice divorced. If he wanted advice on his love life, he'd go to somebody who actually knew what they were talking about. Like Ernie Yost, a man who'd known exactly what he'd wanted and gone after it. And enjoyed over fifty years of marriage. And maybe after hearing Ernie's story there was a part of Tony that had started to want that again. A real relationship.

"I'm not ready to give up yet. She's just playing a game with me. She's mad cause I didn't contact her for so long, and she's making me pay. That's what women do."

Preparing to leave for the evening, Gibbs stopped in front of Tony's desk with one last word of admonishment. "DiNozzo, I'm gonna tell you the same thing I just told Ducky. You can't let any woman affect you like this. Let it go." Gibbs gave him one last pointed look and walked out.

As Tony watched him leave, he struggled between Gibbs' words of advice and his temptation to call and leave one more message for Paula. As the internal debate was waging, he noticed Kate walking down the corridor towards her desk.

"Kate. Thought you'd left already. Burning the midnight oil?" The words had already escaped his mouth before he'd caught a good look at her face. All traces of makeup gone, eyes red-rimmed and swollen. He didn't know where she'd gone to, but she'd obviously been crying intensely. She sat in her chair and looked over at him as if to answer the question but couldn't find the words.

Paula Cassidy momentarily forgotten, Tony suddenly realized what a lousy partner he'd been today. Too caught up in his own disappointment, he'd failed to notice how upset Kate had been, in spite of the fact that he'd known since that morning that she had been forced to kill an innocent man. Paula may have been out of his control for the moment, but there was something he could do.

Tony got up from his chair and walked over to Kate's desk, leaning against the edge and looking down to where she was sitting. "Wanna talk about it?"

She met his eyes sadly. "What's there to say? I killed him. I can't take it back. I can't ever take it back."

No matter how many years he'd been a cop, knowing he'd taken a life had never really gotten that much easier. He'd just learned to deal with it better. Most of the time. For someone with the degree of empathy that Kate had, he couldn't imagine how much more difficult to accept it had to be. And then learning that the victim had been a very troubled, but innocent, young man….

"I'd have done the same thing, Kate. We all would. You didn't know he wasn't going to take a shot at Gibbs. You still don't know that he wouldn't have. Not really. All you know is that he didn't kill Commander Dornan."

"He needed help. He didn't deserve to die. He was practically still a kid."

"He was an adult. Still responsible for his own choices. He didn't have to run in the first place. He could've turned himself in like his coach advised him to."

"So you think I should just 'get over it,' too?" she asked bitterly.

"I wouldn't have phrased it quite like that. But we both know Gibbs has his own special way with words." He leaned in conspiratorially and added, "Imagine the stories his exes could probably tell us."

This got a tiny smile from his partner. "The thing is, I know he's right. In my head. But I can't get the guilt to go away."

Tony suddenly had a faraway look. "Yeah. I know what you mean. Guilt's a funny thing like that. Sometimes it doesn't make any sense."

Wondering what kind of guilt her partner may be harboring and over what, Kate asked, "So how do you get rid of it?"

Thoughtfully, he answered, "I don't know if you do. I think you just learn to live with it."

Gibbs was halfway home when his cell phone rang. He would've loved to just ignore it, but in his line of work the possibility of an emergency was always present and ignoring a call was simply unacceptable. To the point that he'd made it a rule for his team. And if his team couldn't be unreachable, then even less so their leader.

Glancing at the caller ID, he was a bit thrown by seeing the name of Paula Cassidy.

"Agent Cassidy. This is a surprise."

There was a momentary pause. "Why do you hate me so much, Gibbs?"

She could almost hear the smirk in his reply. "Never said I hated you. Just don't approve of the way you do your job sometimes. Or the way you don't do it."

"I made a judgment call. Maybe it was the wrong one, but you know as well as I do that things aren't always black or white. Agents have to make calls all the time based on limited information. Sometimes you make the wrong one. I'm guessing even the great Agent Gibbs has made some bad calls in his past."

"I think you don't take things as seriously as you should, Agent Cassidy." Although not verbalized, the implication that he was referring to more than how she performed her duties as an NCIS agent was clear. "But that's not why you're calling me."

"I know your problem with me is about more than how I do my job. I know it's also about Tony."

"Do ya think?"

"I'm calling to tell you that you don't have to worry about me 'distracting' Tony anymore."

"Mmm. Well, that's very thoughtful of you, but you're a little bit late."

"I know. And I regret that."

He didn't doubt that she meant it, but it didn't fix anything. "Doesn't really help DiNozzo, though, does it? You gonna return his calls or just keep ignoring him?"

"I'm going to ask him not to call me anymore."

Well that's just gonna make his day, Agent Cassidy.

"You were right," she added with great reluctance.

"I know. But which time are you referring to?"

She wanted to make a smart retort, but bit it back. "Last year. When you tried to tell me I didn't really know Tony. That time, you were right. I thought he was just like me, but now I know that he isn't."

"Better late than never, I guess."

She hated the man's arrogance so much. But she also knew the chances were good she'd have to work with him again in the future. "That's all I called to tell you, Gibbs. I know you don't like me and I get that. But I hope we can be professional about it if we ever have to work together again in the future."

"As long as we both do our jobs, I don't see why not."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Good night, Agent C—"

"Wait, Gibbs. Just one more thing. You know, I don't exactly understand why, but Tony really looks up to you. And however out-of-line you may sometimes be about it, I can tell you care about him. He's a really good guy. Just….look out for him."

Gibbs started to respond when he realized that she had just managed to hang up on him.

After a brief smile of genuine amusement, his thoughts turned much darker. There was a sense of finality in what Paula had told him. No more playing games – she was really going to end it.

And DiNozzo's gonna be very difficult to live with for a while.