Tag for "Conspiracy Theory."

I've seen other stories dealing with the potentially compromising pictures of Kate and Tony, who was the most "wrong" in the situation, and the possible career ramifications if those pictures had gotten out. So I'm really not going that route. Instead, I wanted to focus on the underlying issues that led up to what happened in this episode, which I think have been bubbling up ever since "An Eye For An Eye." Or, really ever since Kate and Tony laid eyes on each other. And, there is another nod in here to "A Man Walks Into a Bar."

"Detention"

There was a tense silence in the elevator between Kate and Tony, both of them wishing they could just get out of there as soon as possible and trying not to think of their boss' reaction to what he was most likely currently seeing on his computer screen. They finally made it to the ground floor and rushed to be the first to exit the elevator when DiNozzo's cell went off, making both agents freeze in place and stare at each other in panic.

"It's Gibbs, isn't it?" Kate asked nervously.

Tony glanced at his phone and then closed his eyes and nodded stiffly. They both thought about making a run for it, but that would only make things so much worse for them in the morning. Tony answered with a very casual, "Oh, hey, Boss. Miss us already?"

"Not so fast, DiNozzo. You and Agent Todd get your butts back up here," Gibbs ordered in no uncertain terms before he abruptly ended the conversation.

Left with his mouth hanging open, Tony reluctantly pulled the phone away from his ear and swallowed hard.

"It's bad isn't it?" his partner asked with trepidation.

"Yeah," he whispered. "He wants us back in the office."

Sparing one last fearful glance at each other, Kate and Tony abruptly turned and reentered the elevator. As the doors closed, Kate began worrying out loud. "What do you think he'll do to us?"

"Short of murder? I really don't know, Kate. I'm not aware of a precedent to compare this to."

"What can he do to us? Can he fire us for this?"

"The question is would he fire us? Cause if he did, it'd just be him and McGee, and I don't think the boss would do that to either one of them."

"So what else can he do?"

"Write us up. Headslap us silly. Make our lives hell for….well, maybe til somebody quits or retires."

Kate's eyes got big as the prospect of the last option made her realize that some things were worse than being fired. The doors to the elevator opened and with a deep breath, Agent Todd steeled herself and asked her fellow detainee, "Ready?"

"Not really," Tony answered truthfully as they reentered the bullpen and walked towards Gibbs' desk.

The older man regarded them for a moment before standing up and, with a swift gesture, beckoned, "With me."

Or maybe he really is going to murder us, Tony thought as Kate looked at him in confusion.

They followed Gibbs to the conference room as he opened the door and silently commanded his agents to enter, following the silent order with a very short spoken one. "Sit."

Always one to push his luck, Tony came right out with it. "Are we fired, Boss?"

Gibbs narrowed his eyes and glared at the younger man. "Don't tempt me, DiNozzo." Tony wordlessly took his seat.

The Lead Agent secretly relished this moment. Sometimes he truly felt like a grade school principal, and now he finally got the play the role. He had to hold back a laugh as he noticed how much like children his grown agents looked at the moment, both of them staring at him in awe and wondering what was coming next. He wasn't really angry, and he wasn't going to actually do anything to them. Except for the one thing they both perhaps hated most of all. He was going to force them to talk. To each other.

"I've deleted both those photos. I don't care about either one of them. I do, however, need to remind you about a little policy we have here regarding sexual harassment. It's bad enough I have to sit through a stupid seminar every year. I do not want to find myself or any of my agents in the middle of a sexual harassment investigation. I promise you, you would be very, very sorry. And I don't want to ever see either of those pictures again. Am I clear?"

Kate and Tony both breathed a sigh of relief. "Crystal," Kate responded quickly.

"Absolutely," Tony echoed as he stood and Kate began to follow.

"Not so fast," Gibbs responded. Slowly, the two agents took their seats again, never taking their eyes off their boss' face. "I don't care about the pictures. I do care that my agents are running around acting like preschoolers. So whatever's going on between you two, I expect you to stay in this room 'til you can both go back to being Federal Agents again."

With a chuckle of disbelief, DiNozzo argued, "You can't be serious, Boss. You're going to stay here with us all night 'til you make us talk?"

"No, Tony, I'm going home."

Now it was Kate's turn to be disbelieving. "Wha- But…How do you know we aren't going to just wait 'til you're gone and then get up and leave?" Tony sent a withering glare in his partner's direction.

Their boss, however, seemed amused. "I don't, Agent Todd. I suppose I just have to trust you both to act like adults for a change." With one last intense stare at each of his agents respectively, he added, "I really hope you don't disappoint me."

It had been a full five minutes since Gibbs had left the room. The only sound thus far was the surprisingly loud "tick tock" of the clock on the wall. Tony had never noticed how obnoxious that clock was before. He had a passing thought that maybe they should move it to interrogation. It could be useful in torturing suspects they couldn't get to talk.

"Why do I feel like I'm back in detention?" Kate asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Tony agreed. Then he registered what his companion had just said. "Wait a minute, what did you have detention for?" he asked with fascination.

"I-I just meant this is what I imagined detention would be like," Kate stammered.

"Oh, right," Tony replied sarcastically. "I forgot, Little Miss Perfect has never done anything wrong."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she responded indignantly.

"I mean if it weren't for your attitude, I wouldn't be tempted to do things like flash pictures around of you in a wet t-shirt contest," Tony said heatedly.

"Oh, no. You are not putting the blame for your own juvenile behavior off on me."

"Because photoshopping a picture of me to make me look like a gay cowboy was so, what? Mature?"

"It was self-preservation. I asked you nicely, several times, to get rid of that picture of me and you had to keep pushing it. Cause that's your problem. You don't know when to quit."

Feeling the old familiar anger stirring again, Tony got up and began to pace the room. "And you wanna know what your problem is, Kate? You're a hypocrite!"

"I am not!" Kate cried.

"No? Let's walk through this for a moment, shall we? I was telling you about my vacation plans and reminiscing about my college days. You could've just been happy for me. You could've said, 'I hope you have a wonderful time, Tony.' But you just couldn't pass up the chance to tell me how much better you think you are than me. Again. How you and your friends were always so dignified when you went on Spring Break. You set yourself up for this. Cause you're a fake!"

Kate was stunned, and more than a slightly hurt. "Me? Oh, that's the pot calling the kettle black."

"Excuse me? When have I ever pretended to be something that I'm not?" Tony asked, ignoring the nagging voice in his head telling him that he knew darn well the answer to that question.

Kate remembered all the times she'd suspected his happy-go-lucky attitude and immature pranks to be an attempt to cover up what was really going on in his head. Like shortly after they'd last worked with Paula Cassidy. Or, when he'd pretended not to be bothered by having to go through a psych eval. She knew she could call him on it right now, but she wasn't ready to open Pandora's box. Instead, she goaded him. "My mistake, DiNozzo. You really are as immature as you act."

"And you can't stand it, can you? That someone like me has more seniority on this team than you do. That Gibbs trusts my instincts. That he put me in charge when we went to Paraguay. Cause you think I'm just a dumb jock screw-up who's coasted through life on the back of my parents' money."

The last statement bothered her more than she cared to admit, even to herself. Is that what he thinks? "That's what this is really about. You're still upset about what happened in Paraguay."

Tony ran a hand over his face and sighed deeply. "Yeah, I guess I am, Kate," he admitted.

"You were right. I shouldn't have questioned you. Is that what you want me to say, Tony?"

"What I want is to believe you mean it. But it's a start."

"Fine. I promise next time Gibbs puts you in charge that I'll do my best to follow your lead and trust your judgment. But you have to give something here, too. You know, it makes me uncomfortable that you're always treating women like sex objects. It's demeaning and insulting. Maybe if you'd start looking a little deeper, you'd have a real relationship that lasts more than a few weeks."

"What makes you think I haven't had one?" Tony snapped, his anger temporarily overtaking his better judgment. Immediately, he realized he'd said entirely too much.

For the first time, Kate started to wonder if there had been a woman in her partner's past. Someone who had actually meant something to him. Was it possible he'd even been in love before? It wasn't something she'd even considered until now. Then again, the man in front of her had been capable of surprising her on more than one occasion. "You've never said anything about it."

"Well, as you're so fond of saying to me, there are lots of things you don't know about me," Tony quietly informed her with a rarely seen intensity.

"I'm sure there are," Kate replied honestly. "But if you don't let anyone know they're there, you can hardly blame people for misjudging you."

The words cut like a knife. He knew he was partially to blame for the way others viewed him. Perhaps even mostly to blame. He'd always known that. But being underestimated had generally been the better and safer option, rather than the alternative. Rather than letting people really know him. But being assumed to be the village idiot was getting tiresome now as well. And he wasn't sure how he was going to be able to balance the two things, especially if Gibbs actually did make him the Senior Field Agent.

"I'll try to tone things down a little," he conceded. "But, just remember, a leopard can't change its spots overnight. And, for the record, I do respect women. Sometimes I exaggerate things just to lighten the mood. I don't always mean everything I say."

Yes, I'm starting to see that, Tony. She added her own concession. "I don't think I'm better than you. I just don't like people knowing about my mistakes." And, unfortunately, the man in front of her had a special gift for finding and exposing them to the light of day.

Her partner nodded silently. "Guess I'll have to take your word for that."

After a lull in the conversation of a couple of beats, Kate asked, "Can we forget about Paraguay now? And those stupid pictures? Cause I'd really like to go home sometime tonight."

"Yeah, me too," Tony sighed. "You think he really went home, or do you think he's spying on us?"

Without even realizing what she was doing, Kate's eyes began to sweep the room in search of hidden cameras. Of course, the idea was ridiculous. Gibbs just had impeccable instincts.

Still, on their way out of the bullpen for the second time that evening, Kate impulsively turned around and rather loudly stated, "Good night, Gibbs."

Just in case.

Gibbs really had gone home for the evening. Tony found him right where he'd expected to – in the basement.

The older man hadn't necessarily been expecting a visit from his agent, but he wasn't surprised by it either. When he looked up, Tony was simply standing there in front of him waiting for an acknowledgment before he spoke. "You can sit down, DiNozzo. Don't have to wait for an invitation."

"I wasn't planning to stay, Boss. I just wanted to tell you in person that I was out of line and it won't happen again."

"I know it won't," the Lead Agent said confidently. "You and Kate get things worked out?"

A look of uncertainty passed over the younger man's face. "I'm not really sure. But we tried."

Gibbs could tell something was still bothering the other man. He gestured again towards the chair and this time Tony gave in and sat down. "So what's still bugging you?"

"I got some stuff off my chest. But so did Kate."

"Well, yeah, that was kind of the point," Gibbs said smirking. "So what did she say that's eating at you?"

"That I treat women as sex objects. And I almost accidentally told her about Wendy. I think I said too much." Not that Gibbs could do anything about it if he had.

Ah, Wendy. Yeah, that would do it. "Would it be so awful if Kate knew about that?"

"It could be. She'd ask a lot of questions. And I don't want to talk about it. Especially with her."

Tony had never wanted to talk about Wendy with anyone. Not even him. And he was reluctant to push too hard. Besides, he detected that there was something else that was bothering the younger man even more than the reference to his ex-fiancee. "Anything else come up?"

"She says she doesn't think she's better than me. Or that I'm stupid. And that she'll follow my lead next time. We'll see."

Sensing that Tony was still holding out on him, his boss put down the tool he was holding and turned to face him. "What aren't you telling me?"

It was unsettling how well Gibbs could read him, although he'd expected nothing less when he'd decided to pay his boss a personal visit rather than waiting to speak with him at the office the next morning. He supposed deep down he really must've wanted to discuss this with Gibbs. "She sort of accused me of not being real."

The older man's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"She implied that people underestimate me because I don't let them see the real me."

"And why do you think that bothers you so much, Tony?" Gibbs, of course, already knew the answer.

"Because I know it's true. And because I also know I'm not ready to change."

Tony wasn't the only one left needing to vent after their earlier conversation. Kate found herself picking up the phone to make a rare phone call later that evening.

"Kate?"

"Hey, Rachel. Hope it's not a bad time," Kate said hopefully.

"Never a bad time for you, little sister. How are you?"

Kate sighed tiredly. "Frustrated. I'm not sure if I need you more as my sister or as a psychiatrist."

"That bad? Work problem or guy problem?" her sister asked.

"Both," Kate responded quickly. Too quickly. Realizing the implication, she added, "I mean problem with a guy at work. But not that kind of guy."

"So it's either your abrasive boss or your immature partner. Or maybe that new agent on your team. What was his name?"

"McGee. And no, there's no issue with him. It's Tony."

"Tony. That's the immature partner?"

"Yes. And no. The thing is, I think I may have been sort of wrong about him."

Rachel knew this was a rare admission for her younger sister. "Wrong in what way?" she prodded.

"I'm not sure anymore, Rachel. Lately, I'm questioning everything I thought I knew about him. One minute, he seems like he's just goofing off and not doing anything, and the next thing I know, he's coming up with something almost…brilliant. I think he's a better agent than I gave him credit for. But I don't understand why he tries so hard to hide it."

Switching from older sister to "doctor," Rachel observed, "Well, sometimes people feel more comfortable when not much is expected of them. Maybe he's afraid of failure."

"Maybe," Kate admitted reluctantly. "But it's not just in his job. Most of the time he acts like an overgrown teenager. I used to believe it was that simple…."

"And now you're not so certain anymore. But, why?" Rachel asked.

"I've seen him turn it on and off like a light switch. There was a woman – another agent – he was involved with, and I could've sworn he really had feelings for her. When it didn't work out, he was all over the place. And there are other things. We've had some cases that have gotten pretty rough. Sometimes I can see that he's really affected, but he covers it so quickly I start questioning whether or not I saw what I thought I saw."

"People use all sorts of defense mechanisms, Kate. Of course, I don't know Tony, but it sounds like he's as uncomfortable sharing his real feelings as your boss. Gibbs was his name I think? But instead of remaining stoic, your partner tries to distract people. But what I'm really wondering is why this is bothering you so much? Is he interfering with your ability to do your job?"

"No," Kate admitted. Why did Tony's behavior bother her so much. "It's just that Gibbs put him in charge of a mission we went on outside the country. And I guess I had a problem with that."

Rachel held back a chuckle. Kate, the youngest in their family, had grown up with a bunch of bossy older siblings, most of them male. When she'd finally gotten old enough to defend herself, there had been hell to pay. Her younger sister had always felt like she had something to prove. It had led her to question authority at times. "Are you sure that's entirely Tony's fault? Maybe you were just a little bit jealous?"

"That's not fair!" Kate cried, her defenses going up. "Why would you just assume that it's my fault?"

"I'm not saying it's entirely your fault," Rachel soothed in the calmest voice possible. "But you know you've always had a little bit of a problem taking orders from people you see as your peers. Remember your first job?"

Somehow, her older sister had a way of taking all the wind out of her sails. Her first job in fast food had nearly been a disaster. Her "supervisor" had been a boy she knew from school, not much older than herself, and one she didn't particularly like. It had taken a stern warning from the Assistant Manager to make her submit to his authority while they were at work. "Fine. Maybe I don't appreciate having to take orders from Tony. But he assumes I just think he's incompetent, and that's not true. I think he's a good agent, Rachel. I just think he could be a better one if he'd grow up a little."

"Maybe you should be telling him that. You'd be surprised what a little bit of encouragement can do."

Tell him? Because he'd find some way to turn it against me. "Our working relationship isn't like that, Rachel. We do fighting and teasing a lot better than honesty. Believe me."

"You seem to care about him though. Am I wrong?" Rachel had always been direct. She was also almost always right, and now Kate was recalling just why she didn't call her sister more often.

Without realizing it was happening, Kate had come to care for her partner a great deal. It was the reason his behavior and their earlier conversation were both so unsettling to her. But her sister's solution was just not workable. At least not right now.

But she couldn't lie to her sister. Rachel, much like Gibbs, always knew. "No, Rachel," she admitted reluctantly. "You're not wrong."

Gibbs was satisfied he'd done all he could to address the recent problem between his two agents. The rest was up to them. He just hoped they'd work it out quickly, since Tony was about to officially become the Senior Field Agent on the team. The younger man would be thrilled, but Kate's response was the one that concerned him the most.

However, there was a more pressing issue he needed to take care of first.

"Gibbs!" Abby greeted him with her usual excitement. The enthusiasm soon turned to disappointment. "Hey, no Caf-Pow? Don't tell me you're losing your touch."

"Nope. No Caf-Pow today, Abs."

The forensic scientist looked at him in dismay. "Did I screw something up? I think I've given you all the test results I owe you."

"Not about test results. It's about something you helped Kate with. Ringing any bells?" he asked with a pointed look.

Suddenly, Abby gasped. "You saw the picture. We didn't mean anything by it, Gibbs. Tony was giving Kate a hard time and I agreed to help her get back at him."

"Oh, I know what happened. And I'm assuming it's never going to happen again. Since we're all adults here, right Abs?"

"Right, Boss. Gibbs." Curiously, she asked, "What happened with that? Tony and Kate aren't in trouble are they?"

"Not anymore. Gave 'em detention," Gibbs said with a smirk as the exited the lab.

I miss all the good stuff, Abby thought, wondering what she was going to do without her daily caffeine fix.