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"Agent DiNozzo, it's about time you called."
Tony's stomach began churning the moment that he heard the voice of Director Leon Vance. He had not planned on having to talk to the Director for a few more days, but the recent chain of events had forced him to do so. Gibbs had gone to confront Vance and now Tony's hand had been forced. Why couldn't the team leader trust him just this once to know what was best? Did Gibbs really have that little faith in him?
"I really didn't have a choice, did I?" Tony coolly inquired.
"I'm glad you realize that, Agent DiNozzo. Do you realize how much trouble you are in?"
"I have a pretty good idea."
"And yet, you chose to run away instead of come to me for help."
Tony bristled. He pinched the bridge of his nose in an effort to keep his headache at bay. "You arrogant bastard," the agent growled in frustration. "You're the one who got me in this mess; why would I come to you for help?"
"I'm afraid you're mistaken, Agent DiNozzo. You created this mess, as you like to call it, all on your own. You knew what your orders where and you blatantly disobeyed them."
DiNozzo sat up in bed, doing his best to ignore the searing pain in his stomach. Damn ulcer! He waved away Abby as she stood over him, anxiously wanting to do something to alleviate his pain.
"I'm okay," he silently mouthed to her.
He tamped down the pain and focused on the conversation that he was having with the Director. Tony was aware that he couldn't let his guard down for a moment; Vance would take any opportunity he could to destroy him. "I had no choice but to disobey them, my cover had been blown and you wouldn't pull me out. You were ready to sacrifice me in order to save the operation and I almost let you."
"Don't worry, Agent DiNozzo," Vance said. "You'll have ample opportunity to sacrifice yourself for the good of the agency."
"I don't give a damn about the agency any more," Tony fumed. "You can take your undercover operations and shove them up your…"
"But you do care about the people in the agency, don't you, Agent DiNozzo?" the Director inquired; his unspoken words intentionally placing a burden upon the young agent's shoulders.
The fact that Tony did care about his co-workers and friends was his Achilles' heel and Vance knew it. "You know I do," he retorted. "Unlike you, Director Vance; the only person that you seem to care about is yourself."
"It may seem that way to you, Agent DiNozzo, but once again, you don't have the entire picture. You assume too much, just like your boss."
"Gibbs? Have you talked to him?" Tony nervously asked.
"As a matter of fact, that's what we were doing when you called," Vance informed him. "We were having a lovely conversation, among other things," the Director added. "You told him too much."
"I didn't tell him everything," the weary agent shot back. "I left out a few important details."
"I'm aware of that. However, I think that Agent Gibbs believes that you've told him everything. As a matter of fact, he was getting ready to arrest me when you called."
"Let me talk to him," DiNozzo insisted.
"I don't think so, Agent DiNozzo. Like I said, you've already told him way too much."
"If you make me hang up and call him, I'll tell him the true nature of this last operation. I'll spill my guts to him and I'll bring you down so fast that you won't know what hit you."
"Are you threatening me?"
"No, sir."
Tony fought back the urge to throw up while he waited for Vance to respond. Simply talking with the Director was taking a lot out of him. If he didn't end up killing himself from his stupidity, he was sure that there would be several people waiting for the opportunity, starting with Gibbs.
"Very well," Vance finally grunted. "Answer this one question for me, Agent DiNozzo."
"What?"
"Do you have the missing files?"
The agent weakly grinned. "What files would those be, Director Vance?"
"You know damn well which ones I'm talking about."
"Oh, those files." Tony scrubbed his face. "Let's just say I'm hanging onto those for added security."
"Now who's the arrogant bastard?" Vance taunted.
Tony chose to ignore the barb and asked again to speak to the team leader. "Put Gibbs on the phone."
It wasn't but a second before he heard the ex-Marine saying, "DiNozzo, what the hell are you thinking?"
"Boss, you can't arrest him," Tony said. "At least not yet."
"Do you want to tell me what's going on? And how about trying the truth this time?"
"I told you the truth the last time," DiNozzo tried to reason. "I just didn't tell you everything. But right now, I just need you to trust me on this."
"Tony, I'm not going to ask you again…"
"Then don't!" the younger agent pleaded. "If you arrest Vance now, it's not going to do anything but cause problems not only for NCIS, but for me as well. Please, just trust me."
"I don't…"
Tony figured that the next time Gibbs saw him, the team leader would owe the agent quite a few head slaps for constantly interrupting him. "I know that you're finding it hard to, but please Boss, I'm begging you, let me handle this.
"I've already stood by too long and done nothing and because of that, you've gotten in way over your head." Gibbs pointed out.
"It wasn't my intention to end up in the hospital, Boss. The only thing I wanted to do was to get away and clear my head; but it just didn't work out that way."
He could almost see Gibbs clenching his jaw and the vein throbbing in his temple. Tony knew that the team leader was mad, but he'd rather have Gibbs mad at him than lose the older agent to Vance's evil manipulations. "Please, Boss," Tony rasped, his plea drowning in desperation.
"You come clean with me when I get back up there," Gibbs ordered.
Tony nodded although Gibbs couldn't see him. "All right," he agreed. "Put Vance back on," he requested.
"Tony?" the former Marine called out one last time.
"Yeah, Boss?"
"Take care of yourself."
"Will do."
With his free hand, he took a sip of water. His body felt heavy, screaming for him to lie down and rest. He was beyond tired and he had a feeling that both Gibbs and Vance could sense his weariness.
"Agent DiNozzo?"
He winced at the sound of the Director's voice. Tony looked forward to the day that he wouldn't have to speak to the man ever again.
"I'm here."
"Where are you?" the Director wanted to know.
"Why?"
"I think we need to talk in person, don't you?" Vance suggested.
"Why? Afraid I'll say something condemning over the phone?"
Tony knew that Vance could simply have the call traced, but he was actually enjoying toying with the Director. What was the saying? You reap what you sow?
"The sensitivity of what we have to discuss should not be…"
Too tired to hear Vance's explanation as to why they shouldn't continue their phone conversation, Tony blurted out his location. "I'm in Stillwater."
DiNozzo hung up the phone and handed it back to Abby. He buried his head in his hands. "God, Gibbs is going to kill me," he muttered.
"Yep," she agreed. "If your doctor doesn't do it first."
Tony looked up as Dr. Katherine Marshall stormed in his room. Hands on her hips, she stood at his bedside, silently demanding an explanation from him. He briefly wondered if he could simply pass out and avoid answering Kate's questions. Unfortunately, he wasn't even feeling the slightest bit faint. It seemed that fate was not smiling on him at all lately; why should things go his way now?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
DiNozzo had pleaded for Gibbs to trust him. Truth be told, he trusted Tony with his life; what he didn't trust his senior agent to do was to take care of himself. Although, DiNozzo had technically been on his own since he was twelve, Tony had a habit of ignoring his own well-being. When someone reached out to the agent, his first instinct was to hide behind sarcasm, hoping that no one could see behind the mask that Tony wore so well.
"Well, it seems that your senior agent finally got his head out of his ass," Vance said.
The ex-Marine glared at the Director. "Don't think I'm letting you off the hook. I still have you on blackmail and conspiracy. Whatever DiNozzo has on you will be the nail in your coffin, Leon."
"I will admit that DiNozzo's a lot smarter than I gave him credit for, but like you said, he's in over his head."
"It's a good thing that he's a good swimmer then, isn't Leon?" the team leader challenged.
"I guess you would know."
"DiNozzo will not be caught in the fallout of whatever elaborate scheme that you've gotten him involved in. I'll make sure of that," Gibbs vowed.
The former sniper clenched his fist, wanting to wipe that irritating smile off the Director's face. Tony was putting more than his career on the line by playing this cat and mouse game with Vance and Gibbs realized that at the moment, he was powerless to do anything. He made a mental note to make sure that McGee had recorded everything so at least Vance would have to answer for some of his actions.
He saw Vance looking at his watch. "Do you have somewhere to be, Director?" Gibbs inquired.
"I was just calculating how long it would take me to reach Stillwater. I'm assuming that would be Stillwater, Pennsylvania. Am I right?"
"What's in Stillwater?"
"Not what, Agent Gibbs. It's who's in Stillwater that I'm interested in. So, do you want to drive up separate or do you want to carpool?" Vance asked.
DiNozzo must have told Vance where he was, so Gibbs had to assume that it was part of Tony's plan. "If you think I'm going to let you out of my sight, you've got another thing coming."
"Do you want to take my car or do you think Agent Fornell will mind if we borrow his again?"
"I have a car," Gibbs growled. "Be ready to go in an hour and so help me Leon, you take off without me, facing DiNozzo will be the least of your problems."
"Are you the one who taught Agent DiNozzo that he can threaten his superiors?" Vance wanted to know.
"No. I'm the one who taught him that he wasn't expendable."
"Too bad, I've had to undo all your teaching, Agent Gibbs. When it's all said and done, we are all expendable."
"Then why isn't it your ass going undercover?" the team leader asked.
Vance glanced at his watch again and then placed another toothpick in his mouth. "I'll be back in an hour. I'm going to pack a bag and say goodbye to my family."
"Do they know what you're involved in?"
"I don't take my work home with me, Agent Gibbs."
"Obviously."
The door closed behind Vance and it was just a few seconds before McGee came charging in.
"What's going on, Boss?" McGee inquired, confusion clouding his youthful features.
"Change of plans," Gibbs replied.
"Why?"
"It's Tony's call." He knew that his response wouldn't satisfy McGee's question, but it was the only one he could come up with at the moment.
"What do you mean?"
"Tony asked me to trust him. He didn't want me to arrest Vance yet."
"But we had a confession, Boss," McGee reminded him.
"I know and we still do just in case something goes wrong, but like I said, Tony asked me to trust him on this and I'm going to."
Gibbs could sense that McGee wanted to say something, but the younger agent simply stood there in silence.
"What, McGee?" Gibbs finally snapped.
"Nothing, Boss," he quickly replied. "So what now?"
"Vance and I are going to Stillwater."
"Do you want me and Ziva to go with you? I mean the Director is supposed to have a protection detail when he is out of D.C, right?"
"That would be me, McGee."
"You, Boss?"
Gibbs sighed. "Yes, McGee. I'm as qualified as you to be on protection detail."
"I know that, but there are supposed to be two agents," Tim reluctantly pointed out.
"I'm aware of that, McGee!" Gibbs barked.
"I…I didn't mean….well, I was just…yes, Boss," McGee stammered.
"I'm planning on taking Ziva," he announced. "I have something else for you to do."
"What is it?" Tim nervously asked.
"While we're gone, I want you to hack into Vance's computer and the SecNav's computer as well and see what you can find," Gibbs instructed.
"Vance and the SecNav?"
The team leader grinned as he patted the young man on the shoulder. "Don't worry, McGee, it'll make a great chapter in your next book..."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Katherine Marshall glared at the young man sitting in the bed. Once again, Anthony DiNozzo was proving to be that patient that the professors warned her about; the one who didn't seem to care about his own health and would intentionally or unintentionally sabotage any efforts to help to him. It was a good thing that he had finished his conversation as she had been walking through the door or she would have grabbed the phone and tossed it in the trash.
She heard him mutter something about Agent Gibbs and then Abby had acknowledged the physician's presence. Katherine smirked as she watched the agent shift uncomfortably under her scrutiny. He finally sighed and laid his head back on his pillow in defeat, seemingly waiting for her to chastise his foolish actions.
"So, what do you have to say for yourself, Agent DiNozzo?" she asked. Katherine didn't bother to hide the annoyance in her voice; she wanted the young man to know that she wasn't happy with his recent actions.
Tony shrugged and mustered his best grin. "You caught me, Kate. I was hungry and thought I'd order a pizza. Pepperoni, sausage, and extra cheese; it's my favorite."
"A pizza, huh?" Kate sat on the edge of the bed. "Judging by your expression when you hung up the phone, the pizza place must have been closed."
"Yeah, so I guess I'll have to call back later."
"I don't think so," Katherine warned. "Right now, pizza is not on your diet."
"It's not?"
"Nope."
"But I love pizza," Tony countered.
"But your ulcer doesn't. Now, let's get back to the real reason why you found it necessary to commandeer a phone and why you're so upset."
She saw Tony's mask slip back into place. The doctor had to admit that DiNozzo was an expert at hiding his true feelings; it was something that he had evidently been forced to master at a young age and this ability had been carried over from his youth throughout his adulthood. Katherine had promised that she wouldn't recommend a psychiatric consult yet, but she was beginning to regret that decision.
"It doesn't concern you, Kate," the agent said.
"It does when it affects your health."
"It's not affecting my health."
"Being a federal agent isn't rewarding enough so you decided to get a medical degree as well?" she snapped, knowing that her sarcasm would probably do nothing more than agitate the agent. She was right.
"I'm not in the mood, Kate," he warned.
"Neither am I, Agent DiNozzo. The next time you…"
Katherine was cut off by the ailing man. "There won't be a next time, Dr. Marshall. I'm checking myself out."
Her eyes widened in surprise at DiNozzo's sudden formality; she had grown used to him calling her Kate and to hear him call her Dr. Marshall with such venom was unexpected. "You can't do that!" she protested. "You're still in ICU!"
"Not for much longer."
"I'm not letting you out of that bed, much less this hospital."
"You can't stop me," Tony pointed out. "Now, do you want to take this IV out or would you prefer I do it?"
Sighing in frustration, she glanced over at Abby, who was nervously playing with her pigtail with one hand while fiddling with her phone in her other hand. Evidently the young lady was not going to try and talk Agent DiNozzo out of checking himself out AMA, so she was on her own. Before she could continue with her reasons why Tony needed to stay in the hospital, Abby raised her hand.
Katherine acknowledged her with a curt nod. "Yes?"
"May I be excused Dr. Marshall? I have to uh…I have to go to the bathroom," Abby informed her.
The doctor knew that Abby was lying, but she chose not to confront her. With a forced smile, she replied, "Of course."
She watched as Abby placed a quick kiss on Tony's cheek and then hastily left the room. Katherine turned her attention back to her patient. "Now, where were we?"
"You were about to take my IV out," Tony said.
Shaking her head, she answered, "No, I wasn't. I was about to remind you that your not ready to leave the hospital. Your body is still trying to recuperate from the constant abuse that you've subjected yourself to and if you leave before you've had the chance to fully heal, you'll either end up right back in here or dead."
"Gee, thanks for the pep talk, Kate. You really know how to cheer up a guy."
"I'm stating the facts Tony," she tried to reason. "You may not care about yourself, but there are those who do care," she pointed out.
"I can't stay here and I can't explain why. Now, I'll sign whatever release forms you want me to and I'll even take whatever prescriptions that you think I need, but I am leaving."
The doctor knew that her hands were tied. If the agent was insisting on checking himself out against her medical advice, she would have to let him leave. Katherine could have said that his concussion was impairing his judgment, but in the end, a man as resourceful as Tony DiNozzo would have found a way to leave despite her efforts.
She was going to be forced to do something that she normally didn't do; Dr. Katherine Marshall was going to have to bargain with a patient. "I'll let you leave under one condition."
"What's that?" Tony impatiently inquired.
"You have to stay at Jackson's house and you will come by my office daily so I can at least see for myself that you're in one piece."
After a few minutes of consideration, he nodded in agreement. "I'll stay at Jack's for as long as I can."
"What does that mean?"
"Just what I said."
"I guess that's all I'm going to get out of you, isn't it?"
"It's all I can offer right now," Tony mumbled.
"What about coming by my office every day?"
"I'll try," the young man promised.
Katherine stood up and headed for the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes with your discharge papers as well as your prescriptions and a strict diet you need to follow. The nurse will come in and take your IV out."
"Thank you," Tony said. "I'm sorry it has to be like this, but I really don't have a choice."
"You always have a choice, Tony."
The agent shook his head. "Not always, Kate. Not always."
Sensing the despair radiating from the agent, she allowed a tiny smile to escape her lips. Katherine had to admit that she was worried for Anthony DiNozzo and that whatever was driving him to the point that he would risk his life must be important to him. "I'll be back in a minute," she finally assured him.
"Hey, Kate," Tony called out. "One last thing."
"What is it?"
She could have sworn that she saw Agent DiNozzo's cheeks flush slightly.
"I was just wondering, where are my clothes?" he wanted to know.
"I'll have the nurse bring them to you."
"Thanks," he sheepishly replied. "I'm sorry."
Katherine nodded and walked out of Tony's room, slowly heading towards the nurse's station. As she picked up DiNozzo's chart, a cell phone appeared in front of her face. She looked up to see Abby Scuito holding the phone out to her.
"It's for you," the Goth announced.
Confused, Katherine took the phone from Abby. "For me?"
"Yep."
"Who is it?" the doctor asked.
"Gibbs."
Katherine sighed. Could this day get any worse? Not only was Tony DiNozzo checking himself out AMA, now she had to talk to the enigmatic Leroy Jethro Gibbs. She would really have to thank Jackson Gibbs for getting her involved in this particular situation. She took a deep breath and held the phone up to her ear.
"Hello?"
She quickly pulled the phone away from her ear, but still managed to hear an irate Jethro Gibbs shouting, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Dr. Marshall had a feeling that as soon as she got through talking to Agent Gibbs, she was going to start planning a nice long vacation. She hung up the phone and handed it back to Abby. "When he wants to talk to me and not yell at me, tell him to call me."
She couldn't help but smirk as she started writing in Tony's chart. Katherine could see Abby out of the corner of her eye, staring at her cell phone, her mouth hanging open. Within fifteen seconds, the Goth's cell phone rang again. Abby answered it and cautiously handed it back to Katherine.
The doctor took it and nodded her thanks to Abby. "What can I do for you, Agent Gibbs?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jethro Gibbs glanced at the clock on the wall for the third time in the past ten minutes. He was waiting on Ziva and Vance so they could head back up to Stillwater. The team leader was having a difficult time getting a handle on why DiNozzo told Vance where he was. What was Tony thinking? His senior agent asked Gibbs to trust him and as much as he wanted to trust DiNozzo, he couldn't help but wonder if he was making the right decision.
His cell phone rang and he saw that Abby was calling him. He flipped open his phone, knowing that he had a few choice words for the Goth scientist. "Gibbs," he grunted.
"Okay, first let me say that I'm so sorry that I gave Tony my phone but he said that if I didn't that he would just leave the hospital and find one and I knew that he would, so I let him have my phone. The only problem is that now he told Kate that he's checking himself out and they're in there arguing and so I asked to go to the bathroom, although I didn't have to go, but I had to get out of there so I could call you."
Amazingly, the former Marine was able to follow Abby's verbal rampage enough to understand that Tony was trying to leave the hospital when he had no business doing so. "Surely, she's not going to let him leave," he seethed.
"I don't know. I left before I found that out, but I'm standing here looking in his window and it looks like Tony's about to convince her to let him go," Abby said.
"Let me talk to Tony," Gibbs demanded.
"I don't want to go back in there," she pleaded.
"Why not, Abby?"
"Well, I don't want you to yell at Tony. He's got enough to worry about."
"I won't yell at him," Gibbs said.
"Yes, you will. You always yell at him."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I didn't mean anything bad, Gibbs," Abby attempted to explain. "I just meant that...oh, wait a minute, here comes Kate now and she doesn't look happy."
"Let me talk to 'Kate' then," he ordered.
The next voice he heard on the phone was that of Dr Katherine Marshall. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled.
Gibbs heard a click. He looked at the screen and saw the words 'call ended' blaring at him. Clenching his jaw, he called Abby's phone again. "Put her back on, Abs."
"What can I do for you, Agent Gibbs?" Katherine Marshall inquired, her voice taking on a sickeningly sweet tone.
Releasing a frustrated breath, he said, "You can tell me why you're letting DiNozzo leave the hospital, AMA."
"My hands are tied, Agent Gibbs. I can't force him to stay here. Even if I came up with a reason, Agent DiNozzo would find a way to leave if he wanted to," she rationalized.
"Sedate him."
"It's not that simple, Agent Gibbs."
"Of course it is. Give him a shot of something that will knock him out and keep him out until I get there. The safest place he could be right now is the hospital."
"What do you mean the safest place he could be?" Katherine asked.
"Long story. Just don't let him leave the hospital," Gibbs repeated.
"I can't do that. You're asking me to go against my code of ethics, Agent Gibbs. I won't cross that line."
The team leader hit the wall with his fist. "Damn it, Doctor Marshall! I don't need you to start spouting off a bunch of crap about ethics. I need you to keep DiNozzo in the hospital until I get there!"
"I can't unless…"
"Unless what?"
"Unless as next of kin and medical power of attorney, you deem Agent DiNozzo incapable of making sound decisions regarding his own health. He would then have to have a psychiatric evaluation to dispute your allegations."
"I won't do that to him," Gibbs vowed.
"Then like I said, my hands are tied."
"You go and tell DiNozzo that I'm ordering him to stay put," the ex-Marine instructed.
"And you think that will keep him here?" she wanted to know.
"He'll do what I tell him to do."
"Are you sure about that?" the doctor questioned.
"Yes."
"It must be nice to be so sure of yourself and the power you seem to wield over your people. I'll tell him, but I can almost guarantee that this time it's not going to make a difference," she stated.
"Just do it," he growled. "I'll be up there as soon as I can."
He hung up and threw his phone against the wall. "What are you thinking, Tony? Are you trying to get yourself killed? What is Vance holding over you that you're willing to risk your life for?"
Leroy Jethro Gibbs was determined to get the answers to those questions. He had a feeling that when he returned to Stillwater, that all hell was going to break loose and he was going to have to be sure that DiNozzo didn't end up being the scapegoat for Vance's actions. Gibbs had to wonder if Jack had been right; maybe he didn't know DiNozzo anymore. When had Tony changed and why hadn't he noticed it? Maybe if he had been listening, he would have realized the significant changes in Tony's personality; then again, maybe if he had been listening, DiNozzo wouldn't be in this mess at all.