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Chapter 6

"Hey, what did you mean by that other comment?" G asked Tony a few minutes later.

"Huh? What other comment?" Tony muttered, shaking his head to get himself out of his thoughts.

"About getting drugged, kidnapped, and stuck in a sewer system the last time Gibbs said something like that."

"Oh. That," Tony said, but did not seem inclined to continue.

"Care to elaborate further?" G pressed.

"We were investigating the disappearance of a Marine. A few of his former teammates had been kidnapped, starved, and stung by bees, and then found dead in sewers a while later. Course, we didn't find out about that until later… But I was leaving to trail our main suspect and Gibbs told me to call in every hour, then said to me 'Call in late, just once, and don't bother coming back.' Long story short, a waitress at a bar had kidnapped the Marines, by drugging their drinks and dragging them to the sewers. She did the same to me, left me locked up with the current Marine she'd kidnapped. I managed to get us out of there, but we got kinda lost in the sewers. Eventually the waitress and Gibbs and Kate, my partner back then, found us and we got out. The end." Tony recited in a bored monotone.

G pulled the car over to the side of the road, then turned to stare at Tony for a long moment.

"You're serious," he finally said. "And Gibbs didn't- of course he didn't apologize. His stupid rule six."

"Well, he did tell me I was irreplaceable," Tony offered.

G's eyes narrowed. "Why do I get the feeling that there's more to that than you're letting on?"

"Probably because there is," Tony sighed. "He then told McGee- who wasn't on the team then, but was helping out and sitting at my desk- to forget about taking my spot, cause I was still alive."

G winced in sympathy. "Gibbs might not say sorry, but I'm sorry that he was being a bastard. You don't deserve any of his shit."

"Thanks, but that was years ago. I got over it."

"You're telling me that's the only time he's ever been like that?" G asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No," Tony scrubbed a hand over his face. "But it doesn't matter right now. Can we just head back? Or did you still have that thing that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"It matters, Tony. I'll leave it for now, but if he shows up here or fires you…" G trailed off, scowling. "As for the things I need to talk to you about, I'd rather wait until we're at my place after work. It'll take a while, most likely."

"Okay," Tony waited a beat, but G still didn't move. "So… are we heading back?"

"Yeah," G gave him one last long, searching look, then pulled the car back onto the road.

The car ride was as awkward as imagined. Tony for once was at a loss for words, and G didn't know how to get a conversation started after the previous one. So they stuck to silence.

They arrived back at the OPS center. The team there was like a family, Tony had noticed. He'd never liked the idea of family. Family almost always ends up leaving or breaking apart, or just being generally shitty. Prime example: his ass of a father, who liked beating up his son in a drunken rage, or leaving him in a hotel for three days, completely alone.

No. He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts. He didn't want to dwell on miserable things right now, not when he was with people who seemed to actually like and appreciate him. So far, at least.

"Tony! Yoo-Hoo! Tony!" G called as he waved his hand in front on Tony's face.

"Err, yeah, sorry just dozing off."

"Okay… if you say so. We're here, and I think Nell has some info on the case," G said, eyeing Tony with concern.

Tony reluctantly trudged upstairs. Damn Gibbs, before his call he'd actually been having a pretty good day. The LA team was nice, and he enjoyed working with G again, something he'd never thought he'd have a chance to do. But no, of course Gibbs couldn't even give him one day of peace. Even though there was a major chance that he and G would need to resume their old aliases for this case.

They reached the upstairs section of the OPS center, where Nell, Deeks, and Eric were waiting.

"What do you have? Anything good?" G questioned.

"Well, I think I found Tomás," Nell said, tapping at the screen of a tablet.

"Hit us," Tony said as his phone interrupted the conversation. "On second thought hit G. I've got to take this. G, you can fill me in." Tony said and backed out of the room.

"Yeah boss?"

"I've talked to Vance and he said that you can choose to stay wherever, but I'm saying that if you don't come back to DC by tomorrow that you're off my team. So choose wisely," Gibbs snapped before hanging up.

Tony had rarely felt so conflicted. If that was the way he was going to be treated, did he really want to go back to DC? He'd miss Abby, Ellie, and Jimmy, but he couldn't go back now. He had made a commitment to this case. He had promised G he'd have his back while Sam was out. He also didn't want to upset Sam cause he actually did like living. And he was not a quitter. He was staying at LA for the case… and maybe a little longer.

He sighed, then tapped at his phone again, this time dialing Director Vance.

"Vance," the man snapped. Geez, why were all the DC people in bad moods today?

"Hi Director," Tony said, waiting nervously.

"Agent DiNozzo. Aren't you supposed to be working out in LA?" Vance asked pointedly.

"Um, yeah, I am. I was just…. uh…. Well Agent Gibbs told me that you said I could go back to DC now if I wanted…" Tony trailed off awkwardly.

"I suppose so, but I would prefer that you stayed out there. This case is most likely connected to one that you apparently worked on before. Therefore, I am led to believe that you would be an asset to that team for this," the director said, his meaning very clear.

"Yes sir. I'll stay out here for as long as you want me to be."

"Good," Vance said, hanging up just as Gibbs had done minutes before.

Tony rubbed his eyes, trying to repress the wave of exhaustion that suddenly flooded over him. Letting out another sigh, he stepped back to rejoin the team.

"You ok Tony?" G asked quietly as he stood next to him.

"Yeah I'm fine. I might have to take you up on that job offer though… Anyways, what did Nell find?"

G looked as him askance, clearly wondering what he was hiding. Much to Tony's relief, the other agent didn't call him on it.

"Dead body that seems to be Tomás Pine. Burned nearly beyond recognition, but dental records are a pretty good match, and height and weight are about right."

"How long ago was he killed?" Tony asked.

"About a month ago. So the cartel probably only became active again recently, or at least powerful enough to start arranging murders in the US."

"Wonderful," Tony said sarcastically. "Well, what do you think, José? Time to dust off out aliases?"

"I believe so, Miguel." G replied. "It's time."

(A/N: (Elfy) Sorry I haven't been writing a lot! Thank god the wonderful Benny is awesome and had written most of this! She wrote the beginning of this chapter I wrote the end! But in my defense I have more rehearsals then her ;P. Any who update on audition season! We both got into Wind Ensemble, which is like honors band so auditions are over yay! The musical is ending soon so update will probably happen more frequently! Sorry I keep blabbing! BYE)

(A/N 2: (Benny) Don't listen to Elfy, she has legitimate reason to not be working on this for now. She has musical rehearsals are from right after school to 6:30 every night, and on the weekends as well. Plus there's the normal jazz and band rehearsals, and select chorus for her, and homework, and we can't miss watching NCIS every week! So that's the reason for the late update, sorry about that. Musical ends this week, so everything should be normal again for the updates! Thanks for reading!)