Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS, unfortunately.
Previously:
Vance was getting desperate. Gibbs and his team were good. Extremely good. And he was running out of options. The man made a decision. He grabbed a photo of his family and took the back off the frame to reveal a piece of paper. He grabbed it and flipped it over to reveal a number. Then he did as he had promised himself he would never do.
He pulled out his phone, punched in the number, and dialed.
"Hello? This is Leon Vance. I need a favor."
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He'd done it. He'd used the code word. They knew he had failed.
Damn, how had he ever allowed this to happen?
Flashback
That's it, Vance thought. I'm calling the one person who can help me. The one person who knows Leroy Jethro Gibbs well enough to help me get him out of my agency for good.
He picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found the name. The director pressed 'Call' and held the phone to his ear.
"Trent Court? I could use some information on one of my agents. You could be a lot of help to me, if you're interested."
It had started off well enough. But suffice it to say, that didn't last long.
"Now, either you convince Mossad to kill Gibbs, or your career, your family, and your friends will disappear." Months after getting Orli on his side, he received an anonymous call from a blocked number telling him to tell Mossad Director Elbaz to kill Gibbs. They threatened him. What they didn't know was that he was more than happy to have Gibbs out of the way for good as long as it was never traced back to him, and his family remained safe.
Therefore, Vance wove a rather elaborate web of lies. He told Orli that Eli wanted Ziva in Mossad or dead. He convinced her to have her assassins kill Gibbs as a precaution.
Then he tracked Tony as he tracked Ziva to Paris, and fed the information to Mossad.
Everything he wanted, with none of it traced back to him. Perfect.
End Flashback
"Perfect. Yeah, right." Vance muttered to himself as he put down his phone and shredded the number. It was out of his hands now. He had made the call signaling that there was no more he could do. Now all he could do was wait.
Wait, and hope he had covered his tracks.
Never had there been such a desperate hope.
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Tony bounced in his seat like a five-year-old. Finally, finally, he was going home. Home to his job, his home, his life.
Best of all, he was going home with Ziva.
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs' shout and slap to the back of the head shook him out of his reverie. "Did you hear the captain announce that we were taking off?"
"Err… no, boss." Tony admitted and buckled his seatbelt. Then he turned to look at the other passengers on the private jet SECNAV had sent.
Gibbs: Sitting in a seat, sipping coffee and glaring at him. Tony resisted the urge to rub the back of his head.
Ducky: Chatting animatedly with Gibbs, who was not paying much attention.
Abby: Half asleep with her head on Probie's shoulder.
McGee: Laptop out, watching a movie and grinning slightly at Abby falling asleep leaning on him.
Ziva: Waving her hand in front of his face from her spot next to him, looking amused.
Snapping out of it, Tony turned to face his partner.
"Yeah Zi?" he yawned.
"It can wait. You look exhausted." Now she looked concerned.
"Yeah, I could do with a cat nap." Tony closed his eyes and was asleep before Ziva could ask him why it was called a 'Cat nap' as opposed to something else.
Ziva gave up on questioning American sayings when he started to snore.
A/N: A little fluff to go with the serious Vance stuff. Sorry if all the flashback-y things confused you.
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