A/N : Fasten your seatbelts and have a tissue in your pocket just to be on the safe side.
Gibbs didn't' want to be summoned back into this but without a valid reason to escape the possibility; he had to settle for remaining available while working at his desk. He would not be the one to piss Vance off in this by disappearing just because he suddenly felt the need to go home and build something with his hands so his mind could sort itself out. Vance was angry enough as it was.
As he returned to his desk with a thankfully fresh cup of coffee, Gibbs silently dug back into the work piled there. Glancing at his other two present agents; he was thankful that they seemed to be peacefully and silently working; as if sensing that serious trouble was afoot and that no one was willing to talk about it or offer any information and so wisely refrained from asking for information.
*******NCIS*******
Tony could plainly see that Gibbs was much more than pissed; he was 'too pissed to be within 50 feet of who I'm pissed at' pissed. Wisely, Tony called upon his years of experience as Gibbs' Senior Field Agent, and left the man to his ire.
Mentally, he stoked his own fire of concern; about his Probie. Obviously the kid was in the thick of whatever this was; and since Abby had not only been summoned up to Vance's office as well; but had obviously pissed the Probie off enough that he wasn't speaking to her; AND they had both just gone to Mexico together; OH, WAIT A MINUTE! What the hell did those two do down there?
Now, Tony's mind was seriously spinning. ANYTHING could have happened down there; and between those two? Oh, my God; the possibilities were endless and none of them good; judging by Gibbs' demeanor and the fact that neither Abby nor Tim had come back down. Oh, no! It had to be bad if Gibbs left them defenseless up there in Vance's office! Oh, no! Tony's gut was twisting and his heart was plummeting to his feet. Something bad was getting ready to happen this team; this family; he could feel it.
*******NCIS*******
Ziva watched as Tony's restlessness grew and his fidgeting worsened with each minute of it. She had learned to read Gibbs fairly well over the years and she too now knew he needed to be left in peace and that whatever was going on with McGee and Abby was not good. Could it be that Tony had figured out what was going on?
A throat being cleared from over by Gibbs' desk snapped both of their attentions to the boss. Once he had Tony's attention; Gibbs did what he knew Tony needed him to do; sent him on a mission; for coffee. Holding up his now empty cup; he hoped that this would not be one of those times that DiNozzo acted like he didn't get it.
Tony got it; and was grateful for it. He was also grateful that when he'd snagged Ziva to go with him, Gibbs hadn't even so much as batted an eye. That in itself clinched it for Tony; something was well and truly wrong and the crap was about to hit the fan. While he wanted to be there to find out what it was; he didn't want to be anywhere near Gibbs when the man finally blew what seemed to be a rapidly building full head of steam.
"Tony? It is obvious that you think you have figured out what is going on, so share it." Ziva demanded.
"I'm just tryin' to fit the pieces together, Ziva and to tell you the truth; I'm not liking the picture they seem to be coming up with." Tony answered her in all seriousness; in absolutely no mood for playing around.
"Explain it to me." Ziva's request was a genuine need to help sort out whatever the problem could be.
"Okay. Come over here." Tony led the way over to the bench nearby and dug out a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and a pen and began writing a list down one side of the paper. When he was done, he put one word on the other edge of the same side of that paper. Next, he drew a line from each item on the one side to the one word on the other side. When he was done, he handed the paper to Ziva.
Ziva looked at the paper for a long minute before she folded it up and handed it back to him. "You are telling me that whatever is going on with Abby and McGee is big enough to have Gibbs be this angry. It is big enough to have Vance angry enough to still be dealing with them about it even after Gibbs had returned to his desk. You are saying that the reason McGee has been so quiet and withdrawn and not speaking to Abby is a part of this And, you are telling me that all whatever this is, happened in Mexico?
"It has to be, Ziva. And we know that Probie has always carried the torch for our Lab Rat; so he'd never let anything bad happen to her, which is why Vance appointed him as her guardian down there; not to mention he knew you and I would be busy crackin' the case we were already on. Which leaves…"
"Tony, did Gibbs come back down from Vance's office alone because he is too angry to deal with them or did he do it because whatever this is; is over his head and too big for Gibbs authority to deal with it?"
"I don't know that yet, Ziva. But, what I'm saying is that it has to be about whatever those two did while they were down there and I'm not likin' what I'm thinkin' they did."
"Then stop thinking it, Tony! You are forgetting it is not Abby who is upset with McGee, it is the other way around!"
"Oh, right. Yeah, that does kinda wipe out that possibility, doesn't it?"
"Yes, Tony! And I am shocked that you would think McGee would do such a thing while on Protection Duty."
"Oh, c'mon, Ziva, the man's a man; not a statue!"
"McGee values Gibbs' faith and trust in him very highly, does he not?"
"Well, duh, Ziva, the whole world knows that by now."
"And would he still have that faith and trust if he broke Gibbs' rule #12; with Abby; while he was on Protection Duty?"
"Ahh-haa. No. He wouldn't. And Probie would know this and so he wouldn't do anything like that. Excellent Point, Ziva. Okay. Then we're back to the beginning. We have no idea what's going on; only that whatever it is; happened on that trip."
"And has Gibbs angry enough to take himself out of the doling out of the consequences?"
"We don't know that for sure yet, Ziva. But, it is a possibility, isn't it?" Tony asked as they reached the coffee shop and placed the order.
While on the way back, the silence between them was rich with contemplation as they both tried to think of possibilities of what the problem could be. While realizing they had a piece of the puzzle; it left them both truly frustrated with the knowledge that; in terms of putting this puzzle together; the piece they had wasn't a very definitive one at all.
Tim's nerves had plummeted to his feet. What was he supposed to do, now? He couldn't answer Vance's questions without ratting out Gibbs' favoritism toward Abby. After all, wasn't that the whole reason he'd refused to even consider going to Gibbs with Abby's behavior in the first place?
Gibbs was; well, Gibbs. But more than that, he was Tim's mentor, surrogate father, and rock when things got dicey out there. No matter what happened, Tim knew that Gibbs had their backs. He wasn't a talker and he wasn't a comforter but he had their backs and he never, ever lied to them. He played hard ball and kept them safe and he never, ever screwed then over.
So, there was no way in hell, that Tim was gonna roll over on Gibbs. It wasn't happening. Tim was NOT here to make trouble for his boss and he wasn't gonna lie about why he'd left what Abby had done out of his report. But, if he wasn't going to rat Gibbs out and he wasn't going to lie; that left only one choice. It wasn't one he was used to making; hell, he'd never been in this position before. But he felt no trepidation about his choice; hell, it wasn't even a choice; it was the ONLY thing he could do.
With that resolution firmly in place in his mind and in his heart; he mentally picked up the scattered pieces of his nerves and his backbone and pinned them all back in place. The longer he was stuck sitting there; the more pieces he determinedly glued into place; replacing the temporary and shaky pins; eventually becoming one solidified body, in mind and soul, prepared to stand his ground
After what seemed like forever, Vance's door opened and a stone-faced, poker straight Abby walked out and kept going without looking at either Tim or Vance's assistant.
"Agent McGee." Vance stonily spoke, knowing that those two words were all that were needed at the moment.
When the door closed behind him as he approached the Director's Desk and stood at parade attention; he, again felt the twinge of unease at the sound it made.
"I will warn you, Agent McGee, I am not in the mood for any more of this failure to cooperate. Now, what happened down there is pretty clear-cut. My question is why didn't you report any of that? At the very least, why didn't you call your immediate supervisor with it when you got back from the situation; before you even got back on that plane to come back here?"
*******NCIS*******
Ten minutes later, Tim was headed back to his desk, silently and stoically. With silence that gave evidence to just how serious the situation was; he locked up his service weapon, badge and Agency I.D. closed down his work station, picked up his backpack, walked over to Gibbs' desk and handed his boss the piece of paper he'd come down the stairs with.
Before Gibbs's eyes had even finished processing what it was his agent was actually doing over at his desk; or he'd even unfolded the paper, the young man was silently saying goodbye to Tony and Ziva with his eyes and resolutely walking to the back stairs. Tim was unwilling to wait for the elevator. The last thing he needed was to be cornered in Gibbs' 'office'.
*******NCIS*******
As the door to the stair well banged shut with a decisive 'slam' , Tony was up out of his seat and half –way to Gibbs' desk; ready to demand answers. He knew what this looked like and damn it, he'd better be wrong; cause there was no way in hell, he was gonna stand by and watch Probie get fired; he didn't care what the hell had happened in Mexico.
"Boss?" Tony demanded
"Gibbs?" Ziva asked just as forcefully.
Gibbs' eyes were still on the paper that Tim had silently handed him;
NOTICE OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION TAKEN:
For failure to cooperate by filing an incomplete report on an international incident
And for further failure to cooperate by refusing to explain why such incident was intentionally left out of his report,
NCIS Special Agent Tim McGee is hereby:
Suspended – 1 month without pay – effective immediately