Abby was in shock. She was angry, too; but mostly she was in shock. This had never happened to her before. She'd always skated by on her charm and thought it had pretty much secured her place in Gibbs' heart. He'd saved her from ever facing any kind of disciplinary action before now and thanks to the man, her record here was; until today, as clean as a whistle. Listening to Vance; she had been reminded of times gone by where she had actually earned an official reprimand but all she had ever gotten was Gibbs' disappointment and unofficial discipline; not forgetting the rare occasions where she's feel his wrath in the form of his anger. It was easier and safer to stay angry because Abby couldn't remember ever bringing this much trouble down on herself before and frankly, she was ill-prepared for it and for what it said about who she had become.
She remembered crossing swords with Gibbs when she'd taken Jethro back to the Pax River Base without asking and without a field kit even. Abby even remembered how displeased he had been when she used her lab to run her own private investigation into who had stolen her cupcake. She'd be the first to admit that she'd done some stupid stuff over the years; but her protector, her silver-haired fox that had saved her hide on numerous occasions; always had her back and promised her that he always would. He had used those exact words and had made her that promise countless times over the years. So, what the hell just happened? Where the hell was he now? Hell, he hadn't even said anything to help her out up there in Vance's office! He'd left her there to fend for herself; to defend herself! What the hell kind of having her back was that?
She was angry beyond all reason and was fuming to the point where she expected to see smoke filling the air around her as it billowed from her ears. Abby set about clearing up her workload; logging every single piece of evidence that was in her lab; both the pile she was done with and the pile she hadn't even started yet – and then there was everything else in between. When she was finished with the first part of her torturous task, she set about fulfilling the rest of Vance's order as the conversation she'd just endured with him replayed itself in her head.
"Ms. Scuito, I am well aware that you are Agent Gibbs' favorite co-worker and that he considers you to be a valued member of his team. I am also well aware that you seem to operate under the guise that he will always be able to keep you and your behavior out of trouble. We'll get back to that in a minute"
Vance paused and glanced over at Abby; she was currently picking at a small, black, lace handkerchief that she had bought in with her.
"Being a Forensic Scientist does not keep you from being expected to adhere to the same code of conduct that the rest of the field Agents employed with this agency are held to. When you are out in the field, you are expected to abide by that code of conduct without fail and without excuse. It is especially important and is there for your own safety."
Abby just nodded slowly and found that she couldn't look him in the eyes. She had no idea what to say to him despite knowing that, he probably deserved one. The silence drew on for a couple more seconds before Vance's voice tore through her thoughts.
"Now, having said that, let's get back to you being Gibbs' favorite. Do you really think that what you did in Mexico is excusable? Did you think Gibbs could save you from the consequences of the choices you made while you were down there?"
"I wasn't really thinking about that at the time, Sir."
"Oh? Well, I'd be interested to know just what you were thinking about when you decided it was okay to railroad over Agent McGee's decision for the two of you to remain at the University and not go where you had been warned not to go."
"I was thinking about teaching the class, Sir. I was trying to make sure they got to see the evidence. That was what the class was about."
"I'm well aware of what the class was about, Ms. Scuito, I am the one who signed the paperwork authorizing you to go down there and teach it." Vance shot back at Abby with a condescending, stern tone that let her know that he wasn't stupid and right about now, she was walking a thin line.
"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir."
"Had I known that you would so blatantly and carelessly disregard the wisdom and experience of your Escort and put yourself and my agent; not to mention those students in danger of becoming hostages or worse; victims in a confrontation between a drug cartel and the Mexican government; I never would have even considered it; not for a minute!"
"Sir, I never meant to put anyone in danger."
"Ms. Scuito, when Agent McGee advised you to let the University bring the evidence to your classroom; when he reminded you in no uncertain terms, of the danger that you were proposing to risk getting into; what were you thinking? Whatever it was must have been pretty damn important for you to just blow off his warning and instruction. So, let me hear it; what was it?"
"No, Sir."
"No, what; Ms. Scuito?"
"No, it wasn't important." Her voice got temporarily stronger with the admonished prompt from the Director.
"So, you're telling me that you put your life and the life of my agent in danger and then added the lives of the very students you were entrusted with to that danger; for something that wasn't even important?" Vance's anger was palpable at this point.
"I didn't intend to." "
Let's be clear, for the record, about what you really thought, Ms. Scuito. You thought nothing bad would happen. You thought Agent McGee was being silly and over-protective and that was something you just weren't going to put up with. You called it being a 'party-pooper, I believe. Am I right?"
"Yes, Sir. Sir. I really didn't mean to put anyone in danger." The magnitude of the situation was finally starting to sink in as the conversation drew on. She knew, at that point in time that there was no getting out of this and no amount of pleading ignorance was going to help her.
"No, I'm sure you didn't. But all that tells me, is you had no intention of taking Agent McGee seriously."
Abby was beyond speechless.
"Tell me, Ms. Scuito; what does a Protection Detail mean to you?"
"An Agent whose job it is to protect you from harm as much as they are humanly possible."
"And do you believe that you are better trained for that job than the agent assigned to be your protection?"
"No, Sir."
"Then, explain to me why it is that you have treated Agent McGee as a mere nuscience to dress down instead of the trained Federal Agent on Protection duty assigned to your protection that he was; not once, but twice now."
Abby looked shocked.
"You didn't think I read the reports from the Michael Mawher Case?"
"I didn't realize that was in there." Abby admitted quietly as one her past transgressions came back to bite her so unexpectedly.
"Didn't realize what was in there? The full explanation of how Mawher was able to get in to McGee's apartment? Oh, that's right; you did leave some details out of your report didn't you?" The sarcasm hit her hard and she couldn't do anything but hang her head in shame when she answered.
"A few."
"Right. Let's get back to the question, shall we?"
"I've known Tim since before he joined Gibbs' team and I don't seem to be able to separate that McGee from his Agent side."
"That's your explanation?" Vance's loud, incredulous tone rang through his office.
"Yes, Sir."
"I'm curious, would you have disregarded Agent DiNozzo's warnings and direction the same way?"
"No, Sir."
"Hmm. Not even a slight bit of hesitation in your answer. Why not?"
"Tony's like my big brother. I know he'll protect me from anything."
"Ms Scuito, not even Superman can protect us from our own recklessness, stupidity or stubborn pride."
Abby was once again struck speechless.
"For the record, Ms. Scuito, you are admitting that the reason you refused to adhere to the advice and direction of NCIS Special Agent Tim McGee, your assigned Protection Detail for the Classroom Trip to Mexico, is because you didn't trust that he could genuinely protect you?"
"That wasn't what I meant, Sir. I thought McGee was just there as an escort so I wouldn't be hassled by any guys down there. I didn't think I needed 'protection'. I thought I'd be safe."
"Doesn't matter what label you put on the assignment, Ms Scuito. Either way, he knew his job and he obviously did it to the best of his ability; despite you running roughshod over him."
"Yes, Sir."
"Tell me, what were you thinking when you refused to sleep in the room that had been assigned to the both of you. What possible reason could you have had for sleeping in your classroom? You were unprotected and showed a complete disregard for your own safety."
"He told you about that?" Abby was flabbergasted.
"No, Ms. Scuito, Agent McGee hasn't told me anything other than what was in his official report; which, strangely enough mirrors yours."
"Then, how…"
"Like I've told Agent Gibbs; this chair is bigger than you realize. Now, I'd like an answer to my question."
"He was gonna be up sick all night because he forgot to use bottled water on his toothbrush and I needed to get a full night's sleep." Abby at least had the good grace to look sheepish at the question and looking back; wasn't hindsight a wonderful thing!, she should have stayed to support her friend the way he would have…..Her friend? Does that even stand right about now.
"I see."
"I am sorry, Sir."
"Are you? So then you're telling me that if you had it to do over again, that you would abide by Agent McGee's direction?"
"Yes."
"Somehow, Ms. Scuito, I seriously doubt that. I also doubt that you fully appreciate just how serious this is."
Abby couldn't argue what she was beginning to see as a brick wall looming in front of her. A brick wall that had the power to ruin her career.
"I am well aware that this is the first time you've had to face serious Disciplinary Action and it is unfortunate that your first time at bat comes because of something so very serious. It is also unfortunate that your actions have had serious repercussions on the otherwise promising career for the agent who was responsible for your safety on this trip. I have no choice but to impose a very serious course of Disciplinary Action on you."
"Yes Sir."
"Good. I'm glad we understand each other. You are hearby suspended for one month without pay. You will have an official reprimand placed on your file for the duration and it will remain in your file for a period of one year beyond that. If no further incidents or reasons for disciplinary action occur in that time, this will be removed from your record. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes. Sir."
"Alright. For the remainder of today, you will get your lab in tip-top shape in preparation for your absence. You will remain at NCIS today until your lab is fully readied to be taken over by your temporary replacement. You will report back up here to me when you have completed that task and are prepared to leave for the day. I will advise you to be careful to watch what you say about his to anyone. I will not allow ill-will to be spread like scuttlebutt in this Agency."
"Yes. Sir."
Now, Abby could barely contain her tears and wasn't exactly sure as to why she was crying; anger, distress; misery. She didn't know which; but hated every single part of it. Not wanting to draw attention to her emotions; she glanced over at her stereo and forced herself to turn her music back on as she worked, purely because she didn't want to draw attention to her emotions and hoped that this little sliver of normality would help. For once in her working life, the music grated on her last nerve and she found herself hating every minute of that too.
Gibbs finally dragged his eyes up from the paper in his hand and looked at his Senior Field Agent. He was torn between hightailing up to Leon's office to tear a strip off his hide for this over the top punishment or giving Tony and Ziva the answers they deserved. He settled for the less confrontational and went about the task that would, for the moment, help him possibly calm down.
He knew that all hell would break loose whether or not he let his agents in on what was going on; but they'd get in less trouble with Vance if he kept them reined in; kept it under control. Holding up his finger to get his agents to wait, he picked up his phone and hit one of the buttons.
"Yeah. Can you meet me in interrogation room 2? Now. Yeah. Thanks."
When Gibbs hung up his phone, he gestured silently for his agents to follow him. They were not gonna have this conversation out in an open arena for everyone on the floor to bare witnesses; no, he wanted complete privacy for this one. It was the least he could do for McGee. Silently, they all headed to the interrogation room. Once there, Gibbs cleared the observation room of technicians and shut off all the security cameras and recording equipment before joining his agents in the room. As soon as Ducky arrived; Gibbs launched into explaining what had happened.
While it wasn't his usual style; Gibbs knew that Tony and Ziva would keep digging until they got to the bottom of this anyway and he'd rather they heard it from him. He also knew that Ducky would want to know what had happened because he'd be worried about McGee's mental state with this harsh of a punishment coming down on his head. Gibbs also wanted Ducky's take on why McGee would choose to take this huge dent to his career rather than just give Vance the answers he'd asked for. It was such an unexpected move from McGee, that Gibbs was still feeling shocked.
When he'd finished explaining things to his team, Gibbs left them to wrap their brains around everything that they had just heard.
Everything he'd seen in response to the news had been expected; absolute anger, disbelief, insistence that Gibbs fight this and go to bat for McGee; finally, came sheer determination from each of them, they were all driven to be there for McGee and to let him know they supported him. None of them were disappointed that their teammate hadn't just given Vance what he wanted. Then again, none of them even seemed surprised by it either. So, then, why was Gibbs the only one that seemed to be rocked by that?
Gibbs took the stairs to Vance's office two at a time with anger and determination fueling every step. While the Director had every right to be pissed; he didn't have the right to dole out such super-sized punishment for a less than super-sized offense such as this. McGee hadn't done anything more serious; other than offer up his own life in place of all the others Abby had placed in danger. Maybe, not forcing the driver of whatever vehicle that had been taken to the site; to turn around and not take them to the site could be attributed to McGee; but it hadn't been. So, there was no official reason for this severity of punishment.
There was no way the Team Leader was gonna let his man go down like this; not without a fight. He was mentally head slapping himself for breaking one of his own rules. He had assumed that removing himself from Vance's sight would lessen the severity of his need to punish Tim. Gibbs had imagined that Vance would enforce a more stringent punishment just to flaunt his chair in Gibbs' face; expecting the Team Leader to fight him on it; and so, had removed that possibility; believing it would tone down Vance's punishments.
He had deliberately left out the 'without pay' part of Leon's sanctions against McGee when he filled his team in on where Tim had gone. Gibbs was determined that this piece of overkill on the Director's part would be an easy thing to erase. Nothing Tim had done merited him losing his pay for a month. For cryin' out loud the man had offered up his own life for a group of strangers and the woman who'd treated him like crap when she should have listened to him!
Abby. Yeah, she was a whole other ball game; one he couldn't and wouldn't worry about just yet. McGee and the completely unfair situation he was in; was Gibbs' priority right now. Nothing else mattered until he'd done everything he could to fix this. He barged through Vance's reception area and stormed the Director's door with a determination that killed any bit of respect the director hadn't earned. Gibbs was not surprised to find Vance sitting at his desk staring off into space. Hell, If he'd just doled out the crap that this man had just done; Gibbs' would be staring off into space with regret, too.
After Gibbs left the interrogation room, three cell phones came out of hiding and were flipped open. Tony and Ziva offered tiny smiles of humor as they bowed to the realization that of the three of them, the one that Tim would most likely talk to right now was, in fact, Ducky. In tandem, the younger two people put their phones back in their pockets and waited with bated breath for Ducky to make the call they all wanted to make.
Ducky rewarded Tony and Ziva's acknowledgement by putting his cell phone on speaker and setting it down on the table that they were all sitting around as he waited for Tim to pick his ringing phone up.
"Hey, Ducky." Tim's voice was quiet and dripped with a sadness that offered evidence of what they'd expected; he wasn't alright with what had happened; in fact, he sounded downright upset and broken.
"Timothy, I've just heard what happened, young man. Are you all right?" the M.E. kept his tone calm, but injected enough concern in there to try to draw an answer out of his troubled young friend.
"I dunno. I think I'm still in shock." The shakiness of his answer gave testament to the truth of Tim's words.
"Are you driving right now?" Ducky asked with a touch of alarm.
"No. I only made it as far as the park across the river. I couldn't…..I didn't want to drive so I'm sitting in my car." Tim's response was slightly calmer.
"Oh, Timothy!" The M.E. couldn't hold back his sympathy and as he looked at the young man's anxious teammates, their shared pain and anger on his behalf was almost palpable.
"Thanks, Ducky. But, I'll be okay. I think I'm afraid to ask who told you and how much you were told."
"Jethro told us the bare facts. He said we needed to get them from him rather than force you to discuss it. He was very adamant that we leave you alone unless you wish for our company. However, I am certain that you need to be looked after because I know you Timothy and you will not take care of yourself. "
"Wow. Um. Oh. Ducky, I promise, I'll take care of myself. You really don't need worry about me."
"Nonsense, Timothy, Anthony and Ziva are also quite worried about you. They wish to speak with you and let you know they support you and want to be there for you, as I am."
"I can't drag them into this, Ducky."
"My dear boy, you aren't dragging them into anything! They want to help."
"That's just it. They can't and if I talk to them about it, then I'm putting them in the same position I'm in and I won't do that to them, Ducky. It's bad enough you'll be in that position, too, if I talk to you about it. But, then again, …"
"Then again what, dear boy? Timothy, I want you to come to my house for dinner. I would like the chance to talk to you and see how you're doing." Ducky knew that the boy wouldn't eat; he had seen it on numerous occasions when Tim was emotionally hurting over something. It hadn't really been an issue before seeing as he was slightly overweight; a couple of days wouldn't really hurt. But now that he had lost the weight and was as fit as a fiddle, there was no way he was going to let his friend drop anymore pounds.
"Thanks, Ducky. And would you tell Tony and Ziva that I really appreciate their support, please?"
"Certainly, young man, But, I am quite certain that they are already quite aware of how much you appreciate them. They merely wish to return the favor."
"I wish I could, Ducky. But, I can't. They still have to work on the team. See you tonight. And thank you."
As Tim ended the call and Ducky put his cell phone away, Tony and Ziva looked at each other with a silent question, what did he mean by that?
Gibbs returned to the squad room to find a still very pissed team trying to get back into the case files on their desks; they were trooping on like good soldiers despite their minds being elsewhere. Walking up to his Senior Field Agent, he stood at the man's desk and leaned in very close to him in order to speak to him privately.
"He's got a week to cooperate with Vance and all this'll go away, DiNozzo."
Having delivered the message he'd needed to, Gibbs headed out for coffee with his head full of the discussion he'd just had with Vance:
"I expected you twenty minutes ago, Gibbs. What took you so long?" Vance asked as he looked over at him.
"My team deserved some answers, Leon. They still do. After, you rescind this ridiculously harsh punishment! Without pay? A month? C'mon, Leon, you'd think he stolen from the agency, the way you're blackening his record with this!"
"None of this is on the books; yet, Gibbs. He can make it all go away for himself. "
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"All he has to do is tell me why he didn't include those incidents in his report and this all goes away."
"Incidents? As in more than one?"
Leon handed Gibbs a document that he hadn't yet shown him.
After a long silent minute in which Gibbs read the document and Vance watched his face to see his reaction; the Team Leader silently sat down in one of the chairs in front of Vance's desk.
"Any more surprises?"
"No. That's it."
"Okay. I get that you're making a point, here, Leon. You want McGee to learn from this and that's fine. You wanna suspend him for a month, I don't like it and I think it's crap but that's your call. But I won't sit by and watch you take his pay away for doing his best to safeguard the safety of those students and Abby! It's bad enough that you're willing to ruin his perfectly good record with this. The least you can do is downgrade the severity of it! Give him his pay!"
"Gibbs, like I said, this suspension isn't on the books. But, it will be, if he continues to refuse to cooperate with me. He's got one week to do so. If he cooperates and answers my questions within that week, then, this 'suspension' is only on that piece of paper he handed you. Officially, he'll have been on paid vacation for that week. Vacation he's earned, by the way.
"And if he doesn't cooperate?"
"Then I'll have no choice but to make the suspension official. But, I will lessen the severity. I'll change it to Paid Suspension and shorten it to two weeks".
"Just what is it you want him to learn from this, Leon?"
"I want him to figure out and learn that he shouldn't be willing to throw himself in front of the bus to protect someone over something that was bound to come out, anyway. Hell I don't even understand why he's protecting Ms Scuito! Everything's already out in the open so what the hell could he be protecting her from?"
"I don't know. But I'm gonna find out." Gibbs' fierce earnest answer shocked the director slightly. He didn't let it show on his face though and kept the cool, poker face that he had soon become famous for at NCIS.
"Good. Get him to cooperate with me and this will go away, Gibbs."
"I still think this is crap, Leon. There are a hell of a lot less damaging ways to make your point. Especially with McGee"
"Not as definitive as this."
"Hope it's worth it to ya." Gibbs threw out as he snapped open the door; he stopped in his tracks and turned back around to go back into the office letting the door close behind him as he walked back across the room.
"You have more, Gibbs?" Vance asked with a cool tone that hid his shock at Gibbs' actions.
"What about Abby?"
"The same month of suspension as Agent McGee."
"Two completely different offenses given the same punishment?"
"No, Gibbs. As I've already told you, Agent McGee has the ability to change his; get it expunged. At the very least his will be downgraded. Ms. Scuito's is completely non- negotiable!"
"Where is she?"
"Hopefully, she's tidying up her workspace and preparing it to be used by whoever I temporarily assign in her place."
Gibbs nodded silently as he headed out
As Gibbs walked to the coffee shop, he couldn't help but realize that for the first time since he'd first met his Forensic Scientist, he had no inclination to be sympathetic with her. Abby had created this mess and she needed to suffer through the consequences.