'Hey, Langley!' Tony called towards the petite blond woman, before she could disappear into a stairwell. 'I need you to take over a case for me!'

'DiNozzo, if this is another one of your 'Razz-the-new-girl' things...'

'No. It isn't.'

The seriousness of his tone obviously convinced her, and she turned to face him.

'It's McGee's kid. I can't...'

He gestured helplessly. He hadn't been partners with Tim for closing in on two decades, but the history between the two men was well known around the agency. There was no way he was giving some defence lawyer that kind of reason to get the case against the S.O.B. who'd hurt Leigh thrown out of court. And nearly everyone else had worked with Tim at one point or another. Langley had just transferred in from the San Diego office – she was the obvious choice to deal with the case.

'Say no more,' she replied, holding out her hand for the case file. Tony quickly briefed her on what he'd done before he'd realised Leigh's involvement, and told her that both Leigh and Lt. Nielson were being taken down to see Palmer.

He'd confronted a surprised, embarrassed, outraged Leigh, ultimately resorting to calling her 'Ensign' and flashing the badge at his hip when she'd refused to answer his questions. He wasn't sure what worried him more: the fact that she still wasn't sitting comfortably, nearly a week after being whipped, or that she didn't seem to think that was a problem. He'd sent her off with the probie, lying down in the back seat after a brief battle of wills that she'd abandoned when she realised that her dignity wasn't worth an uncomfortable, long car ride, then he'd commandeered a car from the base motor pool so he could bring Nielson the same way.

'Ok. Let me just grab the camera and I'll head down there.'

Tony nodded, silently grateful that he wasn't going to be there for that conversation. They needed the photos for evidence, but Leigh was not going to be happy about it. It was another reason why Vanessa Langley was his first choice to take over the case, but having a female agent on the other side of the camera wasn't going to be enough to make Leigh co-operate without a fight.

But, he thought with a wince, the call he needed to make now wasn't going to be a pleasanter conversation.