A/N
I used the F word once and other bad words a few times
Beta Mike91848: Thanks for the extra work and the kind encouraging words
Disclaimer: NCIS and its characters are not mine. I make no money writing this story
CINDERELLA Revisited
Chapter 11
Timothy McGee felt anxiety and stress déjà vu. He remembered asking Tony, "everything okay?" Was it just two days ago? Tony had been edgy, eyes unfocused as he kept glancing up the stairs. No one else seemed to notice; surprisingly Gibbs, who knew everything, hadn't picked up on the tension and Ziva was stuffing...err eating her lunch.
Well, Tony exhibited that same edgy wait-fulness now, though it looked like he was just taking a quick nap at his desk. Ziva and Steve, who had pulled up his chair to her desk, were quietly talking about, he could hardly hear them... a conversation about cooking on an airplane? This time, Gibbs was not on the phone but he seemed to be idly perusing his email account.
McGee, still recalling the other day when he had looked over at Tony who had suddenly stood up and...just stood there, hands at his sides, not moving. Suddenly, there was ruckus from up above. Simmons came out of Vance's office and knocked into some poor woman who went flying into the wall and the folders she was carrying scattered all over the floor.
McGee stood up then also as Simmons careened down the stairs, three steps at a time with his intentions very clear, he was ready for a fight. There was fury written all over his red face and his hands were clenched into fists. Vance and Johansen were too far behind the man and weren't fueled by adrenalin like Simmons to catch up to him as they urgently called his name.
Simmons reached the bottom step and hurled himself over Tony's desk straight for his jugular with a blood curdling yell. The odd thing was Tony never attempted to defend himself but instead deliberately let Simmons throw the first punch which hit its mark, Tony's nose, perfectly. Blood spurted profusely as Tony's head was flung to the side. After that first punch though, it seemed doubtful that Simmons scored again because in the fight that ensued, Tony acted like he wasn't feeling a thing.
When Tony grabbed Simmons' jacket and flung him into the metal cabinet behind him, the noise woke Tim up from his shocked stupor. He came around his desk and managed to grab Tony around the waist as Tony pummeled his fists into Simmons' body. Gibbs had gotten ahold of his right arm and Johansen was on the other side and together they pulled but even with the might of three men, they couldn't budge Tony from his violent course.
Tony was a big guy, full of muscle, stronger than Tim had imagined because he never strutted his size arrogantly or appeared intimidating with his body strength, so at first glance, one noticed his good looks and handsome suits. But Abby had once told Tim, and it was waaaay too much information that Tony had muscles on his butt, and how did she know that anyway?
By this time, the two men were on the floor grappling with each other in deadly earnestness. Attempts to separate the two were proving futile. People were yelling Tony's name, women were screaming. Tim thought of shooting his gun in the air but firing his weapon in the building was a no-no.
Security guards hadn't arrived yet but someone yelled, 'make sure they bring the Taser's. Gibbs yelled one, two, three and all the agents and even Doug the maintenance guy, pounced as one onto Tony who had his hands around Simmons throat.
Ziva entered the fray with a pinch to Tony's neck which got him to release his big hands and let Simmons breathe once again. Gibbs grabbed Tony around the neck and under one arm and they all heaved him back and off the poor bleeding, breathless Simmons who was still conscious and probably wishing he had taken his punishment from Vance with a little more finesse and maybe then, he could have avoided attacking someone who he had unfortunately underestimated. And then, probably, his day might not have ended with the embarrassment of being half under a desk with a lunatic on top of him trying to do serious damage to his face and a roomful of people taking their time getting that lunatic off.
They managed to hold onto Tony just barely as he continued to struggle trying to get away from his tormentors. Finally, Ducky showed up with the magic bullet and jabbed the needle into Tony's trembling, twitchy body and all movement stopped.
People piled off the inert body of their co-worker looking pretty rough. Tim had been kicked in the shin with a flying foot attached to a heavy shoe and limped away to his desk. Let the late-coming security guards earn their pay and hall Tony's passed out ass down to Ducky's autopsy.
They got Simmons to his feet but he refused to let the 'morgue quack' take a look at his injuries and mumbled through his broken teeth that he would go see his own doctor. No one seemed to care when he stumbled out of there with one lone Agent attempting to help him at Vance's suggestion. When Simmons shrugged the guy off, the Agent escorted him to the elevator then took a quick right around the corner and disappeared.
Two clerical workers riding down took one look at Simmons battered face and giggled before skittering out of the elevator on the wrong floor so Simmons could ride the empty elevator by himself. His lead investigator Johansen had mysteriously vanished.
So here McGee sat, same itchy feeling as he observed Tony sitting at his desk 'resting his eyes'. They should all be home sleeping after being up all night but no one wanted to leave if Tony was staying, so there they all sat. Even Steve who no one had seen fit to chase away yet. The calm before the storm, thought McGee.
ncicncicncisncis
Well, here I sit, me Anthony DiNozzo, Jr, playing another waiting game. There's something shimmering but oblique in the air. Been that way for days. I've had more resolutions in the last year than in all my other years of life combined. And the trend appears to be continuing. My mother, now Antoney, who's not the traitor. He was just a kid like me caught up in things he didn't cause, couldn't prevent and didn't understand.
He's still here now clothed in yesterday's jeans and one of my clean but wrinkled shirts that had been in my drawer all but forgotten under an empty tin of cookies. The man could have left, but he's not going anywhere until he gets resolutions of his own. He will have his answers.
So, I'm sitting here waiting for the rest of this to play out. I won't be fighting anyone, physically that is, but there are some things worse than getting a kick to the back, believe it or not, even I know that, having to do with feelings and emotions, love and hate.
The slight ding of the elevators arrival upstairs in the quiet bull pen has everyone shrugging off their tiredness and alerting up. I glance up and watch as the SECNAV escorts Matthew Simmons and Anton DiNozzo to the outer door of Director Vance's office where they stand and talk for a moment, even chuckle for good measure before the SECNAV opens the door and they enter. I didn't get an insincere hand salute or even a nasty smirk this time. I guess Simmons was on his best behavior. But then a thought occurred to me. How come Simmons didn't have handcuffs on or at least a pair of security guards at his side? After all, he did attack me.
Simmons was looking pretty good for someone who had been on the wrong end of a hardened fist. He had on the designer suit, shirt, tie and shoes but he still looked color blind to me. His mouth was definitely bruised but his teeth looked perfect from the quick glimpse I got and I remember my grandmother once quoting to me from the bible, 'the love of money is the root of all evil'. Yeah, but evil money sure makes it easier to get a root canal when you need one.
"What do ya' thinks going on up there? How could his lawyer justify Simmons attack on Tony the other day?" McWorrywart expressed his concerns to Gibbs who knew everything.
"Why're you asking me, McGee? Do I look like a lawyer to you?" The Boss didn't have to be so abrupt to poor McGee. But McGee just shrugged it off as of no consequence.
My phone rang and everyone got that greyhoundish, high speed, where's the hare, readiness look. It was Vance wanting me upstairs, alone.
Now see, CC, my African American bald headed good friend, frat brother, teammate, supposedly cousin to Cassius, and all around impatient but brilliant attorney, who had drummed certain inalienable rights into my thick skull, would very likely kick my ass if I let myself be led to the slaughter by this group of self-serving, pretentious, pillars of the community waiting for me upstairs.
I heard my teammates' collective moan all around me. But, no, really, they didn't have to worry. CC would call me a stupid white boy afraid of his mommy and change my goddaughter's name from A'Tonee to Hazel or something equally offensive and the child would hate me for the rest of her life and it would be my fault. So don't worry guys. That wasn't gonna happen. My namesake would keep her name.
Speaking of which, Gibbs calls out, "Have you called CC?"
"Got it covered, Boss." And Steve chipped in, "Just give me the word, I'll call my lawyer."
I gave them all the thumbs up then asked McGoogle to do a little research regarding a certain golf course, a pretty lady and Paris hats for me ASAP as I had another one of those light bulb flashes, and I headed up the stairs. I may have appeared confident as hell but I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't a kid anymore. The physical violence and the head games that was the norm with this group didn't worry me.
But this job, the people who work here, have given meaning to my life, meaning and hope that I can have a small share in making this a better, safer place for people to live. So, I could not allow these unfriendly and antagonistic visitors succeed in taking these things away from me.
ncisncisncisncis
Well this is cozy. Not! The SECNAV had chosen the head of the table, Vance was on his right and DiNozzo and Simmons were seated on his left. A chair was left open for me on Vance's right so I was facing the two numb-nuts head on. Two carafes of coffee were on the table, probably the good stuff, Jamaican Gold, I could see from the coffee wrapper peeking out of the side drawer. A crystal sugar bowl and matching creamer set were in the middle of the table. No donuts though. Cups and saucers were at each place setting. Some of the cups were half filled with a dark or creamy beverage so I know they had been imbibing and socializing leisurely while I waited, supposedly trembling downstairs again.
So I sat down at the chair with a big 'I D' emblazoned on the back for 'Intimidate DiNozzo' and a dunce cap on the side. These two had denigrated and vilified my choices in life since we were children. Why should they stop now?
I've never sought them out, never had any desire to know them, and yet here we are once again, up close and personal.
I eyed Anton, trying to see if there was anything we could work with civilly, just leave his mother out, one on one. I'd already had my full of the jerk Simmons, he was off my radar and I didn't need to look at him again. But there was nothing in Anton's eyes but hostility and hate, his mother's hostility and hate, and now his own adopted negative feelings as well.
I might as well bite the bullet. "So, what's this about, MR SECNAV?" I addressed the SECNAV but I was looking directly at Anton.
Director Vance spoke up before anyone else answered.
"Agent DiNozzo, for the record, I have already informed the SECNAV that I object to these highly irregular proceedings and I see no reason for you to be here!" Okay, so he didn't have a part in this, good to know.
"Quite the contrary, Director Vance. Some of these allegations are serious enough and put a whole new light on the situation. They need to be addressed before taken to the next step."
The SECNAV removed his glasses placing them precisely on the table and sorted through some paper work in front of him, frowning fiercely as he found the one he was looking for and tossing it to me. The others already had copies of whatever this was in front of them.
"Why don't you go ahead and start Anton...Mr DiNozzo."
Anton gave me a sharks grin and started talking in a reasonable, 'we're all going to get along here' tone of voice.
"Look, Tony...Agent DiNozzo. Matt here, has been unfairly dismissed from his job that he's had and been highly devoted to for the past two years. He has been publicly humiliated and his character besmirched by lies started by you and perpetrated by others."
Some time you notice the weirdest things when someone is trying to shaft you. Like Anton here fiddling with his $2000 Tiffany's retractable ball point pen like it was a number 2, brown lead pencil with a cheap eraser that you can buy in a packet of twelve at Wal-Mart for four bucks. He scribbled something on a blank piece of paper while he talked and I remembered that he used to be a pretty good sketcher.
Anton threw his pen on the table and sat back in his chair looking at me expectantly with clear, honest, hazel green eyes. Can delusional people act perfectly normal in given situations? Because, that's what he was right now if he expected me to confess my sins and beg for forgiveness and then hand over my kidney as penance.
The SECNAV looked back and forth between the two of us. "Agent DiNozzo...Tony?"
"Mr SECNAV?"
"Do you have anything to say?"
"About what, Sir?"
Now he was looking annoyed. "Agent DiNozzo! My time is valuable and not to be wasted. Would you please answer the question?"
"I might, Mr SECNAV, if I had heard a question in lawyer DiNozzo's summation."
"What's going on here, Anton? Make this guy cut the crap, already!" I could hardly understand what Simmons was mumbling new choppers and all, but I guess Anton got the message. "Let me handle this, Sims."
SIMS! Yeah, that name brought back unpleasant memories.
Anton turned to me and gave me a cold, icy glare. Now there was the Anton I know.
"Look, I'm going to lay this all on the table. You've known who Simmons was from the day he was hired here. You've had it in for him for years. Some of the things you've accused him of as a youth and more recently, ever since he started to get close to your team, you've been after him. You need help man. This type of obsession is not good."
Still glaring at me, he continued without the need to go through his paper props.
"You filed a phony police report alleging assault in some hotel room. The police report says you were highly intoxicated when you filed it. In it, you accuse Simmons here and me of attacking you and yet the police found no evidence of a crime having been committed by us, as stated in the report. We were nowhere near Michigan when you were attacked. Going further back..." He pulled out a piece of paper.
"This is a report signed by several security guards. It is about an unprovoked attack against me, Simmons and other boys at the funeral of my grandmother. At that time, my mother tried to get you serious professional help but you attacked her and as a result sprained her wrist so badly, she still needs chiropractic treatment after all these years."
Anton stood and paced away. Obviously, the thought of his mother's suffering affected him deeply. Getting himself under control, he turned back to the SECNAV.
"Not to throw dirt on your Agent Mr SECNAV, but it's obvious that Agent DiNozzo here has been unable to let go, as you will, of his anger, for whatever reasons, against Matthew Simmons in his delusional belief that Simmons is 'out to get him'." Anton embellished this with quote marks in the air and a piteous expression directed at me as he continued.
"Yes, Agent Simmons did throw the first punch; we certainly are not denying that. Still, he was severely provoked when he found out his girlfriend, Abby Sciuto, who had come to him crying, had had disciplinary action taken against her because she had tried to help Agent DiNozzo in a separate matter. Since then, Ms Sciuto has been targeted by others at the instigation of DiNozzo, with arguments and inappropriate emails and phone calls."
The SECNAV, Anton and Simmons again looked at me expectantly. Anton had returned to his seat and was fiddling with his pen again.
I shrugged and leaned back in my chair. I was taking CC's advice and had nothing to say. Matt Simmons was getting red around the collar of his pink Brioni dress shirt and he blew out an impatient breath.
"You forgot the part where he tried to break my jaw, Anton."
Simmons looked at me maliciously and knocked his knuckle on the table once. "You're the one getting your ass fired here, not me, jackass!" Matt was beyond pissed as he continued giving me the evil eye.
"Matt, let me handle this!" Anton demanded.
"Well, handle it then! Tell him what you want and what's in store for him if he doesn't cooperate!
"And you Tony, baloney, macaroni, why don't you open your big stupid trap and put your foot in it like you always do?" Simmons was so frustrated he was reverting back to his childhood rhyming days and working himself into a heated frenzy. Huffing out his chest and baying like a moonstruck jackal.
The SECNAV, looking annoyed at Simmons and aggrieved at me, raised his hand and waved it at us impatiently.
"Agent DiNozzo, since you have nothing to say to refute these charges, then under the circumstances, there is no reason why allegations against Agent Simmons should not be dropped. I have decided to go ahead and reinstate Agent Simmons to his former position as field investigator. Ms Sciuto will have any disciplinary actions removed from her permanent record."
The SECNAV was in a rush to sweep everything neatly under the rug. Started making me feel vulnerable again, like I was getting my scholarship taken away from me. Next, he was going to tell me this was my fault and what my punishment was going to be. The SECNAV checked his watch and noting the time, started packing up his briefcase.
"One other thing, Director Vance..." The SECNAV took the last few sips of his cool coffee before standing up and adjusting his jacket.
"Excellent coffee, by the way, Leon. Let me know your supplier, would you?
"Anyway, I believe this office needs to have a more rounded out investigator so I propose an exchange program if you will. By that, I mean that each investigator will get to work with a different Lead Investigator, perhaps for a period of one month, then rotate to a different Lead investigator and so on eventually rotating back to their original Lead.
"Now, if it appears there's a better fit with a different Lead investigator then that's where that field investigator will end up. I think this will give the investigators a wider range of information gathering experience and a more rounded out performance capability.
He looked at Simmons and me in turn as he pushed back his chair and came around the table.
"Agent Simmons, you and Agent DiNozzo can start the new program. The two of you switch teams effective on Monday. Give you time to clear out your desks. Let's give this a try for, let's say, two months? Get the secretaries to schedule a meeting for then, Vance, to see how the new program is working out. Now, if that's all, I do have another meeting to attend."
While the SECNAV was wrapping things up on his end, I wasn't the only one sitting there with my mouth open. Vance looked like he had just swallowed a big round orange. Anton was loading his papers and his shiny pen into his briefcase with an air of job well done, but he took the time to high-five Simmons, who turned and sneered at me.
The SECNAV was taking my job away from me? My team! Like Hell! I couldn't help it. Sorry CC.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING CRAZY MIND, YOU STUPID BASTARD?"
I stood up pushing my chair back and yelled in the idiots face. Anton and Simmons sat back and smirked. The SECNAV'S eyes bugged out of his head behind his glasses and his skin greyed as the blood left his face.
"Who the hell do you think you're talking..."
Suddenly, my phone dinged. It was McGee, finally. I rudely read the text while the SECNAV was reaming me out and ranting in my face preparing to castrate me. The text said that the info I requested would be on Vance's plasma in 45 seconds. I luv you McGee.
Director Vance had joined in the fray, "Mr SECNAV, please calm down," he implored the apoplectic man.
"I can understand Agent DiNozzo's anger, sir. You just can't come in and switch things around like..."
"I can do anything I damn well please and your Agent is suspended for two weeks without pay for insubordination effective today. And Agent DiNozzo, when you come back you will report to Lead Investigator Johansen's team. Now, do I have to call security to escort you from this building!"
"You won't have to MR SECNAV. But you might want to see this before you leave." I sat back down in my seat and faced the plasma screen.
"Director Vance. Would you turn on the TV, please?" Vance gave me a withering look like this was all my fault. He looked like he needed a drink, and not the special blend imported, coffee kind of a drink, either.
"What is this, DiNozzo? What's going on?" The SECNAV reluctantly sat back down as the screen came to life and I started to narrate the movie of the week.
"This is the Joseph and Florence Britton Country Club Golf Course and Club House. I'm sure you recognize it, Mr SECNAV as the idiotic place where we held our clandestine meetings during the asinine undercover operation you had me on involving an innocent, now deceased man."
The SECNAV had regained the color in his face. He was turning purple.
"What the fuck is this, Anton?"
"I don't know, Sims, just shut the hell up!"
"Please, no talking from the peanut gallery!" I turned back to the screen.
"Ah, there you are, Mr SECNAV, and who is that mature, but still lovely lady you are standing next to there and there, playing golf with for what three or four hours that day? I remember seeing her picture in the club house when I was there waiting for you. She was wearing the latest hat from Paris in that picture. She's noted as the woman who wears the most unusual hats by the way.
"And how sweet, the two of you holding hands and strolling the gardenia scented promenade. Oh, look there's a group of prettily dressed men and women. Who's that lady there, Mr SECNAV, the one putting a lovely rose in your lapel, one she just plucked from the bush behind you, I bet. Hope she didn't get stuck by a thorn. But it looks like the same charming woman as before. I can tell because now she's wearing that sophisticated yellow feathery hat. You do spend quite a bit of time at the golf course together, so sweet."
"DiNozzo?" Vance warned, sounding tired.
"Isn't it fortunate that the exclusive club loves to take pictures of their willing patrons who sign permission slips first of course that lets the club share these pictures at the club house and on the Internet."
"DiNozzo, are you saying there's something illicit going on here. My God, Tony, you're not trying to blackmail the SECNAV, are you?" Vance sounded truly horrified as he started to rise from his seat.
"No, no of course not."
And that's when I dropped the act and let these scum know how furious I was for what they had tried to do to me. I know my voice held the scorn and contempt I was feeling for this baboon who had let himself be led around by his dick.
"Who is that woman, Jarvis?"
"Wha...I beg your pardon! Vance call security! NOW!" Jarvis was pulling at his collar. Anton and Simmons sat like stone gargoyles, smirks mysteriously absent.
"WHO. IS. THAT. WOMAN, DAMNIT?" I slammed my hand on the table rattling the cups and saucers.
Jarvis jumped, and then shook his head and pulled on his tie. God, I despised them. Even now no one would own up to this farce and I wanted to wrap my hands around all of their necks and choke the living shit out of them.
I felt myself losing control and I smashed my hand down on Vance's delicate cup on the table in front of me, and again until it broke into pieces and I felt wetness that wasn't coffee running down my hand and pain that kept me in the here and now. Anton had no high five's to give now as he sat mesmerized by the blood on the table.
I gripped the edge of my chair so hard with my other hand that I was vibrating but it was the only thing keeping me rooted to my seat and not up and pounding my fists into Jarvis' hateful face. Vance hung up his phone and then got up from his chair and walked slowly over to me and calmly put his hand on my shoulder like I was a skittish colt.
"Who is she, Mr SECNAV?" Vance asked as he applied a little pressure to my shoulder grounding me.
"Alright, alright, she's my fiancé. Her name is Anita Vitelli. We're to be married at the end of the year. So what? What's the big deal, DiNozzo?" He tried bluffing.
I felt control coming back to me and calm. Vance removed his hand and I stood up and walked around to where Jarvis was sitting and sweating as I got into his face. I slowly wiped my bloody hand down his pristine suit jacket and on his twisted tie and when he made no fuss, I knew I had him.
"The big deal, Jarvis is that I use to know her as Annie, the beautiful woman who loved her hats. Auntie Annie when I was living in that hell house run by the queen bitch She devil Angela DiNozzo.
"Because, you see, Auntie Annie and Angela the bitch were the very best of friends and probably still are, and please don't pretend that you're so stupidly blinded that you didn't know that, or that you didn't know your good friend Matthew Simmons here, is Auntie Annie's favorite nephew. I mean her real nephew because your fiancé Anita and Matt's mother are sisters.
"They played you man, you damn stupid dick, and I'm gonna make sure everybody in this agency knows what head you think with. You were instructed by Angela the bitch through Auntie Annie, her best friend, to come in here to take my job away from me, the team I've earned a place on, and to give it to that...pathetic piece of crap nephew of hers, weren't you? What'd she withhold, huh, blackmail, no sex for a month, hid your Viagra?
"Whatever, your life is over as you knew it, Jarvis. You might as well walk out of here now and not look back because Auntie Annie and Angela the Bitch made sure that..."
Anton jumped from his seat and yelled, "Shut up, just shut your filthy mouth for once!"
I'd wondered how many times I could say bitch and Angela in the same breath before Anton's head started to spin. Maybe he had been gripping his chair too.
The door opened just then and two security guards entered. I could see my team in the outer office and Steve with that expression on his face that I used to think was bland disinterest I now knew was tragic and sad.
"Escort Mr Simmons out of the building and make sure he stays out. Simmons, your termination of employment remains in effect. Get out! And don't bother trying to get your stuff, it'll be packed in a box and sent to you. Just go!"
Vance instructed the guards and directed them to the still seated Simmons, who got up after a minute still trying to look cocky but failing miserably. At the last minute he turned to Anton.
"Anton, you coming?"
"I'll be right there, Sims."
"Yeah, don't worry about it man, you did your best." Simmons placated his best friend and walked out of there on his own with more dignity than I would have ever given the man credit for.
"My mother is supposed to be brought here for an interview later today. I..."
"Under the circumstances of the SECNAV's malfeasance, and your participation in acts of bribery and collusion, Mr DiNozzo, I think it would be best if the FBI handled this case from now on. Check with my secretary for their phone number on your way out." Vance couldn't help adding coldly.
"What kind of shyster lawyer are you, anyway? Your performance here today was despicable. Makes me wonder what kind of a quack you are as a doctor. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!" Vance turned his back and walked away.
Insulted and summarily dismissed, Anton gave a derisive snort, picked up his briefcase and started to leave. I was finished with Jarvis but not Anton. Let Vance deal with the midlife crises wreck of a man as he still sat slumped in his chair. I followed Anton out of the inner office to where only Steve and McGee were still waiting. I grabbed ahold of Anton's arm and spun him around.
"Why? Why do this? Why not home taking care of your kid? All this waste of time and effort. For what? Do you even know?" My fury was focused on getting answers to my long delayed questions.
Anton just shrugged my hand off his arm and adjusted his jacket. He stared at me again with eyes, sane and clear. And said words with little malice. Was he acting again? Was he in his delusional state?
"To get back at you! For everything you've ever done to this family. Father blames mother for your being sent away. Like it was somehow her fault you were such a rotten, bastard kid. Everything is your fault. Steve here can't even stand to be around us, around mother. She told me how you raised your voice at her, threatened to kill her. Do you know how much that hurts her, Steve?" Anton turned haunted eyes to Steve who raised his hands imploringly.
"Anton, listen to me. Just once, would you listen to me? It's all a lie. It's always been a lie. Mother has lied to you about everything. You've got to..."
"Shut up, Antoney. Or is the name mother gave you still not good enough for you. I won't listen to your lies. You want to stay with this trash, be my guest. But don't be surprised if you don't get tainted with the same filth he comes from!" Anton turned to walk to the door but I wasn't finished yet. I grabbed his arm roughly and swung him around again.
"I'm warning you, Anton! This is it! You stay the hell away from me!"
"Or what?" Anton still sneering. It seems all I was doing lately was using my fists.
So, I punched him in his face because he had it coming to him, and it seemed the only language he understood when talking to me. Another couple of punches to his gut had him on the floor gasping because I didn't hold back. I wasn't out of control. I knew exactly what I was doing and one glare at McGee and Steve stayed them in their spot.
I bent down and hauled him to his feet then grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and shoved him into the door where he leaned back still clutching his stomach. I got in his personal space.
"Or I won't bother with you next time, small stuff. I'll go right to the source. But first I wanted you to experience some real pain for yourself so you'll know what it's going to be like when I grind my boot in your bitch mother's ugly face until it's ground beef. She sends you near me again and she'll be the one with my fist in her stomach."
He looked at me horrified, eyes wild and insane.
"You wouldn't dare! You wouldn't dare touch mother!" He whispered the sacred name as he looked pleadingly over at Steve who just shook his head.
"You tell your mother that, the next time she comes up with one of her schemes, and make sure she understands that I can still find ways into that mansion and into her room at night that she'll never find.
"And if you're too damn stupid to stay away from me, I'll take a couple of people with me who'll hold her down while I take my time carving up her face and beating the living crap out of her old skinny hag of a body and no one will hear her scream or rather none of the servants would give a damn!"
He was shaking his head, back and forth, and forming the word no but nothing was coming out of his mouth. I felt like two cent's, the lowest of the low who had just kicked his dog when tears formed and leaked down his cheeks. I had to get through to him. He wasn't afraid for himself, that was obvious, the poor, abused, fat, mother worshiping freak. But his mother would never stop, so I strengthened my resolve.
"Better yet, I'll send somebody else to do the dirty work and they could violate her womanly part's and use a bat on her ugly hide so I wouldn't have to get my hands dirty. And I can disappear without a trace and have an alibi to boot."
I slammed my hand on the side of the door next to his head and yelled in his face. "Are you getting the picture, Anton? Do you see what's gonna happen here? You come near me again and your mommy is gonna pay!"
I yelled to McGee while still staring in Anton's face, "Throw this trash out, McGee before it starts stinking up the place."
McGee picked up Anton's briefcase and escorted the hunched over man out by the elbow. I stepped aside as two paramedics pushed a gurney into the room. "Where's the patient?"
I just pointed them to the other door then took a seat on the settee, leaned back and stretched out my legs.
ncisncisncisncis
I was tired. Of everything. Defeated. Useless. The seat beside me dipped and Steve leaned back and stretched out his legs too.
"Violate her womanly parts?"
"Too much?"
"Too weird. Just thinking about her having them, ugh..."
"What were you guy's doing up here anyway? Where's Gibbs?"
"Halfway through when things started to go sideways up here, Vance called Gibbs and said have the posse standing by and a paramedic team on alert. Gibbs sent Ziva to box up Simmons' junk so she couldn't get her hands on Simmons to box up his manhood with a box cutter. Uh, that's what she said. I hope he didn't keep anything breakable around. Gibbs' is finagling with Fornell to take this can of worms out of his hair. He wants Mother diverted to the FBI and she can rot there for all he cares, is what he said..."
"Gibbs is giving up a case, what's wrong with that picture?" I turned to look at Steve.
"I've been thinking. Your mother is what, a little past sixty? Anton may be afraid for her now, but she won't stop, will she? She's had this thing against me for forever. She hates my mother, so she hates me, okay I got that. She would take everything I have and then some, even both my kidneys and she still wouldn't be satisfied, I got that too.
"My father hates my guts so she shouldn't be jealous about me taking any of his affection away from her. So what the hell is it? What was this whole fiasco about here today? She used to call at my school every week with nothing good to say. They wouldn't put her through if they knew who it was or I just never answered.
"She's made it personal, one on one, she's obsessed with me. Does she want to have sex with me as a substitute for your father? After all. I look most like him and I have a feeling he hasn't touched her in years..."
"Oh god, Tony. Stop, please just stop."
Steve was getting that look again that I recognized but no one else would because his face remained as impassive as ever so I shut up about it. After all, she was still his mother. But there was something he had to know.
"Okay, Steve, no more talk. But just let me say this one last thing. I finally realized what the problem has been all along. She is sexually attracted to me and is frustrated that the only interest she generates in me is repugnance. After all, I am still a viral youngish man, not past my prime yet and she's got the hot's for me. I can work with that."
Steve was staring at me wide eyed and disbelieving.
"O...kay...so you are kidding, right?" He said softly, calmly, as though talking to a mentally deranged imbecile.
The tension left me suddenly, defeatism gone. I laughed out loud at my own inimitable brand of humor that probably only I appreciated and maybe Margret, because I had just learned that sometimes Steve was just like McGee. Smart as they are, catch them off guard at the right moment and they would believe any crap you threw at them.
"I may be a virile, tall, dark and handsome hunk of a man Steve, but I'm going to be a deadly viral plague to your mother by the time I'm done with her."
"wa...you lousy son of a b..."
Steve wanted to box my ears off, I could tell, for his own gullibility. I rough housed him around the neck and gave him a noogie at the top of his head while he struggled and only stopped laughing when Vance's door opened and the former SECNAV was wheeled out. At least he was breathing on his own. I stood up and Steve followed suit when Vance came out of his office and closed the door.
Vance looked at us and just shook his head. "Can you tell me what just happened here, DiNozzo, because I'm surely at a loss for an explanation that makes sense? I'm going to the hospital with the SECNAV. Write up some kind of report before you leave, and explain it to me, please!" He left still shaking his head. Steve and I sat back down.
"So, this is my plan. I am going to face her, one on one like she has made it plain she wants because she has a bad case of misandry. I think she hates all men, especially me and she needs to exert her power over me.
"Now, I won't hit a woman, and Anton doesn't need to know that, but I will provoke her into violence in front of witnesses, I've done it before. Then, I can lock her ass up so tight for striking or shooting a Federal Officer that even the dream team and Anton won't be able to get her out."
"That's your plan, you dumb ass jerk? To let her shoot you in the head so you have reason to lock her up?"
"Yep. I'll even give her the gun."
"What the fuck!"
Ncisncisncis
A/N: Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
"
.