Abby walked into the lab, turning on the lights before dropping her bag in her office. She turned on the stereo as she walked toward her computer. The music playing was an instrumental smooth jazz CD she’d picked up because it was one she knew Tony would have enjoyed. While it wasn’t what she’d have preferred, but it had grown on her over the weeks and months Tony had been gone. And playing music her missing teammate liked was one way for her to feel closer to him.
She knew Ziva had signed up for an online American Cinema class at Georgetown University for the same reason. Both women were stunned when a review of the course syllabus and curriculum revealed it had been written by Tony DiNardo. He really had taught there.
Abby sighed. They’d sold Tony short, thinking a cover of him as a college professor was a joke, that he couldn’t have really pulled it off. From the looks of the material Ziva had gotten when she enrolled, Tony was more than competent to teach classes on a subject he was clearly well versed in. She owed him an apology. Abby had known him longer than Ziva or McGee. She’d known he was far more than a dumb jock; she should have known he could pull off acting like a professor if the situation called for it.
Abby sighed again, and took a large sip of her Caf-Pow. She should get to work, but her eyes strayed to the presents that still languished under glass, unopened. She knew whatever Tony had gotten her would no doubt be perfect---something she’d love to have. Tony was very good at finding gifts to suit her tastes.
She’d nearly opened it that Monday morning, before she’d known Tony had quit. She’d grinned in delight the moment she’d seen it, eager to find out what was in the unexpected gift. She’d initially thought it was from Gibbs. But seeing the letter that had been under it, with her name written in Tony’s distinctive scrawl, she quickly realized her mistake.
She’d frowned, suddenly uneasy. Tony didn’t get her ‘just because’ gifts---or at least not the kind that warranted wrapping. A Caf-Pow or candy he wouldn’t hesitate to give her, but the wrapping suggested something far more formal. It wasn’t her birthday, no anniversary that she was aware of, no reason he should go to extraordinary lengths.
She’d warily set aside the small box to read his letter. The note was brief, but more than long enough to leave Abby torn between wanting to smack Tony and wanting to cry.
How could he just leave? Didn’t he understand how important he was to her, to the team? It was selfish of him to just walk away. Coward, she’d wanted to yell at him. He should have talked to her face to face. They needed him. Didn’t he understand that?
‘How can you expect him to know he is important when you treated him as though he wasn’t?’ A little voice inside her argued. She’d flinched from the thought, only to have her excellent memory tally up examples and present them for her to review.
Sure she’d hugged him when he came back from being out with the plague, but she’d never gone to see him in the hospital or at his home. She’d never really thanked him saving McGee and Kate when the care blew up, or for saving her life when Ari was firing shots into her lab. She apologized for nearly putting him in jail for murder when Chip framed him by sending him black roses---a gift he would hardly appreciate and more than a week late.
She’d gone to Ziva’s dinner party with the rest of the team, knowing Tony hadn’t been invited, and gloated about what he’d missed. She’d kept Gibbs’ picture up in her lab, creating a shrine to him, not thinking how it might seem to Tony who had the difficult task of trying to fill the older man’s shoes. She gave Ziva Gibbs’ number when the Mossad Agent was in trouble rather telling her to talk to Tony.
She’d yelled at him over those stupid rumors about her taking another job when she knew he wasn’t the one who started spreading them. She was guilty of doing that---telling several people in the building about her dinner with the headhunter, curious as to what they’d say about it. Abby never asked him if he was okay when Paula died, and she knew how close he was to her. She hadn’t told him about her crazy stalker boyfriend. She didn’t mention Jeanne, preferring to act like nothing had happened when it was obvious Tony was hurting. She was angry at him for keeping secrets and chose to not to make his dealing with getting over Jeanne any easier. Abby hadn’t even asked him what car he was driving after the Mustang got blown up.
Abby swallowed hard. She always thought Tony understood she loved him like a brother. But she’d never actually said so…and Tony was the kind of guy who needed to hear the words, otherwise he saw only the negative side of people’s actions. And what Abby’s actions indicated was that she liked him well enough, enjoyed his company and conversation, but he wasn’t irreplaceable or precious to her---certainly not in the same league as Gibbs.
“You are precious to me, Tony,” Abby whispered to herself.
She eyed the still wrapped present she’d gotten for Tony. She’d nearly thrown it away when she’d realized her reason for getting it was something of a slight against Tony. It was a thank you for saving Gibbs, for keeping the boss man alive---not a gesture of appreciation for his bravery or a glad he was okay gift. Not that she hadn’t felt those things too, but they weren’t mentioned in the note she’d written in the card she’d intended to include. Realizing the card didn’t say anything she should have said, she threw it away, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually throw out the paperweight. It was still a good gift for Tony---one she fully intended to give him when she saw him.
She reached out a finger to lightly brush the glass beakers covering both presents. Abby didn’t want to think of Tony’s gift as the last thing she’d ever get from him. But if it was, she never wanted to open it.
Sighing heavily, she took another huge sip of her first Caf-Pow of the day. It was time to get to work and quit day dreaming. Abby pulled up the facial recognition program she had been running since Tony left. Given that the last place Tony had gone before quitting was Houston and the number on his home phone with a Houston area code, Abby had narrowed the focus of the search to Texas.
After reviewing the surveillance footage with Ziva, Abby didn’t think ‘Joe’ was a felon or terrorist or anything other than a friend. She wasn’t sure if he was a frat brother or not---he could have been. But careful review of the tapes showed he was packing heat. The jacket was well tailored and would have hid it from most people, but Abby could tell he was armed. If he was licensed to carry, and Abby was pretty sure he would be since Tony wasn’t the sort to hang out with guys who went around armed for no good reason, she had the system scanning all federal and local law enforcement.
She blinked when the screen flashed ‘match found’. Abby stared at it in stunned surprise. She had grown used to a daily report of nothing. There were a lot of faces to compare ‘Joe’ with, and the images they’d gotten were far from ideal.
Abby frantically typed, eagerly asking for details. She grinned when a name popped up. “Gotcha.”
“Abby.”
“Gibbs!!” She whirled around. Abby had no idea how he knew when she had something, but so far the only explanation that fit was magic. “I’ve got a name. The guy who came in with Tony. He’s"“
“Joseph LaFiamma.”
Abby stared at him. “How do you always do that?”
“Do what?”
She shook her head. “Never mind.”
“What do you know about him?”
Abby spun back to her computer. She put LaFiamma’s picture up on the screen. Most people looked like they were coming off a three day bender in their ID photo, but like Tony, Joe was an exception to the rule. Dark hair, turquoise eyes, regular features, nice smile. Abby gave his picture a dirty look. He had no business looking good when he’d taken Tony away.
“He’s a cop with the Houston Police Department. He transferred from Chicago about six years ago.” Abby frowned. There was a flag on the file. She dug a little deeper. “It looks like the FBI might have been interested in him at one point.”
“Why?”
Abby pursed her lips in a silent whistle. “His family is one of the Families.”
“Mafia?” Gibbs sounded surprised.
“Looks that way.” Abby nodded. “According to the OCB, his uncle, Michael LaFiamma made Capo a year before Joseph LaFiamma left Chicago.”
Gibbs frowned. “Did Joe get sent to Houston because of the family connection?”
“From what I can access here, staying in Chicago would probably have gotten him killed, but not because he was dirty or involved with the mob in any way. A rival family put a hit out on him when an investigation got a bit too close for comfort.” Abby frowned, reading further. “It looks like Joe’s uncle might have intervened…although, nothing I am finding explains how that got him sent to Houston. And I’m not sure why his uncle would have bothered to help at all. According to this,” she pointed at the screen, “Joe was disowned by the family when he became a cop. He wasn’t in direct contact with any of them for years before he left Chicago and hasn’t been in touch since.”
“Probably wasn’t about helping him.” Gibbs took a sip from his ever present cup of coffee. “Was likely more about saving face. Especially if Michael LaFiamma had to show he was in charge. It wouldn’t look good for him to just let a rival off his nephew, even if he didn’t want anything to do with Joe.”
“Godfather stuff.” Abby nodded. She didn’t know if the movie was anything like the reality or not, but it was her only frame of reference.
“What else can you tell me?”
“Not much.” Abby gave her computer screen a dirty look. “I’ll have to dig deeper.”
“Then do it.”
Abby frowned. “I might have to do some hacking.” OCB and the FBI weren’t fond of just sharing information because she asked nicely.
“You need McGee?”
Abby didn’t like admitting she couldn’t handle things alone. But this was Tony…and he’d gone off with some Mafia Don’s nephew. And it was the first real clue they’d gotten to where Tony might be.
“I could use him,” Abby finally said.
“I’ll send him down when he gets in.”
“How did you know about LaFiamma?” Abby asked abruptly, before Gibbs could leave, making eye contact and holding it. For months they had nothing and Gibbs just walked into her lab with a name. She trusted his gut, and had unwavering faith in Gibbs, but if he knew who ‘Joe’ was for months and was just now giving her a name, Abby was going to screw up his computer for the rest of his life.
“I checked Tony’s personnel file this morning.” Gibbs held up the folder he’d been holding when he walked in. “Joseph LaFiamma is listed as Tony’s next of kin and emergency contact.”
Abby blinked, shaking her head. That couldn’t be right. Gibb had always been the one listed there. “Since when?”
“Joseph LaFiamma was listed as Tony’s next of kin and emergency contact when he started at NCIS. He changed it after his first year to me.” Gibbs looked away, his expression vaguely guilty. “He changed it back to LaFiamma when I went to Mexico.”
Abby bit her lower lip. Tony had been with Gibbs for months before she’d really warmed up to him, so she hadn’t really talked to him much, certainly not enough to know anyone else was ever listed as family. And for years, whenever personnel requested an update to their forms, Abby knew Tony just turned his in with a note saying nothing had changed. She knew he’d listed Gibbs as his next of kin at some point, but had never given much thought as to when. She’d just assumed he’d always had Gibbs listed. It never occurred to her he might have had someone else or acted to change it when Gibbs left. Although in hindsight it should have. Tony had gotten injured often enough on the job that not having someone who could speak for him in an emergency would have been seriously stupid.
“Did he say what his relationship to Joe was?” She was hesitant to ask. Gibbs wasn’t usually forthcoming when it came to sharing information. Usually he just asked her for answers, he didn’t often give them.
“He’s a cousin.” Gibbs flipped open the folder, and pulled out a form, offering to Abby.
Abby took it. There were three phone numbers listed for Joe---one was the number she’d called and left a message. The other two, Abby didn’t recognize. One was listed as a cellphone, and the other as a work number. Another emergency of contact was listed if Joe wasn’t available, Levon Lundy. She made a note of the name. Two of the numbers matched those under Joe’s name. Levon Lundy didn’t have any filial connection, at least not that Tony had written in, but she’d check him out too just to be on the safe side.
Abby frowned. “Why didn’t Tony’s connection to a crime family come up when you hired him? Shouldn’t that have been in his background check?”
“His financial records were clean. Everything was accounted for. Other than a small trust fund from his grandmother, there was no hint he was receiving anything from the family coffers.” Gibbs grimaced. “Tony never received a dime from his father. He wasn’t even claimed as a dependant after he graduated from high school. There was no reason for me to question where his old man might be getting his money since Tony wasn’t getting any of it.”
Abby remembered Tony saying he’d been cut off when he was twelve, but she always thought he was exaggerating. Like they’d just cut his allowance for awhile, but what Gibbs said confirmed it hadn’t been exactly what Tony implied---he’d completely cut off from any of the wealth the DiNozzo family laid claim to.
Gibbs sighed softly. “Tony hasn’t been in contact with his father since he left home for Ohio State. His mother died when he was ten. He has no siblings. There wasn’t any need to dig deeper into his background to check for extended family.”
Abby nodded slowly, hearing what Gibbs hadn’t said. There was no immediate need, but he should have done it anyway. He’d acted as if Tony was an orphan. And for all intents and purposes, Tony was an orphan which made Abby feel worse for not treating him better---they were his family.
“I want everything you can find on Joseph LaFiamma in an hour.” Gibbs handed her the personnel file. “Tell McGee to go through Tony’s file and look for"“
Gibbs cellphone rang, cutting him off. He opened it with a growl. Abby hoped whatever it was about was important or whoever was calling was probably going to wish he hadn’t.
Gibbs listened for a minute, nodding once. “We’ll be there in twenty. Tell them to secure the scene and not to touch anything.”
Gibbs snapped the phone shut. “We’ve got a dead Marine not far from a mosque. You’ll have to make do without McGee.”
Abby nodded. She could do it. She wouldn’t be as fast on her own, but it could still be done.
“I’ll have something when you get back.”
Gibbs gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, Abby.”
Abby went back to work. She needed to think positively. They were going to find Tony. When they did, she’d apologize. The rest of the team would apologize too. He would accept, after making them grovel a little. And everything would go back to normal---just like it had when Gibbs came back from Mexico.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Abby finds out who Joe is.
Chapter End Notes:
Minor spoilers for the episode Tribes. Nothing major.