Chapter Two
Trish waved off the driver, when he opened her door. She normally didn't travel by limo, preferring her little sportscar and the freedom it brought her. But there wouldn't have been room to transport even a duffle bag, let alone any other luggage her brother might have decided to bring.
Gibbs tried to control his emotions as he handed the driver his suitcase and small carryon. He was finally breathing evenly when he took his seat beside her.
"Rich will toe the family line to a point. When going out to see clients, he generally only takes his assistant. Randy is a former frat brother but he was also an Army Ranger. I can set up a meeting with him, and yes I can make the head of security jump and probably squirm. I may be the lesser daughter, but I still demand respect when I enter the office. If I ask to see him, you can bet he'll jump to attention. But Randy, I just have to call him and tell him to meet us. He's as worried as I am."
“Why didn’t you bring me in before now, Trish?” He knew he’d been in the press for the arrests of Pat and Lynn Kiley, but the way the timing went, Rich was already gone. “Trish? Could he have seen some of the footage and decided to look me up or something?” It made no sense but he was grasping at straws anyhow.
"It's possible, Lee. He had asked me for your cell number back around the holidays. I'm guessing that he never followed up with you; I never wanted to ask, since it was between you and him. But he would have told me if he were just going away for a few days. And I didn't bring you in, just in case he did go away for a couple of days. While I like to think he calls me every time he goes out of town, I know he'll sneak out for a long weekend or for a night away. But never when he's expected to make an appearance at a family function. He's never missed a board member dinner. Not even when he was in college. That's when I knew it was more than him being out for a couple of days."
He shook his head. “Never heard from him. Wouldn’t have turned him away…hope he knew that. Hope I can tell him that…” He pulled in one deep breath, focusing. “Is he dating anyone, have any friends as close as Randy? Any high profile or particularly bitter enemies?”
“Not dating any one person. A few women he has mutual agreements with. They rotate going to functions with him so mother doesn’t get her hopes up.” Trish knew that her brother had no intention of settling down anytime soon, for fear of ending up like their parents. She wasn’t even sure if they even liked each other anymore, let alone loved one another. They may never have for all she knew.
“Randy is probably his best friend. Some of the brothers still do get together. It’s like they never left college for the most part. They’re all successful doctors and lawyers but still feel the need to go on spring break when it can be arranged. Most of them are married, a couple of kids and a lot of money to burn. No one that would do anything to Rich, at least none of them that ping my criminal radar. I’ve got a pretty good one doing what I do. And Lee, you’re going to be able to tell Rich that. I think he knows you wouldn’t turn him away. But our little brother can be very stubborn. I have no idea where he gets that from.” She said looking pointedly at Lee. “He’ll call you when he’s ready. He has to work it out in his head before he does something.”
“He sounds so much like my…” Like Tony. He swallowed hard. “My second in command acts the overgrown frat boy but he’s a hell of a lot more than that. You’d like him, Trish. He’s…his name is Tony as well. Anthony DiNozzo. Most talented agent and one of my most loyal friends.”
"Work hard, play harder. It's Rich's motto." Trish wondered just what her brother was holding back from her. He'd never mentioned friends before. She always assumed he had them. Hard-nosed marines who were just like Lee. He had frat boy friends too? This was a side that she never would have thought she'd see.
"This is one of the agents you don't want to bring out here? Sounds like if he's that damn good, you need him. Especially since it might be the only loyalty you get that isn't from me."
“Yeah. One who has been with me the longest"seven years now. Nobody I’d rather have on my six.” She gave him a look and he shrugged. “Watching my back.” Maybe he did need Tony but he wouldn’t expose his lover to his family.
He swallowed hard, his voice a bit raspy now. “I think you’d like Tony.”
"I'm sure I would, he comes with such a stellar recommendation from you." If her brother didn't bring his team out to meet her, she may just have to make the trip to DC to meet them. Anyone who takes such good care of Lee deserved to be thanked, and she was quite sure he didn't do it enough. "If they are important to you, they're important to me. I know we don't see one another nearly enough, but we need to stop that. Someday, we're going to be it. I don't want to have my brother be a stranger."
“Tony, Ducky, Abbs. They’re good people. They’re as much my family as you are.” He didn’t want to think that someday sooner rather than later their parents would be gone. Even though he couldn’t stand them, there were some good times buried in the memories, little glimpses of what they could have had if his folks hadn’t been drinking the day everything went to hell.
He sighed, squaring his shoulders, knowing everything was changing but powerless to stop it.
~*~
Gibbs had been gone about four hours and Tony was already getting restless. Nobody knew about their relationship, which made it all the much harder. After pacing like a caged lion, he decided to go see Abby, knowing she’d calm him down.
“Hey Abbs.” He’d come bearing Caf-Pow.
"Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine on this gloomy Gibbs-less day?" Abby held out her hand, waiting for her caffeine manna to be delivered. Ever since his trip to Mexico, whenever her boss left, she was afraid that he wouldn't come back. She'd tried to get him to promise to take her the next time he had to leave, but she never could quite nail him down on it.
"What's going on with you, Tony-Tone? It's eerily quiet down here today. You know that doesn't ever bode well. Something big is going to happen."
“Word’s gotten around? Yeah, he lit out around lunchtime. Someone called looking for Lee. Not Agent Lee, but Gibbs. Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Can’t figure out who…” He trailed off, not wanting to say much more yet.
"Sounds like we have a mystery on our hands." Abby could see how down Tony was, and wanted to try and do something that might distract him.
"Obviously, it's from someone from our esteemed leader’s past. Was this someone a male or female? That could have a lot to do with where in his life this someone fit. Could it be another ex in trouble? Did he look pained when he took the call or was he calm and collected?"
“Woman.” Tony had grilled McGee on every detail and even had him write up a report. “He looked shocked, kicked in the balls, Abby.” Nobody knew about him and Jeth, most especially not Abbs, who they were close with. A decision had been made not to share it with anyone, not his best friend, Abbs, or Ducky, who Jeth was closest to.
And right now the decision made it so hard.
“Diane would call Fornell first, he got an invitation to Stephanie’s wedding, Mann is engaged and in Hawaii now.” He hadn’t heard anything about Melissa, the first wife, recently. She was the one who lived at the Jackson.
He sighed. “He looked really worried, Abby. So I’m worried now.”
"Tony, you worry about the team. You're Gibbs' Number Two, although I think you are a little more dashing than Robert Wagner. Gibbs, he's a big boy and can take care of himself. You know how he is; he adopts people along the way. It could be the wife of one of his old Marines, it could be someone like Maddie too. Shannon could have had a sister for all we know." Abby knew she could probably find out who it was that called, but she tried to use her powers only for good. Gibbs wouldn't think that her snooping in his personal life was a real good idea.
"He'll let us know what's going on when he can, Tony, until then we need to trust him."
It wasn’t the first time he desperately wanted to tell her but it was the time he’d come closest. “I know he’s a big boy, Abbs, but the last time he did this, he died. I brought him back but he was dead, wide eyed, not breathing dead.” Tony shuddered, remembering that horrible day.
"That won't happen again, Tony. This is Gibbs we're talking about. He's too smart to almost die twice in a year." It wasn't like Tony to get this uptight about something, but she could only chalk it up to the fact that they had all been separated for several months. The whole team had a bit of separation anxiety, but Tony was the worst.
“Hope not,” Tony said, knowing his voice was raspy, knowing he was revealing way too much. “Guy needs a keeper.”
"And since he doesn't have one of those, he has you to do that for him. Ziva and Timmy too, and you know I'm always there to hide the bodies if needed." Abby didn't want to tell Tony that it wasn't time to worry yet, because he wouldn't appreciate it. "He knows he has us if he needs us, Tony. I’ll drop everything if he calls and go help. When you talk to him, make sure he knows that. It's all we can do right now until he starts using his phone again."
“If. He’s on his own here and I don’t want to push. Well, I want to push but I don’t want to push, either. Does that make sense?” He was so worried about Gibbs that he wasn’t able to focus. Or hide his feelings. He was so damn close to telling her… He bit his lip, the words on the tip of his tongue.
“What’s really going on here, Tony? Usually it would be me in the panic, not you. Is this a you just being back thing and you’re afraid the boss is going to get himself into some sort of trouble? Or is there something you’re not telling me?” Abby stared Tony down, trying to read her friend. “You’re way too antsy, this isn’t a case of Gibbs making a run for the border, is it? You’d tell me if he was going to do a runner, wouldn’t you?”
“If I knew about it. Didn’t know he was leaving all of us the last time. Even when he left like that, I didn’t think he was leaving town and us…” None of them had, even Ducky who had driven Gibbs home. Tony sighed, long and loud and deep.
“Could you track his cell, just so we know where he is? I don’t think he’s local. Can’t trace the call, it came in through the NCIS switchboard, I think. McGee took it.” Tony raked a hand through his hair.
“It isn’t that I don’t trust him. It’s that…It’s Gibbs, Abbs. All bets are off when Gibbs and trouble meet and he’s usually the loser.”
He gave Abby a long look. “I jumped in the elevator, asked him if he was okay and he said no, Abbs. No. He never says that.”
"I'll start a trace, see if I can't at least figure out what part of the world he's in. It's not like he's going to make a run for the Middle East without letting someone know." She quickly started a trace, and when that turned up nothing she set an alert to email her as soon as his phone was in use.
She squeezed his hand. "Tony, something threw him. Still doesn't mean he's in trouble. And if he were, he'd call us. So what ever this is, it's personal and he's not ready to talk to us yet."
God, what if he was going into a war zone. Tony knew he really shouldn’t worry but something about this nagged at him and he wasn’t sure why.
“Sorry, Abbs. I just…it doesn’t feel right. Not after he went out on his own with the senator.” Abby was just staring at him and Tony wondered if she saw beyond his worry into his love.
"He wouldn't do that again. He wouldn't give up his career to do that again, Tony. Vance, he isn't the kind of director who is going to suck it up and let Gibbs run on his own. Jenny did, more often than maybe she should have, but the new director isn't going down that road. He's a bit too anal to let Gibbs run amuck that way."
“He could have with the senator. Everyone knows that he only went to Vance because he couldn’t get anything past him. He sure as hell didn’t come to us. His team.”
“No, because you were just back. He fought to get you back here, Tony, and he wasn’t going to give you up again because of his own stupidity. He might be willing to put his career on the line from time to time but he won’t do that to his team. Especially because Vance wouldn’t care if he broke you up again.”
“But Abby…. I trust him. He should trust me too. How can we…” He couldn’t say any more. The tone of his voice alone was revealing too much and even though Abby wasn’t a special agent, she had to be able to see through him. “I needed to be back,” Tony finished in a soft voice.
"Yes, you did. And Gibbs knew that, it's why he wouldn't pick another agent to replace you. The first three, they were pushed on him and he never let them forget it, Tony. It was classic. It made when Ziva first arrived seem like an out right welcome party. There was never any doubt that in the end, he was going to get you back. And he got a great tropical vacation out of the deal. He'll be back and better than ever after what ever this adventure of his is."
“He told me once a long time ago that I was irreplaceable,” Tony said softly. He was still pissed that Vance had engineered the situation to test Gibbs’ gut. Lee had almost gotten hurt and he still couldn’t accept that Langer"the one who had taken his desk"had been the traitor. “Not a Vance fan, Abbs. He screwed with the boss one too many times.”
"You are irreplaceable, and there is no way in hell that Gibbs is going to lose you. I'd nag him until he got you back here again, Tony. He was looking for a way to get you back, even without me bugging him." Abby also didn't care for Vance, but none of them had cared for Jenny when she had first arrived. She was trying to withhold judgment, even if the man wasn't making it easy. But at least she had her team back and for the time being that was enough.
"Let the boss handle Vance. He's gotten good at it."
“Okay….deal then.” Tony gave her a tight hug. “My place. Eight tonight. Pizza, beer, you bring something chocolate for dessert. I could sure use the company.” With that he walked out, feeling like he’d barely dodged that bullet. He’d have to do some fancy footwork tonight, both to make his place look lived in again and in case he’d roused Abby’s suspicions. But he couldn’t be alone, not tonight.
~*~
Jethro stayed silent as they made their way to Rich’s penthouse apartment on the lake. Nothing but the best for The Gibbs Family. He hadn’t missed this at all. Sure, he had glimpses of it when Ducky asked him to come over for dinner, but those times were few and far between. He’d cultivated the salt-of-the-earth humble beginnings persona and it worked much better than the platinum spoon in his mouth would have.
He eyed the apartment building and tried to stifle his sigh. It was just what he’d expected and that disappointed him.
“Penthouse, Trish?” he asked, trying to keep his distaste out of his voice.
"Lee, stop being a snob. There is a certain standard that is expected of the Gibbs heir. He needs somewhere that isn't the manor to entertain at times. Someplace away from Mother and her insistence that she play hostess." Trish knew how little Rich was here, but it was a showplace to impress potential clients. Yet it still might lead them somewhere, as her little brother had called her before his disappearance saying he had planned to spend a few days away from home, and that she could reach him here. She had no idea if he ever made it in that day, but it could be the crime scene.
"I realize this isn't how you live, but you could have if you wanted to. You've never once touched your trust fund from Grandfather. I understand it, but don't look down on Richard and me because this is how we choose to live. Will you stop talking to me because I live in a penthouse too? Not as fancy as this, I'll give you that. But the security is top notch and I wouldn't trade that for all the world."
“Snob? I’m not the snob. This…” He gestured to the apartment building. “It’s excessive. What am I looking at here? Five thousand a month, three quarters of a million on the open market?” She could call him a snob all she wanted, it didn’t change that he didn’t fit in with any of them. “The mortgage is probably more than I make in a month. Can’t relate, sorry. Just a humble federal worker and the disappointment of the family.”
He didn’t want to do this, didn’t want to get upset with her. “I couldn’t have had Shannon and this, Patricia. I made a choice. I decided to go out on my own rather then going to Notre Dame when Father had bought my way in. And it hasn’t been easy for me, Patricia. None of it has. I just can’t relate. I’m sorry, but I can’t relate.”
He sighed heavily. “Rich could have contacted me. He chose not to. You did despite my best efforts to push you away. That’s the difference between you both.” He recalled her earlier comment about security in her penthouse. “Are there security issues that might complicate my investigation?”
"No, I guess you couldn't have had all that, and lead the life you have. But it doesn't make us bad because we do have this." It was a pointless fight, but she wasn't going to apologize for how she lived. She had a trust, but hadn't touched it since she'd established herself.
"I'm an assistant district attorney, there are always security issues. I'm also a Gibbs, who doesn't use a security detail, like the rest of her family when she goes out. I like knowing that I have a doorman and a security guard at the front desk who will announce guests and remove those I don't want to see. That judge who had her family killed a few years back? I had been in her chambers the week before, Leroy. I take my personal safety very seriously."
“I didn’t say bad. I just said I couldn’t relate. I can’t. My clothes haven’t been designer since I got rid of ex-wife number two, the only times I’ve had three figure per person dinners are on special occasions, my clothes are from Macy’s. Last time I had a driver it was because I’d been in a coma. The trust was supposed to be for Kelly’s college fund.”
He sighed. He not only had the trust, but Jenny had left her entire estate to him. The payout from her town home alone had been four million dollars and the rest of the estate had rivaled his trust. “I have money, I just don’t choose to use it.”
He considered her words, trying to suppress the shudder. “Rich? Security detail or lone wolf? I need to start interviewing the head of the family’s detail and I want complete backgrounds, twenty years history…” He trailed off. “Is that something you can do?” He was so used to barking orders to his team that he didn’t consider she wasn’t used to that side of him.
“And you take care of yourself. I don’t want to think about losing you, Trish. Couldn’t…”
"You're not going to lose me. I have every intention of being an eccentric old woman who scares the pants off of members of society when they come looking for a donation for the charity ball. I learned at the knee of the master, and if I can put the fear of god into someone half as well as mother can, then I succeeded in life."
He looked at her, biting his lip and shaking his head. “When I can’t sleep, it always comes back to failing my family. Shannon, Kelly, Anthony.” He swallowed hard. “I blame myself for them all, Patricia. No matter how many I save, I caused them to be lost forever. Can’t even forgive myself. And if Rich…because of the distance I put between me and all of you…”
He couldn’t say any more, his vulnerability and pain rushing to the surface.
"You aren't to blame for any of that, Leroy. Rich is a big boy, who knows what he's doing. Shannon, you know that what happened to her and Kelly was a fluke. The wrong place at the wrong time and not even you could have prevented it." They never talked about their brother, never wanting to reopen a wound that had never quite healed. "Leroy, as much as I love you and know you will take care of those you care about, a ten year old never should have been put in the position you were put into. You can’t continue to blame yourself for what happened, no one blames you.”
He shook his head. “Not the time or the place but I was in the position of God, and I chose Rich to save. Some day…maybe we can talk… Maybe I wasn’t responsible for Shannon and Kelly, but I was for deciding which brother to save and which to come back for.”
It had been a horrible choice, one a little boy never should have had to make. But he had made it and lived with the consequences ever since.
“You did the right thing. Rich was just a baby, couldn’t swim. I could have done something, but I didn’t. You at least had the smarts to get the baby out of the water. I didn’t do anything. You think that doesn’t haunt me?”
“You were a little girl, Trish. You were a child… Not to blame.” For a while, he’d known she had blocked it out but it seemed that it had all come back to her. “I know it haunts you. I just wish you didn’t have to remember. I’d hoped you never would actually.”
He wrapped her in a tight embrace, rubbing her back, wishing he knew better words, wishing he knew how to communicate his emotions better. That day had damaged him so much. All of them.
"I wasn't that much younger than you, Lee. I was able to block it out until I went to college; I mean I knew what happened. But the actual details? I think I was better off not remembering, even though my shrink wouldn't agree. But I went through a thing the summer before I started law school."
Trish hated thinking back on the summer of drinking and drugs, the gradual progression of turning into her mother. It started small enough, but she hadn't been able to get through the day without a drink or a quick pick up. The drugs were nothing hard-core, what you could get over the counter at any store. Luckily she hadn't ended up in any trouble. She'd checked herself into a 'spa' to get clean and with some professional help she'd managed to talk about what happened and just that was enough to put her back on the right track.
"It wasn't our fault. And you can't keep blaming yourself for it. How have you managed all these years without melting down? I couldn't even manage to get through school with out checking into a facility to find some peace. You've never done that."
He pulled back enough to stare into her eyes. He owed it to her to be as real as he could. “I ran away. I ran to the Corps, and then afterward I hid in work and society marriages and the stupid, naive pursuit of love. I moved to DC, half a country away to get distance from my guilt and anguish.” He’d hidden in building boats and belts of bourbon for too long.
He met his sister’s eyes. “Peace isn’t a part of my life, Trish. It never was.” But with Tony it was starting to be.
"Guess we both ran in our own way. At least your way wasn't as destructive. You made a good life for yourself, Lee. Our parents may not be able to be proud of you, but I am." Trish hated having to have this talk, but it was needed.
"You found a measure of peace with Shannon and Kelly. And the pursuit of love is never a stupid thing. You've got to be awfully brave to go out looking for love. Even if, after Shannon, they were all airhead debutants who weren't any better than mother. But you were happy with them, for a little while."
He nodded, not trusting himself to say any more “Enough for now, Trish. Maybe later…then we can talk it through but I’ve got to concentrate if we’re going to find Rich and avoid another Gibbs family tragedy.”
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