Chapter 10
“You have any idea why the Director wants to see us?” Foster asked Ziva and McGee as they climbed the stairs towards Vance's office.
“Judging by the fact that Gibbs was gone all day and then spent a whole five minutes in Vance's office before storming out... I can only guess that whatever it is...It's not going to be good.” McGee answered.
“Where do you think Gibbs was all day?” Ziva wondered out loud.
“Good question, but I'm sure he'll never tell us.” McGee figured just as they passed into the waiting area to the director's office. “But I'll get it out of Abby after this. I'm sure she knows. After all, she was the one that told me he wasn't coming in today.”
As soon as they walked in, Vance's secretary waved them through and as a group, they entered together.
Vance was looking out his window to the street below, watching as sailors, marines and civilians from all different walks of life went about their business at the Navy Yard. As if sensing the team's presence, Vance spoke while continuing to look out the window.
“Agent McGee....”
“Yes, Director?”
“Agent Gibbs will not be coming in for the rest of the week.” Ziva, Foster and McGee exchanged looks of surprise and concern.
“Sir?” McGee asked, not believing that Gibbs might actually take some time off voluntarily, especially given the way he stormed out of here earlier. Something bad definitely happened.
“You will be in charge of the team until he returns, understood?”
“Uh....um. yes, sir.” McGee tripped over his words.
“Good. However, until Gibbs returns, all major cases will be assigned to other teams. You three can use this week to catch up on paperwork.”
“Understood, Sir.”
Vance nodded then turned away from the window, appraising the team that stood before him, but not betraying any of his thoughts as he kept his features expressionless.
“You are all dismissed.” He curtly informed them. Ziva and McGee headed for the door as did Foster, but before he could reach it, Vance called out to him.
“Agent Foster. Come back here for just a moment and shut the door behind you.”
Foster did as he was instructed and marched up to Vance.
“I've been reading your reports and I'm impressed with your work on the Nelson case. You're doing a fine job and it's only your first week.”
“Thank-you, sir.”
“But what I'd really like to know is how you feel about your assignment here and being on Gibbs' team.”
“It's been very...interesting so far and we all seem to work well together, Sir. And while Agent Gibbs can certainly be .....abrasive and demanding, I'm learning a lot and overall I'm glad to be here and on the team.”
Vance nodded thoughtfully.
“I'm glad you say so.” Foster recognized a prized opportunity when he saw one and he grabbed onto it while he had the undivided attention of the director.
“Director Vance, Sir...If I may be so bold...I know I've only been in Washington a short time, but I wanted to speak to you about the future of my assignment here...It's come to my knowledge that there is the possibility that Agent DiNozzo may not be able to return to active field duty due to his injuries.”
Vance raised an eyebrow then reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a toothpick, tucking it into the corner of his mouth as he appraised the younger agent.
“There is that possibility, Agent Foster” Vance admitted. “....I take it you are interested in a permanent position on Gibbs' team should that happen?”
“Sir, I would be honored if you would consider it. Of course, I would never wish for Agent DiNozzo to not return, but looking from a purely pragmatic standpoint, I just want you to know that I'm available.....should the need arise.”
Vance minutely nodded, his toothpick bobbing up and down as he chewed on it thoughtfully before pulling it out and pointing it in Foster's direction.
“I'll consider your request, Agent Foster. Like you said, you've only been here a short time and given a few more weeks, you may find that working with Gibbs is a greater challenge than you first thought and you might change your mind.”
Foster nodded, but knew that he wouldn't change his mind.
“Thank-you, Sir.” Foster made to leave, but Vance stopped him.
“You might want to keep this conversation of ours to yourself, Foster. Gibbs and the others are unfathomably attached to Agent DiNozzo and it wouldn't bode well for you if they knew that you were being considered as a permanent replacement.”
“I understand, Sir.”
“Good.” Vance turned away without another word and went back to his window once again. Foster turned and left the office, his heart leaping at the fact that the Director seemed to be on his side and he couldn't help by smirk a little once he knew no one was looking his way.
Coming back to the bullpen, he found that McGee and Ziva were missing from their desks and figuring that they had headed for Abby's lab, he decided to try and find them.
As he made his way to the elevator and rode it down, his mind worked in overdrive, planning out all that he needed to do. When the car came to a stop and the doors opened he strolled over to the open door to the lab, but stopped short as he heard voices float out across the threshold speaking about Agent Gibbs and Agent DiNozzo.
Taking refuge where he couldn't be seen, he decided to wait and listen to what they were discussing and hoped that whatever it would be of some use to him.
OOOOOOOOOO
Ziva and McGee wasted no time hightailing it to Abby's lab as soon as they were released from the Director's office, not caring that Agent Foster wasn't following. But upon entering the Goth's domain, they were met with a pig-tailed stonewall standing in the middle of her lab with both hands on her hips.
“Stop right there, you two.” She pointed at them, her eyes narrowing. “ I don't know anything, so you should both just go on back upstairs where you came from.”
“Right, Abby. We know you know what's going on with Gibbs today.” McGee accused her.
“No way...I'm not talking...and you can't make me!” She stood defiantly.
“C'mon, Abby. Don't you think we should know why Gibbs is out for the rest of the week?” McGee prodded.
“He's off for the rest of the week?” She asked suddenly, her demeanor flipping from standoffish to concerned like a light switch. “ What happened? He was supposed to only be gone for today...”
Abby's face dropped as she realized her slip up and she smacked herself on the back of the head.
“Ah ha! So you do know what's going on....C'mon, spill” McGee ordered.
“Alright, Alright....” Abby relented. “Let's just say that I found something in Tony's room that was from his father and I think it upset him. So I went and saw Gibbs last night and showed it to him to see what he thought we should do. Then Gibbs got angry, which really isn't all that unusual in and of itself, but then he took me home and he told me to tell you that he wasn't going to be in today, that he had something he needed to do, but he didn't tell me anything else- I swear...”
Ziva caught a glint in Abby's eye and she tried to turn away and hide it, but it was too late. Ziva was already onto her.
“You are holding something back, yes?” She asked Abby. “What else do you know that you are not telling us?”
“I don't know what you're talking about.” Abby obviously lied.
“Abby....” McGee started in on her like a father that caught their kid with her hands in the proverbial cookie jar. “What did you do?”
“Well, nothing really...I was worried about what he was going to do, so I kinda tracked the GPS locater in his cell.”
“You did? Well, then where did he go?”
“He drove up to Long Island.”
“Long Island? That's almost a six hour drive.” McGee pointed out, surprised.
“Actually, with way he drives, it only took him five.”
“So then you were tracking him the whole time?” Ziva asked.
“Yeah...I couldn't sleep after he left, so I came back here to keep an eye on him. " Abby admitted.
“What would Gibbs be doing in Long Island?” McGee wondered.
“Don't you get it?” Abby asked, as if he should know and McGee shook his head. Abby growled in frustration and threw up her hands until Ziva spoke up.
“Tony's father lives in Long Island.”
“You think Gibbs went to see Tony's dad?” McGee asked, surprised that Gibbs would actually miss work in order to speak with Tony's father.
“Yeah...I guess things must not have gone so well if Gibbs got suspended.”
“Who said Gibbs was suspended?” McGee asked "All we were told was that he was off for the rest of the week.”
“McGee, for a genius you can sometimes be pretty dense.” Abby chided him.”Think about it...When was the last time Gibbs took time off?...The only way he would ever stay away from the office for a whole week would be if he was ordered to...so of course he was suspended.”
"I guess you're right." Tim nodded in realization.
“God....do you think he hit Tony's dad or something like that? A week is pretty bad, isn't it?” Abby mused.
“From what I have gathered, Tony's father has quite a bit of influence not only in business but in the government as well what with all of the money he's supplied to various political campaigns, he may have used that to get to the director and not wanting to appear weak to SecNav should Tony's father complain to him, Vance punished Gibbs more severely than he normally would have.” Ziva rationalized.
"I sure hope that's all there is to it ” Abby muttered. Silence descended over the room, but none of them heard or saw Agent Foster slowly back away from the door where he had been hiding and slink back into the elevator. They never knew that they had just given Foster the idea to find out as much as he could about Agent DiNozzo's father, figuring that such information might come in handy later on should things not go according to his liking.
OOOOOOOOOO
“You ready to go?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Let's go then.” Gibbs came up behind Tony's wheelchair and began pushing him to the door and out of the hospital room. Neither man said much as they headed for the hospital exit and outside to Gibbs' car parked in the patient loading and unloading area. Tony was grateful to be leaving, even if that meant he would now be at the mercy of his boss for the foreseeable future.
Truth be told, he was still a little angry at Gibbs for speaking to his father and he's been thankful that he had only stopped by a few times during his forced vacation as he didn't want to say something that he might regret later, but he had to hand it to his mentor that it took balls to confront his old man, something Tony had never attempted. He found that his anger was also tempered by the fact that Gibbs had cared enough to do it in the first place and it was something he never would have expected from the former Marine.
Leaving Tony at the curb for a moment, Gibbs opened the passenger side door. Awkwardly,he had to help Tony into the passenger seat of his car by requiring the younger man to wrap his arms around Gibbs' neck as he helped him out of the wheelchair and into the car. Tony hated feeling like an invalid, but it was ten times worse when he had to have his boss help him just to get from one sitting position to another. It was almost too much humiliation for him to take.
Settling in the seat, Tony groaned a bit at the flare of pain in his back and Gibbs gave him a concerned, but stern look, lowering the back of the seat to a more comfortable position for him.
“You take that medicine yet?” Gibbs asked and Tony rolled his eyes.
“I'm fine.” He groused.
Gibb's face grew sterner, if that was even possible and Tony relented.
“Fine. I'll take some when we get back.”
That seemed to be enough for Gibbs for the time being and he went off to fold up the wheelchair and stick it into the back seat.
Once in the car, Gibbs drove off, but at a pace that Tony had never known him could go before; the speed limit.
God....Could this get any worse? He thought to himself. It was as if he was taking a fragile baby home from the hospital and not a grown man.
Tony closed his eyes against the growing pain in his back and his ever increasing sense that his independence was going to be a long ways away and he wondered how many weeks he still had before he could get around on his own. It was almost too long to bear about thinking about and all he could focus on was how weird it was going to be to be so dependent on Gibbs for just about everything.
So wrapped up in his thoughts was he, that he didn't even realize they had pulled into Gibbs' driveway until the elder man announced that they were there. Tony looked up in surprise to see the finely built ramp that had been installed on his front porch over the steps, astounded by its craftsmanship. So that's what had kept Gibbs occupied all week while he was away from work, Tony thought to himself.
“Wow, Boss. You made all of this for me? You know, you could have just laid some plywood over the steps.” Tony pointed out.
“You expecting me to half-ass something on my own house, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked as he got out of the driver's seat and opened the back door to pull out the wheelchair.
“Oh, well...of course not...I suppose you would want to whole ass it...” Tony weakly joked as Gibbs came around to the other side of the car and opened the door, giving Tony one of those looks that told him exactly what to do.
“Shutting up now, Boss.”
“Good. You gonna help me get you out or you just gonna sit there all day?” Once again, Tony grunted as he wrapped his arms around Gibbs and he was half-lifted him out of the car and into the wheelchair, raising the foot rests for his casted legs to rest on. Again, he underestimated how much the simple act of getting out of a car could be such a painful production. Tony blanched from the stabbing pain in his back that assaulted him as soon as he put his bottom in the chair and of course, this wasn't to go unnoticed by Gibbs' omnicient senses.
“You okay?” Gibbs asked with more concern in his voice than Tony cared to hear.
“Just peachy.” Tony replied bitterly, clenching his teeth.
“Let's get you inside.”
Gibbs pushed him up the ramp and opened the door, pushing him into the living room, only stopping for a moment to close the door behind him.
“I'm going to fix you something to eat.” Gibbs informed him as he rolled him into the kitchen and up to the table. Tony couldn't even think about putting anything in his stomach at that moment as it was all twisted up in knots. Not just from the pain, but from the whole surreality of the situation. Gibbs was being...nice... and he couldn't stand it. He just wished things were normal again.
“I'm not very hungry right now, but thanks anyway.”
“Did I ask if you were hungry? The doctor said you shouldn't take your medication on an empty stomach and you will be taking it as soon as you eat something, understood?.” Tony sighed. At least Gibbs' niceness was wearing off quickly, making him feel a little better already.
A turkey sandwich and two Vicodin forced into his stomach later and Gibbs was wheeling Tony down the hall to the guest bedroom. Tony was expecting the usual sparse room that he had once slept in while his apartment was being fumigated a couple of years ago. Normally 'decorated' with a twin box spring and mattress set serving as its only furniture, he was more than a little surprised to see the room as it was now when Gibbs opened the door.
“Uh...Boss...Is that?....” Tony stammered and could hardly get the words out, he was so dumbfounded.
“Yeah, that's your bed, your sheets, your TV, your movies. If there's anything else you want from your apartment just let me know and I'll get Ziva to break in again.”
Tony felt a smile spread across his face even as Gibbs helped him into the bed and he knew it was more than just the medication beginning to work. It was a simple thing really, to be in his own bed, surrounded by his things, even if it wasn't his home and he had to be helped to do the easiest tasks. It was a piece of him being put back into its rightful place as a he inched that much closer to regaining some semblance of normalcy again.
He knew then without a doubt he had friends that cared, that they would go the extra mile just for him. That was something he hadn't been expecting and it was the best surprise he had ever had in his life and the best he had felt since he fell from that balcony.
“Thanks, Boss.” Told gratefully spoke, as Gibbs pulled a blanket over him. "I really do appreciate all of this."
“Don't mention it, DiNozzo.” Gibbs smirked back at Tony's happy reaction and a growing emotion began to emerge, something he hadn't been entirely convinced he would feel again. It was hope- and he welcomed its return.
TBC.....
The T.A.D. by Angie