Tony arrives humming something happy, even he’s not sure what, and sipping excellent coffee from a travel mug. Ziva grins at him, “Good night?”
“Good morning. Jay made me breakfast in bed.”
“Good cook?”
“Very good cook. Better than I am at breakfast, by a wide margin. You seem to be happier with the world today.”
“I slept like a stone.”
Tony chuckles, “Like a rock, you mean.”
“Do we have a new case?”
“Not yet. We spent yesterday catching up with things that came in while we were on vacation and reviewing cold cases.”
“Ah yes, I had forgotten. Did meeting ‘Jay’s’ family go well?”
“Despite the Princess having an evil sense of humor it went very well indeed. Especially with Jay’s dad.”
“So the little girl is Jay’s daughter?”
“Yes McStalker.”
“But I thought…”
“She wasn’t with him last night, that’s part of why we stayed at my place.” He deliberately looks around before adding, “Now can we change the subject before Gibbs smacks me for distracting you two?”
“But we are so enjoying seeing you so smitten,” Ziva teases.
“And I for one am fascinated by the new direction you’ve gone in,” McGee smirks.
“You know if you really want a walk on the wild side McCurious I know a cute barista who might go for you. He really thinks the federal agent thing is ‘sooo hot’ or so he keeps telling me.”
Gibbs, with his perfect timing, turns the corner just as McGee begins spluttering, “You’re still going to that coffee shop DiNozzo?”
“They make great muffins Boss.”
Gibbs shakes his head, “Abby cleaned up the footage from the Donavan case, we got a plate, an address, and a pair of tentative facial recognition hits. DiNozzo, with me, McGee, Ziva go check on the possible IDs.”
“Donavan case?” Ziva asks as she and Gibbs both retrieve their weapons from locked desk drawers.
It’s McGee that answers, “Five months cold. Home invasion, Petty Officer first class Gerard Donavan was beaten unconscious and the house ransacked. They took easily portable high values items, but also the contents of a safe. Lieutenant Commander Molly Donavan was deployed but it seemed likely they thought she kept files on Project Minesweeper at home. She denies it, but the perceived breach was enough to warrant NCIS involvement.”
“Memorize the file there Probie?”
“I just re-read it yesterday Tony.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony waits until they’re out of the garage before asking, “Some reason you didn’t bump this down to one of the newer teams? It doesn’t really sound like it needs our expert efforts.”
“It managed to go cold. Besides I didn’t think it was the best idea for the team to be under Jenny’s watchful eye today.”
“Are you honestly worried she’ll figure it out?”
“I don’t know. There’s a chance. But I doubt she’s figured it out yet as neither of us has been raked over the coals so let’s do our best not to jog her memory.”
Tony just shakes his head, “I think Ziva is enjoying McGee obliviousness a little too much.”
“We haven’t exactly been working at concealing it from them and considering how much he’s been questioning you the fact that he still has no clue is a little amusing.”
“He really is too interested in the whole thing.” Tony takes a moment to center himself and then flips open the files, switching mentally into a work mindset, “Which do you figure this one is, innocent bystander whose car was stolen or truly stupid criminal who is about to tell us that his car was stolen?”
“Abbs seems to think it was an innocent bystander as the car was reported stolen from a mall parking lot the day before the home invasion but they might be smart enough to be telling a convincing lie.”
“We going for good cop/bad cop or charming federal agents in need of any additional insights they might have?”
“I was thinking we start with the ‘I know you’re lying’ silent stare and then if they actually aren’t involved you can step in and be charming.”
“So more, quiet cop/buddy cop then.”
“Sounds about right to me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“How did you know that Jay spent the night at Tony’s apartment?” Ziva questions as they get in the car.
“I overheard Tony making the arrangements.” He glances at her contemplatively, “You know who Jay really is don’t you?”
“I have… made some observations on the subject.”
“I feel like it’s staring me in the face but I can’t put my finger on it.”
“If I felt confident of your reaction I would clue you on but I’m not certain you would like knowing.”
“In, not on,” He corrects absently. “Why would knowing who it is cause a problem? He’s Tony’s boyfriend not a new team member.”
Ziva can’t suppress her smirk.
McGee’s eyes go wide as the penny drops. “Tony’s the new future-ex-Mrs. Gibbs?”
Ziva snickers, “I highly doubt Tony would change his name, or request a divorce for that matter. They are very happy together.”
“But Jay is Gibbs?”
“Surely you knew he prefers Jethro over Leroy.”
“Now I have to bleach my brain,” McGee groans.
Ziva lets her blossoming anger show, “I thought you were not concerned over Tony being gay.”
“I don’t give a damn that they’re gay, or that they’re together Ziva. But some of the things he’s said to me about Jay are things I’d never want to know about my boss no matter who his significant other is.”
“Were any of those revelations unprovoked?” Ziva asks archly.
“No. But I still don’t want to know that Tony thinks Gibbs could be an underwear model even if I brought it on myself.”
Ziva considers it, “He certainly seems fit enough.”
“You’re evil.”
“I trust you know not to mention this to… certain people.”
“Director Sheppard would kill me for just being the messenger. I don’t plan on making that mistake, no.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony has been coaxing details out of the rather skittish couple for almost ten minutes when Gibbs’ cell goes off. He glances over but continues on as Gibbs leaves the room. “What’ve you got McGee?”
“Winters fled when we identified ourselves to his roommate. We pursued him on foot, and when we caught up to him he continued to resist. Ziva’s escorting him to the hospital.”
Gibbs considers it a moment, “Sit on the apartment until you can get a search warrant, call in Bates for back up while you wait. Tony and I will check out Keller.”
Tony quickly wraps up the interview and joins him at the door, “Something happen to the probies Boss?”
“They arrested Winters. We’re taking over checking out Keller so they can follow up with the booking and the search.”
“They make a good team.”
“So do we.”
Tony grins brightly, “There was never any question about that Jethro.” A few beats later he stops his motion toward the car and turns wide eyed to Gibbs, “Unless you were implying that they’re…”
Gibbs laughs, “He wouldn’t survive. And the princess would kill him.”
“Thought Abbs was finished with him.”
“She is, but she still seems to think she has a say in who he dates and she says Ziva’s too unobservant for ‘her boys’.”
“It took her less time than Probie to figure us out.”
“I doubt that would affect Abby’s opinion on the matter.”
“True enough.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keller surrenders quietly, just a wistful look at the third story window before offering up his wrists. His fiancé on other hand takes offense, in the taking pot shots from the aforementioned window variety. Thankfully she’s a miserable shot.
The dull thuds of rounds hitting the sedan annoy Tony more than anything but a quelling looking from Gibbs has him quietly awaiting Metro’s arrival.
The stand off itself lasts less than an hour but the discussions, negotiations and paper work take almost three.
After another hour in interrogation Keller admits they were hired to try to steal the Project Minesweeper files.
“Guy said it’d be an easy job and when we cased the place it seemed easy enough. I was a little worried about the safe cracking nonsense, but Winters said he’d handle it.”
“And he did?” Tony prompts from his spot beside the mirror. Gibbs, though he’s sitting at the table, has yet to say a word.
“Thinks he’s funny. The money man gave him the combination.”
Tony flicks a quick look over Gibbs before asking blandly, “Where’d the money man get the combination?”
“He didn’t say.”
“You ever see him again?”
“No and he refused to wire the rest of the money cause the papers weren’t in the safe.” Keller gives an aggrieved growl, “Like it’s my fault he had us break into the wrong safe.”
“Did he contact you again at all?”
“No but Winters might still be working for him. He’s been on some job without me for almost a month now.”
Tony heads out into the hall without a word, confident that Gibbs will follow. He waits for the door to close before speaking, “An inside job then. I’ll have McGee bring Winters up so you can do that silent menace thing you do.”
“You finish with Keller. I’ll get Abbs checking if there’s some way to hack those combinations. Make sure it is an inside job, report said it was a digital lock.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the end Keller doesn’t prove useful and Winters stonewalls through both Gibbs’ menacing and Tony’s charm. It takes the threat of a trip to Gitmo to crack him and when he does, he folds like a paper bag. The backer for the repeated attempts to gain the Project Minesweeper files has taken enough precautions that even with Winters’ full confession they don’t have enough to find him and he becomes just another sketch on the watch list. The digital combination for the safe turns out to be stored in a database that Abby is able to hack into in just under an hour, and when she does she finds someone else has left them self a back door into the program. Still two arrests is better than none and Tony’s glad to call it a day at five-thirty on a relatively good outcome.
He’s just casually signed “home” in Gibbs’ direction when McGee grabs his elbow, “Come on Tony, Abby demands to be taken out for tapas and a frilly drink.”
“And so she sent you?”
“Well no. She demanded I do it. But I figured we could make a team night of it. Ziva went to change her shirt.”
“Fine, but one drink and some tapas, I have some place to be.”
“You could invite… Jay along you know.” McGee waits for the elevator doors to close and then smirks, “He is the team leader and all, he should be at team night.”
Tony gives him a full minute-and two floors- to go on. To freak out, or whine, or threaten to tattle. No such reaction emerges, “Took you long enough. Ziva figured it out weeks ago.”
“That’s all you’ve got to say?”
“I figure Ziva or Abby already threatened to utterly destroy you if this gets back to Sheppard through you and I’ve told you more than enough details, so yeah that’s it.”
McGee shakes his head, “You owe me serious brain bleach.”
“Not my fault you assumed I was dating some mindless little pretty boy. Not like I gave you lurid details or failed to disabuse you of the notion that I had some bit of fluff waiting at home either. You never even bothered to ask real questions, just a bunch of ‘hey I’m an understanding, if a little uncomfortable, straight guy’ nonsense. Hell you never even asked how old ‘the Princess’ is.”
When they get to the garage McGee shakes his head, “Call him. We’ll be at On Tap over on 8th. With or without him you better be there in twenty or I’ll tell Abby you talk about her like she’s twelve.”
Tony shakes his head, “I’ll be along once I find out if Jethro’s coming. And for the record Abbs wouldn’t care.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Gibbs arrives Tony’s at the bar waiting to order his drink and the others have a wide selection of bite-sized foods spread over their usual table. Too close to the Yard to risk a kiss he puts a hand on the small of Tony’s back and leans over his shoulder just a bit as the bartender comes over. “Hey Nathan. Two of the usual and put anything for table six on my tab.”
Tony raises an eyebrow at him, “Paying for the table is great but you just assume I want a beer?”
“You drove the mustang over. That means one beer now and then soda ‘til we leave.”
Tony laughs at that, “Sorry Probie made a few cracks before I came over to order my beer and I’m a little defensive.”
“You stood up to your dad, my dad, and Ziva about us. Tim’s not anything to worry over.”
“I know, I know. I just… You know better than anyone I don’t have the best track record in the world when he started in on that future-ex crap he says when he thinks you can’t hear him… It makes me nervous about the myriad ways I could screw this up. Leaving me open to attack about being a boy toy kept around for the entertainment value of having a pretty young thing around the house.”
“I’m still not your sugar daddy. I get that it’s irrational but you have nothing to worry about. It’s my insecurities we’re fighting with and frankly any time we’re forced to spend apart is tipping the scales in favor of a big grand gesture. Jenny be damned.”
“Enough of this before we do something stupid in a bar where they know us. Princess is holding court.”
“Then I suppose our place is at her side.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They’ve moved on to dinner and switched to soda all around- it being a work night and all- when the television catches Abby’s attention. “Um, Shelly?” She asks the waitress bussing the next table, “Can you have Nathan turn up the volume on the TV?”
The others notice her attention and turn to watch as well. The aftermath of a bombing is a sight familiar to them all.
“-r bomb went off at about 7:50 and that the lone occupant of the vehicle was dead before the blaze could be contained. We have unconfirmed reports that the victim may have been a federal agent but are unable to secure a comment from the police or fire departments at this juncture. What they have told us is that the bomb was not designed to be used as a weapon of mass destruction. Our police source says it may in fact be a personally motivated attack. We will bring you further updates as they become available. But for now let’s send it over to Karen for the sports report.”
It takes a long few seconds for any of them to react and it’s McGee that recovers first, “Isn’t that near Munroe University Hospital?”
Tony, the one who has been hospitalized there before looks closer, but it’s Gibbs who answers, “A few blocks from there.”
“Wonder what makes them think he was an agent,” Tony muses absently.
They go back to their meal discussing possible motives among other topics, but for the most part it’s idle speculation and Abby wondering aloud who’ll be handling the evidence. Tony’s phone rings about five minutes after the news report. “DiNozzo.”
“Hey Tony. It’s Rick, We might have one of yours here, DOA.”
“One of ours?”
“We found a badge and gun in the wreckage of a car bomb that went off a little before eight.”
“It hit the news a few minutes ago, yeah. Any legible ID or just the badge?”
“Just the badge.”
“Ok, sit tight for us, I’m with my team now so we should be there soon. Oh, while I’m thinking of it, were you able to get a VIN on the car?”
“5GZ CZ4 3D8 3S8 127 15” Tony writes it down for Abby as it’s relayed to him.
“And where exactly is the scene?”
“2400 Pennsylvania.”
“Thanks Rick, we’re on our way.”
“Already on it,” Abby pauses, “But Tim drove me over.”
“Take my car to the Yard Princess. We’ll just take the mustang home if we head that way tonight,” Giibs passes her his keys.
“You call Ducky then because you are not driving the mustang.”
“Yes dear.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abby calls just before they reach the scene, “Whatcha got for me Princess?”
“The car’s registered to a Danny Ross. He’s not on our payroll. I’ve got dispatch looking into whether or not anyone is missing. And I’m pulling everything I can on him. I’ll call back if I get anything useful.”
“Thanks babygirl. If you pull up a picture of Ross send it to Tony and McGee.”
“Sure thing Pop.”
“Danny Ross sound familiar to you?”
“No. I assume he owns the car.”
“So our princess reports. You feeling better about McGee knowing or do I need to growl at him?”
“You can’t fight my battles for me Jethro. But I appreciate it. And I’ll be ok, he just hits a nerve now and then. Maybe without even noticing. Besides all I have to do to make him flinch is imply that he’s being a bigot.”
“I did notice you hit a nerve with that one.”
“I’ve been mean about it actually. I know he’s not actually an asshole, he just sees us the same way most people see their parents. You know they have sex but you don’t want to know anything about it. When he realizes he isn’t funny, or when his sister stops rubbing his failure to see it in his face I’ll let him off the hook.” At the next light Tony takes a deep breath and mentally shifts gears, “So either Ross is an undercover alias or he did something to one of our people and ended up dead for his trouble.”
“And we can’t even begin to guess at which it is until we get to the scene.”
“I’m not crashing my mustang to get you to the scene two minutes faster Jethro.”
Gibbs chuckles, “Fair enough, I know how much you love this car.”
“Besides you would have tried to bully your way through Dupont Circle and we’d have ended up here at the same time anyway.” He parks next to the police cruisers and smirks at Gibbs, “You do know if you get out of this car smiling like that you’re going to ruin your unfeeling bastard rep with Metro.”
“You know me better than that Honeybuns.”
By the time Tony hits the sidewalk Gibbs is halfway to the spot beside the remains of the vehicle where Tony’s friend Rick is consulting with the arson investigator. Tony lengthens his stride and joins them just as Rick holds out an evidence bag containing a badly scorched NCIS badge. It makes Tony a little sick just looking at it, thinking it could have been one of his team in that car. There really isn’t much left of the car, just the engine block and a smoking frame. “Awfully contained for so much damage,” He directs this at the arson investigator.
“Who ever set it knew what he was doing. It burned hot and fast but didn’t really explode, cars very rarely do. Aside from the initial ignition source it’s likey there was some type of accelerant sprayed on the undercarriage of the car.”
“We’ll let our lab tech know that. Have you guys had a bomb disposal unit in to check for other explosives?”
“No, the car was in motion and the fire would have set off any secondary devices.”
“Fair enough. Thanks guys, we’ll take it from here.” He runs a hand through his hair, “I’ll fetch my gear and start taking photos.”
“You’ve got your full kit?”
“The one in the car is missing a few drug testing supplies but it should have everything we need for this, yeah. Besides who’s to say the van’s ever going to get here with Jimmy driving it over for us.”
“As long as he follows Ducky as instructed he’ll be fine.”
When Tony returns with the kit Gibbs takes it and begins to process the car as Tony photographs.
Tony deliberately puts all his attention on his sketch when Ducky and Jimmy begin manuevering the body into the body bag.
“I’m done with this, need anything out of the van?”
“Grab me a couple of sterlie swabs, there’s something on the bottom edge of the passenger side door panel.”
When he gets back McGee and Ziva are reporting in.
“The general consenus from the pedestrians that stopped to talk to the authorities is that the car left the French resturant down the street following a limo at a low rate of speed. There was then a loud bang and the car became engulfed in flames.”
McGee takes over, “One of the bystanders tried to get to the car to attempt to free the victim but the flames were too intense.”
“Did you talk to anyone at the resturant?”
“Not yet Boss.”
“Do it, and get any footage they have of Danny Ross, Abby should have sent you his picture. Then meet us back at the Yard.”
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.