Part 2: Stop Crying Your Heart Out
Tony stood in front of the heavy door, waiting for his meeting with the Director. The Director’s pretty secretary smiled at him from behind her desk but he could barely muster the will to return her smile. To think that a few months ago he would’ve flirted with her until she was blushing madly as the Director opened her door.
“You may go in now, Agent DiNozzo,” Cynthia said after a brief call on the internal line.
Tony merely nodded at her, and turned the door handle, pushing the door open slowly.
“Agent DiNozzo, please come in,” Jenny Shepard greeted from behind her desk, dressed in a tight fitting miniskirt that was an inch too short for good taste and a matching blazer. “And close the door, please.”
Tony did as he was told before surveying the room. Shepard was a meticulous person�"everything was in its place, not a single sheet of paper was astray. He looked to Shepard, then to the other occupant of the room.
Middle age, average height, average face, red hair, which would’ve been okay except for the slightly above average weight making the man looking pudgy. The man was wearing a suit that clearly came from Sears or somewhere similar�"Tony had to close his eyes for a second and force himself to breathe normally�"by the look of the ill-fitting jacket.
“What’s this about, Director?” Tony began, wanting to get the meeting over with. Jenny Shepard never liked him or trusted him, for whatever reason, and she had been looking for reasons to get rid of him since she started. She’d been surprisingly nice in the aftermath of Gibbs’ injury. Tony had thought that she’d finally warmed up to him and wanted to provide support in the time of need, but in hindsight, he realized that she just wanted to keep him pacified enough to solve the case.
He thought back to the day after he’d called Shepard to tell her that Gibbs had left. She’d laughed, and coldly ordered him to get back to work. She did not once ask where Gibbs had gone, or whether Tony had heard from the older man. Tony couldn’t help wondering how genuine her display of affection he’d seen in the hospital towards him and Gibbs had been.
He didn’t understand her reasoning behind the whole personal vendetta against him, but he didn’t really care. Not anymore. Not since the only person that mattered…
“Agent DiNozzo, I would like you to meet Senior Special Agent Ted Campbell. He was recently transferred in from the Northwest field office.” Shepard leaned back in her leather chair and brought her hands together after a small waving gesture, resting them on her crossed knees. “Agent Campbell, Agent Anthony DiNozzo.”
“Pleasure.” Tony held out his hand, waiting for the other man to respond. He didn’t like this man; his gut had been screaming since he walked into the room. Tony’s instincts may not be quite as accurate as Gibbs’, but they were just as sharp.
“The pleasure is all mine.” Campbell grabbed Tony’s hand, and gave him a quick shake along with a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Agent Campbell will be taking over as the head of MCRT, effective immediately,” Shepard announced once the two men had been introduced properly.
“What?” Tony gaped at her. “What do you mean? What about me? Gibbs left me the position, I’m his second and I’ve been busting my ass for the past four months to�"”
“Gibbs didn’t have the authority to appoint agents, neither did he have the authority to give promotions.” Shepard smirked, reveling in her victory over Tony. “You were temporarily leading the MCRT because it was an emergency situation, and I hadn’t had time to properly screen a candidate for that position. Now that I have�"”
“But I’m sure my experiences speak for themselves, Director.” Tony couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “And for the time I have been acting team leader of MCRT, our solve rate never dropped. I am more than capable of leading this team and�"”
“Agent DiNozzo, I have made my decision, and that is final. You will continue on as Agent Campbell’s second.” Shepard narrowed her eyes, glaring at Tony, the ‘or else I want to see your resignation by tomorrow’ was easily read from her tone of voice. “Agent Campbell starts tomorrow. I expect your full cooperation to make Agent Campbell’s transition as smooth as possible.”
Tony tightened his fists, holding it tight against his body, but his anger vanished as quickly as it came. Gibbs wasn’t here anymore, so what did it matter?
“Yes, Director,” he said wearily in the end. Turning on his heel, he stalked out the door, trying hard to ignore the triumphant grin on Shepard’s face.
---
“What!? She can’t do that!”
“Yes, she can, Abbs.” Tony rubbed Abby’s back with his hand when Abby lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and hugged him. “And she did. Campbell starts tomorrow.”
“But what about you? What about Team Gibbs?!” Abby’s head snapped up from where Tony’s shoulder. “We have an open case!”
“Gibbs is gone, Abbs. He’s not coming back, you know that.” Tony sighed heavily. “There is no Team Gibbs anymore.”
“But there’s you! You have been doing a great job with leading the team and everything!” Abby buried her head back onto Tony’s shoulder. “I hate this. I hate her.”
“I’m sorry, Abbs.” Tony sniffed lightly, trying not to let his emotions bleed in. He had to be strong for Abby and the rest of the team. “I’ll still be here, and so will Tim and Ziva. It’s just going to be a bit difficult in the beginning but we’ll adjust. We’ll survive, like we did before. We always do. Right?”
“I still don’t like it,” Abby said in a muffled voice. “You deserve it so much more than that other guy.”
“I know, Abbs. I know.” Tony sighed, looking over at the two figures standing by the door to the lab. “C’mere guys.” Tony waved McGee and Ziva over.
“Is it true?” Ziva asked bluntly, and Tony had to smile at her directness. McGee on the other hand was uncharacteristically silent. He leaned against one of Abby’s benches behind Ziva, covering her six. The younger agent had learned a lot since joining them two years ago, and Tony was happy to see that McGee and Ziva seemed to have developed the kind of bond and trust necessary between partners.
“Yeah.” Tony ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up in random places. “The decision had been made. It’s either this or I resign.”
“That’s unfair!” Ziva cried out, but Tony just shook his head. It was endearing to see Ziva care so much for them. He’d had his reservations about the Mossad officer when she first joined NCIS and they’d had their differences, but he had to admit that he’d since warmed up to her. She’d done much for the team, and earned their trust in turn. Ziva could be brash at times but her heart was in the right place, and that was all that mattered to them at the end.
“It’ll be okay, Ziva.” Tony gave her a smile, waving her over. “C’mere,” Tony said, wrapping his arm around Ziva’s shoulder as well. “Group hug! You wanna join us, Probie?”
“You cannot use this as leverage. There are witnesses,” McGee warned, pointing to the rest.
“Come on, Probie, would I do that?” Tony scoffed.
“Uh, yes? Yes, you would.” McGee rolled his eyes but joined in the hug anyways.
“You sure you’re okay though, Tony?” McGee asked after extracting himself from Ziva and Abby’s arms.
McGee wasn’t doubting Tony, nor was he doubting Tony’s ability to do his job. McGee was concerned for Tony’s well being more than anything. He’d seen Tony bottle everything up inside before. It had happened after Kate died, and again when it was clear that Gibbs wasn’t ever coming back. He and Tony had gotten close in the aftermath of Kate’s death and Jenny Shepard’s meddling ways, and McGee had wished that there were something he could do, but there was nothing. Tony had taken Gibbs’ leaving hard, harder than any of them, harder than even Abby. Abby could still rely on Tony to give her the support she needed, but where was Tony going to find that for himself?
“Yeah, Tim,” Tony met McGee’s eyes, returning with a hollow smile that made McGee cringe on the inside. “I’ll be okay.”
No, you’re not, McGee said to himself.
Ducky and Palmer were the last to arrive at the lab, and Abby launched herself at Ducky as soon as he arrived.
“I’m so sorry, Tony,” Ducky patted Tony on the cheek after Abby let him go. “If you ever need to talk, my door is always open.”
“I know, Duck,” Tony gave Ducky the same hollow smile he gave McGee.
He would survive. He’d survived this long, hadn’t he?
---
“We’ve got a case,” Campbell barked after putting down the phone. “Let’s go, people.”
The other three silently picked up their backpacks and followed Campbell to the elevator.
“Metro found a body in Rock Creek Park, description matched a Lieutenant Commander Johansson, reported missing two days ago,” Campbell recited off of the information he’d copied down onto his note pad. “DiNozzo, McGee, truck. David, you’re with me.”
“Pervert,” McGee swore under his breath as soon as Campbell was out of earshot. “The guy probably doesn’t even have a clue that Ziva could kill him a dozen ways with a paper clip.”
Campbell had somehow developed a “fondness” for Ziva, and decided that she should have his consideration above the other, more senior members of the team, who’d been relegated to probie-duties. According to Ziva, the man’s inability to respect personal boundaries was far worse than Tony or Gibbs.
“At least we don’t have to listen to him. I feel for Ziva.” Tony checked the fuel gage, seeing it was full, then got in the driver’s seat. Campbell was, for the lack of a better word, useless. He was a paper pusher, with minimal field experiences. For the two weeks he’d been their new leader, the idiot had screwed up at least three interrogations that Tony had to salvage.
“Every time the man opens his mouth, stupid falls out. And that’s saying it lightly.” McGee sighed.
Tony didn’t respond. All he wanted to do was get through the day, catch whichever perp that killed their Lieutenant, and go home. He pulled the truck out of the garage, and drove them to the crime scene.
---
“McGee, what was that name you found when you crosschecked Johansson’s phone records?” Tony asked, holding up a piece of paper in front of him with a frown. “The one that you said called at weird hours and never more than a few seconds?”
“Uh, hold on.” McGee shuffled the paper around his desk, looking for the stack of phone records that went back six months. “The name was…Chad Jennings.”
“Huh,” Tony huffed as he sent his screen to the plasma. “I might’ve just found something.”
“What is it?” Ziva got up from her seat and walked over to the large screen.
“Missing weapons,” Tony said as he moved to stand next to Ziva. “A lot of missing weapons.”
“And what does missing weapons have to do with Chad Jennings?” McGee came around his desk to stand next to Ziva the other side. “And Johansson?”
Tony clicked the remote, and the screen zoomed to a specific location on the document he put on screen. “Look who the person in charge was?”
“Huh.” McGee and Ziva both stared at the screen.
“Yup. Three years ago Chief Petty Officer Chad Jennings was dishonorably discharged and prosecuted after his Lieutenant at the time�"oh look, Lieutenant Simon Johansson�"found out about his ‘side business’.”
“It says it here that Johansson transferred from NAVSUP to NSWC shortly after the incident.”
“I would say Chad calling our vic repeatedly just before he died would be important.” Tony tossed the remote to McGee and sat back down at his chair.
“Where are you on the angry ex-wife?” Campbell asked as he rounded the corner from the direction of the break room.
“She has an alibi,” Tony said without looking up. “We found something else though.”
“I told you to bring her in.” Campbell parked his pudgy frame in front of Tony’s desk and stared down at him.
“And I’m telling you we have another, more likely suspect.” Tony tossed down his pen and looked up at Campbell with exasperation.
“Are you disobeying a direct order?”
“Uh, no? I talked to the ex-wife, she was on the other side of the continent at the time at a conference. There is no way she killed him.” Tony sighed, tilting his head slightly, staring at Campbell. “On the other hand, we have a gunrunning scumbag that knew our vic. I think I’ll stick to the gunrunners, thank you very much.”
“You…!” Campbell sputtered, couldn’t find the words. “You disobey me again I’ll have your badge.”
Tony glared at him, not saying a word. He didn’t trust himself to not blow up in front of the entire floor. Campbell didn’t have a single ounce of investigative instinct, and what was worse, was the fact that he took offense to anything said in opposition to him. Tony sighed inwardly, giving McGee and Ziva a quick glance.
“But we should still track down Jennings. He was supposed to be locked up,” Ziva said with a mild annoyance in her voice, giving Tony a knowing look. She was not at all happy about Campbell as well. Most days, it took all of her self-control to not try and kill the man with one of the thousands of ways she knew how. “That whole connection between him and Johansson is just too much of a coincident, and we don’t believe in coincidences.”
“Fine,” Campbell said, finally, after glaring at his team.
---
Tony remembered hearing it go off. He remembered it, that single moment in time. It was loud. So loud. Nothing like if you were at a safe distance.
He remembered feeling the floor beneath him shake as part of the building collapsed.
Were they attacked? But how?
God his head hurt. Tony groaned as his head throbbed, trying to remember what happened.
This must be what Gibbs felt like, he thought absentmindedly before a bout of nausea overtook him and he blacked out.
The next thing he felt was his body being moved. He blinked his eyes open, trying to determine who was… his thoughts were interrupted by the excruciating pain coming from his right leg. He gasped loudly, his eyes shut once again, trying to ride out the pain.
“All right, secure his neck, prep for transport,” a female voice yelled over the rest of the buzzing noise in the background, but Tony could barely hear it because of the ringing in his ear. “Looks like he’s in a lot of pain. Get me an IV line and start pushing ten milligrams of fentanyl.”
“McGee…? And Ziv…” Tony began coughing midway through the sentence he was struggling to get out. “…Abbs?” His voice was hoarse from inhaling the dust. Receiving no answer, Tony began to struggle with the straps that were holding him down onto the gurney. His head had been immobilized by foam to stop him from turning it.
“Agent DiNozzo, please stop moving! You are concussed and may have spinal injury. We need to keep you as still as possible until we can get you to a hospital.” the voice from before sounded from above him as an oxygen mask was placed around his mouth and nose.
Another stab of agonizing pain shot through his right leg that nearly had Tony passing out. “Ahh!”
No. He had to make sure the others were okay. Abby… Tim… Ziva… Ducky… Palmer… Tony tried to move his hand to grab at something, but found his arms trapped.
“Let me go!” Tony shouted, his voice muffled and his breath fogging the inside of the oxygen mask, as his body thrashed, trying to get free. “I need to find them�"”
“Agent DiNozzo! Calm down!” the stretcher stopped and the voice was back, telling him to stop moving. “Shit. Push five milligram of diazepam to sedate him for transport.”
A few seconds later, Tony blacked out again from the painkiller and sedative.
His eyes blinked open then closed to a slit because of the bright light. He looked around groggily. He couldn’t move his arms and legs; they were so heavy. His fingers were tingling, telling him that they gave him something. He groaned as he felt the pain in his leg, dulled by medication but still present.
He could tell that they were in a moving vehicle, but he was so tired it didn’t take long before he blacked out again.
Tony woke to the smell of antiseptics.
Hospital.
He could remember only bits and pieces of how he got there, but it took him a while before the event that left him wounded came crashing back into his skull.
Bomb.
At NCIS.
He tried to sit up only to slump back down from nausea and muscle aches as his body complained. “Argh!”
“Tony?”
Abby! Thank God. “Abbs?”
“Oh my God, Tony! You’re awake!” Abby stood up abruptly and scurried to the bedside. “Thank God! I’m going to go get Ducky and the trauma doc and Brad. Oh my God, I need to call Ziva and Timmy�"”
“Abbs. Abby?” Tony tried.
“�"oh and Palmer. Tony, the whole building was worried about you! The Director is being a total bitch not letting us come visit, but I came anyways. She can fire me if she wants, although I doubt she will, since I’m the best forensic tech this side of the continent�"”
“Abigail!” Tony yelled the loudest he could manage in his state, before breaking into a coughing fit.
“And… Tony! Are you all right?” Tony’s coughing finally broke Abby’s rant.
“Yeah… I’ll be… fine…” Tony gasped for breath after the coughing finally subsided. “Was anyone else hurt? Tim and Ziva? Ducky? Palmer?”
“They’re all fine. The rest of the people in the evidence garage got away with only minor injuries.” Abby worried her lips and looked at Tony with an unreadable expression. “Except for Campbell�"he was DOA.”
“Fuck.” Tony couldn’t stand the guy�"hell, Campbell was an asshole�"but he still felt bad about what happened to him.
“He was buried under the debris when the ceiling collapsed,” Abby said solemnly. “I mean, I hated the guy, but he didn’t deserve this.”
“Yeah, I know, Abbs.” Tony sighed and allowed himself to sink further into the bed.
“Anyways, I’m going to go get the doctors and call the others.” Abby leaned forward to surround Tony in a loose hug. “I’ll be back later, okay?”
“Sure, Abbs.” Tony gave her a weak smile. “I’ll see you later.”
---
His eyes blinked open to the sound of his phone ringing, but instead of reaching for his phone, he just let it ring until his voicemail picked up the call. He didn’t have to look at the screen to know that it was most likely Abby who’d called. It was always Abby, or Ducky, or Palmer, or Tim and Ziva… It was good to know that his friends�"his family�"were there for him, but he really didn’t want to deal with anything or anyone at the moment.
He’d probably get reamed by Abby later for not picking up, Rule Three and all, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.
Pain from his leg had him sucking in a breath with his teeth and fists clenched. He’d forgotten to take the pain meds, falling asleep to the sound of the television. Not that he really wanted to take them. He’d spent the first two weeks at home zonked out on pain meds because it was quite literally unbearable if he didn’t take them. As soon as he felt he could tolerate the pain, he cut the dosage in half so he would be at least somewhat lucid during the day.
It’d been… four weeks since the bombing at NCIS. With the Supervisory Agent dead and the Senior Field Agent severely injured, the MCRT was officially on stand down until further notice and a secondary team had been called in as per SecNav’s orders after moving majority of NCIS’s operations to Quantico.
McGee had been loaned out to cybercrime, but every time he came to visit Tony he complained about how naïve some of the cybercrime guys were. Tony was quite amused by it, pointing out that McGee was just like them when he first started with the team. McGee huffed and puffed but he knew Tony was just teasing him.
Tony sighed, moving with his working limbs to get himself out of bed and into the shower. Ziva was coming by shortly to drive him to the hospital for his check-up.
“I’m leaving,” Ziva said after a long silence. They’d just pulled out of the driveway of the hospital, heading out to grab a bite before she’d drop Tony back at home.
“Leaving?” Tony looked over to her with a confused expression on his face.
“I’m leaving NCIS.” Ziva stole a glance over to Tony as she slowed at a right turn. “I’m going back to Israel.”
“Oh.” Tony stared at her, dumbstruck.
“I wanted you to know it first, from me. I owe you that much. You have been a fantastic leader in Gibbs’ absence. I’ve learned a lot from all of you in the past year, but I don’t know how much longer I can continue like this�"Gibbs left, you’re…recovering, and McGee got sent to the basement. I felt like I had no one I could trust.” Ziva kept her eyes on the road, doing her best to keep her emotions in check. “Jenny has become intolerable, and my father will be needing a hand with a couple of missions, so I tendered my resignation.”
Tony was not at all surprised. He knew the feeling of not knowing whom to trust, and he was glad Ziva had the alternative options in the Mossad.
“And you know what she said to me? She accused me of being disloyal to her!” Ziva waved her right arm around as she muttered some phrases Tony had came to assume to be Hebrew curses before she continued. “Anyway. I will be leaving in a week. I hope I will have the opportunity to return to the States one day, but if I do not, I expect you all to visit me in Tel Aviv.”
“I’ll make sure of that.” Tony gave her a small smile.
Ziva squinted at Tony, pursing her lips. “I hate to admit it, but I think I will miss Ducky’s stories. And McGee, the man is magic with computers. I wish Mossad had someone like him.”
Tony couldn’t help laughing at the comment.
---
Ziva left for Israel, they all went to the airport to see her off.
Abby and Ducky came by every few of days to check up on him, keeping him company. McGee had dropped by a couple of times, when Abby was away at a conference in Vegas.
He knew they were worried. He’d studied enough psychology in college to know that he was falling into depression even worse than before, and that he showed signs of PTSD. He still couldn’t talk about the bombing, tried not to think about it most of the time. The odd times he thought about it he ended up a trembling mess on the floor as he flashed back to the explosion that almost took his life.
“Hey Tony!” Abby’s voice rang from the door, shortly before she appeared in the doorway into the living room. “I’m back! And I’ve got souvenirs!”
“Hey, Abby.” Tony looked up from his spot on the couch, dog-earing the book he was reading. “How was the conference?”
“Ooh, Tolstoy, good taste. And it was great! The Vegas crime lab gave me a grand tour, it’s so cool there! And their graveyard shift boss? Coolest guy ever. He studies bugs for a living!” Abby spoke animatedly, arms waving around as she described the lab to Tony.
“Sounds like you had a good time?” Tony gave her a big hug when she sat down next to him.
“Oh totally!” Abby snuggled against Tony in return, wrapping her arms around Tony’s neck. “Their DNA tech was a lot of fun to hang out with. We both like the same bands, and have so many interests in common.”
“Hmm.” Tony regarded Abby with an amused look. “Sounds like something to me?”
Abby giggled. “Maybe. We’ve been chatting online. He’s kinda sweet, and he promised to visit.”
She leaned her head on Tony’s shoulder. “How are you doing?”
“The same.” Tony sighed. “Leg’s still busted, and I still can’t walk without my crutches.”
“It’ll get better Tony. It will.” Abby held him tighter. “I gotta go. The nuns are waiting for me at the bowling alley. I’ll drop by tomorrow?”
“Sure Abbs.” Tony gave her a kiss on her temple as she pulled away. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
---
Some days, Tony felt like he was standing still while the entire world moved around him forward, leaving him in the dust.
McGee came by at the six-week mark with his Xbox and an advance copy of Call of Duty 2, and halfway through the second level McGee told him that he was quitting NCIS to write full time. Working cybercrime was fun and he was killing it down in the basement, but it just wasn’t the same without the team. He’d submitted his first book to a publisher and his editor had liked it a lot.
Tony wasn’t really surprised at this development. McGee had real talent with words; he’d learned that when McGee had shown him work he’d previously posted online. He wished McGee good luck, and told him to drop by more often, to which the young agent replied, “you bet.”
Ducky retired when Tony’s recovery reached the two-month mark. The old doctor dropped by to tell Tony that he felt that he’d spent too much time with the dead and not enough with the living. While he had loved and enjoyed his job, it was time to bow out while he could still enjoy life.
Ziva came back, attached to the security detail at the Israeli Embassy, and much to Tony’s surprise, had begun dating McGee.
“What exactly do you see in McGoo?” Tony gawked at Ziva when she showed up with McGee in tow.
“I think he’s rather cute. And dependable. Exactly what a woman looks for in a man,” Ziva scratched McGee’s jaw to tease him, making him blush a rosy red.
Tony cracked a smile watching them. They seemed… happy, and that was enough for Tony. “Congratulations. And Tim?”
“Yeah, Tony?”
“You totally owe me a beer.”
McGee chuckled. “Sure, Tony.”
---
And then, everything went to shit.
Three months after the bomb, his doctor told him when he went for a check-up, that while he could begin using his right leg, it wasn’t ever going to be the same. They had hoped that the nerve damage caused by the fracture would heal on its own, but it hadn’t.
It was a good thing that Ducky was with him that day. Tony wasn’t sure what he would’ve done if he were by himself.
He gave his notice the next day. Tony had been a cop long enough to know that nerve damage like his was a career ender. He wasn’t ever going to qualify for the field again. If he wasn’t going to be in the field, there was no point working at NCIS, or any other federal agencies for that matter. He was a cop, a field agent. He worked best out there, not sitting behind a desk pushing paper.
He found Abby on his doorstep a couple of days later.
“Why?” Abby asked, stalking in the door, and Tony could see the anger vibrating out of her.
“Abbs�"” Tony began, but Abby interrupted him.
“Don’t ‘Abbs’ me!” Abby said angrily, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “You can’t just leave!”
“Abby, I don’t have a choice. The doctors said that the nerve damage is irreversible.” Tony sighed. He held himself up with his good leg and wrapped a spare arm around Abby, bringing her close. He brought the hand up to pat Abby’s head, kissing her on her temple. “I can’t qualify for the field anymore.”
“Oh, Tony…” Abby sobbed into Tony’s shirt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Tony held Abby in his arms until her sobs subsided. “Come on. I’ve got some coffee on.”
They sat around the dining table, mug in hand.
“Greg is moving here.” Abby gave Tony a small smile, her eyes still a bit red from earlier. “We have a really strong connection. I’ve never met anyone like him.”
“Sounds like you guys hit it off?”
Abby ducked her head shyly. “I guess we did. This might be it, you know?”
Tony’s eyes, once so full of life, looked calmly into Abby’s and he smiled a sad little smile.
“Congratulations, Abbs,” he said. He meant it, really, he did.
---
He stood there, outside of Gibbs’ house, and waved until Abby’s hearse finally disappeared from view before he allowed the smiling mask to fall.
He turned and walked into the house, the weight bearing down on him. He dropped to his knees and crouched down, hands clutching at the front of his shirt, gasping for breath.
They were all gone. Moved on. Left him behind.
He was happy for them�"he really was. Though at the same time, he could feel a familiar sorrow and anger well up in his chest, stealing his breath. He couldn’t bring himself to blame them.
After all, what else was there to do?
He knew as soon as Gibbs left that it wasn’t ever going to be the same. The past eight months were just delaying the inevitable.
He looked up at the house and suddenly he felt the urge to go. To leave. Just go somewhere. Anywhere but here.
But where could he go?
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.