Tony returned from his meeting with Vance thoroughly pissed. He came down the stairs not wishing to see anyone in the elevator and fell into the chair behind his desk. He sat there only seconds before he was on his feet again. He was headed out of the bullpen when Gibbs called his name.

“DiNozzzo!! What is going on with you?” Gibbs said, standing and coming around the his desk.

“Vance!” Tony said turning to face Gibbs. “The bastard…he’s….”

“He’s what?!” Gibbs asked.

“He’s gonna put me on another damned ship.” Tony said, clearly upset, pacing.

Gibbs flew white-hot at the news. He opened his mouth to speak.

“He said another screw up….”

“The undercover op and Shepard were NOT your fault.” Gibbs said, looking up at the landing, hoping he would see Vance standing up there.

“Tell HIM that, Boss.” Tony said, pointing to the fourth floor. “He’s making me the fall guy.”

“He knows, Tony! The Toothpick knows.” Gibbs said. He looked at Tony. “You are not going anywhere.”

Gibbs started up the stairs. “Stay here. Have a seat. I will be right back.”


Gibbs burst into Vance’s office moments later. “What did you say to Agent DiNozzo?” Gibbs demanded.

Vance crossed his arm on top of his desk trying to control his anger. “First of all, Special Agent Gibbs, you respect this office and my position and don’t ever barge in here like that again. Second of all, Agent DiNozzo is reckless and unpredictable. He will get himself and his team killed one day. I can not have a person like that working for me.”

Gibbs was livid. “DiNozzo has never posed a threat to me or to ANY member of my team.”

“Opening an envelope full of Y.Pestis, that wasn’t a threat. The WHOLE ‘Frog’ situation, he could have been withholding information that could have gotten any one of you killed.”

“He wasn’t.”

“You were lucky.” Vance retorted, able to retain his composure, but just barely.

“He’s my agent….”

“You’re wrong. He’s MY agent.” Vance clarified. “He will go where I want him to go when I want him to go.” Vance paused. “MY agent, MY decision.”

“STOP punishing him.” Gibbs said. His voice sharp enough to cut.

“I am not punishing him. I am watching him, Gibbs. As I told him, one more screw-up and he is gone. I will not have anymore dead agents because of him.”

“Shepard is not dead because of him.”

“No, you’re right, Gibbs. She’s dead because of you. She tried to clean up your mess.”

Gibbs was shocked. He had no idea that Vance knew the particulars.

“You are both loose cannons. I can’t have rogue agents in my organization. It makes problems for everybody and gives SecNav huge headaches.” Vance stated. “It puts me in the position to explain why my agents went and continue to go off the grid to do their jobs.”

“So Tim and Ziva….”

Tim knows how to follow orders. Ziva does too. That is one of the things her father taught her well.” Vance explained.

“My team has the highest solve rate in NCIS. Tony and I are a HUGE part of that. You don’t want to mess that up.” Gibbs stated.

“Are you threatening me, Agent Gibbs?”

“No, Director, it is a statement of fact. You need both of us to do this job, to make sure it gets done and to do it well.” Gibbs paused. “Your golden boy wouldn’t be here today if it hadn’t been for Tony.”

“What?”

“You should read what he gets these commendations for, Director. The day Tony came back to work from having the plague he, Kate and Tim were working a crime scene. Two marines had been shot and their car had been pushed down an embankment. Ari Hawari had wired the car to explode. The explosive was rigged to go off when the trunk lid was raised. Tim had started to turn the key when Tony discovered the bomb. He ordered Kate and Tim up the hill towards the NCIS van and me and Ducky. Tony took hold of the key and was careful not to let go until he had given them a head start up the hill. He then let go and took off. But because of the plague he couldn’t run very fast. He got injured again, just some bumps and bruises. And Ducky had to check him over again to make sure the fire and smoke from the explosion had not damaged his lungs.” Gibbs paused for a moment to let what he had told the director sink in.

“If Tim had opened that trunk, I would have lost my whole team. Tony could have easily have let Tim deal with letting go of the key and running up the hill. But HE took that responsibility, Director, because HE is Senior Field Agent and he cares about his team. He protects them and he does a damn good job of it. He jumped into the Chesapeake and saved me and a girl he didn’t even know. He beat on the windshield with his fists until it cracked enough to release from the car. It is damn hard to break tempered glass, even with glass breaking tools. He was using his fists. He then took Maddie up, laid her on the pier and come back for me. I was trapped under the steering wheel. He grabbed it and jerked it up until I was free. It took a great deal of strength and force for him to pull the wheel up and release my legs. He then took me up to the surface and got me on the pier. He gave us both mouth to mouth. A man in excellent physical strength would have found it difficult to do all those things, for a man with scarred lungs, it should have been impossible. Tony developed a mild case of pneumonia and was sick for a week after that. He knew what damage diving in like that could have done to his lungs. There was a chance he could have died. Yet he did it, to save a girl he didn’t even know.”

Gibbs paused again before he spoke. “So, Director, you can take him again if you want.” Gibbs said, looking him square in the eye. “But I have to warn you. If you put him back on a ship, he’ll quit NCIS. If he quits you’ll will be loosing a lot more than a pain-in-the-ass agent. You see as big of a pain-in-the-ass you think he is. He is the glue for this team. The only thing that kept us all sane was we believed that Tony would be transferred back here at the end of his tour. If we had thought he was not going to be…Ducky and I would have retired. Ducky doesn’t work because he needs the money anyway. Abby would have taken one of those many job offers she gets every month. Jimmy is highly marketable and very intelligent. He could work wherever he wants. Ziva would have gone back to Israel… or to the FBI. And…” Gibbs laughed. “…your golden boy would have gone back to Cyber Crimes. Hell, he might have even left NCIS, too.” Gibbs paused. “If Tony leaves again…If he gets reassigned….”

“They wouldn’t ALL leave.” Director stated somewhat worried and a little stunned.

“Maybe not.” Gibbs laughed. “Maybe not. But do you really want to take that chance?” Gibbs turned and left Vance’s office. The huge smile still plastered on his face.


THE END