Chapter 13:
The door to autopsy opened to reveal Ducky sitting at his desk filling out some paperwork. Looking up he saw the looks that both Gibbs and Tony were giving him.
“Ah, I think I’ll go see if Mr. Palmer is back with lunch yet,” Ducky said casually as he made his way out, taking the not so subtle hints he had been given. A small smile from Tony and a nod from Gibbs thanked him for understanding their need for privacy.
After a quick exit from Ducky and the doors had closed, Gibbs waited for Tony to turn around and start the conversation. He knew he had pushed the limits with Tony already, he wasn’t about to make things worse by starting the conversation without knowing where his head was at.
Tony sighed, and turned around to face Gibbs after walking halfway into autopsy. “I know you feel the need to keep a tight rein on me right now, but was it really necessary for you to go off issuing orders without talking to me about it first?”
The quiet way in which Tony had asked his question had surprised Gibbs. He had expected a bit more of the younger agent’s emotion to come through. Instead, Tony was attempting to control them. ‘Talking to Abby must have helped,’ Gibbs thought to himself.
“You’re right, I should have told you about it first,” Gibbs began but was cut off by Tony.
“Not what I asked,” he said. “I asked why you didn’t talk to me about it first.”
“Would there have been much of a discussion had I gone to you first?” Gibbs asked lightly as he regarded Tony’s expression, now beginning to wonder what kind of conversation Tony and Abby did have.
Tony shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. Guess it would have depended on how you went about it.”
“I’m not trying to keep you from doing your job,” Gibbs told him. “I’m trying to keep you around so you can keep doing your job.”
“Morris wouldn’t try anything, especially now. He’s having too much fun rubbing it in my face that he is still out there,” Tony said, his voice starting to rise.
“What makes you sound so sure of that?” Gibbs questioned.
“My gut,” Tony quickly replied. “And don’t go telling me that it’s not enough, unless you’re going to admit to being a hypocrite.”
Gibbs paused as he considered what to say next. Tony did have a point. Far too often the team would look for evidence in a direction where only Gibbs’ gut was leading them. To not allow Tony that same consideration would tell his Senior Field Agent that he didn’t trust his abilities as an investigator.
“I’m not saying I don’t trust your instincts, Tony,” Gibbs reassured him first. “But I’m not willing to take the risk that Morris won’t be tempted to do something spur of the moment because he sees you alone.”
He could have lost Tony on that undercover op with Fornell all those months ago; he wasn’t about to risk loosing him again just because there weren’t enough precautions in place, especially not to Morris.
Tony considered what Gibbs had said. “Then maybe we should play on that.”
Gibbs’ eyes widened in shock. “What did you just say?”
“Think about it, Gibbs,” Tony said confidently. “It would be the perfect way to draw him out. Right now we have nothing, no leads to go on.”
“No,” Gibbs stated in a steal tone voice. “Not just no, hell no. I’m not going to let you play bait for this guy.”
“Come on, Boss. If me being out there as a target will keep someone else from getting killed and we can catch him, I don’t see what the problem is. Besides, the team would be there to back me up.”
“The problem is that you could get hurt or killed in the process, Dinozzo.”
“What is wrong with you? If this were any other case you would be willing to let me go undercover and act as bait to get a suspect. What’s so different this time?” By now both men were yelling at each other and very near to invading each others personal space.
“The difference this time, Tony,” Gibbs said in a quiet yet threatening voice, “is that this is personal. I know how you get when you start taking things personally on any other case. With Morris, I know how far you would go to bring him down.”
“And what’s wrong with that? You telling me you wouldn’t do the same thing?” Tony challenged him, not willing to back down.
Gibbs’ eyes bore into Tony’s as he said, “What’s wrong is you don’t care if you get hurt or killed in the process. You may not care, but I do, so does Abby, Ducky, McGee, Ziva and the Director. Why do you think she approved my new orders?”
Tony blinked and took a step back to study Gibbs more closely. He wasn’t sure what he had expected Gibbs to say, but it certainly wasn’t that.
“You came down here thinking I would get into a shouting match with you,” Gibbs continued. “Would that make things easier for you, Tony?”
“No,” Tony replied softly, not knowing what else to say at the moment.
“Stop trying to do things alone. You have the entire team here to back you up,” Gibbs said in an attempt to put Tony’s mind at ease. He could see the turmoil going on in Tony’s eyes, and he would do anything to get rid of it.
Tony sighed and leaned back against one of the tables. “I just want this to be over with.”
Gibbs walked over next to Tony and leaned against the table as well. “We all do. In the meantime I’m just trying to watch your back.”
“I know,” Tony said in acceptance. “I just wish you didn’t go sneaking around to do it.”
This time it was Gibbs who sighed. “I wasn’t trying to be sneaky about it. I had every intention of telling you. I still expected you to be at your desk when I came back down from the Director’s office. Was in there longer than I planned on.”
Tony let out a little laugh at that. “You can’t set a time limit when you talk to her, Boss.”
“Depends on what we’re talking about,” Gibbs said. “After she got a call from George telling her you tried to leave, she was all too eager to let me loose to deal with my ‘disgruntled agent’.”
“Better you than her, huh?”
“Something like that,” Gibbs said as he moved to stand directly in front of Tony. “Are we clear on things now?”
“Yes, Boss,” Tony answered automatically.
Gibbs nodded. “Good. Now, let’s go. I’m sure everyone is upstairs wondering if they should send someone down to check on us or not.”
Tony snickered. “I don’t think any of them are that brave, Boss.”
Gibbs just returned the grin as they both headed out towards the elevator.
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“How do you think they are doing?” Abby asked as she paused to glance up from her computer.
Ducky gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m sure they are both doing fine. The fact that they went off on their own to have a chat without us having to interfere is a good sign.”
“Maybe,” Abby said. “How did they look when you left autopsy?”
Ducky paused to consider his next words carefully. “They both seemed…determined to straighten things out. How was Tony when he came to see you?”
“Oblivious to the fact that Gibbs is only trying to do what’s best for him,” Abby sighed in frustration. “You would think by now that he would at least start to realize that people around here actually care about him. I mean, all the head-slaps that Gibbs has given him alone should have knocked some sense into him.”
“Unfortunately things such as this are never simple,” Ducky stated. “Don’t worry, one day he will come to see what is right in front of him.”
“Well, he will definitely be better off once we put Morris behind bars or on your table,” Abby said as she started typing away at her computer again.
Ducky nodded his head in agreement. “Indeed. Hopefully Ziva and McGee will get a lucky break and have something more to go on. It’s almost as though we are right back where we started all those years ago, going through what little evidence we have.”
“I hear ya, Duck-man. Even now I still can’t believe that no one believed Tony back then. There may be a lack of evidence to find Morris, but there is plenty to go around proving that he’s killed on a regular basis. I hate to think where Tony would be right now if we hadn’t met him,” Abby confessed.
“There’s no need for that,” Ducky pointed out. “We did meet him and he is here now.”
Abby grinned. “Think it was meant to be?”
“As in, was it fate for Jethro and Tony to meet? Absolutely,” Ducky said with a grin of his own.
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Gibbs and Tony had returned to find the bullpen empty; Ziva and McGee were still out running a lead. No sooner did they sit down at their respective desks did Palmer return with sandwiches from the deli down the street. He handed Gibbs and Tony theirs while sitting Ziva’s and McGee’s on their desks before heading downstairs with Ducky’s, Abby’s and his own.
“I didn’t think they would be gone this long,” remarked Tony between bites. “They were only going out to interview one guy, right?”
“As far as I know. Must not have located him yet,” Gibbs replied. “They’ll call in if something comes up.”
A few minutes later McGee and Ziva returned, escorting between them the reason for their absence. The glares sent his way before Tony could make a remark kept him silent as they escorted their questionable companion to interrogation. Even Gibbs didn’t say anything as he was able to detect their foul mood as well.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Tony looked at Gibbs and said, “Well, this should be interesting.”
“You think, Dinozzo?” Gibbs retorted.
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When McGee and Ziva got back they both tour into their sandwiches and took several bites before saying anything to Gibbs or Tony, who waited patiently for them to start.
Unfortunately, Gibbs only had so much patience. “Now would be a good time for one of you to start explaining.”
“Morgan Lewis. Supposed employer at the warehouse,” McGee started, as Ziva was still chewing.
“Only he has never actually worked there,” Ziva continued while McGee took another bite of his sandwich.
“A bartender at one of the local places pointed him out to us.”
“He saw us coming and started to run, thinking he could get away.”
Back and forth, Ziva and McGee took turns so that they could finish their lunch without having to disobey Gibbs.
“When we finally caught up to him, he admitted to never even putting in an application for any kind of job recently, because he didn’t need the money.”
“Another man paid him 2,000 to use his identity, for what, he didn’t know, nor did he seem to care. He thought he was rich.”
“We have him set up with a sketch artist right now; hopefully we will get an updated picture of what Morris looks like now.”
When it seemed like they were done with the back and forth ‘reporting in’, Tony asked, “Had he ever seen Morris before?”
Ziva shook her head no. “According to Lewis, he was just some random guy off the street.”
“Lewis isn’t much of a criminal mastermind, the worst thing he’s ever been charged with was purse-snatching,” McGee informed them. “I doubt he even took the time to think why Morris would want his identity.”
“Morris and his team never bothered with trying to hide their identity,” Gibbs stated.
“Seems like a lack of a team has brought on new methods,” Tony said.
“Ziva, McGee, good work,” Gibbs said as he headed for interrogation. “Let’s go see what else Lewis has to say.”
As McGee and Ziva moved to follow Gibbs, Tony lagged behind a bit. Finally, they had something to go on. It may not seem like much at the moment, but Tony knew from experience that in circumstances such as this, the most unlikely things could turn into the biggest piece of the puzzle.
Hurrying to catch up before Gibbs gave him a head-slap, Tony smiled to himself.
At last, things were starting to turn around in their favor.
Chapter End Notes:
Yay, another chapter so soon! Hope the conversation between Gibbs and Tony was done to everyone’s satisfaction. Hopefully no one will have anymore doubts about this story continuing now that I am updating again, lol. Again, sorry it took so long to get back in the swing of things. Reviews are in great demand!