Chapter 1: News
Tony's POV
He closed his cell phone and put it back into his pocket but didn't move from where he stood behind the stairs leading up to MTAC. The first year into this mission he had hoped this phone call would come. Two years into the mission he thought he wouldn't mind the phone call to come, but wouldn't mind it either if it didn't. And now, five years into the mission, he had hoped this phone call would never come; but it did.
He took a few deep breaths. He had to regain his self-control. Now, more than ever, he had to do everything to remain his cover. He had a plan for that moment when the phone call came. Two years into the mission he had changed the plan. And now he couldn't think of anything that would explain the actions he surely had to take in the very near future.
It already had been difficult to find a good excuse when Director Sheppard had offered him his own team in Spain. Now he thought that might have been no coincidence. Actually, he was pretty sure it was no coincidence but working with Gibbs for five years he had been in too many unforeseeable situations to still believe everything that happened was planned out.
"DiNozzo?"
He looked up into blue eyes he never really managed to read. All his life he thought he was a good judge of character. That nobody could lie to him easily. Five years with Gibbs, he knew better. The older man had lied to him. The older man had withhold things. And still he would trust him with his life, if he could.
"Tony, what's going on?"
Gibbs asked again as Tony didn't answer. The younger man looked down and took a deep breath.
"I...I just a call from the latest wife of my father. He's in hospital and wants to see me."
He could feel Gibbs� gaze harden on him and prayed he'd believe him.
"You wanna go?"
"Not really. But who knows. Maybe he has something important to say and...I think I should go."
He looked up to wait for a reaction. Against his hopes Gibbs nodded.
"Give me a call, if anything turns up."
Tony raised his eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean...if you wanna talk, call me."
Tony opened his mouth to say something but Gibbs was already gone. Sighing heart deep Tony collected his coat and left the office. He couldn't help the sentimental gaze he gave the building as he sat in his car.
As he drove through the city he didn't took the quickest way to the place he's been told. Just this time it wasn't to make sure he wasn't followed. He passed all those sights of DC he'd never had the time or the energy to visit. He knew that it would be the same as in Paris, Barcelona or Berlin. He knew he would never see the Eiffel tower again, he would never go into Sanssoussi. He would never visit the opera in Barcelona, because he would never go into those cities again. And it was the same with Washington DC. He passed all those galeries and museums he never really took notice of, he drove by the white house and all those other great building you should have seen when you were there. He gave himself a week from now and then, Anthony Dinozzo would be gone, forever.
Gibbs� POV
He rubbed his eyes tiredly. The day was too long for his liking and the fact that Tony wasn't there only made it longer. Three hours had passed, no, snailed away, since Tony went to the hospital to visit his father. He didn't know if Mr. DiNozzo was going to die or if it just was one of his strange mind games he seemed to play with Tony all the younger man's life. Gibbs couldn't help but worry. He wanted to know that his second was alright and he really hoped Tony would call.
He looked up when he heard the �ding" from the elevator, half expecting Tony to come back, but a really bad feeling swelled in his gut when two Cops entered the squadroom and even made their way towards his desk.
"Special Agent Gibbs?"
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry to inform you, but Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo had a car accident."
From the corner of his eyes he saw Ziva and McGee stand up and approach the desk. Gibbs stayed focused on the young cop in front of him.
"Is he alright?"
"I'm afraid he isn't. He died instantly in the crash."
Ziva and McGee now stepped into the scene.
"Tony is dead?"
The young woman exclaimed. Gibbs sat back in his chair. This couldn't be. He'd know if Tony was dead. He knew he wasn't dead. But here stood two cops and told him that he was. And they couldn't be wrong, could they?
"How?"
His voice was nothing more than a hoarse whisper but he couldn't care less. If Tony was really dead it didn't matter.
"A truck got off its line and ran full speed and frontal into Agent DiNozzo."
"Are you sure it's Tony?"
McGee asked and Gibbs could easily relate to the question. Maybe, if the body was too desturbed, there was a tiny little chance that Tony was still alive.
"We are. We checked the plate of the mustang and we could identify him by his photo on his driver's license. And one of our collegues knew him...I'm really sorry."
With that they left the team alone and for a very long time none of them moved or spoke. More than twenty minutes later Gibbs finally worked himself up to go to Jen and report. It wasn't easy for him to retell what he had heard and he could see that Jen was just as shocked and sad as McGee and Ziva had been. He still didn't know fully what Tony had been doing for her but apparently they had grown close when he was in Mexico, not that he was surprised.
He was somehow relieved when McGee later told him that he would take over to tell Abby and Ziva volunteered to tell Ducky and Palmer. Jen had set them off duty, knowing full well that none of them could work concentrated at the very moment. Had Tony died in the line of duty Gibbs wouldn't have accepted, but now there was nothing to focus on. A case would only remind him that his second-in-command wasn't there. It would only encrease the pain of losing Tony. An Agent. A Friend. His stomach clenched and he knew the feeling too well. He had just made it to his house on autopilot and into the guest's bathroom on the first floor before he threw up everything he had eaten that day, which wasn't much. The three slices of pizza he had nicked from Tony. He knew that moment that he had lost more than a friend. He knew it the very moment the cops had stepped into the bullpen but now it was more than real. It was overwhelming and all he remembered later were tears swelling up in his eyes and then everything was black.