Chapter Fifty-Six
Tony seized for a good three minutes before McGee appeared with Ducky at his side, carrying his medical bag. “What happened, Jethro?” he asked, looking down at Gibbs who had Tony’s head in his lap as he body thrashed around.
“I don’t know, he had a meeting with the Director, stormed down the stairs and I noticed he was breathing fast and spotted that he was about to have a seizure before he fell so I caught him.”
“Good, then we can rule out a head injury, did he take his medication this morning?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he did.”
“Good, then it should ease and stop soon, if it doesn’t I have some diazepam in my bag which I can inject into his thigh to stop it. I ordered some after he was diagnosed in case something like this happened.”
“Good thinking, Duck,” Gibbs said, trying to hide the worry and anger from his voice. Worry because this was the first seizure that Tony had had in months and anger because he was sure that it was something the Director had said to him to have caused this. He planned to find out what that something was the very second he could leave Tony.
They both watched Tony as the thrashing slowed and started to stop. A few minutes after that, he opened his eyes. “Hey, there, beautiful,” Gibbs said, giving Tony a smile. “Wondered how long I’d have to have your head in my lap before you woke up!”
“What happened?” Tony asked, slurring his speech a little.
“I dunno, you tell me. All I know is you came outta that office with a bug up your ass and I saw the warning signs that you were about to seize and caught you as you went down,” Gibbs told him, totally oblivious to the fact that they were in a now very crowded office as everyone on the floor decided to see what was causing all the excitement.
Ducky took charge. “Can everyone go back to their seats, please. Give the poor boy some space to breathe.”
“Feel like I’m in a zoo and I’m the main attraction,” Tony half-whispered, taking in the crowd that had formed around Gibbs and himself.
Gibbs handed Tony over to Ducky and blew a whistle through his teeth. “Hey, people. Back to your desks, there’s nothing to see here!” The tone of voice Gibbs used told everyone that he was deadly serious and the crowd dissipated, leaving just a very worried looking Abby, concerned McGee and confused Ziva standing around the bull pen, unsure of what to do with themselves.
Gibbs turned to his team. “McGee, get Tony’s chair over here so we can get him sitting up,” he said, and McGee busied himself doing that whilst Ziva and Abby just looked at Tony.
Seeing the concern in Abby’s eyes, Tony smiled his best smile, “hey, don’t worry about me, Abs, I’m fine. That just happens sometimes when I get too stressed out and don’t talk it through with someone.”
“Okay, Tony, so long as you’re sure you’re okay and if you need to talk to someone, you can always come down to my lab and hang,” Abby said, returning Tony’s smile.
Between Gibbs and McGee they managed to get Tony standing and then helped him walk over to the chair, unaware that the whole time they were under the watchful eye of Director Jenny Shepherd who was thinking that if she had to deal with an angry Gibbs on Tony’s behalf she would not be able to hide her real reasons for wanting him transferred to Norfolk. He would see through her lies so she had to avoid a confrontation at any cost.
Back in the bull pen, Gibbs was crouched down on the floor so that he was at the same level as Tony. He dismissed the rest of the team with a glare and looked at his co-worker slash partner. “Tell me what she said that got you so worked up that you had a seizure,” he said, softly, still trying to keep any anger out of his voice so that Tony wouldn’t think it was directed at him.
“She told me she can’t, in good conscience allow me to be a full time field agent and that it would be best for me to be transferred to the field office in Norfolk where I can spend the rest of my days doing desk work,” Tony replied.
“Why? The docs have cleared you and Ducky and I went over the guidelines so many times I could probably quote a few of them at you and there was nothing there that said that you had to do desk work.”
“She said that I wasn’t safe to be around the team whilst out in the field. She said that if our cover was blown for an op, I would most likely seize and give away our position, putting other agents, and better agents than me I might add, at risk.”
“She said that?”
“I’m paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it.”
“Right. You, stay here, catch up with your team mates, and listen and do whatever Ducky tells you to do. I have someone I need to talk to.”
“No, Gibbs, you can’t just go in there all guns blazing. I think…”
“I’m not letting this happen, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“I think she knows about us and I think she’s jealous, feels that I’ve stolen you from her or something because she seemed mightily happy for someone who’d just lost a senior field agent,” Tony admitted. If anything though, that made Gibbs even more angry. He glared at Tony, repeating his earlier instructions and then stormed up the stairs in the direction of the Director’s office.
~*~
Gibbs didn’t knock when he stormed into the Director’s office, he didn’t even pause when Cynthia looked up from her desk. The Director was behind her desk, but looked like she would rather be anywhere than there at that particular moment in time. Gibbs didn’t even wait for the door to slam shut behind him before shouting, “what the hell did you tell DiNozzo?”
“I know you’re angry, Gibbs, but you have to understand…” the Director started.
“I don’t have to understand anything than the fact that you are jealous, jealous that I’ve made myself happy by finally admitting my feelings for him, by letting him into my life, my home and my bed - something you never quite managed.”
“I recall being in your bed more than once,” she quipped, though the full extent of Gibbs’ words were still sinking in. “Wait, he’s in your bed?!”
“Yeah, but you knew that already, hence all this crap about him being a danger to the team and his transfer to Norfolk being the only appropriate action you could take.”
“I…I didn’t know you were in a relationship with him,” Jenny said, sounding disgusted and feeling even more jealous about the attention DiNozzo received from Gibbs now that there was something intimate about it.
“Then why did you want him transferred? And don’t give me that crap about it being for the best of the team!”
“It’s in the guidelines…” she started.
“Don’t lie to me! I went over those guidelines with Ducky, musta been a thousand times and we found nothing that said anything of the sort.”
“It was a clause that stated that if the employee in question had a condition that would threaten the lives of their fellow team members they should be transferred out to desk duty only.”
“He’s not a threat to our lives!”
“What if he has a seizure and gives away your position in a delicate situation?”
“He can deal with the stress of the job!”
“Like he dealt with the stress of my transferring him?” she asked, with a smirk on her face.
“So, you saw that, huh?”
“Yeah, as did the rest of the floor.”
“You betrayed DiNozzo, that kind of stress is very different to what we deal with on the job. Not that would know, having sat on your ass in an office for the past few years.”
“I was a good agent!”
“Yeah, the key word there being ’was’.”
“Fine. My decision is final. DiNozzo can return to work at Norfolk doing a job that wouldn’t risk the lives of any agent and as Director of NCIS, my word is final.”
“Then be prepared to deal with my resignation and the resignation of everyone I work with and who has worked with Tony in the past, because we won’t stand for this,” Gibbs told her.
She faltered a little. “I can replace you. No one is irreplaceable.”
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that when you get the next terrorist attack and find yourself with a team worth their weight in gold to dispatch.”
“I can’t believe you would throw away a job you love over him.” The Director said his name with so much disgust that it was a good thing Gibbs had been raised to never strike a woman - especially in anger.
“I love him, pure and simple. I can get another job, given my credentials anywhere I want.”
“I need you here at NCIS, Gibbs,” she said, hating how pleading her voice sounded.
“Then reconsider your decision about Tony.”
“Fine, tell him to report for duty on Monday, but if he kills you all don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“He won’t,” Gibbs replied, confident in his answer. He gave the Director the biggest smile he could muster, which wasn’t much since he was still fuming at her blatant homophobia. He left the office without slamming the door and headed back to the bullpen, now all he had to do was convince Tony.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Who will catch DiNozzo when he falls?
Chapter End Notes:
The next chapter will be the last - hopefully up in the next couple of days, the way I'm writing at the moment, probably tomorrow! Enjoy!