When they arrive back at the office Tony takes a firm grip of Ziva’s forearm, “Stay down and stay quiet. I managed to head off the snapping and growling last night. I’m not going to be able to do it now. Basically I’m gonna draw fire here, just let me do it.”
“As you wish.”
“Such team spirit you have.”
“You know the man best. If you tell me to let you handle it that is exactly what I do. If I tell you to allow me to handle someone trained in hand to hand combat by Mossad do you protest?”
Tony shrugs, “Fair enough.”
“What’ve you got DiNozzo?”
“The address Abby sent us was their place boss. Two bedrooms, lived in but they didn’t leave much. Either they knew we were on to them or they always planned to clear out after the murder.”
“In other words you got nothing.”
“That remains to be seen Boss. Abbs has what we collected. If it was planned they probably set up a new safe house, if there’s anything to find you know Abbs is our girl. And it gave us some more incite into Sidle and Livingston.”
“Because that’s exactly what we need to know,” Gibbs growls, clearly frustrated.
Tony ignores his ill temper, going directly into briefing mode. “They had separate spaces set up, they definitely are not a couple. Livingston had at least a dozen pictures of the fiancé in his room. No journal or computer. A lot of books though. It seemed like he spent a lot of time there. Sidle on the other hand clearly wasn’t spending much time there. Her room looked like a college girl’s. Pictures and mementos from various social events, dozens of hangers, and an entire bathroom counter of hair products and make-up. It looks like he was very focused on getting revenge and then getting back to life he had planned. Sidle might have lost the thread of things though, this new life as a party girl that let her get close and case victims seems to have appealed to her.”
“And it gives us a new avenue of investigation,” Ziva volunteers, clearly forgetting Tony’s instructions.
“And that would be?” Gibbs prompts impatiently.
“Livingston clearly intends to return to his life in Providence. It seems likely that he would still be in touch with his fiancé.”
McGee perks up at that, “I could put a trace on the fiancé’s phone line, when he contacts her we’d have his location.”
“You’re assuming that he’d call her. If they’ve gone to ground that would be a foolish risk to take.”
“And he’s shown such a keen military mind up to now,” Tony shoots back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Abigail, I’m sorry but I may have to kill your father.”
“He’s really being that bad?” Abby chuckles as Tony crosses to her side.
“I can handle rude, difficult, testy and unrealistic but he’s being negative and confrontational. We give him a foot he wants to know why it isn’t a yard. I get that he’s frustrated. We’re all frustrated. At least the rest of us are trying to contribute.” Tony rubs his eyes, “He’s read through Dixen’s file six times now. And yes I know how pathetic it is that I know that.”
“Why are you so convinced Dixen is a dead end?”
“I never said Dixen is a dead end. I just doubt very much that there’s going to be anything that even points to what he knows in his service record. I mean what could there possibly be? A note from his last CO mentioning he‘s something of the company chaplain, taking unofficial confessions?”
“So call him back. Ask Dixen what he knows.”
“Not that easy Princess. It’s not like he has cell reception.”
She turns to her computer and types a few quick commands, “Maybe not, but he’s got email.”
“You figure out a discreet way to get information through email and I’m on it Abbs.”
“Could he contact you?”
“If he was willing to let his CO know he had more information for us.”
“So convince him to come forward rather than having you prove he’s hiding something. Imply you know what it is.”
“Now that might just work. You, my dear, are a genius. Must take after your mother.”
“Don’t be too hard on Pop, he just has a low threshold for frustration.”
“Tell me something half the eastern seaboard doesn’t already know.”
“Rule forty-seven is ‘Respect is earned, love isn’t. Don’t put up with people who make you work for the wrong one.’ And it isn’t one that Pop made up.”
“Good advice,” Tony allows evenly. “So you know who the rules originally came from?”
“Nope. But I know two people who didn’t start them. Pop and Grandpa Jack.”
“I’m getting the distinct feeling I’m going to have to use extortion to find out who came up with them initially.”
“I’d say that’s a safe bet,” Abby grins. “Are you going to email Dixen or not?”
“Yes I am. And then I’m going to drag him home and convince him that it’s okay to be human. Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need luck Tony, but I don’t need to know anything about what you do need.”
Tony laughs, “Fair enough. You be careful tonight, just because it’s Halloween doesn’t mean the scary kind of freaks and ghouls aren’t out there.”
“You’re so cute when you go all parental.”
“I mean it Abbs.”
“I know. I’ll be careful, I promise.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Go answer the door. No candy if they’re old enough to shave, and if it’s little Bethany from down the street make sure she takes the little vampire teddy bear Abby left for her.”
“You want me to go hand out candy?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
“To your neighbors’ kids? Barefoot and fresh from the shower?”
“Until I finish shaving at least, yes. This is a difficult concept why exactly?”
“Just an interesting way to introduce me around.”
“As long as you’re wearing pants and don’t leer at the mothers I’m not seeing a problem.”
The doorbell rings again and Tony heads down to answer it. A small boy, four or five years old dressed as Woody from Toy Story looks up at him shyly and then back over his shoulder before holding out his bag, “Trick or Treat?”
Tony smiles and drops some candy in the bag, “Happy Halloween partner.”
“Thank you.”
The boy’s mother steps forward with her own slightly shy smile, “We haven’t met yet. I’m Flora from two doors down.”
“Nice to meet you I’m Tony…” He trails off helplessly, who the hell should he say he is?
Gibbs wraps an arm around Tony’s waist, “Good evening Flora, I see you’ve finally met ‘the new boyfriend’.”
“And I’m certain I’m the envy of all the neighborhood gossip hounds just now.”
Gibbs nods and releases Tony to drop down and speak to the boy, “Who are we this year Andrew?”
“I’m Woody Mr. Gibbs. From Toy Story.”
“I guess that makes you the sheriff in these parts.”
“Of course not silly. Woody’s just a toy.”
“Oh, I see.” He nods solemnly and stands up. “Good night Flora.”
“Good night Gibbs, it was nice meeting you Tony.”
Tony shuts the door and turns a confused gaze on Gibbs.
“You thought no one noticed you spending night after night here?” Gibbs laughs, “Old Mrs. Colter from next door has asked everyone for two blocks but me about ‘that handsome young man that keeps spending the night with Mr. Gibbs’. And Miss Lennox from the next block over is appalled that ‘homosexuals have moved into her neighborhood’ despite the fact that she only moved into this neighborhood a year ago.”
“You want me to start fetching the paper in my boxers in the mornings?”
“We could make out on the front porch…” He pushes Tony gently against the wall, “Or I could just introduce you as they turn up on the doorstep.”
“Okay, you win. Am I allowed to put a shirt on?”
“If it makes you feel better.”
“Sorry, something about all the kids running around… And the idea of being eyed like a side of beef again doesn’t exactly appeal either.”
Gibbs laughs, “Caught that did ya?”
“You think it’s funny?”
“A little bit.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Good thing for you.”
“Don’t I know it.”
They settle comfortably in the den, where Tony’s convinced Gibbs to let him put up a flat screen TV and he’s brought over “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” and “The Thing from Another World.” The plan is to enjoy too much sugar and cheesy old movies while the little ones hang on the bell.
As he settles back against Gibbs’ chest Tony asks a quiet, “You know all the kids in the neighborhood, don’t you?”
Gibbs shrugs a little, “I like kids.”
“I know. I just didn’t realize you were this active in your neighborhood, it’s… nice.”
“Nice?” Gibbs attempts a growl.
Tony sits up and drops a quick kiss on Gibbs’ cheek, “Yes, nice. I bet all the mothers tell their little ones to run to you if they’re ever in trouble.”
“Yeah, they do,” His tone is happy, satisfied. Tony smiles and resettles against Gibbs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour later Tony pauses the movie and takes his turn answering the door without much thought, “Hello.”
It‘s a smiling little girl dressed as if she were Abby’s mini-me whose face begins to fall when she looks up at him, “Um, is Mr. Gibbs here?”
“Sure hold on just a minute,” Tony smiles reassuringly before turning back toward the sofa, “Jethro, I think you should field this one.”
Gibbs comes into the front hall and upon seeing the girl’s expression scoops her up, “Well if it isn’t Bethany, queen of darkness. I see you managed to convince your mother to let Princess Abby dress you.”
“Isn’t it cool Mr. Gibbs?” The little girl enthuses brightly.
“It’s just right. Now why’d you look so sad when I came out here.”
“You didn’t answer the door. Last time you didn’t answer the door you…” She sniffles.
“I promise I was only a little hurt then, Abby just wanted me to make sure I was going to get better as fast as possible.”
“I know. I just thought you might be hurt again.”
“I’m perfectly fine. You can even ask Tony, he wouldn’t lie to you.”
“This is Tony?” Bethany asks breathlessly.
“At your service Ma’am,” Tony offers his hand.
“Abby’s right, you’re very pretty.”
“Pretty huh? I might have to have a discussion with the Princess about that.”
“She says you’re her Daddy’s Prince Charming.”
“I hope so anyway.”
“Come on in Heather, it seems like you could use a break,” Gibbs directs out the open door and the girl’s mother steps forward.
“Thank you Jethro. I could use a few minutes. Where on earth do they get all that energy and why can’t I bottle it?”
“Trade secret of being a kid,” Tony offers with a smile. “Hi, I’m Tony.”
“I’m Heather and I’ve heard a lot about you, second hand of course, but still a lot.”
“I wouldn’t take too much of what filters through Abby’s fairytale glasses seriously. She just doesn’t see the flaws.”
“So you don’t chase down criminals on foot and reunite lost children with their loved ones?”
“So maybe some of it contains small kernels of truth.”
“You hunt bad guys with Mr. Gibbs don’t you?” Bethany prompts.
“Yes Honey, he does.”
“The team and I find the clues and Gibbs puts them together and saves the day.”
“Don’t make it seem like I’m always the hero. You’ve been the one to put it all together and save the day plenty of times.”
“Why don’t you sit down and color for a few minutes while I talk to Mr. Gibbs and Tony, sweetie?” Heather asks her daughter with a subtle push into the kitchen.
“Sure Mom,” Bethany agrees readily pulling a coloring book from her trick or treat bag.
The adults continue on into the den. There’s a moment of stilted silence before Heather smiles a little self consciously, “I feel like I already know you a little.”
“I really have to have a long talk with Abbs about this, first Liz now your neighbors…”
“It’s not that she talks about you so much, at least not exactly. She just tells a lot of stories about chasing down the bad guys and she gets rather descriptive. I feel as if I know the whole team really,” Heather assures him.
“Fair enough,” Tony concedes easily. “I’m still at a bit of a disadvantage. All I know about you is you wish you could bottle your daughter’s energy and you let Abbs dress her up for Halloween.”
“She had her heart set on it. I think Abby is her hero. We moved into the neighborhood just over two years ago after we lost my husband in a gas station robbery. Everyone was giving her the standard grief speech, ‘I know it hurts but it will pass. You’ll feel better eventually, I promise.’ And I guess I missed it but the idea of forgetting her father scared Bethany to death. I really don’t know how I missed it. But then one Saturday Bethany was playing jump rope on the sidewalk while the other kids all played together and literally bumped into Abby. And Abby saw what I missed. She came and talked to me and together we helped Bethany the way she needed us to. There are definitely worse friends out there for a little girl.”
“That sounds like our Princess all right. I’m sorry about your husband.”
“Thank you. More than you ever wanted to know about some strange woman from down the street huh?”
“Not at all. You’re clearly someone Abby and Jethro care about, a high recommendation in my book.”
“Which is part of why I’m glad to meet you. You’ve got the same high recommendation. That and we all like seeing Jethro happy and you’re obviously one means to that particular end.”
Noting Tony’s embarrassment at that pronouncement Gibbs smiles at her, “How have you two been the last few weeks?”
“As busy as you’ve been I’d wager. It seems like every girl in the first grade had a birthday in the last two weeks. I’m pretty sure a few of them weren’t even friends of Bethany’s.”
“Oh I don’t know about that, she’s far from shy.”
“Like I said, if I could only bottle her energy.”
“Try caf-pow, it seems to be pretty close,” Tony manages to joke.
Heather laughs and stands back up, “I’ll keep that in mind but for now I think it’s time we let you gentlemen get back to your movie.”
“I have something for Bethany which if I fail to hand over my own daughter will have an absolute hissy fit despite being thirty.”
“Now Jethro that’s not fair. A hissy fit involves yelling and crying. Abbs would just lecture you on not being nice and then babble about how you are nice but not polite nice and your head would explode.”
“Which would be bad,” Heather interjects solemnly.
“Yes it would. It would ruin the paint job and just generally wreck up the place. And being the long suffering boyfriend I’d end up cleaning it up and throwing the wake, patting strangers on the shoulder and accepting completely insincere condolences. And then I’d have to go and be mad at your little girl and I don’t like that idea one bit.”
“At least I know now how broken up you’d be.”
“I’d be devastated and you know it Jethro. Now grab Bethany’s present before we make even bigger morons of ourselves in front of your lovely neighbor.”
Heather chuckles, “I was finding it very entertaining.”
Gibbs approaches the little girl with the teddy bear held at his side as if it were nothing extraordinary. “Abby had plans tonight but she wanted me to make sure you got this,” He hands over the bear.
“She found him!” She hugs the bear tightly and displays him to the adults, “His name is Count Cubula and he’s a vampire bear. See, he’s got fangs and everything.”
“Very cool,” Tony provides enthusiastically.
“You’ll tell Abby thank you for me Mr. Gibbs, won’t you?”
“Absolutely.”
“Thank you,” She hugs him. “And make sure you’re extra careful, daddies are important.”
“I promise.”
“And I promise I’ll protect him,” Tony volunteers.
“Thank you Tony.”
It takes another five minutes to sort out the goodbyes and Tony’s almost relieved when they do.
“Is she always that worried about you?”
“Abby accidentally mentioned to her how I was hurt last week. Considering how her father died I think it’s understandable how much that scared her.”
Tony nods. “And she sees Abby as a playmate, not an adult?”
“Abbs goes out of her way to act the part.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So how was your Halloween?” Abby asks curiously as Tony joins her in the elevator.
Tony grins, “Enlightening.”
“Met some of the neighborhood kids, huh?”
“I found Bethany especially enlightening.”
“She’s a sweet kid and she needed a friend, not another babysitter.”
“And being her friend required you calling me pretty.”
“You are pretty Tony! Those cheekbones, and your eyes? You are a beautiful man Tony.”
“I worry about you Princess.”
“Well Bethany agreed with me didn’t she?” Abby demands as the doors open to the bullpen.
“She was coached.”
“Believe whatever you want Tony,” She continues across to the secure elevator without a glance at the others.
Tony offers McGee and Ziva each a brief nod before booting his computer and reading Dixen’s email. When he has he breaths a silent sigh of relief. This morning Gibbs has been a bear with a sore head, well since they exited the shower anyway. He sets up their end with one of the MTAC techs before Gibbs arrives, coffee in hand.
“You better be smiling because you have a lead for me DiNozzo.”
“I do Boss. I’m speaking to Dixen about what he knows in about twenty minutes.”
“When did you arrange that?”
“Last night.” He correctly interprets the raised eyebrow as “When?” “Sent the email just before I left for the day. Made Dixen an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
That receives a twitch of the lips, a micro expression only Tony knows to look for, indicating the amusement he was hoping to achieve.
“What are we waiting for?”
Tony can feel the Director’s eyes on him as Dixen appears on the main screen. He wonders for a heart pounding moment if she can see the love bite on the back of his neck from there. “PFC Dixen.”
“Agent DiNozzo.”
“It was clear to us yesterday that you knew more about PFC Bering’s mysterious Michelle than the others and didn’t want to say anything.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say I know anything Sir. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Pete you see but I read those letters. I don’t think she was what he thought she was…”
“What does that mean exactly Private?” Gibbs probes, impatient at the young man’s hedging.
“I believe Michelle was a man sir. The letters just didn’t sound like what a woman would write.” He bits his lip, “And the bar she asked him to meet her at? My sister’s been there a few times, it’s… a liberal sort of place if you take my meaning.”
“Did you mention any of that to Bering?”
“To tell you the truth I thought maybe he knew. But he wasn’t telling me anything and I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask. Pete was a good man. A friend of mine. Who he choose to spend his liberty in bed with wasn’t any of my business.”
Tony still senses some hesitation on Dixen’s part. “But you don’t think that was what was going down, do you Private?”
“No sir. Pete was sort of a hound dog. I figure if he had a wandering eye it’d be pretty easy to tell. At least for those of us who knew enough to look. I thought maybe this guy was going to try to blackmail him actually. Pete wouldn’t have taken that well you see.”
“Is there some reason Bering would be susceptible to blackmail?”
“He was a little… excitable as to how others perceived him. He might have scrounged up the money just to keep ‘em quiet.”
Gibbs strides up the ramp and Tony tries to smooth Dixen over a bit, “Thank you for the information Private. I’m sure it’ll prove useful.”
When Tony makes his way into the Bullpen Gibbs is brooding at his desk and McGee is watching Tony curiously. “Dixen thinks Michelle might have been planning to bait and switch Bering and then blackmail him.”
Before anyone can comment that the possibility doesn’t help them find Livingston and Sidle, McGee’s computer beeps. “Boss, I just got the hospital records on the attack on Rebecca Sidle. Severely beaten doesn’t begin to cover it. She spent six days in intensive care. They didn’t know if she would survive for the first three. She was a painter and they crippled her right hand. She lost her livelihood.”
“Which explains why Livingston might have changed the plan and killed the mark,” Tony provides.
Gibbs glares and Ziva stands quickly, “We just received a response to the BOLO, a Maryland state trooper just pulled Sidle over for speeding on Interstate 95 near Calverton. He has her in custody.”
“Ziva, with me. Tony, contact Detroit PD, see if you can get anymore information about the investigation into the attack on the Sidle woman. McGee, keep looking for Livingston. Until we’ve got them both this isn’t over.”
“On it Boss,” McGee begins typing.
Tony’s already on the phone but he does look up to sign “Careful.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they arrive to pick up Sidle Gibbs’ phone rings and he hangs back, “Gibbs.”
“Hey Bossman, I’ve got good news.”
“Is that so sweetheart?”
“They might not have a computer at the apartment but Livingston had access to one somewhere. He was printing out a lot of assassination for dummies kind of stuff. Including how to make a silencer. He’s definitely not a pro but he had the necessary information to pull off the murder at the Palomar.”
“Good work Abbs.”
“Any luck finding them yet?”
“Looks like we’ve got Sidle, but Livingston is still in the wind.”
“You’ll find him.”
“I hope so Baby girl.”
“Did they locate Livingston?” Ziva asks as she returns with a handcuffed Sidle.
“No. But Abby found evidence that links them directly to the murder in the evidence collected from their apartment.”
“It wasn’t a murder!” Sidle protests vehemently. “We were going to photograph him. In bed with Michelle. They weren’t even going to do anything. Just some pictures while he was asleep and purposefully bad job of blackmail. It was just to prove that I was right, that it was dangerous to trust the individual company firewalls to protect the generated security codes. The code generators can’t be hacked. A system that logs the codes can.”
“So you say,” Ziva responds quietly.
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.