Tony looked up from his position sitting at a small table in his new room reading a tabloid newspaper, he heard footsteps coming his way and then saw Luis as he walked into the room.
"Did you know some blind guy has taught himself to cycle using sonar, he clicks and knows where things are. Cool huh?" Tony read off the paper.
"It'd be more impressive if he didn't have any arms. Show me that and i'll be impressed." Seb's voice came from behind Puchalski as he too entered the room.
"We had a case nearby and saw it was near dinnertime, figured I'd see if I could steal some food from here." Luis laughed. "How's it going?"
"I learned how to get out of bed the other day, big moment for me." Tony shrugged.
He had been at the rehab unit for ten days and it was the first time Luis had dropped by. Abby visited almost every day, she being the one entrusted with the spare key to his apartment, his inner sanctum. She brought his junk mail which he appreciated because other than the hour of physical therapy and the hour of occupational therapy a day, he had nothing to do. His still healing back preventing him from doing all he wanted in a day.
The staff were good, they tried to keep him occupied with something in the 22 hours he wasn't having some sort of therapy. Tony knew the pace would increase and he couldn't complain, this was for his own good and besides the one hour he spent in physical therapy wore him out.
Ducky stopped by on occasion as well, he was good at listening to Tony bitch and offering advice, putting things in perspective for the younger man. DiNozzo was positive that the ME was just happy that someone was speaking back to him after spending his days talking to the dead. Gibbs however remained elusive, having not visited since the night he'd brought Tony pizza and they'd talked candidly for what must have been the first time.
Tony scratched at his head before looking up at Luis "It's kind of like New Years Eve."
"With fireworks and balls dropping?" Fletcher asked, poking around the room.
"A few years ago my cousin Petey and I went out for New Years Eve. He was beyond drunk. We went to the bar to get some girls a round of drinks. The bar was packed and Pete was shoved right up against my back, eventually a space opened up at the bar but I couldn't move." DiNozzo laughed. "Petey had passed out, standing up and leaning on me. I ended up having to drag him out of that bar, get a cab back to his place and climb six flights of stairs all with him unconscious." Tony patted his unfeeling legs. "That's kind of what it's like, dragging along my drunken cousin."
"That was a real long winded way of saying 'it's like having a dead weight'." Fletcher commented, picking up a magazine from the bedside table and plopping himself down on Tony's bed before flicking through the pages.
"You know he is quite annoying." Tony turned from watching Seb to Luis who still stood before him.
"Try dealing with it all day everyday." Puchalski responded, looking over to Fletcher as he looked up grinning.
"You love me."
"I tolerate you."
"Junior Probie, why hasn't Gibbs eaten you alive?" Tony asked turned to look at the junior agent.
"Because I remind him of you." Fletcher said with all seriousness.
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The bullpen was quiet as Gibbs arrived, only a few agents were at their desks one of the few however was Puchalski who was listening intently to someone on the phone.
"Fax everything you have over to me." Luis said before hanging up the phone and making his way hastily to the fax machine.
"What've you got Puchalski?" Jethro asked coming up behind the agent.
"Just had a call from Baltimore PD, body of a woman was found in her home. Well half of her was found, by her six year old daughter." Luis grimaced at the thought but continued. "It's the third body they've found like that, completely cut in half. Only the head and torso have been recovered in each case, no trace of the lower half."
"What does this have to do with us?"
"All the victims, they were victims or witnesses in cases DiNozzo worked on when he was at BPD."
"Get me the files Puchalski." Gibbs ordered forcefully before nearly running up to the level above them and stalking into the Director's office, ignoring the shouts of protest from her assistant.
"Agent Gibbs." Jenny smiled at the dour faced agent.
"Baltimore have a case that involves DiNozzo. I want it." Jethro stated.
"I'm sure I can make some enquiries." Shepherd responded looking a little shocked.
"I don't want an enquiry Jen, I want that case." Gibbs spun on his heal and exited the office. As he stood at the top of the stairs he saw McGee and Fletcher step off the elevator deep in discussion over something.
Jethro made his way down the stairs meeting the two agents as they reached the bank of desks that held Gibbs' team. "We've got a case, high priority." The two nodded and McGee scuttled off to his desk, Fletcher moved around Gibbs and leant on his desk.
"Gibbs, I've got the files coming through." Luis said as the fax machine roared into life and sheet after sheet came sprawling out.
Jethro's phone rang and he snatched it up quickly. "Yeah?" He answered. "Good." slamming the phone down he turned his attention back to Puchalski. "The case is ours, make copies. BPD are sending everything to us." Jethro ran a hand through his hair and exhaled sharply.
The few weeks since Boone's execution had been quite quiet. The team earning some downtime, which consisted of cold cases, trying to see a pattern in senseless crime that hadn't been seen before. The only case they had dealt with was an instance of theft. A disgruntled former NCIS employee had stolen one of the cars from the carpool and dumped it in the middle of nowhere leaving the team driving around the Virginia countryside looking for the vehicle. That was three weeks ago and everyone was chomping at the bit to get a real case, Gibbs wasn't sure any of them wanted to be investigating this. One of their own was being targeted.
"McGee warn Abby that she's getting evidence shipped in from Baltimore." Jethro ordered.
"What's the case boss?" McGee asked and Fletcher listened. They had obviously missed something.
"BPD case, three victims and Tony is somehow involved." Puchalski explained from his position by the fax organising papers. The originals would be coming no doubt but these would at least get them up to speed.
"Baltimore have allowed us to take lead and they will offer full cooperation. I need more coffee." Gibbs stated before taking off towards the elevator.
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When Gibbs arrived back both hands full, each with a coffee cup. Luis and Seb sat at the same desk looking through the case files.
"Where's McGee?" He asked, placing one cup down and raising the other to his lips, savouring the strong taste for a moment.
"Abby's lab getting her up to date." Luis spoke, his head never rising from the file that gripped his attention. "Latest victim Lucy Kellan was eight months pregnant when she witnessed a drug trade from her kitchen window, she managed to identify one of the dealers but never testified at his trial. DiNozzo was lead detective on the case." Luis read out.
"What about the other two?" Gibbs asked, leaning back on his desk and looking at the two agents sitting side by side.
"The first to show up a month ago was a rape victim from nine years ago, Donna George. Case was never solved and Tony was the first uniform on site. Boyfriend found the body in bed, hands cuffed to the bed." Fletcher read.
"The second victim Andre Carlton was the brother of a gang member that had been thrown from a window by a rival gang. His body was spotted by a van driver, hung by his neck from the same window, that was two weeks ago. It was DiNozzo's first case as detective."
"Whoever we're dealing with, they've got access to or had access to BPD's files." Puchalski noted.
"And really have it in for DiNozzo." Fletcher commented, putting the file down.
"Puchalski, go check on Abs and McGee." Gibbs ordered, grabbing his bag and gun. "Fletcher with me."
Seb stood and grabbed him things, when he met Gibbs at the elevator he was handed one of the coffee cups. His surprise amused Gibbs.
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"Gibbs and Fletcher are off to see Tony." Luis announced as he walked into Abby's lab to find six or seven boxes strewn across the room, papers and plastic evidence bags overflowing from them. "Have you got anything?"
"Lulu we just got this stuff." Abby sighed. "We are just sorting through everything."
"It could be a couple of hours." McGee noted from his position crouched over one of the boxes, picking out an evidence bag containing a set of handcuffs. Luis figured they were the ones used on Donna George.
"Did they find any prints on those?" Puchalski asked McGee.
"Nothing."
"But we're re-running everything just to be sure." Abby added from where she stood at her computer.
"Good." Luis nodded, surveying the chaos around him and not quite sure what to do himself.
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Seb and Gibbs walked into a gym area of the rehab facility having been told that DiNozzo was in the middle of a therapy session and seeing a lot more of DiNozzo than expected. He was sitting on a padded table at one side of the room a pair of loose fitting sweats hanging much lower than they should have been. On hearing noise behind him Tony turned.
"Hey Boss." Tony greeted as the two approached. "Fletcher."
"DiNozzo your ass is hanging out."
"I'm not complaining." Seb laughed at the embarrassed look on Tony's face as he tried to turn in place and look at his own ass. Sighing heavily he turned his attention to the therapist that sat on a stool in front of him rotating his left foot.
"You could have mentioned that Sarah." He said as he lowered his upper body back to lie on the table before rolling slightly to his right and using one hand pulled the back of his sweats up and then returned to his previous seated position. "Better?"
"Much." Gibbs said.
"No." Fletcher moaned in jest, DiNozzo grumbled in response.
"We need a consult on a case DiNozzo." Gibbs stated after a few seconds of watching Tony. He knew he should come more often to visit the younger agent but he felt he always needed an excuse and since Abby was handling DiNozzo's mail and she and McGee had brought him things from his apartment he couldn't think of a good reason.
Gibbs had felt guilt at the position Tony found himself. If only he hadn't ordered the agent to climb up the fire escape. If only he had trusted McGee to be able to override that controller then neither Kate or Tony would have suffered. If only, that's all Gibbs had thought; if only. But there really was no way for him to know that any of the events of that day would happen. It had happened and they were coping with it. Tony was coping with it better than most Gibbs imagined.
"Okay Tony I guess we're done." Sarah smiled up at the agent before standing and pushing her blonde hair out of her face before turning to where the facility issued wheelchair sat and brought it next to the bench. "Remember Jordan will be waiting for you in the pool at two." She patted the padded seat of the wheelchair before wandering off.
Tony looked over to see Gibbs and Fletcher standing waiting for him. "Yay an audience." He sighed, using his arms to shift himself closer to the edge of the bench before removing one hand and putting it on the seat of the chair and transferring himself over. The transfer was smooth for which he was thankful, it showed his progress. His first attempt from the same bench had been disastrous, much like the earlier embarrassment he had moved as close to the edge of the bench as he thought necessary but his inability to feel his butt had caused him to reach the edge earlier than expected. Sarah had been quick to grab him that time of course to save his dignity a little.
Unlocking the brakes of the chair Tony swivelled around and faced his fellow agents. "So what do I need to consult on?"
"A few cases you were involved in back in Baltimore have resurfaced."
"What do you mean resurfaced?" Tony asked looking up at Gibbs
"Three different cases you had some involvement in, three different bodies of people that were connected to the cases. The only thing connecting the three cases is you." Jethro explained.
"Oh."
The Return by tdawg
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony's in rehab and the team gets a case that hits really close to home.