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Author's Chapter Notes:
Jeanne in interrogation; Tony watching. Some threats from Abby. A new McNickname of my own creation (i think). Is that enough to grasp your attention?
Los Angelesâ€"OSP Safe House

Jeanne sat in the interrogation room alone, feeling sick. That man had said he was an NCIS agent. Those four letters were enough to bring back memories that she had never wanted to resurface.

Gibbs, Callen, Sam, Tony, McGee, Ziva, and Nate all stood in the room next door, watching her on a monitor. The plan was for Gibbs to go in and shock her into answering questions. He had told Sam to bring her in so that she wouldn’t recognize anyone from his team, so that the effect would be greater during the questioning.

As Gibbs entered the interrogation room, Jeanne leapt up, surprised. “Special Agent Gibbs!” she cried. “Is heâ€"does he knowâ€"?”
Gibbs nodded. “He’s in the other room.”
She now looked even more nervous than she had upon his entrance. “Can I see him?”
“I have a few questions for you first.”

Usually, during an interrogation, Tony, Ziva, and McGee would place bets on techniques Gibbs might use to wring answers out of a suspect, but not this time. Tim and Ziva didn’t want to do anything to upset Tony any more than he already was. Even Gibbs was visibly holding back to spare Tony. The observation room was silent except for Gibbs and Jeanne’s voices.
Nate was having difficulty trying to do his job. He was supposed to be making sure that Jeanne was telling the truth, but Gibbs had pulled him aside before walking into the safe house.
“Nate,” he’d said. “I know you get paid to read the people being interrogated, but I’m worried about DiNozzo. Could you keep an eye on him while I’m questioning Jeanne? I need a professional opinion. This case hits too close to home; I’m thinking about taking him off of it.”
As far as he could tell from her body language, Jeanne was telling the truth. She had heard about her friends’ deaths, but was obviously shocked and upset upon hearing they had been murdered.
Tony, on the other hand, was hard to figure out. He was very tense, but every now and then he’d sigh with relief, either because he could tell she was telling the truth or because he knew Gibbs was going easy on her. He was definitely attached to this case, but from what Nate had gathered from the rest of Gibbs’ team, he was a good enough agent to stick with it, especially now that she was all but proved innocent.
When Gibbs was finished, he went back into the observation room. Tony looked up at his boss questioningly, but Gibbs shook his head.
“Not yet, DiNozzo. Nate,” he said, gesturing that the psychologist should go into the hall with him.
“It was pretty obvious to my that she’s telling the truth,” Nate began as the door closed.
“Ya think?”
“Uh…okay… I think Agent DiNozzo should be able to handle the case, now that we know she’s innocent.”
“But if she wasn’t…” Gibbs prompted.
“If she wasn’t, I would either need to speak with your team’s psychologist or talk to him myself.”
“Well, we don’t know how this thing is going to play out. You can talk to our psychologist, if you want.”
“Sure. How can I reach him?”
“You know how to get to autopsy, right?”
Nate blinked. “Is Dr. Mallard your psychologist?”
“Yep. We don’t have the need for one that you guys do, but whenever we do need one, to profile a suspect or for things like this, we go to Ducky.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to him when we get back.”
Gibbs nodded his thanks and walked into the observation room. He nodded to Callen, who turned the monitor off.
“All right, DiNozzo. Go on.”
Tony took a deep breath as he left the room, feeling six stares on his back. He was grateful that they were giving him some privacy, but was he ready to do this? Abby’s pep talk from earlier flooded back into his head. He grinned, reassured, and stepped into the interrogation room.
He closed the door behind him and the two of them stared at each other in silence.
Finally, Tony couldn’t take it anymore. “Jeanne, I’m so sorry,” he blurted. Then, trying to add some typical DiNozzo humor, he added, “Don’t tell my boss I said that. He thinks it’s a sign of weakness.” He paused. What was he thinking? This wasn’t the time for jokes! “I had to say it, though. I am sorry. The director of the agency put me on assignment, and I had no choice. I hope you understand that.”
He had told her all of this before, but she had been upset over her father’s death. It needed to be said again. She just sat there, still staring at him, as he went on, “I have a confession to make. When I said that everything was fake, I lied. I hadn’t expected to actually have feelings for you. I’d never felt that way before, and Iâ€"”
“Tony!” Jeanne interrupted. “I understand, I do. But I still need some time to think about thisâ€"”
“You’ve had two and a half years, Jeanne!” Now it was Tony’s turn to interrupt, and he did so loudly and angrily. “How much longer do you need?”
“I don’t know, Tony. I came out here so I wouldn’t have to think about it.”
“So, are you trying to tell me that you didn’t think about me once in all that time?” he asked, softly now.
She winced at the hurt that was portrayed in every word. “I didn’t say that, Tony,” she whispered.
Tony sighed. He needed to calm down. “Look, Jeanne, I’m sorry I yelled. But… it’s been really bad for me since you left, and bad for my team as well. Actually, I think the worst part for me was seeing them trying so hard to cheer me up. It physically hurt me, Jeanne.” He grinned then. “By the way, if you see a Goth girl with pigtails heading toward you, run the other way.”
A few weeks after Jeanne had left, he had overheard Abby talking to McGee and Ziva in her lab.
“If I ever see her,” she vowed solemnly, “I’ll show her the physical equivalent of the emotional pain she caused Tony.”
He had known Abby too long by that point to doubt that promise.
“I have some apologies to make myself,” Jeanne admitted, bringing him back to the present. “I didn’t realize what I was doing when I forced you to choose between me and your job. I know now that they have become your family. Then I was wrong again when I accused you of killing my father. And I didn’t mean it when I said I wished I’d never met you.”
Tony smiled at her. “I’m glad to hear you say that, Jeanne.”

“Boss,” McGee began quietly.
“Ya got something on your mind, McGee?” Gibbs asked loudly, attracting everyone’s attention.
McGee cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah, Boss. Uh, do you think they’ll…uh, be…together again?”
“Well, I don’t know, McGee. Do I look like DiNozzo?”
“Uh, no, Boss, butâ€"”
“Besides, I don’t think it’s any of your business, is it?”
“Well no, Boss, but… somebody should warn Abby.”
Understanding shone in Gibbs’ eyes. He had heard about that comment down in the lab, and many more. He nodded, and was just opening his mouth to tell McGee to get on it, when he was interrupted.
“I will do it, Gibbs,” Ziva volunteered. She hadn’t wanted to be here in the first place, and she didn’t want to be here when Tony and Jeanne left, presumably together. She knew that McGee would want to be checking in on Eric and Abby, but she had to leave. Nate offered to drive her back to headquarters, and they left.

Los Angelesâ€"OSP Lab

“I can’t believe it!”
“I know, Abby.”
Ziva had just informed Abby of the situation with Tony and Jeanne.
“Am I being a bad friend to Tony by wishing that she had been guilty so we could put her away forever and she can’t hurt him anymore?” she asked.
Ziva grinned. “Unfortunately, yes. You know that would be much worse.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I can’t believe she managed to weasel herself back into his life after last time! I can’t believe Gibbs allowed this to happen! What happened to him having Tony’s six? And now I have to break a promise, too!”
She was furious. She wished McGee had told her instead of Ziva. She needed to hit someone, and she could get away with hitting McGee without him taking her down without even thinking about it, the way Ziva would.
“Well, Ziva, I’ll just have to try and talk some sense into him the next time I see him. But he’s going to be back out in the field, so I need you to keep an eye on him. Tell Gibbs, Callen, and Sam, too.”
“What are we telling Gibbs, Callen, and Sam?” Callen asked, walking into the lab.
“To watch Tony’s six, and report to me if he seems even the slightest bit out of character. If she hurts him anymore, she’s going to be answering to me,” Abby vowed, determined.
Callen’s eyes widened. He had not been expecting this. “I’ll pass on the message.”
“Thanks, G Callen.”
“You’re quite welcome, Abby Sciuto. By the way, Ziva, Gibbs wants us back in the field. I guess he wants to keep an eye on Tony, too, because you’re with me this time.” Then, turning back to Abby, he added, “Agent McGee will be right down here to help you.”

A few minutes later, he was standing in the doorway with a Caff-Pow.
“McGee!” Abby cried, holding out her arms for a hug.
Happy to oblige, he set her Caff-Pow down and walked over to her. He had just put his arms around her when she punched one of them. He jumped back.
“Ow! Abby! What was that for?”
“Sorry, Timmy! I’m just so mad about Jeanne making Tony take her back, and I couldn’t hit Ziva because she’d kill me in about two seconds, and I know if I hit you, you won’t take it personally. But go ahead. Hit me back. I shouldn’t have punched you.”
She closed her eyes, bracing herself, but nothing happened. She opened them again and crossed her arms.
“McGee! Didn’t you hear me? I told you to hit me back!”
“I’m not going to hit you, Abs.”
“Why not?”
“Because if I do, Gibbs will come down just in time to see it, and then he’d smack my head all the way to D.C.!” he pointed out.
“McChicken,” Abby taunted.
After checking to make sure no one was there, he punched her on the arm.
“There,” she said. “Now don’t you feel better?”
“No,” he said stubbornly. “And don’t you dare give Tony that ‘McChicken’ idea.”
“Why not? It might come in handy if…” she trailed off.
McGee had been glaring at her, but now he walked over to her. Her worried expression had him concerned.
“Tim, what if she breaks his heart again?” she whispered.
He hugged her. “Then we’ll just have to be there to pick up the pieces.”

Los Angelesâ€"OSP Autopsy

“And that, my dear boy, is why I neverâ€"”
“Dr. Mallard?” Nate said, walking into autopsy. “Who were you talking to?”
“Please, call me Ducky! I was talking to this poor boy right here.” He gestured to the dead sailor on the table.
Nate was now concerned. This was their psychologist? He hardly seemed sane himself! But Nate could tell that Gibbs wasn’t the kind of man to be questioned. “All right, Ducky. Can I talk to you about Agent DiNozzo?”
“Ah, yes. I am sure that Jethro is the one sending you. Is this about Dr. Benoit?”
“Yes, it is.”
“And you want to discuss with me whether or not he should stay on this case?”
“Well, I think he’s fine to stay on it. She has nothing to do with these murders. Gibbs, however, told me we don’t know where things are going to go, so here I am.”
“Don’t take it personally, my boy. He just wants to make sure he’s doing the right thing for Anthony. But if you’re sure she’s innocent…”
“Well, her body language left me with the impression that she answered all of Agent Gibbs’ questions truthfully, if kind of anxious. So unless she’s an expert liar…”
“Don’t doubt yourself. As I said, Jethro just wants what’s bestâ€"”
Nate’s phone rang; Eric was calling him. “Excuse me, Ducky.”
“Of course, of course.”
“Eric, we’re in the middle of somethingâ€"”
“Are you in autopsy?” Eric interrupted.
“Yeah, I’m talking to Ducky.”
“Well, the director wants you both up here now.”

Los Angelesâ€"OSP Headquarters

Everyone had just come in from their last crime scene when Eric came to the top of the steps and whistled at them.
“Well, that’s effective, isn’t it?” Tony said to Ziva as everyone rushed up the stairs. “We either get a phone call or a glare from the Tooth Pick.”
Callen turned to look at him, shocked. “Is that what you call the director?”
Tony shrugged nonchalantly. “Not to his face.”
Gibbs couldn’t help grinning, but he smacked Tony anyway. “Keep your comments to yourself, DiNozzo.”
“You siding with him now, Boss? Don’t you rememberâ€"”
“’Course I’m not, DiNozzo. I was there. But he’s the director; try to be professional.”
“Yes, Boss.”
They walked into the room to see Director Vance’s face on the screen.
Getting straight to the point, Gibbs asked, “What do you want, Leon?”
“Well, Agent Gibbs, I have a new crime scene for you to investigate.”
“Where?” Callen asked.
“Right here in DC. Same MO, but this one came with a note.”
“What kind of a note, Leon?” Gibbs wanted to know.
“I sent it to Eric. Go ahead and pull it up.”
He did. Now on the screen was a picture of a piece of paper with Arabic writing on it.
“Well, what does it say?” Gibbs asked, growing impatient.
“It says, ‘Tell Agent Gibbs to give me my daughter back.’”
“Someone’s accusing Gibbs of kidnapping?” Tony was confused.
“I do not think he is being of kidnapping, Tony,” Ziva answered. Everyone turned to look at her. “I believe that is my father’s handwriting.”
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