CHAPTER XIII: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
The next couple of months passed by easily. DiNozzo and McGee lost no time in recommending to Gibbs that he recruit Special Agent Heather Dennison to become the new member of the team. He agreed whole-heartedly and immediately set the appropriate wheels in motion. By Friday she had her new orders. She thanked the boys for the recommendation, telling them that she had often thought she would very much like to be part of their team.
She fit in easily. She was not as uptight as Caitlin Todd had been nor as hard as Ziva David. She had her own way about her, but she could easily hold her own with the men on the team.
At one point DiNozzo received an e-mail from Ziva. She had indeed been cashiered out of Mossad, but she had almost immediately been hired to be on the security detail protecting a very rich Israeli industrialist.
"I didn't realize I was being as stupid about Avram as I was about Ari," she wrote. "Avram told me he loved me, and I believed him. I should have known better—love and work don't mix. I found you very attractive, even though I—what is the phrase? yanked your collar?—a lot. Maybe if we had got to know each other better, maybe Avram wouldn't have happened. Well, if you ever come to Israel, be sure and look me up."
He didn't bother to reply.
Their case load was about normal—a couple of hard ones and a lot of minor ones as well. Gibbs was a little surprised that, while Tony was still ribbing Tim, it was not so much in the frat boy mode, and he was even more surprised when they invited him to join them (and Heather) for socializing after work. He appreciated the invitations, as well as their new-found friendship, but he usually declined because he just wasn't a socializing kind of person.
One Tuesday morning the whole team was feeling slightly bored. They hadn't had many cases recently, there were no reports to write, no leads to follow up on, no clues to contemplate. DiNozzo, McGee, and Dennison were engaged in a desultory spitball fight. It turned out that Dennison was an accomplished spitballer, giving as good as she got. Gibbs was having a hard time preventing his amusement from reaching his face, but he was enjoying the interplay, until one of the missiles landed in his coffee cup.
"Enough!" he barked. The young agents jumped and turned immediately to their desks to pretend to work. McGee and Dennison avidly perused reports, while DiNozzo sat in front of his monitor, playing a game of solitaire.
Minutes later the phone on Gibbs' desk rang, and after listening without speaking for several moments, he rose and took off, yelling at DiNozzo to come with him.
They mounted the stairs to the director's office, where they found her standing in front of her desk with two other men. She introduced one as the Undersecretary of the Navy and the other as his assistant. When introductions were completed and handshakes all around offered, the undersecretary picked a piece of paper from Shepard's desk and began reading from it.
"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, the Secretary has asked me to inform you that you are receiving a new assignment with NCIS. While anti-terrorism is a basic function of the agency, the Secretary has decided to create a new strike force whose primary mission will be to investigate and interdict acts of terrorism, wherever in the world they may occur, in conjunction with similar agencies within the U.S. and from around the world. The NCIS strike force will be called Operation Global Watch. It will consist of three specially trained teams, headquartered in this building but ready to deploy on an hour's notice.
"Based on your exemplary performance (DiNozzo noted that Gibbs couldn't suppress a slight snort) with the Agency, your outstanding investigative skills, and your leadership ability, the Undersecretary is appointing you to be the chief of the operation with direct responsibility as leader of Team Alpha. Your new orders are still being cut, but I am authorized to tell you that you'll have two weeks of vacation time beginning this Friday, after which you'll report for six weeks of specialized training. During that time a portion of the building will be remodeled to house Operation Global Watch."
The undersecretary put down the paper and extended his hand once again. "Congratulations, Agent DiNozzo. Oh, I guess I should ask if you want to accept this assignment."
"Yes, sir," DiNozzo told him. "I do want it. I accept. And thank you."
By Friday afternoon, Tony, floating on the euphoria of his promotion, had cleared two old cases. He had distributed his open files, mostly to his teammates and the remainder to other teams in the squad room. He had cleaned out his desk, boxed up his personal possessions, including the sketch Kate had made of him so long ago, and left them in his locker in the gym, awaiting his return.
For lunch that day, Gibbs and Dr. Mallard treated the whole team to lunch. Ducky had been irrepressible, telling story after drawn-out story. They had laughed loud and hard until their sides ached. When they finally fell silent, all seemed to be thinking the same thing—Tony was leaving the team, and things would never be the same.
He had actually asked that the squad room not give him a farewell party, reasoning that he was not really saying farewell, but of course they ignored his request. Back from lunch, everyone in the room seemed unusually tense until 2:30, when the elevator doors opened to reveal two agents pushing a utility cart bearing a huge, rectangular, two-tiered cake with "Good Luck, Tony" written on it in icing.
Dr. Mallard was delegated to cut the cake as he was the most experienced in that sort of thing. Everyone had toasted Tony with the poison of his or her choice. Fortunately, they did not sing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow."
With the cake reduced to nothing but crumbs, co-workers approached Tony one by one to embrace him or shake his hand. There were many calls of "See ya around." Touched by their evident affection for him¸ he had a hard time choking back his emotions. Even the director and her secretary, Cynthia, were there.
His teammates were among the last to speak to him. Jimmy and Dr. Mallard both embraced him warmly. Ducky whispered to him, "I'm so proud of you, and proud to know you. Be well."
Abby was next. As always, her emotions were showing—with tears in her eyes, she hugged him within an inch of his life, and then stepped back, grasping the sides of his head with both hands to kiss him fervently.
"We'll always be friends, won't we?" she demanded.
"Always," he replied softly, kissing her back.
Heather shook his hand, then grabbed him in an embrace as well. He thought he saw her eyes moisten as she returned to her desk.
Then it was Tim's turn. For a moment the two men just looked at each other. Tim threw his arms around Tony. "I've learned so much from you, Tony," Tim told him. "Even when you were teasing me the worst, I always admired you and wanted to be like you."
"You're yourself, Tim." Tony responded. "You don't need to be like me. You're a good person, and you're turning into a great agent. Hell, I may even recruit you later on when I'm putting the rest of my team together."
Tim laughed. "Better not do that right now, Tony. Gibbs would be really pissed at you for taking out the whole team." They laughed together.
"We'll get together again for burgers and beer when I'm back at work," Tony promised.
"Looking forward to it already," Tim said, brushing his eyes as he returned to his desk.
Through all this, Gibbs had sat at his desk, seemingly studying the papers there, but watching Tony and his well-wishers from under his eyebrows. Now it was time for him to say farewell. For moments he sat at his desk without moving but now looking directly at DiNozzo.
"Boss?" Tony said somewhat uncertainly.
Gibbs finally got up and approached him. For another long moment he studied the younger man's face. Finally he spoke.
"I'm so proud of you," he said.
"You are, boss?"
"You're just about the best agent I've ever worked with," Jethro told him. "You deserve this more than you know, but, God, it's hard to let you go."
So deeply touched that he had to make a joke of it or break down, Tony said, "Gee, boss, I didn't know you cared."
Gibbs reached up to slap him upside the head.
"What was that for, boss?" DiNozzo asked.
"I'm not your boss anymore."
"Till 1700 hours," Tony protested.
Gibbs' voice was husky. "Go on; get outta here before I toss you out."
Unexpectedly, he reached out to take Tony in a bone-crushing embrace.
Finally breaking the embrace, he said, "Be well. Stay in touch."
He turned abruptly on his heel and walked back to his desk.
Gibbs became aware that the rest of the team was watching. "Don't you people have work to do?" he growled.
Tony stood still at his desk for a moment, then picked up the last of his belongings.
"Boss?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks for everything."
"Yeah, yeah. Beat it."
With a grin Tony headed for the elevator. When he had punched the button, he turned around to gaze at the squad room where he had been so happy, felt so at home, so…useful. There was a buzz of industry as the various agents worked their cases, no longer paying attention to him.
When the elevator arrived, he stepped inside and punched the "down" button. He could have sworn that as the doors slid shut, he saw Gibbs' hand waving at him.
End
Author's Chapter Notes:
DiNozzo solves a case the old-fashioned way.