Tony wasn't sure how long he sat there in the peace of the cemetery. Long enough for his crying jag to stop and to calm himself. He felt emotionally drained, and he knew that was nothing compared to what he still had to deal with with Ryan. Oddly he also felt at peace. He had kept this information bottled up for months telling no one and it had started to eat away at him. Now, though he only spoke to a dead man he felt as if a weight had been lifted from him. He started to collect himself, left the flowers he had brought with him next to the headstone and was walking away from the grave when his phone rang.
"Hey Abs, whatcha got?"
"Hey Tony, I was able to scan all of the files they are in a compressed file that I emailed to you."
"Thanks Ab, what about my original file? Are you gonna be able to send it?"
There was silence on the other end of the line. For a minute Tony thought he had lost reception on his cell phone until he realized he had his satellite phone and it was nearly impossible to lose a signal with that.
"Abs? You there?"
"Ahh...Ummm...well see here's the thing..."
"Abby!" He said sternly. It wasn't like the goth lab rat to be so hesitant.
"It wasn't my fault really it wasn't. I went up to your desk after Timmy said Gibbs had gone out for coffee. I should have had plenty of time. But he came back and he was being all Gibbs and stuff and snuck up behind me. About scared the life out of me. So of course he asked me what I was doing in your files and you know I can't lie to him, so I had to tell him. I was surprised that he actually let me do the scanning for you. But then he made me look up some old unsolved naval and marine cases looking for similarities to the one in your folder."
"No" Tony said quietly. This wasn't an NCIS case. It wasn't. It couldn't be. "Abby, I want the next words out of your mouth to be anything BUT Gibbs is coming down to Miami."
"Gibbs is coming down to Miami. And he is taking the team with him"
Tony took a deep breath, chucked slightly and said in a teasing tone, "I told you not to say that."
"Tony, I am so sorry, it's just bossman was being all Gibbs and stuff and he would stop until I found a connection between the case and an old NCIS case. I swear he snuck up on me. You know how he is when you aren't here. It's ten times worse than when you are here. It is terrible for the rest of us."
"Shh Abby it's alright, take a breath before you pass out...Breathe...Are you better?" Tony broke into Abby's babble before it took her over. At her Uhhuh he continued, "Is the boss still there or has he left yet?" Tony continued walking towards the car regardless of what time Gibbs was arriving he should start briefing Ryan's coworkers before The NCIS team arrived. There would be hell to pay with Gibbs otherwise. He expected a certain level of professionalism. Since Tony was first on scene regardless of his status of being on vacation, he had better be able to brief Gibbs once he arrived. Plus he had to familiarize himself with the current crime scene and results. He shuddered to think what Gibbs would say to him if he wasn't ready with a full report when Gibbs got to the crime lab.
"No, not yet. It was only decided 15 minutes ago that the team was making the trip to Miami. I wanted to let you have as much of a heads up as possible. You know how much Gibbs hates unsolved cases."
"Ok Abs give me a call back with the flight info, be it commercial or military. I will either get them or arrange something. I need to head back to the crime lab and review the evidence that they have on this case. I also want to download the email you sent, let them know they are working a multi-jurisdictional case."
Abby sounded shocked when she relied to Tony. "You mean you haven't done that yet?"
"No Abs. I had no idea that this was an NCIS case, the files I sent you to get for me are from my days in Philly. I have no jurisdiction for that case these days. I was planning on sharing the info with the Miami CSIs after you sent it to me. Let them contact the Philly PD and I would go on with my vacation. Gibbs worked this case when Burley was still on his team, while I was still In Baltimore."
"Oh, I never thought about you not having jurisdiction. So where are you then?"
The line went silent, then realization dawned. "Forget I asked Tony I know where you are." Abby knew exactly where he was but not why. It was one secret of his that he had not shared with her. His involvement with Gibbs another.
"Yeah I haven't been since the funeral, I wanted to spend sometime here while Ry was at work."
The conversation ended shortly thereafter and Tony started the car to drive back to the crimelab. This was not the way he wanted to spend his vacation. He had planned ogling beauties of both sexes on the beach. Spending some time getting seriously drunk. Going up north and spending the weekend with his daughter. All of this after he spoke to Ryan about both Ari and why he had been hiding the past several months.
Instead he would be working a case with Ryan's coworkers. A case that Gibbs worked with Burley. For some reason Tony was never jealous of any of Gibbs wives but Stan Burley made him forest green with envy.
Gibbs hated when he had an unsolved case so he would be pushing the whole team hard to get this one solved. Tony really wasn't looking forward to it. Now he would have to play to clown for real. If he acted the way Ryan wanted him to Kate would think Pod People took over his body. He would have to try and strike a delicate balance and act as expected to Kate and McGee and act halfway normal to Ryan's teammates. He chuckled. Nothing like having to act the part of the schizophrenic and hope no one notices.
One thing was certain he was going to try and get paired off with Ryan. It would make things a whole lot easier if he could arrange that. He could just act like himself then and not worry about masks for the most part.
Well he had plenty of time to worry about what would happen once Gibbs and the team arrive. For now he had to go back and warn his cousin... Miami was about to be invaded...
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.