The cab drove silently through the night, traffic was light at this hour even in a city like Miami which never really sleeps. Tony sat in the back of the cab making its way to his cousin's home; he could barely keep still, which was unusual for the NCIS agent. Normally he could be almost meditative in his stillness able to recharge his energy during a long investigation with a few minutes of almost meditative type stillness in his chair at his desk on in any seated position for that matter.
Tonight he was running on pure adrenaline and anger and it was making him antsy. Anger at the man who almost had him convicted of murder anger at that same man for daring to try and hurt Abby, anger at his cousin for nearly getting himself killed. He could not sit still in the cab. He had a stray thought that it was too bad he had given that damn harmonica to Fornell when he was sprung from prison; it would give him something to do. His thoughts running around and around in his head. Every so often having to remind himself that Ryan was alive, that this wasn't like Kate and he would be seeing his cousin soon.
He wished that Ryan had never become a cop. That he had never gone on that tour that Siobhan set up for all of them at One Police Plaza all those years ago. He knew that this was one of the factors that led Mel, Ezra, Ryan and himself into careers in law enforcement. He wished that he had convinced his cousin to come work for the NYPD or at NCIS or the ATF, where someone he trusts would keep an eye on him. He knew however, that Ryan is very stubborn and he would never leave Miami. His uncle Ron was here and he was very close to the older man. He wouldn't leave; especially not now that he had started a relationship with someone here.
A relationship that Tony didn't much approve of. It's irony at its very finest and he knew the gods somewhere must be laughing at him. He wonders idly if he could run this Delko guy off the way he nearly ran Vin off a couple of years ago. Although in that instance it was purely a case of misunderstanding. If he acted the part of a really outraged homophobic relative would Delko leave Ryan alone? Tony wasn't sure this Delko guy was that noble. He didn't have many pleasant thoughts for the man his cousin had taken up with. It really didn't matter to him that his cousin was with a man. That would be hypocritical. In fact he got some perverse joy from it because he was sure their mutual family up north would be horrified at the notion. He didn't like Delko because of all of the times Ryan would call him in the months after taking the position with CSI, pouring his heart out and at times crying his eyes out over the treatment he had received from his new coworkers. It was part of the reason that although he wasn't the closest with Ziva he didn't make her life a living hell when she took Kate's position at NCIS. He didn't like her for lots of other reasons, the fact that she was Mossad and that she was Ari's sister ( Not that this was common knowledge but Tony had GREAT contacts) being the main ones. He wasn't as close to her as he was to Kate but he didn't treat her any differently than he did McGee, in the beginning at least. To him she was a probie no matter the time she spent at Mossad. The type of work was different and she really didn't have a lot of the training needed to make a good investigator. So he had to train her. She was decent at undercover work but that was something he expected her to excel at since Mossad utilized quite a bit of undercover work in their operations.
Tony couldn't forgive and forget what Eric had done as easily as Ryan had. Then there was the fact that from what he was reading between the lines, it seemed like the relationship they had was similar to the one he and Gibbs had been sharing until recently. While Tony had enjoyed it while it lasted he wouldn't wish that type of relationship on anyone. Especially not the one member of his birth family that he could actually stand and really loved.
The cab rolled to a stop outside of Ryan's home with Tony not really resolving anything. He paid the fare got out of the cab grimacing as the heat and humidity rolled over him. It felt worse than usual, after not showering or changing clothes in the last few days. He grabbed his bag and walked through the complex to Ryan's unit. Once he got to the door he realized this was one place he didn't have a key to, having keys to most all of the homes that his closest friends and family lived in. He started banging on the door.
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