Chapter 20

Ducky rested a hand on McGee's shoulder as they walked into the elevator. "How is Tony doing? It appeared as if you had a nice chat with him."

Shrugging his shoulder, Tim answered, almost sheepishly. "Tony's hanging in, we all are. When this is over, he and I are going to talk it out. Sometimes, I forget that maybe he's not really an arrogant jerk, even though he acts like it sometimes."

"It is much easier to assume that he has always been this character," Ducky began quietly. "Rather than remembering that this character is part of some defense system he needed to employ."

"But is that really fair to him, Ducky? I just can't see him as some frat boy, womanizer whose most complicated thoughts are where to go Saturday night and who he's going to sleep with after. There's more to him than that, Ducky."

"There is, Timothy. There is a great deal more to him. He's a highly intelligent man. Remember, he did an exceptional job in sports at a very high level, as well as doing well at university classes. I've done some research. Ohio State's physical education program isn't easy. But his persona disarms suspects and it is as comfortable as a familiar pair of slippers or a favorite sweater."

"But it must be hard to live like that, constantly put up a front, hiding yourself from everyone. I know we all wear masks, not always showing who we really are. But to constantly have to be someone you have nothing in common with, that's gotta be difficult, Ducky ... tiring, wearing. Must be like being undercover. Guess Tony has more in common with our FBI guest than he thought."

"Undoubtedly. I fear only Abigail gets to know the real Tony, the one minus all the masks. It would be wonderful if he'd trust us enough to let us in."

"But at least there is someone he does confide in. Otherwise, he might explode from keeping it all inside. And he seems to confide pretty easily in Abby; most people do."

"She gathers people to her without even meaning to," Ducky agreed with a nod.

~~

Tony looked over at Ziva and then his watch. "Want to check on Abbs with me?"

"Sure, Tony. I would like to see her, to make sure that she is well. Think she is in the lab?"

"Must be. Bet she's running facials on anyone we saw." Tony hit the stairs rather than the elevator and reached for the door to the lab. Expecting it to open like normal, his momentum threw him against the door. It was never locked, but today it was. "Hey Abbs! Abbs?"

Pushing, Tony aside, Ziva pulled out her picking tool and had the door quickly unlocked. Stepping aside, she let Tony through first, knowing he had to slip into his role as the team leader. It wouldn't be easy for her friend and partner. But she would see to it her support was there.

Jethro had been on the brink of sleep when he heard someone calling for Abby. "She isn't here," he replied, sitting up and buttoning his shirt.

Ballistics lab? Tony made his way to it and stopped suddenly, watching Brooks buttoning his shirt up. "Oh ... um ... hi."

"Hi." Jethro stood, extending his hand. "Weren't formally introduced. I'm Gibbs, Jethro Gibbs from the FBI. You're ... Tony?"

"Yeah. Anthony DiNozzo. Special Agent..." Tony winced at the bruises on the guy's face, especially the one at the temple. "Sorry about that," he muttered, turning and looking for Ziva.

"Don't be. I'm fine." He noticed the agent looking around. "She isn't here," he repeated. "They called her up for a debriefing."

"Ziva? Oh, you mean Abbs? Yeah ... okay. Ziva?"

"I am right here, DiNozzo. Just because you decide to break protocol and take the stairs at a run, does not mean that I have to." Smiling at Jet, she said, "It is good to see you again. Your bruises do not look so bad. Though in the morning, I may change my opinion."

Jethro shrugged. "They'll keep with the whole daredevil appearance."

"Yeah, very James Bond like," Tony had to admit.

Gibbs smiled. "I guess. Good to see you again, Ziver. And meet you both properly."

"Without breaking heads into the wall again, this is Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. And Tony you have already met Jet Brooks, aka Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Special Agent with the FBI."

Tony nodded. "Special Agent," he said quietly.

"Just Jethro is fine."

"Jethro, then. I'm Tony. Your head okay? Did they feed you?"

"I'll be fine," Jethro assured, stretching his back out. "Yeah, we ate. They just called Abby up. My director and yours are doing the debriefings."

"And I assume we will be next, yes?" Ziva wondered to herself. "I do not look forward to having to discuss Franks' dealings tonight, his beating of you mainly, with them. Director Morrow will not be pleased with his actions."

She knew of Jethro's ability to get out of handcuffs almost as easily as she could. And because she had been outside of the interrogation room when he and Abby had been alone, she could only assume he had been out of the cuffs with her. That was why she knocked on the door when she had seen Franks coming down the hall. Though the man had proven to be quite honorable so far, Ziva did not necessarily like that her responses to Jethro in essence had her choosing the FBI agent over Franks. Her loyalty had never been so torn before, and especially not over a stranger.

"Probably," Jethro agreed. "Special Agent Franks acted with the best of intentions." Why he felt the need to defend the other man was something he didn't understand.

"He knew you before, didn't he?" Tony asked even though he knew the answer.

"Briefly," Jethro allowed. "He investigated a crime against someone I cared about while I was overseas. We met after the fact. Guess he remembered me but not all the facts."

"Franks acted with far more violence than the situation warranted, despite his wanting to protect Abby."

"He did. But you or I might have reacted in the same way if we thought someone was being harmed and had the facts wrong," Jethro challenged quietly, meeting her eyes. "You and I already established that we're similar and..."

"You bonded with him?" Tony asked Ziva incredulously.

"In a way, yes I did. While you were blustering around, thinking Abby was being hurt, I was investigating the character of the prisoner. That is what we do, Tony ... investigate. It is what you and Franks, even Tim, have been plowing me over the head with since the day I arrived at NCIS. To investigate the facts before I come to any conclusions. With you and Franks inarguably covering Abby's end, I thought to find out the man we had in custody until such time as I could talk to Abby myself."

"And if he'd been a dirtbag, what then?" Tony folded his arms over his chest, very annoyed about this new development.

"But I'm not. I'm an agent with more seniority than you, I bet. And it was smart of her to assess the situation. She established a rapport and I told her I had some additional weapons you didn't find."

"What?" Tony whipped around, looking at Ziva.

Shrugging, Ziva replied, "I thought it best not to inform you of that at the time. You were already high strung enough without that information. Apparently, you and McGee did not search him well enough, or be concerned with whether or not your captive could pick locks."

"Pick locks? Are you serious? Who expects that? Did he get out of the cuffs or something?" Tony rounded on Jethro. "You're a regular Houdini."

"Acquired talent," he shot back mildly.

"What did we miss, Ziva? And where?"

"Plastic knife at the left of his zipper, inside the pants. He told me about it after I had escorted him to Interrogation. He did not have to, Tony. He could have waited, used it against Abby when she printed him. But he did not; he gave up the information willingly. That is why I knew I could trust him alone with Abby, Tony. Yet no one has really asked me about that."

She knew Tony would hate her apparently defending the FBI agent, but Ziva had had enough with the bickering and power plays. It was time for straightforward honesty, and no more pissing matches and bruised egos.

"I didn't even think to pat down his crotch, Ziva. I went up the legs, checked under arms right down the torso." Tony shook his head. This was bad; if Gibbs had been a criminal he could have killed them all. "I did it by the books, what every LEO would have done!"

Jethro started to open his mouth and then thought the better of it. They needed to work this out themselves.

"I'm not condemning you, Tony, or telling you how to do your job. McGee was there and had no additions to your search. I know I had opportunities to search him, and I did not. I was merely referencing that Gibbs had ample opportunity to attempt an escape, to overcome one of us."

"He's a federal agent just like us. He wouldn't, didn't..." Tony was getting frustrated. "He's screwing up everything," he muttered, feeling like a petulant child but unable to stop himself.

"But I could have," Jethro pointed out quietly. "When I thought you guys might be the enemy, I considered it, but I needed intel."

Tony shook his head, still feeling angry and annoyed.

"Why do you think he is screwing up everything, Tony? There is no screw up, only a glitch the directors are working on fixing." Ziva was confused at Tony's behavior. He normally behaved as a senior agent, not like a child.

Tony turned to look at Ziva. "One night. I was a little nervous about Abby going undercover at all, but it was just supposed to be for one night. Now we have this situation with this guy and her connection with him and I can't like it. Abby is someone who wears her heart on her sleeve. Abby could die and he's just as responsible as Mike for putting her in that situation. Someone needs to be pissed that our forensic scientist who couldn't deal with being an agent is going back. Might not be professional or mature but he's the one I'm pissed at for it."

"Then be concerned, be pissed, but do not act like a spoiled child. Bring your concerns to the director, to both directors. Do not make it a pissing match against another agent, even if he is the cause."

"Point taken, Ziva," Tony said quietly. Even though he knew he probably deserved it, he didn't like being called out in front of the FBI agent.

"Good, now can we return to what we were originally discussing?"

"How I missed a knife in the fly," Tony remarked quietly.

"Before that, DiNozzo. We all missed it, or chose to not investigate further. I did not mention that to take away your manhood," she said bluntly.

"Didn't comment thinking that you were, Ziva. You asked a question and I answered it," Tony replied in that same quiet voice, not interested in starting any more conflict in front of the Feeb.

"Before that, we were discussing that you two had some things in common and had bonded."

"So, what do we do now, Tony?" For some reason, she had upset the equilibrium. She wanted to write the balance within the team. It was bad enough that the team was out of sorts with Mike. Ziva didn't want the team to fall apart because of this.

"We find common ground," Tony said in a firm voice. "We work together. We remember that we're all on the same side trying to stop criminals from hurting others." It wasn't much of a rallying cry but he hoped it would motivate Ziva.

"That sounds like a great plan, Tony. And most importantly, we have to unite to protect Abby. Even with you, Jethro," Ziva said, including Jethro again in the conversation. "We need to make sure that she is safe. She will go into this guns blazing, without really thinking about the dangers to herself."

Jethro nodded. "She will be with me, Ziva. I can promise you both that." He met Ziva's eyes and then Tony's. "I know everything shook you all up, but we really are on the same side. Fornell, Director Fletcher, Sacks, Blumenthal. They're like me. They want answers and to put the criminals away just like you. Just like me."

"And we will all be behind the two of you; Tony, Tim, myself, the rest of both agencies." Ziva was confident that, with both agencies pulling their resources, and with Jet and Abby's individual expertise, the op would not put any of the people involved at risk. Especially Abby.

~~