This is a sequel to "What Tony did next". You don't need to have read that one to follow this ... you just need to know that Tony left NCIS to go into partnership with Gregory Archibald in running his rundown movie theater in Seymour Boulevard in Washington. The team have come to terms with his leaving.
Unsurprisingly (this is Tony we're talking about) things don't go entirely to plan. Tony centric but all the team are in it too. Greg Archibald is mine but the rest belong to someone else.
Special Agent Gibbs took a cautious sip of his steaming brew, rolled the coffee round his mouth and then swallowed it. He thought for a moment or two and then said,
"Not bad, DiNozzo, not bad," and he proved the truth of his words by taking another, less cautious gulp.
"At last," said Tony, with a relieved sigh, "I thought it was tough enough writing case reports for you but brewing coffee is a whole new ball game".
Gibbs grinned at his former Senior Field Agent,
"I'm guessing Radhika's a hard taskmaster ... er mistress ... er person? Hell, I don't know what the politically correct term is."
"Didn't think you'd care, notBoss," said Tony. He couldn't get out of the habit of calling Gibbs, 'Boss' and hadn't quite graduated to 'Jethro'. 'NotBoss' was his compromise, "Vance got you going to the Sensitivity seminars again?"
"Hmmpph," muttered Gibbs, "McGee forgot to double-book us,"
"Aahh," said Tony, "I might have forgotten to tell McGee about his responsibilities for imaginative diary management ... there were other more important things to induct him into".
They sat in silence for a moment or two. Tony didn't want to look as if he was trying to find out how McGee was doing in his old job and Gibbs didn't want to make it seem either that McGee was doing a bad job or, alternatively, was doing such a wonderful job that Gibbs wondered how he had put up with Tony doing it for so long. On the whole, Gibbs thought that Tony seemed a lot laid back away from the competitive edge of the squad room but he was familiar with Tony's insecurities and didn't want to 'press any of his buttons'. He found it much more relaxing being Tony's friend than working out how to manage him. Gibbs looked round at the coffee bar in which they were sitting.
"It's cleaned up well."
Tony looked pleased. The coffee bar at the movie theater had been built in the 1950s and hadn't had much money spent on it since. Tony, and as many of his friends who he could persuade, had spent several weeks cleaning and painting and had restored it to its 1950s, now very trendy, glory. Tony was still working on persuading the waitresses to wear beehive hairstyles and sticky out skirts but they were proving resistant to his charms.
"Yeah, it's good. And if nothing else, I've learned more about painting and decorating than I ever wanted to. This 'running your own business' gig certainly broadens the horizons".
Gibbs took another appreciative sip of his coffee,
"Certainly turned into a pretty fair barista, any chance of a refill?" As Tony filled the mug again, Gibbs asked, "Why the urge to learn to make the coffee?"
"Makes sense. That way I can stand in for Radhika or the others. Can't risk caffeine addicts having to go without," he raised his own mug in a wry gesture towards Gibbs, "because no-one's around to man the machine. Anyway, I think I should know how everything works, good business sense and people like to see the boss doing the grunt work."
Gibbs raised a sardonic eyebrow. He knew that Tony thought his former boss was a past master at delegating 'grunt work'. "We all have different ways of working, Tony," he said mildly.
"I know, Boss ... notBoss. Wasn't a criticism, let's just say I favour the collegial approach".
Gibbs nodded, thinking that it made a change not to have to insist on his own way but to let Tony have his own opinion. He missed Tony as his SFA more than he had expected but he was beginning to think there were consolations in having acquired a friend instead. That didn't seem quite right, he had always considered Tony as something approaching a friend but had always been conscious of his leadership role to which everything else had to be subordinated.
"How's Archie?" he asked.
He was surprised to see Tony's happy expression fade as he frowned. Gregory Archibald, known as Archie to nearly everyone, had been living a rather lonely, depressed sort of life until Tony DiNozzo had steamed into it one day while investigating a series of local burglaries. Seymour Boulevard Movie Theatre had been running to seed along with its owner but Tony had seemed to see potential in both. He had described Archie as the most knowledgeable person about movies he had ever met and a great projectionist as well. It seemed to be a partnership made in heaven. Tony had been looking for a new challenge, had (unexpectedly) had the money to put into the theater and an abundance of enthusiasm and ideas about how to breathe new life into the place. He had a vision of the theater as somewhere for the community to gather, a 'safe place' where the generations could come together. A somewhat shell-shocked Archie had seemed to embrace the changes.
"Problem?" asked Gibbs, "Thought it was going OK."
"So did I," said Tony thoughtfully, "perhaps I've overwhelmed him a bit".
"That wouldn't be surprising," said Gibbs drily, "you take a bit of getting used to! And you've certainly changed things a lot, I guess it might take a bit of adjustment too. Perhaps he liked the shabby chic look."
"Wow, you've really got into those Sensitivity lectures, haven't you, notBoss? 'Shabby chic' – have you been taking lessons from McGee and taken out a subscription to Red Book? But, no, I don't think Arch minded saying goodbye to the dust bunnies. He's a real movie person, he hated seeing it go to rack and ruin".
"Then what's the problem?" asked Gibbs.
"Not sure," said Tony as he took another sip of his drink, "I don't think he likes so many people being around. He used to help out with selling tickets but now he holes himself up in the screening room and doesn't come out until everyone's gone".
"Perhaps he's shy," said Gibbs.
"Could be," agreed Tony, "but at one stage he agreed to give some talks about the work of being a projectionist, to do some hands on demonstrations but when I talked about doing some publicity, he just shut down and said he'd changed his mind".
"Teaching, public speaking. Not everyone's bag," offered Gibbs.
"Yeah, I know," said Tony, "but I thought he'd enjoy it. Ducky came round last night – said he wanted to test Radhika's tea making skills! But it was really to talk to Arch about the Ealing comedies and Scotland but Arch just sat there and didn't say anything. And I know you'll say that it's difficult to get a word in edgeways with Ducky but that's not really true. Ducky's good at drawing people out and he and Arch used to get on really well. I swear, you'd listen to them and they'd both start talking with this Scottish brogue ... and Arch has never lived in Scotland even if that's where his mom came from!"
"Did they have a falling out?" asked Gibbs.
Tony looked incredulous, "How many people do you know who've quarrelled with Ducky? He's a gentleman. No, it seems that Arch has just closed himself off. He was all right until that article appeared in the 'Bugle'."
Gibbs remembered Abby's excitement when Tony and Archie's picture had appeared in the community newspaper. She had raced into the squad room with a bundle of the papers. Her friend Hope Martin edited the 'Washington Bugle' and was always on the lookout for local human interest stories. Seymour Boulevard Movie Theatre's phoenix-like rise from the ashes, or the dust, was just such a story and she had been happy to write an article and put Tony and Archie on the front page.
"Look," Abby had said happily, "Tony and Archie, don't they look handsome. And look, they're pointing at the sign you made for them, Gibbs."
"Hope was excited about the article," said Tony, "there was talk of some of the national papers wanting to run the story, of a couple of TV crews coming. It would be great publicity."
"But ...?" asked Gibbs.
"Haven't heard any more about it, it's all gone quiet. I keep meaning to phone her but haven't had a chance. This being a 'Tony of all trades' is a bit time-consuming you know."
"You're looking well on it, anyway," said Gibbs unsympathetically, "and I could put a good word in with Vance if you fancy coming back to the Navy Yard."
Tony looked surprised, "You'd have me back?"
"Sure," said Gibbs, straight-faced, "the coffee stall could do with a new barista."
"Ha ha," said Tony good naturedly, "I walked into that one. McGee's coming in after work to talk about his scout troop coming to do some work towards their movie making badge. Could you take this coffee to Arch? He is in the projection room."
"It'll cost you a refill. I might stick around and see if I can have a chat with him."
Tony dutifully filled the two cups, simultaneously shuddering as he estimated Gibbs' caffeine intake and as he imagined Archie's reaction to the prospect of a cosy chat with Gibbs. McGee arrived shortly after Gibbs had left on his mercy mission. Tony took one look at his harried face and hastened to make him a Blue Hawaii triple de-caffeinated, slim line cappuccino with extra cream, reduced foam and cinnamon on top.
"Thanks, Tony," said a grateful Tim, "I needed that. I found a new way of riling Gibbs today."
"Hmmm," said Tony, "I heard about the Sensitivity lecture. Rookie mistake, McNovice. Still, now you know. With your skills you should be able to hack into Vance's secretary's office diary and see when these things are coming up and act accordingly."
"How did you manage?" queried Tim, "you didn't hack into anything did you?"
"Didn't need to," said Tony smugly, "I just used my charm."
"Huh," snorted Tim.
"... and several boxes of Godiva chocolates," added Tony.
Tim laughed at that and took another sip of his odd brew. "It was almost worth it to see Gibb's wounded expression: it was as if he'd just heard that the marine corps were changing their uniform colour to pink!"
"I first learnt the importance of boss diary management when I failed to stop us attending a week long course on 'Establishing your personality type and using that knowledge to work creatively and co-operatively with others'," reminisced Tony. "We were only there a day and a half."
"What happened?" asked McGee.
"We all agreed that we knew Gibbs' personality type and that it didn't do creative co-operation with others." Tony smiled and then continued with a touch of steel in his voice, "Of course, diary mishaps are a useful weapon, Probie-wan. They should be used sparingly, of course, but when you feel that the Boss has been too Gibbsian, they can allow you to administer a suitable punishment".
"Is that so?" came Gibbs's silky voice behind them. Tim gulped nervously and spilled his coffee. Tony smiled beatifically,
"Hypothetically speaking ... I never did that. Nice chat with Arch?"
"No. Couldn't get him to say much. Just 'yes', 'no' and grunt."
Tim and Tony exchanged a grin at the thought of Gibbs trying to make small talk with a reluctant Archie.
"I'm heading out now. See you tomorrow, McGee. Get hacking into that diary Tony was talking about because today was the last time I'm going to listen to someone telling me that wearing green to a meeting will make people want to co-operate with me!"
"I thought you'd fallen asleep by then, Boss," said McGee in a surprised voice. He caught Gibbs' glare and wiggled his fingers, "exercising these hacking fingers already".
Gibbs nodded brusquely and walked away, "Night, Tony. Good coffee." His gut gave its customary twinge as he left Tony behind. He sometimes felt he could hear something like an elastic band snap as he walked away and half expected other people to hear it too. He knew it wasn't rational but somehow he felt almost bereaved whenever he walked away from Tony and it was still a painful shock when he walked into the squad room and saw Tim sitting at 'Tony's' desk.
Gibbs shook himself and decided to try and resolve the mystery of Archie. He was puzzled. Tony had told him that Archie had also served as in the marine corps and, when he had first met Archie, they had exchanged stories about boot camp and other marine experiences. Gibbs thought that Archie had enjoyed those conversations. Lately, however, Archie had been reluctant to talk about his days as a soldier and had rebuffed Gibbs. He hadn't given it much thought until Tony had told him that Archie seemed to be avoiding other people as well. It seemed that Tony was the only person Archie was happy to be with – his eyes had momentarily lit up when he smelled the coffee Tony had sent, and then dimmed again when he realised that Tony hadn't brought it himself. Gibbs decided he'd talk to Ducky the next day.
"So, Tony," said McGee, once he was sure Gibbs had left, "did you have any other ways of 'punishing' Gibbs?"
"Oh, McInnocent," said Tony with a knowing expression, "the possibilities are endless!"