It was a quiet day in the squad room. Bishop and McGee were finishing off paperwork from the most recent case and, as it had been ten minutes since Gibbs had sat at his desk, it was likely he would be on the move soon as he began to feel restless. Gibbs' phone rang, the junior agents looked up hopefully: they were as inclined as Gibbs to get antsy after sitting still too long.
They heard him say, Gibbs and then almost immediately, "DiNozzo? Tony, is that you?"
McGee and Bishop abandoned any pretence at indifference as they listened in although Gibbs' responses of uh uh, what and where didn't provide much enlightenment. After a few minutes, Gibbs put the phone down and looked into space for a moment or two,
"Grab your gear," he announced.
Bishop and McGee jumped to their feet and grabbed their packs.
"You'll need your go bags," Gibbs said.
"Boss?" asked McGee, "where are we going?"
"Maine."
"Uh. Why?" asked Bishop tentatively.
"That was Tony. DiNozzo," said Gibbs and even as the words were out of his mouth they heard the sound of running feet from the elevator.
"Tony?" squealed Abby, "did you say Tony? Where? Where is he?"
The MCRT team members looked at one another blankly but decided it was probably best not to enquire how Abby had been alerted to the name of DiNozzo being spoken.
"Abs," said Gibbs calmly, "he called from Maine. He's not here."
"Oh," said Abby disappointedly, "oh."
"Why'd he call, Boss?" asked McGee.
"Says there might be something … hinky … going on around Portsmouth Naval Base," said Gibbs.
"Why didn't he tell the State Police?" asked Ellie.
"Well, Special Agent Bishop," said Gibbs sarcastically, "he thought he'd inform the Federal Agency that deals with the Navy. The federal agency that pays our wages."
"Yes, Boss, I knew that," said Ellie, "I meant, it's just a bit odd for a civilian to come straight to us."
"Tony isn't a civilian," said Abby fiercely.
McGee couldn't help but be accurate, "Well actually, Abs, he is." Then encountering her glare he hastened to say, "But not like other civilians, of course."
"Better, Timmy," said Abby, "better. Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, can I come too? Pretty please? Please?"
"Not this time, Abs," said Gibbs. "Or at least, not yet. I need you here and so far there's nothing that needs forensics."
"Oh," said Abby sadly, "but give him a hug from me."
Gibbs looked blankly at her. Tim hurried to shake his head to make it clear he was turning down hugging duties.
"Abby," said Bishop hastily, "I've never met the guy. How can I hug him?"
"Oh, honey," drawled Abby, "believe me, when you meet him you'll want to hug him."
"Gotta go, Abs," said Gibbs.
"Wait, wait," said Abby, "if I can't go then at least take Bert with you. I'll just go get him."
"You've got till we've gassed the car," said Gibbs tolerantly.
"I'm gone," said Abby earnestly. She paused by McGee's desk and hissed, "Gas it slowly!"
"Uh, Boss," said McGee as Gibbs strode to the elevator.
"What?" asked Gibbs impatiently.
"It'll take about ten hours to drive to Maine. Even if you drive." He suppressed a shudder at the thought of being in a car that long with Gibbs. "Will be quicker to fly. We can hire a car when we get there."
"Good thinking, McGee," approved Gibbs.
"I'll book flights?" said McGee.
"Nope," said Gibbs happily, "there's bound to be some cargo flights going to Portsmouth. We'll hop a ride with them."
Ellie and McGee groaned at the prospect.
NCISNCIS
Cargo planes weren't exactly quiet but Ellie didn't think there would have been much chatter on the flight even if it had been some deluxe corporate jet. She was oddly excited at the prospect of meeting former Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo whose name was still apt to prompt various reactions in the Navy Yard.
The other members of the team never really spoke of the former senior field agent but she had noticed that Gibbs had smiled when he realised who was on the phone. Bishop found it a little odd that, for an agent who had left NCIS about six years before, he still exerted a big influence. Abby was prone to remembering a particular joke or phrase and would often sigh when a new movie was released that nobody had been to see or when nobody appreciated her tarot card reading. McGee would wince when he saw a bottle of superglue and once, when she complained about always being called Probie, he told her that she was getting off lightly compared with what Tony had put him through. She had finally gone to Ducky for information. It was, she reasoned to herself, part of the analysis of the team.
Ducky had smiled wistfully, brewed a pot of tea and settled down to tell her the story.
"Some of it is, of course, classified," he sighed, "and may I say at the outset, how deplorable I find that?"
Ellie nodded sympathetically, not wishing to divert Ducky.
"You will no doubt recall that Director Shepard was ki … died in unfortunate circumstances?"
"Yes," agreed Ellie, "we heard about it at NSA."
Ducky nodded gloomily. "Indeed. That led to the appointment of Leon Vance as the new Director."
Ellie nodded cautiously.
"Our esteemed Director had a problem to solve. He believed that there was a mole in NCIS. This is also classified, my dear."
"I've got an extremely high clearance," Bishop reminded him.
"Anthony sometimes essayed a joke on that subject," Ducky reminisced as he sipped his tea. "No matter. The new Director's first step in his plan to unearth the mole was to split up the MCRT. He assigned Jethro a new team which consisted of all the suspects. He surmised that the famous Gibbs' gut would sniff out the rogue in double quick time."
"And did it?" asked Ellie.
"Not as quickly as he had hoped. Officer David was returned to Israel to do some work on the de-moling while Timothy was sent to the Cyber Crimes unit to perform various vital decryption activities. Anthony was assigned to be Agent Afloat: in some ways it was a logical deployment as it could have been construed as a beneficial career move."
"Could have been?" asked Ellie.
"Indeed. You see, while Timothy and Ziva were assigned to assist in the mole hunt, Anthony was not."
"And that's important?"
"Anthony believed he was re-assigned as punishment."
"What did he think he was being punished for?" asked Ellie.
"Ah," said Ducky, "the circumstances around Director Shepard's death."
"Her house was burned down," said Ellie.
"Yes, it was," said Ducky, "a tragic loss of a fine building."
"And she was in it," probed Ellie.
"So you say, my dear."
"I don't understand," said Ellie, "Agent DiNozzo wasn't responsible for the fire, was he?"
"No," said Ducky firmly, "no, he wasn't. Let me just say that following Jennifer's untimely demise Anthony was reassigned to be Agent Afloat in a manner which made him feel that he was being punished. Whether or not he was right to believe so is not something which I am competent to judge."
"I can't imagine Gibbs being happy," mused Ellie, "he doesn't like me even getting a coffee for someone in another team. I don't want to think what he'd be like if his team was split up."
"Ah," said Ducky, "therein lies something of the problem. Anthony came to believe that Gibbs also blamed him …"
"For the Director's death in an accidental house fire?" asked Ellie sceptically.
"As I say," said Ducky, "it was a complicated situation."
"And was Agent DiNozzo right to think that Gibbs was angry with him?"
"That is something that you would have to ask him," said Ducky, "but I should say that Jethro was most upset when Jennifer died. It may have led him to be less … intuitive about Anthony's state of mind than he might otherwise have been."
Ellie digested what Ducky was hinting at, "and what happened?"
"Anthony came to see me the night before he was due to fly out to the USS Ronald Reagan. He told me that he had decided to resign rather than take up the new posting."
"Why?"
"He didn't want to go. He feared that the new Director did not have a high opinion of him and that he would never be assigned to a more congenial posting."
"Was he right?"
Ducky sighed, "I don't know. You have to understand that Anthony was … is … a unique person. He has many gifts and skills and was a very fine agent but … he has a very distinctive character which takes some getting used to. Shall we just say that Director Vance had, at that point, had insufficient time to become aware of his many sterling qualities? I tried, unsuccessfully to dissuade him. And he was aware of the difficulties of his position."
"How so?" asked Ellie.
"Before his sojourn at NCIS, Anthony had, through no fault of his own, passed through three police forces in fairly rapid succession. His employment history did not demonstrate much staying power. He was, of course, employed by NCIS for a longer period but he was not sure what weight this would have, especially given the rumours going round about Jennifer's demise."
"But he still went?"
"Yes. He felt that Director Vance was more inclined to approve of agents like Timothy with their technical abilities. Anthony was, as I say, a very fine agent but he was cast in the more traditional mould and his bachelor's degree was in physical education – not one which Leon would value very highly. I fear, however, that the main reason for his resignation was that Anthony did not believe that Jethro supported him. I blame myself to some degree."
"Why?"
"When he came to me I thought I had succeeded in getting him to rethink. Indeed he left me with his luggage and made his way to the Portsmouth Navy Yard to join the aircraft carrier. I should have gone with him perhaps."
"What happened?"
"He called me later the next day to say that he had gone aboard. Seen his quarters, sensed what the ship was like and decided that he could not go through with it. He walked off the ship and told Leon that he was resigning with immediate effect, although of course, like all of Jethro's team he had a considerable period of leave to take."
"He just left?"
"Indeed."
"And what did he do?"
"He disembarked from the ship in Kittery and settled in the same State, Maine."
"Doing what?"
Ducky looked embarrassed, "I fear I do not know exactly. I tried to stay in contact and, at the beginning, he responded although at that time he was largely drifting through Maine. Which I believe is a very beautiful part of this country."
"Did anyone else keep in touch?" asked Ellie.
"They tried," said Ducky, "but the first months after he left were difficult ones for the team. They had been split up, dispersed and reassigned to matters of national security so it was hard. And Anthony felt a degree of guilt over what had happened which made it difficult for him to maintain contact. Remember that I said he felt he was to blame for … well … the circumstances surrounding Jennifer's death. He has always had a tendency to take things on himself."
"Still …" began Ellie.
"I know, Eleanor, that it sounds reprehensible but perhaps I should remind you how difficult it is to maintain relationships in this line of work? Especially when you are under the auspices of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I don't wish to bring up painful memories but your own marriage foundered under the strain so perhaps it is not surprising that, over time, the correspondence between Anthony and his former co-workers faded away. I believe Mr Palmer still receives a card at Christmas."
"And he was a good agent?" asked Ellie.
"Very much so," said Ducky, "I believe Jethro thinks him to be the best agent he ever worked with. Although I fear that Jethro was not always very forthcoming in letting him know but you, dear Eleanor, will know that your Boss employs the stick rather than the carrot!"
"And Agent David?" asked Ellie, "was there some mystery about her leaving as well?"
Ducky laughed, "Not really. I suppose it is possible that Anthony's departure triggered her own. I must confess the state of their relationship was a main source of fodder for the gossip mills but I was never able satisfactorily to analyse what went on between them. Sometime after her father died, and I confess that some of those circumstances are also classified, she decided she needed to 'find herself' in some way and she left both the agency and the country. It was a sad time for us," he paused, "but of course, we were delighted when you finally arrived to lighten our lives!"
Ellie remembered that conversation with Ducky as the airplane came in to land at Portsmouth. She realised she was looking forward to meeting the best agent Gibbs had ever worked with.
"Where we going, Boss?" asked McGee as they piled into the waiting car.
"DiNozzo lives out in Cumberland County," said Gibbs, "about an hour away."
"Is that an hour in normal driving or your driving?" asked Ellie.
Gibbs just smiled, "we'll be there before dark."
Ellie and McGee made sure to be holding on to something and Gibbs set the car going. McGee wondered what it would be like to see Tony again. He remember the many pranks and the lengthy period of hazing he and Kate had inflicted on their Probie but he also remembered Tony diverting Gibbs' wrath, Tony turning up at his apartment after he had shot the undercover police officer, Tony showing him how to do the job. It wasn't until Tony wasn't there any longer that Tim had realised how big a part of his life Tony had become. He had felt both angry and sad that Tony had quit and he regretted that he hadn't worked harder to keep in touch but they worked at a fearsome pace and it was hard to stay connected to people that he saw every day, let alone those who lived a ten hour drive away who felt they had let their team down. Perhaps this would be their chance to reconnect – although Tim would be wary of keyboards which might have been spread with superglue.
Gibbs wasn't good at admitting to his feelings but, as he drove along, he was conscious of a settling in his gut as he was about to see Tony again. Nevertheless, he found himself tensing a little as he steered the car though the large gateway and saw a familiar figure waiting for them.