Chapter 3

Tony was at his wit's end. He needed to set her straight. Right now.

"You're wrong!" Tony said as he walked into the lab.

Abby had her music off. She was talking, gesturing, to one of the new recent hires. A woman that Tony actually had in his classes. He recognized her immediately. He also heard his name being tossed around, and on not such good terms.

"You're wrong, Abby!" Tony repeated.

Abby shook her head. "Gibbs is never wrong. He would never do something like that." She huffed. "And this was a private conversation."

It was Tony's turn. "He was wrong. And he did do it. And you were talking loud enough for everyone on this hall to hear you!"

Abby huffed back. "You're lying!"

"Look it up for yourself, Abby. It's in the handbook. You wouldn't know about that particular rule. You're not an agent. But, Gibbs did, Abby. He knew. And yet he allowed everyone to continue to blame and ridicule me when he got back. He could have stopped it. He could have…."

Abby backed away from him. She was not going to believe her silver-haired fox would do such a thing.

Tony sighed. "The Field Agent Undercover Operations and Instructions Manuel. It's page 39, paragraph 4, line 6." He paused. "Read it…don't read it. I don't care!" He suddenly felt defeated. He was tired of fighting people who were of little importance to him and Tali.

Tony turned to the young agent. "I'm sorry you have to hear this, Probationary Agent Collins. While it is better to air things out with people face to face rather than continuing to talk about them behind their backs. You should not have had to witness that scene. And for that, I am sorry. Because, when those things do not happen, you end up in embarrassing and completely avoidable situations, such as the one we are in now."

Tony waited for the agent to leave. Collins was in shock, feeling like she was caught in the middle. What Tony told her had helped and she nodded at Tony and headed out of the lab.

Tony waited before he spoke again. "Ms. Scuito!" He said to get her attention. Don't you EVER talk about me to another agent like that! How dare you?" He used his height and proximity to let her know he meant business.

Abby backed away. She could see and feel his anger.

"I am her instructor. How much confidence and trust is she going to have in me now? That pack of lies you just told her? I need her to trust me, for me to be able to do my job. And, if you've ruined that trust, I'll…." Tony was too angry to even finish his sentence. He turned to leave the lab.

"Like Gibbs and Tim trusted you." Abby mumbled.

Tony was back again in a flash. "I never let Gibbs or McGee down out in the field! Not when and where it counted, Ms. Scuito. And, I dare you…I DARE you or them to come up with a time that that happened! Because they won't be able to, it didn't happen. I did my job as an agent here. And I did it well." Tony paused. "They had agents. Plenty of them, all the alphabet was there, Abby. I'm a dad now. I can't go around the world chasing bad guys anymore. You seem to have forgotten that. So, I…."

"Tali!"

"Yes Abby, my daughter, Tali." Tony replied.

Abby face softened as she thought of Ziva's little girl. "Aunt Abby."

"Nope."

Abby glared at him.

"Tali no longer has an Aunt Abby…"

"Tony!" Abby pleaded.

"Or a Grandpa Gibb, or an Uncle Tim or Aunt Ellie." Tony stated. "I had to explain to her that she no longer had the American family that I had been telling her about since we left The States."

"But…Tony….?"

"I had to tell her, her American family no longer exists."

"Why?" Abby whined. "Ziva would have wanted…."

"It didn't work for Gibbs. It's not going to work for you!" Tony said, shaking his head. "Ziva would NOT have liked the way you've treated Tali."

"What?" Abby was confused.

"You never took Tali into consideration ONCE while you were belittling and berating me! Where was Tali going to be while I was on this rescue mission?"

Tony watched her expression change. "Where was she going to stay? Because under normal circumstances, it probably would have been Gibbs." He paused. "But, of course, Gibbs was not an option! Was he? Where else? Who has the experience to take care of a toddler, possibly long term?"

Abby didn't speak.

"Nobody coming to mind, huh?" Tony asked. "Yeah, me either. But, you expected me to leave my traumatized little girl. For what? She gets to lose both parents before her 5th birthday? How DO you think Ziva would have felt about that?"

Abby started to speak.

Tony shook his head. "We're done here!" He started to walk away and then turned back. "And the next time I hear you're bad mouthing me to one of my students, you won't get a warning!"

THE END

End Notes: I don't think I've ever left a story with this type of ending before. But, I just wanted you all to know how very, very pissed off Tony was.