Part 9

Tony heard the key in his door. He knew it was Gibbs. He had already called promising to bring supper. He watched from his place on the couch as the team leader opened the door. He sat the take out and bottles of soda on the table before either man spoke.

Tony looked at Gibbs after surveying the food. "What is going to happen to Ellie? I want to make a statement."

Gibbs nodded as he opened the food containers and the soda. "The usual. She's suspended without pay, pending the investigation. She will have to have a psych evaluation." He handed Tony a bottle, then took a drink of his own.

"She's… she didn't do anything wrong." Tony replied as Gibbs went into the kitchen to get plates and forks.

"She didn't have your six, Tony." Gibbs replied.

"Ellie was following orders. We split up. She went left. I went right." Tony explained. She did what she was told to do. She followed orders. I was the one who messed up. I thought the area I was in had been cleared. My fault, not hers!"

Gibbs understood. The scene bordered on chaos, local LEOs and military officials had begun to show up. The agencies were not communicating.

"Does she…did you tell her that?" Gibbs asked.

Tony nodded. "I tried. She was…she was having such a hard time…."

Gibbs nodded. "I'll make sure Vance knows."

"How did Sara come out in all this?" Tony had talked to Neal. But the conman didn't seem to know much.

Gibbs just looked at him for a moment. He knew Tony had talked to Nel and probably Peter and El, since they had all went back to New York about 2 weeks ago.

"Neal didn't seem to know that much." Tony explained.

"Sara recovered what she was looking for. Plus, she's getting a finders fee for all the other valuable art they found in the man's possession. It's total value is about 200 million, with her 5% finder's fee…."

"Neal doesn't need to know." Tony concluded.

"No, he does not." Gibbs agreed.

Tony hurried to his desk when he realized it was his office phone that was ringing. He dropped his backpack onto the floor beside his desk and reached for the receiver.

"Hello." Tony said, breathless.

"Hey!" Sara Ellis said, as she sat at attention at her desk. "I thought you were supposed to take it easy your first week or two back at work."

"Oh, I, yeah…it's not that." Tony replied. "We just got back from a crime scene."

"Again,…that whole 'taking it easy' thing." Sara repeated. "Junior wasn't kidding when he said you didn't know how to follow doctor's orders."

"Yeah, well…I never liked doctors, and hospitals give me a rash." The senior agent stated.

Sara chuckled. Well, I just wanted to check on you. And, I wanted to thank you. I can see why Neal speaks so highly of you."

Tony smiled and nodded, even though Sara could not see him. "He's a good kid."

Sara smiled. "Thanks again. You made a lot of people happy here in New York. I hope we get the opportunity to work together again, Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo."

"Me too, Insurance Investigator Extraordinaire Sara Ellis, me too!"

THE END (of Bonded and Insured)

Of course, there are more Tony and Neal Adventures to come!

END NOTES: I am so appreciative to those of you who have hung in here with me till the end. RL has been extra busy lately. I am writing all the time. But, I cannot post at work, where I am doing most of the writing. We have Intranet. So, I have to type my stories and then print them out and type them up again when I get home. It's the retyping I don't seem to have much time to do. But, again, thank you all for your patience and your faithful readership. And, as I promised above…there will be more Tony and Neal Adventures!