Chapter Text
A hoʻi i ka lanakila (And Back to Reality)
Tony drug himself out of bed just after four am- a scant three hours after he went to sleep. He was so tempted to skip his morning run and get an extra hour of sleep, but he knew when he was this tired the run would help wake him up more than skipping it would. Steve was still asleep when Tony woke, but stirred when he sat up on the edge of the bed. ‘Lucky bastard.’ Tony thought fondly at the knowledge that the other man didn’t have to leave for several hours still.
So he drug himself up, pulled on the clothes he’d had the foresight to set next to the bed the night before and trudged from the room. He grabbed a bottle of water to take a drink of, pulled on his shoes and set off. It was still mostly dark outside, but the air had begun to lighten and the moons reflection off the ocean gave him enough to see by. He felt a little more short of breath than normal, but attributed it to his overly tired state and ignored it best he could.
He arrived back at the house just before six to find Steve awake in the kitchen, cooking something on the stove. Tony changed course to greet him good morning and saw that he was just starting omelets. “It’ll be about ten or so more minutes if you want to jump in the shower.” Steve commented.
Tony pressed a kiss to his shoulder in thanks and headed upstairs. He took a quick shower, dried off, ran some product through his hair and then got partially dressed. He pulled on his boxer briefs and pants, and then pulled his button up on and left it open for the moment. His tie, jacket, socks and shoes he carried with him back downstairs. He’d always used his clothes like a suit of armor, and his favorite suit always made him feel more confident in himself.
The food was finished when he arrived back downstairs and they headed out to eat on the lanai just as the sunrise was really starting. They ate together in silence, both content to enjoy the stillness of the morning, with naught but the sounds of nature surrounding them, and each other for company.
When six-thirty came around, Tony was completely dressed and ready to go. “Thank you for breakfast.” Tony murmured from where he was pressed against Steve in a farewell embrace.
“You’re welcome.” Steve replied, voice soft and husky. “I’d wish you good luck, but you don’t need it.” He continued. “Let me know how it goes, yeah?”
“‘Course. Alright, I should go.” I love you tried to bubble up to the surface, but he didn’t let it escape. They’d only been together just over five weeks and, and, despite the ease with which they’d fallen back into their relationship, it still felt too fast to say it out loud. “I’ll call you tonight.” He finished with instead and Steve didn’t seem to notice his hesitation.
“Talk to you then.” Steve said, pressing one more kiss to the top of Tony’s head before pulling away. Tony grabbed his bag, made sure he had his cell, key’s and sunglasses, and then set off for his first day as team lead in Hawaii.
The Pearl Harbor Naval Base was enormous. It was like it’s only little city, complete with a golf course, baseball fields, a school, and so much more. Luckily he’d been given directions on how to find the NCIS office, or he would have been completely lost trying to find it himself.
Deputy Director Samuel Worth met him upon his arrival. He was a friendly looking man, who was just slightly overweight with a grey receding hairline and a half-smile that looked at home on his face. “Agent DiNozzo, I’ve heard good things. I’m looking forward to working with you.” The man greeted him with a firm handshake.
“The feeling is mutual, sir. When I accepted the job, Secretary Jarvis said you served as his Personal Security Advisor for a couple of years. I imagine that’s a pretty tall order.” Tony remarked.
“And thus, my return to NCIS.” The older man joked. Tony smiled, feeling more at ease already.
They began walking until they came to a large, open room. It was two stories, but the second story was open in the middle, with a walkway around the exterior and a scattering of doors. The main floor was set up with three desks, covered in a random assortment of papers, files, writing utensils and old coffee mugs- some more organized than others. Worth led him to an empty office at the front of the room. It was a good sized office, with a window facing out over the base, a large mahogany desk, and a set of file cabinets that were currently empty. A gold colored name plate was already in place on his desk, proclaiming ‘SAC A. DiNozzo.’ The SAC, of course, stood for Special Agent in Charge. Three files waited for him on the center of the desk, along with a black case.
Worth walked over and picked up the case. From it came Tony’s new badge, security key card and service weapon. “The files are on the members of your team. You’ll have at least today to get familiar with them before we issue you a case. I can’t guarantee anything beyond that.”
“Oh, no, I completely understand. I appreciate having today.” Tony said and then paused. “I actually have kind of an odd request to make.”
“Oh?”
“This office is great, it’ll be really nice for the nights I stay late doing paperwork, but I wonder if I might actually have a desk out in the bullpen for when we’re working active cases? I feel like I’d be pretty disconnected from my team in here.”
“That’s not a problem, I’ll have the boys move one in right away. Anything else you need of the bat?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“Well then I’ll leave you to get settled in. Your team will be here at eight, let me know if you need anything.”
“Thank you, sir.”
~*~*~*~
The first team member arrived at ten to eight. He was an average sized man with a nice tan, dirty blonde hair and a lithe, but muscular, build. He paused slightly when he saw the rearranged room and added desk, but still carried himself confidently and moved to the desk farthest on the left that was also the most organized. He seated himself and immediately moved to boot up his computer. Tony remained in his office, door closed and blinds shuddered save for the line he was peering discreetly through. He wanted to observe their interactions with each other before making his presence known.
The second to arrive was a woman. She was shorter than the first man, with brown hair pulled back into a French braid and a large cup of coffee clenched in her hand. She greeted the first man friendly enough, casually asking if he knew the reason for the change while she moved to take a seat at the desk to his left, which was also the most cluttered. Finally, the last member arrived right at eight o’clock. He was huge compared to the other two, and Tony knew he would tower over him as well. He looked Samoan, with bronze skin, bulging muscles and dark tribal tattoos. His hair was cut short and looked dark brown or black. His pause was more pronounced, but he simply nodded at the first two and took his seat at the remaining desk, which was more organized chaos than anything else.
None of them were talking, all focused on their computers and putting their things away. Tony decided he may as well introduce himself, since he wasn’t picking up on much from his observing. He exited the office and three pairs of eyes immediately locked on him. “Good morning.” He started with, leaning back against the wall of his office with his arms crossed casually across his chest. “My name is Anthony DiNozzo, and I’m your new team lead.”
The three stared at him silently, waiting. “I know you guys have been working together for a while now, but that you haven’t had a lead in a few weeks. I’m looking forward to getting to know you all better, and working with you from here on out, and I’m sure you’re looking forward to getting back out in the field.” The blonde smiled slightly, but the other two remained stoic.
“I’m sorry to tell you that won’t be today. We’re booked for the shooting range, the sparing gym and one of the obstacle courses, and we’re also going to the track. We may do a couple other things, depending on how the day goes. But first, introductions. Let’s start with you.” He said nodding to the blonde who had been first to arrive.
“Uh.” The man said, darting a quick look over to the larger Samoan. “Shouldn’t you know who we are already?”
“Why would you assume that?” Tony questioned, head tilting as he watched them trade another look.
“Because you’re our supervisor? Didn’t they give you our files, or something?”
“They did indeed.” Tony agreed easily.
“Shouldn’t you have read them then?” The blonde continued, starting to sound a little annoyed, though his tone remained controlled.
“Yep. And I will- tonight.” He shifted his right hand up, elbow propped over his still crossed left arm, and let his head rest slightly forward where his curled fist rested against his mouth. “Still like to know who you are though, unless you’d like me to call you ‘one,’ ‘two,’ and ‘three’ for today? Or maybe ‘Athos,’ ‘Aramis’ and ‘Porthos?’ How about- ‘Moe,’ “Curly,’ and ‘Larry?’ No, I guess those don’t really work. ‘Harry,’ ‘Ron,’ and ‘Hermione?’ Feel free to stop me when you hear one you like.”
The blonde’s expression was getting more and more incredulous the longer he spoke and Tony had to stamp down on the amusement he felt bubbling up. He and the Samoan’s eyes met again, and it was the third time in about two minutes. That might be interesting. “My name is Jesse Graham.” He finally said, cutting off Tony’s continuing spiel.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Jesse Graham. And what is your role on this team?”
“Excuse me?” Graham asked, brows furrowing.
“What’s your role here? What do you bring to the team? What got you your spot here?”
“Well, I served as an Operations Specialist for twelve years.”
“Oh?” Tony asked, intrigued. “Did you ever serve aboard the USS Seahawk?”
“I did, as a matter of fact, but only briefly.”
“What year?”
“2005.”
“I did a stint as agent afloat back in ’08. Was Richard captain when you were there too?”
“He was, actually.”
“He’s a good man, a good captain.” Tony remarked. “And how long have you been with NCIS?”
“Three years, give or take.”
Tony nodded before turning his attention to the woman. “And you are?”
“Natalie Johnson, sir.” The woman responded after only the slightest pause.
“Don’t call me sir, I’m not in the Navy. It’s DiNozzo or Boss.”
“Yes, sir. Uh, Boss?”
Tony chose not to remark a second time and asked her the same question he’d asked Graham. “And what is your role on this team?”
“I’m a Naval Aviator Pilot. I’m also fluent in Arabic, Russian and Persian, and I’m passable in Hebrew, Hindi and Romanian.” She sounded more confident than she had in addressing him.
“And how long have you been with NCIS?
“Just over a year.”
Tony nodded and turned to the last man. “And you?” He asked simply.
“Makaio Palowunu. I served as a Special Warfare Combatant, and I’ve been with NCIS for eight years. Senior Field Agent for the last four.” His voice was as gruff and deep as Tony had imagined it would be.
“Fantastic, it sounds like you have a great variety of skills between the three of you. Today will be to gage fitness levels, how the team preforms together and individually, and any potential strengths or weaknesses. Any questions?”
The three continued to silently watch him, and no one spoke up. “Great. So, I have no idea where the shooting range is. I’ll follow you.” He said, pushing of the wall and moving to the door. The three stood and followed, Palowunu took the leading, followed by the other two and then Tony.
The small arms firing range, it turned out, was only a couple of hallways away. He’d had Worth book it for two hours when they’d been discussing his arrival over the phone. When he arrived, he was happy to see four rows of guns laid out neatly on a table at the back of the huge room. All four automatically moved to grab the ear protection hanging neatly beside the door. “We’ll start with handguns.” He said, moving to one end and gesturing at Johnson to pick up the first weapon, a Beretta 9mm. She moved to comply. “Now, I’d like to see you strip it, reassemble, load, and empty the clip, if you’d be so kind.” He requested, pulling his own earmuffs up to cover his ears and gesturing to the others to do the same.
She moved to stand before the smaller, empty table, and began to do as directed. Her movements were slow, but steady and she worked through it. It made sense that she’d be familiar with this particular gun, as it was the one typically carried by Aviator Pilots. When she moved to fire, her stance was confident and her aim passable. She didn’t hit center, but she wasn’t too far off.
When the clip was empty, she turned back around to face him. “Nice work.” Tony said simply, voice pitched louder to be heard. “Graham? The same, please.”
He did about the same, if a little faster. Two of his shots hit center, and the others were more tightly grouped than Johnson’s had been, which seemed to please him as well. “Thank you. And you, Palowunu?”
The Samoan’s brow raised the slightest bit, and Tony thought he might have been surprised that the haole could pronounce his name. Though Tony was nowhere near able to actually speak Hawaiian, he had picked up on several phrases and terms over the years, and had become somewhat used to the phonemics of the unique language.
Though he did not appear to rush, he went much faster than the first two, completing the progression in less time than it had even taken the other two to strip their own weapons. Only one of his shots was slightly off center- and then only just. The other’s formed a small, neat little circle in the middle of the bullseye. When he was finished, he set down his weapon as silently as he’d picked it up and crossed his burley arms across his chest. Tony nodded to him and then moved to pick up the fourth.
They seemed surprised when he began moving through the same motions, but did not speak up to ask the questions clearly on their minds. He ignored it at first, moving through the motions that were as familiar to him as pulling on gloves. One thing that came from having a Gunnery Sergeant as a boss was his total comfort in handling all types of weapons- Gibbs had absolutely insisted on it, and he wasn’t afraid to go to extreme methods to get the results he wanted. His mind flashed briefly to that old NCIS baseball cap punctured with a bullet hole and Kate’s broken PDA.
His reassembly wasn’t quite as quick as Palowunu’s had been, but his grouping was perfect. When he finished and turned to meet the eyes of his team, pushing his own earmuffs down to rest on the back of his neck. He decided to speak up rather than waiting for them to ask what they were all obviously wondering. “Today is not just about me assessing you. We are going to be working as a team, and it’s just as important that you know my strengths and weaknesses as it is for you to know each other’s and for me to know yours. In addition, I will never ask you to do something that I am not willing to do myself. Johnson, next weapon please.” He directed, pulling his earmuffs back up and moving to cross his arms and observe.
The remaining weapons went in about the same manner. Johnson was clearly the weakest out of all of them, being much less familiar with the other weapons, and fumbling more than once during the process. Graham didn’t fumble, but he did move slowly- more so on some weapons than others. Palowunu remained the fastest uniformly over all the weapons but stayed nearly even with Tony for accuracy.
Once they were finished in the shooting range they moved onto the sparing room/gym room. It was much like the one back in DC, with lockers crammed against one wall, a boxing ring to one side, floor mats along another, and then a variety of weights and exercise tools spread around. Unlike the shooting range, this room was open to the base, and there were several people spread randomly around the room, doing their own thing.
“Alright, we’re going to do some close quarter sparing. Same order, Johnson, you and me.” Tony said, moving to take a stance and tugging at his standard issue NCIS workout gear to get comfortable. She approached him cautiously and took a stance similar to his. He attacked her slowly, giving her plenty of time to react. He moved through a series of common moves, carefully watching her reactions and responses. “That’s enough.” He ordered after a few minutes, blocking her strike and stepping back out of range.
“Graham?” The man in question moved in easily and eyed his new boss closely. After the slow controlled moves from the first fight, Tony was a little surprised when Graham attacked him suddenly and furiously. Tony blocked his first swing and the swipe of his leg before he was back in a position to counter. The fight lasted much longer, and Tony eventually found himself overpowered and pinned. “Alright.” Tony said, and Graham immediately let go of him and hopped up. He held a hand out and took accepted it with a broad smile. “That was fantastic!” He exclaimed. “You’ll have to show me that last move again.”
Graham nodded in acceptance and stepped back off the matt. “Palowunu?” The huge man stepped forward and took his stance. “How tall are you, anyway?” Tony questioned lightly, feeling a little intimidated despite himself.
“6’7” The Samoan grunted and began attacking. Tony countered him easily, but quickly became frustrated. His new SFA used his sheer size and brute strength as his strategy. It wasn’t graceful or pretty, but it was damn effective. He had five inches on Tony, and almost a foot more arm span. At first, it didn’t seem to matter how Tony tried to attack, because the man could literally just reach out and push him away or block his efforts. Eventually though, Tony was able to duck under an overhead swing and pop forward to wrap his left hand around the back of the taller mans neck, and his right hand grabbing the top of his left bicep. From there, he was able to duck quickly under Palowunu’s left arm, while his own left arm remained holding the back of his neck. As a result, the taller man was forced to bow over, and Tony was able to step around him and get close to his back. He shifted his grip and then used his right knee and a jerk of his left hand to trip him and force him to the ground. He used his own weight to force the larger man to fall how he wanted him to, and was able to pin him on his stomach.
He let go and then plopped himself over onto his back. “Okay. Good job, everybody.” He said from his position on the floor. “That was good.” He repeated again. “You’re like a robot, you know that?” He shot at Palowunu when he finally pushed himself back to his feet. The Samoan smirked at him and casually straightened his shorts.
“Okay.” Tony said, stretching and popping up onto his toes. “I’ll leave the next one up to you. Track first or obstacle course?” The three traded looks. Running the course first would mean they had more energy, but it also meant they’d get muddy, and running while covered in drying dirt was not high up on anyone’s list.
“Track first.” Graham finally stated, speaking up for all of them. The other two nodded silently in agreement.
“Track it is.” Tony agreed. “Uh, where is that, again?”
~*~*~*~
The rest of the day passed in about the same way, and by the time they were done, everyone was sore and tired. They all sent out general noises of goodbye and departed, though Tony only went as far as his office. He propped himself back in his chair, bringing his right leg up to prop on his desk and hold himself in position. He started reading, and was only a couple of pages in when he was interrupted by a quiet knock on his open doorframe. He looked up, surprised, to see the very man whose file he held.
“Hey.” He said, dropping his leg down and sitting up. “Sorry, though you’d all left. What’s up?”
His new SFA shrugged his massive shoulders and moved to sit in the chair across from his desk. “So you are reading them.” He commented, dark brown eyes focused on the small pile.
“Course I am.” Tony studied him. “Really though, what’s up?” I doubt you came here to watch me read.”
“You’re a curious man.” Palowunu said simply, settling more comfortably into his seat.
“Oh? How so?”
“Well, I’ve never had a commanding officer who didn’t know who I was before they assumed my command.”
“It bothers you that I didn’t read your file before meeting you.”
“It shows a lack of regard for those in your command.”
“I disagree.”
“So explain it to me then.” He demanded, voice deep.
Tony tilted his head and looked at him for a long minute before he responded. “Alright. Well, I like to think I’m a pretty good judge of character. The problem is, files and be misleading, they can be taken out of context or missing important information. Reading your files first would have given me an impression of who you guys are before I met you. Instead, I choose to meet you and make my own impression before I read about you.”
“Trust me, I plan to learn everything I can about the three of you. I fully understand that your lives are in my hands, and I will never purposefully do anything that would that would increase the chance of one of you getting injured or not coming home. And, if you ever disagree with one of my orders, I fully expect you to bring it to my attention. You’ve obviously been with these guys a lot longer than I have, and I will respect your opinions as much as I hope you will come to respect mine with time.”
The man studied him for another long second before smiling the slightest bit. “Nolaila, loihi no laila, pono.” [So far, so good.] The man said, jerking his chin at him before pushing himself up out of the chair. “Aloha ahiahi.” [Good night.]
The first phrase he didn’t recognize, but the second he did. “Good night.” He replied automatically, watching the man disappear. Once he was alone again, he turned his eyes back to the file and settled back in to read.
His phone buzzed on his desk sometime later. He ignored it for a minute, finishing the page he was on before he grabbed it. It was a picture from Steve- two beers sitting on the chairs of his lanai. Tony smiled when he saw it and texted out a reply. ‘That looks amazing. Unfortunately, I’m going to be here for a while still. Drink mine for me, and I’ll see you tomorrow- promise. xo’
The reply came almost immediately. ‘:( okay. Don’t work too hard. -S’ He smiled again and tossed the phone back on the desk. He started reading again when the tickle in his chest he’d been ignoring all day came back with a vengeance. He rubbed at his sternum and took a sip of the cold coffee sitting on his desk. It went away after a minute, and he went back to reading without thought.
~*~*~*~
When he arrived home later that night, he poured himself a glass of scotch and moved out onto the back deck. He leaned against the rail and sipped at the liquid, watching the waves hit the shore in the distance. The tickle came back even worse than before, and he found himself coughing before he realized it was coming. It was harsh and loud, a buildup of all the coughs he’d forced down throughout the day.
His throat hurt a little when it was over, and he clenched his eyes shut and forced his breaths to come slow and steady. He’d never, never, forget the feel of drowning, of not being able to catch his breath, of knowing, absolutely, that his own lungs were going to suffocate him. Sometimes, we he coughed particularly hard, the feeling crept back up to his peripheral. Once he had himself back under control, he downed the rest of the liquid in one long drink, and then turned to go back inside.
He headed to the master bath to take a long hot shower and then curled up on the couch in front of the tv. He turned on a movie half-heartedly, feeling exhausted, and then grabbing his phone once he was comfortable. He dialed absently and then pulled the phone up to rest against his ear.
“Hey.” Steve’s voice greeted him lowly. Tony could hear the sound of the waves, and though Steve might still be sitting outside. “How was your first day.”
“Good, I think. Ran ‘em through their paces, seemed to go okay.”
“Sounds like you ran yourself too.”
“Yeah, I’m exhausted.” Tony said, laughing quietly.
“So how are they?”
“They’re good- great even. First team I’ve seen made completely of formally enlisted personal. There’s some room for improvement, but they’re pretty solid already. It’ll be good to see them work an actual case, see how they mesh.”
“That’s awesome. Makes me feel better knowing you’ve got good people watching your six.”
“Yeah, for sure. But how was your day?” Tony questioned, voice growing softer still.
“Quiet, for the most part. We ended up driving out to Wahiawa to check out some suspicious holes that appeared in the Botanical Gardens. Turned out to be black market sale of rare and endangered flora. You know they actually use those plants for makeup and skin creams? Tony? Babe?” The sound of Steve chuckling came over the speaker, but Tony did not hear it. In fact, it wasn’t until Steve disconnected the call and called him back that the sound of his ringing phone woke him up.
He startled awake and sat up, phone falling onto his lap from its resting place. He picked it up and answered it, rubbing a hand down his face. “Hey, sorry. Didn’t mean to fall asleep.” He said, voice scratchy, after hitting accept.
“Nah, it’s fine. Why don’t you go to bed? Sounds like you need a good night’s sleep.”
“Yeah, think I’ll do that. Goodnight, sweet dreams.” Tony murmured, pushing himself up and absently turning the tv off.
“Moeʻuhane hemolele.” Steve returned. “A i ka la apopo.”
~*~ To Be Continued… ~*~