Work Text:
As soon as Tony learned that Gibbs was going to be gone for a week-long security conference, he knew his work life was about to become a living hell.
It started small but predictable. McGee and Ziva decided to arrive later than they were supposed to, and leave before the usual quitting time. The work that typically occupied their time between active cases- reports, requests, deposition prep, cold case review- were left untouched in favor of more personal pursuits.
Tony was pretty sure that McGee had no idea that the senior field agent knew about the MMORPG games that McGee was logging into periodically instead of completing overdue field reports.
Unfortunately, Tony had been down this road before and had learned several hard lessons on which battles to choose and when. Even armed with this knowledge, his teammates were even less cooperative than usual.
Tony glanced at his watch for what felt like the hundredth time, then looked over at the DC Metro officer standing beside him. He gave the man a bright smile despite the anger simmering in his gut.
“Seriously, Tony, it’s no problem,” Detective Matt Flynn said. “My guys can get started on canvassing the scene and corralling witnesses until your guys can get here.”
Another glance at the time was all it took for Tony to cave. “Thanks, Matt,” he said gratefully. “I appreciate it.”
Matt turned and tossed a thumbs up at his partner across the crime scene, who immediately turned and began barking orders at the uniforms standing nearby. Matt nodded and turned back to Tony, running a critical eye over his friend of almost ten years.
“They reply yet?” he asked lightly.
Tony shook his head even as he checked his phone. “They’re probably on their way,” he said. “You know how traffic can be.”
“Sure,” Matt replied easily.
Tony managed another five minutes of pretense before finally giving up and flashing Matt a weak, apologetic smile. “How do you feel about helping me interview the witnesses?”
Matt’s grin was much stronger. “Thought you’d never ask.”
It was a fairly straight-forward case, and between the two of them and the team of uniforms canvassing the scene and logging evidence, Tony was ready to pack it in and return to HQ within an hour.
“Matt, I can’t thank you enough for your help,” Tony said as he and his friend set the last box in the back of the NCIS evidence truck.
“Hey, man, you’d do the same for me,” Matt replied, brushing aside the thanks. The easy smile dropped from his face, his posture shifting into one more businesslike as Tony closed the van’s doors. “Listen, Tony; it’s none of my business, but I gotta say it.”
Tony knew exactly where Matt was going with their conversation, but that didn’t stop him from trying to inject some levity into it. “When has that ever stopped you before?”
“Tony.”
One word. In a tone that was deadly serious. Tony’s shoulders slumped. “I know, Matt.”
Matt ducked his head slightly to catch Tony’s eyes. “I’m worried, man. This shit is unsat. What if you rolled on a call? What if you need backup?”
Tony shut the door to the evidence van. “I know , Matt. Believe me, I’m not any happier about this than you are, but with Gibbs out, my hands are tied.”
“Chain of command is a thing for a reason,” Matt countered. “Isn’t there some higher power?”
Tony grinned in spite of himself. “You mean God?”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Smart ass. Who does Gibbs answer to?”
Tony bit back the retort that jumped onto his tongue. “Might as well be God for how much Gibbs actually listens to him, but our director has already expressed his opinion of dinosaurs like us.”
Matt frowned. “Is there nothing you can do? I’m not comfortable with the idea of you on your own out there.”
Tony smiled gratefully. “I’ll be fine, Matt, I promise. Gibbs’ll be back on Monday, and everything will go back to normal.”
The look Matt gave him told Tony that he was less than convinced, but he didn’t press the issue. With a final farewell, the two left the crime scene, heading in opposite directions.
The drive back to headquarters was uncharacteristically peaceful. Tony reveled in the quiet, using the time to get his head on straight. McGee and Ziva’s conspicuous and blatant disrespect for him in front of colleagues had him feeling equal parts embarrassed and angry. Two emotions that had no place in any upcoming discussion the senior field agent was already beginning to outline in his head.
Tony guided the van into the evidence garage once back at NCIS, then decided to handle logging in the evidence on his own. As a one-man job, he was guaranteed to spend at least two hours doing it, but at least he’d know it was done and he wouldn’t waste additional time arguing with McGee and Ziva to do it. A fruitless task that would inevitably lead to going over their work after the fact to make sure they’d done it correctly and hadn’t cut any corners.
The repetitive task had an added benefit of helping to cool some of Tony’s frustration as he worked. The time passed quicker than he had expected, and he was just finishing up logging in the last piece of evidence when a new arrival appeared just outside the evidence locker.
“Agent DiNozzo?” Cynthia, Vance’s secretary, called.
Her presence set off warning bells in Tony’s head, but he smiled at her. “Cynthia! What can I do for you?”
Cynthia smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. The bells in Tony’s head rang louder; whatever had brought her down to the evidence locker wasn’t good news.
“Director Vance would like to see you in his office,” Cynthia told him.
Tony’s smile turned into a grimace. “I take it that my presence is required sooner rather than later, given how he’s sent you to find me?”
“I’m afraid so,” Cynthia answered with a sympathetic grimace of her own.
Tony finished signing off on the final piece of evidence, then set it in the box before him and lifted the box onto its assigned shelf. “Any ideas on what I’ve done lately before I go beard the lion in his den?”
Annoyance twisted Cynthia’s features as the two began to walk towards the elevator. “I don’t know the details, but I do know that Agent McGee and Officer David are there too, and they’re complaining about you wasting their time?”
Tony and Cynthia stepped onto the elevator. Tony pinched his nose and closed his eyes at Cynthia’s comment as Cynthia pressed the button. “Lord give me patience or an untraceable handgun.”
Cynthia snorted in amusement. “I’m fairly certain that you already have patience in spades. Between working with those two and working for Gibbs, you’re a shoo-in for canonization.”
Tony dropped his hand, a bark of laughter escaping his lips. “Too bad Vance doesn’t share that opinion.”
Cynthia’s smile turned downright devious, piquing Tony’s curiosity. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said as the elevator doors slid open on the mezzanine overlooking the major crimes bullpen. Cynthia stepped out, leading Tony to the director’s office. “I think, after today, he’ll be singing a different tune.”
Tony frowned. “What do you know?”
They entered the outer office, Cynthia moving behind her desk. “The director will see you now,” she stated, professional mask firmly in place.
Tony hesitated at her desk, his frown deepening. Cynthia merely winked and gestured for Tony to proceed into Vance’s office.
With a final suspicious look at the assistant, Tony stepp up to the door and knocked before opening it.
Vance was seated behind his desk, reviewing papers in a file before him. Opposite the director stood his missing teammates, looks of impatience on their faces that rapidly turned smug the instant they caught sight of Tony.
“You wanted to see me, Director?” Tony stated, choosing to ignore his teammates for the moment.
“Agent DiNozzo, yes,” Vance replied. He stood, collecting the papers before him and sliding them back into the folder. “Thank you for arriving promptly. Since we’re all here, let’s move to the conference table.”
The small group gathered at the table on the other side of the office, Vance claiming the chair at the head. McGee took the chair to Vance’s left, Ziva beside him. Tony lowered himself into the seat on Vance’s right, sharp eyes taking in any clues from the three present.
Vance nodded. “Good. Now, Agent DiNozzo, your teammates have brought to my attention that you summoned them to a crime scene today that didn’t actually exist.”
Tony blinked, his mind unable to process the statement. He blinked again.
“He’s not even denying it,” Ziva stated.
Vance held a hand up to her, then turned back to Tony. “Agent DiNozzo?”
Tony mentally shook himself. “Sir, I was at the crime scene myself. We waited for Agent McGee and Officer David for an hour before I asked DC Metro for help processing the scene. In fact, I just finished logging in the evidence when Cynthia came and got me.”
“And the location you sent your team?” Vance prompted.
Tony pulled out his phone. Unlocking it, he found the text he had sent to his teammates and handed it over to Vance. Vance looked at the screen, then checked the papers he had brought with him from his desk.
“As you can see, sir, Agent DiNozzo is clearly not suited to lead this team,” McGee stated. “Abusing his authority to play childish pranks and wasting valuable time?”
A flash of anger speared through Tony. “What prank would that be, Agent McGee ?” he demanded. “I called you two four hours ago. Where the hell were you?”
“Working,” Ziva retorted. “You would have known that if you had been here instead of setting up your prank.” A sly smirk graced her lips. “McGee and I have decided enough is enough. We have told Director Vance about your unprofessional behavior this week, and he agrees with us.”
Hurt pierced Tony at the blatant favoritism working against him. Unbidden, he found himself mentally reviewing his contacts for potential jobs, since it was clear he was about to be out of his current one.
“I admit to having received a sizable number of HR-44s since I sent Gibbs to the conference,” Vance admitted. “But I’d like to clear today’s issue first.” He tilted his chin up, eyes on the door to his office. “Cynthia?” he called.
On cue, the doors opened. Lost in the fog of confusion and righteous indignation, it took Tony a full minute to realize who had entered.
“Matt?” he asked, frowning in confusion as Matt Flynn approached the table.
Matt held up his hands in surrender. “I swear I had no idea about any of this. He showed up at my window before I left the scene.”
“He?” Tony echoed. His eyes slipped past his friend as the last person he expected to see moved into view. “ Gibbs ?”
“Boss?” McGee’s voice tangled with Tony’s.
“Thank you for coming, Detective Flynn,” Vance stated. “We won’t take up much of your time, but we would appreciate your help in clearing something up.”
“Of course.” Matt took the seat beside Tony, leaving Gibbs the chair at the end opposite Vance.
“Today, you answered a call for a homicide,” Vance began. “What time did you arrive on scene?”
“At approximately ten-thirty this morning,” Matt replied easily.
“And you examined the scene and determined that NCIS had jurisdiction,” the director continued.
“Yes, sir,” Matt answered. “We ran the victim’s prints and got a hit that he was enlisted. At that point I called it in.”
“And Agent DiNozzo arrived when?” Vance asked.
Matt did some mental calculations. “He arrived at about a quarter to noon. He was alone. He called his team and we waited, but when they didn’t show, my partner and I got our guys to help process the scene. We had everything wrapped up at about two.”
“And can you please verify the location for the record?” Vance asked.
“Yes, sir,” Matt said. “Rock Creek Park, about a hundred yards north of Rapids Bridge.”
“Thank you, Detective,” Vance said. “If you don’t mind, would you please forward a copy of your report and a signed statement to Agent Gibbs?”
“Of course, sir.” Matt stood. Giving Tony a pat on the shoulder, he excused himself from the room.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Ziva demanded. She looked at Gibbs. “What are you doing here?”
Gibbs’ angry gaze took most of the wind out of her sails. “Following up on several complaints logged with HR.”
Confusion colored McGee and Tony’s faces, but Ziva merely looked satisfied.
“Agent McGee, Officer David,” Vance stated. “Six weeks ago, your team was working on the Military At Home case. In the course of the investigation, Agent DiNozzo was sent to collect voice samples from a residential community. Independent examinations of the recordings provided have found that you turned off the microphone and left your partner without backup for approximately two hours.”
Shock was plain on all three agents’ faces.
“As nothing about this could be found in your case reports, I asked Agent Gibbs to help me gather information,” Vance continued. “Agent Gibbs was not at a conference. He’s been here, following you and observing your interactions. What he’s reported was damning enough without today’s incident adding to it.”
“So you’ve seen Tony’s antics for yourself?” Ziva stated, clearly intending to brazen through the conversation.
Gibbs’ glare was ice cold. “What I’ve seen , Officer David, is a consummate professional who has handled the disrespect and insubordinate behavior of two agents without complaint. What I’ve seen is two agents who left their partner twisting in the wind not once, but twice .”
“Boss-,” McGee began.
“Save it, McGee,” Gibbs cut him off. “I was there today. The reason you thought Tony called you to a nonexistent crime scene was because, by the time you bothered to show up, it had already been cleared.”
“Team leaders from all over the building have submitted HR-44s on Agent DiNozzo’s behalf, reporting incidents of tardiness, insubordination, refusal to follow orders, and more,” Vance added.
“This is preposterous!” Ziva snapped. “I have no problem following orders from a competent leader!”
“Given that Agent DiNozzo has managed to shoulder your team’s entire workload in Gibbs’ absence and no cases or departments have suffered for it, I’d have to conclude that Agent DiNozzo is more than competent to lead,” Vance stated baldly.
Tony couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping.
“You’re joking,” McGee blurted out.
Vance’s expression was stern. “An agent’s safety is never a joking matter. Which is why, as of this moment, you and Officer David are suspended pending review. Turn in your badge and weapon. You’ll find security outside waiting to escort you to your vehicles.”
Neither agent moved, too stunned at the sudden turn of events. Tony could find no words himself.
“That’s an order!” Gibbs barked. “ Move !”
McGee jolted to his feet, fumbling for his badge. Ziva’s face was a mask of fury as she, too, rose to her feet.
“This isn’t over,” she vowed.
“It is for now,” Vance replied coolly. “Dismissed.”
With a snarl, Ziva slammed her ID onto the table, placing her gun beside it with more care before storming out of the office. McGee followed meekly after her, bewilderment still plain on his face.
Tony turned his attention to Gibbs. “Boss?”
Gibbs’ expression softened slightly, but was still disapproving. “The three of us are going to have a long talk about when to report agents for insubordination and when to suck it up and take one for the team.”
“And then we’re going to go over every instance of unprofessional conduct by your teammates until we have a clear idea of what we’re dealing with,” Vance added.
Tony wasn’t entirely sure how everything had suddenly turned around so quickly, but he felt as though a weight had been lifted from his heart. He nodded.
“Okay,” he replied. “Where do we start?”
END