Chapter Text
They were together…until they weren’t.
From the day they first met, Gibbs saw something in Tony. Even then, the Baltimore detective had great potential. Most people who knew him, or worked with him, had an inkling Tony would be successful at whatever he decided to do with his life. Gibbs was quite thankful Tony had chosen a career in law enforcement and was very pleased when he agreed to apply at NCIS.
It wasn’t that there weren’t bumps in the road. When Tony first started, it was just the two of them for a while, then Director Tom Morrow would also stick them with various probies to work with. Mostly, it was a sink or swim thing. Gibbs didn’t lavish praise on most of the agents he trained, but everyone who worked with him either learned to be a good agent or they left NCIS for a more suitable career. Tom admired how Gibbs was so adept at the make-it-or-break-it style of sorting through potential agents. If Gibbs found a probie to be passable, Director Morrow would promote them to full agent status with a new assignment.
The pair worked with several other agents after Tony became Gibbs’ partner, but it wasn’t until they crossed paths with a secret service agent named Kate Todd that Gibbs asked to have her permanently assigned to his team. Director Morrow had been bugging him to have a woman on his team for a while and Kate was the first one Gibbs felt he could work with, who would also stand up to Tony.
A few months after that, they worked a handful of cases with Timothy McGee. Gibbs saw potential in the young NCIS agent and asked if they could take him on as a probie. Director Morrow was glad that Gibbs was finally willing to expand his team, which meant they were able to handle and close more cases, with Gibbs leading the charge and the others taking care of most of the legwork.
Throughout the years, Tony and Gibbs developed a special bond. Eventually, they could work a full case barely speaking to each other, as they could read each other so well. They not only depended on each other but also always had each other’s back. They trusted each other unconditionally. Kate and Tim, and later, Ziva and Ellie, were well aware of the Tony/Gibbs bond, but none could ever achieve the same level. They all believed there was nothing that could break that bond, ever.
Over time, their relationship became sexual. It just happened one night when Tony had come over for dinner, and they were in the basement together drinking bourbon and bemoaning the fact they were both single at the moment. They never spoke about their relationship. It was more, if they were both single and horny, they’d find themselves in bed together. Without discussing it, both men kept their secret from their co-workers, firmly believing that it wasn’t anyone else’s business.
It was a well-known fact around the office that Tony had turned down offers to lead his own team because he preferred working with Gibbs. And while he’d often tell others that his boss needed him, many people suspected that Tony needed Gibbs just as much.
But like the chilling winds of late fall, their relationship grew cold, and Tony left.
~~*~~~*~~
It had been only days since Mossad Director Orli Elbaz had called Vance to confirm Ziva David had been killed. She’d been sleeping in the old farmhouse she had inherited from her father when the place had been attacked. Her burned remains had been located in the bed of the master suite and verified by DNA testing. It was reported that sleeping pills were found on the nightstand, which may be why she never woke up. Now she was gone and the team felt her loss deeply. They were determined to find out who had orchestrated her murder.
Gibbs put on a strong façade even though he had loved Ziva like a daughter and her loss brought back memories of losing Kelly and Shannon all over again. And of losing Kate as well. When the news of Ziva’s death had been confirmed by Vance, Gibbs went down to visit Ducky in autopsy. The older ME pulled out a bottle of scotch and poured a couple of shots each into two tumblers. After handing one to Gibbs, he gave a short toast in Ziva’s memory, then refilled the glasses.
The pair sat in silence for several minutes. There was nothing really to say, the silence said it all. She was gone. Nothing they did would change that fact.
Finally, Ducky spoke, “I gather you are as determined to find her killer as you were to find the murderer of your wife and daughter.”
Gibbs bowed his head, staring into the tumbler he held and swished the amber liquid around. “It never should have happened.”
“You could not have stopped it, Jethro. It was her decision to go back to Israel, and her decision to stay alone at the remote farm.”
“We should have tracked her. We should have kept tabs on whether anyone was after her.”
Ducky smiled weakly and patted Gibbs’ hand. “She would have been furious if she ever found out.”
Gibbs choked back a tear but allowed a pained smile to emerge. “Yes, she would have been mad. But maybe she’d still be alive. If we had intel to share, maybe she would have gotten out or she could have stayed somewhere else.”
“She sent an email to Anthony not long ago and told him that she was happy. She was finally at peace.”
Gibbs slammed down the rest of the scotch, gripping the tumbler so tightly it was a wonder it didn't break. “And someone took that away from her,” he said angrily.
“If there is anything I can do, say the word.” The ME’s countenance expressed his pain, but also his concern. “Your entire team should speak to a counselor.”
Standing up quickly, Gibbs headed for the door, calling back, “Not the time, Duck. We have work to do. We’re going to find that bastard who took her out and we will make him pay.”
Gibbs put Ellie and Tim on the cyber-trail and had Tony reach out to their CIA connections, while his own role was to push and prod Vance into as much action as possible. Vance could open doors and force more than the usual cooperation by pulling in a few favors. If this wasn’t the time for that, Gibbs didn’t know what was.
Vance outwardly balked and told Gibbs it was out of NCIS’ hands, but he did follow through in pursuing every angle he could think of, and spent much of the day up in MTAC. “It’s harder for some people to say no when they’re looking into your eyes,” he shared with Gibbs.
~~*~~~*~~
Within days, they’d been provided with proof that a Palestinian man named Ghazi Farsoun had been responsible for causing Ziva’s death, and also found out that he had been paid thirty thousand dollars by former CIA agent Trent Kort to do the job. Both Gibbs and Tony were furious and determined to go after Kort, regardless of what anyone else, including Director Vance, might say.
The team worked every angle they could think of, and one day Tony stumbled across something. “I have a lead,” he called out urgently as he quickly stood up and grabbed his weapon and ID. “We might catch him if we hurry.”
“Let’s roll,” yelled Gibbs as he grabbed his own badge and gun before rushing toward the elevator. When Ellie and Tim began rising from their chairs, Gibbs waved them off. “You two stay here. Keep searching in case this lead doesn’t pan out.”
Minutes later, the pair arrived at a business complex with multiple buildings and spotted Kort at a distance, standing in front of one of the office buildings, talking to a man in a suit.
Gibbs dropped Tony off, telling him, “Wrangle him over to that field we just passed. I’ll turn around and will be there to cut him off.”
Tony nodded and stepped out of the car. He knew what Gibbs was saying. They needed to get Kort away from all the buildings and into the open field where he would have no place to go and no place to hide. Despite Tony approaching Kort from behind, as stealthily as he could manage, the man Kort was speaking with got spooked and took off running in the opposite direction.
Kort whipped around and saw Tony. At first, Kort raised his hands. “She wasn’t supposed to be there,” he shouted out as he began backing away slowly.
“That doesn’t matter,” Tony yelled, his hand on his gun in its holster as he used his thumb to disengage the safety. “You paid someone to torch the place and she died. I’m just wondering why.”
“It had nothing to do with her. I was after Eli David’s files. He had a goldmine of intel stashed out there.”
Tony raised his weapon, aiming it at Kort. Just then, a group of women came out of the building where Kort was standing. One screamed at seeing the gun pointed at another person. Before Tony could grab his badge and shout ‘federal agent’, Kort had disappeared amidst the disruption.
“Shit!” Tony yelled. He started running but wasn’t sure what direction to take. It took all the control he had not to fire off a few rounds in frustration, but it would do no good and would only frighten the women more. For every second that ticked by, more and more people were rushing out of the nearby office buildings wondering what the commotion was.
Tony could hear sirens and assumed someone had called 911. There was a nagging feeling that it was too late; that Kort was already gone. But Tony still felt he had to try. Which direction would he have taken if he were Kort? The best chance he had was to run toward Gibbs and hope that was the way Kort had gone. It was a long shot, but he felt he had to do something.
Tony began running through the maze of buildings toward the field. It didn’t take him long to get there. There was no sign of Kort, but there was a furious Gibbs pointing a gun in his direction until he realized it was Tony.
Dropping his weapon down to his side, Gibbs shouted, “Where the hell is he?”
Tony shook his head and shrugged, holding his arms out a little. “Sorry, Boss.”
“Sorry? You’re fucking sorry? We had him DiNozzo. How could you let him get away?”
By this time a few squad cars had arrived and six police officers approached them with weapons drawn. Gibbs and Tony flashed their badges and explained they were federal officers there to apprehend a murder suspect.
Despite the assistance of several officers and two NCIS teams going through every building at the complex, no sign of Trent Kort was found.
Both Tony and Gibbs knew it improbable that they'd find him still on the grounds, but it was standard procedure to look anyway. Kort never would have stuck around. Most likely, the former CIA agent had his escape route planned, and probably a backup plan or two as well.
When they finally gave up and drove back to the Navy Yard, Gibbs didn’t say much but he pounded his fist on the steering wheel a few times, occasionally punctuating his anger with a curse word or two.
Tony felt this was one of those times where silence was not only golden but could possibly save him from a brutal tongue lashing from his boss. He’d messed up big time. They’d had Kort within their sights and he’d gotten away. However, Tony wondered how this was so much more his fault than Gibbs’. Perhaps if Gibbs had stayed with him, approaching Kort as a team, it was possible they would have gotten him. If only Gibbs hadn't told McGee and Bishop to stand down, remaining at the office. Instead, the man had disappeared like an autumn leaf quickly blown out of view.