Requisite

It all started when SecNav said he was requisite for a hush hush op. He knew immediately that this would be trouble for him, but at least SecNav saw him as useful unlike his team or should he say Gibbs team as they really didn’t treat him like part of the team anymore.

He was really beginning to wonder if anyone actually thought he was good at his job as it was pretty obvious what Vance thought. To add to that McGee and David, who he had thought were friends, apparently couldn't even be bothered to have his back when he was doing his job. Some friends they were.

And Gibbs. He didn't know what was up with the man these days. Well that wasn't entirely true. He still knew what he wanted case wise, but where the praise had been few before it was nonexistent now.

Also Gibbs had always had a strong moral compass before, but now as Tony watched it seemed Gibbs was willing to make more and more concessions that dragged him into the gray areas of legality. Tony was concerned that if Gibbs wasn’t careful he'd actually find himself committing criminal acts.

He still trusted Gibbs to have his back. When everything blew up in his face and they thought he'd shot someone perhaps illegally, when he couldn't trust himself, he was forced to rely on Gibbs. He knew instinctively that Gibbs still believed him to be innocent even if his behavior did not reflect that belief in him.

But as Dr. Cranston helped him remember what happened, he couldn't help wondering where Gibbs was and what happened to Tony being a requisite part of his team and the best agent he'd ever worked with.

Sure Gibbs was here now, but where was he while all this was going on? Why hadn't he demanded to be let in on the op? Why hadn't he fought for Tony? Did he no longer consider Tony a requisite part of the team?

These questions plagued him as they worked through what happened and what that really meant and who they should be concerned about. Right now that took priority, but he knew these questions would continue to plague him until he knew the answers. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure he would ever get answers to these questions.

It used to be he could show up on Gibbs doorstep after a hard case and talk with him down in the basement, but while Gibbs basement was still there he no longer felt welcome. Truthfully, he hadn’t felt welcome since Gibbs returned from Mexico and tossed him aside like a piece of garbage. Oh he had pretended a few times that they still had their original connection, but being in Gibbs basement really brought clarity to the fact that the special connection Tony thought they had, just plain no longer existed.