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It was a small house, white with light blue shutters. It had a carport in the driveway which would protect his mustang from the sun. There were two bedrooms under its low pitched roof. Two bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen and ‘cozy’ living room. The leasing agent didn’t even try to call the kitchen ‘cozy’.
Tony DiNozzo stood in the doorway, an ever present chill in his spine.
“I’d like the bed in the first bedroom down the hall,” he told a guy that worked for the moving company.
The guy nodded and started snapping directions to his partner.
Tony stepped inside. He’d have to put his bookshelves in the second bedroom. The living room wouldn’t fit them and a couch.
The guys brushed past him carrying his mattress. Tony let them know about the bookshelves. One guy grunted in response.
A few boxes of kitchen supplies made it into the kitchen shortly afterward. Tony tried to unpack. There was a lot to do in his house before he’d be settled.
Ha. Settled. Like he could ever be anything other than unsettled.
The movers said they were done. Tony was too tired to check their work. He gave them each a generous tip and collapsed onto his couch.
Sweat dripped down his head and back. Now that the door was shut he should find the thermostat and turn on the AC. He would in a minute. First he just wanted to rest.
The heat became oppressive quickly. He peeled himself off the couch and wandered until he found the thermostat. After one tense moment, he heard the AC kick in. He would’ve died if it didn’t work.
He turned and surveyed his new house. Boxes were stacked against walls and in corners. The walls were too white, too bare. It was sterile in a way Abby’s lab had never felt.
He grabbed a bottle of water and returned to the living room. Right now, there was only one thing he wanted: a good movie. He set up his tv and laid back down on the couch. He could unpack later.
—
Tony stretched and winced as his back cramped. He should’ve at least unpacked his sheets and slept in a bed. He was too old to sleep on the couch.
His bedroom was the first thing he tackled after breakfast. Then he made himself spend a couple hours on the kitchen before turning his attention to the boxes of movies waiting to be shelved. He’d barely made a dent when his phone beeped a reminder.
Call Ducky
His heart froze. Tony stared at it until he couldn’t stand to hold the phone up anymore, suddenly exhausted. His eyelids grew heavy and finally he blinked. Tears slipped silently down.
Ducky had enough going on. Tony didn’t need to bother him.
He wiped his cheeks and picked up a stack of movies. He had 8 more boxes to empty just of DVDs. The VHS tapes would be another 4 boxes. If he focused, he might be able to finish them before supper.
—
Six hours later the reminder sounded again. Tony silenced it. He put away the food leftover from his meal and strode out the front door, trying hard not to think. The abrupt change in temperature was shocking, and sweat broke out down his back. The salty smell of the ocean tempted him, and he drove around until he found an almost empty beach.
He loved the ocean. Most of his life he’d lived near the ocean but in cities where he wasn’t able to enjoy it. The only family vacation that Tony remembered taking was a trip to Myrtle Beach. His parents had fought for most of it, but there were a few hours where they hadn’t. The three of them had gone to the beach and splashed in the waves and built a sand castle and just seemed normal. It didn’t matter that the castle looked more like a lopsided mountain range than any kind of architecture. They built it together and it was perfect.
Tony stepped onto the soft sand and sighed. Things weren’t great. He would’ve never picked the situation he was in, but at least he had the ocean.
He crossed to where the sand was firmer and began walking down the beach. Tide was low. The soft crash of rumbling water slowly ebbed away some of his grief. Nothing he could do would change the past.
All he had left was the future.
—
NCIS Pensacola was nice. Tony’s desk was big, the other agents were kind, his boss was straightforward, the cases were easy. He didn’t need to worry about head slaps or seeing too many dead bodies in a week.
It was nothing like DC. After being on the Major Case Response Team, petty theft and disorderly conduct were hardly interesting.
But he didn’t want it to be like DC. That was the point.
He took a slow breath, letting the pain fade from his heart.
It was close enough to 5 o’clock. He was leaving. He packed his backpack and said goodbye to his boss. The Agent in Charge just waved.
Tony almost wished his commute was longer so he could drive his mustang more. The weather had been nice, if a little hot, since he’d arrived, and he had no reason to put the top up. It was one of the few things that always cheered him up.
Another was the ocean.
After dinner, Tony drove to the beach and started his now familiar route up the shore. He greeted the retired ladies who powerwalked every evening and the guy that threw a ball into the waves for his dog. He didn’t know their names, but they were familiar faces in this new place. It was a start.
Tony decided to jog tonight. He’d had to take things easy since his bout of the plague, and conditioning his lungs was critically important if he ever wanted to have something like a normal lung capacity again. His boss hadn’t been too worried about his light duty designator. There wasn’t much action that required running far in Pensacola.
Ten minutes in, Tony was regretting the run due to the river of sweat down his back. He was so drenched he might as well go swimming. He slowed to a walk and waded to his knees in the waves.
His cell phone rang. No one called him. Why would it be ringing?
He checked the ID and read his boss’s name. Surely he hadn’t screwed anything up at work. The cases were impossible to mess up.
“DiNozzo,” he answered, trying to sound like he wasn’t out of breath or worried that he was in trouble.
“Hey, I got a case that could use you. How quickly can you get to Captain Kincaid’s office?”
He was wanted for a case at the office of the Captain in charge of the entire Naval Air Station? Tony wasn’t sure if he should be excited or concerned.
“Twenty minutes. Fifteen if you need it.”
“Twenty is fine.”
His boss hung up without another word. Clearly, he didn’t want to discuss any details over the phone. Tony wished he knew a little more about what he was heading in to, but whatever it was, he was sure he’d seen worse.
He turned and ran back toward his car.
Maybe things wouldn’t be so boring.