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Disclaimer: The characters from the show aren’t mine, they belong to others. No copyright infringement intended. Any characters you don’t recognise are mine. Feedback would be nice, positive feedback would be nicer. Enjoy! Category: NCIS slash (implied), hurt/comfort, angst fic Rating: NC-17 for the picture in this part, and content of later parts. Characters: Everyone plus, later, OMC (Michael) Series: Yes 1/? Spoilers: Assume all of Season One, but most of this isn’t canon. Summary: Two years and one day after Tony starts working for Gibbs, the boss gets the email Tony knew would come. Archive: Just tell me where it’s going Additional ‘stuff’: If you want to see the picture, go here: WARNING: It’s an adult gay site – the picture was emailed to me as it is a good likeness of Tony. PLEASE *DON’T* GO THERE IF YOU’RE NOT OLD ENOUGH http://www.studforce.com/images/ba94.jpg Title: If the cap fits… Gibbs knew enough about patterns of behavior to know there was something, as Abby would have said, hinky about Tony’s past. Sure, his Dad had hit him, but out of anger, and apparently only once. Then the man Tony referred to only as ‘Michael’ had hit him, from what Gibbs could work out, repeatedly and for no other reason than Tony let him. Finally, there was Tony’s insistence that Gibbs was only allowed to smack his head in the office, never at home. Then, during one of their online chat room sessions, Tony had let slip that after two years in any job, the same length as his relationship with Michael, he was always ‘asked’ to leave. Still occupied with the problem of how to help Tony celebrate two years working for NCIS, Gibbs opened the first email in his inbox with little attention to the subject line: ‘Attn: LJ Gibbs, Special Agent, NCIS’. He clicked on the attachment as he took a sip of coffee and the dark liquid ended up all over his keyboard as he spluttered at the image that loaded on the screen. He read the email which came with the image and his damaged keyboard was finally put out of its misery as Gibbs smashed his fist down onto the beige plastic under his hand and the casing snapped in two. Several agents around him looked up, used to Gibbs’ outbursts but surprised at how angry the older Agent seemed to be without anyone around him.
Tony strolled into the office, mouth full of a file folder he didn’t have a hand free for, coffee in one hand, blueberry muffin in the other. Gibbs had dropped the car off for a service and taken the bus in, so Tony had taken the opportunity to sleep an extra half hour and arrive separately from Gibbs for the first time in months. It also allowed him to buy a muffin for breakfast without Gibbs’ disapproving stare burning into his back as he stood in line to pay for it. ‘Boss?’ Tony dropped the folder, spilling the contents onto the desk and floor. ‘Dinozzo!!’ Gibbs snapped, eyes watching the report fanning out across the floor. ‘Relax boss, it’s just paperwork.’ Tony rolled his eyes. 'Pick it up.’ Gibbs hissed angrily, striding towards the head. 'Yes boss.’ Tony muttered to Gibbs’ retreating back. Looking across to Gibbs’ desk Tony saw the destroyed keyboard and reached across. If it was broken, Tony thought he could unplug it and replace it before Gibbs got back from the bathroom. As he lifted it, his thumb hit the Enter key. The screensaver clicked off, the moving NCIS logo replaced by an email. Tony felt his knees give way as he read the first few lines. He didn’t even have to look at the attachment. It was always the same one. He unplugged the keyboard attached to Gibbs’ PC, blocking the view of anyone passing behind him until the screensaver flicked back on. No-one would be able to see it without the keyboard and Gibbs wouldn’t know Tony had seen it. ‘Leave it!’ Gibbs called warningly, and Tony froze. ‘Boss, I was just gonna…’ ‘Put. It. Down.’ Gibbs snarled. ‘Upstairs. Now.’ ‘Boss, I didn’t do that! It was like that. I thought you…’ Tony tried to explain but Gibbs was already half-way up the stairs. In the conference room, the Director was already sitting at the table when they walked in. ‘Special Agent Gibbs.’ Dinozzo looked from his boss to *his* boss and back again, but Gibbs’ expression was unreadable, the eyes unblinking. Without anger he shrugged. ‘Guess my two years is up, huh?’ ‘Your what?’ Morrow asked. ‘This is the part where you ask me to resign.’ Tony smiled sadly. ‘It’s okay.’ ‘This is from someone with whom you had a relationship, yes?’ Morrow asked, trying to keep his discomfort at having to ask the question from showing on his face. Reading the email and looking at the picture had been bad enough. 'Yes Sir.’ Tony nodded, cheeks burning. ‘Is it a picture of you or one of those…made-up ones?’ Tony wanted to look up but he knew the look that he would see on Gibbs’ face and he wasn’t sure he could bear it just at that moment. ‘It’s me Sir. It was at a club. I’d had a lot to drink and…some other stuff.’ At that moment, Tony understood why people used the phrase ‘I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me’. He did. ‘And this person uses the picture to force you out of the job you are in every two years.’ Tony sighed. ‘Yes Sir. You’ll have my resignation by the end of the day.’ Gibbs had had enough. ‘Stop it! No-one’s resigning. You’re being harassed!’ Tony looked down nervously. ‘I…don’t…understand boss…’ Morrow tried to calm things down. ‘Agent Dinozzo…Tony…this isn’t acceptable, whether you…parted as…friends or not. No Agent under my command has to put up with this kind of crap.’ Leaning across, he picked up the telephone from the middle of the desk. ‘Ms Sciuto, this is Director Morrow. Please join us in the Conference Room…thank you.’ Tony shook his head. ‘Sir…boss…please!’ ‘We’re going to ask Abby to trace the email and get the company to give us his address Tony, that’s all.’ Gibbs reassured. ‘But…’ Tony pleaded. ‘Get a grip Agent Dinozzo!’ Gibbs snapped. Morrow watched Tony flinch at the sharp instruction and reached across, gripping Tony’s tight shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze. ‘I’m sure anything Abby sees or hears will remain private Agent Dinozzo.’ Nervously, Abby knocked, heard the muffled ‘Enter’ and walked in. Tony was sitting at the conference table, flanked by the Director, also seated, and Gibbs who was pacing the room. ‘Sir.’ ‘Agent Gibbs.’ Morrow prompted, smiling at Abby. ‘I need to know whose email address this is. Their name, home address and phone number.’ He held out the email address taken from the printed email. Abby looked at the small piece of paper, clearly cut from a larger sheet. ‘Sure.’ Morrow frowned. ‘Ms Sciuto, two things. One, anything you learn about the person hiding behind that email address you share only with Agent Gibbs or myself. Two, this has priority over any other tasks you have. Agent Gibbs will assign you an assistant for any forensic tasks which require immediate action.’ ‘Yes Sir.’ ‘I didn’t realize you could ascertain all that information.’ Morrow said, impressed. Abby grinned. ‘I can. And I’ll get it quicker if I can have Mc…uh…Agent McGee to assist me Sir. I’ll need help with the programming to get the address.’ Morrow guessed what Abby was planning. ‘Now, wait a minute…’ Gibbs interrupted. ‘Abby can get it for us today Sir. Or we can go through official channels and it’ll take days.’ Abby nodded. She knew how difficult getting information out of an ISP would be. ‘Boss…uh…Agent Gibbs is correct Sir.’ Morrow put his hands up. ‘I don’t want to know how you get the information.’ 'Yes Sir.’ Abby smiled. ‘Thank you Abby.’ Morrow nodded at the door. Relieved to be out of the tense atmosphere, Abby stared at the slip of paper on her way back down to the lab, detouring to collect McGee. End of Part One… Send me feedback on these fics
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