Chapter Text
Gibbs looked across at his team and its newest member. Angelina Vendazzo, Dazzle to her friends (and Tony) had joined NCIS – and Gibbs' team - from DC's local law enforcement several months ago, after Caitlyn Todd's murder, and was settling in and fitting in with equal ease.
Gibbs' contentment with Kate's replacement was growing by the day. Tony tormented her, McGee looked up to her, Abby loved her, and Leroy Jethro Gibbs himself looked at her with pride and a certain sense of fondness. 'Certainly not your typical federal agent' he thought, inwardly smiling as Tony baited her and she refused outright to tell him where her latest tattoo was.
Dyed black hair, dark gothic makeup – which she'd assured him was toned down for work! - and a tattoo creeping from under her sleeves and neckline – she was something else, she really was.
Laughing at DiNozzo's wild guesses, she was still smiling as she picked up her ringing phone with a cheerful, 'NCIS, Agent Vendazzo'. Seconds later, the smile froze and drained away, taking away every last drop of colour from her face with it. The loudness emanating from the phone's speaker, along with the sheer, naked terror trying to invade her impassive expression, had Gibbs on his feet and moving in mere moments.
Dazzle slammed the phone at the desk, missing the cradle entirely the first couple of times, sending paper, pencils, keyboard, files and reports flying wildly to the floor. Eventually the smashing yielded silence, simply because the phone had given up and died.
Gibbs was in front of her now, amid the debris still raining around Dazzle's desk, and his quiet 'Vendazzo!' grabbed her instant attention. However, he didn't expect her reaction.
She paled even further, if that was possible, and burst into wild, desperate flurries of what he assumed was Italian, shielding her face with her arms and practically cowering.
Tony, who had also snapped his head up at Gibbs' voice, shot to his feet, and a whispered, 'Oh, Christ...' reached his boss' ears. Shifting his attention to his second in command, he said impatiently, 'What is it, DiNozzo?!'
'Boss...' Tony's voice was urgent and low. 'You might wanna back up, like, quickly. Like, right about now?'
For once, Gibbs took the advice. Backing up to his desk, he grabbed his phone and called Ducky. 'Duck? Emergency. Bring your sedatives, too. Bullpen'. Hanging up in his usual abrupt manner, he turned his attention back to the scene in front of him.
Tony was kneeling by Vendazzo – out of arm's reach, his Marine instincts noted – murmering softly in Italian, a reassuring tone to his voice. Vendazzo appeared to be having quiet hysterics.
Distracted by Ducky's arrival in the bullpen, he looked over as the older M.E. quietly assessed the situation, then sighed and pulled a loaded syringe from his medical bag. Approaching Dazzle's desk, he murmered quietly, 'Now, Angelina my dear, don't be alarmed, this is simply a sedative to calm you a little, as you appear significantly distressed...'
With Dazzle sleeping off a major sedative dose in Ducky's morgue, Gibbs refocussed and rapped out, 'DiNozzo! With me'. Ensconced in his usual favourite conference room, as always, heedless of the need of others for the elevator, he enquired, 'So exactly what the hell was that about?'
Tony didn't – wouldn't – meet that steely blue gaze.
'Couldn't really say, Boss...' he mumbled. Gibbs' demand for him to spill was loud and strident.
'I know you know something, DiNozzo. Now damned well tell me!'
Tony's claim that he knew nothing gave way to one of it not being his place to tell, and a pleading request to ask Ducky instead, before stuttering into silence. Eventually he raised his eyes to Gibbs' face, and said, 'You're not going to be happy, Boss.'
What Tony had been able to pick out of the babbled, hysterical Italian Dazzle had been spouting was pretty simple. Ugly, but as a LEO and a federal agent, something he'd seen many times before. Angelina Vendazzo appeared to be a victim of paedophilia, incest, child abuse and rape at the hands of her father.
Gibbs' face had gone from cool to full-blown Ice Age by the time Tony finished describing what he'd concluded from Vendazzo's panicked dialogue. No-one in the world – or for that matter, out of it – was going to hurt one of Leroy Jethro Gibbs' people and get away with it. Not a chance.