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2020-11-05
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Dilemma of a Field Agent

Summary:

Missing scene for "Meltdown" 

Work Text:

Dilemma of a Field Agent
by Starbucks Sue

 

Anthony DiNozzo ran to catch up with his boss, leaving the airy courtroom buzzing with chatter after Gibbs' surprising testimony on the witness stand. He really wasn't interested in the gossip.

"You really think Rabb's innocent?" Tony asked, finally catching up with the older man as he reached the elevator.

Gibbs looked at him closely, noticing that Tony didn't appear to be surprised with the revelation. "Don't you?" He replied.

"What are we gonna do?"

"I've got Bin Atwa to interrogate. You're the ranking team member on this case now."

Gibbs turned as the prosecutor Major Jack McBurney caught up with him and knowing that he had been dismissed Tony wandered towards the stairs. Briefly stunned at the implications of Gibbs' words, the younger agent quickly pulled himself together as he stepped into the stairwell. For all his joking around, Tony knew and fully comprehended the responsibility that had just been laid on his shoulders.

In the eighteen months since Gibbs' had bought him to Washington as an NCIS field agent he had been left in charge of mopping up a couple of smaller cases when the Director had needed Gibbs for something else, but the murder of pregnant JAG lawyer Lieutenant Loren Singer was a high profile case. The evidence had initially all pointed towards another JAG lawyer Commander Harmon Rabb who, apart from being the Navy's poster boy and a hero in his younger days as a Navy pilot, was JAG's fair haired boy and Tony knew that the case was being very closely followed by a lot of people, SECNAV included.

Gibbs had a gut feeling that Rabb was innocent of Singer's murder and Tony trusted Gibbs' gut one hundred per cent. Also, despite the fact that the evidence they had all pointed to Rabb's involvement after believing that his brother Sergei was the father of the lieutenant's unborn baby, Tony now felt that that there was something suspicious about the whole situation having listened to the witness testimonies and going over the evidence in his own mind. The former Baltimore homicide detective's cop instincts were screaming at him that it was too clean, too perfect. There was no question that Rabb had been with Singer just before her murder, however, Tony now believed that it was just a coincidence, Rabb had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Knowing that Gibbs trusted Tony to head such an important investigation alternately scared the younger man and gave him a warm feeling of pride. Ever since he came to NCIS Tony had worked harder than he ever had before, wanting to make his Team Leader and mentor proud of him. Gibbs was a man of few words but what he did say he meant and Tony hung on to any word of praise, however obscure, that the older man threw his way.

Two days later and Tony was feeling very pleased with himself. It had been easier than he'd expected to find their killer. Commander Ted Lindsay had worked at JAG with Rabb for several years and the bad feeling between the two men was well known. Planting evidence to make it look like Rabb had killed Singer had been all too easy, but Lindsay didn't understand how good forensic science was and had never anticipated the fact that the cover he'd planted would give him away. That the slip was accidental Tony could accede to, but picking her up and throwing her over the railing to her death was cold and calculated. Tony had taken great pleasure in getting Lindsay to confess and had taken even greater pleasure in informing him that he wasn't the baby's father.

After learning that Lindsay had been sentenced to eight years in Leavenworth, Tony returned to NCIS Headquarters as quickly as possible, delighted with the outcome of the case and keen to wrap up the paperwork so he could get on and meet up with Gibbs who'd wanted him to fly out and join him as soon as possible. He wanted to get underway as soon as possible but had one pressing concern, whether or not to take Agent Blackadder with him. When he had last spoken to his Boss, Gibbs left the choice up to Tony and had told him that he could bring whoever he needed.

Tony had a dilemma, he didn't really want to take Viv. Since he had started at NCIS the team had consisted of him and Gibbs, occasionally borrowing agents from other teams when they had needed help, but the majority of the time it had been just the two of them and Tony had loved the individual attention he had received from his mentor. Gibbs had taken in the young man until he'd found someplace to live and had spent a lot of time familiarizing his new agent with Navy and Marine regulations, spending time at the shooting range and in the gym. Director Morrow had eventually insisted that they take on at least one further permanent team member and Vivienne Blackadder, newly transferred in from the FBI, had joined Gibbs and DiNozzo six weeks previously. Morrow preferred four on a team but always cut Gibbs a lot of slack as the man had the best close rate in the agency. If Tony was honest with himself he was jealous, although he knew he really had no need to be, despite his insecurities he knew he was a better field agent than Blackadder.

He sighed as he walked up to his desk, as he'd expected Viv was waiting for him.

"I've arranged transport for us, we fly out at 15:00 hours." Viv piped up before he had even made it to his seat, he didn't miss the fact that she was careful to emphasize that she had made arrangements for both of them.

"What makes you think I'm taking you with me?" Tony countered with a tired expression. He'd hardly got any sleep over the past twenty four hours and now that the case was closed it was beginning to catch up with him.

"Oh come on Tony, we're a team you can't leave me behind, Gibbs will expect me there." Viv was getting frustrated now.

"No he won't, I distinctly remember him saying that it was up to me who I bring." Tony reminded her.

"But I need to be there, I want to bring him down. He killed my brother Tony I need to finish this off." Viv had moved away from her desk and started pacing, she ended up standing right in front of him, he stepped back and sat down, with the exception of Gibbs, he didn't like people crowding his personal space but he was determined not to let her antagonize him.

"That's exactly the reason why I don't think you should be there." He said calmly. "You're too close to this Viv, I don't believe you can stay objective and that could put us all in danger."

"Tony I'm not a rookie I can be professional about this, I'm not going to do anything stupid." Viv broke off and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, she knew getting angry wasn't going to work, that would only serve to prove Tony right. "Ok, ok, so maybe I'm a little passionate about this, but Rex was my kid brother, he was serving his country on the Cole and he was killed as a result of Hassan Mohammed's terrorist strike on the ship. I'm sorry if that makes me feel bitter, but I want to bring him down, I want to see him suffer. Do you really think I'd do anything to screw up that chance?"

She had a good point and Tony knew it. He still wasn't sure though. He got up from his desk without a word and walked to the head, more for some space to think than anything else.

Could he trust her? He wasn't sure, but again did he have the right to deny her involvement, as she'd correctly pointed out they were a team now, regardless of whether Tony liked it or not.

end