Secret Agent Man 1/2
H/C Bingo prompt - Secret Identity
Gen, rating: teen
two parts, complete
Loved the prompt, plus I've always been annoyed that they never ever touched on Delilah's emotional recovery. Add in the fact that she's never been my favorite character and this was born.
Secret Agent Man
Midnight phone calls from unknown numbers rarely led to good things, so Gibbs was already slipping his shoes back on as he flipped open his phone. "Yeah, Gibbs."
Is this Leroy Jethro Gibbs?
Full legal name, nope, not good at all At least he was still dressed. Tucking his phone under his chin, Gibbs shoved his weapon into his holster and clipped it onto his belt. "Yeah, what's happened?"
This is Holy Cross Hospital. You're listed as the emergency contact for a Timothy McGee and he's been brought into the emergency department with serious injuries.
"I'm on my way." As soon as the call ended, Gibbs was out the door.
Luckily traffic was lighter at this time of night and he made it to the hospital parking lot in under thirty minutes. He had his badge out as he approached the desk. "One of my men was brought in here, Special Agent Timothy McGee. I'm Gibbs, somebody from here called me."
The young man at the desk picked up the phone, punching only one number. "Your contact person for the DV victim is here."
Gibbs inhaled sharply at that. Something had gone very wrong for McGee in the last few hours. He was escorted through the maze of hallways to find McGee sitting up on an exam table, arguing with both a doctor and a detective.
"No, I'm not pressing charges and I'm not staying here. That's final, I'm not discussing it any further."
"McGee?"
Green eyes met him, filled with shame and embarrassment, before dropping. "Hey, Boss, sorry they called you."
Ignoring the apology, Gibbs stepped up to the exam table and tilted Tim's face up to better look at him. A nasty bruise covered most of the side of his face, a freshly stitched gash along the hairline, making Gibbs wince. Recognizing the stubborn set of McGee's jaw, he directed his question to the doctor. "How bad?"
"You're his medical proxy, right?"
"Yeah."
The doctor started talking fast, probably to get the information out before McGee could verbally withdraw the proxy. "Mild concussion, seven stitches to the head, some cracked ribs, a fractured ankle bone, lots of bruising. Other than the head, all the injuries seem to have come from the same weapon."
The last comment wasn't exactly medical, but it, combined with McGee's refusal to cooperate with the police, gave Gibbs the understanding why the hospital considered him a victim of domestic violence. He knew he'd have to tread lightly, not a trait his team knew him for. "Anyone come in with him?"
"Whoever dropped him off didn't stick around, didn't even help him get inside." The doctor was watching McGee carefully as he spoke. "Medically, we don't actually need to admit him, but he does need someone to keep an eye on him for the next forty-eight hours, watch for late developing complications of the concussion. If his home situation isn't safe, then I don't feel comfortable in releasing him."
Gibbs understood what they were asking. "It's okay, I've got him."
"Excellent. We're going to take one last set of x-rays, make sure that ankle is properly set, then he's all yours."
McGee was wheeled out of the room. Gibbs wasn't sure if the new x-rays were medically necessary or if the doctor was giving him a chance to talk to the detective that McGee was refusing to cooperate with. Either way, Gibbs took the opportunity. "Tell me what you've got."
"Kid won't talk to me. Just said that no charges would be filed and my help wasn't needed. If he were unconscious, I'd be able to go kick in the door at his place and get some answers, but he's been damned careful to make sure I didn't have any probable cause. My hands are tied."
"Luckily mine aren't." They exchanged cards and Gibbs started planning on how to get through to his recalcitrant man.
---NCIS---
Gibbs waited until they were several blocks away from the hospital. "I assume I'm not taking you back to your apartment?"
Tim was staring out the side window and didn't turn around. "A motel is fine, Boss."
Yeah, he didn't think so. Without saying anything else, Gibbs got on the freeway and headed back to his house in Virginia. Tim didn't argue and was very placid as Gibbs led him into the house and got him laying down on the sofa, his leg elevated and his crutches leaning up against the wall. "I'll get you some water so you can take your pain pills."
"That's not-"
Gibbs interrupted, not wanting to argue. "Not open to discussion, McGee. I was standing right there when you got your discharge instructions."
Stepping inside the kitchen, Gibbs turned the water on, then kept going until he was partially down the basement stairs before pulling out his phone. It rang twice before a sleepy voice answered.
Yeah, Boss, we get a call-out?
"DiNozzo, need you to get over to McGee's apartment. He's going to be staying with me for a while, so he's going to need clothes, his kit, whatever else you think you should grab."
Umm, what's going on? Is there a reason why I'm waking Delilah up at four in the morning to pack up her boyfriend's stuff?
Gibbs hoped that he was jumping to the wrong conclusion, but his gut told him otherwise. "Don't think she'll be surprised, but it'll be interesting to see what she has to say."
McGee okay?
Gibbs could tell that his senior agent was wide awake now. "He will be." Finished, he ended the call and returned to the kitchen for the water.
---NCIS---
"What's going on?" Zoe had tried to go back to sleep once she realized that it wasn't her phone, but Tony's suddenly worried tone had her wide awake. The fact that he was grabbing the first clothes he could reach had her up on her feet, too.
"Something's happened to McGee. I gotta get over to his place."
"What about Delilah?"
"Don't know. Something weird is going on."
Tony may talk about 'the gut', but Zoe's woman's intuition was kicking in. "I'll go with you."
Early morning traffic was just starting, but they still made pretty good time. One of the neighbors was outside McGee's door, pounding on it. "Damn it, turn the music down." In response, the volume went up even higher. Tony and Zoe exchanged looks before he pulled out his badge and held it out.
"It's okay. Go back to your apartment and let us handle this." He waited until the neighbor was back inside before reaching up to knock on the door, then Zoe stopped him.
"Tony, look."
What she was pointing at looked suspiciously like a smear of blood and Tony pulled out his weapon. "Shit." Once they were both in position, weapons ready, he checked the door. It was unlocked and he pushed it open while staying back. "Federal agents, we're coming in."
Clearing the apartment, they found Delilah in the living room, systematically pulling Tim's record collection off the shelf and snapping each one in half. She had the reaching device Tim had bought her so she'd managed to pull down all of the albums except for the ones on the top shelf. Holstering his SIG, Tony rushed over and took the latest casualty from her hands before she could break it.
"Whoa, Wheels, what's going on and how much have you had to drink?"
She grabbed for the record, almost falling out of her chair. "Leave me alone, DiNozzo."
"Can't do that, Delilah. Now, seriously, what's going on? You and McWhiney have a fight?" She laughed at that and Tony used the distraction to move the bottle of scotch out of her reach.
"McWhiney, I like that. Not quite right, though - McLiar, that's better."
"Yeah? So, what did he lie to you about, Delilah? Tell me so that I can kick his ass for you."
That apparently seemed terribly funny to Delilah as she laughed until she was almost giddy. While Tony had her distracted, Zoe gave the apartment a closer look. A federally issued SIG Sauer was on the dining table. She was pretty sure that a DoD analyst wouldn't be issued a weapon, so she was assuming that it was McGee's. It seemed more than strange that he'd left it out like that, especially if he wasn't in the apartment. Suspicious, Zoe used a kitchen towel to pick it up and an empty grocery bag as a makeshift evidence bag.
Getting more worried about the situation she started turning on lights and discovered a bloodstain on the dark carpet. It was quite large by the desk, but the trail continued on toward the door. She caught Tony's eye, then deliberately glanced down at the blood by the desk. His eyes widened in alarm, then he mouthed 'call Gibbs' before turning his attention back to Delilah, who had just become a lot more dangerous in their opinion.
Unlike Tony, she didn't have Gibbs on speed dial so it took her a second to scroll down to his number. At the other end it was answered before the first ring finished.
Yeah.
She wasn't quite sure how to ask, especially with an apparent suspect in the next room. "Gibbs, we're at the apartment. Delilah's here and doesn't seem to be injured, but there's a lot of blood on the floor."
Yeah.
Okay, he wasn't surprised, but that didn't help her and Tony right now. "Is Tim all right?"
Will be.
"Any ideas what happened? What did he do to get her this mad?" Right or wrong question, it got Gibbs moving. She heard him walking, then a door closing.
McGee is not capable of doing anything that would have justified this. Figure it out.
The line went dead and she stared at her phone. "Well, that was helpful as hell." Returning to where Tony could see her, all she could do was shrug.
---NCIS---
Tony bit back a curse when Zoe shrugged at him. Apparently the call to Gibbs hadn't been very revealing. Whatever was going on, he'd have to get to the bottom of it the hard way. Delilah was rolling her wheelchair back and forth about a foot and Tony grasped the armrests as he squatted down, forcing her to stop. "So, you and Tim have a fight tonight?"
"A fight? Of course not." She gave a bitter laugh. "He's always so calm and practical, thinks things through forever."
Up until about ten minutes ago, Tony thought that was something the geeky couple had in common. Behind Delilah he saw Zoe slip into the couple's bedroom. "Yeah? What was something he was being practical about?"
"Money!" She spit out the word so harshly that Tony caught himself jerking back. "I wanted us to move to a nice place, like the apartments over by Dupont Circle. But he said no, we weren't going to waste our money renting a place like that. If we moved over there, we had to buy a condo, and to do that, we had to save up enough for a nice big down payment."
Building equity instead of making your landlord richer, Tony could understand that. With their combined income, they'd be able to save up a lot of money while they stayed in Tim's small apartment. He was still trying to figure out what was so bad about it and how he was lying to her, when she started talking again.
"He wanted me on a budget, printed his suggestions out on a spreadsheet even."
"And you didn't like that?"
---NCIS---
Zoe listened to Delilah while she looked around the bedroom. It looked like a cyclone had gone through there, but the only clothes out appeared to be McGee's. Picking up a shirt, she discovered that it had been shredded. Looking further, she realized that every garment piled onto the bed was destroyed. Curious now, after listening to Delilah rant about her new budget, Zoe quietly opened the closet doors. It was still full, but of all women's clothing. Zoe had never been too much into fashion, but she recognized a lot of high-end designer pieces, many with the tags still on them. Whistling under her breath, she found a jacket that cost more than a month's rent at her apartment. Quietly, she called Gibbs back.
"There were problems about money, her spending in particular, and she was mad enough to destroy pretty much everything he owned."
The call ended almost immediately, but Zoe was pretty sure she'd heard a curse word or two before Gibbs slammed his phone shut.
---NCIS---
"He expected me to spend no more than five hundred dollars a month on clothes, Tony. That's like one pair of shoes a month. Said my credit cards had to be paid down, too, and all this time - all this time..."
"All this time, what, Delilah?" There was one thing that he knew about his Probie. The man was beyond conservative with his money. Ever since he'd lost his book money in a hedge fund, McGee had made Gibbs look like a big spender.
"He's rich, Tony. Filthy, stinking rich." She started shaking a piece of paper in his face that she'd had wedged under her hip. Whatever it was, he couldn't read enough of it to tell. "He doesn't need me to pay half of a down payment on some condo, he could buy the whole damned building and never even take out a loan."
"Wait, what?" Tony didn't see how that could be possible. "Okay, yeah, he's probably got more in savings than the average federal employee, but-"
"He won the damned lottery, DiNozzo. This is his annual statement from his accountant. It came in the mail today, so I hacked into the lottery records. He won over twenty-eight million dollars four years ago. He says he loves me, then he watches me pack a lunch to save money while he's sitting on all that cash."
"Holy shit." Tony finally had the print-out in his hand and was looking at it. There were multiple accounts, only listed by number, but the totals at the end were huge. "I can't believe he hid this from all of us."
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