Consign to Pandemonium - Act IX - Interim Thoughts (iv)

[pearly_eyes]

Title: Consign to Pandemonium - Act IX - Interim Thoughts (iv)
Author: pearly_eyes
Rating: PG
Genre: Gen

Character(s): Vance, Gibbs

Prompts: Challenge #134, test, from ncisdrabble100 Summary: Gibbs and Vance speak of the events from Aliyah.

Words: 281

I'm looking for answers.

It'd help if you'd ask the damn questions. There's the rub. You don't have a clue what to ask.
“I’ve got a question.”

Director Leon Vance looked up from the report that he had been pursuing and raised an eyebrow at the unannounced entrance of the Special Agent in Charge. Three weeks since their arrival stateside from Tel Aviv, Vance felt the palpable shift in Gibbs’ team. Besides the glaring obvious fact that the team was in fact one short, the arrival of the skull at the Navy Yard had added the tension to an already volatile situation. Now this ... but Vance had been anticipating the confrontation from the moment that he had taken over the late Jenny Shepard’s position at NCIS.

“Yes, Agent Gibbs.”

For all intents and purposes, it was still Vance not Gibbs who was sitting behind the desk.

“What is Eli David’s stake on all this? Why go through the trouble to find the location of an elusive camp that is no longer there?”

There wasn’t a need to point out that it was in fact two questions, but the latter was rhetorical. Gibbs was one of the best, the man was far from contrite for getting to the heart of the matter.

“Sands may shift with time, Gibbs, but you and I both know that some grudges run too deep, ensnaring at the core, festering to the edge of obsession. When there are threats, both imminent and distant, it becomes a test of one’s patience. To strike or to abide, to trust or to doubt. The answer comes down to this: what limits do you place on the integrity of one person?”

For the previous parts in the series:

Act I - Legend | Act II - Lies | Act III - Plans | Act IV - Interim Thoughts (i) | Act V - In Denial | Act VI - Crossover| Act VII - Interim Thoughts (ii) | Act VIII - Interim Thoughts (iii)