The Cascade Effect Chapter 25/??
The Cascade Effect
Rating: R(Will Go Up to NC-17)
Summary: One Event, One Minor change in the way something happens can change a lot of events in the future.
Spoilers: Seasons 1-9. Various Movies and Music.
Disclaimer: I don’t own so no sense suing.
AN: Sorry for the abrupt departure. My computer had some technical malfunctions and I had to pull my Inner McGee out into the daylight to completely reformat my hard drive. Thank Inari I saved all of my files onto a USB Storage Device. Now back to the fic.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The following day Tony woke up, a headache forming from all the recent stress, and headed for the shower hoping that it would loosen his neck muscles. It was something he’d dealt with since the academy, tension headaches caused by the muscles in his neck tightening. Sometimes those tension headaches led to migraines but he’d been lucky that he’d only gotten three migraines in the entire seven years he’d worked for NCIS. Once he finished his shower he headed downstairs to find Gibbs sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper and drinking coffee. Gibbs was already finished with most of the aper and handed Tony the sports section to read while he drank his own coffee. Once finished they readied themselves to head into the office and start another day of paperwork, cold cases, and possibly getting a call out to a crime scene.
Their next case ended up being brought to their attention by Ducky. A Marine Captain had been sent from Baghdad upon the request of his wife and SecNav straight to Ducky for Autopsy. It ended up sending Tony and Jardine to Baghdad to figure out who had murdered the man in Autopsy. Tony ended up learning about Jardine’s brother Eric who was a Marine injured there and currently in a Coma at Bethesda. The case was an eye-opener for Tony about the germaphobic Jardine and some of her reasoning. In the end it was Gibbs and McGee who caught the killer as he was coming back into the country. Once Tony and Jardine returned Gibbs had them head home, telling Tony that he could write his report in the morning. It wasn’t Tony’s first time in a War Zone and they both knew it most likely wouldn’t be his last.
After finishing up the reports on their last case they ended up catching another one rather quickly. This time it required Ziva to go undercover at a bar where two wives of men serving overseas frequented and were last seen alive. There was someone murdering them. Ziva ended up having to kill the man and it seemed as if she was slowly unraveling as the case progressed. It apparently hadn’t worked out between her and Damon Werth for unknown reasons. As the case progressed things came to a head and they found out that one of the wives was a copy-cat killing, the husband had killed his own wife because she was cheating on him. It certaintly was an interesting conclusion.
Their next case ended up with Jimmy Palmer seeing a passport and then someone taking that passport and Palmer giving chase. The guy took a few pot shots at Palmer before running off again. Since Vance was still in D.C. because Jenny Shepard had not returned but would be by the end of the week, he wanted the case solved ASAP because he was ready to return to San Diego to be with his wife and children. The case ended up bringing a lot of interesting things to light about Jimmy and also ended up having Gibbs actually approve of something Palmer did. He’d followed them to their suspect’s place of residence and when he noticed the suspect trying to make a run for it in his truck palmer collided his car with the other man’s truck which had Gibbs pissed and proud all at the same time. No one could have guessed at the events that were soon to come.
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Shortly after Director Shepard had returned from her vacation a former agent, William Decker, was found dead in his pool. LAPD had ruled it a natural death; heart attack. Tony and Ziva were requisitioned to be the director’s protection detail while attending the funeral in L.A. Once there Shepard had given some comments about Decker before heading to sign the guest log. While there she heard a man asking for someone by the name of Mr. Oshimida. Turning around she snapped some pictures with her cell phone before being met by Tony and Ziva. Meanwhile Ziva didn’t want to be on the protection detail and Tony told her to shut up, but not in so few words and much nicer.
“Director are you ready to go?” Ziva asked as they met Jenny.
“No, actually I’m not.” Jenny told her.
“No rush, you know, we’ll just hang out.” Tony replied.
“No need to wait for me. In fact we’re not due to fly out till tomorrow so why don’t the two of you…” Jenny began before being interrupted by Tony.
“Yes. Sure” Tony said, preemptively.
“Take the rest of the trip off.” Jenny finished.
“Right. Sure.” Tony capitulated, not feeling right about letting Jenny go off on her own but it was an order.
“So you want us to call you a taxi or... You want the car. Of course ‘cause we…we’ll figure something out. Drive safe cause L.A. traffic’s a little weird.” Tony watched as Jenny walked away. His gut was screaming at him to not let her go off on her own but he didn’t want to be seen as being insubordinate. “L.A Baby!” Tony exclaimed as he began to walk away. He planned to visit his cousins since he was here. “Sorry Ziva, I’mma have to cut you loose.” Tony continued walking off.
Ziva followed Tony as he left and ended up grabbing the same taxi. He made the driver stop at their hotel to drop Ziva off before he had the driver take him to his cousin Dom’s. Once there he paid the driver and headed up the drive. He waved to the curious woman across the street. He could hear chattering from the backyard and headed there. He was greeted warmly by Dom and most of the others. He stuck around for a bit but his gut was bothering him so he told them he needed to leave. Dom offered to give him a ride back to his hotel and he took him up on the offer. Once there he went in and changed before heading to the pool where he found Ziva lounging with a book. He deliberately took her photo just to piss her off before seeing if she wanted to take a cruise around L.A. She made the comment about not having a car but Tony had already fixed that, renting another car, one that was fast and more his style. As they were driving Ziva voiced her worries about Jenny and Tony told her to call Jenny. Tony had at first tried to play things off but Ziva was insisting so he handed her his phone.
Ziva still figured Jenny was hiding something from them and Tony decided to say it was a sex life and make a comment about Ziva’s lack of a sex life. Unfortunately Ziva wasn’t convinced but Tony managed to get her to relax for a bit. Eventually Ziva had Tony find the director’s car, which they found by a beach that Tony recognized rather well. He even recognized one of the cars in the lot, other than the director’s. There were plenty of restaurants around so Tony figured that Jenny was in one eating. As they were leaving the lot Tony noticed the cop car and its flashing lights. That was never a good sign and if his gut had been screaming before it was kicking and screaming now, plus he had a very bad feeling about this whole situation. Upon heading down to the beach from the boardwalk and parking lot area they found a dead body, one which they recognized. It was Sasha, William Decker’s girlfriend. While talking with the LAPD officer on scene Ziva made comments about Sasha possibly being murdered and Tony had to take her aside and order her to leave the director out of the investigation. Tony wished that Kate had been the one to come as she was originally the one chosen to go with him. At least she would have been more in tune with him than Ziva was. Unfortunately Kate had taken bereavement leave due to the sudden death of one of her brothers. Ziva was the second choice and so he had to deal with her, no matter how much she got on his nerves or pissed him off.
They called the director and told her about the death of Sasha Gordon, Decker’s girlfriend. She’d told her that she was fine and Ziva’s tone had even pissed her off. Ziva felt she was lying but Tony explained it away as her being fine. Since Jenny hadn’t used the duress word Tony wanted to let it go. He knew something wasn’t right but he also knew that if Jenny didn’t want them around it meant she didn’t want them getting involved. He, better than anyone, knew it was a bad idea to get involved in one of Jenny’s personal wars. He hadn’t even gotten involved like she had wished and he was still accused of murder. Ziva wanted to call Gibbs but he managed to talk her out of it and into a compromise.
~ “Agent McGee.”
“What took you so long? Were you sitting at my desk?” Tony asked.
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“Tony, what do you want?”
“Your advice.” Ziva chimed in.
“You lost the director didn’t you?”
“No.” Tony said, affronted.
“Now you’re lying.”
“You were sitting at my desk.
“We did not lose the director. We just…we just don’t know where she is.” Ziva exclaimed, getting angry.
“Gibbs is gonna kill you guys.”
“Alright, calm down McGee. Don’t get your panties in a twist. We just talked to her, she said she’s fine. She just said she needed a little alone time.” Tony explained.
“We’re just worried she might be in duress.” Ziva threw in.
“Woah, woah, woah, did she use the duress word?”
“No.” Ziva reluctantly said.
“Oh. Well then she probably is fine.”
“Thank you. The great McOz has spoken.” Tony said, looking at Ziva in triumph.
“I need you to trace her cell.” Ziva told him.
“You want me to trace the director’s cell? Forget it!” McGee exclaimed.
“Gibbs is not gonna like that.” Ziva commented, almost offhandedly.
“I thought you said you weren’t gonna call him.”
“We won’t. If you trace the director’s cell.” Ziva told him.
“Alright.” McGee capitulated before beginning to trace her cell.
When he found nothing he said he’d trace her phone from the last call she made and once he found it he called Tony back and told him where it had last received a call and sent the address to Tony’s PDA. They headed towards the Diner that McGee had said was where they were heading but had to stop at a gas station to get gas. Ziva tried to argue with him that they would have made it but tony knew better that they wouldn’t have made it. They ended up slightly lost before noticing the diner and a very familiar vehicle, one they had seen at the gas station. The parked and headed towards the front door when Tony noticed the broken window. He pulled his gun and as they entered the diner they found several bodies strewn across the floor, one of which was Director Jenny Shepard’s. He knew he shouldn’t have let her go off on her own. He knelt and checker he pulse but she was gone. Her phone began ringing and Tony picked it up, seeing Gibbs name on the caller ID he answered it.
“Jenny? Jenny? You there?” Gibbs voice came through the speaker of the phone.
“No, boss. The director’s gone. She’s dead. Shot. She went off on her own, Gibbs.” Tony told him, his voice betraying the shock and upset he was feeling.
“Stay there. I’m on my way. I’ll catch the first flight out. You stay with her body, DiNozzo.” Gibbs told him, wondering what the hell had happened.
“Got it, boss.” Tony told him before hanging up.
Tony waited with Ziva and when Gibbs called a few hours later he told them to stay there and wait for him. He had called SecNav and told him what he knew. When he got there Vance was there and had told Ziva and Tony to start processing the scene even though Gibbs had ordered them to wait. He got what they knew and headed out, telling Tony to oversee Vance’s investigation. The way Vance had said it had pissed him off, he knew Tony was upset over Jenny’s death and was blaming himself but he didn’t know how to tell Tony it wasn’t his fault and to not blame himself. He headed back to the geas station where he was met by Franks. Meanwhile back in DC Gibbs called Ducky and told him the news. Abby was worried something had happened and was bugging McGee when Ducky showed up. He tried to tell them everything was alright when Gibbs called him and told him the news.
“Who?” McGee asked, recognizing the look on Ducky’s face.
“Jenny.” Ducky said. Abby gasped, upset and McGee was shocked.
Things began to snowball from there. Vance had flown back with the bodies and the next day Tony and Ziva arrived. After talking with Franks Gibbs headed back to D.C. Abby was upset over Jenny’s death, they all were. Abby had hugged all of them, and Tony was becoming snappish and rude. Jenny’s death had hit him harder because he felt it was his fault. McGee had tried to tell him it wasn’t his fault and Gibbs told him the same thing. Tony didn’t believe it but he tried not to show it. Gibbs could tell though, he’d always been able to read Tony just as Tony was able to read him most of the time. Once the ball had begun rolling they found out that Jenny had actually not left Paris as clean. She’d been unable to take out her mark and no-one had been any the wiser. Gibbs went off on his own, planned to have everything end once and for all in Jenny’s own home. Franks ended up shooting Svetlana instead of Gibbs. They then went about setting the townhouse ablaze, making it look like an accident before calling it in. The official reports would show that Jenny Shepard had died in her home due to smoke inhalation. The day of the funeral Vance called Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and McGee into his office. SecNav had made him the new Director of NCIS.
“Officer David. The Liaison position with NCIS is being terminated. You’re going home.” Vance said, looking at Ziva. He then turned to McGee.
McGee. I’m moving you across to the Cyber Crimes Unit. You’ll be working with Officer Holsworth, starting tomorrow. DiNozzo.” He said turning to Tony.
“Sir.”
“You’ve been reassigned. Agent Afloat, USS Ronald Reagan. Pack your bags, you fly out tomorrow. Agent Gibbs.” He said, walking around his desk to hand Gibbs three folders. “Meet your new team.” He finished, smirking.
He watched as the former team left to ready themselves for their new assignments. He deliberately sent Ziva and Tony as far away as possible.
Tony headed to his apartment to begin packing and readying himself to leave. He knew most of his stuff would end up going into storage; he had no idea how long the Agent Afloat assignment would last. He’d just finished getting things set up when his personal cell rang. He looked at the caller ID to see Gibbs’ name flashing on it. He answered the phone tersely and after a very short conversation, grabbed his bags and headed out to Gibbs’ house. Once there he stepped out of his car and walked up to the door. He debated about just walking in when that choice was taken from him by Kelly opening the door and throwing herself at him. She was crying. Gibbs must have told her what had happened. He managed to get her to calm down so they could go inside instead of making a scene on the front porch. Once there he sat down with her on the couch, she clung to him telling him the same thing.
“I don’t want you to go. Why is Vance sending you away? Why didn’t dad stop it? Please, don’t go.”
“Kelly, I have to. It’s not like it was my choice. I think Vance is punishing me. Hey, your dad will get me back here. Have faith in him.” He told her wiping her eyes of the tears. Gibbs walked in at that point, face weary. It looked as if he’d been through hell, more so then the whole time they were trying to find Jenny’s killer.
“You may be right DiNozzo. Vance is punishing everyone involved, including me. Why else would he tear apart my team?”
“Maybe, Gibbs. McGee gets to stay in D.C though. Why is he sending only me and Ziva as far away as possible?” Tony asked.
“To punish me and make it as hard as possible for me to reform my team.” Gibbs told him, collapsing on the other side of Kelly.
“What about Kate?”
“I don’t know. Not even sure he knows she’s alive since it wasn’t advertised and she’s on bereavement leave.” Gibbs told him.
They sat in silence for a while before changing the subject. They didn’t want to think of their team, their family, being torn apart by a vindictive director with a grudge. Gibbs made Cowboy Style steak for the three of them and told Tony he’d make sure to take care of his things, even if it meant bringing some of it to the house. Tony’s cars would stay in the garage except the Bronco, which Kelly was fond of driving. After dinner they relaxed before heading to bed; Tony was tired and missed the significant look Kelly gave her dad and the whispered words of ‘tell him.’
Once he woke up reality set in. He was being sent away and there was nothing Gibbs could do about it. He had tried to talk Vance out of it but Vance had laughed him off. Gibbs had stayed behind and that’s why he called Tony to come over, to tell him in person everything that had happened after him, McGee and Ziva had left. Gibbs didn’t really plan to try to get Ziva back on his team too hard. The main ones he was concerned about were Tony and McGee since Kate’s position was still up in the air. Gibbs cooked them all a large breakfast and then him and Kelly drove with Tony to the port that USS Reagan was docked at. They wanted to see him off and for Vance to know that Gibbs wasn’t going to take his reassignment of his team lying down. He would fight Vance every step of the way to get Tony back to D.C. and McGee out of Cybercrimes. Ziva he wasn’t too concerned about, he knew he plane left soon but had no intentions of seeing her off. Tony was his main concern for the moment. Once Tony had boarded the UUS Reagan and was out of sight he trudged back to his truck, Kelly following behind. He hoped that Tony wouldn’t have to be Afloat for very long.
TBC…
AN: Hope ya’ll liked the chapter. Tony has now been sent Afloat and Gibbs is going to try his damndest to get him back ashore ASAP. Things are about to really heat up so I hope that ya’ll are looking forward to the twists and turns in store for the team. I MAY be twisting the episode order around in the enxt few chapter so be prepared for confusion. As always; comments, reviews and constructive criticism are welcomed. Flames are not and will be used to create lovely bon fires and flamers will be shipped off to Purgatory, courtesy of Koenma.
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Chapter Twenty-Six>>