Fic - Fate Protects Fools 4/4
Title: Fate Protects Fools (Small Children, and Ships Named Valor)
Author: sunryder
Artist: pyalgroundblz
Crossover: NCIS/Hawaii 5-0 fused with Star Trek
Type: Slash
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 21042
Characters/Pairings: Tony/Gibbs, Steve/Danny, Ducky, Abby, Tim, Jenny, Cait, Ziva, Morrow, Chin, Kono, Gracie, Jameson, Joe, Kamekona, Max
Warnings: I don't particularly like Jenny
Spoilers: None
Summary: The Federation Starship Valor was one of the crowning jewels of the Fleet. Her Tactical Chief was a Bajoran with a penchant for blowing things up and asking questions later, her Security Chief was a human who'd followed his daughter halfway across the galaxy and now was relegated to serving drinks in Ten Forward, her newest officer was a Trill with a bright smile who teased the Captain far too much, and her Captain... well let's just say Gibbs wasn't a happy man.
Author’s Notes: A thousand thanks to ellie_pierson for being my beta, and loving the story even when I decided I didn't like it anymore, which brought me back to the writing. And to beautiful, beautiful, pyalgroundblz who's art powered me through the last week of editing and is better than the fic itself.
Remember the art is HERE
Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Gibbs strode down the hall to the Operations center where Jenny would be working this time of day, and he was so wrapped up in getting there it took him several minutes to notice that the computer panels were beeping at him as he went past. When one finally hooted at him, not in the regular tone but in one of the loud songs Abby always played in her lab, Gibbs stopped and started at the flashing panel that demanded his attention. Gibbs tapped the screen and quickly took in the information scrolling past that Abby must have tracked down in the few minutes Gibbs had been away from the lab. According to the information Abby had easily found a money trail that proved Jenny was getting payments from a third party.
Gibbs stepped into the Operations offices, and all the Operations crewmen took one look at him and found reasons to be someplace else. Jenny however, remained in her seat and raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow at Gibbs and said, "I thought you said you were looking to avoid drama, Jethro?"
Gibbs shrugged, "I'd say it's less dramatic that your people know to get out of the way instead of sitting around to watch."
Jenny snorted, "Then at least you think me capable of something."
"According to my intelligence you're capable of lots of things."
Jen snorted, "And what is that?"
Gibbs sat down in the chair across from her desk and casually leaned back before saying, "That you're planning on ruining our meet with the Klingons."
Jenny sputtered, "What? Why in the hell would I do that?"
"Because you hate the Klingons and because you're getting paid."
Jen just stared at Gibbs like she didn't understand the words he was using, before she shouted, "Jethro Gibbs, you think I'm on the take?"
"Nope."
"…but you said..."
"It was easy to find your payoffs."
"I'm not getting any payoffs!"
"I know. You would do a better job of hiding the money if you were on the take."
"Then why in the hell did you come here accusing me of working for the Romulans?"
Gibbs shrugged, "Because there's a mountain of evidence against you, and if I'm going to say it wasn't you I need to say I actually talked to you about it."
Gibbs left Jenny gaping and went back to Abby's lab. Gibbs walked in the door and demanded, "Pull up the list again, Jen didn't do it."
Steve tossed his hands in the air, frustrated with Gibbs and demanded, "All the evidence leads to her, Gibbs! She's got payoffs in her damn bank account!"
Gibbs stepped into Steve's space, the two of them squaring off in the relentless, alpha male way that they preferred. "Doesn't it strike you as odd that Jenny would be stupid enough to get payments from Romulans to her own bank account? Don't you think she'd be more clever about it than that?"
"I'd also assume that Shepard wouldn't be selling us out to the Romulans. But the evidence says she does."
"No, the evidence says someone wants us to think she does, but they didn't do a very good job of it."
"Abs," Tony interrupted, "Where's the ambassador?"
"That what?"
"I'm looking at these lists and somewhere on here there should be an ambassador, or a negotiator, or someone who can make nice with the Klingons." Tony pointed to the top of the three complete crew manifests, where the highest ranking officers were located, "But I don't recognize any of these names as official negotiators."
Steve asked, "Aren't the negotiations just going to be done by the Captains?"
Danny snorted, "No, the Fleet may like their captains but they don't trust them with this sort of thing. It's too big. If it goes wrong, you don't want the rest of the Federation wondering why in the hell they trusted a Captain and if it goes right, then it's made the Captain's whole career."
Gibbs stepped up to the screen, wheels turning and waived at Danny to scroll through the lists down to the civilians at the bottom of each column. "You think they contracted it out?" Danny asked.
"Nope, but I thought we should check before we start demanding the information."
When none of the civilians listed were negotiators either Tony said, "So, somewhere on the Amsterdam or the Honolulu we've got a negotiator who's flying under the radar, who's actually going to throw the whole summit."
Gibbs hmm-ed, then snapped, "Danny."
Considering Danny wasn't officially part of Security or even one of Gibbs' officers Tony didn't quite know how the man knew what Gibbs was looking for, but Danny replied, "Pull up a list of the Federation's approved negotiators and track each one of them down."
"McGarrett."
"Get in contact with people I trust on the Amsterdam and the Honolulu and see if they can tell me who they're hiding."
"Tony."
"Figure a way to get a Federation Ambassador kicked out of their own negotiations."
"I want proof that they planned on selling us out." Gibbs added.
Tony snorted, "Proof that they intended to blow the peace talks without actually causing a war? I'll get right on that."
Gibbs strode out of the room and waived the other two off, giving Steve a glare that meant he should follow his captain. Gibbs waited until they stepped into the turbolift before he slammed the emergency stop button and asked, "You wanna tell me why you panicked in there?"
"I didn't panic." Steve denied.
"You stopped breathing when we turned to the ambassador. You only do that when you're trying to keep yourself from going in to fight mode."
"I've got a hunch Sir, but I'd like to run it down before I talk about it."
Gibbs gave Steve a long, hard look like he was deciding whether or not to just space Steve and be done with it before he said, "I'm not a stupid man, McGarrett."
Steve snorted, "No shit, Sir."
"My lack of stupidity means that I know that if we survive this whole damn thing, then I'm going to be in a position to ask for whatever I want from Command. Now, either you can keep skirting the fine line between protecting Intelligence and protecting the Valor, or you can finally figure out who it is you're working for."
"Sir-"
"I've seen the way you look at Danny." Steve swallowed his own tongue and didn't quite have a response to that. "I see the way you play with his kid, and the way you grin when Danny starts to yell at you, and when you're about to go off the edge Danny's the only guy who can bring you back."
"I assume there's a point to this, Sir?"
"The Admiralty has made it painfully clear that they want my formalized command staff the moment this mission ends, and I want you for my permanent Tactical Chief, with direct control over Security and Intelligence." Steve just started at him in disbelief. "I know the moment this is handled Intelligence intends to take you back and set you on something else, but if I ask for you after paving the path to peace with Klingons, then Command will tell Intelligence to go away. The choice is yours, Steve. Are you going to hide our suspect because those are your orders, or are you going to save the day and get what you finally want?"
XXXXX
Steve turned to face the fully-assembled room of Command staff, and people he assumed Gibbs intended to become his Command staff when this was all over. "Our suspect's name is Joe White." Joe's image flashed up on the screen, bald, confident, and in the straight black of a high-ranking Intelligence uniform. "He's an Intelligence Admiral, one of the best at running black ops. He served as an attaché to the Klingons in the Dominion War, and he's on the Honolulu coming in for the meet."
Danny crossed his arms and huffed, "And how do we know him, Steve?"
"I can't tell you that, Danny."
"Screw that, Steven!" Danny launched forward in his seat and started to hammer away at the air with his hand gestures, "We've got a damn spy coming and all you can say is, 'I can't tell you'?"
Gibbs smacked Danny on the back of the head, pulling him back from the full scale rant he was about to fall into. "If Steve tells you he gets shot and dumped in a melting pit, Williams. Move on."
Danny snorted his disgust with that, but kept his mouth shut so Steve could explain. "He's the one who tipped me off to the potential spy in the first place. So when I contacted him back and updated him on our progress looking for a little more information, he said he was coming to the meet and he'd help me cage our spy without the Klingons knowing we'd gotten that close to messed up."
Danny tossed his hands in the air, ready to rant about proper procedure, but a glare from Gibbs shut him up. "He fits the profile that Tony and Danny came up with. He'll be on planet for the negotiations, he's in a perfect position to hamper our relations with the Klingons without actually causing a war, and, well… he thinks Klingons pose a threat to the future of the Federation."
Danny couldn't hold himself back, "And you didn't think a spy with a grudge against the Klingon Empire was something you should mention to us Steven? What is wrong with you?"
"I've worked with him before." Steve barreled over the top of Danny. "He's given his whole adult life in service to the Federation. He's completely loyal, and right up until Tony said none of the ships were carrying an official negotiator I just assumed he'd be coming in as part of the negotiator's security detail, not the actual negotiator."
Danny pinched his lips in frustration, "Are you sure that this guy is the negotiator?"
"Yeah, I contacted him after we finished our last meeting and told him I had the identity of the spy and proof of conduct."
"Did he ask why in the hell you didn't arrest your spy?" Danny snarked.
"That's not how it goes Danny. He told me to sit on it until we could handle it together. You don't move until you have orders move."
"You? Who is this you, Steven?"
"This," Gibbs shouted, carrying his voice over any more arguments, "is what we're going to do. We'll be arriving at DS7 in one hour, and the Amsterdam and Honolulu will be arriving shortly after that. I'm putting out a call to the other captains to insist on a security briefing before we even get to DS7. Denning from the Honolulu is farthest out, so Vance on the Amsterdam and I are each going to hop on a runabout and meet up at the Honolulu. We'll have about two hours for the meet before we come together at DS7 and return to our own ships where we'll put the security plan in place and proceed with this negotiation like the last two days never happened.
"However, I'll take Jen, Steve, and Tony with me to the security briefing and we'll have those two hours to either find incriminating evidence, talk White out of his plan, or shoot him and be done with it. Any questions?" Everyone frantically shook their heads no, no one wanting to challenge Gibbs when he was in the mood to shoot.
XXXXX
Steve had a mental countdown going from ten the moment the left the room, and at four (dangerously fast as an indicator of Danny's mood), Danny grabbed Steve's arm and hauled him into one of the empty labs and immediately called out to the computer to lock the door. Steve crossed his arms and leaned back against one of the counters, "You know that I'm letting you haul me around, right?"
"Shut the hell up, Steven." Danny stuck his finger in Steve's face, "You're Intelligence. No, that doesn't even, you're not just Intelligence, you're one of those damn black ops Intelligence officers who thinks they don't need to follow the law like the rest of us! Why in the hell didn't you tell me!"
Steve quirked an eyebrow, "Really Danny? You're about to poke my eye out with that finger and you wanna know why I didn't tell you?"
"I'm poking your eye out because you didn't tell me, you ass!"
"You know that I'm not allowed to tell you things like that, Danno."
"It's not things, Steven; it's that you're a freaking deep cover Intelligence Officer! That means something!"
Steve cocked his head in the way that mean he was still parsing whatever it was Danny was yelling about, trying to force something about Danny's words make actual sense. Danny kept pacing, shouting about consequences and due process, and suddenly everything snapped in to place.
Steve grinned at Danny, bright and very nearly feral compared to the usual restraint he showed with his emotions. Danny stopped mid word and asked "What the hell is that. What are you smiling about?"
Rather than explain Steve took a long, predatory stride forward, straight into Danny's space. Usually Danny stayed put and glowered right back, but this time Danny must have seen something disconcerting, because he stepped back out of the way, which just made Steve grin brighter and press forward again. Steve backed Danny into a table and before Danny could start talking again he pressed a kiss to Danny's lips, slow but fierce.
Danny didn't know quite how to respond and leaned in to Steve before his mind came back to him and he pulled back and sputtered, "What are you doing, Steve?"
"You like me, Danno." Steve grinned.
"Not at this moment, no."
"Sure you do. That's why you're freaking out that I'm Intelligence."
"I'm freaking out because you lied to me Steven!"
"Nah Danno, you're freaking out because you think that means I'm gonna leave."
Danny waited for a long moment, and then with courage that impressed Steve he asked, "Aren't you?"
Steve ran his fingers through Danny's slicked back hair, something he'd wanted to since the first moment Danny had shouted at him (which was about two minutes after they met). "Gibbs is requesting that my transfer be permanent."
Danny started in surprise, "And he thinks Command will let you stay?"
"We're about to save the day, Danno. Now's the time."
"So, you thought you were going to leave…"
"Yup."
"And now, now you're staying."
Steve ran his fingers through again, "Yup."
"Then why the hell are we still talking?"
"No idea, Danno." Steve grinned, and pressed forward for another kiss.
XXXXXTony mentally prepared himself for a painfully awkward flight to the Honolulu. Being trapped in a confined space with Steve sounded like an excuse to make trouble, and being trapped with Steve and Gibbs sounded like fun and fodder for a few dirty dreams, while trapped with Steve, Gibbs and Shepard just sounded like hell. Tony was ready to keep his eyes forward at the helm and ignore the sniping that was bound to go on behind him, then Steve stumbled on to the shuttle with a dopey grin and suddenly the trip looked so much better.
"You made a pass at him." Tony grinned.
Steve dropped down in the other helm chair and smiled back, absolutely genuine, "I did."
Tony smacked him on the shoulder, "Look at you, my little spy is all grown up."
Steve shrugged off the hand with a grin, "Yeah, yeah."
Tony nudged him again, "How'd it go?"
"I'm smiling, aren't I?"
"Details McGarrett, details!"
"When have you ever known me to hand out details?"
"Unless these details are about the mission," Gibbs interrupted, "stop talking."
"Yes Cap, sorry Cap, no idle banter here, Cap." Tony muttered.
Gibbs smacked him on the back of the head and replied, "We have forty-five minutes together on this shuttle Gard, don't think I won't spend every last one of them tormenting you."
Tony gave Gibbs a ridiculously bright smile, "Gibbs, you and I both know you won't be the one doing the tormenting on this little trip. I'm sure we'd have quite a bit more fun if you were."
"I know I would." Steve interjected.
Gibbs smacked both of them of the back of the head, but lighter this time, almost affectionate, before he went to his seat. Moments later Jen stepped on board and didn't waste any time in stepping right up to peer over Tony's shoulder and declare, "Did you remember to adjust for the excessive gravity of Antioch's sun? If you don't we'll get pulled off course and lose valuable time."
What Tony wanted to say was, 'Of course I adjusted for Antioch's sun. I wouldn't be sitting at the helm if I wasn't certified, and you don't get certified without knowing how to check your route for that sort of thing. And even if I missed it, the extra gravity would only cost us an extra five minutes of traveling time.' But he didn't. Instead Tony said, "Yes ma'am."
"Yes you adjusted, or yes you'll do it now?" Jen demanded.
"Yes I adjusted, but I can run the calculations again to make sure." Tony replied in his most level tone.
Shepard huffed, "There's no need to take that tone with me, Mr. Gard."
Tony gave her his most bland and pleasant of smiles and replied, “Apologies, ma'am. I didn't mean to be disrespectful."
"Whatever you might be in the future, remember that now you are one of my staff, Mr. Gard."
There were so very many things wrong with that sentence that it took every fiber of Tony's being not to snap at Shepard, starting with the fact it was considered the height of bad taste to refer to a joined Trill as Mr. or Ms.. Instead Tony just replied, "Yes ma'am." and waited until Shepard had her back turned before fixing Gibbs with a look that said, 'you see what I mean?'.
Gibbs, the bastard, smirked like the whole thing was hilarious and Tony was hard pressed not to smile back. Gibbs took mercy on him and updated Shepard on the plan, and how they'd gotten there, going into far more detail and using far more words than Tony suspected Gibbs would've used otherwise. "So, as far as the target is concerned, McGarrett is the only one who 'knows' I'm a spy, and he wants to help McGarrett bring me in, while you and Tony are none the wiser."
Under normal circumstances Gibbs would've grunted something that translated to 'do you really need me to explain this to you?', but since he was being effusive today he actually said, "Exactly."
"And why exactly do you think it's logical for you to bring your head of Operations along with one of the lesser Operations Officers and your head of Tactical to this meeting rather than bring your Security or Intelligence Chiefs?" Jen asked snidely.
"Because anyone with the right access, which our target has, would know that I don't trust my Chiefs of Security or Intelligence. If I didn't know about you being a spy Steve would've maneuvered his way onto this mission to deliver you to the target, and you would've demanded it was your right to come as my supposed First, and Steve would've talked me into letting you come along since you're what he needed."
Jen snorted, "You've never let anyone talk you into anything in your life Jethro."
The shuttle jumped, and Gibbs turned in time to see Tony frantically adjusting their heading. "What's going on over there?" Jenny demanded.
Steve replied, "Nothing ma'am, just a minor disturbance," since Tony was too busy biting his bottom lip to answer.
"Anything you'd like to add, Gard?" Gibbs prodded.
"No Sir. I am over here devoutly not reacting to anything."
Steve snorted out a laugh, but kept his eyes forward on the viewscreen. Tony giggled at Steve's laugh, but quickly bit it back and cleared his throat, like it never happened. "What are you laughing at, Lieutenant?" Jenny demanded.
Tony giggled again, like he couldn't help it, and Steve twisted away to keep from looking at Tony before he lost it as well. "I'm sorry, it's just-" Tony giggled again, "Jethro," he finished with emphasis.
"Are you saying there's something humorous about your captain's name, Lieutenant?"
"Yes ma'am." Tony grinned.
Before Jenny could object with something about superior officers and respect, Gibbs clarified, "Actually it's Leroy Jethro."
Tony laughed brightly and twisted around in his seat, "Seriously? Did you parents just decide to ignore every last trace of Vulcan in your DNA?"
"My father was purely human and my mother was half, but she never embraced her Vulcan side."
"Really?" Tony asked curiously, but still gently, not wanting to scare Gibbs off answering questions.
"She was born and raised on Earth." Gibbs shrugged, like that explained everything.
"Yeah, but…" Gibbs quirked an eyebrow to prove Tony along, "You got a whole Vulcan vibe going on. I mean, you do half your communication through eyebrow twitches."
"Lieutenant!" Shepard burst, but Steve added, "You do, Cap."
“Gentlemen, return to your duties.” Jen snapped, and Steve and Tony turned back to their stations with a smile, neither one of them catching the twitch of a grin on Gibbs' face.
XXXXX
Captain Denning of the Honolulu was not the sort of man to pass up the chance to hobnob with another captain, especially one of Vance's standing, so they were met at the transporter room by one of Vance's Security Lieutenants, a young Benzite officer named Kaye who's tendrils were practically quivering at the chance to talk to Gibbs. She ushered them all down the hall towards the main conference room where the other two captains and their officers were already waiting.
Steve faded to the back of the group and wasn't at all surprised when Joe stepped up alongside him and murmured, “I wasn't expecting you this soon.”
“Gibbs insisted on a security meeting,” Steve explained, and I figured handling this now would be better than handling it later.”
“Smart move kid, but the trouble is I don't have all the evidence complied that you need for an arrest.”
Steve stopped, letting the group get further ahead of them, too entranced by Kaye's rambling to notice Steve's absence. “What do you mean we don't, Joe? We've got motive, we've got opportunity, and we've got the payments from the Romulans in the suspect's account.”
Joe put a calming hand on Steve's shoulder, “Payments aren't enough, Steve. We need something more solid if we're going to go after a Commander. I was planning on waiting until the conference so we could catch them in the act.”
Steve tossed his hands in the air, his frustration growing more obvious, “Why!”
“Because if we don't have the evidence then we don't get the conviction, kid.”
“Do we even need the conviction, Joe? Isn't it more important that we save the summit? If I just tell Gibbs what I suspect-”
“Get that thought right out of your head, kid. Sure, Gibbs will bench her, but any accusations Gibbs makes without support from hard evidence will get ignored by the Admiralty. Gibbs' dislike of Shepard is too well known for anyone to take his bad opinion seriously.”
Steve sighted heavily and all the tension in him drained away. “Dammit, Joe.”
“Steve, what's wrong?”
“I never told you who my suspect was.”
Joe leaned back and laughed, subtly putting himself out of range of Steve's more obvious blows, “I suppose there's no point in pretending I came to the same conclusion?”
“If it was easy to fool me then you wouldn't have trained me.”
"No, I suppose not. Pity you didn't wait until we got to the meet, you would've been able to set me up as a spy and destroy my career."
"You weren't trying to start a war. In your own messed up way you thought you were helping. That’s enough for Gibbs' mercy, and it's enough for mine."
"You don't have enough to arrest me." Joe grinned.
"No, but we have enough to confine you to quarters on the Valor for the rest of the trip while another negotiator handles the job."
"And if I choose to be difficult?"
From where he had silently been standing behind Joe, Gibbs reached out and Vulcan Pinched Joe on the nerve that dropped him unconscious to the floor. "Then you'll be asleep for the rest of the trip." Steve slouched against the wall and Gibbs said, "I know you wanted time to get his reasons."
The statement was just that, a statement. No apology for interceding and no explanation. "I know why he did it; I was just hoping he'd have something to say that would make me accept it."
"He did it because he thinks we shouldn't be getting in bed with the Klingons."
"If the Admiralty asked him that's what he'd say, and half of them would agree with him. But really, I've never known Joe to have less than five reasons for doing something, and that was just one."
"What about the others?"
"We'll never know for sure, but I think one of them was my permanent appointment to your ship. And even though he didn't ruin the talks, he'll still consider this a win because of that."
XXXXX
Together Gibbs and Steve escorted an unconscious Joe to the brig, and it was a mark of how well thought of Gibbs was that none of his crew asked what Joe was doing there. Steve turned to part company with Gibbs and head for his own office when Gibbs smacked Steve upside the head flicked two fingers at him to signal that Steve should stay right on following.
They went to the bridge, and Kono twisted around in her chair to greet them with a bright smile and announced, “I've got Admirals Jameson and Morrow waiting for you, Cap.”
“No David?”
“Sorry Cap, can't seem to get ahold of him.”
Gibbs snorted, but nodded to Kono to open the channel. “Admirals.” Gibbs greeted pleasantly.
Morrow smirked, “Jethro, you look like the cat that got the cream.”
“Not far off, Admiral.”
“I assume that means you've caught the spy.”
Gibbs grunted in the affirmative and when he said nothing else about it Morrow slumped in his chair, “You're not turning them over.”
'They turned themselves in.” Gibbs shrugged as if to say, 'what are you gonna do'?
“Gibbs!” Jameson snapped, “They tried to sell us out to the Klingons!”
“No. They were stupid, not traitorous. And their life shouldn't be ruined for it.”
“Agreed.” Morrow replied before Jameson had the chance to object. “I assume you're also calling about your command staff.”
“Of course, sir.” Gibbs replied, his ton implying that he expected less stupid questions from Morrow.
Morrow snorted, “And what have you decided?”
“First off I want Steve to be a permanent posting at Tactical.” Gibbs had been expecting an objection, but both Jameson and Morrow looked pleased by the request, so Gibbs moved on. “I plan on promoting Lieutenant Chin and promoting him to head of Security. Weston is more than welcome to stay on as a junior officer.”
“That seems a bit hasty, Gibbs.” Jameson interrupted.
“No, ma'am. Chin ran this investigation, he earned his place. The only only other person I'd want is Danny Williams, and that man refuses to come out of retirement.”
The two admirals shared a look, then Morrow asked, “If you'd like us to entice him out of retirement?”
Gibbs tipped his head to look at Chin with a raised in eyebrow in question and Chin replied, “I believe it would be better for everyone involved if we convinced Danny it was his own decision.”
“Probably true.” Gibbs added. “We'll let you know when we've brought him around. The only other thing that requires your approval is the appointment of my First.”
The whole room stopped at Gibbs' announcement and Morrow took a long look around the fully assembled command crew Gibbs had on his bridge. After a moment he gave a polite nod to Steve, “Commander McGarrett, I assume congratulations are in order?”
Steve looked frantically at Gibbs, who just quirked an eyebrow in amusement before Steve replied, “I don't think so, Sir.”
“Really?” Morrow flicked his eyes over to Jenny, thought judging by her mortified expression it wasn't her either. Then Morrow saw Tony, standing safely at the Ops station at the back of the bridge with an expression of absolute horror on his face. Morrow sighed, “You didn't tell the boy you were promoting him, did you?”
“Where's the fun in that?”
Jameson looked between them, completely confused while Morrow continued, “I assume you intend to make him your Chief of Operations too?”
“Might as well.” Gibbs shrugged.
Morrow just rolled his eyes and replied, “I expect promotion paperwork inside the next week.” Morrow looked past Gibbs to an ashen faced Tony and smirked, “Good luck.” before he cut the comm feed.
Gibbs looked around the bridge at his stunned crew and called out, “Shouldn't all of you be preparing to enter Klingon space right about now?”
They all scrambled back to work, even the people who weren't really supposed to be on the bridge but didn't want to miss anything. Tony stumbled down to Gibbs' chair and croaked, “Uh, Cap...”
“Out with it Gard, I've got things to do.” Gibbs snapped, holding back a smirk.
“Alright them, are you out of your mind!”
“You have a problem with being my first officer?” Gibbs demanded, surging to his feet and into Tony's space.
The crew assumed Tony had the self preservation instincts of a Lemming, because he stepped right back, unmoved by Gibbs' tactic. “It's not that I'm upset Gibbs, it's just that a girl likes to be asked.”
Then, in a moment Gibbs' terrified crew would remember for the rest of their days (even the people who pulled up the security feed later to watch the moment), Gibbs started to laugh.
Final Notes: Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it. And all my love to pyalgroundblzand ellie_pierson for getting me through this!
Author: sunryder
Artist: pyalgroundblz
Crossover: NCIS/Hawaii 5-0 fused with Star Trek
Type: Slash
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 21042
Characters/Pairings: Tony/Gibbs, Steve/Danny, Ducky, Abby, Tim, Jenny, Cait, Ziva, Morrow, Chin, Kono, Gracie, Jameson, Joe, Kamekona, Max
Warnings: I don't particularly like Jenny
Spoilers: None
Summary: The Federation Starship Valor was one of the crowning jewels of the Fleet. Her Tactical Chief was a Bajoran with a penchant for blowing things up and asking questions later, her Security Chief was a human who'd followed his daughter halfway across the galaxy and now was relegated to serving drinks in Ten Forward, her newest officer was a Trill with a bright smile who teased the Captain far too much, and her Captain... well let's just say Gibbs wasn't a happy man.
Author’s Notes: A thousand thanks to ellie_pierson for being my beta, and loving the story even when I decided I didn't like it anymore, which brought me back to the writing. And to beautiful, beautiful, pyalgroundblz who's art powered me through the last week of editing and is better than the fic itself.
Remember the art is HERE
Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Gibbs strode down the hall to the Operations center where Jenny would be working this time of day, and he was so wrapped up in getting there it took him several minutes to notice that the computer panels were beeping at him as he went past. When one finally hooted at him, not in the regular tone but in one of the loud songs Abby always played in her lab, Gibbs stopped and started at the flashing panel that demanded his attention. Gibbs tapped the screen and quickly took in the information scrolling past that Abby must have tracked down in the few minutes Gibbs had been away from the lab. According to the information Abby had easily found a money trail that proved Jenny was getting payments from a third party.
Gibbs stepped into the Operations offices, and all the Operations crewmen took one look at him and found reasons to be someplace else. Jenny however, remained in her seat and raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow at Gibbs and said, "I thought you said you were looking to avoid drama, Jethro?"
Gibbs shrugged, "I'd say it's less dramatic that your people know to get out of the way instead of sitting around to watch."
Jenny snorted, "Then at least you think me capable of something."
"According to my intelligence you're capable of lots of things."
Jen snorted, "And what is that?"
Gibbs sat down in the chair across from her desk and casually leaned back before saying, "That you're planning on ruining our meet with the Klingons."
Jenny sputtered, "What? Why in the hell would I do that?"
"Because you hate the Klingons and because you're getting paid."
Jen just stared at Gibbs like she didn't understand the words he was using, before she shouted, "Jethro Gibbs, you think I'm on the take?"
"Nope."
"…but you said..."
"It was easy to find your payoffs."
"I'm not getting any payoffs!"
"I know. You would do a better job of hiding the money if you were on the take."
"Then why in the hell did you come here accusing me of working for the Romulans?"
Gibbs shrugged, "Because there's a mountain of evidence against you, and if I'm going to say it wasn't you I need to say I actually talked to you about it."
Gibbs left Jenny gaping and went back to Abby's lab. Gibbs walked in the door and demanded, "Pull up the list again, Jen didn't do it."
Steve tossed his hands in the air, frustrated with Gibbs and demanded, "All the evidence leads to her, Gibbs! She's got payoffs in her damn bank account!"
Gibbs stepped into Steve's space, the two of them squaring off in the relentless, alpha male way that they preferred. "Doesn't it strike you as odd that Jenny would be stupid enough to get payments from Romulans to her own bank account? Don't you think she'd be more clever about it than that?"
"I'd also assume that Shepard wouldn't be selling us out to the Romulans. But the evidence says she does."
"No, the evidence says someone wants us to think she does, but they didn't do a very good job of it."
"Abs," Tony interrupted, "Where's the ambassador?"
"That what?"
"I'm looking at these lists and somewhere on here there should be an ambassador, or a negotiator, or someone who can make nice with the Klingons." Tony pointed to the top of the three complete crew manifests, where the highest ranking officers were located, "But I don't recognize any of these names as official negotiators."
Steve asked, "Aren't the negotiations just going to be done by the Captains?"
Danny snorted, "No, the Fleet may like their captains but they don't trust them with this sort of thing. It's too big. If it goes wrong, you don't want the rest of the Federation wondering why in the hell they trusted a Captain and if it goes right, then it's made the Captain's whole career."
Gibbs stepped up to the screen, wheels turning and waived at Danny to scroll through the lists down to the civilians at the bottom of each column. "You think they contracted it out?" Danny asked.
"Nope, but I thought we should check before we start demanding the information."
When none of the civilians listed were negotiators either Tony said, "So, somewhere on the Amsterdam or the Honolulu we've got a negotiator who's flying under the radar, who's actually going to throw the whole summit."
Gibbs hmm-ed, then snapped, "Danny."
Considering Danny wasn't officially part of Security or even one of Gibbs' officers Tony didn't quite know how the man knew what Gibbs was looking for, but Danny replied, "Pull up a list of the Federation's approved negotiators and track each one of them down."
"McGarrett."
"Get in contact with people I trust on the Amsterdam and the Honolulu and see if they can tell me who they're hiding."
"Tony."
"Figure a way to get a Federation Ambassador kicked out of their own negotiations."
"I want proof that they planned on selling us out." Gibbs added.
Tony snorted, "Proof that they intended to blow the peace talks without actually causing a war? I'll get right on that."
Gibbs strode out of the room and waived the other two off, giving Steve a glare that meant he should follow his captain. Gibbs waited until they stepped into the turbolift before he slammed the emergency stop button and asked, "You wanna tell me why you panicked in there?"
"I didn't panic." Steve denied.
"You stopped breathing when we turned to the ambassador. You only do that when you're trying to keep yourself from going in to fight mode."
"I've got a hunch Sir, but I'd like to run it down before I talk about it."
Gibbs gave Steve a long, hard look like he was deciding whether or not to just space Steve and be done with it before he said, "I'm not a stupid man, McGarrett."
Steve snorted, "No shit, Sir."
"My lack of stupidity means that I know that if we survive this whole damn thing, then I'm going to be in a position to ask for whatever I want from Command. Now, either you can keep skirting the fine line between protecting Intelligence and protecting the Valor, or you can finally figure out who it is you're working for."
"Sir-"
"I've seen the way you look at Danny." Steve swallowed his own tongue and didn't quite have a response to that. "I see the way you play with his kid, and the way you grin when Danny starts to yell at you, and when you're about to go off the edge Danny's the only guy who can bring you back."
"I assume there's a point to this, Sir?"
"The Admiralty has made it painfully clear that they want my formalized command staff the moment this mission ends, and I want you for my permanent Tactical Chief, with direct control over Security and Intelligence." Steve just started at him in disbelief. "I know the moment this is handled Intelligence intends to take you back and set you on something else, but if I ask for you after paving the path to peace with Klingons, then Command will tell Intelligence to go away. The choice is yours, Steve. Are you going to hide our suspect because those are your orders, or are you going to save the day and get what you finally want?"
XXXXX
Steve turned to face the fully-assembled room of Command staff, and people he assumed Gibbs intended to become his Command staff when this was all over. "Our suspect's name is Joe White." Joe's image flashed up on the screen, bald, confident, and in the straight black of a high-ranking Intelligence uniform. "He's an Intelligence Admiral, one of the best at running black ops. He served as an attaché to the Klingons in the Dominion War, and he's on the Honolulu coming in for the meet."
Danny crossed his arms and huffed, "And how do we know him, Steve?"
"I can't tell you that, Danny."
"Screw that, Steven!" Danny launched forward in his seat and started to hammer away at the air with his hand gestures, "We've got a damn spy coming and all you can say is, 'I can't tell you'?"
Gibbs smacked Danny on the back of the head, pulling him back from the full scale rant he was about to fall into. "If Steve tells you he gets shot and dumped in a melting pit, Williams. Move on."
Danny snorted his disgust with that, but kept his mouth shut so Steve could explain. "He's the one who tipped me off to the potential spy in the first place. So when I contacted him back and updated him on our progress looking for a little more information, he said he was coming to the meet and he'd help me cage our spy without the Klingons knowing we'd gotten that close to messed up."
Danny tossed his hands in the air, ready to rant about proper procedure, but a glare from Gibbs shut him up. "He fits the profile that Tony and Danny came up with. He'll be on planet for the negotiations, he's in a perfect position to hamper our relations with the Klingons without actually causing a war, and, well… he thinks Klingons pose a threat to the future of the Federation."
Danny couldn't hold himself back, "And you didn't think a spy with a grudge against the Klingon Empire was something you should mention to us Steven? What is wrong with you?"
"I've worked with him before." Steve barreled over the top of Danny. "He's given his whole adult life in service to the Federation. He's completely loyal, and right up until Tony said none of the ships were carrying an official negotiator I just assumed he'd be coming in as part of the negotiator's security detail, not the actual negotiator."
Danny pinched his lips in frustration, "Are you sure that this guy is the negotiator?"
"Yeah, I contacted him after we finished our last meeting and told him I had the identity of the spy and proof of conduct."
"Did he ask why in the hell you didn't arrest your spy?" Danny snarked.
"That's not how it goes Danny. He told me to sit on it until we could handle it together. You don't move until you have orders move."
"You? Who is this you, Steven?"
"This," Gibbs shouted, carrying his voice over any more arguments, "is what we're going to do. We'll be arriving at DS7 in one hour, and the Amsterdam and Honolulu will be arriving shortly after that. I'm putting out a call to the other captains to insist on a security briefing before we even get to DS7. Denning from the Honolulu is farthest out, so Vance on the Amsterdam and I are each going to hop on a runabout and meet up at the Honolulu. We'll have about two hours for the meet before we come together at DS7 and return to our own ships where we'll put the security plan in place and proceed with this negotiation like the last two days never happened.
"However, I'll take Jen, Steve, and Tony with me to the security briefing and we'll have those two hours to either find incriminating evidence, talk White out of his plan, or shoot him and be done with it. Any questions?" Everyone frantically shook their heads no, no one wanting to challenge Gibbs when he was in the mood to shoot.
XXXXX
Steve had a mental countdown going from ten the moment the left the room, and at four (dangerously fast as an indicator of Danny's mood), Danny grabbed Steve's arm and hauled him into one of the empty labs and immediately called out to the computer to lock the door. Steve crossed his arms and leaned back against one of the counters, "You know that I'm letting you haul me around, right?"
"Shut the hell up, Steven." Danny stuck his finger in Steve's face, "You're Intelligence. No, that doesn't even, you're not just Intelligence, you're one of those damn black ops Intelligence officers who thinks they don't need to follow the law like the rest of us! Why in the hell didn't you tell me!"
Steve quirked an eyebrow, "Really Danny? You're about to poke my eye out with that finger and you wanna know why I didn't tell you?"
"I'm poking your eye out because you didn't tell me, you ass!"
"You know that I'm not allowed to tell you things like that, Danno."
"It's not things, Steven; it's that you're a freaking deep cover Intelligence Officer! That means something!"
Steve cocked his head in the way that mean he was still parsing whatever it was Danny was yelling about, trying to force something about Danny's words make actual sense. Danny kept pacing, shouting about consequences and due process, and suddenly everything snapped in to place.
Steve grinned at Danny, bright and very nearly feral compared to the usual restraint he showed with his emotions. Danny stopped mid word and asked "What the hell is that. What are you smiling about?"
Rather than explain Steve took a long, predatory stride forward, straight into Danny's space. Usually Danny stayed put and glowered right back, but this time Danny must have seen something disconcerting, because he stepped back out of the way, which just made Steve grin brighter and press forward again. Steve backed Danny into a table and before Danny could start talking again he pressed a kiss to Danny's lips, slow but fierce.
Danny didn't know quite how to respond and leaned in to Steve before his mind came back to him and he pulled back and sputtered, "What are you doing, Steve?"
"You like me, Danno." Steve grinned.
"Not at this moment, no."
"Sure you do. That's why you're freaking out that I'm Intelligence."
"I'm freaking out because you lied to me Steven!"
"Nah Danno, you're freaking out because you think that means I'm gonna leave."
Danny waited for a long moment, and then with courage that impressed Steve he asked, "Aren't you?"
Steve ran his fingers through Danny's slicked back hair, something he'd wanted to since the first moment Danny had shouted at him (which was about two minutes after they met). "Gibbs is requesting that my transfer be permanent."
Danny started in surprise, "And he thinks Command will let you stay?"
"We're about to save the day, Danno. Now's the time."
"So, you thought you were going to leave…"
"Yup."
"And now, now you're staying."
Steve ran his fingers through again, "Yup."
"Then why the hell are we still talking?"
"No idea, Danno." Steve grinned, and pressed forward for another kiss.
XXXXXTony mentally prepared himself for a painfully awkward flight to the Honolulu. Being trapped in a confined space with Steve sounded like an excuse to make trouble, and being trapped with Steve and Gibbs sounded like fun and fodder for a few dirty dreams, while trapped with Steve, Gibbs and Shepard just sounded like hell. Tony was ready to keep his eyes forward at the helm and ignore the sniping that was bound to go on behind him, then Steve stumbled on to the shuttle with a dopey grin and suddenly the trip looked so much better.
"You made a pass at him." Tony grinned.
Steve dropped down in the other helm chair and smiled back, absolutely genuine, "I did."
Tony smacked him on the shoulder, "Look at you, my little spy is all grown up."
Steve shrugged off the hand with a grin, "Yeah, yeah."
Tony nudged him again, "How'd it go?"
"I'm smiling, aren't I?"
"Details McGarrett, details!"
"When have you ever known me to hand out details?"
"Unless these details are about the mission," Gibbs interrupted, "stop talking."
"Yes Cap, sorry Cap, no idle banter here, Cap." Tony muttered.
Gibbs smacked him on the back of the head and replied, "We have forty-five minutes together on this shuttle Gard, don't think I won't spend every last one of them tormenting you."
Tony gave Gibbs a ridiculously bright smile, "Gibbs, you and I both know you won't be the one doing the tormenting on this little trip. I'm sure we'd have quite a bit more fun if you were."
"I know I would." Steve interjected.
Gibbs smacked both of them of the back of the head, but lighter this time, almost affectionate, before he went to his seat. Moments later Jen stepped on board and didn't waste any time in stepping right up to peer over Tony's shoulder and declare, "Did you remember to adjust for the excessive gravity of Antioch's sun? If you don't we'll get pulled off course and lose valuable time."
What Tony wanted to say was, 'Of course I adjusted for Antioch's sun. I wouldn't be sitting at the helm if I wasn't certified, and you don't get certified without knowing how to check your route for that sort of thing. And even if I missed it, the extra gravity would only cost us an extra five minutes of traveling time.' But he didn't. Instead Tony said, "Yes ma'am."
"Yes you adjusted, or yes you'll do it now?" Jen demanded.
"Yes I adjusted, but I can run the calculations again to make sure." Tony replied in his most level tone.
Shepard huffed, "There's no need to take that tone with me, Mr. Gard."
Tony gave her his most bland and pleasant of smiles and replied, “Apologies, ma'am. I didn't mean to be disrespectful."
"Whatever you might be in the future, remember that now you are one of my staff, Mr. Gard."
There were so very many things wrong with that sentence that it took every fiber of Tony's being not to snap at Shepard, starting with the fact it was considered the height of bad taste to refer to a joined Trill as Mr. or Ms.. Instead Tony just replied, "Yes ma'am." and waited until Shepard had her back turned before fixing Gibbs with a look that said, 'you see what I mean?'.
Gibbs, the bastard, smirked like the whole thing was hilarious and Tony was hard pressed not to smile back. Gibbs took mercy on him and updated Shepard on the plan, and how they'd gotten there, going into far more detail and using far more words than Tony suspected Gibbs would've used otherwise. "So, as far as the target is concerned, McGarrett is the only one who 'knows' I'm a spy, and he wants to help McGarrett bring me in, while you and Tony are none the wiser."
Under normal circumstances Gibbs would've grunted something that translated to 'do you really need me to explain this to you?', but since he was being effusive today he actually said, "Exactly."
"And why exactly do you think it's logical for you to bring your head of Operations along with one of the lesser Operations Officers and your head of Tactical to this meeting rather than bring your Security or Intelligence Chiefs?" Jen asked snidely.
"Because anyone with the right access, which our target has, would know that I don't trust my Chiefs of Security or Intelligence. If I didn't know about you being a spy Steve would've maneuvered his way onto this mission to deliver you to the target, and you would've demanded it was your right to come as my supposed First, and Steve would've talked me into letting you come along since you're what he needed."
Jen snorted, "You've never let anyone talk you into anything in your life Jethro."
The shuttle jumped, and Gibbs turned in time to see Tony frantically adjusting their heading. "What's going on over there?" Jenny demanded.
Steve replied, "Nothing ma'am, just a minor disturbance," since Tony was too busy biting his bottom lip to answer.
"Anything you'd like to add, Gard?" Gibbs prodded.
"No Sir. I am over here devoutly not reacting to anything."
Steve snorted out a laugh, but kept his eyes forward on the viewscreen. Tony giggled at Steve's laugh, but quickly bit it back and cleared his throat, like it never happened. "What are you laughing at, Lieutenant?" Jenny demanded.
Tony giggled again, like he couldn't help it, and Steve twisted away to keep from looking at Tony before he lost it as well. "I'm sorry, it's just-" Tony giggled again, "Jethro," he finished with emphasis.
"Are you saying there's something humorous about your captain's name, Lieutenant?"
"Yes ma'am." Tony grinned.
Before Jenny could object with something about superior officers and respect, Gibbs clarified, "Actually it's Leroy Jethro."
Tony laughed brightly and twisted around in his seat, "Seriously? Did you parents just decide to ignore every last trace of Vulcan in your DNA?"
"My father was purely human and my mother was half, but she never embraced her Vulcan side."
"Really?" Tony asked curiously, but still gently, not wanting to scare Gibbs off answering questions.
"She was born and raised on Earth." Gibbs shrugged, like that explained everything.
"Yeah, but…" Gibbs quirked an eyebrow to prove Tony along, "You got a whole Vulcan vibe going on. I mean, you do half your communication through eyebrow twitches."
"Lieutenant!" Shepard burst, but Steve added, "You do, Cap."
“Gentlemen, return to your duties.” Jen snapped, and Steve and Tony turned back to their stations with a smile, neither one of them catching the twitch of a grin on Gibbs' face.
XXXXX
Captain Denning of the Honolulu was not the sort of man to pass up the chance to hobnob with another captain, especially one of Vance's standing, so they were met at the transporter room by one of Vance's Security Lieutenants, a young Benzite officer named Kaye who's tendrils were practically quivering at the chance to talk to Gibbs. She ushered them all down the hall towards the main conference room where the other two captains and their officers were already waiting.
Steve faded to the back of the group and wasn't at all surprised when Joe stepped up alongside him and murmured, “I wasn't expecting you this soon.”
“Gibbs insisted on a security meeting,” Steve explained, and I figured handling this now would be better than handling it later.”
“Smart move kid, but the trouble is I don't have all the evidence complied that you need for an arrest.”
Steve stopped, letting the group get further ahead of them, too entranced by Kaye's rambling to notice Steve's absence. “What do you mean we don't, Joe? We've got motive, we've got opportunity, and we've got the payments from the Romulans in the suspect's account.”
Joe put a calming hand on Steve's shoulder, “Payments aren't enough, Steve. We need something more solid if we're going to go after a Commander. I was planning on waiting until the conference so we could catch them in the act.”
Steve tossed his hands in the air, his frustration growing more obvious, “Why!”
“Because if we don't have the evidence then we don't get the conviction, kid.”
“Do we even need the conviction, Joe? Isn't it more important that we save the summit? If I just tell Gibbs what I suspect-”
“Get that thought right out of your head, kid. Sure, Gibbs will bench her, but any accusations Gibbs makes without support from hard evidence will get ignored by the Admiralty. Gibbs' dislike of Shepard is too well known for anyone to take his bad opinion seriously.”
Steve sighted heavily and all the tension in him drained away. “Dammit, Joe.”
“Steve, what's wrong?”
“I never told you who my suspect was.”
Joe leaned back and laughed, subtly putting himself out of range of Steve's more obvious blows, “I suppose there's no point in pretending I came to the same conclusion?”
“If it was easy to fool me then you wouldn't have trained me.”
"No, I suppose not. Pity you didn't wait until we got to the meet, you would've been able to set me up as a spy and destroy my career."
"You weren't trying to start a war. In your own messed up way you thought you were helping. That’s enough for Gibbs' mercy, and it's enough for mine."
"You don't have enough to arrest me." Joe grinned.
"No, but we have enough to confine you to quarters on the Valor for the rest of the trip while another negotiator handles the job."
"And if I choose to be difficult?"
From where he had silently been standing behind Joe, Gibbs reached out and Vulcan Pinched Joe on the nerve that dropped him unconscious to the floor. "Then you'll be asleep for the rest of the trip." Steve slouched against the wall and Gibbs said, "I know you wanted time to get his reasons."
The statement was just that, a statement. No apology for interceding and no explanation. "I know why he did it; I was just hoping he'd have something to say that would make me accept it."
"He did it because he thinks we shouldn't be getting in bed with the Klingons."
"If the Admiralty asked him that's what he'd say, and half of them would agree with him. But really, I've never known Joe to have less than five reasons for doing something, and that was just one."
"What about the others?"
"We'll never know for sure, but I think one of them was my permanent appointment to your ship. And even though he didn't ruin the talks, he'll still consider this a win because of that."
XXXXX
Together Gibbs and Steve escorted an unconscious Joe to the brig, and it was a mark of how well thought of Gibbs was that none of his crew asked what Joe was doing there. Steve turned to part company with Gibbs and head for his own office when Gibbs smacked Steve upside the head flicked two fingers at him to signal that Steve should stay right on following.
They went to the bridge, and Kono twisted around in her chair to greet them with a bright smile and announced, “I've got Admirals Jameson and Morrow waiting for you, Cap.”
“No David?”
“Sorry Cap, can't seem to get ahold of him.”
Gibbs snorted, but nodded to Kono to open the channel. “Admirals.” Gibbs greeted pleasantly.
Morrow smirked, “Jethro, you look like the cat that got the cream.”
“Not far off, Admiral.”
“I assume that means you've caught the spy.”
Gibbs grunted in the affirmative and when he said nothing else about it Morrow slumped in his chair, “You're not turning them over.”
'They turned themselves in.” Gibbs shrugged as if to say, 'what are you gonna do'?
“Gibbs!” Jameson snapped, “They tried to sell us out to the Klingons!”
“No. They were stupid, not traitorous. And their life shouldn't be ruined for it.”
“Agreed.” Morrow replied before Jameson had the chance to object. “I assume you're also calling about your command staff.”
“Of course, sir.” Gibbs replied, his ton implying that he expected less stupid questions from Morrow.
Morrow snorted, “And what have you decided?”
“First off I want Steve to be a permanent posting at Tactical.” Gibbs had been expecting an objection, but both Jameson and Morrow looked pleased by the request, so Gibbs moved on. “I plan on promoting Lieutenant Chin and promoting him to head of Security. Weston is more than welcome to stay on as a junior officer.”
“That seems a bit hasty, Gibbs.” Jameson interrupted.
“No, ma'am. Chin ran this investigation, he earned his place. The only only other person I'd want is Danny Williams, and that man refuses to come out of retirement.”
The two admirals shared a look, then Morrow asked, “If you'd like us to entice him out of retirement?”
Gibbs tipped his head to look at Chin with a raised in eyebrow in question and Chin replied, “I believe it would be better for everyone involved if we convinced Danny it was his own decision.”
“Probably true.” Gibbs added. “We'll let you know when we've brought him around. The only other thing that requires your approval is the appointment of my First.”
The whole room stopped at Gibbs' announcement and Morrow took a long look around the fully assembled command crew Gibbs had on his bridge. After a moment he gave a polite nod to Steve, “Commander McGarrett, I assume congratulations are in order?”
Steve looked frantically at Gibbs, who just quirked an eyebrow in amusement before Steve replied, “I don't think so, Sir.”
“Really?” Morrow flicked his eyes over to Jenny, thought judging by her mortified expression it wasn't her either. Then Morrow saw Tony, standing safely at the Ops station at the back of the bridge with an expression of absolute horror on his face. Morrow sighed, “You didn't tell the boy you were promoting him, did you?”
“Where's the fun in that?”
Jameson looked between them, completely confused while Morrow continued, “I assume you intend to make him your Chief of Operations too?”
“Might as well.” Gibbs shrugged.
Morrow just rolled his eyes and replied, “I expect promotion paperwork inside the next week.” Morrow looked past Gibbs to an ashen faced Tony and smirked, “Good luck.” before he cut the comm feed.
Gibbs looked around the bridge at his stunned crew and called out, “Shouldn't all of you be preparing to enter Klingon space right about now?”
They all scrambled back to work, even the people who weren't really supposed to be on the bridge but didn't want to miss anything. Tony stumbled down to Gibbs' chair and croaked, “Uh, Cap...”
“Out with it Gard, I've got things to do.” Gibbs snapped, holding back a smirk.
“Alright them, are you out of your mind!”
“You have a problem with being my first officer?” Gibbs demanded, surging to his feet and into Tony's space.
The crew assumed Tony had the self preservation instincts of a Lemming, because he stepped right back, unmoved by Gibbs' tactic. “It's not that I'm upset Gibbs, it's just that a girl likes to be asked.”
Then, in a moment Gibbs' terrified crew would remember for the rest of their days (even the people who pulled up the security feed later to watch the moment), Gibbs started to laugh.
Final Notes: Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it. And all my love to pyalgroundblzand ellie_pierson for getting me through this!