Fic; Rock and a Hard Place 8/10
<<--Chapter 7
.-#-.
Rule 8: Don't let the sun go down on your anger.
“What the hell did you do that for!”
Tony reared back at the low, aggressive growl that greeted him as soon as he entered
his own bedroom that evening. He had known, from being ignored during the meal,
never touched once, not even casually, that something was wrong but he hadn't
expected this kind of acid reprimand.
Gibbs was standing by the window and turned in his direction when Tony walked in.
“Boss?”
“Drawing attention to our arrangements in front of the Mayers was insensitive and I
expected better of you! They have enough on their plate; they don't need their noses
shoved into the ownership stuff too.”
Having Gibbs call their relationship an ‘arrangement’ hurt. “I thought it would
shorten your spat with the Colonel by pointing out we had room enough.”
Gibbs cut him off. “No, you didn't think and I could have handled that without your
clumsy help. That's the second time today that you’ve overstepped your boundaries.”
“It did shut her up,” Tony raised his chin defiantly. He didn't know what bug crawled
up Gibbs' ass. His mood had worsened progressively during the day, but Tony didn't
deserve being treated like that.
“It embarrassed Alec and his father! Stop being jealous of Hollis Mann and start thinking
about other people for a change.”
He hadn't been the one fighting in front of a distressed kid and father, it had been Gibbs
and Mann who were too occupied by their fight for control to remember Alec watching
them. “I am not jealous of the Colonel! You say that I'm your lover, your partner at
home, and I trust you. Yeah,I was kind of taken aback when you didn't stop her sniffing
you but hey, you are taken, not dead and she's a babe.”
Tony saw the muscles in Gibbs' jaw worked.
“There you go again about private stuff that has nothing to do with making sure that we
clear this damn case. I promised Jeffrey Mayer my support.”
“You're not the only one who wants to help them. I do too!” it was bad enough what
Cait thought about him, but to think that Gibbs might share some of her doubts and
think him so self-centered… the notion twisted and clawed at something deep inside
Tony's chest.
“Then learn to think before you open your big mouth! You didn't see it; you didn't even
bother to observe how your remark affected others. The Captain was eying first our
door and then the apartment door like he wanted to snatch his boy and then run for
Mexico, and I wouldn’t blame him. Any parent would. If my daughter had that fucked up
gene...”
Tony threw up his hands. “You know what? I'm going to remove me and my fucked up
gene, take a long shower, and you calm down in the meantime.” he turned on his heel,
snatched a bathrobe on the way out. No deep voice called out, to call him back.
When he returned Gibbs was lying on his side of the bed, reading glasses on his nose
and shuffling some loose papers around. The older man wasn't looking up when Tony
entered, and continued to ignore his presence completely. Tony slipped under the
sheets and turned his back to his partner. Tim had warned him about how extra touchy
and vicious Gibbs could get whenever kids were involved. Everything else took the
backseat and Gibbs proved what the second-B was for in spades, Tim had said. Maybe
- hopefully - this would blow over soon. The Feline decided to let the sound of vehicles
coming and going outside the window drown out the doubts and reprimands still ringing
in his ears.
Before sleep claimed him another thought poked him but he shoved it away. Curiously
Gibbs had used the word daughter instead of child. Tony wasn't stupid enough to poke
that particular sleeping dragon with personal questions not connected to the case. No sir, this
Feline's mum didn't bear no fool.
But that didn't mean Tony couldn't wonder.
.-#-.
“They’ve left us behind,” Tony grumbled and sat down on the bed, wriggling his
eyebrows at the tense panther-feline. He bounced a little on the bed and then drew his
legs under him Indian style. Tony's order for the day had been not to let the boy out of
his sight, and since Alec had refused to leave his room... If Mohammed couldn't come
to the mountain, the mountain had to come to Mohammed. And then be obnoxious
enough so said Mohammed wouldn’t ignore him.
Why had Tony be the one to stay behind, just to keep an eye on Alec? Not that his
guardian skills would really be needed, not with two M.P.s, courtesy of Colonel Mann,
standing in front of the suite. But it did gave the Felines an opportunity for shop talk.
That would be a more convincing reason, Tony thought morosely, than Gibbs being
happy to not see his mug for awhile. Surely the former marine wouldn't have left him
with the kid if he really thought Tony was self-centered and would be insensitive to the
boy?
“Let's hear the potentially embarrassing questions you didn't want to ask with your dad
sitting next you. C’mon, let’s have it. Tails jammed in doors? The difficulties of using
clinks without scratching the wood? Why it's not a good idea to stick your nose into
something smelly? Shoot.”
Alec gave him an incredulous, disbelieved look. His dad had gone with the other agents
to speak with Mrs. Mayer and to collect some essentials for Alec and himself. This way
they would have pieces of home in DC until more could be shipped and the rest of the
family relocated. “You're strange.”
Tony let go of the forced cheerfulness and let himself fall backwards til he was lying on
the cold bed. “Or you can stare at walls. But let me tell you, they are not very interesting
here. Too Army clean - no offense - no cracks or lines you can try to interpret and make
into funny images, just boring plain white paint,” Tony should know. He had spent half
the night staring at the walls, unable to find anything by the faint artificial light filtering
in from the outside.
“Really, really strange.” As if fearing that whatever was bugging the older Feline would
be contagious, the boy didn't join him on the bed. Tony could hear Alec walk to the
corner furthest away from him and sit down before voicing what was really on his
mind. “What’s it really like at the Center? Was that guy bullshiting when he told me
it was more like a school for the gifted? It sounds like Professor Xavier's school for
mutants.”
“You're a big X-men fan, huh? Yesterday Wolverine, now X.” Tony had always been
more a Dick Tracy and Magnum P.I. fan, superhero comics had never done much for
him. Though, Hugh Jackman had been yummy in a scruffy, growling kind of way when he
played the claw-wielding mutant in that movie. Halle Berry hadn't been bad either, even
if it wasn't her best role by far.
“They found me in my early twenties. For three years they tried to make me catch up
to the others with the help of tutors so I've got no personal experience with the school
itself. I know that they like the kids to be sporty - there's a basketball court. And lots of
art and music lessons,” which Tony sucked at. Guitar was the only musical instrument
he had ever mastered. Violin had been a catastrophe; his fingers had never managed to
seduce the right notes out of the strings.
It had been fun to coach the kids in sports. His personal trainers had let him do it once
and again, so he would feel more connected and content interacting with his fellow
Felines - until they decided he was a bad influence. The ones who grew up at the Center
their entire lives were a little otherworldly to Tony's eyes, with no idea what was going
on in the bigger world, but mostly they were just teenagers and kids who wanted to
play and flirt and be little hormonal nuisances. Maybe one day Williams would succeed
in actually transforming the Center into something like Professor X's school, hopefully
without the vigilant aspect and people wanting to kill the students.
“I prefer football to basketball,” Alec pondered. Minutes went by until he spoke up
again. “Was I really lucky 'cause nothing bad happened when I morphed - that is the
correct word, yes? - for the first time, or is that an excuse for all that owned by State
crap? Hell, if it is you won't tell me the truth anyway,” he added sulkily.
“Hey!” The last thing Tony wanted to be called today, with all this shit going on and
people - mostly Gibbs - looking at him like he was incompetent, was a liar. That was
just... no. “I only lie to criminals and scumbags! I wouldn't lie to you. I would tell you if I
don't want to answer, but I wouldn't lie. The White House did some crappy things with
Felines that are not PG rated, all right? But that bit of information about health was
true. Some kids, and even adults, if they are ill or not fit enough, don't survive the first
morph - and that is the correct word, yep. I'm not shitting you.”
Alec snorted and Tony, miserable and frustrated, pressed his head against the soft
comforter, seeking… he didn't know what exactly. He shied away from analyzing and let
his mind wander instead.
Tony pondered which of the more harmless things would appeal to a teenager's
mind. “The Center is like a separate world, a little bit. For example, there are some tiled
rooms filled with kitty litter for Felines who got stuck in cat form. If you get caught doing
something against the rules, your punishment would literally be a shitty job for cleaning
them. And one of my... friends had to stay in his cat form after he broke his leg because
morphing back to human form could made it worse. Doctors who are allowed to treat
Felines require special training.” Tony glared at the ceiling. “I am not lying.” Just not
telling a teenager about staying in cat form himself and using those damn litter rooms
for seven whole years - that was personal. And could be bad precedence.
Seven years in his tiger form had prevented a lot of the more unpleasant possibilities
from happening to him - he told himself that every time when he had been tempted to
morph back. Alec shouldn't need that protection.
“So if I ask you about that sex stuff I read about on the internet, about being the
property of someone who can do anything they want with their Feline, you'll tell me the
truth too?”
Wham! And they were back to the one thing no one really knew how to talk about.
How exactly would he try to explain that to a fourteen-year-old boy, Tony miserably
thought. “Told ya, they pulled some non-PG stuff but Williams has been trying to sort it
out. You're not old enough to worry about it.”
“But it could be bad?” Alec's voice sounded very small.
Tony sighed. Promises were promises, so he would have to answer, wouldn't he? And
the boy needed to know - just not everything. “Owners are people, people can be
assholes. It just sucks when you can't do anything about it. But nobody will force a
teenager into anything; that's against the law, whether you’re Feline or not. Williams
and the President are working on better way to protect adult Felines. You've got years
until adult rules would apply to you. Your dad and Gibbs are doing everything they can
so it would never need to.”
“Shit. I hope they succeed. No wonder Dad nearly went through the roof.” Alec took
some time to digest the answer. “You seem to like that older Special Agent, Gibbs, and
dad says he's your owner. Must be tough sometimes, he looks strict. And wow, can he
growl and stare! Not a guy I want to be mad at me.”
“Yeah. Pissed-off Gibbs is not good when you are his target.” Understatement, thy
name is Anthony. Tony clenched his fingers into the comforter and forced his thoughts
into another direction. It looked like the adolescent had done a little bit of research
on pages not meant for minors. So much for responsible parenting and supervising
your offspring’s Internet activity. He remembered words Andrea Mayer had flung at
them. “Your mom showed you what she found or did you follow the links she used?”
“No, I googled them myself and used Dad's computer. Don't know where Mum got her
intel. There was no browser history to follow. Mom never wipes her browser history; I
don't think she knows how to. She just waits til the machine does the automatic weekly
one. One week gets you a pretty long list but that's Dad's way of keeping track of what
pages I look at.”
Again minutes went by without either of them saying anything.
“Rooms set up like giant litter boxes? Really?” Alec mused.
“Really.” Tony hoped that the others were coming back soon. He tried to formulate
what was on his mind carefully. “You know, this sucks but it could be worse.”
“Like I could be terminally ill-worse, world ending-worse or something like that?
Whatever.”
And here Tony had been angry with Cait for being such a klutz with her formulations.
He wasn't doing much better but somehow he couldn't feel too bad about it at the
moment. He was kind of getting angry with Alec instead and wouldn't that get him
scolded again? Ah fuck you all, Tony thought and went for a little dose of reality, Tony
style.
“Your dad loves you and would take on the world to keep you! I saw the look on his
face. He's a proud man but he would get down on his knees and beg - that's how much
you mean to him. He didn't call the Center when you first morphed, he didn't once ask
about that huge ass reward that's been around for centuries for handing over Felines,
and he tried and would continue to stay near you no matter what. You're not alone.
Think about that for a change.” Alec's dad didn't even consider the possibility that his
Feline son would be affiliated with an influential person in the future - what a nice
euphemism - as a potential way into someone's good graces and bank account.
Alec shuffled to his feet, fast and clumsy, and Tony could guess without opening his eyes
by the thumps he heard that the wall was the recipient of some of the boy's anger by
way of feet or fists.
“Yeah, he is great, he totally is. But....shit shit shit! I want to be normal. Normal! Damn
it!”
Tony lay on the bed and listened while the teenager pummeled the wall and silently
raged against an unfair world. He let him be for a moment, and when one of the guards
stuck his head into the room to see what all the commotion was about, the older Feline
sat up and waved him off. Tony picked up one of the decorative pillows and held it out
for the boy to pummel instead of the wall. A few bruises were all right; broken bones
were not.
Alec had the right to go a little crazy and who was Tony to tell him otherwise. And if
anyone complained about scrapped knuckles they could go fuck themselves with Gibbs
giving the demonstration how to do it properly, that bastard.
.-#-.
Alec was in the bathroom, cleaning up his face and hands, when the laptop on the
couch table began to peep and demand attention. Tony sat down, keeping one eye and
ear on the youngster, and pushed a few buttons. Abby's friendly face was a welcomed
diversion.
“Hi Tonyboy! I heard that you found the Feline, and I thought I should try this way first
before calling on the cell, since you might be in today. Is the Bossman around?”
“Nope, he's out. You've got news?”
The second window with the green lines depicting a dentition popped up again, much
more complete than the last time.
“Does it look familiar?” Abby had to be bouncing on her toes in excitement by the way
her picture swayed.
“Abby, I'm no zoologist but I can guess it's some feline predator's.”
“Yep, but it's not one you'll ever meet.” The window split in the middle and the picture
of a dentition appeared, was over-layed with green lines who were then turned and
moved over to the first graphic. It was a perfect match but for the overlong canines of
the second dentition.
Tony blinked. “I might be an amateur, but that's strange, isn't it? A nearly perfect
match.”
“Too true! I compared what I had to scans of feline predators in a database and this
popped up. And I wasn't kidding about the impossibility of you meeting that animal -
it's a saber tooth tiger. We found faint scraps of Polyurethane resin, which is used for
high quality replicas of fossils in the wounds. You can order these replicas easily via the
Internet; they are teaching supplies. I'm checking but there are lots of possibilities for
this model since it's very popular. But still cool, isn't it?” she preened.
“Very cool Abby! So someone filed down the long canines to make it a better match.”
Abby was visibly proud of her accomplishments and Tony was easily ready to praise her.
This information had the potential to help them a lot.
“How’s the junior Feline doing?”
Tony tilted his head and listened. Something clattered into the washbasin and Alec
could be heard cursing. “One sec. Be back soon, Abby.” There should be nothing in
there that Alec could use to harm himself, short of smashing the mirror. But from what
Tony knew about the things a hormonal time bomb like Alec could come up with, it
was better to check. Tony took a look into the bathroom and then pulled back his head
again. From the poisonous glare his nosiness had earned him, his help might be needed,
but not wanted. Trying to clean and bandage ones own hands was tricky.
“Not too bad, he's found an outlet for his frustration first in a wall, then a pillow. Both
won and I'm not telling him that exercises in controlled violence are never a way to deal.
So shoot me.” Abby wasn't the one he wanted to say that to, but she had asked, so Tony
answered. Cait and the boss had been ignoring him today so far, and Tim, after a scared
look from one to the other, had sent Tony a compassionate smile then ran after the
other agents.
“Better a pillow than a face,” was Abby's only comment.
Something Alec told him niggled at him, made him turn it around a few times in his
head. Tony should phone the team but he could imagine that his suspicions, without a
good reasoning and lots of evidence, would only get him deeper into trouble. Gibbs had
made it clear that he didn't want Tony to act on his instincts any longer. “Abby, would
you check something for me?”
“Shoot.”
“This might sound stupid, I don't know much about how this works, but can you check
what web pages someone accessed, what they downloaded?”
“Not easily under normal circumstances. But if that person’s computer is online and not
heavily protected, it's doable. To whom do you want me to turn spy mistress onto?”
“Mayer residence. I'll call Tim, he's there at the moment, and ask him to turn the
home computer on to help you with your mojo. We can say that we want to make sure
nobody else tried to access it, if someone asks. I'll give them your update at the same
time.”
Abby was nibbling at her lower lip, eyes sad. “You think that...”
Tony grimaced. He really hoped he was wrong. “Just do that for me, yes?”
An hour later, Alec was sleeping - or mopping and pretending to sleep in his room, Tony
couldn't tell the difference - the laptop pinged again and it was a subdued Abby that
appeared in the video conference window. The team was still out; Captain Mayer had
taken them to his office at work after they’d finished at his home.
“Andrea Mayer ordered that dentition online a week ago. I found the recipe on her hard
drive and the payment on her personal account. She didn't even try to conceal it. That's
horrible Tony! Why would she do something like that?”
Now it was Tony who wanted to pummel something. Of course she didn’t try to conceal
it; she had no reason for doing so. If someone else had been sent instead of Gibbs'
team, they probably wouldn’t have discovered the fake in the first place. Army CID
would have swallowed the fake scene and she would have gotten away with it. Tony
closed his eyes and pinched his nose with his fingers. “I don't know why, Abby. You
called the boss?”
“Thought you should do it, it was your hunch.”
The Feline slowly opened his eyes again and stared at the Goth for a long time till she
started to squirm.
“Coward.” Tony accused.
“Pot, hi my name is kettle. You are the one who wants to be a field agent. Me? I'm
happy being a lab rat.”
“I'll remind you about this the next time you insist on being a Goddess. Aren't deities
supposed to be Teflon coated? Unlike mortal quasi-agents-slash-consultants,” and
while his mouth was talking, his brain was already elsewhere. Tony reached for his NCIS
issued, standard field agent cell phone and glared at the innocent little gizmo.
Abby waved sadly at him and closed the connection.
“Boss? Abby and I found out something.”
.-#-.
All of the team members watched, with varying degrees of openly shown sadness, as
Captain Mayer entered the bedroom where Alec was hiding, closing the door softly
behind him. None of them wanted to be in his shoes, having to explain why the young
boy’s family would be breaking apart even further.
Andrea Mayer had indeed been the one to set her son up, and when confronted with
the recipe they had found, she didn't even try to deny it. She just broke down and
sobbed. Her husband had made her swear after Alec’s first morph that she wouldn't
contact the Center for any information, but she had feared for her daughters. When
Alec's shenanigans as a panther hadn't been sufficient to get him noticed by the
authority and she had found her littlest playing with Alec in panther form like he was a
plushy, she had gone nearly insane with worry. Finding some dead vagrant on her way
home a week ago had been, in her eyes, a windfall - nobody would ignore a dead body.
She transported the corpse in the trunk of her car, and ordered the dentition for express
delivery. The knockout drug - a very strong sleeping pill - was smuggled into Alec's bottle
of coke. She knew that her irrepressible teenager would try to slip out again in cat form
as soon as she turned her back.
Depending on whether she ended up with a compassionate judge or not, she was
looking at time in prison for defiling a corpse at the least and attempted murder at
worst. Tony didn't know what sentence he wished for. She really could have been the
cause for her son being put down for something he didn't do, but a harsher sentence
would fracture the family even more.
Cait sighed and pushed her hands into her pockets. “She feared Alec would bite her or
the toddlers, maybe even infect them with the same disease he has.”
Rich businessmen with more money than sense wouldn't touch Felines with a ten
foot pole if there was any question of the furriness being contagious. “It's a genetic
mutation, not a contagious disease. We are not Werewolves,” Tony corrected her
absentmindedly, while his eyes busily stroked over every tense and angry line he could
make out on his owner's face.
Gibbs wasn't saying anything at all. His eyes, not their usual sharp blue but dull
and pained, were fixated on the closed door. He had been very professional but
compassionate while handling the afternoon's meltdown but it looked like that effort
had eaten up all his reserves. His Feline watched him closely until Cait's angry voice
made Tony redirect his attention.
“She didn't know that, Tony!” Cait shot back at him, pulled her left hand out of the
pocket and waved aggressively. “I would be freaking out as well if someone transformed
without warning into a panther next to me. Disease, mutation, magic or whatever. That
information is just one among the many other half truths and full out lies that is floating
around, how would she know which one is real with the Center being so secretive?”
“Hey!” The woman's tone of voice made Tony's hackles rise defensively. “Not my fault! I
didn't make those regulations, you should be blaming some long dead President!”
“Tony, Cait, this is really not a good time to scratch each others eyes out. We have to
organize our files and stuff. Major Williams will come and collect us tomorrow to take us
back to DC and we better be ready. Plus, the Mayers might hear us,” Tim tried to placate
his irate colleagues but what really made them take a step back was the sound of a door
being slammed shut. Gibbs had left the room and disappeared into his own bedroom
and sanctuary.
Now it was Tony's turn to stare at the newly erected barrier, his fight with Cait
forgotten. He’s worried about his lover, but his boss might, again, bite his head off if
he dared to comfort him. Sleeping beside him like this would be uncomfortable as hell.
Gibbs hadn't said anything, positive or negative, about Tony cracking their case wide
open. Or it might be the end result that was making the older man behave so coldly. It
was probably arrogant of him to assign himself the focal point of Gibbs’ cold fury, but
Tony had a feeling that Gibbs could do without seeing his face and everything it seemed
to remind him of for a little while.
That night he transformed into his tiger form and slept in the kitchen under the table
voluntarily, out of way and out of mind of everyone who might stumble over him. The
way he saw it the away-bedroom-is-home rule had been removed from the list of Gibbs'
rules with prejudice. Tony understood giving someone space to sort himself out - he
really did - and he wouldn’t want to rock the boat, but if his lover tried to keep this up at
their real home, Tony would kick his ass. Or at least try to.
.-#-.
< chapter 9 --->> >
.-#-.
Rule 8: Don't let the sun go down on your anger.
“What the hell did you do that for!”
Tony reared back at the low, aggressive growl that greeted him as soon as he entered
his own bedroom that evening. He had known, from being ignored during the meal,
never touched once, not even casually, that something was wrong but he hadn't
expected this kind of acid reprimand.
Gibbs was standing by the window and turned in his direction when Tony walked in.
“Boss?”
“Drawing attention to our arrangements in front of the Mayers was insensitive and I
expected better of you! They have enough on their plate; they don't need their noses
shoved into the ownership stuff too.”
Having Gibbs call their relationship an ‘arrangement’ hurt. “I thought it would
shorten your spat with the Colonel by pointing out we had room enough.”
Gibbs cut him off. “No, you didn't think and I could have handled that without your
clumsy help. That's the second time today that you’ve overstepped your boundaries.”
“It did shut her up,” Tony raised his chin defiantly. He didn't know what bug crawled
up Gibbs' ass. His mood had worsened progressively during the day, but Tony didn't
deserve being treated like that.
“It embarrassed Alec and his father! Stop being jealous of Hollis Mann and start thinking
about other people for a change.”
He hadn't been the one fighting in front of a distressed kid and father, it had been Gibbs
and Mann who were too occupied by their fight for control to remember Alec watching
them. “I am not jealous of the Colonel! You say that I'm your lover, your partner at
home, and I trust you. Yeah,I was kind of taken aback when you didn't stop her sniffing
you but hey, you are taken, not dead and she's a babe.”
Tony saw the muscles in Gibbs' jaw worked.
“There you go again about private stuff that has nothing to do with making sure that we
clear this damn case. I promised Jeffrey Mayer my support.”
“You're not the only one who wants to help them. I do too!” it was bad enough what
Cait thought about him, but to think that Gibbs might share some of her doubts and
think him so self-centered… the notion twisted and clawed at something deep inside
Tony's chest.
“Then learn to think before you open your big mouth! You didn't see it; you didn't even
bother to observe how your remark affected others. The Captain was eying first our
door and then the apartment door like he wanted to snatch his boy and then run for
Mexico, and I wouldn’t blame him. Any parent would. If my daughter had that fucked up
gene...”
Tony threw up his hands. “You know what? I'm going to remove me and my fucked up
gene, take a long shower, and you calm down in the meantime.” he turned on his heel,
snatched a bathrobe on the way out. No deep voice called out, to call him back.
When he returned Gibbs was lying on his side of the bed, reading glasses on his nose
and shuffling some loose papers around. The older man wasn't looking up when Tony
entered, and continued to ignore his presence completely. Tony slipped under the
sheets and turned his back to his partner. Tim had warned him about how extra touchy
and vicious Gibbs could get whenever kids were involved. Everything else took the
backseat and Gibbs proved what the second-B was for in spades, Tim had said. Maybe
- hopefully - this would blow over soon. The Feline decided to let the sound of vehicles
coming and going outside the window drown out the doubts and reprimands still ringing
in his ears.
Before sleep claimed him another thought poked him but he shoved it away. Curiously
Gibbs had used the word daughter instead of child. Tony wasn't stupid enough to poke
that particular sleeping dragon with personal questions not connected to the case. No sir, this
Feline's mum didn't bear no fool.
But that didn't mean Tony couldn't wonder.
.-#-.
“They’ve left us behind,” Tony grumbled and sat down on the bed, wriggling his
eyebrows at the tense panther-feline. He bounced a little on the bed and then drew his
legs under him Indian style. Tony's order for the day had been not to let the boy out of
his sight, and since Alec had refused to leave his room... If Mohammed couldn't come
to the mountain, the mountain had to come to Mohammed. And then be obnoxious
enough so said Mohammed wouldn’t ignore him.
Why had Tony be the one to stay behind, just to keep an eye on Alec? Not that his
guardian skills would really be needed, not with two M.P.s, courtesy of Colonel Mann,
standing in front of the suite. But it did gave the Felines an opportunity for shop talk.
That would be a more convincing reason, Tony thought morosely, than Gibbs being
happy to not see his mug for awhile. Surely the former marine wouldn't have left him
with the kid if he really thought Tony was self-centered and would be insensitive to the
boy?
“Let's hear the potentially embarrassing questions you didn't want to ask with your dad
sitting next you. C’mon, let’s have it. Tails jammed in doors? The difficulties of using
clinks without scratching the wood? Why it's not a good idea to stick your nose into
something smelly? Shoot.”
Alec gave him an incredulous, disbelieved look. His dad had gone with the other agents
to speak with Mrs. Mayer and to collect some essentials for Alec and himself. This way
they would have pieces of home in DC until more could be shipped and the rest of the
family relocated. “You're strange.”
Tony let go of the forced cheerfulness and let himself fall backwards til he was lying on
the cold bed. “Or you can stare at walls. But let me tell you, they are not very interesting
here. Too Army clean - no offense - no cracks or lines you can try to interpret and make
into funny images, just boring plain white paint,” Tony should know. He had spent half
the night staring at the walls, unable to find anything by the faint artificial light filtering
in from the outside.
“Really, really strange.” As if fearing that whatever was bugging the older Feline would
be contagious, the boy didn't join him on the bed. Tony could hear Alec walk to the
corner furthest away from him and sit down before voicing what was really on his
mind. “What’s it really like at the Center? Was that guy bullshiting when he told me
it was more like a school for the gifted? It sounds like Professor Xavier's school for
mutants.”
“You're a big X-men fan, huh? Yesterday Wolverine, now X.” Tony had always been
more a Dick Tracy and Magnum P.I. fan, superhero comics had never done much for
him. Though, Hugh Jackman had been yummy in a scruffy, growling kind of way when he
played the claw-wielding mutant in that movie. Halle Berry hadn't been bad either, even
if it wasn't her best role by far.
“They found me in my early twenties. For three years they tried to make me catch up
to the others with the help of tutors so I've got no personal experience with the school
itself. I know that they like the kids to be sporty - there's a basketball court. And lots of
art and music lessons,” which Tony sucked at. Guitar was the only musical instrument
he had ever mastered. Violin had been a catastrophe; his fingers had never managed to
seduce the right notes out of the strings.
It had been fun to coach the kids in sports. His personal trainers had let him do it once
and again, so he would feel more connected and content interacting with his fellow
Felines - until they decided he was a bad influence. The ones who grew up at the Center
their entire lives were a little otherworldly to Tony's eyes, with no idea what was going
on in the bigger world, but mostly they were just teenagers and kids who wanted to
play and flirt and be little hormonal nuisances. Maybe one day Williams would succeed
in actually transforming the Center into something like Professor X's school, hopefully
without the vigilant aspect and people wanting to kill the students.
“I prefer football to basketball,” Alec pondered. Minutes went by until he spoke up
again. “Was I really lucky 'cause nothing bad happened when I morphed - that is the
correct word, yes? - for the first time, or is that an excuse for all that owned by State
crap? Hell, if it is you won't tell me the truth anyway,” he added sulkily.
“Hey!” The last thing Tony wanted to be called today, with all this shit going on and
people - mostly Gibbs - looking at him like he was incompetent, was a liar. That was
just... no. “I only lie to criminals and scumbags! I wouldn't lie to you. I would tell you if I
don't want to answer, but I wouldn't lie. The White House did some crappy things with
Felines that are not PG rated, all right? But that bit of information about health was
true. Some kids, and even adults, if they are ill or not fit enough, don't survive the first
morph - and that is the correct word, yep. I'm not shitting you.”
Alec snorted and Tony, miserable and frustrated, pressed his head against the soft
comforter, seeking… he didn't know what exactly. He shied away from analyzing and let
his mind wander instead.
Tony pondered which of the more harmless things would appeal to a teenager's
mind. “The Center is like a separate world, a little bit. For example, there are some tiled
rooms filled with kitty litter for Felines who got stuck in cat form. If you get caught doing
something against the rules, your punishment would literally be a shitty job for cleaning
them. And one of my... friends had to stay in his cat form after he broke his leg because
morphing back to human form could made it worse. Doctors who are allowed to treat
Felines require special training.” Tony glared at the ceiling. “I am not lying.” Just not
telling a teenager about staying in cat form himself and using those damn litter rooms
for seven whole years - that was personal. And could be bad precedence.
Seven years in his tiger form had prevented a lot of the more unpleasant possibilities
from happening to him - he told himself that every time when he had been tempted to
morph back. Alec shouldn't need that protection.
“So if I ask you about that sex stuff I read about on the internet, about being the
property of someone who can do anything they want with their Feline, you'll tell me the
truth too?”
Wham! And they were back to the one thing no one really knew how to talk about.
How exactly would he try to explain that to a fourteen-year-old boy, Tony miserably
thought. “Told ya, they pulled some non-PG stuff but Williams has been trying to sort it
out. You're not old enough to worry about it.”
“But it could be bad?” Alec's voice sounded very small.
Tony sighed. Promises were promises, so he would have to answer, wouldn't he? And
the boy needed to know - just not everything. “Owners are people, people can be
assholes. It just sucks when you can't do anything about it. But nobody will force a
teenager into anything; that's against the law, whether you’re Feline or not. Williams
and the President are working on better way to protect adult Felines. You've got years
until adult rules would apply to you. Your dad and Gibbs are doing everything they can
so it would never need to.”
“Shit. I hope they succeed. No wonder Dad nearly went through the roof.” Alec took
some time to digest the answer. “You seem to like that older Special Agent, Gibbs, and
dad says he's your owner. Must be tough sometimes, he looks strict. And wow, can he
growl and stare! Not a guy I want to be mad at me.”
“Yeah. Pissed-off Gibbs is not good when you are his target.” Understatement, thy
name is Anthony. Tony clenched his fingers into the comforter and forced his thoughts
into another direction. It looked like the adolescent had done a little bit of research
on pages not meant for minors. So much for responsible parenting and supervising
your offspring’s Internet activity. He remembered words Andrea Mayer had flung at
them. “Your mom showed you what she found or did you follow the links she used?”
“No, I googled them myself and used Dad's computer. Don't know where Mum got her
intel. There was no browser history to follow. Mom never wipes her browser history; I
don't think she knows how to. She just waits til the machine does the automatic weekly
one. One week gets you a pretty long list but that's Dad's way of keeping track of what
pages I look at.”
Again minutes went by without either of them saying anything.
“Rooms set up like giant litter boxes? Really?” Alec mused.
“Really.” Tony hoped that the others were coming back soon. He tried to formulate
what was on his mind carefully. “You know, this sucks but it could be worse.”
“Like I could be terminally ill-worse, world ending-worse or something like that?
Whatever.”
And here Tony had been angry with Cait for being such a klutz with her formulations.
He wasn't doing much better but somehow he couldn't feel too bad about it at the
moment. He was kind of getting angry with Alec instead and wouldn't that get him
scolded again? Ah fuck you all, Tony thought and went for a little dose of reality, Tony
style.
“Your dad loves you and would take on the world to keep you! I saw the look on his
face. He's a proud man but he would get down on his knees and beg - that's how much
you mean to him. He didn't call the Center when you first morphed, he didn't once ask
about that huge ass reward that's been around for centuries for handing over Felines,
and he tried and would continue to stay near you no matter what. You're not alone.
Think about that for a change.” Alec's dad didn't even consider the possibility that his
Feline son would be affiliated with an influential person in the future - what a nice
euphemism - as a potential way into someone's good graces and bank account.
Alec shuffled to his feet, fast and clumsy, and Tony could guess without opening his eyes
by the thumps he heard that the wall was the recipient of some of the boy's anger by
way of feet or fists.
“Yeah, he is great, he totally is. But....shit shit shit! I want to be normal. Normal! Damn
it!”
Tony lay on the bed and listened while the teenager pummeled the wall and silently
raged against an unfair world. He let him be for a moment, and when one of the guards
stuck his head into the room to see what all the commotion was about, the older Feline
sat up and waved him off. Tony picked up one of the decorative pillows and held it out
for the boy to pummel instead of the wall. A few bruises were all right; broken bones
were not.
Alec had the right to go a little crazy and who was Tony to tell him otherwise. And if
anyone complained about scrapped knuckles they could go fuck themselves with Gibbs
giving the demonstration how to do it properly, that bastard.
.-#-.
Alec was in the bathroom, cleaning up his face and hands, when the laptop on the
couch table began to peep and demand attention. Tony sat down, keeping one eye and
ear on the youngster, and pushed a few buttons. Abby's friendly face was a welcomed
diversion.
“Hi Tonyboy! I heard that you found the Feline, and I thought I should try this way first
before calling on the cell, since you might be in today. Is the Bossman around?”
“Nope, he's out. You've got news?”
The second window with the green lines depicting a dentition popped up again, much
more complete than the last time.
“Does it look familiar?” Abby had to be bouncing on her toes in excitement by the way
her picture swayed.
“Abby, I'm no zoologist but I can guess it's some feline predator's.”
“Yep, but it's not one you'll ever meet.” The window split in the middle and the picture
of a dentition appeared, was over-layed with green lines who were then turned and
moved over to the first graphic. It was a perfect match but for the overlong canines of
the second dentition.
Tony blinked. “I might be an amateur, but that's strange, isn't it? A nearly perfect
match.”
“Too true! I compared what I had to scans of feline predators in a database and this
popped up. And I wasn't kidding about the impossibility of you meeting that animal -
it's a saber tooth tiger. We found faint scraps of Polyurethane resin, which is used for
high quality replicas of fossils in the wounds. You can order these replicas easily via the
Internet; they are teaching supplies. I'm checking but there are lots of possibilities for
this model since it's very popular. But still cool, isn't it?” she preened.
“Very cool Abby! So someone filed down the long canines to make it a better match.”
Abby was visibly proud of her accomplishments and Tony was easily ready to praise her.
This information had the potential to help them a lot.
“How’s the junior Feline doing?”
Tony tilted his head and listened. Something clattered into the washbasin and Alec
could be heard cursing. “One sec. Be back soon, Abby.” There should be nothing in
there that Alec could use to harm himself, short of smashing the mirror. But from what
Tony knew about the things a hormonal time bomb like Alec could come up with, it
was better to check. Tony took a look into the bathroom and then pulled back his head
again. From the poisonous glare his nosiness had earned him, his help might be needed,
but not wanted. Trying to clean and bandage ones own hands was tricky.
“Not too bad, he's found an outlet for his frustration first in a wall, then a pillow. Both
won and I'm not telling him that exercises in controlled violence are never a way to deal.
So shoot me.” Abby wasn't the one he wanted to say that to, but she had asked, so Tony
answered. Cait and the boss had been ignoring him today so far, and Tim, after a scared
look from one to the other, had sent Tony a compassionate smile then ran after the
other agents.
“Better a pillow than a face,” was Abby's only comment.
Something Alec told him niggled at him, made him turn it around a few times in his
head. Tony should phone the team but he could imagine that his suspicions, without a
good reasoning and lots of evidence, would only get him deeper into trouble. Gibbs had
made it clear that he didn't want Tony to act on his instincts any longer. “Abby, would
you check something for me?”
“Shoot.”
“This might sound stupid, I don't know much about how this works, but can you check
what web pages someone accessed, what they downloaded?”
“Not easily under normal circumstances. But if that person’s computer is online and not
heavily protected, it's doable. To whom do you want me to turn spy mistress onto?”
“Mayer residence. I'll call Tim, he's there at the moment, and ask him to turn the
home computer on to help you with your mojo. We can say that we want to make sure
nobody else tried to access it, if someone asks. I'll give them your update at the same
time.”
Abby was nibbling at her lower lip, eyes sad. “You think that...”
Tony grimaced. He really hoped he was wrong. “Just do that for me, yes?”
An hour later, Alec was sleeping - or mopping and pretending to sleep in his room, Tony
couldn't tell the difference - the laptop pinged again and it was a subdued Abby that
appeared in the video conference window. The team was still out; Captain Mayer had
taken them to his office at work after they’d finished at his home.
“Andrea Mayer ordered that dentition online a week ago. I found the recipe on her hard
drive and the payment on her personal account. She didn't even try to conceal it. That's
horrible Tony! Why would she do something like that?”
Now it was Tony who wanted to pummel something. Of course she didn’t try to conceal
it; she had no reason for doing so. If someone else had been sent instead of Gibbs'
team, they probably wouldn’t have discovered the fake in the first place. Army CID
would have swallowed the fake scene and she would have gotten away with it. Tony
closed his eyes and pinched his nose with his fingers. “I don't know why, Abby. You
called the boss?”
“Thought you should do it, it was your hunch.”
The Feline slowly opened his eyes again and stared at the Goth for a long time till she
started to squirm.
“Coward.” Tony accused.
“Pot, hi my name is kettle. You are the one who wants to be a field agent. Me? I'm
happy being a lab rat.”
“I'll remind you about this the next time you insist on being a Goddess. Aren't deities
supposed to be Teflon coated? Unlike mortal quasi-agents-slash-consultants,” and
while his mouth was talking, his brain was already elsewhere. Tony reached for his NCIS
issued, standard field agent cell phone and glared at the innocent little gizmo.
Abby waved sadly at him and closed the connection.
“Boss? Abby and I found out something.”
.-#-.
All of the team members watched, with varying degrees of openly shown sadness, as
Captain Mayer entered the bedroom where Alec was hiding, closing the door softly
behind him. None of them wanted to be in his shoes, having to explain why the young
boy’s family would be breaking apart even further.
Andrea Mayer had indeed been the one to set her son up, and when confronted with
the recipe they had found, she didn't even try to deny it. She just broke down and
sobbed. Her husband had made her swear after Alec’s first morph that she wouldn't
contact the Center for any information, but she had feared for her daughters. When
Alec's shenanigans as a panther hadn't been sufficient to get him noticed by the
authority and she had found her littlest playing with Alec in panther form like he was a
plushy, she had gone nearly insane with worry. Finding some dead vagrant on her way
home a week ago had been, in her eyes, a windfall - nobody would ignore a dead body.
She transported the corpse in the trunk of her car, and ordered the dentition for express
delivery. The knockout drug - a very strong sleeping pill - was smuggled into Alec's bottle
of coke. She knew that her irrepressible teenager would try to slip out again in cat form
as soon as she turned her back.
Depending on whether she ended up with a compassionate judge or not, she was
looking at time in prison for defiling a corpse at the least and attempted murder at
worst. Tony didn't know what sentence he wished for. She really could have been the
cause for her son being put down for something he didn't do, but a harsher sentence
would fracture the family even more.
Cait sighed and pushed her hands into her pockets. “She feared Alec would bite her or
the toddlers, maybe even infect them with the same disease he has.”
Rich businessmen with more money than sense wouldn't touch Felines with a ten
foot pole if there was any question of the furriness being contagious. “It's a genetic
mutation, not a contagious disease. We are not Werewolves,” Tony corrected her
absentmindedly, while his eyes busily stroked over every tense and angry line he could
make out on his owner's face.
Gibbs wasn't saying anything at all. His eyes, not their usual sharp blue but dull
and pained, were fixated on the closed door. He had been very professional but
compassionate while handling the afternoon's meltdown but it looked like that effort
had eaten up all his reserves. His Feline watched him closely until Cait's angry voice
made Tony redirect his attention.
“She didn't know that, Tony!” Cait shot back at him, pulled her left hand out of the
pocket and waved aggressively. “I would be freaking out as well if someone transformed
without warning into a panther next to me. Disease, mutation, magic or whatever. That
information is just one among the many other half truths and full out lies that is floating
around, how would she know which one is real with the Center being so secretive?”
“Hey!” The woman's tone of voice made Tony's hackles rise defensively. “Not my fault! I
didn't make those regulations, you should be blaming some long dead President!”
“Tony, Cait, this is really not a good time to scratch each others eyes out. We have to
organize our files and stuff. Major Williams will come and collect us tomorrow to take us
back to DC and we better be ready. Plus, the Mayers might hear us,” Tim tried to placate
his irate colleagues but what really made them take a step back was the sound of a door
being slammed shut. Gibbs had left the room and disappeared into his own bedroom
and sanctuary.
Now it was Tony's turn to stare at the newly erected barrier, his fight with Cait
forgotten. He’s worried about his lover, but his boss might, again, bite his head off if
he dared to comfort him. Sleeping beside him like this would be uncomfortable as hell.
Gibbs hadn't said anything, positive or negative, about Tony cracking their case wide
open. Or it might be the end result that was making the older man behave so coldly. It
was probably arrogant of him to assign himself the focal point of Gibbs’ cold fury, but
Tony had a feeling that Gibbs could do without seeing his face and everything it seemed
to remind him of for a little while.
That night he transformed into his tiger form and slept in the kitchen under the table
voluntarily, out of way and out of mind of everyone who might stumble over him. The
way he saw it the away-bedroom-is-home rule had been removed from the list of Gibbs'
rules with prejudice. Tony understood giving someone space to sort himself out - he
really did - and he wouldn’t want to rock the boat, but if his lover tried to keep this up at
their real home, Tony would kick his ass. Or at least try to.
.-#-.
< chapter 9 --->> >