Work Text:
Gibbs looked down at the bullpen, where Tony was diligently filling out the end-of-case reports. He'd popped a couple of Tylenol a few minutes earlier, and Gibbs had belatedly realized that something was wrong with his partner. Usually, Tony tried to avoid taking painkillers, so he was running his mind back over the case, trying to figure out when Tony had gotten hurt.
If he asked outright, Tony was likely to be evasive, but he'd resort to it if he couldn't piece together the clues himself. Ducky had gone home to get some sleep several hours ago, so Gibbs couldn't rely on the ME noticing what he had and taking Tony to task for hiding his injuries.
Todd finished her own report at the TAD desk and leaned back in her chair with a small sigh.
"Print it to the local unit — it should be the default for that station — and put a signed hard copy on Gibbs' desk," Tony said quietly, without looking up from his own computer. "Gibbs prefers hard copies, though if you email me the electronic copy I'll put it through the proper channels. I'm not sure how much access the Secret Service has in our system." Gibbs knew Tony was well aware of the limitations on liaisons, having worked with Blackadder and several others over the years.
"What, are you watching me?" Todd sounded immediately defensive, and it struck an odd tone with Gibbs. People weren't usually that defensive unless something was going on.
Tony also looked up at her with a puzzled frown. "What?"
"How did you know I was done with my report? Were you watching me?" Todd scowled.
"I listened," Tony explained. "You stopped typing a few minutes ago, at which point you were presumably scrolling back up and re-reading. Then you leaned back and sighed. I assumed you were done. If not, feel free to continue: the instructions won't change."
"Ugh, so not only do I have to deal with you ogling me, you're listening too? You are such a pig!" Gibbs had no idea where this attitude was coming from: Todd hadn't had such extreme reactions when he was dealing with her earlier. Sure, she'd been pissy about the case and his lack of tact, but this was different. This wasn't just ball-busting, but seemed specific and pointed.
"Believe me, there was no ogling involved," Tony shot back levelly. "But as a liason, and not an employee of NCIS, you need to be supervised and escorted at all times when in the building. That's just regulation."
"And I bet you just love escorting female agents around, don't you," Todd snarked.
"Not particularly," Tony sighed. "It's a major pain when they need to use the head. That's why we usually split along gender lines, but Cass just came off a bad undercover op and it's the asscrack of dawn, so I sent her home to get some sleep."
Gibbs made a mental note to check in with Cassie Yates. Yates had a great aptitude for undercover work, like Tony, and though she had officially been Chris Pacci's probie, Tony had helped her a lot. She'd been a full agent for a few months now, but it sounded like she and Tony had kept in touch.
This moment also illustrated why they needed more female agents — another good reason to hire Todd — so they didn't have to make the choice between keeping an agent working super overtime and having a male agent escorting a female liaison, witness, or prisoner solo.
Gibbs was pulled from his musing when Todd pushed back her chair and stomped over to the printer. He'd missed her retort, but from Tony's frown it hadn't been complimentary. He really had no idea why she'd taken such an instant dislike to his partner, but Gibbs knew he'd need to keep an eye on her if she joined. That kind of attitude would damage team cohesion if left unchecked.
Todd quickly signed the forms on his desk, and then returned to the TAD desk. She didn't sit, but hovered over the chair as she worked, and Gibbs assumed she was shutting the computer down.
"I don't see an email," Tony said after a moment. He was more subdued than normal, as he'd passed several opportunities to snark at Todd, but Gibbs put that down to the time, general exhaustion, and his probable injury.
"I emailed Gibbs" Todd said pointedly. "I don't answer to you."
Tony sighed. "Alright, I'll have Cyber rescue it from that black hole tom— later today, I guess." Gibbs suppressed a snort. He didn't even know the password to the email address Cyber kept shoving at him. There was a reason that Tony had told Todd to send it to himself. Now he wouldn't be able to complete his own forms until he got that squared away — her obstinance had delayed things, just like during the case.
As soon as Todd finished shutting down the computer, she started to walk away, and Tony easily got up to follow her towards the elevators. "I don't need a stalker, thanks," she shot at him, again oddly hostile and defensive.
"Regulations," Tony replied simply. He started to tuck his hands in his pocket, then stopped and pulled the left one back into more of an L shape, like he was wearing an invisible sling. Gibbs watched the motion like a hawk, suspecting he had a hint as to the earlier Tylenol use, though he still wasn't sure how his partner had gotten injured.
"I'm cleared to be in the same room as the president" Todd said snippily. "I'm sure I can be trusted to walk out the front door of NCIS."
"Not my call," Tony said in the same even tone, before offering a small smirk. "Although considering that the Secret Service cleared Leonard Rish to be in the same room as the president, I think they need to step up their game."
Todd scowled, but let Tony follow her into the elevator. As the doors closed, Gibbs saw her elbow him in the gut and frowned. He didn't like mysteries, and right now he had two of them. He needed to figure out how Tony had gotten hurt, and he needed to figure out why Todd had such an aversion to him. He'd have to keep a close eye on both of them to find his answers.