ncisficathon | Queens and Pawns (PG) for taylorgibbs

Title: Queens and Pawns
Author:

omearalee
Written for:

artsie713
Prompt: Jenny/Tony. Who has an alibi after Jeanne Benoit is tragically killed?
Archive: Wherever, just let me know. 
Genre: gen, angst
Pairings: none, really.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue. All I've got is student loan debt.
Warnings: character death. Takes place sometime after 5x01 "Bury Your Dead," and disregards 5x14 "Internal Affairs."
Word Count: 1,012
Summary: "It was never supposed to be like this, Tony."

Tony fumbled to find the phone that he used during his undercover op. He found the ringing device in a drawer and hurried to answer in before it went to voicemail.

“Hello?” Ziva looked at him curiously from across the bullpen as he looked back with an expression of confusion. He shook his head and shrugged his shoulder.

He listened for a moment before replying with a cautious sound and getting up to stand by the windows across from the bullpen. He listened for a moment, replying with single syllables.

“Agent DiNozzo, this is Carly at the hospital. I don’t know a lot about what happened, but I thought that you should hear this from someone you knew. Jeanne was brought in last night to the ER after a car accident.” Pause. “She died, Tony. She’s dead.” The words seemed so false in his ears, even though he believed them to be true. She had no reason to lie to him, not about that. After saying the words so many times before, he didn’t want to hear them himself. Not again.

“Thank you for letting me know. I’ll…I’m sorry for your loss.” He could hear the car behind them exploding.

“It’s your loss, too, Agent DiNozzo.” He could hear the report of a gunshot and feel Kate’s blood, warm and sticky on his face.

“You don’t need to call me that.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going t— ” Even if he had the words, they would be stuck in his throat, choking him violently. Carly seemed to understand and let his off of the line gently. Tony could feel Ziva’s gaze upon his back but he ignored it. His face did not reflect much in the day lit window, but what did echo was the pale, dim face of a ghost.

*

Cynthia let him through to the Director’s office without question.

“Jeanne Benoit is dead,” Tony stated without preamble, voice coming across much calmer than he actually felt.

“Really?” It was more a statement than a question, unsurprised, but when Jenny looked up from the file she was reading, she had the grace to school her features into a look of mild interest and sadness.

“She was in a car accident last night.” Before Tony even knew he was saying the words, they were tumbling from his mouth. “Did you have anything to do with this?”

She looked affronted. “How, Tony? Are you implying that I arranged a vehicular manslaughter?”

Anger flashed through his grief. “How do I know what ends you decide justify the means! It’s not like you have had any reservations with the rest of this operation!”

Jenny stared Tony down, deciding which was the better course of action. Did she spar with him, blow by hurtful blow in this storm of words and blame, or did she talk him down the place that he was in right now, the edge between numbness and blinding pain. Neither option was professional, but this was not a moment for professionalism. The very nature of their relationship was not professional.

“You have every reason to be upset with me, Tony—”

“Damn ri—”

“But I had nothing to do with this,” she continued, despite his interruption. “Not everything has to be related to the operation.”

“This isn’t a coincidence,” Tony said, losing his steam and falling into a guest chair across from Jenny. “I don’t believe in coincidences. This was deliberate.”

“Is that what you think of me, that I would sacrifice her life for a chance at La Grenouille?”

“I don’t know what you are capable of, Madame Director.” They looked at each other again. “I was in love with her. We were in love.”

“I’m sorry, Tony, for all of this.”

He smirked ruefully. “Never apologize, it’s a sign of weakness.”

“I’m not Gibbs.”

“No, you’re not.” He paused. “Gibbs would have foreseen the risks. He would have known what would happen, would have known that the only way this was going to end was badly.”

“It was never supposed to be like this, Tony.”

Everything that had happened, that’s all he ever dreamed about now. The longer he was undercover, the less he could differentiate between Anthony DiNozzo and Professor DiNardo. It got harder and harder keeping up the lies and the deception, keeping stories straight, throwing the others off his scent, avoiding Gibbs. Gibbs never had more than a suspicion, so he must have been doing something right. But then he would forget why he was in the damned position in the first place, that he was only there because his director had vengeance on her mind and he was a pawn in her plot against a shade.

“That’s what you keep telling me, Jenny. So how was it supposed to be, then? Was there an exit strategy? Was I going to ever be able to be with her, did you honestly think? You know what, it doesn’t matter. She’s dead and she died hating me for what I put her through and she will never know that it’s… it’s all my fault.” All fight left him for just that moment, and he hung his head in shame.

“It is not your fault, Tony. Blame me for this. If I could do it again,” she began.

“You would not do anything different. Don’t patronize me. And it still doesn’t change the fact that I lost her twice.”

“Okay. Then let’s find the bastard who did this. If you think that this was deliberate, then it was. Who would gain the most from this? What purpose would her death serve?”

“It always comes back to her father.”

“The FBI said that they haven’t been able to contact him for a few weeks now.”

“So, what? They kill her and hope that he comes to the funeral? Says that he’s going to retire because his daughter is dead?”

“Suppose the reason is something like that. Who would have the most to gain from that?”

Tony and Jenny looked at each other solemnly as the pieces fell into place.

Trent Court.