Fox's Den

The Cascade Effect

AN: And another chapter of Cascade Effect starts

 

Chapter Five

 

Tony had returned from Spring Break with some interesting pictures. Kelly had been the one to find the picture first and had then pointed it out to Tony. She was still pissed at Kate for even suggesting that Tony dated women so young. Kelly would never tell Tony, but she looked to him as a brother/father figure. She knew things about Tony that not even her dad or his co-workers knew. Things that even Wendy hadn’t known. Tony, likewise, knew things about Kelly that most people didn’t. She knew she could confide in her dad but it was also kind of weird so she instead often confided in Tony and her best friend Maddie. Plus, it was fun to make the snobs of her University jealous. Thankfully her dad was in on the joke otherwise Tony would have met the business end of his Sig, co-worker or not. Her finding that picture was just coincidence. Now her and Tony would have some good blackmail material on Kate.

 

Tony lorded that photo over Kate’s head for weeks. Until she convinced Abby to help her blackmail Tony. When Kate sent him that photo of him in leather chaps and not much else Tony had barely managed to keep the act up. Thankfully Kate didn’t know about his brief stint as a model in College otherwise he would be in for it. That and he had several photos of a risqué nature. That’s why he knew about the photography side of things in their case shortly before his vacation. When they had agreed to delete the photo’s at the same time Tony was glad and yet, somewhat sad to see both photo’s deleted. Though when Gibbs’ computer pinged right after Tony had had a small freak out and him and Kate had scuttled out of there as fast as they could. He missed Gibbs’ reaction to the photos.

 

Gibbs looked up as his computer pinged and his eyes widened for a moment before he had to lean back and then move forward again for a closer look at the second photo. He knew that it wasn’t an actual photo of DiNozzo but, it was still a damn fine one. He’d ask Kelly to print it out later. Looking at the first one he had to laugh, seems Kate isn’t as much of a catholic girl as she made herself out to be.

 

It was a Friday and Tony and Kelly had made plans to go to the movies before going out to eat. Gibbs knew that Kelly would be home later than usual because of her and Tony’s plans. He was glad Tony and Kelly got along great; it meant that if he ever got a chance with DiNozzo Kelly would have no problems like she had with his other ex-wives. Part of the reason his marriages fell apart was they were jealous of the closeness between him and Kelly. Unfortunately DiNozzo was straight but that didn’t mean he couldn’t fantasize about Tony; nor dream about what his life could be like if he was with the younger agent; not that he was a big dreamer to begin with.

 

Tony pulled up outside the building Kelly’s last class was being held in and waited. His Corvette often attracted attention because it was a classic car. Kelly had been telling him about some girls that were giving her problems. They were transfers and Kelly wanted to show them up. They’d done this before with some other snobs; pretended that Kelly was dating a rich older guy who was also a federal agent. Tony remembered the first time that they’d played this joke on some senior students. He was sure Gibbs was going to kill him; Gibbs had actually laughed before telling him that he was glad Tony had Kelly’s six just like he had Gibbs’.

 

Tony continued thinking about Gibbs and how different Gibbs was at work as compared to his home. He was still a bastard but it was more toned down when he was at home. Plus, Gibbs had a rather wicked sense of humor that he rarely showed at the office. As he was reminiscing he didn’t notice someone approaching his car until there was a light rap on the driver side window. He looked up and saw a campus police officer standing there. He rolled the window down and asked if everything was okay.

 

“Just had some questions, sir.” The rent-a-cop said.

 

“Well I am waiting for someone. Want to see my ID?” Tony asked, a sarcastic note in his tone that the other man missed.

 

“Yes.”

 

Tony nodded, reached into his back pocket, his gun flashing as he did so, and pulled out his ID. He flipped the ID down flashing his badge and photo, which stated he was NCIS.

 

“Oh. Sorry to disturb you, sir.” The other man said before turning and walking back to his small vehicle.

 

‘Now I know why there’s a lot of crimes on campuses. Idiotic rent-a-cops. He didn’t even verify that I was who I said I was. No wonder Gibbs worries about Kelly so much; what with such low standards in security here,’ he though to hiself as he watched the campus vehicle drive away.

 

Ten minutes later the doors to the lecture hall opened and students began pouring out. Tony stepped out of his car and leaned against it, getting appreciative looks from several of the women and a few men as he did so. He kept an eye out for Kelly, raising his hand a waving at her. Her squeal at seeing him made him crack a smile, she sure did like playing it up. She would make a fine investigator one day; especially at undercover work. Just then she slammed into him and he picked her up and spun her around, laughing with her.

 

“How ya been, babydoll?” he asked, kissing both of her cheeks, Italian style.*

 

“I’ve been good Antonio.” She said, smiling.

 

“You ready to go? We’ve got reservation for 9:00 at Carpe Diem** followed by a private showing of our choice.” He told her as he opened the door for her like a true gentleman would. He then proceeded to get into his car, pulled out of the spot and headed off down the road in a showy fashion. Once they were far enough away they both burst out laughing.

 

“That was hilarious!” Kelly told him, “You should have seen the look on their faces, it was priceless! Thank you Tony.” She said, once she had gotten her giggles under control.

 

“It’s no problem, Kelly. It helps me to keep my UC skills sharp and it makes me feel better to know you’re not gonna be dragged into some of the crazy shit that can happen in College. That and I get to have a beautiful young woman on my arm for the evening.” he told her, a mischievous light entering his eyes at the last followed by a wink. It got another round of laughter started in the car.

 

“I knew there was a reason I liked you, Tony.” she said, a smile gracing her features. “We both like pranks, movies and music.”

 

“That we do Kelly, that we do.”

 

“Did you really make reservations at Carpe Diem?”

 

“Yes, just to be thorough. My frat brother and his wife own Carpe Diem and a friend of mine is giving us a private showing of whatever movie we want. I give him an un-biased opinion on movies.” He told her, enjoying her surprise at the information he’d just shared.

 

Their dinner and movie had gone very well. Kelly had noticed a few of her snobby classmates at the fancy, high class restaurant and had discreetly pointed them out to Tony. Tony understood and proceeded to ham it up deliberately. When Tony dropped Kelly back off at home he waited and waved before heading home himself. He ended up back at the office once again because of a sudden connection he had made. Little did he know that less than a week later his life would once again hang in the balance. Only this time, he wouldn’t be able to face the danger head on.

 

TBC…

 

*I’m not Italian so if it’s wrong I’m sorry. I can only go on what little I know from movies, books and the like. I mean no disrespect but it seems like a Tony thing that he would do with those he considers family.

 

**Carpe Diem is Latin for “Seize the Day”  anyone want to take a guess as to what artist made a song with the same English name? This is a made up restaurant(I think) and any resemblance to any real place is purely coincidence.