Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I never have and I never will.

"Necessity may well be called the mother of invention- but Calamity is the test of Integrity."- Samuel Richardson

Tony didn't look up as he pushed the light double doors of the building opened, though he flinched when they swung closed behind him with a whoosh. The lady at the front desk looked up, a smile splitting her face when slightly clouded blue eyes landed on him. "Anthony." She said warmly, standing up to greet him him a with a hug from frail arms.

"Hello Dorris." He greeted the elderly woman back with a smile, though it never reached his eyes and the elderly lady could tell it was clearly forced. "Come to visit the animals again, Anthony?" She asked kindly as she reached for one of the plastic cards hanging off of lanyards on the wall, which she handed to him with a smile.

He nodded and accepted the pass, which he hung around his neck. "Head right on through. I'm sure they'll love to see you again." She said as she took her seat again. "They'll be the only ones." He muttered to himself sourly, as he opened the heavy wooden door that led to the back of the building. He was immediately surrounded by noise. Barking mostly, interspaced with the soft meows coming from a separate room nearby. He headed there first.

Inside he was nearly bowled off of his feet as more than two dozen furry bodies wrapped around his ankles, demanding attention with loud yowls. He felt himself smiling and chuckling despite his earlier melancholy as he knelt down and began petting each cat in turn, talking in a low, sweet voice. "Yes, Allie, you look gorgeous today. And you too, Carrot. No I don't have any treats I'm afraid, Gobber, and that look will not make them appear magically."

He spent an astounding two hours with the cats and kittens, playing, petting, snuggling and talking until, at last, they lost interest in him and, with farewell meows, went off to naps. He stood up and left the room and went down the hall to a heavy metal door which he pushed open and stepped out of into the freshly trimmed play yard.

Where he was promptly knocked down and covered with slobber by four, very happy, very hyper dogs.

He rolled onto his back with a resounding laugh that shook in the chill fall evening air. "Noooo! Get off me you lardos!" He shouted playfully, desperately trying to push them off. He failed and was set upon by others very quickly until he was on the bottom of a large, very excited, pile of dogs. After a few more minutes of struggling he got out from underneath the pile and picked up a rope tug.

He whistled and laughed as all heads turned towards him. "Come and get it!" He shouted, turning and bursting into a sprint as he was set upon by the pack.

~Break~

Tony had one last stop on his list before he got ready to go home for the night. In the back of the animal shelter was a large quiet room where the elderly dogs were kept. Though, with one shining exception. As Tony pushed the door open an elegant head looked up at him with soulful brown eyes, the sole occupant of that room at the moment. He smiled lovingly and strode over, pressing his back to the wall and sliding down so that the elegant head could rest in his lap. "Hello Annabelle." He cooed, rubbing her gently behind the ears.

Chocolate brown eyes looked at him, speaking of wisdom and weariness that belied her age. Annabelle was only five years old, young by Afghan standards, but old by experience. Tony had been there the night they first brought her in scared out of her mind and snapping at everybody like her life depended on it. Tony had spent the entire night, much to the astonishment of the staff, sitting beside her cage and talking incessantly until she'd calmed enough to eat, drink and let a vet examine her. Now he made a point to visit her every time he was here.

She licked his hand softly and he threaded his free fingers through the silky softness of her silver fur. "I screwed up today, Annabelle." It came as a strangled whisper and Annabelle, sensing his distress in a way only an animal could, pressed closer and whined softly, nuzzling his neck. "Or at least that's what everyone else thinks." He said as he resumed the slow petting of her fur.

"You remember that case I told you about last time I was here? The one about the missing Marine?" She yipped softly. He knew he was talking to a dog, but he'd sorted through more issues with her than with any therapist. Dogs don't judge you. They just love you. "Well, we found him today. With a bomb strapped to his chest. He got the jump on me, managed to get my gun away from me while I was searching the house for him."

He sighed. "He starts screaming that if they didn't come out and drop their weapons he was gonna blow us both up. So Gibbs, Ziva and McGee come around the corner and give him their weapons and the next thing I know I'm on the ground and my head hurts and he's out the door. Nobody got hurt." He paused and winced sheepishly. "Well, not too badly anyway. But it get's worse. He used me as a shield so he could get away with top secret files."

He winced. "I really expected Gibbs to be mad at me. And he was. Him angry I could handle." He took a stuttered breath. "It was this look he gave me while I was getting into the car, this look of absolute disappointment on his face. God it felt like someone had just stabbed me with a rusty knife." His voice wavered in distress as he hugged her. "Ziva and McGee didn't even spare me a look the rest of the morning while I was typing my incident report and Abby, who never gets angry at anybody, wouldn't look me in the eye."

"I think I sat behind my desk and did nothing but write my incident report until lunch. Everyone left but me and a few minutes later, lo and behold, Director Vance came down to chew me out. Or so I thought." Annabelle turned soft brown eyes on him as a slow grin spread across his face. "I tell ya' , I almost checked the calender when he asked if I'd like to get coffee in the lounge. I agreed and we both got a drink and sat at a table. It was empty in there, for once. So we sit down and he looks at me all concerned."

He paused there, running his hands through her fur for a few more minutes before he began again. "You know I've told you a hundred times I was sure that man was out to get me? I was wrong. I think. Jury's still out on that one. Anyway, he says that he heard about the fiasco this morning and I'm steeling myself for this huge lecture. Only I don't get one. He tells me he understands, he's been in that position himself." He laughs, a much lighter sound than before. "It was a case, years ago when I was still working in Philly. I remember seeing it on the news in the squadroom. I just didn't think that skinny little kid they showed a picture of was him."

"So he goes on to tell me that, since it appears my team is in a holier-than-thou frame of mind, I can hand my report into him when its done. And then my phone rang and you'll never guess who it was." He smiled brightly, and it reached hazel eyes, causing them to snap and flicker with mirth and joy. For months, since he'd first found out he was allowed to have large dogs in his small house on the outskirts of the city, he'd been arguing with the outside adoption agency that ran the animal shelter over adopting Annabelle. "I won my argument. You're coming home with me tomorrow."

He was happy again and Annabelle shared his joy. "So anyway, I get this call and they tell me I get to take you home. I did a dance right there in the lounge, in front of my Directer, no less. I hang up and he's giving me this look that just screams worry over my mental state and asks me what the call was about. I explained to him and you know what he did?" She woofed softly at him to tell him to complete his story.

"He's letting me leave early tomorrow! Plus, I get the whole weekend off, not On Call, to help you settle in. All I have to do is show him a picture. Apparently, our big bad Director has a soft spot for dogs." He looked down at his watched and sighed softly. Near eight at night, the shelter would be closing soon. He stood, smiling softly when she stood after him. He looked at her flowing coat, bright brown eyes and wagging tail, his heart wrenching when he landed on her missing back leg. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the last dog treat, the bacon one he always saved for her and gave it to her without fuss.

"Bye, Annabelle. I'll be back tomorrow, and I'll take you home, where you can be happy." This was said in determination as he stroked her silky fur one last time and left the back room. On his way out he stopped at the wall next to Dorris's desk, where a bulletin board of pictures was, a small table of framed ones below it. He picked up one from the table, fingers gliding over the black and gray frame. "Dorris. Is it alright if I take Annabelle's picture now?" He asked.

The elderly women smiled. "Sure, Anthony." He smiled and waved on his way out. "Bye Dorris, see you tomorrow!" He shouted over his shoulder, as he walked into the chill fall night to his car.

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs watched Tony from behind his coffee cup where he sat at his desk. Tony was strangely subdued today, though his usual bounciness fought to break through. He hadn't spoken unless spoken to, hadn't made a joke all morning, wasn't playing games on his phone. Wasn't being the Tony they all knew and loved. He knew they'd been a little harsh on the other Agent yesterday, but Tony always bounced back from these sort of things. That wasn't the only thing new about Tony this morning.

Sitting beside Tony's own coffee cup was a, rather innocuous, black picture frame. But whenever anyone tried to look at it, even Abby, he'd gently placed it face down with the enigmatic response "It's a surprise." echoing again and again in the room. At lunch Tony had packed his things, except the incident report file and the picture into his bag and continued working silently at his computer until Two O'clock in the afternoon, when the ominous presence of NCIS Director Leon Vance descended the stairs and made a beeline to the partition separating Tony's desk from the walkway, which he leaned over.

"Meeting's at Two-forty five?" He asked benignly, to which Tony nodded, a small smile creeping to his lips without him noticing it. "I got your report." He said, handing off the file. "Do I get to see?" Vance asked, voice dropping, though Gibbs still heard it. Tony smiled brighter this time and nodded, holding up the picture frame for the other man to take. Vance's eyes snapped with delight and a smirk split his face. "She's beautiful! What's her name?" He asked. "Annabelle. She's five." By now the conversation, and the atmosphere surrounding it had drawn the attention of the rest of the team. "Missing a leg?" He asked and Tony nodded. "Abused when she was younger. Bastard took it clean off." Vance huffed, but smiled again.

"You're a lucky man, DiNozzo. You can leave now, you don't want to be late. I'm officially dismissing you until Monday. You take care of her." Tony nodded and stood, holstered his gun and grabbed his badge, coat, bag and the picture before he left. Vance turned around as Gibbs stood from his desk.

"What was that?" He asked, dangerously. Not only had Vance just carried on a conversation that was not of a work nature with one of his team during working hours, he'd taken his report and dismissed him on leave without his prior knowledge. "I approached Agent DiNozzo yesterday during lunch, seeing as you all thought it wise to treat him like a pariah. I informed him since, apparently, you didn't want to speak with him that I'd take his report upon it being finished. Then something came up and he requested the day early, which I gave, as well as some of his back leave, to rest."

Gibbs growled angrily. "Is it your job to take care of my agents in my place?" He snapped and Vance met him with an equally flinty eyes stare. "It is when a team leader can't stop himself and the rest of his team from acting like a bunch three-year-olds and treating one of their own like trash. Did you even ask him if he was okay yesterday? Did you make sure he went and got his head checked out? No, so I did that for you." He snapped, losing his usual cool. "If you can't get your team together, I'll be reassigning agent DiNozzo somewhere else, where his team will take care of him and treat him like an equal. This isn't the first time you've done this, Gibbs, but you best hope its the damn well last."

With that thought, Vance spun on his heel to his office, leaving a shocked Team Gibbs in his wake as a disturbing realization settled heavily in their guts.

Vance was right.