Rule 39: There Is No Such Thing As Coincidence (Tony DiNozzo Love Story)

Keeping Company

Gibbs's POV

I look down at Erin and see that she's finally asleep. I move to stand, carefully ensuring that she won't wake up. There's a pained and sorrowful expression on her face. Pulling up her blanket, I tuck her in and head for the door. Sending one last look towards her as I turn out the light and leave the door open just a few inches. Sighing, I head for the stairs and towards the phone.

"Gibbs, it's three in the morning, what is it?" Jenny asks.

"It's Erin," I say as I glance towards the stairs and look back down at the coffee table. I hear her sit up.

"What's wrong? Has something happened?" She asks, concern and fear coating her voice. I sigh and nod as I look around the room.

"She's having nightmares, I just got her back to sleep. She woke up screaming for me Jen, she cried for over an hour."

"Did she say what it was about?"

"Claxton. Two of the Ghosts came to kill her, she said in the dream Novikov sent them," I say. Jenny releases a breath.

"Gibbs, I don't think we should let her work," she says.

"What's she supposed to do then? If she does have PTSD, sitting around and not doing anything isn't going to help her. You know that. Erin's always on the move, she nearly drove herself crazy with sitting at home to heal. You expect her to give up work permanently?" I ask as I look up to the stairs again. She sighs.

"Well, what are we supposed to do?"

"I guess keep her going to see that doctor and see what happens. There's one thing for sure we do need to do. We need to locate the remaining Ghosts and make sure those that are dead, have stayed dead."

"I'll make a couple of calls and get it started first thing. Why don't I call Tony and tell him to take the day off and to spend the day with her. You can come in and help me in locating these other Ghosts," she says.

"Alright. Have Tony call me and I'll head into the office once he's here. I don't want to leave Erin alone," I say.

"I will. See you at the office," she says. I nod even though she can't see me and end the call once I hear the click on the other line. Placing the phone down I sigh heavily and lean back into the couch.

Tony's POV

In the distance I can hear an incessant ringing, rolling over I groan as I pull my pillow over my head. The ringing continues for a few seconds longer before ceasing all together. I sigh and dig my head further into the bed, sleep pulling me back in. As I feel I'm at the cusp of sleep, the ringing begins once more. I groan louder and sit up, wiping at my eyes. Now that I'm a bit more awake, I recognize the ringing as my cell phone that I left on the coffee table in the living room. Tossing the blanket and sheet back, I make my way out and grab my phone when I see the Director calling.

"Hello."

"Tony, I'm sorry to call you so early this morning but I wanted to tell you that I'm giving you the day off today," the Director says. My brows scrunch together as I stand in the pitch darkness of my living room.

"Why?" I ask.

She sighs and I know something is up.

"Is it Erin? What's happened?" I ask.

"Gibbs called and said that she's having nightmares. Gibbs doesn't want her to be alone and frankly I agree, I'm giving you the day off to look after her. Gibbs asked for you to call him when you were on your way over, he said he didn't want to leave her alone in case she woke up," she says. I nod despite the fact that she can't see me and hurry back into my bedroom.

"I'll get ready now and head over. I know Gibbs likes to get in early," I say.

"We're going to be looking into the remaining Ghosts to try and locate the other twelve members in case there's any possible chance they decide to further Claxton's plans," she says.

"Is that what she dreamt about?" I ask as I turn on the lamp.

"Yes, she dreamt two members broke in and tried to kill her," she says, the memory of Erin rushing out of the ice cream shop last night following after two people comes flooding my mind.

"Is she alright?" I ask.

"Gibbs got her back to sleep but he said it was pretty bad. She was fighting against him," she says.

"I'm getting ready now, I should be heading that way in a few minutes."

"Thank you Tony," she replies.

I end the call and hurry with getting dressed. Trying to remember as much as I can about the couple that Erin followed. It was a blonde woman and a male, he had a goatee and a shaved head. His face almost clear but fading in my memory as I finally grab my jacket and keys. I grab a piece of paper and a pen from the counter and quickly sketch the face.

Broad forehead, narrow and sharp nose with medium set eyes. Square jaw line with a pointed chin. He looks like any average male, but whoever he is he means something to Erin.

I'm in the car and on my way to Gibbs's when I pull my phone out.

"Hello?" He answers.

"Gibbs, hey I'm on my way. I should be by in about twenty minutes," I say.

"Alright, she's uh, she's still sleeping," he says.

"How bad was it?" I ask. He's silent for a few moments.

"She cried for over an hour, she hates crying," he says. My chest clenches and my heart aches.

"What do you want me to do?" I ask.

"Keep her company, get her talking about it if she's up to it but don't pressure her. If you can, get her to think about something else instead so she's not held down by it. She has another session at two with the therapist, it's for an hour and a half. I'll get the address for you,"

"I already have it," I say.

"Alright well I'll see you in a bit then," he says. The line ends and I drive in silence the rest of the way.

I park in the driveway behind Erin's car and get out. There are lights on downstairs and I take a glance in as I knock on the door. A few seconds go by before the door opens and Gibbs stares at me.

"Hey," I say as I enter. He nods.

"She's sleeping. There's coffee in the kitchen if you need any and I think there's some left over pizza in the box in the fridge," he says. I nod as I glance towards the stairs.

"You'll keep me in the loop?" I ask as I turn back to him. He nods.

"Look Erin and I have already talked about it, we were going to start looking into who might have been handing out contracts for the Ghosts and who may have been helping Claxton. If thinking it was all Claxton's idea, but Erin said that most of them had gone AWOL. She doesn't know why and it looks like she was the only one working for Claxton, she saw something or heard something that made him want her dead. Erin was going to start figuring out how the contracts were connected, maybe even track down the other Ghosts. I need your help in getting that from her," he says. I nod.

"Let me know when she's up and I'll call to fill you in on what we find," he says. I nod once more.

"Oh, here," I say as I dig into my pocket and pull out the sketch.

"What's this?"

"When we went to get ice cream, Erin saw two people at the shop. Looked like she recognized them and she followed after them, I didn't get a good look at the blonde that was with him. I'd say she was shorter than Erin, but this guy," I say pointing at the paper, "this guy looked right at me as we were walking in."

"This is what he looks like?" Gibbs asks.

"It's the best I could remember, guy was probably six-two, six-three. He may be one of the Ghosts," I say. Gibbs nods and folds the paper, putting it in his coat pocket. He glances towards the stairs and sighs.

"I'll keep an eye on her," I say. He nods before grabbing his keys and leaving. I shut the door behind him and lock it. Standing in the hall for a moment, I remove my jacket and hang it up before heading into the kitchen to get some coffee.