Kin of the Child 3 (Patreon)

I am trying to refind myself or redefine myself or something. But my goal this month is to find the joy in writing again. So I am going to write whatever my heart tells me to.  I don't care if I finish something or if I do snippets or if I start a dozen projects at once--I need to let my heart go and give myself the gift of joyous creation.

So, when given permission to go anywhere, my muse went here.

------------------Reminder.  In this universe, Jim is a tiny big demonic and he recently found out. Blair is a quarter demonic through his father's side, and a cousin to Whistler from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He always knew.  And now  Tony has wandered into their territory. -----------------------

Tony watched the female officer as she tried to keep Tali happy. The woman had a slightly horrified expression, and Tony hoped Tali hadn’t said anything that would warrant getting Child Protective Services involved. Sometimes she had a mercenary bent that didn’t match her sweet face or tender age.

Yep, Tony’s little girl was unique.

“When did you spot the suspect?” the officer asked for the fourth time. 

Tony stomped down on his frustration because he understood the necessity of confirming witness statements. “When he got out of his vehicle.” Tony stopped before giving his entire statement again. He just wished a detective would show up and do this part of the interview because repeating himself to a patrol officer was both pointless and detrimental to best investigative practice. When witnesses repeated information, they tended to add or distort details. The early statements were the most accurate. The officer looked over toward the end of the alley where the patrol officer was trying—and failing—to entertain Tali. A new man was there.

Tony’s read him as a detective, and one that worked undercover. He had the wariness of an officer—a certain on-alert persona that suggested he understood danger, but none of his obvious body language screamed cop. He patted one officer on the arm, and then bounced a bit, like a hyperactive addict who had gotten a little something extra in their daily hit. He had long, curly hair that definitely would make him stand out in police culture, which tended to be more military, and an easy smile that was designed to put people at ease.

With the exception of the hair, he reminded Tony of himself.

The patrol officer physically stepped away from Tony, ceding the field to the new arrival, but the detective didn’t seem quick to assert his control over the scene. He stopped to chat with the woman watching Tali. Tali said something, and the patrol officer’s face twisted with some dark emotion, but the new guy laughed and fluffed Tali’s hair.

Shockingly, Tali endured the gesture without the flurry of offended elbow jabs she gave most strangers who touched her. Hell, when Tony had first taken custody, she had poked him more than once, and she had damn sharp elbows. But she just gave this new man a weary look, as if too tired to deal with the guy’s overly familiar attitude.

Tony had gotten that look more than once, himself.

Watching, he was taken with how comfortable this guy was in his own skin. Comfortable, but utter out of place surrounded by cops. Tony wondered if he had only recently given up undercover work because he should have picked up a few mannerisms from his co-workers, but other than the alert gaze and the bulge under his colorful jacket, nothing even hinted at him being a cop.

“Hey!” the stranger said when he got close. “Man, that is some bad damn luck, or good luck if you’re the Cascade PD. Totally good luck. Thanks for spotting that asshole before he robbed the bank, but I am so sorry you got shot at.” He nodded, his curls bopping around his head.

“Um... thanks?” That is not where Tony expected the detective to start the interrogation.

“If we have one more bank robbery this year, the commissioner has threatened to demote all of us and replace us with police dogs.” That was followed by an exaggerated shudder. “I’m Blair Sandburg. So, can you just start from the beginning, and tell me what happened?” His title was conspicuous in its absence, but Tony set that aside for the moment.

“I was walking to the park with my daughter, and I spotted the male sitting in his car. We stopped to get an ice cream, so I noted that he was there for an extended amount of time and he twice got out of his car and then back into it. Both times, his decision to get back into the car came right after a people went into the bank—the first time a couple and the second time a group of three older women. When he got out of his car again, I spotted the bulge under his jacket. I asked the ice cream vendor to watch my daughter and call the police to tell them a bank robbery was about to happen.”

Blair Sandburg nodded along as if all this was reasonable. The patrol officers hadn’t. They’d made it clear that Tony should have been grabbing his daughter and running for the hills, but that’s not how Tony was built. He didn’t walk away from trouble.

He got is ass kicked. Often. But he didn’t walk away.

“And then?” Sandburg prompted him.

“I called out to the suspect.” Tony hesitated before admitting, “I identified myself as NCIS and told him to freeze.”

“Whoa. Like Navy cop NCIS?” Sandburg’s eyes got large. “I totally smell jurisdiction pissing match coming.”

“No, you don’t,” Tony said with a sigh. “I was NCIS for fifteen years, but I retired from the agency last year. I said that out of habit.”

“Oh.” Sandburg seemed a little bewildered by that.

“I am aware that impersonating a federal agent is...” Tony swallowed the word criminal. “Unwise, but after fifteen years, pulling my weapon triggers that response.”

“Totally. Oh man, I get it.” Sandburg was back to nodding enthusiastically enough to make his hair bob merrily. “And we owe you, so trust me, no one is going to get picky. Could we bother you to come down to the station to do a taped interview and fill out civilian arrest paperwork?”

“I didn’t technically arrest him,” Tony said dryly. The suspect had firmly outrun him. Even now, Tony could feel the constriction in his lungs—the burning he always endured when he tried to get a plagued-damaged body to react the way he wanted it to.

“You scared him into running face first into a patrol officer, so I think this counts as your collar,” Sandburg said. “After all, Collins would have helped the guy up, dusted him off and sent him on his way if you hadn’t been yelling for Collins to arrest him.”

“I’m not impressed by Collins.” Tony didn’t say that he would rate his own performance slightly lower than Collins, and the only reason the thief got caught was because he was a paragon of incompetence. At least Collins could catch and hold onto an armed felon.

Sandburg leaned close. “None of us are. My partner is ready to shove him head first in a mail box, and not one of the big ones,” he said in a mock whisper. “So, will you come down and help out with the mountain of paperwork?”

Tony felt a new kind of restriction in his chest—this one having to do with the fear of the unknown. Lots of cops asked someone to come in before pressing charges for something like impersonating a federal agent. Tony wondered if Gibbs would come to his rescue for something that stupid. Probably not. He looked toward the end of the alley. “My daughter—“

“Oh, yeah.” Sandburg turned that way, putting his back to Tony. Either he didn’t consider Tony a threat or he had a hell of a lot of confidence in his own ability to defend himself. Sure, the patrol officers had taken most of Tony’s weapons, including both his guns, but Tony wasn’t a fluffy bunny, not even unarmed. 

Sandburg turned back. “We should rescue Dahlia from her. She is a handful, and as a former child handful myself, I know one when I see one. What’s her name?”

“Tali,” Tony said.

“Tali. Hebrew for ‘dew.’ Awesome name.”

That shocked Tony temporarily speechless, but then with a name like Sandburg, the guy could be Jewish himself. Tony wasn’t sure why that bothered him, but it did. Then again, everything bothered him today.

“So?” Sandburg asked, a childlike hopefulness in his voice. Tony nodded. He didn’t actually have a choice, not unless he wanted an adversarial relationship with the CPD. Worse, the perp would probably walk unless the DA had a statement from Tony. He felt bad enough that his mis-identification of his own status would create an opportuny for a good defense attorney—or even a mediocre one. 

“Awesome. Like I said, we owe you. Totally. After we get your statement, I’ll take you out for a congratulatory steak dinner, or if you like your arteries, there’s a seafood place with all fresh produce and seafood. It’s to die for.” Sandburg chatted away. Tony had the feeling that most people relaxed in the face of Sandburg chatter, but Tony’s guts were getting more tangled with every passing second.

He walked faster, passing Sandburg in his hurry to get to Tali. Before Tony got there, Tali’s body went stiff, her fists grabbing the patrol woman hard enough that she started. Two seconds later, Tony was there, grabbing Tali out of the woman’s hands and pressing her against his own chest.

“Abba,” Tali said, either in protest of how tightly Tony was holding or out of her own fear—Tony wasn’t sure which.

“We caught the bad guy,” Tony said. Knowing his daughter, the idea of winning a fight would soothe her better than any lullaby. 

“Abba is fast,” Tali said happily.

Tony grunted. He wasn’t, but he liked knowing his daughter idolized him enough to overlook his shortcomings. A tall man with a receding hairline and impressive scowl strode through the crowd of officers—far too many for one scene. Tony understood that officers tended to congregate because there was safety in numbers, but this was ridiculous. But the newcomer stood out from all the others. He didn’t look like Gibbs in any way, but something still set off Tony’s Gibbs-alert, which just pissed him off. If no one was going to be around to get as protective as Gibbs, Tony sure as hell shouldn’t have to deal with the attitude, and the newcomer had attitude.

Then Sandburg was there, stepping in front of Tony. “Jim, this is Tony DiNozzo, retired federal agent. Tony, this is Detective Jim Ellison, lead detective and deputy captain of our Major Crime unit. Now Jim, Tony helped us out, so none of your standard hating all feds just because they’re feds routine.”

Detective Ellison blinked, obviously caught off guard, and then Sandburg was ushering Tony past him, hurrying him toward a waiting sedan. Tony expected Ellison to call after them and order them back. After all, no captain, not even a deputy one, liked to get called out by a subordinate, but Sandburg got them to the car without any protest.

“He’s a good man—grumpy as a bear with a sore paw, but he is not unique in that. The department is full of grumpy people, and when I try and get them to meditate or do something to address their serious emotional imbalance, it’s like trying to pull wisdom teeth without the Novocaine. You’ve worked law enforcement. You have to have noticed this, well unless you are one of the victims of emotional constipation. Man, we totally should have a child seat for Tali, but we’re going to pretend she is four feet tall. You’ll be fine, won’t you Tali?” Sandburg asked as he opened the back door.

“I’m a tiger cub,” Tali announced proudly.

“I am not doubting that. Tigers are impressive, but they’re loners. You don’t want to be alone, so why don’t you be a lion cub or a wolf pup? I like wolves. They’re smart. They never take on a predator unless they have their pack with them, and they cover each other. That means they can take out prey much larger than themselves.”

“So can tigers,” Tali protested as Tony buckled her into the back seat. The fact is that Tony had driven with her out of a child seat entirely too often, but given that she survived an explosion and house fire, a car accident seemed like such a mundane threat. Now that Sandburg had pointed it out, Tony felt like a shitty father for taking Tali on so many trains and cabs without a car seat.

“But tigers get hurt and sometimes die because they don’t have a pack,” Sandburg argued. “That makes them timid hunters. They hide in shadow, and there is nothing wrong with shadows. Nope, not even a little. But wolves and lions have the advantage.”

Tony recognized Tali’s expression. She was seriously reconsidering her position on being a tiger cub. “Let’s go,” Tony said as he walked to the passenger side front door. He wanted to get this over with and deal with the consequences later. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to contend with anything more serious than having to buy new pajamas with Tali’s new favorite animal.

Sandburg got in and started the car. Tony waited until he had pulled into the traffic before he asked, “So, Mr. Sandburg, I don’t think I caught your official title.”

That caused a flicker of response, although Tony couldn’t read Sandburg as easily as he could most people. 

“Sorry about that,” Sandburg said. “It’s actually Agent Sandburg. I am a special liaison between the Cascade police and CID.” He smiled, and now Tony felt the deception in every cell of his body.

CID. The Army equivalent of NCIS, but one that favored active duty military personnel. Oh hell no. Tony had no idea what was going on, but if this guy was military, Tony would eat his underwear. Something was definitely rotten in the state of Washington, and Tony had landed right in the middle of it.

That’s the old DiNozzo luck showing up again. Tony glanced toward the back. Or maybe it was the David luck. Either way, Tony had a sinking feeling that he was in trouble, and he didn’t have backup on the way. He knew that feeling all too well.