#a faint hint of Father/Son Gibbs/Tony

[cozycrimesolving]

Trust (Jimmy Palmer x Reader oneshot)

I couldn't think of a better title oh no

Other relationships: Tony DiNozzo & Reader, Jethro Gibbs & Tony Dinozzo

Warning: Violence and slightly gruesome implications (nothing you wouldn't see/hear on the show), also some bits might not be super realistic and a little cliche but i mean they were fun to imagine lol Note: This is an AU where Tony's still a homicide detective and the reader is his partner. Everything else is pretty much the same. Set sometime around season 2 since Jimmy is working at NCIS. also, (F/N) = full name wheeew this one went on longer than I intended. hope you have fun! ------------------

THUD!

  Jimmy flinched and stared at the evidence that was slammed into the desk in front of him. The young detective across the table glared into his eyes and spread the pictures and info out for Jimmy to see. With all they had against him, Jimmy admitted to himself that it looked bad.

  “So, Jimmy Palmer,” the detective said. “I’m Detective Anthony DiNozzo. I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but considering you killed a man, it’s really not. Now, it’s really late and I’d like to go home and catch an airing of Top Gun so let’s not waste time.”

  Jimmy recalled what Agent Gibbs told him. 

“Don’t say a word, Palmer!” Gibbs said, “When they say they can and will use anything you say against you, they mean it.” 

 “Using your right to remain silent, eh?” Detective DiNozzo asked. “Why don’t I go first then? It says here your occupation is… ah, right, you’re an autopsy gremlin. Bet that gives you a pretty good knowledge of the human body and ways to kill someone, doesn’t it, Palmer?” 

  Jimmy shifted in his seat as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. 

  “Did you get tired of the criminals who get to live? Decide to take matters into your own hands? Bet you just couldn’t take it when Dirk walked free after everything he did to those poor families. You were disgusted and angry, rightfully so I admit, but in a lapse of judgement,” Tony slammed his hands on the table and Jimmy near jumped out of his skin, “You grabbed him and cut into an artery with this!” 

    Jimmy couldn’t help but stare at the scalpel thrown in front of him. 

  “Was that your idea of justice, Palmer? Did you enjoy watching him bleed out until he crumbled in front of you like a dry twig?”

  Jimmy swallowed and forced himself to look anywhere but at Tony. Sick butterflies were swarming in his stomach, and he knew the color draining from his face wasn’t doing him any favors. He knew Gibbs would try his best to get him out of this, but with all the evidence, could Jimmy really blame him if things didn’t work out and Jimmy ended up in jail?

   Another startling thought occurred to him. If he did go to jail, could he even survive an hour, let alone however many years he was sentenced? What if he was put away for life? Isn’t it bad news if you’re law enforcement? What if his cellmate was someone he’d helped put away? What if all the people there were people he helped put away? What if he was executed!?

   Jimmy was snapped out of his thoughts when another detective entered the room and whispered something in Tony’s ear. Jimmy was mesmerized in an instant. He wasn’t sure if it was just his current lack of emotional stability, but he couldn’t help but stop and think she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Something about her very presence was comforting. 

   She must be the good cop, he thought, 

 DiNozzo sighed. “(Y/N), stay with this guy. I’ll take care of his boss.” 

   As Tony got up to leave, Jimmy couldn’t hide that he felt a bit relieved.

 “Hi. I’m Detective (F/N),” she said, “I’d like to ask you a few more questions while my partner talks to your boss.” When Jimmy said nothing, she continued, “Gibbs seems like an honorable man. If he trusts you, there must be something to it. Care to explain your side of the story, Mr. Palmer?”

   “Not a word!” Gibbs’ voice echoed in Jimmy’s mind. 

  “Uhm, well,” Jimmy heard himself say, “I, I-I had heard a commotion, and, uhm, when I got there, he- he was already stabbed. I-I only kneeled down to, to try and help him. That’s all! He was bleeding out, I had to do something.”

   (Y/N) raised an eyebrow as she looked into his eyes. Jimmy felt different butterflies in his stomach and scolded himself for having a crush at a time like this. 

  “You wanted to help him?”

 Jimmy, against the mini Gibbs’ protest in his head, replied, “See, uhm, I’m in med school and I-I wanna be a doctor. We, we don’t label our patients as ‘good guy’ or ‘bad guy’... A patient is a patient no matter who they are or what they’ve done.”

  The detective seemed to be considering his answer. “I see.” She bit her lip and studied the evidence in the table. Jimmy noticed a familiar look of doubt and hesitation on her face, one he often wore at work despite Doctor Mallard’s reassurance that his input mattered. Then, that look was replaced by one of shock as she stopped at one of the crime scene photos.  

  Wow, her eyes were breathtaking.

  “Call me crazy,” she whispered, “but… I think I believe you.”

———————

  Meanwhile, Tony came face to face with an angry, silver-haired man at the front desk. Tony introduced himself and decided to go straight to business. “Sir-“

 “Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. Naval Criminal Investigative Service. I want my man released,” the older man said before Tony could finish.

 “Well, ‘Special Agent Gibbs’, I’m sure as a navy cop you’ve got good judgement but I’m not releasing your man just because you ask. I want to see his innocence in big blinking letters.” Tony made what he thought to be blinking motions with his hands. “As much as I respect a brother in law enforcement, I can’t ignore that my gut tells me your guy is involved somehow.”

   Gibbs seemed almost amused. “Oh yeah, Detective?”

  “Yeah, and your guy isn’t going to be released until we can figure out just what it is he knows, so you can march yourself on out of here and let the ‘little guys’ handle this. I don’t think this quite counts as your jurisdiction anyways.”

  Gibbs didn’t answer right away. Tony could read a hint of concern on the man’s face as he stared past him, toward where Jimmy was held. “Your gut telling you he’s guilty?”

  It was Tony’s turn to take a moment to answer. “If he’s innocent, I’ll make sure the kid gets back to you, I promise.”

   There it was again, something that seemed like amusement in the older man’s eyes. Tony didn’t know what to make of it. 

 “You keep him safe, DiNozzo,” Gibbs said. “He’s a good kid.”

    ———————

  “You- you believe me?” Jimmy asked with hopeful eyes. 

  (Y/N) bit her lip in concentration again. She squinted at something in one of the photos, then looked over Jimmy’s personal file. “We may have overlooked something when we arrested you. You were pretty distracting,” she thought out loud as her lack of experience in interrogations began to show.

  Jimmy felt flustered. He didn’t hear much of what she said for the next few seconds. A beautiful woman found him distracting? He knew what she really meant by that and shuddered to remember the girlish screams he had made during the arrest, but he also knew he was crushing hard and that meant his intelligence was dropping fast. “You can’t have a schoolboy crush on someone who’s about to arrest you, Palmer!” Gibbs shouted in his head. “If I could slap your head I would!”

  “Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Jimmy said out loud without thinking.

  (Y/N) looked up. “Pardon?”

  “Uhm!” Jimmy felt his face flush. “I-I- th- uh-“ he tried to get his dumb, mouth to speak, “No- uhm- what, what were you saying?”

 Jimmy heard the cutest soft giggle he’d ever heard. “I was saying I noticed how many cases you helped close already and I was impressed by your career?”

   Jimmy died a little. He must have looked like an arrogant fool. “Oh! Uhm!”

   She smiled, “don’t worry, I could tell you spaced out. I think you may be innocent.”

  “What- why?”

  “Well, call it a stretch, but you’re right-handed, and his injury looks more consistent with a left-handed assailant. Plus, you just…” She paused and looked him in the eye. He felt like he was gonna melt into a puddle. “You don’t have the eyes of a man who just killed someone.”

   Jimmy sputtered out gibberish. Before he could say actual words, Tony swung the door open.

 “(Y/N), let’s talk,” Tony said and nodded towards the hall behind him. 

  (Y/N) offered Jimmy a small, apologetic smile and followed Tony outside. As soon as the door closed behind them, Jimmy let his face hit the table with a soft thud in exasperation.

————————

 “What do you think?” Tony asked once they were alone.

 (Y/N) considered her answer. “He didn’t do it. If he has any involvement, it’s not intentional on his part.”

 Tony sighed. (Y/N) could tell he had more to say, but instead he studied the floor. He leaned back against the wall and stayed in thought for a moment. “Okay,” he said with a light shrug. “What do you think we should do?”

  The younger detective’s eyes widened. “You’re asking me?”

 “Well,” Tony said with a small grin, “you are my partner. As much as I like working solo, when you have a team, you work as a team. You haven’t bounced an idea around in a while and any good detective needs experience. So, what do you think we should do?”

  “I don’t, I don’t know. Did you talk to his boss?”   Tony didn’t miss the deflection, but he still answered, “Yep. Says he’s a good kid. I see it too, but unless we can prove otherwise, I don’t think ‘he’s a good kid’ is gonna work any wonders with a judge.” (Y/N) nodded. “Good point.” She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. “ Actually, I did see something… it’s not much, but I noticed that the victim's injuries are consistent with a left-handed suspect, not right-handed. Palmer’s right-handed. Also, I studied the crime scene photos and there's some things I want to double check on.”

Tony nodded, “Good enough for me. We can go check it out now.”

 “Shouldn’t one of us stay with the suspect?” (Y/N) asked.

 “I’m sure we’ll be in and out, and is he really a flight risk? I mean, kid seems too scared to move. Even if he did, I think he'd be comparable to Bambi.” He shrugged and began to walk away. “You can check on him. I’ll meet you in the car. Could ya bring the copies of the photos?”

(Y/N) realized her hands were empty. “Oh! I left them in the interrogation room! I’ll be right back.”

 “Hey, (Y/N),” Tony said as he stopped and turned around. “I just want you to know trust you, okay? I want to hear from you, and you're a good partner. I know your history and I also know that you’re a good cop. If you need time, then fine, go take time, but if you’re gonna keep being my partner, try to make it a team effort, ‘kay? Throw your ideas around like uh…” He turned again to go, but didn’t leave before finishing with, “like stories at a campfire!”   - - - - - Jimmy’s head was still on the table when (Y/N) walked back in. “Mr. Palmer?”

 He jumped in his seat and lifted his head to see the young detective. “It’s okay! I never get sick! I was only on the table for a second, I’ll take vitamins!” “Excuse me?”

 Jimmy was screaming inside. “S-Sorry, no, I meant, uh, I’m ready for more, um, interrogation!” “I’m actually just here to grab these files. Shouldn’t have left them here in the first place.”   “Uh, let me help!” Though still handcuffed, Jimmy reached for the files and attempted to scoop them up for her, which of course ended up in him dropping the files and then trying to pick them up off the floor. Despite (Y/N) saying it really was fine, he still tried and in all the fuss, he hit his head on the table. With a short cry and a hiss he dropped all the papers and winced. (Y/N) winced with him, “Are you okay? I can get ice from the break room.”

  “No no no no no,” he said, “That’s, that’s fine! Just a little bump. Maybe a bruise. Nothing, nothing serious!” “If you’re sure,” (Y/N) said. “Would you like me to at least uncuff you? I don’t think you’re a danger, except maybe to the table.”

  And to my own pride, Jimmy groaned in his thoughts. “Uhm, yeah, sure. Thanks.”

  (Y/N) slipped a key out of her pocket and walked to his side of the table. She came closer. Jimmy felt himself blushing again as he felt her smaller, gentle hands on his large shaky ones. His gaze then found her face and it wasn’t long until he was lost in her eyes again. For a few sweet seconds, he forgot he’d been arrested and couldn’t stop a huge goofy grin from spreading on his face. 

  “There,” she said. “I’ll be back.”

  “Wait, Detective, can I say something?” Jimmy asked before he knew what he was doing.

  She stopped and looked back at him. “Yes?”

 “Um, thank you. Thank you for believing me. I, I feel better knowing that, that a good detective like, li-like you is trying to help me. I really do.”

  Jimmy noticed a hint of a smile on her face and the faintest blush on her cheeks. 

 “I’ll do my best.” 

———————

  It had all happened so fast. (Y/N) shrank behind a wall and noted in dismay that she only had two shots left. Should’ve reloaded when I had the chance, she scolded herself. Heavy footsteps began to approach her and she felt panic rise inside her chest.

  “Hey,” Tony whispered beside her. “You’re gonna be fine.”

 “Tony,” she all but begged, “Don’t do anything stupid. I’m sorry I got us in this mess.”

  The footsteps drew nearer.

  “Look at me.”

  (Y/N) looked at her partner. Despite the quick first aid, his arm still bled from being grazed by a bullet. She knew there was no way they could’ve known the actual murderer would be crazy enough to show up at the crime scene so soon, but somehow she still felt guilty. For a few seconds, it wasn’t Tony she saw bleeding out in front of her. The world started to get blurry. 

  “(Y/N)!” Tony called in a harsh whisper. “(Y/N)! I’m okay! I’m okay! You’re not gonna lose me too. I don’t regret trusting you and neither did your old partner, but I need you to stay with me, okay? You can do this, trust me.”

  She opened her eyes again. Just before the murderer rounded the corner, (Y/N) heard another voice in her mind.

   “Um, thank you. Thank you for believing me. I, I feel better knowing that, that a good detective like, li-like you is trying to help me. I really do.” 

   BANG!

   (Y/N) rose back to the top of her game and jumped in front of Tony just in time. She landed her two shots and the suspect fell to the ground in a heap, crazed eyes wide. 

  (Y/N) panted. She began to feel cold and dizzy and her stomach hurt. 

 Tony reached out to catch her before she hit the ground. “(Y/N)! (Y/N) you’re gonna be okay!” He wasted no time in calling an EMT. However, he knew that they could very well be too late. Despair twisted his gut.

 “D-Detective!?” Another voice called.

 Tony’s head shot up to see Jimmy Palmer and his boss running towards them. There was no time to question it. “(Y/N)’s shot bad!” His eyes begged them for help before his mouth needed to.

  Gibbs nodded, “Palmer, you stay here. I’ll grab the kit!”

  Jimmy shifted gears and focused on (Y/N)‘s injuries. “Bullet went through?”

  Tony nodded.

 “Okay, we need to apply pressure,” Jimmy said, his voice almost devoid of emotion as he focused. He slipped off his shirt without a thought and pressed it against her abdomen. Tony put his sweater on the exit wound. 

  When Gibbs came back with a med kit, Jimmy did everything he could to keep (Y/N) afloat until she could be taken to a hospital. “You’ll be okay,” he whispered, “I-I promise I’m doing everything I can. Please just hold on, okay?”

  “Mhmm,” (Y/N) slurred.

  While Jimmy tended to (Y/N), Gibbs looked at Tony. “You good?”

 “It’s just a graze,” Tony muttered. “He better save my partner. She’s a good kid too.”

  Gibbs nodded. Sirens blared in the distance. “She’ll be alright.”

  ———————

  Days later, (Y/N) woke up to a knock at her hospital room’s door. “Yeah, come in,” she called to the best of her ability. 

  The first thing she noticed when her visitor walked in was familiar brown curls. Jimmy held a fluffy teddy bear up for her to see. “The-the uh, the gift shop was kinda limited,” he said, “this was the best I could do.”

 “You didn’t have to,” she said, though she accepted the bear with a smile. “And you didn’t have to keep visiting.”

Jimmy paused just as a nurse walked in to check on (Y/N)'s vitals. It didn't take long to do, but even in that little time and, the nurse caught the quick glances between the two and sensed there was something being left unsaid.

“Honey,” the nurse said, “your boyfriend here has been asking and asking about you and has been nothing but sweet to everyone here. You found yourself a devoted and kind man. Just thought you should know.”

   Jimmy felt his face go bright red. 

 “Oh, he’s not…” (Y/N) blushed as well, “we’re not together.”

  The nurse smiled as she finished up. “Well you better act fast then before someone steals your chance.”

  A short but awkward silence followed after the nurse left. 

 “Uh... Tony told me what happened,” (Y/N) said after the awkwardness died down. “Thank you for doing what you did for me.”

  “Oh, um, don’t mention it! I’m just glad you’re okay.” 

   (Y/N) offered him a grateful smile. Jimmy’s heart felt like it was going to explode. 

  “When, when you, uh, get out of here,” he rushed to say, “would you, maybe, uh, maybe, do you wanna go… hang out with me?” He winced at how lame he thought he sounded.

  (Y/N) smile never dropped. “I think I’d like that, Jimmy.”

  He loved the way his name sounded from her mouth. He couldn’t help the huge smile that spread on his face. 

  “(Y/N), you’re awake again!” Tony called from behind Jimmy. “Good to see you, kid.”

  “You too. I’m glad you’re okay.” She waved to Tony, despite the pain that came from the movement. As she watched her partner wave back, she noticed someone behind him. “Tony, is that Agent Gibbs?”

   “Ah.” Tony turned around to glance at Gibbs and nodded. “Yeah… there’s something I need to talk to you about.” He looked at Jimmy. “Mind if I have a more private word with my partner?”

   Jimmy shook his head. “Go ahead. I’ll, uhm, get out of your way.”

(Y/N) and Jimmy exchanged one more glance that lingered longer than either of them would care to admit.

   Once Jimmy left, Tony sat himself down on a couch held up his hands to motion as he talked. “You were right, you know. About the M.E. kid? He was used as a cover. The murder weapon was from a dissection kit we found in the bushes and fingerprints and DNA proved the kid's innocence. Palmer really fancies you, and not without reason." Tony paused to let (Y/N) soak the information. He had to stifle a laugh when he saw the gears turn and she became visibly sheepish at that last sentence he uttered. "Shucks, Tony," (Y/N) joked. "Anyway, ‘Special Agent Gibbs’ said he was impressed with both of us. So impressed, in fact,” Tony said as he slipped out a piece of paper from his jacket, “that he’s offered us a job.”

   (Y/N)’s eyes went wide. “Both of us?”

  “I couldn’t leave my partner now, could I?” Tony flashed a signature grin as (Y/N) stared in disbelief. “You wanna be a navy cop with me? All you gotta do to seal the deal is sign, apparently. Oh, and hey, Palmer works there.” 

   A light blush spread on (Y/N)’s cheeks. “Okay? Why do you mention that?”

  The knowing twinkle in Tony’s eyes was impossible to miss. “Oh, I think you know.”

#jimmy palmer x reader #jimmy palmer/reader #reader insert #Tony DiNozzo & reader #a faint hint of Father/Son Gibbs/Tony #jimmy palmer #NCIS