"Gibbs." Leon Vance's voice came from above.
Gibbs nodded and stood following the director to his office.
Once the door was safely shut Leon looked Gibbs over before speaking.
"We recovered video." He said slowly. "I will be handling processing it personally" (Translation- I won't let someone else watch, I won't let your agents horrors spread rumors through the office.)
Gibbs nodded gratefully.
"Do you want to be in the room with me?" He asked.
Gibbs nodded. To help his team he must understand. No matter how hard it got.
Gibbs and Leon stood in the room, having shooed everyone else out.
"Ready?" Leon asked. Gibbs nodded.
Tony and McGee came on. McGee was unconscious but Tony wasn't. He was fighting to free his wrists talking to McGee, asking if he was alright. The moment the door opened however,Tony stilled his eyes hard and glittering. His panic was tucked behind his usual facade.
"You know it's not polite to keep guests waiting." Tony said reclining lazily in the chair as much as the bonds would allow.
He watched Tony crack jokes and answer all the questions with twisted answers that told his captures nothing at all. Eventually they got fed up. Both men turned their attention to McGee. In that moment, when both men turned to his partner Gibbs watched the expression that flitted all to quickly across his senior field agents face.
Rage, first and foremost. Resolve. Defiance. And just a hint of fear, not for himself but for McGee.
Tony snapped something that brought both mens attention to him. Gibbs watched as it went on like this for some time. Every time they tried to turn to McGee Tony would say something to bring their attention back to him. Something to piss them off, or dangle just a hint of information in front of their noses. And he ran them in circles so skillfully they didn't catch on to what he was doing.
Gibbs would not allow himself to turn away from his agent's pain.
Gibbs watched as Tony held in the screams when they hurt him. He felt his chest swell with pride at the strength and courage of his senior agent.
When Tony mercifully passed out and they moved to McGee.
McGee, it turned out was not much help to them. Thanks to the head wound and a large dose of drugs he faded in and out as they ruthlessly questioned him.
Finally both men left, fed up. Gibbs watched later as Tony slowly came around wincing at small movements. Here, alone he let the mask fall and the pain show. But he didn't stop fighting. He tugged at the bonds, working hard to free them. He spoke in a low calm voice to McGee the whole time, keeping up a narrative.
Hours later when the door opened Tony changed again, letting the pain slide from his features. He reclined looking bored. What followed was more of the same. Tony skillfully kept most of the focus on him and away from the semi-conscious form of his partner.
Tony let the pain show, just once, when they broke his wrist. The yell brought McGee to focus on the room. Again Gibbs felt the rush of pride when his agent, hurt, drugged and confused, with no idea where he was, began fighting to help his teammate. With not thought of himself McGee fought to get free to help. A few more men rushed in to help. When McGee had begun struggling so had Tony. The room was a chaos of shouts, flailing limbs and bodies. It was in this mess that Gibbs watched the door burst inward. As S.W.A.T. was the first through the door, followed closely by Ziva and Gibbs himself. More cops poured in subduing the men. They rushed the kidnappers outside leaving the NCIS team and a few cops inside. Gibbs knew Tony was the worst off and headed for him nodding for Ziva to help McGee. He pulled out his knife and carefully freed Tony's hands.
Kneeling next to his agent he gently helped Tony bring the swollen hand forward to rest it against Tony's chest. Tony hunched over breathing in shallow gasps. Gibbs was worried for the man. "Tony." He said quietly.
When the man didn't respond Gibbs said in a more forceful voice. "Tony look at me."
The man complied but his eyes were glassy with the pain from the mens questioning.
His eyes didn't completely focus on him.
"McGee?" He panted out.
"He's fine." Ziva called to him.
"McGee." Tony said again as he began to struggle weakly to get to his partner.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs snapped.
Finally Gibbs saw his agent's eyes focus on him.
"Boss?" Tony's voice asked.
"I'm here." Gibbs answered. "I need you to focus. Tell me what hurts." He said his voice gruff with anger.
Tony's gaze however kinda faded out a bit.
"McGee?" He asked sounding confused.
"He's ok. Ziva is with him." Gibbs reassured him.
"Good." Tony said slumping back in the chair. He didn't loose consciousness, he just lost touch with everything around him. Gibbs stayed where he was supporting part of Tony's weight until the paramedics arrived and he was pushed forcibly away. Tony, when he lost contact with Gibbs, began once more to struggle wildly. Gibbs rushed in his eyes daring someone to stop him. He laid a steady hand on Tony's unwounded shoulder. Tony stilled instantly.
"I'm riding with him." He declared his voice hard, as his eyes glittered dangerously daring someone to challenge his statement.
Tony had woken on the way to the hospital. To calm Gibbs had begun speaking to the confused man.
"McGee looks like he'll come out of this better than you." Gibbs muttered to his agent in response to the intense question. "It baffles me that the two of you could get captured and held by the same men. He comes out with a head wound and a couple bruises and cuts. You end up black and blue almost head to toe, at least two broken bones, and several deep cuts." Gibbs said.
"Must be... winning ..personality..." Tony said flashing a cocky smile.
Gibbs had smiled then, glad to have this man watching his six, and glad to have the honor of returning the favor.
A/N I found this in my files tonight and wanted to share. This has been written for about a year now. I have a thing for the strong DiNozzo hidden under his personality. I might leave this or write some of the team after math healing depending on my later mood but for now I'm going to leave it. Let me know if this was any good and you want some of the healing bits...Wolfgirl