Chapter 1:

Overall View:

The day started out normal, Tony was sleeping at his computer, McGee came in thirty minutes earlier than usual, and Ziva tromped in ten minutes late apologizing to Gibbs swearing it will never happen again. But the only thing that was out of the normal was Tony hadn't moved in more than thirty minutes, he just lay there sound asleep.

"Agent Dinozzo, not enough sleep last night?" The boss asked in his passive aggressive way, signaling it was time for Tony to wake up. But nothing, Tony didn't move a muscle. Ziva glanced from Tony, to the now worried expression on McGee's face, to the face of the boss, who looked confused more than anything. McGee rose up from behind his desk and approached Tony cautiously.

"Tony?" He asked loudly, he took a few steps closer. "This isn't funny Tony; I am going to pour water on you." Still nothing as McGee inched closer, giving a glance to Ziva who was now on her feet, peering over the senior field agent. McGee reached Tony's side and looked at the boss, who was still confused looking. McGee reached over and tapped Tony lightly, who in response fell out of his chair to the floor, with nothing more than a deep breath. But when he hit the floor, he let out a grunt of pain. Ziva, McGee, and Gibbs were at his side by the time he opened his eyes.

"What's going on?" He asked.

3 Hours Earlier:

Tony's View

I opened my eyes to the sun pouring in through the dark shades. My head was pounding, and I felt sick to my stomach. Damn Rum. I thought to myself as I rose from under the red comforter. A chill hit me, and I shivered. The middle of July and I am cold. I thought to myself, again feeling a wave of sickness pass over my gut. I felt something rising in my throat, and before I knew it, I was over the toilet relieving myself of everything that was in my stomach. Which wasn't much, since the case the team had been working had lasted longer than usual, last night was the first time back in his own apartment in the past two weeks. The first real meal he had was a piece of cold chicken that had been sitting in the fridge for a week or more. Must be food poisoning. I thought to myself as lowered my now weak body on the floor. Oh well, I have to be at work in a little bit. I rose from my spot on the cool tile and trudged to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and another wave of nausea invaded my throat and I closed it quickly. Not a good idea. I thought to myself as I walked over the pantry where the bottles of water were. I carefully opened one, and began to drink it slowly, taking little sips as I began getting dressed for my day. When I was finished, my stomach had settled a little, and I felt ok to drive. But as soon as I stepped out of the door, my head began spinning and little black dots appeared in front of my vision, I leaned against the railing for support, but I eventually ended up sitting on the landing gripping white knuckle hard. When the spinning stopped, my stomach revolted again, and I threw up the water I had just finished before leaving the house. When I was finally able to straighten up my body, my neighbor was standing in front of me.

"Are you ok?" She asked in a sweet old lady type of way. I nodded my head and apologized for disturbing her. When I went to rise, she pushed me back down using my shoulders, I was too weak to reject, and her cool hands on my shoulders felt very good. "Oh my, you are burning up. You need to go back inside and lay down." She began trying to lift me up, and when my feet became steady, I assured her I was fine, and brushed past her down the stairs. I reached my car, unlocked it, and flopped down in the seat.

In what seemed like the longest drive of my life, I finally reached the office garage and parked my car. I exited my vehicle, only to feel my stomach churning again. Come on, I told myself, there is nothing left to throw up. Wrong again. Just as I thought that, I was leaning over by the back of my vehicle throwing up. In what seemed like a year, I finally straightened up, but my legs were wobbly.

I reached the main floor and trudged to my seat, happy none of my teammates where here yet, I slumped into my seat and leaned my head against my desk. Falling into a deep sleep, I only woke to feel something hard hitting me, and my teammates standing over top of me.

"What's going on?" I hear my voice ask.