Title: Valley Fever

Disclaimer: They belong to CBS and the people who make all the money off this great show, and that would definitely exclude me.

Setting:Three weeks after a case in Arizona.

Tony's Condo

The sound of thunder awakened him from his fevered dream, it was summer and storms were common in the early morning hours.

His eyes seemed sticky as he attempted to pry them open in the darkness of his room, the lightening outside flashing through the open window, making its way through the small slits of his eyes. He still felt tired, and as he finally was able to focus, he noticed the time, it was only 03:00. He still he had a couple of hours to sleep but he felt sick, a cough had developed through the night, chills and possibly a fever.

As he sat up to reach for the bottled water, which was sitting on his night stand, he felt a wave of dizziness, followed by a wave of nausea, then his feet quickly found the floor as he ran to the bathroom. He threw his head down over the toilet then emptied the contents of his stomach, which wasn't much, but it was still painful. His appetite the night before had been spoiled by a murder case, one with lots of blood, death and gore. The team would be busy today with sifting through the evidence and test results, he was sure Abby had stayed at her lab for the night, with only Bert there to keep her company.

As his shaky hand reached up to flush the contents of stomach into the sewer, he pulled humself up using the sink as his bar hold. When he established his balance at the sink he began to wash his face and rinse his mouth out with something strong, the acrid taste of the harsh bourbon and a well over its due date date pop-tart still lingered in his mouth, along with the after taste of vomit, it was a cacaphony of bad breath making combinations.

As his eyes looked into the mirror he noticed the dark circles that had formed underneath his eyes and the reddened color of his cheeks, guess I do have a fever, he thought to himself as he turned off the water and reached for the mouth wash.

He finished his business and left the small bathroom, as he walked back into the bedroom he felt notably weaker and sicker if that was possible. The storm outside was still raging, the sounds of thunder and the vibration of the room indicated that whatever was happening outside was more than just a summer storm, it was probably filled with wind warnings and tornado watches, it sounded bad.

" Guess I need to make sure I'm not about to get blown away." he mumbled to himself as he flipped the television on and changed the channel to a local weather station, turning the sound up slightly so that he could hear from the bed. He was tired though, bone tired, weak and regardless of what type of weather was going on outside the desire to sleep won the battle and he drifted back off as he lay on top of the sweat stained sheets.

NCIS

Bullpen

07:30

Gibbs sat his desk waiting for his team to arrive, a team he had directed to be at the office early to go over the details of the new case, a case involving a murder of not only a marine but the family included, even the dog. He was concerned that they had happened upon a serial killer, it had all the markings, even down to items missing for each member of the family, trophies for the killer. He needed his team, he needed to get to work, this was going to be a rough one, for all of them.

He glanced at his watch again as the elevator chimed, they were finally here, he looked up to see Ziva and McGee but Tony was notably absent.

"I told you McGee, he was acting weird last night, Tony had a date." Ziva was angry at her partner for telling them he needed to get home to feed his cat, he didn't even have a cat.

Tim reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty, " Guess I won't give him the benefit of being honest with us again." Tim sat down his things at his desk then walked around to his computer, quickly booting it up so that he could get started on what would be a very busy day.

Ziva pocketed the twenty and also took a seat, wanting to get on with the day, seething inside that Tony was probably still with whoever he took to bed the night before.

Gibbs didn't even ask, he knew they didn't know where their partner was from the conversation, so why even ask. He stood up to give them the file when he again heard the elevator chime

and out walked his second in command, looking rather apologetic.

"Decide to join us DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, wanting to move on with the case.

"Sorry boss." The only words he spoke but even they were raspy and a slight cough escaped his throat, his team members all looked at him as he had contracted the plague again. He waved them off though, and took a seat.

As Gibbs approached his senior field agent he noticed several things about the man who was running late, first were beads of sweat on his forehead, the other were reddened cheeks and the third was the sound of audible wheezing in Tony's chest.

"McGee, Ziver, I need all the information you can muster on Gunny Sargent Allen Taylor, his friends, his enemies, his barber ,his dog's barber, I want everything!," he commanded in his best military voice.

"DiNozzo, with me!" he motioned for his second to follow, which without question he did.

Gibbs took the stairs, he knew if Tony was having a major problem that he would be short of breath before they reach the autopsy lab and he was, but he attempted to hide it but it was no use, Gibbs could hear him wheezing.

"Boss, need to go to the head." he said in a winded voice as they reached the autopsy bay.

"First, let's see Ducky, then you can go, we have a case." he wanted Ducky to hear what he was hearing, wanted him to see what he was seeing and he knew Tony was attempting to ditch him and find a way to get back to his desk to a hidden inhaler Tony had stashed away in his desk years ago.

Tony reluctantly followed but he quickly heaved in a good breath before entering, silently wishing to himself that the wheezing would automatically stop, but instead it got louder in the enclosed autopsy room.

Ducky was facing the table with the dead Gunny's wife laid out, her autopsy was the last one and the most brutal, her body ravaged by the killer. Palmer was assisting , his back also turned but within minutes the sound of Tony attempting to get his breath had caught their attention and both men turned to find their frined bent at the middle, his face evidence of the difficlty he was having getting in a good breath.

"Anthony, are you okay son? You sound horrible!" Ducky had already made it over to Tony's side and guided him to the next room, the one where all the dead bodies were neatly stowed away out of sight.

He thought about lying, it would have been easier than telling the truth but he felt horrible, actually he hadn't really felt this bad since he had the plague, he needed to tell Ducky the truth.

"I have a cold, I think." the words seemed simple enough but the smell of the formaldehyde clinging to Ducky and Palmer's clothes caused his nausea to raise its ugly head again and he was looking for the trash can, which Ducky quickly found for him.

"Palmer, get me my medical bag from the office." he directed as he and Gibbs held onto to Tony's shoulder as he continued to vomit into the trash can, but the medical examiner quickly noted that the contents of Tony's stomach was mostly clear fluid and gastric acid, a sure sign th at Tony had been vomiting prior to this episode. He was probably in need of fluids as evidenced by his dry skin and pale color.

"Are you in any pain Anthony" Ducky asked as he pulled out his stethoscope when Palmer returned to his side, taking Ducky's place holding onto Tony.

"My lungs feel like they're on fire." he was able to get out between the dry heeves.

Ducky listened carefully to each lung field and noted the raspy sounds of course rhonchi as well as the tight wheezing sounds emininating from Tony's lungs. He looked over to Gibbs and shook his head, there would be a fight but they would have to win it, Tony needed a hospital.

"My dear boy, you are having a breathing problem, something that needs immediate attention from the sounds of your lungs." Ducky started, Gibbs stood ready to chime in at any moment but they were both surprised when Tony spoke.

"I do need a hospital." It was almost a plea. His head now resting against the cool metal of the storage unit.

Palmer knew what to do next and he moved into the office to do it, he dialed 911, Tony needed a breathing treatment and fluids as soon as they could get them started.

"Tony, when did the symptoms start?" he asked, remembering that Tony was acting strange at the crime scene the night before, the cool rain and the late night hours were probably didn't help his condition, he felt like a fool for not noticing.

"Last night around supper but worsened during the night." he admitted, wondering even to himself why he was being so forth coming with information? His only other thought was he msut be sick.

Gibbs and Ducky quickly made a table available for Tony to lie down on, to rest his tired form. That's when Ducky notice the blue tint to Tony's lips and the rash that was developing on his neck and face.

Palmer reappeared with an oxygen tank, the tubing and a face mask, then quickly he set it up for his friend. When the O2 mask was put in place Tony started to appear less cyanotic around the lips, he seemed to be doing slightly better. Ducky reached down and turned the oxygen intake to five liters, a rather high number but it was effective in relieving Tony's shortness of breath.

"What is it Ducky? What's wrong with me?" Tony asked as he closed his eyes, Gibbs strong hand on his shoulder giving it a squeeze.

"I'm really not sure but I assure you Anthony that we will find out soon with the assistance of your pulmonologist Dr Pitt." Ducky attempted to ease the young man's fears as he continued assessing his patient. He found a thermometer then placed it into Tony's ear and waited for the number to appear and when it did it even surprised the forensic doctor, one hundred and four point two."Oh dear, we do need to get you to a hospital soon."

Gibbs looked down at the reading on the aural thermometer and knew that it wasn't going to be good for his agent, his friend, but with Tony things were never easy.

Reviews are always welcome...more to come tomorrow. Also. How about another chapter of Relapse? It's about time.