A/N: This story is happening during season 10, but there isn't really any spoiler in it! So umm, I think it's safe! :)

No slash. No pairing!

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. What Makes Us Human .

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It was one of those days when you hate even opening your eyes, let alone getting out of your warm cozy bed and going to work. One of those days when you aren't the only one feeling rotten; when your boss feels exactly the same way and maybe even worse.

But then again, Gibbs hadn't been in the mood for the last couple of weeks now; Tony had even started to think about adding a third 'b' to his surname; because as surly as Gibbs could be on a normal day, he'd rarely get this grouchy.

Tony supposed it was because of the time of the year;'but Shannon and Kelly's anniversary was around last week; Gibbs' bad mood should've disappeared by now.' An inner voice had argued.

But anyway, Gibbs wasn't in the mood; Tony wasn't in the mood and they had a gory case to work on. Put all those things together and you'd know why everybody was trying to avoid the MCRT's area and why every member of the MCRT, including Abby and Ducky, where either snappy or frustrated.

Gibbs would snap at anyone, he wasn't really one to hold back, but Tony was his usual target and if you didn't know better, you'd think that Tony had done something wrong to bring out the worst in Gibbs.

By the end of the day, even though they'd successfully closed the case, everyone looked even more on edge.

Tim and Ziva were sending angry glares Tony's way, blaming him for Gibbs' bad mood and Tony wasn't feeling like arguing with them. He just wanted to get the hell out of there, crawl into his bed and sleep for the rest of his life... Or the rest of the night; whatever.

When he finally finished writing his report and made sure that everything related to their case was rightly done, he gathered his stuff and realized for the first time that he was alone in the bullpen; Ziva and McGee had apparently left a while back, judging by how cool their computers felt to the touch and Gibbs... Well, he hadn't seen Gibbs for hours.

He was just about to leave when he heard Abby striding into the bullpen, "What did you do this time, Tony?" She asked petulantly.

"What?" Tony blinked, truly confused about what Abby was talking about.

"You must've done something, Tony. Gibbs is unbearable and for me to say that means it's terrible, because he's never moody when it comes to me; he's always sweet, and the past couple of days he's been... Well, he's been driving me crazy with his growls and glares. It's not like him to treat me like this."

"Why do you all think it's me? Maybe you've done something." Tony looked indignant; Abby's word had hurt.

"Me?" Abby crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Oh, please! Gibbs never gets mad at me, he loves me. Besides no one can irritate Gibbs like you can. Well, you and Vance and some few others! But not any of us."

"So I'm not one of you anymore, huh? I'm somewhere down there with Vance and those who Gibbs barely tolerates? Nice to know you think so highly of me." He growled under his breath as he shouldered his backpack and started for the elevator.

Abby's eyes widened. "Tony, I-"

"Don't worry, I'll talk to him; will make sure that he doesn't treat any one of you like dirt and would unload all his anger on me. You know, since you all are always innocent and I'm such an immature stupid jerk." That was Tony's last words before the elevator doors closed.

"I didn't mean it that way." She whispered in the empty bullpen, only then realizing how her words had hurt her friend.

...

The drive to Gibbs's place was short and that wasn't good, because it meant that Tony hadn't had enough time to calm his nerves; if he had, he'd have bought a Pizza and beers before storming into his boss' place like an angry, injured animal; he'd have tried to talk to Gibbs to figure out what was bothering him before talking about his own frustration.

But no, the drive hadn't lasted long enough; so, Tony stormed into Gibbs' house and went straight to the basement. Not bothering to descend all the stairs, he stopped halfway down and locked his gaze with Gibbs'. "I don't know what you think I've done this time, and honestly, I don't care, at this point; because I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything; but do me a favor and just redirect your anger at me, huh? Leave the others alone. I've got enough on my plate; don't need everyone else's accusations and on top of your grumpiness and everything else."

And with that, he turned on his heels and walked up the stairs, leaving a confused and irritated Gibbs alone.

Gibbs didn't like being ordered around and he sure didn't like not having the chance to talk back; so, he stormed out of the basement to catch Tony just when he was about to leave the house.

"What the hell is wrong with you, DiNozzo?" He grabbed Tony by his arm and turned him around forcefully. "You think you can waltz into my place and yell at me and then walk out?"

"What the hell is wrong with me? Have you seen yourself?" Tony growled and pulled his arm out from Gibbs' grasp.

Taken aback by the anger in Tony's eyes, Gibbs momentarily forgot his own irritation and narrowed his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Everything is just peachy."

Gibbs didn't move from his place. "Try again."

"Nothing that concerns you. I'm doing my job just fine; the way you expect it from me and then some and yet you seem to think that I'm doing a poor job and keep treating me like crap. So leave it."

"DiNozzo-"

"Nothing is wrong Gibbs, I'm just tired."

"Tired of us?" He fired at the younger man.

"Tired of being second-guessed. Tired of being treated like dirt; tired of being mocked and disrespected. Tired of being accused; of being everyone's whipping boy. Tired of being the doormat. You want more? I'm too old for this shit. One would think I've had enough of it with my father and wouldn't deserve more. Universe has an ironic view of things." With that he turned around and left the house, slamming the door behind him.

Gibbs stared at the closed door for a minute or two and then turned around and walked back to his basement. He wasn't sure why he'd been so frustrated recently; he just didn't feel like snapping out of his bad mood. And had it been any other day, he'd stop to think about Tony's words; would even try to find out why his loyal Senior Field Agent didn't have his usual carefree mask on and why he was showing his frustration so openly.

But it wasn't any other day; therefore, he just grabbed his tools and got back to work, trying to forget Tony's last words about being so tired.

Couple of hours later, when he was about to hit the sack, his phone started to ring. Cursing under his breath, he grabbed it, knowing that they probably had another case. And he'd been right; Tony was on the phone, telling him, with an icy voice, about their case and before hanging up abruptly, he'd let him know that he'd inform the others as well.

Half an hour later, they were all at the scene, doing their jobs and avoiding each other. No one liked late night cases and when Tony was quiet, moody and not ready to cheer them up at his own expense, they got grumpier.

The case wasn't an easy one and they so didn't need that in that state of mind and sure not after their last case. But it was their job and they all knew that some days were worse than the others.

Tony was the first one to snap out of his bad mood, knowing that he needed to make sure that his teammates weren't in any greater danger than usual just because they were tired and frustrated.

Once again, he decided to hide his own feelings and lighten the mood. He was avoiding the lab, though; not ready to let go of his hurt feelings and disappointment at Abby's words, but he'd tried to look less sullen and had even managed to make McGee and Ziva laugh.

Things were getting better until they went to look for a suspect and ended up with Tony sprawled on his back, blinking his eyes sluggishly, trying to focus on Ziva who was hovering over him.

"You alright, Tony?" Tim asked, and Tony realized that Ziva wasn't the only one hovering. Damn, that only meant that their suspect had escaped.

"What just happened?" He pushed himself up.

Ziva and Tim helped him to his feet as McGee answered. "We got the wrong guy. Once you walked to this corner, someone hit you in the head with a piece of wood and ran away."

"I tried to catch him." Ziva said ruefully, "But he was too fast and I was too far behind."

"You didn't lose consciousness, but you might still have a concussion." Tim said, assessing the back of Tony's head.

Tony's head was killing him, but he could say that there wasn't any blood involved. "I'm good. Did any of you see his face?"

"I did," Ziva answered. "We can look for him in our files once we get back."

Tony nodded and realized his mistake a second too late when his headache intensified, "Dammit." He massaged his temple. "Well, let's get back to the yard, then."

"You sure? You might need someone to check you for a concussion." A third voice said.

Tony turned around to find their suspect standing there, looking at them with worried eyes. 'Had he been there the whole time?' Tony didn't know.

"I've had worse." He brushed the man's concern aside. "No double vision; no nausea and no dizziness. I'm good to go, but we need you to come with us to clear a few things."

"Yes, he has a thick head." Ziva smirked.

"Hard head." Tony growled before walking away, Ziva and McGee on his tail, escorting the man to their car, all while smirking at Tony and his luck. "Man, I'm glad I wasn't the one walking ahead." Tim snickered first but suddenly stopped and groaned, "Oh, God. Now Gibbs will be even worse."

"Well, then don't tell him." Tony growled angrily, remembering Gibbs and his grumpiness which had worsened after their last night's 'talk'. Groaning, he closed his eyes, thanking God that at least Ziva wasn't behind the wheel.

Their prime suspect, Mr. Shore, now seemed to be innocent; of course they'd found another one but they weren't sure if he actually had anything to do with their dead petty officer or not. People tended to bolt and run when they heard the word 'cops' or well, 'federal agents' in their case, even if they were just on drugs. But he'd make sure to get back at this dirtbag for at least the blow he'd received.

Back at the office, it was McGee who'd spilled his guts and told Gibbs everything, including the blow that Tony had received to the head, as soon as the ex-marine had glared at him.

Gibbs being furious with everything and anything, didn't feel like dealing with Tony's whining about not wanting to be poked and prodded and decided to turn a blind eye to it and walk away, instead of insisting that Tony should see Ducky. Tony clearly didn't have any problems walking around and talking, so the blow shouldn't have been that hard. He'd keep an eye on him and if he felt that the younger man was having the slightest problem, he'd send him to see Ducky, no matter how much he whined.

As the day progressed, they sent Mr. Shore home and made sure that he knew he had to call them if he remembered anything else or if his colleague, the one who'd hit Tony, showed up at work, which was highly unlikely to happen.

Around 17.30 hours Gibbs left for another cup of coffee, feeling a headache, from their several days of none-stop working, building behind his eyes. Tony once again had gone quiet, which was probably the reason why David and McGee were back to their annoying angry selves that Tony had managed to get rid of that morning.

Walking back from the coffee shop, Gibbs thought that they all needed a few days off and as soon as the case was closed, he'd send them away for a long weekend off. He just wanted to close this case so they could all be free.

Walking quietly into the bullpen, Gibbs heard Tony growling at Tim, ordering him to shut up and get back to work.

'What the hell was wrong with DiNozzo, anyway? One minute he's his obnoxious self, the next he's annoyed and mad at everyone else.' Not knowing about Tony's killer headache, Gibbs thought angrily as he walked out of his hiding place, aiming for Tony's head to deliver a headslap. He had to order his agent to either start doing something useful or get the hell out of there and let everyone else do their jobs. They didn't need DiNozzo's frustration above everything else.

Fueled by anger, the headslap he delivered was much harder than ever and sent Tony, who was bent over to pick up his pen from the floor, forward, causing him to hit his forehead to the edge of his desk.

Tim winced when he saw this, but a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth; once again he was glad for not being in Tony's shoes.

Gibbs felt bad for fraction of a second but his anger overtook the guilt and he growled angrily at his SFA. He was about to order him to get his head in the game, when he realized that Tony still hadn't gotten back to his chair. Pausing in his track, Gibbs looked past Tony's desk and found the younger man in a heap on the floor, unmoving.

"Dammit." He growled and hurried to his side; instantly regretting the hard slap which had hurt even his own hand.

Turning Tony on his back, he winced inwardly at the sight of blood on his forehead.

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... TBC ...

A/N: So, what do you think? :)

Sorry for any mistakes.

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