A/N: I know how badly I've been doing with my writing lately and believe me I have tried several times. The muse just "ain't havin' it", to quote my fiance. Well, we have our own sort of language here in the South; what can I say? I've decided to basically write...nothing until it becomes something. This is all thanks to my lazy muse.

This is supposed to be a NCIS/Criminal Minds crossover...probably. Whenever I have the time between my other fics which I am SUPPOSED to be updating, I'll do this one (which I've been wanting to do for a while now XD). This one is centered around the episode "Baltimore", more or less.

Some people think stories never end,

But ours was just beginning.

Things have been quiet between us for a while

With no sign of that ending.

The awkward pauses are endless now

And the silence is filled with dread.

The only way we'd get along is

If one of us were dead.

~Christianna Sullivan*

Chapter One (Prologue): The Pursuit

It was a testament to how tired Tony Dinozzo was when he all but threw his keys on the floor, along with his shoes after such an exhausting day. He couldn't say that he was even happy to be back at his place, considering all that had happened lately. Granted, after a day like today, he just wasn't sure anymore...about a lot of things. He'd been wrong. Was he just seeing what he wanted to see and ignoring the signs? Looking back, there were probably some obvious signs that he missed. He'd never make the mistake of being in a position where he could be set up like that again. Hearing the phone ring, he frowned when he saw the caller ID. Unknown? He made a habit of usually answering any phone call, but this time he wasn't sure that he wanted to.

'Weird. I would've thought that it was that Navy guy again. He's been calling me for the past hour. It isn't Danny, but he has no reason to call me nowadays.'

Thinking back, he was glad he had finally made the decision to leave and move to be closer to his cousin in Virginia. He had been relatively happy in Baltimore during his time there, but that was before Danny had betrayed him. He had played it over in his mind numerous times, wondering what reasons could have possibly lead him down that path. There had to be a better reason than just money. Was he being manipulated or possibly even blackmailed? It seemed too unbelievable, but at this point there was little he thought could surprise him. Of course, he'd been wrong about a lot of things these days. In a bitter sense of irony, he found himself suddenly wishing he had thought to get another gun as he found someone in his apartment looming over him.

He wasn't sure what this guy wanted and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to make it out of this unscathed. What he did know was that he wasn't just about to sit there and go quietly. Rolling to the side he barely evaded what he now had summed up to be a pretty beefy kind of guy. So, this obviously wasn't some run of the mill burglary. If he had to make a guess, he'd have to say that this was someone after him. Well, if he escaped with his life this time around, he'd have to figure out a way to call his friend and his cousin. They could probably help him with these weird phone calls, too. Maybe he just needed to change his phone number or get another phone entirely.

He looked at the distance between his keys and the door. It was possible, sure, but that didn't mean it would be easy. This guy was easily almost twice his height, but that could be an advantage in itself. Before his plan could get too far, a meaty fist came barreling towards his face. Growing up, he had learned that it was always best to just roll with the punch and not fight it. Let the guy think he's winning and spring for the attack. Being smaller meant quicker and that meant he could probably get away faster. Sure, he had to let the guy get in a few punches, but he just had to escape at this point. Having lead the guy one step closer to his goal, he slid for his keys and his phone and ran as fast as he could. This guy wasn't too far behind, which made Tony extremely nervous. He hadn't pulled out a gun, which meant he didn't have one or he just didn't want to risk it for some reason. Either way, he meant business and that posed more questions than answers at this point. There was certainly no shortage of enemies he'd made during his time as a cop, but who would actually go through all the trouble of tracking him down? He supposed that if he survived this particular incident that he'd have to make himself a list.

Tony obviously had the advantage in terms of speed, but not enough to make it to his car, get it unlocked and started, etc. He supposed that he was just really lucky to be able to make it as far as he had. If his luck held out, he could get another phone and figure all of this out, preferably before someone else came. A restaurant would be too obvious, but he could easily lose this guy in a crowd. He wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, so to speak. He ran into the restaurant, with the guy several feet behind. He remembered, with a bitter taste in his mouth, something his ex-partner had said about chases like these. Well, he supposed it was a little out of context, but he supposed that it applied regardless.

He'd been to this particular restaurant enough times to know the general layout of the place. Some might say that it would have been easier to go out through the kitchen, which would probably be correct. However, Tony didn't exactly know his way around that particular kitchen. Casually as he could, he strolled into the bathroom and locked it behind him, leaving a particularly beefy guy to all but run into said door. Of course, the poor guy had probably never even been to the restaurant, because if he had he would've known that Tony was currently crawling out of the window. Instead, the guy waited around as Tony ran as fast as he could towards his car.

TBC…

Yeah, I want to sort of go further with this chapter, but it's only the prologue and it would take a while to get to another stopping point. *Christianna Sullivan is one of my pen names, since I basically think my name is kinda goofy...meh.

Tony is calling a few people and trying to find out who could be after him. Who could he be calling? He's gotten away from Mr. beefy-not-a-burglar-so-it-must-be-a-hit man guy, but for how long? Why is someone even after him? O_O