hey everyone .. I know it was kind of confusing .. i ment to put up the 1st chapter with it but my computer malfunctioned so yea .. here's chapter 1 . r&r =]

Something was wrong with Tony. He just knew it. It started to show the day after his concussion a few months back but this most recent last week hospital trip seemed to trigger it. Whatever 'it' was. The day Tony got out of the hospital from the suspect hitting him over the head with a brick; again, he was back to his normal up-beat self, but a few days later things started to go south again. Tony's been more sarcastic, more disdainful that he nearly bit off Ziva's head yesterday in Abby's lab. Something was wrong with the senior field agent, and it showed so much even Palmer asked what gives. Thinking back to the day Tony started to get like this, Gibbs tried to think of everything that could have made his agent like this. It started towards the middle of the day, 2:57 to be exact, so it couldn't have been his normal head slap. He knew it wasn't McGee. Tony and he were actually getting along good that day. Hell, it was the first time since Kate that he brought McGee a soda from the machine as he got one for himself.

Gibbs pondered about the issue as he and his team sat at their desks and worked on finding their missing petty officer. McGee obviously wasn't the problem, nor was Abby. Come to think about it, the only people that were feeling the wrath of DiNozzo was Ziva, Director Vance and himself. Occasionally, Ducky and Palmer would be in the wake of Tony's bitter sarcastic remarks, but not the lashing outs like he gave Ziva. Sure Tony and Ziva have had their moments where Gibbs thought he might have to take one or both to a hospital because of a fight but never, not once had he seen Tony so beyond in his own anger and fury that Gibbs himself was speechless. Leroy Jethro Gibbs is never speechless! He let his mind run back to the argument in the lab as he watched his team.

Flashback

The team was downstairs in Abby's lab, while McGee and Abby tried to decrypt the lock code petty officer Lance Baker kept on his computer. Gibbs was listening half amused, half irritated to McGee ramble on and on about what he and Abby did to fix the code.

"McGee!" Gibbs finally stated loudly, telling him to get to the point.

"Right, Boss. Umm…so here is what's inside. It seems to be a diary of some sort. It's telling us about abusive attacks he's gone threw in the past 2 years. The most recent entry is dated last week on Tuesday." McGee said as Gibbs leaned over his and Abby's shoulders and looked at the computer monitor. Ziva was looking at it over the plasma, while Tony was looking at the bullet casing they had found at the scene. "It states about how his attacker 'C.A.T.', as he names him, would beat him with what ever he had in hand. This time he says that he used his belt. But he doesn't mention the man's name so we don't know who his attacker is yet."

Gibbs looked at the plasma between the two screens before turning back to McGee. "His co-workers were saying that he had been acting weird lately and that he looked so worn and tired that he could barely stand at times"

"So Tony, you could relate to the whole she-bong, yes?" Ziva said with a teasing voice.

She was met with dead silence.

Except for the glass container that the casing was in, hitting the table with a ringing of pings.

Turning around, she was met with 3 faces that confused her. She saw Abby having looked absolutely mortified, and McGee who was looking around at Gibbs and Abby with the same confusion as Ziva. Gibbs had two emotions trying to win over his face. Horrified and rage. Horrified won his face, but the rage was pure in his eyes. Looking from Abby and McGee to Gibbs, she finally looked at Tony, and what she saw made her physically take a few steps back.

His face was cold, black with fury and his mouth thrown into an angry snarl. His normally brilliant green eyes were deep dark emerald with hatred and rage surging threw them. His hands went from relaxed to a gripping fist so tight his hands turned white.

"And what's that suppose to mean, Officer David?!" Tony voiced dark, poisonous words that flowed out as he took a step forward, making Ziva take three back.

"Tony that's not what I meant...I-I-" Ziva stammered as she looked down at the floor, unable to hold his steady glare. She had never seen him like this, not even in interrogations.

"You what? Thought I would relate because of what? My father?! Yea, I guess your right." Ziva was running out of space that was between her and Abby's glass refrigerator. Seeing this must have snapped Gibbs out of his horror because he finally walked up behind Tony.

"Tony!" he yelled in shock as Tony took a step closer. Tony was one of those people that you need to drug to get personal information like that out of.

"I do know what it's like to be beaten."

"Hey! DiNozzo!" Gibbs growled. This was getting too personal for his liking and he knew, a gut feeling or something deeper, that this was just the very tip of the iceberg.

"To be whipped."

"Tony, please! Stop!" Ziva huge wide fearful eyes looked back into his cold rage filled eyes as she asked in the most pleading voice any of them have ever heard. Gibbs knew what she was thinking. He was going to hit her, physically, and right now, Gibbs thought so too.

"To be so close to death that you beg, pray for mercy from God that this last hit that you receive will set yourself free of this torture and leave the world for good." Ziva now had her back to the glass and Tony only a few feet away.

"I'm warnin' you DiNozzo! Back off!!" Gibbs growled as he grabbed him by his shoulder and jerked him back only to have Tony shove his hand off forcefully and took a step forward once more.

"Or did you think I related to him because of who was doing it to him? Having someone that you look up to and worship, only to have them chain, or cuff or tie you to the bed or the table, the shower head or leave you on the floor and beat you with whatever they had on them. Belts, a whip, butt of a gun, wood, and bricks, bare handed, or my very personal favorite, stomping and punching. And laugh as you dark red blood seeped out of the deep cuts and leave you there until you pass out." He now had Ziva pinned to the glass but wasn't physically touching her, mere inches between them.

"GODDAMNIT DINOZZO!!" Gibbs roared as he tried to pull him back once more, with both hands, only to have Tony tear away from it again, almost knocking him to the ground.

"Don't you just love almost getting kicked to death at 3 o'clock in the goddamn morning because you folded the napkins wrong for tomorrow's breakfast at the age of 5?" Tony said as he leaned in close to her tear stained face as he said it. This statement made everyone in the room physically freeze. A chill ran down Gibbs back as the pain of the true event was clear in his voice. Tony never spoke about his past except the slips here or there, not even to Abby. Tony didn't talk about his childhood, so to hear what he said was big. "I know I do." Deep, deep sarcasm dripped of his venomous whispered words and he stood up straight and turned to leave. Stopping at the door, he turned to see them all looking at him with shock, concern, and fear and, well, mostly the fear and shock. "Oh and in the diary, 'C.A.T,' stands for Captain Aaron Taylor. The only personal with those initials in command of Petty Officer Lance Baker and that's what some officers call him. And Ziva, its shebang not she-bong." And with that, Tony turned and stalked out of the lab, opting for the stairs and was gone in a flash.

Abby and McGee looked at each other before looking at Gibbs, who, for the first time since McGee's first collar, was in complete shock. Gibbs looked at them for a moment in return, mouth slightly open, before all turned towards Ziva who was staring after Tony. After what seemed like hours, but was only a few seconds, Ziva crumbled to the ground and let out a shaky, sobby breath no one knew she held. He helped her up but with a glare in his eyes as he did so.

"Ziva, thou I don't know what the hell is up with DiNozzo that was beyond a Probie mistake. You don't want people prying into your background, so don't do it to others. You hear me?" with a shaky nod, he gave a sharp nod of his own and walked out the door leaving Abby, McGee and Ziva with their thoughts.

Gibbs remembered when they came back up to the squad room and Tony was nowhere to be found. Gibbs went over to his desk and sat down with a heavy sigh. That's when he saw Tony's note.

Gibbs –

Went out to get coffee and a Caf-pow!

Be back in 10

If we catch one – call

DiNozzo

Gibbs knew then this wasn't the end, only the every beginning of Tony's rage. Or as Tony would put it, the opening credits - credits. Tony never signed with Gibbs' last name. Always 'Boss', never 'Gibbs'. EVER! A few minutes later, he told McGee and Ziva to go home and catch some sleep. He also told Ziva to take an easy and reminded her to watch what she says, because next time could be worse. With a nervous nod, Ziva left with McGee close behind. After a minute he told them to leave, he headed to the bathroom. Upon coming around the corner to his desk, he heard the ding of the elevator and smelled the sweet strong scent and realized Tony was back. Turning more quickly around the corner, his hope was dispensed as he saw that there was a steaming cup of hot black coffee on his desk and Tony's jacket and bag gone.

Down in the lab…

Abby was still in shock about the whole Tony thing that she need some music. She had never, ever seen Tony like that. Not even when he was framed for murder. Three times. If it were her, Abby would have taken off that FBI agent's head! Entering the second part of the lab, she threw out her last Caf-Pow and hit the play button. But didn't miss the ding of the elevator. Exiting threw her sliding door; she looked around but saw no Gibbs, McGee or Ziva. Or Tony. But as she turned towards her computer monitor, she spotted an extra large Caf-Pow filled to the top and a note.

Abbs –

I'm sorry you had to see that earlier. I'll make it up to you.

8 extra, extra large Caf-Pow's and ticket

To the Alice in Chains concert this weekend

Pinky Promise!

– Tony

Abby smirked to herself. He always knew how to cheer her up after he did something that might upset her. Always.

End of Flashback

And now, Gibbs sat there looking over his team as they did their work. Tony had been right. 'C.A.T.' stood for Captain Aaron Taylor. He had no clue as to how Tony put that together, they'd only seen the Captain once and that was to gather the room number of the Petty Officer but he was right. They also found his dead body, hung in a slip knot in the basement that the Captain had kept him in. When they brought him in the next day, Gibbs had considered letting Tony in there to shake him up first before he himself went in, but he needed him alive to answer questions, not in the morgue getting dissected by Ducky. But for some surprising reason, Tony had asked him, in a reserved, restrained voice, if he could have 2 minutes with the guy. Gibbs thought to himself that 2 minutes wasn't enough time to get a confession or to kill him before he got into the room, so he agreed. 2 minutes. Only.

As Tony had walked into the interrogation room with the folder in hand, Gibbs, Ziva and McGee watched silently from behind the window.

"Come on Sir! You have nothing on me. Why am I still here?!" The Captain had said as Tony sat down, not yet making eye contact. "Oh so the All High and Mighty Gibbs is sending in second in command to deal with me to 'soften' me up is it? Pathetic!" He had spat with sarcasm

Tony looked up to him and stared him straight in the eyes and leaned back in the chair. Crossing his arms, he'd stared down the Captain and said nothing.

"Oh yea, like I haven't seen this before! I'm not going to crack under the pressure of your glare!" The Captain had yelled. Gibbs sighed and looked at his watch. 30 seconds down, 1 and a half minutes to go. "And you think that I'm just going to say 'Yea, I did it! So what?!' but news flash buddy, not going to! Want to know why? Because I'm smarter then that. You have no evidence that I did it! You put his body there!"

Tony raised one eye brow before tossing the open folder on the table, letting pictures of his belt and keys, the Petty Officer's bed, covered with blood, and 2 other pictures fell out. Gibbs brow knitted to together with a frown, knowing there was only 3 pictures in that file. Aaron had looked up at Tony with a shocked and feared expression on his face.

"Look, I just needed to whip that damn boy into shape! I didn't think I'd get addicted to the punishment I was giving him! But he was a problem! Someone had to teach him to respect! That boy was a wimp! He needed to toughen up!"

"Write it!" Tony's barking growl made him jump as he stood up and slammed the legal pad and pencil down on the table. "Did you really think we had nothing? Come on! Were not the FBI or CSI! We're NCIS damnit!" Tony said in his face, up and personal. "We get things done so pieces of shit like you don't get to keep your life and the ones you took from that family. And one more thing…Don't call me Sir." He walked out of the interrogation and back to his desk. Gibbs looked down at his watch with another shocked/amused expression. 1 minute and 57 seconds. Damn. Gibbs walked out of the window room and into the interrogation where Captain Aaron Taylor was writing on the pad. Looking up at Gibbs, he stopped momentarily before going back to work on the pad. Gibbs picked up the pictures and had to smirk, in a sad, knowing way. One was of Petty Officer Lance Baker, hanging from the ceiling with the ladder knocked over. The other was Lance Baker hugging his wife of 13 years and 5 year old daughter. Underneath that picture, Tony had written a short message. Sweet and to the point

'How are you going to tell that poor little 5 year old girl that you made her father commit suicide and she'll never see him again?'