Chapter Two: Maybe This Is Hell

Tony sat at his desk filling out paperwork. He was the only one in the bull-pen because McGee and Ziva were out interviewing a suspect and Gibbs was downstairs visiting Abby and Ducky. Despite what Gibbs had assured him earlier, Tony was certain that he actually was in hell. He had humiliated himself in front of the whole team except Abby, and was now relegated to desk work. Paperwork. He had known he was in hell.

The thing about sitting alone doing mind-numbing paperwork was that it gave your thoughts plenty of room to wander off while you filled out stupid forms that didn't require any thought. Thoughts about how no one seemed to think less of him, even though he deserved it, and thoughts about how nice McGee's breath smelled, and how he had felt like electricity had sparked between their hands when McGee had touched him, and about how beautiful McGee's eyes were, and…

The booming voice of anger sounded in his head, telling him that he should never think such thoughts. Didn't he remember last time? it demanded again. That voice, as loud as it was, was being squelched by a more convincing voice that told him that it wasn't the same as last time, that it couldn't be the same, that his dad couldn't—

The elevator dinged, and Gibbs reappeared onto the floor, cutting off whatever thoughts were floating through Tony's head. "DiNozzo, I need you to find anything you can on a Petty Officer Ryan Gabby."

"On it, boss." Tony wiggled his mouse to get his computers attention before searching for any information that he could find on the Lieutenant.

By the time McGee and Ziva reappeared, Tony had found plenty of information on the Lieutenant. While McGee and Ziva told Gibbs what they had found, Tony set up his computer to show what he'd found.

"Petty Officer Ryan Gabby. He has a bit of a record of getting into bar fights, mostly with Army Rangers, so that's not strange. However, he and our petty officer don't appear to have gotten along. They both got official reprimands from their commanding officer for getting into a fist fight during a training session. The report was vague, so I called the CO, and she told me that from what anyone could—or would—tell they were fighting over a girl. But she had some doubts as to that being the actual cause of the dispute."

"Good work, DiNozzo. You're coming with me to interview the Petty Officer and others on base who might know what's going on. McGee, look up what you can on what these two have to fight about. Ziva, look into their peers, see what they might be hiding."

"On it, boss," Ziva and McGee said together.

Tony pulled himself up out of his chair and got his badge and gun out before following Gibbs onto the elevator.

The trip to Quantico was quiet, but painful for Tony. As they drove by the hotel on the way to the base he could almost feel the gunshot hitting him again, but he didn't show it. Once they were there, they immediately went to talk to the CO to ask where to find Gabby, and then found the petty officer in his bunk, reading.

"Petty officer, we have some questions to ask you regarding your confrontation with petty Officer Gonzalez," Tony started.

"Look, I've already told everyone this. My girlfriend broke up with me for him, and he was like my best friend. I lost my temper, but I've already apologized to him and everything. And besides, she broke up with him like a week later. Why is everybody bringing this up again? It's been like two months since that happened. You can ask anyone, we're not arguing or fighting anymore. We're back to how we were before."

"Gabby, Gonzalez is dead. His body was found this morning on a playground. Do you have anything to share with us that might help us find who did this?" Tony asked quietly.

"He's dead? I-I don't…I—is he really dead?" Gabby stammered.

"He is, now can you give us any further information?" Gibbs barked.

"Sir…what I said before…It's mostly true. Except, the real problem was that Gonzalez was…that is to say…Gonzalez was gay, sir. That's why we got into a fight. Because he turned her down, and then he told me and I felt so bad for hitting him…Agent Gibbs, I don't think anyone else knew, but our CO suspected, so she didn't press the matter. But beside that, I don't know anything. I'm so sorry." Gabby stumbled through the explanation.
Gibbs nodded. "Thank you, Gunny."

Tony walked down towards the training field to ask the others about the petty officer while Gibbs went to talk to the CO. They were practicing martial arts, and after a minute of calling at them to stop, Tony made the mistake of attempting to physically get their attention. That got him a fist into the gut. He felt a moment of intense pain, and then nothing.

Tony woke to see someone standing over him. The face was swimming, and he couldn't tell if they were trying to speak or not, and he eventually closed his eyes to quell a wave of nausea. After a few more moments, he felt someone tapping his face harshly.

"Ugh…go away, or I'll barf on you."

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to hit you. I didn't think I'd hit you all that hard anyways…"

"Stop talking. Get Gibbs."

"Gibbs?"

"Special Agent Gibbs!"

"Yessir." The person crouched next to Tony left. Tony clenched his teeth, repeating over and over again that he was not going to throw up in his head. Then the soldier reappeared. "My CO says he'll be down in a minute. I didn't mean to—"

"Stop talking! For the love of all that is holy, don't you understand what I am trying to tell you, Petty Officer?" Tony growled. The room fell into a blissful silence, where all that could be heard was Tony's ragged breathing.

"DiNozzo, what is going on?"

Before Tony could answer, the petty officer was explaining. "Sir, we were training and he startled me, so I hit him in the gut out of instinct. Not very hard…we were just training, but then he just collapsed, and—"

"Are you DiNozzo, Petty Officer?" Gibbs demanded.

"No, sir," he said, stumbling over himself.

"I didn't think so. DiNozzo?"

"He's right, boss. He didn't mean to hurt me, but, well, you know me." Tony shuddered.

"Come on, DiNozzo. Up we go." Gibbs grabbed him under the arms and started pulling him up.

"But I like it down here, boss," Tony complained as he was sat up. A sudden more violent wave of nausea flooded through him, and he put his head between his knees to fight it off.

"DiNozzo, what were you thinking? What did you expect to happen?"

"Dunno, boss. Not that." Tony swallowed back the bile in his throat.

Gibbs shook his head. He turned to the petty officers. "What can you tell me about Petty Officer Gabby?"

"Gonzalez? He is a good guy. Never causes any trouble, helps everyone else out. He is a real good marine, sir." The petty officer who hit Tony said.

"Yeah, that's exactly right, sir," answered one of the marines. The rest nodded in agreement.

"Was a good marine. He was found dead this morning. Murdered." Gibbs sounded almost bored.

"Really, sir? I can't imagine who would have killed him. He was a good guy. Only ever got in the one fight with anyone, and he and Gabby made up within twenty-four hours. Sir, I can't imagine why someone would kill him."

Gibbs nodded. "Thank you. If you think of anything, please call and tell us." He put his hands under Tony's arms again. "Come on, Tony. We've got to go." He started dragging Tony to his feet.

"Come on, boss. Can't I just stay here? I think I'm too tall to stand up. I should just stay sitting," Tony muttered, just loud enough for Gibbs to hear and no one else.

"Nope, you've got to see Ducky, make sure there's no internal damage." Gibbs led a stumbling Tony to the car and strapped him in.

"Boss, I might throw up in your car."

"Don't you dare, DiNozzo."