Disclaimer: I don't own the NCIS characters but the LOLs Lil, Carla and Rae are all mine. Alas I am not benefiting financially from this story, it is purely for entertainment purposes.

Rating: T mainly to be safe for some bad language.

This story isn't beta'ed so please excuse my less than perfect punctuation.

A/N Once again thank-you to everyone for your response to the story. I continue to find lots of reviews and alerts in my inbox alerting me to new followers and people who have faved the story. Thank -you to all the reviews and I'm so happy that many of you liked the LOLs too. I love them but since they are my creation I might be a tad biased :D You haven't seen the last of Lil, Carla and Rae just yet either. Responding to a query that I forgot to last chapter, my bad. Chris knew about Tony's trouble because he was at the office when Tony returned there after the bomb blast. Since he was upset and Chris was his friend, it wasn't that surprising that Tony would talk toPacci. I do also want to respond to another guest reviewer but I will wait to the end of the chapter. Hope you enjoy the next chapter, everyone.

Oops, nearly forgot. Credit to Arress for Ducky's excuse. Not that I think any excuse cuts the mustard lol.

Left For Dead

Chapter 4

Ducky was in autopsy, attending to the endless paperwork that was both the scourge of his life and an imperative to ensure that the guilty received their just deserts when they had to answer for their crimes. His concentration was rudely shattered when Leroy Jethro Gibbs stormed into his domain, his face thunderous.

"I'm gonna kill him, Duck!"

The medical examiner lay down his pen and rubbed his hands across his face, not sure if he really wanted to know why Gibbs was in such a foul mood. He had a fair idea that it involved Anthony. Since the young man had been injured coming to the rescue of an unfortunate young runaway, he had battled a rather unpleasant infection which necessitated him being on the strongest of IV antibiotics and he had been keeping them all from getting any restful sleep. Thankfully, now it seemed that he'd turned the corner and as of two days ago had been transferred out of ICU and into a regular room. Even though he was doing much better, unhappily, the side effects from the drugs were taking their toll on him, still. Although everyone was finally able to breathe again, it seemed that the young man had done something else to invoke the considerable ire of his formidable boss.

"What has Anthony done now, Jethro?" He inquired cautiously. The medical examiner regarded his long-time friend with something approaching trepidation, since Jethro's young protégé had quite a talent for attracting trouble.

"I'll tell you what the damn fool has done, Duck. He's gone and signed himself out of the hospital AMA and now he's disappeared. That's what he's done and when I track him down, I'm gonna slap him silly."

The furious agent paced and as he ranted, the volume and intensity of his speech increased until he was practically shouting. Just to emphasize his point, he swept all the surgical implements that were laid out on the stainless steel trolley awaiting the next autopsy, off the stainless steel surface, with a frantic flourish.

Ducky frowned, feeling an unsettled fluttery feeling in the pit of his stomach "Oh my goodness, that was not advisable, my friend."

"Well I already know THAT, Duck. Why do ya think I'm so pissed off with him?"

Ducky nodded, swallowing hard before pointing out some home truths. "You do realise you have set an dreadful example for that young man with your own appalling habit of signing yourself out of hospital against medical advice but what would make him act so rashly? The boy is so weak, he can barely stand. I'm actually rather shocked he managed to get out of bed, let alone make it out of the hospital." He paused before regarding his friend.

"What on earth would prompt him run off, Jethro?" He glared at his friend, censoriously. "What did you do to him?"

Gibbs glared right back at him, outraged. "I didn't do anything to him, Duck. Why the Hell would you think that?"

Ducky examined his friend, who seemed genuinely miffed at Ducky's accusation. "Jethro, you must have done or said something that prompted him to run. Tell me...what was the last conversation you had with him? Tell me exactly what you said and don't leave anything out," he instructed the stubborn agent.

"Nothing, I swear Duck." Gibbs held up his hands, palms showing, in supplication. Abby called the team leader Papa Bear but truly when Ducky's protective instinct was provoked he could be ruthless; they'd all learnt never to mess with him when he was truly riled.

"I told him the Doc was thinking about letting him come home in a couple of days. He was real happy. Ya know how he hates doctors and hospitals? So I was telling him that he was coming to stay at my place when he got out of hospital, then he said he was tired and he wanted to nap for a while. He even asked the nurse for something to help him sleep and… oh damn it Duck, since when does DiNozzo willingly ask for drugs to knock him out? So what spooked him?" He stared at the elderly ME, bemused by the look of disbelief on his face.

Ducky looked at him sadly. "I rather think that there are a couple of things that might have made him run. He doesn't cope well when you are nice to him, as you will recall and you have been rather solicitous to him ever since he was injured. I'm not sure why but for some reason he cannot handle kindness from you, although he seems more able to cope with compassion and charity from myself or young Abigail. Perhaps because we make it a habit of treating him with care since he is rather fragile, despite his tough guy packaging. Then of course, there is the issue of telling him that he was going to be going home to your place. That was the most likely the catalyst, I fear."

"What the Hell's wrong with telling him he's coming home with me? He needs somewhere to stay where he'll be safe and can recover." Gibbs practically yelled in frustration. "Why would that make him run away? Tell me that."

"He is loath to appear weak in your eyes, dear boy. He desperately wants to have your respect and he thinks you are going to take him in because you pity him, and that is something he will never tolerate." Ducky looked sad and guilty, since they all bore responsibility for this mess.

"Bah, not this crap again. I told him I want him to come back to my place. Why can't he accept that I mean what I say?" Gibbs snarled.

Ducky stared at him intently. "Exactly, Jethro. And you…well we all did, in our own ways, tell him very bluntly when he came to us needing help, that we didn't want him to stay with us. It was only once he was hurt that we all extended invitations for him to come and stay with us, while he recovers. Of course he thinks the invitations has been extended because we pity him. How is he to know that it isn't pity that drives us but our own guilt? "

"Maybe, Duck but DiNozzo knows that I don't say anything I don't mean. I've never lied to him."

"But Jethro, first you told him you didn't want him in your home, twice it seems, before you changed your mind. You also preach the dictum that actions speak louder than word, yet none of us were concerned that he had nowhere to stay. We didn't even bother to inquire where he was living for those two weeks. We all just assumed that he'd found a bed somewhere. Just like Cate assumed that he couldn't afford to pay for a motel room because of his carousing and if we were all being completely honest, while it was an uncharitable thought, it had probably occurred to all of us."

He looked at his friend guiltily. "Yet how typical of Anthony to pay for a hotel suite for those rather formidable ladies, who had nowhere else to go and put his own needs at the end of the queue. He took to heart your message that your action speaks louder than words. I've been conversing at great length with the lad's Grandmothers…" Ducky was sharp as a tack and noticed Gibbs surreptitious elevation of his upper lip but he chose to ignore Jethro's amusement as he continued. "… and it seems he is quite the Angel of Mercy to his elderly neighbours. He runs messages, helps with odd jobs and makes himself available day or night to check out strange noises and suspicious strangers. It hardly fits in with his skirt chasing, joking and casual exterior does it? Listening to those women and the scores of his neighbours who have flitted in to see him since he was moved out of ICU, it seems that our boy is quite the paragon of virtue."

Gibbs looked at him, still angry, but Ducky surmised now it was most likely self- directed anger rather than wanting to strangle his senior field agent anymore. Good, Jethro needed to find Anthony and try and convince him that he should return to the hospital as a matter of urgency. He wasn't fit to be out of bed, yet. Ducky shook his head.

They had really let him down quite comprehensively. Oh he could, indeed he had, rationalised his own rebuff of Anthony's tentative approach; by telling himself that his mother would be stressed by having strangers in the house and he'd wanted to protect her privacy. Since she had become ill, her eccentricities had magnified and he was very protective of her dignity.

Yet clearly, Anthony would have been understanding and protective of Victoria too if his treatment of Lillian, Carla and Raelene was anything to go by. According to them, he'd insisted on paying extra so that they could have cooking facilities and ensured they had plenty of food while they were homeless. Oh yes, he'd assumed, when at his stage of life not to mention with his life experiences, he should have known better. Haven't you learnt the lesson yet that you don't judge a book by its cover, Donald, he chided himself sharply. Anthony had cut his teeth as a beat cop and you don't get any more grass roots or hands on that that. He was good at dealing with people from all walks of life; it was what made him such a great foil for Jethro.

Unable to quell his curiosity any longer, he asked his long-time friend the question that had been troubling him since young Anthony's injury had occurred.

"Tell me, if it isn't too private a question, Jethro; what was it that Anthony did when he stayed with you the first time that was so terrible?"

Gibbs face darkened with anger but Ducky knew that with Jethro, any evoking of emotions, even benign ones and most especially positive feelings, invariably triggered Jethro's default setting slash defense mechanism of anger. That being the case, he wasn't perturbed by the display, nor was he put off either, which he suspected may well be Gibbs intention. Ducky just maintained eye contact until Gibbs surrendered. Oh, it was the most subtle of tells and only because he knew the man so well and for so long, was he able to detect the minute relaxation of muscles in his shoulders and jaw, but it spoke volumes to the ME.

"He yabbered non-stop, he snooped and he played Ke… he played the piano, he nagged me about me eating all the time and he wouldn't sit still for longer than two seconds. Drove me clear up the wall, Duck and that was just when he was sleeping."

"Mmm, it sounds as if he was acting very out of character," Ducky joked wondering about the piano. He didn't know that Gibbs was musical and what was he going to say before he stopped himself? Could this have been the real reason for Jethro's ire at his young protégé; did he have a deep, dark secret that he felt Anthony might uncover. The lad was an exceptional sleuth after all and Gibbs was obsessive about maintaining his privacy. No one even knew the name of the mysterious redhead in the silver convertible that squired him around town.

"Be that as it may, my friend, I hope you'll allow me to make the following observation. You need to find him ASAP but you already knew that. When you do find him though, he is going to need a gentle hand. Think of him as a wild mustang that has permitted you to throw a saddle on his back and carry your weight but will never truly be tamed. If you try to force him to go home with you, he will cut and run and if he can't do that, you will break his spirit and lose him anyway. You have to let him come to you and we have to slowly rebuild the trust that we have all destroyed."

"Ya want me to read the Horse Whisperer too, Duck? DiNozzo's no dang horse, he's my senior field agent, damn it." Gibbs glared at him, sarcastically.

Ducky pursed his lips. "Mock me all you want Jethro but if you force that boy to stay with you, he will think it is out of pity and he will resign. And none of us want to see that happen, you have to find some way of convincing him. I have the utmost faith that if anyone can, it is you. For some reason he seems determined to win your undying approval, so do not blow it."

~Left For Dead~

The bullpen was tense and frenetic as Gibbs and Cate searched in vain for their missing teammate. Abby was also helping with the search, whenever her forensic duties with the other NCIS teams allowed. Gibbs had talked to Dr Rodriguez, who had tried to convince Tony not to leave the hospital and he told the team leader that he has still been completing his intravenous antibiotics when he walked out. He assured the irate leader that he had insisted Tony take a prescription for oral antibiotics when he left and get it filled as a matter of urgency. Gibbs snorted sarcastically and muttered something about Hell freezing over.

Honestly, Gibbs concluded angrily, the chances of DiNozzo taking medication without someone holding a gun to his head, were next to nil. He had an extreme aversion to taking drugs, even over the counter variety and it was a battle every time he was hurt. There were times when he wondered if his senior field agent had a death wish, since he seemed to attract trouble and injuries without even trying. Ducky felt that it wasn't suicidal tendencies that accounted for his alacrity in throwing his body into the line of fire and had hinted to him that it was more to do with DiNozzo's childhood, which he had described as less than stellar.

The ME had also lectured him after one incident when his agent had ended up with several cracked ribs for the first, though most definitely not the last time. Although in considerable pain, DiNozzo has categorically refuse to take the prescribed analgesic drugs that the doctors had prescribed. According to Ducky, he was merely aping his mentor who as a hard-bitten Marine had a disdain about the perceived weakness of needing drugs to endure pain. Gibbs personally had little time for Ducky's attempt to blame him for DiNozzo's stubbornness.

After all, he did his part, ordering the young idiot to take his medications and take care of himself. He adhered to the well-worn aphorism- do as I say, not as I do. While a tiny portion of his brain whispered that he might bear some responsibility since he knew DiNozzo had a case of hero- worship going on, he ruthlessly pushed those doubts aside.

Telling Cate to expand the search and also check with the LOLs to see if they knew anything about his disappearance and whereabouts, he ignored her scowl as he headed toward the stairs, intending to head down to see if Duck and Abby had any bright ideas. When he was in the stairwell, Gibbs permitted himself a wry chuckle. He didn't envy Cate her task of talking with the LOLs.

They looked like a trio of sweet old ladies but they had savaged Gibbs and his team for not taking care of DiNozzo and not taking him in when he needed a bed. Gibbs was well used to criticism and usually revelled in treating controversy with a glorious contempt for his critics but somehow, those three elderly yet formidable women, made him feel like a naughty school boy and it was not a feeling that he enjoyed. Needless to say, it crapped him off, big time and sent him searching for oblivion with his best buddy Jack. Unfortunately, Ducky had no fresh idea's either and scoffed when Gibbs shared their profiler's contribution that he might head home to his parents in Long Island.

"Really Jethro, Ms Todd's abilities aren't up to scratch if she hasn't picked up that Anthony is estranged from his father. He rarely mentions him and when he does it is usually something rather perturbing, even if it is cloaked in humour. Anthony has done a good job of snowing our Cate, I'm afraid. I am fairly confident that our boy would seek you out before he would go crawling off back to his father."

Gibbs scowled at his friend. He didn't have anything to go on apart from his gut that told him that Anthony DiNozzo Senior wasn't fit to shine his son's boots and he'd welcome the opportunity for at least five minutes to tell him that too. "Gee thanks, Duck. I'm one step above that piece of crap, according to you. With friends like you…"

"Don't be dense, dear boy. I merely meant that at the moment, since Anthony is running away from you, you're probably one of the last people he intends on approaching, even if he idolises you to death," Ducky hastened to soothe his fractious colleague.

Proving that this episode had manage to rattle the equilibrium of the big tough Marine, he did a one eighty degree turn that would have wrong-footed someone who wasn't as mentally agile as the mature pathologist. "If he idolises me, as you say, then why is he running away from the hospital to get away from me, Duck? Doesn't sound like a case of hero-worship to me."

Sighing, Ducky patiently explained it once again. "We hurt him, Jethr,o all of us, including you. Knowing how he blames himself for the ills of the world and the sordid mess with Cate and Suzzanne McNeil surely exemplifies that amply, he has managed to twist our less than charitable behaviour around to blame himself. And before you ask why, it is because he can't bear to blame us, since he thinks of us as his family. It is much less emotionally confronting for it to be his fault since he is used to being blamed for everything. He no doubt, had little difficulty convincing himself that he is too weak for us to bother with him, so he needs to prove himself to us by showing he can be strong and independent."

"How can such a savvy investigator be so stupid?" Gibbs demanded irritably.

Ducky glowered, his usually benign blue eyes, full of fire. "I suspect your gut has already supplied you with the answer. Someone important to that boy convinced him that he wasn't worthy of being loved and nurtured. Taught him he was weak and that he was to blame, whenever something bad happened. Instilled in him the belief that his needs, his life are less important than others and it probably happened when his character was forming a long time ago. As you Americans are so fond of saying, you do the Math…"

The ringing of Gibbs phone interrupted the medical examiner mid rant and the agent held up his hand, indicating that he needed to take the call. "Yes Director, I'll be right up." He flipped the phone shut and slipped it back into his pocket, sighing. "Gotta go, Duck. Let me know if you come up with anything better than calling Senior, will ya?" His eyes twinkled briefly. "Cate's calling on the LOLs to see if he's hiding out with them."

"Oh my Gibbs, I must say, rather her than me. Especially if they don't know that he's gone AWOL from the hospital. Those formidable women will rip her to shreds."

"Why'd ya think, I made her call on them without me?" The big bad Marine quippe,d as he hot-footed it out of Autopsy

A/N To the guest who wasn't happy that it was a "poor Tony" story 'm sorry however I would just observe it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise since a story marked as being in the hurt/ comfort genre is often a giveaway, as was the story summary which I spent quite a while writing. (Summaries may look easy but I struggle with them.) I'm sorry if your were mislead. Just a couple of response to your observations. Tony could not go home with Jimmy Palmer since he didn't start working at NCIS until Bete Noire and Ducky had already refused Tony's request. To the best of my knowledge, the only Frat brother that was residing in DC was Steve Adler and for reasons that will become apparent later on he wasn't an option. As to him staying with cop buddies, he would not have asked them, for the same reason he refused Chris Pacci's offer too. Finally, to your observation that at least he had somewhere to stay when he ended up in hospital, you are correct in your observation. I hope that you aren't reading this since you obviously didn't enjoy the preceding chapters but should you do so, may I suggest that you do what I do when I don't enjoy a story, I don't read it. Thank-you for taking time to share your thoughts, I appreciate that you chose to express them respectfully and I"m sure with all the amazing writers on FF you will be able to find a story more to your liking.