Okay so I did put a little bit of the case in this chapter but it isn't really that much. Thanks for all the alerts and reviews for this story so far, sorry it has taken so long to get this chapter out but i made it extra long. Real life got a little busy for a bit and my muse lost its writing power lol now to the next chapter where some things may be revealed.

Chapter 4- The case, Nightmares and Conversations Part Two

Sipping his ever present coffee, Gibbs watched from the doorway as his agent slept. He knew he wouldn't stay asleep for long but it would help, at least, he thought it would. The rest of the house was quiet, all that could be heard was a light pitter-patter of the rain on the windows, it was almost calming. Almost. The house held a certain air of tension, like awaiting something; he already figured that it could only be bad after the events so far that day.

He hadn't managed to get anymore information out of his agent yet; he just hoped that after Tony had rested a bit he would tell. Obviously whatever it was, it was eating at the younger agent but he couldn't help yet. Not until he had an idea why. But why hadn't Tony told him before now? They had been working together for threes years now. Did Tony trust him at all? He winced at the question, of course the kid trusted him, well, professionally anyway. The kid had damn near been eager as a puppy at the start, trying everything to please him, he'd settled down a lot now, Gibbs had watched him become a great agent. Yes, he needed a few head slaps now and again, but he never made a mistake twice.

If he was honest, he was proud of the agent the younger man had become, despite being disowned by his own family. He had tried to find out more about that but gotten nowhere, he really wondered what he wasn't finding and judging by his agent's reactions today, it can't have been good. He had his own share of memories from his past and could understand his agent's reluctance, but it was more than that and he knew it. The younger man was scared about telling, he at least had had pretty decent CO's that had set him straight, it didn't seem that anyone had even cared to do that for Tony.

Knowing that he still had a case to solve, he sighed and picked up his cell to call Kate. He needed to see where they were on the case. He himself shouldn't have left the crime scene but he had apprised the Director and felt that the other agent he had called would do the job well enough until he was back on the case. For some reason he had the feeling that Tony was more important at the moment, again he didn't know why but he knew that Ducky had agreed with him as he hadn't tried to stop him leaving, if anything Ducky had pushed him a little with saying that Abby was concerned about Tony as well. Looking briefly at his agent sleeping somewhat soundly on his sofa he smiled softly, thinking back to when Kelly had fallen asleep years before. The call connected.

"Special Agent Todd."

"Sit-Rep." he barked out gruffly.

"Gibbs?" her voice questioning.

"Ya think! Now, what do we got?"

"At the moment Gibbs, not a lot, all we have is a name; A Petty Officer Cassandra Lynn. Abby is going over the bloody boot prints to see if they can be matched to anyone that may have known the petty officer. McGee is checking all her credit card activities and phone records, nothing out of the ordinary yet." She stopped seeing if there was anything that Gibbs was going to add. When she didn't carry on Gibbs got a little frustrated.

"Get anything from the neighbours?" his tone bordering on angry. At the moment all they had was a name and that wasn't exactly going to solve the case.

"No, all we got was that she was a very private person, was always at work. They couldn't think of anyone who would want to kill her. They all said she seemed nice when they did talk to her."

Gibbs sighed again setting his mug down on to his kitchen table. They had to be missing something, but what. Giving Kate more orders he disconnected the phone. He tried to think of anything that may help the case, they had a lot of trace evidence but nothing that would point to the motives or who the killer was.

He also, had nothing as to why Tony had acted that way upon seeing the crime scene. He briefly wondered if it was similar to a case Tony may have had on one of the other forces he had worked at. Making another phone call he asked for similar style murders cases to be sent to headquarters, the team could look over them tomorrow. Hopefully by then Tony would be up to getting back to work, he didn't want to make the agent work, but he had the damnedest ways of making connections to things that other agents couldn't, sometimes it even came from all the movies he had watched. Gibbs smiled wryly at that thought.

At times like this he almost wished that he was more technical minded and had a computer at home, if he were then he would just look at DiNozzo's file. Though, he had already done a background check when he had hired him, nothing had screamed out at him at the time, maybe, he should be digging deeper he wondered. What wasn't he finding? Why wasn't he finding it?

Scrubbing his hand over his face, then sipping at the now cold coffee he winced at the taste, moving to make another he looked up at the time, almost 6 pm. Tony had been sleeping a little restlessly for an hour of so. He figured the younger man would most likely sleep for a bit more, so he moved towards his basement, planning to work on his boat for a while. However, before he got anywhere near the door to his basement he heard a strangled cry.

Knowing it was coming from his agent he moved beside Tony in an instant. Tony was flailing wildly, his skin covered in a cold sweat; he seemed to be trapped within his nightmare. Gibbs stopped him before he could fall off the sofa. Trying to get his agent's attention he raised his voice, he couldn't let Tony stay in the nightmare any longer…

x-X-x

A 10 year old Tony DiNozzo sat huddled in a corner of the damp, dingy basement. His head resting on his knees and arms wrapped as tightly as possible around himself. The shivering in his small body hadn't stopped for days; he couldn't remember anything but the cold now. He hadn't been 'visited' for at least a day now.

Maybe, it was because she was already dead. He didn't want to believe them but…but he'd seen it. He'd been forced to watch as they took her life. Now, they had left, were they coming back? What was going to happen next? He would have thought about all these things but his mind kept on replying all her screams and when she had been killed. The trembling increase ten-fold as he remembered the precise moment his life changed, she was gone, and never coming back.

*flashback- the day before*

The blindfold and gag were harshly ripped from his face and his arms forced to his sides, he struggled to get away from them but they held strong. She yelped as she was also grabbed.

"P-please don't hurt her." He begged, not being able to keep the fear out of his voice. She meant everything to him; he didn't want to see her hurt. She looked towards him, her eyes just as green as his, the look fear filled but protective.

"Tony, it will be okay. Everything will be okay, I promise." Her soft voice wavered a little. He nodded meekly, trying really hard to believe that. The men around them chuckled as they watched the tender scene before them.

"Oh how sweet." One snorted mockingly. "This will be fun boys." The voice was met with nods of approval.

To scared to say anything, Tony watching as they turned to her and took out a knife, tears starting making tracks down his small face as they dug the knife into her shoulder, she screamed a little. He flinched at the sound. He was sure he would never forget that and the following screams as they systematically dug the knife into her, followed by her screams of agony.

He wanted to turn away but they held his face straight, he wanted to close his eyes but they held them open. The hands tightened around his arms as he tried to struggle away, trying to get to her, trying to save her. Being only ten years old he couldn't do anything but it didn't mean he wouldn't try. His voice had become hoarse through screaming at them to stop, stop hurting her. They hadn't done anything to anyone, why were theses people doing this? He questioned to himself as they momentarily stopped the attack on her.

Blood was trickling out of the multiply wounds on her body, she was unconscious for the moment. He'd never seen this sort of thing, not even to this extent in the James Bond movies he liked. He knew that people shouldn't lose that much blood either. He tried to get out of the grip again and this time he found himself falling to the floor, it was hard, cold and damp and his body ached from falling but he didn't care. He needed to get out of their grasp and to her, he'd been taught a little first aid when EMT's had come into school at one point.

The men in the room just laughed as the boy crawled over to the unconscious body of their victim, their boss would be coming round later to finish the job. They could do what they wanted to cause her pain, as long as they didn't kill her. The Boy was a different matter; they wanted him to watch as they killed her, they would deal with him next if his father wouldn't do as they said the second time.

Tony had been trying to get her to awaken but had failed when the door was slammed open again. He jumped at the sound, terrified that something more was going to happen. He held on to her hand, trying to offer some sort of comfort like she would when he'd been sick in the past. The man that had entered the room tore him away from her, he cried out a little but it was cut short as hands restrained him again. They were telling him to keep quiet, but he wasn't listening all he wanted to do was to escape from them, with her still alive.

The next few minutes were a blur to Tony; she struggled awake when the guy seized her. She tried to speak to him, to tell him it was okay but…it wasn't. She screamed as the guy dug the knife in somewhere else, as she screamed he grabbed her hair roughly and slide the knife across her throat, the blood dribbled down her neck. Tony had screamed himself quiet as he begged them to stop. As quickly as the guy had come into the room he left, along with the others.

Tony had been dropped again, making his way across the crimson stained floor, his clothes and hands getting covered in her blood. He looked into her eyes as they lost the light, as he lost a part of him. his strength waning he held her hand gently, again as if to comfort. He didn't want to believe it, believe what he'd seen. It had to be fake, had to be something from a movie. Wasn't it? Please. Leaning his head on her chest he tried to hear the heart beat, nothing. A terrible sense of loss overpowered him, he knew she was…was…d-d…he didn't want to say it. Couldn't. If he did it would be real. Letting go of her hand he moved over to a corner, his eyes not looking away from the eyes that resembled his own…

A voice broke through the hazy scenes…

x-X-x

"Tony, wake up, it's just a nightmare." Gibbs almost pleaded; he had been trying to get Tony attention for the past ten minutes. His agent was trembling beneath him, his breathing ragged and tears silently trickling down his face. Gibbs needed to get this out of his agent now before it broke him.

Before Gibbs could do anything more Tony shot up and away from Gibbs. Gibbs tried to grab for him but failed as Tony practically ran and shoved himself into a corner of the room. Knowing his agent's mind still hadn't quite caught up, he moved slowly towards Tony. Gibbs vaguely wondered whether or not he should call Ducky, but knowing Ducky would still be doing the autopsy he decided against it.

"Tony?" Gibbs called out softly. The only response he got was that Tony looked up warily at him; his eyes clouded by such pain and confusion Gibbs immediately got angry at the people who had but that look on his agent's face. Thinking the anger was directed at him Tony looked away, not wanting to do anything more to anger his boss.

Gibbs cursed to himself for not controlling his emotions better, needing Tony to talk to him he got down to Tony's level and placed a comforting hand on his agent's arm which was wrapped around his knees.

"Tony? Tell me what's going on." Tony looked at him, looking like he was trying to gauge his mood.

Tony really needed help to deal with this, and he knew it. But, his head was telling him that Gibbs would only get hurt if he told just like his teacher had. But…but Gibbs was a marine, he could look after himself and if Tony could at least function then he'd be able to help to protect his friends. His head started pounding and started showing flashes of other images, ones he couldn't tell anyone about. This one however, maybe he could. It would make it easier…but he didn't deserve easier, didn't deserve anyone's care.

"DiNozzo." Gibbs grumbled, maybe a different approach was necessary. For some reason the tone of the voice and the normalcy of it made Tony feel safe but still…how could he explain to Gibbs what had happened, he was sure it wasn't in his file. His father had seen to that.

"I-I-I…S-she…they…" Tony stuttered, his voice held nothing of the man Gibbs knew, and more like a lost child.

Moving a little closer Tony flinched a little but Gibbs still had a comforting hold on his agent who stopped and looked to him. The amount of trust held in the gaze almost took Gibbs' breath away, he knew the younger man trust him but this…this was like Tony had his whole faith in him, him, a certified bastard. He needed to do the right thing otherwise he would lose the younger agent.

"T-they…Killed her." Tony's breathing hitched, trying to fight back the new flood of tears in his eyes.

"Who?" Tony looked away again and the trembling increased. Tony was lost in the memory again; Gibbs gently lay he hand on Tony cheek and turned his head towards him.

"Tony? Who did they kill?"

"H-her…my…m-mother." With that the tears fell, Tony couldn't help but push Gibbs' hand way not wanting anyone to touch him, he'd admitted it and it hurt, he had known it was true...but, he supposed he was still in denial.

Gibbs was momentarily shocked and lost for words, he knew that Tony's mother was dead, that was in his file but it had been deemed an accident. Thinking about what had brought them to this subject today he managed to find his voice.

"Was it similar to the crime scene this morning?" Tony nodded in reply. His eyes darting away from Gibbs, not wanting to see pity.

Well, at least he had the answer to the question of why he had left the crime scene, but the whole thing didn't feel right, why had Tony reacted so badly. Had he been there when it happened?…Aw hell.

"Tony? Were you there when it happened?" Somehow Gibbs expected the nod when it came and how colour was drained from Tony's face. He even expected the way Tony tried to huddle even smaller into the corner.

"I'm sorry boss." Now, that he wasn't expecting, what the hell was DiNozzo apologising for.

"You have nothing to apologise for Tony." he tried to reassure him.

"But-"

"Damn it DiNozzo, it wasn't your fault." He knew he shouldn't have shouted but it seemed to get the right reaction when he heard a sleepy 'Yes boss' as the agent fell into an exhausted sleep in his arms. Briefly stroking Tony's hair he managed to get him back to the sofa. Hopefully now Tony could sleep a little better. They could talk again in the morning.

Gibbs already knew that Tony's mother's 'accident' had happened when he was ten; he just couldn't imagine how Tony had managed to cope so far with that memory so bottled up. Or, why Tony hadn't told him before. He wondered if Abby or Ducky even knew. He would speak to them tomorrow when they got back to work. Looking up at the clock again he realised that he had been sitting with his agent for a little over an hour. He would have easily sat there the whole day if it meant Tony would finally talk to him.

A grim smile graced his face, he was happy that Tony had spoken to him but what had been said shocked him. It hurt to see Tony's so unsure and scared and all the other emotions that had crossed his face, he had seen the guilt as well, that is why he told Tony it wasn't his fault, whoever had made him believe that Gibbs wanted to find and kill, though for some reason he knew that it had something to do with DiNozzo's father. Sitting across from the sofa with a coffee mug in hand he watched as the last of the sun light faded and his agent sleep…

TBC

Like I said it was rather long, it's back to the case next chapter, hope you all stick around for it, this story is no where near over yet. Will Gibbs tell the others what he has found out? How will they act in the morning? You will have to wait and see. Thanks for reading and please review.