Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of the characters, they are owned by DPB.


Tony jerked as he had felt a hand on his arm. Expecting to see Abby he let the pain show on his face. Though his face changed to one of hurt to one of surprise, it wasn't Abby, it was Ducky.

"I- um. Ducky." Tony said quickly recovering from his surprise. Putting on a smile, hoping that Ducky might not have seen his face before.

"I heard everything," Ducky said, "it's not your fault that he feels that way." Ducky ran his hand through his hair. A guilty expression on his face as he looks down at the ground away from Tony.

"What do you mean? With what he said-" Tony was interrupted by Ducky.

"It was a prank that Ziva, Palmer, and I did. We didn't think he would react like that."

"What did you guys do?"

"We left a note that was in Abigail's hand writing your desk. Mr. Palmer is quite good at copying peoples handwriting. He even went and got one of Abigail's pens. Then we had Ziva 'find' the note. She didn't really want to do it. She saw how bad you had been yesterday." Tony looked at Ducky with a confused look.

"How do you know about yesterday?" Tony asked

"Well, McGee came down to ask me if you guy's had ever had an arguement like this before. I remember the one time-"

"Never mind about past times, you we're telling me the prank"

"Um, yeah well. She did agree after a bit of begging. Also I had told her that you probably weren't that upset over what happened. So then when McGee came in she got up and walked to your desk. She then said Abby left it, also that she wouldn't tell Ziva what it was. She then read it aloud. It had said 'Can't wait for tonight! I was wondering if I should be dressed up?' We didn't know he would react that bad. McGee then grabbed the note read it, then he started to blow up. Anthony, are you ok?"

Tony had gotten pale as Ducky revealed the reason for McGee's reaction. That meant, McGee really did hate him. It wasn't just a thing he was saying, it was real. The tears came again, he let them fall again.

"Ah. Ducky, there you-" Gibbs said stopping suddenly when he saw Tony's state. His expression somewhat confused. He had never see Tony cry, or look devastated before. "Tony, what's wrong?"

Tony wiped away the few of tears that fell. "No, there's nothing that's ok." Tony's voice was gruff. He looks Gibbs straight in to the face, the tears leaving streak marks down Tony's cheeks. "You almost die, and then you tell me you wish you hadn't put me in charge. Then I tell Abby I love her and she totally ignores it, then I hear McGee hates me. Also now McGee really does, not just because of the stupid prank! Apparently it's also tons of funs to do that kind of prank. I can see Ziva doing it, though I didn't think you were the type Ducky."

Gibbs and Ducky stare at Tony, their mouths involuntarily dropping open. Tony quickly covered his mouth, realizing what he had just said. Tony went even paler, he quickly ran towards the bathroom, ready to dispose of his breakfast into the toilet.

Gibbs and Ducky stared after him, surprised with what he just heard. The silence was broken when Ducky said "Oh, my. It seems that my joke is completely real for Tony. I seem to have done the wrong thing."

Ziva and McGee saw Tony run towards the way of the bathroom. McGee stood, but noticed the paleness of Tony's skin. McGee stood there staring after Tony, then looked down at to Ziva. "What should I do? Should I apologize to him?" McGee said his voice full of worry.

"I think that you should wait a little, McGee. Wait till he has composed himself, he never likes to be seen when his mask is down." Ziva said her voice neutral.

"What do you mean, 'with his mask down'?" McGee asked.

"It's hard to tell but you have to look deep into Tony's eyes to see all the hurt and sadness in his eyes. He hides it; he tries to not let people get close, defiantly after the incident with Jeanne." Ziva said with sadness in her eyes. "The people he is closest to is Gibbs, Abby, Ducky, Palmer, You, and Me. So it has to hurt a lot to hear Gibbs say that he regretted putting Tony in charge. Also when he heard that you said that you hated him, it hurt him a lot."

"I didn't-" McGee was interrupted by Gibbs suddenly beside him, and a sudden pain to the back of his head.

"Would you really hate Tony if he was dating Abby?" Gibbs asked going straight to the point. His hand going down, from giving McGee a famous Gibb's Slap.


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