A/N: Sorry about it being so long since I last updated this...seriously. -_- I even have some other fics that I need to keep up with (not to mention the Merlin one I just started yesterday). I have journal that keeps getting filled up with new ideas. It's no wonder I can never keep up.

Chapter 4: Telling Spence

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"Gotta go, Pen!" he said, hanging up before she could say anything. He knew she was probably laughing at his expense, but he really didn't want to deal with this right now. He had enough problems. He heard several knocks which were barely softer than a bang, making him wince. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and put on an everything-is-fine smile. Spencer didn't exactly look amused, which was about as comforting as a bed of needles. After what seemed like an hour, Tony just couldn't take any more. "Are you going to come in or not, Spence?"

The look of agitation faded for a moment as he rolled his eyes, only to return when they sat down and faced each other. Spencer looked at the spartan type space and gave Tony what could only be described as an unamused scowl. Although Tony had been dreading the conversation for a good while now, he still groaned inwardly at the thought.

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

Tony sighed and found himself trying not to curse Abby and Garcia in his mind. He wasn't ready for the tempest that was Spencer, at least not at the moment. Sure, he was the type of guy who would generally be pushed around and bullied in school. It's not that Tony hadn't cared enough to stop the bullies; it was just that Spence had outright told him that he thought it would just make things worse in the long run. He had never told him how much it hurt to watch it happen every day, to the point where he had threatened their mere existence if they went near him again. Only Abby knew about it and if anyone else knew, they probably wouldn't for long. Abby was always scary like that. He'd never in a million years admit it outloud, but Tony wasn't exactly sure if he should be scared of her or not. He could never really tell how serious she was being with those threats of getting rid of all the evidence. Both her, Garcia, and Spencer were the most loyal people he had ever known, sticking by him in even the lowest parts of his life. Staring at his best friend with a resigned look, he felt like someone who had been cornered and was staring at the barrel of someone else's gun. No options left and nowhere to run to; just a friend who was loyal and at the moment, pretty ticked off.

I guess I can definitely say that I've been in better situations, but Abby did say she'd follow through with that threat if I didn't call him. I don't know whether I should be glad to just get this over with or try not to kill her the next time I see her.

"I suppose that much depends on both who told you and what you've heard Spencer." Tony muttered, wincing at how it sounded.

He never called him that, unless they were mad at each other. Well, if the shoe fits, I suppose there's nothing to do but track through the mud with it. Yeah, because that made a whole lot of sense. He noticed the barely noticeable flinch that Tony had expected. Tony bit his tongue, not wanting to instigate something that would get undoubtedly loud and just escalate from there. He inwardly yelled at Spencer, asking him if he was going to even say something. He knew from experience, however, that the DiNozzo tempers could be extremely volatile when things got too out of hand. Taking a deep breath like he always did when he was angry, he went and got some water from the fridge. The silence was thick and harsh, making him want to force answers from his friend. But he knew that would never work, so he went back to his list that he was previously making for two people he'd particularly like to have words with at the moment. As much as he wanted to just walk out the door and forget the conversation for at least a good while, he knew things would only get worse; so while Spence sorted things out, he could at least get some work had listed people that he figured had enough muscle or at least had enough money to get it, then narrowed it down to people he'd arrested or grudges. It was still a considerably good-sized list, but at least it wasn't nearly as long as he thought it was initially. Considering all the arrests he had made over the years, it didn't surprise him that he'd finally had someone come after him. It was a little ironic that it had been right after he had left Baltimore, but he wasn't about to stick around knowing about what his partner had been doing. Getting a new sheet of paper, he wrote down a few facts that seemed to be "coincidences" that had been bugging him.

After moving here, I thought I was being followed.

Just after moving is when I was attacked.

The same day I found about my partner, I almost had an auto accident

They knew where I live

That was all of the major ones that he could think about off the top of his head, but he had a feeling there was something big that he was missing. It was just too much of a coincidence that he hadn't any type of a weapon and he had just moved here. It was just too ridiculous to even think about. He glanced at his friend and wished he could help without getting too involved, but that was just sheer fancy. Looking back at his list, he sighed and started to rub his temples. All of this stress was starting to give him a huge headache, which hopefully wouldn't get any worse than it already was. He felt more than saw Spencer finally look up when Tony finally gave up and put his head on the desk. He figured that whenever his friend wanted to talk to him they'd talk, but he'd love to be stress and headache free when they finally did so.

Spencer was frowning, lost in his own thoughts about how he'd managed to make his best friend so angry when he was the one that was so mad in the first place. The next thing he knew, Tony had gotten up, clearly to avoid a fight. He knew how Tony was probably unconsciously terrified of snapping like his father always seemed to. Spencer always knew when to back off and so did Abby, because they both knew how horrid the DiNozzo temper could be if you were on the wrong end of it. As soon as Tony took a deep breath and stood up, Spencer knew the time for talking probably wasn't happening tonight. As he watched his friend sit down at the desk to obviously otherwise occupy himself, he knew things weren't going well when he started rubbing his temples. He could only imagine the amount of stress he had been under as of late, which is probably why he had just outright snapped at him. Come to think of it, he had heard from both Abby and Garcia that he had sounded rather strung out and snapped at them a few times. That wasn't like him unless he was rather stressed or you just stepped on the wrong nerve, especially not with the girls. Tony was among the few that he knew that actually did have the guts to do that and survive to tell the tale. He'd always been sort of afraid of Abby, especially now that she could make all evidence of you disappear. Garcia would probably even help her, Spencer thought. Taking a deep breath, he had to admit that he was unsure of what to do at the moment. As Tony had so ruthlessly stated, the girls had been less than helpful when giving him the information. All he really got was that Tony had been on the run after he'd been attacked. They obviously had at least a clue about what was going on, and so did his Tony; otherwise, his temper wouldn't be nearly as close to the surface as it was at the moment. He was more than sure that he'd regret what he was about to do, but he was sure that what Tony was working on was connected to everything that had happened since he walked in. He tried to sneak up to the desk, knowing that Tony's past had made him have the ability to be awake and stay awake at the sound of someone else's footsteps. It was actually more or less sad in the way it had come about, but it had regardless. Spencer carefully got up and casually looked out the window, as to not gather too much attention to himself. He closed the curtains, plunging both of them into what was almost pure darkness. He wasn't sure whether or not Tony had actually managed to fall asleep in that uncomfortable looking position, but he had seemed to relax at least a little bit after the curtains had been closed.

Taking it at an almost shuffling-type speed, Spencer crept behind Tony and tried not to gasp when he moved in the chair. He didn't get up or even open his eyes, but Spencer held his breath regardless. He was so close to figuring out what it was that his friend was hiding from him, and he couldn't let this chance go by. This kind of thing looked like a movie scene from one of Tony's ridiculous recent spy movies that he'd heard about. It had made him roll his eyes when he heard about it, but maybe that meant Tony was changing genres or something.

Spencer waited until Tony had settled for what felt like at least five minutes and got as close as he dared to see what his friend had been writing. At first, he didn't quite understand what he was reading. It looked like just a list of names, until he realized who some of those people were. Some of these people belonged to some old money and could make you disappear without anyone noticing, and a lot of these people had been arrested by Tony. Spencer felt the blood in his face pale even before he read what he could from the other sheet of "coincidences". Tony didn't even believe in those! That could only mean-

"Something bothering you, Spence?" Tony mumbled, not particularly feeling up to this conversation. He knew that this would happen, and it's not like he was able to sleep anyway. Spencer flinched, knowing he'd been caught red-handed.

Something tells me he was never asleep in the first place. I should've known that he'd trap me like that. No one purposefully leaves information like that unguarded without it being a trap!

"I should've known that you wouldn't be so forthcoming about something like this. I really should have known!" Spencer yelled, making Tony wince.

"Spence?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, but I just got carried away. You don't have anything, do you?" Spencer asked, inwardly groaning. He already knew, but he felt the need to ask.

"Don't you think I would've taken something if I had any?" Tony snapped, wincing at his own voice. Spencer just rolled his eyes and walked over to the curtains, making Tony back up. If he decided to open those up out of sheer spite, that would definitely hurt a good deal.

"Stop being such a jerk to everyone, really. I can put a lot of it together, but snapping at all of us doesn't help anything. I'm going on a little supply run and I'll be right back. Try not to take my head off when I get back. And you should apologize to the girls when you feel better."

Tony looked practically scandalized at the thought of having to apologize to the girls. Half of the stress he felt right now was their fault! They had called Spencer here before he was even ready and now he had a headache that obviously wasn't going away anytime soon. Why would he even talk to them? He looked at Spencer to state as much, but noticed he was already halfway out the door.

"Spence-" he practically whispered, knowing that anything else would set off another round of drums in his head that he didn't need. His friend just rolled his eyes and put up his hand to stop the rant he knew was coming.

"No. You know I'm right, and maybe you will too once you feel better. For now, I'll gladly assume it's because you're not thinking straight. Now, I am going out and taking the key. If you use the bolt or try to leave in any way, I will have those girls on you like white on rice."

As Spencer closed the door and locked it for good measure, Tony realized he didn't have enough energy to use the deadbolt anyway. His only problem was the people trying to find him. Headache or not, they were still looking and they wouldn't exactly bother knocking. What was worse is that now he knew three people that knew about this. For some reason, he felt something foreboding. With the last bits of his energy, he grabbed the paper and hid it under the table-side drawer. The only person who could possibly find it was Spencer, really. If he went missing, that would be the first place he'd look. Hopefully, it would never come to that.

Next Chapter: Is there a good reason for Tony's paranoia? Is Spencer going to be coming back to an empty room or a sleeping Tony in pain? o_O Will Tony ever call Garcia and Abby to apologize when he doesn't think he did anything wrong?

A/N: I'm such a horrible person, I know. Yeah, I know it took me forever to even update this. T-T But I seriously believe in always finishing the stories you write, even if it takes a little while. Hopefully, it won't be the case for the next chapter. I have a few fics I'm trying to keep up with, but I'll try and keep this steady. I hope.