Chapter 7

Thanks for the reviews, much appreciated keep em coming. Will Gibbs find out about Tony's past????

Non bold indicates 'flashbacks' (blood hounds are the press don't wanna offend)

The drive was quiet; Gibbs' driving was slower than usual. Tony hadn't realised that were going in the wrong direction until Gibbs took a sharp left turn, "um, boss my apartments the other way" stated Tony wearily. "I know Tony" replied Gibbs, he had been keeping a close eye on his agent "your staying at mine unless you want to walk tomorrow!" he stated. 'great' thought Tony as he continued to look out of the window, Tony didn't mind staying with his boss, but with this case he wouldn't get time to think let alone answer Gibbs' barrage of question that he knew was gonna come flying pretty soon, he sighed and decided to take it when it came and relaxed into the passenger seat, closing his eyes ' at least I'm not gonna be the only kept awake tonight he thought'.

Gibbs noticed him relax and smirked, this is gonna be a long night, he himself wanted to know about the similarity of these cases, he sure as hell wasn't gonna let Tony deal with it on his own, he knew Tony will tell him when he's ready and not before it.

"Pete", "yeah", "make sure this scene is perfect, do what you need to, just make sure this scene gets under his skin like the other did, this ought to push him over the edge, especially if he thinks he's gonna find the others after all this time!"

"Got ya, this will be the icing on the cake, and then he's ours to play with" chuckled Joey as he hung up, ideas already forming.

"You gonna sit their all night?" Gibbs startled his agent out of his thoughts as he got out of the car heading up the driveway. Tony quickly followed, as they entered the house he forgot how spacious it was, he hadn't realised he'd stopped walking "something wrong Dinozzo?" Gibbs was watching him intently "uh no boss just admiring the view" he said quickly turning to face Gibbs.

Gibbs chuckled, "you hungry?" for the first time that day Gibbs saw Tony's face brighten "when am I not!" he retorted, Gibbs gapped at him then laughed " you got twenty minuets" as he headed to the kitchen. Tony sighed had headed for the shower 'at least I clean up' he thought as he left his over night bag in the spare bedroom.

His shower made him sleepy and relaxed, he headed in to the spare room and lay on the on the bed, a 'few minuets wouldn't hurt' he thought as he started to drift off 'Tony was sitting at his desk, he was writing up a report on the case he was working when a thunderous voice bellowed from the captain's room "DINOZZO!".

Everyone in the squad room stopped to look, 'now what' thought Tony as he got up slamming the report shut and throwing in onto his partners desk, as he made his way up to the captains office.

Tony didn't bother knocking, he never did, as he entered the room the captain didn't bother looking at him he handed him a file, "As you've been aware these few weeks there have been numerous disappearances around Baltimore, what very few people know it that those disappearances have been turning up dead. I'm giving YOU the case" pointing his finger at Tony. "I've already got a case" he said in defence, there was no way he wanted to do this serial, the last guy quit! "You don't have a choice, your two years are all most up, besides the media will love you" he snickered. Tony glared at the captain who still wasn't looking at him, he turned and was about to leave when the captain spoke again "Your on your own, and your expected at the morgue" the captain told him starring at his back smiling.

Tony headed straight for his desk, his partner looked at him "where we going?". "We ain't going anywhere, I'm going to the morgue!". His partner knew exactly what the captain had done, "he gave the number case, and you're working it alone! Whose idea was that!" he demanded to know. Tony sighed, "yeah he gave me the case, and before you even think for a minuet that I decided to go alone, think again!" he glared at his partner. "then why the hell are you doing it alone, we're partners for crying out loud, this case is solved!" "Two year warranty ring any bells to you!" he snapped and walked out of the squad room. It was then his partner realised instead of firing him like any normal person the captain wanted Tony to quit publicly and knew that this case would probably force him off the force, especially if he kept getting bad press coverage. "Son of a bitch!" he said before going after Tony.

Tony had made it as far as the elevator when his partner caught him, "Tony wait, you know why he's doing this" asked his partner. Tony looked at him with a smirk," coz I really piss him off" joked Tony, his partner laughed "apart from that, he doesn't like the fact that the sheriff gave you an award for solving every case that came across your desk!, he hates knowing that the sheriff promoted you to detective first grade, that's why he stuck you with the blood hounds!" Tony looked at him smiling, "and there's me thinking he didn't like the ole Dinozzo charm" he laughed "either way its better if you and I didn't work this case, I am not gonna drag us both down if this goes sour" Tony told his partner "I know, if you need any help with this, there's a few people who would jump at the chance including myself, you're a good cop Tony an even better detective, never forget that." He told Tony as he headed back to the squad room.

"Dinozzo" no answer "Dinozzo" still nothing, he ran up the stairs fearing that Tony had passed out in the shower, he was relieved when he found Tony in the bedroom but what he saw make his stomach churn, his agent was thrashing around the bed trapped in a nightmare, muttering something that Gibbs couldn't make out. He approached the bed quietly, he knew from previous experience that grabbing a person mid nightmare would injure both parties, as he reached out to calm Tony, Tony snapped awake almost falling out of bed yelling "NOOOOOOO!", sweat beading on his forehead, and gasping for breath, you would have thought he run a mile flat out "easy Tony, you were dreaming" soothed Gibbs as Tony looked at him.

"Wh…What", Tony asked slightly confused, "you were dreaming" after a slight pause

"Want to talk about it?" the investigative side of Gibbs was kicking in, "Um.. no boss, it was just a dream" replied Tony a little shakily. Gibbs looked at him carefully, "dinners ready, when you are" he informed Tony as he headed back downstairs wondering what could possibly give him nightmares that bad, he was more determined now to get to the bottom of Tony's demons.

Tony finally managed to get downstairs without incident, he was surprised to see Gibbs serving dinner, "Wow, didn't think you had it in ya boss" he joked as he sat at the table, "three ex-wives teaches ya a lot, survival of the fittest" he retorted "now eat up before it gets cold!"

Dinner was quiet, same as the car journey, Gibbs took this opportunity to watch his agent, he was pale, his eyes were sad and sleep filled and he was playing with his food, definitely something Tony never did, if Tony had no appetite then something was seriously wrong. Tony was completely oblivious to his boss' glances. He was lost in thought about the dream, 'why now, after all these years' he kept asking himself.

"Something wrong Tony?" "No boss not really hungry, must be coming down with something" he replied, this was normally the case if he was hurt or sick, 'he definitely wasn't hurt, so he must be sick or hiding something' thought Gibbs. Gibbs was about to dispute the fact when Tony's phone rang.