~Chapter 7~

"Anthony, I can't exactly say I'm pleased to see you." Ducky sighed as Tony waved at him from the autopsy doors "Good heavens! What did you do to yourself!?" he cried when he got a full view of Tony's current state. He had expected the younger man to come to him for injuries, but he couldn't help but wonder how on earth he could have gotten this much damage from speaking to witnesses.

"I didn't do it!" the man in question replied defensively "It was Gibbs!"

"Jethro!?" Ducky replied, looking completely outraged "Jethro did this to you!?" Sensing that Ducky just might attempt to go up to the bullpen and smack his boss, Tony decided to quickly clarify.

"I was just joking Ducky. Gibbs didn't hurt me, not that I'm really hurt by any means. I mean this is just a scratch." He said gesturing to his bruised face and bleeding arm unconvincingly. "And I didn't even lose a single file!" he added cheerfully.

"What happened?" the Scotsman demanded as he led the younger man towards a metal table, going about to examine the 'scratches' as Tony would have liked to have put it.

"Oh, nothing too horrible. I just fell out of a car." Tony said dismissively and Dr. Mallard paused, turning so he was completely facing the young agent.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked flatly and Tony shrugged, looking around at Ducky's different utensils and examining them closely.

"I fell out of a car." He said so nonchalantly you would think this happened every other day before chuckling "I told everyone that Gibbs threw me out." He laughed to himself "I think Gibbs might have gone up on the fear meter for everyone… They looked absolutely petrified." He beamed and Ducky took a deep breath before slamming his medical kit with much more force than needed onto the table.

"Are you okay Ducky?" Tony asked with concern.

"Anthony… It is not funny that you fell out of a car." He said evenly and Tony looked deeply perplexed at the tone "Would you mind to tell me how it happened?"

"Uh… Well, I needed some files from the backseat so I just undid my seatbelt and went back there when Gibbs was making a sharp turn and it all kind of went downhill from there…Get it downhill? No… Okay…" Tony finished, looking extremely uncomfortable at his new friend's face.

"So you could say it was a combination of your foolishness and Jethro's that landed you here?"

"I would say more of Gibbs' driving than anything else." Tony tried again as one last hope of lightening the mood when he felt a sharp smack at the base of his skull.

"Owww." He complained "When did you get here?" he asked, turning to Gibbs who was glaring at him menacingly.

"A while ago." He answered "Didn't really trust you to go to Ducky, so I came down to double check." Tony looked highly affronted at the implication, but didn't respond to it, instead settling with a withering glare.

"Scary." Gibbs snorted and Tony let his mouth drop, highly offended at the mocking tone and turned his back on his boss, deciding to just ignore the older man altogether.

"Jethro, I must express my complete horror in this situation." Ducky began to lecture and Tony jumped as cold metal touched his arm as Ducky pressed some odd instrument to him. "I mean, falling out of a car? Unacceptable! But more so that the fact he's joking about it! Oh, stop squirming Anthony." He added with a sigh as Tony tried to edge away from him.

"I'm right here you know." He added with a look that wouldn't be out of place on a pouting five year old.

"We've noticed." Gibbs said drily and Tony opened his mouth to respond, only to remember he had decided to ignore his boss, so instead he snapped his features the other way.

"This will need stitches." Ducky muttered, gesturing to his arm and Tony nodded. "And I need you to take off your shirt, just so I can see if there is any bruising there."

"And if I told you there wasn't?"

"…Well, I do not wish to imply I would not believe you but-"

"Yeah. I thought so." Tony sighed and slipped his shirt off, not seeming to notice he was getting blood all over it until after it was off. "Whoa. I don't remember buying this in red." He frowned, and then looked down at his arm again. "Dang, this is new too." He scowled and Gibbs shook his head. Of course, he was concerned about the shirt.

"Right." Ducky said as reexamined his patient "Just a couple scratches…"

"I told you!" Tony claimed triumphantly.

"I meant on your torso." Ducky cut off admonishingly and the younger agent frowned.

"Oh." He said.

"Yeah. Oh."

The rest of the time down in autopsy remained somewhat silent, aside from Tony swinging his legs and every so often humming some TV show tune, no one made comment until the doors slid back open, revealing a very angry Goth.

"GIBBS!" she yelled and Tony glanced over at her. In truth, he was still a little frightened by the forensic analyst, though he would never admit it.

"Hi Abby." He said and once her green eyes latched onto him, she sprinted over, cooing over him.

"My poor, poor baby!" she cried before turning to Gibbs and smacking him on the shoulder. "You threw him out of a car? How could you throw my puppy out of a car?"

"Your…What? Tony asked, alarmed.

"I didn't throw him out of a car… He fell out." Gibbs explained as the Goth put her hands on her hips, demanding an explanation.

Abby looked to the faces of each three men in the room, her face in a scowl before turning back to Tony.

"You're going to be fine." She told him comfortingly.

"I know I am." He frowned "Did someone tell you I wasn't?"

"Shh…It's okay." She replied putting a finger to his lips and Tony looked at the two men with a questioning glance.

"Just go with it DiNozzo." Gibbs advised.


*Present Time*

"So…In a sense. Gibbs really did throw Tony out of the car." Tim commented, tapping his fingers to his mouth thoughtfully.

"You know, I never figured out how I was a dog." Tony said, raising his hand as Abby grinned at him and reached over to pet his hair.

"Good boy." She giggled and Tony stuck out her tongue to lick her. "Gross!" she laughed, snapping her hand back. "You know I work with toxins all day right?"

"You just poisoned your dog." Tony told her solemnly and Michelle shook her head at her rather…Odd co-workers.

"So what happened next?" Jimmy asked with his head cocked and Tony waved a hand in the air.

"I know!" he said excitedly and Ziva gave him a look.

"I would hope so, you were there."

"I showed my brilliance then went to bed- kind of- and then the next day I went to FLETC, was amazing, got into my first NCIS fist fight, and ate tacos."

"Spoiler alert." Abby added unnecessarily.

"Tacos sound really good right now…" Jimmy sighed.

"We just ate." Scarlett frowned at him and leaned over to put a hand on his forehead "Are you sick sweetheart? Do you need anything? I could go out and get you something." She said as peered over at him and Tony smirked at the scene.

"Uh… No thank you ma'am, I'm fine."

"I don't believe in that word after knowing him." Scarlett said, gesturing to Tony.

"Hey. Not nice."

"She's got a point though." Alex told him "Hey, who did you get into your first fight with anyways?"

"Hemmings. It was awesome. I totally went ninja on his ass…Well, until Ducky came in. Then it was all over."

"Ducky?" Ziva asked with a cocked head and the doctor in question simply smiled fondly.

"I'm sure all will become clear in time." He said simply and folded his hands leaning back slightly into his chair. "Do you mind if we take a quick break?" he asked them all "I feel the very strong urge for my Grey Earl tea at this moment, and hope you won't object for a few moments of peace for me to make some."

"No way Duckman!" Abby said, suddenly sitting up lightning fast. "Me and Gibbs will just go back to the bullpen to get some more coffee for him." She proclaimed and grabbed a baffled Gibbs' arm, dragging him out towards the door.

"That's odd." Ducky commented "His coffee is still full."


"Alright, let's hear it." Abby said as she walked next to her favorite silver fox. Gibbs gave her a questioning look, obviously having not the slightest clue what she was talking about. "Come on Gibbs." She prodded "I saw you giving Tony and Alex the evil eye…I may not be a fancy profiler, but I am kind of smart…Or so I've been told."

"Abs." Gibbs sighed and ran a distressed hand over his hair "I wasn't giving anyone the evil eye."

"Uh-huh." Abby said disbelievingly as they got closer the squad room. "I think I know what's going on here." Gibbs sighed and gave her a narrowed look, but Abby didn't at all seem fazed as she walked over and sat in Tony's chair.

"Look Gibbs. It's like this. You and Tony were tight." She said demonstrating with two crossed fingers. "But then you guys had your whole big fight and everything is all confusing with you two. But I know you and Tone want things to be the same as before. Then Alex comes by and you feel replaced." She said simply and Gibbs blinked and stared at her before giving a small laugh.

"No Abby." He said simply and turned to leave when Abby regained his attention clearing her throat.

"And if Tony leaves because he decided Alex is a better mentor than you are?" she prodded gently "A better friend? A better person?"

"Alex is retired. Tony can't exactly go back to work with him." Gibbs said calmly and Abby took a deep breath, a bit miffed that he had missed her point.

"Gibbs you know I love you with all my big heart. You even have more room in there than Bert does which is saying something. All I want is everything to be normal. You being our fearless leader, Tony being Tony, Ziva being a ninja, and Timmy being his smart, dorky self." Abby said, bringing out her puppy eyes.

"Abby, things are normal."

"No they're not! Tony is being secretive, Tim is being mean, Ziva is kind of sad all the time, and you're jealous!"

"I'm not jealous." Gibbs cut in quickly and Abby gave him a look.

"So you're not upset that Tony told Alex what he's doing with Jenny?" she asked and Gibbs eyes instantly flashed.

"He did what?" he choked out, his anger riling up and Abby shook his head.

"He didn't really, but it bothers you that he might have."

"No. It only bothers me because I'm his boss."

"If you say so." Abby sighed, finally relenting to the fact that Gibbs was never going to give in and admit. "You know, if you really don't have a problem with Alex, we should invite him around more often. Tony looks so much better, don't you think?" she asked and Gibbs had to bite his tongue to refrain from commenting to the barb.

He wasn't jealous. Gibbs didn't get jealous. Jealousy was what petty boyfriends used as a motive for killing when their girlfriends' slept around. Jealousy was what people's children felt when new siblings came along and took away their parents' attention. Gibbs wasn't jealous. He was…Well, Gibbs. He was the tough guy marine NCIS agent who did not get jealous. That was just how it worked.

A smaller voice of reason in his head (which oddly sounded like Ducky) argued that he was a human being who was susceptible to all ranges of emotions.

He told the wise voice to shut up.


Tony really wanted some ice cream.

For no apparent reason other than he just wanted some. Looking around, he decided to check the NCIS break room. There was usually something in there that was either cake or ice cream and he really wouldn't object to either at the moment. Getting up and stretching he looked down at group of chattering people and announced happily he was going to go find himself something sweet to eat.

"I'll come with you." Alex said quickly and whispered to him as they exited the room "Scarlett hasn't let me have anything with sugar in it since I've reached fifty. The woman is crazy. She thinks cake is out to kill us…" Tony laughed, not at all surprised by the revelation as he opened the door and led his friend into one of his favorite NCIS rooms.

It was then that he regretted his decision.

Standing there as he drank some coffee, was Mark Hemmings himself, buffer than ever. Praying that Alex wouldn't find out who he was, Tony opened the fridge, trying to remain calm.

"DiNozzo." Hemmings acknowledged him coolly and Tony gave a weak smile in response, trying to avoid anything that would spark recognition.

"Hey." He replied and plunged his hands into the freezer to find himself a large box of cookie dough ice cream. Perfect!

"Who's this? New agent?" Mark asked, his eyes fluttering to Alex who was looking at him suspiciously.

"Uh, no this is an old friend of mine. Alex meet…A co-worker of mine." Alex smiled and extended his hand as Mark gave Tony a strange look and shook hands.

"Mark Hemmings." He introduced himself and Tony tensed, waiting for the reaction.

"Hemmings?" Alex asked with immediate interest.

"Uh…We got to go." Tony tried, gripping his ice cream in one hand as he tugged on his friend with the other, but Alex didn't budge.

"Yes…" Mark said in answer to Alex's question and Tony waited for the explosion.

Five…Four…Three…Two…One…

"Would you like me to get you some coffee?" Tony felt his jaw drop at the question. Mark seemed surprised too at the open kindness. Tony supposed he figured that any friend of Tony's would instantly hate him… Which was weird because Tony thought that as well…

"Um…Sure." He said and Alex smiled, going off to the coffee machine to fix him a cup. Tony awkwardly stood to the side, watching his carton of ice cream melt sadly. Mark took one look at him and snorted before going back to ignoring him.

It was a strenuous five minutes, but somehow, they survived it as Alex handed the cup to Mark and exited the door, Tony hurrying behind to ask him for an explanation of the unexpected kindness.

"Uh…Wha-?" he started but Alex cut him off by simply handing him a small package of salt.

"You put…Salt in his coffee?"

"And the vinegar that was on the counter…I might have added some avocado that was in the fridge as well." Alex said simply and the two men strained to listen for a moment before hearing a horrified choking noise. "Well…I've done my job." Tony's friend said simply and started working his way back down the autopsy room.


"Alex is my new hero!" Tony announced as they reentered autopsy. Alex grinned, quickly taking a bow as Abby gave a very pointed look to Gibbs for some reason that the younger NCIS agent couldn't figure out.

"What happened?" Ziva asked and Tony sighed as he sat next to her.

"Well… We may have ran into Mark Hemmings as I got my ice cream." He told them, taking out a spoon and digging in. "Alex offered to make him coffee and ha. Well, let's just say it was an interesting blend."

"I would like to add I'll pay the janitors when he ends up throwing up. I feel bad for making them deal with that…" Alex commented and Tony snorted as he happily ate his cookie dough snack. Ducky frowned, more at Tony's eating habits more than anything before offering Alex a warm smile.

"It is so nice that Anthony is looking up to someone who takes care of him don't you think?" the elderly doctor asked lowly to Gibbs as he threw a quick wink at Abby.

Gibbs didn't look too amused at the comment as his nostrils flared and he opened his mouth to reply before promptly shutting it, remembering all too well the conversation he had just had with Abby. He was most certainly not proving her point.

From the other side of the room, Tim and Ziva were eagerly pleading with Abby to let them security film of Hemmings' reaction to his surprise coffee later.

"Oh… Alright." She relented. Let's face the facts, she wanted to see it as well. Ziva leaned back, her face one of victory as Tim bounced on the edge of his seat. He had been aware that Mark Hemmings was a bully- he had heard it enough from the other agents- but Tim had never realized how bad it was. Especially since Tony was involved. The younger agent scrunched his nose slightly at the thought of Tony being bullied by anyone. The idea seemed almost surreal. Frowning, Tim realized that at the very thought, his hatred for Hemmings may have just doubled.

"Well, thank you all for allowing me my tea." Ducky said, raising his cup. "Would you like to continue?" At the round of nods, Ducky seemed to take a moment to relocate his place back in the story before nodding. "Ah, yes. This is where Tony and Agent Sacks went head for head if I remember correctly."

"Yep." Tony said through a mouthful of ice cream "He doesn't like me very much."

"We are well aware." Jimmy grinned at his friend who flicked a chunk of cookie dough at him. Jimmy went to retaliate, but at the look in Ducky's face, quickly stopped.

"Sorry Dr. Mallard." He apologized with a small smile before giving Tony a glare as he chortled happily with his food.

"As I was saying…" Ducky scowled at the two "It was right after Tony left autopsy…"


*Ten Years Ago*

"DiNutso…What the Hell happened to you?" Fornell asked as Tony walked in, fresh clothes and bandages.

"Gibbs threw me out of the car…I guess I talk too much or something. Anyways-"

"Wait, what?" Agent Sacks asked and Tony glared at him.

"Would you like to find out what I found or not?" he snapped at him and the other agent gave a nasty look.

"Come on, like you found anything in those files." Sacks snorted at him and Tony smirked, flipping the first manila folder open and picking up the papers flauntingly.

"Actually, when you aren't too busy being lazy, Agent Slacks then you can find information to do your job." Tony told him and before the SFA could react with any outrage, the NCIS probie continued. "Alright people, here is what I discovered. As usual, our serial killer has been leaving behind patterns, they are just discreet. Look at the bar names. Over and Out? Knock em' Dead? Slit Throat? He's mocking us. The places he picks his victims at always has a name that brings irony to the murder. It also sounds like from the interviews that our psychopath may scout out his victims beforehand… As for the motive, I'm thinking that since all the victims have the same features, the killer is modeling their murders after someone he or she knows…Oh, and I looked at your two suspects and they aren't really looking that solid to me Toby." Tony finished and threw the file back to him.

"We should still look into them." Agent Libson frowned and Tony rolled his eyes.

"And exactly how long have you been doing that? A month or so? Useless. You keep tabs on all your suspects sure, but you can't continually obsess over them when they're other people in the world who could have done it." Tony argued back and Gibbs smiled briefly at his thought process. Viv stood up, taking the plasma remote and clicking a button.

"Well, I have some new suspects if that's what you're looking for. David Hamilton, Larry Jameson, and Carrie Lards. Abby and I went over the forensics test again and she found fibers from a one of a kind sweater… I guess only a few of them have been made with the material since it is so new, and these are the three people who own them that are currently in America."

"Did you run a background check?" Gibbs asked her and Viv shrugged.

"Nothing cross referenced with any of the vics, but I'm still digging." She answered and Tony tilted his head at the TV.

"You know… If we could figure out the next bar he wants to hit at, I could probably go undercover." He commented and Gibbs peered over at him as he flicked on his computer.

"No." he said simply and Tony made a face before trying to argue, only to be cut off by Fornell.

"Agent Gibbs, in case you have forgotten…This is a joint investigation."

"I remember." Gibbs responded with a small smirk "It would be incredibly useful if you and your team actually did something." He added and Fornell narrowed his eyes.

"Sacks." He snapped "I want you to find other connections with the bars. Tell me where he is going to strike next."

"I'll look into the places where the victims were found." Tony volunteered and Gibbs nodded at him as Tony moved towards his computer after sliding across the room in his chair.

"Libson. Get me a psych eval on this killer. Go." Fornell demanded before leaning in closer towards Gibbs "Jethro… Get some duct tape for your newbie." He scowled.


"This is stupid." Tony snapped as he slammed his car door the next morning and switched his phone to the other ear.

"Do I sound like I care?" Gibbs voice sounded from the other end. Tony sighed and rubbed his eyes trying to get the sleep to leave him.

"We have a case! Why do I have to go to FLETC? It is a waste of time that our serial killer could be using to murder someone else."

"Do you not want to work here DiNozzo? Go to the damn class. Didn't that paper say you could look at your case files there?"

"Yeah. I guess." Tony grumbled, buckling his seat belt and backing out of his driveway. "Alright, got to go. Good luck with the Febbies." He said and all he heard in response was a click of someone hanging up. "Well then." Tony muttered "That wasn't very nice."

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Horribly long lectures about protocol, government affairs, rankings, and so forth seemed to be twice as long as Tony tried to force himself to pay attention, but the killer was still trying to invade his mind. When his next class began, he wasted no time looking through his files and trying to find any sort of helpful note he could muster.

In the end, it wasn't much. FBI had gotten the basics all laid out, but he needed more. Discreetly moving towards a computer, he tried to log on to look more into their suspects, but unfortunately found that there wasn't enough time.

Which was why when Tony entered the shooting range, he was already in a foul mood.

"Alright everyone, get a gun and do not shoot until I give you the go. We worked on form last time, but now we are more concerned with aim. Try to get it as close the center as you can."

Snorting, Tony loaded his weapon and easily got his bulls eye. This was seriously a waste of time.

"How do you do that?" Taking off his goggles, Tony turned and found a girl cocking her head at him with a somewhat awed look. Glancing down the range, he saw her shot was hopelessly off target. Seeing his gaze, the girl turned a bright red and moved to focus on her own shooting.

"You're too tense." He told her when she lifted the gun and went over to her. She jumped, but then let a small smile tug on her lips as he showed her the correct position. After watching her miss again, he bit his lip and thought.

"Where are you looking at?" he asked her and the girl gave him an incredulous look.

"The target of course." She told him and he pointed a little toward the left.

"Are you left handed?" he asked her and she nodded, looking slightly appalled he knew that bit of information. "You're shot his slightly to the left. Look a little more right to where you are aiming and it won't be as far off." She looked at him doubtfully, but readied her stance again.

"I did it." She said, sounding shocked. "I…I did it!" she cried with more excitement as she looked at her centered shot. "Thank you! Oh, I'm Amy by the way. Amy Hemmings."

"Tony." He smiled at her and then frowned. "Wait…Did you say Hemmings?"

"Yeah." She laughed and pushed a strand of dark hair away from her eyes. "Why? Don't tell me you work at NCIS?"

"Sure do. Is Mark Hemmings your…?"

"Brother? Yeah. You've met him?" Tony laughed and leaned against the counter with a roll of his eyes.

"Met is one way to put it…I don't think he likes me too much." He told her and Amy raised her eyebrows in slight disbelief.

"Mark doesn't like you? He likes everyone!" she told him.

"Well… Not me. I guess it's the charm." He smiled at her, and Amy made a face.

"I don't believe it. What makes you think he doesn't like you?" she demanded and Tony felt himself getting a little more uncomfortable at her fierceness.

"Oh, it's nothing really…I just, well, I get the feeling we're not on the same page entirely." He told her and she narrowed her eyes as if she knew he was lying through his teeth.

"Huh. Well, I'm seeing him later, so I'll have to talk to him about this." She said and Tony looked at her with alarm.

"That really isn't necessary. It promise it is just a small misundersta-"

"DiNozzo! What do you think this is? Social hour? Get back to work!" his instructor called and Tony groaned. These people were going to give him an exploding brain, he swore it.

Moving back towards his own range, Tony picked up his gun and shot another perfect target. Deciding there was nothing better to do, he looked around, trying to find a way to make thing a little more interesting…

Bingo!


"DiNozzo…" the word was growled out, and Tony tried his best to look somewhat innocent as he saw the chaos around him start to die down.

"Um…Well…" he tried to think of a suitable explanation of exactly why he had decided it would be a good idea to shoot one of the gun barrels in the corner of the range, but couldn't think of one other than. "I was a little bored." Besides, Tony decided, it was bad judgment to keep something explosive like that in a shooting range anyways. Tony had made it so the fire was small enough to do nothing more than cause a little panic for his amusement, but if someone had accidently hit it, the whole place could have blown up. Hell, he was forcing the people of this place to look at a serious safety issue! They should be thanking him! Not…What were they doing?

Tony spied his instructor glaring at him with molted anger before grabbing his phone, and Tony felt his stomach drop slightly. What was he doing?

"Uh, who are you calling?"

They weren't really going to kick him out, were they? Oh dear God…What was he doing!?

"Hello. I would like to speak to Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

…This wasn't good…

Tony felt slightly annoyed that this situation paralleled perfectly with a child whose parents were being called due to their misbehavior. Was this guy calling to get Tony fired? Or to just make sure his boss gave him Hell for his stupidity? Only when his instructor attempted to hand him the phone, did Tony decide he really didn't want to know.

"Uh…I'm good, I really don't need to talk to him right now."

"Kid, take the damn phone." The teacher snapped at him and Tony sighed, grasping the plastic in his hand and warily holding it up to his ear with a dull greeting.

"Let me get this straight. I'm in the middle of a case and you decide it would be a damn good idea to try to blow up FLETC?" Gibbs' voice snapped at him over the phone and Tony began to see the error of his choice of amusement.

"If I had wanted to blow it up… I would have succeeded. I was bored! You could only shoot a freaking piece of paper so many times! It just got the tip of it so it made like, three sparks. It really isn't a big deal." Tony explained, hoping to get the older man on his side. It really shouldn't have been that big of a deal. There was a shot, a few sparks, and it was over…And there was the fact he didn't expect to get caught with so many other guns going off.

He supposed considering he was in a Government Federal Agent training facility, he should have expected them to be somewhat good at figuring out he did it…

"I don't have time for this. Stop acting like a five year old and just finish the damn class." Gibbs yelled and Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Yes sir." He muttered and heard a scoff on the other end of the line. If Tony hadn't known any better, he would have said it almost sounded amused.

"Don't call me sir." Was the only response before the phone clicked off. Tony shrugged and handed it back to the instructor's waiting hand.

"He said next time I should just finish the job and blow the place up." He told the man and smiled at the look on his face.


*Present Time*

"Anthony DiNozzo!"

Tony winced and gave a sheepish look at Scarlett as she gave him an outraged look.

"Let's all remember…This happened many years ago…" he started, but quickly cut himself off at the look on his old partner's wife's face.

"What if you had hit a little lower?"

"Then it would have blown up. But I didn't. I had the bullet barely skim the top, nothing happened."

"And if someone had accidently pushed into you?" Alex asked quietly and Tony scowled.

"Why do I feel like I'm being ganged up on?" he muttered and Jimmy instantly jumped in to his friend's defense when both Smith's opened their mouths to reply.

"It was stupid of them to put something like that in a training facility to begin with. You have a bunch of people who have never even handled a gun before and you're going to put that within shooting range? It's stupid. Tony was making a point."

"Couldn't he have just told them that though?" Scarlett sighed and Tony gave her a cocked smile, hoping to ease her worry. It worked, of course, and she simply rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair as the others scoffed at the situation and Tony's senselessness.

"That was really good thinking with the Bar names Tony…I didn't catch that…" Tim murmured, thinking back on the case. Tony glanced at him, surprised. He couldn't remember the last time Tim had complimented him, or thought highly of him in any way really. The fact that Ziva nodded in agreement made his shock go up even higher.

"Thanks." He told them, trying not to look too pleased with himself. Under normal circumstances, he might have made a joke about it, but decided not to now. He and his partners hadn't been Seeing Eye to eye for a long time, and he would really like it if they started getting along together again. He missed the light teasing instead of the attacks. Maybe after this story was all said and done, they would be able to get back to that.

"Guys, after this could we stop again? This girl is in a need for a Caff-Pow." Abby yawned and everyone smiled at her before reassuring her that after this part of the story was done, she could indeed get her drink.

"Well then… Let's see….Yes, I remember now. So after FLETC training, Anthony didn't go back home. He went straight to the office and got to work, staying for a grand number of hours until it was late enough that Jethro had intervene. At the time our young Agent wasn't really that old at all, and as much as he proclaimed he knew much about law enforcement, wasn't quite ready for all the hardships that came with being an NCIS federal agent…"


*Ten Years Ago*

Tony looked exhausted. He was pouring over a file, half asleep with coffee literally almost falling out of his hand. Gibbs walked over, reaching over and plucking it from his hand and finishing it for him.

"Hey. Not nice." Tony yawned as he looked longingly at the cup again before glaring witheringly at the file. Gibbs snorted and grabbed the file from his agent, tossing it at Vivian instead who caught it with practice eased.

"Go home DiNozzo. You're too green for an all-nighter." The reaction was instant. Tony immediately went into denial, objecting that he could do it, vehemently arguing anything that stated otherwise. After his third argument, Gibbs heard it.

He looked up at his agent, who didn't seemed to have noticed, still talking as Viv looked up and stared for a few moments before she busted out laughing.

"What?" Tony asked, sounding confused and Gibbs tried to hide his smirk and Viv continued to laugh.

"Oh my God…" she gasped and Tony's face became even more sulky as he tried to figure out what was so funny. Gibbs finally decided to clue him in.

"You always sound like that when you're tired DiNozzo?" he asked and realization seemed to dawn on him.

"Really?" he scowled "That's what's funny?"

Gibbs shrugged, trying not to grin at his agent's newly found New York accent. He supposed it shouldn't really be all that surprising, considering he was from Long Island… It wasn't strong by any means either, but it was enough to make it noticeable.

"I do not get how this is funny." Tony said, slowly, obviously focusing on his words. "Lots of people talk like this. Robert De Niro sound like this."

"It isn't bad." Viv conceded "It just…Isn't expected from you."

"Bet it came in handy when you went undercover with the mafia." Gibbs couldn't help but adding and Tony scowled again, this time with a roll of his eyes.

"Whatever." He grouched and went back to his work. Gibbs rolled his eyes, did he really think he would get distracted that easily?

"Pretty sure I told you to scram." Groaning with annoyance, Tony let his head fall back towards the ceiling and Gibbs could have sworn that a sixteen year old kid was in that chair.

"Fine." Tony conceded and threw his bag over his shoulder. Gibbs watched for a moment before grabbing the pack, pulling out the files hidden inside, and tossing the now empty bag back at him.

"Come back when you can keep your eyes open."

The younger man opened his mouth, looking like he was about to argue before shutting his quickly, obviously wising up a bit before resigning to the fact he was going to have to be a human being and go to sleep.

Stalking out of the room, Tony felt his body began to sag now that he was out of Viv and Gibbs' line of sight. He was exhausted and at the moment could only think about a hot steaming shower on his skin. He was so entranced, he didn't even notice the figure coming towards him until he was pushed into the wall harshly.

"You think this is funny DiNozzo?" a voice snarled into his ear and Tony could have groaned if he wasn't so tired.

Hemmings. What a huge surprise. Looking up, he could see the other man's face was bright red with anger as he brought his fist back and slammed into Tony's face, snapping his head back. Acting on first impulse, Tony pushed his arm away, kicking him hard in the knee before having enough room to deliver his own punch, effectively making a snapping noise as Hemming's nose broke.

"You little bitch." He growled as blood splattered him and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Let's be real here. I'm clearly a guy, which makes me a bastard. Get your curses straight pal." Tony taunted before dodging another punch. "What did I do to you anyways?" he grouched and Hemmings narrowed his eyes before gripping Tony's arm and slamming him back against the wall again, using his bigger weight to push up against him.

"You think it's okay to talk to my sister? I don't think so kid." He growled and Tony resisted the urge to yell out as he felt Mark's hand move closer to his throat. God damnit he couldn't breathe!

Swallowing hard, he opened his mouth to speak, but struggled. This guy outweighed Tony by a lot and with all of his pressing him to the wall, he couldn't hope to move, let alone breathe.

"I've had enough of you. Your three days are up. Now I'm going to let you go and you're going to scram. Are we-" THWACK!

All of a sudden there was nothing on Tony any longer, leaving him gasping against the wall as Hemmings apparently fell back, looking around confused. Oh, God. Please, please, please, please don't let Gibbs be there…

He wasn't…It was…Ducky?

The elderly doctor was standing there, with a stethoscope in his hand, glaring fiercely at Mark who was on the floor, looking dazed as he rubbed his head.

"The nerve." He growled and swung the stethoscope again, hitting Mark sharply, causing him to yelp and jump back.

"Dr. Mallard! I…I was just…"

"If you had any sort of decency you would resign now. However, seeing as you more than likely do not, I must insist that you leave or else I will inform Agent Gibbs of this matter…Out!" he snapped and Mark blinked before stumbling out of the door.

"Jeez, Ducky thanks-" THWACK! "OW!" Tony yelped as the stethoscope his the side of his arm. "What was that for!?"

"Agent DiNozzo, a man does not simply decide to attack unless he you two have argued previously before this night. Why did you not inform anyone of this?"

"Ducky, it isn't a big-" he started but saw the stethoscope rise again and quickly held up his hands. "I'm very sorry and it won't happen again." He added quickly and Ducky nodded in agreement.

"See to it that it does not Anthony. I assume you will be telling Jethro?"

"What? Oh, Ducky, no… It really isn't something that matters all that much. Gibbs doesn't have to know…" Tony objected firmly and the elderly doctor rose an eyebrow.

"I see. Well, I will not inform him, but if he asks about that mark on your face I would suggest you tell the truth. Jethro does not take too kindly to being lied to." Ducky informed him coolly and Tony nodded, not really in the mood to argue at the moment. Besides, he figured Gibbs wouldn't ask too many questions anyways.

"Good night Ducky."

"To you as well my dear boy."


The first thing Gibbs had noticed when his agent walked into the bullpen, was that he must have gotten some good rest because he was literally bouncing with energy…The second thing he noticed was that he was walking backwards.

Giving the younger man an incredulous look, he watched as Tony waved cheerily and very carefully continued walking back and managing to maneuver himself into his chair. Gibbs thought about asking why, but figured it was useless anyhow. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know.

Turning back to his papers, he didn't think about his agent's strange behavior again, focusing in on the case. He still needed to update Fornell and vice versa.

"Did you hear about last night?"

"….Yeah, it was supposed to have…."

"….he couldn't have gotten…."

"…DiNozzo looks pretty bad, wonder how Hemmings is."

At the last sentence whispered behind him, Gibbs glanced over the bullpen wall and stared at the agents huddled together as they gossiped. Quickly, his eyes zeroed in on DiNozzo, who, he now realized, hadn't shown the other side of his face at all.

"DiNozzo!"

"Yeah Boss?"

"Get over here." Tony suddenly looked torn, which basically confirmed all of Gibbs suspicions. Watching as the other man struggled to get to the other side of the room while adeptly showing only one side of his body, Gibbs resisted the urge to grind his teeth.

"Gibbs?" Tony asked as he finally made his way over, Gibbs didn't wait for any longer. He grabbed Tony's arm and pushed his back slightly so that the blackened side of his face was able to be viewed.

"Something I should know?" he asked quietly and the younger man froze, looking like a little kid with his hand in the cookie jar. A second later his face was completely blank before being replaced with a bright smile.

"Should is such a general term Gibbs. Maybe-"

"Who?"

"What makes you think that-"

"Answer." Gibbs demanded and Tony looked as though he would so much rather be anywhere else in the world.

"Come on Gibbs." He whispered as others started looking around when they heard the anger in Gibbs voice. "Just let it go for right now." Gibbs, still trying to make his point, dug into his drawer where a pile of pink slips were waiting a slammed them onto the desk threateningly where Tony could clearly see them before he paled.

"Does it really matter who?" he asked desperately and Gibbs popped open his pen to start filling out the form when Tony finally broke.

"Hemmings! It was Hemmings, Jesus Gibbs." Tony scowled and Gibbs pushed the slip aside and moved to his phone, only to have Tony's hand shoot out to stop him. "You're not seriously going to call someone about this are you?" he asked with slight panic and Gibbs dug the heel of his palms into his eyes before looking up tiredly at the other man.

"Tony, if you want to not tell anyone about someone beating up on you outside of this agency. Fine. But here you're my responsibility, which mean when this prick decides to throw a punch, I'm going to take care of it." Gibbs told Tony with such exasperation that Tony almost frowned. Did he really having such a tiring effect on people? Pushing the question aside, he reexamined the statement before feeling a hint of emotion grapple at him.

"I'm not anyone's responsibility." He ground out and he silently congratulated himself at the almost surprised look on his newest mentor's face. Gibbs studied him for a moment, before turning to reach for the phone again, only to have his agent's voice cut him off.

"Look, I don't know how much you know about being the new guy in a work place, but I kind of got the whole system down pat. I know I'm supposed to report to you or whatever if someone is messing with me, but trust me when I say it'll only make it worse. Can you just ignore the whole thing and let me deal with it?" Tony asked seriously, his eyes not once break contacting as he attempted to stare down his boss. Gibbs turned to the phone in his hand before sighing and putting it down before holding his hands up in surrender.

"Fine. But this have better get resolved quickly." He told him before looking over and seeing Mark Hemmings himself watching them from the edge of the bullpen. His face consisted of similar bruises to Tony's, though they were a bit darker and Mark's nose was clearly broken. Gibbs considered him for a moment as he walked away.

"Hey DiNozzo?"

"Yeah?"

"Good job."


*Present Time*

"Bastard." Ziva commented with a scowl as she listened to Ducky. "Why does he still work here? Why did you let him still work here? He should be fired!" Ziva added vehemently to her boss, who in turn shrugged.

"DiNozzo took care of it." Was his only response.

"That is not to say it didn't get worse before it got better." Ducky frowned and Abby nodded in agreement, her eyes darkening as she looked over at Tony.

"He went too far." She told McGee quietly who was shooting her a questioning look and Tim looked alarmed.

"You mean he didn't go too far when he put the cigarettes and articles about Tony's mom in his desk?" he asked and Abby shrugged.

"Tony's a tough nut. He doesn't ever really crack…Though when he does, I got to say it is pretty scary." She said, remembering only a few days ago when Tony had shattered glass all over the autopsy floor and stormed out of the room, thinking Gibbs had betrayed him when his sister was brought up.

Tony seemed to have noticed her mind wandering because he gave her a warm smile to reassure her. Abby gave a half-hearted one in return feeling her almost forgotten hatred of Mark Hemmings returning with a passion.

"Could we take a break?" she yawned, "It's getting kind of late." She added, looking at the clock on the wall and everyone turned to it, seeming surprised at how quickly the time had gone.

"We'll start back up tomorrow if we don't have a case right?" Tim asked, and Gibbs gave his nod of assent. At that signal, everyone sprung up, Ducky moving to pack up autopsy with Palmer, Lee hurrying off with one last glance at Jimmy, and Abby moving to find her spare Caff-Pow.

Tony turned to Scarlett and Alex, who were gathering their things to all head back to his house when a soft knock interrupted everyone's thoughts.

"Director." Alex greeted when they all saw Jenny standing in the doorway. The redhead had been somewhat MIA during this time, and Tony was almost surprised to see her.

"Hello Mr. Smith." Jenny greeted warmly before turning her gaze to Tony. "Agent DiNozzo, do you think I can have a moment with you in my office please?" she asked and Tony hesitated briefly before nodding.

"Here." He said handing his keys to Scarlett "I'll just catch a cab, you guys take my car…Please don't scratch her by the way…The loss of my Camaro has been hard enough." He added jokingly and the two elderly couple rolled their eyes affectionately before heading off with polite good-byes to Gibbs.

Tony looked over at his Boss before following Jenny, meeting his eyes momentarily before trying to think of something to say.

"Night Boss." He came up lamely, offering what he hoped to be a reassuring smile. He hadn't failed to notice his mentor's somewhat off behavior and was instantly worried by it. The last time Gibbs had acted 'off' was when he had gotten blown up, and look where that had led them. The thing about Gibbs though, was that Tony had absolutely no idea how to help him.

"Goodnight Tony." He answered, and the other agent almost blinked with surprised at the name. Now a days it was almost always DiNozzo…

Not that he minded.


"So, what have you been up to now?" Tony asked as he sat in the director's chair with an attempt to look imposing.

"What makes you think I've been up to anything?" came the quick response as Jenny gave him a firm look and smiled when her agent scrambled out from behind the desk.

"Just testing it out." He joked and Jenny grinned.

"After my job?"

"Me? Never!" he laughed and wandered around the office aimlessly. He couldn't help but notice how familiar he was with it now that he and Jenny were friends.

"I just wanted some updates on our operation." Jenny told him before pausing.

"All is good. Don't have much else to report…I thought I usually came to you every other week about that." Tony frowned and threw a questioning glance at his boss…Well, his other boss.

"You do, but I have something else for you right now." Jenny told him gently. It had been awhile since his last little 'mission' for Jenny. She had laid off when he told her about his and Gibbs tedious relationship and for that he was immensely grateful.

Which was why when she asked, he nodded, ready to repay the favor without even blinking at a second thought.

"La Grenioulle?" he asked and Jenny leaned forward on her desk slightly as she looked him in the eye.

"Here's what we're going to do…"


So, here I am! Ik, I've been MIA for like, ever, but at least I came out with a long chapter? Guys, I'm seriously sorry. It has been over a month, and there is really no excuse for leaving you guys this long. While I HAVE been really busy, I can't believe how neglectful I've been in terms of writing. For those of you are following my other story, know I'm working hard to get that out either today or tomorrow as well (: I hope everyone forgives me!

Anyways, please review…

P.S.

One thing before I leave you guys again… So I was brave and watched Berlin and Revenge. But…I need some advice about the last two episodes. I haven't been able to watch them, and I've heard they were terrible. I was just curious about what you guys thought. I can't really say yet since I haven't seen it, but it was said to be just plain awful. Should I be concerned? *Sigh* Oh well. Berlin and Revenge were pretty good at least. That ass Bodner (however you spell his name) is dead at least. Ziva totally just went all BA which was pretty awesome! Wouldn't have minded a little more Tony (Ha, obviously), but hey. We can't have everything I guess.

That's really it now! Thanks for reading!

-Kensi