Just when you think you're home free, and time to go home is in sight, things always turns sour.

" I want to go home. " Tony moaned for the hundredth time that morning. Day three of his time in the step down unit was driving him crazy. He had to find a way to escape, go AMA or as they named it, against medical orders, though it should actually be AGA, against Gibbs orders.

The nurse entered with his meds, and he starred her down, he was tired of being drugged to the gills, he wanted to go home.

"Mr DiNozzo, I have your morning medication." she announced and smiled then scanned his bracelet and then his meds. As she handed him his cup of pills and a glass of water his stubborn streak kicked in, Gibbs had finally left to go home and take a shower, the others were back at work, it was time to pull a DiNozzo.

"I will take the pills if you take this stupid tube out of my nose." He had to get rid of some of the lines, get his freedom so he could run.

"I believe there is an order for me to discontinue it this morning after Dr Graham removes your chest tube but he does have a habit of changing his mind so don't bank on it." she smiled again and encouraged the cup of pills, pushing then closer to his face.

He was about to attempt a trick to rid himself of the pills but in walked Dr Graham and his resident, "Good morning Mr DiNozzo. Ready to get that tube out of your chest?" he asked as he gloved.

Tony didn't know how this would feel but it couldn't be any worse than when it pulled when he changed position. The tug was fairly painful.

"Will it hurt?" he asked and he felt he was being rather whimpy, even to himself.

"Yeah, for a few minutes you will experience some pain, then it's over." he looked at the nurse still holding his patient's pills. "First, you have to take your medication then we'll proceed." He knew that this man would attempt old habits but not under his care.

Tony took the medication reluctantly, he hated what the pain medication did to his mind. "Happy?"

Dr Graham nodded and looked over to the nurse who was preparing a syringe, then Tony's attention went to her activity as well."No way, no more pain meds or anti-anxiety meds for me, just pull the damn thing out! He just wanted to be able to think, instead of being goofy.

" I think it is best to get something on board, This is no ride in the park Mr DiNozzo." Dr Graham responded and the nurse ignored him as she took the contents of the syringe and inserted it into his IV line, then Dr Graham gave the drug time to work and then pulled out the suture removal kit.

The nurse watched as her patient's eyes became droopy and his speech started to slur.

"I hate drugs." he mumbled as the doctor went to work, disconnecting the sutures from the tube.

"I need you to cough really hard Tony. Can you do that for me?" Dr Graham asked as he placed a tight grip on the tube.

Tony let out a string of coughs actually and the doctor yanked out the tube, he actually pulled so hard the discarded tube hit the wall, a vaseline gauze was placed over the site and another bandage was placed to catch any drainage.

Tony was grimacing, attempting to grab the area but strong hands kept him away from the insertion site and the strong drugs finally pulled him under.

An hour later Gibbs returned, Tony was actually awake, acting a bit weird, even for Tony. The feeding tube was still intact but Tony was now the proud owner of wrist restraints.

"Tony, what happened?" he motioned towards the new wrist bracelets.

"I wanted to pull this out." he motioned towards the feeding tube in his nose but that woman with long legs and big breasts wouldn't let me." he slurred.

"They must of drugged you with the really good stuff DiNozzo." he couldn't help but to grin at the results of Tony's attempted escape.

"I think he's talking about me." the nurse spoke as she walked into the room carrying an bag of intravenous fluids.

Tony got a little bit dramatic and pointed towards the woman and exclaimed in a very loud, but slurred voice, "That's the culprit. Cuff her boss!"

Gibbs looked over to the woman and smiled, "Morphine?"

"Actually, Dilaudid this time. We pulled his chest tube and he wanted to assist us in taking out his feeding tube." she continued to hang a new bag of fluid to infuse. "Without an order." she deadpanned.

"That explains the wrist decorations." Gibbs smiled and looked over at Tony who seemed to be counting the tiles on the ceiling now.

"She exaggerates boss. I did not." he felt as though he was not being fairly characterized by Attila the Hun, female version. "Do you hear that?

"Hear what Tony?" Gibbs amused his drugged senior agent.

"That ticking noise." Tony got still as if he was hearing a bomb.

"That's the clock on the wall Tony. Try to relax Tony." he ordered then took his seat beside Tony's bed.

The nurse smiled and left the room. Tony continued to act agitated, pulling at his wires, at his tubes and finally the last straw for Gibbs, his feeding tube again. Even with the restraints on Tony was still accessing things he wasn't suppose to be touching.

Gibbs hit the call button, it had been over an hour and Tony was still acting strange, which was unusual even for a Tony on drugs.

The nurse returned to the room, " Something wrong Mr Gibbs?" she asked but it didn't take her long to figure out that her patient was not right.

The nurse went immediately to assessing her patient then she hit a red button on the bedrail, "I need the rapid response team...Now!" she was in full protective mode, something was going on with her patient and if her gut was right, he had to have thrown an embolism to his lung." She quickly got vitals and an Oxygen saturation level, which read low, adjusting the oxygen accordingly until Tony's numbers came up. Then in walked the team, the code team, who also assessed him.

Quick hands started moving his bed towards radiology, Tony still pulling and tugging at his tubes. Gibbs was now standing in the corner of the room, watching, wondering if Tony could ever catch a break.

A voice broke his concentration, it was Tim. "Where's Tony?" he asked noticing that Tony and his bed was missing.

Gibbs didn't answer, he just walked out of the room, he had to use a phone, he needed to talk to Ducky.

Tim stood in the empty room, wondering what had happened to his partner, his friend.

Thanks for all of the reviews, very appreciated! Talk to me again guys...The writer needs to see words...either good or bad. Maybe even another chapter later tonight. I do have to work for the next two days at the hospital so I need to get it done!