Hell From 12
Gibbs had McGee look into the route of the dumpster truck. His gut instinct had told him that the murder weapon had been dumped. If they could rifle through the garbage that was picked up, they might be able to go from there. Right now, they had nothing. If they couldn't luck into a lead soon, this would turn into a cold case and it'd be a cold day in hell before he let that happen.
"Boss," McGee said in a cautious tone. He waited for Gibbs to look up. "The dumpster truck had already gone through and delivered the garbage to the landfill," McGee continued.
The action that followed was expected. Gibbs hit the desk with frustration. The thought of miles and miles of garbage wasn't an endearing thought.
"I've talked with the supervisor there and they're marking the section out and it'll be ready for us to go through," McGee finished what he was saying. Before anything else could be exchanged Tony entered the bullpen.
"Good of you to join us DiNozzo," Gibbs watched him. Now his gut shot into overdrive. Tony usually comes in immaculately dressed in expensive clothes with ties. But now he was wearing something that looked like it was from the cheap rack of K-Mart and clearly missing a tie, the collar was half up and half down.
"Yes Boss," Tony still felt he had a little hangover since his head was killing him. It seemed that every time he ate, his body rejected it and he really couldn't bring himself to blame it for that.
"Grab your gear," Gibbs told them when Kate made her way back.
LANDFILL
They arrived at the landfill around ten am. With the mood that Gibbs was in, it was lucky that the supervisor was in a very accommodating mood just as long as he wasn't the one who had to search through all the garbage. The section was pointed out to the NCIS team and quickly got to work.
"I'll leave you to it," the supervisor said as the others studied the mound of god-knows-what.
"Be very careful," Gibbs warned. "I don't want any stick injuries."
"Why don't you stand aside Kate? We'll take it from here," Tony nodded to Gibbs and McGee.
"What?" Kate almost shouted. "If you think that I'm afraid of getting dirty," she said. Quite annoyed that Tony could sound so chauvinistic. Oh wait, this was Tony she was thinking about.
"Of course you're not Kate. I didn't say that… Of course you're not afraid of getting dirty," Tony said. "I just don't think this is something you should do," he continued.
"Cut the chauvinistic BS Tony… I know that's all you know," Kate responded negatively since he was obviously trying to take a jab at her.
"DiNozzo… Todd!" Gibbs shouted to them all he seemed to do was separate the two agents from each other lately. "Get to work," he ordered.
Tony rummaged through his section of the sector without his usual exuberance. There was nothing exciting about rummaging through a large pile of trash. Tony couldn't believe some of the stuff that people threw out and was also thanking god that he decided to wear cheap clothes.
"Dad said I belonged on the trash heap… Said I should've been thrown out with the rest of the garbage when I was born," Tony made a comment as he put some of the trash aside. This was going to take along time.
"Say something DiNozzo?" Gibbs said.
"No,"
Kate had put more into another pile when she stopped to take a breather. "Hey, this is really bad," she laughed. "I can't believe how much of this junk accumulates. How many peoples' trash is here?"
"Quit the trash talking Kate," Tony laughed as he threw some more rubbish onto his pile and began sorting through what was left.
Gibbs rolled his eyes as he was setting through his own pile. His two seasoned field agents were never ones to let up on each other. "Do we get to keep anything we find?" McGee asked. Everyone stopped to look at him since he usually kept quiet while doing what he had to do unless it was needed for him to explain something.
"Did you find something?" Gibbs asked.
"No boss," McGee answered.
"Then shut up McGee,"
Just before lunch Gibbs had excused himself in his silent matter before leaving the other agents to go about the garbage search. "Kate, you look like you're about vomit," Tony said. "Why don't you take five?"
"Me?" Kate asked. She'd been shifting through rotten food stuff but it was going to be a cold day in hell before her actions were dictated by Tony. "Well you look like you're about to fall down…" She said before pausing to have a really good look at him. It was true, lately Tony had seemed to really deteriorate and then there were a couple of times she thought she'd stumble across him unconscious somewhere. "Are you feeling alright Tony?" She asked in a concerned tone.
"Probie?!" Tony shouted at McGee who stopped what he was doing and looked at Tony and then Kate. He suddenly felt like he was going to be dragged into something he didn't want any part of. "Who do you think needs to take five?" Tony asked.
"Umm, ah. Yeah," McGee was trying to think of the best way out of the situation. "Well, yeah," he suddenly thought of it. "Me! I need a break," he screeched.
"Out of us two," Tony said. But it was too late, McGee had already made his way out of the trash and went to the tap to take a drink. "You should join him," Tony said. "You look thirsty."
Kate shook her head. "I'll drink when you drink," she replied.
"Suit yourself Kate," Tony responded as he got back to work. If she didn't want to take the break he offered then so be it. Even if Kate was right about how he looked, there was no way knowing that he'd let her know that. People shouldn't show how bad they feel. Tony felt his body violently retched and he doubled over.
"Are you alright Tony?" Kate had heard the gag.
"Fine Kate," Tony coughed. "We're wading waste deep in garbage. Just great," he answered.
The NCIS vehicle screeched to a halt in the way that Gibbs usually drove. "Found anything yet?" He asked while stepping out of the vehicle. A chorus of no's answered him. "Break for lunch," Gibbs said.
Gibbs handed each of them a plastic bag. "Did they let you in smelling like that Boss?" Tony asked, daring to make a joke in the situation knowing perfectly well that they all smelt worse than him.
"No DiNozzo," Gibbs said sarcastically. "I waited outside until the food came out to me," he said.
"Yes Boss," Tony said as he looked into the bag and pulled out a hamburger. Gibbs wasn't too much of a stickler for healthy eating but he watched Kate pull out a tub of salad and McGee had some sort of sandwich in his hand and was wearing a contented smile.
They ended up having lunch well away from each other and were constantly complaining about how bad each other smelled. Even McGee was beginning to get into the act. They were sick and tired off the trash and reverted back to bantering with each other. If the others weren't already separated, he would've done it.
Tony stood up. "I'm going to get a drink of water," he said.
His lips were dry and he gulped a few handfuls of water before coming up for breath but that did nothing to wash down the burger since the greasy meat was threatening to come right up. His knees gave out and ended up on all fours as he seemingly tried to hack up a hairball. The whole body convulsed as he attempted to stop it from happening and tried to do it quietly but eventually lost the battle and lost everything. The continual retching wasn't going to let up and he began to shake uncontrollably as his arms struggled to hold up his body.
"Back to work," Gibbs said as soon as McGee finished up. "Where's DiNozzo?" he asked.
"I'll find him," McGee said.
It didn't take long for McGee to find Tony trying to pull himself up while trying to throw up his stomach. "Tony?" he exclaimed.
"Help me up Probie," Tony said.
"I should call Gibbs," McGee was scared. Sure he's seen people sick before, but Tony couldn't even get to his feet on his own power… This was serious.
"Don't you dare… You do… You're dead," Tony warned.
"But…" McGee replied. "Ah… Boss!" He assumed it'd be safer to have a really sick Tony mad at him rather than a pissed as hell Gibbs. "Boss!"
"I swear you're a dead man Probie," Tony said in between gags. Whatever his body was trying to expel it wasn't succeeding.
"What is it Mcgee?" Gibbs said with annoyance. Kate had already gotten back to work despite everyone else failing to do so. As soon as he saw Tony any sign of annoyance quickly evaporated, "DiNozzo," Gibbs said.
"I'm good Boss," Tony replied as the feeling subsided. Despite the protesting, Gibbs helped Tony to stand up. "Greasy hamburger," Tony explained.
"Bullshit… Hold him up McGee," At first McGee wanted no part of this situation. Obviously Tony was in no shape to fight him off. "Did you catch a needle?" He checked his hands for any puncture marks,"
"I'm good Boss," Tony said. "I just feel a little funny that's all," he added.
"Help me get him to the car," Gibbs ordered.
"I found it! I got it!" Kate said as she virtually leapt out of the pile holding up the candlestick high in the air.
"Behold… Excalibur," Tony joked to try and convince everyone he was indeed good.
"What's wrong?" Kate asked as she began putting the candlestick in an evidence bag.
"Nothing… I'm good," Tony explained. At that moment, Gibbs was ready to let go of Tony and have him crawl to the car and that would have been being nice.
"Get in the damn car," Gibbs said.
NCIS Autopsy.
Anyone who had a thermometer shoved into their mouth was rarely given the opportunity to argue. "Hey," Tony swung his legs back and forth and took the thermometer out of his mouth like a cigar. "Did I tell you about my ex wife? She left with half of everything… Almost everything, I got the whole bills you see. Bang bang," Tony said as he waggled his eyebrows.
"Anthony," Ducky set up the thermometer again and shoved it back in. "The quicker you let me do this, the quicker you get out of here," he checked the blood pressure.
"Yes Ducky," Tony smiled.
Just looking over him there was enough to notice that the kid was sick. The eyes were bloodshot and the weight loss was troubling, that and the fact that he was retching to the point beyond exhaustion.
"Good… You've not been sleeping well?" He asked, though the answer was already known.
"You know how it is," Tony shrugged his shoulders.
"Drinking?"
"Somewhat," Tony answered.
"Eating?" Ducky asked. There was silence. "Eating habits?" Ducky prodded.
"On and off. I just can't seem to keep anything down," Tony said.
"Have you been making yourself sick?" Ducky asked.
"What? No!" Tony said.
"Something troubling you?" Ducky asked another question.
Tony ripped off the blood pressure kit and spat out the thermometer across the room. "I know exactly what it is that's bothering me," Tony said standing up. "I have to go see somebody," he said as he left without giving Ducky a chance to protest.
NCIS Bullpen.
Fortunately they all had a shower and Tony had called Abby to meet him in the bullpen as he told her that he was finally going to have that talk with Gibbs. If it was eating him apart then it was about time he alleviated this internal hatred. It was about time he ended the punishment.
"Can I talk with you Boss?" Tony asked standing in front of his desk.
"What did Ducky say?" Gibbs asked.
"Boss, I need to talk," Gibbs gave Tony his undivided attention which shocked him. "I know I've been hell to be with lately… Its these cases, they remind me so much of my childhood Boss," Gibbs was about to say something. "You know I was beaten regularly," Tony said, speaking faster than normal. He just wanted it over so quickly. "This case just has touched me deeply… And I realize that our relationship scares the shit out of me boss," Tony paused.
"Why would it do that DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.
"If I get too close to people, they either hurt me or I end up hurting them… It's inevitable," Tony replied. "I know it's going to happen with you because there's something in my past that's going to make you hate me… My father always disciplined me physically and when we're old enough to go to a military school we had to go… Dad always believed that to prepare for the future in business we had to perform service in the army to instill a sense of discipline and honor so we could be real men," Tony finally took a deep breath before going on. "When I said no, I didn't want to do that he beat me badly and asked me again. I hadn't changed my mind, so he kicked me out with some money and sent me to an Uncle who wished I wasn't alive," Tony swallowed a lump in his throat. "I'm so sorry to disappoint you Boss… I'm very sorry."
"Kate… McGee," Gibbs stood up and adjusted his jacket. "Do you mind leaving us for a couple of minutes?"
"Yes Boss," they replied.
Christ! Tony hadn't even realized the others. Now with the others out of the way, Gibbs was free to chew and spit him out with no witnesses. Except for Abby, but she was like an outside observer. Tony's body stiffened as Gibbs stepped around the desk and stood toe to toe.
A/N: Alright! Tony finally spilled his guts to Gibbs. Anybody want to hazard a guess at what Gibbs is going to do? I didn't realise the chapter was going to be as long as this. Have fun