AN: Thank you again to those that have consistently reviewed! You all have been

wonderful and provided reviews with real depth and for that I am very grateful.

Survival Italian:

Fanculo: Fuck

Mia cugina: My cousin

(McGee)

So we have good days and bad days. Today seems to be a bad day. The problem is is that Tony is very independent and the fact that he has to rely on us for basic daily tasks is not sitting well with him. Plus, he's uncomfortable. If I were Tony I'd probably be worse. Well, maybe not worse, but I can't fault him. It's very odd for me personally to be in charge of him, because it has always been the other way around. To see him reduced to this state is unnerving. Luckily for me, for once Tony isn't going about to give me a hard time, but instead it's Gibbs and Dom. Maybe he sees them as challenges or threats or whatever. I don't care, and I'm not going to demur it. As difficult as he has been the two of us have actually been doing rather well.

We are currently watching Lethal Weapon II, for which I am thankful because I did not particularly enjoy Austin Powers. Gibbs has gone down to the police station, and Dominic had to make an emergency call back to the garage (he's a mechanic) for an important client. That leaves me with Tony…alone. It's not that I'm nervous, but I have absolutely no doubt that if Tony so decides to eat me alive, he could very well do it.

Speaking of Tony, he looks miserable.

"Hey" I say, and this is stupid, I know it's stupid, I should just leave him alone, but I can't stop talking, it's a real flaw, "You want to do something else?"

And crap now he's looking at me.

"Like what," he asks dangerously.

I should have just let him stew in his juices. He's mad and pissed at Gibbs, and I feel bad, so what do I do? I go poking him. Shut up Tim, just shut up.

"I don't know, have any ideas? You don't look…happy."

I said shut up, not keep talking.

"I don't look happy McGee?"

And that's snarling. He's going to leap off of the couch and kill me. Wait, no, he can't. He can barely move, he can barely move, he can barely move, don't say anything, don't you go and say something.

"What about a game of cards?"

What did I just say?

"I don't want to play cards McGee."

Right. Cards are stupid.

"Well what do you want to do?"

"I want to go home."

Really? I thought he was enjoying New York. He's so in his element that it's scary. Little things about his personality I now understand seeing him at home and with his family.

"I thought you loved being here."

"I'm done with it."

I put the movie on pause. Maybe I can get him to open up.

"Hey, put the movie back on! This is not Dr. Phil!"

Or not. Bad move, bad move, bad move, ah shit just hit the damn button, and uh oh. That was not play, why did the movie start again, oh crap he's going to actually kill me. The one thing that brings pleasure to his day and I'm ruining it.

"McGee!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Are you kidding me with this?"

"I'll fix it, sorry Tony."

I hit another button and the TV comes on and it's Springer. Wrong button. I can hack into anything but I can't work a DVD player. Yeah, you're really brilliant Timothy. Okay here we go, this should bring us back to-

"Hey, leave this on."

The title of the show reads "Confronting my mom's sugar daddy."

"You're serious?"

"What?"

"This is what you want to watch?"

"Is that a problem McGee?"

"No, no problem at all. I also enjoy watching people confront their mom's sugar daddies."

He's looking at me again, and he's showing his teeth, and wait. Oh good, that's a smile, and he's laughing. Ha! I relax back into the chair and watch the remaining fifteen minutes of Springer. After the show concludes there are commercials for Maury and they are doing paternity testing.

"You game" I ask him.

Another smile.

"Heh let's do it McGee. Bring on the trash."

I nod and make my way over to the next channel as we both sit and prepare to have our brains rot. It turns out that watching Maury with someone else who can comment on it is a lot more fun than just watching it by yourself. Tony has something to say about each contestant, each woman, each potential father, and each baby. No one is safe. And as much as I hate to admit it, I have never had this much fun watching TV and I can't wait for the next Maury episode. If my mother knew that I was looking forward to the next Maury episode I think she might actually die. The next commercial comes on and nothing from DiNozzo, in fact he's been much quieter. I look over and examine; something's wrong.

I put the show on mute and walk over to his side of the couch and sit down close.

"Hey" I say gently, "What's wrong?"

"My ribs" he says.

"They hurt?"

That's impossible with the amount of drugs he's on, but still something's bothering him.

"Itches and it stings a bit. Dry skin."

I touch his shirt and go to take it off. Tony grabs my hands unexpectedly.

"What are you doing?"

He's…nervous.

"I want to check the area. I can unwrap the bandages put cream on and then rewrap them."

He looks at me like I'm special.

"Its okay" he finally says, "You don't have to."

"You're uncomfortable" I say back, "It's not a big deal."

He eyes me again but nods his consent. I run into the bathroom grab some cream and come back and gasp. And now he's looking at me again. I mean I know I told him to take his shirt off but I didn't expect to see that many bruises.

"Ta friggin da" he says.

I sit back down on the couch and all of sudden I realize exactly how close I am to Tony. I can see every single bruise on his torso and this is just invasive and personal, and I have no right to this. How could a police officer who has sworn to protect the citizens put another agent in gen pop? He was innocent and he was right! I just can't understand how that could happen or where in the thought process someone thought that was okay.

"You don't have to do this McGee" Tony says gently.

"Sorry" I say back, "I can do this, and I want to."

I gingerly unwrap the holding on his ribs and once they are all of I go for the cream. He stops me though, makes a lewd comment and does it himself. Or tries to anyway. He doesn't have full range of motion in his arms so he can't get his back. I gently take the cream from and he slowly turns around to give me his back.

"Let me know if I'm hurting you" I tell him. He grunts in response. I gently pick up the cream and do his back.

"How bad did it hurt" I ask him. And why? Just shut up. His back stiffens and I don't think he's going to answer but eventually he says something.

"Pretty bad" he responds back.

"I'm sorry Tony."

He tries to turn around to meet my gaze but I don't let him and gently direct him back to our primary positions.

"What the hell are you sorry for? I'm the one that dragged the whole team up to New York."

"I'm sorry we couldn't clear you in time."

He snorts, "McGee, you guys saved my life. I wouldn't have lasted much longer in there if our director never made to the call to theirs telling them exactly what happened."

"Still, I just" I stop touching his back, "How could they do something like that?"

"Tim" he says quietly, "It's the nature of the game. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into."

"It doesn't make it right" I say back and resume my task.

"Hey" he says, "When your sister was accused of killing that guy, did you ever have any doubts?"

I stop my ministrations.

"I know she didn't do it in her right mind" I offer, "My sister wouldn't do that."

"Yeah but did you ever think, hey maybe she actually did it?"

I'm quiet. I don't know what the right answer here is.

"I'll take that as a no" he says back, "But with me, if they told me that they found a tape of them killing that girl, I would have believed them. It's family though, you know? Well, you do know. You almost lost your job too."

Tony actually sounds like he respects me.

"My sister" I say back to him, "is always doing stuff like this. She was always getting into trouble growing up. I love her, but there's a lot of resentment between the two of us."

"I guess families aren't perfect."

He's quiet for a bit but then starts talking again.

"I don't think I can ever look at any of them the same again."

"How do you mean?"

"I know not all of them knew what was going on, but some of them did. How am I supposed to let that go? They should have told me."

"I don't know Tony" I say gently, "They were doing what they thought was best and for whatever the reason they didn't see how flawed their thought process was."

"I don't understand how you can just screw your own son."

This is dangerous water and for once I think I will say nothing. If he's offering conversation, I'll let him offer it but I know that one wrong word and the entire day will be upside down.

"I mean Tim" he says "I don't even think he cared about Donna, I just think he cared about his business."

Well, don't do it, don't do it.

"Maybe you should talk to him."

"He's an ass!"

"So tell him that? Don't let him off the hook. Maybe he should be here and see how much pain you're in, and see the results of your sacrifice."

He says nothing and I'm about done. There is a welt on his back that really could use some treatment too. Usually Dominic takes care of these things but he's not here, and I am so why not. I disappear and reappear with the alcohol. He looks at me, the alcohol and then sighs. I'll take that as a yes. I resume my original seating. Tony goes to crack his fingers and winces.

"They feeling okay" I ask as I lightly press the cotton ball on one of the cuts.

"Huh? Oh yeah, it's fine."

"Gibbs was really hard on you today."

"Yeah well, I shouldn't have said that shit to Dom."

"Tony", I can't believe he's defending him, "He almost broke your fingers."

"Well that's Gibbs for you"

"I don't care, it's not right. You're… "uncomfortable" and he shouldn't have done that."

He had enough abuse in prison he doesn't need it here too.

"Aw Probie, it sounds like you care."

I push the cotton ball on his back in deeper.

"Hey ow!"

I smile despite myself.

"I think he's too hard on you" I confess, "If he ever treated me the same way he treats you I think I would die."

"Now don't you think that's a little melodramatic?"

"No, he shouldn't treat you so violently."

"He's not violent."

"Gibbs should realize what he's doing. You could have died Tony."

"Hey" Tony says, "Hey stop that for a sec, look at me."

He turns around so I can see him.

"I'm okay, I'm not going to break, you don't have to worry okay?"

"He threw you onto the couch" I say plainly. "He's mean to you a lot."

"Ah we just speak a different language."

I don't say anything to that.

"Gibbs has a sweet spot for me."

I give him a look.

"What, you don't believe me? It's true!"

"Tony-"

"Trust me, me and him just are on a different level, that's all."

"Tony, don't you think sometimes you idolize him a bit too much? I don't think you see how…callous he is sometimes. He shouldn't have done what he did this morning."

Nor should he have thrown you onto the floor, held your arms and force fed you a pill. That's imagery that will not leave me for a long time.

"Tim" he says looking at me, and it's odd that he's speaking to me so candidly like this without the joking and what not, "He's just rough around the edges, but he really does care."

"Yeah I guess so Tony, I'm just tired, and when he was hurting you like that, I don't know, I hated him for a second."

I look up and Tony is looking at me real sweetly, and it's creeping me out. He taps my face and turns around.

"You're too good to me McNightingale."

I roll my eyes and continue to address his wounds.

"Hey Tony" I say, "I'm going to rewrap your ribs okay?"

He grabs my hand and swallows.

"Tim" he says shakily, "They're really…tender, so just be careful okay?"

Translation: they hurt like hell when provoked.

"I'll be careful" I say back, "Let me know if it bites."

I put the bandages back on and try to ignore him wincing. This is just a weird day. Ten minutes later we are good to go and Maury is back on with a new contestant. On the next commercial break Tony tells me thanks. I never enjoyed hearing that word so much. It's around twelve and I figure its time I start making lunch.

"Hey Tony", I tell him, "I'm going to start making lunch, have any preferences?"

"But there's another one" he tells me, "You'll miss it."

He wants me? I always knew deep down that he liked me, but him wanting to hang out with me is new.

"Um well we have to make sure that you stay on schedule with the medication, you know?"

He glares at me. Wrong thing to say.

"I don't need them for today."

And here we go.

"Well we still need to eat."

"I can make lunch."

Is he serious? He can't stand. I'm not that bad of a chef.

"Just tell me what to do, I'll do a good job promise."

He's eyeing me again.

"McGee, I'm Italian, I take food a bit more serious than you do."

"Yeah why is that?"

He's looking at me again. Well foot meet mouth, I believe you are both well acquainted.

"Well" he says, "Culturally it's the setting for communication. It brings people together, it's love you know?"

No I don't. But I nod anyway.

"I'm making it," he says, "Give me that phone."

This is making lunch? I obey nonetheless.

"Hey Mon" I hear him say pathetically, and is that sniffle? "You got a minute?" Talking. "Yeah I guess." More talking. "Well not really, the truth is I'm on the floor."

What?

"I can't get up Mon. Yeah everyone had to leave for an emergency." Now I hear screaming on the phone. "If you get a chance, could you come help me?" More screaming. "I was trying to make lunch, I have to take this medication so my ribs don't act up and I fell-" More screaming. "Thanks Mon, you're the best."

He clicks the phone off.

"What was that", I ask.

"Oh Probie", he says smugly, "You have so much to learn. That was me getting lunch."

"I think I missed something."

"I just told an Italian woman, mia cugina Timmy, that I was on the floor abandoned while I was trying to make food for myself. She'll rush over hysterically to help me, and then once she's here she'll make food. Problem solved."

"And when she sees you're not on the floor, and I'm here?"

"Would you just go with the flow? I just need to get her over here with the thought in her mind to make food, she'll get over it."

"Tony, doesn't she have work right now?"

He's giving me one of those looks that makes me feel like an idiot.

"Would I have called if she had work?"

"She doesn't have work?"

"Monica has her own business. She makes her own hours."

So she has work.

"Oh yeah? What does she do?"

"She's an accountant."

"Wow, a lot of people in your family are really successful."

"Yeah that's one word for it" he responds bitterly.

Right, get off the family topic.

"Is she going to be mad when she comes over here?"

"Yeah probably."

Wonderful.

"You know Tony" I say, "I really could make lunch for the two of us, we don't need her."

"McGee" he says sharply, "One I need you here with me watching this, and two you can't cook like she can. She'll whip us up something awesome. That's the least someone in that family can do for me."

And he's getting angry again, get off of the family topic already.

"I'm in New York so I'm going to eat like it."

Okay. The show resumes but I can't enjoy it knowing that a crazy woman is going to be rushing through shortly. And then there is a knock on the door, and a dark haired woman in a navy blue skirt suit comes running in. She looks a lot like Simona but she's much curvier. She's actually gorgeous. This woman is Dominic's sister?

"Tony? Tony? I'm here, I'm- hey what the hell is this?"

"It's a miracle" Tony says watching the TV not even looking at her.

"Anthony, are you fucking kidding me with this?"

"I got up, I thought you'd be happy."

"You couldn't call me and let me know that before I rushed over here? I almost killed someone."

"Well I still need lunch."

There is silence…and then screaming.

"What?! You called me over here for lunch? Fucking male chauvinistic pig. The hell I look like to you? Are you fucking kidding me? You see the flag in this country? It's red white and blue, not green! I'm a professional you son of a bitch! I fucking went to college! And what the hell is this?!"

Oh no she's looking at me.

"The hell's wrong with your legs?"

I don't know what to do. I actually can't move. I'm going to die.

"I came from work! I was working damn it Tony! You can't just call me out for something like this!"

"It's a compliment! You don't see me calling Simona!"

"I hate you", she screams but she's moving towards the kitchen. The screaming has progressed into Italian and there is a lot of clattering and moving around of pots. I don't know what the word "fanculo" means, but I have a pretty good idea. Tony is ignoring it so I follow his lead. After thirty minutes of terror she leaves and in her place has to be the most beautiful sandwich I have ever seen in my life, and she made one for me too! She even put chips around and got us sodas. She tells us both to "choke on it" and then slams the door. I take one bite, and the heart attack that I almost had was actually worth it.

"Good right" Tony says to me.

"This is orgasmic" I respond back.

Tony laughs, like really laughs and takes another bite.

"She scared the hell out of me" I admit.

"Ah she's a sweetheart" Tony responds.

"Different worlds Tony, different worlds."

And now that I have survived Hurricane Monica, and I am feeling brave enough to broach Tony with the medication issue. I silently get up and grab us napkins and his pills. I give him the napkin and then the pills without saying a word. He's looking at me like can't tell if it's worth fighting over.

"Please Tony" I say.

"You don't understand" he says to me quietly, "I can't think with them, everything is hazy."

"Only for a little bit though and then it clears right? I mean you've been fine this morning."

After Gibbs almost broke your fingers off.

"Not the ones at night, they put me to sleep."

"Tony" I say and move closer to his side of the couch, "You'll be in pain. Just take them."

He looks at them and then me.

"Okay", I say, "What if we go to the beach? You take the pills and we go to the beach. I've never been to the beaches here and I can park the car close enough to get a good view, I'll buy us hot chocolate and turn on the radio. It'll be fun."

He looks like he's contemplating it. I know that Gibbs mentioned that Tony was to stay in the house but it's not like he was direct with it, and well I actually feel bad for Tony.

He looks at me and then smiles.

"Alright McBribery, you have a deal."

Ladies and Gentlemen I just got Anthony DiNozzo to take his medication sans fit which has proved to be impossible until this point. If you will recall the last three times Gibbs had to actually force feed them into Tony's mouth. I was able to do something that Gibbs and Dominic were unable to do. Excellent.

(Gibbs)

The atmosphere in the police station I found to be quite solemn, no one likes to be proved wrong so greatly. It's around eight when I finally return back to Dominic's. Apparently the paper work and tap dancing took a lot longer than I had expected, and unfortunately I have to return tomorrow. And it's not that I don't trust McGee or Dominic, but I just know how difficult Tony can be and I don't want him to give them such a hard time that they let him out of anything. As it was today I called obsessively to keep checking in and making sure there weren't any incidences. I know there was at least after talking to Dominic around dinner time with Tony taking his meds but it was handled so there is no point in rehashing it now.

It's a very small humble house but it suits me fine. Dominic as I have learned is a mechanic and owns his own business, which is ideal because since he is his own boss he can take off without any problem. Dominic has been excellent through out all of this and has tried his best to make both myself and McGee to feel as welcome as possible.

I find McGee and Tony quietly playing cards and talking in the living room. I'll leave them for a few more minutes alone. McGee has also been excellent with Tony throughout this entire thing. I make tea for the three of us and finally decide to join them.

"Oh hey Gibbs", McGee greets me.

Tony waves over at me. He's tired and by nine he'll be asleep. Dominic said that he gave Tony his night dose leaving me with a barely awake DiNozzo.

"I got drinks" I say placing them down.

Tony's face breaks into a smile as he gets his treat, and he struggles to get up. His movements are retarded so I wait patiently for him to right himself. With DiNozzo there is a fine line that I think only I have mastered as to when to help him, and when to let him do it himself. He goes to hold the cup but his grip is too loose, so I keep my fingers on it; he puts his over mine to give him some semblance of control. I help him hold the cup, bring it to his mouth, and then let him sip. I've already waited two minutes before bringing it to him so it would have cooled. I go to put the mug down but his hand resists mine and I help him again drink.

"So where's Dominic", I ask as Tony sips. I put like seven sugars in it as a treat to make up for my feeling guilty about leaving him with McGee and Dominic, because as much as I trust them, I know damn well that Tony will only tell me the most personal problems if there are any. And truth to be told I do feel a bit guilty about the way we left things this morning. DiNozzo stops sipping and moves his head away so I put the cup down.

"He went to go buy us some smokes", McGee says like an Italian gangster.

That earns a smile from DiNozzo so I don't hit him for being an idiot. I scratch the back of Tony's head and whisper so only he can hear, "You okay?" A lazy nod. "You scared me this morning, let's not do that again okay?" He smiles at me which is as good as I'm going to get. I lean back to rejoin McGee in conversation.

"How was work today boss", McGee asks.

"Just fine tuning the details", I say, "Nothing exciting."

Well that's not completely true. I punched Officer Carter in the face so hard he passed out and then needed stitches. I also had a hissy fit of my own that would have rivaled DiNozzo's. Following that I proceeded to threaten every son of a bitch that touched this case. Anthony Di fucking Nozzo will be getting a formal handwritten apology from a few staff members. It won't fix anything, but it's something, and it's my piece of meat to give to him.

Also, I spoke to Abby who has hacked into the accounts of officers within the FBI and NYPD that I have found particularly deserving. I told her to have fun and make them regret their actions. She told me her and Ziva would find something especially wonderful. And when I talked them two hours later they did. Each officer will now be receiving fifty emails everyday that are not "spamable" (whatever the hell that means) from a gay online pornographic website. These emails will come in the disguise of other emails currently in their inbox so they will be unable to decipher which email is the real one and which one has an incredibly lewd picture. Excellent. Don't fuck with my agents.

"Tony", McGee says gently, "Your turn."

DiNozzo refocuses his attention back on his cards.

"What are you playing", I ask.

"Rummy", McGee supplies. DiNozzo's cards are on a stool next to him because he can't hold them, hell him even picking the ones he want is a challenge. The drugs impair his coordination. Next to the cards is some untouched food.

"You done with that Tony", I ask.

He glares at me as a response and makes a move with the cards.

"No", McGee says, "He promised he would finish that for me."

Tony rolls his eyes. That's something else we learned about Tim and his sister, she apparently battled eating disorders her entire life, and so Tim apparently is very sensitive and aware of exactly how much DiNozzo is consuming everyday. It makes it easier for me because DiNozzo doesn't give McGee as hard of a time.

"Speaking of which" McGee starts, Tony groans, "Just a few more bites okay?"

Tony continues to glare but does grab a broccoli with his hand. Tony's hand eye coordination is off because of the drugs, and manipulating utensils at this point in the night is out of the question. He gets the heaviest doses right before bed so he can sleep through the night leaving us with this groggy creature. Tim picks up the napkin and ever so carefully takes Tony's hand and wipes it clean. Tony immediately yanks it away uncomfortable with such intimacy but doesn't say anything. Tim on the other hand seems fine with Tony's reaction and continues like nothing is going on.

"So who is winning", I ask.

"Too close to tell", McGee responds. DiNozzo's grunt begs to differ.

"You want me to deal you in next boss", McGee asks me.

"I think we're loosing our audience here McGee" I tell him, I tap Tony's chin to get his attention; that's another side effect, he becomes spacey and disoriented, "How you feeling?"

He nods at me. I'll take that as an okay.

"You want to go to bed", I ask him.

He bites his lip and goes back to his cards. I tap his chin to look again and this time I gently hold it.

"Hey", I say again, "Bed?"

He shakes his head no.

"Okay", I say releasing him, "Yeah I'll play the next round."

We play another two rounds before Dominic returns home for the evening. He nods his hello and disappears into the kitchen. He reappears, pulls up a seat and joins us. He ruffles Tony's hair and throws his arm over him.

"Hey", he says to Tony, "Guess what I got?"

Tony lazily smiles at him and rests his head on his cousin's shoulder. I guess they made up.

"Hey, hey", Dominic protests, "Come on, I want you awake, okay?"

Dominic swats at Tony's face which garners more moaning.

"Come on Tone", he says, "Look what we got here."

He pulls out a bunch of cigars.

"You want to know what this cost me", he says, "A lot. I had to beg man from Nicky."

Tony swallows and shuts his eyes still resting on his cousin.

"Alright guys", I say, "I think that's enough for tonight."

"No he's awake", Dominic protests shaking Tony again, "Dude, come on, just a little bit more. I even got that movie you were talking about. Some Like it Hot, here look!"

He shoves the video into his cousin's face, and shakes him one more time.

"Maybe tomorrow," I say, "He's sleeping."

"I'll give him sleeping", Dominic responds shaking him once more, "Come on, up!"

"Dominic", I say shortly, I swear I can't even imagine how bad they must have been when they were kids, "He's sleeping, on you might I add."

Dominic gives me a look but finally gives and goes to pick him, but I stop him.

"I got him", I say, "You guys had him all day." I lean down to Tony, "Tony, hey, up."

He keeps his eyes shut but groans.

"Come on," I tell him, "I'm bringing you up to bed, you can sleep there. I need you to help me, okay?"

He nods, eyes shut so I take a more proactive stance. I take one dead arm over my shoulder and lift. He's on his feet strongly dependent on me, but at least he's awake. We start shuffling to the stairs. We get to the bed seven minutes later after a pit stop in the bathroom and I lay him down. I sit down on the edge of the bed and make sure he's comfortable.

"Boss", he says weakly.

"Yeah DiNozzo", I respond.

"Thanks."

"Go to bed DiNozzo."

He immediately complies and is fast asleep. I undress and return to the room. I climb into the king sized bed and lay down. It was a unanimous decision that DiNozzo needed someone to spend the nights with him just in case. He didn't exactly love that, and by not exactly I mean he threw a fit, but he let it got after the first night. The first night we really got to talk. He told me how much he hated everything that was going on. He told me how much he hated being on the medicine and how he just wanted so desperately wanted to go for a run, and just to go home and have everything go back to normal. All I had to do was listen and reassure him that it would pass.

I pull the covers up and try to sleep. DiNozzo is out courtesy of the drugs, which is very unsettling to me. Having to have shared a bed with him before in hotels he would never fall asleep first. I can sleep anywhere, but DiNozzo is much more sensitive to his surroundings, and much charier. I remember the week we had to share bed in the hotel he flipped out on me one night because I was reading and he wanted to go to bed. I couldn't understand how the tiny light could possibly bother the prince until I realized he wasn't comfortable sleeping while I was awake and it had nothing to do with the light. If anyone ever mastered the whole "sleeping with one eye open" thing, it's Tony. Him sleeping like this without incident is unsettling. I have to get up tomorrow and spend hopefully a grand total of two hours in a meeting before I can wash my hands of the stupid formalities regarding concluding the investigation, and then? Let the paperwork begin. With that thrilling thought, I fall to sleep.

NCISNCIS

Something is shaking me awake, and whining. The hell time is it? I glance over to the digital clock which reads three twenty seven. I turn on the light near the bed. DiNozzo is sweating and his face taught in pain.

"Hey", I say, "I'm up, what's wrong?"

"Gibbs", he whines. And if I wasn't up before, I am now. He said my name with pure clarity and control.

He grips harder on my arm.

"Okay okay", I say, "What?"

"It hurts", he says. Oh, his speech is way too fluid.

"Alright, show me where", I say back.

"My stomach", he groans. Tell me you didn't.

"You going to be sick" I ask.

"The room is spinning", he tells me. I'm pretty sure you did.

"Keep your eyes shut then", I say, "You going to be sick?"

"Yeah", he says weakly. I should actually hit you right now regardless.

I get off of my side and go over to his, "Can you make it to the toilet?"

He nods, and I help him up. He is clutching onto me as we shuffle over to the bathroom. It's perfect really the set up of this room, because it is connected to a bathroom so we don't have to go far. Once we are situated onto the floor, he pushes me away. DiNozzo also likes to puke in peace, and normally I'd let him, but this isn't because he was drinking or something of the like, and I want to make sure he's okay. I get out of his space but I'm not leaving the room. He starts puking, and I notice his skin is pale and he's shaking hard. I lean against the doorway to observe. I see more lights in the hallway going off and two figures next to me.

"What's going on," Dominic asks nervously while to trying to peek in past me, "Tony, you alright?"

Tony pukes in response.

"No you jackass," he responds, "I am not alright, does it look like I'm alright? Go back to bed."

"Tony", McGee says, "You don't look so good."

Tony glares as a response.

"Hey Beevis, Butthead," I say to our new accompaniments, "Out, I got this."

"What's wrong with him," Dominic asks.

"Are you friggin kidding me here," DiNozzo yells, "I'm sick you retard."

And whose fault is that Tony?

"You need something Tone", Dominic asks kindly back. This relationship I will never understand; they are nasty and sweet in the same damn breath.

"For you to go to bed!"

"Alright" I say, "You two out, there is nothing to see here."

"Then why are you staying" McGee asks challenging me.

"I'm his roomie" I respond. And I have to kill him, because I know damn well why he's sick.

The two leave grunting.

"You should be nicer" I say to Tony who is currently panting over the toilet.

"Boss", he groans, "Not now."

"They're just worried" I say back.

"I don't care", he moans, "I just want to be left alone. Do I have any chance of getting rid of you?"

"Nope."

"Well in that case, oh, excuse me."

He goes back to puking.

"You eat something", I ask him.

He shakes his head no.

"Maybe you caught a bug."

"Yeah maybe" he says tiredly.

"Or maybe you didn't take a pill and made those two believe you did. That sound like something that might have happened?"

He looks up from the toilet.

"DiNozzo", I say exasperatedly, "I'm pretty sure we had this conversation about you taking each and every one of your pills."

"It doesn't do anything", he groans back.

"You stupid ass", I yell at him, "You do realize that these drugs are to be taken in combination with each other? You can't just get rid of one because you don't think it has any significance!"

"Yeah well-"

More puking.

"I hope this is worth it."

"Are you enjoying my pain boss? Because I never really believed you were sadistic, I just only said it in my head to make myself feel better, but now I'm starting to think that there's some truth-"

And he goes another round.

"You know what" I ponder, "From now I on I will no longer refer to you as Special Agent DiNozzo, no, now it will Dr. DiNozzo because apparently now you have a medical degree that gives you the complex understanding of pharmaceutical drugs."

"Boss", he groans and then pukes.

"Yes Doctor?'

More puking.

"I'm pretty sure we also had a discussion about tricking people too."

"No", he says panting, "We had a conversation about me tricking you. Not about other people."

I roll my eyes.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to play around with your meds?"

"Stop saying that word", he says, "Meds. It sounds like I'm old and about to die. Old people have meds Boss."

"No, sick and injured people have meds which whether or not you want to admit to yourself or not, you just happen to be!"

He groans and starts shaking harder.

"DiNozzo", I say harshly, "I am not having this conversation again with you do you understand me?"

He doesn't respond.

"If you weren't sick right now you'd be running laps."

"I'm sorry Boss", he says, "I just hate this."

"Suck it up DiNozzo", I tell him back, "I don't care. No one likes to be sick and fogged up by medicine, but that's too damn bad. Do you understand that by all counts you should be dead right now? For once in your life do as you're told."

He looks at me and there is a flicker in his eye that I can't identify.

"I want to go home."

"Well we don't always get what we want. You of all people should be very well acquainted with this."

He winces and then proceeds to vomit some more.

"I want this to end," he says.

"I know kid", I say tiredly, "But look, you got a long road ahead of you and you need to understand that and stop trying to fight it and just will yourself better. It doesn't work like that."

"If I'm going to go back to work when we get back home I need to toughen up then boss."

I'm sorry?

"Who told you that", I ask him.

"Told me what", he asks after finishes another violent round.

"That you would return to work after we left New York."

"I don't know" he says shivering, "I just kind of assumed, wait, you mean I'm not returning?"

"DiNozzo", I shout at him, "You can't walk!"

"Yes I can" he yells back at me, "I'm just a bit slower, that's all."

"You're in agony" I say, "Listen to me and I mean really listen" and he's puking again.

He returns back, "I'm listening."

"The only thing you need to concern yourself with is getting better. You understand me? You almost died DiNozzo. You stopped breathing, you know that?"

He looks at me tiredly. His bangs are in his face and sticking to his sweaty skin. He's flat out miserable, but at least he's listening.

"You hear me DiNozzo?"

"Yeah I heard you."

"What?"

"I heard you."

"What?"

"I heard you sir. Sir, yes sir."

I nod my head.

"You done here?" I fill up a cup of water, and give it to him.

"Yeah, I'm good."

Dumb ass. I lift him up and start to bring him to the bed when he stops. He grabs a blanket and looks at me longingly.

"What now", I ask.

"I can't sleep."

"You haven't even tried yet."

"I want to go downstairs, help me?"

He's desperate if he's actually asking to be helped. That, or he knows that I won't let him go down anyway and he's just skipping a step.

"Let's try sleeping."

"I can't."

"DiNozzo-"

"Boss, please. I can't sleep."

I sigh. Sure, why not?

I nod, and he smiles in response while wrapping the blanket around him more tightly. We slowly make our way to the living room where he grabs the remote. He looks around for something else but I dump him off on the couch.

"What", I ask.

"The movie, Some Like it Hot, I really like it Boss. You see it around here?"

I do, I get it and put it in the DVD player. I sit down with him.

"You're staying?"

"I'm not leaving you alone with the shakes watching a movie at four in the morning."

"Yeah, but you have to get up tomorrow."

"DiNozzo", I say, "Shut up."

"You'll like this one. Promise."

I smile back at him. I'm not planning on stay awake during this. I'll just give him some companionship and if there is a problem he can wake me up.

"This is really cool", he tells me.

"Oh yeah", I ask.

"As a kid", he says, "No one ever watched a movie with me. Hell no one ever really goes with me to the movies now either."

Seriously?

"I always talked through them giving commentary. Let me know if it annoys you, sometimes I can't help myself."

Shit. Well now I can't sleep. I didn't realize that this was a "thing".

"I'll let you know", I tell him and reposition myself so there is more blood flowing and I don't fall asleep.

The movie begins and he's off about the actors and the camera angles. Every so often he stops himself bashfully and apologizes for being so annoying, but truth to be told I enjoy seeing him delighted. It's the first time this week that he finally looks content so to hell with watching it, if it makes him happy to take a more proactive stance on movie watching, then so be it. He falls asleep within thirty minutes of it, but that's alright. I don't mind. Kelly used to do this to me all the time, and aren't those bittersweet memories. With that, I join DiNozzo in the land of sleep.