Sinister Intentions
AN: Thankyou for the reviews! They make warm and fuzzy :-D
Also a humangous thankyou to Kate for her help and great work!
Tony woke up, feeling groggy and nauseous. Slowly opening his eyes, he frowned as he took in his surroundings. He didn't remember what had happened and couldn't remember how he got to hospital. Groaning, he closed his eyes and shifted in the bed.
"DiNozzo! You awake yet?" Gibbs voice came
Tony opened his eyes to find Gibbs leaning against the doorframe of the room with a coffee in his hand. "Boss?" Tony croaked
Gibbs pushed himself off the doorframe and sat in the chair by his bed, "Kate's been worried about you,"
"Boss, what happened?" Tony asked
Gibbs frowned, "I was hoping you could tell me that. What do you remember?"
Tony groaned and rubbed at his eyes, "Ah, having dinner in that restaurant place with you guys," he sighed and looked around the room, "Going to that cheap motel and getting a room…" squinting at the ceiling in concentration, he shook his head
Gibbs grunted, "You were attacked…"
Tony sat up straighter, "Yeah…there was a blackout. I left the room to get some fresh air and…" he paused and looked at Gibbs, sitting up straighter, "That guy, he attacked me, we fought and … he was going to kill me! He tried to knock me out!…"
"Tony, calm down, you got out of it," Gibbs tried to assure his agent
Tony took a deep breath, "There was nobody else around, he could have killed me…"
"What were you doing out there in the first place?" Gibbs asked
Tony took a shaky breath and looked around the room, "I got scared…I…I kept hearing these strange noises and…"
"What kinda noises?" Gibbs asked
"Tapping at the door," Tony replied
"Hey Tony," Kate said as she came into the room, bearing coffees, one in each hand
"Hey, Kate," Tony replied, then gave her a small grin, "So I heard you were worried about me,"
"Not a chance in hell," Kate replied with a smirk, handing a coffee to Gibbs, and the other to Tony
"Where's yours?" Gibbs asked her, nodding his head in thanks
"Didn't really feel like one," Kate responded
Gibbs grunted and turned back to Tony, "Did you get a look at your attacker?"
Tony thought about it for a while, "No, don't think so,"
"You don't think so, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked
Tony sighed, "I didn't get a look at him, boss. But I managed to get his blood all over me, should be able to get a match…hopefully,"
Gibbs and Kate exchanged a glance and looked back at Tony worriedly
"What?" Tony asked
"The Feds came round earlier. They wanted to question you, but…" Kate explained
"They think you went looking for trouble, got out of your room looking for somebody to be your next victim. They figure you wanted to keep up with your MO, be consistent with the case you worked in Baltimore," Gibbs interrupted
"Boss, I didn't. I swear on my life, that's not what…" Tony protested
"Then why did you leave the room?! Why did you give them a chance to take you down?! You knew they were just looking for it!" Gibbs exclaimed
"Boss, I …" Tony defended himself
"Tony, you're looking at a life sentence! If not, capitol punishment!" Gibbs interrupted, "They are going to nail you for this! You understand that?! What the hell were you doing out there?! You shouldn't have left that goddamn room without one of us with you!"
"I was feeling claustrophobic! I had to get out of …!" Tony shouted at him
"Then why didn't you tell us?!" Gibbs shouted back
"I didn't think about it, okay?! I made a mistake, Gibbs! I was stressed! And I wasn't thinking straight!" Tony shouted
"You weren't thinking at all!" Gibbs retorted
"That's what happens when you're scared Gibbs! But you wouldn't know about that, would you?! You've probably never been afraid in your life! You don't let yourself have those cowardly moments of weakness! But I do! I'm human! I was scared in there! My heart felt like it was going to rip out of my body because it was beating so fast! And I could barely breathe! So forgive me if that made me do something stupid!" Tony responded, tears rolling down his face
"And you think that explains you stabbing someone?!" Gibbs asked
"He attacked me!!" Tony yelled
"Gibbs, out!" Kate exclaimed, pointing at the door
Gibbs narrowed his eyes at Tony, before looking back at Kate and storming out of the room
"He attacked me," Tony exclaimed to Kate, "And I'm on the chopping block? You'd think that the fact that he shoved a chloroform soaked rag into my face would cut me some slack. Or at least make them think that I was the victim here. I mean don't they think it's weird that he even had that rag? Or do they think that everybody just happens to carry them around?"
"Tony, we'll get to the bottom of this," Kate responded
Tony sniffled and wiped at his eyes, "Does Gibbs really think that I did this?"
Kate sighed and sat on the side of his bed, taking his hand in hers, "No, he doesn't. He's just pissed that he almost lost one of his agent's today, and he feels like he failed you,"
Tony frowned and looked into Kate's eyes, "Strange, I could've sworn that he hates me,"
Kate smiled, "We both know how he is with emotions,"
"Yeah," Tony agreed with a sigh
"You should've seen him confront the feds," Kate told him, "He wouldn't even let them in to see you. Fornell was pissed that we were interfering with his investigation and threatened to arrest us for impeding the investigation, but Gibbs didn't back down. He's getting copies of everything they have and is making sure that they cover everything. He won't give up on you, he won't back down without a fight,"
"Loyal as a Saint Bernard," a remark came from the door
Kate turned around to see Gibbs standing in the doorframe, "You cooled down yet?"
"No," Gibbs replied, then turned around before looking back at her and walking into the room, "But I found some strays…"
Fornell and Sacks walked through the door behind Gibbs. "Agent Dinatzo," Fornell greeted him
Tony plastered a smile on his face, "Fornell, what a pleasant surprise,"
"Agent Gibbs, Todd, you can leave now," Fornell said, turning to Gibbs and Kate
"We're not going anywhere," Gibbs replied, "We're here for DiNozzo and we are staying for this interrogation,"
Tony briefly looked at Gibbs, finding it difficult to keep the surprise off his face, then looked back at Fornell, "What do you want, Fornell?"
Fornell pulled out his notepad, "What are you doing in Baltimore?"
"Came to see a friend, she had a baby a while ago," Tony replied
"Why did you decide to come over now?" Fornell asked
"Didn't have time before, my boss kinda works us hard," Tony responded, shooting Gibbs a sly glance. Gibbs gave a small grin before suppressing it again, "And before you ask, no, I don't have a rock-solid alibi for when those detectives were killed,"
Fornell frowned, "How did you know about that, Agent Dinatzo?"
Tony grated his teeth, "It's 'DiNozzo' and I was informed about that when the local cops arrested me and decided to kick me around a bit, and I don't use that term loosely,"
"How did you get on with the detectives in question?" Fornell asked
"I didn't like them," Tony replied, "I think it was a mutual thing, they stole my clothes when I was in the shower, I …" Tony paused, making a point of thinking about it, then huffed, "…And I did nothing. I'm sure that relationship was destined to go somewhere, I knew it from the beginning…kind of, a gut feeling,"
"They didn't like you," Sacks stated
"That is the understatement of the year," Tony replied, making no attempt to elaborate
"Tell us about what happened last night," Fornell asked
Tony sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, "I got, um, uncomfortable in my room after the blackout and decided I needed some air. I went for a short walk and was attacked by some guy at the outer edge of the motel. We fought for a while, he pulled out a cloth which I assumed was doused in chloroform once I got a whiff of it. As I started blacking out, I pulled out my knife and…" Tony took a deep breath, "I took advantage of the situation and ran back to the room, I managed to call Gibbs and Kate before I passed out,"
"Where's your knife now?" Sacks asked
"Ah, probably where I left it," Tony stated, "Sticking out of the guy I …" Tony looked between the people in the room, "He's still out there… ?"
"When I looked outside, there was nobody around, Tony," Gibbs told him
"He's gonna come after me, boss," Tony said, "He's probably the same guy who killed the others… And I was his fourth victim, only I got away, he's gonna try again,"
"I'm inclined to agree with him, Tobias," Gibbs stated
"Of course you are, Jethro, you're his boss," Fornell replied, "But until we know what happened out - "
"Keep him under protection anyway, I'm not having one of my people killed because the FBI - " Gibbs interrupted
"Put it like this, Jethro, we're not leaving your boy alone. Whether it be for his protection or the wider public's…" Fornell interrupted, leaving his sentence hanging
THat's it for chapter 14! ...Hope you liked it! Please review! Tell me what you think...