With every minute that Cate spent keeping one eye on the road and the other on her partner, her respect for her boss grew exponentially. First of all, she had to make sure Tony didn't decide they were stopped when they weren't and try to get out of the car, even though she had locked the door on him. Then she had to make sure he didn't break off the knobs on the dashboard while he tried them all out, taking turns blasting them with hot air, cold air and heavy metal music. He finally settled on a classical station, half-humming, half-whistling to Mendelessohn's Concerto in E Minor, his arms flailing as he directed his imaginary orchestra. She was grateful for the music's ability to keep him occupied, until he suddenly stopped conducting and turned to her with an alarmed look and sickly colored face.

"Caitie, gotta stop!" was all he said, and she knew she needed to pull over immediately. Tires spun up roadside gravel as she hurried to a stop along the rural highway they always took as a short-cut to Gibbs' place, and ran around the car to open up the door for her suddenly bilious partner.

"Tony, unlock the door!" she screamed at him as he fumbled to find the handle, not evening realizing he was locked in. He found the small button and leaned on it, and nearly spilled out of the car like a drunk when Cait immediately swung the door open for him. Stumbling into the ankle high grass, he emptied his stomach of what was left of a heavy breakfast, and was really wishing he had passed on that second burrito, as it had been much more pleasant going down than coming back up. Worse still, the pressure on his broken nose was nearly unbearable, and between the barfing and the pain, he thought he might just lie down roadside and stay there, hopefully dying sooner than later.

Cait did what she could to comfort him, rubbing his back and waiting with a bottle of water from the car, and she grimaced at the moans emanating from the depths of him. When he finally stopped, he toppled over into the grass, not even taking the waiting bottle of water to rinse out his mouth.

"Tony?" Cait asked worriedly as she hovered over his shaking form.

"Where's Gibbs?"

"Tony, Gibbs is -" she started to yell, then realized she was dealing with someone who was less than cognizant of reality. "Gibbs is going to be home soon." she finished. "Come on, let's get you back into the car before someone stops to ask what's going on. Or at least sit up and drink some water."

"Sorry, Caitie.." he answered quietly as he slowly made his way to his knees and took the water from her. "My head hurts like a sonofabitch after that..." Rinsing his mouth several times, he took the smallest drink of water for his raw throat, then tossed the bottle aside ran his hands through his hair.

"Okay. Think I'm..."

He never finished his sentence before a patrol car pulled up behind Cait's Buick, lights flashing and blinding him when he looked up to find the source of the noise.

"Shit." he said flatly, then gave up any pretense of actually caring.

"Maam, mind telling me what's happening here?"

"Yes, Officer, I'm -"

Before she could finish, the LEO had spotted the weapon at her side, and his hand automatically reached for his own.

"Maam, step over to the car, hands behind your head, put your hands on the hood, legs spread apart, do not reach for your weapon."

"Wasn't planning on it, Officer." she grumbled, heading slowly to her car and assuming a position she knew all too well.

"What – no!" Tony sputtered, realizing something wasn't right, but unable to really see what was happening through his double vision and tears. "Cait, what's -"

"Sir, lay down on the ground, on your stomach, hands behind your head."

"What -why, I'm not – we're not -"

"Tony, just shut up and do what he says, just this once, please?" Cait begged as nicely as she could under the circumstances.

"Maam, let me handle him, you keep silent." he commanded, pocketing her Sig in the back of his pants and frisking her for more weapons. "Stay right where you are, maam, my partner will be out to assist me soon as he's done running your tags."

She said nothing, fuming with humiliation and a not a little fear for her partner's safety at the hands of a LEO who had no way of knowing what was really going on with him.

"Please don't hurt him." she told the officer without turning around. "We're federal agents, he was in an altercation with a -"

"Maam, I told you to be quiet!" the LEO barked, growing impatient at her inability to keep quiet.

"Don't you yell at her! I'll knock you out!"

"Tony, shut! Up!" she snapped, turning just enough to see her partner trying to get to his feet and the LEO going after him. She was at a total loss of what to do- risk leaving her position on the car and getting shot both of them shot, or leaving Tony to his own stupid devices and getting himself shot. She was saved having to decide by the other patrol officer getting out of his car and motioning to his partner, just as the man was shoving a belligerent Tony back to the ground and grabbing his wrists behind his back to snap hand cuffs on him.

"Watson, it's cool, they're Feds, at least she is."

Officer Watson looked up at his partner from his struggling captive and gave a brutal shove into Tony's ribs with his knee, knocking the wind out of him.

"I thought I told you to stay still!" he roared.

"Hey! That's enough!" Cait shouted, unable to stay out of the fray any longer and heading towards her own hapless partner. "Just get off him, he's already been brutalized enough for one day!"

"Maam, I'm just doing my job! The kid is acting like an ass and resisting arrest!"

"Well, then, that job must entail roughing up a fellow LEO, not to mention ex-police detective! Not on any of the police force descriptions I've ever seen!"

The officer held his ground, even in the face of her fury, until he saw the look on his partner's face.

In the meantime, Cait had pulled out her ID, flipped it open, and shoved it in the man's face.

"NCIS Special Agent Caitlyn Todd, and former bodyguard to the President, and that 'kid' you're so smugly roughing up? Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, Jethro Gibbs' Senior Field Agent."

Watson looked from her over to his partner, who was giving Watson a wide-eyed, worried sort of look.

"The – Jethro Gibbs? The ex-Marine gunny that causes so much trouble for the local PD's?

"Only when it's warranted. Like, now, when he finds out you threw Tony onto the ground when he already had a broken nose and concussion." she supplied in a completely light tone of voice, and then finished with one that was as cold and hard as winter rocks. "Now Get. The. Hell. Off. From. Him."

Officer Watson fairly flew up from Tony's prone and now still body, and fumbled through his pockets to produce his cuff keys, his face nearly as green as Tony's had been before he'd vomited.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me who you were?"

"I'm pretty sure I tried!" Cait answered incredulously. "You were too intent on rushing to judgment to let me show you my badge and ID."

"You were still wearing your gun, maam."

"We're required to wear it portal to portal, Officer Watson. And I'm still on duty! Had no reason not to be wearing it." She shoved the man aside, not caring if he toppled from the awkward position, and put a gentle hand on the back of her partner's head. "Tony, it's Cait, everything's alright now, the mean officer is under control, I'm going to help you to the car."

Tony opened a loopy eye, only half-aware again of what was happening now that his adrenaline had stopped jacking him up.

" You okay, Caitie?"

"I'm fine. Come on, help me get you up so we can go home, the rate we're going, Gibbs will be there before we are. Come on, up and at 'em." she coaxed, pulling on Tony's arm and hoping he'd get the hint that it was safe to get up.

"You get me some ginger ale at the store and maybe some crackers?"

"Whatever you want if you get up for me. Come on, we're going to have the entire police department here wondering what's going on."

"He shoved me onto my face, Cait. Think my nose needs to be set again."

Cait bit her lip so she wouldn't scream at just about everybody, and helped her partner to his wobbly feet, then stuffed him yet again into the front seat."

"You guys are following us to the e.r just in case we have to pull over again." she told them levelly, daring either one to protest or God forbid, deny her orders. Neither said a word, just climbed back into the cruiser and waited while she buckled Tony into his seat and got back into hers. Gibbs was gonna kill all of them for this.

Before they headed back onto the roadway, she fished through her purse and found the bottle of pills the e.r nurse had given her, and though she had sworn she would never be a party to turning Tony into a blathering idiot with them, she could see no other course of action at the moment. His eyes were clenched shut in what had to be brutal pain from not just the concussion and vomiting, but now a slam into the hard ground.

"Got some headache medicine for you, Tony, found some in my purse." she lied, without really actually lying. She held one out into her hand along with a fresh bottle of water and he took it, dry swallowing it and then taking a shaky sip of the liquid. Freaky thing about Tony on drugs, as much as he hated them, they could almost always slip him more when he was on them. Still, the fact that he hadn't protested at all worried her more than a little.

"Don't wanna go to the E.R." Tony informed her as he huffed through his mouth for air. "Call Ducky. He's set plenty of noses."

Great. When Ducky found out about Tony needing his nose reset, he would want all the details, and then he would inform Gibbs and...the situation was spiraling out of control already and she wasn't even

back to Gibbs' place yet. Well, Ducky would find out about it anyways, and besides, none of this had been her fault, she had followed procedure and...man, how could things go so wrong in the course of just a few hours? This never would have happened if their boss had done his job and taken care of his own before haring off to clear a fellow Marine's name.

"Alright. Let me see if he can get away from work for a while."

Speed dialing the M.E., there was a knock on her car window that startled her already frazzled nerves.

The other patrol officer was requesting her to open her window.

"Maam, is everything alright, does he need some assistance now?"

"Just calling his doctor, change of plans." she held up a finger to him, not caring if it looked rude. She was all about rude right at the moment. After several rings, the older man answered.

"Ducky, it's Cait, can you meet us at Gibbs' place, Tony needs his nose reset."

No sense in skirting the issue, might as well rip the Band Aid off, she thought.

"What? Why, did he fall, is he alright?"

"He had a bit of a scuffle with a local LEO, I'll explain it all when I see you, but could you just please come now, he really needs some TLC."

"I will be there as soon as I can, Caitlyn. Get him comfortable and tell him I'm on my way."
"Thanks, Ducky. See you in a bit."

She pocketed her phone and looked over at Tony, temporarily ignoring the cop at her window.

"Ducky's on his way, Tony. Let's go, I'll stop quick at a 7-11 and get you some soda and snacks."

Tony nodded wordlessly, too exhausted to form a verbal answer.

"Follow me, Officer -" she searched for his name on his uniform. "Bodine. Hmmm. I'll have to remember to tell Tony about that." she smiled wickedly at the man and started up the car.

TO BE CONTINUED...Will they ever get to Gibbs' house? Will Tony break into a song and dance in the 7-11? Will we get to see Gibbs hand Officer Watson's head to him on a stick? Stay tuned for our next exciting episode of 'Tony and Cait's Not So Excellent Adventure'!