A/N: Halfway through the week. Hope everyone is well :) Enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think, I love chatting with you :)

Guest- I'm not sure of what you had in mind for addressing those things with Gibbs, but Tony's not happy in this chapter. I think a lot of it is going to carry on into the next chapter.

amaia- I couldn't kill Timmy :) I'm already mourning that there will be no McNozzo next season so I can't let it go in my stories lol As for Gibbs, well, he's Gibbs, you'll see what happens :)

Tony shoved his wet clothes into his backpack. Seahawk's agent afloat could have handled interviews for us, he thought angrily. If Gibbs could see beyond the bridge of his nose... he wouldn't have sent the team out to the aircraft carrier in the first place.

Of course, the team leader was going to think he had done the right thing. And this pissed Tony off. If Tim had died on that flight, like the pilot, then Gibbs guilt and remorse would have shown up. Lately, it only seemed to show up after something bad had happened.

"Doctors ordered me back," Natalie's voice said behind him as she entered the tight space. "Tim was still sleeping when I left."

"Has Gibbs gone to check on him?" Tony asked, zipping his bag up.

"Last I heard he was interviewing Howard's shipmates," she replied, sitting down on the edge of the bunk.

Tony snarled and tossed his backpack onto the floor. It made a loud clang when it connected with the bulkhead. "Bastard," he snapped. "This whole thing is his fault because he didn't want to follow proper channels. What if Tim had died out there? What if I had died out there? And then to drag you out here and put your life on the line... I doubt he would give a crap! In fact, I know he wouldn't!"

Natalie couldn't recall a time she had seen Tony this angry with Gibbs. She had seen this anger before and if she didn't calm Tony down things could get ugly. Very ugly. "Tony, you're tired. We're all tired..."

He turned on her, eyes filled with rage. "Is that your excuse? We're tired?"

She shied away from him, slightly afraid of him. "We don't make the best decisions when we're exhausted."

"Then Gibbs must be exhausted all the time!" Tony shouted, moving towards her. "Because lately he's made a string of bad decisions!"

"Do you have a problem with the way I lead, DiNozzo?" Gibbs questioned from the open door. "If so I can arrange for a transfer. Maybe back here to this ship."

Tony set his jaw. Gibbs knew how much the senior field agent had hated being assigned to the Seahawk, of course Gibbs would think it was a fitting punishment for questioning the former marine's leadership skills. "At least out here I won't have to take unnecessary risks."

Gibbs stepped into the cabin and slammed the hatch shut. "We had a case to close."

"Yes, because finding someone that staged a crime scene was our upmost priority," Tony hissed. "It nearly cost Tim his life. And foolishly all three of us went along with it!"

"Following my orders is a part of your job!" Gibbs hollered.

"Even when they're going to get us killed?" the senior field agent threw back, hotly. "You knew it was a suicide before my flight took off; you could have had us wait."

Natalie's breath hitched. She had addressed that issue with Gibbs before Tony and Tim had left. It had been met with less than stellar results. In fact, Gibbs had threatened to fire her. What was he going to do Tony? It seemed like the SFA didn't care one bit what Gibbs was going to do to him.

Tony didn't wait for Gibbs to answer. He had a full head of steam now and there was no stopping him. "And, let's address the fact that you risked Natalie's life to fly out here during a rescue mission! Once again, disregarding the safety of yourself or others! I had everything under control! I was the one that got Tim! And I certainly could have picked up the investigation once things settled down around here! I didn't need you rushing out here to push me around!"

Gibbs was in his face suddenly. "Push you around? You think I came out here to push you around? I came out here to close my investigation! Which is what you should have been working on while the Navy searched for Tim!"

"Oh," Tony said with a harsh laugh, "Like you would have done that."

"You wanna take a swing at me, Tony? Is that what you want?" Gibbs challenged him.

For a moment, Tony thought about taking the bait and punching Gibbs in the face, but then something crashing against the bulkhead caught his attention. Both men turned to see that Natalie had taken the empty food tray from Tony's dinner earlier, before everything had become unraveled, and tossed it, furiously against the wall. "Stop it!" she screamed, hysterically. "Just stop this stupid, pigheaded, measuring contest!"

Her outburst surprised both of them. Natalie, the usually calm and collected one, was in a rage. And she was not about to let Tony talk her out of it, because when he moved towards her, her nostrils flared and she shouted, "Don't you dare come near me! I've had enough of these petty, alpha male fights between all three of you! And if you touch me, I'm going to be the one to punch you in the face!"

Tony backed off, deciding that it was best to give her space. Even Gibbs backed off. Natalie wasn't quite finished with them. "Is this how you want to start of the new year? By fighting with one another? Well, if that's the case, we're off to a great start! All we've been doing since this year started was fight! It needs to stop! It needs to stop now or this team is going to dissolve before your very eyes, Gibbs! That is, if you don't kill us first!"

Gibbs couldn't recall seeing her this way but her anger had suddenly deflated his ego. It had certainly shut Tony up.

"Ah... is this a bad time?" a voice said from the now open doorway. "If it is, Agent Gibbs, I can come back."

"No, we were just wrapping this up," Gibbs said turning towards the Seahawk's agent afloat. "Do you need me?"

"Petty Officer Howard's best friend, the one that denied adamantly that he had nothing to do with the cover up—just confessed," the other agent replied.

Surprised, Gibbs moved away from Tony and Natalie, ordering them to stay where they were and rest. "What made him change his mind?" the lead agent asked.

Glancing at Tony, the agent afloat replied, "Seems that Agent DiNozzo's heroics in going out in that storm to save his best friend inspired him. I have him in my office. He'd like to speak to you."

Tony licked his lips. "Boss..."

Gibbs didn't look at him. "Not now. Rest. We'll talk later."

When the hatch closed this time, it didn't seem as loud as when Gibbs had shut it in anger. Tony stood there for a second, his fists pressed tightly to the navy blue sweatpants that the Corpsman had found for him. A thousand different thoughts began running through his head and then Natalie let out a sob.

"Nat," Tony said, spinning on his heel and reaching for her. He'd risk that punch in the face... "Stop crying," he hushed her, relieved that she allowed him to pull her close.

"I want to start this whole damn year over," Natalie sobbed, burying her face into his sweatshirt.

Tony rubbed her back and smiled. "I don't know, you chewing us out like that was pretty sexy. If we started the year over, that wouldn't happen. Let's face it... it needed to happen. You were right. All this fighting is petty and stupid. Not sure it's a measuring contest..."

Natalie scoffed and wrapped her arms around his waist, happy to be encased in his warmth. "Please. Everything is a measuring contest when it comes to you and Gibbs. It's amazing you haven't killed each other yet."

He chuckled and then gently leaned down to scoop her up. Carefully he carried her to the bunk and laid her down. Pulling the blanket around her, he kissed her forehead. "You heard the boss, rest."

She could no longer fight sleep. Her eyes began to slip shut. "What about you? He ordered you to rest as well."

"I'll be fine," Tony said, running his fingers through her hair. "There's a nice, hard, small sofa over there with my name on it that I can sleep on."

"You should take the bunk," Natalie mumbled as she finally fell asleep.

Tony smiled at her and went to the sofa. As he wedged his tall frame on the hard cushions, Tony decided to ignore the slight ache in his chest. He'd feel better once he slept, once he recharged his batteries. By the time he woke up he'd feel one hundred percent.

Forty-eight hours later, when their chopper landed at the air force base, Tony's lungs burned. But he was going to have to fight his way through it, because they had been given another case. It wouldn't be the first time you've fought your way through a cold while working...

As the team drove towards their next crime scene, Tony sat curled up in the backseat, his head against the cool glass. He just wanted to sleep, despite getting a lot of sleep on the aircraft carrier the last couple of days. There had been nothing else to do but sleep. He probably should have spoken up and gone home to rest, but Tim was on desk duty for the next week. Tony couldn't leave Natalie alone with Gibbs.

Gibbs had yet to talk to him about their spat on the ship, and he certainly wasn't going to do it until he felt he was ready. As for Natalie, Tony was afraid that she was in a bit of a fragile state since the start of the new year and wouldn't be able to handle Gibbs on her own...

Tony immediately thought that was a terrible excuse. Natalie was perfectly capable of handling Gibbs, he was just being the over-protective boyfriend and wanted to shield her from the wrath of their boss. Certainly she could handle Gibbs a few days while Tony got better.

Natalie was obviously concerned about him. She kept glancing at him from the front seat, her gray eyes studying him. He would smile whenever they made eye contact, hoping to assuage her fears.

"Let's go," Gibbs said as he parked the car. "Looks like Ducky and Palmer got a head start."

"They didn't come from an aircraft carrier," Tony pointed as the team got out of the car.

Cold air blasted him in the face and he was surprised how good it felt. Tony hadn't been aware that he was warm. Swinging his backpack over his shoulder he covered up a cough and followed Gibbs and Natalie towards the small house.

It seemed so far away but in reality it probably wasn't. Tony was just tired. Or he kept telling himself that he was tired... until the front yard started to sway and he collapsed, falling forward onto the hard ground. Immediately the air left his lungs and he struggled to breathe. The blue sky became black as Tony fought to stay conscious...

"Tony!" Natalie's voice cut through the fog. "Ducky! Ducky, come quick! He can't breathe!"

"Anthony," Ducky's voice commanded, "we're going to try giving you your inhaler."

His bag was pulled off of him and Natalie was dumping the contents on the front lawn. She found his inhaler. With the help of Ducky and Palmer, Tony was propped up. Natalie wedged the inhaler between his lips and pressed down onto it. Tony took gasping breaths, sucking in as much of the medicine that he could between the fits of coughing. It took almost the entire inhaler, but finally, Tony was able to breathe easily.

Natalie removed the inhaler carefully. Her eyes were panic stricken and Tony suspected that he looked about as grey as her irises. "Tony... you're burning up! You should be home resting, not working! Why didn't you tell us that you were sick?"

Tony coughed, not as violently as before, but still, it made it hard to speak. "I...didn't want...you to have...to deal with...Gibbs," he managed to rasp out, watching as her face clouded over with mild anger. "Just...just give me a moment to recover..."

"No! You're going home! Right now!" Natalie snapped.

"Actually, Natalie," Ducky interrupted. "Anthony is going to the ER so they can properly monitor his breathing. Let's not take any chances, shall we?"

"I'm going with him," she asserted.

"Callahan," Gibbs said, softly, "You need to stay here. We have a crime scene. Palmer can take Tony to the ER."

Natalie refused to leave Tony. She knew he hated hospitals. Palmer was a good friend but the medical examiner's assistant was not going to offer the comfort that Tony was going to need at the ER. "Why can't another team take this? Tony's sick because he's been run into the ground and then tossed into a rainstorm! We're burnt out, Gibbs! All of us!"

Gibbs saw Tony's eyes widen for a second at her blatant questioning of the team leader's authority. It seemed that the SFA was surprised his influence had rubbed off on her so much. "Fine. I'll call Vance and get another team assigned," he whispered, fully agreeing with her that perhaps, the team was burnt out and that they needed a break. "Stay here," he ordered, walking away.

Ducky looked at Natalie, pleasantly surprised. "Well done, my dear. I was expecting much more of a fight from Jethro."

Tony grinned at her, through a fevered gaze. "Don't mess with the Boston girl, Ducky."

"Yes, I can see that," Ducky said. "I hope you heed your own advice, Anthony."

"Everyday," Tony said as he reached for her hand and latched onto it.

"Let's get Anthony to the car, Mister Palmer," Ducky instructed. "Miss Callahan can drive him to the hospital. I suggest we take him to see Doctor Pitt."

Tony slowly was helped to his feet. Natalie and Palmer eased him towards the car and then helped him into the passenger seat. He had just enough strength to put his seat belt on while he waited for Natalie to get into the driver's seat.

Natalie quickly and quietly drove them to the hospital, concerned by Tony's apparent wheezing. She had known this was going to happen the moment she had found him soaking wet in Tim's room on the Seahawks. With Tony's past medical history, any cold could turn into serious issues, even a relapse of the plague; since he had let the cough go untreated for the last two days, there was a very real possibility that it could turn into something worse. All she could do now was pray that they weren't too late.