Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or NCIS or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

The day Tony was cleared to go back on light duty was bittersweet for Spencer. He was glad for his friend but his own clearance seemed a long way away as he watched Tony hugging Jodie at the end of their last combined therapy session. Tony was supposed to return to limited hours of light duty so that he could still attend his daily physio for another week while they monitored the effect of returning to the Navy Yard on his lungs, but he'd talked them into letting him attempt to return full time, promising that he'd cut back and contact them if he had any difficulties.

Spencer was going to miss his new friend and wondered whether the older agent would want to keep in touch or if he would rather forget everything about his battle with the plague and the fight to get his lungs functioning again.

Spencer knew Tony well by this time, and while he tried not to profile his friends, after four years working on the BAU, the perceptions were almost automatic. Tony tried to avoid anything that caused negative emotions in his private life and Spencer knew that if at the end of his treatment he wasn't cleared to return to working in the field Tony's guilt that he'd been so much luckier than his friend would make him avoid even thinking of Spencer let alone talking to him and their friendship would be almost impossible to continue.

-o0o-

"Hey Tony how did your first day back at work go?" Spencer asked when he rang him that evening. "Did they put you on light duties?"

Tony laughed. "I wish! I ended up having to run away from a bomb in a car boot. Some idiot killed a couple of sailors to target us"

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked shocked and worried.

"I wasn't really hurt in the blast though I was knocked down and had the wind knocked out of me, but my chest hurt from running up the hill," Tony said worriedly.

"Did you talk to your doctor about it? Or Jodie?" Spencer asked.

"No, mother hen, I don't need you clucking over me. Ducky checked me out and cleared me. I'm supposed to be on light duties and they'll put me back on medical leave if they find out Gibbs is ignoring their recommendations" Tony said.

"And I suppose a Ducky outranks a mother hen who cares about you," Spencer said sarcastically.

"Don't be like that, Spence. I'm fine," Tony said almost apologetically.

"You were supposed to be on medical leave for another week anyway," Spencer said disapprovingly. "Did it have to be you running from the bomb. Was the trigger that sensitive that you couldn't get someone to take over or wait for the bomb squad to arrive and disarm it?"

"Um no," Tony said dismissively.

"You actually took it over to save one of your team," Spencer realised shaking his head in disbelief . "Tony, how could you?"

"I can run faster than they can," Tony said.

"Your lungs are compromised. You shouldn't be running at all," Spencer retorted.

"They wouldn't have made it Spence. Tim's just a probie, it's my job to look out for him in the field, and Kate risked her life staying with me when I was infected," Tony said bluntly.

Spencer closed his eyes in horror at how close he had come to losing his friend. "I hope they appreciated what you did for them. I understand and I probably would have done the same in your shoes," he replied sympathetically. "Not that it would have worked if it was me I'm the worst runner on the team. Derek would have made me stand still while he disarmed it."

"We'll have to work on that when you're well enough to run," Tony replied pleased with the support.

"Are you home?" Spencer asked, wondering if Tony would accept his offer to come over and keep him company and make sure he was alright.

"No, I'm lying on the floor of the forensics lab. Abby has a futon for when she's here all night waiting for her machines to finish running their tests. Someone tried to kill us so nobody goes home until we catch the guy," Tony replied.

"You shouldn't be in the lab near the chemical vapours!" Spencer protested. "It isn't safe for your lungs. Did you breathe in much of the explosive smoke and debris? You should have gone back to Bethesda to see your specialist."

"Calm down Spence, I'm fine. Can you hear me wheezing?" Tony reassured his friend. "I'm in Abby's office, there's an airtight door between me and her lab chemicals."

"Do you know who was behind the bombing?" Spencer asked concerned. "Are you sure you were the targets? Do you mean they targeted NCIS or your team specifically? Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No not yet, the serial numbers were removed from the detonators and the C4 didn't have identifying markers" Tony said.

"Sounds like a professional assassin, maybe CIA or a foreign organization be it government or one of the major terrorist groups? No offence Tony, but what would they want to target your team directly for?" Spencer replied. "Call me if I can help with anything."

"I will Spence, you keep yourself safe. How was therapy today?" Tony asked.

Spencer sighed, "Boring without you to joke with, and much harder in my own. Jodie seems out of sorts today too, maybe she was missing you but I think it has something to do with the fact her husband's due home from sea in a couple of days."

"I thought she'd be happy about that," Tony said eager to gossip about anything but the case. "Are we profiling trouble in paradise?"

"Yeah, I think so. She hasn't given me any details but she seems more anxious than anticipatory about his return," Spencer said thoughtfully. "Of course, he's been gone nearly a year and she's put on a fair bit of weight, so maybe she's just feeling insecure."

"How do you know she's put on weight? Did she tell you?" Tony asked.

"She didn't say anything but all her clothes are either brand new or a size too small and her wedding ring looks too small for her fingers. Assuming it fit perfectly when she got married, she would have had to put on about 50lb for her ring to not fit now, unless she injured that hand somehow and I've seen no signs of swelling or deformity," Spencer replied.

"I bow to your superior observation skills" Tony said laughing.

-o0o-

"We found out who did the bombing," Tony called Spencer to tell him an hour later. "Fornell from the FBI came to warn us that Ari Haswari is back in the country. Apparently Gibbs is his main target."

"You know him?" Spencer asked. He'd heard the name through his work but had been kept away from the man himself which was slightly unusual, he'd often been asked to profile agents like this to establish whether they were trustworthy.

"Yeah we know the guy. Problem is without proof he's protected by Homeland and the FBI they think he's a double agent supposedly working for Mossad helping them break into a Hamas cell, planning an attack on Washington," Tony said bitterly. "We've been ordered to stay away from him."

"And you don't think so?" Spencer said. "Why not?"

"Last time he was in the country he broke in to autopsy to steal a body and shot our ME's assistant in the shoulder. He wasn't being watched and he didn't have to do it. He could have explained to us that he was a double agent and gotten us to confirm with Mossad," Tony explained.

"He wanted to shoot him," Spencer concluded. "Is he a sadist or did he get off on manipulating you all?"

"Dammed if I know, Spence," Tony replied. "He definitely gets off on manipulating us but that doesn't rule out being a sadist as well, does it? He shot Gerald right in the shoulder joint. Not life threatening but very painful and debilitating long term. If he had to shoot him he could have chosen a less painful place. Doc says Gerald's going to be out on medical leave for a whole year at least."

"Unfortunately, it sounds like he's definitely a sadist, but that doesn't automatically make him a terrorist or a traitor to Mossad. Send me what information you can and I'll ask Hotch to pass on the profile on the guy. It should show whether or not he can be trusted," Spencer offered. "Let me know who in the FBI is involved in protecting him. Hotch and Rossi between them have quite a bit of influence so they may be able to get their profile taken seriously." Spencer didn't mention that he too had a lot of influence with the bureau."

"I wouldn't want to get you and your bosses into trouble Spencer," Tony said concerned. "These agents aren't going to like being told they're wrong."

"No, of course they're not, but better they're told now by us in private before their traitor instigates a major terrorist attack and they're trying to do clean up in front of a national television audience and a senate enquiry," Spencer argued.

"Okay I'll send you what we've got as soon as I wake up. If I go back up to the bullpen now Gibbs will put me back to work," Tony said tiredly.

Spencer could hear the exhaustion in his voice and started to worry "Okay, get some sleep and call me later," he said wondering whether Tony would forgive him if he called his teammates and asked them to keep a closer eye on his breathing.

-o0o-

The next evening Tony sounded like he was gasping for breath when Spencer called him to tell him that the FBI bigwigs had agreed with Hotch's profile and were going to assist in apprehending the terrorist mole.

Panicked Spencer raced out the door and hurried as fast as his own damaged lungs would let him down the stairs to the garage and headed to Tony's place, begging him on the phone to let him call an ambulance.

"No Spence it isn't my lungs. Kate was killed today by a sniper, she was standing right next to me. The bastard, Ari, tried to fly a drone into the pier full of family members waiting for the marine amphibious strike group. Tim was trying to jam the control frequency and fly it into the water when his transmitter was shot. Gibbs managed to crash the drone and save the civilians. We thought the threat was over and we were starting to joke around to destress and the next minute Kates brain matter was all down the front of my vest and she was gone. Sniper bullet to the centre of her forehead," he rambled trying to explain.

Spencer realised that Tony was sobbing not gasping for breath and slowed down to just above the speed limit.

"Are you alone?" Spencer asked worriedly.

"Yeah. I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep, but now I'm here I see her lying dead in front of me every time I close my eyes," Tony replied brokenly.

"I'll be there soon. You don't have to talk to me or listen to me or anything I just want to make sure you're okay," Spencer said. He knew that while Tony and Kate may never have been romantically involved the older man did love his team mate as much as Spencer loved his own team. The idea of the team not being together to grieve one of their own felt wrong.

Spencer flashed his badge to get into the building, thanking whatever gods existed for the working elevator, and picked the lock to get into Tony's apartment not willing to be turned away by his friend until he'd seen for himself that the older agent was truly okay.

He entered the room to see Tony slumped over on the sofa his hands over his face. Even from across the room he could hear the wheeze of Tony's breathing above his own laboured breaths. He hurried over and moved Tony to a position his lungs didn't have to work so hard. Tony turned and wrapped his arms around Spencer gripping him hard. For a moment, Spencer panicked at the embrace but forced himself to relax, he could still breathe and Tony wasn't hurting him in any way. He hesitantly rubbed his hand up and down Tony's back. "Breathe Tony. Slow deep breaths," he encouraged.

Slowly Tony's breathing evened out and he calmed down. "Thanks Spence," he said as if just noticing his presence. He let the younger man go and sat back.

"You're welcome," Spencer said shyly. "I hope you don't mind me breaking into your apartment."

Tony chuckled slightly. "Anytime I need saving."

Spencer stayed quiet knowing that sometimes there were no words of comfort available and it was better not to ramble nervously no matter how much it would make him feel better. Eventually Tony began rambling himself telling him about the case, how they'd saved the lives of hundreds of military families waiting for their loved ones to arrive.

Spencer didn't tell Tony he was repeating himself when he told him the story of their mission that day again, realising that talking it out would do him good.

"How did Gibbs manage to crash the drone? I thought you said he was a total luddite?" Spencer asked.

Tony laughed, slightly bitterly. "The Luddite way of course, he shot the controls until they stopped transmitting and the drone dove into the sea. Tim was horrified that he hadn't thought of it."

"Effective but hard on the evidence if you need to prove what the controller was capable of controlling in court" Spencer commented.

"The controller was already dead and Ari is never going to be prosecuted. He knows too many secrets, it would embarrass our government and neither Mossad or Hamas will take the risk of him negotiating a deal," Tony said. "Gibbs is going to kill him."

"Is that why you're home alone tonight, so you won't be involved in the murder?" Spencer asked worried. It wasn't like Tony to let his boss go off alone in such a dangerous situation even if he knew the team leader was about to break the law. Spencer was afraid that Tony and his boss were going to put themselves in danger looking for this unsub without sufficient backup.

Tony sighed. "No, I want to be there when he's taken down. Gibbs will need me on his six. We've got to find the bastard before we can take him down. Of course, the FBI and Homeland are looking for him now too, but I bet Gibbs can find him first."

"How? His contacts are that good?" Spencer asked surprised.

"Well, Gibbs will have Abby and Tim find him first," Tony backtracked without pause.

Spencer didn't want to argue with him but silently resolved to get Garcia to try to track down this man before Tony's team could. "Tell me more about Kate" he asked instead."

Instead of talking about her directly, Tony told Spencer about all the pranks he'd played on her, laughing as he related how upset she got with them. Spencer sat listening, his heart starting ache more and more with each story. He thought he'd found a true friend and be began to be afraid that Tony was the type of person who bullied his friends. Spencer began to worry that Tony would turn on him one day too. Pranks he could deal with but this sounded like more than that.

"Does she prank you back?" he asked in a small voice.

"Well yeah Spence! It wouldn't be half so much fun if she didn't retaliate," Tony declared.

"Tell me about some of the pranks she pulled on you?" Spencer asked hopefully. Maybe his friend wasn't such a bully.

Tony enthusiastically launched into stories of pranks that Kate and McGee had played on him over the past two years, cheerfully laughing at himself for falling for them, and Spencer began to feel better as he realised that a lot of what he saw as bullying hadn't been intentional, and certainly wasn't malicious or one sided.

Spencer rang for takeout lasagne, Tony's favourite comfort food, and managed to get him to eat a decent amount before letting him have another glass of scotch. He let him talk until he fell asleep then covered him with the quilt from his bedroom before going to make himself at home on the recliner, not wanting to leave his friend alone in case he had nightmares.

-o0o-

Kate's death strengthened the friendship between the two very different agents as Tony leaned on Spencer for the support he wasn't getting from his own team.

Gibbs was obsessed with finding Ari and while Tony was eager to help most of the work needed to be done by Tim and Abby who had the necessary technical expertise for these types of searches. Tim was reeling from Kate's death himself, she was the first colleague he'd lost in the line of duty and Gibbs was incapable of providing the support he needed leaving the burden on Tony. Abby was also too emotional to offer any real support and as always, her first efforts were directed at her silver fox. Tony was trying to support Tim in typical Tony fashion, playing the clown in attempt to cheer him up and pranking him to distract him from his sorrow.

Spencer was recovering too, finally he was able to walk from his apartment to Union station at a reasonable pace and catch the train to Annapolis for his therapy appointments instead of having to drive. He also started to spend time walking in the park, just enjoying the fact that he had the energy to do more than the most essential tasks each day. He celebrated by dragging Tony around the Smithsonian science museum. Tony was too pleased that his friend was finally recovering enough to spend the whole day walking while talking excitedly non-stop to even think of objecting to the geekish pursuit.

-o0o-

"How was your first day back?" Tony asked Spencer a couple of weeks later.

Spencer smiled. "It was good, far better than yours. The team arrived back from Wichita late yesterday so they were all in the office typing up reports and doing consults. I spent the day doing consults and reading through the cases they had when I was out. I still haven't been cleared to fly so it's going to suck if they get a case before I am, I hate being left behind. There's only so much I can do to help if I'm not there."

"Yeah and it's not like you can run the computer searches," Tony teased.

"Garcia would kill me if I tried to do her job," Spencer protested.

"I don't know how you managed to get an engineering degree without using a computer, let alone a PhD. You couldn't have done," Tony said laughing.

"You know you're the first person to realise that out loud," Spencer replied.

"Realise out loud?" Tony asked confused.

"Well Gideon and Hotch have never mentioned it but I think they know that I must have used a computer at least to write up my thesis even if I can do in my head most of the math that people use a computer for, and I collaborate on a lot of research articles so I must have a way of receiving and sending information that's more efficient than editing paper copies and expecting others to type up my work. They're the ones behind ensuring that Garcia continues to print paper copies of the case file s for me no matter how much she complains about it," Spencer said. "They've never teased me about being inept with a computer either like the others do."

"So, you actually can use a computer pretty well, why the insistence on paper files?" Tony asked.

"I read 20,000 words a minute in paper. The fasted computer or tablet has a maximum legible scroll rate of about 2,000 words a minute. It's just too frustrating to read files like that," Spencer replied.

Tony laughed, "Yeah I can see that. It would bring you back to just three or four times better than the rest of us," he said sarcastically.

"My brain also makes better connections between things when I read them on paper," Spencer said defensively.

"You and Gibbs would get along famously, between the coffee habit and the antitechnology," Tony declared.

"Um… I don't think so. I don't like being yelled at and I respond badly to unexpected physical contact. He'd probably head slap me right into an anxiety attack, or I would jump and knock his coffee all over both of us," Spencer said nervous at just the thought of working for Tony's ex-marine boss.

-o0o-

It was just over a week later that Spencer had to call Tony and cancel their movie night on his way out of town.

"Hey it's Spencer. I've caught a case, we're on the way to Mississippi," Spencer said, not apologising for having to cancel as he knew Tony would only tell him not to.

"You got cleared to travel, Attaboy!" Tony exclaimed cheerfully making Spencer laugh.

"Yeah, Jodie officially discharged me yesterday," Spencer replied proudly. "I've got to get to the plane."

"Luck with the case, we'll reschedule when you get back."

"Sure, I'll call when I get home," Spencer agreed.

"After you catch up on your sleep. You don't want to risk getting sick again," Tony said.

"Says the man who deliberately nearly got himself blown up on his first case back," Spencer said sarcastically.

"Yeah well you can't run fast enough to try that," Tony retorted.

"I didn't intend to try. Look after yourself" Spencer said hanging up.

A/N: Thank you to Village-Mystic, blackgirl663, kittenlore, Rori Potter, Guest, DS2010, Lady Rosencrantz, julschristine975, Amethyst-Pheonix2003, Meghie03, lisatp66, shelli3, Dedelle, A Chilly Panda, kbbella, Unspeakable Jack, Odette12, aiimee, penquin, lulu-20-07, Julzeron and Megan1339 for your support.