Disclaimer: NCIS and all related characters belong to CBS, Donald P. Bellisario and Belisaurius Productions.

Chapter Three

"You just couldn't take a simple day off without getting into trouble, could you, DiNozzo?"

Blinking awake at the sound of the voice, Tony returned Gibbs' mock glare with a strained smile. "I guess not, Boss." He caught sight of the other person with Gibbs and flashed the ex-Secret Service agent a ghost of his usual charming grin. "Hey, Kate."

Quickly concealing her shock at the sight of her partner's beaten face, Kate said softly, "Hi, Tony. How are you doing?"

"Fine, I guess. A little sore…" Tony gave a light shrug. He favoured her with a bright smile that, to one observant enough, would notice that it somehow didn't quite reach the green depths of his eyes. "Wanna kiss and make them all better?"

Kate couldn't stop the light laugh from escaping even as she rolled her eyes and shot her injured partner an exasperated look. It was a relief to know that he was going to be all right, despite the fact that he looked like someone ran over him with a car. Repeatedly. Sobering, she quietly took in the extent of her fellow agent's injuries. Contrasting wildly with the purple bruise covering one side of his face was the white bandage above his right eye that was almost swollen shut. That, coupled with the dark circles under both eyes and the split, puffy lip, gave Tony a particularly vulnerable look, one very seldom worn by the normally brash, outgoing agent.

Propped up in a semi-reclining position by the angle of the bed and several pillows, Tony shifted uncomfortably at the scrutiny. He was hoping that by putting on a cheerful front, he'd be able to get this meeting over and done with before any of them started asking questions that he would rather not answer at the moment.

"DiNozzo, you look like–"

"–crap," Tony finished with a grimace, privately glad for the timely diversion when Kate turned towards Gibbs to give him a mild look of censure, who in return simply ignored it. "I know, Boss. Jack already made that very clear a few hours ago… Where is he?"

"Home," came the succinct reply as Gibbs made himself comfortable on one of the two chairs present in the room, with Kate taking the other. "He's working the bar tonight."

"Oh. What time is it?"

The senior agent glanced at his watch. "Nearing seven. You've been in and out for almost six hours now."

Tony sighed. "They kept waking me up every other hour and then asking me to go back to sleep…"

"Standard concussion procedure," Kate smiled at the sleepy disgruntled look on her partner's face. In spite of the ugly discoloration and cuts on his face, in his adorably rumpled state, Tony reminded her of a small sulky boy who'd just been woken up from a nap.

"Yeah, but they didn't have to be so enthusiastic about it."

Kate laughed but Gibbs showed no other reaction except a small wry smile. Keeping a wary eye on his team leader, Tony had a sinking feeling that the unwelcome interrogation was about to start and mentally braced himself for it.

"What happened, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked without preamble and Tony was hard pressed to retain his neutral expression as the intense blue eyes bored into him.

"Got mugged by three men," he ultimately replied with a shrug.

"And that's it?"

"Yep, that's it," Tony said carefully, meeting the older man's speculative gaze for a short intense moment before looking away. With some effort, he forced his hands that were resting on the bed to unclench. Please, Gibbs, let it go.

Either his mental, and physical, pleas weren't strong or obvious enough, or Gibbs was purposely ignoring them because he didn't even take his eyes off Tony when he called out to the second newest member of his team. "Kate…?"

"Hmmm?"

"Why don't you go and get some dinner," Gibbs said quietly, without turning his head, his tone rendering his words more into a command rather than a request. "And please give Ducky and Abby an update on Tony on your way to the cafeteria."

Dinner? Kate blinked, temporarily surprised. An update? Gibbs had already done that, almost five hours ago, when he'd called and filled the ME in on the injuries that Tony had sustained in the beating and the doctor's diagnosis and recommendations. Frowning, Kate was about to voice her confusion when she caught sight of the expression on Gibbs' face and quickly closed her mouth. She flashed Tony a smile instead as she stood up. "I'll be right back, okay?"

The injured man nodded tiredly, resigned to the inevitable. With Kate gone, there'd be no holding Gibbs back, especially since he was determined to get to the bottom of things. In a way, Tony was grateful that Gibbs had decided to send Kate away. As it was, he was barely holding on to the façade that he'd been wearing since the incident last night and he didn't know if he could do it any longer in the presence of a well-meaning friend, let alone two.

Especially well-meaning friends who were determined to find out what took place last night. Not for the first time since the attack, Tony wished that he was a certified loner with no friends to speak of whatsoever. Silently, both men watched as Kate headed for the door.

"Oh, and Kate?"

Her hand on the door handle, the young woman turned inquiringly towards Gibbs.

"Don't forget the coffee on your way back."

O o O o O o O

The door closed with a soft click behind Kate and Tony darted a quick look at the man sitting quietly on the chair next to his bed. As usual, Gibbs' face was inscrutable, but Tony could tell that he wasn't at all pleased with the answers that he received just now. He might have been able to field off Jack's questions but Tony knew that it was only a matter of time before Gibbs dug the whole story out from him. What would be the outcome then? Would Gibbs even believe him?

Studying the young man lying silent and drawn on the hospital bed while he studiously avoided his gaze, Gibbs was glad that Tony had been asleep three hours ago when he'd first looked in on him. His initial alarm at Tony's condition had promptly been replaced by anger and now Gibbs speculated mildly on the reasons for DiNozzo's uncharacteristically somber manner. It was so unlike the exuberant, sometimes mischievous, agent he knew that Gibbs felt an unwelcome pang of genuine worry, the first one since they'd talked to the doctor and found out that Tony was going to be all right after some rest. What exactly happened last night, DiNozzo?

The silence stretched on for the next few minutes while the men each retreated into their own thoughts. Gibbs was the first to speak, immediately drawing Tony away from his own dark ruminations.

"Well…?"

With an inward grimace, Tony cursed the older agent's ability to put so much into such a small, insignificant word. It wasn't fair – no one should be able to convey that much of a meaning into a single utterance.

"Boss…?" he asked in his best innocent voice, feigning complete ignorance. Getting a blistering glare in return, Tony winced inwardly and broke eye contact with a soft puff of breath. "Could we just leave what happened alone?"

"Nope, no can do."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"That's not even an answer!" Tony protested with a frown when Gibbs failed to continue past that single worded reply. He eventually gave up trying to glare a response out of Gibbs when all he got for his efforts was a completely bland look from the other man.

"Besides, it was nothing," the younger agent mumbled stonily after a brief uncomfortable silence, casting all pretense of cheerfulness aside as he fixed his gaze upon the white ceiling above him. "Just a small misunderstanding between some guys..."

"So you keep saying, although I hear the phrase you originally used was 'a bad misunderstanding'."

"What?" Tony shot a startled glance at the older agent before realisation dawned. "Oh, Jack…"

"Yep…" Gibbs confirmed Tony's guess as he leaned back in his chair, stretching his long legs out before him. "So, do you want to tell me the truth now or am I going to have to sit here until you do?"

Tony had started to chew onto his bottom lip before he remembered the injury he'd suffered there. "Oww… dammit!" Cursing fervently beneath his breath, Tony briefly squeezed his eyes closed at the painful reminder while tears threatened.

When the pain slowly subsided, he turned to meet Gibbs' impassive gaze and decided that it was pointless for him to delay any longer. Knowing Gibbs, the senior agent would probably make good on that threat of his to remain by his bedside until he found out what actually happened and Tony didn't know if he could stand the questioning gaze any longer.

"I didn't even hear them – they must've been waiting somewhere near the car…" he began, so softly that Gibbs had to lean forward to catch every word. "At first, I thought they were after my wallet, so I offered it to them." His eyes rested on Gibbs' face for a moment and flickered away. Unconsciously, his hands fisted. "It turned out that they were there to give me a quick lesson on keeping my hands to myself," he continued tonelessly.

Still Gibbs said nothing. Tony took a deep breath and blew it out, his gaze now permanently fixed upon a spot on the adjacent wall – he didn't want to see the disbelief or worse, the disgust and disillusionment, in the other man's eyes – and forced himself to finish the story.

"Apparently, according to the big guy, I seduced his girlfriend while he was out of town last month…" Tony trailed off for a second and then blurted out, his green eyes boring earnestly into Gibbs', "It wasn't me, Boss, I swear. I never heard of the girl before, let alone touch her!"

"Okay."

"I– What?" Stopping in surprise at the simple indication of acceptance, Tony stared nonplussed at Gibbs, his mouth hanging open. "You believe me?"

Gibbs shook his head in exasperation. For an exceptionally streetwise NCIS agent, Tony could be frustratingly dense at times. "Of course I believe you, you dolt. Why wouldn't I?"

At that, Tony flushed and he quickly looked away. Gibbs took a deep breath and leaned back into his chair, rubbing a hand across his neck. "Is that why you refused to tell anyone what happened? Because you thought that no one would believe you?"

Tony's thick-lashed eyes were shuttered but Gibbs knew that he'd guessed right when the young man's face immediately lost all colour. If possible, he was even paler than before.

"DiNozzo?" he prompted softly.

"When they first accused me of it, I wasn't even sure that I didn't do what they said I did." He looked up then, meeting the older man's gaze, his anguish apparent. "Don't you see, Gibbs? Even I couldn't tell at first whether I was innocent or not."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Well, I doubt you would go after another man's woman intentionally. Especially if you knew she was attached."

Once more, his friend's simple show of faith rendered Tony speechless. He blinked bemusedly at Gibbs for a moment and then cleared his throat awkwardly. "Thanks, Boss," he said, eyes suspiciously bright. "Well, uh… when they told me when I supposedly had the encounter with her, I knew that it couldn't have been me since I kinda stopped … err …"

"Making friends?" Gibbs supplied helpfully.

Tony grimaced slightly at Gibbs' choice of words but nodded. "Roughly a few days before the supposed incident." He sighed, running an unsteady hand through his already mussed hair. "I tried telling them that they had the wrong guy but they wouldn't even listen."

Gibbs frowned. "So they called you by name?"

"Just the leader. The other two mostly laughed … and kicked … hard," Tony added, almost as an afterthought.

"Did any of the men look familiar?"

"No," the infirmed agent murmured, suddenly feeling thoroughly drained, now that everything was out in the open. Wincing as the aches from the various parts of his body began to reintroduce themselves to him with more vehemence than he liked, Tony squeezed his eyes shut against the exhaustion and a developing headache. "Never saw any of them before."

Gibbs stood up and gave Tony a light pat on the shoulder. "Get some sleep, DiNozzo. I'll see you in a bit."

Tony mumbled an affirmation as he settled himself more comfortably on the bed, his eyes already closing. The senior agent was almost at the door when the drowsy voice floated over. "What are you … gonna do, Gibbs?"

There was a glint in Gibbs' eyes when he answered, "To see if Abby can pull some pictures of your new but not-so-friendly acquaintances."

"Pictures? How?" Tony squinted at Gibbs, eyes barely open. Normally, he wouldn't have any trouble following the older man's line of thought, especially when it came to an investigation, but at present, it was all he could do to stay awake.

"Surveillance cameras," Gibbs replied, biting back a smile as he watched Tony fight a losing battle with sleep. "Now, rest."

"Sure, Boss." With a soft sigh, Tony at last allowed himself to drift and was asleep almost immediately, missing both the mildly exasperated expression on the other man's face and the fond smile that curved his lips slightly.

A/N: I'm completely humbled and awed by the response that this story has received so far. Thank you to all you wonderful people for your fantastic reviews and comments. Hope the rest of the story wouldn't disappoint. :)