Chapter Four

It took some convincing from his friends, along with several not-so-subtle hints from Gibbs, but Tony ultimately agreed, albeit somewhat reluctantly, to make a police report of the assault. He never said a word, but those close to him could tell that Tony was extremely glad to be back at work after a week of forced leave although, in the beginning, he was mostly stuck in the office because of his healing ribs while Gibbs and Kate did all of the legwork. He was a little thinner and somehow quieter, and for the first few days of his return, the recovering agent almost never looked up from the pile of work that seemed to have taken over his desk.

However, Kate began to worry when the first week passed and Tony still remained unusually subdued. She didn't think that it was possible but she really missed their usual friendly banter, barbs included, while they investigated cases. It looked like Gibbs was beginning to have similar thoughts, if the sideways glance that he'd given Tony this morning while they were out investigating a dead marine was anything to go by. Catching Gibbs' questioning look, she could only shrug her ignorance in reply.

Now, watching Tony surreptitiously from her desk while he pored over the reports at his, Kate wondered if he was still uncomfortable with what took place a little more than two weeks ago. Gibbs had filled them in on what happened, and she was ashamed to admit to herself that, if Tony had opened up to her first instead of Gibbs, a small part of her would probably have jumped to the conclusion that, though not intentionally, her partner may have finally fooled around with the wrong woman. Given Tony's penchant for the ladies, who would blame her if she had?

But Gibbs obviously knew Tony – after two years as his boss – and the kind of man that he was, despite the everyday front presented to them. It was something that she was slowly discovering for herself, and Gibbs' unwavering conviction in Tony had helped her to view her fellow agent in a completely different light altogether. In some indefinable way, one that she had been unable to explain, Tony's brief moment of vulnerability in the hospital haunted her, and Kate suddenly realised that beneath that flippant, easygoing manner that he'd adopted, along with his inherent boyish charm and good looks, there was definitely more to the man that he'd allowed the rest of the world to see.

"Tony?"

Looking up at the soft call, Tony met Kate's eyes across the room, the fading bruises on his face showing up clearly in the stark lighting of the office. "Yeah?"

"You all right?"

"I'm fine, Kate… Nothing a lil' loving won't cure," he replied with a wink, flashing her one of his patented megawatt grins. He didn't wait for her comeback, immediately dropping his gaze and turning back to his work instead, but not before she noticed that the smile didn't exactly reach his eyes. With a start, Kate realised that he'd been doing quite a bit of that ever since his return from the hospital.

And despite the fact that he'd been back almost fourteen days now, Tony still looked worn out and a little rough around the edges at times, the dark circles under his eyes only serving to emphasise his obvious weight loss. Kate could tell that something was wrong, especially when he turned down the invitation to join the rest of the team for drinks after work. Twice. But try as she might, she had been unable to get anything off him save the usual 'I'm fine' routine.

Quietly she pushed back her chair and stood up. Perhaps a visit to the lab might help clear up some things.

O o O o O o O

"Abby?"

"Hey, Kate." NCIS forensics specialist Abigail Sciuto looked up from the microscope and greeted the older woman with a cheerful smile. "The tox screen from the Miller case just came back from trace. I was right. That man was seriously tripping on acid…"

"Acid?"

"Lysergic acid diethylamide…?" Abby waved her hand around expressively, the action causing her twin ponytails to swing madly about her shoulders.

"LSD?" Kate asked of the common hallucinogen drug that produces delusions and visual hallucinations when taken in a large enough dose and got an animated nod in return. "That certainly explains why he was trying to get from the roof of one building to the other the hard way…"

"With a single bound," Abby grinned, imitating a flying motion à la Superman, before leaning back against the table. "Apparently, Lance Corporal Miller must've thought he could fly or something because there was no way any normal human being would've been able to make that impossible jump, not without any help."

Kate accepted the report and studied it for a moment. "Thanks, Abby. I'll pass this to Gibbs when he gets back," she paused, unsure of how to broach the other reason she had for being there. Taking a deep breath, Kate called out hesitantly, "Hey… Abby?"

"Hmmm?" came the distracted reply. The younger woman had already returned to her work, her concentration wholly focused on the slides under her microscope.

"Have you noticed anything different about Tony lately?"

Straightening up at the question, Abby turned and faced Kate once more, her usual cheerfulness muted by concern. "Yeah, the moment Ducky and I visited him in the hospital the day after the attack. He's, well…" she paused, frowning, while she searched for the right words. "I dunno … blue, somehow, behind his usual bad jokes and all."

"This morning, in the field when we were processing that Walters case? He hardly said a word…"

"What? No wisecracks?" Abby gaped, eyes wide. "Tony? Our Tony?"

Kate shook her head. "And he barely even looked at the witness we were interviewing, and she was blatantly flirting with him the whole time," she finished, her face darkening slightly at the memory.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yes, that woman was doing everything short of literally throwing herself at him," Kate grumbled in disgust.

Abby chuckled, amused. "I was talking about Tony."

"Oh…" Although she tried, Kate couldn't help the slight blush that tinged her cheeks. Clearing her throat, she ignored Abby's knowing smirk and continued hastily, "He's been like this since the incident… Have you tried talking to him?"

"Yeah, each chance I get. Got nada, zilch – nothing from him. He kept saying that he was fine… the usual blah blah. Then, he'd change the subject," Abby paused with a frown. "You know, it's like those guys kinda beat … well, Tony … outta Tony."

While Kate smiled at Abby's strange analogy, she had to admit that younger woman wasn't too far off mark in her statement – it was as if whatever that made Tony who he was had somehow been lost in the attack. As she made her way back to the desk, she stole another look at her handsome partner. He appeared to be still fully engrossed in his work, and barely looked up when she passed by, but that one brief glance had told her all she needed to know – he was still on the same page as the one he was perusing when she'd left, over half an hour ago. Sitting back down at her desk, Kate knew it was time someone talked to Gibbs about this.

She only hoped that their team leader would have better luck getting through to Tony than the rest of them so far.

O o O o O o O

"Gibbs…"

"I know."

"What?"

"I'm not blind, Kate. I know he's been pushing himself exceedingly hard since he got back, and the stunt he pulled on our last case? If it wasn't for his perpetual blind luck… No wonder I'm going grey…" Gibbs trailed off and continued to glower into his drink.

Kate blinked at that but wisely refrained from pointing out that Gibbs was already well on his way there. She turned back to her own drink instead, half listening to Abby and Ducky's conversation on her other side.

The four of them were at Callaghan's. Gibbs had been surprised to see the rest of his team, sans Tony, when he'd walked in earlier but had immediately joined them at the bar. He had another reason for being there aside from taking the moment to unwind – they'd just closed a tough murder case only three hours earlier – to give Jack, who'd been pretty anxious about Tony, an update on the younger man.

It was then that Gibbs had found out that Tony had declined the invitation to join in, just as he'd been doing for the past two weeks, mumbling some unintelligible excuse about heading home to catch up with some sleep. Gibbs had lifted an eyebrow at the information but hadn't participated further in the discussion, listening quietly while the rest of his team talked, although he'd been privately worried when it was disclosed that Tony had all but ignored Abby and Kate's pleas to come along with them. The old Tony that he knew would've done the exact opposite and basked in all the attention.

"That bad, huh?" Callaghan asked in a low voice from across the bar, a frown creasing his forehead. He'd spoken to Tony a couple of times since that night, and even through the phone he could tell that the kid wasn't doing all that well. He just hadn't expected it to be this bad.

Gibbs gave an almost imperceptible nod. "I was banking on him bouncing back on his own…" he answered in an equally subdued tone. "It's been almost two weeks and it looks like he's just been drifting further away from the team."

"His work?"

"Still up to his usual standards, if not better."

"Have you tried talking to him?"

The look on Gibbs' face was answer enough and Jack grimaced, "So I take it he's been giving you his usual 'I'm fine' stance as well?"

"And I probably would have believed him, if it wasn't for that perpetual haunted look in his eyes…" Gibbs's mouth thinned into a line at the memory.

"You know, Jethro, though he is not experiencing or exhibiting all of the symptoms, it seems our boy may be suffering from some form of PTSD …" Dr Donald Mallard remarked in a thoughtful tone and Gibbs raised an eyebrow at the team's medical examiner seated on Kate's other side.

"What? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?" Kate questioned, surprised. "Tony?"

Dr Mallard, affectionately known as Ducky to his friends and colleagues, bobbed his head enthusiastically. "Not sleeping, not eating, abrupt withdrawal from the people around him…"

"And edgy… definitely edgy," Abby piped up from Ducky's left side, her ringed fingers playing with the straw of the drink in front of her. "The other day, I tapped him from behind and he practically jumped out of his skin. If he hadn't turned so pale, I would've kid him about getting caught so off guard like that. But before I could say anything, he mumbled something about following up on a lead and disappeared out the door."

Kate looked dubiously at the younger woman. "Couldn't he be doing exactly that?"

Abby shook her dark head. "Nope. There was nothing on that day."

"A cold case, perhaps?"

The young Goth shot Kate a look. With a grimace, Kate nodded slowly, "Right, talking about Tony here. He'd rather be playing one of his computer games instead." She caught Gibbs' eyes and added hurriedly, "Not that he has any on his computer… now…"

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen him here since that night," Jack added quietly, studying the concerned faces before him.

"This certainly brings to mind a young man I once knew, a long time go, who also underwent quite a traumatic experience, not unlike young Anthony, although I must say that–"

"Ducky…" Gibbs broke in impatiently. "PTSD?"

"Oh, right. Well, as you know, there are four types of PTSD – and since it has been less than a month since the attack, I'd say that Anthony is most likely suffering from acute stress disorder, the first, and least severe of the four stages," Ducky said, tapping his forefinger against the fine polished wood of the bar.

"How could we have missed something like that?" Kate asked, shaking her head.

"Yes, well, we've all been interacting with him separately and only seeing only one or two of the signs at one time, Caitlin," Ducky reminded her gently. "It only became clear when the symptoms were listed together. You will also have to take into consideration that young Anthony has been putting on quite a good show and pretending that everything is currently all right with him."

"Yeah… If I see that over-bright smile one more time…" Kate grumbled to no one in particular.

"But you always see that over-bright smile," Abby remarked, confused. "Don't we all?"

"No," Kate shook her head. "I can't really explain it but this one is different somehow."

"It's empty," Gibbs muttered darkly as he got off the stool and headed towards the restrooms, missing the stunned looks on the women's faces at his accurate interpretation.

"I hate it when he does that… How does he do that, anyway?" Kate groused to Abby, who flashed her a grin.

"He's Gibbs," the lab technician answered with a nonchalant shrug, as if that explained everything.

Callaghan quickly hid a grin, greatly amused by the entire exchange. He found Gibbs' team to be a bunch of really likeable people and especially enjoyed watching the younger ones continually cracking their heads trying to figure their boss out. And Gibbs definitely knew how to keep them on their toes, guessing, especially–

Tony.

At that, Jack's smile slowly faded away and he sighed softly. Since meeting him two years ago, Jack had grown rather fond of the exuberant, though sometimes impulsive, young man, seeing in him the son that he'd lost so many years ago. It was extremely painful to see him go through this whole experience and knowing that there was nothing that he could do to for his young friend. It's a good thing the kid has some great friends though. Now, if only that stubborn idiot would just let them help him…

"Gibbs? Where are you going?" Abby's question drew him from his thoughts and Jack looked up just in time to see the man in question walking away from the bar.

"To get something…" Gibbs threw back succinctly over one shoulder before he disappeared out through the front door.

Watching as the door closed behind the enigmatic agent, Abby remarked in a distracted tone of voice, "Well, whatever he's up to, I'm sure we'll find out tomorrow."

Jack raised an eyebrow at that but couldn't quite contain the chuckle when he heard Kate mutter scathingly under her breath, "Suuuure we will. Excuse me while I try to contain myself…"

Ducky smiled benignly at his remaining three companions as he held up his glass, rotating it slightly so that the light from the bar above bounced attractively off the drink contained inside. "This liquid has a very interesting colour and texture to it. Did I ever tell you of the time I was in Malaysia, about twenty years ago, during one of the monsoon seasons? Really torrential rain, mind you…"

A/N: Wow, thanks for being such an amazing bunch of people! I'm sorry I'm unable to email each of you personally to express how grateful I am for your fantastic reviews (between work and harassing my beta, there's hardly enough time for the other stuff… :D) but know that I'm totally blown away by all the support you've given this story. Hope that you've enjoyed this chapter as well. Thanks again for reading!