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

Chapter Five

"We're here to give you a lesson, boy – one that you won't forget in a hurry…"

"Wait… please, listen to me…"

"Too late… for you and especially for that … oh so lovely friend of yours…" the voice sneered.

Eyes wide, Tony looked fearfully to his right and his breath caught at the glimpse of Kate's broken body lying mangled on the road next to his car, her eyes looking sightlessly into the night sky.

"No…" the plea escaped him in a ragged whisper even as he struggled ineffectually against the hands that were holding him in place. "Kate…"

"Oh, was that her name?" the man mocked, his amusement evident as he took in his hapless victim's fury and grief. "How nice…"

Ignoring the taunt, Tony turned burning eyes towards his antagonist, who, for some reason, remained strangely indistinguishable. All he could make out was that the man was big and heavily muscled... or was he tall and wiry? "What have you done?!"

"Nothing that we're not going to do to you, Officer Smartmouth…" The snide reply was greeted by boisterous laughter by the watching men surrounding them.

"Why you bas…" Tony snarled, fighting to get free, but all he managed to accomplish with his latest attempt was to get the breath knocked out of him when one of the men stepped forward and proceeded to punch him hard in the stomach. His legs folded from under him and Tony would have fallen were it not for the two sets of arms presently holding him up.

"Temper, temper…" the leader interjected derisively, his teeth flashing briefly in the gloom of the night. Reaching out, he tapped a coughing Tony on one cold cheek. "Careful now, pretty boy… you wouldn't want me to hurt either of them… any more than they already are, would you now?"

Nausea rose within Tony as the man stepped to one side, revealing two men slumped on the ground behind him. His breath caught in his throat as he recognised the battered body and bloodied features of the young man lying out cold beside a semi-conscious Gibbs, who appeared to be in equally bad, if not worse, shape.

"Will?" the young agent hissed out a painful breath, unable to believe his eyes. "But how? You're–"

"–here to pay for all your mistakes all over again, DiNozzo," the leader interjected with a cruel laugh. "Aren't you, William, my boy? As for this one…"

At his signal, two other men grabbed Gibbs and hauled him upright. Head lolling upon his shoulders, the injured agent moaned softly at the harsh treatment and Tony looked frantically back towards the big hoodlum. "Please, let him … let all of them go…" he pleaded in feverish desperation. "They don't have anything to do with this…"

The smirk widened. "It just doesn't pay to be friends with you, does it, DiNozzo?"

Before Tony could even react to that taunt, the man pulled out a gun, placed it at Gibbs' temple and pulled the trigger.

"NO!!"

"NO!!" Tony jerked violently awake with the scream still lingering in the air, almost falling off his chair in the process. Looking wildly around, it took him a moment before he realised that he was still at his desk at the NCIS headquarters. Relaxing his death grip upon the gun that he'd managed to pull out from his open drawer during his brief moment of blind terror, Tony dropped his head into his hands with a low groan of despair, eyes squeezed tightly shut against the tears that threatened.

He was exhausted, both mentally and physically – trying to keep awake had taken a lot out of him – but each time he'd fallen asleep, the dreams would come, each time ending with one or more people dying while he remained largely helpless. Sometimes, all he could recall of the nightmares were the deaths. Occasionally, they involved total strangers but most of the time, he would watch his friends die in the same horrifying way – a gunshot wound to the head. And his own terrified screams would wake him up – all sweaty and panic-stricken.

It'd now come to the point that Tony would do just about anything, in order to stay awake – he couldn't bear to go through any more of it, night after night. Telling himself firmly that it was all just part of his subconscious hadn't helped in lessening the dreams in any way.

After making his excuses to Kate and Abby about going to Callaghan's for a drink, he'd opted to stay at the office rather than go back to his apartment, although he knew that he was only delaying the inevitable – he would need to rest sooner or later, especially if he wanted to keep his friends from figuring out what was wrong with him. He'd then tried working on his computer but in spite of his best efforts, he'd fallen asleep at his desk, only to be awoken by yet another nightmare.

Reaching for his cup of coffee with a trembling hand, Tony took a sip and grimaced in disgust. It was ice cold. He must have been asleep longer than he thought. As he took another swallow of the unappealing beverage, Tony mused ruefully that if this kept up, he'd probably turn into Gibbs in no time.

Putting the cup down and leaning back cautiously in his chair, Tony ran long fingers through his already dishevelled hair while he reflected on what he could remember of the dream – it was different from the ones that had plagued him so far. Aside from the fact that he could actually remember the exact sequence of it, it also featured someone he'd not thought of for a long, long time. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he wasn't aware of the presence of another in the room until the question rang out, startlingly loud in the relative silence of the place.

"You okay?"

Still feeling his heart racing away beneath his hand that he had pressed to his chest, Tony turned to stare at his team leader with wide green eyes. "For the love of–" he gasped, swallowing convulsively. "Boss, don't sneak up on a guy like that, would ya? You almost gave me a heart attack."

Gibbs snorted lightly, studying the younger man seated at his desk in the dimly lit room. "With the kind of junk that you eat, it shouldn't be too hard."

"Hey!" Tony protested, sitting up straighter in his chair. "I'll have you know that I cover all the four major food groups…"

"I thought you were going to go home..."

Mouth dry, Tony eyed Gibbs with some trepidation at the abrupt change in topic, adeptly reading more behind the evenly stated statement. He swiftly schooled his features, and answered as cheerfully as he could manage under the circumstances, "Decided to catch up with some work, Boss, especially with the number of documents we have to go through for Private Cooper's case and…"

"Cut the crap, DiNozzo," Gibbs growled, effectively shutting the other man up. He'd not been all that surprised to find Tony asleep at his desk when he's walked in earlier, and was just debating with himself whether he should rouse the younger man up and get him home when Tony had suddenly jerked awake with a strangled scream. It wasn't exactly a great way to confirm what Ducky had already guessed back at Callaghan's but witnessing the entire thing had helped to clear up a lot of doubts. Giving the young agent a stern look, he asked, "How long have you been having those nightmares?"

Tony mumbled something unintelligible under his breath as he looked away from Gibbs' sharp gaze and began clearing up his desk. For a time, the only sound in the office was the rustling of papers. Keeping his head down, Tony's mind raced even as he mechanically stacked up the rest of the paperwork he'd been studying into a pile. He knew that Gibbs was still awaiting his reply but a part of him was reluctant to give the older agent any – this was his problem – his, not Gibbs', and he'd deal with it his way.

Still, the silence that stretched between them became so palpable and Tony was sure that at any moment, he would start screaming uncontrollably at Gibbs to please just leave him the heck alone.

"DiNozzo?"

Jumping slightly at the soft call, Tony froze in mid-action of moving a pile of papers to one side of the table and looked up unwillingly to meet the cool blue gaze. Quickly averting his own red-rimmed ones, the younger agent moved his shoulders in a slight shrug, all at once feeling like a suspect undergoing one of Gibbs' interrogation sessions. "Two… three weeks..."

"Since the attack?"

"Yeah, something like that." Tony stood up, eager to get away before the questions became too hard to handle. He also needed to be alone before he could allow himself to analyse his latest nightmare. It'd been some time since he'd thought about what had took place so many years ago – he'd buried it so deeply within the recesses of his mind that he'd almost forgotten about it. Almost. But not quite, it would seem, judging from the dream he'd just had.

"Want to talk about it?"

Surprised by the unexpected offer, Tony stared at his team leader for a moment before he remembered that Gibbs was waiting for an answer. Leaning down, he quickly grabbed hold his knapsack and slung it over one shoulder, keeping his gaze carefully averted. "I… uhm… No, there's nothing to talk about, Boss," he mumbled, clearing his throat uncomfortably.

Oh, I'm sure there isn't. The blank, shuttered look on Tony face, however, told Gibbs that this wasn't the appropriate time to push for an answer, instinctively knowing that all he would accomplish if he did so would be to drive the younger man further into his self-imposed shell. Somewhat reluctantly, Gibbs decided to allow the matter to rest for now, and indicated instead the car keys clutched in Tony's left hand with a raise brow. "You're sure you're okay to drive?"

"Yeah, Gibbs. I'm fine. I'd … err … see you tomorrow," Tony gave Gibbs a wan smile and then hurried out of the bullpen, missing the flash of concern on the other man's face.

"And try and get some rest, DiNozzo! That's an order!" Gibbs called out after the fast disappearing agent. Tony's faint reply of acquiescence floated back to him and Gibbs shook his head as he watched the haphazardly executed exit. Snatching up the file that he'd come to the office for in the first place, Gibbs headed for the door with a sigh, turning the lights out as he made his way towards the elevator.

The kid was definitely going to be the death of him some day.

O o O o O o O

Trailing behind Tony's vehicle at a discreet distance, Gibbs wondered if he'd made the right call to allow the younger man to drive in his current condition. The kid was clearly upset by his most recent nightmare, despite his act earlier back at the office. And coupled with his obvious exhaustion, Tony would be an easy target, especially this late in the night. The fact that the young agent had yet to realise that he was being followed was proof enough of how distracted he was at the moment.

His heart jumped when the car swerved slightly to the right before moving back into its lane. If they weren't almost at Tony's apartment, Gibbs would've immediately pulled him over and blistered his ear about his supposed driving skills. However, that proved to be the only incident during the rest of the drive back, something that Gibbs would be eternally grateful for – it wouldn't do for Tony, or anyone else, to find out that he'd managed to turn his team leader into a perpetual mother hen.

The younger man soon pulled into the parking area, while Gibbs came to a stop by the kerb half a block away, near enough for him to have a clear view of the place but not too near as to arouse Tony's suspicions. Satisfied to see that there weren't any suspicious characters loitering nearby, Gibbs sat in his car, the engine idling, and watched until Tony was safely inside the apartment building before driving off.

O o O o O o O

It took Tony's sluggish mind several seconds to work out that the light that was currently prodding his half-lidded eyes open came from the window. Yawning, he peered sleepily at the clock, groaning aloud when he found out exactly what time it was. He promptly turned and hid his head under the huge pillow, the movement twisting the blanket even more around his bare lean waist. It was definitely way too early to be up, despite the overly cheery encouragement from the sun shining outside his bedroom window.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open when he realised that he'd just slept through the entire night without waking up screaming from some nightmare, obscure or otherwise. Not once. Turning onto his back and staring up at the ceiling, Tony allowed the wonder of it to wash over him as the realisation slowly sunk in. It'd been a while since he'd had a decent night's sleep that he'd almost forgotten how good it felt to have one.

The significance of his rather restful night was not lost on him – Tony had a vague idea on why his demons hadn't reared their ugly heads last night. He might have wanted to think things through when he got home, but his body obviously had other plans for him, and he was practically asleep the instant his head touched the pillow. Though it was his first uninterrupted one since the attack almost three weeks ago, it didn't completely take away his fatigue – Tony still found himself feeling oddly exhausted – it was a start nonetheless.

He closed his eyes and tried to slip into oblivion once more but sleep wouldn't come. After a few more minutes, he gave up. With a weary sigh, Tony disentangled himself from the blanket, got out of bed, and padded barefoot towards the bathroom. Since rest was now all but impossible, he might as well start getting ready for work.

Perhaps if he got in earlier, he might be able to convince Gibbs to grant his request for several days of leave – he had some place he needed to be and something that he should have done a very long time ago.

O o O o O o O

"Special Agent DiNozzo," Tony said distractedly into the telephone, the handset cradled unevenly between his ear and one shoulder while he ruffled through the pile of papers on his desk with his hands. Suddenly he stilled, straightened in his chair and took the handset in one hand, the documents that he had been searching for moments before all but forgotten. "Yes, hello, Detective Chen. Yeah, I'm doing great, thanks. Yourself?"

Seated at her desk, Kate looked up inquiringly at the name of the detective in charge of the investigation into Tony's attack. The local police already know whom they were looking for, largely thanks to the pictures that Abby had managed to extract from a video surveillance camera of the adjacent appliance store. So far, however, neither they nor the NCIS team have had much luck in finding the men or the woman that the ringleader had mentioned on the night of the assault. During one of his calls, Chen had even reluctantly put forth the notion that the suspects might have had already skipped town, especially when they found out that Tony was a federal agent.

The longer Tony continued to speak into the telephone, the quieter his voice became, until Kate had trouble following his side of the conversation.

"Kate?"

Turning, Kate found Gibbs standing beside her desk, his usual cup of coffee in one hand, and his sharp gaze on Tony.

"It's Chen," she murmured in reply to Gibbs' questioning look. "This is definitely not his usual weekly call."

"How long has he been on?"

"Coming on to five minutes now." Kate took a quick peek at her watch and then glanced up at her team leader. "Do you think they caught the men?"

An eyebrow rose. "Why don't we ask DiNozzo?"

It was then that Kate realised that Tony had already hung up the phone, and was now staring blankly at some particular spot on his table. Concerned by the distinctive lack of colour on his face, Kate got up and closed the gap between them, vaguely aware that Gibbs was keeping pace with her.

"Tony?"

"Hmmm…?" Pulling himself from his thoughts at Kate's call, Tony was disconcerted to find two pairs of eyes, one blue, the other brown, looking down at him with various degrees of concern in them. For some inexplicable reason, he felt himself flush under the scrutiny and awkwardly cleared his throat. Did he miss something while he was on the phone? His gaze flickered uneasily from one face to the other before finally settling upon the older one. "Boss?"

Gibbs suppressed the urge to sigh aloud at the completely lost and bewildered look on the younger man's face. He crossed his arms over his chest instead, and prompted impatiently, some of his exasperation showing in his voice, "The call, DiNozzo…"

Tony blinked. "Oh, right." He stood up and started pacing the floor, suddenly feeling too wound up to sit still any longer. "They've just picked up two of the men and the girl that I was supposed to have … err …" He gave a vague wave with his hand before continuing, "Anyhow, Chen wants me to go down to the station this afternoon to ID the suspects."

Concealing his disquiet at the younger man's uncharacteristic restlessness, Gibbs gave a curt nod. "Take the afternoon off."

"Thanks, Boss."

"Need some company?"

Tony flashed his fellow agent a grateful look but shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, Kate, but I think this is something I need to get done on my own."

A/N: Hmm, looks like we're halfway through already. Which reminds me… Right, well, it seems that RL has just latched its sticky lil' fingers onto my beta and, regardless of how much harassing I do, it appears to have no immediate plans of letting go. But, please do stay tuned and I will try to get the remaining chapters up as soon as I can liberate them. :D

Once again, thanks for all the wonderful reviews. To answer a few: Chiara – apologies for the length of the bio but I can't promise an update any time soon, it took me ages to get the present one up. :D Ruth – This story was originally supposed to be only five chapters long, but it sorta doubled by the time I was done. There's also one other minor thing: sHoT would probably have my head for any other further additions… ;D SKRoberts – lol! That was cute. Sophia Prester – I'd try my best not to disappoint. Commodore Norrington – You sure know how to encourage a person. Thanks! FreakAngel – 'Sounds like some jungle?' It does? Really? You don't say... Though, personally, I've always felt it to be a remarkably beautiful country. :)