Part 20—Brother, Who Art Thou?

AN: This is a series/story crossover between Doctor DiNozzo and The Cop and The Con Series. I thought that it would be really interesting to have Neal be the ONLY one who knew about Tony's second occupation. Kate is still alive in this one. I just can't write Ellie Bishop in yet.

Kate stepped off the elevator and hurried to her desk as Gibbs paced the floor. She just hoped that she was not the one holding up the festivities. She was glad to have Agent Burke and Neal Caffrey back in D.C. She had a thing for Neal, though she would never tell him. And she really admired Agent Burke for the job he was doing with Neal.

Kate looked around, only to notice that Tony was the only one missing from this picture. She grinned a little; at least it wasn't her…for once.

"Check his GPS, McGee." Gibbs instructed, irritated. Tim didn't need to be told the 'he' to which Gibbs was referring.

McGee did a quick check. He looked at the screen, reading and rereading his finding…Bethesda Naval Hospital. His mind flashed back to the plague. He shook his head, pushing away the bad memories. He prayed Tony was not sick again.

"What…what is it?" Gibbs asked, noticing McGee's expression.

Tim didn't speak.

"McGee…Tim…what is it?" Gibbs asked, coming around the desk so that he could see Tim's screen.

Gibbs gut tightened when he saw what Tim was looking at. He looked at his junior agent and swallowed hard…past plague images racing through his head.

Peter looked at the interaction between the NCIS agent. He wasn't sure what was happening, except that things didn't look too good for Tony.

"He's at Bethesda Naval Hospital." Neal announced.

Gibbs looked at him. "How did you know that?"

Neal smiled but shook his head, refusing to reveal his secret.

Peter looked at his C.I., then at Gibbs. Was he the only one who was completely clueless here?

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Tony looked at his phone…again. He really needed to answer the phone. He should answer the phone and if he was not up to his neck in treating tour bus passengers, he would. But he had back to back patients from New Jersey who rode the bus to the nation's capital to 'see the sights.'

Ordinarily Tony would bow out right about now and get another doctor to take his place. But a wave of food poisoning had hit the department hard. And since Tony didn't work during the week he had not eaten the offenders. It seemed a catered lunch for a newly promoted colleague had started out on shaky ground and had only gotten more and more…toxic as the day had progressed. And because Tony only worked weekends, he was one of the very few who was left standing after the onslaught.

Tony did something he wouldn't ordinarily do and turned his phone off. He needed to concentrate on his patients. NCIS would just have to make do without him.

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"Neal?" Peter started.

Neal smiled and shook his head. "Tony's okay."

Gibbs looked at the young man in front of him for just a moment, sizing him up. "How do you know? You didn't see…."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Neal stated.

Gibbs wasn't sure what to say to that. He just started towards the elevators. Tim and Kate fell in after him and Neal and Peter followed them.

"You'd better tell Gibbs what you know, Neal." Peter advised.

"He won't believe me." Neal stated.

"Tell me then." Peter offered.

"…not sure you'll believe me either." Neal replied smiling. "Some things you just gotta see to believe."

"This is good for Tony?" Gibbs asked, hearing their conversation.

"This is excellent for Tony." Neal replied.

Gibbs glared at Neal for a moment.

"There it is, the Glare!" Neal said. "Sorry, Gibbs, it has no effect on me."

Gibbs couldn't help but grin. He had liked Neal almost immediately. Gibbs had seen a lot of the same characteristics in Neal as he had Tony.

Gibbs turned and looked at Neal. "You had better be right about this."

Neal nodded. "I am."

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Tony checked his phone again, finally turning it back on. He opened the door to the doctors' lounge and practically fell onto the nearest couch. He felt like he could sleep through the rest of the weekend. But he knew that that was not possible. There was still another eight-hour shift to get through. He was supposed to be working a double shift and then off the rest of the weekend. But now, he wasn't sure, not with everybody getting sick like they had.

Tony sat up on the couch when he heard the door open. He groaned when the hospital administrator, Patricia Bloom, walked into the room. Patricia was in her mid-fifties, attractive, with streaks of gray going through her long black hair. Hair she kept in a loose bun. She made it a point to address her staff doctors by their first names.

"…afternoon, Anthony." Patricia said as she poured herself a cup of coffee from the lounge coffee pot.

"Patricia…didn't know you liked doctors' lounge swill." Tony replied.

Patricia sat down and sipped her coffee. "My secretary's been experimenting with that cappuccino machine that you guys, and the rest of the staff, got me for Christmas. I think she's made every type of fancy coffee known to man. I've forgotten what real coffee tastes like."

Tony sighed. "Okay, what is it?"

"You know, I don't always show up just to bring bad news." Patricia stated.

"What's the good news then?" Tony asked, his mood brightening a little. Maybe he would get to salvage a little of his weekend after all.

"I may have oversold it." Patricia admitted.

"I can't do anymore 40-hour weekends." Tony replied.

Patricia nodded. "Okay, I'll just count on your for…what is it?"

"Gibbs called me." Tony replied.

"NCIS gave you off this weekend."

Tony nodded. "If I don't answer he's gonna hunt me down."

Patricia looked at Tony for a moment, amused. "He doesn't know."

Tony shook his head.

"You've worked here for…years and Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs doesn't know that his second in command is a doctor." Patricia said, highly amused. She didn't knew Gibbs, had never met him. She knew about him though Tony, of course. But she had also heard about him from a friend of a friend who worked in NCIS's accounting department. She smiled. "I would just LOVE to be a fly on the wall when he finds out."

Tony glared at her. "I don't like you." He snapped.

"You always have a job here with us." Patricia said, smiling, as she left the lounge.

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Gibbs, Kate, Tim, Neal and Peter arrived at the hospital about 30 minutes later. Gibbs was anxious to know what was going on with his SFA. He walked up to the counter in the job and asked for Tony. The lady behind the desk consulted her computer screen and then pointed Gibbs towards the Emergency Room. Gibbs looked in the direction of the ER, his gut churning.

Doctor DiNozzo to Curtain 3. Doctor DiNozzo to Curtain number 3.

They all stopped in their track when they heard the overhead announcement. Gibbs looked at Neal who smiled back at him.

"You heard correctly, Gibbs." Neal replied.

Gibbs mouthed the word 'doctor' as Tim and Kate looked from Gibbs to Neal, astonished.

"When…where does he find the time?" Peter asked. He couldn't wrap his mind around having ANY second job, much less one as demanding as this one.

"He works for NCIS during the week. And the weekends NCIS is not on call. He's here." Neal explained.

"And how long have you known about this?" Gibbs asked.

"Bethesda…or the whole doctor thing, in general?" Neal asked.

"We'll start with Bethesda." Gibbs replied.

"He's been working here…." Neal stopped mid-sentence when he saw Tony approach.

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Tony sighed. His D-Day was here. He left the examination room and made a left around the nurses' station headed for Curtain 3. He then stopped in the middle of the hall when he saw who was there.

Everybody stared at Tony. He was dressed in a green scrub top and pants, with a white lab coat over that. He had an ID badge pinned to his coat and a stethoscope around his neck.

Tony opened his mouth to speak, but closed it quickly. He was not sure how he wanted this particular moment to come about, but here and now was not it.

"Hey, Neal…Agent Burke…why are you in D.C.?" Tony said, deciding to ignore his staring boss and teammates for just a moment.

Neal grinned, taking a particular evil joy in Tony's discomfort.

Agent Burke spoke up, saying that they had come to NCIS looking for Tony and the rest. They learned from another team that Gibbs and Company were off rotation for the weekend.

"Doctor Tony! Doctor Tony!" Amanda James, an adorable blue-eyed, blonde-haired 3-year-old girl, called as he father carried her down the hall.

Tony turned. "Well, hello Ms. Amanda. Are you leaving?"

Amanda nodded.

"Thanks, Tony." Randy James, Amanda's father, said.

Tony nodded. He looked at Amanda. "Do you remember what I told you?"

Amanda nodded, shyly. "Use quarters to buy candy."

Tony nodded again. "That's right. We don't swallow them." He looked at Randy. "Sherry explained about the medication?"

Randy nodded as Amanda reached out to Tony for him to take her.

Tony took her and gave her a big hug. "You're gonna be a good girl, right?"

Amanda nodded, hugging Tony tighter.

"Amanda?" Randy asked, trying to get his daughter to come to him. She didn't want to let Tony go.

"It's okay. I'll take her out to the car." Tony said, walking with Randy. Tony then looked back at Gibbs. "I'll be back."

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Gibbs, Tim, Kate and Peter just looked at one another, unsure what to think. Tony must have been a pretty good doctor. Kids were usually brutally honest if things didn't go well for them.

Amanda wouldn't have wanted to be around Tony if it had not been a good experience for her.

Tim and Kate looked at one another and chuckled. There was no way Tony was a doctor, no way. This was a joke. He borrowed a lab coat and a stethoscope. He…Agent Burke and Neal were in on it, too. Tim and Kate thought, they had to be.

Tony returned a few moments later after his little patient had left.

"Hey, Kid." Tony said, hugging his little brother. "Agent Burke, good to see you too. You have a case for NCIS?"

"Tony, I…."

"Come on, Tony, really?" Kate said her disbelief showing.

"Yeah, you…a doctor?" Tim chuckled. "You have a P.E. Degree."

They all saw the look of hurt in Tony's eyes. "Double major, Ohio State. Check out the Johns Hopkins Alumni website while you're at it."

Tim was speechless, Johns Hopkins?!

"You went to Johns Hopkins?" Kate said, astounded. She knew that Tim was an alumni there, but Tony.

"Yeah," Tony said, irritated. "…they have a medical school. I applied. I got accepted. I attended, and I graduated."

Gibbs glared at Tim and Kate. It was enough to get them to shut their mouths. Gibbs turned his attention back to Tony. "Tony, I'm amazed. Not that you're a doctor, that you have the time to be a doctor.

Tony smiled. "Thanks, Bossman."

Neal was angry at with Kate and Tim for the comments that they had made. He started to speak, but Tony stopped him. "I don't have to justify myself to anybody. My bosses know my work and they're happy with it." Tony paused and looked pointedly at Kate and Tim. "Some people can't or won't get past the stereotype. But maybe desk duty and a written reprimand will help them see the error of their ways."

"This is not…." Tim started.

"You can't…." Kate began.

"I'm a team leader here!" Tony stated. "Fellow doctors down to nursing assistants…they all listen to me. They trust me to make the right decisions. They don't question my judgments. I still have my sense of humor. I still…."

"Gibbs is Team Leader at…." Kate stated.

"You already got a week. You want two?" Gibbs asked, letting both she and Tim know that he supported Tony's punishment.

Tim and Kate fell silent.

"I'm sorry, Tony." Neal said, finally finding his voice.

Tony looked at him, confused. "…for what?"

"I just…I didn't expect this reaction. Not from people who are supposed to be your friends." Neal explained. "I just think it's awesome to have two jobs that you are so good at and so passionate about and to be able to do both. The average ordinary person couldn't pull this off." He paused. "I couldn't even pull this off."

"My teammates have entitlement issues that should have been addressed, by me, long ago." Tony admitted. "That will be remedied. And you…" Tony said to Neal. "…have nothing to apologize for."

Neal smiled.

"But if you guys need me for a case, Bethesda Naval needs me eight hours more. We had an incident with some toxic potato salad yesterday and half the staff is out sick with food poisoning."

END NOTES: Should this particular adventure have a part 2? What do you think?

More Adventures to Come!