*Tuesday*

*Chapter 10*

In the morning, McGee awakes with severely shoulder pain after having a nightmare about how the injury occurred. He sits up in his bed and reaches to the nightstand for his pain medication. The pain is so severe that he becomes lightheaded. McGee faints. As he falls to the floor, his head hits the nightstand.

An hour later, McGee awakes on the floor in a mini pool of his own blood. He sits up and feels the gash on the side of his face. The shoulder hurts a lot. He reaches up to the nightstand, grabs the bottle of pain medication and pops a couple pills. Within minutes, the pain subsides to a minimal level.

"I want to play a game." The voice of the creepy carnival puppet returns.

"Leave me alone!" McGee yelled.

"I want to play a game…" The creepy voice said again.

McGee becomes angry. He stands up and knocks over the nightstand. The nightstand and everything on it crashes to the floor.

"I want to play a game…" This time, the voice sounds faded as if it came from outside the bedroom. McGee grabs a baseball bat from the closet. He limps to the bedroom door and exits from the room.

"I want to play a game…"

"Shut up!" McGee shouted in frustration.

Thirty minutes later, there's a knock on the door. Out in the hallway is Tony. McGee looks through the peek hole. He sighs as he really doesn't want to deal with DiNozzo at this time.

"I know you're home, Probie." Tony said. "I heard you sigh."

"Go away Tony." McGee said.

"Come on, let me in. I brought breakfast."

"I'm not hungry. Go away."

"You can watch me eat." Tony said. There's no response. "I can pick the lock if you won't let me in."

Tony takes out two picks and sticks them into the lock. He jiggles the picks in effort to unlock the lock so he can enter into McGee's apartment.

"Stop it, Tony."

"Huh…" Tony sighed as he's struggling with the lock. "This isn't as easy as the boss makes it appear to be. But I'll get it eventually."

"Will you stop it?!" McGee yelled as he opens the door.

"Here you go." Tony hands him the bag of doughnuts as he makes his way into the apartment. The first thing he notices is the mess. A whole book shelf is knocked down. Books and other small items are scattered all over the floor. Even the typewriter is on the floor along with the broken computer. "Doing a little redecorating, I see"

"What do you want?" McGee asked. He closes the door since he knows Tony isn't going to just leave.

"I'm just wondering when you're coming back to work."

"I'm not coming back." McGee said as he limps into the kitchen.

"You have to come back. Work isn't the same without you, Probie." Tony said. "We got this new girl on the team named Samantha Cole. The lady keeps coming on to me and she's not afraid to do so. She's going to go Fatal Attraction me, Probie. You seriously have to come back."

"I don't care if she's sexually harassing you. If it's true, which I highly doubt it is, it's probably your own fault. And I'm not with NCIS anymore. Nor will I be returning. So stop calling me Probie." He notices Tony is poking around his apartment. "Will you stop it and leave!"

McGee limps into the other room. Tony turns around to face his ex-colleague.

"Tell me something…" Tony begins to say with being face to face. "Why doesn't anyone believe she's sexually harassing me?" There's a brief pause as he gets no response. "You have to come back. Please, I'm begging you!"

"For the last time, I'm not coming back." McGee said. "Now please leave."

"Alright, I won't ask again." Tony said. "But we're going out tonight. You need some cheering up. Just me and you out on the town."

"I can hardly walk, Tony."

"It'll be fun." Tony stated as he maneuvers to the door. "There are plenty of wheelchair accessible places to hang." He added. He exits from the apartment. "I'll pick you up around 8pm!"

"I really don't want to go out!" McGee yelled. There's no response. "Tony?!" He limps to the door. "Don't you dare rent, buy, borrow or steal a wheelchair!" There's still no response. He looks out into the empty hallway. "Tony…?"

McGee closes the door and sighs because he knows Tony is going to return around the time he said he will. He knows Tony only means well with wanting to cheer him up. Expressing feelings has never been one of Tony's strong suits, not to a colleague anyway. McGee limps into the kitchen, opens the bag Tony brought and starts eating the doughnuts.

Tony arrives at NCIS Headquarters. He's a little bit late due to making the side trip to check on McGee. The elevator door opens and he quickly sneaks to his desk.

"You're late, DiNozzo." Julianna stated from Gibbs' desk. "You should've been here ten minutes ago."

"If the boss doesn't know, then I'm not late." Tony said because other than Julianna, the bullpen is empty. He approaches Gibbs' desk. "Where is everyone anyway?"

"Abby's lab." She answered. "Maybe he will know… If I tell him."

"I'll give you a dollar if you keep your mouth shut."

"If you're going to bribe me, you shouldn't be so cheap about it."

"What do you want? A Bratz doll, a Barbie, Hello Kitty…" Tony begins to say but stops due to receiving a smack to the back of the head. "Gah… Sorry Boss."

"Don't try to bribe an eight-year-old, DiNozzo." Jamie said. She steps forward so Tony can see her.

"I knew it was you the entire time." Tony said. Chioke looks up at him with a smile. "Hey buddy." He picks up his son.

"Sure you did." Jamie gives Tony a quick kiss on the lips before sitting on the edge of her father's desk.

"Tony came in ten minutes late." Julianna said.

"And he tried to bribe you to keep quiet." Jamie said.

The girls lean closer to each other. They whisper into each other's ear. Tony can tell they're conspiring against him. Seconds later, they look at him sinisterly.

"Here are the terms of our silence..." Jamie begins to say. "I want a nice pearl necklace and she wants a Hello Kitty."

'I want too.' Chioke sighed with his hands in order to be included in the negotiations.

"And Chioke wants a Curious George." Jamie said. Chioke claps in excitement because he loves Curious George.

"You traitor." Tony said to Chioke. The boy smiles innocently. "I don't accept these terms. I have a new proposal…" Chioke squirms a bit so Tony sets him down. The boy walks to the other side of the desk near Julianna.

"Oh really... And what might your proposal be?" Jamie is interested in knowing, as are the kids.

"You can't prove I was ten minutes late. Nor can you prove I tried to bribe Julianna. I'll explain to Gibbs that you all are just conspiring to get me trouble. So you all get nothing…" Tony said. He receives a smack to the back of the head. "Gah…"

"Here are my terms…" Gibbs begins to say. "You give Jamie her pearl necklace… You give Julianna her Hello Kitty. You give Chioke his Curious George. No more coming in late. No more bribing children. No more wasting time. And you go to your desk and work or I fire you."

"I can live with that." Tony said. He walks away in order to go to his desk.

Gibbs kisses Jamie on the forehead. Immediately afterward, he kisses Julianna on the forehead. The kiss puts a smile on Julianna's face. For her, the kiss on the forehead is a reminder that she's an important part of this family, even though she isn't blood related.