"He has moments of lucidity" Ducky said, "He'll get better, given time" he continued, "You have to believe he'll get better Jethro" Ducky said and grabbed Gibbs's shoulder, hoping Gibbs was listening to him. Gibbs was silently watching Tony as Tony was rocking back and forth on the floor, watching a drawing he had made earlier that day, just lines on a paper, like a child would do.

"When I got home and he had Meanie-George hogtied.. I thought.. I thought he was better" Gibbs said. "I thought he remembered, I thought.. I dunno what I thought, maybe I was hoping for a miracle" Gibbs sighed.

"It WAS a miracle Jethro... I believed Meanie-George was going to kill him. When I knelt down in front of Anthony, he winked at me and I thought I saw some fire in those eyes again" Ducky said, "Then he kicked out and.. well you know the rest from my report, I thought he was back" Ducky said. "But it was only for a few hours before he went back to being.. this, again" Ducky said.

"I wanted him to be back to normal..he may never be back to normal" Gibbs said, "But I'm going to take care of him for as long as it takes" Gibbs said and got up. He crouched down in front of Tony. "Hey you" Gibbs said with a smile, "It's time for you to eat" Gibbs said.

"Can't eat yet" Tony said and went back to looking at the lines on the paper.

"I promise I won't take the picture away, and you can go right back to staring at this drawing afterwards, but you have to eat something" Gibbs said and reached out a hand.

"No" Tony said simply, "because the drawing won't be the same if I leave it now" Tony muttered, "You won't win" Tony stated, "Noone wins over me anymore" he continued, "Meanie-George didn't win, and neither can you" Tony said, "Only I can win" he finished. Gibbs eyed him with worried eyes and sighed.

"Tony, you need to eat, you can stare at the drawing later, now come on" Gibbs said. Tony looked him straight in the eyes.

"Fine" Tony said and took Gibbs's hand. Gibbs pulled them both up and they headed into the kitchen where Ducky had prepared dinner. Tony sat down and ate along with Ducky and Gibbs. After they were done, Tony washed the dishes with Gibbs.

"Well, it seems everything seems alright, so I'll be taking my leave now" Ducky said.

"Bye Duck" Gibbs said. Tony said nothing as they went back into the livingroom. Tony sat down in the sofa and Gibbs sat down next to him. "Do you want to watch a movie?" Gibbs asked.

"No movies" Tony said, "Movies are stupid" Tony mumbled, "Movies are stupid Tony, it's meaningless to recite movielines Tony, you shouldn't watch so many movies Tony" Tony mumbled and started rocking back and forth with his knees pulled up to his chest. "I just want to sit here with you" Tony said after a while of incoherent mumbling and humming. Tony sat sideways and Gibbs had his arm around him. "Am I crazy?" Tony asked. Gibbs kissed the side of Tony's head.

"No" Gibbs said, "You're not crazy, you'll get better" Gibbs continued, "You just have to give it time, what Meanie-George did to you, it would have broken a lesser man" Gibbs said, "Meanie-George is the meanest person I've met" he finished thoughtfully.

"He never broke me" Tony said suddenly, "I never gave up, because I knew you were coming for me, and even though I didn't recognize you at first, I remember you now, and that's what's important, I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, that you were coming for me" Tony said. And then the moment of lucidity was gone and Tony muttered incoherently.

"You're back here with me Tony, that's all that matters" Gibbs said. He thought about the case. Drugs-George's operation had been busted twice, and they wanted their money back, Drugs-George suggested Tony as a kidnap victim, and a female to be taken too, just so Tony would cooperate. Andrew had been the scared boy who had been taken along for the ride by Meanie-George, and when he had done the job he was asked to do, Meanie-George had killed him. Of course, the was the whole twin thing, Drugs-George, the older twin, had relayed all information on the case to his younger twin Meanie-George. The torture both Tony and Carmen had endured was one of the worst cases the FBI and NCIS had encountered. How people could do something that cruel was beyond Gibbs. How Tony had survived, Gibbs would never know. That some of the old Tony had survived was just a bonus. The past month, the old Tony had been shining through more and more, and Gibbs loved every second of it. "You're going to be alright" Gibbs said and kissed the side of Tony's head again.

"I'm coming back Jet, I'm coming back, I promise" Tony said.

And Gibbs knew it was the truth.

Fin

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AN: Okay, I'm a big meanie to finish it like this, but there might be a short oneshot afterwards, given time :) That's the end for this fic, so tell me if you liked it :) By the way, thank you for all the nice reviews, it brigtens my day :) Tell me if I should lower the rating to T, I'm not sure if I should, but I.. well you get the picture, just tell me :) And thanks for the reviews, again, they are like food for my soul :) Thank you for following my fic, your humble writer: donttouch

Disclaimer: All hail DPB