A/N: You guys get this chapter early just because 1.) It was written, and 2.) I won't be able to update until at least August 2nd. I have a horse show on the 31st and I have one psycho crazy week ahead of me. So here you go! A very merry Unbirthday present to you!

This particular one shot was inspired by two songs; 'Lifeline' by Papa Roach and 'Breaking the Habit' by Linkin Park. :) It's set sometime in early Season 2. And yes, that means that Kate gets to make an appearance.


"Have you ever hated yourself for staring at the phone?
Your whole life waiting on the ring to prove you're not alone
."

- Glitter in the Air by P!nk


Lifeline

"I've been looking for a lifeline for what seems like a lifetime. I'm drowning in the pain, breaking down again, looking for a lifeline."

- 'Lifeline' by Papa Roach


Tony stared at the phone. The phone stared back. They were matched in an endless staring contest and they both know who would win. The phone, knowing that it held all of the questions and answers, secrets and truths sat stonily in its cradle, watching as Tony started to crumble under the force of its endless gaze. The phone sat in its charger, refreshed and content while it watched Tony power down, bit by bit. As much as the phone wished it could give in, give the boy a lifeline he so desperately needed, it knew that there was no way. After all, the phone was made out of plastic. Hard, unbendable and practically unbreakable plastic. And Tony was not.


One day, its silence was too much. Tony stared at the phone, contemplating. It had to end. He had taken this phone everywhere with him. A buddy in Peoria bought it for him as a 'welcome to the department' present. And although he had flown out Peoria like a bat out of hell, the little plastic handheld phone snuck itself and its charger into one of Tony's two cardboard boxes. By the time he was in Baltimore, he had decided that it was one of the few living or non-living things that knew how lonely he was. Others included his television, his countless DVDs, his stereo and multiple CDs. And so it stayed.

So it stayed. A reminder how alone he was.

He came to NCIS and found himself in a different dynamic than what he was used to. Yes, there was a hard-ass boss who got pissed at his goofing off but, within the first couple of days of working for him he'd discovered that the boss was letting him. Confused, Tony had questioned him, merely getting a head slap after a muttered 'seemed to help'.

His work relationships were different too. Well, that was partly because Abby was different. The first week she had ignored him completely and for seemingly no reason, leaving Tony confused and hurt, wondering if his charm with women had finally run out. When he'd almost gotten his head bashed in by a loose suspect in interrogation, Abby had run to him and began to fuss, playing with his hair. He had stood there, not sure whether he should consider the hug as an acceptance at his being there or just as a one-time thing, which Abby had later punched him for assuming.

He'd never told anyone his landline number or that the thing had even existed, always prepared to unplug it and run, if the need ever arose. It was another one of his secrets. A fantasy that he hoped would someday come true. And just so he could hope, he left it there.

And so, there they were. Waiting.


He woke to the ringing of a phone. Knowing Gibbs' affinity for finding cases in the middle of the night, he immediately picked up his cell, sitting up and rubbing his eyes as he muttered, "DiNozzo?"

He stared at the phone in his hands, blinking at it as the shrill ringing continued. Rubbing his eyes and yawning, he stumbled over to the doorway and flipped the light switch. With bleary eyes, he followed the insistent ringing around the room until he found the source. He froze, staring at something he never thought would happen.

His landline was ringing, the caller ID flashing.

Hesitantly, he picked up the phone. He had always imagined picking up the phone and hearing his father's voice, or some long lost partner from one of his old departments. He'd been waiting for the phone - his lifeline - to ring for a long time. Someone who cared enough to actually discover the landline, let alone use it.

But that didn't stop him for hesitating when he saw who the caller was.

"Uh . . . hello?"

"You better have one damn good reason for not picking up your cell phone, DiNozzo." Kate's voice hissed into his ear. Tony, whose brain was still foggy from sleep merely blinked.

"Kate?" This was not how he expected this phone call to go.

There was a moment of silence, before some sort of scuffle started on the other side of the line. If Kate's indignant squawks and the sound of tires squealing were anything to go by, he was about 1.4 seconds from getting his ass chewed off by –

"DiNozzo!"

Tony swallowed nervously and stared to pace – one of his bad nervous habits, "Uh, Gibbs?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then Gibbs said in a decisive tone, "Get ready. We'll be by to pick you up in six minutes."

Tony stopped pacing and stared at the phone.

"I'm not being pranked, am I?" Tony asked incredulously. He slid his eyes shut and he mentally head slapped himself. He had stumbled over three apologies before he recognized the sound of the dial tone in his ear.


Tony was sitting on the curb in front of his apartment building when Gibbs pulled up 4 ½ minutes later. Without a word he climbed into the back seat. Not even a single comment about not getting shotgun passed his lips. Gibbs pulled out of the lot with his normal style; the tires squealing and his agents clutching the handles in the car for dear life.

When they arrived at the crime scene, Tony snapped himself back into his normal funk, grinning and flirting like he hadn't broken one of Gibbs' rules just an hour before. But as much good natured humor Tony threw out, he could not discard the coil of emotions growing tighter in his chest as easily. His absolute shock at having his landline ring and his wariness of Gibbs and his reaction, or lack of, were stirring up trouble in his chest, growing tighter with every glance Kate threw at him and every time Gibbs ignored his antics.

Gibbs wasn't reacting. And that was the scary part, wasn't it?


Another day done, another case closed. Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair as Kate tried to stifle her yawn. The case had been closed up hours ago; Tony and Kate were stuck writing the reports while Gibbs talked to the Director. The case itself was rather uneventful, although it did give Tony a chance to go undercover for a couple of minutes to try and talk some information out of couple of girls in a bar called, The Stumble In. Tony didn't stumble in; he more or less ended up stumbling out, the alcohol the girls had forced him to drink being a little stronger than he thought.

He knew he was acting like a rebellious teenager. He was acting out and being rash in the hopes of actually getting Gibbs to look at his face. Which he hadn't done during the entire case. Not once.

The man really is magical, Tony thought idly, I mean, who else could not look at someone for a whole day?

A sharp sounding smack startled him out of his thoughts. He glanced up to see Kate walking away from Gibbs' desk, leaving her report conspicuously in the middle of his pile of paperwork. The look of relief on her face was so comical that Tony almost smiled. Almost.

"Hey Tony?" Kate shrugged on her coat, a look of pity and worry on her face.

"Yes Katie?" He grinned at her grimaced. The nickname was apparently having trouble sticking for her.

"I'm going to go. Are you going to be okay with . . . ?" she jerked her head at the Director's office.

Tony leaned back in his chair and forced a laughed, "Why Kate! Are you worried about me?"

For once, she took his annoying question seriously. She turned her soft, brown doe eyes on him and said seriously, "Yes."

Well, a serious answer deserves a serious . . . answer? Tony shook his head.

"I'll be fine, Kate." He murmured, angling his face so that it was partially obscured in the shadows of the dimly lit office. He took a sudden interest in his paperwork and leaned forward, snatching up some papers and read a few lines without really seeing them.

He heard Kate's dainty sigh as she left. And he was left alone in the bullpen. With a sigh of his own, he turned to his computer and began typing. Who knows? Maybe he'd be able to finish before Gibbs came charging back down the stairs.

It was close to 11:45 when he finally hit the print on his computer. With a content sigh, he leaned back in his chair and let his eyes close, the sounds of the printer finally convincing him that maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.


"Tony?"

"Shit!" Tony gasped as he jerked awake, his eyes wild.

As he struggled to catch his breath, Abby leaned forward and into his line of vision. She began to wring her hands, a worried expression on her face.

"Tony?" She asked again, her green eyes wide.

He gave her a shaky smile, as if to convince her that he hadn't been in the throes of a nightmare. A nightmare that he hadn't had in a long time.

"What's up Abs?"

She stared at him a moment before blurting, "Are you mad at me? Us?" She quickly corrected.

He blinked. What?

"What? No. I'm not mad Abby. Why would I be?"

She bit her lip before letting the floodwaters out, "Because we were so worried and, not that you can't take care of yourself, but last time we lost you, you'd been drugged and kidnapped by some weird bar waitress and we couldn't find you and Gibbs was getting worried, even though he wouldn't say it and your cell phone just kept ringing and ringing and I panicked and I hacked into your files and your electricity bills and discovered the landline that you didn't tell anyone about and I gave the number to Kate, even though it was a probably a personal line, because I thought you were in trouble and I was worried and . . ." she took a quick breath, not noticing the amusement that flickered across Tony's tired face, "And it turned out that nothing was wrong at all, just that your phone was dysfunctional so I ended up hacking into your records for nothing and . . . and," her lower lip quivered, ". . . and I didn't want to hack into your file, I . . ."

"Abby," Tony shushed her by pressing a long finger to her dark lips, his own quirked into a smile.

"I'm sorry," she whispered against his finger, "For before and," she vaguely waved a hand in the air, "For my, er, babbling." She grinned sheepishly at him, before turning serious once more.

"You're not mad?"

Tony shook his head, a small smile on his lips, "No need. I know you guys only meant the best."

"Yup!" she bounced as her normal perky smile found its way onto her face. Tony gave her another smile as he turned around to pack up so he could go home.

"That's why Gibbs was acting so weird, you know." Abby said as she primly perched herself on the edge of Kate desk.

Tony turned around again with a single eyebrow raised, "I hadn't noticed."

Abby ignored him, her fingers playing with something she found on Kate's desk, "He was worried that, maybe, we'd overstepped our bounds. And you go home tonight and be . . . gone tomorrow." Her voice grew sorrowful.

Tony shook his head, "Abby, I would never do that to you guys! What?" he asked indignantly at her incredulous look.

"Tony," she slowly got up and walked over to him. "You do this everywhere you go. Why would we be different?"

Tony sighed and shrugged, "I don't know." At Abby's crestfallen face, he added, his eyes suddenly lighting up like Christmas lights, "But you are different. I don't know why, but you are."

Abby stared at him for a moment, contemplating, before nodding her acceptance.

"So, you're not mad." She clarified.

"Nope."

"Can I tell Gibbs that you're not going to ditch us? He really has been worried."

Tony laughed and tugged on one of her pigtails, "Sure."

"You want to come with me?" She asked, a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Heck no!" he slung his backpack on his back and jogged towards the elevator, leaving Abby standing in the bullpen with a happy grin on her face.

"What'd you say, DiNozzo?" Abby shouted.

"See you tomorrow Abby!" He shouted back as he waved and walked backwards in to the elevator.

"Besides," he muttered to himself as the elevator started its descent, "it's sort of fitting. The people who are most likely to kill me are my sustenance." My lifeline. He shook his head in disbelief as he stepped out of the elevator and into the chilly D.C. night air.


"I don't know how I got this way. I know it's not alright. So I'm breaking the habit tonight."

- 'Breaking the Habit' by Linkin Park


A/N: My only note is to ask if anyone had any good ideas for the next set of lyrics. o.o I'm having a little bit of trouble figuring it out. (Have you ever been touched so gently you had to cry?)