Just a head's up, the next few chapters are kind of on the short side, they're all about five pages long. I wanted them to be longer, but I also wanted to hold out the story longer. I don't mean that in a cruel way, more just I really like this story and I don't want to end it too soon. Things are getting bad for our heroes. You'll see.

I want to say thank you to everyone who had nice things to say. I was feeling bad, but thanks to all of you, I have my confidence back, so again, thank you.

Chapter Twenty

Jethro finally made it to the road. His breathing was coming out heavier but he wasn't going to stop just yet. He couldn't.

He was pissed with himself. What was he thinking, leaving Tony alone? He never would have left Tony before. He wasn't thinking clearly on this mission. If he had, he would have noticed something off with Millworth.

He darted into the woods, brushing away branches that tried to block his path. His gut was reeling. He knew that Tony was in trouble. And he was pissed. No matter how a person wanted to spin this, this was partly Jethro's fault. If he thought like an agent, Tony would be with him and they would arrest Millworth without any problems.

He should have known something was wrong with Millworth from the beginning. Tony was half-assing the undercover work when they first got here, and Millworth didn't seem fazed at all. He called him on the lies, but he wasn't suspicious.

There was the fence. Only a few yards away. Shit, he wasn't going to be able to hop it with the rifle. Groaning, he dropped the weapon and dove at the metal rings. He cleared the first three feet with that first leap. He scaled the rest of it relatively quickly, despite the fact that his lungs were on fire.

His hands were shaking and he was having a hard time pulling himself up, but he refused to slow down.

He flipped over the top and went down only a few feet before he freefell. His knees gave out as he hit the ground. He landed on his back with a moan.

He tried to push himself up, but something blocked his path.

Actually, it was more someone.

It was the guy he decked at the bar two days ago.

He chuckled down at him. "The way I hear it, you spend a lot of time on your back, Lieutenant Colonel," he said the title with a sneer.

Jethro groaned, he didn't have time for a rematch. "You can kick my ass later." He rolled to his side to get up. "I got something I gotta do."

His back was to the man when he heard the very distinguishable click. Jethro would know that sound anywhere.

Slowly, he turned back around to face the man before him. Sure enough, he was holding a gun. It looked like a baretta.

"You are not going anywhere until you promise to stay away from Tony." He raised the weapon so it was aimed at Jethro's chest.

Jethro rolled his eyes. "You have got to be kidding me."

"You think he gives a damn about you?" The man laughed. "You're nothing but a piece of meat to him! A quick and easy fuck."

"Is that why you hired Bernie to follow us, Tobias?" There was no possible way that a third stalker showed up at the resort at the exact same time. This was Filliman, except he wasn't stalking Jethro. Like Millworth, he was obsessed with Tony.

"Tony told me what he really thought of you. He said you were nothing to him."

"He lied." Jethro tried to assess the situation. Filliman had a gun, Jethro was standing too far away for him to safely take it away from him. He knew he had to diffuse the situation in a calm way, but he didn't have time to talk this guy down.

"He didn't even tell you his real name. He told you his name was Tony Spano?" He laughed. "It isn't. His name's DiNozzo."

Jethro groaned. "How many stalkers could one person accumulate in a lifetime?"

"He and I are forever. But you," he chuckled again, "I doubt he'll even cry when he finds out you're dead."

"You're obsessed with a guy who doesn't even know you!"

"He knows me. He loves me."

"I don't have time for this." He started to walk towards Filliman. He raised the gun higher, but he didn't shoot. That was a good sign.

"You'll make time! I'm not letting you go back to him." His hands were starting to shake.

Only a few feet away. "You're gonna wanna get outta my way." He glared at the man. Jethro didn't know what his problem was and quite frankly he didn't really care. They were wasting time. He didn't know what Millworth was doing with Tony and every second talking with this prick was another second that Tony was in danger.

Filliman just glared back at him. "Make me."

Jethro smirked. "Alright." He didn't waste any more time. He kicked his leg out and knocked the gun out of Filliman's hand. As soon as he was disarmed, he bent down and tackled Jethro.

Millworth paced around the tiny cabin. He scratched the light stubble across his jaw. Apparently in his rush to get to Tony, he forgot to shave. In some weird sarcastic way, Tony was a little flattered that he mattered that much.

"So, if you're not gonna kill me, what are you going to do?"

Millworth cocked an eyebrow at him. "Tony, why do I have the feeling you think that I would do something terrible to you?"

"Well, you tied me to a bed, and I'm still kind of naked." Actually he was completely naked, he did feel that. But fortunately his blanket covered him up.

Millworth smiled. "I have noticed that." He licked his lips. Tony wanted to kick him. "I have no intention of hurting you, Tony."

"Then why am I here? And how do you know who I am?"

Millworth sat down on the bed next to Tony. He ran a hand across the chained man's brow. Tony pulled away. "I've always known who you are, Tony." There were tears in Millworth's eyes. He ran his fingers across Tony's arm. As he spoke, it wasn't like he was actually speaking to the man on the bed, more likely he was talking to himself, and Tony had the 'pleasure' to watch. "The first time I saw you, you were a uniformed officer in Philadelphia. You were walking back to your car with your partner. You were smiling, so bright. When I saw you standing there, my heart stopped. I was with my daughter and then I saw you." He smiled. "You said she was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen. I could barely speak."

Tony tried to remember what Millworth was talking about. He liked to think he had a pretty good memory, but he couldn't remember anything that Millworth was saying. His time before Gibbs was a little fuzzy.

Millworth continued to tell Tony about his obsession. The more he spoke the angrier Tony got. A few months before Tony left Philadelphia for Baltimore, some of the guys at the precinct started giving him crap, calling him a fag. Evidently, that happened because Millworth started showing up at the station house asking to see Tony, his "boyfriend."

Then Millworth started to get angry. "I lost everything to be with you. My wife left me, she took my children. But it was all worth it. For you, it was worth it."

"I mean more to you than your kids?"

Millworth continued as if Tony never said anything. "But then you left. You just left me there." He stood up and started pacing. "How could you just leave me like that? After everything I sacrificed. Just to be with you! I wasn't going to let you leave me behind." He kept talking. Most of what he said barely registered with Tony. He spent too much trying to figure out how to escape.

Millworth kept gabbing, but really, all Tony heard was 'blah blah blah, I'm obsessed with you."

Damn it, where the hell was Gibbs? What did that bastard do to him? Tony looked around the room. He couldn't see any body, which was good. But that didn't mean that Gibbs wasn't dead. No. There was no way that some little punk like Millworth got the better of Gibbs.

"Where's Gibbs?" He finally blurted out.

Millworth finally stopped ranting. He stared at Tony for at least a minute before he said anything. "He's safe."

He crossed the room so he was leaning over Tony. He shook his head. "I love you Tony. I've always loved you."

"You don't even know me."

"I do. Tony, that day in Philedelphia, you stole my heart, and you never gave it back."

"You can have it."

"I don't want it."

"Are you sure? Really, I don't mind."

"Shh," Millworth ran a hand through Tony's hair. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss to his forehead. Tony pushed his head forward to try and head butt him. It didn't work. "Everything's going to be alright. You and I are going to be together."

At the bottom of his eyesight, he saw something shiny. He looked down and paled. "What the hell are you gonna do with that?" He knew he was shaking, but right now he didn't care. Millworth wasn't sane, he already killed two men, who knows what else he did. Tony didn't know what the man was fully capable of, and quite frankly he didn't want to.

"Don't worry, Tony. I told you, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Then why the fuck are you holding a knife?" Upon closer inspection, Tony realized that it was his own. Once this was all over, he made a mental note to get a new one. That one was tainted.

Millworth ran a hand over Gibbs' mark, Tony flinched. It was still painful. "He violated you." He didn't say anything else, but he didn't need to. Working with Gibbs for so long taught Tony how to pick up on what wasn't said.

He struggled harder. Millworth put a 'comforting' hand on his chest. "Gibbs is gonna be here any minute. If he sees you in here, he's gonna freak. If you know anything about him, you'll know that if that happens, he's gonna kill you." If Tony wasn't so damn scared he probably would have thought of something better to say.

Millworth just smiled. "Tony, what makes you think he even knows where we are?"

Jethro was pressed against the fence, Filliman's hands around his throat. Damn it, did the man know how to fight. He struggled to catch his breath.

He cleared Filliman's arms before he punched him straight in the nose. Filliman backed up, but only an inch or so. Jethro didn't remember Filliman being such a damn good fighter during their brawl.

He could barely stand. The run had taken more out of him than he realized. Not to mention, he never bothered to get breakfast this morning. He was running strictly on adrenaline, but that would only last for so long.

"Enough!" He called. He was doubled over trying to catch his breath. Filliman looked like he was about to attack him all over again. "You say you love Tony, then prove it. He's in trouble. Now move out of my way, so I can save him." If Filliman really cared about Tony, then he would listen to him.

But the man just laughed. "You really think I'm dumb enough to fall for that?" Keeping his eyes trained on Jethro, he leaned down and grabbed his gun.

Before he could fully wrap his fingers around the grip, Jethro tackled him to the ground. He straddled his hips, keeping him pinned down. He picked up the first thing he could find in arm's reach—a rock. He brought it back and slammed it hard into Filliman's head.

Filliman didn't move again. Jethro wasn't sure if he was dead or just unconscious. He didn't really give a damn. As far as he was concerned, if he was dead, it meant one less psychopath in the world.

He pulled himself up and started running again, but not before grabbing the gun.

He dashed through the trees, his ears were full of the sounds of his feet hitting dried leaves and fallen twigs. As he ran, he was able to make out the buildings of the resort. But they were still too far away.

Breathing was impossible, no matter how much he gasped he couldn't bring air into his lungs. He started to slow down. He didn't want to, he kept trying to push himself forward. But his body refused to listen to him. After the trek up to the sniper's nest, the run back, and the fight with Filliman, his body was just too worn out to keep moving. But no matter what, he wasn't going to quit. He may slow down, but he wasn't going to stop.

He cleared the trees and started dashing towards his cabin. The resort was up and moving about. Most of the men jumped or ran away as they saw him approach. Jethro couldn't blame them, he was holding a gun.

He finally made to his cabin. The door was shut. He groaned as he slammed his shoulder into the solid wood at full speed. It didn't budge.

He reached into his back pocket, pulled out his key card and slid it through. The little green light flashed. He shoved the door open, gun raised high.

The bed was still a mess, Tony's clothes were strewn exactly where he left them last night.

Tony was gone.

Jethro looked around, panting heavily. The bathroom door was open, there was nobody in there.

Unable to hold himself up any longer, he collapsed against the dresser, the gun fell to the ground.

"DiNozzo."

I don't know why, but the website no longer uses my paragraph breaks. It's rather upsetting. Well, I hope this chapter was good. I wasn't sure about it. I should have chapter 21 up in a couple of days, so I hope you're still looking forward to it.

Bob