A/N: Next chapter for you guys! These chapters are a bit longer than I normally write so that's why it's taking a bit longer to get them up for you guys. That, and I have a confession to make. I am a klutz. I trip, fall, and occasionally hurt myself many times in one week. So while this chapter would have been up sooner, I decided to hurt myself mountain biking. And let me tell you- typing on the computer with your elbow in a splint and your dislocated thumb wrapped is quite an adventure.

However.

I do not recommend it to anyone. Lol. Any mistakes are mine- I blame the pain medication (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

Chapter Three

"How you feeling Tony?" McGee said, hovering by Tony's desk.

"Fine Probie," Tony worked very hard to keep the glare off his face. McGee, and Abby, Ziva, Jimmy, Ducky and even Gibbs, weren't trying to be annoying. But it had been a week since being discharged from the hospital and even now his team still worried about him.

Even Morgan, who would rush over if Tony even grimaced, was being overly mother hen-ish.

"Are you sure you do not have a headache?" Ziva asked from across the bullpen. Turning to face her, Tony could see that the former Mossad Officer was looking at him with an expression he had never seen on her face before.

"I'm alright Ziva," Tony tried to put on his best smile, "Migraine free for a week now. You guys seriously have to stop worrying about me."

"Well we aren't exactly-"

"What McGee means to say," both Ziva and McGee started talking at the same time only to stop and look at each other expectantly.

"I'm fine," Tony shrugged, "Doctor released me for active duty already. I can fire my gun and everything."

Rolling her eyes at his rather lame joke, Ziva smiled when she saw that in fact Tony was feeling better. Seeing him in that hospital had been…almost terrifying.

While she had not known Tony when he had suffered from the plague, she knew, based off what Abby and McGee told her, that this stay in the hospital had been almost as bad.

Seeing that his partners were heading to their respective desks, Tony started fiddling around with his phone. Benny had played his Tetris game at home the other day and had beaten his high score. Being the great uncle that he was, Tony knew that Benny just wouldn't be able to handle the pressures of being on the top so, because he was only looking out for Benny's welfare, Tony had taken it upon himself to make sure Benny's score was number 2 on his phone.

Opening his phone, Tony stared at the blank screen. For the life of him, he just couldn't remember how to get to the stupid-

"Stop playing your phone DiNozzo," Gibbs walked in, flipping the phone closed and smacking Tony's slightly on the shoulder, instead of the back of the head, "You cleared for duty Tony?"

"Yes Boss," Tony stood, rubbing his shoulder before putting his phone in his pocket.

"Then gas the truck, we got a dead sailor," Gibbs tossed the keys to Tony, who caught them out of the air.

Setting the keys down to grab his gun, Tony snagged his shoulder holster from the drawer before picking up his bag.

"Hey DiNozzo?" Gibbs called out when Tony was almost all the way into the elevator.

"Forgetting something?" Gibbs lifted an eyebrow in what looked like annoyance but was actually worry.

"Um," Tony did a quick mental run down of what he could be forgetting. He had his phone, his badge, his gun, his bag…

"The keys?" Gibbs lifted the pair of shiny keys that he had just lifted from Tony's desk.

"Oh," Tony said, rubbing his forehead, "Sorry Boss. Concussion's still making me a bit crazy."

Huffing in agreement, Gibbs tossed the keys to his Senior Field Agent for the second time that day, "You sure you're alright Tony?"

"Peachy Boss," Tony smiled again before the elevator doors closed, hiding his slightly worried face from the rest of his team.

Waiting till he was walking towards the parked NCIS truck, Tony dug into his pants pocket, pulling out an Advil for the headache that had building since he had woken up this morning.

Having dealt with severe concussions before, Tony was pretty sure this was just par for the course. He usually had sporadic headaches for at least a few weeks after the concussion, depending on how hard he had gotten hit.

Rolling his shoulders as he maneuvered the large vehicle towards the fueling station, Tony hoped that the action would release the tension he had been feeling lately.

Something was not right.

While his team had been acting a little weird, Tony was pretty sure that wasn't what was causing his stomach to do flip flops every time he walked into his house.

Rubbing his eyes, Tony popped another Advil as his headache gained momentum.

Today was going to be a long day.

"Tony?" Gibbs called again, exasperated with his Senior Field Agent, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm," Tony looked down at the dead sailors belongings, "I'm really hopping these aren't eucalyptus leaves. Because last time we found these suckers, me and McGee had to get all those shots and I know I shouldn't be complaining because now you only get 7 shots in the butt as opposed to 20 in the stomach but really, we couldn't sit on our butts for a month and then there were the ice packs and the cushions…and come on Boss, one smuggled Koala per lifetime is my limit Boss."

Gibbs walked over, glancing at his second in command, "You feeling alright Tony?"

"Just fine Boss," Tony scowled, "You know, that's the seventeenth time someone asked me that today. First it was Morgan, then AJ, then April and Benny, the Tom the security guy who always asking for the best restaurants in the area to take his wife, then Abby asked a few times, then Ducky and Jimmy and Ziva and McGee and you've asked twice today Boss."

Gibbs didn't say anything but allowed Tony to continue to ramble on.

"So I might have lost count because my heads been hurting all day and I really really dislike Koala's Boss," Tony sighed and took off both of his gloves, putting them in his pocket before rubbing his head furiously, "I don't want another migraine Boss. Those things freaking hurt worse than those stupid shots."

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs placed a comforting hand on Tony's shoulder, "Is this a concussion thing?"

"Maybe!" Tony yelled, frustrated, "I don't know. I don't think I've ever felt this…hinky after a concussion Boss."

"Well the doc did say you might have some mood swings," Gibbs smirked slightly.

"Don't say it like that Boss, you make me sound like a pregnant woman," Tony deflated before rubbing his eyes, "Man, my head hurts."

"Go home," Gibbs said, "Get some rest before the headache gets worse."

"I'm fine," Tony scowled, "I'm not stupid. I'll go home if it gets too bad Boss."

"See that you do that Tony," Gibbs grumbled in concern as he walked back towards Ziva, who was checking the sailors bunk area.

"See that I do," Tony mumbled to himself before putting on a fresh pair of gloves and grabbing his camera.

He couldn't wait to go home.

When Tony walked into his kitchen from the garage, Benny was sitting on one of the island chairs, his legs swinging slowly as he watched his mom cook dinner.

"Hey kid," Tony walked passed Benny and ruffled his hair as he did, "How can you see anything through that mop of hair?"

"Momma says I'm like a sheep dog," Benny smiled sheepishly before spinning slowly in the tall chair, "You catch any bad guys today?"

"Not today," Tony smiled before picking up the small boy when Benny lifted his arms in a gesture to be held. Tony gave the boy a brief hug, surprised when Benny held on much longer than usual, "You okay Benny? Long day at school?"

"I didn't go to school," Benny grumbled in Tony's shirt.

"Why not?" Tony turned to Morgan. Benny had been smartly dressed this morning in his batman outfit- complete with a flowing cape and working utility belt. Needless to say, Benny demanded to dress himself each morning.

"Hey threw up when we walked outside," Morgan sighed, "It was early enough that AJ and April caught the bus but he's been a bit clingy all day."

"Momma says it's okay to get lots of hugs when you feel bad," Benny mumbled and sighed in contentment in his Uncle's arms, "I'm glad your home Uncle Tony."

"I'm glad I'm home too Benny," Tony rubbed Benny's back before looking at Morgan worriedly.

"No fever, no congestion, and he hasn't thrown up since. He ate some soup but hasn't had much of an appetite since this morning," Morgan sighed before placing the dinner on the table, "AJ, April! Dinner's ready!"

"Coming Momma!" April came running into the kitchen area. Seeing her Uncle, April almost launched herself at Tony but stopped short when she saw her little brother in his arms.

"Benny's not feeling good Uncle Tony," April latched onto Tony's leg, "So I can't give you an awesome hug but guess what!"

"What?" Tony said, making sure he sounded excited at April's news. His head still hurt, though not as bad as earlier, but he wouldn't show the rest of his family that he wasn't 100% yet. They had enough to worry about with Benny not feeling well.

"Elijah and me are boyfriend and girlfriends!" April said excitedly, twirling around in happiness.

"Wait," Tony frowned, "I thought you didn't like him?"

"No Uncle Tony," April rolled his eyes, "I didn't not like him. I just had to wait till I asked him to be my boyfriend. I didn't want him to think it was his idea," April said smugly before running over to her assigned chair at the dinner table.

"Huh," Tony said and looked at Morgan who rolled her eyes as she tried hard not to laugh at her only girl's "conquests".

"AJ's in his room?" Tony asked when the oldest child failed to show to the dinner table.

"Um," Morgan peaked out from behind the refrigerator door, "Oh. He's outside playing with Nathan from down the street."

"I'll go get him," Tony made the move to set Benny, who had dozed off, down at his seat but the boy came too and held on, wrapping his arms around Tony's neck tighter, "Benny?"

"The monsters are outside Uncle Tony," Benny whispered, not relaxing one second.

"I'll be okay kid," Tony smiled before transferring the boy to his mom, "Let me go get AJ so we can have some food."

Benny sighed before snuggling up to his mom, his eyes following his Uncle as he made his way out the front door.

"AJ! Time for dinner!" Tony called out to his nephew before stepping back inside when his cell phone rang.

"Sorry Nathan," AJ tossed the football back one last time, "We can play again tomorrow, if I don't have a lot of homework."

"That's cool," Nathan, a boy who was about AJ's height but with light blond hair, "Is that your dad?"

"No," AJ shook his head, "He was my dad's partner."

"Oh," Nathan said, "So is he your mom's boyfriend or something?"

"Maybe. I dunno. But he's really cool. He's a federal agent," AJ said proudly.

"Really?" Nathan eyes opened his amazement, "That's pretty neat. So does he go like on secret missions and stuff?"

"I dunno," AJ shrugged, "Its classified stuff so he can't tell us."

"Cool," Nathan said, "Who does he work for?"

"NCIS," AJ answered, "It stands for-"

"Naval Criminal Investigative Services," Nathan smiled, "I know. My dad's in the Navy, remember?"

"Oh yeah," AJ said, "Is he on a boat right now?"

Nathan shook his head, "Nah, he works here in town. When we moved here he promised my mom that he wouldn't get put on a boat again. So far, he's been able to keep that promise."

"Yeah, sometimes-" AJ started but was cut off when Tony stepped out of the house for a second time.

"Anthony James Goodman!" Tony yelled out the door, bringing out the middle name. AJ would have no choice but to come in now- that's just how the power of middle names worked.

"See you later Nathan!" AJ called behind his back as he hurried up the stairs into his house.

Tony raised an eyebrow at his oldest nephew, not saying anything.

"Sorry Uncle Tony," AJ apologized, "Won't happen again."

"Uhuh," Tony tapped AJ on the back of the head, "Hurry up and wash up. Your mom made meatloaf."

"Yes!" AJ pumped a fist in the air as he hurried towards the bathroom.

Tony laughed at before turning around to close the door.

However, a second before he did a car at the end of the street caught his eye. Staring it for a second, Tony closed the door and locked it for good measure.

Hurrying back towards the kitchen, Tony checked to make sure the security system was on. Maybe that would help calm his suddenly nauseated stomach.

"Tough night?" Ziva asked when she walked into the bullpen the next morning.

"Benny was sick," Tony rubbed his still aching head, though now it was aching from sleep deprivation, "Me and Morgan took turns with him all night. Poor kid didn't catch much sleep and the sleep he did catch was mostly filled with nightmares. Morgan's taking him to the doctor today after she drops the other two off at school."

"I'm sorry to hear that Tony," Ziva extended her condolences, "I hope he feels better soon."

"Me too," Tony smiled tiredly before starting his computer. Reaching into his desk drawer, Tony snagged his bottle of Advil and threw two of the fast acting gels into his mouth before drowning them down with a swing of hot tea.

"You alright Tony?" McGee asked, walking into the bullpen, "Wow. You look terrible."

Tony glared at his partner, "Benny's sick. I didn't get much sleep."

"Oh," Tim asked, "Well I hope he feels better soon."

"Me too," Tony said as he silent thought, If one more person asks if I'm alright…

"Feeling better DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, walking passed Tony's desk as he sipped his coffee.

"Just fine boss," Tony said as he lowered his head onto his desk. If he didn't already have a headache, he would have slammed it onto the keyboard multiple times to show is frustration.

"Benny is sick Boss," McGee told Boss for Tony, who had suddenly become a mute, "He didn't get much sleep."

"Is your kid alright DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, walking in front of Tony's desk.

"He isn't-I mean, he's not technically…" Tony trailed off but finally decided to ignore the comment, "Morgan's taking him to the doctor's now. We're pretty sure it's just a stomach bug but Morgan doesn't like taking any chances and the poor little guy was throwing up all night."

"He'll be just fine," Gibbs encouraged before throwing his empty coffee cup in the trash, "Now, let's find our murder."

"On it Boss," Ziva and McGee responded, each Agent going to their respective desk to start investigating.

"And DiNozzo?" Gibbs called out, "Go take a nap."

"Boss-" Tony tried to rouse himself enough to appear not so dead on his feet.

"Abby's expecting you. Go. Now."

"Gotcha Boss," Tony hurried to the elevator. A nap sounded like the perfect thing right now.

Flipping his phone open, Tony figured he'd call Morgan one more time before his head hit the pillow-er…Bert the Farting Hippo.

"Hey Morgan," Tony smiled when he heard one of his best friend's voices on the other end of the line, "How's Benny?"

"Threw up again when we left the house," Tony could hear Morgan sigh tiredly on the other end, "But we're next to go in and see the doctor."

"Still no fever?" Tony asked, hitting the right button to arrive on Abby's floor.

"No," Morgan answered, "And I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

"Let's not make any assumptions until the doctor's examined him,Morgan," Tony said, "And call if you need anything. Please Morgan, if you need anything at all. I mean that."

"I will Tony," Morgan replied, "I'll call you back soon. They just called us in."

"Okay, talk to you soon," Tony hung up and walked into Abby's lab.

"Crap!" Tony yelled as he smacked the keyboard.

"You al-"

"McGee, if you finish that sentence, I will walk over there and while I might not be able to kill you with a paperclip like Ziva could, I will get this pen and shove it down your throat."

At that blunt message, Tim visibly shrank in his seat, doing his best to escape Tony's ire.

"DiNozzo?"

"What?" Tony whirled around before deflating slightly when he saw that it was his Boss standing on the other side of the bullpen, "Yeah Boss?"

"Go see Ducky. See if he had that autopsy report already," Gibbs said. While it might seem like question to most people, Tony could make out the subtle undertones of Gibbs demanding Tony to cool it and go see Ducky in hopes that Tony would spill whatever was bugging him to the old ME.

"On it Boss," Tony stood slowly and headed towards the elevator. Hitting the down button harder than necessary, Tony practically leaped into the elevator.

Waiting till the doors closed, Tony hit the emergency stop button and slowly sank to the floor.

Tears that he didn't know he had quickly fell from his checks.

Wiping them furiously from his face, Tony leaned his head against the cool elevator wall. What was probably the stupidest thing about this whole situation was that he wasn't even sure why he was crying.

"Stupid concussion," Tony mumbled to no one. Taking a deep breath to regain his self-control, Tony wiped the last few tears from his face before hitting the emergency button once again.

He was ready to face the music which in this case was Ducky's kind words and merry demeanor.

"Hey Morgan," Tony said, after flipping his cell phone open, "He what?"

McGee, Ziva and Gibbs all stopped what they were doing upon hearing Tony's tone.

"And he didn't," Tony stopped, apparently cut off by Morgan, "Morgan, this could be-"

"Are you sure," Tony tried unsuccessfully to get a word in. Rubbing his forehead, Tony sighed, "Don't worry Morgan. I'll be there soon. Tell him I'm catching a bad guy okay? Tell him I'll be home as soon as I go get the bad guy and put him in jail."

"Alright," Tony nodded. Hanging up the phone, Tony sighed again, rubbing his head before flattening his hair, a gesture that Gibbs knew Tony only did when he was particularly worried.

"Everything alright Tony?" Gibbs asked quietly a few seconds later, allowing Tony those moments to compose himself.

"No stomach bug for Benny," Tony smiled but the smile was forced and the whole team could tell it was fake, "He doesn't even show signs of the flu so the doctor took some samples to see if he had food poisoning which is not very likely because no one else is sick."

"So he is doing better then?" Ziva asked hesitantly.

"We don't know really," Tony answered, "Morgan said he threw up again when they got home. Although I don't know what he could possibly be throwing up now. You think sooner or later he would run out of stuff to puke."

"We have our murderer DiNozzo. Go home, take care of your family," Gibbs gestured to the elevator, "Take tomorrow off."

Looking at his teammates, Tony smiled a real smile this time, "Thanks Boss."

"Hey Benny," Tony sat down on the couch where Benny was buried underneath the blankets. The only thing that was visible of the whole boy was his small trembling hand that was desperately holding onto his mom's.

"Uncle Tony?" a small voice came out from underneath the mound and Tony pulled a layer back, hoping to see Benny's beautiful eyes.

"Hey kid," Tony smiled and scooped up the boy, holding him tightly against his chest in hopes that his embrace would stop Benny's trembling.

"I'm tired Uncle Tony," Benny whispered, "But if I got to sleep, the monster will come."

"If he comes I'll take him down Benny," Tony started rocking the exhausted boy, "And I'll call Gibbs if he's a rather big monster."

"Gibbs is the bear right?" Benny said as his eyelids got heavier and heavier.

"A big polar bear," Tony smiled reassuringly, "But that's only to bad guys. To you, he's a big teddy bear."

"Like you Uncle Tony," Benny sighed before finally falling into a relaxing sleep.

Waiting until Benny was completely out, Tony adjusted on the couch, not daring to lay Benny down.

"So the doctor said he's pretty sure its anxiety?" Tony asked, rubbing Benny's back even though he was still deep asleep.

"He's pretty sure," Morgan sighed, "As far as he's concerned, Benny isn't sick-at least physically. I asked if this could have anything to do with us moving here to suddenly but the doctor said that something like this would have manifested much sooner."

"Then what could it be?" Tony asked, rubbing his forehead when his headache got particularly maddening.

"I don't know."

"School?" Tony guessed but knew that was stupid. Benny loved school most of the time. He looked forward to it. But most importantly, he never had any anxiety about going to school. At least, not since Tony got hurt.

"No," Morgan rubbed her eyes. She was so tired, "This all started around the time-"

"I got hurt," Tony sighed and settled into the couch.

"Yeah," Morgan agreed, "Maybe-"

"It'll be okay Morgan," Tony finally said with much more certainty than he currently felt.

"How can you be sure?" Morgan asked, holding Tony's hand like it was her lifeline.

"Because Gibbs said so," Tony said bluntly.

Because Gibbs wouldn't let him down. At least not now.

A/N2: Oh, and because someone asked about it: No. Tony doesn't remember what Benny told him about the voice messages. Considering he was doped up and in pain. So Tony doesn't remember but Benny thinks Tony isn't worried about it.

And if you feel so inclined, review please. :) Your words keep me sane. That and cookies. Especially chocolate ones. Yum.