Ok, chapter 4 is up and running and man is it way longer than my other chapters. I know the whole thing about the case is gonna seem weird or off or whatever but I did the best I could do. I'm not too good at the whole crime scene investigation thing yet. And I did the best I could with the whole Tony/Gibbs conversation. I redid that conversation a million times but it never came out as good as I really wanted it so I put the one that came the closest to what I wanted. So forgive me if either of them seem out of character. I'm sorry. Ok that's all I have to say. Enjoy.

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Chapter 4

Sick and Twisted Games

Ziva weaved her way through the cars that littered the road heading back to NCIS. She had made it to the warehouse and after being let in she went to the crime scene, picture in hand, to find the note. She held her breathe as she made her way to the spot were the note should be and let out a sigh of releaf. There, sitting against the crate was the note she had come to find. Carefully, she picked it up with a pear of tweesers and placed it in one of the evidence bags before placeing both back in her backpack. Now she raced back to headquaters, hopeing beyound hope that Abby would be able to find a print.

After what seemed like an eternity, she made it to NCIS. Jumping out of the car she ran to the elevator, jaming the button harder than necesary, and waited for the doors to open. The minute she stepped out of the elevator three heads looked up in her direction and she allowed a smile to grace her features as she pulled out the bag that held the note safely inside. Abby jumped up from where she sat at Gibbs' desk with a delighted squeal and ran over to Ziva, surprising everyone by giving her a quick hug. Pulling away she took the bag and turned to the others.

"Are ya'll coming or what?"

Quickly Gibbs and McGee followed the two women back to the elevator, Abby pressed the button and the elevator was sent into motion yet again. Once the doors opened, they setpped out, following Abby as she made her way to the lab. Very carefully she removed the note and set to work on removing any prints that may have been on it. Everyone held their breathe, waiting for Abby to finish. Their patience was rewarded as Abby let out a happy "yes". Holding up the note, they could see the print left on the note, colored with the powder Abby had used.

"And I give you, the killers print."

Quickly Abby put in the information she needed and soon the print was displayed on the big screen in her lab. Gibbs turned to the screen. "Abby, I want you to run that print against all the people that Tony dealt with in Baltimore."

Abby nodded and turned back to the computer, typing furiously at the keyborad. Soon the system was away, compareing different prints to the one on the note. It didn't take long for it to find a match. Abby typed a few keys and the image of a man with short blonde hair and a tan complextion appeared on the screen.

"Joseph Peters. 24. He was the main suspect in 6 murder caeses, but was never convicted. Seems he aways managed to slip through, until..."

"Until Tony got the case." Gibbs finished. "Abby, bring up Tony's report."

Abby typed on the key borad for a few seconds and then another picture of Joseph appeared, along with the information Tony had on the whole case. They all read through some of the report and it didn't take long to figure out what the mesage on the note had been about.

NCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS

"Ok so we know the guy is obviously isane. He acts like this whole thing is just a game. Setting rules that, if broken, could get any random person killed." Ziva stated after reading through the report for nearly an hour. They were back in the bullpen, each reading a different part of the report. From what she had read so far, Joseph liked to play games with the cops that were set up to investigate him. He would make up rules and if they weren't followed, he would kill some innocent person that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the cops had tried to charge him with the muders, he always managed to wringle away, then drop off the face of the planet, to appeare later, always eager to play more sick games. It also appeared that, right after they had failed to put him behind bars, they would turn up dead. But instead of going to Joseph, the evidence would point to someone else that the cops had put away in previous cases.

In Tony's case however, things seemed to have been a little different. From what the case said, Joseph had taken a hostage this time, an 8 year old girl, and Tony was put onto the case. Tony wrote down everything that transpired while he was on the case. Joseph told him that if he broke any of the rules, he would kill the girl. Some of the rules were that If someone else were put in Tony's place that she would be drowned. If Tony tried to find where they kept her and tried to free her, he would shoot her. When they read further they found the reason behind the rules.

It seemed that someone had found blood that belonged to Joseph at one of the crime scenes involving the third cops death. What he wanted Tony to do was to fix the blood samples, to make it look like it had been put there on porpose and that someone had just simply wanted to find a way to put him away. Tony had delayed a bit, knowing that this would be no easy task. He eventually managed to fix the blood sample, but instead of freeing the girl, Joseph had shot her as she was passed off to Tony. The bullet it appeared, had also been for him as well. He was hit in the side, but as Joseph made his escape, Tony pulled his gun, shooting him in the leg and effectivly stopping his escape. The girl died before the ambulance arrived and Tony had been rushed to the nearest hospital, where he had remained on critical condition for a few days. The report showed that he had slipped into a coma as they were removing the bullet, but for some unexplained reason, he stayed that way for longer than the doctors had expected.

"So, it looks like he came back to finish what he started. It was obviously part of his game to kill those who investigated him. But Tony was able to not only survive, but got him put away as well. I guess it just wasn't for as long as he expected." McGee said, his vioce low as sleep threatened to overtake him. They had been at this for quite a while, none of them wanting to rest until they found the bastard.

Gibbs sat at his desk, silently reading the report. He had a feeling he knew exactly why Tony had fallen into a coma. He had no doubt felt that it was his fault that the little girl had died. Gibbs let out a sigh and brought his hands up to his face, trying to will away the sleep that his body so desperatly wanted.

"You look like crap Boss." Tony's vioce was half amused and half concerened. Gibbs rarely ever showed when he was tired, but it wasn't just sleep that was effecting him. Though he was working hard to keep it hidden from Abby and the others, the pain was still there, and still raw. Gibbs lowered his hands, noticing that the others were nowhere to be seen. The only other person in the office was Tony, who stood in front of Gibbs' desk, watching him closely over the top of the monitors. It was then that Gibbs noticed the red stain that was over Tony'd chest, clashing with the light blue shirt he wore. Gibbs tore his eyes away from the wound and looked up into the green eyes that watched him, his chest tightening at the pain it brought before looking back at the monitor.

The sigh that escaped Tony's lips seemed to echo across the empty office. No matter what he had said, Gibbs still thought that Tony's death was his fault. He had tried to tell his Boss that he didn't see it that way by the car but had been interupted when Ducky came around, offering to take Gibbs home. "Boss, I don't blame you for what happened. Why can't you except that. If it was your fault I wouldn't be here, trying to convince you otherwise."

Tony's vioce sounded almost desperate, as if it was the most important thing in the world for Gibbs to see the truth in what Tony was telling him. Gibbs closed his eyes, bringing his hands up and resting his head on them. "You wrong Tony. But that wasn't the only time I failed you."

"Boss, I..."

"No. There's no excuse for what happened. All I was thinking about was myself. I didn't stop to think how my leaving might have effected you. I abandoned you. I did the one thing I said I would never do to you and you had every right to hate me for it. " Gibbs vioce cracked slightly, unable to hold back the sea of emotions that were swirling inside his head. Tony was silent for a moment, watching Gibbs work to keep his emotions under control.

"I never hated you Boss." Tony's vioce was low and quiet as he thought back to the day Gibbs had left and the empty feeling he had gotten in the pit of his stomach. He remembered the day that Gibbs had come back and how happy he had been to see him. He also remembered his own actions. He had been mad at Gibbs for what he had done, but he hadn't hated him. But then he hadn't exactly proven otherwise. He barely spoke to Gibbs, only when it was necesary. He stopped calling him 'Boss', simply refering to him as Gibbs. Tony bit the inside of his mouth. Abby had told him that Gibbs thought that Tony hated him and it looked like she had been right.

"I was just upset. At first I did feel like you had abandoned me, but when I thought about it I realized that I didn't really feel that way. I was just mad at the whole situation. When you came back, part of me was so happy, but there was still that part that was pissed as hell. So I did what I had always done when I was mad at someone. I acted like you were just someone that I had to work with but didn't really want to. I kept my feeling to myself. It was all I could do to keep myself from telling you the truth. It's funny, Abby tried to talk me into talking to you. She said that you thought I hated you. I could tell she wasn't really sure, and it almost worked." Tony ran a hand through his hair, wishing like hell that he had talked to Gibbs before now. Slowly he opened his eyes, having closed them as he was talking and looked at Gibbs, who had been watching him the whole time.

Gibbs didn't move for a few seconds, thinking over what Tony had said. He knew Tony was telling him the truth, but he still felt responsible for what happened. It didn't change the fact that he had left and it didn't change the fact that he had let Tony die.

"Boss..." Tony's vioce sounded slightly angered, knowing exactly what Gibbs was thinking. But before he could say anything more, a vioce interupted their conversation.

"Jethro, your body needs rest. You haven't slept in god knows how long." Ducky's concerned vioce sounded from beside him. Gibbs opened his eyes and turned to meet the coroners kind gaze. He knew Ducky was right, but he couldn't bring himself to go home.

"He's right Boss. Ziva and I can stay a bit longer and keep going over what we have." McGee offered, knowing how Tony's death had effected Gibbs. Knowing he would never hear the end of it, Gibbs reluctantly agreed and he and Ducky left the building, heading towards Gibbs house and the sleep he so desperately needed.