Hey everyone, sorry for the wait. Things got a little crazy, but I wanted to get this posted before tomarrow. Why? Becuse it's my birthday! Yay! Like you needed or cared to know that, but anyway.

Hope you enjoy!

Btw, this is not mine. I don't own anything.

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I blinked several times in surprise as the unidentified noise startled me from sleep.

Taking a few seconds to regain my thoughts, I realized it was the annoying tring of the alarm clock next to my bed.

Leaning up on one elbow and reaching over, I literally slammed my hand down on the off button to shut the racket up.

Dropping back against the pillow I tried to recall the reason I had slept so soundly. It was a very rare occasion when I slept in long enough to be woken up by an alarm. I only set it as a precaution so I wouldn't be late for work.

As I thought back I realized I hadn't had a nightmare about Tony last night. Tony.

I sat bolt right up as it hit me. Tony. Alive.

No, he wasn't. It must have been a dream. Great, now nightmares were during into impossible wishes.

But, it all seemed so real. It felt real.

Throwing back the sheets, I clambered out of bed and headed down the hall to the guest room where I remembered (or dreamed) Tony had slept.

I froze in the doorway.

He was there. He was alive. It hadn't been a dream.

Relief filled me and a smile slipped it's way onto my face.

Crossing the room in a few simple strides, I watched Tony. Letting the steady rise and fall of his chest along with hearing the deep, even breathing settle my nerves.

I pulled the blanket, which had slipped some point in the night, back up over him, running my hand through his hair again before I left.

I went downstairs, heading for the kitchen to make us breakfast.

Ten minutes later my ears picked up a slight creek from one of the upstairs floor boards, signaling Tony had woken up.

I frowned as I heard him stumble, remembering how he seemed favor the one leg. Making a mental note to ask him about later I started working on breakfast for the both of us.

I started working on eggs, bacon, and toast, trying to as, Ducky had instructed, to make sure he ate decent meals for a change, especially after not having much to eat the past week.

I was just sliding the last of the bacon on the plate as he came downstairs and into the kitchen, freshly showered and changed.

"Need help, boss?" he asked, as I grabbed another mug from the cabinet.

"Sit down, DiNozzo." was my simple order, which he thankfully obeyed for the moment.

I sit a mug and plate (conicidently the one with the largest amount of food on it) in front of him before grabbing my own plate and mug of coffee.

Besides a "Thanks, boss." from Tony, we ate in silence.

Tony, who finished just a few seconds after I did, started trying to pick everything in one-handed.

"What're ya' doin' DiNozzo?" I questioned almost tiredly.

He gave me a confused look, "Cleaning?" he said in a state-the obvious tone.

I said nothing, just taking the plates and mugs from him, giving him a 'just sit down and shut up' look, which he obeyed promptly, only getting up once to grab another mug of coffee.

Watching him and noticing how he still put more pressure on his left leg, I asked one of the questions that had been nagging at me.

"What happened to your leg, DiNozzo?"

His cheeks tinged with pink, but otherwise he didn't answer.

"Tony?" I prompted.

"I might have, possibly, fallen into a ditch when I was on my way back."

I rose an eyebrow in surprise that.

Misreading my expression he hurried on to explain, "I saw car lights coming and ducked, a little bit ungracefully I might add. I figured the only car that would have been out in the boonies at that time of night would have been the kidnappers."

"Yeah, was it?" I asked.
"I don't know, I didn't look."

I had to roll my eyes at the answer. Most people would take it as he had been afraid they would spot him so he had chosen stay hidden. But for those who knew Tony, they knew it meant he had been into much pain from his ankle and already broken arm to pay much attention to anything else.

"First thing today DiNozzo, you're having Ducky look at that."

"Come'on, boss, it isn't bad really. Just twisted it a bit, that's all.
"DiNozzo, either you go to Ducky, or I'll take you the hospital, your choice." I threatened, knowing his hatred for hospitals

"Gotcha, boss." he replied, winching in defeat.

Nodding my head once, I glanced at my watch, blinking in surprise when I realized we would be late if we didn't leave soon.

"Alright, DiNozzo, let's go." I said, handing him his backpack.

"You mean you're actually letting me back to work?" he asked in surprise, slightly hopeful.

"Sure, you can still help. You're just not allowed to handle suspects, guns, or to work in the field."

"So basically you're saying I'm on desk duty?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Yup. Now, come'on we're gonna be late." I said, grabbing my sig and strapping into it's holster as I led him out the door.

Taking a few of my shortcuts so as to avoid the worst of traffic we were able to make it through the gate to the parking lot with ten minutes to spare.

Tony had kept up a constant monologue the entire trip and for once I didn't interrupt. I just let him keep at it. Enjoying the sound of the voice I had once thought I'd never get to hear again.

I smiled to myself as he got into explaining some movie that he had just referenced. I had missed it way more than I'd ever admit.

He continued his one-man conversation as we entered the elevator, only pausing when my cellphone rang.

"Gibbs." I barked into the speaker.

"Agent Gibbs, I have good news for you." Leon's voice drifted from the other end of the line.

"Yeah, what's that?"

"Johnson's team caught the guys who took DiNozzo. The two accomplices have already been processed, but your kidnapper is in interrogation room four; his name's Edward Dunn." he informed me.

"I want to do the interrogation." I volunteered quickly. I wasn't going to pass this up. I needed to know why he had done this. And if I happened to be able take out some of anger on the moron who caused this whole mess, well that was just a bonus.

"Already way ahead of you, Gibbs. Whenever you're ready." Leon replied.

"Good." was my only response before snapping the phone shut.

"Change of plans, DiNozzo." I said, directing the elevator to our new destination. "I've got an interrogation to handle."

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I stormed into the interrogation room, leaving Tony safely on the other side of the glass.

The culprit looked up quickly as the door banged opened yet he didn't seem the least bit worried or afraid of me. Big mistake.

Narrowing my eyes at him I took the seat opposite of him silently. He watched every move I made carefully, as if assessing an opponent.

Another mistake. I wasn't his opponent. I was his worst nightmare.

He continued to keep an eye on me as I sat across from him, glaring.

After a stretch if several seconds I finally broke the silence.

"Why?"

He blinked in surprise, "What?"

"Why?" I repeated "It's a simple question. Why did you do it?"

He scowled now, "Because you idiots screwed up my life."
"Actually you did that, and it wasn't even us. It was another , as it turns out, retired years ago."

"I know." was his simple answer.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Then why?"

He didn't answer, but instead stared at me.

Glaring again I tried a different question, "Okay, then explain this to me. Why did you kidnap my agent and then try to kill him, why not just kill him?" I asked. Although I was grateful for what ever twisted answer he was to give as it meant Tony was still alive.

"Because one thing I realized with you agents" he said the word almost as an insult, "Is that you hate making mistakes."

"So?" I asked.

"So what bigger mistake than to think your partner is dead and then to realize he was actually alive for another week before he was murdered? To have to realize there was an entire week you could have been searching for him? Saving him even? But you didn't because you made the mistake of believe he was dead?"

I glared at him again. Tony was right, this guy defiantly had more than a few screws loose and that only served to make him more twisted and disturbed.

"And why Agent DiNozzo? Why him? Why not another agent?" Anyone listening would think I was simply trying to see into his demented perspective to solve our case. I was the only one who knew that I was asking him the same questions I had been asking myself for over a week. Why Tony? Why him? Why not someone else?

In answer he simply shrugged at me.

"So it didn't matter which agent it was, just so long as it was an NCIS agent?" I asked angrily, "Did you stop to think that the agent you planned on killing had friends? Family?

"I had family! Friends! A life! And that stupid agent didn't care did he?! So why should I?!"

I glared.

"You committed a crime! He was making sure you served your time for it! But the agent you took was just an innocent bystander! He didn't do anything to you!"

"It doesn't matter! He's expendable, there's twenty more where he came from, ready to take his place!"

I snapped.

In a fluid motion and faster than anyone else would have reacted, I was off my seat and jerked Dunn from his chair, shoving him into the wall.

Tony was not irreplaceable.

"Despite what you think, he is not expendable" I growled quietly, dangerously, at him.

"And despite what you think, he's just a worthless excuse for human being! Just like every other agent in this building!" He snapped at me with an unusual amount of bravado.

The remark hit me like a punch to the gut. Tony was certainly not worthless in any sense, the only one who was worthless was the man, if I could call him that, in front of me.

He had taken Tony, led us the believe he was dead, had planned on killing him, had hurt him, called him worthless and irreplaceable.

I was way beyond anger at this point. Beyond Ire. Beyond Rage. I couldn't even come up with the right word to describe what I was feeling right now. All that registered in my brain was what he had done and the fact that I was going to make him suffer for it.

Jerking my sig from it's holster I aimed it against his head, clicking back the safety clip.

I saw his eyes widen and his face pale as he realized I was serious.

Due to my Marine senses, I registered the door opening and someone rushing in, but I didn't care. Dunn wasn't going to make it out of this room alive.

"Gibbs?"

I heard my name, but it didn't really register, my full attention was focused on the face in front of me.

"Gibbs?" The voice asked again gently. Tony.

I just ignored him, I wasn't going to let him or anyone else break my attention.

"Gibbs, let him down. He's not worth it. He's a scumbag, we all know it, but he's definitely not worth you losing your career."

Tony was wrong. I didn't care if I lost my job, I just need to make this idiot suffer for what he had done. What he had done to Tony. To this team. To me.

"Come on Gibbs, I don't want you to get fired because of me, please put him down."

I blinked once and my eyes flicked over to Tony once to see his worried and slightly afraid face watching me carefully.

After a tense stretch of several seconds I let go of the clip and moved my weapon away.

Dunn literally sagged in relief against the wall.

I wanted to kill him, I really did. But Tony didn't want me to do it and if anyone had a choice in the situation, it should be him.

Letting the scum I was holding drop to the ground, I left. Not before grabbing Tony's arm though and dragging him out with me. He was not going to stay in a room with that man.

Letting go of him as soon as we were outside and the door was shut, I made off down the hall, leaving a confused Tony behind me.

I needed to get away for a moment. Just one. Or ten. I needed to regain composure, to calm down, and to make sure I didn't kill the next person who dared cross my path.

Going into the head, which was thankfully empty, I took a deep calming breath that helped sooth my temper, but only slightly.

All of my instincts were telling me to back in there and kill Dunn. To make him pay for what he did. For what he'd said. The only thing that kept me where was, was Tony and the fact that he didn't want me to kill him. But that was the only thing.

Gripping the edge of one of the sinks until my knuckles turned white, I waited until my anger cooled and my temper drifted away.

Walking back out, my face now expressionless, I headed for the bullpen.

Ziva and McGee were both at work on their computers, but DiNozzo was absent. Probably still standing in the hall in a state of confusion I mused.

With a silent huff, I sat down at my desk. Now what? I had no cases, all paperwork was done. Briefly I wondered what McGee and Ziva were doing seeing as we had no work that needed our attention, but then I decided I'd really rather not know.

So to keep myself occupied, I pulled up a few old cold case files on the computer and started looking through them.

The silence was incredibly prominent and I hoped Tony would come up to the sqaudroom soon. The quiet was so much like when we had believed him to be dead it nearly sent chills up my spine.

But it looked like Tony had no intention of returning soon, so we continued to work in silence for a short while.

Until all hell decided broke lose.

All Signals, sirens, and warnings were off. Bells were sounding and lights were flashing alerting everyone to an emergency some where in the building.

My gut clenched and my mind whirred as it hit me exactly what was causing the commotion. Who was in trouble.

Tony.

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Ooooh, I am evil aren't I? Usually I was never one for cliffhangers, but this just seemed like a good place as any to stop. Lol! I'm so cruel.

Oh! I was wrong, it was good I brought up my birthday, 'cause now you can all leave me a review as a birthday present! Right? :D Lol!

Hope you liked it! :)