I am sooooo sorry I took so long to update. But I do have an excuse, I've been sick on and off for the past couple of weeks with swine flu. And my mom has it as well so I've been helping her when I can. Also I got kinda stuck as to where to take this chapter, but I finally was able to work past that and get the next chapter out, sooooo.........enjoy!

Btw, not mine. Belongs to CBS and Bellisario.

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The ride down to autopsy was in silence. Tony didn't say a word and neither did I. Mainly because I was still trying to get those horrid images out of my head.

My blood chilled and I had to repress a shiver as I remember Tony's eyes closing and him slumping against Dunn. I had thought he was dead again. That I had gotten him back, to lose him a second time.

Something told me the nightmares were going to start again tonight. At least Tony would be staying at my place for a while and I could keep an eye on him to make sure he was still there, I reassured myself.

The elevator dinged and my head snapped up at the sound; walking out, Tony behind me, we entered autopsy.

Ducky spun his chair round from his position at his desk as he heard us entering.

"Ah, Jethro, is everything alright upstairs? I heard the alarms."

"Yeah Ducky, everythings fine." I informed. It wasn't. Not really. At least not for me. I suppressed another shiver.

"And Anthony, how are you my dear fellow?" Ducky asked as Tony entered, at a slightly slower pace than normal.

"Hundred percent, Ducky." Tony quipped, using that particular term just to annoy me.

I sent an angry glare his way, making him back down.

"We seem to have a little conflict of opinion on that particular topic, gentlemen. Is everything all right?" Ducky questioned, standing from his chair and coming to stand behind the neatest autopsy table.

Tony opened his mouth but I cut him off.

"Could you look him over, Duck?" I asked, gesturing to Tony who was currently trying to discreetly wipe off some of the offending red liquid off of his still bleeding neck.

"Oh dear, hop up here Anthony." Ducky prompted, patting the top of the autopsy table.

With a distasteful glance at said table, Tony followed instructions and took a seat.

I took note of the lines of relief on his face as he sat down. Running a discreet inspection I noted the careful way he held his ankle and my eyes narrowed. With everything that has happened already this morning I had forgotten to have Ducky check over his ankle. Much to Tony's relief I'm sure.

"Oh my. It looks like this was caused by a knife. Possibly a large pocket knife, juding by the thin line."

Ducky's comment made my thoughts break and I looked over to where he was inspecting the wound.

"It is." I said simply.

Ducky's head snapped up quickly and he sent me a piercing stare. "What exactly did happen, Jethro?" he asked steadily.

I stared a Ducky for a few seconds before answering. I had hoped I wouldn't have to relive it, but I knew that was impossible. I'd still have to write a report and as soon

as she could, Abby would be in the bull-pen demanding to know what had happened and if anyone had been hurt. It was impossible to avoid.

"Dunn, Tony's kidnapper, got hold of him. Had a knife to his throat. DiNozzo got away, but the edge of the knife nicked his throat." I explained in an expressionless voice. Attempting to hide the fact how shaken I really was by what had happened.

"And Dunn?" Ducky asked, his eyes not wavering from my face.

"Dead." I said simply.

Thank the Lord, I thought. Grateful he could no longer cause trouble or heartache.

Ducky heaved a heavy sigh, "You just seem to attract trouble, my dear fellow." he said with a rueful shake of his head as he gently cleaned up the small amount of blood from Tony's neck with disinfectant.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Tony said dryly.

"I believe one could write a novel about all the trouble you get into, dear boy."

"Hey, now there's an idea. 'The Life and Times of Anthony DiNozzo. An adventure like no other.' Could be a bestseller." Tony said with a smile.

I rolled my eyes, attempting to keep a relieved, and slightly amused, smile off of my face.

Ducky simply chuckled, "An adventure like no other, indeed, my boy." he agreed with a smile.

"Check his ankle too, Ducky." I prompted, noticing the ME had nearly finished with the cut.

Tony glanced at me as Ducky started taking off his shoe and it was obvious he had hoped I had forgotten all about his ankle.

"Oh my."

My eyes jumped from Tony, down to where Ducky had been getting ready to check Tony's ankle for injures.

Taking in the red, puffy swelling of the ankle I turned a silent glare to Tony, who was now trying his best to avoid any eye contact with me.

"I'll need to take an x-ray to be sure it's not fractured." Ducky said.

"It's not fractured, Ducky." Tony protested immediately.

"And what led you to this medical knowledge?" Ducky asked, helping to lay Tony's ankle on the autopsy table causing Tony to hiss in pain.

"Because it's my ankle and I can tell. It's not fractured." He said with determination and I had to roll my eyes to the Heavens, praying for strength not to headslap him for his ignorance of his own limitations.

"Yes, well, forgive me that I seek a second opinion." Ducky argued, pulling the X-ray machine over to the table and started setting it up.

Tony grimaced slightly in defeat as he watched Ducky step back and take the x-ray.

We stayed silent, Tony mainly out of disappointed of being overruled by Ducky and myself, as Ducky pulled out the image and put it up on the board, turning the light on, to inspect it.

"Well, Ducky?" I asked.

"It looks like Anthony was right. There are no fractures or breaks of any sort." the older ME answered reassuringly.

"See, told you it was fine." Tony said, his grin on full blast.

"This, my dear boy, is not fine. Yes, you were correct in guessing it was not fractured, but it is far from fine." Ducky chastised as he grabbed some gauze and a bottle of medication, putting the bottle on the table next to Tony and then proceeded to wrap Tony's ankle. "I'll give you the Paracetamol. If the pain worsens I want you to take them."

"Aw, come on, Ducky. I don't need 'em. I'm fi---"

"DiNozzo," I interrupted, "If you say 'fine' one more time, I'm going to get Ducky to wrap some of that gauze over your mouth." I interrupted gruffly.

"Yes, boss."

He didn't try contradicting again as Ducky quickly finished wrapping his ankle and started picking up the extra gauze and tape.

"Anthony, you need to keep that iced. And no excess activities, I don't want you straining it more." Ducky instructed.

"Can I still do field work?" Tony asked.

I looked to Ducky, who threw me a quick glance before answering.
"I don't see why not. Just don't over tax yourself or it will get worse than it already is."

I scowled slightly at Tony as he threw me one of his 'I told you so' looks before he jumped down easily from the table, snatching the bottle of pain meds as he went, and, while trying to hide the fact that it had jarred his injured ankle, all but sauntered out of the room, showing that he was indeed 'fine'.

I watched him go, keeping my eyes on the door even after he had left.

I heard Ducky heave a heavy sigh, "That young man has set 'fine' as a default. Any time any one asks him a question he automatically has an answer." he commented with a shake of his head. "What exactly happened up there, Jethro? How did Dunn manage to get a hold on Anthony like that?"

I opened my mouth to answer but was soon to realize I didn't really know myself. I hadn't given a single thought to how it happened, just to the fact of what could have happened and what, thankfully, hadn't.

How did Dunn get close enough to Tony? Tony had been in the hall when I left.

"I don't know." I admitted quietly, looking to Ducky.

The older ME rose his eyebrows as I tore out of the room after Tony.

I managed to catch Tony as he was just getting in the elevator. Hurrying to catch up, I slipped between the two silver doors before they shut.

Tony looked at me slightly surprised.

We rode in silence but only for a few seconds before I posed the first question.

"What happened up there, DiNozzo?" I asked, giving him a hard stare.

"Nothing." He answered as convincingly as he could. Which was pretty good, most people would be fooled by the easy, simple answer. But I knew better.

"DiNozzo, when I left you, you were in the hall. What happened?" I asked again.

"I went in to grab the file off the table. Didn't want Dunn getting hold of it. It had classified information." he explained.

My eyes narrowed for a second time as I noticed his posture stiffen slightly. A sure sign showing that he was not going to admit what had happened. Far from it. He was going to try and dance around the answer and avoid answering anything out-right.

"And?" I asked after several seconds of silence, "That doesn't explain how Dunn got hold of you."

"Nope. Sure doesn't." He said simply, sagging in obvious relief as the doors dinged open and he was provided with an easy escape.

My eyes narrowed again at his retreating back. Something else had happened down there and I was determined to find out what.

Punching the down button, I rode back down to the interrogation rooms.

I stormed past the few members of the cleaning crew who were currently scrubbing the blood off the floor where Dunn had landed. The agents and guards having already cleared all evidence and the body from the premises.

I got the feeling of annoyance from them for causing the current mess as I passed and I had to suppress a smirk as I realized the only reason they weren't glaring at me like they would have any one else was because they were afraid I might shoot them too if they did.

Throwing the door open to the observation room I found it, thankfully, empty. The usual camera and recording crew were probably giving witness statements, I realized.

Only momentarily confused with the equipment I was able to figure out how to get the right tape out and rewind it to the point I wanted.

Pressing play, I sat back to watch what really had played out in the interrogation room an hour earlier.

The tape skipped and static flitted across the screen for a moment before the image cleared and I was able to see Dunn sitting in a heap on the floor, only pulling himself up when the door opened. Tony walked in, casting a single glance to Dunn, before grabbing the file off the table and making to walk back out.

"You know your boss is lucky." Dunn spoke up as Tony reached the door, seeming to have regained his bravado now that a gun wasn't pointed at his head, causing said agent to stop in his tracks, turning to look at Dunn.

"What?" he asked, confused

"He's lucky." Dunn repeated.

"And why is that?" Tony asked, clearly annoyed.

"Because if he had killed me, that would have ruined his career. You said so yourself."

"Actually, Dunn, you're the lucky one. Lucky you're not down in autopsy right now."

Dunn laughed, pretending to be distracted by looking his hands over. "Well, he just won't be as lucky next time." he said conversationally, as if he had just commented on the weather.

"And what does that mean?" Tony asked dryly.

"Because even if he doesn't kill me, he could get in serious trouble for hurting me."

"And what makes you think he'll do that?"

"Because, I know what buttons to push." Dunn said with a sickening smile.

Tony's eyes narrowed, "You leave Gibbs alone, Dunn. Trust me, you don't want to mess with him."

Dunn chuckled, "And you're going to stop me?"

"I'm telling you, Dunn, try anything and you'll be worse than hurting."

"Doesn't matter really. Either way, he'll lose his job."

"Dunn, if you think----" Tony said, raising his voice angrily and starting towards the man only to be interrupted by one of the guards sticking his head in the door.

"Agent DiNozzo? Is everything all-right?" he asked.

Tony turned, slightly surprised at being interruprted.

That's when it happened. Now that Tony had his back turrned, Dunn jumped forward, pulling a knife from his pocket and grabbing Tony around the neck.

The guard pulled his gun and aimed at Dunn and then.....snow. The tape cut off.

I slammed my fist down on the table so hard a few tapes clattered to the floor.

How could Tony be so stupid as to listen to Dunn? And how could he help put himself in that position over my job? And what about the guard? He should have payed more attention. And what idiot missed that knife? If they had searched him properly Tony and the guard's mistakes wouldn't have mattered. I was going to find out who had searched him though.

And they were going to pay.

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I'm not too happy with the scene with Tony and Dunn, but I was short on ideas and that one seemed to work the best. Ah, well. You can always tell me in a review! :D

Just hit that big, rectangular green button right down there. Lol!