Okay I know I wasn't going to continue this, but I gave it one more shot, so if you guys like this, I'll take it off permanent hiatus.

Gibbs was a little out of his element standing near Tony's hospital bed and watching his agent toss and turn, lost in his nightmare. He was unsure of whether or not to wake him. He almost did a couple of times, but decided against it because he knew Tony needed the rest. Then again -

Gibbs didn't get to finish his thoughts as he turned his attention to Tony who's thrashing around had quickly become more violent. Gibbs took a few steps closer to the hospital bed.

"Tony. Tony, wake up."

Tony continued thrashing around, clearly still trapped in his nightmare.

"Tony." Gibbs reached a hand out and touched his senior field agent's shoulder in an attempt to awaken the younger man. Tony shot up into a sitting position, eyes wide and breathing shallowly. Gibbs noticed that Tony's eyes were searching the room frantically for some unseen threat. He put his hand on Tony's shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting way. Tony flinched and shrunk back from the touch.

Gibbs' infamous gut told him there was definitely something seriously wrong with his agent. And he'd be damned if he didn't find out what it was.

"Tony?"

Tony turned his head to look at his boss, his eyes focusing for the first time since he'd woke up from his nightmare. "Boss?"

NCISNCISNCIS

Gibbs had tried to get Tony to open to him, but his attempts were futile. Tony wouldn't budge. Eventually, Gibbs had had enough and he'd stormed out of the hospital. Tony had checked himself out AMA soon after that.

Ducky had called Jethro to inform him of Tony's unrecompensed dismissal from the hospital. Gibbs had been furious, but had decided to deal with his anger how he dealt with most things: by drinking bourbon alone in his basement and working on his boat. Around eleven that night, he had gotten a phone call. At first he wasn't going to answer, then thinking it could possibly be DiNozzo, he changed his mind.

"Gibbs," he answered curtly.

"Hello, this is Mary from Bethesda Memorial Hospital. I'm calling in regards to Anthony DiNozzo, you're listed as his next of kin."

Gibbs heart sunk as he realized something had happened to his senior field agent. Hell, Tony was more than that. He was family. He was his son. "What happened?"

NCISNCISNCIS

Gibbs walked into Tony's hospital room to see the younger man sitting up in his hospital bed, staring at the wall. Gibbs just looked at Tony for a minute, trying to read the younger man's face, but his face was blank. Gibbs could see a large bruise forming on Tony's cheek. Gibbs pulled an uncomfortable looking chair that was against the wall next to Tony's bed. He sat down, still staring at Tony who was doing everything in his power no to look at Gibbs.

"Tony, what's going on?"

Tony had been staring at the stitching of the blanket that was covering his legs as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, but he looked up at Gibbs now. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but no words came out and he subsequently shut his mouth once again. He waited a minute, took a deep breath, and tried to say something again.

"I don't…" Tony trailed off. Gibbs waited for a minute, but his patience was wearing thin and he needed to know what the hell was going on.

"You what, DiNozzo?"

"I - I don't think I should tell you." Seeing the angry look on his boss's face, Tony quickly added, "really, it's not a big deal. Just - just it would be best if you weren't…involved."

"DiNozzo. You've got five second to tell me what the hell is going on with you." The look on Gibbs' face clearly stated 'don't test me, DiNozzo', but Tony being Tony did just that.

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" Gibbs voice was raising by this point, his frustration clear. "Tony, I'm trying to help you. I know there is something wrong, don't bother trying to deny it." Tony looked back down at his blanket, not responding.

"What happened with your father?" Gibbs said, his voice serious.

Tony's head immediately snapped back up. "No -" Tony cut himself off from finishing tat sentence. One glance at the look on Gibbs' face and he knew better than to deny it. Clearly Gibbs had a pretty good idea of what was going on and pretending nothing was happening would only serve to piss him off. Tony sighed exasperatedly. "He came to see me. Well, actually some of his friends came to see me."

"And?"

"It didn't go so well."

"Well, I could have guessed that, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, in a duh sort of way.

A shadow of a smile passed over Tony's features, but as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

"What happened, Tony?"

Tony had cast his gaze downward once again and Gibbs didn't think he was going to get an answer. "They came to my apartment after work. I had ordered a pizza, so when I heard a knock at the door I didn't bother to see who it was before opening it, so that's how they got in," Tony said. "Though, if I hadn't answered it there is a fair chance they would have just broken my door down. They certainly looked capable of it," Tony added with some of his usual joking personality shining through.

"What'd they want?"

Tony laughed humorlessly. "They said my father sent them to talk," he spat the word out like it was poison, "with me."

"I'm guessing they weren't really there to have a conversation."

Tony laughed again. It was so unnatural even Gibbs felt a little put off by it. "Not unless you consider the obscenities they yelled at me while they repeatedly punched and kicked me until I lost consciousness a conversation."

"Why would you father send men to hurt you?"

"Well, he's never been my biggest fan," Tony replied sarcastically.

"Why wouldn't they just kill you?"

"The woman who lives across the hall heard something and called the police. I think it was a way to prove they'll make good on their threat."

Gibbs shook his head. "That won't happen, Tony."

Tony laughed at that. "It's too late."

This one's a little longer for you guys!

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