Friday, 2040, Bethesda Naval Medical Center

Tony woke up to a headache and a beeping that cut right through his skull. He reached out for whatever was making the noise to get it to stop.

"Anthony, dear boy, don't."

Tony stopped moving at the sound of Ducky's voice. If Ducky was there, that meant he was in a hospital. "What's wrong with me?" he asked.

"You don't remember?" Ducky asked.

Tony blinked and looked up at the ceiling. "Bright."

Abruptly, the lights went dimmer and Tony sighed with relief. "Thanks," he said. He gazed up at the ceiling. "You still haven't ans –" Memory trickled back and he closed his mouth. "Jeanne?" he ventured after a moment.

"She's here," Ducky said. "Do you want to see her?"

"How did I get to the hospital?"

"I believe she called Gibbs, and Gibbs insisted."

Tony closed his eyes. "I said no."

"You have three stitches in the back of your head, Anthony," Ducky said. "And the bruising is something appalling. You realize I'm going to have to tell Gibbs that some of it is over a week old? What have you been doing?"

"It's nothing, Ducky."

"Those bruises aren't nothing." Tony shook his head. "Is this connected to that black eye you had last month?" Tony looked away. "I'll take that for a yes. If you're in some kind of trouble . . ."

"It's personal, Ducky," Tony said.

"Anthony!"

The door opened and Tony squinted against the light, pressing the button on the bed to make sitting up easier. Being prostrate in front of Ducky was one thing, there wasn't much of anyone else he would put up with it for. He was very glad that he had done it when he saw who was coming in. "Director?" he said with a false smile. "I'm sorry anyone felt it necessary to call you out."

"You were attacked in an alley, Agent DiNozzo. Of course I came out."

Tony blinked his eyes. "It's not job-related," he said. "You don't need to be worried about it."

"So, the presence of Jeanne Benoit was a coincidence?" Jenny asked in a deceptively pleasant tone of voice.

Tony shook his head helplessly. "Why was she there?" he asked. He knew he sounded pathetic, but he couldn't help it. He still couldn't figure out how his luck had gotten so incredibly bad. For Jeanne to show up at just that moment . . . things couldn't get much worse.

Jenny stared at him for a moment. "Oh," she said, sounding startled. "Well . . . that's not important right now."

Tony thumped his head back on the pillow and immediately regretted it. "That spot's going to be a bit tender for a while," Ducky said unnecessarily while Tony closed his teeth on a gasp. Ducky rose and looked at the back of Tony's head. "Do be careful, dear boy."

Tony submitted to his ministrations, but he was glaring at Jen with all the energy he had. "You don't think it's important? Then why did you ask?"

Jen shrugged, looking uneasy. "Gibbs will be here shortly. I'll let him ask the rest of the questions." Tony rubbed his forehead. He wasn't sure he was up to facing Gibbs right now. Jenny he could stave off with irritation. That wouldn't work with Gibbs. Jenny stepped closer and put a hand on his arm. "For the time being, I believe the prescription is rest."

Tony very gently pulled his arm away, turned his head towards the windows and closed his eyes. He heard her speak quietly to Ducky, then leave the room. Maybe if he ignored everyone, they'd just leave him alone.

Friday, 2127, Bethesda Naval Medical Center

Gibbs walked into Tony's room and let the door fall shut behind him. The curtain was drawn most of the way around the bed, so he couldn't immediately see his senior agent. Stepping around it, he saw Ducky seated by the bed. DiNozzo lay on his back, eyes closed, snoring lightly.

"He woke for a time and then fell back asleep," Ducky said quietly, and Gibbs nodded. His eyes were focused on the skin bared by the hospital gown. There was a fair amount of it, and it was considerably more of DiNozzo's skin than he'd seen in quite a while. Turtlenecks had been the order of the day for the past week or more, and now Gibbs could see why. There was a fading bite mark on the left side of Tony's neck. The ring where the teeth had contacted the flesh was still measurably darker than the rest of the bruise. How the hell could DiNozzo even think of keeping this from him?

His arms were all over bruises, and their placement bore out Dr. Benoit's description of how Tony had been held. Gibbs wanted to twitch the covers back to look at DiNozzo's legs, but prudence made him resist the urge. DiNozzo might wake up fighting.

"What do the doctors say, Duck?" he asked.

Tony dimly heard Gibbs asking Ducky a question, and he realized that he must have fallen asleep because Gibbs hadn't been in the room the last time he'd been paying attention.

Ducky spoke in a quiet voice, no doubt trying to avoid waking Tony. "He is concussed, but they think he'll be fine in a few days. The CT scan didn't show any abnormalities. He just needs a few days of rest."

"I need to go home," Tony said, opening his eyes and looking up at Gibbs.

His boss raised his eyebrows dubiously. "Have the doctors released you?" he asked.

"I haven't even seen a doctor yet," Tony replied, shrugging. "Except Ducky, of course."

"No, Jethro, they haven't released him," Ducky said, giving Tony a worried look that he tried to ignore. "In part because he was unconscious for so long."

"I'm fine," Tony protested. They both knew how much he hated hospitals, and most of the time, doctors would accept friends and family keeping an eye out during the mandatory twenty-four hours of observation following a head wound. "I just –"

"You're not fine," Ducky snapped, and Tony was startled by Ducky's ire. The elderly medical examiner was usually fairly laidback. "Jethro, he has bruises on his torso and legs that show evidence of a prior attack, at least a week ago, if not more." Tony flushed and looked away. He didn't really like the fact that Ducky had seen his legs and torso. He realized that quite a lot was left uncovered by the hospital gown and considered trying to hide it, but Gibbs had already seen it. He'd look like an idiot if he tried to hide it now.

Gibbs glanced over at Tony. "That true, DiNozzo?" he asked. Ducky glared at him as if daring him to contest the facts. There was no way Tony could call Ducky a liar. He shrugged and Gibbs' lips thinned. "Who is Brody?" his boss asked, and Tony's stomach did an uneasy roll. How much did he already know?

Tony looked up, feigning uncertainty. "I don't know, Boss. Why?"

An aura of pure fury suddenly exuded from Gibbs, and Tony's stomach flipped over. He didn't know if he could take this. Gibbs turned to Ducky. "Would you mind excusing us for a few moments?"

"He has stitches right at the center of the back of his head," Ducky said firmly, and he waited for Gibbs to nod before he left the room, leaving Tony to Gibbs' tender mercies.

Gibbs turned to watch the door shut, then he faced DiNozzo again. He did not expect what he found, which was that DiNozzo was regarding him with half-fearful eyes. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and sat down to lessen the sense that he was looming. "What have I ever done to make you look at me like that?" he asked.

DiNozzo rallied somewhat. "Like what?" he asked, but the façade was shallow. Gibbs could see right through it to the shaken man beneath, and he didn't like what he saw.

Gibbs shook his head and dropped the question because there were more important issues to address. "DiNozzo, I want you to go through the day from the time you left work till you lost consciousness and tell me everything that happened."

Tony's eyes widened, and he shook his head. "Boss –"

Gibbs cut across the protest, not interested in hearing whatever excuse DiNozzo was going to try and float. "And don't leave anything out." He watched DiNozzo's face and saw the thought processes flickering. If he lied, Gibbs might just have to shoot him.

Tony ran the events of the evening through his mind, looking for ways to minimize them, but with a witness, that would be immeasurably harder. How the hell had Jeanne wound up in that alley anyway? Jeanne . . . what would Brody do? She'd brought him down, and that would piss him off like nothing else. On the other hand, he had no way of knowing who she was. Tony hadn't used her name, so he could just warn her – or get someone else to warn her – and she should be all right. Everything was getting more and more complicated, and he knew it was all his fault.

"I can handle it, Boss," Tony said, looking up to meet Gibbs' eyes, hoping the direct look would prove convincing. "It's personal."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows skeptically. "That man put you in the hospital," he said.

"You and Jeanne put me in the hospital. If I'd been alone –"

Gibbs couldn't help it, he raised his voice and cut the younger man off. "You'd have been out cold in an alley for forty-five minutes or more! DiNozzo –" He caught himself up short. DiNozzo had gone stiff, and his eyes were wary. Gibbs consciously relaxed his own tension. He'd never seen his senior agent so off balance. "Tony, what have I done to make you afraid of me?" he asked gently.

"I'm not afraid of you," Tony snapped. "I'm not afraid of anyone."

"Ziva?" Gibbs asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Tony rolled his eyes. "I stand corrected. But anyone sane is afraid of Ziva."

Gibbs snorted at the sally, but he wasn't going to let DiNozzo derail him. "So, you left work at about six, if I recall correctly."

"About then," DiNozzo said. "Boss, look, this is all my fault, and I'm the one who has to fix it. You can't help. No one can help."

Gibbs stared at him for a long moment, more than a little alarmed by his apparent sincerity. He leaned close. "Are you telling me that there's something I can't fix?" DiNozzo looked away, and Gibbs knew he was getting through on some level. "Okay then. What happened after you left work?" DiNozzo didn't speak. "If you don't start talking, I'm going to go find one of your doctors and get him to give you morphine."

Tony's head whipped around so fast that he winced. "You wouldn't."

"Watch me." Gibbs' tone was flat and Tony believed him.

"Gibbs, I don't . . ." Tony shook his head, leaning forward earnestly. "I can't talk about this."

Gibbs stood up and looked over at the whiteboard that identified Tony's current team of physicians. "Then I'll be back in a few moments."

"Gibbs!" Tony called. Gibbs stopped with his back still turned. "Boss, I . . . I screwed up."

Gibbs couldn't remain obdurate against that. He turned around and walked across to the chair. "DiNozzo, you can tell me anything."

"Right," DiNozzo said sourly. "Because you love me unconditionally."

"Hey, DiNozzo, don't you remember?" Gibbs said, and DiNozzo's eyebrow went up sardonically. "You're irreplaceable."

The bitterness in DiNozzo's expression melted into blank astonishment. Then, abruptly, DiNozzo rolled onto his side, curling into a ball. Gibbs was at a loss to understand the reaction until he realized that DiNozzo's shoulders were shaking. Sobs began to be audible, and Gibbs knew he didn't dare speak. DiNozzo clearly didn't want him to witness this moment of weakness. Still, he couldn't just sit there and ignore him. He reached out and squeezed DiNozzo's shoulder, hoping he wasn't hitting a bruise he couldn't see.

DiNozzo froze briefly, but he didn't seem to be able to control his emotions at the moment. He didn't shift away, so Gibbs kept his hand there. He wished he dared do more, but DiNozzo hadn't seen enough of real family life to be able to take comfort when he was really hurting. Gibbs just had to hope that no one would come in while DiNozzo got this out of his system.

The sobs gradually lessened, and Gibbs leaned back. DiNozzo reached out to the bedside table and savagely yanked a handful of tissues out of the box that sat there. The box fell on the floor, and Gibbs pretended not to see. DiNozzo was like a cat. When he was clowning, he wanted appreciation, but when he flubbed, he'd prefer if no one noticed. Besides, now wasn't the time to rib him.

"Where were we?" DiNozzo asked, turning to face forward again. His eyes were red-rimmed, his nose cherry and his expression dared Gibbs to comment.

"You were telling me what you did after work tonight."

"Me? I never do anything." Gibbs tapped him on the knee and DiNozzo grimaced. "I went home. I contemplated staying there, but I get really bored with not going out."

"I thought you went out most nights," Gibbs said.

DiNozzo shrugged, looking away. "Not lately," he said. "I . . . I think he follows me when he can."

Gibbs kept his voice calm and reasonable, controlling the anger he felt at that admission. "Who is he?" he asked.

"His name doesn't matter," Tony said. "There's nothing you can do."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because you can't prove it's not consensual," Tony replied.

"No one volunteers to get their head smacked into a wall hard enough to break the skin."

"He can claim that was an accident, Boss. I'm sure he didn't mean it to happen." Gibbs felt his jaw drop, and he couldn't immediately find any words. "What, Boss?"

"Do you know what you sound like, DiNozzo?"

DiNozzo shrugged. "An idiot?"

"That's a good start," Gibbs replied, and DiNozzo raised startled eyes to his. "DiNozzo, are you actually making excuses for this bastard?"

A guarded look came into DiNozzo's eyes. "What do you mean?"

Gibbs ground his teeth. He didn't want to say it outright, he wanted DiNozzo to figure it out. "The point is, there was a witness to this incident who will testify to what she –"

"Leaving aside the fact that I'd rather avoid the publicity a trial would bring," DiNozzo said, "I very much doubt her credibility will stand up to the test."

"What do you mean, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, knitting his brows.

"The last time she accused a cop of something, she admitted that she'd lied at a fairly late stage in the proceedings," DiNozzo said, and Gibbs scowled. He didn't like it, but that was a very telling point. "Add to that the fact that I'm the one she falsely accused, and you get the possibility that she might now be acting out of guilt." He shook his head. "I wouldn't offer that to a prosecutor. Would you?"

"So he is a cop?" Gibbs asked.

Tony let out an explosive sigh. Words startled rattling out of him. "Yes, he's a cop. His name is Brody Harris, DC Metro. I had a sexual relationship with him that included rough sex. When I ended it, he –" DiNozzo cut off, squeezing his eyes shut. "He wasn't ready."

"How long ago did you end it?"

"About six weeks."

"The punch?" Gibbs asked, and DiNozzo nodded. "How many times has he assaulted you?"

DiNozzo turned his head and looked out the window. "Assault is a pretty big word," he muttered.

"What happened tonight could be construed as assault and battery, sexual assault and unlawful imprisonment."

DiNozzo's head whipped around again. "Sexual assault!" he exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"

Gibbs blinked at him. "What do you call it when one person forces a sexual act on another?"

Tony closed his eyes and shook his head. He didn't want to hear this. "It wasn't sexual assault," he said through clenched teeth.

"Then he didn't kiss you?" Gibbs asked, his voice gentle.

Tony pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes, which had begun to prickle again. He was damned well not going to cry. "Yes, he kissed me," Tony replied. How much had Jeanne seen? What did she think? Why did he care?

"Did you want him to?" Tony didn't respond, but Gibbs didn't seem to want to let it go. His voice was still soft, but he repeated the question implacably. "Did you want him to kiss you?"

Tony's hands fisted and he slammed them down on the mattress on either side of him. "No, damn it, I didn't! But –"

"Did you tell him to stop?" Tony crossed his arms tightly and looked up at the ceiling. "Did you tell him to –"

"Yes, I did," Tony replied, his voice a little wobbly. "And no, he didn't. Not this time or the last time." A sly little voice in his head reminded Tony of all the other times he'd said no and been ignored, but he resolutely shoved it away.

"When was the last time?" Gibbs asked.

"That day you sent me home because you thought I was getting sick," Tony said unwillingly. "Or rather the night before."

Gibbs stared at him. "Son of a . . ." He glowered at his agent. "I asked you if there was something wrong."

"And I said I ached all over," Tony replied, meeting Gibbs' eyes. "It was the truth."

"But not all of the truth. Was there a sexual component to that assault?" Tony shrugged. "DiNozzo, the whole truth."

"I guess," Tony said. "He kissed me that time, too, and he groped my . . ." He felt his face heat. "He groped my ass." Tony noticed again that his hands were shaking and fisted them. Gibbs drew closer, and Tony knew what was coming. "It's my fault, Gibbs," he snarled before his boss could try any of the techniques they'd both been trained in to handle rape victims. "I somehow led him to think I wanted to be forced, I think, and now he doesn't understand that I really mean it."

"What have you done to tell him to go away?"

Tony shrugged. "I've told him repeatedly that I don't want anything more to do with him. I mailed the stuff he kept leaving at my place back to him."

"Anything else?"

Tony gulped. Gibbs wasn't going to like this. "I had my locks changed." Gibbs brows went up. "He had a copy of the key, and there wasn't much point in asking for the key back. Even if he gave it back, he could have made a thousand copies in the time he's had it."

"So, you've told him more than once, you've given him his stuff back and you've changed your locks. I'd say that's more than sufficient to cover 'go away,'" Gibbs said. "This isn't your fault, Tony."

Tony shook his head. "I can't . . . I just can't do this right now." He looked into Gibbs' eyes. "I just want to go home."

"Not unless the doctors release you, and if they do, I'm taking you to my place."

Tony nodded. "Okay, anywhere that doesn't beep is fine," he said. "Can I . . . I need a few minutes." Gibbs nodded and turned towards the door. "Boss?"

"Yeah DiNozzo?"

"Would you warn Jeanne that she might be in danger?"

Gibbs looked at him for a long moment. "I'll let her know."

"He shouldn't have any idea who she is, but he is a cop, and I've caused her enough grief already."

"I've got it, DiNozzo. You just rest."

Gibbs walked out of the room and just stood still for a few moments. He'd missed it. All the signs. How could he have missed that much? McGee and Ziva appeared around the corner coming towards him. Gibbs beckoned. "How is he?" McGee asked.

"He's conscious, but he wants some alone time."

"Tony wants to be alone?" Ziva asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Gibbs said dryly. "Okay, I want you to go to DiNozzo's apartment. You'll have to pick the lock, Ziva. I want you to look and see if there's any sign that he's being stalked."

Ziva nodded, eyes narrowing, and Gibbs found himself wondering if she'd made any efforts of her own to get DiNozzo to unbutton. McGee's eyes widened. "He's being stalked?"

"No, McGee, he's being hugged to death!" Gibbs snapped. "What do you think?"

"I . . I . . . I don't know," McGee said, looking lost. "All I know is he was attacked and . . and . . and injured."

McGee hadn't stammered that badly in ages. In reflecting on what he'd said to the young man, Gibbs realized that he hadn't actually told him anything about what had happened or what he'd surmised. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Tim, I'm not being fair."

McGee's jaw dropped. Ziva had already turned away. Now she turned back with her eyes wide. "You said he was all right!" she exclaimed.

"He is," Gibbs said, puzzled.

"You apologized," Ziva said, sounding astounded.

"I was unfair," Gibbs repeated. "You need to know what's going on if you're going to investigate intelligently. DiNozzo has a stalker."

"You mean aside from Dr. Benoit?" Ziva asked icily.

Gibbs disregarded the question. "His name is Brody Harris, he's a cop, and, yes, his interest is sexual. Now go."

McGee nodded, still looking alarmed, and Ziva dragged him away.

Gibbs walked down to the nurses' station. "Where can I find Agent DiNozzo's attending physician?" he asked.

A short Asian woman turned around. "I'm Dr. Tsu," she said. "You are?"

"I'm DiNozzo's boss, Agent Gibbs," he said. "Is there any chance he's going to be released tonight?"

"None whatsoever," she said. She looked at him soberly. "Agent Gibbs, your man suffered a serious head trauma. I want to be sure there's nothing hiding from our scans."

Gibbs smiled and shook his head. "Don't want him released, just didn't want to leave if it was going to happen."

She broke into a smile. "Oh, I see. No, not today and maybe not tomorrow."

"Thanks," Gibbs said. When he reached DiNozzo's room again, a nurse was just coming out. He stepped in. "DiNozzo?"

Tony looked away from the TV screen. "Yeah, Boss?" He seemed almost normal, but he'd always had amazing masks.

"I'll be back later. You want Ducky to sit in with you?"

"No one needs to stay, Boss," DiNozzo said. Gibbs raised his eyebrows, and DiNozzo sighed. "If someone is going to sit with me, I'd rather it was Ducky than anyone else."

"Okay." Gibbs walked over and chucked Tony under the chin. "It's going to be okay, DiNozzo."

The gesture was rewarded with a faint grin and a shushing finger to the lips. "This is the best part."

"DiNozzo, that's The Ten Commandments," Gibbs said, looking at the TV.

"Yeah, and this is the best part."

Gibbs shook his head and left the room, this time walking towards the waiting room where he knew Jenny, Ducky and Dr. Benoit were sitting. The moment he appeared, Dr. Benoit stood up. "Can I see him yet?"

"Not yet," Gibbs said. "Ducky, I'd like you to sit with him."

"Does he want me?" Ducky asked.

"I don't really want him alone," Gibbs said with a shrug. "And he said he'd rather you than anyone else, so you're elected."

"Oh, of course," Ducky replied, and he hurried along the hall.

"Why can't I see him?" Dr. Benoit asked plaintively.

"Has it occurred to you that you're probably the last person he wants to see right now?" Jenny said, and the tension in the room increased exponentially.

"Has it occurred to you that he might not want people from work?" Dr. Benoit demanded. "He certainly ousted you quickly enough."

"Enough!" Gibbs snapped, and both women jumped. "DiNozzo is tired, he's upset, and he wants to be alone. I'm not comfortable with that, so we compromised on Ducky. That's all there is to it. Neither of you is welcome in his room right now, and in case there is any confusion as to whether I'm acting as his boss in this or as something else, I am his medical proxy."

Jenny stared at him with wide eyes, and he wondered if she realized that he wasn't really talking to her agent to director. He was talking to her as the one person he was certain had Tony's best interests at heart.

"Now," Gibbs said into the silence that followed his declaration. "Dr. Benoit, you're coming with me."

"Coming where?"

"NCIS headquarters. We need to talk."

"But I want to be here in case –"

"He's not going to want to see you tonight," Gibbs said as gently as he could. "And I need to talk to you."

"I've already told you everything I know."

Jenny opened her mouth, but Gibbs gave her a glare that shut her up. "This is to help protect Tony," he said to Dr. Benoit. "I'll be coming back here later, so I can bring you back." Dr. Benoit pursed her lips, then nodded. Gibbs turned to Jenny. "Director, are you staying here?"

Her eyes smoldered but she just nodded. "For now."

Gibbs gave her a short nod, then started towards the elevator. After a moment, he heard feet moving behind him. Dr. Benoit had caught up with him by the time he pressed the call button. The doors opened and there were already people aboard. They entered but didn't speak, though he could feel the pressure of all the questions that she wanted to ask. In continued silence, they walked out to his truck, and he drove to the gate. The sergeant waved him through, but he pulled over and stopped instead, then rolled down his window.

The sergeant walked up, waving the next car on through. "Yes sir?"

Producing his badge, Gibbs said, "I'm Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS, and I've got a name to add to the do not admit list."

The sergeant pulled out a pad of paper and pen from a pocket. "Yes sir?"

"Brody Harris. He may present police credentials. He is not to be admitted, and if he makes the attempt, I want you to alert me immediately." Gibbs gave him his cell number and drove off the base.

A few moments later, Dr. Benoit cleared her throat. She didn't immediately speak, so Gibbs paid her no attention. He didn't know what to think of her sudden appearance at this moment, but he doubted very much that she had anything to do with Brody Harris.

"How is he, really?" Dr. Benoit asked, and Gibbs shrugged.

"He'll recover," he said.

"Yes, I know that." Dr. Benoit shook her head. "I meant, how is he coping?"

"I'm not sure that's any of your business," Gibbs said. He sensed her smothered resentment, but he didn't feel any need to address it. "When did you last eat?"

"What?"

"It's coming up on midnight, and I happen to know that all of your belongings apart from your ID are in our forensics lab. When did you last eat?"

"I had dinner," she said. "Before I went to the bar."

He nodded and drove the rest of the way to the Navy Yard. She didn't say anything else, which suited him. He wanted to talk to her, but when he could give her all his attention. He escorted her to an interrogation room and told her to wait.

"Wait?" she exclaimed, standing up again. "I should be –"

"Dr. Benoit, I have other aspects of this investigation to look into. You are not my only concern." She flushed and looked away. He left her then and, taking a detour to the drink machine, went to Abby's lab. There he found Abby working at an intense pace. She barely looked up when he came in. He walked over to stand beside her. "Abby?" She didn't respond. He rattled the drink.

"Not now, Gibbs," she said, not even looking up. "I've got to get all of this processed if I'm going to go see Tony tonight."

Gibbs sighed. "DiNozzo's tired, and he doesn't much want company right now," he said.

That stopped Abby in her tracks. She turned to look up at him with wide eyes. "He doesn't?" she asked. "Not even me?"

Gibbs shrugged. "Truthfully, I didn't ask him about you because I knew you were unavailable." He offered the Caf-Pow! and she took it this time.

"How badly hurt is he?" she asked, fidgeting with the straw in the cup.

"He's got stitches in his scalp," Gibbs said. "And he's a bit banged up, but he's going to be fine." He elected not to mention the other details for now. "You get anything from the fingerprints we found on the dumpster?"

"A couple of skid row types," she said, flashing pictures on the screen. "And one Dr. Jeanne Benoit, but Timmy told me to expect her." A photo of the woman popped up on the screen, and Abby turned to him. "Gibbs, why is she here?"

"I'm going to ask her that in a few minutes," he replied, and Abby nodded, apparently satisfied. "Anything on the other samples?"

She shrugged. "Looked like a lot of guck," she said. "But I'm testing it all. The blood is consistent with Tony's blood type, but DNA will take a while."

"Right. Well, I'm pretty sure it's his." Abby looked unhappy at that assurance, and Gibbs squeezed her shoulders in mute comfort. She smiled weakly up at him, and he returned to business. "No one else popped up from the finger –"

There was a chime, and they both looked up to see a photograph of a good looking man with very dark hair and gray eyes. "Brody Harris," Abby read from her screen. "DC Metro detective. So, probably not him."

"Nope, that's our guy," Gibbs said, walking forward to look at the photo more closely.

"But he's a cop," Abby said in a startled voice.

"And he's stalking DiNozzo," Gibbs replied.

"That's odd," Abby remarked, and it didn't sound like she was responding to his words. Gibbs turned, eyebrows raised. Abby looked up, her brows knit. "Looks like this record is flagged. My computer just sent a message that I didn't tell it to send." She was clicking away at the keyboard. "Interesting. It's gone somewhere in the federal network, but I'm having trouble telling just . . . where . . ." She trailed off, focused on her machine.

"Call me when you know," Gibbs said. He returned to interrogation where he'd left Dr. Benoit and slipped into the observation room first to see what she was doing. She appeared to be napping on her folded arms on the table, but then doctors, like marines, learned to sleep when they could. He nodded to the technician and went on into the interrogation room.

When the door opened, her head came up sharply. She blinked at him rapidly, then took a deep breath. "Agent Gibbs. That didn't take long."

"No," he said, walking over to take his seat on the opposite side of the table. "Dr. Benoit, why are you here?"

She pursed her lips. "I don't know how much the director told you of our conversation."

"Practically nothing. If you didn't tell me yourself, assume I don't know it."

She nodded. "Okay then," she said. "About a month ago, I realized a few things about Tony that I should have realized before."

"Like what?" Gibbs asked.

Her lips twisted in a rueful grimace. "Like the fact that I might not have known his real name, but that I probably did know him, or at least part of him. No one could keep that good of an act up over a period of months without most of it being pretty close to truth."

Gibbs shrugged, not committing himself. "And?"

"And that the parts of him I saw in that last twenty-four hours that weren't Tony DiNardo didn't seem that out of sync with the man I knew."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm sure you know about that last night we spent together. He would –"

"He never told me anything about your romantic relationship," Gibbs interjected before she could say anything truly embarrassing. "What's the –" He broke off, because her expression was very startled.

"He didn't tell you?" she asked. "We were attacked that night, in the morgue of the hospital. He never said anything?"

Gibbs stared at her for a long moment. "No, I don't know anything about that. Please tell me."

"Well, that was the first sign that something was off about his being a film professor," she said. "A boy died that evening in the hospital, he'd been smuggling heroin in his intestines, and there was a rupture." Gibbs grimaced. That sort of thing always disturbed him. "His runner or whatever you call them showed up with the boy's sister. She was clearly strung out, and the guy was really pushy about getting the body back. We didn't have any proof that the boy was a mule at that point, but all the signs were there. Regardless, I wasn't releasing the body under those circumstances."

"Understandable."

"When one of the LVNs told me that he'd seen them down at the basement level, I realized where they were going. I called security and went down there. Tony was with me, he'd actually ridden in the elevator with them on the way up, so he knew who they were. That was the first thing I noticed, though it wasn't big. He said something about the guy that sounded like what a cop might say."

"He was in a cop before he came to us," Gibbs remarked.

She nodded. "I've Googled him. There's a lot of very interesting stuff about him out there."

Gibbs snorted. "I'd imagine. Please, go on."

"Right. Well, I followed them and Tony came with me, trying to persuade me not to go. When we got to the morgue, he put me behind him – ordered me in a tone he'd never used before – then he peered into the room, reaching for a weapon that he clearly expected to find around here." She gestured at her hip. "I'd seen that before, on movies and occasionally from my father's bodyguards, but it was so automatic – it didn't fit."

Gibbs grimaced. "No, I can see that."

"But things got so crazy after that. The guy came out with a gun and pulled us into the morgue. He ordered me to call security off, and when I refused, he cracked Tony over the head with the butt of the pistol." Gibbs was going to have a chat with DiNozzo about this. How could he not have mentioned any of it? "It didn't knock him out, but it sent him sprawling. Anyway, Tony was all about trying to negotiate, he kept telling me to do what the guy wanted. I didn't listen real well." She shook her head. "I got the intestines out of the body, then I ripped them open, scattering the heroin everywhere. The guy freaked out, but I stabbed him with the scalpel. The gun went flying and Tony . . ." She let out a sort of helpless laugh. "He was amazing. He slid across the floor, got the gun and shot into the ceiling right past the guy's head. He laughed off the move by claiming he'd missed, but I don't think he did."

Gibbs shook his head. "Probably not."

"And then we went out and met my father, and Tony's car blew up, and things fell apart from there. It was a hell of a day."

"That sounds like it." It also sounded like a day that he should have heard more about from DiNozzo. He shook his head. That was off point. "So, you realized things about him that you should have realized before. Go on."

"Well, I . . ." She shook her head. "Someone called me to tell me that my father's body had been found, and he told me that they were certain that Tony had done it but they didn't have enough evidence to pin it on him."

"Who was that?"

"The name he gave was Norman Meyer, FBI. When I asked to speak with him later, I was told there wasn't any such agent."

Gibbs nodded slowly. "And so you decided to . . ."

"I believed him, this Agent Meyer. I think I wanted to. Anyway, I didn't want Tony to get away with it, so I . . . made up a story. I'm not proud of it."

"Good."

She flushed. "I came back to apologize to Tony, to make peace, but I didn't think my best bet was to call him or e-mail him. It's too easy to duck that. I mean, Tony's really good at ducking things." Gibbs snorted. "I wanted to . . . sort of run into him, so I found out some bars he likes to go to and I went there."

"Frequently, from what the bartender told McGee."

"Every night for a week," she said, nodding. "I was nerving myself up to accidentally bump into him at the bar when he slipped out the back door, and I followed him."

"How did he seem, sitting at the bar?"

Her brows knit, and he was glad to see that she was giving the question some thought. "Quiet. Almost withdrawn." She shook her head. "I wasn't sure if that was his usual behavior among strangers, so I didn't really think about it."

Gibbs nodded. "Did you see his attacker's face?"

"Yes. It was a little in shadow, but I saw him pretty clearly. I would recognize him again."

"How did Tony seem when you first saw him?" She blinked at him, not speaking for several moments. "Is that a problem?"

She sighed. "He was frightened. I could tell that he was fighting as hard as he could, and Brody wasn't moved." Gibbs really didn't like the image of DiNozzo scared. "He towered over Tony –"

"Towered?" Gibbs repeated. Tony was not a short man.

"About three inches taller, maybe more." She paused. "At first he was just trying to get me to go away, convince me that there was nothing wrong or that I couldn't fix it by telling me he was a cop. It was when he realized that I knew Tony that he got angry."

Jealousy. Gibbs sighed. Jealousy could make people really stupid. "Would you please tell me about your relationship with DiNozzo, while it was still good?"

"How is that relevant?"

Gibbs shrugged. "It might help me to understand some of DiNozzo's thinking right now, and that could be very important."

"I don't understand."

"Do you have to?"

She gazed at him for a long moment, clearly considering the question. Finally she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay."