Disclaimer: I do not make any claims to characters used in this story.

To answer reviews: The preface was short on purpose. It's only use was to drag you in. Looks like it did the job. Hopefully chapters posted will be a preferable length for the lovely reviewers. There will be more dialogue because what's a story without conversation for our favorite NCIS agents? And don't worry, this won't be all about Tony. All other team members and coworkers will be involved at some point. The rate at which I update depends on two factors: the number of reviews and available writing time.

Thanks for reviewing and please enjoy!

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Chapter 1

Gibbs had to try very hard not to smile as the elevator doors 'dinged' and opened, only to release the sound of bickering. His three agents stepped out of the elevator, all talking on an inappropriately loud level and at the same time.

"It was obviously my very special agent skills that-"

"You do not know what you are talking about and-"

"I traced the call to the warehouse and figured out-"

"Hey!" Gibbs shouted as the agents sat at their respective desks, ignoring the curious glances they were getting from every direction. There was immediate silence at the rebuke, and even agents who didn't belong on Major Crimes Response team were muted, all still peeking nervously at the bullpen. "Get to work!" All the heads in the room bent immediately, focusing on a file or a keyboard. The blessed typing noise filled the air, and Gibbs, satisfied with his work, sat back in his wheeled chair and took a sip of coffee.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully, lunch was spent in silence, and everything was generally normal in the bullpen until the early afternoon. A phone call interrupted the near silence.

Tony answered with the usual rehearsed sentence, and paused. The quiet delay of speaking on Tony's part was so long that the rest of the team looked up, wondering what could possibly take so long. What Gibbs saw shocked him.

Tony's face was close to being horrified. His mouth was screwed into an unnatural frown that seemed wrong on his lips, and although he tried to remain stoic, his eyes gave away his feelings.

Gibbs had always been impressed by his own skills of reading Tony. Despite the agent's normally cordial misdemeanor, Gibbs knew that there was so much more than that under the surface of those green eyes. He prided himself with the ability to read whatever emotions DiNozzo hid so well. Recently though, his talent seemed to have been disregarded. Tony's sentiments seemed well covered as usual, but the ones that Gibbs did see were raw and completely different. DiNozzo hadn't acted different, but there was an underlying change; a big one.

Tony seemed to realize he was being observed, because he very suddenly straightened up, cleared his face of any emotion, murmured some words into the telephone and hung up. He continued working on some file in front of him, pretending as though he hadn't just had an utterly distraught look on his face.

Gibbs decided it would be best if he gave Tony a few minutes to gather his thoughts and recover from a possibly traumatic phone conversation. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, DiNozzo stood abruptly, knocking his rolling chair back a few feet. Gibbs only had to give him a questioning look to get a response. All he got though was a quiet 'head' and he could've sworn he heard Tony sigh.

As soon as Tony was out of eyeshot, Gibbs stood and followed, suddenly morbidly curious as to what was going on. Cursing such human tendencies, Gibbs slammed open the door to the men's room, only to stop abruptly at the coughing sound coming from the first and only closed stall. He waited, concern increasing tenfold as he listened to Tony being sick. There was the sound of the toilet flushing, and then nothing. Gibbs waited as long as politely possible, and then decided to make himself known, if the slammed door hadn't announced his entrance already.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs questioned, purposefully keeping the concern out of his gruff voice. The stall door was quietly unlocked and slowly opened.

"Yeah, Boss?" Tony walked out, straightening his suit jacket, looking a lot worse for the wear.

"What's going on? If you didn't feel well, you could've just-"

Tony had built up the nerve after years of working with Gibbs to interrupt him. "I'm fine. Probably just ate something bad." He noticed the nervous swallow, followed by the sigh.

"Talk to me, Tony." The use of his first name caused DiNozzo's head to pop up, questioning his usually stiff boss' tactics of interrogation. "What was the phone call about?" What phone call could be so bad that it would affect Tony like this? This was the kid who had stared down the barrel of several guns of all shapes and sizes, experienced the plague, and been injured so many times on the job that he probably couldn't even remember how many trips to the ER his job had cost him. What could possibly be so dreadful as to influence Gibbs' senior field agent so much?

Tony was silent for few seconds, almost as if he was considering spilling his secrets. But then, reconsidering, he denied anything being wrong. "It's fine, Gibbs. Not a big deal. I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to." Tony sighed once again very uncharacteristically and shouldered past Gibbs to get to the door.

"What don't you want to tell me?" Gibbs spoke to himself as he heard the door close.

_

Gibbs' entrance caused the door to the Director's office slam against the newly painted wall. "Good afternoon, Special Agent Gibbs." Director Leon Vance addressed him without looking up. "What is this 'urgent' matter you want to speak with me about?" Director Vance's eyes were skeptical as he took in Gibbs.

"Do you have my agent on any undercover operations?" Standing alone in the men's room, it had come to Gibbs that he had only seen Tony affected so much by a covert operation, one where he was deep undercover. DiNozzo's earlier words only added on to his suspicions. DiNozzo had to be the best undercover operator Gibbs had ever worked with. It was the recovering part that Tony's skills seemed deficient in.

"Well, considering that fact that you are the team lead to three of my agents, Gibbs, it would be difficult for me to say. Which do you mean?" Vance's skepticism was still very much present on his face, and the sarcasm in his voice was evident.

"DiNozzo." Gibbs crossed his arms and waited patiently, saving his second 'b' for when his suspicions were confirmed.

"Although I can't divulge specific information, I can tell you that Tony isn't only performing your required duties." Vance looked down at some files on his desk, motioning to the door. "I'm very busy, Special Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs was silent for few moments, choosing his next words in his head. "Look, the last Director of NCIS overused her rights to Tony DiNozzo as an undercover agent. I saw his life become hers, and I can't let that happen again. I can't let him be controlled by a vindictive, self-pleasing supervisor again, or have his life threatened because of a mistake on someone else's part. I can't lose more of Tony. Just know that." Gibbs walked out as calmly as he could, and this time he maneuvered the door softly.