AN: Thanks so much for your comments and support of this story. I thought that this would be the last chapter, but there will be one more. Just a warning, this one is a cliffhanger. ;)

xxxxx

When Gibbs and the rest of the team arrived back in the bullpen area, Tony was already sitting at his desk, diligently working on his computer.

"Come on DiNozzo. Time to call it a night," Gibbs said. Tony looked completely wiped out. There was no way he was going to let him work himself further into the ground.

"What? No way, boss. We really need to get this guy. I'm staying here."

Ziva and McGee glanced at Tony then at Gibbs. It wasn't like Tony to contradict Gibbs, especially when it came to being told to leave work.

"Its late. I'm tired. We're going back to my place now," Gibbs ordered. He knew if he called DiNozzo on looking utterly exhausted, it was only going to result in an argument, which he was in no mood for. It was much easier to just say that he, himself, was tired.

Tony glanced at Gibbs suspiciously, not quite sure he believed his claim of being tired, but not about to dispute it either. "Fine," he said as he proceeded to log off his computer.

Ziva and McGee each had faint smiles on their faces, fully aware of what Gibbs had done. "I'll see you tomorrow," McGee said.

"Have a good night," Ziva stated. "I hope you feel better, Tony."

Tony was going to say that he was fine, but Ziva was only being nice and he didn't want to be rude. "Thanks," he said quietly.

Ziva and McGee left quickly after promising to be in very early the next morning and Gibbs and DiNozzo followed along shortly after. Tony was quiet on the way to Gibbs' house, seemingly preoccupied. "You want to talk about it?" Gibbs asked, unable to hide the concern in his eyes as he glanced over at Tony.

"No...nothing to talk about," Tony replied, unconvincingly.

The two men were silent for the remainder of the drive home. Gibbs was focused on the road while Tony stared unseeingly at the passing scenery. Finally, they arrived back at Gibbs' house. After making sure the home was secure, they settled themselves in the living room. Tony leaned his head back against the top of the couch and closed his eyes, trying to will the pounding in his head to go away.

"When's the last time you took something for your headache?" Gibbs asked.

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe around 1 o'clock."

Gibbs sighed to himself. It was obvious Tony wasn't feeling well, but he was too stubborn to admit it. He was well overdue for taking some pain medication. Letting the pain get ahead of him like this wasn't helping matters any, but he knew Tony would balk at a lecture. Gibbs went into the kitchen and returned a couple of minutes later with a glass of water and some over-the-counter pain meds, which he handed to his agent. "Here, Tony. Take these."

Tony opened his eyes and took the offered pills without complaint. "Thanks, boss."

"So. What should we have for dinner?" Gibbs asked. "Should we order out?" He knew he didn't feel like cooking.

" Doesn't matter to me. Whatever you want to do is fine with me," Tony replied with a shrug. He wasn't really particularly hungry, but figured saying that would just open up another can of worms so he decided to just keep his mouth shut.

"Pizza?" Gibbs asked, knowing it was Tony's favorite.

"Yeah, sure. Pizza's fine."

Gibbs looked back at Tony skeptically. He seemed less than enthusiastic. "Is there something else you'd rather get? Anything is fine with me."

"Actually, I'm really not all that hungry, boss," he finally admitted reluctantly.

"You need to eat though." Gibbs was pretty sure that Tony hadn't eaten anything since that morning. Since he had eaten a big breakfast, he hadn't nagged him, but now he really needed to put something in his stomach. "Not eating isn't going to help your headache any."

"Just get whatever you want, boss, and I'll eat it," Tony said wearily.

Gibbs inwardly debated on what nutritious choices were available to them, but ended up going back to the pizza, thinking it might tempt Tony even though he said he wasn't hungry. "So...you want to talk about what's bugging you?" Gibbs asked, after he had made the call to the pizza place.

"Who said something was bugging me?"

Gibbs didn't say anything but continued to watch Tony who finally caved under his gaze. "It's no big deal," he began. "I was just wondering how Bittner chose his victims. There doesn't seem to be any kind of pattern, at least not that I can see. O'Hearn was a veteran agent...up for retirement soon. Married, no children. Martin...he was a couple of years younger than me. Married with three kids..." That was the one he was really having trouble with. "I...I can't imagine what he was going through at the end, boss...waiting for the bomb to go off...knowing he'd never see his family again...knowing he wasn't going to see his children grow up...it must have been unbearable..."

"That kind of thing is traumatic for anyone to go through," Gibbs commented. 'Even you,' he added silently.

Tony continued on as if Gibbs hadn't spoken. "The kids were so brave at the funeral." Three somber-eyed children gathered around their mother, two boys and a girl. He hadn't known Martin particularly well, but knew enough to know he was a good dad, had seen the look of pride in his eyes when he talked about his kids. "They didn't deserve that..."

"No one deserved what happened, Tony." Gibbs gently squeezed the shoulder of his troubled agent. "You didn't deserve it either..."

"I deserved it more than Martin did."

Gibbs shook his head. "If we hadn't found you in time, there would be three dead agents now instead of two. Besides...whether or not you have children isn't a measure of whether or not you deserve to die."

Tony shrugged, unconvinced and Gibbs sighed as he wondered how Tony, who usually exuded such confidence, could have such a low sense of self worth.

The conversation pretty much came to a standstill, at that point, and Gibbs was relieved when the doorbell rang and he went to get the pizza. When he returned, just a few minutes later, Tony was fast asleep. He inwardly debated waking his senior agent for only a moment before deciding it would be much better to just let the exhausted man rest. It wasn't the most comfortable of positions for him to be in, but Gibbs figured if Tony woke up later, he would be able to get himself more comfortable or head upstairs to bed if he chose to. Gibbs put the pizza in the refrigerator and then went and got a blanket which he gently covered Tony with. Leaving a pillow by his side, Gibbs gave his agent one more look then headed upstairs to get some sleep.

xxxxx

The sound of a door banging closed jarred Tony from his sleep. He blearily gazed around and found that he was alone in Gibbs' living room. He realized he must have fallen asleep on Gibbs. He didn't really remember. His headache had diminished significantly and he actually felt a little bit hungry. Knowing that Gibbs would have saved him some pizza, he got up to head into the kitchen and then he suddenly smelled smoke.

Instantly wide awake, Tony ran to the staircase and realized the fire was upstairs. "Boss! Gibbs!" he screamed as he ran up the staircase and headed towards Gibbs' bedroom. He wasn't exactly sure where the fire was coming from but the air was laden with thick smoke. He opened the door to Gibbs' room and almost panicked when he saw the flames shooting up at him, seemingly everywhere. "Boss! Boss, can you hear me?" he reached Gibbs' side and frantically shook his shoulder but got no response. Realizing he had no time to spare, he lifted the unconscious man into a fireman's carry and headed back downstairs. The front door was totally engulfed in flames, so Tony headed towards the back of the house, hoping they would be able to escape that way. A few moments later, they were outside in the back yard. Coughing harshly, Tony lowered Gibbs to the ground and knelt down beside him. Relieved to find that Gibbs was breathing on his own, Tony took a few large gulps of air and concentrated on getting his breathing back under control.

"Very nicely done, Agent DiNozzo. You're a credit to your agency."

Tony felt a shiver run down his spine when he heard the familiar voice. "You did this?" he asked, turning his head to face Bittner, who was standing a couple of feet away pointing a gun at him. "Why?"

Bittner shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time. Agent Gibbs here heard me so I had to conk him on the head. You did well to get him out of the house. I wasn't sure either of you would get out of there." He looked at the flames shooting from Gibbs' house, his eyes filled with pride and admiration. "Just look at all the bright colors...Its beautiful, don't you think?"

Tony had an expression of dismay on his face as his gaze followed Bittner's. The fire was spreading rapidly. Gibbs' family home, the house he had shared with Shannon and Kelly, was rapidly being destroyed by the angry flames. He felt sick at the thought of it. "No. Its not beautiful. Its vicious and ugly."

Bittner began to sing softly to the tune of 'London Bridge.'

"Jethro's house is burning down.
Burning down.
Burning down.
Jethro's house is burning down.
Poor, poor Jethro."

"You're a real sick bastard," Tony spat out. "What did he do to you? What did any of us do to you?"

"The same thing I did to that dead petty officer I supposedly killed...Absolutely nothing. But I went to prison for it anyway. Your agency is to blame for that and now some of you must pay the price."

Tony glanced at Gibbs who hadn't moved a muscle and then he faced Bittner again. The wheels were furiously spinning in his head, but so far he had no idea how to get out of this mess. He could hear the sounds of approaching sirens and could only hope that police were accompanying the fire department and could be of assistance. Bittner also heard the sirens and his eyes darkened considerably. "We're getting out of here. Now." He pulled a set of handcuffs out of his pocket . "Put your hands up and get over here. This time, I'm not going to be leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for you to be found. This time, you will be blown to bits."

Tony's heartbeat sped up considerably, but he remained still, making no movement towards Bittner. He knew that once he was handcuffed, he and Gibbs were both as good as dead.

Tony's refusal to heed Bittner's demand infuriated him and he pointed the gun at Gibbs' head. "I will kill him."

"Don't...I'll do what you want." Tony slowly approached Bittner with his hands up over his head.

"Now, turn around with your hands behind your back."

Tony knew it wouldn't be easy for Bittner to hold the gun and cuff him at the same time and also knew he was only going to have one chance to get out of this mess. In any case, he would rather die from a gunshot than to have to endure another agonizing wait for another bomb to blow up. He slowly began to turn, then with a swift motion lunged himself at Bittner and grasped for his weapon. Bittner was strong though and the two men began grappling fiercely for the gun. Tony kicked at Bittner as hard as he could, trying to wrench the gun from the other man's grasp as they rolled around on the ground. Bittner, a heavy man who outweighed Tony by at least 50 pounds, managed to get on top of Tony and started to gain an advantage as he repeatedly thrust his knee into Tony's abdomen. Tony desperately threw an elbow at Bittner's head and the man lost his grip on the gun. Tony kicked it out of Bittner's reach and tried to get it himself, but Bittner pulled him into a chokehold. His breathing effectively cut off, Tony frantically tried to escape the hold, but was weakening rapidly and his vision was beginning to blur. No longer able to breathe, Tony finally blacked out, his last conscious thought being that he had failed Gibbs miserably.