AN: Thanks so much for the great response to the last chapter :) This update is a long one and probably not really where you were expecting me to take it. It caught me a little bit by surprise. It also might be a little out of character for these guys. I really try to keep the characters true, but with all I put them through, its not always possible. That being said, hope you enjoy this anyway. Thanks for reading.

xxxxx

Tony slowly got to his feet then watched silently as Gibbs went over to Warren and handcuffed him, "This wasn't my fault," Warren whined. "I was trying to help. I can't go to jail. I didn't do anything."

"Shut. Up."

When Warren saw the expression on Gibbs' face, he did just that. The man looked positively terrifying.

"Boss? I..."

Gibbs' blue eyes were like ice cubes as he turned towards Tony. "Not now."

"Come on, boss...I just want to..."

"Dammit, DiNozzo, I said not now! What the hell is so hard to understand about that?" Gibbs bellowed as Tony blanched and remained silent. Sirens could be heard in the distance. A few minutes later, the area was a beehive of activity as police officers milled about. Tony tried to catch Gibbs' eyes a couple of times, but the man refused to even look at him. Finally, he went over to the theater and leaned back against it. He was trying to think of ways to justify himself to Gibbs, but the fact remained that if Gibbs hadn't arrived when he did, he himself would be lying dead on the ground instead of Lou.

Gibbs glanced at Tony who was slumped dejectedly against the back of the building and shuddered inwardly, once again realizing how close the younger man had come to getting killed. He thanked God that Tony had finally called him, but it had almost been too late. Gibbs had barely gotten there in time, had just managed to get the shot off.

Tony wearily rubbed his eyes. He was pretty well exhausted at this point and didn't really feel up to dealing with Gibbs. He knew it wasn't going to be fun, but he also knew it was his own fault. He sighed heavily, then straightened up as a grim-faced Detective Morris approached him.

"Agent DiNozzo," he greeted him. He had already gotten the gist of what had transpired from Agent Gibbs and wasn't particularly happy with what he had heard.

"Detective Morris." Tony saw the disapproval in the other man's eyes and forced himself to stand up even straighter.

"This situation could have ended very badly for you," Morris stated. "You mind telling me why you didn't let me know when Albright contacted you?"

"I thought I had it handled," Tony replied.

"Well, you didn't, did you?"

"No, I didn't," Tony admitted. "I made an error in judgment."

"That's what you call it? An error in judgment? You're very lucky you're not dead right now."

Tell me something I don't know, Tony thought, but he didn't think it would be very smart to verbalize it.

The detective waited for Tony to say something, but he didn't reply and Morris found himself softening somewhat. The kid had been run through the wringer over the past few days and looked wiped out. He decided to give him a break. "Why don't you go home and get some rest," he suggested. "Stop by the station tomorrow afternoon, after two, and I'll take your statement then."

Tony nodded gratefully. "Thanks." He looked over at Gibbs who was speaking with some of the officers. He had no idea when Gibbs was planning to return home and certainly wasn't about to ask him. For all he knew, the man wasn't even going back to Tony's apartment. He leaned back up against the wall and gingerly rubbed the area on his forehead where Lou had hit him with the gun. A small lump was forming, but he could tell it was no big deal. It was just a little bit sore. He closed his eyes for a few moments, feeling very close to being able to fall asleep standing up. Finally, he forced them open again and when he did so, Gibbs was right in front of him, staring at him with an indescribable look on his face.

"Come on. We're leaving."

Tony didn't question him, but obediently fell into step behind the older man as they walked over to where Gibbs had parked his car. They got into the vehicle and Gibbs silently turned on the ignition then pulled out into the street. Tony tried not to say anything, but after a few minutes of total silence, he couldn't help himself.

"I'm sorry."

"Not good enough, DiNozzo."

"Come on, boss. Its not like you haven't gone off on your own before..."

"I DON'T CARE," Gibbs growled as he glanced at Tony furiously and couldn't resist smacking him on the back of the head, which earned him a look of reproach from his agent. "I gave you an order to wait for me and you didn't do it."

"You can't give me orders. It wasn't even one of our cases," Tony muttered under his breath, clenching his fist in response to Gibbs' smack in order to stop himself from rubbing his head. The head slap had been delivered with a lot more force than usual.

"What was that?"

"I said it wasn't one of our cases," Tony retorted loudly, not backing down.

"I'd just like to know what the hell you were thinking. You're not stupid, DiNozzo. If it was anyone else, would you have advised them to go into that situation without backup? What if it had been McGee?"

"Of course I wouldn't have, but I have a lot more experience than McGee."

"Your so-called experience didn't do you a damn bit of good tonight, did it." Gibbs stated. "If I hadn't gotten there, you'd be dead right now. Is that what you wanted?"

"No...that's not what I wanted."

"Well you could have fooled me. First that stupid stunt you pulled leaving the hospital and now this."

"I called Ducky when I left the hospital," Tony defended.

"Yeah, but you were almost too late that time too."

"Its not like I expected to get shot in a convenience store robbery. That could have happened to anyone."

"Well you still shouldn't have been wandering around the streets alone in the middle of the night."

"I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the time. I told you I was sorry. I don't know what else you want me to say."

Gibbs shook his head. Tony definitely wasn't getting it. He really didn't understand why Gibbs was so upset. "Its late and I'm way too angry to discuss this any more tonight. We will talk about it tomorrow."

"Fine." Tony turned his head to stare out the window. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing else to talk about, but he knew Gibbs was going to get in the last word. The rest of the ride was spent in an uncomfortable silence. Gibbs' emotions were bouncing back and forth between fury and concern while Tony was just plain physically tired and emotionally spent. He hated that Gibbs was so upset with him, but he had no idea what to do about it. Mercifully, the drive finally came to an end as Gibbs pulled Tony's car back into its parking space. The two got out of the car and went into the building then made their way back to Tony's apartment.

Once they were inside the apartment, Gibbs immediately started to head for the bedroom, but halted when he heard Tony's tentative voice. "Hey, boss?"

"Yeah, what is it, DiNozzo?" Gibbs turned around to face Tony, feeling overwhelmingly weary and a good deal older than his years.

"Thank you." Tony said, looking back at him earnestly. "You saved my life. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome." Gibbs put his hand on the doorknob then turned towards Tony once again. "You're okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

Tony shook his head. "No, I'm not hurt."

"Get some sleep then...We'll talk in the morning."

"G'night boss."

"Good night, Tony."

xxxxx

Tony entered his bedroom, toed off his shoes and collapsed onto his bed, not even having the energy to undress or get under the covers. He fell asleep almost immediately. Gibbs, on the other hand, found sleep to be elusive. He kept thinking how tragically the night could have turned out. He didn't know how many more of these close calls he could take. It was almost dawn when Gibbs was struck with an idea of how he could get Tony to realize why he had been so upset with him. Finally, he drifted off to sleep.

Gibbs' slumber was relatively short-lived. He awoke again about three hours later and knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. He slowly sat up and stretched painfully, his muscles rebelling against the unwanted movement. He then left his room to go check on DiNozzo. He softly knocked on the door, but received no answer and quietly opened the bedroom door. Stepping inside the room, Gibbs found Tony curled on his side, sleeping soundly and he knew just how exhausted he must have been to have fallen asleep fully clothed. Tony murmured something unintelligible and shivered slightly in his sleep. "Damn," Gibbs whispered, melting a little inside as he noted just how vulnerable Tony looked at that moment. He'd been going to wake him, but instead he returned to his room to retrieve the comforter from his bed and brought it back to cover the sleeping agent. It was still early and there was no rush for what they were going to do. Tony needed his rest and Gibbs could wait until he woke up on his own.

xxxxx

It was another two and a half hours before Tony finally began to stir. He opened his eyes and slowly sat up. He was relieved that he had slept well, without any nightmares, which was a nice change. He wondered if Gibbs was up yet and when he noticed the comforter over him he guessed that he was. Either that, or the older man had checked up on him in the middle of the night. He was hoping that meant that he was at least a little less pissed off at him than he had been.

He went in to use the bathroom and then took a deep breath before hesitantly making his way out to the living room. Gibbs was sitting on the sofa, reading the morning paper.

"Good morning, boss," Tony said, trying to gauge the older man's mood. At least everything that had happened wouldn't yet be in the paper, not that Gibbs would have forgotten, but Tony didn't think it being thrown in the older man's face first thing in the morning would be very good either.

"Good morning, DiNozzo." Gibbs' tone was even, almost a little bit pleasant, but Tony knew that really didn't mean anything. He had seen Gibbs lull many suspects into a false sense of security, then pounce on them without warning.

"Have you eaten breakfast?" Tony asked.

Gibbs shook his head. "Figured I would wait for you. You doing okay?"

"I'm fine."

"I can fix us something," Gibbs said, getting to his feet. "What would you like?"

"I can make breakfast," Tony stated. Even though he only had the use of one arm, he still was capable of doing things. He didn't want Gibbs waiting on him.

"I don't mind. You might as well take advantage while you can," Gibbs replied. He wanted to make sure the younger man ate well. At least he didn't have to worry about someone trying to kill him anymore, which was a relief. "How about some eggs?"

"Sure...eggs sound good."

"How do you want them?"

Tony shrugged. "Scrambled, I guess." He wasn't quite sure what to make of Gibbs' mood. He wasn't acting at all like Tony had expected. Gibbs started preparing the eggs and Tony took out a loaf of bread to make toast. A short time later, breakfast was ready and the two men sat down at the kitchen table to eat. "Good eggs, boss," Tony stated after he had taken a bite. "You can feel free to take my car today if you have things you need to do." A little bit of space between them might be a good thing and maybe Gibbs would decide to bypass what had occurred the night before.

"I do have somewhere to go, but I want you to come with me."

"Yeah? Where's that, boss, clothes shopping? I could definitely give you some tips on what to buy," Tony offered with a smile.

"We're not going shopping, DiNozzo."

"Oh..." Tony's face fell when Gibbs remained expressionless. Gibbs definitely wasn't ready to let go of the previous night's events yet. "So, where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Tony wanted to ask more questions about their destination, but decided it was better not to. "When do you want to leave?"

"Whenever we're ready. There's no rush."

"I have to go to the police department to give my statement sometime after two. I don't want you to take me or anything. I can grab a cab," Tony explained hastily. "Its just that I need to be back. I didn't know how long what we're doing is going to take."

"We'll be back and I'll drive you to the station."

"Okay...thanks..." He stared back at Gibbs for a long moment then sighed as he got up from the table and brought the breakfast dishes over to the sink. Gibbs didn't offer to do it for him which Tony was grateful for. "I guess I'll go take a shower and get ready then...You can take a look through my closet, take whatever you want."

"Okay, thanks." Gibbs nodded.

Tony wrapped a plastic bag around cast as well as he could then went into the bathroom to take his shower. He managed to keep his cast relatively dry and got dressed with a minimum of difficulty. Once he was ready, he went back out into the living room where Gibbs was perusing his dvd collection.

"How do you find the time to watch all these?" he asked, glancing at Tony as he entered the room.

"Some of them I haven't watched yet," Tony replied with a shrug. "Anyhow, its not like I watch them all the time. Its just my way of unwinding, kind of like when you work on your boats...though, I guess the one you were working on is gone..." He turned away from Gibbs, a downcast look in his eyes.

"I'd barely started on that boat," Gibbs said. He wondered how long Tony was going to beat himself up over the fire. "Its not important."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say, boss." Tony didn't believe Gibbs for a second, but he supposed there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it. He couldn't undo what had been done. He couldn't bring back what Gibbs had lost.

Gibbs sensed that Tony's mood was plummeting and briefly had second thoughts about his idea. He hoped it wouldn't backfire. He wanted things to be better between them, not worse. "I'll go take a quick shower and then we can get going."

"I'll be right here." Tony sat on the couch and tried to turn his thoughts away from the fire and its ongoing after effects. He knew that dwelling on it was only making matters worse. It wasn't easy though. He put a Magnum dvd into the dvd player and started watching one of the episodes, hoping to escape reality for a bit. The episode had barely started though when Gibbs reappeared, showered and dressed.

"You ready to go?" Gibbs asked as Tony nodded reluctantly and got to his feet. A few minutes later, they were on their way.

xxxxx

"You're not dragging me to a shrink, are you, boss?" They had been driving for about 10 minutes and the ride had been silent until that point. "Because contrary to what you might think, I'm not crazy."

Gibbs couldn't help but chuckle softly. "Tempting as that might be, no, I'm not taking you to see a shrink, DiNozzo."

"Is it a very long drive?" Tony asked again after another minute as Gibbs rolled his eyes. DiNozzo could be worse than a little kid sometimes.

"Its only about another five minutes or so," Gibbs replied.

Tony sat back with a small sigh as he wondered where they were heading to. They were well out of the city, traveling through a picturesque area with lots of trees and grass. There was a tall black iron gate up ahead in the distance and Gibbs turned towards it. When Tony saw the name over the gate, Pine Woods Cemetery, he turned to look at Gibbs in dismay. "Wh...what are we doing here, boss?" he asked tremulously.

"I thought this would be a good place to talk." Gibbs' expression was somber as he focused on driving up the familiar pathways. He didn't see the look in Tony's eyes as his agent tried to fight a growing feeling of panic inside of him.

'Oh God, oh God, oh God...' Tony chanted inwardly. What the hell was wrong with him? He was freaking out like some scared little girl. He didn't need Gibbs to see him like this. It was only a cemetery and the dreams he had been having were just that...only dreams... They weren't real. No one was going to come after him. There weren't any ghosts here. He didn't even notice that Gibbs had stopped the car until he spoke.

"DiNozzo? Come on." Gibbs already had his door open and he gave Tony a questioning look. "Come on. Are you getting out?"

Tony wanted to say no. He wanted to beg Gibbs to turn the car around and leave this place, but he couldn't do it. He needed to suck it up and listen to whatever Gibbs had to say. His whole body felt like rubber as he managed to get out of the car and he trailed behind Gibbs. He stared down at the ground, just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. He didn't dare look at Gibbs. He didn't look ahead to see where they were going either. When Gibbs stopped, Tony almost walked right into him. He stopped short and stared transfixed at the large pink marble headstone with the names Shannon and Kelly Gibbs carved into the stone. Two angels were depicted on the stone, one with the face of a child. The carvings were intricate and beautiful, but what they represented was tragic and Tony immediately became overwhelmed with emotion. There were flowers in front of the grave, tiny figurines of cherubs and a rag doll. Tony felt a single teardrop trail down his cheek and he finally forced himself to look at Gibbs. The older man's eyes were brimming with tears.

"I've never brought anyone here before," Gibbs began softly, staring sadly at the final resting place of his beloved wife and daughter. "I mean, I've come here with my dad before...but he was around when it happened. As you well know, I'm a private person...I don't share my feelings easily."

Tony nodded, not yet trusting himself to speak.

"The day I buried them was one of the hardest days of my life," Gibbs continued in a choked whisper. "There were times I didn't know how I could bear getting through one more day, never mind the rest of my life. I don't want to go through that kind of pain again, Tony."

"Of course you don't," Tony replied quietly, not able to imagine just how much pain Gibbs had gone through. "No one would. I don't know how you got through it."

"But yet...you almost caused me to go through it again last night."

"What? I..." Tony trailed off and met Gibbs' eyes, seeing the depth of emotion in them and was rendered speechless.

"Maybe I haven't made it clear how I feel about you, how important you are. You and I have worked together for a lot of years...I was never blessed with any more children, and I probably shouldn't feel this way, but Tony, you are like a son to me." Gibbs closed his eyes for a long moment, then forced himself to go on. "If you had died last night, it would have been like losing another child. Now, I know we have a dangerous job, and any of us could lose our lives at any time..."

"Like Kate..." Tony whispered.

"Yes, like Kate." Gibbs nodded, knowing that the horror they had experienced on the rooftop would be with them for as long as they lived. It wasn't something you could ever forget and in some way, that day had further enhanced the bond Gibbs had with Tony. "But Tony, the risk that you took last night was foolish and unacceptable to me. I refuse to lose you that way. You need to understand that. You need to promise me it won't happen again."

"I didn't want you to get hurt, boss," Tony said, fighting to keep his emotions in check and his voice steady. He walked over to the gravestone and gently placed his hand on top of it. "Because of me, the home you shared with your family is gone forever. I...I couldn't let something else bad happen to you. It would have been my fault...they would never forgive me..."

"What?" Gibbs walked over to Tony and put his hand on his shoulder, watching him intently. "Who would never forgive you?"

"Them...Shannon and Kelly." Tony bowed his head, staring down at the gravesite. "I...I see them in my dreams, boss. They...they blame me for what happened. I couldn't let something happen to you too...I just couldn't..."

"Aw, damn, DiNozzo." Gibbs finally began to understand what Tony had been struggling with as he started to lose the battle to keep himself in control. Without even thinking, Gibbs pulled the younger man into his arms, holding him tightly, as he began to sob. "Its going to be okay," Gibbs promised as he stroked his head soothingly. "I promise you, everything will be okay..."