Hi folks!

Well here's the second chapter, hope y'all like it.

I've decided to have a little fun with this story and I'm going to let you, my readers, name some characters - the horses. So if you want a chance at naming Tony or Gibbs' (or McGee or Ziva's) horses, then go check out my blog. The link is on my profile page or you can just go to MokisFanfictionBlog(dot)com for more info.

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Chapter Two

"Looks like we're going on a trip."

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There it was; the thing he'd dreaded most since the moment he'd slid under the covers what seemed like just a few moments ago. He'd hoped that it would stay away, that he wouldn't hear it for a good long while, but deep down knew that wasn't possible. It was his phone, ringing right near his head, right where he'd plugged it into the charger. Despite the fact that he could see it was still dark outside, he knew that any more sleep now was completely out of the question. Reaching for the blaring device, he answered it with his name just as he always did.

"Yeah, Gibbs…"

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"Tony, wake up."

For a second, Tony didn't know where the voice was coming from and he sat up in bed, blinking at the sunlight streaming through the cracks in his curtains. He heard the voice again, this time farther away and realized that his phone was in his hand. The thing must have been ringing and he'd managed to answer it while basically still asleep, something that happened every once in a while when he was really, really tired. Occasionally he'd find out about entire conversations he'd apparently had, all while asleep. Luckily that had never happened on the job. He doubted Gibbs would find any humor in finding out that Tony didn't remember speaking to him about a case, even if the talks happened in the middle of the night.

"Yeah, I'm up. What's going on?" Tony said sleepily, putting the phone to his ear this time.

"You are late. You need to get in here now." Tony now recognized the fierce whisper on the other end as Ziva.

Tony looked at his clock and was shocked to discover that it was a quarter past 7:00am. It had to be Monday morning because they weren't due in the office until Monday morning, but that was impossible. Tony felt like he'd only been asleep for a few hours, how could more than two days have passed?

"Tony? Are you listening to me? You are lucky that Gibbs is not here yet but we will not be able to make excuses for you for long. Get in here now!"

"Okay, okay…jeesh you don't have to yell, Zee-vah. I'll be there in a jiffy."

He hung up before she could ask what his getting there quickly had to do with peanut butter* and got out of bed. Walking to the bathroom, he was halfway there before he realized what felt so different. Stopping to take a deep breath, Tony sighed in relief to find that his nose was only slightly stuffy and the tickle behind his eyes had disappeared. He still coughed a little but it was nothing compared to before.

It appeared that TFTWNQ was no match for 48 hours (and then some) of sleep. As Tony got into the shower he struggled to remember anything over the weekend and didn't come up with much. Getting up for bathroom visits, a couple trips to the kitchen for more water and juice, an occasional meal of toast or soup – that was it. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept so long but apparently his body had needed it.

Stepping out of the shower, Tony momentarily lost his balance and had to grab the towel rack. Shaking his head against the dizziness that he wrote off to too much sleep and not enough food, he quickly dried off and got dressed.

Making it to the Navy Yard in a time that Gibbs would've been proud of, he double-timed it to the elevator. Jumping in right before the doors closed on the empty car, Tony once again felt dizzy. This time he noticed the tightening in his chest that he hadn't before, coughing a few times. Cursing the fact that TFTWNQ still had some surprises up its sleeve, Tony ignored it. He was feeling so much better that he really didn't care if the bug wanted to have the last word.

Coughing a few more times and rubbing his aching chest, Tony walked off the elevator to find only Ziva and McGee sitting at their desks.

"Where's the Boss?" Tony asked, sure that the man must be in Abby's lab or down with Ducky, and that a royal ass-chewing would be coming his way shortly.

"He's on vacation."

Coming around the corner, Vance entered the bullpen and walked up to Tony's desk. No one had noticed his descent down the stairs from his office, catching everyone off guard.

In the midst of securing his weapon, Tony stopped with his hand poised above the drawer, his sidearm faltering slightly as he stared at the man standing in front of him. He was having trouble processing what the other man had just said. The word "vacation" and Gibbs were hardly ever synonymous with each other.

"Vacation?" Tony asked.

"That's what I said, Agent DiNozzo. Special Agent Gibbs is on vacation," Vance replied calmly.

Tony, McGee and Ziva shared looks across their desks before all eyes settled back on the Director, who didn't move from his position in front of Tony's desk.

"Without telling us? His team?" Tony wasn't buying it. "Where did he go?"

Vance stared pointedly at Tony for a few seconds before answering, his reply outwardly casual but Tony couldn't help but to think that the man was choosing his words very carefully.

"Well Agent DiNozzo, if you want to know that, then I suggest you ask Agent Gibbs yourself. I think he should still be packing right about now."

Tony opened his mouth to say something more and caught the barest shake of the other man's head. The Director didn't want him to ask any more questions and had pretty much just ordered him to go talk to Gibbs.

"You know what, Director. I think that's a great idea. I'll go talk to Agent Gibbs. McGee hold down the fort. Anything important and you call me on my cell, got it?" Tony said, putting his gun back in its holster and holding the Director's gaze. Seeing another slight nod, Tony knew he was on the right track.

"Sure," McGee replied slowly and without asking any of the questions running through his head. He was no fool. There was something more going on, but judging from the looks between Tony and Vance, he wasn't going to find out what it was now.

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Tony walked up Gibbs' steps, noting as he did so that the Challenger was parked out front. The car was a thing of beauty, built in '71 and restored by Gibb and his father. It was yellow with black racing stripes and a rear spoiler. Tony took a moment to admire it as he always did before continuing on his way. If his boss was flying anywhere he'd probably take a cab, but Tony still had a feeling that the car being there meant that Gibbs was too.

Not bothering to knock (the door was never locked anyway), Tony walked inside. Normally he'd either find his boss sitting in the living room in front of a fire or down in the basement with his boat. Today though, he heard movement upstairs.

"Boss?" Tony called out, unused to finding the other man on the second floor when he visited.

"Yeah," came the reply and when nothing else followed, Tony started up the stairs. He walked down the hall and found Gibbs putting things into a duffel on his bed.

"Going somewhere, Boss?"

"Yeah, vacation," Gibbs replied, continuing his packing.

"Planning on telling us?"

"You're a good agent, figured you'd find out somehow."

"True. So now I'm finding out. Where are you going?"

"Arizona."

That stopped Tony up short. "Arizona? As in we were just there on a case a few weeks ago, Arizona?"

"Don't remember seeing that city on a map."

"It's not."

Gibbs continued putting things in his bag and neither of them said anything for a few moments. Tony knew his boss was going to tell him what was up, he just had to wait the other man out. While he was mulling over just how long he would wait, Gibbs pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and tossed it to him. Tony caught it and looked at his boss with a raised eyebrow.

"Message."

Tony immediately dialed in to the phone's voicemail and listened to the only saved message. He noted that it had come in at 5:26am that morning. As he listened, he stood up straighter and locked eyes with Gibbs. When the message was done, Tony closed the phone and tossed it back.

"That the first time you heard from her?"

"Yep."

"Why isn't she calling anyone local?"

"You heard her, DiNozzo. She doesn't trust anybody. Sounds like she's got reason not to."

"Can't we…?" Tony began.

"Handle it as an official case? No, we can't. Agent Patterson's murder was solved. She's a civilian. It's not our jurisdiction."

"Right….so you're just going on……….. vacation?" Tony emphasized the last word carefully.

"Yep."

"You know what, boss?" Tony said pleasantly. "I think I need a vacation, too. In fact I bet the whole team could use one. Lift our spirits after these past couple weeks. Get everyone back on their game. You know?"

"Not asking for company, DiNozzo."

Tony sobered slightly. "You're not going alone, Gibbs."

Gibbs turned around from pulling a jacket off its hanger in his closet to look at Tony.

"You giving me an order, DiNozzo?"

"No boss. No orders here. Wouldn't dream of it."

Gibbs turned back to the jacket.

"But it's not a debate either," Tony said to his boss' back.

Gibbs didn't reply, his lack of response telling Tony once again that this was the plan all along. It explained Vance's odd behavior too, the other man obviously knowing where Gibbs was going and why.

"So how about I call McGee and Ziva and we'll turn this into a family vacation?"

Gibbs still didn't argue but he did turn around again to look his agent over slowly.

"You sure you're up for a trip?"

"Yeah boss, why….?" Tony paused as Gibbs simply stared at him coolly. Of course he should've known that his boss hadn't been fooled, knowing full well that his second in command had been sick. He'd probably been playing along the whole time, only allowing Tony to keep working because of the insane workload and the fact that he hadn't actually passed out on his time.

"How do you do that?" Tony asked wonderingly.

"Easy. You've been looking like the walking dead recently."

Tony chuckled, knowing that the other man was right. Fighting the urge to make a zombie movie reference, he continued. "But I'm good now. Promise. I didn't leave my bed at all this weekend and no, there was no one in it with me. I'm feeling…..okay maybe more like 95% of my normal self, but hey, that's a hell of a lot better than I did before."

Once again his boss said nothing and Tony knew he had won the argument. Truthfully he doubted Gibbs had been ready to take him out of the game, he'd just said something so that Tony would know that he knew about his little act. Taking out his phone, Tony dialed the direct line to McGee's desk.

"Probie, listen up. I need you to tell Ziva to put in vacation requests for herself, you and me. Something tells me that the Director is expecting them."

A slight smile from Gibbs as he continued packing his bag, proved Tony's suspicions were true.

"Then tell her to go home and pack for a trip and meet me at Gibbs' place in one hour. No, I don't want you to file your own……because I need you to get your butt home and pack up any of your geek gear that you can carry on a plane and get yourself over to Gibbs' place in an hour, too. Got it? Good. We'll see you in an hour."

Tony had been happy to note that McGee didn't ask too many questions, picking up on the urgency of the matter and trusting that he'd be filled in when the time was right.

"Alright boss, I'm going home to pack and call the airline to book tickets for me and…."

A folded pack of papers came flying his way, landing on the bed in front of him. Tony picked them up and found printed itineraries for all four of them. Oh yes, the boss had known exactly what Tony would do. Smiling at his boss, Tony put down the papers and headed for the door to go home and pack.

"Looks like we're going on a trip."

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* - to my non-US readers (and anyone else not understanding the reference) - 'Jiffy' is a popular brand of peanut butter in the US.