The voices were whispering in his mind again. He desperately wanted to understand them. But they came and went, like the waves rolling in and out on the shore he was standing on.
It was cold on the beach.
It was dusk, and there was no one else there but him.
He made a half turn, the sand stretched as far as his eye could see.
Behind him were dunes that rose up to impossibly high cliffs, with grey and black birds that flew in and out of nests built within. He should hear the birds, shouldn't he?
But the whispers, voices, taunted him again.
If he could only know what they were saying…
Looking back to the dark blue sea, he screamed, "What do you want from me?"
He brought his hands to his ears and sank to his knees on the sand, groaning,"I don't understand."
He took deep breaths for a moment, trying to calm down.
Then something in the water caught his eye, floating a few hundred feet out.
It was someone...in a life jacket, just floating, head listing to the side.
His heart started racing. He looked around but there was no one to call for help.
Tony took off, running full speed at the water, feeling how the cold wet sand where sea met shore pulled and sucked at his feet, slowing him down.
He struggled to get past the surf, and finally threw himself into the dark, icy water, swimming as fast as he could.
As he got closer, he could see, it was O'Shea.
He spat out water as he swam, yelling for him.
He finally reached the floating man, praying he was still alive...but...something seemed off about the thought…
He grabbed the life jacket, and pulled as he swam back to shore with his friend in tow.
Struggling to breathe in enough air, he stumbled out of the surf, dragging the man onto the shore with him.
Barely out of the water, he turned to check the man's pulse, and realized it was not O'Shea.
It was Gibbs.
"Wha-, Gibbs...nonono..."
He felt for a pulse. Nothing. He shook the man desperately, starting to sob,
"Gibbs...Boss...please..."
But his skin was ice cold, the blue eyes open and dull, and as the water continued to roll in around him, he saw it had changed to a sea of dark red blood. For a brief instant, he saw Stratton's face reflected in the surface…
Gibbs heard him screaming this time, desperately calling his name. He ran downstairs, with his gun out, since he wasn't certain what was happening.
Then he saw Tony, curled up over himself on the floor, by one end of the couch. He quickly put his gun down on the coffee table. He gently put his hand at the back of Tony's neck, squeezing it and calling his name to bring him out of the episode he was having.
Tony was gasping for breath as his eyes flew open wide as he sprang up on his knees to look at the older man.
"Tony, you're okay, it's a flashback, you're home at my house."
He looked at Gibbs for just a moment, before putting his hands to his face, brokenly choking out, "Oh God, Gibbs, I'm losing my mind." He was shaking.
Gibbs sat and without a word, pulled him to his chest, throwing his arms around him fiercely, saying, "You're okay, you're home, everything's okay."
He continued it softly, almost like a mantra, until he felt the shaking stop, and the younger man's breathing evened out.
Tony took a deep breath, pulling away from him. He swallowed and said, in a strange tone, " What if I'm really cracking up? What if...I'm never...normal again?" he looked at Gibbs with fear in his eyes.
"You will not crack up. You're a Hell of a lot stronger than that. And I've got your six, remember?"
Gibbs looked at him while he said the words, his gaze unwavering, and Tony believed him.
After a moment, he nodded, and Gibbs helped him get up on trembling legs to sit on the couch. He watched Gibbs as he took the gun to put away upstairs.
It was 08:00. What had he been doing before the…flashback…or whatever it was, happened? He couldn't remember. Maybe going to the kitchen for a drink?
Gibbs returned.
"You wanna' talk about it?'
He shook his head.
"Your Dad's gonna' be here in the morning."
Tony looked up at him, "Good."
Gibbs sat down next to Tony on the couch.
After a while, Gibbs broke the silence. "They'll fade, Tony. The…flashbacks, the nightmares…they'll fade out over time. This…just happened to you."
Tony looked down and sighed.
"I hope you're right."
His father had been in Japan, working on some business deal with the owner of an industrial ink company when they found him.
They didn't tell him anything about why they needed him back in DC., other than they needed his help in a diplomatic matter at NCIS.
It sounded interesting enough to him, though incredibly inconvenient. He tried to call Tony, but found the number was out of order. It was probably just because Tony had changed service, since last they spoke.
He was waiting in the conference room, when Gibbs and Tony came in.
"Hello Junior!" he stood up, smiling. When he got a better look at Tony, his smile wavered. He saw that his son looked a little too thin, and saw the cuts, now with little bits of scabs still clinging to them, around his face and neck.
"Dad," Tony smiled, and was surprised when Senior actually hugged him instead of just shaking his hand.
Senior had a strange feeling his son had been in some trouble recently, or sick...
"How are you, Junior, you look a little...under the weather?"
"I'm okay, Dad, let's sit down."
"I'm dying to know why I'm here. I was told you need my help with something...I hope it's important because I was in the middle of a pretty big deal."
"Protecting the country is a pretty big deal, " Gibbs quietly, getting Senior's attention.
He looked from Gibbs to Tony, and saw how serious they were.
"What do you need?"
"Dad, there's a...situation, we have with some technology that was stolen from the Navy. It's going up for auction in about ten days...we need you to ask Prince Al to be our buyer."
He stared at Tony for a moment, and then at Gibbs and sighed. "No. I'm sorry. I can't help you."
"Mr. DiNozzo, we-" Gibbs began.
"I said no!" Senior growled it angrily. "Prince Al is an old friend, and I am not going to drag him into something like this. I can't believe you would ask me to do this! " He shifted his sullen gaze to his son.
Suddenly, Gibbs slammed his fist onto the table. " You don't understand what's at stake here!"
"What's at stake is a relationship I've spent the last twenty years developing. Listen to me, because I won't tell you again. I'm. Not. Doing. It."
Gibbs was turning color.
"Boss," Tony put his hand on Gibbs' arm, and asked, "Can you give us a minute?"
Gibbs looked at him, and nodded, leaving the room immediately and in silence.
As the door closed, his father leaned forward and said, more calmly, "Junior, what the Hell is going on here?"
Tony licked his lips and looked down at the table, trying to find the right words to tell his father how important this was, and knew he had to tell him the truth, though it was going to upset him.
He looked up into his father's eyes.
"Dad, the man who...stole the technology we're talking about...he...kidnapped me, and held me captive for a few weeks..." he took a shaky breath in. He had to look down, when he saw Senior's expression as he began to register the words.
"He and his friend...they hurt me, pretty bad, Dad." He swallowed compulsively, and couldn't understand why his eyes were getting misty.
He looked up at his father, whose mouth hung open slightly, and saw a mix of pain and fury in his eyes.
"This man…Sean Latham…he thinks I'm dead. When he finds out differently, he's gonna' try to kill me. And besides that, he's..." Tony was trying to stay calm, thinking of E.J. and O'Shea, and took another shaky breath. "We need to stop him, because he's a threat to our country, but he's a threat to me, too. And I know it's a big thing we're asking you to do...but please, Dad. I need you to do this."
Senior seemed at a loss for a moment. He leaned forward, placing his hand on Tony's arm.
His eyes were glassy, as he stared at his son, and he started to force out the words," Tony, what did they do.."
Tony just looked down, squeezing his eyes shut, and shook his head slightly.
"I...I don't want you to think about that," he said quietly, and looked up at him, "Just say you'll do it."
Some time later, Tony walked out of the conference room, looking pale and shaken.
"You alright?" Gibbs asked worriedly.
"Yeah, um...go on in. Tell him what we need him to do. I'm just gonna' go clear my head for a bit."
Gibbs stared at him.
"Inside the building of course, Boss."
He walked into Abby's lab, with a Caf-Pow for no reason other than it was the excuse to come see her.
She was punching some keys at her computer, swaying ever so slightly to the music she had pumping through the room.
Tony put the drink in front of her, and she turned quickly, expecting to see Gibbs.
When she saw it was Tony, her eyes widened and she smiled madly, "Tony !" And she threw herself at him, hugging him fiercely.
It actually jarred his injuries a little, causing him pain, but he didn't care. It was just so good to get the Abby love.
She pulled back and looked at him suddenly, "Did Gibbs send you down? Do you need something? I didn't think we had a case. OH..I should give you some …cookies or something…"She started rummaging around for them, wanting Tony to eat to get his weight back on. "I had these super duper chocolate chip cookies, and I think you'd love them. I think we need to put a little meat on your bones…uh…" she looked at him, "but I'm not saying you look bad or anything. You know you always look good to me, especially when you wear your jeans with that turtleneck sweater…" she caught herself again.
"Abs…" Tony put an arm out to stop her from her nervous meanderings around the room. "I…just wanted to see you." He said it softly, and smiled a little.
She smiled back then, blinking at him, a little embarrassed. And then came back to put her arms around him again.
They stood like that for a while, in the wonderfully comforting embrace.
He wondered how she was able to be quiet for so long.