Filler and tag for "Bikini Wax."

It's funny the things you notice when you rewatch these episodes with a specific purpose in mind. I knew when I rewatched this one that I wanted to do a story about Tony's Spring Break vacation. Remember how at the beginning Tony makes the joke about Gibbs shopping at Sears which he thinks Gibbs didn't hear? And then he asks Gibbs a random question about whether or not he signed off on a missing persons report to which Gibbs responds that he hadn't had a chance because Sears was having a sale? I was always so sidetracked about the Sears joke that I never really thought about the mysterious "missing persons report" – until this time, when I had an idea about that line that I had to work into my story.

"Getting Away"

It had been a hectic Monday, and now that it was officially considered "after hours," Gibbs was finally getting around to reading the case reports on the mission that had taken two of his agents to Paraguay last week. In the middle of his reading, a piece of paper was abruptly shoved into his line of vision. It appeared to be a vacation request, and the hand attached to it appeared to be that of one Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.

Taking the offending piece of paper into his own hands, Agent Gibbs attempted to find the appropriate viewing distance that would allow him to read its contents. His mouth dropped open slightly when he noticed the requested dates: April 4th through April 8th 2005. That can't be right. Finally catching the eye of the man in front of him, he gave one of his signature glares. This was unmistakably the one that said, "You've got to be kidding me."

Nervously clearing his throat, the younger agent responded to the unspoken question. "I really need a vacation, Boss."

Not softening the glare one iota, the Lead Agent countered with, "This is next week, DiNozzo."

"I know. It's Spring Break!" Tony offered excitedly.

Unimpressed, his boss inquired, "So?"

"So?" Tony echoed, his eyes widening. "Boss, you really need to get out more. Beach, booze, babes. My frat brothers are planning a trip down to Panama City. Just like when we were in college!"

Well, that at least explained why his thirty-something agent had just regressed to his teenage years. "And you want an entire week off for this. And not just any week. Next week."

"It came up kind of last minute," Tony explained nervously. "My frat brothers are really busy guys. We haven't all seen each other in…" He stopped and performed the calculations in his head. "Gosh, at least five years. Way before I started working for you."

Gibbs backed off his glare just slightly but was still regarding Tony skeptically. He knew DiNozzo missed his college days, which may have been the only period of his adult life that he recalled fondly. And that, at least from the stories he'd heard, Tony had been quite close to his frat brothers before adulthood and distance had made the relationships more difficult to maintain. Still, he'd come to rely on the younger man quite a bit. An entire week with just Kate and McGee, especially if they happened to get a case, would be challenging. To his patience. And possibly his sanity.

Sensing his boss' continued hesitation, Tony became more serious and continued to plead his case. "Look, I haven't taken a week off since I've been here. That's over three years. Most agents take at least a week every year. And I've been working really hard lately – you said so yourself. And if I have to put up with much more of Kate's attitude, I just might…." Feeling that body language would best express the sentiment, he took both of his hands and mimicked a strangulation. This got a slight grin of amusement from the other man.

Emboldened Tony started to continue, but quickly covered up the topic of conversation when he noticed that the devil herself had returned to her desk from the ladies' room and was just gathering up her things to leave for the day. "So, anyway, boss, here's that missing persons report for you to sign when you get a chance…Oh, hey Kate. Heading out?"

"Yes. What missing person, Tony?"

"Oh, uh….it's nothing for you to worry about. Connected to an old cold case. Doubt anything will come of it."

Not completely satisfied, but not curious enough to hang around any longer, Kate gave a short goodbye and left for the evening. When Tony turned his attention back to Gibbs, he noticed the other man was giving him an amused smirk. "Missing persons report?"

With an anxious laugh, Tony defended, "Boss, if you turn down my vacation and Kate and McGee find out…they'll gloat. For like, forever." Gibbs noticed the extreme emphasis on the last word. "Not that I think you're going to say no or anything," the younger man went on. "And technically, I plan to be missing for about a week, so it's not completely a lie." He was met with continued silence. "So, w-will you sign it? Boss?" Now he was practically pleading.

With a weary sigh, Gibbs responded, "I'll let you know tomorrow, DiNozzo."

Trying, and failing, to hide his disappointment, his agent offered a halfhearted, "Thanks, Boss. Goodnight."

When Tony was safely out of sight, the Lead Agent allowed his expression to soften. He'd make the younger man squirm a little for giving such short notice. But there was no way he could say no. Every argument DiNozzo had made was valid. The only vacations he'd known the other man to take since he'd been with NCIS had been over the holidays, and very short trips. Tony had been working incredibly hard lately, and doing a great job. With very little appreciation for his efforts.

And of course the real reason, the one he'd deny vehemently if confronted, was the very tiny soft spot he'd formed in his heart for the man who didn't yet realize he was soon to become Gibbs' Senior Field Agent.

"Have I said thank you yet for approving my vacation, Boss?" Tony asked. He and Gibbs were in the car, headed back to the Navy Yard after questioning yoga instructor Lisa Kerr. Poor Tony had been trying very hard to maintain his focus for the rest of the week before leaving for Panama City, but a case involving a bunch of women in a bikini contest and a yoga instructor was not helping very much. Not very much at all.

"About 50 times, DiNozzo," Gibbs said wearily.

"Sorry, Boss. I'm just really excited. "

I would have never guessed. "Don't apologize. Just get your head back in the case. You're not on vacation yet."

"Right. No more distractions. Promise," Tony swore seriously.

Somehow, Gibbs doubted it. Not the sincerity – he was certain the younger man was going to try his best. But he hadn't seen DiNozzo this pumped up about something in….well, maybe he'd never seen his agent quite this excited. He wished he could share in Tony's enthusiasm, but he was dreading next week. Not just the other man's absence, though he'd have to admit that was part of it. He was also bothered by the idea of Tony being let loose with an endless supply of women and alcohol, and no one around to shake any sense into him if things got out of hand. He kept telling himself DiNozzo was a grown man who could take care of himself. Still, a few words of wisdom couldn't hurt.

"So you're really planning to spend a whole week getting wasted and picking up women?"

Suddenly feeling embarrassed, Tony stammered, "N-not just that, Boss. I'll be hanging out on the beach. Spending time with my buddies. Catching up."

"You miss it," Gibbs stated.

"College? Yeah, I do," Tony said wistfully. "Things seemed easier then."

Gibbs knew "things" meant "life." DiNozzo's childhood hadn't been particularly happy. And given his short stints at every police department he'd been a part of prior to joining NCIS, Gibbs would surmise any happiness the younger man had found in his previous employments had been short-lived. But Tony chattered incessantly about his time at Ohio State. Everything from playing sports, to girls, to his fraternity antics and his fraternity brothers. Kate and McGee had always given him a hard time about it, seeing it simply as a refusal to grow up. But Gibbs knew there was a lot more to it than that. Sometimes it seemed as if Tony held onto those memories like some sort of a lifeline.

"Just remember I don't intend to make any trips to Florida to bail your butt out of jail," Gibbs teasingly warned.

Tony laughed, returning to the present. "Don't worry, Boss. You wouldn't be the person I'd call if…." Then his eyes widened as he realized what he'd just said, noticing the intrigued expression on the Lead Agent's face. "Uh, I mean, there will be no need for that, cause I don't plan on getting into any trouble. Cause I'm a Federal Agent. And that would be very, very bad."

"And try not to spend your whole year's salary either. Abby told me you spent half your paycheck on a tie last weekend."

"A hundred dollars, Boss. Not half my paycheck. And it was a Zegna." Seeing his boss' indifferent expression he sighed, "Never mind. You've never heard of Zegna."

Smirking, the Lead Agent responded, "No, they don't sell those at Sears, remember?"

Eager to change the subject, Tony quickly replied, "So, what'd you think of Lisa Kerr's boyfriend? He seemed a little suspicious to me…."

Kate glanced at her watch. 10:37am. Wednesday. April 6th. Doing a simple calculation, she realized it had been exactly 21 minutes since the last time she'd looked. Well, it's an improvement. Yesterday I averaged about 10 minutes or so.

Of course, yesterday, Gibbs had had her and McGee working on cold cases. At least today they had a real case to work on. Even if it was just a boring embezzlement case. With a lot of computer work she didn't really understand.

"Any luck tracing that money yet, McGee?" she asked, injecting as much fake enthusiasm into her voice as she could muster.

The Probie gave her a decidedly annoyed look. "No, Kate. When I do you'll be the second to know. After Gibbs. Who's already breathing down my neck without you asking me about it every few minutes."

Sheesh. He's testy. "Okay, take it easy, McGee. It could be worse. Tony could be here asking you about it every few minutes."

Glancing over at the empty desk, McGee thought, "At least Tony'd have a sense of humor about it." He noticed his teammate was staring in the same general direction.

"What do you think he's doing right now?" Kate asked dreamily.

McGee replied thoughtfully, "Sleeping off a hangover."

Smiling affectionately, Kate agreed. "Yeah."

"What've we got?" the unmistakable voice of Gibbs barked out roughly. "And the answer better not be 'nothing.'"

While both his agents jumped at the sound of his voice, he was met with a tense silence. He decided to begin with Kate. "Agent Todd…you get that information yet from the Baltimore PD?"

She quietly replied, "I've contacted them and they said they'd get back to me. But they're really short-handed and it could be a while." Gibbs was still glaring at her, expecting more. "I'll try again. But Tony used to work there. He has contacts. They don't know me."

Still glaring at Kate, Gibbs transitioned. "Agent McGee…"

"B-boss…" McGee answered with dread. "I'm still trying to trace the money, but there's a problem with…" he started to offer an exact explanation, but now Gibbs was looking at him and there was no question that the man didn't want a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo. "It's very complicated, sir. I mean – Boss."

Taking a very deep breath, and summoning every ounce of patience, his boss asked, "How much longer?"

"Two hours. At least."

For a moment, the two agents expected an explosion of monumental proportions. Gibbs had become increasingly dour and impatient since Tony's vacation had started. Abruptly, he got up and stormed out of the bullpen. Probably going to see his favorite Goth. Or maybe to the airport to drag Tony back home early, kicking and screaming.

Though they'd never admit it, neither Kate nor McGee would have minded the latter one bit.

When I get my hands on whoever pulled the fire alarm…, Tony thought groggily as he came out of his alcohol-induced slumber. Everything hurt. On top of the hangover, he was sunburned.

Gingerly, he sat up in his bed and forced his eyes open, pushing down a wave of nausea. The fire alarm seemed to be coming from the bedside table. Oh, it's just my phone. Never realized how obnoxious it was before. His anger towards the fire-alarm-puller shifted to whoever the bozo was that was calling him on his vacation at this ungodly hour of ….11am?

"What?" he grumbled.

"Thought you were about to break rule #3 there, DiNozzo."

Tony groaned. He didn't particularly want to have a conversation with Gibbs in his current state of dissipation and disorder. "Boss," he practically whined. "It's early. And what are you calling me for? I'm on vacation."

"Yeah? Sounds like you're having a wonderful time. It's 11:00 you know."

"I was still sleeping. You don't know how late I was…"

"Got a pretty good idea, Tony. This won't be too painful. I need you to call your contact at Baltimore PD and get him to light a fire under somebody. Kate's trying to get some information and they're giving her the runaround. Then you can get back to – whatever you're doing down there."

"That's why you're calling me?"

That and to remind you that you're a 30-something year old Federal Agent, just in case you've forgotten by now. "Well, yeah, DiNozzo. I told you I'd approve your vacation as long as I could reach you if we needed anything. I needed something."

"Fine, Boss. I'll call him."

"Do us a favor and have your coffee first. You sound awful."

"Thanks for the support," Tony mumbled sarcastically.

The older man chuckled silently. "Drink lots of water. Aloe vera for the sunburn. See you next week, DiNozzo."

Tony opened his mouth, but Gibbs had already hung up. The miserable vacationer stared in confusion at his phone.

How did he know about the sunburn?

The next day, with his hangover a memory and his sunburn fading, Tony was back to his previous antics. They'd spent a glorious day on the beach, played some volleyball, and found Rod's Tiki Tavern, where they were now enjoying drinks and scenery. Scenery of the beautiful young female variety.

"What a great idea. You have no idea how much I needed this," Tony smiled as he started on his second beer.

"Oh, I think I do," Bryan chimed in. After college, Bryan had moved to New York and was now a stockbroker, living life in the well-known fastlane. His life had become mostly about money. Making lots of it and helping other people make lots of it, too. Unfortunately, he hadn't left himself much time for a social life.

"Kate still giving you a hard time, Tony?" Steve asked. Of course, Steve knew a little bit about his partner. Since he'd moved to DC several months ago, he and Kate had actually dated briefly. Very briefly. Tony's friend had quickly learned how uncomfortable it could be to be caught between your girlfriend and one of your best friends. Ironically, he'd found that he was the one feeling like the third wheel, in spite of the fact that the three of them had never actually been together in one room at the same time.

Rich looked over at Tony curiously. "Who's Kate? New girlfriend?"

"Oh, no, no, no, noooooo!" Tony insisted. "No. Kate's my 'partner.'" He said the word making invisible quotation marks in the air. "And she's the most uptight, self-righteous, know-it-all…No, she wouldn't demean herself by going out with me. Believe me."

"She's not that bad, Tony," Steve defended.

"She wasn't that bad to you, you mean," Tony countered.

"Wait a minute. You both know her?" Rich asked in amazement.

"Steve dated her. That was fun. Until she decided to grill him for dirt on me," Tony prodded.

"I didn't tell her anything," Steve said defensively. "And that was only because you grilled me about our dates."

"Well if you had to work with her, you'd understand. Everything I do is wrong. I'm juvenile, I'm immature. I'm incompetent."

"Wow, sounds like you really can't stand her. Why don't you leave?" Bryan asked incredulously.

"It's not that simple," Tony explained. "I mean, actually, I like Kate. I know it doesn't sound that way. I like all of them. We have this new agent – you should meet him. He's soooo green. I like to give him a hard time. Remember the stuff we used to do to the freshmen pledges?"

They all laughed at the inside joke. "So you're saying you torture him?" Rich joked.

"Yeah, kind of," Tony admitted. "But it's just cause I really like him."

"What about your boss? Gibbs, is it? I've heard all kinds of stuff about him, between you and Kate," Steve commented.

"My boss. Let's see. He was a Marine. He averages about 3 words per sentence. Maybe 15 words per day. He likes to hit me on the back of the head."

"You're kidding. How do you work for the guy?" Bryan asked.

"It's not what you think. He just…wants me to be the best I can be. And he's the smartest guy I've ever worked for. His instincts are incredible. He can figure stuff out about people – you wouldn't believe me if I told you. I guess he's the biggest reason I stay. And then there's Abby. She's our forensic scientist, and she's this Goth…but the sweetest person you could ever know. And Ducky our ME – he loves to tell stories. He knows everything about…pretty much everything I think. It's really a great group of people," Tony said sincerely.

"Wow, Tony. You're pretty lucky. I've been bouncing around every couple of years. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up," Rich quipped.

"If you grow up," Bryan ribbed.

"I tried that once. Growing up. I found it to be highly overrated," Tony observed rather sadly.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Bryan said wistfully.

Steve flagged down a waitress. "Can we get another round of beers, please?" Turning back to his friends, he said, "Let's put that off for a while longer. Growing up, I mean."

"Dude, what's going on over here? You are so wasted, man. I could hear you all the way on the other side of the bar," Steve observed as Tony continued to laugh maniacally.

"I've got her, Steve. I've got her . Finally! You have to see this," Tony practically screamed, pointing at a photo on the wall.

Steve got closer to the picture, studying the woman very carefully. Then he asked incredulously, "Is that Kate?"

"Oh, yeah, baby. Caitlin Todd in the flesh! Or at least in her wet t-shirt." Doing the best impersonation he could muster of Kate, while he was seriously drunk, he imitated, "But Tony, I'm so much more mature and classy than you are. When I was in Panama City, my friends and I conducted ourselves with absolute dignity."

Steve couldn't hold back his laughter any longer. "She didn't actually say that."

"Oh, Steve, my man. But she did," his friend answered, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Where's my phone?"

Laughing even harder, Steve pointed out, "It's in your pocket, buddy. Right where you left it."

"Oh. Oh yeah." Pulling it out, Tony took a picture. Then another. And another.

"Steve, Steve, Steve," Tony slurred. Holding up his phone with the picture of the picture of Kate he asked, "Do you know what this is?"

"A picture of Kate in a wet t-shirt?" his friend offered unhelpfully.

"No, dude. It's my salvation"

He was on the plane, vacation over, on his way back to DC. They'd said their goodbyes to Rich and Bryan at the airport as they'd parted ways, not knowing how long it would be before the four of them could all be together again.

Now it was him and Steve, on the way back to their realities. He was sad. But, surprisingly, he was also happy. He realized he actually missed people while he was gone. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but a comforting one.

"Oh, man," Steve sighed. "I really don't want to go home."

"We had a good time didn't we buddy?" Tony chuckled.

"Always," Steve laughed along with him. "We should do this every year."

Remembering his hangovers, sunburn, and realizing how tired he actually was, Tony thought, "I don't think I could do this every year." But he kept that idea to himself, oblivious to the fact that Steve was secretly having the very same thought. Instead, he said, "Or maybe next time we could do something different. We could visit Bryan in New York. That could be fun."

"Yeah, maybe we should do that. I don't think he gets out too much. He works some crazy hours. I guess we all do. Except Rich, cause he's a bum," Steve joked.

"Did you miss anyone, Steve? While we were gone?" Tony suddenly asked.

"My cat," Steve answered honestly.

"Hmm," Tony simply answered. Maybe Rich was right. I really am pretty lucky.

Steve closed his eyes to take a nap and Tony pulled out his phone. With one last glance at the picture of Kate and a slightly naughty expression on his face, he had one last thought before he too drifted off for a quick nap.

I can't wait to get home.