AN: Wow. You all really blew me away with your response to the last chapter. I was amazed and can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate it. It was also great for my inspiration and since I had the day off from work today I had some extra writing time and managed to get this written. Enjoy :)

Special Thanks to: WCUGirl, Sparkiebunny, LongLashes1, pandi19, Gloworm41, Combatcrazy, vanishingp2000, Jessykuh, Taura Callisto, KelBell1094, julie250, Sarah1965, Diana Teo, godsdaughter77, TinTin11, twomoms, laoisbabe, Graphicmaker1, spnchick, NikaDex, Meilea2010, obfuscate2, NickTonyK, ihearttony, Anne Fairymaker, sarahsrr, jarcat, Stroma, Tiffany331, TheNaggingCube and Kurama111.

xxxxx

Gibbs impatiently drummed on the steering wheel with his fingertips as he waited for the traffic in front of him to start moving again. Things had been running smoothly back at headquarters and he had managed to dissuade everyone from bombarding the hospital to visit Tony, at least for another day or two. He knew how much they all cared about his senior field agent, but Tony needed rest, not visitors right now. There would be time enough for visits as he progressed in his recovery. Abby had been the most difficult to convince, but when he explained that Tony would most likely sleep through her visit, she had reluctantly agreed to wait a little bit longer.

After what seemed to take forever, Gibbs finally arrived back at the hospital. He was trying hard to ignore the nagging feeling in his gut. Surely if anything was wrong, the doctors would have notified him. Tony was fine. It was just kind of weird not to be watching over him constantly as he had been doing for the past few days. Gibbs smiled to himself as the elevator doors opened on Tony's floor. He was taking over protectiveness to a whole new level. As he stepped off the elevator, his heartbeat quickened. There was a cluster of nurses in front of Tony's room and Gibbs rushed towards them. "What happened?" he asked as he arrived at Tony's room. "Is Tony worse?"

The nurses exchanged worried looks, but none of them answered Gibbs' question which only increased his concern. "Tony?" he called out as he brushed past them and entered Tony's room. He stopped in dismay when he saw the empty bed. "Oh my God...he's not.." After all that had happened, all they had been through, it couldn't have ended like this...

"Agent Gibbs." A hand gently clasped his shoulder and Gibbs swung around to face Dr. Kennedy.

"Where is he?" Gibbs asked, barely keeping the panic out of his voice. "What happened to him?"

"Calm down , Agent Gibbs. Nothing has happened to him. At least not that we know of..."

"Well, what's that supposed to mean? Where is he?"

"I...we don't exactly know," the doctor admitted.

"You don't know?!" Gibbs felt a sudden burst of fury. "I don't think he got up and walked away, do you? He didn't exactly look like he was in any shape to do that when I left him..." Shit. When he had left him... And suddenly it was all very clear. "It was his father...he must have taken him out of here..." Damn...how could he have been so stupid?

"Agent Gibbs...there's something else you should know..."

"What is it?" Gibbs asked with a sense of foreboding. It was obvious from the doctor's expression that the news was not good.

"We got the results back from Tony's sputum cultures. Unfortunately, the organisms aren't sensitive to the antibiotics he was on. I was going to change him to some different meds and that's when we discovered he was missing."

"So, he's just going to get sicker," Gibbs concluded grimly.

Dr. Kennedy nodded. "Yes, unless he gets the right medication."

Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and dialed it. "McGee. I don't have time for details, but Tony is missing and I need you and Ziva to meet me at the hospital, now." He clicked off the phone without even waiting for a response then turned back to the doctor. "Can you bring me to whoever is in charge of security here?"

"Of course. Follow me." Dr. Kennedy headed out of Tony's room and Gibbs quickly followed, praying he would discover some clue to Tony's whereabouts.

xxxxx

As Tony slowly began to awaken, the first thing that entered his mind was that something was not quite right. It was so quiet...too quiet... He eventually managed to drag his eyes open and found himself alone, in an unfamiliar place. The bed he was lying on was very comfortable and his first instinct was to just drift back to sleep, but his sense that something was amiss was stronger and he forced himself into a more alert state. Clearing his mind, he tried to mentally take stock of what he knew. The room was very expensively furnished. If he was in a hospital, it was probably some pricey private kind of facility. He wasn't breathing really well so he was obviously still sick and he knew he wasn't at Gibbs' house. Mustering up a Herculean effort, he tried to sit up, but was much too weak and could only raise himself up a couple of inches before flopping back against the pillows. Damn, this wasn't good. The exertion caused him too start coughing and gasping and he couldn't even call for help.

Finally, when he felt like he was about to lapse into unconsciousness, he felt a pair of hands supporting his back and raising him up into a sitting position. As he tried to catch his breath, he looked up at a man in a doctor's coat he didn't remember seeing before. "Wh...who are you?" he huffed, trying to hold back the urge to cough some more.

"Shhh...don't try to talk, Mr. DiNozzo. I'm Dr. Luke O'Connell. Let me listen to your lungs so I can see how you're doing." Luke pressed the end of his stethoscope onto Tony's chest and did not like what he was hearing. "You're doing fine." He managed a smile as he propped a couple more pillows behind Tony to keep him up in a sitting position.

"Am I?" Tony asked. "Cause honestly doc, I feel like crap."

That's not surprising, Luke thought to himself. He looked and sounded like crap as well. This really sucked. He wasn't going to get any money from DiNozzo if he couldn't keep his kid alive. This wasn't going to be the cakewalk he had thought it would be. "That's to be expected," Luke said reassuringly. "You'll turn the corner soon."

"Where am I anyhow?" Tony asked. Something seemed really fishy about this situation. "Where's Gibbs?"

"Gibbs?" Luke looked blankly back at Tony. "I don't know any Gibbs. You're here with your father. He's getting some food and supplies. He should be back any minute."

His father? Shit, shit, shit, This wasn't good at all. What the hell was his father doing? He started coughing again and by the time he stopped, he was unable to mask the mistrust in his eyes. "Are you even a real doctor?" Tony asked.

"What? Of course I'm a real doctor," Luke replied indignantly. "Why would you even ask such a thing?" This guy was starting to make him nervous. Where the hell was his father anyway?

Tony could feel himself slipping and battled to stay awake. Somehow, he had to get to Gibbs. "Hey doc? You got a phone I can use? I need to make a call," he asked, mustering up his most winning smile.

"Um...not sure if that's such a good idea..." Luke replied warily.

"Yo...you know, doc...kidnapping a federal agent is a pretty serious offense." Tony could feel himself starting to shiver and he knew his fever was getting worse again.

"Federal agent?" Luke's eyes widened. What the hell? DiNozzo sure as hell hadn't said anything about his kid being an agent.

"Yes, I work for NCIS. Give me the phone, doc and I'll put in a good word for you," Tony said coaxingly. "You can get out of this mess before it gets too complicated."

Luke stared back at Tony for a few moments before nodding. "Yeah sure." What the hell. Money was good, but it sure as hell wasn't worth prison for kidnapping a federal agent. He wanted no part of that. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone then handed it to Tony.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief as his fingers closed around the cell. So focused was he on the prize that he never even knew what was happening until the phone was ripped out of his hand. "You won't be needing that, son."

Suddenly feeling like he was eight years old and awaiting punishment, Tony looked up into the eyes of his father and wondered if he would ever see Gibbs again.

xxxxx

"Well they certainly didn't try to hide their identities, boss" McGee said. An inspection of hospital video footage had revealed DiNozzo Sr. and his unidentified companion at various points in the hospital as well as the hospital parking lot.

"That bastard." Gibbs was seething. Watching Tony's father in the act was only serving to fuel his fury even more. How on earth could he endanger his own son this way? "We need to get this film to Abby, find out who his accomplice is and see if she can get a license plate on the car."

"Got it, boss."

A short while later, Gibbs placed a Caf Pow in front of Abby. "What have you got for me, Abs?"

"Gibbs! The first thing you need is a hug," Abby said as she gently pulled the older man into an embrace. "You'll find Tony. He's going to be okay."

Gibbs allowed himself to be comforted for a few moments, more for Abby's benefit than his own, but then gently pulled away. "Abby? What did you find out?"

"Senior's accomplice is Luke O'Connell, former physician. He lost his medical license after numerous counts of treating patients while under the influence and being found guilty in two wrongful death suits."

"He's the one who's taking care of Tony?" Gibbs shook his head in disgust. "That's just great."

Abby nodded. "He's also the one who rented the car at the airport after flying in from New York earlier today."

"We need a BOLO out on that car."

"I'll get right on that," Tim said as he entered the lab with Ziva. "I've been trying to get a location on Tony's father's cell phone, but he has it off."

"Keep trying, McGee. Check out if O'Connell has a cell as well," Gibbs replied. "Maybe you can get something on that. Ziva, see if you find any known associates of Senior's. Maybe we can get some clue as to where they might have gone. And I know I don't need to stress that time is of the essence."

We'll do everything we can, boss," Tim stated.

"I know you will," Gibbs said, managing a glimmer of a smile. "Now come on, let's find Tony and bring him home."

xxxxx

"You didn't tell me he was a federal agent," Luke hissed angrily. He and DiNozzo Sr. stood in a corner of the sleeping agent's room. Tony had lost his fight to stay awake shortly after his father had grabbed the cell phone from him.

"That's because he's not a federal agent." DiNozzo Sr. spoke very slowly and calmly as if he were trying to pacify a small child.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked skeptically. "He was lying?"

"No, no, he's not lying," DiNozzo Sr. explained. "He really believes its true."

"So he's nuts?" Luke was beginning to wish he had never answered this guy's telephone call.

"No, he's not nuts," DiNozzo Sr. said. "Anthony just has some problems distinguishing fantasy from reality. Anyhow, is it really proper for a doctor to be calling his patient nuts? Not very professional of you."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Luke still wasn't sure if he believed DiNozzo Sr. or not.

"Did he happen to mention someone called Gibbs?" DiNozzo Sr. asked. He needed for Dr. O'Connell to stick this out. He wouldn't be able to properly take care of Tony by himself.

Luke nodded. "Yeah...yeah, he was asking for him."

"I was afraid of that." DiNozzo Sr. said with a heavy sigh. "Gibbs was a teddy bear Tony had as a child. He was very attached to it, much more so than what would be considered normal. We finally began to realize that he thought of Gibbs as someone real...his sidekick, his boss. They went on all kind of imaginary missions together and long after the bear was lost, he continued to live in that fantasy world. Its one of the reasons I wanted your help. He doesn't do well with hospitals. People don't always understand him and I want to keep his situation under wraps as much as I can. Plus I'm very much afraid someone might try to kidnap him again."

Luke absorbed what DiNozzo Sr. was telling him, still very uncertain about the situation.

"Look, I'll double the amount I'm paying you." DiNozzo Sr. was bordering on desperation.

Luke looked at DiNozzo Sr. doubtfully. "How do I know you even have that kind of money?" he asked. "You could be totally pulling my leg."

"Half now...half later when my son is well again." He had nothing to lose. He knew he shouldn't be blowing the money Prince Omar had given him for Tony's ransom, but it couldn't be helped. He would find some way to pay him back later on.

Luke visibly perked up at that. Even if DiNozzo's kid died, that was still a whole lot of money. "Okay, fine. I'll stay here and take care of him. But you need to find a way to get him some oxygen and fast. His breathing isn't good and he needs to be on it. That's something you should have thought of before taking him out of the hospital."

"How do I get it?"

Luke shrugged. "I can't risk writing a prescription. Look on Craig's list or something."

"Craig's list? Are you kidding me?" DiNozzo Sr. gave Luke an incredulous look.

"No. I'm not kidding you." Luke sighed impatiently as he pulled out his cell phone and pulled up the Internet. He was beginning to think DiNozzo was nuttier than his kid. He searched the for sale ads and finally came up with what he thought would work as a suitable oxygen concentrator. "Three grand. That alright?" he asked.

DiNozzo Sr. nodded. "Yeah, three grand is fine. Call them."

Luke called the number and made arrangements to go pick up the concentrator, which was only about a half hour away. "I'd better go, make sure everything's okay with it."

DiNozzo Sr. shook his head. "No. I want you to stay here with Tony in case anything happens. I'll go."

"Fine, just hurry up."

DiNozzo Sr. nodded. "I will. Take good care of my son." On the way out, he discreetly picked up Luke's cell phone and pocketed it. No sense in taking any chances on Tony getting his hands on it nor did he want Gibbs tracing it if they happened to figure out O'Connell's identity. He couldn't be too careful.

xxxxx

Gibbs sat at his desk, his eyes on the television monitor as he fast forwarded through the video footage from the hospital. He paused the tape when he found a particularly clear shot of Tony then stared at the frozen video image on the screen. He could see Tony's face, his eyes closed, having absolutely no idea what was even happening to him. It was then that it dawned on him that Tony was no longer wearing the oxygen mask. Gibbs had known that his father was a piece of work, but this was beyond his comprehension. He had no idea what the guy had been thinking or if he had been thinking at all.

"I'll find you, DiNozzo," he whispered, his eyes locked on the picture of his overly vulnerable field agent. "I promise...I will find you..."

xxxxx

AN2: Couple of things. First medically, I sped up the culture results for dramatic purposes - probably would have taken a lot longer in real life. As for the oxygen concentrator, people really do sell those things on Craig's List which I found interesting.

The investigative stuff is definitely not my strong point, but hopefully you can overlook any holes as far as that goes. Thanks so much for reading :)