4 minutes earlier...

Tony awoke to a horrible stabbing, pounding pain that enveloped his head like a giant pair of iron earmuffs. He rolled over and the pain only flared. He heard a groan that he realized after a moment had come from himself.

Stumbling from the futon, he grabbed his head in both of his hands and heard himself call out for Abby. Tony cracked open his eyes and immediately regretted it; the pain suddenly exploding behind them. He needed help, and Abby wasn't there...he was alone...

Somehow, he summoned up the will to stand and blindly walk out of the lab without breaking anything in his path...

11 00 11 00 11

"Just...make it all private, Jimmy," Ducky told his assistant as he walked back and forth behind the office chair. "I don't want any more friend requests that cause me this amount of distraction. That wasn't supposed to be the point in any of this."

"Of course, Dr. Mallard," Jimmy Palmer said as he scribbled onto his notepad. "But you realize that you can usually check out their profile before accepting their request; check them out to make sure...?" the younger man's sentence tapered off as he focused past Ducky and out past the double doors, then abruptly stood. "Tony?"

Ducky turned toward the doors as Tony stumbled in. "Anthony?" Ducky approached the agent in obvious pain, just as the younger man was about to collapse. He and Jimmy caught him and led him to the nearest cold table. "What's happened, Tony?" Ducky asked.

"D'nno." Tony's palms shielded his eyes from the light. "Hurts..."

"What hurts? Your eyes?" he asked.

"Head...'s bad, Duck... Please make it stop." He let out a breathy sob before the two men in scrubs helped to lower him to lie down.

"Jimmy," Ducky said in a lowered voice. "Dim the lights a bit, if you would please, and grab my bag from under my desk." He examined Tony's scalp as he talked. "Did you hit your head on something, dear boy?"

"Nnn..." he groaned.

"And this came about suddenly?"

"Woke up...Was sleepin'...Ab's lab..."

"Hmm... I need to look at your eyes, Anthony," he said as he gently pulled the agent's hands from his face, and Tony placed his balled up fists at his temples instead. Ducky carefully and gently pulled open each lid to check for any dilation or abnormality, and found none. He felt his forehead and found it was cool to the touch. Face pale and pinched with pain, Tony's ailment seemed to bring Ducky to only one conclusion. "I believe you're suffering a migraine," he told him. "I'm certain that I have something I could give you to see if it helps with the pain. You just lie there and I'll be right back."

"Not goin' anywhere," Tony whispered.

"Stay here with him a moment, Mr. Palmer," Ducky told his assistant. Jimmy nodded and went back to stand beside the table. Ducky left the morgue and went out into the empty hallway to pull out his cell phone. He pressed a speed-dial button and held the phone to his ear as he leaned back on the wall across from the glass doors.

"Gibbs," a stiff-voice rang out from the other line. "Look, Duck, it's not the best time..."

"This is important enough to interrupt, Jethro," the doctor insisted.

"Alright."

"Anthony came into the morgue just minutes ago-"

"Tony's with you?" Gibbs sounded a bit relieved with a mixture of aggravation.

"Yes, he is. Did something happen today?"

"What do ya mean, Duck?"he asked. Ducky could hear the sound of elevator doors closing on the other line, and he looked up to see that the elevator was headed down.

"He came to me, perhaps unintentionally, in a great deal of pain. I believe he's suffering a migraine, and a severe one by the looks of it. He's a bit disoriented at the moment. We have him lying down and I'm going to give him some medication, but I wanted to make you aware of that before I did anything, in case something happened that he isn't able to recall at the moment."

"He was tired," Gibbs told him. Then the elevator doors opened and Ducky pushed away from the wall and closed his phone to continue the conversation with the lead agent who now made his way toward him. "That's all I know, Duck. Somethin's been goin' on with him lately, but he won't give anyone a straight answer."

"I've noticed a bit of a change in his behavior, as well," Ducky said, then walked side by side with Gibbs back into the morgue.

"A bit?" Gibbs raised a brow as he glanced to his friend. Ducky cocked his head and gave a small grin before heading to his desk to retrieve the medication.

Gibbs walked over to the table where Tony now laid curled up on his side with his arms protectively covering over his face. Placing a hand gently on his shoulder, he leaned over until he was close enough to Tony's ear that he could speak very softly. "When you're not in so much pain," he began, "We're gonna talk, DiNozzo."

He felt Tony's arm tense. "B...boss?"

"Sshh. Later," he told him, then moved his hand to gently and reassuringly squeeze the back of Tony's neck, letting him know that it wasn't meant as a threat.

"'M sorry," Tony whispered. Gibbs almost hadn't heard it. He narrowed his eyes, and Ducky came around to administer the medicine via syringe...

Tbc...