A.N. Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews (though I feel like I cheated since in reality that last chapter should have been MUCH longer and things actually should have occurred ._. It was like...a very lame filler, so for that I apologize. Sorry!) But this one is a lot more action packed and I hope you all like it and review and give your awesome imputs and opinions regarding this fic (hint hint lol) :D Enjoy!

Eleven.

TONY WAS ABSOLUTELY miserable.

The only part of his adult brain still functioning consisted of his memory bank. He still remembered his team, Abby, Ducky, Palmer, and general parts of his life as an NCIS agent, but a lot of it was blurry and he found himself doing very childish things, like playing pretend and sobbing outright when ever Doctor Rosenberg came over to inject him with more experimental drugs.

Day three of his captivation and his cold still persisted and Gibbs was still M.I.A. Tony wiped tears that suddenly sprung up.

"Does your arm hurt again?" Don came up behind him, wondering why the toddler had started crying quietly. The poor kid had been through hell these past couple of days. Dr. Rosenberg had gone needle-happy collecting massive amounts of the four year-olds blood for samples to test and injecting him with like some lab rat and recording the subtle changes. Tonys' little arms were bruised where he'd been injected countless times over the past forty eight hours, ugly colors like purple and green scattered across his forearm; they'd become quite sensitive and Don had convinced the doctor to lay off for a few hours and let the tender skin heal for a bit.

Tony shook his head, even though his tender arms throbbed still. "I miss Gibbs." he sniffled, his lower lip trembling. The toddler lay down on the metal table he'd grown far too accustomed to lately and curled up, tears running down his cheeks in a sideways motion now. "M'tired and I miss Gibbs and I want Abbys hugs and McGoos' geekiness and Zivas threats and Kates fighting and Duckys stories and the Gremlins stutter-ene and," he sobbed. "I want to go home."

Don sighed and picked up the crying toddler, noting with concern that he'd gotten a lot lighter since yesterday. He knew they hadn't been withholding any meals-he was the one who fed the kid after all, so if it wasn't malnutrition, Don wondered what it could possibly be, as he paced the room, rocking the four year-old back and forth in hopes of soothing him.

Outside an obscure, seemingly abandoned warehouse, team Gibbs was positioned, armed and ready to fire at will.

Gibbs gave silent signals to the team mates who were in sight and turned his radio on. "Everyone in position?"

Three voices chorused, "In position Boss." over the head set.

It had taken three horrible, nightmarish days, but here they were. Gibbs hoped this wasn't their second dead lead in almost seventy-two hours since Tony had gone missing.

"What is with the tears again?" the doctor glared at the bundle in Dons arms. "This is ridiculous, none stop crying." he shook his head. "Jacob, take the boy and hold him down so that he does not struggle this time." he ordered, knowing Don was getting too close to this child, as he prepared the next injection.

Don reluctantly gave up the small toddler to the more stoic guard of the two and tried not to flinch when Tonys wailing only got louder in the hands of the brute. Jacob held the four year-old down as he tried to get up from under his tight grip. "Gibbs!" he bawled, his tiny chest heaving harshly.

Don was no saint; he'd done awful things in his lifetime, committed crimes he probably should have rotted in jail for, even, but he'd never taken part in harming someone so small and...Don gulped, someone who resembled his deceased son so much. He'd never been in his childs' life before he passed in that freak car accident all those years ago-hadn't even tried, in fact, and every single day he regretted it.

"You're hurting him!" Don shoved Jacob out of the way roughly and took Tony very abruptly from the table and ran out of the room fast as he could, the toddler safely cocooned in his arms.

"After that traitor! Now Jacob!" he could hear a very pissed off Dr. Rosenberg from across the hall, as he bounded the crickety stairs, taking two to three at a time, very aware he was carrying precious cargo.

"Lower floor is clear Boss!"

"North side is clear too, Boss!"

Don was running out of air, Jacob was stronger than him physically, and he couldn't very well outrun him forever. He stopped for a quick second and tucked the toddler very gently into a crevice in the buildings' foundation, hoping he could pull off being incognito until...well, he hadn't exactly planned that far ahead yet. "Tony, stay there, don't make a sound if you see Dr. Rosenberg or Jacob, alright? This is the quiet game, so no talking at all, okay?"

Tonys big watery eyes gazed up at him. He knew they were in trouble, but nodded along very slowly, "What about you?" he asked worriedly.

Don smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine. Now stay there, I'll be back soon, okay? Remember, no noise."

Tony nodded, and was eventually left to stare at the mans' back as he fled, and a few seconds later more pounding foot steps alerted him to Jacobs presence. Tony felt an over whelming sense of relief when the large body guard ran right past him, not spotting him at all, but wondered when Don would be back.

Several minutes later more steps could be heard from right around the corner and Tony knew they were supposed to be playing the quiet game, but he was frightened, he didn't mean to let that whimper escape his lips.

A shadow loomed over the space he was hidden, and Tony closed his eyes tight, put his hands over his head and try as he might, the panic got to him and the small sobs started increasing as the shadow neared his location.

"Tony..." the relief in Gibbs voice was palpable, as without a moments' thought he scooped up the petite toddler and held him tight to his chest, his hands trembling, his face buried in the crook of the childs' neck. "Oh Tony, oh thank God."

Kate radioed her other two team mates. "We found him!" she couldn't remember the last time she'd been so happy and the feeling all but over took her, and she wiped several stray tears from her eyes. She had barely slept those two nights, and if they hadn't found him today, it would've been her third sleepless night in a row.

Tony clung to his boss, so many emotions stirring inside of him he couldn't think straight. Finally he just let out a heart-wrenching sob, his tiny fingers clutching at the material of Gibbs shirt frantically. "B-boss!" he wailed, his breathes coming in gasps and his face stained with tears. He'd been so afraid, so lonely, he'd missed Gibbs so much it had been unbearable to a point. He'd been mistreated by that doctor, his arms were scattered with terrible bruises and it seemed as if all he'd been doing these past three days consisted of crying, begging to see Gibbs again, and trying to scurry away from all the painful injections he'd been subjected to.

Now he was in his Boss' arms, feeling safe, relieved, over-joyed, at home, and an awful amount of grief for a reason he couldn't quite make sense of. So he cried and cried.

He cried as Gibbs, arms wrapped around the toddlers fragile frame, tread the stairs carefully, Kate behind him, her gun drawn.

He cried as they met up with Ziva and McGee, both with twin looks of utter relief on their faces, as they spotted the three.

He cried when he saw the corpse of Jacob, strewn on the floor, a knife embedded in his chest.

He cried when Ziva manhandled Dr. Rosenberg out of his hiding place in hand cuffs, promising very dreadful things once they got back to NCIS.

And then Tony spotted him.

On the floor, looking soundly asleep, lay Don. That's when Tony realized they'd been playing the quiet game and they'd both broken the rules. With a lot of effort, Tony wiped his tears and withheld his sobs. Gibbs was absolutely shocked when the toddler struggled out of his firm grip and his stubby little legs carried him over to the body guard.

Tony knelt down next to him, shook his shoulder. "Donnie, sleeping is cheating." he pointed out childishly, shook him some more. Harder this time. "Donnie, wake up, the game's over. Look, my Boss is here, he can get us out. We're okay now. Gibbs will keep us safe."

Tony looked up at the older man, "Right Gibbs?"

Gibbs didn't have the words or the heart to tell the four year-old his friend was dead, but the pained look on his face must have said it all. Gibbs expected a new round of sobbing to commence, but was shocked to see the toddler lay on the ground next to the corpse, uncoordinated fingers gripping at the guards t-shirt, placing his head on the mans' chest very gently.

"Donnie..." silent tears rolled down Tonys' cheeks. He was going to miss Donnie.

A.N. Papa!Gibbs comforting the baby in the next chapter! Review please! Feedback, opinions, imput, etc. are all welcome (and encouraged)! Thanks! :)