Gibbs tried to ignore the nagging feeling he had when he saw Tony walk in to the bullpen the next day, in full-on black Armani. Even the tie was a grey on black pattern, which did not bode well.

It was armor.

Not that it couldn't be torn, or easily damaged.

No, it was something he knew Tony did when he was worried, or depressed. And often the dark, expensive suit was outfitted with a new shirt, or shoes. Which denoted to Gibbs how upset his friend was.

Today, it seemed, from what Gibbs could see, Tony was sporting both.

"Good morning, Tony!" Ziva said gaily from her desk. She was smiling at him, as he dumped his bag behind his desk and sat down.

He sighed and looked up, attempting a bare smile, "Good morning, oh bucket of sunshine. What, pray tell, has you in such a good mood?"

Both Gibbs and McGee looked over interested in her response, since they also had heard her chipper tone.

Her dark eyes bore into Tony's with expectation, as she leaned her chin onto her hand. "You can not tell?" Her brows raised a little.

Tony frowned a little and squinted at her momentarily. As he did, she noticed how pale he was.

"You're happy, because you finally killed your neighbor's yorkie with a machete. I know it was keeping you up every night with it's incessant barking." Tony leaned back, raising his own brows at her, waiting for her response.

She snorted in disgust. "No. As much as I would like to…do something, about my neighbors dog, that is not what has me in such a good mood."

Tony frowned again. "Okay, then what?"

McGee stood up from his desk and walked over to her, is head tilted a little as he took a better look at her. "I know! Highlights. You got highlights in your hair Ziva."

"Why yes, McGee," she said, very pleased. "It is nice to know at least someone is paying attention." She threw the dig at Tony, and as they looked over for him to throw back some sarcastic remark, they noticed he had disengaged from the conversation. He was looking down at his desk, lost in his own thoughts.

It was really quiet for too long of a span.

"Tony?" McGee called softly.

Tony looked truly startled, quickly picking his eyes up to meet McGee's. "Huh?" and then caught Ziva looking at him again as well, "Sorry. Ah, they're very nice, Ziva." He scanned her appearance ever so quickly and turned to start his computer.

Ziva and McGee looked at each other for a moment. They both knew Tony. And knew something was up.

"McGee, if you don't get back to work, I'm going to "highlight" what happens to employees who goof-off on the job," Gibbs growled.

Gibbs' phone rang and he picked it up as the Probie went back to his desk.

Tony had started his computer and was still just looking blankly at the screen.

Ziva and McGee passed another look back and forth from their chairs. And Ziva gave McGee a gesture with her chin towards Tony.

"Hey Tony?" McGee called.

"What, McNag?" Tony asked tiredly while not turning around.

"You okay?" came Tim's gentle reply.

Tony turned and seemed to take a deep breath, pulling his game face on and smiling a bit more broadly. "I'm just fine Probie." Tony was hoping his eyes were saying what his mouth was.

But McGee was not convinced.

"Okay…w-well, you just seem …kinda quiet…"McGee attempted.

"Ah," Tony said, with a tone of reasonable logic, "well, it was a late night last night. Guess I didn't get much sleep." Tony shrugged and grinned at both McGee and then Ziva, winking at them before turning back to his desk and casually opening a folder from his in box.

"Gear up." Gibbs stood up after ending his phone call, grabbing his gun from his desk while giving Tony a sideways glance. Do I really need to worry about this Wendy thing, DiNozzo? He had heard the smoke-and-mirrors reply he gave to Ziva and McGee. And well, in Tony's defense, it probably wasn't a lie, because he looked like he hadn't slept at all.

McGee read the fingerprint scanner. "Boss, confirmed. This is Lance Corporal Caleb Simms."

They stared down at the man's body, lying face down in a dirt alley behind the Copper Whistle bar and billiards.

At the end of the alley, Ducky and Palmer were getting out of their truck.

"Boss," Tony called from a few feet away, holding up a cigarette butt in his gloved hand.

"Bag it, DiNozzo. Any sign of a murder weapon?" Gibbs eyed the wide pool of blood under the corpse. It was obvious without Ducky's evaluation. Someone had cut the man's throat.

"No, Boss. Not yet." Tony looked up at Gibbs and then glanced at the dumpster to his right. Then, he looked back at Gibbs. Alarmed.

"Shouldn'ta worn those fancy shoes today, Tony," he said wryly, "get in there."

Instead of the usual groan and litany of complaints, or trying to get McGee to do it, Tony just nodded and then went back to what he was doing.

Okay. Something is definitely wrong, Gibbs thought.

"Ahhh, Jethro," Ducky greeted. "Whom do I have the pleasure of meeting on this crisp morning?" He put down his bag and kneeled down to begin examining the body.

"L-C-L Simms," Gibbs said, glancing at McGee to continue.

"Caleb Simms, age thirty-three, married to Angela Simms, and residing at 450 Hillcrest Avenue in Union. Boss…" McGee glance up from the handheld machine, "he was only home from his post in Spain three days."

"That is a short-lived homecoming," said Ziva, suddenly standing next to Gibbs and looking down sadly at Simms' body.

"Anything from the bar?" Gibbs asked.

"No," she shook her head, and adjusted her field cap. "But the bar is closed so there is no one to talk to. We will have to come back. No one from the neighboring businesses saw or heard anything."

Gibbs looked up at the dark alley around them, the bricks dingy and crumbling with age. There were barely any windows, and the alley closed off into a dead end where the buildings all met.

"There are only two ways in," Gibbs said, almost to himself. "The entrance to the alley, and-"

"The bar door," Palmer said out loud as he helped Ducky roll Simms over.

They all cringed just a little, at the mess. And the hint of terror frozen on the pale face. The man's brown eyes were still open.

"Oh, dear," they heard Ducky murmur from under the brim of his hat. "Your death was not a pretty one, my friend."

Abby was enjoying herself with a few moments of free time, by Waltzing with Burt to mosh music.

She caught Tony walking into the lab from the corner of her eye.

She held Bert away from her and said, "Why thank you for this dance," and curtsied before placing him tenderly on the counter next to her main terminal.

She immediately lowered the music, and turned to get a good look at Tony.

"Wow," she said, taking in his sour expression and dirty shoes as he held several evidence bags up to her. "And no Caf-Pow either?"

He stood a little slumped before her, with plastic pouches in one hand and and nothing in the other.

"Abs," he warned, "I've just been crawling around in garbage, and Gibbs wanted me to drop this to you right away. I'm covered in God-knows-what. Exactly how bad do you need the Caf-Pow right now?"

She went to hug him and he side stepped her, avoiding her touch. "Abs, I'm really…sticky."

She took in his bloodshot green eyes, dark circles under them, and then snatched the evidence bags out of his hand. "Someone's cranky."

She turned and put the bags on her counter, and realized he was leaving with out saying anything else to her.

"HEY!" she yelled, and he stopped in his tracks.

Tony took a deep breath, and exhaled, turning slowly and walking back to her.

"Yes?"

"Is everything okay with you ?"

He shook his head a little to himself. "M'fine."

"Cos'…you know…" she changed tactics, "I broke up with Adam."

The green eyes widened a little, as his expression softened. "Oh…I'm sorry Abs…err, how long were you dating again?" He was confused. Which one was Adam? He was trying to remember.

"Fifteen days, three hours and forty-seven seconds."

"Abs, you scare me."He finally smiled a little and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Gibbs…you …know how he always takes me to dinner after I break up with a guy…" she watched him for a moment as he put two and two together.

He licked his lips a moment and then raised his brows as he said in a low irritated voice, "LaScalla." Then he clenched his jaw ever so slightly. Another sigh escaped him.

She tried to look away as she nodded her head, "Yeah…"she saw something that looked like fear pass over him, making his eyes look dazed and glassy for a moment.

"But," she added quickly" we weren't there the whole time you were…" Okay so…not totally a lie, she thought.

"You and Gibbs saw us didn't you," he said quietly, and was that a little tremble she saw in his hands?

"You…and…Wendy. Um…how did it go?" She tried to sound ignorant of what they had seen pass between Tony and his ex.

He closed his eyes for a moment and took another deep breath. He opened them and smiled at her. "Call Gibbs as soon as you have anything. I need to shower …or use some C-4 to get this smell off me…and put on my sneakers." He looked down at his ruined Ferragamos. He smiled at them a little sadly. Then he looked up at her again. "I'll bring you a Caf-Pow after I de-funk. I promise." And before she could respond again he walked out.

She sighed worriedly, and sat on her stool, She looked at Bert. "I think we need some help on this one, pal."

McGee was checking into LCL Simms' background while Gibbs and Ziva were on their way to speak with Mrs. Simms.

Tony had yet to come back from his dumpster "detox". McGee smiled to himself a little, "At least it wasn't me this time."

Normally, he would have gloated. But that was also because normally, Tony would have been whining over it. But he had still been unusually quiet…

An instant message popped up on his screen. It was from Abby.

GOODGOLLY : Hey.

TimMG : Hey Abs.

GOODGOLLY : Whatcha doin'?

TimMG: Working. Shouldn't you be?

GOODGOLLY : How was Tony today?

TimMG : Weird. Too quiet. Why?

He waited but she was hesitating to answer.

TimMG : What's wrong?

GOODGOLLY: Come see me later when you can. I need your help with something.