Hey y'all I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the awesome reviews! I don't think i have ever had that many reviews for one chapter before. It was awesome! Also thanks to my beta. I also went back and fixed some of the errors from the first chapter. If you find more in this chapter don't be afraid to let me know. I hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer—I don't own.

Chapter One

The hospital

Gibbs and Ducky stood back against the wall of the exam room were several government employed Doctors were currently going over every inch of his SFA's physical and mental health with a fine-tooth comb. Tony for his part had maintained his depressed state. He was almost to the point of being catatonic and the doctors were seriously discussing taking drastic measures. Gibbs had only seen his agent like this one time before and it had given him a mighty scare at the time. The only way he had been able to bring DiNozzo out of his trans was by head slapping him.

Gibbs was no fool he could spot a coping mechanism with the best of them. He just hadn't realized that what his friend and partner had been coping with was so serious, and at that moment he was willing to try anything to get his SFA to respond. He just didn't think the doctors in the room would appreciate his technique all that much. Though once he heard words like psych ward, and psychotropic medicines he knew he had to step in.

He pushed himself away from the wall and threaded his way through the crowd of doctors. He finally managed to come face to face with his friend and the sight that greeted him made his heart squeeze painfully in his chest. Tony sat on the exam table shirtless and completely withdrawn into himself. His head was down and his shoulders were slumped. You could hardly tell that he was breathing.

Gibbs got level with his SFA's face and raising a hand quickly and forcefully delivered a head slap. He heard the gasps around the room and the cry's of outrage but he ignored it all because the reaction he got out of DiNozzo was exactly what he had been hoping for. At first Tony reacted as though he had been struck by lightning. He jumped about a foot off the table and then looked wildly around the room, as if he didn't know where he was. He wearily eyed the group of still shocked doctors and then after a minute of surveying his surroundings he finally looked at his boss and with a confused expression on his face asked, "Boss why am I here?"

That Gibbs had not been expecting. He sighed heavily and asked, "Tony what do you remember?"

Tony appeared to be thinking hard for a minute and then slowly said, "Um . . . I . . . remember . . . I remember the meeting with Vance and the team. Then . . ."

He trailed off as the memories came flooding back to him. He grabbed his boss' hand and urgently said, "Gibbs I have to get out of here! I can't stay here he'll find me!"

Gibbs knew he had to get some kind of information from Tony before things got too out of hand. He gently took his SFA by the face, forcing him to look him in the eye and concentrate. He made sure he maintained eye contact with Tony while he spoke, "Tony I need to know whom he is. I need you to tell me what you are talking about."

Tony closed his eyes trying to keep the past in the past. He knew he couldn't really do that now, but every instinct that he had honed into almost perfection was screaming at him to some how deploy evasive maneuvers. Taking a deep breath he looked at his boss and said, "His name is, or I should say was Dr. Franks. I say was because he might have changed it. I . . . can't really go into the details right now boss but . . . he . . . used to do experiments on me . . . and . . . and he was really angry when I escaped boss and he swore he would never stop looking for me."

To say that every one in the room was shocked would be an understatement. They were beyond shocked they were downright horrified.

Tony opened his mouth to speak but then closing it shook his head. All he wanted was to go home and take a hot shower. He couldn't believe how much he hurt. His head ached, his ribs were making it really hard to draw in a breath and his wrist was beyond throbbing. He looked around one more time, avoiding all the medical personal before looking solely at Gibbs and asking, "Can I leave yet?"

Everyone but Gibbs and Ducky were shocked by this whole scenario. It was clear that the Guardian was not well! And yet he was, wanting to leave! Gibbs just shook his head, while Ducky jumped in saying, "You most certainly can not! You have some very serious injuries that must be treated in addition to everything else."

Tony just scrunched up his face saying, "Aww come on Ducky I'm good! seriously! It's been a couple of days since it's happened. I haven't passed out and obviously I haven't fallen into a coma. Really I'm good."

Tony had refrained from using his standard 'I'm fine', knowing that it would only serve to alert them to how un-fine he was at the moment. He knew that he couldn't just forget about everything that could happen but he was hoping that he could at least skip over most of the medical stuff.

Ducky threw his hands up in the air in exasperation exclaiming, "Honestly! Jethro talk some sense into the lad!"

Gibbs looked at Ducky with a look of incredulity and said seriously, "And tell him what Duck? That if he cooperates he'll eventually get to go home! That he might still have his job? That things aren't gonna change?"

Tony looked shocked at Gibbs and grabbed his shirt and demanded with panic in his eyes, "What do you mean!? You firing me Boss?"

Gibbs cursed himself for his loose tongue. He turned to Tony and said, "Hell NO DiNozzo! You're not going anywhere if I can help it. But Tony you and I both know that they don't like to let Guardians work in law enforcement. Especially healers like yourself."

Tony let go of Gibbs' shirt and looked down at his hands. He hadn't been thinking about all of that. The rules and guidelines were very specific for Guardians. Gibbs was right; they were monitored extremely closely. There was never a time when a Guardian wasn't being monitored. The Government claimed that it was for their protection, but Tony was inclined to believe that it was a very deliberate invasion of privacy.

He laid himself back on the bed and threw his good arm over his eyes. He was beginning to hyperventilate. He felt hands touching him and went to throw them off, but was stopped by a firm grip on his arm. Tony looked up into his boss's face and seeing the look of empathy there. It suddenly all became too much for him. He broke down. His sobs were quiet, frame wracking, breath hitching as he released years of tension and pent up emotion.

An Hour Later:

Tony lay on the bed in a state of half awareness. He was so damn tired. He had just spent the last fifteen minutes covertly ringing up his fathers' old defense lawyer. He never did understand why his father let Hotch go. But then again he didn't understand half of what his father did and had stopped trying to figure him out a long time ago.

Tony thought back to earlier before he had made his call. To what had made him decide to make his call.

-FLASH BACK-

"What the HELL do you think your doing!?" Yelled Tony when the group of doctors brought out what looked like torture instruments from the dark ages and had begun to prepare them for use.

The lead doctor looked up in confusion saying, "We are preparing to start the marking and tagging processes. It's a requirement for your protection as set forth by the Guardians act."

Tony moved himself further away from the evil looking devices and forcefully said, "There is NO WAY in HELL that you are getting anywhere near me with that crap! I have rights as a citizen of the Unites States and as a human being. You will not touch me with any of that!"

The doctor just rolled his eyes and looking towards the male nurses that had accompanied them into the room saying; "Looks like your going to have to hold him down."

They were instantly upon him trying to subdue him. Tony used all of his superior senses and all of his hand-to-hand combat training with Gibbs to his advantage. He hated to sound so helpless but as he fought to free himself he called out; "Gibbs! Gibbs help! Help me!"

He hoped to whatever god was out there that his link to Gibbs was open enough for Gibbs to hear him; he had never tried an empathic link until he had met Gibbs and he wasn't sure he had done right. As fate would have it no more than a minute later Gibbs and Ducky along with Dr. Krandle came running into the room. Gibbs managed to pull both nurses off his agent just as he collapsed from exhaustion. Gibbs threw both men away from the bed and pulled his gun standing protectively in front of it. Ducky and Dr. Krandle stood on either side of it trying to calm a hyperventilating Tony.

After a few minutes of complete silence Gibbs ground out. "Would any of you care to explain just what the hell you were trying to do to my agent?"

-END FLASH BACK-

The doctors had been sufficiently scared of Gibbs and had left never to come back. Dr. Krandle and Ducky took over Tony's medical care from then on.

About an hour after the incident Gibbs, Ducky and Dr. Krandle were called out into the hallway by the director of the hospital for a meeting, along with the official government representative for the Guardians.

While everyone had vacated the room Tony had taken that time to call Hotch his dads' old lawyer.

-FLASH BACK-

"Hello?"

"Hotch? This is Tony Jr."

"Junior! How's it going? How's your old man? He's not in trouble is he?"

"No Hotch but I'm in a little bit of a pickle. You still do defense don't you?"

"Yah. But why do you need me?"

"Look I can't talk about it over the phone. I can pay you with the money my mom left me. Can you come help me? I'm at Bethesda Hospital."

There was silence, as the man on the other end seemed to think for a few minutes before he said, "Yah I'll help you Tony. I'll be there in twenty minutes. Sit tight and don't say or do anything till I get there. "

Tony let out a deep breath saying, "Thanks Hotch and you might wanna brush up on your Guardian law."

-End Flash Back-

With that he had closed the phone and lay back on then bed settling in for the wait. He was just about to doze off when the door to his room opened. Tony could feel Gibbs sliding soundlessly into the room. With out opening his eyes Tony asked, "How's it going boss?"

He could tell that he had surprised Gibbs with his question but also that Gibbs had hidden his surprise well. He sighed and said, "Not as well as it could be. Tony they are considering some very serious options."

Tony just snorted saying; "Let them try! I am still a human and a citizen of the United States I have rights regardless of what my DNA says. Besides my lawyer is gonna be here soon and they can talk to him."

Gibbs was more than a little shocked to see his SFA acting this way. He stood there for once at a loss for words. Tony just looked back at him steadily; never letting his eyes wander. After a few minutes of just starring at each other Gibbs finally asked, "What's really going on here Tony?"

Tony knew that it would be long before Gibbs would start demanding answers. Taking a deep breath he tried to keep his emotions under control as he shakily began, "When I was a kid, I always wondered why I wasn't more like other kids. My mother was supper protective of me and would hardly let me do anything that could in any way cause me harm. I mean even going out side was a huge deal. I had to play gently and not get too excited! I always wondered why? Why was I treated like a porcelain doll? I was never sick so I knew it wasn't because of that. I was homeschooled and even had a private physician."

Tony stopped and Gibbs being wise to the ways of his agent knew not to interrupt, though he was seriously beginning to wonder where this story was going. But knowing Tony never said anything that wasn't important in some way to the story, made sure to store all of this information away for a later date.

And true to form Tony started to talk again. "It wasn't until I was about six that I found out what she had been so desperate to keep hidden. She was a guardian and apparently so is my father. I now understand why he drank so much. The things they experienced boss . . ." Tony shuddered and then taking a deep breath said, "A few years before she died; We had been in a car accident, and since it was so traumatic it caused my gene to activate sooner than normal. After . . . after that she and I would spend hours practicing the shielding technique and other ways to control my powers. When she died she made me promise that I would never reveal what I truly was."

Tony stopped again and this time his voice became flat and he stared off into space noticing no one and nothing. "After she passed . . . he; my father, went kinda crazy. I guess I was too much of a reminder of what he had experienced and what he had lost. Anyways he forged all of my papers and sent me to boarding school. This was huge for me boss. I had never been away from my parents before and to suddenly loose my mother and then to have my father just dispense of me really sent me for a tailspin. I kept my promise to my mother, but I was so scared and angry with my father that I became reckless and I ended up getting hurt at school. It was pretty serious and I needed a blood transfusion. So they ended up drawing blood and discovering that I was an active guardian. The doctor confronted my father about it and took me away. He threatened my father that if he didn't cooperate with his plan that he would kill me. He took me to a friend of his and they . . . they did things to me. It went on like that until I was about sixteen. A friend that I had made while in captivity helped me escape. She wasn't able to get out herself; she . . . sacrificed herself so that I could make it out."

At this point Tony had stopped talking again and hadn't realized that he had silent tears running down his face. Gibbs came over to him and sitting on the side of the bed did the only thing he could think of and wrapped his senior field agent in a bone-crushing hug. At first Tony didn't respond but after a few seconds he hesitantly wrapped his arms around the solid form and took a few deep shuddering breaths. Gibbs rubbed his hand up and down his back whispering, "Just let it out Tony. Let it out. I'm here and I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

He felt Tony nod into his chest and after a minute more pulled away and dried his tears. He looked away from Gibbs saying, "Sorry boss."

Gibbs slapped him on the back of the head saying, "Don't you dare DiNozzo. You have nothing to be sorry about. Just rest and we'll figure this mess out."

Tony looked at Gibbs for a few minutes before quietly nodding and laying back on the bed. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes; he forced his body to relax and within minutes was fast asleep.

TBC