A/N: Sorry, guess there was some confusion the last chapter. That one shot was a missing scene that took place before the first chapter of "Slowly Fading Away". Any questions feel free to ask :) This one is short, sweet, set during "Slowly Fading Away".

"Cold As Ice"

Despite the heat being on in the conference room, Leah was shivering.

Her world was completely unraveling. Tony was missing, possibly out in the cold and dying. Or, the negative Nelly in her kept saying, he was already dead. She was struggling to hold herself together. Her husband, lover, best friend... her protector... had vanished in the blink of an eye. She might not ever see him again and it made her feel sick to her stomach. Instead of vomiting, however, she had resorted to shivering.

Ducky poured her a cup of hot chocolate and placed it in front of her. His heart broke looking at her worried face. Anthony meant so much to her and here she was sitting in this room, facing a frightening reality. "Jethro will get to the bottom of this my dear."

Leah stared at the cardboard cup in front of her. "I'm trying not to go to the worst case scenario, but I keep seeing Jack growing up without his father and asking me years from now where his daddy is. And I'm afraid I won't have the answers."

"You will find the words, my dear, if it comes to that," Ducky assured her. "But I am hopeful that it is not coming to that."

"The irony is he stopped so he wouldn't get hurt," Leah said, softly. "He thought it was best..."

"It seems that he had the best intentions at heart. Trouble is Anthony's middle name, sadly."

Holding back a sob, Leah leaned back in her seat. She glanced at Jack, sound asleep on a blanket on the floor. At least one of them could rest easy. She wanted to wake up, warm in bed, and not be sitting here at NCIS, shivering. She didn't want to feel as cold as ice.

Tobias Fornell recalled one time seeing Gibbs this way, just after Kate Todd died.

Gibbs normally drove like a mad man, but today he was really pushing the limits as the two agents desperately searched for Tony. When Tobias had broached the subject that perhaps DiNozzo had gotten cold feet and ran away, the FBI agent thought for sure Gibbs was going to clock him. DiNozzo would never leave his family like this. Never, Tobias!

Regardless of how Tobias felt, they had a job to do. Finding Tony was their top priority. After watching the team struggle through Gibbs' near death experience, the FBI agent wondered what was going to happen if they had to suffer through the loss of Tony. How was Jethro going to handle it? Clearly the man was still not right in the head. Another death would only kick him when he was already flat on his face. "DiNozzo's smart. He'll find a way to survive."

"I know," Gibbs ground out. "I taught him how to be an agent!"

"But you're still worried," Tobias pointed out.

"Of course I am. Tony might be dead."

"And how does that make you feel?"

Jethro glared at him. Why did everyone insist on being his therapist? How did it make him feel? It made him feel awful. He had pushed Tony away thinking that it was best, thinking that he wouldn't hurt Tony anymore if he kept the younger man at a distance. Swallowing the bitter taste in his mouth, he realized how cold that made him feel. "Like a bastard, Tobias," he muttered, "like a bastard."