A/N—we had initially posted this in the crossover category, but the crossover is So Minor, that we felt it would be best served just as a NCIS story. So we have moved it to NCIS and dropped the crossover listing. Just know that there will be some Eureka characters in the story eventually, but they don't play a major part in the story.

Chapter 2

It had taken only two days to solve the murder of the Petty Officer who became their case the night of 'The Incident'. McGee had found a connection between their victim and his killer, a fellow sailor. Both had been attracted to the same woman, a waitress in a restaurant near the docks, and the Petty Officer had won her hand. Gibbs had taken McGee along to make the arrest, not even looking Tony's way as he headed for the elevator. DiNozzo dismissed it, figuring it was Gibbs' way of rewarding the junior agent for finding the lead in the first place.

That was until he remembered Gibbs' last words that night..."Maybe it's about time McGee got that promotion." Those words played over and over in his head, on a loop, the words bashing against his brain even as they brought the suspect in, and as he watched from the observation room as Gibbs let McGee take the lead in interrogation. "..about time...McGee...promotion...about time...McGee...promotion...McGee...promotion... McGee...promotion...promotion...McGee..."

Gibbs was like a proud papa when Tim got the suspect to confess. As DiNozzo led the prisoner away, he heard Gibbs' voice echo down the hall. "Nice job, McGee. Very nice job."

Nice job, McGee. Promotion...McGee. He looked back over his shoulder as he opened the door to the holding cells and saw a huge grin on Gibbs' face as his boss draped an arm over McGee's shoulder and led the younger man down the hall the other way.

And of course McGee had been so smug about it for days afterward, even Ziva had gotten fed up with him. Tony quietly congratulated McGee on the successful interrogation, but since he had still been hearing Gibbs' hateful words running through his head, his congratulations apparently hadn't sounded sincere enough to his teammates. So McGee and Ziva both had accused him of being upset that Gibbs had allowed McGee to do so much on this case, that maybe he was falling out of favor with the boss. That he was jealous.

Tony nearly laughed in their faces. If only they knew how Gibbs really felt toward one Tony DiNozzo. He was at least glad that Gibbs had vented his true thoughts in private and not in the middle of the bullpen. He was having a hard enough time dealing with knowing how Gibbs really felt about him. He really didn't need McGee and David knowing, too.

Although, it was beginning to look like Gibbs had decided he didn't care one way or another how Tony felt. He was barely tolerating DiNozzo now and Tony knew it was only a matter of time before he was transferred off the team. So he'd begun to search the NCIS website to see what other positions might be available. He didn't think that the Director would give him his own team. Leon Vance hated him too much to actually promote him, even if he was fully qualified. But at this point, he doubted that he'd get a recommendation from Gibbs either.

Another thought flittered across him mind. What if Gibbs recommended termination instead of transfer? He couldn't afford to be fired. He'd have to put in for transfer before Gibbs could make a move either way. Who knew where he'd end up if the decision was left to Vance and Gibbs. Probably Siberia or Antarctica or somewhere equally isolated. Then again, that might actually be better. No boss, no teammates to rely on. No one to rely on but himself.

He'd decided that he'd spend the weekend seriously looking for an opening, hopefully finding something that suited him, and get the transfer paperwork started. Now he just had to get through the next four days.

Glancing down at his desk calendar, he noted the date and smiled to himself. He needed to call Pete soon and see where the yearly Fraternity get-together was going to be this year. At least he had that to look forward to...good food, good beer, some basketball or football. Good times with guys who were truly his friends.

/

It had been a month since 'The Incident', as Tony was beginning to dub that disastrous night when he'd interrupted Gibbs and his lady friend. And he knew he would never forget that night. It had been deeply imbedded in his brain. It ran through his mind several times a day, in fact. Every time he looked at Gibbs, he remembered that face, snarling in anger, so close he could still feel Gibbs' breath as the older man spewed out those vitriolic words.

Initially, he figured it was just Gibbs' anger that had him saying those things and he tried to push the whole thing aside. Oh, it wasn't easy, considering what had been said, but he'd done his best to chalk it up to Gibbs being Gibbs...that second B was out in full force that night. So, he'd tried to push the words away, just as he had every time his father had called him worthless or stupid when he was a child. He'd tried.

But every time he thought about reacting as he had in the past, to joke around with McGee or Ziva, he kept coming back to what Gibbs had said about him not having any friends. He had considered both of them to be friends, but wondered if they felt the same way. He began to watch them, to observe the way they acted toward him, toward each other, toward others in the building.

And he began to go back over past incidents. In the face of Gibbs' words, he began to see those incidents in a different light. He recalled calling Tim one night at midnight, asking if he'd give him a ride home, that he'd had a bit too much to drink and didn't think it was safe to drive. McGee told him to call a cab, that he was already in bed. Two days later, when they were heading to lunch, every suggestion he made was dismissed as too greasy, too far away, too...something.

He remembered numerous times he had brought coffee in for everyone and was quizzed about what he had put in their drinks to prank them. When he brought in Danish, they asked him what he had done that he felt the need to bribe them with food.

Just a couple of days before 'the incident', he had invited McGee, Ziva and Abby to have dinner at his house. They all declared they weren't in the mood for pizza. When he informed them he planned to cook, they had derided him, Ziva even remarking that she'd rather eat cardboard than anything he might try to make. The other two had laughed and offered their own suggestions on what disgusting thing they would rather dine on in place of whatever he might 'make from a box', as Abby put it.

That had hurt. Abby knew that he could cook, had been the recipient of dinners at his home in the past. The woman who had praised the food that Ziva had created during the 'team' dinner that Tony had conveniently not been invited to when Ziva had first arrived on the team, went along with the joke, at his expense. She had apologized the next day, and he'd accepted, but looking back on it now put a different light on it. It was tough for him to accept the fact that Gibbs had been right.

And then he wondered why he'd ever doubted the man. Gibbs was always right, wasn't he? At least when it came to Tony DiNozzo. Gibbs saw through his act in Baltimore. But then again, he had told Tony at that time that 'you don't waste good', so maybe Tony had fooled him at first. And now Gibbs was pissed because he finally realized he'd made a mistake. He finally realized that DiNozzo was not the man he thought he was.

And if Gibbs was right, maybe Senior was right too. He was worthless. And he would end up in the gutter. He had no friends. He had acquaintances, he had co-workers...but he had no true friends, at least not at work. He'd painfully learned the difference over the last couple of weeks.

And when in the past he'd turned to his so-called friends at work, mainly Abby and Ducky, about comments Gibbs had made toward him, neither had been very sympathetic, basically disregarding his worries, telling him that Gibbs was just that way. He could almost hear Gibbs' voice saying 'just suck it up, DiNozzo' as he listened to them. But he guessed he shouldn't be surprised that their loyalties would lay with the former Marine. He had known them longer, after all. And both had a closer relationship with Gibbs then Tony did... well, at least closer than Tony had thought he had. He had obviously been kidding himself that he had any kind of friendship at all with Gibbs.

He'd never thought of himself as delusional, but apparently he was. He had thought that he and Gibbs had, if not a close friendship, at least a friendship of some kind. But that night in Gibbs' living room had shattered any illusions he'd harbored.

/

Two more quick cases followed, the second one landing Tony on desk duty with a broken rib when the Marine suspect got in a lucky shot while Tony and McGee were arresting the Marine. By the time Gibbs and Ziva showed up, McGee had the guy in cuffs and was leading him to their vehicle, while Tony was still trying to catch his breath.

Gibbs had once again praised McGee on 'taking down the suspect' while Ziva taunted Tony for 'laying down on the job.' And no mention at all from McGee that Tony was the one who had tackled the guy and briefly struggled with him, keeping him down while all McGee did was throw on the handcuffs. Gibbs reached down a hand to pull him up, commenting that maybe he should get in some hand-to-hand training. Tony ignored his outstretched hand, pulling himself up slowly.

Ziva offered to 'train' him, laughing as Tony winced in pain when she poked him in the side. Tony had felt and heard the rib break as the Marine's foot connected, but it took a quick examination by Ducky for anyone else to acknowledge that he'd been injured. The elderly Medical Examiner had done x-rays, all the while chastising DiNozzo for once again getting hurt, lamenting the fact that he was by far the most injured agent on the team, maybe in the entire building.

When Tony had made it back to the bullpen, Gibbs was just getting off the phone with Dr. Mallard, obviously not expecting DiNozzo to give him a complete report. The broken rib would keep him out of the field for several weeks and the look of disgust on Gibbs' face at the pronouncement wasn't totally unexpected, considering.

As Tony carefully sat down in his chair to write his report, Gibbs was informing McGee that he would be acting as his SFA in the field while DiNozzo was 'laid up', off-handedly mentioning that it would be good training for him. All Tony could hear was McGee...promotion..about time...

Gibbs and Ziva had then headed toward interrogation, McGee following behind like the good puppy he was becoming. Tony briefly closed his eyes and took a deep breath...well, as deep as he could with a busted rib. He eventually finished his report and stood up to grab the hard copy from the printer. He was approaching the team's area again as Gibbs and the others barreled back onto the room.

"Go to lunch, people," Gibbs ordered.

McGee and Ziva gathered up their gear and started toward the elevator. McGee stopped and turned around. "Boss, would you care to join us?" he asked, not even looking Tony's way. "We can celebrate the quick closure of the case."

After just a brief hesitation, Gibbs nodded, tossed his empty coffee cup in the trash and followed the others to the elevator. "We should call Ducky and Abby, too, have them join us."

Tony felt numb as he watched the elevator doors close behind the trio. None of them had even glanced his way and he couldn't help but feel he'd been deliberately left out...again...of a team meal. Yes, he'd turned down all invitations lately, but those weren't "team" meals. They were celebrating closing a case he had helped with, but they didn't even bother asking him to join. He sat behind his desk and read through his report, having to read it several times before he signed it and dropped it in Gibbs' in-box.

/

Tony went home that evening and decided he needed to hear a friendly voice. So he pulled out his phone and dialed the number for Pete Logan, one of his fraternity brothers and the only one of them who had played on the basketball team with him. Pete lived close by, just across the river. The two men usually got together for a pick-up game once a month, depending on Tony's schedule. He was laughing when Pete finally got to the phone, as he could hear his wife calling him, then a loud crash and Pete muttering something about the 'damn dog' as he picked up the phone.

It was then that Tony's life began to fall apart completely. A simple phone call to speak to his friend...or at least someone who had been his friend, or so he thought. Follow-up calls to four more 'friends' had solidified the message.

The men he'd always thought of as brothers, men he was sure would support him and be there for him no matter what...men he had relied on to give him advice and listen to his troubles... those men had excluded him...lied to him. When he needed them most, they'd turned their backs on him.

When he'd called Pete, he discovered that they had already finalized plans for the Frat get-together, but that this year they had decided to make it a family affair. Of the group of six who got together yearly, only Tony was still single. The others had decided that they wanted to include their families this year and figured that Tony would be uncomfortable being the only single guy there and with all the kids running around. So, rather than calling their buddy and asking him how he'd feel, they decided to just make plans without telling him.

As Pete tried to explain their reasoning, Tony just tuned him out, because all he was really hearing was Gibbs' voice. No friends...annoying...jokes, pranks...McGee...about time to promote...no friends...no friends...no friends.

Tony slowly closed the phone, ending the call while Pete was still talking. But Tony wasn't listening any more. He was replaying his frat days, and the times they'd all got together after graduation. He'd always been the life of the party, matching the others drink for drink, competing for the prettiest girls. He was being left behind as they grew away from him...because he had no wife...he had no children...he was no longer like them...no longer part of the group.

First his father...than his fiancée...Danny Price...then his team...finally his 'brothers'...everyone who had ever been 'family' to him had left him behind. He wasn't good enough for any of them. He was... nothing to them.

He was nothing to anyone. And he had nothing left here.

Maybe it was time for Tony DiNozzo to say 'goodbye'.

/

The next morning, Tony debated calling in sick. He really didn't feel like facing the rest of his team that morning, especially Gibbs. But he also didn't want to give the former Marine the satisfaction. Tony had spent the night sitting on his sofa, the only light in the room that from the television playing in the background, the sound muted so that he could think. The enlightening call to Pete, and the follow-up calls to his other 'brothers', had been like the final blow of a long bout with an enemy who was stronger and more cunning than him.

Finally, as the sun began to peek through the curtains, he realized that he really didn't have any choice but to go to work. Gibbs already thought he was lower than dirt, not showing up to sit behind a desk wouldn't boost his standing in the least. So he took a deep breath and pushed himself to his feet, hissing as his busted rib reminded him to take things slow.

He took a shower and shaved, moving carefully so as not to aggravate his injury. He dressed casually in jeans and sweater, grabbed his wallet, ID, weapon and keys and headed out the door. He arrived at work thirty minutes early, noting that Gibbs had beaten him there, as he always did. He slid his pack to the floor and sat down, powering up his computer. He didn't say anything to his boss, as had been the norm for the last few weeks and Gibbs didn't greet him either.

Since they had wrapped up their last case the day before, Tony went searching for a cold case to delve into until something else came up. As he read through the case file, he didn't notice Gibbs watching him.

Gibbs took a long sip from his ever-present cup of coffee as he observed his Senior Field Agent. He let out a quiet sigh and wondered, not for the first time, just how he was going to fix this. He mentally head-slapped himself for allowing it to go on for so long. In the beginning, he'd been glad to see the jokes and movie quotes stop, but now...well, he'd never admit it, but he missed it. He missed seeing the smile on DiNozzo's face when he walked in each morning; he missed the seemingly obscure movie references that somehow cracked a case; he missed DiNozzo constantly correcting Ziva when she mangled the English language; hell, he even missed the quips about his own eyesight and age.

He'd lost a lot of sleep himself during the last several weeks, his brain playing back that night in his living room over and over again. He was a bastard, everyone knew that...but he'd never deliberately hurt someone like that before. Hell, he'd never even done that to any of his ex-wives, and they actually deserved his bitter tongue.

He'd played back the messages Tony had left on his cell phone that night...again and again, he played them back. He could hear the worry and the frantic concern for him...for him, Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He'd seen what he thought at first was embarrassment, but now realized was relief, on DiNozzo's face when he saw Gibbs and could see that he was okay. Relief that his boss...his friend...was okay. That he wasn't lying hurt or dead on his living room floor.

And Gibbs had taken that concern and stomped on it. It had felt good when he did it. He'd relished the look on Tony's face. Now, though, when he remembered that look, he felt sick. He realized that his own embarrassment at being caught making out on the sofa like a teenager had caused him to strike out at the one man who had been watching his six for a decade.

All he felt now was shame.

Shame at his own actions and cutting words. Shame that he'd let it drag on so long. Shame that he hadn't already apologized. Shame that he was pushing Tony further and further away with each passing day.

He knew that the younger man had distanced himself from everyone and that worried him. DiNozzo was a sociable guy normally. But lately, he always ate lunch alone, usually at his desk or in the building's break room. He'd declined several invitations to dinner and drinks offered by McGee, Ziva and Abby. He even said no to clubbing with Abby. And it appeared that those three had decided that things weren't going to change and just accepted the fact that Tony wasn't part of their circle anymore.

And while it really didn't surprise him that McGee and David felt that way, Abby's apparent acceptance of the situation concerned him. He never thought he'd see the day that Abby and Tony virtually ignored each other if a case wasn't involved. And worse, Abby had even stopped haranguing Gibbs about Tony's aloofness. It was like she just accepted the new status quo and was no longer making attempts to get through to DiNozzo. It wasn't like her at all and Gibbs wondered if she and Tony had had a falling out, as well.

And while his team was still closing cases at their usual high rate, Gibbs just wasn't feeling the same satisfaction that he usually did when he put a dirtbag behind bars. It was like the world was off-kilter. Even Vance had commented on DiNozzo's demeanor the last few weeks. Ducky had expressed concern about Tony's mental state and apparent depression.

Gibbs knew he was going to have to sit the younger man down and talk to him, but he had let this chasm between them widen more and more with each passing day, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to bridge the gap now. But his main concern was DiNozzo's lassitude. He was barely going through the motions. He was beginning to wonder if maybe Ducky was right.

/

"Go home, people," Gibbs said, as he signed the last of the reports on their latest case. He watched as Ziva and McGee quickly shut down their computers, grabbed their packs and hurried out with quick goodbyes. DiNozzo was moving at a slower pace due to his busted rib. But as he turned to leave, Gibbs called out. "DiNozzo!"

Tony stopped and looked back over his shoulder, but didn't speak. Gibbs stood up and walked over to his Senior Agent. "Are you okay?" he asked, silently lambasting himself for such a lame question.

"I'm fine," DiNozzo replied listlessly.

"Really? Because you haven't been acting fine." Gibbs could have slapped himself. Why was he being so accusing. He sighed. "Look, I know this all goes back to that night at my house...I shouldn't have said what I said."

Tony shrugged. "You were only telling the truth. I hope your lady friend didn't take offense. I wouldn't want to ruin any chance you have at happiness."

"I never meant for it to go this far. You haven't been yourself."

Again Tony just shrugged again. "I've been doing my job," he insisted. "Anything beyond that isn't important."

"DiNozzo...look...that night...I was upset...I didn't..."

Tony smiled, but it was a sad, bitter look. "I'm sorry I interrupted your night. It won't happen again. Let's just leave it at that." He walked away, heading for the stairs, not wanting to take the chance that Gibbs would follow him onto the elevator where he'd be stuck.

Jethro watched him go, debating whether he should follow him and try to explain. He was still debating as the door closed behind DiNozzo. And he got the feeling that the door had also closed on his last chance to make things right.

Tomorrow was Friday, and then Tony was due to start a three-week vacation. Gibbs knew that this was his usual get-together with his frat buddies. In years past, DiNozzo would be telling the whole team what he and his friends were doing on their vacation, but this year he hadn't said a word. Gibbs decided to wait until Tony got back. The night before he was due back at work, Gibbs would go over to Tony's place and the two of them would hash this all out.

He had no idea that his plans would be thwarted by the man himself.

/