Prologue

"Yeah, he's in town for a week, so we don't have much time." The man talking on the phone while pacing his kitchen was about 5'10'', lean, with thick, dark blond hair and stunning brown eyes. He tugged slightly at the jacket of his perfectly tailored suit.

"I thought I'd call in that favor you owe me -," He listened to the other man for a moment. "That sounds perfect." An evil smile washed over his face.

"Ok, so, you do your thing, and if he believes it or not, it's for his own good." Once more the man fell silent, as he caught sight of the picture of him and the man in question on the wall. It reminded him of better times- times when the thought of the man made him happy, and not angry or sad. And now he had his chance to set things right, and everyone would get what they deserve.

"His name?" He smiled darkly. "Tony."





Tony loved Sacramento. Well, Tony loved any place that was warm most of the year. Besides the fact that here, he could really have a vacation. If he spent his free time in DC, Gibbs would know and call him if they had a case, not caring that Tony used his well deserved off-time.

He smiled slightly, closing his eyes and holding his face towards the sun. He usually didn't mind being called by Gibbs, not at all, but sometimes he just needed a little down time. And let's face it: how probable was it that Gibbs was ever calling him for another reason than a case? Right -- not very likely.

So, Tony had decided to take a week vacation now and visit his frat brother Ryan in Sacramento. Ryan was a big deal in some company. Tony had no idea what they were doing. Something about buying and selling stuff -- Tony didn't really care. The thing was, Ryan had a huge house with a pool in the best part of Sacramento, and he let Tony stay there for free. Not to mention the cute maid he had...

"Are you gonna do anything but drowse by the pool all day?"

Tony opened one eye to look at his buddy. "You're blocking the sun." He said it instead of an answer, but couldn't help the grin.

"Right," Ryan chuckled, "how about we do something else tonight?"

"Something else? I thought you're over your clubbing days." Tony said with a raised eyebrow.

"I wasn't talking about clubbing." Ryan shook his head. "I got tickets for a show tonight."

Tony pushed himself up on his elbows. "What kind of show?"

Ryan held out the tickets to Tony. "Brian Swinston...isn't that a psychic?"

"Yup, he's pretty good, actually. Does the whole hypnosis stuff. It's fun."

"Aw, well, I don't have anything better to do." Tony shrugged and closed his eyes again to enjoy the sun some more.

"So, tell me..." Ryan started and Tony looked over, realizing that his buddy had taken the other chair on the sundeck.

"Tell you what?"

"Well, not that I mind you coming over on short notice, but it's not like you. What happened that made you, the workaholic, take time off?"

Tony sighed. "Lots of stuff happened. I needed some down time."

"Stuff that had your arm broken?"

Tony raised his eyebrow again.

"Usually you would have challenged me for a basketball game ages ago. Besides, you still hold your arm to your body and sometimes you wince when you move it."

Tony chuckled. "Sometimes I forget how observant you are." His grin vanished. "I got into a fight with a coworker's lover-slash-Mossad-operative-slash-dirtbag. He broke my arm, I killed him. My coworker decided that she couldn't work with me anymore."

"She." Ryan more stated than asked.

"There was nothing behind it. I wasn't interested in her. She was a friend and I thought that guy wasn't good for her, that's all." Tony sighed again. "The thing is, after Ziva left, it was all strange. Everyone was pissed because Ziva was gone, and I had the feeling that he blamed me."

"He? Who?"

"He? Did I say he? I meant them. I had the feeling that they blamed me," Tony corrected quickly.



Tony stayed on the sun deck until around 5pm. He wasn't exactly sure if he really wanted to go to this psychic show, but then again, maybe it was what he needed to take his mind off of everything that had happened lately.
He had made quick work of the shower and now stood in the guest's room, looking at the cloths he had packed. He knew that he could go with jeans and a light sweater or a shirt, but something told him that he should look sharp. Who knew, maybe he would be able to talk up a nice lady in Sacramento, as it seemed that he couldn't possibly get something going in DC.

"Sometimes you remind me of my ex-wife."

Tony turned, unconsciously checking the knot holding up the towel around his waist. He found Ryan standing in the door, smirking slightly.

"Considering that she's your ex-wife, I somehow doubt that was a compliment," he replied, frowning slightly when he thought he caught Ryan giving his naked, and slightly wet torso a lingering look. He dismissed it. "History," he thought.

"Well, she used to stand in front of her closet for an hour before she could decide what to wear, saying 'I have nothing to wear' like three thousand times. I actually used to find it rather amusing." Ryan said, turning to the door. "Take the dark jeans and the light blue shirt, it goes with your eyes. Who knows, maybe there are pretty ladies there for us." He winked and strolled out of the room again.

Tony let out a breath. He really needed to stop overanalyzing everything.




"Why are we here, Jane?" Lisbon asked as they went into the theater.

"This will help you to understand what I do all day. Besides, Swinston and I were competition once. Although I don't work as a psychic anymore, I do like to see what new stuff people come up. Though in Swinston's case, the old stuff he uses over and over." Jane grinned at his collegue.

"I still don't get why I'm here" she said and took her seat at the back. "And why we sit so far in the back. Couldn't you get better seats?"

"I could, but I don't want him to know that I'm here. Besides, it would look weird if I came alone, wouldn't it?" Jane pointed out.

The lights went out and the show started. After about half an hour, Lisbon was totally annoyed because Jane always said what Swinston was about to say.

"Now, he's going to pick a volunteer" Jane said, and Lisbon rolled her eyes.

"Now, I will need a volunteer," Swinston said and let his eyes wander through the audience. "You!" he said, pointing at a man in the front row.

"Please, come up here."

A young man got up from his seat and went up the stage. Jane frowned slightly.

"What? You predicted that he'd use a volunteer." Lisbon said, confused.

"Yes, but there are very beautiful women in the first row...but he chose an attractive man. Unusual choice."

"What's your name?" Swinston asked.

"Tony," the man answered.

"Ok, Tony, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm a federal agent," Tony said.

"Huh, won't be easy to hypnotize him, will it?" Lisbon asked.

"Nah, if he lets him...besides, you saw Rigsby getting hypnotized, why not this guy?" Jane muttered, and Lisbon nodded.

"Tony, I want you to concentrate on the sound of my voice..."

About ten minutes later, Jane gave an exaggerated yawn.

"What? He's hypnotized a federal agent!" Lisbon pointed out.

"Yes, but the man is obviously used to giving up control. He probably has a very controlling boss," Jane argued. "Besides, Swinston's routine is boring."

A couple of minutes later, Swinston squeezed Tony shoulder, calling him out of the trance. Tony looked a little confused at Swinston, and then at the audience, who applauded loudly.

The applause was loud enough that only Tony heard the slamming of a door behind the stage. He turned to see a man running to the front, the silver barrel of a gun glistering in the stark light.

Tony was feeling dizzy, his brain slow after the hypnosis, and all he could do was sit there and watch in terrified awe at the way the man raised the gun and shot once into the audience. Only distantly Tony recognized the victim as his buddy Ryan.

Time seemed to slow down, the sounds of the panicking audience were muffled in Tony's ears as the man turned towards him and raised the gun again. Maybe half a minute had passed since the man had stormed onto the stage, but for Tony, staring into the gun's barrel, it felt like hours.

All of a sudden, time returned to its usual speed. There was a bang, and in the same moment, a sharp, and yet familiar, pain exploded in Tony's right shoulder. The force of the bullet's impact caused Tony to fall backwards with the chair, landing and bruising his left shoulder, which he didn't even notice as he was clutching his bleeding right shoulder.

His eyes filled with tears from the pain, and, fuzzily, he could see a petite brunette woman arresting the man who seemed to cooperate perfectly. Tony lay back on the floor, slamming his eyes shut and clenched his jaw. He tried to breathe through the pain, but soon he blacked out.





Jane slowly took the stairs towards the stage. He had watched the two young men getting into an ambulance, and the shooter being put into a police car. Swinston stood at the back of the stage, talking on his cell phone. Lisbon looked around, royally pissed.

"I give him one minute, then I'll arrest him for obstruction," she told Jane, who only grinned slightly.

"Hey, would you mind if I sit in on the interrogation of the shooter?" Jane asked without acknowledging Lisbon's foul mood.

"Why would you want to? It's an open and shut case, I just agreed to take it because I made the arrest, so there'd be paperwork one way or the other."

"It's open but not shut. It isn't going to be shut until we know why the shooter did it. If he had no motive we have reason to believe that someone else is involved, which would mean the case is not closed," he pointed out while looking around.

Lisbon raised her eyebrow. "Do you think this was a hit and not a random shooting?"

"Actually, I do. If the man had been running amok, why only shoot twice? He came in from backstage, stormed up here," Jane stepped to the point where the shooter had been, holding his hand like a gun, "shot once into the audience, hit a man's arm, turned around and shot once more. But not Swinston, he shot the volunteer, who apparently was here with the other man that got shot."

"Yes, I got the preliminary statement from Ryan Nelson, the victim in the audience. He said the volunteer is Anthony DiNozzo, his former frat brother, who's here on a visit," Lisbon said, somehow intrigued by what Jane had to say, as usual. "You think someone paid..." she checked her notes for the name, "Jeffery Mann to kill Nelson and DiNozzo?"

"I don't think Mann was paid," Jane muttered mysteriously, but couldn't go on as Swinston finally finished his phone call.

"Sorry, Agent Lisbon. Jane, what the hell are you doing here?" Swinston didn't look happy at all when he recognized Jane.

"I'm with the CBI. I'm a consultant," Jane answered.

"Oh, right, heard about that," Swinston said with a small grin.

"I'm sure you did. You probably did the chicken dance when you heard that your biggest competition in the area was out of business. Quick question, why did you choose Tony as a volunteer?" Jane asked, hoping to catch Swinston off balance.

"I know Ryan Nelson pretty well. Our ex-wives were friends at the country club. We got divorced pretty much at the same time, we kinda bonded over that. He called me last night and told me that a friend of his is staying over and he'd like to bring him to my show. I've sent him tickets for tonight. Ryan asked me to pick Tony as volunteer. He thought it would be funny," Swinston sighed.

Jane smiled slightly. "Thank you, Brian. I'm sure we'll meet again." He extented his hand, which Swinston took.

"I'm sure we will."


Jane entered the interrogation room where Cho was already working the shooter. He took a chair and sat next to the man.

"Jane, what are you doing?" Cho asked.

"Nothing, don't mind me, keep asking your questions." Jane answered as he intently studied the young man's face.

"Mr. Mann, why did you try to kill Ryan Nelson and Anthony DiNozzo?"

"Who?" The man asked, honestly confused. "And I didn't try to kill anyone. I only accomplished my mission."

"You stormed onto the stage of Brian Swinston's show with a gun and you shot at two people," Cho stated calmly.

Jane took the man's hand, feeling his pulse.

"Stage? What the hell are you talking about? These guys infiltrated our base camp!"

"He's telling the truth." Jane interrupted whatever Cho was about to say.

"Jane, he shot at two people! You were there!"

"Yes, he did, but not for the reason we think," Jane said. "What did you do on that stage, Mr. Mann?"

"What stage? These men were traitors. They were spies for the enemy."

Jane sighed. "He's in a trance. His pupils are dilated and his pulse is steady, although he should be agitated. He's telling the truth, well, within the suggestion. He was in the Army once. Apparently someone suggested him that he's at war and DiNozzo and Nelson are double agents..."

Cho rubbed his face. "I assume he can't remember who hypnotized him, right?"

"Well, that would be stupid of the hypnotist wouldn't it? Though, it would make things a lot easier. However, he was at Brian Swinston's show, and Brian Swinston happens to be a hypnotist."



"Agent Lisbon." Two men entered the office and woke Jane. He looked at them, one tall, with short brown hair, the other slightly smaller, with salt and pepper hair. One look was enough to let Jane know that this man was most likely DiNozzo's superior.

"Agent Lisbon is out right now." He said and stood from the couch. "Patrick Jane, can I help you?"

"Special Agents Gibbs and McGee, NCIS. We're taking over the case," Gibbs said.

"NCIS, I'm sure you're Special Agent DiNozzo's boss. You were quick coming here from DC. I would say, priority flight as soon as you heard about your agent's injury. You care a lot about those who belong to you, even if you don't show it much."

"Who the hell are you?" Gibbs asked.

"As I said, Patrick Jane. I'm consultant with the CBI. Agent Lisbon should return soon. She's out busting the probable hypnotist of the shooter," Jane replied with a small smile.

"Hypnotist?" McGee asked with a frown.

"Yes, I noticed during the interrogation of the shooter that he's in a trance. He thought he's in Iraq and the men were the enemy. He said he had explicit order to take them down exactly the way he did," Jane explained.

That moment, Lisbon and Rigsby came back into the office. "No, that is not acceptable!" Lisbon barked into her phone. "It doesn't matter that we had arrested the shooter. As long as the case is not closed, you can't just let anyone visit the victims!" She hung up on whoever she was talking to and then looked at the two strangers.

"Who are you?"

"Agents Gibbs and McGee, NCIS." Gibbs started, but Lisbon interrupted him.

"Yeah, right, DiNozzo warned me about you. You can forget about taking over the case. I already talked to my superior. If anything, we can have a joined investigation," she said, obviously pissed.

"Why are you so crumpy? You got Swinston, didn't you?" Jane asked.

"Yes, he was visiting Nelson and DiNozzo at the hospital. Said he wanted to make sure they're alright," Lisbon answered.

"How's DiNozzo?" Gibbs demanded.

Lisbon frowned a little about the tone but thought she could let it slide this time. "He's gonna be fine. The bullet missed all inner organs and went right through. He's still heavily sedated, so I couldn't possibly get a statement from him right now."

"We have reason to believe that DiNozzo was the actual target. He's a federal agent-- he has enemies," Gibbs stated.

"Yes, and we keep an open mind on that possibility. However, it's more likely that Ryan Nelson was the target, or both of them," Lisbon said.

"I think it was DiNozzo...," Jane mentioned, "and I don't think Swinston hypnotized Mann."

"Sure, why should the hypnotist be the one who hypnotized Mann?" Lisbon said with annoyance.

"Wrong question," Jane said, grinning. "Why should the hypnotist hypnotize Mann to shoot two people during his show? It's rather obvious, isn't it?"

McGee found himself nodding, but stopped when Gibbs levelled a glare on him.

"What kind of consultant are you?" Gibbs asked.

"I used to make a living as a psychic," Jane answered, "and therefore I have knowledge on the matter."

"If you don't think it was Swinston, why did you tell us to bring him in?" Lisbon asked.

"Because either he's involved or someone wanted to frame him," Gibbs said, giving Jane a hard look, trying to read the man.

"Exactly. He might be able to tell us who else in his crew could hypnotize someone," Jane agreed.

"That would explain why the shooting happened during his show. However, we're still missing the motive to shoot these two men specifically," Lisbon pointed out.

"Are we certain it wasn't random?" McGee asked, hoping he wouldn't have to go through all of Tony's enemies again.

"Yes. The shooter first shot at Ryan Nelson and then at Tony DiNozzo, no more shots fired. And he had orders to shoot exactly them," Jane said matter-of-factly.

Gibbs' jaw was set as he glared at Jane. "So, someone hypnotized that man to shoot my agent?"

Jane nodded. "Most definitely. Your Agent, and Ryan Nelson. However, his mission was not to kill any of them. I'm sure if you looked into Jeffery Mann's military file you'll find that he's an excellent marksman. He stated that his mission was to take them down exactly the way he did, meaning with a shot to the arm and to the shoulder."

Gibbs rubbed his eyes. "I want to talk to Tony."

"Of course. However, the doctor said he might not be making much sense right now," Lisbon said and lead the way out of the office.

"We're used to that with DiNozzo," McGee muttered.




They arrived at the hospital and a doctor met them at Tony's room.

"I'm Special Agent Gibbs." He showed his badge. "I'm Special Agent DiNozzo's emergency contact."

"Ah, yes. Agent DiNozzo was rather lucky. The bullet went right through. It didn't penetrate any organs and we could stop the internal bleeding. He will need some time, but I'm very positive that he will fully recover," The doctor promised. "However, I have to ask you to keep his stress level down."

"We'll try," Lisbon said and went for the door.

Before Jane could enter Gibbs stopped him. "You stay outside."

"Why?" Jane asked, truly confused.

"Agent Gibbs, Jane usually accompanies me during interviews," Lisbon put in.

"Not this time," Gibbs said towards Lisbon. "You wanna know why?" he asked Jane. "Because I don't trust you."

"Huh, you really are controlling," Jane said with a smirk and then looked at Lisbon. "Told you."

Lisbon sighed. "Jane, just wait here, ok?"

"Sure," he said, not breaking eye contact with Gibbs.

The others went into the room, finding Tony fast asleep. Gibbs went to the bed and gently touched Tony's good shoulder. "Hey, DiNozzo."

Tony slowly opened his eyes. Dazzled, he looked at McGee and Lisbon, and only then noticed Gibbs to his left.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.

"Making sure that you don't bring yourself into more trouble than you already have." Gibbs tried to joke, but he couldn't help the frown that appeared at Tony's tone.

"Get the hell outta here! It's all your fault!"

"All my fault?" Gibbs was confused.

"Yeah! Of course it's your fault. It's always your fault. You only cause me pain. Get out!" Tony yelled.

McGee stood petrified as Tony went on insulting Gibbs.

"Get a hold of yourself, DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked back.

"Agent Gibbs, I think it's best if you leave," Lisbon said quickly.

"The hell I will," Gibbs said angrily.

"Fuck off, Gibbs!" Tony cried out. Gibbs was so surprised that Lisbon could actually push him out of the room.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Gibbs snapped.

"He obviously doesn't want to see you right now," she said calmly.

"The hell he doesn't...he's mental! My fault? I wasn't even in the fucking state when he got shot!"

As several nurses came to try and calm Gibbs down, Jane saw his chance to sneak into the room.

"Wow, that's some theater, isn't it?" he said with a smile towards Tony.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Patrick Jane, I'm with the CBI." Jane said and moved towards the bed. "How exactly did this fight start?"

"Tony wanted Gibbs to leave the room..." McGee said, though it was obvious that it was an understatement.

"And why did you want your boss to leave?" Jane asked.

"It's all his fault. All he ever does is cause me pain," Tony explained heatedly.

"How so?"

"Well, it was his fault that Kate died -- and Jenny...ever since I've been working for him, bad things happen to me. I get shot, I get chained to a murderer, I get kidnapped and beaten, and I get the plague." Tony took a deep breath.

"That's interesting...Agent McGee, did you have the feeling that Tony felt this way before he left for Sacramento?" Jane asked the young man beside the bed.

"Um...no, I mean...he's right, lots of stuff happened...but Tony never blamed Gibbs for any of it...Gibbs uses to blame himself but -- it's not really his fault, you know," McGee explained.

"Oh, get lost, Probie," Tony said angrily. McGee gaped at him.

"Interesting reaction, Tony. Tell me, do you have rage attacks?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tony looked at Jane with a frown.

"And more importantly, do you have rage attacks without your pulse rising the slightest bit?" Jane asked, looking at the monitor that showed a steady heartbeat.

"What are you implying?" McGee asked.

"I'm implying that although Tony has been yelling and snapping, his pulse didn't change a bit. It's too steady." Jane waved a hand in front of Tony's face. "Yup...he's hypnotized."

"You...you gotta be kidding me...he seems normal..." McGee muttered.

"Really? Does he often snap at you like that? Does he usually yell at your boss?" Jane asked.

"No, I mean, sure he's acting strange but -- you know...he doesn't seem to be in a -- trance."

"No, he doesn't. Have you ever heard of people that get hypnotized to quit smoking? They act all normal, except inside the suggestion. I think someone suggested Tony that Gibbs is the cause of all his pain and trouble. I mean, there's probably a grain of truth to it, but he never really thought of it that way. Anyway, his reaction towards you is also normal within this suggestion, as you are a member of Gibbs' team. I think someone really wants Tony to quit,"

Tony frowned at Jane. "You think someone hypnotized me? Well, duh! I was at that Brian Swinston thing. He hypnotized me on stage."

"Yes, but Swinston did not plant this suggestion in you, at least not on stage, considering that I was there..." Jane said. "However..." He looked down at Tony's injured shoulder and then up at McGee.

"Who was in here? Who visited you?"

"Um, Swinston was here, and Ryan, of course...there were other people but it's fuzzy, I'm on painkillers," Tony answered.

"Ok, that's all right, Tony. You and Ryan, you're old friends, right?"

"Yeah, we went to OSU together... we're frat brothers... I love him."

McGee's mouth dropped open.

"By your reaction, I think that usually Tony doesn't describe his feelings for friends as love, does he?" Jane asked.

"Um, no... you think... maybe it's the drugs?"

"Or the suggestion," Jane said.

"Can you undo that?" McGee asked.

"If I knew the trigger, I could," Jane started, but was cut off by Lisbon re-entering the room.

"Gibbs is royally pissed, and you sneak in here against his orders?" she hissed at Jane.

"Well, it was good thing I did, seeing that Tony here has been hypnotized,� Jane justified himself.

"Yeah, Jane, I was there, I saw it; you said the routine was boring." Lisbon whispered as to not anger Tony anymore.

"True, it was. However, he had been woken from the trance we saw at the show. He was hypnotized to think that Gibbs is the cause of his pain."

"Or he's just pissed at Gibbs subconsciously and had a nervous breakdown, or maybe it's the drugs."

"Maybe, but unlikely. McGee over here assured me that Tony's behaviour is way out of usual. And his pulse is steady as a rock. Lisbon, I know a hypnotized man when I see one. I used to do this stuff for a living."

She rubbed her hands over her face. "You think someone made Mann shoot at Tony and then hypnotize him into thinking that Gibbs is bad? That seems like an awful lot of guesswork."

"Let me just try this..." Jane said, and before anyone could stop him, he squeezed Tony's right shoulder and said, "Wake." Tony grimaced in pain for a second and then looked confused at the people in the room.

"McGoo, when did you get here?" Then he looked at Jane. "Who are you?"

McGee looked at Jane with comically big eyes.

"Ok, he was hypnotized," Lisbon agreed.

"What are you guys talking about? What's happening?" Tony asked, looking utterly puzzled.

"Tony, I'm Patrick Jane, I'm with the CBI. You have been hypnotized to think that Gibbs caused you pain."

Tony frowned. "Why would I think that Gibbs causes me pain?" He laughed but Jane saw right through that.

"Huh...would you guys give me a minute alone with Agent DiNozzo?" He asked.

"No way, Jane. Gibbs is ready to chop off heads, and I don't want it to be mine or yours." Lisbon said shaking her head.

"Ok, McGee, could you step out and tell Agent Gibbs that Tony will be alright in just a few minutes?" Jane then tried to at least get Tony's co-worker to leave.

"Um... I guess..." McGee muttered and left the room.

"Ok, Tony, we have precious little time until your boss comes busting through that door, so I want you to answer me some quick questions." Jane said.

"I don't know you." Tony said and tried to sit up, but winced.

"Tony, Jane is a CBI operative. Answer his questions," Lisbon told him, and Tony nodded.

"Ryan Nelson, how do you feel about him?" Jane asked.

"He's my buddy. We went to college together."

"Has there ever been more between you?"

Tony's eyes went wide and they darted from Jane to Lisbon and back.

"Answer the question, Tony." Jane pressed on.

"Um... we... we had a thing... a couple of years ago..."

"Who broke it off?" Lisbon asked.

"He did. He said I'm a workaholic and uncommunicative... that's why I quit my first job as a cop and went to Philly. I was sad, you know? But we worked things out. I was best man at his wedding a couple of years ago. I mean, before he realized that she's a blood-sucking, fire-spitting bitch." Tony said, taken aback.

"Ok, thank you, Tony. We'll have some more questions soon." Lisbon told him gently.

"Yeah, I know how it works... hey, guys, um... could you not tell the others about me and Ryan? They kinda don't know that I'm batting for both teams..." he asked, though it sounded more like a plea.

"No problem. Our little secret." Jane promised.

And, as expected, the door opened and Gibbs came in.

"I hope you're back in your mind." Gibbs said looking pissed.

"Boss." Tony smiled his 100 watt smile.

"Agent Gibbs, Tony doesn't remember what he said to you while being in trance," Jane said while closely studying Tony's and Gibbs' expressions as they just stared at each other. Slowly a grin spread on his face. "Well, my work here is done for today. I'm starving," He told them and left the hospital room.

"I'll give you guys a minute," Lisbon said and followed Jane outside.

Tony watched the door close. "What did you mean, back in my mind? Did I do something stupid?"

"Most of the time, you do, actually," Gibbs replied. "You yelled at me to get out. You said I'm responsible for your pain."

Tony sighed and looked down. "Sor- I mean... you know I didn't really mean that, right? How could you be responsible for this?"

"It's ok, Tony. You were hypnotized, or at least that's what Jane said..."

"Who is that guy, anyway?"

"He used to be a psychic. Works for the CBI as a consultant," Gibbs answered. "Listen, I'm gonna get whoever pulled this crap on you. And I'll make sure there's someone standing guard on that door day and night. No more escaping into a trance, got me?"

"Got you, boss."

"Good. I gotta get back to work now. Good thing Abby's not here. She'd drive me crazy," Gibbs muttered as he went out of the room.






The office was empty except for Lisbon's team, Gibbs, and McGee. They had been trying to find anything that would lead them to the person behind all this.

"So, someone hypnotized Mann into shooting DiNozzo and Nelson at Swinston's show. So who ever did it knows how to hypnotize someone, and they have a grudge against Swinston, DiNozzo, and Nelson," Rigsby said. "This is kinda complicated."

"They don't necessarily have a grudge against all of them, right?" Van Pelt asked.

"DiNozzo and Nelson have a long history. They were frat brothers. Maybe there's some guy from college, who they treated badly," McGee offered.

"It would also explain why they hypnotized Tony to make him think that Gibbs is responsible for his pain," Cho said. "If this someone wanted them to suffer, what better way than to make Tony destroy his career by yelling at his boss."

Lisbon sighed. "We won't get any further until we know how the three of them tie together. Van Pelt, crosscheck Ohio State University graduates from '89 with the names Swinston gave you. If nothing comes up, crosscheck with Swinston's clients."

"McGee, go through Tony's file--you know the drill," Gibbs instructed.

"On it, boss," McGee answered and set up his laptop, sounding less excited about it.

"I think that could be remotely interesting," Jane said and sat next to McGee.





Jane was going through Tony's file, something he usually didn't do. Normally people told him everything he needed to know with their eyes but Tony's rant had made him curious.

"Anything interesting?" Lisbon asked as she put a tea for Jane and a coffee for McGee down.

"Plenty, actually. Tony's life has been full of ups and downs. And he really was right, a lot has happened to him since he joined Gibbs' team. He lost four colleagues, was infected with pneumonic plague, had several concussions, bullet wounds, broken ribs... he was even framed for murder. Three times," Jane said meaningfully.

"McGee, could it be that one of the framers is a suspect?" Lisbon asked.

"Unlikely," Gibbs answered from behind her, which made her turn, surprised. "The first framer is in prison after he framed Tony, and tried to kill our forensic scientist. The second framer was Tony's ex, Jeanne Benoit. She has gotten her revenge for Tony lying to her; I don't think we'll ever see her again. And the third didn't even intend to frame Tony; he just wanted Tony to be on the case."

"So, basically nothing of what Jane just said is relevant?"

"Yup." Gibbs shrugged and took the coffee that was meant for McGee.

"It might not be relevant to finding who did it, but it could be relevant to the suggestion, and therefore relevant to the motives of the hypnotist," Jane pointed out. "I could try to hypnotize Tony," he suggested.

"You're kidding, right? Hypnosis is what started this whole mess!" Gibbs snapped.

"It did, but I could make him remember who hypnotized him," Jane explained calmly.

"Let's try all other options before we hypnotize the man for the third time in two days," Lisbon put in before Gibbs could bark at Jane.






An hour later.

It was nearing dawn and Lisbon was nearly asleep on her feet, but the big bad Federal Agent was still working, as was the computer geek he had brought so she could put her team through one of the few nights they worked through.

She stood from her chair and stretched, but froze in the motion. The couch was empty.

"Where's Jane?" she asked. Her team looked blankly at her, and then at the couch.

"He said he was going home to sleep," McGee said while typing.

"What?" Rigsby said with a frown.

"Yeah, he said he had nothing to do anyway, so he was going to catch some sleep," McGee explained.

"Agent McGee, Jane does not go home during a case. He sleeps on the couch. Hell, most of the time he does, even if we're not on a case," Lisbon enlighted him while dialing on her phone.




"Hi, Tony," Jane said as he entered the hospital room. He wasn't surprised to find the young man wide awake.

"Jane, what are you doing here this late... or early?" Tony asked but smiled. Somehow he felt at ease with that guy.

"Well, the agents are going through files, not much I could do there. So, I thought I'd come by and have a little talk with you." Jane sat down in the chair next to Tony's bed.

"At four o'clock in the morning? C'mon, man, what's the deal?"

Jane smiled slightly. "Well, I would like to hypnotize you, but your boss and my supervising agent aren't that fond of the idea."

Tony nodded slowly. "Well, I'm not either. I mean… how can I know that you're not doing some… crap, while I'm under?"

"You will have to trust me," Jane said and Tony laughed at that.

"How could I trust you? I don't know you. Beside that point that I've been hypnotized at least twice in the last two days, and none of it has had any positive result," Tony pointed out.

"You're absolutely right. I tend to forget that people don't trust me because they don't know me, mainly because I know so much about you."

"What do you know about me? Let me guess, you read my file. Well, Ziva had a dossier on me, but that doesn't mean that she ever really got me," Tony said with a grin.

"I did indeed read your file, although it only supported what I already knew. Your childhood was far from perfect. Your father didn't exactly abuse you, that would have meant that he actually had to pay any attention to you. You always tried to achieve your father's approval, well, until a certain point, when you figured that if he doesn't pay attention to what you achieve, he might pay attention if you don't achieve what he expects of you. That's why you decided to study Phys Ed instead of business and not become your father's successor."

Tony swallowed hard. It was an open secret that he had father issues, but the man had it more than accurate.

"Your mother on the other hand, she paid almost too much attention to you. In your psychological profile interview you described your mother as eccentric. According to McGee you once told them that she dressed you up as a sailor until you were ten and you had a bedroom in style of Louis XV. So, it's easy to guess that your mother was rather psychotic than eccentric. Of course, that resolved itself when she died.

“In Ohio you slowly became yourself. Away from your father's neglect or your mother's overbearing interest, you could finally develop. Although, the issues with your parents had huge effects on your ego. You always knew that you could easily get attention from women and therefore you never were shy with them. However, their attention isn't as important to you. You enjoy it, but as soon as it gets a little deeper, you bolt. With men, you're different. You're afraid of rejection, and you crave every bit of attention you can get from them, even if it's negative attention." Jane dusted off some lint from his jacket that wasn't really there.

"Something crucial happened in your college time, though. Something that lead you to your decision to become a cop. I would say you saved a girl that was about to be raped or mugged. You realized what a good feeling it is to help people in need. And I'm sure you never talked about the incident." Jane smiled slightly when he saw that he started to get through to Tony.

"Your way in law enforcement was difficult. The issues with your father had a bipolar effect on you. On the one hand you're desperate for approval from a strong guiding figure, on the other hand, you have problems with authority. You didn't find that figure in Peoria, Philly, or Baltimore, and that's the reason you left these precincts, even if you think Peoria was a conscious decision after Ryan broke up with you. You never were happy there and you never were happy with him, otherwise you wouldn't have been an uncommunicative workaholic. In fact, that's your father. You saw it when you were a kid, and you swore yourself that you would never be like him, but you were because you were unhappy."

"I wasn't unhappy with Ryan," Tony said quietly.

"I didn't say he was a bad boyfriend, I'm sure he was loving and supportive. Maybe even a bit too much. He was like your mother â€" without the psychosis, so you became your father. You need friction, and you never had friction with him. You need confrontation, but with him there never was any. Your relationship and your work didn't fulfill you or your needs. Same goes for the other precincts ... until you found Gibbs. He's exactly what you've been looking for as a boss. Someone who straightens you out when you step over the line, someone who listens to your ideas, even if they seem far fetched. Someone who gives you room and strong boundaries at the same time. A man who pays attention." Jane tried to suppress his grin but didn't quite manage.

"How do you know all that?" Tony asked.

"Oh, I watch, I listen. I pay attention to details that are lost on most people. That's how I realized that Gibbs is not only what you've been looking for in a boss, he's what you were looking for, in everything." Jane leaned back in his chair.

"You wanna say Gibbs is my dream guy? Seriously, he's far from perfect," Tony said though he didn't even believe it himself.

"Oh, I noticed that. And still...quick question, when you were on that roof, chasing that terrorist, your partner, Kate, she was protection detail for Gibbs, wasn't she?" Jane waited for Tony to nod. "Do me a favour and imagine you're back on that roof. The three of you stand there, and then there's a shot, blood splatters on your face, you look down and see Kate lying on the floor, dead. What was the first thought that entered your mind?"

Tony bit his lip. "I wasn't exactly thinking that moment. I was in shock..."

"Oh, but there was one thought that popped into your mind. Of course it's hard to say out loud that you were actually grateful that it wasn't Gibbs. It's a horrible thought, no way to argue. However, it doesn't say anything about you as a person, or about your relationship with Kate. I'm sure you mourned for her, and I'm sure you felt bad about thinking that in the first place ... it only says something about the depth of the feelings you have for Gibbs. You love him, whether you want to see it or not, and trust me on this, you will never be happy with anyone but with him." Jane closed his speech.

"That's a horrible idea..." Tony muttered. "So, you mean ... all my relationships were a lie?"

"Only those since you know him. And according to McGee, you only had one long term relationship since he’s known you, and that was actually an undercover mission, so it was a lie anyway, wasn't it?" Jane pointed out.

"But I loved her..." Tony argued weakly.

"Did you? Didn't the mission start in the time frame Gibbs took a break in Mexico? Did you really love her or did you love to be loved. Did you love to receive affection and care, when the man you craved wasn't there? When the man you love left you behind to pick up the pieces?"

"He didn't know what he did ... he would never consciously hurt me," Tony said, his voice a little stronger.

"Oh, I do know that. He cares a lot about you; I saw that the first time I met him. It's hard to say whether or not he loves you, but he does care for you deeply."

Tony chuckled. "You read me like an open book, you see through all my masks, and you tell me you can't read Gibbs?"

"I can, but I haven't seen him interact with you much yet. Tony, I hate to be blunt, but it seems that we're not getting much further. We might need to tell Gibbs about your relationship with Ryan. It could be a jealous ex-lover of either of you. You know we can't withhold vital information like that," Jane said.

Tony sighed. "I knew that moment would come ... I was hoping you'd find who did this first, though..." He took a deep breath. "You can tell Gibbs and McGee. I think they can handle it."

The door opened and Lisbon and Cho entered. "I knew it!" she said.

"Oh, hey, Lisbon," Jane said innocently.

"They didn't know you came here, did they?" Tony asked with a grin.

"Room and strong boundaries, Tony," Jane replied with an equal grin.

"Yeah, right, rule 18, it's better to ask forgiveness than permission," Tony said.

"From what rule book is that?" Jane asked intrigued.

"Who cares! What the hell were you doing here? Please tell me you didn't hypnotize him," Lisbon interrupted.

"I didn't, he didn't want to. Anyway, I simply had a nice little chat with Tony," Jane answered and got up from the chair. "How about we get some bagels and coffee for everyone and head back to the office?"

"I'm sorry if he disturbed you, Tony," Lisbon said, but Tony waved it away.

"It's okay. Thanks for the chat, Jane." Tony smiled genuinely.

"Any time." Jane smiled back and they left the room, Lisbon muttering angrily to Jane.






"Where the hell was he?" Gibbs asked when Jane, Lisbon, and Cho came back to the office.

"He was at the hospital talking to Tony. He did not hypnotize him," Lisbon explained before Gibbs could snap something.

"Actually, I got Tony's permission to tell you something I originally promised him not to tell. He and Ryan Nelson were lovers during the time Tony worked in Peoria," Jane said, watching Gibbs' reaction closely.

"Tony is gay? Nah, there's no way!" McGee chuckled, not believing a word.

"Technically, Tony is bisexual," Jane clarified.

"Well, he did a good job hiding that from us. I had no idea." Gibbs said and looked really surprised, even though Jane saw something else there, too.

"That gives us a new angle to investigate. We will have to get a list of ex-lovers from Ryan and Tony," Lisbon mentioned.

"Well, that will be one hell of a list, at least for Tony. Even if only half of his stories are true, he's had plenty of short term relationships." Gibbs shook his head. "I doubt he even remembers all of them. And he's had trouble with exes before."

"It's a place to start. Rigsby, Cho, go to Ryan Nelson and get us a list. We'll go to the hospital later. I think Tony needs a little rest" Lisbon said.

"Good idea. Agent Gibbs, could I have a word with you?" Jane asked.

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"Would you mind if we use your office?" Jane then asked Lisbon. She waved her okay, and Jane and Gibbs left.

"What do you want?" Gibbs asked.

"I'm just wondering why you never took a shot at Tony," Jane said bluntly.

"He might pissed me off a lot, but he barely gives me enough reason to shoot him," Gibbs replied, knowing that was not what Jane meant. The ex-psychic grinned at that.

"You, Agent Gibbs, are a hard man to read, even for me. Though, I managed. How did your wife die?"

Gibbs narrowed his eyes on Jane. "How do you know she did?"

"Oh, it's in your eyes. You have the aura of a man who lost the love of his life. I'd know. I lost mine." For a second Jane was silent and looked down. "She was murdered by a serial killer I pissed off. She and my daughter."

Gibbs swallowed. "Well, it was basically the same, only that I didn't piss him off but my wife. And it wasn't a serial killer but a drug baron. She was about to testify against him, and he shot the agent protecting them while he was driving our van."

"Thank you for your honesty," Jane said sincerely. "I think we can cut the 'sorry for your loss' part, right? I know you’re emotionally crippled, because something like this doesn't happen and leave no impression. Though, mainly I know because so am I. I can see in your eyes that you have no desire for revenge, and if I haven't completely misjudged you, that means that you already had your revenge. You should leave that part of your life behind and start a new one. There's nothing wrong with loving someone new."

"What are you talking about? I was married three times after Shannon died." Gibbs frowned.

"Yes, and I'm sure all of those lasted real long, yeah? I assume they all reminded you of Shannon. They looked like her, talked like her ... but they weren't her. I think you're ready now." Jane nodded to himself.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "What are you insinuating?"

"You love Tony. I saw that you care about him deeply the moment you stepped into this office. When he said that you're responsible for his pain I saw that you actually agreed with him. McGee told me that you usually blame yourself, but I saw that you were hurting just as much as Tony. I knew that you love him, with all your heart, when I told you that he and Ryan had been lovers. Your first reaction was a jealousy, probably the same you felt for Jeanne Benoit, considering the underlying tone in your voice when you said her name. Your second reaction was a slight feeling of hope when you realized that Tony actually is into men. You realized that moment that maybe all his flirting, all his smiles and looks that seem to come natural with him and usually don't mean anything, might mean something after all."

Gibbs took a deep breath. "You're a bastard, you know that, right?"

Jane smiled, knowing that coming from Gibbs 'bastard' wasn't necessarily an insult. "Yeah, I know."

"You know too much for your own good. How many people have hit you for saying stuff like this?"

"Quite a few, actually. I knew you wouldn't though." Jane sighed slightly. "I know that Tony loves you just as much. You two shouldn't waste time thinking about careers and stuff. If I could go back, I'd quit being a psychic and work in a telemarketing company, selling office supply rather than losing my family the way I did. You have a second chance on happiness, you should take it."

Gibbs nodded. "Maybe you're right."

"Why do people always say 'maybe' when they're finally agreeing with me? Anyway, tomorrow, after we get Tony's list, which will be totally uncomfortable for him, you should talk to him," Jane said, grinned at Gibbs, and left the office.

Just that moment Lisbon, Cho, Rigsby, and McGee came towards them.

"We have a situation at the hospital," Lisbon said.

"Situation?" Gibbs asked.

"Apparently something distracted the guard in front of Tony's door. He's been kidnapped," she explained, her cell phone on her ear, walking towards the elevators.




"Why do I get the feeling that that cop isn't going to be one for very long?" Rigsby muttered to McGee as they were securing all possible evidence in the hospital room.

"He probably won't. Gibbs knows people," McGee answered. Gibbs had been talking to the cop standing guard at Tony's door for twenty minutes. His voice had been very quiet and controlled, which was a signal for McGee to better not cross his path right now, and the cop seemed to be ten inches smaller when he left.

Looking around he noticed that his boss wasn't in the room anymore. "Where did Gibbs go?"

"I don't know ... but Jane's gone, too," Rigsby said with a raised eyebrow for emphasis.





Jane sat in the cafeteria and took a sip from his tea, grimacing only slightly, just as Gibbs, who sat opposite him, sipping a coffee.

"You wanted to talk to me," Jane said.

"Yeah ... you seem to be the one who's finding answers for questions no one’s asking."

Jane frowned and then smiled. "Yes, I think that's a pretty accurate description."






"I need to find Tony, and I need you to help me. I don't give a damn if I'm doing something illegal or unethical. I need to find him." Gibbs stressed the last part.

"I hear you. And why do you think I can help you?" Jane asked, leaning forward.

"Like I said, you find answers. Lisbon said you usually don't share your hunches until you're absolutely sure, or usually until you make the perp confess. I need you to share everything with me now. Every oh-so-little detail that seemed strange to you. It could lead us to Tony." Gibbs put his arms on the table, shifting a little closer and lowering his voice.

"Why do we need to do this in private?" Jane raised an eyebrow.

"The others don't need to know about my or Tony's feelings. It's private," Gibbs said through a sigh as though it was obvious.

"True," Jane agreed. "Well, there are several things, actually. We never found out the connection between Tony, Ryan, and Swinston. It's easy to connect Tony and Ryan, or Ryan and Swinston, but there's no way to connect all three of them. I also found it was strange that Mann was instructed to shoot Ryan in the arm, and Tony in the shoulder."

"Shooting someone in the shoulder is much more dangerous. Maybe whoever did it wanted to make sure Ryan definitely wouldn't be harmed too much," Gibbs said.

"Exactly. That would lead to the conclusion that the reason for the attack is Ryan. But it was Tony who was hypnotized, which leads to the conclusion that Tony was the target," Jane pointed out. "As you said, a shoulder shot is much worse than a shot to the arm. The hypnotist had to know that Tony would spend time in the hospital. And the trigger for the hypnosis was the right shoulder. No one would touch an injured shoulder, so the hypnotist could be sure that Tony wasn't accidently woken from the trance. I only touched it because I assumed that it was the shoulder."

"Why?" Gibbs asked.

"Because when Tony was hypnotized by Swinston, he squeezed Tony's shoulder as the trigger. Once a trigger is established it's much easier to put someone under. I think that our hypnotist isn't exactly a pro, so he needed Swinston to put Tony under once and establish a trigger, so he had an easy go," Jane explained.

"But--" Gibbs started but was cut off as someone hugged him from behind.

"GIBBS! Oh my god, I was so worried. I still am! First Tony gets shot, and then kidnapped! And McGee said he was hypnotized? What is going on here? Seriously, you guys are not allowed to go to California ever again!" The woman spoke rapidly.

Jane couldn't quite suppress a grin, as Gibbs blew the girl's hair out of his face and muttered a breathless, “Hey, Abby.� She finally let go of him and fell into the chair next to him. Only then Jane noticed the small elderly man behind her, who now took the chair next to Jane.

"Jane, this is Abby Scuito, our forensic scientist, and Donald Mallard, our ME. Guys, Patrick Jane. He's a consultant with the CBI," Gibbs explained.

"Hi," Abby said, and although she smiled at him, he could see the sadness and fear in her eyes.

"Please call me Ducky," the ME said with a slight Scottish accent.

"What happened?" Abby asked as she nudged Gibbs.

"Well, apparently McGee already told you everything. Tony was shot at this psychic event, when he was here, he was hypnotized, and now he's been kidnapped. We've been trying to connect the dots, but nothing so far," Gibbs explained calmly, although to all of them â€" Ducky and Abby because they knew him, Jane because he saw it â€" it was obvious that he was worried.

"What are you guys doing here, anyhow?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, Ducky and I have so much spare time, that we decided to come here and visit Tony. And when we got off the plane, I got McGee's message that Tony's been kidnapped, so we thought we might be able to help," Abby said quickly.

"That's good. I'm sure we'll find something for you guys to do at the CBI... in fact, why don't you go up and look at the scene. Maybe you'll see something we've missed," Gibbs offered.

Abby nodded and got up. "Nice to meet you, Patrick."

"Nice to meet you, too, Abby." Jane smiled. Once they were gone he said "Wow... you don't see women like her every day." He looked at Gibbs. "We're gonna find Tony. I'm sure of it."

"What, the psychic coming through?" Gibbs asked sarcastically.

"Nah, it's what you call a gut feeling." Jane winked.

"You know something," Gibbs pointed out.

"Well, I have been interrupted by Abby. We know that Tony links to Ryan, and Ryan links to Swinston. Ryan was the one who told Swinston to hypnotize Tony in the first place."

"You're saying it was Nelson?"

"Well, it seems kind of obvious, doesn't it, when you look at it the right way. Nelson was with Tony a long time ago. He broke up with him because he was a workaholic. Now Tony's in love with you, so a workaholic that is in love with his boss would talk about what to his friends? Right, his boss. I think Ryan still loves Tony. So when he came up here he set Tony up to be hypnotized on stage, and then shot down. He was shot, too, so he wasn't a suspect. Tony goes to the hospital, where he can plant the suggestion that you are responsible for Tony's pain, and that he's actually still in love with Ryan. You get called because you're Tony's next of kin. You fly here, Tony shouts at you. The result should have been that Tony quits his job, or better yet, you fire him, and he stays here with Ryan happily ever after," Jane said and leaned back.

"That's a nice theory you got there. However, where did Ryan learn to hypnotize people? And would he really want Tony to live for the rest of his life in a trance?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, people who quit smoking by hypnosis live for the rest of their life in the suggestion. And there is truth to it. I guess that's what Ryan has been telling himself. If there really was no part of Tony that still loved him, he couldn't have planted the suggestion. And a part of Tony really blames you. That doesn't mean that in reality it's not completely different, and Tony would never, ever get back together with Ryan, and actually is head over heels with you."

Gibbs let the information sink in for a moment. "However, why would Ryan make Mann shoot at them at Swinston's show?"

"Well, Mann was supposed to get caught. When caught, the police had to notice that Mann didn't know what he was really doing, so they'd send him to a shrink, and the shrink, if a good one, would notice that he was hypnotized. And what better way to explain it than to have it all happen at the show of a psychic and hypnotist?" Jane prompted.

Gibbs shook his head slightly, "Ok, I give you that, but if Ryan was able to hypnotize Mann, why would he need someone else to establish a trigger with Tony?"

"Well, it really isn't easy to hypnotize a cop without him actually allowing you to. If they don't expect it you'd have a certain advantage, but because Ryan was his ex-lover, I'm pretty sure that Tony had his guard up and listened very closely to what Ryan was saying. And about Mann, he, coincidentally, went to a class where you're taught to use trance as a method of getting people to do what you want. In that class they usually have exercises where they put each other in a trance. If Ryan was Mann's partner, or knew the trigger the partner used, it wouldn't be very difficult to plant the suggestion. And before you ask, Ryan's name didn't show, though that would be pretty stupid, so I assume that he used a fake name." Jane finished.

"So, all we have is your theory and absolutely nothing to prove it. We could prove it but that would take time," Gibbs summoned up.

"And considering that Tony has been abducted, time is of the essence." Jane nodded.

"Ok, meet me at your office in an hour," Gibbs said, getting up.

"You want to take me?" Jane looked a little uncomfortable at that.

"You're the one who knows how to deal with that stuff. Ryan probably put Tony under again. I'm gonna need you to get Tony out of there," Gibbs pointed out.





One hour later. CBI HQ Sacramento


When Jane entered the office, he saw Gibbs sitting on the couch, holding a letter.

"What's that?" he asked.

"A letter from Tony. Someone dropped it off here, the description fits Tony," Gibbs replied tonelessly. "He wrote that he resigns and he wasn't kidnapped. That he wanted to leave. He said if I knew him as well as I claim to, I should know that he hates hospitals. He doesn't want me to come looking for him."

"He's hypnotized, I'm sure," Jane said, comforting.

"You said there's truth to it? You said that if Tony didn't feel that way deep down, Nelson couldn't have planted the suggestion... could it be that Tony really is happier that way?" Gibbs asked.

"Gibbs, you have been married four times. When you think of your ex-wives, I'm sure there's plenty you hate about them. You will always remember why it didn't work out, but I'm also sure that you'll always remember that there was a reason why you loved them once. Yes, some part of Tony still loves Ryan, and yes, some part of Tony really doesn't want you to come looking for him, but I'm absolutely positive that these parts are very small. He wants to be with you, Gibbs. He needs to be with you. Most likely he doesn't understand it himself and most likely there were plenty of occasions in the last eight years he's been working for you when all he wanted to do was pack up his things and leave everything behind. But he didn't. He stayed. He stayed after he had the plague, he stayed after Kate died, hell, he even stayed after you left for Mexico and then just came back and took his position. He knows that you're an egoistic, stubborn bastard, and he loves you for that." Jane explained heatedly. He didn't really know why he so desperately wanted things to work out for Gibbs and Tony. Maybe he saw himself in Gibbs and if Gibbs wasn't able to be happy more than fifteen years after his family died, what chance did he have?

Gibbs took a deep breath and then nodded, probably more in agreement with himself than with Jane. "Ok, let's do this," he said and got up.

"Where do we start?" Jane asked, following Gibbs out of the office.

"We start at Ryan's place. Maybe he left something that could hint to us where he went," Gibbs answered. "You're not carrying a gun, right?"

"Never," Jane replied.

"Ok, so you stay behind me at all times. Oh, and don't use your CBI card," Gibbs instructed as he got into the car.





"Where did Gibbs go?" Abby asked for the fourth time.

"He left the hospital two hours ago. Said there was something he wanted to check up on," McGee answered with a sigh for the fourth time as well.

"And he left without backup in a city he doesn't know!?" Abby pointed out.

"He's with Jane, and Jane knows the city." Lisbon tried to calm the goth down.

"Yeah, but Jane is a consultant without a gun. I really only feel comfortable with Gibbs leaving if someone I trust to have his back is with him. Meaning McGee or Tony," she said heatedly.

"Or Ziva," McGee mentioned but only got strange looks from Abby and Ducky. Ok, maybe they wouldn't trust Ziva to have Gibbs' back anymore, but they did once.

Abby let herself fall onto the couch. "What's he checking up on anyway?"

"Oh, this is not good..." McGee started as he reached the desk he'd used since they've gotten to Sacramento.

"What?" Abby asked, immediately worried. McGee showed them the badge that had been lying on his desk.

"Gibbs left his badge..."

"Great..." Lisbon muttered, annoyed, and took out her cell.

"Who are you calling?" Ducky asked.

"Jane. I guess he had a hunch and he and Gibbs went out to get Tony back," she explained, and then cursed when Jane didn't pick up. "Does Gibbs do things like this often?"

"Sometimes." McGee shrugged. "He did leave his badge a couple of times... usually it's not a good sign."






"Well, I do know why Tony chose to spend his vacation here now," Jane said after he went once through Nelson's house.

"Yeah, it's a place he'd feel comfortable," Gibbs grumbled.

"Oh, I'm sure Tony feels comfortable at your house, doesn't he... if he ever was there."

"He stayed at my place twice... and all he did was sit on the stairs of my basement and complain that there's the only TV I own," Gibbs muttered but couldn't suppress the smile at the memory.

"Why would you have a TV in your basement?"

"Because I built a boat there."

"Why would you â€" never mind. So, what did you find?"

"I actually found the bill of the Model Life Centre. That place he took that hypnosis class you were talking about. It's in the name of Steve Matthews. I'm just a little surprised he let that lie around..."

"Oh, I'm not. He obviously left in a hurry. Tony's bag is still here and there's barely anything missing from Ryan's closet. I don't think he put much planning into this getaway. I assume he knew that sooner or later Tony would allow me to hypnotize him, and then the cat would be out of the bag." Jane looked up at Gibbs to see him looking lost.

"I never realized how much I need my team..." He smiled bitterly. "I mean, when they're around, they drive me nuts with their bickering and joking around. I know I'm nothing without them..."

"And they're not their best without you," Jane said. "Every group needs a leader, and every leader needs someone to be lead. It's all about the dynamics."




"About a year ago, our new director split us up and gave me a new team. Back then I realized just how important Tony and McGee are to me...well, and Ziva, but she decided to leave a couple of months ago..." Gibbs sat on the couch. "I could really use their help right now."

Jane shrugged. "Why don't you call McGee?"

"I can't drag him into this. We're going much too fast, and we can't possibly use the official chanels."

"Oh, c'mon, you dragged him into worse. Listen, Lisbon usually is very by the book, but even she bends the rules from time to time. You don't seem that much by the book and considering that McGee has worked for you for several years, and considering his computer skills, I'd say he's done enough to get fired three times, at least. I think you could call in a little favor. For Tony."

Gibbs nodded.




McGee sat at his desk, typing on his laptop when his phone rang. "McGee?"

"Don't tell anyone that I'm on the phone and go somewhere private," Gibbs instructed.

McGee looked up at the people in the room. "Oh, hey, Sarah..." He got up. "Excuse me for a second." He muttered and left for the break room. "Boss?"

"McGee, I need you to check something for me. I need to know if Ryan Nelson has booked a hotel room or something. If he hasn't, I want the last location where he used his credit card. I'm also sending you a name and an adress. I want you to check if that guy has a credit card, and if he does, check it the same way," Gibbs told him.

"Boss, why don't you come here and we'll do this properly."

"We don't have time to get a warrant and all that, McGee. Just do what I told you, call me with the results and don't tell anyone what you did."
Gibbs hung up and looked out of the car window, trying to think of what to do next. .

"You always hang up when you said everything you wanted to say?" Jane asked.

"Yeah, better question. Are you sure this is the right adress?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow when he parked in front of a small building. The adress said that 'Steve Matthews' lived in apartment 27, though the house really didn't look as if there were 27 apartments, or 2...

"I am...maybe apartment 27 is a mailbox," Jane answered.

"Great, and do you have a plan for how we get access or information without my badge and your CBI card?"

"Not yet. Usually I improvise."

Before they could get out of the car, Gibbs' cell phone rang. He saw that it was McGee so he answered. "What have you found?"

"Well, Ryan Nelson's credit card was last used shortly before Brian Swinston's psychic event, so it was a no show, but Ryan Nelson is CEO of Culpernius Inc. He has a company credit card and that was used last to rent a bungalow. I'm sending you the adress in a text." McGee answered rapidly.

"Good work, McGee." Gibbs said, about to hang up.

"Uh, boss...Abby's really worried. You know the whole California thing is really starting to put her seriously off, and now Tony's kidnapped and you're out there without badge or backup..."

"I got Jane with me."

"Backup with a gun," McGee pointed out. "Don't you think it would be better if I came?"

"No, McGee, you already stuck your neck out too much. Jane and I can handle this. You try to find out where Tony is by the book. And McGee, that's an order." Gibbs said pointedly and hung up. A moment later, his cell announced an incoming text. "It's the adress of a bungalow Nelson rented. Do you know where it is?"

"Yes, I do...Gibbs, I don't think he's there. I think it's a dead end. He knew sooner or later we'd find out about him, you really think he'd be that stupid?" Jane said.

"No, but what can we do?"

"It feels like a trap," Jane muttered.




"Agent McGee," Lisbon barked. McGee span around guiltily, his cell phone still in hand. "Who were you talking to?"

"Um, my sister, Sarah...she called me...um...boys, you know," McGee studdered. In his experience, small, dark-haired women in law enforcement were often much worse than any 6'5'' guy.

"Really, and why would your sister want to know that Nelson rented a bungalow?" Lisbon asked, her eyes narrowing on McGee. "You talked to Gibbs. You gave him information to hunt down Nelson. He's out there without a badge, and worse, with Jane. Have you any idea what kind of consequences this could have on your career?"

"Yes, Ma'am," McGee answered, finding his balls. "But right now I don't care about my career. At least not as much as about Tony, and I know that Gibbs gets the job done."

She sighed slightly. "I didn't hear you having this conversation, am I clear?"

"Crystal."




Gibbs had the door to the bungalow open in a heartbeat. Lucky for them there was no alarm system, so he entered, his gun drawn, with Jane close behind him.

"Drop the gun." A familiar voice behind him said, and slowly he turned. He saw Tony pointing his gun at Jane, who had his hands in the air. "One wrong move and Jane is history," Tony threatened.

"Tony, what are you doing? You don't want to shoot an innocent man," Gibbs tried to reason.

"Innocent? Neither of you is innocent," Tony said. He made another step to Jane. "Drop the gun!"

Gibbs slowly put the gun down and straightened again, his hands in the air.

"Tony, listen to the sound of my voice..." Jane started.

"I wouldn't try that," Nelson said, coming in from the living room. "I knew you'd find me here." He stepped to Gibbs. "Put your hands on your back."

"Tony, listen to me-" Gibbs tried again.

"You heard what Ryan said, Gibbs. Or do you want me to shoot Jane?" Tony said, taking the safety off.

Gibbs put his hands behind his back, wincing slightly when Nelson cuffed him tightly. Then he proceeded with Jane.

"I didn't really expected the two of you to find me on your own, though. I'd have thought McGee would insist to come along," Nelson said, and Gibbs had to bite back what he was about to say. That man knew way too much about his team. "But then again, it's no surprise you didn't take him."
He pointed at the door. Gibbs and Jane were put into the back of a van. "I'd keep quiet if I were you, because one word from me and Tony will shoot both of you. It's so useful to have a fed under my spell; other people are much more difficult to manipulate into shooting someone," Nelson explained with a grin and closed the door, leaving Gibbs and Jane in the dark van.

"You ok?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, it's not the first time someone held me at gunpoint. Though, it is the first time someone cuffed me and pushed me into the back of a van...however, once, when I was blind, that guy cuffed Van Pelt and wanted to abduct us...we could get away, though, I have to say it's really difficult to drive a SUV without actually seeing anything," Jane said.

"You were blind?" Gibbs asked against his better knowledge.

"Yeah, that guy who tried to abduct me had someone tied up in a van in the parking lot with a bomb. I was pretty close when it went off. Don't ask me what it was called but it had something to do with the concussion I had. However, this really is a new situation..." Jane looked around the van.

"You're a nervous talker," Gibbs observed.

"A bit," Jane admitted. "Any idea how we get out of this?"

"Nope. Tony can be very dangerous. I know that; he's a really good shooter, and a pretty good fighter. I'd have a chance if my hands were free but as it is..." Gibbs sighed. "I guess we'll have to wait for the right opportunity."



"Ok, I'm starting to worry!" Abby said, standing up from the couch.

"Starting?" Rigsby muttered to Cho, who, as usual, didn't move a muscle in his face.

"You're right, they're out way too long without calling in," Lisbon agreed. "McGee, get me that address you gave Gibbs."

"You talked to Gibbs and didn't tell me?" Abby turned a deadly stare on McGee.

"Well, um...yeah, he called me...he said no one should know..." McGee studdered.

"Oh, my, god! Sarah never called, did she?" Abby crossed her arms.

"Um...no." He answered, handing Lisbon a piece of paper with the adress.

"Ok, Rigsby, Cho and McGee, you're with me. It's been three hours since you gave them the address, now we have cause to think they're there. Van Pelt, you stay on the phone," Lisbon instructed and left the office with the others.

"They'll be alright?!" Abby asked and said at the same time.

"They're very capable," Van Pelt promised.



The van door was opened, and Gibbs had to close his eyes against the sudden light. He was pulled out before he had adjusted and nearly stumbled, but was caught. When he looked up, he saw Tony with a lethal expression.

"Tony, I don't know what Ryan did or said to you, but this is not what you want. You don't want to hurt me or Jane," Gibbs insisted, but the result was a punch from Tony.

"Stop saying bad things about Ryan. He loves me, not like you," Tony muttered, and Gibbs would have objected if his mouth wasn't filling up with blood from the punch.

"Like I said, you better keep quiet," Ryan said with a grin, leading Jane into another house.

Gibbs looked around the new room, but couldn't find anything that could help him in his current situation. 'Yep, I'm screwed' he thought. A little worried, he noticed that whereas he was being tied to a chair in the room, Jane was lead into another room by Nelson.

"Where does he bring him?" he asked.

"Oh, don't act as if you care. You care for no one but yourself," Tony snapped.

"Well, well, well...finally alone." Nelson said reentering the room. "You know, I knew you'd find out it was me who planned it all. And I knew that as soon as you found out you'd set that computer geek on my credit cards. It all worked like clockwork. You really are predictable."

"Oh yeah?" Gibbs asked.

"It's even obvious what you think now," Nelson said grinning. "You think that McGee and that CBI team are at the bungalow right now, and probably they are. Too bad they won't find anything. I did leave your prints on the door, though, but the only thing that's gonna prove is that you were breaking and entering. You dug yourself a hole you're not getting out of...that is, if you were getting out of here, which you won't."

"I think you did some digging yourself. Putting someone under hypnosis to shoot two people, abducting two federal agents and a consultant...that's gotta be at least ten to fifteen," Gibbs said. "That is, if you stop now. If you go ahead, it'll be twenty five to life, easily...oh, wait, we're in California; they do have the death sentence."

"Well, yeah, they do, though, you're forgetting something. I haven't abducted Tony. He went with me willingly."

"Willingly implies that he made a conscious decision, and we both know that he is not conscious right now."

Nelson smiled evilly. "Isn't he? I'd say he's more conscious than he ever was. All I did was tell him the truth, made him see the truth. In fact, I'm gonna leave the two of you alone for a while, so Tony can tell you what he honestly thinks of you."

Nelson got up and walked over to Tony. He whispered something in the young man's ear and then kissed him deeply.

"See ya later, maybe," he said towards Gibbs with a wave and a wink. Gibbs swallowed hard, no matter what Nelson had told Tony, is wasn't something good.



Rigsby kicked open the door to the bungalow and they moved in, clearing the house room by room.

"Clear!" Came the last call by Cho from the basement. Then they all stood in the hallway.

"They were here,"McGee said.

"How do you know? There was no sign of forced entry or anything. You think they just knocked on the door and Nelson let them in?" Rigsby asked.

"No, I know Gibbs a long time and he can pick any lock in no time. Besides, there were car tracks in the drive way. We should check the garage," McGee answered, leading the way.

"See, that's what I was talking about," he said as he pointed at Jane's car inside. "They were here, and so were Nelson and Tony. They probably abducted them."

"And how do you suppose they did that? Gibbs was a highly trained Marine once and Jane ... well, he's sneaky," Rigsby pointed out.

"And Tony's a trained federal agent. And Nelson is obviously sneaky, too. If Nelson has Tony in trance again, he'd do everything Nelson tells him to. You nearly threw Jane off a building when you were in trance and you just kissed Van Pelt because Jane told you to," Lisbon said.

"Ok, I get your point..." Rigsby muttered, uncomfortable with sharing that information with a fed he didn't know.

"Is there any way to find them?" Cho asked.

"Hang on a second!" McGee said and pulled out his cell. "Gibbs sent me a name and an adress, I think it's an alias Nelson used. He said to check if there was a credit card on the name, but I didn't get to it because I actually got a hit on Nelson's company card."

"Send Van Pelt the information. See if she can find anything really quick," Lisbon said.




Gibbs looked up at Tony, who stood across the room. The younger man was looking at him with a stare that had even Gibbs break eye contact.

"You know, I really have to be thankful. Not to you, God no, but to Ryan. I have to be thankful that he finally opened my eyes," Tony said evenly.
Gibbs frowned. If Tony knew that Ryan had 'opened his eyes', maybe he wasn't even hypnotized.

"I mean, my life sucked, a lot. I had a crappy childhood, though, of course, no one would agree with me. I grew up in a fancy mansion with people working for us and all the toys I would ever want. Why should it suck, right? I wasn't abused physically or verbally, like all those other people who actually manage to get their lives in order and become good people, why shouldn't I? Why did I become such a pain in the ass?" Tony snorted.

"Well, you surely didn't help. You stomped onto that crime scene, showing up as the father figure I always was looking for, and then you offered me a job as if you came to save me. All you did was push me into hell."

"I wouldn't quite put it that way," Gibbs said, but was slapped before he could go on.

"If you haven't noticed, it's my turn now!" Tony barked. "I gave you everything I had! I adored you, I cherished you. I followed you around like a puppy, like your lap dog. And what did I get in return? Nothing but pain and sorrow!"

"I never wanted to hurt you," Gibbs tried again.

"Oh yeah? How about that first time I stayed at your place? That night, after I got robbed in my own apartment? After I was hold at gunpoint while they took my money and my gun? You just said get over it, and when I tried to, you yelled at me," Tony snapped.

"I didn't yell at you! I told you to clean up the mess you left in the bathroom after you drunkenly threw up!" Gibbs snapped back, only to receive another slap.

"Or after I was kidnapped by that psycho waitress. After I got out, you told me that I was irreplacable, only to turn it into another blow to my psyche by telling McGee that you're sorry but I was back. Have you any idea how much all these jokes you pulled on my expense hurt me? Have you any idea through how much pain you put me? What about when you hired Kate? You only took her out to question people. I was left at the office to follow paper trails. I still try to figure out what I did back then."

"I took Kate because she was new and she had to learn. You were a very well trained Agent. You knew what you had to do," Gibbs put in.

"Or when you hired McGee and you just made him your golden boy," Tony continued as if he hadn't heard Gibbs. "You brought him coffee, you patted him on the head. Oh, yeah, I get it. The boy has skills I would never have."

Tony laughed hysterically. "I nearly died and you just told me not to. Even then, you couldn't say that you cared about me or that you wanted me to stay alive. You just said that I won't die. And when I came back to work from the brink of death, you said I looked like crap. Thanks for the welcoming! I nearly got blown up that day but nothing! Not a word from you. And then Kate was killed, because of you, and you didn't even ask how we were doing. If we were fine to work. You didn't even check on me when I was in the bathroom for half an hour trying to get her blood off my face, even though it was long gone."

Gibbs took a deep breath. He remembered all too well, and he knew exactly why he didn't go to check on Tony. However, he did send McGee to do so. The more Tony spoke, the less Gibbs believed that Tony really was in a trance. It sounded rational.

"Remember when I sat in that fucking cell, framed for a murder I didn't commit?" Tony cut through Gibbs thinking and the older man winced. He remembered that day as clear as it was yesterday, and he'd never forget it.

"I had a breakdown, right in front of you, and you didn't say one freaking word. Nothing. No 'we'll get you out of here', no 'you'll be fine'. A head slap and a tap under the chin. That's supposed to help me through that crap?" In a wave of rage Tony took another swing at Gibbs, hitting just right to break his nose.

Gibbs groaned as he tasted blood on his lips for the second time that day and felt the throbbing pain in his nose.

"And who would forget your 'retirement'!" Tony went on as if nothing had happened. "You were in a coma, and I was worrying sick, and once you're out, the first thing you do is joke about not remembering me! And then you leave and all you have to say is 'semper fi'! You're just unbelievable. But I stayed. I stayed in the foolish hope that you'd remember and you'd come back. I was so fucking worried about you that I let Jenny pull me into that La Grenouille crap, just to make her think that I'm good for something, so she'd keep me around. And then, your glorious return. Sitting at the desk as if you owned the place, which, for your information, was my desk at the time. Did you even notice that you pushed Michelle out of the team? Ok, in retrospective, she has been blackmailed to give out vital information on international security basis, but still! Back then she was a sweet â€" Probie. She could have made a good agent, but she never had the chance because you just commandeered the team back."

"The others didn't seem to mind my return," Gibbs was getting tired of being shouted at.

Tony took another swing, this time to Gibbs' midsection, who would have doubled over if he hadn't been tied to the chair.

"Why should they? They hadn't worked their asses off to keep the team together. They didn't have to keep Abby sane. They didn't have to prove to the director that they're ready to follow into your footsteps! Nothing changed for them except that I was the one giving the orders instead of you. And therefore nothing changed when you came back. For me everything changed."

Tony beat Gibbs again in the kidneys, hard enough that Gibbs' vision momentarily blacked out.

"You know what's funny? When you came back, Jenny offered me a team in Spain. I could have walked away from everything, but nooooo, I was worried that you're not yourself yet, that you need me." Tony snorted again. "As if you ever needed me. And all I got from worrying about you was more pain. I was really hurt when I had to break Jeanne's heart."
Tony shook his head and moved away from Gibbs. "You know, I could go on like that all day. And don't get me wrong, it's nice to see you in pain for once, pain that I inflicted. Seeing you not having the upper hand. It's wonderful..."

He walked to the door and asked Nelson to come back in. Nelson grinned when he saw Gibbs' shape.

"Oh, I see you two had a lot of fun already. Well, it's going to be better." He whispered something into Tony's ear and the Agent nodded, starting to take off his cloths.

Gibbs frowned at Tony as Nelson stepped up to him, whispering in his ear now. "I know that you're in love with Tony, but he's mine. And I'm gonna prove to you that he very much wants this."

He went over to Tony, by now naked and errect. His hand pulled the Italian's head down for a deep kiss. Only that was nearly enough to make Gibbs throw up.



"I found a company in Steve Matthew's name, it's Shell, working with another company, that's Shell, too. There are at least four credit cards I'd have to check and there's Ryan Nelson's bank accounts. I won't get anywhere without getting a warrant. Do we have probable cause that Ryan Nelson is involved?" Van Pelt asked, her phone between her ear and her shoulder as she typed on the computer.

"Jane's car was in the garage of the bungalow Nelson rented and Nelson has vanished, so yeah, we have cause." Lisbon said, annoyed. This was not going well. It's been four hours since they heard last from Gibbs and Jane.

"I'm getting a warrant and trying to get through the credit cards as fast as possible,"Van Pelt promised and hung up.

Lisbon looked at McGee. "Did you have any luck tracking down their phones?"

"No, they're both turned off." McGee said, "I don't get this," he muttered.

"What?" Cho asked.

"Well, Nelson's motive to do this. I mean, if he wanted Tony back, all he had to do is let him be hypnotized at Swinston's event and then hypnotize him for his own reasons at home. He didn't have to hypnotize Mann to shoot Tony. You think it got out of hand?" McGee frowned.

"I think it's playing out exactly the way he wants it to," Lisbon said as her cell phone rang. "Van Pelt, that was quick."

"I haven't gotten around to check the credit cards yet, but I ran a background check on Nelson, or more like on his ex-wife. She divorced him because he had an affair. And guess who told her that..."

"Jane." Lisbon sighed.

"Exactly. Six years ago, she was one of his last clients. I thought you should know."

"Thanks." Lisbon hung up and repeated the news to the other agents.

"Great, so this is not just to get Tony back, but to have revenge on Jane," Rigsby murmured.




It was kind of like a car wreck. Gibbs really didn't want to see this, but as Tony went to his knees and took the other man's cock into his mouth, sucking as if it was a lollypop, Gibbs couldn't look away. It was disgusting, for so many reasons, and neither the slurping sounds Tony made, nor the moans Nelson let out were of any help.

"See how eager he is? You tell me he doesn't want this." Nelson said between pants.

"He doesn't," Gibbs insisted.

Nelson laughed, but it turned into a strangled moan. "Oh, man, you really missed something. Tony's very good at this." He ran his hand through Tony's hair. "That's enough, honey. Turn around and bend over."

Nelson positioned himself and Tony that Gibbs saw exactly what he was doing. Gibbs gaped in shock when he realized that Nelson was about to penetrate Tony unprepared.

"You fucking sonofabitch!" Gibbs barked and fought against his restraints.

Nelson just grinned at him as he entered Tony slowly, fucking him dry. Tony made some strangled sounds, though they didn't exactly sound uncomfortable. As Nelson set a hard and fast rhythm, Gibbs' fist clenched around the arms of the chair.

The door to the back room opened and Jane walked out. "Oops, I'm a little late, it seems," he said, grimacing when he saw the 'show' in front of him.
Nelson pulled out of Tony and turned to Jane, totally in shock. Jane used the little time he had now that the other man was in a stupor to go to Tony, squeeze his shoulder and said "wake".

Tony blinked several times, finally getting out of the hypnosis, before turning a confused look from Jane and then to Ryan, closely followed by a look down on himself.

"Jesus Christ!" he breathed out but suddenly twitched when he felt a pain in his lower body. "Ouch..." He then said with a frown and his hand wandered to his ass. He gasped when he noticed the blood on his fingertips.

"You crazy jerk!" He yelled and took a swing at Nelson, hitting him right in the face. He went down immediately. "You bastard! Not only did you hypnotize me and make someone shoot at me, you actually fucked me dry!" Tony was about to hit Nelson again, but Jane held him back.

"Um, maybe you want to cover yourself up...and not beat the shit out of him." Jane suggested and Tony looked at him for a moment and then at Nelson. He gulped when he realized he was still as naked as the day he was born and struggled out of the hold Jane had on him.

"Move and I swear, I'll kill you with my bare hands!" Tony warned and then took his cloths, dressing quickly.

Meanwhile, Jane started to untie Gibbs, who, the moment the cuffs were open, stood up and went over to Nelson. He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, hauled him up by one hand, and then forcefully pushed him into the chair he had been tied to a minute ago. Jane reacted immediately and cuffed Nelson tightly to the chair.

"Boss, I'm so sorry," Tony said.

"You remember what happened?" Gibbs asked.

"Um, no...not exactly, but it's rather obvious, isn't it?" He gently touched Gibbs' swollen face. "God, I'm so, so sorry."

"It's ok," Gibbs replied, though he really didn't feel that way. He needed to let all the anger out, so he punched Nelson once and if Tony hadn't broken Nelson's nose already, Gibbs had.

"He assaulted me!" Nelson squeaked.

"Did he?" Jane asked. "I'm sorry, I was distracted."

"Yep, me, too," Tony agreed. "You're lucky," Tony hissed to Ryan.

"Anyway, is there a phone? We need to inform Lisbon," Gibbs said, putting as much room between himself and Nelson as possible.

"How would I know? Last thing I remember is lying in that hospital bed, being pumped up with pain meds." Tony winced and rubbed his shoulder. "And I also remember why..."

"Oh, yes, Nelson probably planted the suggestion that you're absolutely painfree," Jane explained and then turned to Gibbs. "And he was actually stupid enough to leave our cell phones in the room with me. I called Lisbon and they're tracking the phone to find us. They should be here soon."

"Yeah, how did you get out of there, anyway?" Gibbs asked. "You were cuffed."

"Well, if I told, I'd have to kill you. Kidding, I just always wanted to say that. But seriously, a magician never reveals his secrets," Jane answered, grinning.

"You do realize that you will have to make a statement and they're gonna ask you how you got out, right?" Tony asked.

"Damn, you're right. Well, the idiot left his wallet with the keys in the other room. It still was a little tricky, that's why I took so long," Jane explained.

The door was kicked open and Lisbon, Rigsby, Cho and McGee entered the room, their guns drawn.

"Lisbon, I told you on the phone that I have the situation under control," Jane said, slightly exasperated about the entrance.

"No, what you said was that Gibbs was tied to a chair in the other room with a hypnotized Tony and Nelson and you managed to get free." She looked around and found Tony with a risen eyebrow, Gibbs looking beaten up but otherwise fine, and Nelson was now tied to a chair. "Though, maybe you do have it under control."

"And Tony's himself?" McGee asked.

"Oh, yes. Ryan was stupid enough to use the same trigger again. Apparently, he didn't think I'd have the opportunity to touch Tony's shoulder..," Jane said but then decided against telling just why he did have the opportunity.

Lisbon just nodded. "We've got EMTs on the way. They should take a look at you," she told Gibbs.

"I'm fine. I had worse during sparring," he waved it away.

"Maybe you should get checked out," Tony said. "Your nose doesn't look so good."

"Yeah, well, DiNozzo, might have been your fist colliding with it," Gibbs snapped.

Jane frowned at Gibbs' comeback.

"You should get checked out," Gibbs continued.

"I'm fine," Tony said.

"You should get your shoulder checked," Jane said so he wouldn't have to say the obvious.

"And your ass," Gibbs said, which made everyone look at him.

"His ass?" McGee squeeled.

"Nelson raped him," Gibbs said matter-of-factly. "Get a rape kit. It's evidence, DiNozzo."

Tony gaped at Gibbs, but the EMTs arrived before it could go any further. Lisbon insisted that both of them would get checked out.



Gibbs stood behind the glass dividing the observation and interrogation rooms. His nose had been taped; luckily, it was a clean break and wouldn't need any surgery. Tony was equally lucky. He had to use an ointment for a while and no sex, at which point he dramatically sigheds, although it was an open secret for all NCIS members that he'd had one major dry spell.

"So, Lisbon actually allowed you to do the interrogation," Jane said as he stepped to Gibbs.

"Why do I get the feeling that you want to come in with me?" Gibbs asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I do know some things about hypnosis, so maybe it would be useful for you to have me in there. I could immediately tell you if he's BSing you," Jane pointed out.

"Yeah, right, that's the reason," Gibbs muttered, but he went into interrogation and left the door open for Jane to follow.

Gibbs sat at the desk and followed Jane from the corner of his eye as he took a chair and sat next to him. Gibbs scratched at the corner of his bandages, rather to draw attention to it than to actually scratch.

"Well, that quite a hole you dug yourself, isn't it, Ryan? Hypnotizing Jeffery Mann into shooting you and Tony DiNozzo at Swinston's show, then kidnapping a federal agent, namely Tony DiNozzo, from the hospital and hypnotizing him into abducting me and Patrick Jane and severely beating me up. Did I miss anything? Oh, right, that rape charge...That really doesn't look all that good, doesn't it?" Gibbs said calmly.

"I'm saying nothing until my lawyer gets here. He's really expensive, I should use what I pay for," Nelson replied smugly.

"Well, if he's worth what you're paying, he will probably tell you that you had better cooperate with us or that sentence will be much longer," Gibbs pointed out.

"You have nothing on me except that I rented that house."

"Oh yeah? Actually, we do have plenty," Gibbs said, leaning forward. "We have witnesses that placed you at the NLP course at the model life center. You were Mann's partner in the trance exercise. Of course, you went there under a false name, Steve Matthews. Unfortunately for you, we could trace the name back to you. You will also be delighted to hear that thanks to Mr. Jane here, Mr. Mann has recovered his memory about who hypnotized him. You planted the suggestion that you and Agent DiNozzo were enemy spies in his base camp and he had to take them out. Furthermore, we have my and Mr. Jane's testimony about what happened at the bungalow you rented with your company card and at the house you rented with 'Steve Matthews's' card. Besides that, we have a positive rape kit, for which rape I was witness. I'm not sure in which terms a lawyer will put this. I mean, I don't deal with hypnosis all that often, but I'm pretty sure it'll be something between 25 to life."

Nelson looked from Gibbs to Jane, swallowing the smartass answer he had on his lips. It really didn't look great, put like this.

"If you do cooperate with us and you actually confess the whole thing, it might be less," Jane said.

Nelson took a deep breath and then nodded.

"Good, so why don't we start at the beginning. Why did you take the NLP course? That's neuro linguistic programming, isn't it? Ways to influence people?" Gibbs asked.

"At first I did it to become better at my job. I didn't know they'd actually teach us how to hypnotize people. Mann was my partner in the exercise, and at first it was hard to put him under, but after a couple of times it became easier...I found the whole matter very interesting, so I bought books and stuff..." Nelson muttered.

"Why did you go there under a false name if it was just to improve your skills?" Jane asked.

"Well...I'm in a very high position. I didn't want a scandal, people saying I work with shady methods."

"Ok. So, why the whole mess?" Gibbs continued his questioning.

"You see, when I broke up with Tony back in Peoria, I didn't do it because I didn't love him anymore. I did it to encourage him to become a better boyfriend, a better man. But then he moved away and we didn't have contact until I was engaged... I still loved him, though," he said quietly, but then looked Gibbs right in the eyes, his voice strong and full of conviction. "He's the love of my life!"

"So you decided to let someone shoot at the love of your life?" Gibbs frowned, trying to keep his voice even, though he knew he failed.

"No...I decided to use NLP to get Tony back. However, all he did since he started working in DC was talk about you. 'Gibbs did this', 'Gibbs did that', 'Do you know what happened to Gibbs?', 'You should have seen', blablabla. He told me all that stuff, and I knew that he was in love with you. But much more important is that you don't deserve his love. All you ever did was hurt him."

Jane saw Gibbs' jaw tighten. "So, you decided to take it to the next level and hypnotize Tony?"

"I didn't make him do anything he didn't want. Hypnosis can't make you do anything you don't want to do deep down," Nelson pointed out. "But I couldn't hypnotize him, not alone at least. I knew that a trigger helped, so I arranged that Tony be picked as a volunteer. He was so stressed up and he didn't know anything about the matter he actually went along."

"Why didn't you just leave it there? You could have planted the suggestion that he's back in love with you and make him quit his job," Jane questioned.

"Oh, it wasn't that easy. I knew that Gibbs would follow Tony to the end of the world if he quit without a reason. So I had to arrange that they meet and Tony could tell Gibbs what he really thinks of him."

"You mean what you told Tony to think of Gibbs," Jane corrected.

Nelson snorted. "And you call yourself a psychic."

"Actually, I don't. Not anymore."

"All I did was make Tony see the reality. All his anger was in him, he just didn't know," Nelson leaned back and grinned at Gibbs. "So, yeah, I made Mann show up and shoot at us. I knew Brian used the shoulder as a trigger, so I made Mann shoot Tony in the shoulder. No one touches a injured shoulder if not necessary."

"Why make Mann show up at Swinston's show?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, by the time I made up the plan, I knew that it couldn't just go smoothly. So, I figured I could get some revenge as well. A shooting at a psychic's show, it was predictable that you," Nelson looked at Jane, "would be involved. I do have to say, I didn't expect you to be present and know the trigger to wake Tony. That was an inconvenient coincident," Nelson sighed and looked back at Gibbs. "So, I rented that bungalow because I knew that you'd find out about it, and I knew that you wouldn't take the risk of waiting too long. It was obvious that you'd take Jane here and come to the bungalow without backup."

"How did you plan it to end?" Gibbs asked, trying to keep his cool.

"Well, actually I intented to make Tony kill the two of you and run off to Mexico with him."

"Then you shouldn't have left the keys to the cuffs in the room with me," Jane grinned slightly.

"I still don't know how you did that. How can you open cuffs behind your back, even if you have the keys?" Nelson shook his head, confused.

"Well, a magician doesn't reveal his secrets." Jane answered for the second time -- and this time he would keep his word.



Gibbs walked back into the squad office , resisting the urge to rub his face, when he saw Tony sitting on the couch.

"DiNozzo, go with Cho to Nelson's place to pick up your stuff. Get a hotel room. We'll have to stay a few more days until everything's wrapped up." With that, he turned and left to get himself some coffee.

Jane frowned again and followed the silver-haired man into the break room. "What's the matter with you? I thought you were going to admit your feelings to Tony."

"I changed my mind," Gibbs answered curtly.

"You still love him. What changed?" Jane asked, honestly confused. "Don't tell me you're pissed at him for something he did or said. It's like I told you, you can't hold him responsible for anything."

"I don't..." Gibbs rubbed over his forehead, wincing when he moved his nose a bit. "I just changed my mind about telling him how I feel. As soon as I get back to DC, I'm gonna recommend him for a promotion. He deserves his own team, he has for a long time."

"What happened in that house?" Jane frowned at Gibbs. "A couple of days ago you jumped into the next priority flight you could to get to Tony's side, and now you wanna transfer him?"

"I want to have him promoted. That's a difference."

"I don't think he'll see it that way."

Gibbs sighed. "What he said...he pointed out how much I hurt him during the last eight years and guess what? He's right. So, yeah, maybe he doesn't really think that way but still. All I do is give him pain and sorrow, and Tony deserves better than that."

"Wow, I wouldn't have thought that this would get to you so much. Or maybe it doesn't."

"What are you implying?"

"Implying? Nothing. I plainly tell you that this is not about the pain you inflicted on Tony. You, Agent Gibbs, are a coward." Jane knew it was a bold move, but he had to make Gibbs see reason.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Tony's speech didn't make you realize how bad you've treated Tony. It made you realize just how much he loves you. That although you're uncommunicative, stubborn, cynical and, well, a bastard, he still always stuck with you. He could have left if he wanted to, but he never did, and you're afraid that one day he might actually leave. You are afraid to put your feelings on the line. You know that you're gonna screw up somehow and probably you're gonna screw up big time, because let's face it, you've screwed up before and people don't really change, do they?" Jane took a deep breath. He didn't know how much was still about Gibbs.

"It's not just my feelings I'm worried about," Gibbs said.

"Yes, and that's exactly the reason why Tony's still here. Because he saw past that insensitive facade and saw the real you. Someone who cares deeply for the people around him. Someone who would kill and die for him. I can see that you're scared, and believe me, it's ok. This is the first time you've loved someone since your wife died. I mean loved someone just for who he is and not because he reminds you of her. You will screw up, I'm absolutely positive about that. But I'm also positive that Tony will stay." Jane sat at the table and looked at Gibbs, waiting for the information to sink in.

After a few minutes, Gibbs sat down as well. "I'm not sure I can throw myself out there again," he muttered.

"You can and you have to. You need to get on with your life," Jane told him.

"Hey, boss..." Tony said from the doorway. "Listen, I just wanted to give you this before I head out...so...see ya." He dropped an envelope on the table and then quickly left the break room.

Jane frowned slightly. "What is it?" he asked as Gibbs opened the letter.

His face paled. "It's a resignation letter."




Jane silently walked through the hall until he found the room Cho had mentioned. He had told Gibbs to let Tony cool off a little but actually, he just wanted to have chance to speak to him first. He knocked on the door, and it was opened almost instantly.

"Abby, I really â€" oh, Jane, I didn't expect you...," Tony said, slightly confused.

"I don't think Gibbs has told Abby about the resignation yet. However, I'm here to talk about it."

Tony shook his head and walked back inside, leaving the door open. "There's nothing to talk about. It's just time for me to move on."

"Now that's a bunch of crap. Why do you really wanna run? You don't even remember anything that happened," Jane pointed out.

"I might not remember, but Gibbs does," Tony answered heatedly. "He remembers that I yelled at him in the hospital. He remembers that I tied him to a chair and beat the crap out of him, and he remembers that I let Ryan dry fuck me." He ran a hand over his face. "The way he acted in the office was more than enough to prove to me that he'll never look at me the same way he did before."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I have something to do with that, too," Jane said.

"What?" Tony frowned.

"Well, I talked to Gibbs, after I visited you in the hospital. And trust me, he needs you just as much as you need him."

"I seriously doubt that."

"You're both such idiots, in a movie you'd be funny...You stayed with him for eight years and he kept you around for eight years. You have been in plenty of dangerous, and not to mention weird, situations. Gibbs could have walked away from you when you were framed for murder but he didn't. Why would he now?"

"Yeah, I'd say because that was before I assaulted him and was raped in front of him..."

Jane sighed, annoyed. Those two were making it so hard. "I could make you remember what happened and maybe then you'd understand why Gibbs acted the way he did."

"Oh, so I have the choice between being oblivious and starting a new life, or remembering how I beat up my boss and one of my best friends raped me...mhm, tough decision," Tony said sardonically.

"McGee said that Gibbs tends to blame himself for stuff he has no power over. And he really seems to be the type for that. Apparently, when you were under, you recounted everything that happened, everything what hurt you in the last eight years, and I'm sure Gibbs already blamed himself for most of it. He's afraid of hurting you more, he's afraid of getting hurt himself and the same goes for you."

Jane saw that Tony was at least thinking about what he said.

"Listen, I can't promise you that it's gonna be easy. In fact, I'm sure it's gonna be quite hard. You're both emotionally damaged, and stubborn asses as well. You will both make mistakes, there's no question about that, but with a little bit of effort from both of you, this might actually work out. No one knows if a relationship is worth the trouble, but if I were you, I'd rather take that chance now than wonder in twenty years if you missed out on something really good."

Tony nodded. "I guess you have a point..." He looked at Jane. "Why are you so desperate to get me and Gibbs together? You hardly know us."

Jane sighed. "Gibbs and I have a lot in common."

"Yeah, how so?"

"My wife and daughter were killed five years ago. All I've done since then is to try and catch the bastard who did it and finally have my revenge. If Gibbs, who had his revenge fifteen years ago can't be happy now, what chance do I have?" Jane rubbed a hand over his face.

There was a knock on the door before Tony could think of anything to say. When he opened he saw an uncharacteristically nervous-looking Gibbs.

"Hey, um...I wanted to talk to you - about your resignation."

"I expected you to come over...though, I'm not sure I'm ready yet..." Tony answered and lead Gibbs into the room.

"Give Tony time to cool off, huh?" Gibbs said when he spotted Jane.

"What, you think you're the only one that needs a talking to to see reason?" Jane grinned. "I'll leave you alone now, but if you haven't worked it out the next time I see either of you, I will be back," he warned.

Gibbs and Tony nodded and then watched the ex-psychic leave.

"So, what did he tell you?" Gibbs asked.

"Why do I have to start?" Tony asked back.

"Because you're the one who handed in his resignation. How on earth did you type it up that quickly anyway?"

"I wrote it so often in the last eight years that I have it memorized. I wanted to leave two years after I started working for you, then again a year later...and a couple of other times. I always found a reason to stay." Tony shrugged, looking at his feet.

"Why didn't you take the team in Spain Jenny offered you?"

"You know about that?"

"You told me when you were under."

Tony looked away again. "I don't know. I guess I was hoping that something had changed...and I was worried about you. It was the right decision though. It was every time I stayed...but after what happened lately...I'm not sure your decision to choose me instead of Ziva was the right one."

"It was. I didn't even have to think about it, and in retrospect...Vance told me that Ziva was sent to eliminate Ari and to earn my trust. That's why she pretended to cover for him. She withheld information, and I have no use for someone like that in my team...though my decision had nothing to do with those facts. I'd always choose you, for very selfish reasons but still," Gibbs admitted and Tony finally looked up.

"I'm sorry I hurt you. Physically, and with everything I said. I really don't think you cause me pain - at least not voluntarily," Tony said. "It was hard for me, at times, but I also had the best time of my life. I like working with you. You're a good boss, if one knows how to deal with you. And you're a good friend and -" Tony stopped.

Gibbs looked at Tony, but the younger man didn't continue. "Tony, you know how screwed up I am. And apparently you managed to see behind that, to some extent. If we really start something, it won't be easy, and I'm sure I'll screw up at some point. But I hope you know that I'll always try my hardest not to."

Tony grinned slightly and it made Gibbs frown. "What?"

"I guess Jane gave you more or less the same speech he gave me," Tony chuckled. "I know it's not gonna be an easy ride, but what relationship is? And I know you after eight years, I think I can deal with your moods by now. And I know that I won't be perfect either, so let's agree on something. If one of us screws up, we'll give each other at least the chance to explain."

"Sounds good." Gibbs agreed. "So...this is actually happening..." he muttered and took a step to Tony.

"Sure looks that way," Tony replied, feeling really nervous all of a sudden. "We'll keep it between us, though, right?"

"Ah, I think it won't hurt to tell Abby, McGee and Ducky," Gibbs shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess..."

"If you're not comfortable with them knowing, we don't have to tell them."

"No, it's ok..I mean...it'll make things easier," Tony said and took a step to Gibbs as well. "So...are you gonna kiss me any time soon or what?" Tony grinned.

Gibbs reflected it with a smirk and closed the gap, putting one hand on Tony's waist. "Last chance to back away," he warned.

"As if I wanted to," Tony answered and then kissed Gibbs. At first it was just a touch of their lips, but soon Tony opened his lips, and then they were kissing for real.




Two days later.

The case was basically wrapped up. Everyone had testified, was de-hypnotized and debriefed. Abby had grown to be friends with the CBI team - Tony had been so not shocked about that - so they all had dinner together before the NCIS team would fly back to DC the next day.

It was a good, but not fancy restaurant, and everyone was enjoying themselves. At some point, Jane excused himself to the bathroom. A moment later, Gibbs followed.

"I have to talk to when you're done," Gibbs said while entering the restroom, checking the stalls.

"Um, ok..." Jane said, and turned once he was finished and tucked back in. "So?"

"You laid some hard truth on me, and I have to thank you for that. I'd say I owe you," Gibbs started. "And I think I'll repay it right away, because I have bad experiences with such things hanging over my head."

"How do you wanna repay it?" Jane asked frowning.

"I have you figured out," Gibbs stated. "Not because you're easy to read, you're sure as hell not, but because you're basically me fifteen years ago. You were right, I had my revenge and therefore I can tell you with utmost certainty, there's no satisfaction. If anything, it caused me more pain. The moment you have your revenge, you'll have to face up to the fact that they're gone and you're still here."

Jane looked away. He really didn't need this.

"I know that you tried to get me and Tony together so you can go on and have the hope that, one day, you can be happy again, too," Gibbs said. "You don't need to wait fifteen years. You could be happy again now. I know this sounds strange, but it's a conscious decision you have to make. You have to decide that you mourned for them and you will always love them, but there's nothing wrong with loving someone else."

"Maybe," Jane agreed halfheartedly.

"Not just maybe. Definitely. Revenge won't bring them back, nor will it ease your pain. You have the choice to be happy again and live with the memories of them, or you can go on like this forever. Miserable. Alone. What do you think your wife and daughter would want for you?"

Jane swallowed hard and didn't answer.

"I never talked to anyone about my wife and daughter, or about anything related to them. So, be aware that this is something special. I'm giving you an advice. Don't give up in your pursuit of that serial killer, but keep it legal. And take that chance you have already."

Jane frowned again. "What chance?"

"Oh, c'mon, don't tell me you of all people haven't seen it in Lisbon's eyes. She'd do anything for you. And something tells me you'd do anything for her as well. You already love her, now you just have to accept that." Gibbs raised an eyebrow for emphasize and then left the restroom.








Epilogue: One year later

Gibbs stood at the door leading into his garden. Tony was enjoying one of the hottest days of the summer, and Gibbs was enjoying the view. Originally, he wanted to go to the basement and work on his latest boat, but when he passed the open door and saw his man - and he never would have thought that he could be as excited about calling Tony his man. He had to take the moment and just watch and be happy that he took this chance, that he was given this chance, that someone opened his eyes to this chance.

The song on the radio next to Tony ended and the news started, but Gibbs was busy drinking in the sight of a half-naked, tanned and slightly sweaty Tony. The younger man moved, and Gibbs was fascinated by the muscles working under the smooth skin. He licked his lips and looked Tony in the eyes, about to ask if he wanted to go upstairs, but didn't when he saw the expression in Tony's eyes. He looked worried.

"What?" Gibbs asked.

"Didn't you listen?" Tony asked, pointing at the radio while he stood up.

"Um...no. What's wrong?" He walked over to his lover, who looked seriously distressed.

"They just said that the CBI caught Red John a week ago. That's the serial killer that murdered Jane's wife and daughter," Tony answered.

"I know who Red John is. But that's good news, isn't it?" Gibbs frowned as his gut twisted into a knot.

"They said that they busted him, in flagrante delicto...the latest victim was ...a CBI Agent," Tony explained and Gibbs closed his eyes.

"Not Lisbon?" He asked.

"Not Lisbon." Someone said from behind him, and he spun around.
Lisbon and Jane stood in the back door. "Sorry for barging in, but the front door was open, and the bell's broken," Lisbon said, smiling.

Tony's face split into a wide grin and he went over to hug the small woman. "I was really worried when I heard," He said when he let her go again. He shook hands with Jane, but then his smile vanished. "Wait, if it wasn't you...who was it?"

"No one you know," Jane said. "He didn't get to Teresa, though he tried."

"Teresa?" Gibbs asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Teresa. I actually am able to take an advice, you know? At least if it's a good one," Jane smiled and put his arm around Lisbon.

"We really needed a vacation after all this, so we thought we could come to DC and visit you guys," Lisbon explained. "And we wanted to take you out to dinner. Ever since he confessed that you pushed him to admit his feelings, I'm trying to figure out whether I owe you or if I should shoot you," She said, grinning widely.

"So he's the same pain in the ass," Tony grinned back.

"Trust me, Lisbon, I'm trying to figure out the same thing," Gibbs smirked, which effectively wiped the grin off of Tony's face.

"Hey!" Jane and Tony protested in unision. However, neither seemed really bothered by it.

"I'll just run up and shower. I'll be back in a few," Tony said, and litterly ran up the stairs.

"I'm always tempted to tell him not to run, even if he doesn't have sissors in his hands..." Gibbs shook his head and bade his guests inside.

"He does act like a kid sometimes, doesn't he?" Lisbon said, smiling.

"Oh yeah," Gibbs nodded and then smiled.

"How's he holding up, anyway. Did he let someone hypnotize him so he'd remember?" Jane asked.

"No, he doesn't want to. I made him go and see the office shrink at least. She said that Tony does have some light trauma, because although he doesn't remember, he does know that it happened and he heard it all at the trial. He says he doesn't need the nightmares, and what can I say? It's enough that one of us has them," Gibbs replied. "I wouldn't want him to hurt any more than he already does. Who would want that for the person they love?"

Tony returned from the bathroom that moment and stood just outside the door, unnoticed by the three people. He smiled at what Gibbs said, and his smile grew a little wider when he saw the look that passed between Lisbon and Jane that let Tony know that they were thinking exactly the same thing.

Somehow, everything had turned out good in the end-- even though there had been the stress of the trial, the hearing because he had hurt Gibbs, and, of course, the sessions Gibbs made him take with the shrink. Though, Tony thought it was a little funny that all it took to make those three people and himself happy, was losing control over his own mind, if only for a while.