"Give me another beer, Joe." The bartender nodded and handed Anthony DiNozzo shortly his request.

It was only his second beer that night and still Tony knew he should not really drink. After all, he had to work tomorrow.

But Tony needed it this evening.

First, they had finally solved a hard case, which they had worked for a week around the clock.

The daughter of a highly decorated Marine was kidnapped. For three days there was no call, no sign, no claim.

On the fourth day, the kidnappers had finally called. They wanted $ 500 000, otherwise they would kill the girl.

God, she was only five years old.

The problem with the phone call was that the hijackers had redirected the signal so that Abby and McGee could not trace it in this short time.

Today they caught the guys at last. The money transfer should take place in an empty warehouse at the port. Tony and the rest of Gibbs' team had gone there to take cover.

When the guys finally arrived, everything went very quickly. The agents grabbed the kidnappers, put them in handcuffs and after a few questions and a few seconds under the famous Gibbs' glare, one of the kidnappers led the Agent's to their hiding place.

They could return the girl to her parents. Alive and healthy.

Tony was glad they could close this case. Successful.

After a hard case like this, DiNozzo really wanted only one thing. He wanted to lie down with his boss Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the man whom he loved more than anything in this world, and sleep through until the next morning.

But that would not happen tonight.

Tonight, Tony would sleep in his own small, empty and cold apartment.

And all because of a stupid and pointless dispute. The reason was so feeble that Tony could not even remember it anymore.

Tony wanted to be able to simply forget the dispute so that they could be reconciled. But he knew that this was not possible. They were both just too stubborn.

Instead, he now had a sleepless night ahead. Since the two had met five years ago, they had spent every night together. The only exceptions were if one of them was in hospital, or they had fought, as now.

And in each of these nights, Tony was not able to sleep.

The young man took the last swig from his beer, put the money on the counter and went on his way to his car.

He wondered briefly whether he should call a cab, but decided against it. After all, he only had two beers.

Ten minutes later he was on the highway. At this time was not much traffic, fortunately.

He could still go to Gibbs, and perhaps apologize ....

No. He knew exactly how Jethro was thinking about apologizing and besides, even if Tony didn't know anymore what the dispute was about, he still knew who had started it. And it was not him. So if anyone should apologize, it was Gibbs. But Tony knew this would never happen. But that was okay. This was Gibbs; Never show a sign of weaknes. Tony would be fine, if Jethro would just call and say, that he missed him, that his only wish for tonight was, that Tony would come over.
Or something like that. Anything, it doesn't matter as long as Tony must not be allone tonight.

Tony was roused from his thoughts when his cellphone suddenly rang. Maybe there was still a happy ending tonight.

With a smile on his lips, he went to the phone "DiNozzo."

"Hey, Agent DiNozzo." This was clearly not Gibbs. The voice on the other end of the line was slightly higher than Jethro's and much harsher.

"Who's there?" asked Tony. He tried not to let on about his nervousness. His gut told him that whoever was on the phone, he meant nothing good.

"That's not important now." the man finally replied, "I want you to do something for me."

Tony laughed, "Yeah, sure. You know, you're not the only one."

But the man was not impressed by it and just went on "I want you back on the case of Midshipman Pawters. Find his killer!"

"Listen." began Tony and he suddenly sounded as tired as he felt "I had a long day today and will do nothing more, except to go to sleep. Besides, why would I do that? "

This time it was the man who laughed, "Why would you do that?" He asked, "Find Pawters murderer and I'll give you the antidote for the substance, you have just drunk with your beer! You don't find him and you will die" and with that he hung up.

It took a few seconds, until the words reached Tony's tired brain. Midshipman Pawters. Tony had never heared that name before. And antidote? What antidote? That meant......the man had.......he was.....

As Tony realised, what this man just said, he stopped his car in the middle of the street.

The guy had known that Tony had just drunk a beer. Had he seen him? How could he know it otherwise.

But if he had been watching him, then he had .... then it might be .....

Oh my god, someone had poisoned him.

TBC