Disclaimer: "NCIS" and its characters don't belong to me they belong to CBS and are being used without permission. Please don't sue because I have no money.

Called Back From Mexico

Team leader Anthony DiNozzo came strolling into the bullpen making his way towards his desk, or rather Gibbs old desk. He sat down and powered up his computer and waited for his team to come in. He checked his email and mail as he waited for the elevators to open. He checked his watch and hoped that they would be on time this time. Those two did not respect him as team leader. They heard Gibbs say "You'll do" like he didn't have anybody else to give the team lead to and so he said those words. He then told McGee he was a good Agent. Gibbs had never told him he was a good Agent which is probably why he was being treated this way. If he did something it was this isn't the way that Gibbs does it. If he did something like Gibbs it was Gibbs could do better. There was no pleasing them. Abby had been one of them too, but she came to her senses and said she was sorry for treating him that way. Of course he forgave her she was his little sister. He just wished that McGee and Ziva would do the same, but they didn't. They were late and they left early. They didn't turn in their reports and they didn't listen to him. They thought that they could do a better job than Tony and McGee always looked down at him when he found out that he had a Phys Ed Degree. Tony wondered if McGee would be surprised if he knew that he also knew a lot about computers. More than what he had shown at work and that he could hack too.

When Gibbs had decided to add on Kate it was decided to keep his computer, language and profiling abilities a secret. Because of Gibbs attitude, or rather his second b it was decided that Tony's abilities would be kept secret. Tony would become the one that hopefully the others would come to because of his easy personality. Kate took him at face value and thought he had him figured out. When McGee was put on the team he was told by Gibbs to toughen him up. To do whatever is necessary to help him grow a backbone which is why he would tell McGee will you ever learn and why he gave him the bottle to unglue himself.

Tony glanced at the clock again and they still weren't there. Finally ten minutes later they came into the bullpen and sat at their desks. He shook his head. He, Abby and even Ducky and Jimmy had even filed insubordination claims.

"You're late. I told you again and again to come in on time."

"You are not our boss." Replied McGee

"I am your boss. When Gibbs handed me his badge and gun he made me the boss."

"All he said was you'll do. If I was the Senior Field Agent he would have said do a good job. After all he said I'm a good Agent. He probably wanted to give me the team leader, but I haven't been with NCIS that long." McGee said smugly. He knew that he was smarter than Tony because he went to MIT and John Hopkins.

"I am your boss until Gibbs comes back, or if he comes back. You may not like me, but you have to obey me because I am your boss. You will obey me and you will respect me." Tony breathed in and out before he spoke again. "If you don't like working for me you can go to another team. If you can obey me and respect me then you can stay."

"I'm sorry, Tony." McGee said as he turned to his computer.

Tony nodded and then went back to work. He hoped that McGee was truly sorry. He wondered what Ducky and Jimmy had found and when downstairs. He watched as Ducky and Jimmy do the autopsy of the dead Petty Officer wondered what they got. He liked Jimmy. While Gibbs was gone Tony had been talking to Jimmy about what was happening upstairs and about the cases. He helped him a lot during when he needed help.

"Hey, Ducky. Do you have anything for me?" Tony smiled at both Ducky and Jimmy as they both looked up.

Ducky had let go of his anger at Gibbs leaving and had seen what was going wrong right in front of his face. He had been mad so long that he had ignored what was happening until Jimmy had pointed it out. He had talked to Tony right after that and told him he was sorry.

Tony had forgiven him and made sure that they were okay. He liked the older man and felt like he was a grandpa to him. When he was growing up he never had any contact with his Grandparents on either side. He wondered if they would have liked him, but the way his parents treated him they would be just like them. He was almost glad that he never met them.

"Tony, my boy. How are you?"

"I'm fine." Tony smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Up to their tricks again?"

Tony shrugged not bothering to say anything.

"Did you get anything from the Petty Officer?"

"He was beaten and was killed by someone placing a pillow over his head. We also found this."

Ducky gave Tony the bagged evidence and he looked at it. "Can you catch me before I kill another?"

"We have a serial killer on our hands."

The evidence and taken to Abby and there was nothing to be found. "It's like the killer is wiping everything down and has gloves on to write this message. There were no fingerprints." Abby said as she went to her babies again.

Tony went back upstairs and told them that they had a Serial Killer on the loose. Check the video again, McGee. Ziva, check your contracts to see if they had any serial killers." Tony said as he too picked up a phone to see if any of his contracts knew anything.

Disclaimer: "NCIS" and its characters don't belong to me they belong to CBS and are being used without permission. Please don't sue because I have no money.

One of Tony's contacts told them that they had a serial killer, but could never catch him. A note was written to taunt them just like one was written for them. It said can you catch me before I kill another? Tony asked for the evidence and it would be there in an hour.

When he went to go get the evidence he found out that McGee and Ziva had left. He shook his head and pulled out his phone. "Where are you?"

"Were out having lunch."

"Come back now."

"We will when we are done." Replied Ziva.

Tony sighed as he took the evidence to Abby. "I need you to go over the new evidence I got from one of the Police Departments."

"I will do my best Tony." Abby smiled as she hugged Tony.

"Thank you, Abby. At least you, Ducky and Jimmy are doing a good job."

"What about the terrible two?"

"They went to lunch and left. They told me that they would come back when they are done."

"Did you write another insubordination report?"

"No, I see no reason. When the Director tells them they should listen they only last one day and then they don't listen anymore."

"I'm sorry, Tony."

It was finally time to go home and he told the terrible two to go home. They weren't really working anyways. They were just in the motions of working."

The next day it started again. They still weren't there on time. He went downstairs to see what Abby had and she had something. Tony nodded and told her to get the address. When he went upstairs he wasn't really surprised that they still weren't there. He left a message with both Ziva and McGee and told them the address.

Tony stepped out onto the pavement and looked up to the house where they may have found a clue. He walked up to the steps and made his way up to the house. He looked around before knocking on the door."

When nobody answered he quickly made his way into the house and cautiously made his way towards the doors and rooms. He hadn't been looking, but suddenly found himself falling onto the floor and finally fading to black.

"Well, Mr. NCIS. It looks like you found where I live, but since I have you I have to leave here." The man picked Tony up and dragged him to his car and took off.

Abby was waiting for Tony to call her back and was looking at the phone, but still no call from Tony. She turned around and made her way towards the bullpen and when she did she found Ziva and McGee at their desks. It had been an hour since Tony had left to go find the Serial Killer.

"When did you get here?"

"Just a minute ago." Replied Ziva.

"Did Tony call you?"

"Yes, but I did not answer. I knew he was calling because we weren't at work yet. I did not want to hear him yelling at me."

"What about you McGee?"

"I knew he was going to say that we weren't here yet and I too didn't answer."

"You didn't answer?" She glared at both of them. "I hope nothing happened to Tony because you were too lazy to answer you phones. He called you because he has the address to the Serial Killer and you were to lazy to answer the phone."

"He has the address."

"Yes, you just hope that he has the killer and was not taken."

McGee quickly checked his voice mail and both of them got their gear and went towards the elevator. When they got to their destination they saw Tony's car, but when they went into the house they didn't find Tony. They turned to go, but not after they got some evidence. There looked like there was a little bit of blood on the carpet, so they got a sample.

Making their way to the lab after they got back they took all the evidence to Abby. Abby didn't dare look at them and when they left she knew whom she had to call.

Gibbs sighed as he hung up the phone and wondered what happened. He knew that he had to go back because somehow a serial killer kidnapped Tony. Hr really didn't know what happened, but he would when he got there. The only thing that Ziva told him was that Tony got kidnapped and they needed his help, so here he was going back to DC to rescue DiNozzo. He shook his head Tony was a trouble magnet. Sometimes he wasn't even looking for trouble and it found him.

Ducky led him to the car after picking up Gibbs from the airport. Ducky told him what had been happening and how hard it's been on Tony. How he, Jimmy, Abby and some Agents had filed insubordination reports and even a few by Tony. The Director had talked to them, but they would listen for a day and then go back to what they were doing. When Gibbs got to NCIS he went down to Abby and she backed up what Ducky was saying.

He was angry at what was happening when he was gone. He trusted them to take care of Tony and for Tony to take care of them. He knew Tony did a good job at taking care of them, but they didn't do the same for Tony. He walked into the bullpen like a thundercloud ready to explode.

"What you did was inexcusable. Because of what you did Tony is in the hands of a serial killer. You better hope we get him back alive because there is no where you can hide from me."

"Boss." Both Ziva and McGee spoke.

"I don't want to hear it now. I don't care if you don't like your supervisor, but even if you don't like him you have to obey him. I may have said you'll do when I left, but Anthony DiNozzo is a good Agent. He's the best Agent I've worked with." He took a breath and started again. "I know that you think Tony is dumb, but he is far from dumb. Just because he doesn't brag about them, or he doesn't show you his skills doesn't mean he doesn't have them.

"McGee, how do you think we go the bad guys when we didn't have you?" He said as he turned to McGee.

"I don't know."

"It was Tony. He was the one who hacked to get information. He knows a lot about computers, but since you came along it was my idea for him to teach you. I was the one that told him to toughen you up, so that you could grow a backbone. Just because he doesn't act like it he has the same IQ as you do. He just acts juvenile and has the mask of a clown. That's it he acts."

He then turned to Ziva. "Tony knows more languages than Spanish and Italian. In fact he knows Hebrew and other languages too. He also knows how to fight. He also has useful profiling tools too.

"I'm sure both of you know that he keeps my medals, but do you know I keep his too? I know he goes up front and takes mine and makes a big deal out of them, but did you know that at the same ceremony he tells them just to give him his medals? Like I said he acts like he likes the attention, but he really doesn't when it matters. I want both of you to think about that as we find Tony."

Gibbs said as he marched up to the Directors office. When he came downstairs a package was on his desk. He made his way towards Abby's lab to make sure the package was okay. They put it into the player and started watching it. Tony was hanging by his wrists and he didn't have a shirt on.

Abby, Ducky, Jimmy, Ziva and McGee were also watching the video. The first whip mark struck Tony's back, but he did not scream. The second and fourth rained down on his body, but he still didn't scream. The person's voice was also hidden as the masked man turned towards the video.

"Will you be able to save him before I kill him? You better hurry before I get tired of playing with him." The man said as he continued whipping Tony. He then vanished from sight and he had a bat in his hands. He swung the bat and hit his middle. Tony still didn't scream.

"Wait, stop the video." Jimmy said.

"What is it Jimmy?" Asked Abby.

"See that flower? It's a special kind of flower that only grows at a certain place. It grows by the warehouses down by the water."

Gibbs turned around and was ready to leave. "Because this is an emergency and we need people you two will come along. When Tony's rescued you will come back to headquarters. I will deal with you later." Gibbs made his way up the Director and told her what was happening. He picked up some more Agents and made their way towards rescuing Tony.

In the fourth warehouse they found Tony and one of the Agents had shot the man who was later found out to be Tyler Stevenson. Gibbs waited for the ambulance and went with Tony. The man had shot Tony while they were on the way to the warehouse, but luckily they got there in time.

It had been a week until Tony could get out of the hospital. The whip marks and the gunshot wound were both healing. Gibbs made sure that he would stay at his house. Ziva and McGee were written up and fired. Ziva was back in Israel and McGee couldn't find a job in any federal agency because he didn't listen to a superior.

Tony and Gibbs finally found a new team and they worked well together. Tony and the computer tech on the team now shared the responsibility of hacking. They both fit nicely on the team.

Gibbs looked around. His team had changed, but the only thing that didn't change was Tony. He hadn't been lying when he told the others that Tony was the best Agent he worked with. He was angry with Ziva and McGee how they treated Tony. It took sometime for him to see the man behind the mask, but he did see the real Tony. He thought that in time the others would too, but they never did. He was glad that he was called back from Mexico.

The End