Rating: K+

Summary: NCIS. Set near the end of season six. This story is about a smart Tony. And how the other members of the team react when they discover how smart he really is.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of the characters. No copyright infringement, or disrespect to the people who have made NCIS such a success is intended. Thank you.

A/N: This is only the second story I have posted and the first one in the NCIS category. I would appreciate any helpful critiques or reviews – honesty is appreciated – flames are not. I have had this bouncing around on my hard drive for several years and finally have worked up the courage to post it. Please understand that I know it is out of date. Please also understand that I do not claim to be an expert in any of the subjects or areas mentions throughout the story. Thank you for taking the time to read!

Higher Education

By: visions2share a.k.a. Vi

Chapter 01

Something was up. DiNozzo was lying. He'd asked for the day off, more than two weeks ago, saying he had a dentist appointment. But Gibbs wasn't buying it – it didn't feel right. Maybe Abby would know what was up.

She was standing at her computer in the middle of the main part of her lab, somehow ignoring the banging and screaming coming out of her speakers. He turned it off and she twirled around.

"Morning, Bossman!" she smiled and bounced as she spoke.

"Morning, Abs."

"Aren't you going to ask what I got? You always ask what I got."

"Fine. Whatcha ya got, Abs?"

"The DNA came back not a match to Baker, but a close female relative."

"Female?"

"Mother, sister, daughter. Female."

"Anything else?"

"You didn't give me anything else. Why are you really here?"

Gibbs smirked, Abby was pretty good at reading his expressions, and his lack of interest in her surprising results was also telling.

"You know what's going on with DiNozzo?"

"Doesn't he have a dentist appointment today? Is that what you mean, he said he had a couple of cavities that needed fixing."

"Yeah, that's what he told me too, and Ziva, and McGee."

Abby's eyes got wide, and her lips pursed, as she realized the implication.

"You think he lied to you?"

"Yeah, Abs, I do."

"Why?"

"I don't know. He confides in you, he didn't give you a hint, a clue, anything about what's going on?" DiNozzo's colleagues where his family. And he was closest to Abby, with the possible exception of Gibbs himself, except that, obviously, whatever was going on he was working to keep it from Gibbs.

"I don't know. He's been acting a little weird. More confident than usual, you know? In that way that means he really isn't. Overly bright." Abby's eyes got even bigger, "oh my gosh, he's worried about something. Something's wrong. What's wrong? Why don't you know, you know everything!?" Abby demanded as she threw herself against him for a hug.

"You know as well as I do that it's a fluke I figured out he was lying at all. Nobody's better at that than DiNozzo. Has he mentioned anything about a girl? Or his family? Or money problems? Even joking."

Abby pulled away and Gibbs could see her cast her mind back, going over every conversation she'd had with him for weeks.

"Nothing about a girl. I don't think he's really dated since that whole French Frog thing."

Gibbs only nodded. DiNozzo had been burned badly by Jeanne, and Jenny for putting him that position in the first place. At first he was heartbroken, then after having been away as an agent afloat he'd just seemed to be out of the habit.

"Nothing about his family at all. Not even the half stories he usually tells. Almost like he was trying to forget that they'd ever existed at all. In fact he told me a few weeks ago, when we were talking about that colonel's kid being sent to military school, that it didn't matter what his experiences were – they were in the past. At the time I thought that was a great attitude – so as not to get distracted from the case, you know? – but now…" Abby didn't need to finish her sentence.

"So maybe something to do with his family?"

"That's the only thing I can think of. But, I know you know this, Bossman, Tony only says what Tony wants to say. He never lets anything slip. Not anything. Ever. Unless he's on pain meds or something." She smiled, DiNozzo had a truly horrible and hilarious reaction to most pain medications. But her smile faded almost immediately, "you don't think he's in trouble do you?"

"Nothing serious," even as he said the words Gibbs knew there was a good chance he was lying. DiNozzo could cry wolf with the best of them, but if he had a real problem, nobody found out unless he wanted them to. Which he never did.

"You'll fix whatever it is, won't you, Gibbs? Please!" Abby showed her own unique brand of worry for Tony and faith that Gibbs could do anything.

Gibbs felt guilty for making her worry. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that he wasn't sure he could fix it. Especially not knowing what in the hell was wrong. "Yeah, Abs, I'll fix it."

Gibbs waited until quitting time before focusing on figuring out what was up with DiNozzo. He'd managed to finish the Baker case late that afternoon. What a big brother wouldn't do to cover for his little sister. Focusing on the case was the only way for Gibbs to get through the day without storming out to find DiNozzo. When eighteen hundred rolled around he told Ziva and McGee to go home – a full two hours earlier than usual – and without finishing their reports. They took advantage and immediately high-tailed it out of the building.

Gibbs stayed in the bull pen to take a quick look through DiNozzo's desk to see if anything was out of place. Or if he could find any other kind of clue as to what was going on with him. Gibbs turned on the computer and waited impatiently for it to boot up. Even though he didn't use the calendar function that was part of the e-mail program, he knew it existed, and, more importantly, he knew that DiNozzo used it. As he was waiting for the computer to boot he went back to his search – this time focusing on the tall file cabinet near DiNozzo's desk.

DiNozzo kept some spare clothes there, in the third drawer, normally. Gibbs sometimes borrowed some when he was behind on his laundry – or he needed to dress up more than his polo shirts would allow. Gibbs found nothing out of the ordinary. Although what he might have found he didn't know.

Just as he shut the drawer he heard the clump-clump-clump of Abby's boots getting off the rear elevator. Good. She would be able to access not only the calendar thing on the computer, but also the internet history, and maybe even the office security video for him.

"Did you find anything?" the fact that Abby didn't object to Gibbs going through DiNozzo's desk spoke to how worried she was about him.

"Nothing yet. The drawers seem a little more organized than sometimes and a lot of junk that used to be there, like the fuzzy handcuffs, is gone. But I think that's because he didn't bring that stuff back to the office after his tour on the Patrick Henry. Everything else appears normal. He's caught up with all his paperwork and his files are in order." Gibbs was now leaning against the end of DiNozzo's desk looking at Abby.

"Yeah, but Tony is always caught up and, despite what he lets McGee and Ziva, and even the director think, his files and the rest of his work are always in order." Abby's expression showed that, at the moment, she wasn't impressed with her boss's investigative skills.

"Exactly. I was about to try to check the calendar on his computer. I don't suppose you…" Abby was already running towards DiNozzo's chair.

"Great idea, I'll check his internet history too." Abby reached for the keyboard then paused. "My password cracker program is in the lab – we should do this from down there."

Gibbs quietly rattled off a string of digits, "that's his password.

"Dates?"Abby questioned as the computer dinged signaling it was logging in.

"The day we first met in Baltimore and the day I asked him to join NCIS," Gibbs tried to relay the information without emotion. He failed.

"Wow – I didn't know Tony was that sentimental," Abby was already clicking up a storm navigating through the information on Tony's computer.

"Neither did I – he told me he picked them because they represented the first truly good days of his life – even better than is college glory days."

"Wow."

"Yeah." Of course, DiNozzo had been extremely drunk when Gibbs retrieved that information from him.

"Okay, Gibbs, come look at this," Gibbs moved in behind Abby so he, too, could see Tony's computer screen, "today is marked as a vacation day then in quotes it says 'dentist appointment – fixing a few cavities'. The quotes make me think that you were right – something else is going on and Tony's calendar notes are his way of keeping his stories straight."

"Yeah – looks that way to me too, Abs. You find anything else?" even as he spoke, Gibbs felt his famous gut twist, there would be another clue on the computer.

"Well – maybe, his internet history shows nothing abnormal during business hours but about three weeks ago there is some browsing in the middle of the night on the Georgetown University website. He visited pages that are buried deep in the site and require a password – without either his password or my password cracker software I can't tell what the pages contain." Abby paused for breath.

"What about the password I gave you a few minutes ago?" Didn't DiNozzo generally use the same password for all his stuff?

"I tried that already, Bossman, no luck. Do you know any of his other passwords?"Abs looked up at him with an expectation of an answer. He didn't have one and shook his head.

"No. Anything else?"

Abby refocused on the screen, "his e-mail also shows that on that same night he sent several large e-mails to people with university addresses. I can't see the actual content of the messages because he deleted them immediately after sending – all I can tell from this log is that they were sent. He did a really good job of covering his tracks – which is what makes me think maybe it means something."

"Good work. Was removing the messages hard to do?"

"Yeah, it was pretty advanced computer work. Why?"

"Something DiNozzo could have done or would he have needed help?"

"Oh no, he totally could have done it himself – he is way, way, way better at computers than he lets anybody know. Especially McGee – because it makes McGee feel more useful to be able to do something he thinks Tony can't."

Gibbs chuckled – yep, that sounded like DiNozzo. "Okay, about these password protected whatevers that you couldn't get into - is there a way around that?"

"Sure I can send these IP addresses down to the computer in my lab and use the password cracker I have installed on that machine to get me in – or I can go old school and hack the university."Abby grinned, which meant either way was both illegal and fun.

"I don't think you need to actually do any of that tonight, except send the information downstairs. I'll go talk to DiNozzo tonight – if he tells me what's really going on you won't need to bother. If he doesn't, or I don't find him, you can do it in the morning before he comes in for work."

"Okay – I'm sending the IP address now – I promise to wait to check on them until you say so. Oh, and I'm erasing any evidence that we were on here tonight." Abby finished and shutdown the computer. When she stood she looked back at Gibbs to see him giving her the look. "Really – I promise – I won't get into them until you say," she offered the pinky finger on her right hand, "pinky promise."

Gibbs rolled his eyes even as he hooked his little finger around hers. He used that grip to pull her, gently, into his arms for a hug and a kiss on the head.

"Go home, Abs, whatever he has to say, tomorrow is likely to be a long day."

"Not so fast, Bossman, you have to make me a promise too," Gibbs raised one eyebrow and waited, "you have to promise me that if you need my help talking to Tony tonight you'll call. Promise."

"I promise." Gibbs gave her another kiss, this one on the cheek, and sent her back to her lab to get her things. He would meet her in the lobby and walk her to her car.

Thirty minutes later Gibbs pulled his car up in front of Tony's apartment building. It was still fairly early, only about nineteen hundred hours. But Gibbs decided to go up and see if DiNozzo was home – if not, well, he had a key. He would snoop a little while he waited.

A knock on the door of DiNozzo's fifth floor apartment – a walk-up due to the perpetually broken elevator – got no response. So Gibbs did exactly as he had planned. He let himself in and turned on the lights.

The living area, which consisted of a nice sized living room, a dinette style eating area, and a small kitchen, were all spotlessly clean and tidy. No real surprise there – DiNozzo wasn't home enough to create much clutter – and, if his habits hadn't changed, he tended to clean up after himself as he went, so he didn't have to waste his day off straightening up. The shelves that Gibbs had built him for his DVD collection were stacked full of movie and TV titles. They looked good, last time Gibbs visited DiNozzo hadn't finished moving into them yet. The shelves were certainly full, but they didn't appear overly crowded.

Wait. If all the movies were out here now – what was in the second bedroom? All those movies used to be stored in plastic boxes in the 'guest room.' Gibbs set off down the short hallway without more conscious thought. It was possible of course that the collection had grown and DiNozzo was now keeping movies in both rooms. But if that were the case the collection would have had to have grown significantly just in the time since DiNozzo returned from the Patrick Henry.

Gibbs eased the door opened. The room had changed a lot since he was last in here. Gone were the plastic boxes of movies. There still wasn't a guest bed – instead the room was filled with a desk and computer system. Some more shelves – these the store bought, self-assembled kind – which were actually filled with books. Gibbs moved closer to get the titles in focus. They weren't thrillers, or mysteries like he read – in fact they weren't fiction at all. They all appeared to be textbooks on psychology and philosophy and a few on biology, anthropology, chemistry, and physics as well. On one of the far shelves were what appeared to be quite a collection of magazines, he pulled one off the shelf to see the title – expecting Playboy or GSM or something. Yet another surprise – "The American Journal of Psychology."

Gibbs put the journal carefully back where it belonged. He glanced in the master bedroom briefly on his way by – nothing different there. Then he went back to the couch to wait. His mind was spinning.

He knew that DiNozzo had minored in psychology, specializing in criminal psychology, in college. In fact, he had a bachelor's degree in it. But Gibbs didn't know that he had kept up with his studies – or that his fields of interest were so widely divergent. Anthropology? Physics? Chemistry? There had even been a few with names he didn't recognize – so probably some computer thing.

Computer thing? Abby had said that DiNozzo was better with computers than he let on. And although Gibbs had always known that – Abby's comments seemed to indicate that he was as good as McGee – a fact Gibbs had not known.

The more he thought about what he had found the more he craved answers. Sitting there waiting he decided to call Abby and ask her exactly how good DiNozzo was with computers – that would answer at least one question. And that would be some satisfaction, for now, until DiNozzo got back and Gibbs rung the answers from his stubborn lips himself.

"Gibbs, did you talk to Tony yet? What did he say? Do you need my help? I can be at his place in fifteen minutes? Gibbs? Gibbs?"Abby's anxious voice came through the phone before it had rung even once – she must have been waiting for his call.

"Abs…Abby…ABBY!"Gibbs tried to break into her tirade.

"What?"

"He isn't home yet – I'm waiting for him in his living room."

"Where could he be?"

"I don't know – if I knew where he was I'd be there."

"I should have traced his cell phone from my lab – I could go back to the Yard and do that now?"Abby asked permission.

"No – we'll wait a while yet – if he hasn't shown up by no-hundred hours then we'll trace his phone." That seemed like a fair compromise – after all he did have the whole day off – but one minute into the next day and his ass was back on duty.

"I'm going to come over and wait with you – the suspense is killing me – please?"Abby begged.

Sigh. "Sure, Abs, you can…"

"I'm on my way!" click. The line went dead – Abby had hung up the second she got the answer she wanted.

Abby had been at Tony's with Gibbs for half an hour. She had checked the bookshelves in the second bedroom. It hadn't been an office last time she'd been here for movie night either. Gibbs had asked her if some of those were computer books. They were. He had also asked just how good Tony was with a computer – specifically if he was as good as McGee. The answer had been an unequivocal 'yes.' She had gone on to explain that Tony was even better than McGee – that McGee made things too difficult and took too much time to get back to the easier solution. Where McGee saw the computer as invaluable and infallible – Tony saw it for what it was – a tool. Gibbs had just nodded, seeming to need the silence to internalize all the new information.

As for Abby – she knew that Tony had degrees and some serious skills. She knew he had a Master's in Physical Education and a Bachelor's in Psychology. But she didn't know that he still studied – and he did still study – many of those books in his new office were purchased in the last five months. The dates on the copies of "The American Journal of Psychology" showed that his subscription was current and of long standing. And all the books, and she had checked them all, had highlighting and notes in the margins – the notes were all in Tony's distinctive handwriting.

Abby felt bad that Tony apparently hadn't felt he could tell her that he had a life as an intellectual. Those physics and chemistry texts were extremely high end – and the notes showed that he definitely understood their content. Why hadn't she noticed?

The question answered itself – she hadn't noticed because Tony hadn't wanted her to. But what if he had been dropping hints and she had missed them? Yes. No. It was a vicious circle and, as her body finally came to rest on the couch next to Gibbs, her mind was still spinning.

End Chapter 01

A/N: There is more to come if anybody is interested. Thanks for reading!