Yes - another Missing Scene from my fave show NCIS and involving my fave character Tony DiNozzo. I might change the title, I'm still deciding. THANK YOU for the awesome reviews of my last missing scene story! I am working on sending you individual replies so just hang tight!

This time it's the "Truth Or Consequences" episode and the scene takes place after Gibbs comes in to make sure his team gets out of the Somalian camp safely. There have been some stories, tags and missing scenes already written but so far none have been as Tony centric as mine will be. I think he went through hell from the moment he found the photo of Michael Rivkin to the way Ziva betrayed him by making Gibbs choose between her and him. Not to mention how mean she was to him in Africa when he risked his LIFE to save her sorry ass. I LOVE Ziva normally though so I just didn't like how that played out. I think the writers ruined the old ZIVA sexual tension but hope I am wrong.

The Producers of NCIS should have made the Season 7 Premiere episode a two-hour special episode. There were so many more scenes that would have been amazing to see. This is my attempt to take care of at least one scene. On with the story!

The Consequences Of The Truth

Chapter I

Mission – Not Get Dead

As the disheveled and exhausted trio emerged from the "interrogation" room that had doubled as their prison, they saw a threat directly in front of them, in the form of another one of Saleem's terrorist gunmen. Then just as suddenly, the threat was taken down in the blink of an eye by one bullet visibly startling all three of them. As they quickly scuttled around the corner where his body lay in a heap, they saw him. Gibbs. Three battered bodies tiredly sagged against each other in relief, immediately picking up their pace using what was left of their adrenaline. Gibbs went on ahead of them to clear each corner before signaling his Senior Agent with hand signals when it was safe to proceed.

As they moved along following their boss to the awaiting chopper, a goal that to all three of the weary teammates seemed to be over 500 miles away though it was actually very close. Then all of a sudden Ziva faltered for a moment, her legs weak from fatigue, loss of muscle tone and lack of proper nourishment and her Bothers-In-Arms so to speak both had to pull from within their own depleted reserves just to hold her up and continue to half carry her along trying to just make it to the chopper and using all the extra strength they could muster given their own weakened states.

Tony's arms and legs burned badly from lactic acid buildup in his muscles caused by dehydration and worsened by the extra exertion of having to walk so far while feeling so ill – all thanks to the combination of unknown drugs still coursing through his veins. He hoped that the cold sweat he could feel pouring down his face, the severe nausea and dizziness he was also feeling now, would go unnoticed by his team – especially Gibbs!

McGee knew this was one of the few times - if not the only time, that he was the strongest of the trio, being that he had been lucky enough to essentially rest on the floor all but ignored by Saleem while he feigned unconsciousness. Yet Tony hadn't been as lucky since he had been forced to take the brunt of the man's anger and hours of grueling interrogation – not to mention, being drugged. Even McGee's dehydration had been less than Tony's purely due to the fact that he was able to refrain from talking or moving which kept him from sweating much and taking extra dry air into his mouth while speaking. While Tony on the other hand, had been forced to talk even more than his usual unsurpassed amount, partially because of the drugs that were forced upon him, but also because he had to stall long enough to find out if Ziva was indeed – dead, before their Sniper turned Boss turned Sniper, killed the deadly terrorist.

Out of the corner of his eye, McGee took a quick glance in Tony's direction, he was the only one present to witness Tony as he expressed his true feelings about Ziva to Saleem, thanks to the truth serum portion of the drug mixture he was injected with. Tim had suspected this more and more over the past few months as he watched his partner become completely obsessed with trying to find out what happened to her. Tim's suspicions were confirmed when he watched the heartbreaking downward spiral of his partner – after they had been told by Gibbs that she was dead.

McGee made sure to keep a watchful eye over his friend as they made their way to the rescue chopper that was now only a few yards in front of them. He could see the sweat pouring off Tony's face and the veins that were protruding from his neck and forehead as he struggled to stay upright and not drop their precious cargo – one Ms. Ziva David.

Ziva – was silent, still trying to absorb what was even happening and trying to convince herself that it was not a dream. She felt a mixture of emotions coursing through her, on one hand she felt almost giddy that Tony was the first face she laid eyes upon having all but given up on that rescue fantasy months ago. She knew she was unnecessarily mean to him in the interrogation cell, but she felt it was necessary to keep him alive. She knew firsthand how quickly Saleem could turn on a dime and just as easily slice her former partner's neck almost clear to the back of his cervical spine in one swipe. But if anything like that were to have happened, she knew she would have found some way take her own life as soon as possible knowing she could never live with the guilt of knowing they had died trying to save her.

She realized over her months of doing nothing but thinking, that she had been in love with him even before she started sleeping with Michael. She also realized that his trip to her apartment that fateful night was exactly what he said it was – that he had been concerned for his partner's safety and just wanted to check in on her to make sure she was okay. How could she have doubted him? Everyone knew that Tony always came to anyone's rescue who needed it, it was just part of his good hearted nature. How could she have been so stupid? How was Michael able to manipulate her so easily?

Those and so many other questions had flooded her mind throughout her long, hot Summer spent in captivity and fear.

She knew now that she had overreacted that night in her apartment. Perhaps it was due to the shock of seeing Rivkin dying, or perhaps the shock of seeing Tony hurt or the shock of knowing she had been played the fool by Michael and that her partner and friend had been a witness to it – and nearly killed because of it. Her pride was all but shattered while depression and grief seemed to take over what was left of her.

Suddenly her thoughts were snapped back to the present when she felt her legs giving out from under her.

She tried hard to keep herself moving knowing that her human crutches were in rough shape themselves. Yet she instantly felt their amazing strength as she was held up and half carried the rest of the way. Six months ago, she would have pulled from every reserve of energy and strength she had to keep her partners from seeing her appear weak. But her African experience had changed her, that her previous bravado and rather macho and stubborn pride – all seemed so stupid now. She realized that allowing herself to feel, to show emotion and weakness on occasion that it didn't make her weak, didn't make her less of a fighter - or less of a woman.

She stealthily glanced over at Tony through her peripheral vision, he wasn't looking so well she observed. She knew the drugs he had said were given to him were dangerous and strong, his body would be trying to reject the toxins at this point and his already weakened condition would not be on his side. She thought back to his words to her in the cell ~ 'that's why we have to stay alive long enough to not – get – dead!' ~ leave it to him to combine humor with such a serious topic. It seemed whenever danger was, his sarcasm and humor were at their peak. She knew however, that he did that more for the benefit of calming others down around him, his team as well as any victims, keeping them from allowing fear to stifle their behavior – keeping them all focused on getting away and to safety in one piece.

In short order they were all pulled quickly into the huge military chopper as Gibbs was now somehow behind them - prepared to shoot to kill any and all who attempted to delay them. Within minutes they were all safely on board and rising quickly up into the air as their boss pulled the heavy sliding door partially closed to protect them from rampant and McGee were seated and buckled in against one wall, holding onto the cargo netting and straps that were hanging above and behind them. Gibbs had taken the seat against the opposite wall on the same side as Ziva.

For what seemed like hours the three dehydrated and exhausted teammates and their boss all stared at each other. Gibbs, Tony and McGee staring more so in Ziva's direction just trying to absorb the fact that she was there, alive - not dead as they had previously thought for over two months. None of them knew quite what to say since her initial departure had been so wrought with turmoil, deception and unanswered questions.

For once it was Gibbs who ended up breaking the silence, usually he was the one who remained silent whilst the others rambled on around him. "It's good to see you again Ziva. Are you alright?" he asked her first and foremost.

"Yes, I am fine Gibbs. It is good to see you as well." she said in response, unsure of really what to say in this situation. She found herself still in shock of the fact that they had even come for her, and succeeded to rescue her when she had all but given up hope months ago. She didn't thank him though – mainly because she still felt they had unnecessarily risked their lives for her and that she was not deserving of such an unbelievable sacrifice.

She caught herself glancing over in Tony's direction, relieved to find that his eyes were closed, his head leaning back against the wall behind him. She began silently checking him over since she knew he had been drugged and having been privy to some of Saleem's other injected concoctions, she knew the side effects could be severe to say the least. Even with his skin being browned by the African sun, she could still notice the grayness in his pallor and the sheen of cold sweat breaking out all over his still handsome face, the tight clenching of his chiseled jaw as he fought to control his nausea.

She frowned, knowing him as well as she did, she knew he was trying hard to silently overcome his feelings of sickness and pain – purposely remaining unusually stoic so as not to cause Gibbs to catch on.

Gibbs however, didn't miss a thing, ever. He had been silently observing his entire team since he had been seated and nothing had escaped his notice. After speaking to Ziva, he caught her as she cast a stealthy glance over in Tony's direction, in following the movement of her eyes he could see that she was observing her former partner with concern. Gibbs knew that was unusual behavior since Tony had been the last person she wanted to so much as look at before they left her in Israel.

He then allowed his own eyes to shift in the direction of his Senior Field Agent. He had never been as proud of Tony as he was this past couple of months. He had really stepped up and taken the initiative to formulate the plan to avenge for Ziva's alleged death and to also attempt to fulfill the mission she had been heading to Somalia to undertake. Gibbs knew that there had to be a reason for Ziva to suddenly be looking so worried about Tony when just months ago, she all but hated him. As Gibbs turned his own attention towards his all too quiet Agent, giving Tony a head to toe once over, it only took him a matter of seconds to detect the same problems that Ziva had observed as well as the green and purple bruising on his face that stood out prominently in ratio to his far too pale skin. He had been too busy getting them to the chopper in one piece, to notice any of his team's conditions.

"DiNozzo." he said in a voice just loud enough to be heard over the whirling of the loud chopper blades. No response.

"DINOZZO!" he yelled much louder this time.

Tony slightly jumped at the sound of his name – his eyes flashing open wildly for a moment, then seeing his surroundings and feeling a headache pounding from behind his eyes, he closed them again quickly in an attempt to settle his ridiculous dizziness and calm the throbbing in his head. It was obvious to him that his symptoms were not unlike having been on a drunken or drug binge. He kept his eyes titghtly closed, praying that at least the effects of the truth serum portion of the drugs had worn off. Fighting the emotional urge to tell Gibbs he was feeling like crap, while fighting the physical urge to throw up. "Yeah Boss?" he replied curtly in a very weak voice.

"HEY- you feelin' alright Tony?" Gibbs questioned, realizing uncomfortably that Tony looked as bad as he had the day he returned to work after having the Plague.

Tony had to fight with all he had to not answer his bosses question the way his mind was urging him to.

"Mmm-hmm." he forced out through clenched teeth and pursed lips in an effort to contain not only his words, but the bile that was rising in his throat.

"Yeah, I bet you do." came Gibbs sarcastic reply. "Well you are still going to get checked out when we land at the air strip. I arranged to have a couple of Medics on hand to check ALL of you out."

McGee decided to come clean and tell their boss just what had been done to Tony, knowing he would probably be killed later by his partner's bare hands. He didn't care. He hated to see his friend suffer. "Gibbs, uh . . . you should know . . . um, Tony was uh, inje-"

"Probie!" came a rather quiet reprimand from the ailing partner to his left. Tony trying not to aggravate his booming head,

"Uhm, boss . . . er well, I was just going to say that Tony was . . . uh, in-sisting that Ziva be checked out. She needs attention the most." the Junior Agent recovered quickly. He suddenly felt like he would be betraying his partner's trust since they had really bonded over the Summer and he knew Tony had enough pride to want to stay off Gibbs radar and keep the focus only on helping Ziva. Gibbs felt anger at the fact that he knew Tim well enough to know that wasn't what he was initially starting to say. He knew Tim was now backtracking from whatever he had started to say. Jethro knew that Tim usually stuttered the worst when he was trying to cover something up or when he knew that his words were going to invoke the wrath of his boss.

Yet Gibbs also felt proud in knowing how close his two male Agents had become of late. He would have done the same thing for his own partners in the past, or any of his Marine comrades. But at the same time, someone's health and well being – especially one of HIS team, was not something Gibbs took lightly and was nothing to mess around with. He would get to the bottom of this when they landed - unless Tony's condition deteriorated any further before then.

To Be Continued . . .