Hi everyone! So I have a confession...I really should be updating my other story right now but... I can't! I had his stuck in my mind alllllll day and it wouldn't leave me alone! So finally I just spat it out and was able to get it out of my system (:

Enjoy! (P.S. I do not own NCIS)

Dr. Samantha Ryan was not easily startled. She was one of mind games, meaning that she was always one step ahead of everyone else, leaving no room for surprises. However, as it is to everything, there was always an exception now and then.

"Shouldn't you be with Gibbs?" Ryan jumped, spinning around in the bullpen, pulling away from the picture on the screen. She hadn't expected anyone to be there- it was after three A.M. after all. No one in their right minds would be here that early. Of course, Anthony DiNozzo was very rarely ever considered in his 'right mind' per say.

"Shouldn't you be at home?" she smiled, looking back at the man who was still pouring over a folder, his form faded from the lack of light in the office.

"Should." he shrugged "But I'm not. Got keep up with the paper work you know, I would hate to be fired and then have to work as a game show host." he said with a small, teasing smile.

"What a shame that would be." Ryan laughed and walked over, propping herself up on the Agent's desk, her eyes scanning over him.

"Don't know why you are looking me over Doc. I thought you had your sights set on Gibbs." Tony said, finally looking up and meeting her eyes, a look of pain in frustration glimmering just beneath the surface of his acting skills. Dr. Ryan would always believe that exactly eighty-five percent of communication was given through body language. Feet being the most honest, with the eyes following in behind as a close second. Samantha couldn't help but wonder, with all of Tony's communication- verbal and not- why no one has realized he is pleading for help.

"I'm not looking you over Agent DiNozzo, I'm trying to figure you out still." at the statement, she received a raised eyebrow and watched as he put down the file and leaned back into his chair, studying her over intently.

"I thought I was already pegged." he answered "Game show host remember?" It was then that Ryan felt a small smile slowly break onto her face, understanding clicking through her mind in a second.

"Ah, I see." she chuckled and then shook her head "That's why you don't trust me. You think I've misread you."

"Who said I never trusted you?" he asked sharply and Samantha smiled again.

"You did. When you gave me those uneasy looks, or never mentioned your fondness for me- despite the fact everyone else has. You narrow your eyes when I get too close to your Boss and don't like it when I get inside anyone's head, let alone try to help solve a case." Tony seemed to think over her words for a moment before shrugging again.

"Fine. I don't trust you." he replied "I'm not entirely for sure you know what you're doing, and I'm a little afraid of how you made others- including Gibbs- so certain that you do. It is a dangerous situation that I don't like." he said flatly and Ryans nodded, feeling a sense of both admiration and exasperation in the man's intelligence as well as his obliviousness.

"All because I called you a game show host." she smiled "You're wrong. I pegged you for exactly what you were the first ten minutes I spoke with you. You were harder than other people I've diagnosed certainly- but still particularly simple. Did you know, I had a friend who was studying to become a lawyer? A damn good one too. Went to school for years and years, training to get her day in court. However, her last year before graduating, she was raped and got pregnant. Parents didn't care what happened to her, they were mad about the kid and refused to pay for her to go to school anymore. She had two mouths to feed then, so she went and got the only job she could find- a game show host. It paid well, and was a relatively easy job. However, she hated it. The people, the game, the show. Oh, god how he simply despised it! But you know what? The moment that camera went on her face, you couldn't find a happier person in the world. When she was on TV you couldn't find a single spot of resentment or grief on her face. She was- by all means- a happy hostess." Ryan continued to watch him as she went on, noticing the briefest bit of understanding in his face.

"I had another friend who was a game show host too. He was an Army man. One of my patients actually. Smart man...Good man. He came back from Vietnam with an arm missing from an explosion. He was hired to host this game show- you've probably heard of it- Crazy Rides?- Anyways, he was always bitter, especially after his wife died, leaving him with a son that committed suicide a few months later. He was depressed. Though, you could never tell on television. A smile was always on his face, and he looked as though he was having the time of his life up in front of that camera when the fact of the matter was that he was in serious pain. Yet, you could never tell... Never."

"Alright, alright." Tony finally sighed "I get your point."

"It isn't that you are tacky or cheesy Tony. It is the fact you play for the audience- for the cameras and not just in undercover operations either."

"You know all my deep dark secrets Doc?" Tony asked warily and Dr. Ryans simply smiled.

"I know more than you may think I do." she told him, a bit of smugness creeping into her voice "I think that you live life like a game. A big chess game. You make your move, but pretend you are making another- so that your opponent has no idea where you are going or how. For you, it would be easy to win. The problem is there are times you want to lose... Why do you want to lose, Tony?"

"I'm more of a checkers man myself." Tony supplied before looking down at the desk "Perhaps, it is easier to lose. Makes the opponent a hell lot happier doesn't it?"

"And who is the opponent exactly?" Dr. Ryans asked but received only silence in return. "You know, you would make it a lot easier on yourself if you didn't choose the people you care about to be your opponents. Why don't you pick someone you want to beat?"

"I have problems Doc. I'm sure with you and all your fancy mind tricks; you would have figured it all out by now."

"Everyone has problems. You just have to figure out how to solve them."

"Cute." Tony snorted "You training to become a philosopher now? Like the Zen Master?" Samantha merely smiled before looking the man over again and tapping into her mental translator for the human reading system.

Stiff Posture= Uncomfortable situation.

Hands through Hair= Stressed out or tired

Zoning In and Out= Thinking

Looking at Me= Trying to figure me out (or checking me out...Probably the first)

Left foot pointed left/ Right foot straight= Doesn't know where to go.

Doesn't know where to go... It was clear, more than ever to Dr. Samantha Ryans that Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was quite the character indeed. Pain seemed to radiate from him, though with a disguise as good as his...No one could ever know.

His personality seemed to be like a game show host. It flips like a switch on and off. One moment you could see someone who is goofy and easygoing, the next you may catch a flicker of someone who is a good man. A good man, who is lost.

"Goodnight Agent DiNozzo." she said and stood up, turning to leave him to his paperwork, she had made it to the elevator before Tony's voice called her back.

"Dr. Ryans?" she turned and smiled.

"Yes?"

"I...I guess I misjudged you. You do your job pretty well. Mind if we keep this between us though?" he asked, looking her in the eyes with a serious expression.

"Of course." she said, her face softening and Tony nodded his thanks.

"And for the record...I think you're a pretty good game show host too. Just do yourself a favor and try to avoid the cameras." there was a pause in which Samantha felt slightly taken back at the words before she caught onto a different meaning of them.

"You are something else DiNozzo." she smiled and walked into the elevator. Not before she got another glimpse of his feet though.

Both were pointed straight.

Smiling, Dr. Ryans walked out of NCIS that night, feeling a wave of accomplishment of helping someone feel not so lost anymore.

I thought it was a moment that would take place. I found it interesting that an all-star mind gamer like Ryans would make the game show host comment to him, unless there was a deeper meaning to it. I also thought, that Tony seemed to be distant from her versus all the others who took her like a duck to water lol. Sorry thinking about the autopsy scene with Ducky :P "Ooh...I like her Jethro!" lol, anyway! Enough of my tangent! I really hoped you enjoyed this little one-shot of mine. I'll make more I'm sure, but I want to finish my other story first :P

Review!