Gibbs watched his senior field agent dutifully complete his paperwork that afternoon. It was Friday, and the case had been closed that morning. Gibbs had already sent McGee and Ziva home for the day, and had attempted to send Tony home too. But Tony had refused to leave, wanting to finish his paperwork first. That had shocked Gibbs, but it also gave him the chance to talk privately with his friend. Ever since Monday morning, Tony had been oddly quiet. There had been no movie quotes and background chatter that week. Tony had stayed late each evening to finish any paperwork he had. Something was clearly bothering the younger man, but Gibbs hadn't pushed him to talk yet- the one time he had asked Tony what was going on, Tony had paled and walked off. Gibbs knew that whatever the problem was, Tony was deeply hurt by it, and wouldn't talk until he was ready. Gibbs really hoped that Tony would want to talk sooner rather than later, that was for sure. He hated seeing Tony hurting or upset.

"Boss, I'm finished with this paperwork," said Tony simply as he placed three files on Gibbs' desk. "I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

"Night, Tony," said Gibbs softly, hoping Tony would talk. He was even hoping that Tony would decide to show up at his house later that night. "Thanks for remembering that this is our on-call weekend, by the way."

Tony nodded and grabbed his backpack, headed to the elevator, and disappeared. With a sigh, Gibbs followed, praying Tony would want to talk already.

Tony was glad to be free of work that night. He couldn't explain it, but he had the feeling people had been talking about him all day. It was frustrating- especially when his own team didn't care that they had hurt his feelings. In all honesty, he thought they probably didn't know what they had done, but on the in case that they knew and were just being unkind, he was angry with them.

Tony dropped onto the bar stool and grabbed the drink his bartender friend put in front of him.

"Rough day, Tony?" he asked.

"Rough week, actually. We finally closed the case, which is why I'm drinking and talking to you right now, Steve," answered Tony sadly.

"What's bothering you?"

"Too much." Tony laughed wryly. "I don't know why their comments annoyed me though. I'm not one that worries about what others say."

"Except when you care about the people, you mean?"

Tony nodded and sighed. "Is it that obvious?"

Steve smiled. "Go and confront them. Maybe not tonight, though- you're already getting drunk. You should really pace yourself when it comes to bourbon and scotch, Tony. I don't think your lungs need the added stress."

Tony smiled a little. He had always felt comfortable around Steve, especially when it came to personal problems. He had entrusted Steve with his medical history years ago, and the bartender made sure to watch over Tony and keep his alcohol consumption in check.

"I should get going," Tony said finally.

"How did you get here?"

"I walked. It's only a block."

"Then I'll drive you home. Give me a few minutes."

Tony nodded and thanked Steve. He loved having this friend, the one true friend that he knew would never hurt him.

Tony had been home for almost four hours. He wasn't drunk when he left the bar, but he was certainly drunk now, having had more alcohol since getting home. He couldn't get to sleep, and he really wanted to let his feelings out. So he stood, swaying a little, and called a cab.

Gibbs put his sandpaper down and sighed. He couldn't get the image of Tony walking away, dejected, out of his head. All he wanted right then was to look after Tony and treat him like his own child. At least then he could get to the bottom of the problem.

"Boss?"

Gibbs frowned. He could hear a slight difference in Tony's voice. "Downstairs, Tony," Gibbs called out.

"Hi, boss." Tony smiled.

"What's with you? Have you been drinking?"

"A while ago."

"How did you get here?"

"Cab."

Gibbs nodded. He stepped over to where Tony was leaning against the wall. "What's the matter, Tony? You have been miserable all week. Did something happen?" Gibbs asked softly as he guided a drunk Tony to a chair.

"I shouldn't tell you…"

"Why?"

"They may not have meant it."

"Who? Talk to me, Tony. Tell me what's happening." Gibbs always felt bad for doing this to his friend, but the only way to get information from Tony was to get him somewhat drunk first.

"McGee and Ziva."

"What did McGee and Ziva do?"

"Made fun of me." Tony looked up at his boss with a small grin. He was evidently going to have a hangover in the morning.

"Why did they make fun of you?" Gibbs sat on one of his sawhorses and watched Tony's face for anything that would tell him Tony was hiding something.

"Not really sure, boss. I think they were having fun, but what they said was really mean," slurred Tony. He wasn't even avoiding his boss' gaze for once.

"Okay. What was it?"

"We were at the scene."

Gibbs nodded. He knew that it was going to take a while to get Tony to talk. He was drunk, and drunk Tony liked to talk way more than sober Tony. And that was saying something. "What happened at the scene?"

"McGee didn't want to talk to the witnesses, so I told him to process the scene. Ziva was already canvassing the area. I spoke to the witnesses."

That was another thing Gibbs had noticed early on- when Tony was drunk, his memories were clear, and he was all about telling the truth. "What happened after you spoke to the witnesses?"

"I helped McGee with the scene. We left for NCIS after that. Then we met up with you."

"What happened on the way back to work, Tony?" Gibbs asked, not missing the fact that Tony had glossed over the details of the drive back.

Tony shrugged. "Not much."

"Okay. Now I'm sure that this problem happened on that drive back. Talk to me, buddy."

Tony looked up in surprise. "You called me 'buddy'."

Gibbs smiled. "Is that a problem?"

Tony shook his head. "I like it."

"Good. Now, can you tell me what happened?"

"I don't know..." Tony sighed. "I suppose that I can tell you."

"Good plan."

"Ziva and McGee were being silly. It was getting annoying. I asked them to stop. They both laughed at me and said I should be used to it because I'm 'super annoying'."

"Did they say it as a joke?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I felt upset, so I let it drop. It's not the first time they have said that though, boss. They always say it, just like everyone else."

"Is that why you have been so quiet this week?"

Tony nodded. "Nobody wants me to talk, so I won't. Maybe they will stop making fun of me then."

Gibbs sighed quietly. He knew Tony probably wouldn't remember any of this in the morning, so he was going to need to have a long chat with Tony. The quiet work environment over the weekend would be perfect for that. But he also needed to deal with the pain Tony was feeling right then.

"First, Tony, nobody has the right to pick on you. Second, I don't want a quiet senior agent. If I did, do you think I would have hired you? Your chatter has become background noise to me, but it also helps me think. The only time that you are ever quiet is when you're sick. I worry a lot when you are quiet."

Tony looked up with a little smile. "Thank you, Gibbs."

Gibbs just nodded. "Let's go to bed, buddy. We can talk more in the morning."