A/N: This is a little something that I have been thinkin about for quite a while now. The idea might not be actually new but I'd be glad if you gave it a try. Read & Review please ;-)

Chapter One: Too little sunrise

He turned around and immediately regretted that he had done so. It seemed like every bone, every muscle in his body was aching. But that pain was nothing in comparison to the one in his head. He could literally feel his brain shifting inside of it. He held his hands to his head, gently rubbing his temples but that only made it worse. He let his hands fall again. He was now laying flat on his back, trying not to move more than really necessary. He tried to figure out what day it was but couldn't even figure out whether it was night or day as his blinds were closed. He plucked up all his courage to turn around again to grab his cell phone that was usually lying on the nightstand. Again, his head gave him hell and he was disappointed that there was no phone to be seen. He groaned. He slowly sat up and then bent down to where his jeans were lying on the ground. He searched the pockets until he finally found what he was looking for. He tapped on his phone and the brightness of the display hurt his eyes.

Damn.

As he looked at the date and more importantly at the day, he almost sprang up, immediately realizing that it had been a foolish idea to do so. His head was spinning now and he had trouble standing up. As his head was slowly stopping making him dizzy, he walked, no scratch that, he swayed to the bathroom.
Hopefully, a shower would make him look more presentable or at least a little better than he was feeling now. He looked at the mirror for a short moment and froze. He had a long scratch on his left cheek. It was still bright red, indicating that it had happened only a few hours before. He racked his brains but couldn't come up with anything that could have caused that. He subtly shook his head, he had to stop drinking like that…

Standing in the shower with cold water dripping on his hair, on his shoulders, he tried to remember details from last night. No, screw the details, he would have been glad, if he could have come up with anything really.
He remembered going to a club, already having a buzz on due to the four beers he had been drinking alone in his apartment. He hadn't been able to put the finger on it but he just had to get out yesterday. Work had been driving him crazy, Gibbs had been in a weird mean mood, Ziva had been slightly absent-minded the whole day and he was sure that it had to do with mysterious Miami-guy. He had considered asking McGee to drink a few beers with him but even he had been freaking him out by just being McGee actually.
So he had just settled down to drinking alone and as he had been feeling the buzz, he had just decided to hit the clubs. He knew that he wasn't the youngest anymore but he had still his fair share with the ladies and why should it be possibly different now?

He remembered standing in line in front of the Lux Lounge waiting for his turn to go in and pondering whether he should risk showing his NCIS badge to get in but he had decided against it. Though the night was pretty cold, there had been no need to hurry as he thought that the cool air would do him some good. He also was able to recall that he had chatted with some girls, who couldn't have been older than 25, and he had felt reassured as they were eyeing him just as though he was candy. Once inside the club, his memories seemed to be nonexistent. All he could recollect was that he had ordered a beer and a few tequilas but after that there was only darkness. He couldn't remember how long he had stayed there, with whom he was with or how he got home, got into his apartment, got into his bed. He just didn't have a clue, not the slightest.

-x-

As he stepped out of the shower, he still wasn't feeling very well. He hurriedly dressed and then drove to work, already thinking about which excuse he should use to explain his tardiness.

But as he arrived there, he was only greeted by a stressed-looking McGee, who only shot him a nasty look but didn't say anything. Gibbs and Ziva were nowhere in sight.
"Where is anyone?" He asked, as he sat down, still trying to move as slowly as possible.
"Gibbs is in MTAC and Ziva has called in sick. So has Abby. And you're late. Do I have to tell who how much work we have?"
"McComplaint, shut up already," he answered, rubbing his temples again.
"What's wrong with Ziva and Abby?"
"I don't know. Guessing from Abby's voice as she called me earlier, she has been drinking, though she wouldn't admit it. Ziva has just written an email that she's suffering from the flu."
"Okay."

That was slightly odd, considering that Ziva never missed a day of work, never had as much as a cold as far as he could recall. But maybe there was a first time for everything.
He already regretted coming here in the first place. His head was giving him hell, his vision was still slightly blurred and his brain function didn't seem to work properly. It seemed like it was taking him forever to just turn on his computer, browsing through his emails. As he had just decided to wait for Gibbs to tell him that he had caught the same thing as Ziva did and had to go home, the older man walked down the stairs, barking a good morning to him and before Tony was able to reply anything, he felt himself getting head slapped, causing his brain to shift once again and he couldn't help but groan.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs said grimly. "Don't even think about going home. You stink like you've drunk all tequila that is in Mexico and being drunk is no excuse for running late or going home."
"Right, Boss," he just answered sheepishly, turning his attention back to the screen.

The minutes were going by so slowly that Tony thought his watch must have stopped. He hadn't gotten any work done by lunchtime and he was glad as Gibbs sent him down to autopsy to bring something to Ducky. After a long and kind of painful talk to Ducky, he was leaning his head against the cold wall of the elevator and found it oddly soothing. He closed his eyes for a few seconds…

-x-

"Well, well. Look who's here, Ziva! The one and only Anthony DiNozzo!"
Tony turned around carefully, his hand gripping the edge of the bar, in order not to fall over. There was definitely too much tequila and too little sunrise in that Tequila Sunrise he had been drinking.
"Abs," he finally said, before he was being pulled into a firm hug.
He wasn't exactly sure whether he liked Ziva and Abby being there, clearly salting his game with the girl he had just been talking to. And indeed, she gave him a disgruntled look and then disappeared onto the dance floor. Tony sighed but didn't really mind, he had to admit. He still had the company of two lovely ladies…

-x-

He opened his eyes again, feeling slightly confused. So he had been out with Ziva and Abby last night. That would help. He could just ask them what happened then. Maybe they would be able to fill some of his memory gaps. He slowly made his way up to the bullpen again, already dreading the tasks that Gibbs would lumber him with.