Hi! So I've been reading a bunch of fictions about Tony being sick. And how Gibbs is suddenly all nice and fatherly to him. So I just wanted to write a fic about Tony being sick. And no matter HOW much I love those fictions, I wanted to make mine with the characters a bit more, well, in character. Though you should all know by now that my characters always turn out AU. But enjoy anyways! Thanks :) Buon divertimento!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize

Characters are slightly AU

~Very Special Agent Bandit

Attention

Chapter 1

Wind brushed Tony's skin, causing him to shake uncontrollably, something that fortunately went unnoticed by Ziva, who was standing in the middle of the crime scene listening to something. He cursed as it started to rain, and he was thankful that Ducky had already taken the body. He crouched lower, still examining the tiny metal pieces that lay strewn along the ground. He breathed deeply, and was slightly put off that his breaths were ragged and heavy. He knew it was just a small head cold, but he couldn't shake the feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Ziva bent down after a while and started to help Tony with bagging all the evidence, Tony not going as fast as he'd like to because of his shaking hands. He could barely make out Ziva's face through the heavy sheets of rain that were now pounding down on them. Ziva stood again, after about an hour, not saying a thing. She scanned the forest surrounding them, her eyes squinted. She cocked her head to one side, as if she could hear something through the thunder.

"Tony, I think I hear someone calling my name," she paused and pursed her lips, "I'm going to go check it out. You finish bagging and come back to the car when you're done."

Tony nodded numbly, and continued to bag the metal scraps. He watched her sprint off, as she weaved nimbly through the trees. He made sure she was completely gone before letting out a rattling cough. He fell from his squatting position, and put his head in his hands. The burning sensation in his throat wasn't the best feeling either. But with another gust of wind, he was reminded where he was and that it was still raining hard. Besides, if Ziva secretly came back and saw him like that, he'd get endless teasing for months on end. And if the news got to Ducky or Gibbs…Well, Ducky would kill him for coming into work, and Gibbs would bring him back from the dead only to kill him again for not telling him. But he'd decided he couldn't trust Gibbs with something like a simple cold. He'd probably just brush him away, and Tony would just have wasted his time.

Tony continued to bag the evidence, deciding that he'd just take some Tylenol and a nap once he got back to work. He finished as fast as he could, and got up quickly, only to have his head start to pound. He snapped the gloves off his hands, and noticed that they were deathly white and the fingertips were tinged blue. He needed to get out of the rain. If his hands were white, he could only imagine how pale the rest of him looked, particularly his face. He felt soaked, and it wasn't a good feeling. He walked as fast as he could as he shook from head to toe. He arrived back at the car, and noticed Ziva was talking to Gibbs, and he assumed he really had called her.

"Here's the evidence, Boss," it took all he had not to shake when he handed the evidence to Gibbs. He quickly turned his head away, if he was as pale as he thought he was, he didn't need Gibbs to notice.

Ziva started to race him to the passenger seat, and instead plopped down in the back seat of Gibbs' car, where he'd be less conspicuous. Ziva looked worriedly at Gibbs, but he hadn't seemed to notice, and he instead slid into the driver's seat and started the car, and much to Tony's pleasure, the heater. Tony slumped down in his seat, to avoid Ziva's gaze.

He closed his eyes, and was having a very fine nap before the sound of honking awoke him. He snapped his eyes open, and looked around to see where he was. He noticed a sea of cars surrounding him, and he felt leather beneath him, and he instantly knew where he was. He prayed that he hadn't made any noise while he was sleeping, as he often did when he had a cold. He noticed at this point, his skin was burning, but coldness swept inside him, and he quietly hugged himself. He noticed Ziva in the seat in front of him, looking at the rain drops on the window. Gibbs sat in the driver's seat, his knuckles white as he waited for the traffic to start moving again. Tony looked at the clock, and gave a quiet sigh as he realized he'd only been asleep for ten minutes. That wasn't enough to settle the exhaustion that raged through him for a whole day. He'd have to sleep at work, though he knew Gibbs wasn't going to be happy about it. New case, double homicide, involving some distant NCIS agent, yeah Gibbs wasn't going to be happy about it at all. But Tony figured Gibbs would prefer him sleeping rather then passing out.

They made it to the NCIS building a half an hour later, and Tony stumbled slightly as he got out of the car, but caught himself before anyone could see. It was still raining hard, and his shivering continued to take place. In the elevator, he felt his breath leave him as nausea suddenly swept over him as the elevator started to move, but he was glad Gibbs was engrossed in a conversation with Ziva about what she thought about the case.

Tony sat heavily in his desk, and the first thing he noticed was McGeek coming over and asking him about the evidence. It took a long time before Tony processed what McGee was saying, and he found himself not being able to even form words. He shook his head, and said in a shaking voice at last, "You'll find out soon enough," he sighed and watched as Gibbs disappeared to MTAC and Ziva was instructed to go down to see Ducky about the autopsy.

Tony thumped his head down on the desk, and was surprised that the coolness of the surface was slightly comforting. He pressed his nose against the edge and groaned. Maybe he'd just lie here and die. Yes, that sounded like a good idea.

"Are you okay, Tony?" he heard McGee's voice and he groaned again.

He didn't lift his head as he spoke, "What does it look like, McGoo?" his voice was slightly muffled.

"Maybe you should go down and see Ducky," he could only just imagine the reaction he'd get from doing that, through his pounding headache. This time he looked up at McGee with much difficulty.

"No thank you," he replied and he checked his reflection in the screen of his monitor. A bit better then he expected. His cheeks were flushed, but the rest of his was deathly pale, and his lips had no traces of blue in them. Good sign. He could pass as just being tired.

"Why not? He'd be able to help you."

"If I go to Ducky, he'd tell Gibbs," Tony scratched his chin, and noticed his hands were still shaking.

"What's so bad about him telling Gibbs?" now McGee's voice sounded slightly confused. Tony's head had gotten to a point where it felt like little evil demons were hammering against his skull with bricks.

"The last thing I need is for Gibbs to be disappointed in me for complaining about a small cold," Tony snarled at McGee and put his hands in his head as he started to cough harshly, his body shaking as he did so.

"I don't think Gibbs would be disappointed in you," McGee scampered over to his desk and grabbed a water bottle for Tony.

Tony took it from him with a grateful nod and took a small sip, "Do you think Gibbs would be all concerned over a small cold? Honestly, McGeek," he was glad that his head was starting to feel a smidge better. He pulled out a bottle of pills labeled "Ibuprofen" from one of the drawers in his desk.

"You have a point there, Tony, but," he paused as he watched Tony take a swig of the water to gulp down the pills, "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be disappointed."

"If not that, he'd be disappointed in me for not coming to him," Tony shrugged and laid his head back down on his desk.

"And why won't you go to him?"

"I don't know. I just don't feel like it okay?" he snapped.

"And now we're back on the fact that he'd be disappointed in you," McGee sounded as exasperated as Tony felt.

Tony just chuckled harshly.

"What's wrong with Tony?" he could hear Ziva's voice. He started to wonder what she'd gotten from autopsy. Tony started to cough again, and he sighed.

"Nothing, Zee-vah," he looked up at her, "Just a head cold."

"So that's why you were hiding in the back seat," Ziva looked him up and down. He really did look pitiful. A couple of years ago, she wouldn't have cared about a small cough, it was really nothing to worry about if treated properly, and she still shared those thoughts, but given Tony's medical history, she had a tiny bit of room to be a tad bit worry.

"I didn't want you guys to notice," he couldn't help but notice that Ziva was slowly approaching him.

"Well you failed, well for me at least, I don't know if Gibbs noticed or not," Ziva was now right in front of his desk.

"Knowing Gibbs, he probably did," McGee admitted.

"I don't know, he looked pretty occupied with the traffic," Tony shrugged.

"You should have heard the way he was cussing out those people on the highway. Maybe you should tell him," Ziva smirked.

"I was actually planning on telling him if it got any worse, but there's no need to worry him yet. I mean he's certainly going to tell Abby and you know how that's going to turn out," he ignored McGee's snort.

Ziva's eyes widened, "He's coming out of MTAC," she whispered in an urgent tone, and she dove into her desk chair, looking as though she'd been there the whole time.

McGee also went into his chair, and Tony snapped up, sitting as straight as he could.

"Tony, did you do the research he asked you to?" McGee suddenly whispered to him. Tony groaned, indicating that he hadn't even known he was supposed to have done research, "Don't worry I'll cover for you."

McGee nodded at him, and Ziva snickered, saying as Gibbs approached, "You know you snore when you sleep, Tony?"

"How would I know? I'm always asleep when I sleep," he was incredibly grateful his voice decided to be good and not hoarse as Gibbs entered the bullpen, an angered expression on his face. Tony, McGee, and Ziva exchanged looks, all of them wearing an expression that clearly said, "Uh-oh."

"What have you got?" Gibbs growled to them all. McGee jumped up from his desk, and Tony got up as well, slower this time so he wouldn't suddenly get a wave of dizziness and collapse.

"Well," Tony started, getting the cue from McGee, "Colonel Brain had," he paused and to emphasize that he couldn't remember.

McGee took of from there, feeling it was very fortunate that he and Tony were supposed to be researching the same thing, "five children, Brianna, Collins, Brooke, Stacey, and Kyle. He had a wife named Lauren, and his best friend was Colonel Wessifer Maure, who is now retired from the navy because of an injured collarbone and kneecap," McGee took a deep breath, and Gibbs redirected his attention from Tony to him, "Colonel Brain and Colonel Maure were both sent to prison for DUI in '97 and that summer Colonel Brain's wife died of cancer. A year after that, Collins, the oldest child ran over the youngest child, Brooke when he was driving across the street. Stacey died in a car accident in '01, Kyle is now in prison for sexual abuse, Collins is now a marine and Brianna is living with her Aunt, Sophia, while she's attending middle school."

At this point Tony was starting to see dots in his vision as another wave of nausea passed over him. He started to sway slightly, and he noticed McGee moved slightly closer to him to keep him secretly steady. McGee read off the addresses of all the people still alive or not in prison. After that Ziva stepped up and told Gibbs what she'd found in autopsy. Tony tried his best to listen, but the slight marvelous moment where his headache had stopped had ended, and now his headed continued to pound in a rhythm, like bongo drums.

He heard Gibbs saying his name and he snapped up towards Gibbs, "Tony, go down to Abby's lab."

"Why?" he flinched hard as Gibbs' hand connected with the back of his head. This would not happen under normal circumstances. He was far too used to the head slaps for him to flinch, but right now he didn't need any more pain to be added. He felt Ziva tense up next to him, and he realized she felt sympathy towards him, he scowled, and noticed Gibbs pause slightly as he noticed Tony, but he started to glare at Tony, and he finally realized he was supposed to be going down to Abby's lab.

Tony stepped into the elevator, dreading what would happen in there alone, and was about to hit her floor level, when he realized that Abby was incredibly observant, and there was the possibility she'd notice something wrong with him. He'd need to go armed, so he instead pressed the ground floor button.

Five minutes later, he emerged into Abby's lab, a fresh bottle of Caf-pow in his hand, and he nearly crumpled to the ground at the sound of her music. It seemed to seep through his skull and start to pound all around his head. He straigtened himself before Abby noticed him standing there, cringing, as he needed to make sure she thought that he was okay.

"Abs!" he called over the music, but she didn't reply. "Abby!" he shouted over the music.

"Tony!" she spun around smiling at the call. And she fortunately lowered the volume of her music somewhat.

"What have you got, Abby?" he stepped towards her, and she turned around again smiling as he leaned over her shoulder to see the computer screen. She clicked a picture of a bullet, and it popped up on the screen.

"I don't have much, Tony, only that this gun was shot from a .45," she looked around her room, "I'm just not feeling it today, Tony. Something's wrong. I can feel it in my gut."

Tony chuckled, "Perhaps this will help?" he waved the Caf-pow.

"When does it not help?" she smiled at him and took a sip of it.

"Good job, Abs," Tony smiled at her, covering up the sudden pain he felt in all his limbs. He really needed a nap.

Abby turned and hugged him hard, and Tony flinched hard at the feeling of her touch, his knees buckling underneath him. Abby pulled back and frowned.

"What's wrong, Tony?" he'd quickly recovered himself, but he knew she'd noticed.

"My skin's just feeling a little sensitive today, Abs, sorry," he shrugged, and against his better judgment stepped forward and hugged her, to make sure she didn't get suspicious.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Abby hugged him back, her touch a little more ginger. "You should probably go see Ducky. He probably can help you or something."

"I'll do that after I report in to Gibbs, okay, Abs?" he smiled at her as he turned to leave, knowing that he would rather die then go see Ducky at this point.

A/N: So yeah, I just finished that and I'm pretty proud of it ;) Hope you enjoyed, and it would make me so happy if you reviewed! Thank you!

Here's a sneak peek for Chapter 2:

"You should stop this. Just go tell him," Tony closed his eyes in frustration.

"I can't. I've waited too long," he sighed.

"Then you're an idiot," Tony turned on him and growled.

"I'm going home," McGee stared after him, and was surprised Tony hadn't been more mad at him. Perhaps he was sicker than he let on. He sighed and mouthed "Wow" before taking his jacket and going home himself.

;)