ncisficathon | Ligers and Tigons and Tony, Oh My (Part 4/?) for Spoonyriffic

***Continuation of a Round 4 (2009) Ficathon story. Sign-ups for Round 5 of the NCIS Ficathon are going on right now!***

Title: Ligers and Tigons and Tony, Oh My (4/?)
Author:

justhuman
Written for:

spoonyriffic
Prompt: Tony/Gibbs - Supernatural (the genre, not the show) - a series of strange killings in DC leave our favorite NCIS team puzzled, and soon it is revealed that there is something more nefarious behind it all. First Time fic. Rating between R or NC-17, whichever is best for the fic.
Archive: Please ask
Genre: teamfic, adventure, romance
Pairings: Gibbs/DiNozzo, mentions of canon pairings and maybe a surprise
Rating: NC-17 overall, NC-17 this section (yay!)
Disclaimer: CBS
Word Count: 9786, this part
Summary: While working a case, Tony runs into a problem with potentially deadly consequences. Now it's up to the team to do what they do best and investigate until they find a solution.

A/N: Many thanks to

tejas for the beta assistance in this part. As always, all mistakes are mine.

Part 1 - Harvest Moon
Part 2 - After the Harvest Moon
Part 3 - Hunter's Moon

Part 4 - Hunter's Dawn

***Saturday, October 4, 2009 Full Moon, Day 1, Waxing Gibbous

They all stood and watched Tony. Ducky was holding a marker, obviously trying to label the samples, but unable to drag his eyes away. Likewise, McGee and Cassie were on the balls of their feet, just as much ready for action as Gibbs was. Abby was very still and Gibbs didn't like that, because it wasn't Abby and because it probably meant that she wasn't past what had happened last time.

He put his arm around the back of her shoulders and pulled her in. "It's going to be okay, Abs. It's my job to keep you safe," he murmured quietly.

In the cage, Tony was exploring the confines, taking seemingly random swings at walls and bars alike. Periodically he'd pause while his body tensed and he let out a horrible noise, somewhere between a moan and a growl.

Pulling in a deep breath, Abby looked up at Gibbs, wide-eyed. "We need to make Tony better."

"Yeah, we do." Gibbs gave her shoulder a squeeze. "McGee," he said sharply.

"Boss!"

"You've got the list, right? You're the one keeping us organized."

"Yes, I have the list of tests and exper-"

"You're in charge."

McGee had a look on his face as if he was going to throw up. Gibbs didn't cut him any slack and glared at him.

"Security first. I'm putting you in charge of that, Boss - I mean, Gibbs." Tim sucked in a breath and stiffened up like he was going to get a headslap.

"On it...Boss." Gibbs let the last word hang back just to torture him.

McGee gave a little nod. "Is that cage going to hold him?"

Good first call; Tim was a good agent and he'd be a great one once he got past his own hesitancy and good manners. Gibbs plan to beat both out of him one day. But he knew how to do his own job and reported.

"He keeps rattling the bars, but they're holding steady. I think they're going to hold, but we have to watch him to make sure he doesn't get organized and start trying to find a weak bar to force it."

"If I may, Timothy." Ducky stepped forward. "I accept Gibbs' assessment that we are all safe, but I have a great deal of concern about Tony. He's obviously not thinking and possibly in a considerable amount of pain, at times. I think that we have to be concerned that he may severely injure himself."

"You're right," Tim said. "What means do we have to immobilize, Tony?"

"We need to get the trank gun set-up," Gibbs said.

"We have a back up," Abby said. "I stopped him with a pizza and a bottle of pain killers last time. It should have a good shot of working again."

"Ducky?" Tim asked.

"Definitely, but we should be cautious of assuming that this is the same as the last time. First times have a reputation for being less than complete representations of potential."

Cassie was the first to let out a laugh with Tim and Abby following right on her heels. Gibbs spared a smile, and said, "Ya think? But I know what you're saying; Tony might not have been at his full strength or endurance."

"Maybe we should use a better carrier than a pizza, something we can stick the pills in, so the don't accidentally scatter," Tim said.

"On it, McGee," Cassie said. "I'll go up and find an appropriate delivery device."

"I have the prescription narcotics at hand," Ducky said. "And might I say, that you are all masochists? Your dentists, surgeons, and emergency room physicians gave you those painkillers to make you comfortable." He was shaking his head as he left the room, "The amount of unused prescriptions between the lot of you."

"The tranquilizer darts, Ducky," Gibbs reminded.

"I'll calculate that dosage right now."

Cassie smiled and headed towards the door.

"Yates, eat some food while you're up there. It's going to be a long night," Gibbs said.

"What about me?" Abby said, looking at Gibbs. He took her by the shoulders and spun her around to look at McGee. "I meant what about me, Junior Bossman?" Tim visible grew and inch.

"I'll have to go through the plan. I know that a lot of our wish list item required more hands on interaction than we're going to get. We didn't realize the advantage that we had last time when he was knocked out. Abby, why don't you set up the infrared camera, so we can take his temperature. Let's focus on remote measurements."

"On it, McGee!" Abby said.

Both Abby and Tim headed back into the main room, leaving Gibbs alone with Tony for a moment. Tony had slowed down and was prowling the borders of his cage. It was impossible to tell if he had the intelligence to be looking for weak spots or if he was more like a goldfish, going in circles because he'd forgotten where he'd been three seconds ago.

"I don't know how we're going to do it, Tony, but we're going to figure this out."

Tony rushed the bars, biting down on steel. Gibbs threw a blanket at him. The cloth must have startled him, because Tony jumped back. After a second he charged the bars again and pulled the blanket through. First he sniffed at the blanket and then licked it. Gibbs was pretty damn sure every neighbor for a mile heard the howl.

Everyone rushed back to the room with Abby in the lead, wielding a tripod in both hands like a club. "Gibbs, are you all right? What happened?"

"I gave him something he couldn't-"

The howl was earsplitting.

Gibbs shouted, "Something he couldn't eat!"

"Was that a blanket?" Tim asked.

Gibbs looked away from Tony's face and saw that Tony had clawed the blanket into confetti ribbons.

"Anyone have any secret documents they need to dispose of? I think we found a shredder that won't jam," Cassie said from the doorway, holding a plate mounded with mashed potatoes.

Tony was looking right at Cassie and snarling when he tried to stick his face through the bars.

"Are the drugs in there?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh no, I left that plate where Ducky was working. These are mine. I wanted potato wedges, but apparently Tony demolished them- Hey!" Cassie said.

Gibbs snatched the plate. "Abby, what's the plan for getting food through the slot?"

"Wait!" Tim shouted. "We should weigh the effects of giving him food on our experiments."

"McGee, I think that the neighbors coming to investigate the howling might present a secruity risk," Gibbs said.

"Good point," Tim said. "Go for it."

Abby shoved the tripod into McGee's hands and picked up a long handled pizza paddle. "Ready for delivery!"

"Where does one buy one of those," asked Ducky.

Abby put the paddle at ground level and began sliding it forward after Gibbs put on the plate of potatoes. "Restaurant supply store."

"You told them you had a pizza parlor?" Ducky asked

Abby tossed him a wicked grin. "I told them that I had a boyfriend that had been very bad." She slid the paddle through the slot, propelling the paper plate with the food about halfway across the cell.

Tony dived on it and had the plate clean in under a minute. Immediately he went back to the slot, in the bars and tried to crawl through, despite the fact that it would be impossible for a man his size. The noises got louder along with Tony's obvious frustration.

"Cassie, get me that Kevlar sleeve. I think we can combine feeding him with testing one of our back up security devices. If nothing else, he can't howl when his mouth is full." Gibbs said and headed towards the door. "McGee-"

"I've got the security watch until you get back."

"In the meantime, I have something else to try and calm Tony down," Abby said.

Gibbs was on the stairs heading towards the kitchen, so he only heard part of the conversation.

"Abby, what?" asked McGee.

"Music!"

"Abby," Tim said with worry in his voice.

Gibbs shook his head; it was going to be a long night.

*

Fifteen minutes later he was greeted with relative silence when he returned to the basement. Relative based on the on and off howling that had gone on when he had been in the kitchen.

"Mc-Gee," he said calmly, as he got to the last step.

"Music experiments are over-"

"McGee! I'm-" Abby started.

"Done for tonight," McGee finished.

"And just who put you in-" Abby stopped herself when Gibbs planted himself in front of her. He held up a giant sized cup of Caff-Pow.

"You went out to get me the blessed beverage of choice?" She took it and had a long sip.

"Nope. Refilled your cup from the fridge."

"Hmm, two-liter bottle verses fountain. It's kind of like going to Mexico and getting a Coke. They use cane sugar instead of corn syrup. And while they've jury-rigged the secret formula to get it to taste the same, it doesn't- not exactly. You must have noticed when you were in Mexico, Gibbs. You had a Coke there, right?"

"Only if someone accidentally spilled some in my bourbon."

"Gibbs, I have a lot more music to try. So far, Tony doesn't like Little Blue Android, but seemed to calm down for Vivaldi. Of course, who wouldn't, because it's kind of like what someone - not me someone, but someone - would play at a funeral."

"I'm rather fond of Vivaldi," Ducky said and slid a small dish with the tranquilizer darts towards Gibbs.

Gibbs nodded at him, and then pointed Abby towards Tim.

"We're done with music for tonight," Tim said.

Abby turned back to Gibbs. "When do I get to be in charge?"

"What music is on now," Gibbs said, hoping to divert her. It was obviously some form of jazz.

"From Tony's iPod," Tim said.

"That's kind of encouraging, isn't it? We're talking Tony's language and he's responding well." Cassie said. Gibbs looked at her plate, which she immediately pulled closer to her body as she stepped back to put Ducky between them.

Ducky looked up at her. "Perhaps. It may just be the less aggressive nature of the music compared to the Blue Zombies-

"Little Blue Android," Abby corrected.

"Yes," Ducky said. "I'm concerned about Tony's cognitive abilities right now."

"Ducky, we know he's not thinking like himself," Tim said.

"My concerns go further. Could you put the temperature readings on the screen again?"

They all shuffled closer to the monitors as Tim brought up the infrared outline of Tony in the cell.

"According to these readings, he's running a fever of about 105."

"Actually, isn't that band in the middle over 106?" Cassie asked.

McGee moved a pointer over the screen. "Yes, that's the ultimate core temperature, but it's this area in the middle of the torso that better reflects what you'd get out a conventional thermometer, so 105."

"Either way, he should be dead or in a coma right now. The brain shuts down if it becomes too hot, not to mention all the other physiological effect such as weakness and fatigue that should be accompanying his fever," Ducky said.

"How's he doing it, keeping moving?" Abby shook her head.

"I have no idea." Ducky sighed. "All I have is speculation that somehow his condition is insulating his brain from the heat."

"What if it's not?" Abby asked.

Ducky looked away from Abby. "Extreme fever can cause brain damage."

"But we were able to interview two of our victims, after they had been bit," Gibbs said.

"Indeed. The parts of the brain that control automated functions are more likely to operate in the extremes. I'm guessing that what we're seeing is more instinctual behavior than cognitive process." Ducky said.

"That might explain the general amnesia after the first episode," Tim said.

"Yes it may. Jethro, what have you stuffed into that bite-proof sleeve?" Ducky asked with a frown.

"Curried goat leg," Gibbs said.

"From Island Andersons? That's good goat," Tim said.

"Yup. We're going to do a little test," Gibbs said.

"You're going to see if he can bite through the sleeve," Cassie said.

"See if he has the jaw strength to break the bone," Abby added.

Not waiting for more speculation, Gibbs stepped into the secret room. As expected, Tony became more agitated, but then he tossed his head and his nose twitched as he caught scent of the food. Tony grew quieter, pacing in front of the bars, stopping frequently next to the slot. There was a low growl in his throat.

"Back from the bars."

Tony growled and when he couldn't force his face through the bars, he howled and threw his body against the cage.

"DiNozzo! I said back!"

Instantly, Tony dropped to all fours, but he didn't back up. He quietly prowled he bars again, watching Gibbs.

"There's something in there listening," Gibbs murmured. He put the meat on a pizza paddle and took a few steps nearer to the bars so he could slide it through a slot designed for that purpose. Before it was fully in, Tony was on the goat leg, biting and tearing at the protective covering.

Gibbs stepped right up to the line. Tony's teeth never left the goat as he dragged the whole works back into a corner of the cell. Tossing a blanket on the floor, Gibbs put his back to a wall and sat just on the right side of the line. At first, he was worried that Tony had gone so animal that he'd forgotten that he had opposable thumbs.

Once Tony found the exposed goat on the shoulder end of the arm, he stopped trying to bite through the sleeve and instead just ate. At first, his eyes were always watching Gibbs. Once or twice, he rolled onto his side, facing the back of the cage and effectively hiding the goat. Eventually he sat up, back against the wall.

Gibbs realized that the claws were getting in the way of the normal range of motion for Tony's hands. He couldn't just grab the goat with his fingers and move it around. He could move it when he wrapped his palm around the thicker part of the goat. At first, he bit the meat exposed through the armhole, but that became awkward. He made a few swipes at the sleeve with his claws, but to no effect. Then with what looked like concentration on his face, he took a very deliberate slash. It also appeared not to work, but Gibbs knew that the next morning they'd be doing a thorough inspection of that sleeve. Not to be kept from a free meal, Tony turned his attention back to the armhole and used his claws to shred the meat and to scoop it into his mouth. What seemed awkward at first quickly became more practiced.

Once the knobby end of the bone was exposed, Tony bit down on it. At first, Gibbs thought he was going to gnaw on it, but then Tony wrapped his hands around the sleeve, and started pushing it down. Gibbs knew that it was wedged in pretty tightly and the sauce and rub, made it slippery and awkward. It only took Tony a few seconds to become frustrated and to bite down on the sleeve, growling. He tried to tear the sleeve. Inadvertently he managed to move the sleeve down a bit and get at some more meat.

Tony was learning. It might not be the kind of leaps of logic that he made in the field every day to solve the case, but he was not just a mindless pile of claws and fangs. That made him more dangerous.

Tony leaped to his feet, squatting down and pushing the goat behind him. He snarled at the bars, looking towards the door. Abby had come in with an old cooking pot full of water.

"He thinks you want to steal his goat," Gibbs said.

"I can see that. We were watching on the cameras and wondering if he was thirsty. Tim said that he remembered a lot of food today, but not too many beverages."

Gibbs cocked his head, running the day through his head. "No, there wasn't."

"Ducky, is wondering if he's hydrophobic; it's one of the symptoms of rabies. Why is he staring at me like that?"

Gibbs glanced back at the cage and saw that Tony had abandoned the goat and came right up to the bars, obviously fixated on Abby.

"He likes you Abs, which may not be a good thing under the circumstances. I guess we find out about the water." Gibbs stood up and moved slowly towards Abby. Tony shifted his attention and growled at Gibbs.

Territorial about Abby, Gibbs didn't like that at all and thought to himself, Tough luck, DiNozzo, she's not coming anywhere near you. Out loud he said, "Abby, why don't you let me slide it in? He seems to be tolerating me for the moment, maybe we'll take turns, sitting with him each night and see what he gets used to."

Abby nodded. "Gibbs..."

"We're not going to let him hurt you or anyone else."

She smacked him lightly on the chest. "I know that; I would never doubt that. It's just that I spend so much time looking critically at the supernatural and when it happens I'm all - I don't know. This is not cool."

"Then work on making him better," Gibbs said gently.

Abby nodded and handed him the pot, stepping back outside.

Turning back to the cage, he could see Tony moving restlessly along the bars. When Gibbs took a step towards the cage, Tony went back to defending his goat. He had stopped growling at some point when Abby was speaking to him. Gibbs wasn't entirely sure if that was good or not. The growling meant that he perceived them as a threat. Lack of noise, indicated the opposite, but that could just mean that Tony, in his wolf brain, thought he could take them all on.

There was no telling how Tony would drink from the container, or if he'd choose to. Gibbs loaded it on the pizza paddle, and started moving it over the line. This had Tony's full focus and he took two steps towards the slot, stopped, checked his goat and then took the longer route along the back wall of the cage. Gibbs smiled and shook his head; it gave Tony the best view of Gibbs, the food slot and the goat with the minimal amount of movement. "You only want people to think you're dumb."

The pot barely cleared the narrow opening. Once it was on the other side, Gibbs gave the paddle a shake and it slid onto the floor without spilling a drop. Tony came right up to it, visibly sniffed it, and ignored it in favor of clawing and nipping around the food slot. The motions weren't frantic like it had been earlier; this was much more methodical. The whole time that he was doing it, Tony was watching Gibbs.

"Don't make me regret telling you where that key was," Gibbs said. Tony howled.

With a sigh, Gibbs went back to the wall and sat down. While he was doing so, Tony dashed back to the goat. When Gibbs looked back at him, he was practically hugging it to his chest.

"That's right. Don't you think for a moment that's yours. If I decide I want it, I'll take it." Gibbs smiled.

Tony hugged the goat tighter.

The staring contest didn't last much longer because Tony decided to prowl the cage again. On his third trip around, Gibbs lifted his hand when Tony was on the opposite side of the cage, theoretically with his back to Gibbs. Tony went flying across the cage, leapt over the goat, landing on the other side to growl, teeth and claws bared.

"Uh-uh, you're not fooling me, DiNozzo, and I can play this game better than you."

Tony stepped back and ate his goat.

*** Sunday, October 4th - 4am, Full Moon ***

Gibbs waived a coffee cup under Tim's nose.

Tim opened his eyes and shook his head a little. "Oh, blessed caffeine." He took the cup.

Gibbs smiled as he took a sip of his own, and sat down on a folding chair. The rattling from the room was just as loud as when he had left a half hour earlier. "Noise wasn't too bad outside the house. I don't think we're attracting attention."

For the first part of the evening, Tony had seemed content with eating the goat and gnawing on the bone, but around 1o'clock he started getting restless and tried to run in the confined space. For the last two hours, he had been literally trying to climb the walls.

"Do you think there's anything we can try to do to calm him down?" Tim asked. "Maybe some more water?"

"He's had three containers and we ran out of pots that will fit through the slot."

"Yeah, we didn't think this all the way through," Tim said.

"There's probably some virtue in the fact that we haven't fully mapped out the care and maintenance of prisoners kept in my basement." Gibbs drank some coffee. "I'll do some plumbing tomorrow so we can run a hose, maybe refill a water container from the right side of the line."

Tim nodded. "Speaking of which, do you think-" McGee bit his lip.

"Out with it."

"Do you think if we put in some kind of litter box he'd use it?"

Gibbs let out a breath. "He kept his food away from his other business. Most of it ended up in one corner."

"Except when he was peeing near the bars," Tim had put up a video clip in one corner, showing the behavior.

"Marking his territory," Gibbs said. "We can give the litter box a shot." Tony threw his body against the bars, and Gibbs shook his head "He's got less than 100 square feet and his body in overdrive. I can't say that I blame him. Do you think he'd be much different if Tony was Tony?

Turning his head slightly, Tim looked at the monitor, obviously thinking about it. "He'd be talking more. He'd be talking a lot. Why do you suppose he's not talking? Are the speech centers of his brain cut off? Or is it something more physical, like the all over swelling in his body is preventing his vocal cords from working?"

Gibbs shrugged. "I get motive, McGee. I know why people do things, what drives them to do all sorts of things. All this science and medical stuff that you and Abby and Ducky are doing..." Gibbs shrugged.

"Do you think we can do it?" McGee asked.

Gibbs looked at him.

"I know that if it can be done, you three will figure it out because nothing stops you."

McGee was looking at him and Gibbs hated that look because McGee was actually calculating odds instead of just diving in with both feet. In the end, he nodded.

There was a louder growl from the room. They watched on the monitor as Tony threw himself against the bars three times in a row with substantial force.

"We're going to do it," Tim said.

Gibbs sipped his coffee. He thought for a moment about putting off his next question, but it wasn't like there was something more pressing. "Ziva."

"Do you think we should tell her about this?"

"No I don't. But tell me, what have you been telling her?" Tony, Abby and Ducky had come right out and said what contact they had had. Abby had forwarded all their e-mails and wrote up a rambling but incredibly detailed account of the few phone conversation that they had had. McGee had brushed him off with a non-answer.

"We e-mail every once in a while. Boss, I haven't been telling her anything. Nothing secret, nothing important."

"How do you know what's important?"

Surprise, anger, doubt. Gibbs thought that McGee should have skipped surprise and stopped at anger. He was too damn honest to be a secret agent. Because of that, if Gibbs were in Ziva's place, McGee would be his first stop.

"I'm not going to try and claim perfect judgment, but I know what secrets and sensitive information are," McGee said.

"McGee, she's Mossad; she's got better sources of intel than you and me. If she's coming to us for information, it's to get something she isn't getting from her channels. An operative needs more than just codes and secrets. You believe she's an operative, right?"

"Yes!" It was a fast answer, a harsh one. Tony reacted in the next room. Tim lowered his voice. "I just didn't want to believe that she would come to us and ...use us."

"She may not be," Gibbs said. "Ziva's a good person."

"But she's a patriot, and she's going to finish her mission," Tim said. "Just like everyone else, I sent her a few e-mails and didn't get a reply because she had been captured in Africa. When we found out what happened to her, I wrote again. Her answers were short, canned. I decided to ignore it and just treat things like they were normal. I told her how I was doing, picked out some of the unusual details from our unclassified cases. Boss, I told her how Abby's bowling league was doing."

"How did she like that intel?" Gibbs smiled and sipped his coffee.

"She started to warm up. I'll send you all the e-mails, but she just asked how people were doing. She never asked how we were doing with being a man down. She didn't ask about Tony, but I told her anyway. I told her that her desk was waiting for her. I didn't tell her when Cassie joined the team." McGee shrugged.

"You volunteered information."

"I was starting a conversation."

"You responded to unspoken questions. She said things that made you think of other things."

"I-" McGee stopped and frowned deeply. Gibbs could see him trying to reread all of those e-mails in his head. "I suppose I did. I'll go through them, send them to you. It's just-"

"If you're not telling any of her secrets, then it's not betraying a friend."

"I wouldn't - I mean, I would if she had said anything that I thought was potentially dangerous or a security threat. Boss, I could stop e-mailing her," McGee said.

"No." Gibbs shook his head. "You can't now. The director wants to know what activities she's conducting on US soil." He sipped his coffee and didn't have to see McGee's face to know what look he'd find there. "Tim you're a good agent - a good man. No one's going to make you stick a knife in her back, but we're not going to let her have the opportunity to do the same."

Tony threw himself against the bars.

Tim was slowly nodding. "Do you think we should try feeding him again?"

Gibbs put down his cup and stood up. "Couldn't hurt."

***

Tony wondered what bus had hit him because his limbs were heavy and he couldn't quite bring himself to open his eyes or speak. The voices around him were familiar, safe.

"Tim, put on some gloves. You too Cassie," Abby said.

"What do we need to do Abby?" The Boss's voice was right next to Tony's ear, but Tony didn't need to hear the Boss. The Boss' scent was washing all over him.

Samples of everything, hair, saliva, and, uhm, the cleanest sample of what he left in the corner over there."

McGee, let out a sigh. "I got the corners of the cell."

"Cassie," The Boss said. "You get the middle of the cell; I think you may find teeth."

Someone lifted Tony's hand. "And fingernails - well, claws, more accurately." It was Abby's voice there, Abby who had his hand.

Suddenly there was a blanket on top of him. Tony hadn't been cold, but suddenly he was nice and warm.

***Sunday Morning***

Tony threw his arms over his head and stretched in only the way you can after a fabulous night's sleep. His legs stretched wide, as he kicked off the blankets and enjoyed the feel of the cool air against his skin. The air smelled musty, but somehow safe and right.

"Geez, DiNozzo, the rest of us are tired of watching you get naked," Gibbs said.

Tony's eyes flew open and he sat up, scrambling for the blanket. In the process, the earth moved - or at least the lawn chair cushion that he was lying on did. He found his bare ass on the cold cement floor, the floor to Gibbs' basement. There was hair, everywhere. He was in the cage, but the door was open, and Gibbs was standing on the other side.

"Boss!" Tony's nose wrinkled as he was assaulted with more distinct odors coming from all over the room. "Oh, tell me that smell isn't me."

"Not currently," Gibbs said and pointed to a corner of the cage.

Tony's jaw dropped. "That's werewolf poop, isn't it?"

"Yup." Gibbs shrugged. "Based on everything you ate last night, it could have been worse, and you did contain it."

Sliding back onto the cushion, Tony made sure that the blanket was doing its job. "Tell me that I didn't hurt anyone."

"You didn't; everyone was safe on both sides of the bars. We've got some ideas for making life a little more comfortable."

"Sauna and hot tub?"

"Maybe some sand in the corner; although, you act more like a big dog than a cat."

"Yay, big dumb dog," Tony said and rolled his eyes.

"Not so dumb," Gibbs said. "At first you thrashed around a lot, trying to get out. When you gave up on that, you calmed down and started interacting with us a little."

Tony stood up, wrapping himself in the blanket and brushing off stray hairs. "That was a good thing?"

"You started acting real friendly," Gibbs said.

"And?" Tony loaded the word with suspicion.

"You tried to lure us close enough to the bars so you could grab someone."

"That is not the definition of good," Tony said.

"Attacking people would be bad, but we were smart enough to see it. Because there was a brain of sorts in your head, it meant that we could negotiate with you a little, find the things that kept you more content."

Tony's brain flashed. "There was music, bad music."

Gibbs nodded. "Abby did some experimenting. You weren't the only one howling at some of those selections. McGee saved us all by finding your ... pod thing"

"iPod," Tony said, as he nodded. He took a step towards the door and then stopped himself. "So is it okay..."

"Yeah, it's why we left the door open. McGee is going to keep doing math to figure out how the sun and the moon fit into all this, but Abby's theory seems to be holding. We're going to do what it takes to make it through the next two days and then go on from there."

"Boss," Tony swallowed, wrapping the blanket around himself. "Could someone fill me in on what it'll take to get through the next two days?"

"And why is that, DiNozzo?"

"Why is that?" Tony let out a short laugh. He held out a hand in a helpless gesture, looking at the stone walls and iron bars. "Why is that?"

"It's happening to you, right?" Gibbs pointed out.

Tony was having trouble understanding why he was being questioned. "It's happening to me, so why does someone need to fill me in? Well, to start with, I've been a senseless animal for the last eight or twelve hours."

"And what's your excuse for the last twenty-eight days?" Gibbs tone was flat, but demanding.

"I -" Tony hesitated. "I mean, I've been doing everything I've been told, trying to cooperate."

"Is that all a senior field agent supposed to do? Is that what my senior field agent is supposed to do?"

It hit Tony all at once. This was just like those dreams where Gibbs was demanding case details and his notebook was blank. Those dreams were always worse, because he was naked. Tony looked down at himself, pulled the blanket in tighter.

None of those revelations seemed to stop the Boss from staring at him. "No, Boss. I should be doing...something...more. Boss, I don't know what I should be doing," Tony said. That really just summed up Tony's life since that night he had just been doing his job and out f nowhere a shitstorm bit him in the ass. He never just coasted. Well, sometimes he coasted through a date or work, but only because he had something more important that he was working on, but he always made up for it later

"You're going to start helping yourself by helping everyone else."

Was it later? It was a month later and what Gibbs just said sounded like a good idea. Time to catch up, except he usually had some kind of clue about how to do that. "Sure, I just may be shy on a few details. Details like how?"

Gibbs stepped into the cage, right up to Tony. Every step that Gibbs took was like the wind picking and pushing Tony back. Gibbs' scent had been mingling with every thing else in the room, but now it was front and center, demanding Tony's attention. Of course, part of that could have been Gibbs being right in front of him doing the full on scary thing.

"Do what you do best DiNozzo. You're an investigator that spends half his time trying to solve the case before his co-workers."

"Well, it helps everyone if we solve a case faster," Tony said, trying to brush off the competitive aspects of his nature.

"Yeah it does; put it to work here." Gibbs eyes wandered around the cell. "Tag the scene, gather some evidence. Then after everyone's gotten some sleep," Gibbs paused, and Tony felt himself lean back from the intensity of the gaze.

"I'm grateful, Boss, I'm going to let everyone sleep."

"After we're back on our feet, interview the witnesses."

Tony blinked. "Who? Abby, Cassie, McGee?"

"And me and Ducky."

"No offence, Boss, but I'm betting that they're taking lot more detailed notes than you're giving them credit for."

Gibbs tapped him in the back of the head. "What do I always tell you about witnesses? See who is making too many assumptions, drawing their conclusions before they get enough evidence. They're human, Tony. We're all human." Gibbs punctuated his last remark by poking Tony in the shoulder.

Gibbs turned around and started heading towards the secret door. "Ducky went home to get some sleep; he left you a set of orders in the bathroom upstairs. Follow them before you eat. Until we fully know what's safe and not safe, you're in charge of cleaning up the scene."

Tasks, tangible tasks. Tony could do that. "I can sweep, vacuum and mop. Well, I might need some help with the mop."

Gibbs turned at the door. "Quietly, DiNozzo. And get some sleep yourself."

Tony shrugged. "Maybe I'll take a nap later. For now I feel great."

Gibbs rubbed the back of his neck.

"What?"

"You slept for forty minutes."

***

Once Gibbs headed upstairs, his scent faded. There was definitely a trace in the air, but it was mixed with so many other things. Tony didn't try to make heads or tails of it. He brushed off as much hair as he could and looked around. As previously noted, one back corner was going to require gloves and bleach to deal with. The other back corner had an interesting collection of stuff, including a shredded blanket and what looked like the remains of his clothes from the previous night. There were also a couple some large bones that looked like they had been gnawed.

"Goat," Tony said. He had no idea why. He was remembering, but it wasn't like he could see himself eating goat. There was no sense of how big a piece of meat or how tough or tender it was. It was a smell - Island Anderson's goat. Not the chicken, the fish or even the lamb, which was weird because Tony couldn't always tell the difference between the lamb and the goat. This was goat.

Not ready to deal with that, he took a breath and stepped outside the bars. There was a pile of pots and pans there that Tony didn't have an explanation for. The green line on the floor was new. It cut the cell off from the rest of the room. Just on the other side of it, near a wall was a blanket - someone had sat there.

Again, it wasn't as if Tony remembered seeing someone or even the shape of someone. There had been movement and warmth, body heat. Tony squatted down next to it. Gibbs. It had been Gibbs, because his scent was all over the blanket.

Tony stood up, and glared at the blanket. "Okay, being able to identify co-workers by scent - not cool." Maybe it was a mistake; maybe it was just because it was Gibbs had been just there.

He walked to the table in the back that contained a variety of specimen containers and bags. Any people scent was overwhelmed by odors of chemicals, disinfectants and laundry soap. Someone had brought down some sweats and his OSU t-shirt. Tony really wanted a shower before he put on clothes, but for the sake of his co-workers, he should probably put something on before he went upstairs.

There was a lot more stuff outside the secret room now than when he had gone in. There was a mini-lab set up on a card table. Various coffee mugs scattered about and a couple of waste baskets with the remains of the previous night's dinner.

As he stepped past the computer station, he got the distinct impression of McGee. Tony tried to write it off as, Where else would McGee have been?, but that wasn't it. Everything from the keyboards and mice to the wood the table smelled like Tim.

Tony plopped down in McGee's chair and started his research, by finding the camera footage. He'd gotten the demonstration the night before along with Abby. Right there in a folder with yesterday's date was a neat series of video files, neatly marked with time stamps. He was about to open the first one, when he realized that he was starving.

***

Before Tony pushed open the basement door, he could smell Tim. Sure enough, McGee was stretched out on the sofa with a blanket half-on and half-off, fast-asleep. Years of living in a frat house rushed back at him all at once. The opportunity!

He had taken half a step towards Tim before common sense took hold. It wasn't so much a sense of fair play that stopped him. It was more a combination of the fact that Tim had a license to shoot him when Tony was in wolf form, and Gibbs would kill Tony if he didn't keep it down.

The downstairs bathroom had a normal assortment of stuff, but no instruction or specimen jars. He headed to the second floor, taking his time so as not to wake anyone. There was a sign on the bathroom door with a goth-looking werewolf and the words, Big Dog Lounge. Before he went in, Tony walked past the three bedroom doors to test his sniffer. Papa bear was behind the door to the big bedroom. Nobody was sleeping in his room, and he opened the door to prove that the only occupant was Raspberry Rumtart.

Tony didn't even make it to the third door when he was hit by the double scent of Cassie and Abby. Cassie was kind of like McGee - not that Cassie and McGee smelled remotely alike. He didn't have words for how any of them smelled. But Cassie and McGee were at the same intensity level, just like spotting a friend on the street.

Gibbs scent was a whole other story, no doubt owing to the fact that it was Gibbs. It also smelled way too good and gave Tony some definite ideas that he shouldn't entertain when he was wearing cotton sweats that didn't leave anything to the imagination.

Abby was different. He wanted to lick Abby and not in the same way that he wanted to lick Gibbs. Tony stepped into the bathroom before he freaked out. When he looked in the mirror, he thought it was weird that it was just his own damn face. For him to be smelling everyone like that and have all this weirdness in his head, he should look like someone else, something else.

But it was just him, with only a touch of five o'clock shadow. He ran his palm over his jaw. "Well, there's one benefit," he said to his reflection, rolling his eyes. On the back of the toilet was an open notebook with Ducky's handwriting. As he picked it up, he caught Ducky's scent coming off the pages. It just wasn't strong enough to make any calls on how the wolf-brain might classify him - friend, foe or food.

Tony read through Ducky's list and wondered why he skipped the requirement for a pound of flesh, because a sample of just about everything else was on there. He reached for a collection container and then put it back down.

Opening the door, he headed down the hall and stopped outside of Gibbs door. Tony lifted his hand to knock. He put it down. He lifted it again. Finally, he just pushed open the door. The shades were down, but there was enough light creeping in that Tony could make out the boss's from in the middle of the bed.

"This better be good," Gibbs growled.

Gibbs' scent assailed him again. This time Tony could read more into it. There was a sense of power that made him want to genuflect or kneel.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped as he sat up.

"New development, I can smell everyone, and I'm not talking about how we all smell after a softball game in August."

"Uh-huh..."

Tony looked at him and extended his hand in an imploring motion, although he had no idea what he might be asking for. "You don't think it's weird?"

"Did you just ask me that? I spent the entire night watching you be a werewolf and you have the nerve to ask me if it's weird that you've developed another dog-like trait?"

Tony bit his lip. "Okay, I can see you're point."

"Tell, McGee, after he wakes up, and get the hell out of here."

"Yes, Boss!" Tony turned and grabbed the door handle on autopilot. He stopped before he was back out in the hall.

"What, DiNozzo?"

Tony looked down and then glanced back over his shoulder without turning. "Everyone smells like them. I don't know how to describe it in a way that makes sense. It's just that..."

"Just what?"

"Abby smells like Abby, but she also smells...edible."

"Get your ass in here and close that door." Gibbs got out of bed and came around the end of the bed.

Tony knew that Gibbs was going to kill him. On an intellectual level and with everything else that was happening to Tony, it was probably for the best. But Gibbs was going to kill him and that was hard to get past.

"Sit!"

Tony planted himself on the edge of the bed.

"Get your shedding ass off of my bed."

Tony slid to the floor, wrapping his arms around his bent knees.

"Are you telling me that if I let you out of here that you're going to rip out Abby's throat?"

"No! I would never do anything like that. I would never hurt Abby," Tony said. Any pause in a conversation always seems a bit awkward. With Gibbs glaring down at him, it became more like a form of torture to Tony. He swallowed. "Of course considering everything, I can see how you might-"

"DiNozzo." Gibbs let out a breath and sank down to the floor, so they were sitting next to one another. "I get that you're scared; it's a scary thing that's happening to you."

"Terrifying. It's more like terrifying," Tony said. The subject matter was not the only thing that was terrifying. He was getting the same feeling that he had had years ago when he had drunkenly kissed Gibbs in the basement.

"You have to trust us, to watch out for each other and you."

"Boss, if I didn't trust you, all of you. I wouldn't have told you what I just did. I'd have pretended that everything was normal - whatever that means. Hell, I wouldn't be here, right now. Those Marines that started all this for me; they knew something was happening, and I get why they didn't tell anyone about it. If I didn't have all of you, I'd have tried to fly under the radar or I would have taken off." It had been more honest than Tony intended, but it felt good to say it.

"You don't have to take off, Tony. We've got you, and you don't have to panic."

"I kinda feel like I have to panic because I don't know what I'm capable of. This is not like compulsively playing Tetris at my desk or flirting with every pretty woman I pass by. When you threaten me or headslap me for playing games, there's a certain level of not being able to stop myself in there, but at least I know that I'm doing it," Tony said.

Gibbs reached out a hand and brushed some stray hairs off Tony's neck. "So what you're telling me is that you'd never hurt Abby-"

"Never!"

"Never hurt Abby, but you're afraid that you're gonna wake up and find that you have."

That was it - a perfect description of everything going inside his head. Abby was just the tip of the iceberg. Tony nodded.

"Cassie's in there with Abby right? Trust in the fact that she won't hesitate to shoot you."

"You think? I mean, I trust her to have my back every day. I don't doubt she'd shoot the bad guy, but it's different when you have to point a gun at someone you know. If McGee has to do it, he's going to hesitate-"

"But he'll do it," Gibbs said. "And so will Cassie."

"Okay." Tony stood up and headed towards the door.

"Not going to ask about me?"

Tony turned and looked over his shoulder. "Never needed to, Boss. And I trust that you can make them all do what needs to be done. Do me a favor though."

"What?"

"Make Abby carry a taser."

***

Tony returned to the bathroom and Ducky's list. He checked off each item as he put the appropriate sample in a cup or bag, methodically filling out tags like they were evidence. Gibbs had told him to do that - treat the day like it was an investigation. He pulled a few pages out of the back of Ducky's notebook and began jotting down some of the things he had noticed

scary sense of smell
finger and toenails still black
hair still dyed

He looked in the mirror again and cringed. Last night, he should have made Abby do something cooler with the spray-in hair color. At least it was supposed to wash out. These thoughts brought several things to mind. He needed to shower, because he needed a shower and because Ducky would be back soon to draw blood. These both conflicted with the ever-growing need to eat. Ducky said not to eat, because of the blood test.

"Focus," he said to his reflection. "The Boss needs you to focus and do your job." Having successfully talked himself out of eating for about the twentieth time, Tony smiled at himself in the mirror and then jotted down another note.

Not as hungry as yesterday; still starving, just not as much

He turned on the water and hopped in the shower. The water felt good as it took away all the residual hair and sweat. The temperature was cooler than Tony should have liked, but it was what he needed. As he ran through Ducky's checklist, he determined that his persistent fever was only 102.

Once he was clean, Tony turned off the water, reached outside the shower, picked up the last sample container and moved it to the edge of the tub. At least this sample should be fun, Tony thought, as he squeezed a little lube into his palm. Hot skin met cool tile, as Tony pressed his back into the wall. He gave a happy little sigh. It was like being overheated in a club and then dancing past the back door that someone had propped open.

Clubbing. Tony smiled and wrapped his hand around his cock. In his head, the beat cranked up as his hand moved. Tony could almost smell the sweat and beer fighting with cologne. He ran his thumb over the head, teasing the slit before sliding his palm back down, as he tried to tease himself into hardness.

Nothing. Tony gritted his teeth and stroked twice as hard because there couldn't be nothing. Rolling his head against the tile, Tony opened his eyes. How was he supposed to relax while surrounded by a room left back in the 80s?

"Room, I have a room," Tony said, grabbing a towel and heading towards the bathroom door, but just as rapidly spun around and started pacing in the confines space. "Not in front of Raspberry Rumtart." Not in Gibbs' daughter's room, not in the bathroom, and a big hell no to the basement. Tony froze.

"Holy shit, I've got to live here."

It all came crashing down on Tony, again. Unless his very smart friends found him a cure, he was looking at a very short life - one that was likely to end in a lot of blood. A humorless laugh escaped his lips. In the best of worlds, all that blood would be his own.

The other possibility was a long life, cloistered in his rented room with monthly trips to the cage in the basement. Sure, he could go out to bars or even clubs, but not pick anyone up. Even if Ducky did clear him for some amount of extracurricular activities, what if a one night stand led to a second date. Tony smacked himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand.

"You don't tell someone you're a werewolf on the second date. Which date do you do it on?" Tony looked around the bathroom again. "Like it matters." You don't bring the girl or boy of your dreams to Gibbs' house. Tony dropped the lid of toilet seat and sat down.

It wasn't like Gibbs lived in the slums or the house was drafty or anything like that. On the contrary, the place was exactly like Gibbs - solid, impervious to the elements and Spartan - except the kitchen, which didn't make any sense because he knew that Gibbs only cooked about six different meals and most of them had take-out elements.

Gibbs had brought home the girls of his dreams here, even if three of them turned out to be nightmares. Chewing his lower lip, Tony thought that maybe it did make sense. The kitchen had to have been the work of one of the former wives. From all accounts the exes had taken Gibbs to the cleaners, which the rest of the house confirmed. However, it was a lot harder to remove things that were anchored to the walls and made of granite.

This led to other questions. How had Raspberry Rumtart survived the renovations of the exes? In theory, Gibbs had never told any of them about the first wife and daughter, so how did he justify keeping them out of the larger of the two spare rooms? Did he tell them that wallpaper was there when he bought the place?

He frowned as he looked around the bathroom. And why the hell didn't the exes renovate the guest bathroom? Then he spotted the sample cup, waiting on the edge of the tub. Ducky was going to be disappointed. Hell! Tony was disappointed. This sample was key to knowing whether he'd have sex again. He stood up and pretended that line of thought wasn't actually a death spiral.

"Okay, I can do this. I may have to live with Gibbs, but that doesn't mean this has to be a monastery." Tony grabbed his notes and jotted down -

Buy paint and whatever it takes to remove wallpaper

"Come on, DiNozzo, you've never lost at solitaire unless copious amounts of alcohol were involved." Tony took himself in hand again. Clubbing didn't work and he was shy on visually stimulating material. He grabbed the notes again.

Move DVD player and 'special' DVD collection into the room
Move GSM archive and other advanced reading material

That done, he put down the paper and went back to the matter at hand, so to speak. Tony needed a good fantasy - a foolproof one. He had a lot to choose from since his tastes had evolved and changed over the years. He flashed on Kate in the plaid mini-skirt, and she smiled wickedly back. He loved that fantasy, but it was a bad idea because it would just make him wonder what she would have made of all this.

No, today was about a different kind of energy, he wanted the men. Tony trailed his fingers lightly over his cock, sifting through his fantasy men - swimsuit models, body builders and the occasional Marine or SEAL. One image kept flashing through his mind - Gibbs. Gibbs was a dangerous fantasy because every time he jacked off with those images in his head, he had a desire to change his reality. Those fantasies would be a hundred times more dangerous now.

Gibbs was in his head again and in his nose. The scent memory of the earlier encounter rocketed through him. Gibbs never touched him in a way that could be construed as sexual, but that didn't stop Tony from directing it that way. He didn't have to fantasize about what Gibbs' hand would be like on the back of his neck, because it had been there before. In his fantasy he felt it there now, pushing him to his knees.

Shifting to the floor, Tony spread his knees wide and wished that he had a dildo or a plug. He'd make a note later about bringing his toy box. He was going to bring sex toys into Gibbs house and that not only made him smile but brought a response from his cock. With one hand, he slowly began to pump with one hand while he used the other to stroke his balls.

In his head, it was Gibbs' hands on him. Almost automatically, Tony's hands became rougher, letting the friction bring him to hardness. He wanted something in his ass - he wanted Gibbs' cock there, spreading him and filling him, or maybe he wanted that dick in his mouth. Taking his hand away from his sack, Tony put his forearm against the wall. He bowed his head and rubbed his nose against his upper arm, licking at the more tender flesh on the underside.

Tony's hips had found their own rhythm, bucking forward into nothing, as his hand rocketed over his achingly hard cock, which was begging for more. Tony lightly dragged a nail down the length and over the head. With an involuntary grown, he bit down on his arm while his hand sped up.

Usually when Tony jacked off it was a simple affair in the shower or as he was falling asleep, but every once in a while he needed the layers of fantasy. Often it was his own hand that was pushing some willing boy-toy to the floor, but with Gibbs stuck in his head being on his knees was only right.

It was probably suicide, but Tony wanted to find a way to get up close and way too personal to Gibbs, so that he'd have a much more specific scent in his head. The heat in the bathroom was adding unbearable tension to the situation, as his hand moved more deliberately, trying to shatter the moment. He bit harder and groaned into his arm.

It was then through half-lidded eyes that he caught site of the sample cup, still on the edge of the tub. It nearly knocked him out of his fantasy, until he heard echoes of Gibbs' voice running through his head. It was a mix of phrases, reminding him to focus and pay attention, unspoken threats if he didn't get the job done.

Reluctantly he stopped biting his arm so he could grab the cup. Automatically he leaned forward, resting his forehead against the blessedly cool tile. Tony breathed in, replacing the scents of soap and steam with the remembered scent of Gibbs, which had moved him to the floor earlier. He wanted to shout as he shot into the cup, but bit his lip instead.

Riding the waves of his orgasm, Tony smiled in relief. There wasn't going to be a dry spell here. He pressed his cheek into the cool wall and knew that in a few minutes that he was going to have to get back into a cool shower. After Tony capped the cup, he took a good look at his arm and surprised to find the extent of the hickey that he had given himself. He had given a love bite to a partner or three in the past, but he had always been aware enough not to leave a mark. This was going to bruise and he was going to feel it for a week. Was it the moment? Was it the wolf inside him?

For a moment, the waves of self-doubt and fear crept through him again, but he pushed them away. There was no blood and a bruise was well worth the price of brain melting moment that he had just had.

For the first time in a month, Tony felt good about being in his own body.

Continued