Disclaimer: "NCIS" and its characters don't' belong to me they belong to CBS and are being used without permission. Please don't sue because I have no money.

Some kids have incredible endurance, they get through anything, but some kids it's just not in their nature, and can't handle being bullied.

Bullied

Anthony DiNozzo sat in his room at yet another boarding school. He hated being the new student in boarding school. In the last boarding school he was at he was bullied, but of course when they bullied him he joked about it, or laughed at it. He couldn't let them know that it hurt him, but deep down it hurt that they pushed him around and beat on him. His father didn't normally hit him just a few times when he was home from school his father would get mad at him. He always covered up the bruises and if someone did see them he would tell them a story about how he got them and make a joke out of it.

He had made a few friends at the new boarding school and he would talk to them, but of course just like the other schools he was at there was another bully. He too had pushed him around and even beat up on him. The others tried to help, but they were being threatened if they helped him.

He had been sleeping and hadn't even heard them come into his room. He suddenly woke up when a hand covered his mouth and grabbed him. He didn't even have the chance to scream. They led him to the flagpole where they stripped him down to his underwear. The leader had hooked up his underwear and started to pull the cord that would make him go up the flagpole. They stopped when he was at the top and then they stood back laughing at what they did. They laughed at his screams to be let down.

Tony screamed at the boys who did this to him. "Let me down. Let me down." He wasn't going to cry because if he did it would be like letting them win. He wasn't going to let them win. He could see them laughing at him as they looked up. They were laughing so hard they didn't hear anybody come up behind them.

"What did you do?" Two headmasters were waiting for an explanation.

"We were just having fun."

One of the headmasters walked to the flagpole and lowered Tony down and then unhooked him. "Are you okay, Anthony?"

"I'm fine." Tony said as he smiled and picked up his clothes to get dressed. That is why he had his joker, clown mask. He hid behind it, so nobody knows how he really feels. He couldn't let the headmaster know that it bothered him and so he lied.

"I want you to go to the school nurse."

"I'm fine." Tony said again.

"I just want to made sure that you are okay. I don't know how long you were out here and want to make sure that you didn't get sick. I will go with you to tell the nurse what happened."

The two made their way towards the school nurse's room. The headmaster told the nurse what had happened and she checked to make sure that he was okay. Finally Tony was back in his room where he knew he had to get dressed before they had breakfast in the dining hall. He glanced around as he made his way towards the food line and when he sat down at his friend's table. They talked about classes and everything else. It looked like nobody found out what had happened and for that he was glad. He didn't want to be known as the kid who was literally up the flagpole. He began joking with his friends and talking about movies and sports.

Days and weeks went by and nobody knew what had happened to Tony. He began telling himself that it wasn't him that was up the flagpole it was John Smith instead. He still made jokes and did a couple of pranks. He began calling John Smith Stinky John after that. He never called him that to his face, but only to his friends.

It would be years and years later he would meet John Smith again. He even got a card, so he could say he was sorry, but he never gave it to him. He began talking to him when John said it was the other way around. He looked at him when he said that and suddenly remembered what had happened. He remembered them grabbing him and making him strip to be strung up the flagpole.

He could see Gibbs smile that it was the right thing to say that he should tell McGee.

He stood there wondering if he should knock on McGee's door. He lifted his hands to knock on the door, but suddenly dropped it down. He stood there a minute more and finally got up the courage to knock.

"What are you doing here, Tony?"

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

He sat down on the couch in McGee's living room and looked around. It still looked the same as the last time he came to cheer McGee up when he shot the cop.

"I want to thank you for giving me John's address."

"You came here to say thank you. You could have said it in the bullpen tomorrow."

"I wanted to talk to you because of what happened." He sighed not really wanting to tell McGee, but knowing he should. "Remember me saying that I strung stinky John up the flagpole?"

"Yes, you've told us that story a couple of times." Replied McGee not knowing why he was asking this question.

"I had it flip flopped. It wasn't John who was strung up the flagpole in his tightly withies it was me."

McGee stared in shock at this admission. "You did it to protect yourself."

"That's what I told Gibbs too. It was to protect myself. I managed to convince myself that it was I who did that to John right after it happened."

"I'm sorry, Tony that that happened. I'm glad that you trust me enough to tell me what really happened."

"I trust you that you won't tell anybody."

"I won't."

"Do you want to watch a movie?" McGee asked

They began watching a movie and after it was over Tony left and went to his own home.

Disclaimer: "NCIS" and its characters don't' belong to me they belong to CBS and are being used without permission. Please don't sue because I have no money.

Bullied

Tony DiNozzo passed the security guard and walked up to the elevator and waited for the rest of the people to get on with him. When they went into the bullpen he walked up to his desk, put his backpack on the floor, sat down and powered up his computer. He was reading his emails and responded to them. He watched as McGee and Ziva made their way to their own desks.

Getting hungry he went into the break room and got himself a candy. He turned around to find one of the Agents there. He had given him some trouble before and so had a few other people have been bullying him.

"I see you still can't get your own team."

The man walked up to him and pushed him. "You're so stupid and don't even deserve to be on Gibbs's team. I don't know why he picked you to be on your team."

Tony ignored him and brushed off the push and smiled pretending that it didn't hurt him that he was saying these things. He went back to his desk and sat down again. Gibbs answered the phone and said those famous words. "Grab your gear."

Tony grabbed his things and made his way towards the elevator. When they got to the crime scene he started to bag and tag and got everything into bags and labeled each one of them.

When they got back he walked into Abby's lab, or rather Labby. When he went inside he saw Gary Brantley who had also been bullying him too. He put the box on the table and didn't even glance at Gary. As he turned to leave he heard Gary walk with him. He really didn't want to have him there. It's been only an hour since his friend Nathan did the same thing. He pushed the button and walked in and of course Gary walked inside too.

"I can't believe that Gibbs hired someone like you. You're not even a good Agent. Look at what Gibbs, McGee and Ziva do. They are much better Agents that you never could be." He said as he stepped out the elevator. Gary turned to sneer at him, but all that Tony did was smile back at him. As soon as the doors closed Tony stopped the elevator and slammed his fist into the metal wall. He tried to calm himself before he stepped out into the bullpen.

Tony pulled his mask up, so nobody else could see that he was crying in the inside. Finally he walked out of the elevator and went back to his desk and sat down. He began to do background checks on Henry Madison the Petty Officer that was killed and why he was killed.

They began asking questions to his friends and found out that his one friend was angry with him for not returning the money he promised him. When they picked him up and was in interrogation room he confessed that he had killed him because of money problems.

They began their reports on what happened and began going home.

The next day they were on cold cases. Tony went down to go get them and this time it was another man who bullied him. "Look who it is." The man said as he pushed him. "I know why you're on Gibbs's team because he feels sorry for you. You don't deserve to be on his team at all. You're stupid and can't even solve a case."

"Stop." McGee's voice yelled out into the cold room storage. Tony and Alex hadn't heard him come inside.

"You need someone to stand up for you because you can't do it yourself. What a big bad Agent you are, DiNozzo." The man sneered at him and pushed him again.

Tony of course smiled and then turned to McGee. "What are you doing here, Probie?"

"I don't know." McGee shrugged.

Alex glared at Tony. "You may have stopped me now, but me and my friends will be talking to you again." He said as he brushed past Tony and McGee.

"Why do you put up with their bullying, Tony?"

"I've had experience with bullies McGee. I just don't let them see they are hurting me and maybe they will stop."

"How long has this been going on?"

"For a couple of months."

"You never told anyone?"

"No. It just reminded me of my boarding school days. Good times." Tony said as he smiled.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Probie."

McGee had kind of hated that Tony called him Probie, but when Gibbs said that his team leader Mike still called him that it meant something to him now. Now it didn't bother him at all.

"Does Gibbs know that you were bullied as a kid?"

"Yes, he was the one that I told when I tried to talk to John Smith."

"Tell him that you are being bullied then."

"I will,"

McGee nodded and helped Tony find cold cases that they could work on and then brought them back up. Tony had told Gibbs what had happened and video backed him up. They were fired for what they did to Tony. Nobody found out what had happened because it was only between Vance, Gibbs, Tony, McGee and the guys that had bullied Tony.

The End