A/N: Hey everybody! Yes! I have branched out, not only have I uploaded my annual Harry Potter fic, but I have also uploaded this little baby. It's my first crack at NCIS. I love the show, and if you haven't seen it, I suggest you watch at least one episode. Try something new! I hope you like this. Dedicated to Trivette_Lover_Heather, fellow enthusiast and great writer to boot! Happy Holidays everyone!
Dear Father in heaven, I'm not a praying man, but if you're up there and you can hear me…
-George Bailey, It's A Wonderful Life
Leroy Jethro Gibbs was not a praying man. He believed, don't get that wrong. There are no atheists in fox holes. It took a lot to get him to feel that sincere need to pray. There were very few times in his life that he felt that very need, but as he stood alone in that too-clean, too-bright hallway of Bethesda, watching a team of doctors hurriedly wheel his Agent away on a gurney, he felt that very need deep within him.
"Clear!" Gibbs entered the house from the rear with McGee as Tony and Ziva came from the front. They each took a part of the house Tony and Ziva fanning out along the main level as Gibbs and McGee took the second floor. Repetitions of "Clear!" rang out over everyone's ear pieces as they searched the house for their suspect.
"Guess he got spooked, boss. Of course there's always--"
Just then, shots rang out from downstairs. Gibbs and McGee were halfway down the stairs within seconds to find Ziva putting pressure on Tony's wounds and the shooter dead on the floor before them. McGee whipped out his cell phone and called for an ambulance.
"He surprised us both, Gibbs. I don't even know where he came from."
Gibbs knelt beside her. "DiNozzo! You stay with us! You hear me?!"
"G-got it, Boss," Tony sputtered.
"McGee! Where is that ambulance?!" Gibbs barked, as said ambulance pulled up in front of the house. As the paramedics loaded Tony into the ambulance, Gibbs quickly jumped in behind them for the ride to the hospital. He was damned if he let any of his Agents take that ride alone.
"Gibbs!" He turned to see Abby and Ducky hurrying towards him. Abby engulfed him in a hug.
"How is he? Do we know anything? What happened? Where are Ziva and McGee? Who's his attending? Did-"
"Abigail, please, you must relax," Ducky huffed as he caught up with her, sighing quietly, "Do we know anything, Jethro?"
"Not yet, Duck. Ziva and McGee-"
"Are right here, Boss," intoned McGee as they strode through the door.
"Good, now if only we could get some goddamn information."
"Perhaps we should take a seat in the waiting room. We will accomplish nothing by standing in the middle of the hallway," Ducky offered gesturing to the waiting area nearby. The room was empty of people apart from the small group and the occasional straggler wandering in and out. Someone had strung Christmas lights and garland on the walls and around the windows.
"You guys. It's Christmas Eve. Go home or wherever you need to be, I'll call if there's any news," Gibbs sighed looking at them. They all stared back at him for a moment before speaking all at once.
"Jethro!" exclaimed Ducky.
"Boss, we wouldn't-" McGee began
"Gibbs, we would never leave you or Tony here like that," Ziva said softly.
"Gibbs, how could you even think of that?!" Abby asked incredulously, eyes wide.
Gibbs closed his eyes and held his hands up and they became quiet.
"Gibbs," Abby began softly, "this is where we need to be. Here. For you and for Tony. Anyway, I've already been to church tonight."
"Ducky, your mother-"
"Has been seen to this evening and is content at her new nursing home."
"McGee?"
"My family's on vacation this year. I'll be seeing them for New Year's."
"Ziva?"
"Gibbs, I'm Jewish and any family I have are either in Israel or in this very hospital."
Gibbs knew when he was beat. He nodded. They settled into the waiting room to hear from anyone about Tony. After what seemed like an eternity, Doctor Pitt, Tony's attending from his bout with the plague, walked into the waiting area.
"Agent Gibbs? They've asked me to inform you on Tony's condition as we're familiar with each other."
Gibbs felt a cold sense of dread drop like a weight into the pit of his stomach. That statement did not sit well with him for some reason.
"And? How is he?" Gibbs choked out thickly. The others began to realize that Gibbs was scared, and that fact in and of itself terrified the rest of the team.
"Tony was shot twice in the chest. The first was stopped by his sternum bone, which cracked, but miraculously did not shatter. The second however is lodged very close to his heart. They are prepping him for surgery right now."
Stunned silence reigned in the room.
"Thank you, Doctor. Please, have someone keep us updated on the situation."
"Of course, Agent Gibbs," he assured him, before leaving the room.
Abby began to cry quietly and Ducky put a caring arm around her shoulders. McGee slowly sat in his chair as he stared at the floor. Ziva clutched her Star of David and began to murmur a soft prayer in Hebrew. Gibbs walked over to Abby who launched herself into his arms, whispering, praying for Tony to be alright. Ducky turned to McGee, offering up any words of comfort he could. The minutes stretched on before Gibbs needed a cup of coffee. Abby had dozed off with her head in McGee's lap, as Tim stroked her inky black pigtails softly.
"I'm going to the cafeteria for coffee," he stated simply, "Come find me if there's any news."
The team watched as Gibbs turned the corner and disappeared.
Please, God, watch over Tony and bring him back to us. And please help Jethro as well. I can see he is worried over more than just Tony's injuries.
I know I've already made my Christmas wish, but can we forget about that? I know you'll help, but I called the nuns just for good measure.
I know I've not made much time for you and that I wasn't there after Tali, but please, help us. Help Tony.
Lord, we're not much, but we're family. It's small and different, but we love each other. Please, don't pull us apart.
Gibbs practically knew Bethesda like the back of his hand. He knew exactly where the cafeteria was. Yet, his feet had brought him here instead. A soft glow came from the far wall on either side of a small altar. Pews were lined up facing a small altar and Gibbs found himself kneeling in one, his head hung softly.
"Lord, I am not a praying man, but you are there. Don't try and deny that. I won't lie and say that I'm not asking this for myself, because I am. But I am also asking on behalf of my team, my family. And I know they are asking you, too. Help Tony through this. Bring him back to us, please. We need him here with us. We love him too much to let go." Tears slowly began to stream down his face. "I love him too much."
Ziva, her face illuminated by the many candles softly glowing in the room, stood in the doorway of the small chapel waiting for Gibbs to finish. She watched as he relaxed back against the edge of the pew and sat up. She walked up the short aisle and placed a hand softly on his shoulder.
"Gibbs? Tony is out of surgery."
The walk to Tony's room was a blur, either due to the fact the pace at they traversed the halls or the fact that all either could think about was seeing Tony in relative safety. As they rounded the corner, they could see Ducky speaking with Dr. Pitt and a surgeon wearing a pair of blue scrubs.
"Jethro, Doctors Pitt and Hanley were just filling me in on Tony's condition."
"Yes, as I just explained to Dr. Mallard, the surgery was a complete success. I am slightly worried however by his medical history. His bout with the plague weakened his immune system and there are still possibilities of complications from surgery so we shall be watching him very closely for any signs of infection. Hospital policy says that only one of you will be allowed to stay here with him, but…"
"Dr. Mallard and I already explained about the history of this team, Agent Gibbs," interjected Dr. Pitt. Gibbs looked at this angel of a man and thanked God for people like him. "We understand that it would take a great amount of force to remove you and your people from this hospital before you are completely assured that Tony is alright."
"Thank you, Doctor," Gibbs breathed, "Can we see him now?"
"Yes, I believe Miss Sciuto has already situated her lovely friend Bert right where he belongs," Dr. Pitt said with a smile. Gibbs smiled lightly and gave both men a quick nod, before entering the room. As he walked in, he noticed that Abby had spared no time in making the room as homey as possible, also making sure to decorate for Christmas as much as she could. She had propped a Santa hat on the corner of one of the chairs and had somehow managed to acquire Christmas lights and strung them along the window. They glowed softly against the dark of the room and the almost black window. Someone had also moved a small love-seat sofa from one of the lounges to sit under the window. Dr. Pitt had pulled some strings and gotten Tony a private room, so the small group would not be disturbed nor would they disturb any of the other patients. McGee was sitting once again with Abby's head in his lap as they both dozed softly. Ziva was holding Tony's hand and whispering something to him quietly. Probably threatening his life with a paper clip if he doesn't pull through this, Gibbs mused. She turned to see Gibbs and gave Tony's hand a soft squeeze.
"Remember what I told you, Tony," she said before turning to Gibbs, "Ducky and I are going to get coffee and some food from the cafeteria. Would you like anything?"
"Coffee would be good."
She gave a quick nod of her head before heading out the door. Gibbs quickly filled her vacated seat next to Tony's bedside, taking Tony's hand in his.
"I hate hospitals. Always have. So you had better get better soon, DiNozzo. I'm counting on you. I can't take care of these miscreants on my own."
Gibbs paused, not too sure whether he should go on, but he pressed on, knowing he needed to get this off of his chest.
"I've never been too fond of sharing my emotions with people, Tony," he continued quietly, "But you, you have evoked feelings in me that I haven't felt in a very long time. I'm proud of you, Tony. You've become one of the greatest people I've ever known. You are a good person deep down underneath that frat boy exterior. Oh, you don't have me fooled, Anthony DiNozzo. I can see right past that. And what I see is a bright young man, who is not afraid to do the right thing for his friends, for his family. And I, I love that person. So you need to come back to us, because I'm not sure if I could go through this again. I love you, Tony."
Unbeknownst to Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Tony, McGee, and Abby all heard exactly what he had just confessed. McGee and Abby continued to feign sleep as Tony slowly opened his eyes.
"You know, I've been waiting a long time to hear that," Tony whispered hoarsely with a small smile, "I love you, too."
Gibbs looked up from where his head had been resting next to their clasped hands. He breathed a sigh of relief as his eyes sparkled with happy tears in the soft glow from the Christmas lights. He stood and gently rested his head on Tony's forehead.
"I am so happy for that," Gibbs beamed, "And beyond happy that you are okay."
He placed a soft kiss on Tony's forehead as Abby opened her eyes, smiling the widest of smiles she could conjure.
"Tony!" she exclaimed quietly, "How do you feel?"
"Like I got hit by a Mack truck," he said, hissing in pain as he shifted slightly.
"Don't move so much, you've just been shot twice in the chest," Gibbs said gently laying his hand on Tony's shoulder. Tony relaxed into the bed.
"You, two, watch him while I get the doctor."
They nodded as Abby turned to Tony with a sly smile on her face.
"I knew it!" Gibbs heard as he left the room. He smiled his first real smile since this whole ordeal had begun hours before hand and shook his head a bit. He alerted the nurses to the fact that Tony had awakened and they paged the doctors as Gibbs found Ducky and Ziva. Now, the six of them were scattered around the room, Gibbs at Tony's side, their hands clasped loosely as Tony slept in the hospital bed and Gibbs dozed in the chair beside him. McGee and Abby were fast asleep on the love-seat beneath the window, while Ziva sat curled in a chair on the other side of the bed. Ducky gazing lovingly over the small group from his chair near the foot of the bed. "Happy Christmas, everyone," he said as he checked his watch.
One Year Later
Tony and Gibbs sat together on the couch in Gibbs's living room watching one of Tony's many favorite Christmas movies. Gibbs had insisted Tony stay at his house for his recovery to make sure Tony was taking care of himself properly. After Tony had officially been declared healthy and fit by his doctors, he just never left, both knowing full well that Tony would've just moved back in a matter of months anyway. Now, they waited patiently for the rest of the team to join them for a festive celebration. Soon enough, the four other members of their family entered the house, laden with gifts and food, each bringing something different from their respective holiday traditions. As they gathered around the table, the warm feeling of love and happiness could not be denied.