Author's Note: Written as one of the 3 short fics submitted to the semi-finals of the NCIS-LFWS Contest. The prompt on all three was "epidemic" and they all had to center on the same character. I chose Tony.
Statistic
by Brynn
NCIS arrived at the supposedly vacated crime scene, got out of the truck and scattered to do Gibbs' bidding. Tony went through the living room to the kitchen to look for any evidence there. To his surprise, he found a young man cowering in the corner on the other side of the island cabinets. The kid was in his early twenties, dirty, and obviously strung out on something. The druggie skittered away from Tony, bringing himself closer to a block of knives. He looked at Tony, then at the knives, his hands twitching.
"Calm down, kid," Tony tried to soothe, "We're NCIS. No one's going to hurt you."
Tony heard Gibbs enter the kitchen and announce his presence just as the drug-addict pulled a large, rather hateful-looking knife and leapt toward Tony.
Time moved frame by frame. The strung-out kid plunged the knife toward DiNozzo's abdomen just as two shots rang out. Both slugs caught the kid's right shoulder, and deflected the knife slightly. Instead of a potentially fatal blow to the stomach, the knife made a quick pass at Tony's left side and the kid fell into the agent, bloody shoulder meeting bleeding side. The last thing Tony saw was the pool of blood mingling on the floor as both DiNozzo and the young perp lost consciousness.
Later, in the hospital room, Tony finally awoke after surgery and stitches. "How's the kid, Boss?"
"He'll recover…from the gunshot."
The serious note in Gibbs' voice captured Tony's attention immediately. "What do you mean … 'from the gunshot'?"
Gibbs hesitated and Tony knew he was in trouble. Gibbs never hesitated. "He has AIDS, Tony."
Time stopped. Tony looked down at the bandages on his side and back to Gibbs, fear obvious in his eyes as Gibbs continued, "They're running tests, Tony. But it will be months yet before they know if you're infected."
"Boss, how could I not be? He bled right into my open wound?"
Gibbs didn't answer, but tried to offer silent support as Tony began his long wait to discover whether or not he would become another statistic of HIV.