A Different Kind of Ending
A/N: This is my first piece of fan fiction. Please review and let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.
*****
Tony woke up to the sound of the steady beep of the heart monitor. Trying to use his dulled senses to assess his surroundings, he could only muster up the energy to open his eyes blearily. Blinking against the harsh white of the walls and bright light, he could only come to one conclusion: hospital.
Again.
He'd lost count of the number of times this had happened before. He shifted in the bed and winced. Should not have done that. Surprised that he still hadn't heard Gibbs' voice yet, he turned his head to look for a sign of the older man. He was usually here when Tony woke up.
Instead, his eyes came to rest on Jeanne's face, who was sitting in a chair next to his bed staring back. Wordlessly, she took the cup of water on the table beside him and held the straw up to his lips.
"Slowly," she said.
Too shocked at her presence after everything that had happened, he followed her command and drank. The cold water soothed his dry throat, but he resisted the urge to gulp in more of the liquid. He knew he couldn't avoid talking much longer, so looked back up at her.
"Thanks."
Jeanne's eyes hardened. She looked almost angry at herself, as if she knew she should not be there, should not have sat by Tony's side waiting for him to wake up for the past 20 minutes instead of checking on her other patients.
She had avoided his room for the past two days. But now, as soon as she had entered his room and saw his sleeping form, his face pale against the sheets, she knew she couldn't leave.
The door to his room opened, and Gibbs walked in. He came to stand on the other side of Tony's bed and said gruffly, "It's about time you woke up, DiNozzo. We were starting to think that it was a waste of effort rescuing you from that warehouse from the perps."
Tony wasn't fooled. Even groggy from having just woken up and the pain meds, he easily read past Gibbs' seemingly harsh words to see the concern and – could it be fear? – underlying the Marine's gruff exterior.
"I knew…you had my…six, Boss."
He blinked slowly, the events that had landed him in the hospital washing over him in flashes of blurry images.
*****
Finding the note in Jeanne's apartment. Going for a drive in the company car, unsure of his destination. Ending up at the marina, where he had taken Jeanne on their third date. Seeing Jeanne arguing with her father aboard what was presumably La Grenouille's yacht, oblivious to the four men making their way stealthily towards them. Making his way towards the attackers as quietly as he could, not bothering to call for back-up.
He had managed to sneak up on one of the men and knocked him unconscious without attracting the attention of the others. But the second let out a shout before he could subdue him, alerting the others to his presence. Fortunately, that also alerted Jeanne and her father to the danger surrounding them. Tony quickly struck the second man, rendering him unconscious, but the remaining two men let fire a string of bullets towards the yacht. La Grenouille, in a final act to save his daughter, pushed Jeanne off the boat towards Tony, uttering "Allez! Vite!" and using his body as a shield so that she would be safe.
They had taken cover behind one of the parked boats. Tony remembered thinking it was ironic that these men were using such heavy firepower themselves when their goal was to take down an arms dealer. He hurriedly gave his cell phone to Jeanne, who was crouched beside him, and told her to press speed dial 1 for Gibbs. He emptied his Sig at their attackers, hitting one of the men in the process.
Knowing they had to find someplace that could provide better cover, he spied a crop of trees to his left, and a warehouse behind them. Not wasting any more time, he grabbed Jeanne's hand and pulled her towards the trees. As he ran, he saw the last man out of the corner of his right eye aiming for Jeanne. Shifting as he ran so that his body completely blocked hers from the gunman, he could feel the force of the bullet as it hit his upper right chest. It was only the adrenaline and knowledge that their only hope was to hide in the warehouse until Gibbs found them that kept him going.
Luckily, Jeanne did not notice that he had been shot and kept running with him until they reached the warehouse. By a stroke of luck, someone had left the door unlocked. Bursting inside and taking stock of the seemingly endless aisles of wooden crates, Tony started to run towards the back, Jeanne on his heels. They stopped when they reached the end of the aisle, where there were a few wooden crates clustered together, with just enough room for them to hide behind. It wasn't much, but he couldn't run anymore, and he prayed that it would buy them enough time for help to arrive. He collapsed behind one of the crates. Only then did Jeanne notice the blood that now soaked his shirt, and the rest was one big haze. As his eyes started to close, he could vaguely remember Jeanne shouting as she put pressure on his wound, then the sound of gunshots before Gibbs' face peered down at him.
*****
Tony tried to move his hand to find the button that would allow him to raise up the head of his bed, but realized that Jeanne's hand was still resting on top of his. He turned his attention back towards her. The pair remained like that for moments, gazing at each other, but not speaking.
Gibbs, sensing their need to talk, broke the silence first. "Get some rest, DiNozzo. The rest of the team will come by soon now that you're awake."
"Don't you need my statement, Boss?"
"Ms. Benoit has already given us her version of what happened. Yours can wait another day."
"Thank you, Boss." Tony focused his attention on his Boss for a long moment, and there passed between them a look of understanding before Gibbs simply nodded and walked out of the room.
Tony then shifted painfully in his bed and looked back at Jeanne. "How long have I been out?"
"Two days."
"Have you been here..?" He couldn't finish the question, knowing the answer would give an indication of how she felt about him.
"No. I'm just filling in for the doctor who is responsible for this unit and came in to check on my patient, since you are my responsibility for the next 12 hours." She kept her voice distant, cold.
Tony started to wonder if he had imagined her holding the cup of water for him to drink and holding his hand. Noticing, however, that she had remained sitting in the chair next to his bed and was not giving any indication of leaving, he decided to try a new tactic.
Raising his hand with a great effort and holding it out towards her, he said, "Well in that case, we should introduce ourselves properly to each other. My name is Anthony DiNozzo, but everyone calls me Tony."
Jeanne looked at him in surprise, not sure how to respond. A moment later, she took a deep breath and grasped his outstretched hand in hers.
"Dr. Jeanne Benoit. I'm going to be taking care of you tonight."
"Well I'm a lucky guy to have such a beautiful and caring doctor here tonight." He smiled, trying to convey his real message – I'm glad you're here – and sincerity in his gaze.
Jeanne searched his face, and seemingly satisfied by what she saw, smiled in response. Noticing Tony's attempts to hide a yawn and the way his eyes were slowly closing of their own accord, she teased, "Well then, as your doctor, I am telling you to follow doctor's orders – which is to get some sleep."
Tony smiled, gave a slurred "I can follow that" before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.
Jeanne, got up and walked to the door of his room before turning back to look at Tony's face again. Deep down, she knew – and she knew that Tony knew – that this could never work. Too much had happened between them, with nothing holding them together except a relationship built on lies. But for now, maybe this would help to ease the hurt to a more tolerable level until they both felt ready to move on.
Besides, she thought to herself, he's pretty easy on the eyes – won't hurt to keep him around. Smiling, she glanced one last time towards the bed and took in the peaceful expression on Tony's face as he slept, before walking quietly out of his room.