Don't End with Blood
Nepal Relief fic for hazelmom. I know she likes Tim whump and Tony/Tim friendship, so I aimed to please ;)
Set in the same 'verse as More Than a Heap of Stones. No romance, I promise.
Characters: Pre season 11 team.
Warnings: Injuries, angst, and a little supernatural weirdness.
Summary: A near tragedy reminds Tony of how much his team means to him.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are the property of their respective copyright holders. No infringement intended. The original characters and places mentioned are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to those living, dead, or undead is completely coincidental.
Chapter 1
Tony secured his crime scene kit in the back of the MCRT truck and shut the door before turning to his partner.
"Sure you don't want some company?"
Since their current case had led them to a rural area in southern Virginia, not far from Tim's home, he had met them there in the wee hours of the morning and would be following them back to the Yard in his own car.
Tim gave him a mischievous grin. "You just don't want to ride back with Ziva after that prank you pulled on her. You're afraid of what she's going to do for payback."
Tony rubbed the back of his head, unable to hide his own grin at the memory of Ziva's decidedly girly shriek when she opened her own kit. "Yeah, but it was worth it." He quickly sobered when he caught her glare from across the small lot where they were parked. "I hope."
Tim patted him on the shoulder. "You'll survive, Tony. Maimed, maybe, but you'll live."
"That's debatable," Gibbs growled as he approached the truck, Ziva on his heels. "DiNozzo, get in. McGee, we'll see you back at the Yard." A slight smirk crossed Gibbs' face. "Try to keep up."
"Yes, Boss."
Tony opened the passenger door and bowed to Ziva, sweeping his hand towards the seat. "After you, m'lady." She smacked him, hard, in the chest and climbed into the cab of the truck, glaring at him as he climbed in after her and closed the door.
After they were all buckled in Gibbs started the engine and guided the truck towards the highway, followed by Tim in his Prius and Ducky and Palmer in the M.E.'s van. Soon they were back out on the highway and after only a few miles Tony lost sight of the van, but Tim was still following a few car lengths behind.
He chanced a glance at Ziva and winced when he saw she was still glaring at him.
"Aw, come on. You can't still be mad. It was just a plastic toy. Not like it was a real snake."
"I do not care. They may not bother you, but where I come from snakes are not a joke. Do you have any idea how many poisonous snakes there are in-"
"Venomous. Not poisonous," Gibbs corrected, surprising both of them.
"What is the difference?"
"If you bite it and you die, it's poisonous. If it bites you and you die, it's venomous."
"Oh. That is…"
"Kind of cool that you know that, Boss."
"Learned it from McGee."
Tony chuckled. "Now that doesn't surprise me."
"Something else McGee knows."
"What's that?"
"When to shut up."
Tony ducked his head in anticipation of a slap, but it never came. He glanced at his boss and saw the smirk cross Gibbs' face before both returned their attention to the road.
Traffic was not quite as heavy as he would have expected, heading back into the city mid-morning, but there were still way too many cars on the road. Gibbs was driving in the far left lane and the two lanes to the right were almost wall to wall, yet still moving along at a good clip. Tony looked in the side view mirror and noticed a SUV about two lengths behind the MCRT truck swerve slightly before the driver quickly corrected its course. He kept his attention on the dark green GMC Terrain and as he watched it did it again, coming a bit too close for comfort to the semi on its right.
Texting or drunk? Tony wondered as he watched the car swerve yet again. He started to retrieve his cell phone to give the state highway patrol a heads up, looking at the mirror carefully so he could attempt a backwards reading of the license plate. Just as he had managed to decypher the number the car swerved sharply to the right, striking the semi and ricocheting back across the highway into the far lane. Tony thought for a fraction of a second that it was going to hit their truck but the force of the impact with the semi had sent it spinning and with a horrendous crash of metal against metal it struck the car traveling directly behind them.
"Boss, stop!"
The command was unnecessary as Gibbs had already swerved onto the shoulder and had hit the brakes, barely missing a set of construction barrels left behind from some recently completed project. Almost before the truck came to a halt in the grassy median Tony jumped out and started to run back towards the crash site. Cars were stopped or coming to a stop around him as he narrowly avoided being hit at least twice before he reached the place where both cars had gone off the road. The first car was flipped over, its wheels shredded and undercarriage smoking. Beyond the SUV, in the middle of the median strip, rested the badly damaged remains of a silver Toyota Prius.
"McGee!"
He dashed towards the car, the rational part of his mind telling him that there was no way Tim could have survived the crash while another part of him screamed in denial that his best friend couldn't be dead. When he reached the bowed-in passenger side of the car he looked through the shattered window, expecting to find his partner's mangled corpse, and froze, almost unable to believe what he was seeing. By some miracle, the driver's side seat had collapsed and its occupant was lying nearly flat, the caved in roof just inches above his chest and head.
"Oh God, Tim..."
What little Tony could see of his partner's face was covered with blood and dark, slowly spreading stains marred the pale fabric of his dress shirt. His legs were hidden beneath the crushed dashboard and his right arm lay limp and still across the passenger's seat. Tony leaned in through the window, oblivious to cacophony around him, and carefully lifted Tim's wrist to check for a pulse. After a brief moment of terror at finding nothing he was finally able to detect a faint, unsteady beat.
"Ambulance! Now!" he screamed over his shoulder before returning his undivided attention to the man trapped in the car. He wrapped his hand around Tim's and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Tim, can you hear me?" Tony waited a few moments and felt a flood of relief when he felt a weak squeeze in return. "That's good, Tim. Stay with me. You're gonna be OK. We'll get you out of here in no time. Just hang on." He received another squeeze of what he hoped was acknowledgement and continued to talk, trying his best to keep Tim focused on staying at least semi-conscious and his own fears at bay. Eventually he became aware of the commotion surrounding the car as Gibbs' voice finally penetrated.
"Med-Evac is on its way."
"How much longer?"
"It'll be here by the time they get him out."
Tony cringed at the reminder of Tim's precarious position, made worse by the car itself. He remembered reading about a danger to first responders with the hybrid cars, and hoped Tim's need to be environmentally conscious wouldn't cost him his life. Tony pushed that fear down as well as he continued to talk to Tim, doing his best to keep both of their minds off of the current situation. After every few sentences Tony would ask Tim for a response,and his heart climbed into his throat as those responses grew continually slower and weaker.
The roar of large engines approaching startled Tony and he looked out through the broken windshield to see a fire engine and an ambulance pull up a few yards away from Tim's car. Soon two EMTs were pushing Tony out of the way so they could work on stabilizing their patient. Tony stayed as close as he could watching them work as another group of people prepared to extract Tim from the mangled vehicle.
After what seemed like hours, they had managed to remove the roof and had pulled the damaged front end away from the passenger area, freeing Tim's legs from where they had been pinned. Soon the EMTs had him out of the seat and onto a backboard, which they quickly carried to a waiting gurney. Tony ran along beside them, ignoring the shouts of the firemen and ambulance crew, until they arrived at the open space where the Med-Evac chopper had landed.
"I'm going with him!" Tony yelled at the crew but the pilot shook his head.
"Sorry! No can do! No room!"
"Where-?"
"GW. Gotta go!" The doors of the chopper closed and it took off, leaving Tony crouching by the ground and watching as it banked and headed for D.C. When it was nearly out of sight Tony slowly stood and watched it disappear over the horizon.
"Tony?"
He turned and saw Ziva, her eyes wide with fear and worry. Without a word he stepped up to her and embraced her, burying his face into her shoulder. He felt her arms wrap around him as she murmured in his ear.
"He will be OK. He is a fighter, Tony. Remember that."
Tony nodded, unable to speak as he struggled to hold in his tears. He couldn't lose his friend.
He just couldn't.
TBC...