AN: This story happens during season 10, but I think it's safe to say it's spoiler-free.
Hope you enjoy it and share your thoughts with me.
.
. Standing Alone .
.
What woke him up wasn't a gentle touch on his cheek by a beautiful woman lying beside him. It wasn't the shrieking ring of a phone, either. It wasn't even the annoying sound of his alarm clock, which he hadn't used for years.
No; it was nothing nice and it was nothing annoying.
It was just something very very painful.
The pain was coming from his chest and his stomach and he absently wondered if he was having a heart attack or something. But he'd never had a heart attack before, so how was he supposed to tell?
Except, he could tell.
He could tell, because although he, thankfully, had never had a heart attack before, he'd been stabbed so many times that he couldn't even remember every single one of them anymore. And the pain he was experiencing was that of a stab wound.
Stab wound?
Holy Sh-
His eyes flew open and he looked around, realizing that he was lying on the ground; he wasn't sure where that place was exactly, but the ground beneath him was hard and cold and there were so many trees around him.
Oh, and his hands and his face hurt, too. But he wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't tried to move his hand to his chest and hadn't grimaced with the escalation of pain.
Finally, ignoring the other painful spots, he touched his chest and the wetness on his fingers told him all he needed to know and with that confirmation came the memory of what had happened.
.
He'd just stepped out of his car to go to his apartment when he heard footsteps behind him.
Having great instincts and being well-experienced had helped him to spin around and dodge in time to avoid the blow to the head which was clearly meant to render him unconscious.
He'd tried to reach for his gun, but one of the two thugs had been too close and had grabbed his arm. With his free arm, the agent threw a punch towards the other guy and simultaneously used his head to hit the man who'd grabbed him, in the nose.
Both men momentary let go of him, but what Tony hadn't noticed was the clenched fist of thug number 2 that was coming his way. He staggered back at the blow to his face and had to blink a few times to regain his focus.
With throbbing pain in his cheek, he struggled to get the upper hand, but it was two against one. No, it was three against one, because Tony could take care of two men and he'd almost been the winner of the fight until the third guy appeared behind him, grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. Before Tony could react, the man, very coldly, dug a knife into his chest, pulled it out and once again dug it into his stomach.
"It's a pleasure meeting you again, Agent DiNozzo. Aron Simmons says 'Hi'." Said the man with a sickening smirk as he stabbed him another time.
By then, Tony had a hard time keeping his mind alert enough to get what was happening around him and remaining on his feet seemed to be even harder; he would've definitely ended up on the ground if the other two thugs didn't have him restrained by his arms.
"Get him to the car and drive out of the city, then throw him out of the car. Leave his belongings with him; just make sure his blood won't stain the car." The guy who seemed to be the one in charge ordered before turning on his heel and walking away.
As hard and painful as it was, Tony tried one last time to get free; he stamped his foot on something that he suspected to be someone else's foot and the muffled yell that left the mouth of the guy holding him gave him some satisfaction; it didn't last long, though, because next thing he knew, he was hit in the head with something hard and a few seconds later he went limp.
.
Now... Now he had to find a way back to the civilization or he'd bleed to death in the damn woods.
Remembering that they hadn't taken away his belongings, he feebly searched for his phone and almost cried with joy when he found it.
Both his body and mind were numb from the cold weather, pain and blood loss and his brain was working on autopilot; so, he didn't know whose number he'd dialed until the phone rang and rang and he got no answer and finally he looked at the screen to notice that he'd called Gibbs.
'What the hell? Why was Gibbs not answering his phone? What if they had gotten Gibbs, too?' Those were the thoughts that rushed through his head; panic rose inside him and the phone fell from his shaky hand.
If it wasn't for the fact that he'd dealt with worse situations, he would've hyperventilated and passed out right then and there, but soon, he got a grip on his emotions and grabbed his phone again; this time he was fueled by adrenaline and concern for his boss, so when he called the next person on his list, he knew who he was calling.
Ziva's sleepy voice came from the other end of the line. "I swear to God, Tony, if this is not about a very important case, then I will kill you in a very painful way."
Tony frowned with confusion; sounding weak and tired, he said, "Case? No. No Case, Ziva. But listen-"
But the line had gone dead the moment he'd said 'no case'.
"Dammit, David." Tony cursed angrily and dialed McGee's number.
Again, the phone rang a few times and Tony was giving up when Tim finally answered. From the noises in the background, Tony could tell that Tim wasn't at home and he just remembered that he was going to go to a new club of Abby's choice with her because Tim had lost a bet.
"In case you've forgotten, we're no on call tonight." Tim shouted in the phone. "Go find someone else to pester, Tony."
And again another line went dead.
Tony's energy was draining fast and he'd run out of options. What was he supposed to do? Who was he supposed to call? He couldn't call Abby because when she was in party mood, she'd never hear her phone; besides, she'd panic if she heard about Gibbs and Tony couldn't deal with that, especially since he didn't know whether McGee was anywhere close to her or not. Ducky was out of question, too; the old ME had gone to Baltimore to help a friend and Tony didn't know if he was back yet or not.
Dialing Gibbs' number one last time, he, again, didn't get an answer; it wasn't like the last time, though. This time after a couple of rings the busy signal filled Tony's ear, indicating that his call had been declined.
He was totally confused, but he didn't know what to do and he'd almost given up altogether when one last thought came to his mind and he cursed himself out loud for not thinking about that option sooner. He was a law enforcement officer, for crying out loud; that was supposed to be anyone's first thought, let alone an officer of the law!
Dialing 911, he thanked God that at least that line wasn't busy; he really wasn't sure how much longer he could stay awake.
When his call was answered, Tony immediately introduced himself and asked for a patrol car to be sent to Gibbs' address, telling them that the older agent was probably hurt.
He'd totally forgotten about his own situation and if the operator hadn't asked about his well-being, Tony would've ended the call without saying anything.
"Me?"
"Yes, Sir. You don't sound good. Where are you? Are you hurt?"
Tony had to think about it for a couple of seconds. Why hadn't he told the operator about himself? Hmm, that sounded stupid.
"Sir, are you still there?"
"I'm... I'm not sure where I am."
"It's OK. Stay on the line. We'll send an ambulance your way."
"OK." He said automatically and thought that now that he'd sent someone Gibbs' way and someone was coming for him, he didn't have to worry anymore. So he let the phone slide from his blood-covered fingers as his consciousness slipped away.
...
Gibbs was in his basement, sanding a piece of wood for the chair he was making, when the first call came. Grabbing his phone, he saw Tony's name and decided not to answer it, so he dropped the ringing item on the table; after all, they weren't on call and he had a lot on his mind. If the case was urgent, Tony would show up and tell him in person; if not, the Senior Field Agent would get the message and take charge until Gibbs was ready again to show up at work.
When some minutes later the phone rang again with Tony's name on the screen, he cursed and threw it against the wall. Why couldn't DiNozzo leave him alone?
Ten minutes after that, when there was a knock on the door and then some people walked inside his house, calling his name, Gibbs started to question his earlier action. Maybe it'd been an urgent case and Tony couldn't waste time to come and get him.
Frowning with confusion and frustration, he grabbed his gun and quietly ascended the stairs.
"Agent Gibbs." Someone called out. "This is officer Karmer. Can you hear us, Sir?"
Officer? What were cops doing in his house at that hour? Had Tony sent them to get him?
Still, Gibbs didn't trust the call and stepped in the kitchen, gun raised. "Show me some IDs."
The two officers spun around and aimed their weapons at him. "Whoa. Whoa. Easy. We're cops."
Gibbs eyed their badges and lowered his gun. "What the hell are you doing here at this hour?"
"Umm, we were told you might need help, Sir. We were ordered to look for you here." Said One of the officers.
"Ordered by whom?" Gibbs growled.
"By... Umm, by an Agent DiNozzo, Sir." He replied after checking his notes. "Do you know him?"
'DiNozzo?' Gibbs frowned and suddenly regretted not answering his phone. What the hell was going on? "Yes. Where is he? And why would he send you here?"
"We don't know the answers to those questions, Sir. We were just dispatched to this place; so we came."
Gibbs cursed under his breath. "Find out." He ordered tersely. "And stop calling me Sir."
The two officers exchanged a look and decided to obey. One grabbed his radio and started to ask questions.
The answers that came through the radio shocked Gibbs beyond what he liked to admit. The operator informed them that the call from Agent DiNozzo had come from somewhere out of town and that they'd lost the connection with him, but an ambulance and a patrol car were on their ways to his location.
Gibbs was lost. What had happened? Why would Tony think he was hurt? That made no sense. Unless... Unless Tony was hurt himself, and he'd been calling Gibbs to ask for help and his boss being the bastard he was, had ignored the calls. Tony must've thought about Gibbs' rule number three and probably had thought that since Gibbs was unreachable, he must've been hurt, too. Just like he had been.
Damn.
It all made sense now.
Gibbs' gut churned; he wanted to punch a wall or slap himself over the head so hard to feel the pain for ages.
Why in the hell had he not answered Tony's call? He knew Tony would never call for no reason.
He'd let Tony down and nobody knew how much time the younger man had wasted trying to find him and worrying about him. He'd been a bastard while Tony had put him first; because clearly the younger agent had called 911 and first had sent some cops his way to make sure Gibbs was alright; because if he'd asked for help for himself instead of telling them about his boss, they would know what was wrong with him and what had happened.
Rubbing his face, Gibbs sent the two cops their way and told them to make sure Tony would be sent to Bethesda as he grabbed his car keys and went that way to wait for his agent at the hospital.
He was really mad at himself for letting Tony down. He'd screwed up big time and Tony might be paying the price for it. Gibbs could never forgive himself if Tony didn't make it because he hadn't been able to get Gibbs on the line to ask for help or because he'd put the older agent first and had sent help his way instead of thinking about his own well-being.
.
.
... TBC ...
.
This is not another story just about rule #3! It's a case-related fic and just like my other stories, it's totally Tony-centric.
All mistakes are mine.
.
.