His cell rang again. He'd just hit ignore 3 seconds ago, whoever was on the other end obviously wasn't getting the message. He was up to his elbows in evidence and Abby was rambling on about what it all meant. But the third time it rang he flipped open his phone and growled "DiNozzo".
"Hello Mr. DiNozzo… this is Mr. Cooperland… the principal …" the man began hesitantly.
"Ya, I know who you are" Tony answered gruffy cutting the man's sentence short. When the man didn't continue immediately Tony promptly haughtily "What has she done now?"
He didn't mean to sound as though he didn't care about his daughter or her actions but he was busy in the middle of an important case and this man could have a left a message there was no need for him to call incessantly.
"Well Sir… you see… CJ collapsed in the middle of the hall and is currently being taken by ambulance to Washington General" Mr. Cooperland tried to announce as gently as he could. There were years in your teaching career and now in administration that you would never forget. This would be one of those years and not for good reasons.
Tony stopped pacing the lab, he became rigid and stared straight ahead. He couldn't even think of a question to ask. He didn't know what to do next. His baby was sick, his child had … collapsed.. what exactly does that mean?
At the same time both Abby and Mr. Cooperland asked "Are you alright?" Abby's ending in a Tony, Mr. Cooplerland in the more formal Mr. DiNozzo.
"What happened?" Tony asked finally figuring out how to respond or at least start.
"I'm sorry sir, no one knows, her friend Steven .. is it? Well he said she'd complained to him about not feeling well all day… and then on their way to class CJ collapsed on the floor and the young man sent for someone to help. The paramedics said she had an extremely high fever but that was it. As I said they are now on route…."
"Ya, I heard" and with that Tony snapped his phone shut and lowered his arm slowly to his side not changing position otherwise, not even his gaze. Abby shook his arm to bring him back into the present. She was getting freaked out by his demeanor and needed information, like RIGHT NOW!
"CJ's sick, I need to go to the hospital, she's on her way there already" Tony whispered. Abby was on the phone to find Ziva instantly. Tony still in shock stood in the middle of the lab statuesque. A thousand and one scenarios running through his head and not one of them were pleasant but he couldn't help himself. It had been a trying fall and now that Christmas was over and they at the beginning of a new year he was hopeful that things were going to get better.
After losing a friend to a horrid car crash CJ and her gang were a bunch of lost souls and to top it off they were processing what it meant to have a friend ultimately responsible for her death. The court proceeding were yet to begin but the young man had been charged with 2 counts of vehicular homicide. CJ had finally looked and sounded herself after the 2 week break. Now she was… what was she? Tony's thoughts weren't even making sense to him.
Ziva entered the lab at a pace only described as hurried and Tony filled her in on what had just happened. Taking charge Ziva nodded thanks to Abby and together CJ parents headed for the parking lot to get their car.
The drive to the hospital was a quick one, not only because it wasn't that far but because a worried Ziva drives even faster than a working Ziva. Parking the car and rushing into the emergency department the two held hands giving each other the silent support they were seeking.