Betrayed chapter 2
Disclaimer: Don't own & therefore don't want to talk about it (sob)
A/N Goodness! Didn't expect such a positive response, thank you all very much. Okay, only a couple of negative comments but since they did raise a valid issue I will answer them here since they did not leave addresses. To Junee (who won't be reading this but if anyone knows her please thank her for her polite tone it was much appreciated) and McGee Lover, not so polite but everyone is entitled to their opinion. Both pointed out that McGee and Tony's relationship on the show was one of strong friendship/ siblings and that they would do anything for each other - of course they were (mostly) and yes they would, but that is the show and this is fanfic. In the show no male would ever become pregnant; there would be no slash between main characters and neither Tony nor McGee would ever be children or babies! So I do not apologise for messing with the team dynamic and I can't help it if I don't like McGee very much... and McGee Lover... that has nothing to do with looks. If Tony's personality was in McGee's body I would still prefer Tony. This will be the only time I respond to reviews without addresses since I figure people would rather be reading the fic. I will however post a warning every chapter so that nobody misunderstands my intentions. Thank you.
Warning: This fic contains a disabled Tony and is NOT McGee friendly.
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Everything was hazy. Tony thought it was the rain... he remembered it had been raining although where he had been and where he was... not to mention why he was lying in mud, were about as hazy as his rain befuddled vision, until he realised that the deluge had decreased to a drizzle and it was just his eyes not working properly, among other things, like the rest of his body. Perhaps if he closed his uncooperative orbs for a moment they would correct themselves. 'Good idea Tony' he thought drowsily.
The next time Tony woke his vision was better, not that he remembered there being anything wrong with it.. or that he had already woken once. But this time he did remember something very important.
McGee! And the fact that they should both be sitting in a car. Except there was no sign of his partner and he was lying on the open ground. He put a trembling hand to his head where the wet rain seemed unusually warm and realised from the viscosity of the liquid that it was blood. He ignored it; it wasn't important. He had to find out what had happened to McGee. He twisted his body round and tried to lever himself up into a semi sitting position... that's when he caught sight of his right leg. A detached part of his brain mused on how it looked a lot more like a half chewed dog toy while the rest of his thought processes blanked out both thought and image - he had a job to do and nothing would be allowed to get in the way, least of all a little leg wound.
"McGEE!" He waited, his heart pounding harder as he was met with silence. "TIM!" There was still no reply, the silence only being broken by the hiss of the car radiator as it leaked it's contents steamily into the chill air.
The car was precariously perched on the edge of a steep embankment. The front wheels were half on and half off the edge - not as bad as it could be but hardly safe, especially the way the ground was liquefying under the onslaught of the bad weather. Above them was a shallower drop and a broken barrier. He quickly figured that they must have partially careened down the slope, stopping at the slight plateau he was currently lying on. But that was by-the-by right now, too. What was important was the fact that McGee was still in the driver's seat, apparently unconscious from the way his head was hanging down to his chest - at least Tony hoped that he was only unconscious.
He needed to get to his partner! But he was so very tired... and what?... what was he doing? Where was Tim?
Tony shook his head and then decided that that was a bad idea as the pain flared sharply. He clawed back the memory of his mission - to get to his partner. Nothing else mattered and he had to move, had to get to Tim. Gibbs would have his ass if he left a man behind. "Semper Fi" he muttered as he willed himself to move, his body insisting just as strongly that it would prefer to remain still... and unconscious if that could be arranged, thank you very much.
A sudden grating noise sharpened his focus once again and he reacted purely on instinct and adrenalin. He didn't stop to watch as the car tilted slightly on the overhang, he was already on the move. He half hobbled and half crawled to the drivers side door, his leg dragging along behind him, a useless hindrance that he ignored along with the unbelievable pain that he felt on the periphery of his consciousness. He couldn't afford to be weak now... besides, a DiNozzo didn't faint - 'Hah! Never thought I'd be glad of my father's teachings' the stray thought flashed through his muddled brain as he gripped the handle, pulling with all his might to no avail other than the breaking of the handle itself. He dropped it on the ground with an inarticulate cry of frustration and grabbed at the doorframe instead. He didn't know if his light headedness was due to the blood loss or the pain. Whichever it was he knew that he didn't have long. He didn't notice the tearing muscles or feel the new pains adding their voices to the chorus. All that mattered was getting the door open.
He might later have, if he were to remember, complained of fates choice of superhero for him to emulate. If given free choice he would have chosen Batman or maybe Superman... certainly not the Incredible Hulk. But throughout the history of man there had been those cases of supreme heroic ability that had enabled otherwise weak or injured people to perform amazing feats of strength in times of terrible danger. Where women lifted cars off of trapped children; youngsters swam against powerful currents to save siblings and, in this case, one badly injured federal agent ignored his limitations to tear free a door trapping his partner using the strength of six men.
Tony felt the door give suddenly as he braced one hand on the side of the car and pulled the top edge of the door frame with the other. He almost collapsed as the door broke free, his fingers clinging to the metal to perform the task his leg could no longer accomplish - holding him upright. Instinct told him that he was running out of time. He sobbed in frustration as, leaning his body into the car frame his cold and numbed fingers fumbled with the seatbelt; he wished he had remembered to carry gloves like Tim had, but he persevered because he could see the welcome rhythmic rise and fall of the other man's chest. If the crash hadn't killed McGee he didn't want to be the one to finish the job because he had given up at the last hurdle.
The adrenalin was still pumping strong as he pulled McGee from the vehicle and lasted until he was partly up the slope and clear of the car but it cut out suddenly as he heard the tell tale crunching of metal on rock and glimpsed the brand new offering from the motor pool slip to it's final and premature end. First time out on the road too; the guys in the garage were going to be pissed. Dropping his partner on the ground his last sight as the darkness reclaimed him and he tumbled gracelessly back down the few feet to where the car had been was a small fireball illuminating the overcast sky and the last thing he thought was that the pain in his leg was flaring brighter than the burning gasoline.
N*C*I*S
"Jeff, you take this one, I'll get the one down there."
"Okay Jase, be careful, this mud's a bitch."
Jason Martin took his bag and carefully made his way down the short slope to the unmoving figure lying on his side, soaked through and covered in mud. He gave a passing nod to several police officers that he knew on the way. They had gotten here a few minutes ago and were doing their best to secure the area, not that the CSI's would have much to play with; this had been the wettest night of the year and with sleet forecast for later he certainly wouldn't want to be stuck out in it or try to obtain useful evidence. He put aside the stray thoughts as he reached his target and began his assessment.
"Yo Jeff! What's your status?" he yelled up the slope to his partner.
"I've got a caucasian male, late twenties. Unconscious. Pupils sluggish but reactive. Probable concussion, possible skull fracture. Blood pressure 160 over 95, pulse fast but regular. Fractured wrist. No obvious signs of internal injuries."
"Okay" Jason called back "We take mine first. I have a male caucasian, early thirties. Unconscious. Pupils also sluggish but reactive. Probable concussion, possible fractured skull. Probable broken ribs. Breathing is shallow and laboured. Blood pressure is 85 over 60. Pulse is weak and thready. Possible internal injuries." Jason winced as he inspected the shattered and torn right leg. "Victim has extensive trauma to his right leg and we'll need a backboard and a collar. Do we have an update on the second bus?"
There was a pause and then "LEO's say another unit is on the way, ETA five minutes. Backboard's on the way down now."
Jason didn't have to wait long before his partner arrived with a uniformed officer and the requested equipment. They worked quickly and in almost silence to get the man prepared for transport. Jeff occasionally called back up the slope to check on the progress of the other patient who was being tended to by a LEO with first aid training. Not an ideal situation but they had to prioritize at least until the second ambulance arrived.
"Shit!"
The two paramedics looked up from their work at the sound of the uniforms voice. The man was grimacing and holding what looked to be some form of ID badge although it looked more like a mudpie.
"What is it?" asked Jeff curiously.
"He's NCIS."
Jeff could understand that a cop would feel the injury to another cop deeper than a civilian, medics were the same when it was one of their own. What he couldn't understand was the look of faint horror.
"And?" Jason enquired. He hadn't seen the expression but he could hear the change in the tone of voice.
"Anthony DiNozzo. He's with Gibbs. Leroy Jethro Gibbs."
It was like a bell tolling the knell of doom.
"Gibbs? Second B for bastard Gibbs?" The LEO nodded his affirmation.
"Shit" Jeff echoed almost reverently while Jason shook his head and prayed that they made it away before said bastard turned up. He pitied the LEOs who would be left behind to deal with him.
"Okay. let's get Agent DiNozzo up top and loaded up. I don't like the way his pressure is still dropping."
They had just loaded Tony into the back of the ambulance when the second vehicle drew to a halt. Jason immediately set up an IV and appraised base of their situation while his partner filled the newcomers in on McGee's condition. The discovery that the other victim, too, was a member of Gibb's team resulted in an even deeper depression among the uniforms and a race to be the one with the best reason not to notify NCIS headquarters about the fate of two of their own.
Jeff drove as fast as he safely dared toward the nearest hospital while Jason tended to the deeply unconscious agent.
In NCIS headquarters the telephone on Gibbs' desk began to ring.
N*C*I*S
Gibbs lowered the receiver slowly back down to it's cradle as though it were an unexploded bomb ready to shatter his world into a million pieces. Except that it already had.
How the hell could such a simple assignment go so FUBAR so quickly? Gibbs dismissed the thought as soon as it arrived. He had more important things to do than wallow in self pity and philosophy. He picked up the traitorous phone again and dialled down to autopsy.
"Duck, it's Tony and Tim, meet me at Bethesda." He didn't wait for a reply; they had all been through this before with various team members, but especially Tony. He also knew that he didn't need to phone Abby because Ducky would bring her... and maybe Palmer too. He and Tony had become quite good friends lately. He felt a shiver run down his spine. Yes they had been through this before but why did this time feel different? It felt more like the time when Tony contracted the plague. He slammed the lid down on that direction of thought.
"Ziva!"
"Yes Gibbs?" Ziva David had gotten used to determining Gibbs moods from the tone of his voice and it wasn't always the harshest tones that indicated the greatest anger; when Gibbs was quietly spoken he was often at his worst but she had never heard outright fear in his voice before. She automatically rose to her feet as though to be better prepared for imminent bad news.
"That was Washington PD. McGee and DiNozzo were involved in an RTA. They're being taken to Bethesda, no update as yet on their conditions other than that they're both alive. I want you to go to the scene. This is OUR case."
Ziva was shocked but she was also a trained professional. She grabbed her bag and joined her boss in the elevator.
"What about informing the Director?" she asked as the doors began to close.
Gibbs grimaced. He knew how little the new Director cared for certain members of his team and the last thing he needed was for him to start sticking his nose in.
"He can wait" he replied tersely. 'Until hell freezes over' he added silently.
N*C*I*S
There was never chaos at Bethesda, they were all too professional to allow it but there was a sense of heightened tension as the two car crash victims were wheeled into emergency. This was partly due to the normal adrenaline rush of dealing with severely injured people, and partly due to the fact that they knew who those people were and who would be following hot on their heels. However they didn't let their dread of the imminent arrival of the ex gunnery sergeant affect that professionalism and a still unconscious Tim McGee was immediately diverted to the end of the emergency room while the larger space in the centre was given over to the team waiting to work on Tony.
Tony felt odd... detached from everything yet hyper-aware of every sound and every smell; and it was that antiseptic odor that told him where he was... the hated hospital; but at least the lights weren't blue this time. His brow creased as a strange man peered down at him. He struggled to make out the words being spoken and then tried even harder to provide an answer.
"Agent DiNozzo, can you hear me?" Doctor Shah smiled at the hesitant nod of the head which didn't actually move because of the restrictive collar but the doctor was used to reading between the lines of patient body language. "You are in hospital Agent DiNozzo and we are going to take good care of you. Can you remember what happened at all?"
Tony tried to think but the strands of memory were jumbled and split and he really didn't want to go into that dark place where the missing pieces lay in wait for unsuspecting travellers.
'No' he mouthed.
Doctor Shah wasn't surprised. It wasn't unusual for trauma victims to suffer amnesia about the circumstances of their injury. There was the distinct possibility, even probability, that he would never recall the crash or the events leading up to it.
"Don't worry about it now. Is there anyone you want us to contact for you? Family?"
'Good God no' thought Tony as he felt the edges of his mind shutting down again. 'Last person I need here is my father - not that he'd come'. He suddenly smiled a little as he realised that he DID want his family with him and that said family would be mightily annoyed if he wasn't informed.
Doctor Shah leaned forward to catch the faint words spoken in the merest whisper amongst the hustle and bustle of staff preparing for the move to the CT room.
"G...Gibbs"
Tony's smile widened as he saw the expression of resignation with just a hint of fear that settled on the doctor's previously professionally bland features. And then the darkness closed in once more.
N*C*I*S
TBC
A/N Hope you enjoyed. Next chapter the team starts to gather and Tim makes a bad decision.
