The atmosphere in the bullpen was solemn. Tim and Ziva were sitting at their respective desks, trying very hard not to look at their missing (not dead, never dead) teammate's empty place. They should be writing the report about the capture the night before but they just couldn't bring themselves to do it. How would you put something you don't understand into words?
Meanwhile, Gibbs was in the director's office, telling her everything that had occurred.
"Jethro, I don't understand! You say he wasn't injured that much at all?" – Asked Jenny, still unable to come to term with what she had been told only minutes before.
"He had a bleeding wound on his thigh. Tim said it happened when they pulled the fleeing suspect back. The three of them fell backwards and Tony hit something on the ground. A cutter knife, or something like that. They couldn't be sure in the dark. Admittedly, it wasn't pretty, but it didn't seem to be so serious either, Jenny! I was actually debating with myself for a second whether to bring him to hospital at all, or just let Ducky deal with it! And he said he was fine!"
"Tony could have his head cut off and still say he's fine, Jethro…" – The director gently reminded her former partner. – "But I believe you when you say it didn't look bad. It's not your fault-"
"The hell it's not! I should have called an ambulance instead of driving him myself!"
"I don't think that would have made any difference. With you behind the wheel I expect he even got there sooner rather than later…"
"What if I hurt him further with my driving!?" – That was Gibbs' biggest fear: that he had hurt his 'son' somehow with his actions and cause this tragedy to happen.
"I'm sure you didn't."
"I head slapped him!" – He screamed, hitting the table with his fists. – "Damn it!" – He would like to head slap himself right now. – "What if that was the reason…?"
Jenny just shook her head sadly. While she had actually never approved of this type of disciplinary method and had, in fact, been planning to have a word with the strict team leader about it in the near future, she still couldn't imagine a slap to the head causing a sudden, unexpected death like that.
"What does Ducky say, Jethro? Have you talked to him? Does he have the medical files?"
"The doctor has promised to have the files sent to Ducky via e-mail as soon as possible."
"Good. I hope he and Abby will be able to make more sense of that mess." – She wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. – "I can't believe Tony's gone. He was a great agent and an excellent friend. And-"
"The best son one could ask for."
"Yes. The best son."
NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS
Half an hour later Jenny and Gibbs walked into Autopsy to find Ducky angrily arguing with someone over the phone and Jimmy standing nearby, seemingly a bit unsure of what to do. He looked as if he had been crying at some point which was not so surprising, considering that he had become good friends with Tony over the years and losing the agent hurt him just as much as his teammates.
Gibbs stepped to him and put a hand on the young man's shoulder.
"Palmer, what's going on?" – He asked, referring to the angry ME still engrossed in the conversation. – "Who is Ducky talking with?"
Jimmy cleared his throat.
"The hospital where Tony… ahm… Yeah. The hospital." – He looked lost and childlike.
The director joined them.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"The medical report they sent is not worth anything and doesn't help us figure out what happened." – The medical student explained. – "And they are refusing to give us the… you know… Tony's… They insist they will perform the autopsy and we don't have a right to participate."
"WHAT!?"
Just then, Ducky thrust the phone back to its place with a very uncharacteristic curse and covered his face with palms wearily, wanting nothing more than to disappear until this nightmare would be over.
"Doctor Mallard…?" – Jenny asked carefully, causing the ME to jump. Clearly, he hadn't even noticed they had company. – "What happened?"
"Those idiots!" – The doctor exploded. – "I have never ever seen anything like that before! They don't understand why that 'report' they sent to us is not enough! They don't want to give us answers and they are keeping our boy from us!"
"But they can't do that, Doctor!" – Jimmy all but pleaded. – "Can they? What about the… the… funeral?"
"Jethro?"
"Of course they can't do that. We won't let them. Tony has to come home to us. I'll make sure of that!"
With that, he determinedly strode towards the elevator, leaving the other three looking after him.
NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS * NCIS
- What do you mean you performed the autopsy and it's already done? Who gave you the right?"
- Agent Gibbs, Agent DiNozzo died in our hospital. It is policy to-
- Agent DiNozzo is… was… a federal agent! You should have given him to Bethesda or our own ME! You were not allowed to do anything!
- I told you we'll send a copy of our findings. You'll have it by-
- Your reports don't do us any good! The one we already got has left our ME fuming; why should we expect anything better this time around?
- I'm sorry, Agent Gibbs, but there's nothing more I can say. The autopsy was already done. The report's being written. We'll release the body within three days to you so that you can make arrangements for the funeral.
- The 'body'? Why, you arrogant-
But the doctor had already disconnected the call, leaving Gibbs standing alone in MTAC, trying to keep himself at least somewhat collected and not lose it completely. They were talking about his boy like a piece of furniture that gets sent from place to place!
But he couldn't allow himself to break. Not now. Not when he had Ziva, Tim and Abby to comfort. While he and Jenny had lost a honorary son, the others (including Palmer) had lost a brother and Ducky something akin to a nephew. And it was just as bad.