Author's note: I'm so pleased with the response to this fic and only hope I can keep making good chapters. This ones a little short but I felt it stopped at a good place so will update another tomorrow!!
Gibbs drove surprisingly calmly, but still fast enough for them to get to the hospital within a reasonable time. He parked the car and went around to the passenger's side; sure that Tony had fallen asleep sometime on the way there.
"I phoned on the way Jethro, they're expecting us," Ducky said as he too came to the passenger's side of Gibbs's car.
"Good, at least we won't have to wait," Gibbs replied, opening the door, careful not to let his agent fall out. "Tony, we're here."
There was a small moan, but Tony didn't open his eyes or make any attempt to move out of the car.
"I'll get someone," Ducky suggested, leaving and returning within under a minute with a nurse, a doctor and a wheelchair.
"Let's get him on here so we can get him inside," the doctor said, positioning the wheelchair as close to the car as she could.
Gibbs nodded, and started to pull Tony from the car, placing him carefully into the chair with a little help from the doctor.
"Do you have any idea what happened?" the doctor asked, wheeling her new patient towards the hospital entrance.
"None, all I know is that he turned up at my house looking the way he does and he had no recollection of how he'd gotten there," Gibbs replied, keeping pace with the doctor and nurse.
"Well I'll examine him and once he's more lucid we'll see if he remembers what happened."
Gibbs agreed, hoping that Tony was all right and would be able to tell them what had happened to him.
"I'm afraid you'll both have to wait here," the doctor said, motioning to the waiting room. "If you could fill out the necessary forms, and I'll come and find you when I know more about what's going on."
As much as Gibbs wanted to say no to the doctor, and demand that he go with his senior field agent, he knew that he'd only be in the way, so he made his way to the receptionist so he could do what the doctor had asked of him.
Dr Matthews got Tony settled into an examination room and set about assessing him for injuries. She knew she'd have to take some blood as Dr Mallard had mentioned needle marks that she could now see, but she would do that last, once she knew what she was dealing with. The doctor and nurse carefully removed Tony's clothes and replaced them with a hospital issue gown. Dr Matthews examining every inch of her patient's body as they were doing so. She discovered that he had two cracked ribs and a few were bruised but not seriously, and that he had bruising in most places on his torso meaning an x-ray and ultrasound were necessary to rule out any internal damage. There were a few bruises along his arms that looked as if they came from him being held down forcefully, and there were abrasions on both wrists, likely from being restrained in some way. His legs looked ok, apart from the odd bruise, and his ankles looked the same as his wrists, both in need of bandages. There were signs of a head injury but it was hard to tell how bad without a CT, so she arranged for one of those as well. As the doctor felt her patients face for signs of breaks his eyes fluttered and he seemed to come around.
"Tony?" Dr Matthews said, stepping back so that he could get his bearings.
He looked from the doctor, to the nurse and then around the room, obviously confused as to what was going on.
"It's ok Tony, you're at the hospital, I'm Dr Matthews and I was just finishing up my examination."
Tony appeared to relax a little, realising where he was and that the people around him were trying to help.
"I just need to finish looking at your face, to see if there's any breaks," the doctor said, moving in, hoping that he'd let her.
She felt his cheek gently, not feeling any breaks but putting it on the list to x-ray to be safe.
"Now, last but not least I need to take some blood, see what you've got running through your veins."
Tony seemed fine with the statement so Dr Matthews got the syringe ready, and approached her patient again, noticing that his eyes had gotten wider and he looked scared to death.
"It's ok Tony, I'm only taking a little blood. It won't hurt and nothing is going to be entering your body."
Tony didn't hear the doctor though; all he could see was the syringe and the random images that were running through his mind. He didn't know what the images were, or why he was so afraid but he couldn't control it, and he desperately wanted to run away as far as he could.
Seeing that her patient was getting so distressed she decided that taking blood could wait, he seemed more lucid and there didn't seem to be any immediate danger from whatever had been injected into him.
"Tony, we'll leave it for now," she said, putting the syringe away, where Tony could no longer see it. "Just relax and I'll go and get your friends."