Chapter 2
Tony felt groggy. His eyelids were heavy, his vision was blurred, and his mouth was dry. On top of that he didn't know where he was and for a moment he thought he was locked inside the casket until he moved his arms and realized he wasn't in a box, just a very dark room.
"How you feeling?"
He turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw the torso of his boss silhouetted in the dim light. "I don't know yet. Where am I?"
"My place. You've been out nearly twelve hours."
Tony moved each part of his body as best he could, and then tried to get up. It took more effort than he thought possible, but he managed to swing his legs over the side of the makeshift bed and sit there, trying to remember what happened. It was all a blur. "I don't remember much. Did you get him?"
"Yeah, we got him." Gibbs reached up and pulled on a string, flooding the room with soft incandescent light.
Tony blinked several times at the sudden invasion to his pupils. Finally, he focused on the clothes he was wearing. His white satin suit was now covered in bright red blotches. At first, he thought it might have been his own blood and with the way he felt, it thought that was quite feasible.
"It's not yours, Tony. It's Khalid's."
"Oh." He tried to remember how it all went down but the last thing he remembered was being in Autopsy. "So… is he dead?"
"Yeah, he's dead."
He would have thought he'd feel relief from the news, but he didn't. He had wanted to be the one to shoot the son-of-a-bitch. He had wanted to be the one to look in Khalid's eyes at the moment he knew he was going to die and see if there was any remorse for what he did.
Gibbs watched him search the empty air for answers, knowing he wouldn't find any. "Tony, we got the bastard. There's no way he's ever going to hurt you again."
"How'd he die?"
Gibbs took a deep breath, remembering when Khalid entered the church. There was a fleeting moment when he thought the Islamic extremist knew this was a trap, sensing that everyone there was an armed federal agent, but he had been mistaken and Khalid mingled with the crowd while making his way towards the casket. The plan was to take him down when Khalid least expected it, but what Gibbs hadn't anticipated was seeing the sexual lust in the terrorist's eyes as he peered down on his senior field agent. Gibbs didn't want him anywhere near Tony and that's when he made his move. Fortunately for all involved, "Khalid tried for his gun. He didn't get very far."
Tony rubbed the back of his neck, working out the stiffness that came from lying on one's back for twelve straight hours. "Can I see him?"
Gibbs set his beer down and studied him a beat. "If you want. He's in Autopsy until the papers are signed to ship him home."
So, that's that. It's over, Tony thought. Khalid, the man who inflicted such pain and humiliation is dead. Now it was time to move on. But how? How can he bury what happened? Every time he looked at someone, he was sure they knew what Khalid had done to him. How could he face his colleagues? How could he do his job?
"Tony," Gibbs half whispered. "I can't tell you how to move on from this, but I can tell you that you are capable of moving on. That terrorist doesn't have any kind of hold over you. Other than beating you and breaking several of your bones, the others don't know what else he did, and they'll never know if you want it that way. But we want you back, so now you have to do whatever it takes to get yourself back." He stood and walked to a deep sink and filled a glass with water. Then he offered it to Tony. With one hand on his shoulder, his parting words were, "It's over, and we need you back at work."
Tony smiled at his boss and took the glass. The water was welcomed and much needed. Gibbs was right, as usual. It is over. It is time to move on and he wanted to get back to work as much as they wanted him back. Monday would be a new day. "Thanks, Boss."
~~Fini
Hope this was a fun little read for those who chose to read it. It was fun to write. The story came about because I had wanted to write a scene with Tony wearing a really nice suit and this is what it turned in to.