disclaimer: the usual
A/N: you guys seem to be very lucky - I can't seem to put this one down. I thought I'd let it drag out a bit seeing as there are so many people enjoying it. Thankyou all for your kind words.
Also with this one, I felt that we weren't getting enough interaction with Ziva, Tim and Abby. I thought I didn't do too badly, I hope you'll let me know if you disagree :D Thanks in advance!
Ziva and McGee were surprised to find that Gibbs was not at home. They were sure that sanding his boat and drinking his bourbon was going to help him drive the angst of Tony away. Alas, they were wrong and they did not have a clue as to his whereabouts.
"Maybe he went back into the office?" Ziva asked with a hint of worry in her voice.
"Maybe..." Tim trailed off as he concentrated on the road. McGee had insisted that he drive. He felt he was doing a favour to Gibbs sanity by making sure that his life was not put in danger by Ziva's driving ability. Convincing the Moussad Officer, however, was definitely one of the more brave things that he had ever done.
Tim's train of thought was interrupted by the ringing of Ziva's phone. He was to hazard a guess as to which of the three possible people were on the opposite end of the line. McGee stole a questioning glance over to Ziva as she spoke whilst trying to also remain focussed on the road. Rain had started to fall.
"Aha...? Yes..." Anxiousness had started to creep into Ziva's voice. "Yes, yes... he is with me, she said as she looked across in Tim's direction.
"We will be there as soon as we can," and with that Ziva snapped her phone shut.
After redirecting the car back towards the hospital on Ziva's orders, and a minute of silence had passed between them, Tim looked in Ziva's direction. He could see that she was struggling to hold back her tears. Ziva was trying to compose herself before telling Tim the news.
Gibbs nearly forgot to turn off the car's engine once he had found a parking spot in the hospital's car park. He was frustrated because he still couldn't get hold of Abby. Running across the parking lot towards the stairs that graced the entrance to Bethesda, Gibbs heard a screech of brakes, the squeal of tires sliding across dampened asphalt and the long, drawn out call of a car's horn. Gibbs saw the headlights of Ducky's vintage Morgan stop just centimetres from where he was standing.
"Are you trying to get us all killed, Jethro?" A familiar voice cut through the darkness behind the blaring high beam of the car.
"Sorry Duck. Wasn't watching what I was doing. Go park and I'll go inside and try to find Abby."
Gibbs ran up the stairs taking three at a time, racing to get to Abby faster. His heart was running a mile a minute and a thin layer of sweat had formed on his brow. He needed to know what was happening with Tony. He needed more information. He also needed to know why Abby wasn't answering her damn phone!
Gibbs ran through the main foyer towards the emergency department.
"Please Sir, slow down..." The voice of the concerned nurse trailed off as he ran faster, keeping his eyes open for any sight of Abby.
She was nowhere to be seen once Gibbs had reached the emergency ward. Stopping for a moment to catch his breath, Gibbs heard a feint whimpering coming from behind the door of the janitor's closet. Gibbs opened the door to find Abby with her legs brought up to her chest, hugging them, rocking gently as she cried into her knees.
"Abby?" Gibbs touched the top of her head to let her know he was there and to try and soothe the heartache of the usually happy-go-lucky youngest daughter of his.
"Oh Gibbs..." she managed to stammer through the tears pouring down her cheeks dragging her thick eyeliner with it. Her eyes were immensely red as though she had been crying since he couldn't get hold of her again.
"Abby?" Gibbs tried again. "What's happened?" Gibbs slid down the wall and placed his arm around her as she tried to calm down so she could explain to her Dad all the things that were happening to her older brother. After a couple of minutes, Abby was settled enough to structure sentences between sobs.
"They had to take Tony back in for another operation." Gibbs face drained of its colour.
"The doctor was explaining that they had left the two bullets in his lungs to keep the bleeding at a minimal pace. They said that Tony had been too weak from blood loss when they first brought him in so as to give him a better shot at survival, they only removed the main concern, the bullet near his heart."
"Did you tell them that we needed the bullets for our investigation?"
"Yeah I did. But when Ziva and Timmy had left to find you and Ducky had to leave to go and see his mother, Tony's heart monitor started alarming and I called a nurse and he, and he..." Abby was shaking from the strength of her sobbing. Gibbs hugged her tighter towards him to try and help her calm down.
"Shh Abby. It's ok?" He gently stroked her arm to reassure her that she was not alone in the turmoil.
"The doctor was explaining that one of the bullets that they left in his lung had started to move through the muscle and it has actually now nicked his heart. Gibbs, they're saying that he's not going to make it!" and with that Abby burst out into a new round of tears.
Gibbs pulled Abs into a tighter hug and just let her sob into the panel of his jacket. Tears were stinging his eyes. Thoughts of Tony on that surgical table, his chest open and exposed to the hospital staff, stung his heart. What had he done?
Tim and Ziva ran through the doors of the emergency room just behind Ducky. Ziva's eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Obviously, Abby had got in touch with them to tell them what had been happening.
Somewhere far from the hospital, Tony sat alone on a park bench. In front of him was a road. To his right he could hear sobbing and crying. To his left, there was no sound, just a feeling of calmness. No cars drove on the road. It was just Tony, no one else. Tony felt the urge to stand up and he did. He looked towards where the sound of heartache was coming from. He chose to head in the opposite direction.
Tony took one step. A manufactured heart beat reverberated throughout his little space. He took another step, another heart beat. The more steps he took, the faster the heart beat went until he stopped. In the distance he noticed three very familiar faces. All three were women and Tony flashed his charismatic grin. The grin, however disappeared when he realised who the three women were. The first was an older lady, not much older than he himself was but still older. Her hair was grey and her stance was proud. He looked into her eyes and he saw his own looking back. Tony was looking into the face of his mother that had died so many years ago.
Next to the first woman, a second woman stood – stoic and beautiful. Her hair was long and brown, just the way he remembered it. He had loved it when she wore it out. It made her exude beauty. God, he missed her. He walked up to her and she was significantly shorter than he was. She had a look on her face that suggested that she was going to do something to him. Tony noticed the mortuary putty that was still covering the hole in her forehead. Tony then realised, God he had missed Kate.
The third woman grinned as he acknowledged her. Her beaming smile covered all of her face and moved her ears into the short, spiky haircut she had. She looked a lot better than the last time he had seen her. At least now, she seems healthy and not covered in the pool of blood he had found her in. Jenny took the sight of him in and smiled.
In the operating theatre, doctors and nurses were scrambling as the heart monitor attached to Mr. DiNozzo's heart beat displayed his heart going into defibrillation. His heart was starting to give in.
Outside in the waiting room, Tony's team mates, his family were huddled together. They all hugged in a tight group. The five people stood in a circle, holding hands and praying with all their might that their beloved Tony would come back to them.
What do you think??
