"Yeah." Tony finally answered as he paced around the room, facing away from Gibbs.
"Hey." Gibbs said sharply. "Sit back down before you pass out again."
"I can't do this, Boss. I just don't remember." DiNozzo shouted with an apparent flood of emotions. Gibbs was not far behind DiNozzo ready to catch him before he fell. "And, Jarvis sent you in here for force it out of me."
"No. He was just hoping I could help jar your memory." Gibbs explained hoping to calm his agent down. He considered the fact that Jarvis had grilled him with questions for roughly an hour before Gibbs even got there though.
"He ordered me to report back to him any information you remembered about your target because that target is a threat to us. Until we figure this out, there will be an agent assigned to you while you are here. I am not going to force anything out of you though." Gibbs said in an unGibbs-like, calm, gentle voice as he managed to grab hold of Tony's shoulders again and redirect him back to sitting on the bed. DiNozzo continued to struggle with remembering. Gibbs became irritated with how he would look anywhere but at him, since Gibbs was already fully aware of the fact that Tony was very vulnerable right now.
"Look at me, Tony." Gibbs said forcefully. He watched as Tony's body seemed to tense up from that. Tony ducked his head and buried his face into his hands.
"Tony." Gibbs repeated. He now grabbed Tony's wrists and pulled his hands away from his face. This left nothing for Tony to hide his face under. He looked up at Gibbs with his now almost blood shot eyes.
"You look at me." Gibbs repeated. "You don't need to hide yourself from me, Tony. I know you are frustrated right now." From that DiNozzo returned the same haunted and ashamed look before looking back down.
"Hey." Gibbs said sharply. DiNozzo jumped from Gibbs' voice before looking back up at him.
"Do you remember any of the conversations you had with SecNav before today?" Gibbs asked watching him closely.
"No." DiNozzo said closing his eyes.
"Alright Tony." Gibbs said. DiNozzo shook his head and reopened his eyes. He kept looking over at Gibbs. Gibbs and Tony shared a wordless message, both of them knowing that this conversation was not going anywhere. Gibbs nodded at him that he knew that DiNozzo was trying.
"I left a message for your father to call me." Gibbs said. DiNozzo peered back at him with a look of absolute horror.
"He is your father, Tony." Gibbs said. "He should know that you are in the hospital."
"Boss, I can't deal with him right now. There is no need to worry him. I'll be out of here soon." Tony said defensively.
"That does not change the fact that you are in the hospital." Gibbs shot back.
"He—he doesn't handle this type of. . .stuff well." DiNozzo tried to explain. Gibbs treated him with a glare, indicating that this argument was over.
DiNozzo leaned over to pour some water in a cup. Gibbs realized how much he was trembling by the amount of water spilling outside the cup. Gibbs stepped over, grabbed the pitcher from DiNozzo, and finished pouring the water into the cup for him.
"Thanks Boss." DiNozzo said with a grin and an embarrassed laugh. Gibbs handed the cup to DiNozzo but still held it steady for him while he drank. After putting the cup back down, DiNozzo was now so embarrassed that his trembling seemed to worsen.
DiNozzo jumped, startled by a nurse walking into the room. Gibbs put his hand back on Tony's shoulder after that edgy response.
"You can relax, Tony." Gibbs tried to assure him, as he returned to just studying DiNozzo as the nurse was in the room.
"Sir, could I have about ten minutes?" The nurse said to Gibbs. Gibbs looked DiNozzo over before heading for the door. His body was still very tense, and he remained edgy even after Gibbs tried to assure him that there was no reason for that.
"Yes." Gibbs answered her, with a grin before looking at DiNozzo one more time and leaving the room. As he exited the room, he noticed that he himself had been talking with Tony almost an hour now with no success.
He dialed the number of Kate's sister, Dr. Cranston. He explained the basic details of this situation to her and requested that she come to the hospital at this late hour.
