Thanks to my wonderful beta, whom I have been working overtime lately, Gotgoats. Your help is so awesome!
Authors Note: Remember! This is NOT a character death story!

Blank Slate
Chapter 3

Siesta Key, Florida

Dr. Donald Mallard, Ducky to his friends and family, sat at the table watching the festivities surrounding him. It was a lovely evening in late spring. The weather was just perfect, the sky was clear, the sun was just beginning to dip into the Gulf of Mexico. He was very proud of his young assistant. The wedding of Jimmy Palmer and his lovely bride Breena was an affair that would not soon be forgotten by any of the happy party goers. He frowned when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket.

Who would be calling him now? Everyone knew he was here at the wedding. No one would call unless…

Ducky looked at his caller id and felt his gut tighten. Why was Director Vane calling him? He politely excused himself from his table companions and he slipped out of the tent. It was a short walk down to the beach and Ducky quickly called the Director back.

"Director Vance," the younger man answered his phone.

"Hello Director," Ducky said. "What can I do for you?"

"Dr. Mallard…I just thought I'd let you know…there was a bomb threat at NCIS today. Only…it wasn't just a threat."

Ducky blinked. "Was there an explosion?"

"Yes," Ducky could tell by the short answer that there was more to the story.

"Are you going to tell me about it or are you just calling for a social call?"

"The building is in ruins. There are agents who…not everyone survived. There are a huge number of agents who were injured—some critically. It's…I'm glad you're there because you're safe, but damn, Ducky we need you and Palmer."

"I will catch the next available flight," Ducky said. He hung up before anything else could be said. He stared at his phone for a long moment before opening his phone and hitting the number for Gibbs' speed dial.

"Gibbs," came a very stressed, very irritated, very…upset sounding Jethro.

"Ah Jethro. I just got off the phone with Director Vance and he—"

"Goddamn selfish sonofabitch," Gibbs muttered in Ducky's ear.

"I'm sorry? Dear boy you're cutting out. I couldn't hear you."

"He won't let me go to Tony, Duck. I need to be with Tony, not sitting here sifting through…fucking…" he sighed. "Ah dammit Duck."

"Jethro what's happened to Anthony?"

"He…in the…" Jethro's breath shuddered in Ducky's ear. "He wouldn't wake up Duck…"

"Is he alright now? Was he merely unconscious? Dear Boy is Tony still alive?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Gibbs roared. "I don't know because when the ambulance came to take Tony to the hospital, Vance made me stay behind. And they didn't take him to Bethesda—I don't even know where he is and—and they don't know that he had the plague and they don't know that I'm his power of attorney and—"

"Easy Jethro, easy. I'm sure you will find Tony. What about the others?"

"I don't even want to talk about them. I'm so mad I could shoot Tim and Ziva both!"

"Jethro? Dear Boy what on earth did those two do?"

"They…I'm still too mad—I can't even talk about it," Jethro grumped.

"I told Director Vance that I will be on the next flight home. I do hate to leave Palmer on his special day—especially since his father is not here to celebrate with him, and yet…duty calls Jethro," Ducky raised a hand to his chest as a sharp pain ripped through his ribcage.

"Alright Duck. Travel safe. See ya soon."

"Goodbye Jethro," Ducky said. His breath was short in his throat and he felt like he'd been hit in the chest with a wrecking ball. He turned, meaning to head back to the party and let Palmer know what was going on, but before he could take another step a wave of heat and exhaustion washed over him, another knifing pain ripped through his chest, and Ducky dropped to the ground in an unconscious heap.

xxx

Abby set the phone back on the receiver with a sigh and rubbed her fingers absently over the cut on her cheek. She'd called several different hospitals, but none of them had Tony listed as a patient. It was really frustrating because the hospitals Abby had called were the closest to Bethesda. She pulled up the number to the next hospital on the list.

"Georgetown Medical Center"a cheerful voice answered. "My name is Sheila, can I help you?"

"Um I hope so," Abby said. "I'm looking for a Federal Agent from NCIS. He was…injured…in the explosion at NCIS earlier today, and his power of attorney doesn't know which hospital he was taken to."

"What is the patient's name?" Sheila didn't sound particularly sympathetic or interested. But Abby figured this woman probably got a million calls like this a day if she got one. She tried not to be frustrated.

"His name is Tony, er, Anthony DiNozzo, Jr."

There was the sound of some typing, and Abby held her breath.

"I'm sorry ma'am,"Sheila said, returning her attention to Abby. "We don't have any patients here by that name."

"Oh," Abby said softly. "I…I understand. Thank you for your help." She hung up the phone and a sob shook her frame once before she inhaled deeply, forcing her body and her emotions back under control.

She gasped in surprise when a coffee cup was placed in front of her suddenly and she turned around.

"They were out of Caff-pow," Gibbs said hollowly. "So I thought a coffee might help."

It was six hours after the explosion. In that six hours, Gibbs had been busy. He'd located and worked the epicenter of the bomb site, mostly by himself. He'd discovered evidence that had removed all suspicion from Jonathan Cole. There was DNA found near the source of the explosion that Abby was now testing. Someone had been in the parking garage when the bomb detonated. Several other agents were speculating that the person who was in the parking garage was the bomber—and if that was the case then it would be easily solved. Gibbs, however, was not convinced. He felt sure that the bomber was alive and well.

"Thank you Gibbs," Abby said. She took a big swig of the dark, bitter brew and set it on her desk. Then she turned and wrapped Gibbs in a warm hug. "Are you ok Bossman?"

"You manage to find Tony yet?" Gibbs asked by way of response.

"No," Abby said softly. "But I only have one more hospital left to call." She picked up the phone just as one of her machines beeped.

"Is this the number?" Gibbs asked, pointing at the screen. Abby nodded. "Get your machine. I'll call this one." Abby walked away and Gibbs dialed the number.

"George Washington Hospital," a pleasant voice answered. "My name is Peter. How may I help you?"

"Yes, this is Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. I am looking for one of my agents. I hold his Medical Power of Attorney and no one told me which hospital he is in. He was injured in the explosion at NCIS this afternoon."

"What's his name?"

"Anthony DiNozzo, Jr. He should have his NCIS badge and Federal ID Card on him."

A moment later Gibbs got his answer. "Yes Agent Gibbs, we have him listed as a patient here."

Gibbs felt everything knotted up inside of him suddenly unwind. "Oh thank God," he breathed. "Can…can you tell me…is he ok?"

"I'm sorry Agent Gibbs, but we don't have your Power of Attorney Authorization on file here. Without that I cannot give you any more information."

"I have the form here. Where do I need to bring it?"

Gibbs listened as Peter told him how to go about getting his POA filed with the hospital. He thanked the man for his help and hung up. "Abby I'm gone!" he called.

"Gibbs wait!" Abby raced back over to him. He turned and looked at her. "Is Tony ok?"

"Don't know Abs," Gibbs shook his head. "He is alive. That's all I know for sure."

"Thank God," Abby exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "That's more than we knew for sure ten minutes ago!"

"That's true," Gibbs said. "I'm going over there to check on him and get the damn POA filed. I can't do anything here until all of your results come back anyway."

Abby nodded and waved as Gibbs turned and left. She hoped Director Vance would give Gibbs the chance to make sure Tony was ok before giving him more orders. Her nostrils flared a few minutes later when Ziva appeared in the doorway to Abby's makeshift lab.

"What do you want?" Abby crossed her arms.

"I came to see if you need any help," Ziva said stiffly.

"Funny, I thought you might be stopping by to check on your partner," Abby snapped. Before Ziva could respond Abby held out her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Just go away," she said. "I don't want or need anything from you."

"Abby that is not fair," Ziva protested. "We did not know what had hap—"

"EXACTLY!" Abby roared. "YOU DID NOT KNOW! Instead, you both jumped to a conclusion. You didn't bother checking to see if Tony was even still alive before you and Tim both started spewing! And to think! I was worried about you!"

"And we both apologized!" Ziva snapped. "But you have your head so far up your ass that—" she was cut off by a sharp slap to her face.

"You shut the hell up!" Abby snapped. She turned, pacing and glared at Ziva over her shoulder. "Do you know what I think is interesting?" she turned and stepped right up into Ziva's personal space. "I think it's very interesting that you and Tim were supposed to be bringing Jonathan Cole with you—you were supposed to have him with you for questioning—but when I found you—which, you're welcome by the way—you didn't have Cole with you. Why Ziva? Why didn't you have the person you were questioning—a suspect in EVERYTHING GOING ON—with you?"

Ziva stilled. "He…he lost us," she finally admitted softly. "We were looking for him when the alarm sounded."

"So you lost the guy—the Special Ops Senior Psychopath—the one who has tried on two different occasions to kill Tony—and you didn't call for backup? What the hell Ziva?!"

"You are too angry," Ziva said. "I am not having this discussion with you!" Ziva turned to leave.

"Maybe you won't have it with me, but you'll be having it with Gibbs. Or Vance. Or maybe both," Abby promised. "Maybe if I'm lucky I can pop some popcorn and watch the fireworks." Abby grinned evilly at the thought. "Now get the hell out of my lab."

xxx

Jimmy Palmer scanned the crowd of celebrators and frowned when he didn't see Ducky. He made his way slowly through the crowd, smiling and speaking to people along the way, until he made it to his mentor's table.

"Has anybody seen Dr. Mallard?" he asked, returning more handshakes and pats on the shoulder.

"He got a phone call several minutes ago," an older lady—Palmer thought she was Breena's aunt—responded. "He took the phone outside to answer it."

"Ok," Jimmy said, "I'm going to go try and find him. Thanks!"

Palmer stepped out of the tent and headed for the beach where he figured Ducky would go. His eyes widened and he broke into a run—all thoughts of preserving his tuxedo gone. "Dr. Mallard! DUCKY! Dr. Mallard!" he hit his knees next to his friend—his mentor—the closest person to a father figure he had—and looked him over.

"Dr. Mallard?" Palmer asked again. He checked Ducky's pulse—still there, thankfully—and let out a sigh of relief. He unbuttoned several buttons on Ducky's shirt and undid Ducky's bowtie. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911.

"9-1-1 what is your emergency?"

Jimmy quickly relayed what he knew of the situation. He told the operator that he was a medical examiner and reported what he knew of Ducky's vitals without any equipment to check. He told the operator that Ducky had gone outside to take a phone call and collapsed while he was outside. Jimmy gave their location to the operator and breathed a sigh of relief. Help was on the way.

Jimmy hung up the phone, wondering about the phone call that Ducky had gotten. What could have happened that would cause Ducky to collapse? Deciding to do a little detective work of his own, Jimmy pulled out Ducky's cell phone and keyed up the call log. His brow furrowed. A call came in from Director Vance, and Ducky had called Gibbs afterwards.

Jimmy dialed Gibbs' number, hoping to find some answers.

"Yeah Duck?" Gibbs answered Palmer thought Gibbs sounded stressed. Stressed and…distracted?

"It's not Ducky…it's Palmer," the young medical examiner said, hoping like hell that his voice wouldn't begin to shake. "I um…Ducky collapsed. On the beach. He went out to take a call."

There was a long pause. "Is…is he alright?" Gibbs' voice sounded rough and full of emotion.

"An ambulance is coming…but I was wondering if you knew of him hearing anything maybe upsetting that could cause him to collapse?"

"Yeah," Gibbs said. There was a pause. "There was an explosion today, Jimmy."

Jimmy thought this might be the first time Gibbs had ever called him by his first name. "An explosion? Where? What happened?"

"The explosion was at NCIS Headquarters," Gibbs said regretfully.

Jimmy swallowed hard. He could hear the ambulance approaching off in the distance. "Is…is everyone ok?"

"No," Gibbs said. "We've got lots of agents who are dead and lots who are injured. The bomb exploded around three this afternoon."

"When the most people would be in the building," Palmer murmured. "Are you ok? Agent Gibbs?"

"I'm fine Palmer. I'm heading to the hospital," he said. "Tony is…he's…"

Jimmy's stomach tightened. "Is Tony alright?" he asked. Tony was one of Jimmy's closest friends. If the Director hadn't been abducted, Gibbs and Tony would both be here for the wedding—Tony was going to be Jimmy's best man. Ducky stepped in at the last minute.

"He took the brunt of the blast head on," Gibbs said quietly. "He's got a pretty nasty head injury from the look of it, but I don't know how he is other than that."

"I'm surprised you're not at the hospital with him already," Palmer said.

"It's not because I don't wanna be!" Gibbs snapped.

"I understand, Gibbs," Palmer said patiently. "I didn't…I didn't mean it like that."

"I know," Gibbs said, sounding suddenly tired. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. Been a long day. How was the wedding?"

"The wedding was great. I'd say it went off without a hitch, but…since I'm hitched, I think I'd be lying."

Gibbs chuckled. "Hope you have better luck than me," he said.

"Oh I dunno, you and Tony are an inspiration to all couples—married and unmarried everywhere!"

Gibbs chuckled again. "Take care of yourself Jimmy. Let me know how Ducky is."

He hung up before Jimmy could reply.

xxx

Gibbs rushed to the Patient Information and Registration desk in the lobby of George Washington Hospital. He politely introduced himself, told the receptionist at the desk who he was looking for, and presented his Power Of Attorney authorization.

The young man at the desk was very helpful and quickly scanned Gibbs' POA form and returned it to him. He directed Gibbs to the 7th Floor of the hospital—the Intensive Care Unit.

Gibbs thanked the man for his help and took off for the elevators at a dead run. He knew that he needed to hurry up and see Tony before Vance called barking more orders. When he arrived at the 7th Floor, he went to the Nurse's Station too. He introduced himself and the nurse breathed a sigh of relief. "Let me get the doctor! We've been waiting for someone to show up for him!"

Gibbs wondered if that meant Tony was in even worse shape than he'd let himself imagine.

"Mr. Gibbs?" Gibbs whipped around. "My name is Dr. Granger. I'm Mr. DiNozzo's physician."

Gibbs shook hands with the doctor. "How is he? I'd have been here a lot sooner, but…well it's a long story. Can I see him?"

"Come with me," Dr. Granger said. Gibbs liked this doctor. He reminded him of Ducky. "Tony has a severe concussion. We did an MRI and some X-rays. There is some swelling on his frontal lobe but thankfully there are no skull fractures. We are monitoring him closely, but…we fear he may be dropping into a coma."

Gibbs swallowed hard and nodded. "Long term?"

Dr. Granger shook his head. "We won't know for sure if there is any damage until he wakes up."

Gibbs nodded. "I didn't know you could do MRIs and stuff without the Power of Attorney?"

"We are authorized to do whatever is necessary to keep a patient alive in the event that the power of attorney is not reachable or is delayed."

"Good to know," Gibbs said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Good, that's good." He glanced around. "Look…I know it's late and past visiting hours, and it's probably against the rules, but…this is the only chance I know I'll have to be here. I don't know what's going to happen—I'm right in the middle of this investigation about the explosion. Could…Could I just peek in on Tony though? I won't disturb him. I can't even stay fifteen minutes, but…I need…need to see him."

Dr. Granger smiled sympathetically. "I understand," he said gently. "You two seem close." He beckoned Gibbs to follow him with one finger.

Gibbs nodded, walking along with the doctor. "We're…we're partners," he said, knowing the word had two connotations, and leaving it up to the doctor to make the determination what he meant.

"I think we can make a special exception," the doctor said quietly. "He's right here…in cubicle 18. If he's sleeping don't try to wake him, but if he should open his eyes, let us know immediately."

"Thank you Doctor," Gibbs said sincerely. He took a deep breath and pulled back the curtain to Tony's cubicle. A gasp lodged in his throat and he felt tears sting his eyes. This day was too much—and now this… "Oh Tony, no," he murmured brokenly.

Tony's head was swathed in bandages. He was on a ventilator and an IV stuck in the back of his limp hand. He was quite pale and there were some cuts and bruises on his face and neck.

Gibbs stepped closer, eyeing his lover (partner, best friend, boyfriend, companion) carefully. He picked up Tony's hand and squeezed it.

"You're still in there," Gibbs said gently, forcing a smile to his face. "Find your way back. I'll be waiting for you Sweetheart."

His cell phone buzzed suddenly and Gibbs unclipped it and glared at it. Vance. He flipped the phone open with a sigh. "Gibbs," he said tiredly.

"Where are you?"

"George Washington Hospital filing DiNozzo's Medical Power of Attorney authorization."

"I need you back here," Vance said.

"You told me I could do this. Abby's evidence is still processing," Gibbs growled, taking care to keep his voice low. He stepped away from Tony's bed so that his lover wouldn't pick up on his anger.

"I know I did. And you have every right to do that. But…Gibbs there's been another explosion."

Gibbs ran a hand over his mouth and closed his eyes. "Where?"

"An apartment in midtown that the FBI was using as a safe house. We think an entire team has been wiped out."

Gibbs swallowed hard. "Hold on a minute," he muted the phone and stepped back to Tony. He leaned down and kissed Tony gently, ran a hand over his lover's hair, and smoothed his blankets. "I'll be back as soon as I can. You keep fighting," he said softly. He lifted the phone back to his ear and un-muted it. "What team?"

"We aren't sure."

"I'm on my way. Get someone from NCIS that Tony knows up here to sit with him. I don't want him alone and I don't want Tim or Ziva anywhere near him."

"I'll send someone. I'm sorry about this Gibbs."

Gibbs snapped the phone shut without responding.

In the hall, Gibbs found Dr. Granger. "There's been another explosion," he explained. "So I have to go. Our director is sending someone up here to guard Tony."

The doctor looked a bit stricken. "Do you think that's necessary? We can limit who gets in to—"

"Yes. They'll need to stay either in the room with him or in the hall. I'll let you make the call. I'll have the director let you know who he is sending. Make sure you verify their ID when they arrive. If the ID doesn't match, call me immediately. There is a threat out there, and he's targeting agents. I don't think I have to tell you that Tony can't defend himself right now."

"No problem Agent Gibbs. We'll be ready. Hurry back."

"Thanks," Gibbs said with a nod. As he walked across the parking lot a couple of minutes later, he vaguely wondered—though he knew better—what else was going to go wrong. His phone rang and he glanced at it. Vance again. He opened the phone. "Yeah, Gibbs."

"I've sent someone from NCIS your way. Tony will be well protected."

"Thanks."

"And I learned which team was involved in the explosion at the FBI."

"Yeah? Which team?"

There was a pause and Gibbs' gut clenched. "I'm sorry Gibbs," Vance said sympathetically. "It was Agent Fornell's team."

TBC…