The Curse of the Tan Coat
Chapter 4:
Fall in Virginia comes later than in Long Island, were Tony grew up. The team had been called out early this morning when the day was still cool. Gibbs had Tim bagging and tagging and Ziva was walking around with the camera taking pictures. Tony had found himself canvassing the area, going house to house. Not sure why he had so much clothes on, Tony found himself sweating profusely, he had on his dark blue Zegna suit and the ever present, much hated tan overcoat. His path around the neighborhood had not taken him back near the cars so that he could take it off and leave it. Keeping it on, Tony did not want to have it in his hands incase something came up and he needed to defend himself or grab his weapon.
Having made a full loop around, he headed back the crime scene, from were he stood, he could see Tim and Ziva loading evidence into the Major Response Team truck and Gibbs was off to one side talking to Ducky, while Jimmy loaded the body in to the medical Examiner van.
When the scene in front of him wavered Tony wondered if he was going to need glass soon, or maybe it was the little woman with a hammer pounding in his head. Putting his hand to his aching temple, he was surprised to find that it was hot and dry a little while ago he had felt the sweat profusely running down his neck.
Walking up to Gibbs and Ducky he stood quiet as they finished their conversation. Waiting to give Gibbs his report he tried to ignore his pounding head and now very unsettled stomach.
When they finally turned to look at him, Ducky gave him a quizzical look and asked "Anthony my boy, are you feeling ok?"
"Have a bit of headache but I'm fine." Tony responded even though he was trying not to throw up on his Boss or Ducky.
Before he could pull back, Ducky reached out his hand and felt Tony's forehead, "My boy you are much too warm, I think we need to get you in the shade and you need to drink some water."
Horrified that Ducky thought he was sick, he started to protest and pull back but between his aching head and queasy stomach, this body reacted violently causing him to bring up his breakfast. Standing there with vomit running down the front of his coat, he shocked to see the stunned look on Gibb's face as he had been close enough to get hit when his stomach let loose.
Not sure what to do or say Tony took this opportunity to quietly pass out in a heap at Gibbs feet.
Tony woke with a start, looking around he found himself back in his own bed, not sure how he got here as the last thing he remembered was throwing up on Gibbs. Sitting up he felt the room spin, his stomach doing flips, thinking he was getting ill, he got up to use the bathroom, feeling disoriented, he opened what he thought was the correct door, instead of his bathroom he found himself in a long narrow room with racks on each side, to his horror, there were thousands of tan overcoats hanging there, looking down he realized he was wearing one too, ripping it off he threw it at the racks, but as he looked at his arm all he saw was a tan sleeve, as he was somehow still wearing the coat, turning to get out of the room, stunned to see the door was gone, all he could see were rows and rows of tan overcoats, getting more frantic he dropped to his knees and started screaming "no, no, no more coats!" "Help me!" He yelled knowing no one would hear as the coats muffed the sound. Bending over he started to throw up, before he knew it he was projectile vomiting like in that scene in the Exorcist.
In the distance he head a familiar voice, then he felt something cool on his neck. "It's ok Tony," the voice keep repeating "your going to be ok".
Becoming more aware he recognized the voice, someone was wiping his face with a cool towel, as he tried to open his eyes the light in room drove spears into his head.
Seeing Tony eyes open briefly only to shut tighter with a look of pain Gibbs went over and turned off the overhead lights leaving only the dim light coming in from the bathroom. "Tony, you with me?" Gibbs asked.
Not trusting himself to speak and impossible to shake his head, he let out a low moan that sounded like yes to ears trained in the gibberish of a sick Tony.
A few hours later he became more aware of his surroundings, Tony realized he was in the hospital, in the background was the constant beep, beep of the heart monitor and the hum of an IV pump. Moving his hands he felt the pull of an IV in the back of his hand.
"Welcome back, my dear boy." Duck said as he picked up Tony's wrist to check his pulse, even though he could see it on the monitor it was a force of habit to check himself, laying Tony's arm down gently he placed the back of his hand on Tony's forehead, "well, your temperature is almost back to normal. How are you feeling?"
"What happened?" Tony squeaked out in a very hoarse voice.
"It appears my Lad, that you were a bit over dressed for the day. With the execration of walking about the neighborhood, you overheated and suffered from a heat stroke."
"Where's Gibbs?" Tony asked as he remembered the man being here earlier.
"Ah, Jethro went home to freshen up, he had the misfortune of standing directly in front of you when…" pausing as he saw the look of horror on Tony's face, "Nothing to worry yourself about Anthony, it was nothing you could help." Gently he padded the young man's arm.
"Oh, I am so dead." Tony moaned.
"Now, now Anthony, Jethro is not upset with you, on the contrary my dear boy, he was quite concerned when you proceed to faint at his feet."
"Ducky, DiNozzo's don't faint."
"Call it what you will my boy, a sudden loss of consciousness resulted in you laying still on the pavement."
"When can I get out of here?"
"The doctor has indicated that you will be kept overnight, your temperature is still elevated at 101, but it was 104 when they brought you in. They will not release you until your temperature is normal. You are also showing signs of severe dehydration and the Doctors want you on IV fluids for a while longer. Just rest and you'll be home before you know it. Abigail is going to bring you some clothes tomorrow, the items you had on were soiled."
Ohhh, Tony groaned, as he recalled what happened.
"If I may ask Anthony, why did you have so much clothing on, on such a warm day? Surely you had no need for your overcoat. It certainly contributed to your getting overheated."
Rubbing his still throbbing head, Tony squinted his eyes as he looked at Ducky.
"I don't know Ducky, lately I can't go anywhere without it, but I'm started to think it's cursed."
"Anthony, it is just an article of clothing, why do you feel it is cursed?"
"Every time I wear it something bad seems to happen, I've tried to leave it behind but I always have it with me, even when I have no intention of wearing it. Damn it Ducky the thing is evil."
Ducky decided to humor his young friend, as he clearly was not feeling well.
"Have you thought of giving it away, you could donate it to a homeless shelter."
"Oh, Ducky I couldn't do that, it might bring bad luck to someone else."
"We could talk to Abigail, there maybe some sort of cleansing we could do or maybe you could burn the coat and purchase as new one."
When he did not get a response, Ducky looked over at the younger man and was pleased to see he had fallen asleep again.
Picking up a wet washcloth, he gently wiped the sweaty, fevered brow of his young friend, "Oh Anthony, just what are we to do with you?"
The following afternoon, Tony waited for the doctor to finish his exam and give him his discharge papers, his temperature was normal and he was recovering from heat stroke, the pounding in his head had lessened to a manageable degree and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to throw up on anyone.
The team was busy closing out the case and Abby had volunteered to pick him and give him a ride home, as much as he wanted to go back to work, the doctors made it clear he was off the rest of the week, Gibbs and Ducky had been adamant that they did not want to see him back at the Navy Yard.
As he finished getting dressed, the door to his room was flung open as a bouncing Abby entered the room, "Tony-boy," she yelled as she grabbed him in a huge Abby hug.
"Abby, Abby, can't breath," Tony said as he tried loosen her grip on him. "Abby, I'm trying to get out to the hospital not find a way too stay longer."
"Sorry, sorry, just a little excited, but I hate when you get sick."
"Can we just get out of here?"
"Sure Tony, sure, I get you all to myself this afternoon," she headed out the door, with Tony following, rolling his eyes.
Tony was never happier to get home, feeling exhausted he just wanted to sleep in his own bed. Turning to Abby he said, "You really don't have to go in with me, I'm just going to take a nap."
"Noooo Tony-boy, Ducky said I had to make sure you ate before I left."
"But Abby, I really am not hungry right now and since when do you everything Ducky says?"
"When Gibbs is standing next to him, you know I can't say no to my Silver Fox."
"Abby, please, just go, tell them whatever you want but can you just go."
"Tony, Tony getting a little grumpy are we?"
"Abby tell them I ate, I will later but now I just want to sleep."
"Gibbs will know, he always knows and how come you are so tired, you had nothing to do but sleep in the hospital." Looking closely at her friend, she did notice that he was pale and had dark circles under his eyes.
"Ok how about you just eat some toast or something so I can tell the truth and than you can nap all day."
"Whatever, if it means I can get some sleep."
Abby headed to the kitchen made Tony some toast, after he ate she watched him head to his room. Getting her things ready to leave she noticed the bag with Tony's overcoat, the hospital had disposed of his shirt as it had been pretty soiled with vomit but his coat seemed to have been spared, taking the coat she thought she would surprise him by getting it cleaned.
Waking from his nap, Tony found he was drenched in sweat, sleep had
not been restful, as he kept having weird dreams about that damn coat. In this dream he was trapped in a hot room, he was wearing his coat but for some reason he could not take it off, as he tried to pull it off, it stuck to his skin, as if glued on, maybe this was payback for all the time he glued Tim's fingers to his keyboard. As he kept getting hotter and hotter, he could find no relief even as he felt his body dripping with sweat. Waking up with a racing heart and soaked bedding he took a shower and knew he would need to change the sheets before he went back to bed.
Getting settled in his living room he was happy to see that the tan overcoat was nowhere to be seen. He hoped that it had been thrown away. To afraid to go back to sleep he put in a few movies to keep him awake.
As night came Tony heard a knock on his door, he knew it would be too much to ask to have his co-workers stay away. Opening the door, he found Ducky holding a bag of Tai food, for Ducky this was a healthier option then pizza.
"My dear boy, you do not look any more rested, Abigail told us you she left you napping."
Feeling the need to confide in someone, he tried to explain what was happening, "Ducky, it's that overcoat, every time something bad has happened I was wearing it, now I'm having nightmares over that coat, god Ducky, I swear that thing is possessed."
"Anthony, that coat is just an inanimate object, it does not possess any power, though I did know a gentleman in Scotland who purchased a watch in a small shop in Edinburgh, when he wore the watch he felt he could feel the heartbeats of the person he was touching. He became convinced that he could predict when someone was going to die. He was so obsessed that eventually he locked the watch away in a safe deposit box. Anthony the watch did not have any power, my friend was also a doctor, when he took someone's hand he could feel their pulse, but in his mind the watch had the power."
The next morning Tony woke to find his apartment bright with the mid-day sun. Cursing under his breath he wondered what Ducky had slipped him to make him sleep or maybe he was just so tired he had slept through the night and well into the day. Getting up to use the rest room he headed for his room, he stopped short when he saw a shadow of a man cast on the wall. Had someone snuck in while he was sleeping, backing up quietly he retrieved his weapon from the locked box in the living room. Moving back toward his room he saw the shadow move, yelling out "come out with your hands up".
The shadow moved again but made no move to come out, bracing himself he went to enter his room when the front door opened, turning with his gun in hand he found Gibbs standing there looking at him with a shocked expression on his face, pointing to his room, Tony mouthed intruder, pulling his own weapon and getting into position with Tony, Gibbs called out again for the person to show themselves, then counting to three, they entered the room with guns drawn, hanging on a hook casting a shadow on the wall and moving with the breeze from the window was Tony's coat. Tony stood staring at it, as Gibbs made sure there was no one there.
Holstering his weapon, Gibbs came back to Tony who looked ready to hyper ventilate as he just stood looking at the coat. Easing the Tony's gun out of his hand he set it down on the dresser.
Tony pointed at the coat and said, "How the hell did that get there, I swear it wasn't here last night."
Tony could feel Gibbs eyes on him; he knew that he sounded as if he was loosing his mind, "I swear boss, I don't know were it came from."
Gibbs still had not said anything but he pulled out his phone and called someone, "Did you stop by Tony's last night…aha…did he know you came by… why not,
a ha, Ok, did you leave anything, where?" then he hung up in his usual manner with no good-byes.
Turning to Tony, he filled him on the phone call, "Abby had your coat dry-cleaned, when she came by last night you were asleep on the sofa so she just left it."
"God, I didn't even hear her come in, I'm pretty sure Ducky slipped me something."
"Ya think DiNozzo."
"Boss, I swear that coat is bad luck or cursed or something."
"Get rid of it."
"What?"
"Get rid of it."
"How?"
"Damn it DiNozzo, it's a coat, figure it out?"
Looking down and shaking his head, Tony looked totally dejected, "I've tried Boss, but it seems to always find it's way back."
"Get dressed,"
"What?"
"Gees DiNozzo, do I have to explain everything."
"No, but why?"
"Get dressed, your going home with me."
"Home with you?"
"Oh my God, DiNozzo, just get dressed before I head slap you into tomorrow."
Arriving at Gibbs house, Tony found himself parked on the sofa, Gibbs had told him not to move and since he was already in the proverbial hot-seat he would just wait to see what Gibbs was up. Laying his head back, he found himself drift off to sleep.
Tony woke to the sound of laughter as Abby and Ziva came into the living.
"Ready to get the show on the road Tony?" Ziva asked.
"What show Ziva?" Tony responded, feeling very out of touch with what was happening, first Gibbs drags him here without any explanation and now Abby and Ziva were here and they seemed to know what was going on.
"Did not Gibbs explain?"
Abby jumped in before Tony could answer, "Oh of course he didn't, see how confused he is Ziva."
Tim walked in from the kitchen, "Gibbs said he is ready, wants everyone outside now," glancing at Tony who had not made a move to get up, "You especially Tony come on."
Tony followed Tim outside, to his surprise; Gibbs had a nice fire going in the fire-pit. Looking around he saw Ducky and Jimmy standing by the fire, but he had to look twice when he saw Vance standing behind them.
"Tony come stand by me," Gibbs called, "Abby you set?"
"Oh yes great one, I have everything ready, Team take your places," she said as directed everyone to their spots.
"Tony we are here to help you with your little problem, I believe that things can be cursed and cause bad luck and that coat of yours needs to go. I called a friend in New Orleans and she gave me a ritual to follow to get rid of the curse and cleanse you." Pulling out salt, incense and several other items, Abby walked around the circle, waving the incense, pour a little salt here and there along with the other items while she resided a chant over and over. When she was done with this part, Gibbs and Vance proceeded to tear the coat in to pieces as Abby handed them to the team. The upper part of the coat, which included the collar and sleeves, was handed to Tony.
"Ok everybody, starting with Jimmy you will recite the following words and throw your piece into the fire, the next person has to wait until the previous piece has been burnt before throwing in their piece. Everybody got it."
Nodding in the affirmative, Jimmy followed the directions and threw in his piece, Tony watched as each piece burned, inside he felt lighter, when finally got to be his turn he felt he could float. Looking around and each face was illuminated by the glow of the fire, his vision started to waver and he thought it was the fire playing tricks on his eyes when he found himself dropping to the ground. Luckily strong arms circled around him and kept him from falling but as he looked at Gibbs concerned face he blacked out.
