Chapter Four
"Attaboy, Tony."
------
"Gibbs!!" Tony yelled one more time. He waited longer for an answer but still nothing could be heard in the darkness, just the sound of blood rushing in his ears from his frantically beating heart.
Feeling helpless, Tony wanted nothing more than to get up and look for Gibbs. His broken body would have nothing of it, not even allowing him to scoot around to the other side of the tree for a better look. Getting inordinately pissed at his inability to do anything useful, he punched a fist into the snow beside him with a frustrated yell.
"Might wanna take it easy there, DiNozzo. Don't want to add a broken hand to the list of your injuries I have to report in my sit rep to the Director."
"Boss?" Tony looked up in surprise to find that Gibbs had somehow materialized out of thin air in front of him.
For a second Tony wondered if the knock to his head had been harder than he thought and now he was hallucinating. There was no way the other man should have survived the blast and yet there he was, standing over Tony like nothing had happened. In fact, other than a new cut on his lip, Gibbs looked none the worst for wear.
"Are you okay?" Tony asked incredulously.
"Yeah I'm fine, how're you doing?" Gibbs asked casually. The man said it as if the two of them had just bumped into each other at a local coffee shop; not having just survived not only a car accident, but an explosion in the past few minutes.
"I'm…..okay," Tony replied with a stammer, still not quite sure what to make of his boss's return from what should have been sure death.
"Good," Gibbs said and smiled slightly. It was the smile that finally put Tony at ease, reassuring him that his boss was okay. If Gibbs was okay then everything was okay. He had that affect on all his agents, Tony included. In fact, he had the affect on Tony probably more than anyone else. No one else on the team had worked with Gibbs longer in the field. The Senior Field Agent trusted Gibbs with his very life, without question.
The fact that Gibbs felt the same about him never even entered Tony's mind.
Reaching over his shoulder, Gibbs took Tony's backpack and placed it on the ground beside his agent.
"Hang tight, I gotta see if anything else survived," Gibbs said and once again before Tony could do or say anything, the other man was gone.
It was slow work, looking for all the items in the dark and snow but on his second run, Gibbs found his flashlight. That sped up his progress and soon he had everything that they'd gathered at the captain's house. Laying everything down at his agent's feet after every trip, Gibbs walked back one final time, dropping the last of it.
Despite the fact that crippling pain had become his new best friend and even breathing hurt, Tony had been keeping himself busy. As Gibbs came back with each new pile of evidence, Tony checked every item over carefully. Looking for breaks in the bags and anything else that might have ruined the integrity of the pieces, he carefully sorted them and put them into the two backpacks they still had, his and Gibbs'. He figured if he was busy he wouldn't notice how much everything hurt.
Unfortunately, it didn't work for long. By the time Gibbs had gone on what would be his last trip, Tony was having a hard time holding the pieces up. He'd begun to shiver and his hands quaked no matter how much he tried to stop them. The pain in his ribs sharpened until the only way he could breath was by taking short breaths, moving his chest as little as possible.
Despite it all, Tony fought hard and by the time Gibbs came back with the last of the evidence, he had managed to sort through everything.
"Good job, Boss," Tony said with a wince, surprised by how much it hurt to talk. The pain that met the comment was sharp, nearly taking away what little breath he had.
"Well, we'll see when we get it all back," Gibbs said, so busy with everything in his arms that he missed Tony's pained expression.
"You get it all sorted?" Gibbs asked, putting the last of it down and straightening up to take one final look at the still burning vehicle.
"Yeah." It was almost a hiss.
Gibbs stopped looking at the car and his eyes flew down to Tony, finally hearing the pain in the other man's voice. Nearly slapping himself in the head for his stupidity, Gibbs realized that he'd been so busy making sure the evidence was okay and he hadn't bothered to check on his agent.
"Where does it hurt, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked quietly, kneeling down beside the other man.
Tony hesitated, ready to tell Gibbs that he was fine; not a problem in the world, in fact. Only he wasn't fine and Gibbs needed to know the truth. Neither of them knew how long they could be out there.
"Mostly my ribs and head, though my leg feels….kinda funny too," Tony replied after a little hesitation.
Gibbs could see that the admission wasn't easy for his Senior Agent. It was just another one of the man's quirks that Gibbs had gotten used to over the years. If Tony got a paper cut the entire office would hear about it for a week but the moment anything serious was wrong, he clammed up. Getting attention was one of Tony's favorite sports, but admitting when he was down - no that didn't come as easy at all.
Nodding in response to Tony's answer, Gibbs leaned forward to get a better idea of his injuries. Before putting a hand on the younger man, Gibbs raised his eyebrows in an unspoken query and received a nod in return, giving him permission.
Not wanting to hurt him any further, Gibbs first looked at the cut on Tony's head, probing gently. Using his flashlight, he checked the other man's pupils as well. Then he very gingerly felt Tony's ribs. Even through the bulky layers of jacket and sweater, Gibbs could tell something wasn't right. The agent's involuntary gasp as he hit an especially touchy spot on the right side confirmed his suspicions.
"Yep," Gibbs said sadly. "At least one broken rib."
Moving his hands down, he felt Tony's leg and didn't need the sounds of pain to inform him of the broken bone there. Hidden in the dark and by the thick fabric of Tony's jeans, neither of them had noticed anything wrong. Once Gibbs laid his hands on it though, the odd angle of the leg told them both all they needed to know.
Sitting back on his heels, Gibbs rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. Tony's head wound wasn't serious and his pupils reacted normally, telling him that there was probably no concussion. The broken ribs he could do nothing about but he knew he was going to have to do something about the leg. If it stayed too long in that position, the circulation could be lost, possibly costing Tony the use of it. He didn't like it but it looked like he was going to have to set it.
"Tony listen…," Gibbs began but the other man was way ahead of him.
"Yeah Boss, I know. You're gonna have to fix my leg. Well I guess we should get it over with then, huh?" Tony said too quickly - too cheerfully. Inside his gut wrenched at the thought of more pain but he wasn't about to show that to his boss.
Gibbs nodded his approval of the other man's bravado, knowing that if their places were switched he'd be doing the same thing. It would make the next process easier.
Looking around, Gibbs found two branches to use as a splint. Rifling through everything he had pulled out of the car, he managed to find a spare shirt in Tony's bag. Quickly shredding it, he made bandages to tie around the branches when he was ready.
Putting everything within easy reach to make the whole procedure go as fast as possible, Gibbs knelt down again. He didn't bother to say anything. There was really nothing to say. Looking down at his agent, their eyes met and then Tony gave him another nod, once again giving his boss permission to do what he needed to do.
With firm but gentle hands, Gibbs felt for the unmatched bones in Tony's lower leg. Palpating lightly, he found the spot where the two pieces had been torn apart. He'd once helped a Corpsman to set broken bones after a Humvee had flipped in the field. Unfortunately the Corpsman had been one of the fallen, his arm hanging useless at his side. Gibbs had set two broken legs and one broken arm that day before help had finally arrived, being one of the few to get out of the wreck mostly unscathed.
Now he thanked God that he'd had that experience. Thinking back to what the Corpsman had told him, he figured out exactly how much pressure to use and at what angle he would need to pull. Pausing a moment, Gibbs then took a deep breath. Any slip of his hands and the younger man would be worse off, not to mention in tremendous agony. Gibbs didn't want to screw up and said a silent prayer to get it right, the first time.
Tony gritted his teeth as Gibb's hands slid lightly along his leg. His own first aid training, as well as a couple broken bones in his life, telling him exactly what the other man was doing and why. When Gibbs' hands stopped, Tony knew what was to come next and he closed his eyes. Doing his best to breath deeply, he waited for the inevitable.
With a mighty pull and twist, Gibbs put Tony's leg back in place. He kept his head down so he didn't have to see Tony's face, though that did nothing to block out the other man's gasps.
Tony squeezed his eyes so tight, he thought they would bore their way through the back of his skull. The pain was so intense there were no words to describe it. Screaming wasn't even an option, his body in too much shock to make any noise. It was like a bête noir, where the scary monster comes at you and you try to scream but nothing comes out. Only gasps made their way from his clenched jaw as Gibbs finished quickly, tying the splint on tightly to hold the fixed bones in place.
When it was done both men took a minute to breath. Only then did Gibbs raise his head to look at Tony, watching as the other man, his eyes still closed and panting a little, slowly relaxed as the pain eased off to a more bearable level.
When the world came back into focus, Tony looked up to find Gibbs watching him quietly. He smiled reassuringly, swallowing hard to control the shaking in his body and trying to keep it out of his voice.
"I'm okay Boss."
Gibbs smiled back with more than a little pride in his eyes for his agent, putting a hand on Tony's shoulder and giving it a squeeze. He didn't know many men who could take what Tony just had with a smile.
"Attaboy, Tony."
