Betrayed chapter 4

Disclaimer: Tony would be mine but he's insisting on bringing his DVD collection with him and I don't have the room.

A/N: Now you can see why I suggested that alerts would be useful! Sorry for the delay. I haven't been idle (or cowering in terror because of a certain flamer's review which I'll get to in a minute) I've been updating in another fandom - very disloyal of me I know, but they've been waiting for ever and even then I've updated this first so... anyway to this reviewer who accused me of a severe lack of originality. I do not read McGee-centric fiction, why on earth would I? I have never read this nameless story. I do not doubt, however that other stories with this premise exist. The driving skills of the team members are often commented on in fanfic and in the series - Ziva even mused whether Tony would take the rap for her when she had a little bump in an episode whose title I can't remember. So it seemed like an obvious theme but of course there is a possibility that I was influenced subconsciously by a stray summary while browsing. I just wouldn't have opened the file but I have never visited the NFA site (thanks for that by the way - more lovely stories to read!) As to the accusation that I would copy plot details? Duh! If you are going to flame at least read the darn chapter! I ruled out the use of camera footage at the end of chapter 3 - I have read in many fandoms and the only truly original, never repeated plot I can remember came from my beloved Magnificent 7 where all the characters were pies - yes, pies! It was short and saucy and my Ezra, I think, was a key lime but my point is that if only one version of an idea was allowed per fandom we wouldn't have most of the stories we love. Sorry that took so much space but people like that, although best ignored, sometimes have to be answered. To the others who, out of curiosity rather than spite, wondered how Tim could get away with this given the evidence - well I admit that I need a bit of leeway on this but don't forget that not all the physical evidence comes from the crash - Tony took a tumble and McGee was dragged through muddy brush, and the car does hold evidence if you look hard enough but this was obviously an accident and they have an unimpeachable witness. Why should Gibbs doubt McGee? The evidence will be there when Gibbs is given cause to look but that won't be for a while. Sorry about this long A/N not all will be like this. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Note: italics indicate out of body experience.

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Gibbs could see that his junior agent was becoming distressed over having to recall events and, after arranging with him for his statement to be taken later, he changed the subject a little and went over the events prior to the accident. It told him nothing new other than that true to form Tony had driven his probie nuts during the stakeout and that Tim still hadn't worked out that it was all part of the DiNozzo method of training - not orthodox maybe but then was anything about Tony DiNozzo orthodox.

As McGee's tiredness grew more obvious Gibbs made his excuses and left the room grateful that at least one of his people was going to be alright.

Tim had forced himself not to cave in and confess the truth as he told his tale. Gibbs could spot a lie a mile away. It rather surprised him, therefore, when Gibbs failed to do so and McGee felt a stab of disappointment. It somehow confirmed the direction that his thoughts had taken lately, that even Leroy Jethro Gibbs was not quite the great man that his reputation declared him to be... and if his role model had feet of clay then it was even more reason to look after number one. Loyalty to Gibbs may give him a certain kudos in the social life of the bullpen but it wouldn't get him to the directors chair before he turned forty. It wouldn't make his parents and his sister proud of him - but neither would gaining that position by lying, by stepping over the bodies of those who called him friend a little voice inside him whispered. He ignored it as his eyes slid closed.

McGee drifted into an uneasy sleep and his closed eyelids twitched as scenes from the crash played through his head. The sound of Tony's voice as he pleaded for him to slow down alternated with his own feelings of power, of being in control, as he contrarily sped up. Tony's voice again as he called his name, sounding panicked now and the smell of burning rubber and the whoosh of flame...

Tim woke up suddenly, feeling the cold sweat forming on his forehead and the shivering in his body despite the warm temperature in the room. The sound of tearing metal and Tony's yell was still echoing in his ears and he put his hands to his ears in a futile effort to block them, his cast colliding clumsily with the side of his head adding another bruise to his collection. The bruises would eventually fade, he could only hope that the memories would follow their example.

"Time to toughen up McGee" he told himself as sleep claimed him once again and as his dreams this time failed to invade his mind, his betrayal hurt a little less than it had a few moments ago.

N*C*I*S

Gibbs started to make his way back to the surgical waiting room but as a thought came to him he detoured back outside. He noticed absently that the rain had stopped and the wet ground was beginning to freeze over. It would be lethal by morning unless someone put some grit down.

He gripped his cell tightly as the truth hit home properly for the first time - the weather had almost proved lethal already. Only public service on the field of battle and the harsh lessons taught by personal tragedy made it possible to keep a lid on his emotions enough to carry on. But he needed someone who understood what he couldn't say and who knew what to do about it. Only two people had that capability now that Shannon was gone and one of them was at this moment on an operating table.

It took a certain strength to maintain his constant hardass facade and right now he hated himself for that strength because he couldn't be sure that Tony did see through it, not completely. Tony was the most intuitive and observant man he knew but he also had a blind spot where others attitudes to himself were concerned. Gibbs put that down to his less than ideal childhood and the lack of love and, maybe more importantly in many ways, respect shown to him by DiNozzo senior. Whatever the reasons Tony often put his own insecurities onto others leaving him with self esteem issues that, to his own shame, he as either Boss, friend or family had never taken enough time to tackle. He just hoped that it wasn't too late and that he could find that different kind of strength, emotional strength, that he would need. Yes, help would definitely be needed. With that thought he speed dialled the only other man who knew him as well as his senior agent.

"Dad, it's me. Something has happened...No, no, I'm fine...Dad, it's Tony..."

Gibbs didn't know why he felt better after making the call. It wasn't as though Jackson Gibbs could wave a magic wand and make everything better but just knowing that he was on his way and would be here whatever happened was enough.

N*C*I*S

Ducky sat on a rather less than comfortable chair in the surgical waiting room but he didn't notice his discomfort. He didn't notice Abby sitting opposite, being comforted by an equally tense Jimmy. He was too caught up in the mental images the medical report had stirred up; but somehow they were becoming mixed up with the memory of the sight of Kate lying still and deathly pale on his slab. He hadn't told anyone, not even Gibbs, but he had suffered nightmares for months after she was gunned down on that rooftop. He didn't know if he could go through something like that again and despite his assertion to Jethro that Tony would die if he didn't get the surgery he needed he wasn't sure that he would survive even if he did.

Gibbs silent enquiry on entering the room was met with a negative headshake, no news yet and so the silent vigil continued only interrupted by various nurses asking them if there was anything they needed and Ziva's arrival and update which told Gibbs nothing that they didn't already know. The car was in storage but there was no rush for Abby to examine it. It had already been given an initial investigation by the local CSI's which would no doubt corroborate Tim's recollection of events and Abby was in no hurry, and to Ducky's thinking, no fit condition, to go back to work. The loss of camera footage on their route due to a major overhaul had been a blow as had the lack of independent footage, just the odd flash of a part of a vehicle rushing through static shop cameras without discernable details. Allington's office had hardly been in the hub of the city and most shopkeepers were more interested in focusing their security measures on their own doorsteps rather than the public highway. There was just one witness willing to offer his services to the local LEOs but he was thanked politely by the rookie that interviewed him and was told that he would be contacted if needed. The rookie shook his head as he walked away. Just their luck that the only citizen with a sense of public duty and a lack of fear of reprisal was completely blind.

Gibbs sat until he couldn't sit still any more and when he couldn't remain still he would pace until one of the others forced him back into his chair and pushed a cup of coffee into his hands. If he were any less worried he might have resented this show of unexpected courage in his friends but instead he would growl and then meekly sip on his beverage until the cycle repeated itself. The monotony only being broken when for just one split second he could swear he saw Tony standing near the door smiling at him. He glanced down at his black coffee and wondered for the first time whether you actually could drink too much of the stuff.

He wasn't the only one trying to deal with the traumatic wait. They each had their own coping mechanisms. Ducky would read and re-read the doctor's report in the hope that it would look different or in the hope that he would suddenly not be able to read between the lines nobody, least of all himself, knew.

Jimmy felt both anxious that there was a chance he would lose one of his few friends in the nation's capital and, although it would make Tony blush to hear him admit it, one of his best friends ever, and a fierce pride that this extraordinary group of people had let him into their circle and that Gibbs trusted him to look after Abby who they all knew was like a daughter to him.

Abby, meanwhile, took comfort in Jimmy's arms around her and the reassuring growls that came intermittently from her Bossman but most of her attention was geared to willing her surrogate brother well. Call it prayer or call it voodoo she didn't much care. All she knew was that Tony needed all the positive energy that he could get and she wouldn't let him down.

Ziva wasn't used to sitting and worrying about colleagues, about friends. In the world she had come from colleagues died. It was regretted but accepted and was why they never got too close to each other. Sometimes it was even possible that they might be called on to kill each other. It was not an atmosphere to breed familial loyalty. So these feelings she was getting about her partner were decidedly unnatural. And she couldn't work out why they hurt so much. How could caring be painful? Yet she wouldn't have it any other way... well not unless she could switch places with Tony, and she would, in a heartbeat because that was what friends did for each other. It was Tony that had taught her that she realised. She had also realised that Tony had taught her an awful lot more than she had thought and not just colloquialisms and movie history. She owed him and if he did not make it she would repay him by hunting down the person responsible and making them very sorry. It may have been an accident but they were chasing Allington for a reason and she would take great delight in prising that reason from him when they found him and avenging her team mate.

N*C*I*S

Tony watched as his friends fretted and waited. He figured that since he was standing in a hospital waiting room somebody had gotten themselves hurt and he also figured that since he seemed to be invisible and as transparent as a ghost that somebody was him.

Now why wasn't he surprised. What did surprise him was that this being dead thing was pretty cliche if one went by movie history since he was doing a pretty good casper impression... or maybe Bruce Willis... in fact he could name a dozen films that fit the bill but he'd never thought he would be in the starring role. He didn't like it. Oh not the being dead part; he was prepared for that every time he strapped his gun on and he'd defied the odds on more occasions than was reasonable. It was actually seeing the people left behind, although from their actions they hadn't been told yet. He wanted to tell them that he was sorry he screwed up... not that he could remember how he'd died but if anyone was going to screw up it was going to be him, that was a given.

He wanted to tell Gibbs that he had been the best father he had ever, or should that be never, had. He wanted to hug Ziva and tell her how proud he was of the effort she had made to fit in. To tell Jimmy that he was a great friend and that he should have more confidence in himself and that he couldn't have a better mentor than Ducky who was the wisest and sweetest man he knew.

And Abby. How could he leave Abby? She would be okay, he knew, because Gibbs would have it no other way, but he wouldn't be okay leaving her behind...leaving any of them behind. These were the people who had made his life worth living and Abby was the one who had given him back his joy in that life. She was his own Caf Pow. He smiled at that thought. She was also the only one he could tell his secrets to. She was the sister he had always wanted and, like most things in his younger life, had been denied him. Once he was born his mother had considered her duty to the DiNozzo name done and he had been sentenced to be an only child which considering how that childhood had turned out maybe hadn't been a bad thing. He certainly wouldn't wish his experiences on a sibling.

Tony's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden feeling of wrongness. Someone was missing. Where was Tim?

As if the thought were action Tony suddenly found himself in another room, a hospital room and Tim was lying asleep in the bed. After a moments concern Tony saw that the younger agent was breathing easily and seemed fairly okay. He wanted to feel relieved but for reasons he couldn't explain his unease grew instead of diminishing. He wanted to get out of there... he had to get out!

He sighed in relief as he found himself back in the waiting room although it seemed to be shimmering slightly. He looked up and it seemed for a moment as though Gibbs was staring straight back at him before, with the scent of Abby's perfume and the sound of her heartbeat in his ears he found himself floating above his own body in an operating theatre. He only had time to think that this was like the 1946 film A Matter of Life and Death starring David Niven before everything went dark.

N*C*I*S

Gibbs first impression of the state of the surgeon when he entered the room was one that he had seen all too often in his life as a marine - it was the look of a man who had fought in a battle, and fought hard. What he couldn't tell from the exhausted face was if the fight had been won or lost.

"Please, please be seated. I know I could do with a rest, it was a long haul." Paul Mochdre, the primary surgeon, smiled as he spoke to the rather unorthodox 'family' before him. He watched as they took their cue from him and relaxed slightly. All except the tall man with the military bearing who he correctly placed as Agent Gibbs. Doctor Shah had warned him about the reputation of the team leader but all he saw was a concerned father. He knew that Gibbs wouldn't relax at a reassuring smile. The man probably wouldn't relax until his man left the hospital under his own steam.

Gibbs noted the thin but genuine smile. It told him that Tony had made it through surgery but not much else.

"Firstly may I introduce myself. I'm Paul Mochdre and I was the lead surgeon in the team that worked on Special Agent DiNozzo" He paused as Gibbs corrected him and nodded before continuing.

"Tony... Well I can put your minds at rest on one issue immediately; Tony came through surgery and he's now in recovery. He is quite the fighter and I have to admit that he needed all that courage today. We lost him a couple of times on the table but he rallied" The surgeon waited for the gasps of horror and whispered prayers of thanks to die down before adding, with a serious mien that while Gibbs wasn't surprised to see it did contrast with the previous good news. Tony was a man of extremes even in unconsciousness.

"I don't want to dampen your joy but you have to be aware that he isn't quite out of the woods yet. We have catagorized him as critical but stable which is a very good result considering his injuries."

This was the part that they had all been waiting for. Once they knew that Tony had made it through surgery there were still many issues that needed to be addressed. People leaned forward in their seats and Gibbs looked even more serious if that were possible.

Mochdre didn't wait for the inevitable questions. "We did, unfortunately have to remove his spleen. However, there is no reason why Tony should not have a perfectly normal life without it. There are issues of infection and he will have to take antibiotics on a long term basis. He will have to be extra careful due to his pre-existing lung problems but with care he should have few problems. We had to also remove one of his ribs which had been broken one too many times to be stabilised. The threat of it snapping randomly and penetrating the lung was too great and the fractured skull has, as we thought, caused no internal damage and should resolve itself in time."

More than one member of the party winced at the reminder that Tony's ribs had borne the brunt of one too many blows but they were focused on the surgeon and the final and most important piece of news he had to impart.

"Now, as to my own area of expertise, I am pleased to confirm that all indications are that we have managed to save the injured leg. We've managed to pin, plate and screw the shattered bones together and repair the joint, muscles and tendons. The blood supply and the nerve damage gave us problems but the limb has good color now and there is evidence of reflex action. How much eventual use he will have will depend largely on Tony himself. His recovery will be a long and difficult one. In many ways it is easier to rehabilitate a person with an amputated limb than an injury of this severity. He will need all the support he can get, but if he has the willpower and luck is on his side I see no reason why he shouldn't eventually make a full recovery."

That was the sentence they had been waiting for.

"He'll do it and we'll help him." Abby's reply was instantaneous. She had willed him all her positive thoughts while he was in surgery and she couldn't wait to show him that positiveness in action.

"Young Tony has more courage than anyone I have had the privilege of meeting. He will succeed if anyone can." Ducky looked as though the ten years he had aged during the past few hours had dropped away in a matter of seconds as he listened to the surgeons prognosis and Jimmy was more reassured by that than anything Doctor Mochdre had to say.

"Tony won't let something like this beat him - we won't let it" Jimmy added his voice and Mochdre knew that with these people behind him Tony DiNozzo stood a good chance.

The attractive agent with the slight accent's contribution had him a little puzzled though. He could understand that she and the others would have his six - he worked in a military hospital, he knew what that meant, but why the ownership of a paperclip would spur Tony on to recovery was beyond him!

"He won't fail. I haven't given him permission to."

And it was that statement; uncompromising and solid, from Gibbs that effectively closed the deal.

N*C*I*S

Now another waiting game began. This one was calmer and more routine but nonetheless tense. They waited for Tony to wake up and begin his long journey back to health, and not just physically. They all worried that he would blame himself for the accident. If he didn't remember what had spooked Allington and why it had been necessary to chase him down he would no doubt never forgive himself especially since his fellow agent and friend had also been hurt. They knew Tim wouldn't blame him: Indeed none of them blamed him. Tony wasn't the kind to panic for no reason, they just needed to figure out what that reason was. And for that they needed to find Allington and to hear what Tony remembered.

Gibbs didn't do patience well...but he waited silently by his senior agents bedside and faked it. He even slowed his coffee intake - not difficult since he wasn't willing to leave the room to refill his cup and the others were under orders from Ducky not to overly indulge him.

Patience may be its own reward but Gibbs' reward was seeing two bleary, dull but very much alive green eyes staring at him as he sat in his not so patient vigil.

"Hey Tony welcome back."

Tony gazed round the room and immediately recognized the ICU unit. He switched his gaze to Gibbs worried and unshaven features and frowned.

"Did I screw up Boss?"

Tony watched the slow, exasperated headshake and wondered if that meant that he hadn't screwed up or if he had screwed up big time...

Because for the life of him he couldn't remember a damn thing about how he'd gotten here.

TBC

A/N Well Tony only just woke up in this chapter but lots of recovering Tony to come and you did get a little disembodied Tony as a bonus. Hope you enjoyed.