Chapter 4: Diagnosis

My eyelids wouldn't open no matter how hard I tried. I could hear the constant beeping of a heart monitor and voices but couldn't distinguish who they were or what they were saying. Someone was holding my hand and stroking my hair. I wanted to wake up but it wasn't happening. Semi-consciousness was very frustrating. I focused on moving the hand that was being held. I managed to feebly squeeze it and I heard Abby squeal with joy. "Gibbs, Tony, McGee, she just squeezed my hand. Kate, Kate can you hear me? If you can hear me, squeeze my hand again." I focused and grasped at her hand again.

I finally fluttered my eyelids open but the room was blurry. I blinked a few times and things started to come into focus. Abby was sitting on a stool next to me, still holding my hand. McGee was behind her, touching her shoulder reassuringly. Tony was pacing at the foot of the bed. Gibbs stood in the doorway, disposable cup of hospital coffee in hand, assessing the room. "She's awake!" shrieked Abby. "McGee, Abby, go tell the nurses that Kate's awake" Gibbs instructed. Abby leaned over and gave me a very gentle hug, "I'm so glad you're OK Kate. You scared me. Don't ever do that again." Abby instructed before taking McGee's hand and leading him out to the nurses' station. "T. . . Tony. . . I'm thirsty." I croaked in a barely audible voice. "Can you get me some water?" He nodded and hurried out of the room.

Gibbs slowly walked from the door to my bedside. "What the hell were you thinking? You could have been killed!" " Gibbs, I . . . it was my job to protect you. I did what I had to do." I explained. "You are never allowed to be on my protection duty again. Guarding someone is one thing, but laying your life on the line is quite another." " What can I say Gibbs, you can take the girl out of the Secret Service. . ." I trailed off. That made my boss smile ever so slightly and I in turn let out a brief chuckle. Immediately, there was a stabbing pain in the lower right side of my stomach that took my breath away. As I recovered, the doctor entered my room. "Excuse me, but now that Miss Todd is awake, I need to examine her. You can wait in the waiting room and I will have a nurse come get you when I'm through." Gibbs left and the doctor started his examination.

He checked my incision while filling me in on what happened. "Miss Todd, the bullet entered the lower right quadrant of your abdomen, it nicked your large intestine where it attaches to the appendix. Fortunately, the bullet did not do substantial damage to the intestine and the internal repair that was performed was not unlike an appendectomy. You'll be sore for a while but should make a full recovery. It was extremely lucky that neither you nor the fetus were more seriously injured. A few centimeters off and the outcome could be very different." I listened to him speak but it took a few seconds for me to process. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you, did you say fetus?" T

he doctor looked at me with a slightlyconfused look on his face. "Did you not know that you were pregnant Miss Todd?" I was unable to speak, so I just shook my head. "That would explain why you were in the line of fire then. You will be discharged tomorrow, after our OB/GYN gives you a clean bill of health." The doctor hung my chart on the end of the bed and strolled out without a care in the world after he dropped the biggest possible bombshell on me.