A/N: Okay, not all that many reviews for the last chapter. Let me know what was wrong with it xD Anyway, thanks to those who reviewed! :) You guys made my day. Hope you like this one better ;)

Chapter Four: Unable

"He ever took you up on that offer?" Sean asked after a while, probably just to keep him distracted again.

"To talk?" Gibbs grinned ever so slightly. "The kid doesn't do anything but talk. But when it comes to the stuff that's really important…"

He trailed off now, realizing that his thoughts had reached the night before and he really didn't need to discuss that with a stranger. It was bad enough that DiNozzo had put him in that kind of position in the first place, no use going on about it now. He sighed again and then almost jumped when the cell in his jeans pocket started to buzz. Taking a deep breath before looking at the caller ID, he felt his heart sink and his excitement deflate somewhat as he realized that it wasn't Ducky but Abby who was calling.

"Gibbs."

"Where are you?" Abby's voice came through the receiver, but it seemed oddly subdued. "First I get that call from Ducky that something has happened to Tony and that I should come to the hospital asap and now nobody's here."

"Ducky should be there, Abs," Gibbs tried to soothe her somewhat as he could almost see her pacing through the waiting room just like he had done a few hours previously. "He's probably just talking to the doctors. I'm sure he'll be right out."

Gibbs glanced at the clock that was hanging on a wall behind the bartender and the uneasy feeling from before came crushing down on him again as he realized that he had already been at the bar for one and a half hour. Shouldn't Ducky have at least some news by now? How hard could it be to get a hold of one of the doctors for heaven's sake?

"Okay," Abby sounded a little calmer now, if only barely so. "And where are you? Why are you not here, Gibbs? Oh, no… you're not hurt, too, are you? Did the guy get you, too?"

"I'm fine," Gibbs stopped her frenzied rambling as he scrubbed his free hand over his face, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse for not being there.

"Oh, thank god," he heard Abby sigh. "'Cause I totally can't deal with the two of you injured at the same time. One of you is bad enough."

Gibbs furrowed a brow, wondering where the sudden devastation with DiNozzo's situation was coming from. Granted, he knew that Abby cared a lot about anyone, was one of the kindest persons he had ever met, but judging from her behavior towards the young man in those last six months, she didn't like him one bit.

He hadn't realized that he had gone silent while he had been thinking about Abby and Tony's relationship, but the Goth brought him back into the present, back to their phone call.

"Gibbs, you still there? And where exactly is there? Why are you not here, waiting to hear a word from Tony?"

"I…," he started, still at a loss for words as he chanced a look at Sean who was watching him rather disgruntled all of a sudden. Quickly looking away from him, he tried to gather his thoughts again. "It doesn't matter, Abs. You're there and Duck's there."

Gibbs knew he sounded tired and beat all of a sudden, but he simply didn't have the energy anymore to keep up the pretense of the infallible boss. He heard Abby take a deep breath on the other end and wondered if she would call him up on it.

"Gibbs," she finally replied, though the tone of her voice was changed now, as if she was trying to soothe him and not the other way around. "I'm sure he'd want you here."

"How d'you know?" he retorted sharper than he had intended. "You don't even like the guy."

Once again, Abby remained silent and Gibbs realized that he was carrying out his frustration, his desperation, on her, even though he really had no reason for it. He had just opened his mouth to continue, making sure that he hadn't hurt her as she beat him to talking.

"I like him, Gibbs," she said, her voice calm and determined. "In fact, I like him a lot. And I also know that he'll be devastated if you're not there when he wakes up."

"Not when," he answered quietly, feeling his heart sink ever farther down. "If, Abs, if he wakes up."

"Don't say that," she cut him off, her voice back to the frantic tone from the beginning of their conversation. "I'm sure he'll be alright. Tell me, he'll be alright, Gibbs. Please."

"I can't, Abby. You weren't there… he just…" he broke off now, knowing that he shouldn't - couldn't - tell her.

"Can you come here at least?" she pleaded now and he knew that if he were in the same room with her, he would have no chance to say no because her big round puppy eyes always got her what she wanted, but she wasn't there, so it was fractionally easier to answer now.

"I can't. I can't be there right now."

"Why not?"

"You didn't see him. He… I… I can't just sit there and wait. I just can't."

"Okay," Abby replied, her voice soft all of a sudden as if she actually understood what he wanted to tell her. "If you change your mind, I'm in the waiting room. I'll call as soon as I know anything."

"You do that, Abs," he just replied before he hung up, unable to keep on talking to her for only a second longer.

He hadn't lied. He really couldn't wait with her. He couldn't try to soothe her, tell her that everything would be alright. I couldn't do that because he didn't believe it himself… because no one could come back from that.

.

Flashback

.

"Tony!" Gibbs shouted as if it would bring the guy back onto the bridge.

He ran the last few remaining steps towards the railing, already prepared to jump after him into the cold water beneath when he heard a sound so sickening that he once again stopped dead in his tracks. This hadn't been the sound of a body diving into the water, but one of a collision of flesh and something concrete. Gibbs finally got moving again and leaned over the railing to see where exactly DiNozzo had landed and his stomach turned. The young man was lying about six feet below the bridge, his left hand just dipped into the river next to him, while the rest of his body had landed on the concrete riverbank.

Reaching for his cell, Gibbs started to run towards his agent and called 911. As he finally reached him, he felt his heart, that had beaten much faster ever since Roswell had started to fight him, suddenly skip a beat or two at the sight before him. He reached for DiNozzo wrist, letting out a relieved sigh as he felt a faint pulse. Careful not to move him, he kneeled down next to the younger man and was slightly startled when he let out a soft groan.

"Tony?" Gibbs asked loudly and if only to drown out his pulse that was rushing very loudly through his ears. "Tony, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," came back the feeble answer that made Gibbs' gut start to churn again because DiNozzo was never that quiet.

"Stay with me, alright?" Gibbs almost pleaded as the other man's eyes started to close. "Come on, look at me, everything will be alright, okay?"

DiNozzo's eyes snapped open again, but not really focusing on him now and Gibbs internally counted the seconds that had passed since he had called the ambulance. Shouldn't it be here by now? What the hell was taking them so long? DiNozzo let out a wheezy breath and Gibbs pressed his hands to the gunshot wound, even though he was terrified of moving the guy too much and hurt him even further. But there was blood everywhere, streaming down his fingers, soaking his shirt, that Gibbs was certain that DiNozzo had to bleeding to death.

"Gibbs," his agent tried to speak again even though it must have hurt to even take a breath.

"Shhh," he cut him off. "Don't speak, okay? I know it's a new concept for you, but just stay with me. You can do this. Just hold on. The ambulance will be here any second now, okay?"

The corners of DiNozzo's mouth twitched for the tiniest fraction of a second before he let out another wheezy breath and Gibbs was certain that the blood was running through his hands even faster now.

"I… 'm," the younger man pressed out, his eyes finally locking into Gibbs' again and for the first time, the older man noticed just how bright those green orbs were. "Sor… ry. I…"

"Shhh," Gibbs repeated himself. "It's okay. Just stay awake for me."

DiNozzo nodded weakly and closed his eyes again, his breathing slowing down all of a sudden. Gibbs, in return, took a deep breath before his hands came to the younger man's face, urging him to open his eyes and after a few moments of silent panic on Gibbs' side, he finally pried them open again, though they were as unfocused as ever.

"Just keep on looking at me," Gibbs pleaded, not caring that he sounded weak. "Promise me not to go anywhere, you hear me? I'm right here and you sure as hell are going to stay here, too. You got that, Tony?"

Once again, he nodded weakly and Gibbs attempted to smile at him, desperate to obtain the eye contact. He couldn't lose it now, not when the ambulance couldn't be far away anymore, not when the kid's life depended on him like that. He pressed his hands onto the wound again, his eyes never leaving DiNozzo's as if it would insure that the guy would survive like this. Internally, Gibbs counted the seconds, feebly remembering a statistic which claimed that an ambulance only needed about ten minutes to arrive at any given time. But it felt like so much longer. It had to be longer than ten minutes since he had come down here and had found his agent somewhat conscious due to some kind of miracle.

Just as he had thought about it, DiNozzo's eyes fell shut again and to Gibbs' utter horror, his breathing died away right under his hands. He stared at his unmoving chest, blinked once and twice, while all the while, the blood was dripping from his hands, ran through his fingers and he just couldn't do anything about it. From a far distance he heard the sirens blare, but he couldn't divert his glance from DiNozzo's lifeless face, lifeless body.

"Tony," he pleaded. "Don't do this to me, come on, wake up. Please."

.

Flashback

.

"Hey," Sean's voice cut through his train of thought, making him jump ever so slightly before he turned to look at the guy, whose previous disgruntled expression had changed to vaguely worried again.

"What?" Gibbs retorted, not even knowing whether he was feeling angry, lost, devastated or confused – maybe all of the above.

"Maybe it's not that bad, huh? Maybe he'll get through this."

"No," Gibbs replied quietly, not trusting his own voice anymore. "The ambulance took too damn long. The kid practically died in my arms. And I couldn't even tell him…"

Gibbs trailed off again, forcefully scrubbing a hand over his face again as he felt his eyes suddenly start to sting. He knew that DiNozzo was strong and healthy, but Gibbs had seen too many people die, had lost too many of them, not to know that he wouldn't make it.

A/N: Thoughts? Complaints? Reviews would be great ;)