A/N Phew! I think this is the second, or maybe third chapter I've written and posted today? I'm on a role!
OK, so this chapter is mega long compared to some of the others, but I really hope it's worth it, because I was getting excited just writing. However, I may be slightly biased because it's my story lol
Anywho, I'm not going to babble too much, because it's like, twenty past one in the morning, and I'm really tired :D
Again, if you've seen the characters in the programme, then they're not mine. (Does anyone else find it difficult to find a different way to say this? I hate to writing the same thing every chapter, but I'm really paranoid that I'm going to get sued if I don't haha)
Thanks again,
xoloveJBox
Chapter Eight.
"I don't think this is a good idea, Jethro." Duckie told his friend simply as they walked towards Lana's room.
"Yeah, Duck, you said that already." Gibbs replied coolly.
"And yet, you still don't listen. No changes there then, I see." The sarcasm oozed from the MEs voice, and Gibbs smiled, glad to see that tiredness had not affected the man's wit. It had taken Gibbs quite a while to convince his other agents to stay at the navy yard, but after seeing Duckie's response to him being there, he was glad he had persevered. He could only imagine what Duckie would have been like if he had allowed Abby to come along, with her frantic worrying and overexcitement; never mind everyone else too.
"How is she Duck?" Gibbs asked seriously.
"Well, she's still a little groggy from the medication, and she's sore, but I think Miss Gomez will be fine-although, it will take a while." Duckie knew that Gibbs was asked for both his medical, and his personal opinion, but he decided to only give the first. His personal thoughts were that Lana would be fine; because she wouldn't rest until she was, but he was worried about the pressure she would put on herself to achieve it.
The finally stopped outside of Lana's room, and Duckie knocked gently before pushing open the door.
The first thing that Gibbs noticed when he saw his youngest agent lying, seemingly asleep, in the overly white hospital bed, was how small she looked. Lana had always stood up herself perfectly well, and she had never let anyone push her around, but looking at her, Gibbs wanted nothing more than to wrap her in bubble wrap, or cotton wool, or both. It was the first time he had seen Lana look as young as he knew she was, and quite frankly, it shocked him. Her face was pale, and he saw the plastic tubes that snaked across her face, tucked behind her ears and into her nose. Gibbs silently went over to the side of her bed, and slipped his fingers in between hers; trying hard to ignore the flooding memories of the last time he had held her hand. He was a little surprised that when he squeezed her hand gently, she squeezed back. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked around wearily. When Lana saw her boss, she smiled weakly.
"Hey Boss." She murmured, almost inaudibly.
"How are you feeling Agent Gomez?" Gibbs asked her softly
"Oh, never better Gibbs, really. I'm on top of the world." She replied sarcastically.
"Well I'm glad to hear that." Gibbs answered, matching her tone. "Everyone else is dying to come and see you. It took me so long to get away and come here alone." He added, more conversationally than anything, trying to put off what he had originally come to do.
"Is everyone else Ok? Did anybody else get hurt?" Lana asked, starting to get panicky, attempting to sit up before Gibbs eased her back down again.
"Lana, calm down ok? The others are all fine. It was just you." He told her quickly, because the girl was still trying to manoeuvre herself into a different position, and it was clearly extremely painful for her.
"Oh, lucky me." She retorted, wincing as she lay back down.
"Do you want me to call your brother?" Gibbs asked, wondering to himself if anyone had actually called JJ about his little sister.
"What's the point? He won't come anyway." Lana replied quietly.
"What about Lisa?" Gibbs suggested, to which Lana only scoffed. Gibbs knew that Lana did not get on very well with her older sister, but he couldn't not at least offer.
"Do you know who did it yet?" Lana questioned and Gibbs smiled, thinking that he should have expected Lana's forwardness to come through at some point in the conversation.
"Actually, that's what I came here to talk to you about." Gibbs said, pulling the chair next to her bed slightly closer. "We think we know, but I wanted to ask you; is there anyone who you think might have wanted to kill you?"
Lana took only a few seconds to think before answering.
"Too many to count. Who do you think it was?"
Gibbs looked at Duckie, who stood near the door silently. He could tell that the other man did not think that it was a good idea for him to be speaking so frankly to Lana at that moment, but Gibbs also could tell that Lana just wanted to know.
"Jonathon Laney." Gibbs told her simply, noting the look of disapproval that flitted across Duckie's face.
Lana considered his answer for a minute before nodding slowly.
"It makes sense," She decided "I did kill his brother."
"The problem is; I don't think Laney's going to be satisfied until he completes the job." Gibbs admitted, earning himself low, angry mutters from the doorway.
"Meaning he's not going to stop until I'm dead?" Lana didn't look scared, but there was something in her eyes that meant that Gibbs couldn't lie to her.
"Right." He confirmed.
"Then you have to leave." She said firmly, pushing herself forward and yelping like a wounded puppy.
"What?" Gibbs exclaimed, sure that he had heard wrong.
"Gibbs, it's not safe for you guys here!" Lana cried, wincing and whimpering as she tried desperately to free herself from the mountain of blankets that had been piled on top of her. Duckie rushed over and tried to help Gibbs force her back into the bed, but Lana was having none of it. She had her mind set, and there wasn't a lot that either Gibbs or Duckie could do about it. However, while neither man would usually give in to such demands, they were both terrified that Lana would injure herself further.
"I swear to God, if you guys don't get out of here now, I'm going to drive you back to the navy yard myself, with my foot up your ass!" she called over their protests. Duckie grabbed Gibbs' arm and pulled the other man over to the other side of the room. Duckie was probably the only person on the planet that could get away with such an action, and live to tell the tale.
"Jethro," he muttered quietly his friend. "I think we should just go. As much as I don't want to leave Miss Gomez alone, you know as well as I do that she won't calm down again until she knows we are safe."
"But we are safe Duck; Laney's not interested in us. We're not important enough to him." Gibbs protested.
"Do you know that for certain Jethro? Can you convince Lana that you are one hundred percent sure of that?"
Gibbs sighed, defeated, because he knew the answer was no. He looked over at the girl and knew that she was truly determined in her threats to drive them away herself. He nodded subtly at Duckie and went back over to Lana.
"Listen to me, Agent Gomez: Duck and I are going back to the yard now, but there's going to be an armed guard outside of this door, twenty-four/seven."
Lana went to argue, but Gibbs put his hand up to stop her before she could.
"There's no discussion about this Lana. I mean it. And I'm going to get them to bring a phone in here, so I can phone you every hour to make sure you're doing as you're told."
"I'm not a child, Gibbs." she told him, irritated.
"I know you're not, and I'd do the same thing if it was Tim, or Ziva or Tony. Understand?"
Lana nodded slightly, folding her arms sulkily over her chest, just to be awkward as Gibbs guided her back into a comfier position.
"When can we come back?" He asked, allowing her the small feat of being able to control that, at least.
"When Laney's wearing those lovely silver bracelets that we like to give out to people."
The drive back to the navy yard was a quiet one for Duckie and Gibbs. Gibbs had tried to insist that Duckie should go home and sleep, after being up with Lana all night, but the ME argued against him, and Gibbs found he no longer had the energy to protest. Gibbs could feel the annoyance towards him radiating from Duckie's body, so he decided to put the radio on, to try and fill some of the suffocating silence in the car.
Traffic was heavy, so it took a while longer than Gibbs had planned on. Duckie still hadn't spoken to him as they emerged from the lift, into the bullpen. The rest of the team jumped up from their seats as they came over, eager to hear what Gibbs had to say.
"How is Lana, Gibbs?" Ziva asked, not wanting to wait until Gibbs offered the information.
"Stubborn." Gibbs replied simply.
The team asked more questions, which Gibbs asked as monosyllabically as he could get away with, and Duckie contributed where necessary. They explained that Lana had thrown them out when she had heard about Laney, and Tony laughed out loud when Duckie told them about Lana's threats to escort them out herself. They had been talking for over an hour when the phone on Tim's desk rang. It had been just under two hours since Gibbs and Duckie had left Lana at the hospital, and Gibbs was itching to get back there. Abby had nagged and nagged to be allowed to go, and Gibbs had always said no, because he knew that Abby would not be able to bring herself to be as firm with Lana as he had been.
For a few minutes, they continued to chat quietly as Tim spoke on the phone, but he suddenly called out loudly, and it was impossible to ignore him.
"What? That's impossible! How did that happen? We'll be right there" Gibbs felt his blood run cold as Tim slammed down the phone hurried, a look of sheer panic on his face as he looked at them. Gibbs knew immediately that something had happened, and he cursed himself for leaving Lana.
"Gibbs, Lana's gone." Tim said, sounding terrified, his voice shaking. "Somebody took her."
