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Chapter Nine

"Boss! She's still breathing!" Tony cried out clutching Kate's body.
"What? Call an ambulance." Gibbs ran over to join Tony whilst McGee went outside for better phone signal. Gibbs bent down slowly and stroked her hair off her face. Her eyes were shut but as he listened carefully he could still hear her breathing. Only just. It was laboured and irregular, where was that god dam ambulance? "McGee!"
"It's on it's way sir, but they suggested it might be quicker for us to drive given the situation." He said quickly through stutters.
"Tony get the car, we're driving." Gibbs scooped up body as if she were light as a feather in his arms. Her head rested on his shoulder and Gibbs felt her warmth against his chest. McGee opened the car door to the backseat and Gibbs lay her down gently, Tony sat down next to h er and supported Kate's head on his lap. McGee climbed in the passenger seat and barely had a chance to fasten his seatbelt before Gibbs sped down the dirt track to the main road. At normal speed it would take half an hour to the hospital, they would be there in half an hour.
"Boss...she looks really bad. Is she gonna be okay?" Gibbs was silent but he took a quick moment to turn around and look at her. Tony was right. She looked awful, her face painted with bruises and blood from a deep gash on her forehead. Her neck was purple from Ari's hands, and he had no idea what other injuries her clothes hid. Kate wheezed with each breath she took, but that was the only sound she made. Tony shook her shoulders gently and tried to reach her but she didn't wake.

Gibbs parked up directly in front of the doors to emergency, right next to the sign that said no parking or drop offs. Her lifted her body and walked through the automatic doors. Tony and McGee flashed their badges whilst Gibbs gave orders. "NCIS. We need a doctor now!" A nearby nurse grabbed a stretcher with wheels and they both settled her on it. "We're going to need to get the X-Rays done first. Wait here we'll call you when we know more." The doctor said running up to them with his clip board. The porters wheeled Kate away and much to Gibbs protest they were forced to stay in a waiting room. It was nearly two hours before anyone ever came to inform them.
"She's in recovery now, we have to do surgery straightaway, she had a severe GSW and internal bleeding. How did this happen?" The doctor said adjusting his glasses. The agents looked at each other unsure of how to respond.
"She was abducted and tortured." Gibbs said regretting his choice of words. Was torture the correct term? Yes. That was what the bastard had done to her.
"Right..." The doctor said nervously.
"When can we see her?" Tony piped up, McGee was still silent unsure of what to say. Tony was right, he didn't know Kate well enough. He felt as if he didn't have the right to be as worried as the others, but he was.
"Well, she's still under sedation at the moment, she'll be awake in a few hours. You can see her now if you wish." The doctor led the way and they follow behind him quickly.

Kate was in a private room, on the third floor. Tony and Gibbs went in whilst Gibbs talked to the doctor. Agent Todd had a nasal cannula to help with her breathing, a dressing over her head, her arm bandaged and in a sling. They'd changed her into a hospital gown, and attached an IV drip into her uninjured arm giving her fluids. She looked marginally better than before now that she had been cleaned up, but she still seemed pretty beat up. Tony was doing his best to remain calm and mask his true emotions. At that moment they were a mess, fury at Ari, pain at seeing her likes this, worry for her recovery, anger at himself. The list went on. He had no idea what Gibbs was thinking, probably only of revenge against what Ari had done to their friend. Since Kate wasn't going to be awake in the immediate future Gibbs went to go get coffee and Tony informed NCIS of their situation. None of them wanted to stray too far from her room incase she woke up, McGee sat outside ready to call the others just incase, whilst he was following up on leads on his PDA. He knew Norfolk would want him back soon but he didn't want to leave Kate. There was also the possibility of being temporarily assigned to the MCRT unit whilst Kate recovered, he hoped for that. He knew Gibbs wasn't fond of him, but he admired him and saw him as a perfect role model for the kind of agent he wanted to one day become.

Tony sat by Kate's bed on a chair the nurse had brought in. It was horribly uncomfortable but he didn't mind, Gibbs was outside on the phone trying to find the terrorist with no success. Kate murmered slightly and Tony took hold of her hand, she moved restlessly in her sleep.
"Kate? It's Tony. Kate?" He said softly, he didn't want to startle her given where she had been, and whom she had been with. Kate didn't reply and Tony sighed. It looked as if she wasn't waking up yet. Suddenly he felt Kate squeeze his hand, only lightly, but still. "Can you open your eyes?" He said gripping her hand.
"Mmmphh..." She tried to say something but he couldn't make it out. She slowly opened her eyes, her eyes felt like led. The first thing she saw was darkness, filled with dark spots. Slowly the spots faded, and the blurry darkness became Tony. She tried to smile but couldn't, her lip was swollen and her half hearted smirk looked twisted.
"You had us all worried there for a minute. If possible Gibbs has been even more monosyllabic of late, than ever." He joked with a trademark DiNozzo grin. Kate tried to smile again, not at his joke but at the absurdity that they had found her. She must be dreaming, or hallucinating, or something. Maybe Haswari had gotten to her and she had gone mad. Suddenly she thought of Haswari and panicked. Her drooping lids snapped open and she stared at Tony with wide anxious eyes, she tried to sit up but was stopped by the sharp pain in her arm and shoulder. She flopped back down on the bed with a mild scream from the discomfort but with her swollen lip it just came out muffled.
"Kate." Tony said loudly. He repeated, "Kate, it's Tony. You're in the hospital don't try to move. I'll get McGee to get a nurse. They can give you something for the pain." Tony shouted for McGee and told him what to do he left the room quickly and not a minute later the doctor arrived. He injected something into her IV and left saying he would be back later to talk to Kate.

"Tony..." She whispered her throat hoarse. After what Ari had done, all noises from her throat sounded gravely. At the time she felt as if he were crushing the bones in her neck to dust. "I'm sorry..."
"What are you apologising for?" He asked quietly.
"For...prov-provoking him." Tony frowned at her remark. To some extent he could see why she thought that, picking up the knife, spitting in his face. If she hadn't done that he probably wouldn't have taken her, or she would have at least been conscious enough to stop him. He wouldn't tell her that though.
"Kate it was not your fault. Don't think that. Don't ever think that for a second." He replied softly squeezing her hand reassuringly.
"It was..." She lifted her head to look at him. "You don't understand." She lay back down and rolled her body away from him and Tony didn't know what to say.
"Urm..I'm going to go let Gibbs know. McGee is right outside." Making his excuses he backed out hastily. What had Kate done? To think it was her fault?