A/N: I know nothing about medicine! None the less, I hope you guys enjoy! :) And afterward, ya' know...press that big REVIEW button at the bottom (wouldn't kill ya', I gaurantee it)...let's me know that more than like six people are still interested in this story? O: And THANK YOU so much to all you wonderful people who have reviewed my story thus far, it means the world to me. :D Sorry for the shortness of this chapter btw. :I Next one will be longer (and a lot more productive), I promise.
NINE.
"SHAWN, WE CAN'T STAY HERE FOREVER." Nero was restless. "I hate it here. You hate it here. Everyone hates it here. You don't really expect to live out the rest of your days here, do you?"
Shawn looked down, "I haven't thought that far ahead, Nero, I mean, the farthest I've looked is where tomorrow's meal is coming from. I'm tired of stealing from the supermarket all the time. I need extra shifts."
Nero shook his head, "I know it's hard right now, but-"
"Jesus, Nero, don't you get it? Yeah, this life sucks, who wants to be doing this to earn a living? Who wants to steal from food places to feed their family? I don't even have a fucking highschool diploma-"
"You can go back to school, Shawn, I can work harder and you can go back-"
"No! Stop!" Shawn put his head in his hands. "I was okay before you came along and started putting all these dreams of something better into my head! I was fine-"
Nero stood up, started shouting. "The hell you were fine! Shawn, nobody should have to do any of this! You're so bright, you can go back to school, get a GED, go to college, that's your dream, right? You shouldn't have to be-"
Shawn winced, a sharp pain in his shoulder.
Tony groaned in pain, his shoulder on fire for a moment more, before he felt the pressure lessen. Heard a startled and genuine, "Sorry." from his Boss.
"S'okay." Tony muttered back, now semi-awake, the memory of the dream still fresh in his head. He remembered yelling at Nero that night, on the tiny roof of his tiny apartment in the ghetto. He remembered being so distraught, so angry, feeling so helpless. Nero was such a dreamer, and for someone who'd been living paycheck to crummy paycheck, stealing to survive, and under the stress of rent, three kids, and a clinically depressed father, Neros' simplistic optimisim of a better life somewhere out there seemed almost mocking.
They'd had their first real fight that night. He'd been so mad, he'd said things he hadn't meant, things he'd had no right to say to Nero. And Nero had given as good as he got. They'd known eachother too well, and every remark and retort had been aimed to hurt. He still remembered Neros' back as he climbed the fire escape back down. He remembered sitting there, steaming with anger and hurt, thinking 'Is this it? This is my life? There's got to be more than this...'
"...Director Shepard would agree with me." he heard Kate say, not sure what she was talking about, his mind in other places, concentrating more on Nero and his aching arm.
"Kate! What the hell?" Abby yelled-why did she sound so angry? Tony couldn't tell, his stomach was in knots though. He'd been having this dull throbbing pain in his stomach for the past couple of days. At first he'd figured it was nothing more than his bruised ribs acting up again, but the ache was soley in his stomach, not his chest.
He leaned his head back on Gibbs shoulder, not feeling so good all of a sudden. They were still screaming somewhere above him.
"You're being ridiculous, Kate!" McGee had joined into the conversation, sounding as irritated and baffled as Abby, if not more. Why were they yelling at her? Tony opened his eyes, could see Kates' face, a mixture of hurt and defensive. Abby looked as miffed as he'd ever seen her. He couldn't see McGee in the drivers' seat, but he spotted his hands on the wheel, and his knuckles were white, like Gibbs had been in the other vehicle. Were they going to get hit by lightening again, he wondered briefly, not liking that idea at all.
Gibbs, Abbys, Tims, and Kates voices all blended together-there were various emotions in all of their voices, but anger was the main one Tony could pick up on. Tony wanted to speak up, say something. Tell them to stop ganging up on Kate. It wasn't fair, three against one, afterall. The voices began to blur, now becoming nothing more than a loud buzzing in his ears.
He tugged on Gibbs shirt sleeve. He didn't feel good at all. Something was wrong, he realized. But he was too weak, and his tug wasn't enough to garner any attention, not from Gibbs or anyone in the car. They were still screaming. It reminded him of that awful night on his rooftop. His voice had been sore for a couple of days still, after he and Nero had belted it out.
"Boss..." his voice was strained and just barely above a whisper. Tony tugged a little harder, but to no avail. They were still yelling over him-there should have been a law against yelling in such close proximity.
Tony started coughing, at first very softly, like it was building up, and then the cough worsened, louder, and rough, by the sound of it. He bought one hand up to his mouth, the coughs not ceasing; it was getting harder to breathe right.
"Tony!" someone above him screamed. "Oh God!" somebody else yelled, "Stop the car! Get Ducky! Now!"
His coughs had turned into wet coughs; his mouth felt sticky and there was a bad taste of something akin to iron in his mouth now. The world still a big blur of noises and colour, Tony turned his gaze downward, realized belatedly what had everyone so panicked.
His hand was covered in blood. A lot of it. Had he cut it on something? No, that couldn't be right. His hand didn't hurt, although his throat sure as hell did. He felt an arm around him, probably Gibbs'-he'd almost forgotten he was half-laying on him. His blood had also stained his Bosses windbreaker, he noticed.
"Tony, hold on, Ducks' coming now." he heard Gibbs whisper to him, as he held him closer. He was so tired, though, now that he'd finally stopped coughing, his entire chest felt as if it were on fire.
The last thing he saw before passing out were the worried eyes of his friend Ducky. Heard a faint, "Oh my." to accompany the view.
