Not a doctor… yet.
It was the Tuesday after the party. Tim was at school and Tony at work. Things had settled down a bit in both the boys' lives, but Tony daddy sense was tingling. Something didn't feel right. The team was working on cold cases, "working" being the operative word. Tony was bugging Ziva, Ziva was threatening to kill Tony with a paper clip, and Gibbs was in MTAC. It was 3:00, Timmy was going to walk home from school today (the school was only ¼ a mile) so he could grab some of the stuff he wanted before coming to NCIS. Tony was going to pick him up at 3:45.
Timmy smiled. It was a beautiful spring day for a walk. He hoisted his backpack on and started to walk when he heard a couple voices, "ooh Tiny Tiiimm." Tim ignored them and began to walk faster. "Oh look, Tiny Timmy is afraid of his classmates. The poor baby." Tim was scared. Michael, Jon, and Kolby were trotting up to him. They had been bullying him since he started coming to the school a little over a month earlier. "Wait up, Timmy!" one said, smirking. "We have some snacks we want to share with you." And with that, the three boys grabbed Tim pushed him to the ground and stuck a peanut-butter sandwhich in his mouth.
Tim immediately began to panic and tried to reach for his backpack. He knew he needed his epi-pen right away. But, the boys yanked it just out of reach. Tim ripped the sandwich out of his mouth and threw as far away from himself as he could, but it was too late. Tim started wheezing, his lips turned a faint blue, "Need epi-pen," he gasped. One of the boys just laughed. The other two looked a little nervous.
"Come one Kolby, let's get outta here." So the three ran off, leaving Tim gasping for air on the ground.
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Jared Vance just got out of school. He had stayed after to discuss a project with one of his teachers. "Wow, what a beautiful day," he thought. He walked over to a bench to call his dad to pick him up when he spotted a familiar backpack. "Timmy? You here?" he called. Jared had become quite fond of the little boy and looked at him as the little brother he always wanted. Then he saw him lying on the ground. "Tim!" Jared bent over Tim. The boy's lips were completely blue; he wasn't breathing.
Immediately, Jared called 911. "I need an ambulance at G. Washington Elementary and Middle School." He said hurriedly. "There is an eight-year-old boy having an allergic reaction to peanuts. He's not breathing." Almost instantaneously, Jared heard sirens piercing the air. The paramedics pulled up to the curb and jumped out, both ran over to Tim.
One quickly injected an epi-pen into Tim's thigh. The other began CPR. Jared looked on in utter horror. A third paramedic came out of the driver's seat and began sticking a tube down Tim's throat. "I can't get it," he cried. "The throat's too swollen."
"Give it to me." Another paramedic exclaimed. She got the tube down Tim's throat fairly rapidly and the other man started to pump a balloon shaped thing he attached at the end of it. "We need the defibrillator stat!" the women exclaimed. "There's no heart beat."
One of the paramedics hopped into the open ambulance, bringing out the defibrillator. "Charging 150, clear." Tim's body jumped from the electric shock.
"He's back," said a medic feeling the pulse on his neck.
The driver started an IV in Tim's arm, while the women began attaching electrodes to his chest. The man continued pumping the balloon.
A small crowd had formed when they heard the sirens. It consisted of three teachers, two of whom knew Tim. "Look!" one exclaimed. "A peanut-butter sandwich. Isn't he allergic to peanuts? It seems as though he was eating it…"
"He knows better," another said. "He even eats in a special room so he can't smell the peanut-butter in the cafeteria."
"We can check the cameras," the third, who didn't know Tim suggested. "Then we can see what happened."
"Yeah, maybe he got stung. He's allergic to bees too," said the second teacher, as the three of them started walking towards the school. "We'll find out what happened." The first one said to the paramedics who now had Tim in the ambulance, on a stretcher, ready to be whisked away. Jared was in the ambulance too. He was calling Tony.
"Dinozzo!" a voice answered.
"Agent Dinozzo?"
"Jared! How many times have I told you to call me Tony." Tony said jovially.
"Tony," Jared exclaimed, "Tim had an allergic reaction. We're in the ambulance right now, on the way to the hospital. They were going to take him to Memorial, but I told them to take him to Bethesda."
"What!" Tony cried, practically hyperventilating.
One of the paramedics took the phone from Tony. "Sir, my name is Daniel Megann. I'm an EMT taking care of your son. He's had a severe allergic reaction to what seems to be peanuts."
"You're taking him to Bethesda?" Tony questioned. He could hear the siren wailing in the backround
"Yes, sir. We'll be there shortly."
Tony hung up and started talking rapidly.
"Boss! Tim had a reaction. He's on his way to Bethesda. Oh my God, Boss. It sounds really bad."
Gibbs took immediate control of the situation. "Ziva, call everyone. Tony, with me. You're in no state to drive. C'mon."
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The ambulance arrived only a couple minutes later. Doctors rushed out to assist the medics, one of whom was on top of the gurney giving Tim CPR again. The other man was running alongside the gurney, still pumping the balloon giving Tim the needed oxygen. "Get him inside now! He needs to be shocked again."
Jared looked on helplessly until the woman paramedic took pity on him. "Hey, c'mon kid. I'll take you to the waiting room. Is that your friend?"
Jared nodded. "He's my cousin, but I think of him more like my little brother."
The woman led Jared to the waiting room, where he called his dad.
"Hey son," Vance answered.
"Dad. Timmy's really sick."
"I know, son. I'll be there soon. Just sit tight for me, okay?"
"I'm worried about him, dad."
"Me too, Jared. Me too." Vance admitted. "I'll be there in five."
"Okay dad. See you soon."
"See you soon, Jared." Jared sat on the waiting room chair, fidgeting restlessly. When the waiting room doors opened, he jumped to his feet.
"Tony!"
"Oh, good. Jared. My, God. Tell me what happened."
"I don't really know…" Jared stated. "I met with a teacher of mine, and then I was going to call my dad to pick me up. I saw Tim's backpack on the ground, but I didn't see him. I called his name and looked around. He was on the ground, so I called an ambulance."
A doctor chose that moment to walk in. "You probably saved his life with that quick thinking too. Another minute and we probably wouldn't have been able to bring him back."
"Brad?" Tony questioned.
"Hey, Tony. I saw Tim's last name was Dinozzo. I was wondering if he was related to you."
"He's my son," Tony said quietly. "Is he okay? Can I see him?"
"Tony, we got your son stabilized, but he crashed twice already. We have him on a ventilator because he cannot breathe on his own. Right now, we also have him in a medicated coma. He is in our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Anything like this is very traumatizing to the body of someone as young and as small as Tim. We will likely start bringing him out of the coma in two or three days…" Doctor Brad Pitt paused at this point. Tony had turned positively pale at the enormity of what happened to his son.
Gibbs, who had been standing silently until that point, pushed Tony down in a chair. "Hey, Tony, he's going to be fine; Tim may be small, but he's a fighter."
The rest of the team, including Vance, entered the waiting room while Gibbs was talking. Jared rushed over to his dad; he was scared for Timmy. He didn't want to lose the boy who was like a little brother to him. At the same time, a black whirlwind rushed over to Tony and embraced him in a tight hug.
"Abs, can't breathe!" Tony coughed.
"Ooh, sorry. How's Timmy? Oh my God, I was so worried."
Tony just shook his head and looked at Brad.
"Hello again, Doctor Pitt," Ducky said, always one to stay calm. "Can you tell us how young Timothy is doing?"
Brad explained again how Tim was doing, and everyone looked shocked. "Can I see him?" Tony asked again.
Brad nodded. "Two at a time. I'd say only family, but I know that wouldn't stop you guys." Brad thought back to when Tony had the plague. The whole team had visited him frequently, despite the "family only" rule the hospital had insisted upon.
"We are all family." Ziva said. Everyone nodded in agreement.
Tony and Gibbs walked off to see Timmy. Unfortunately, nothing, not even being a crime investigator, could prepare Tony for seeing his only son so sick.
Yay! Dr. Pitt. I love him! Up next: Tony sees Timmy. The team finds out why Timmy had the allergic reaction in the first place. Uh oh for those three bullies.