Family Portrait, Family Shadows

by smush68

SEQUEL to Monsters in the Shadows! It's been 7 years since tony rescued Abby from Trust Fund Thad and the rooftop, and our favorite couple is still together - married with children! Did they get their HEA? Read and find out!

11. Chapter 11

FAMILY PORTRAIT, FAMILY SHADOWS

CHAPTER 11

The team, minus Ziva, who was researching a lead back at NCIS, had been at the crime scene for about half an hour, collecting evidence, taking pictures. But they couldn't do anything with the body yet as Ducky, their ME, hadn't arrived yet. For he and his assistant Jimmy to be a few minutes late wasn't unusual - one or the other of them (and Ducky will swear up and down that it's young Mr. Palmer) is rather directionally challenged. But this late was unheard of.

While interviewing a witness with Gibbs, Tony's phone rang for the tenth time, and for the tenth time, it was Abby. As much as he was dying to talk to her, the glare from Gibbs scared him more. "Sorry, boss." He turned the phone off and the interview continued, uninterrupted.

Twenty minutes later, they were still waiting on Ducky and Palmer. "Even Palmer couldn't get them this lost," Tony commented, walking the crime scene.

"I'll check and see if there's anything going on on the Beltway, maybe they're in traffic," said McGee, calling something up on his phone.

Gibbs' phone rang. "Hey Duck! Where are you? We've got a body….." he stopped and listened, looked worriedly at Tony, then started for the car. "When? How long…..where are you taking her? We'll meet you there. Thanks, Duck." Gibbs began running for the car, head slapping Tony on his way past.

"Ow!" Tony rubbed the back of his head, glaring after Gibbs. "What was that for?"

"For turning off your phone, when your pregnant wife is bleeding and going to the hospital with stomach pains!"

Tony was momentarily stunned. Pregnant wife…? Abby is his wife, and she's not….Abby's pregnant! Tony threw all his gear at McGee and ran after Gibbs. He managed to just get a leg in the car door before Gibbs took off at seventy-five miles an hour. "Boss! Abby's pregnant!"

Gibbs sucked in a breath. "You didn't know."

"No!" Tony ran his hands through his hair in frustration and panic, shaking his head. "Should have answered the phone…Abby wouldn't call when we're at a scene unless it's important….why didn't I answer the stupid phone?" He pulled his cell out and turned it on. "Not only did I not answer, I turned the damn thing off….broke Rule 3.…."

"Tony, it's not your fault. You couldn't have known…."

"If I'd answered the damned phone, I would've known….'Never Be Unreachable'…..what if it had been one of the kids? They could be the ones in the hospital, sick, hurt…worse….and I never would have known, because I turned the damned phone off!"

Gibbs felt bad for glaring at Tony earlier when his phone kept ringing. "Tony…."

"My wife, whom I didn't know was pregnant, is going to the emergency room, bleeding, with stomach pains…..shoulda' answered the damned, stupid phone!" He hit the button to retrieve his messages.

"Hey Tony….it's Abby. Well, you know who I am by now, because….we've been together, like, forever. Um…I know you guys are going to a crime scene, that's kind of why I'm calling now, because I'm nervous, and so you can't…hang up on me to my face…ear….whatever. Um…Gibbs and I talked last night, and um, well, he talked, I mostly, um… (sniffle) anyway, um….I think, maybe, um….we should talk? If you want to, that is….um…so, I'll talk to you later, I guess? Ok, bye."

Tony closed his eyes against the forming tears. "Oh, Abbs," he groaned. The automated voice announced the next message.

"Um, Tony? Um, I know you guys are out on a call, but, um… (sharp gasp)…you know what, never mind, I can wait 'til you get back, I guess. Um…bye."

"Next Message:"

I know, I know, you're at a crime scene, I'm sorry. (Quiet groan) Tony? (Groan) I think something's…. (Ding!) Oh, my results are in. Um, can you come to the lab when you get back, Tony? Please?….Thanks."

Tony could hear the increasing stress in Abby's voice, and his own stress grew.

"Next Message:"

"(Sniffle) Tony?" Her voice was trembling. "(Groan) Owwwwwwww! I need…..!" She was pleading for help. Tony pounded the ceiling of the car. "Oh God! Hu-u-hhhhhh-h-h-owwwww! Something's wrong….hurts! (Gasp!) Please, Tony!….."

"Next Message:"

"(Scream) Tony!" Tony punched the ceiling repeatedly. "Oh, God!…Can't….why? Phone's off….(owww!) Why? There's blood….To-neeee-heeeeee-heeeeee!" Tony and Gibbs heard the phone clatter to the floor. Abby was crying and screaming, then came Ducky's voice: "Abigail, what's the mat…oh dear Lord! Mr. Palmer, an ambulance, immediately! And bring my bag!….Abigail…Abigail, darling, I need you to open those beautiful eyes for me….(sigh) oh, Abigail." Then they heard Ziva run in. "Ducky, Palmer called and told me to get down here ASA…Abby!" At some point during the arrival of the emergency crew, the phone was kicked out of the way, and the message ended.

The cell phone broke apart as Tony threw it against the dashboard. Gibbs maneuvered the car easily at ninety miles an hour, and still managed to talk to Tony. "You couldn't have known, Tony." The younger man didn't answer. He was too busy blaming himself.

"Never be unreachable. And I was unreachable on purpose. Turned off my phone without even finding out why she was calling….it could've been my kids….AJ or Kaity could be the ones in trouble and I wouldn't have known about it….." Tony tilted his head back, looking at the ceiling, tears in his eyes. "I can't lose her, Gibbs….I just…can't."

Putting his right hand on Tony's shoulder, Gibbs assured him, "you won't. She's strong, a fighter. She'll be ok." He snuck a look at this man he thought of as a son. "She doesn't have my permission not to be," he grumbled underneath his breath to himself.

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Bethesda Naval Hospital

Emergency Room

Ziva muscled her way past security at the first angry scream from Abby. She followed the sound to the ER cubicle, and ran to her friend. "Abby, what is…"

"Get that bitch out of here!" Abby's eyes blazed fire even as she cringed in pain.

Startled, Ziva asked, "who…?" She turned and saw none other than Dr. Jeanne Benoit trying to talk her way past Ducky. 'Can this day get any worse?' she muttered to herself.

Abby grabbed her hand. "Please, Ziva!" she pleaded through the pain. "Get her away from me….she can't…..(gasp)…don't let her touch me….please!"

Smoothing Abby's hair, Ziva tried to be encouraging. "I am sure once she realizes….Ducky can be very persuasive, yes? You need to calm down, Abby."

Abby's anger rose again. "I'll calm down when she's gone!"

Jeanne got away from Ducky and came over to the bed. "Mrs. DiNozzo, I understand this is awkward, but I am the ER doctor on duty…."

"Touch me, and I'll kill you! I can do it, too, and leave no forensic evidence!"

"Mrs. DiNozzo…Abby…"

Ziva could see the distress Abby was in. "Ms….Dr. Benoit, maybe it would be best if you let another doctor….."

"Nurse," Jeanne interrupted firmly, "prepare ten mgs of valium for Mrs. DiNozzo." She turned back to Abby. "Abby, if you don't calm down, I'll have to sedate you to examine you."

Abby began to cry in pain, in frustration. In fear. "Ziva? Where's Tony? Why isn't he here? Please…I don't want her here…please? Make her go?"

Stepping in front of Abby so neither Jeanne nor the sedation-wielding nurse could get to her friend, Ziva kept her cool. "Jeanne, you can see you are upsetting her. Please. Recuse yourself, and let another doctor treat Abby."

Jeanne was angry. This trashy woman in the bed was Tony's wife. She'd had his children. This was what he'd passed her over for? "Look, the longer you wait, the worse it will get." She motioned to one of the other nurses to hold Abby down. "Marcy, if you could hold Mrs. DiNozzo's shoulders…"

Ziva was nose-to-nose with Jeanne before the forceful doctor could blink. "Touch one hair on my sister's head, and I will see to it that you never treat another patient again. Because you will be dead." She gave Jeanne a small poke with the knife now pressed against her sternum.

As Ziva threatened Jeanne, Ducky ran into the cubicle with another doctor and even more nurses.

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Tony jumped out of the car before it even slowed down, and ran through the ER entrance. Security tried to tell Gibbs he couldn't park there, but Gibbs didn't even stop, just tossed the kid the keys. When he got to the triage area, Tony was arguing with the head nurse.

"….She's my wife, I have to be in there!"

The nurse sighed. "I'm sorry, sir…"

"Special Agent DiNozzo!"

"I'm sorry, special agent DiNozzo," she said, "but there's already two people in with Mrs. DiNozzo. Hospital policy only allows two visitors in the ER at a time."

Tony was at his boiling point. "I'm not a visitor, I'm her husband!"

Gibbs had seen and heard enough. "C'mon, DiNozzo." In typical Gibbs fashion, he just ploughed right through the security doors, giving the LEO guarding it a stare that said, "try me." As the doors closed behind them, they saw a cubicle overflowing with medical personnel spilling out into the hallway. Then they heard a very familiar scream.

"Abby!"

Gibbs and Tony came into a small riot. There were orders flying around the small space, nurses bumping into each other, Abby crying in pain, and one crazy ninja chick still holding a doctor at knife-point. Gibbs' mouth dropped open at the scene. "What the hell…? Abbs!"

"Jeanne?" Tony blinked in surprise.

"Can someone please remove Dr. Benoit? She's stressing the patient!"

Seeing just how agitated Abby was, Tony grabbed Jeanne away from Ziva and pushed her past the curtain. He had to get Abby to calm down, he could see she was in distress.

Ziva couldn't believe her eyes. His wife is lying in a bed in the emergency room, in obvious pain…..and Tony leaves with his ex-pretend girlfriend?

Once Jeanne was gone, Abby calmed down enough for the replacement doctor to get some coherent answers and medical readings. But Abby was looking for Tony. His name was all anyone heard as they wheeled her out for an ultrasound.

Not able to leave the young woman he considers a daughter, Gibbs walked with Abby's gurney, holding her hand the entire way. Something her husband should have been doing, he thought with an angry grimace.

Ducky and Ziva watched Abby being wheeled off to radiology, each trying to make some sense of what had happened today. Abby had thought she was pregnant and hadn't told anyone, including Tony. Because if Tony had known, all of NCIS would have had to listen to him bragging about the strength of his 'boys.' "Ducky, what is this 'phantom pregnancy' the doctor spoke of?"

Ducky removed his glasses and wiped his eyes, wondering how he could feel so thankful and so morose at the same time. "Simply put, Ziva, with all the stress our Abigail has been under the last few weeks, her hormones were thrown off-kilter, if you will. Wanting to regulate itself, the body coped with the extra hormones the only way it knew how - pregnancy."

Looking at Ducky, Ziva saw how tired the older gentleman looked, physically and emotionally, as well. She knew he felt guilty that he hadn't been able to save Abby this pain. "This is not your fault, Ducky. And you know that Abby feels the same."

Putting his glasses back on, he sighed, "yes, my dear, I know. But one cannot help but feel some sense of blame. I am a doctor - I should have been able to do more for our girl."

Ziva wrapped Ducky in a hug. If Gibbs was the father-figure of the group, then Ducky was most certainly the favorite grandfather. A role she knew he cherished, having never had children of his own. Keeping an arm around his shoulders, she led him out to the waiting area, only to stop short when they saw Tony talking with Jeanne. Standing very close to each other.

Ducky grimaced. "Of all the hospitals in all the world, she had to walk into ours."

"Ah, Casablanca, yes?" Ziva smiled sadly at the movie reference. She turned and stared daggers at Tony's back. "I am not the only one to see how wrong this is, no?"

"That Anthony chose….that woman….over his ailing wife? No, dear Ziva, you are most definitely not alone."

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Jeanne threw her arms around Tony in a strong hug. "Tony!"

Tony winced at the display and struggled to remove arms from around his neck. "Jeanne….Jeanne…stop!"

The beautiful doctor pouted. "Oh, but it's so good to see you again!"

Pushing her an arms' length away, Tony stepped back. "I'm not here for a reunion with you. My wife…"

Jeanne scoffed sarcastically. "Really, Tony?" She chuckled. " I thought she was kidding, saying her last name was DiNozzo!" She put her hands on his arms and rubbed them up and down. "I mean, she's not exactly your type."

He was just getting annoyed, now. He needed to be with Abby. Pregnant Abby. Why hadn't she said anything…? "She's exactly my type. Excuse me…." He began to turn to leave.

Now that she had him, she wasn't going to let him go. "Wait! Please…..I just want to talk."

Tony stepped in close, eyes flashing menacingly. "You wanna' talk? Ok, let's talk. Let's talk about why you didn't listen when my wife was screaming for you to leave her alone?" he stepped in even closer, his voice dropping dangerously. "Let's talk about why you ordered a nurse to hold her down, why you were going to give her a sedative? And then, maybe you can tell me what you did to make my partner feel she needed to gut you like a fish?"

Jeanne could see this was going south rapidly. "You're right, you're right. I just…I wanted to help her…for you…" Her eyes misted over an she placed a hand over his heart.

Rolling his eyes and smirking, Tony stepped back, pulling her hand from his chest. "I'm going to find my wife now. Do all of us - yourself included - a favor, and stay away from Abby and me."

She did her best to look hurt as he turned and walked away. "But…? Tony?"

Seeing Ducky and Ziva standing there, Tony rushed over. "Abby? Where is she? She ok?"

Ducky cleared his throat. "She's having an ultrasound now. They'll most likely keep her overnight to monitor her, and…" he didn't get to finish as Tony interrupted.

"Ok, I'm headed up to radiology, then." He put a hand on Ziva's shoulder as he passed and gave it a tender squeeze. "Thanks, Ziva…for…ya' know…." She never got a chance to reply as he went jogging off.

"Anthony, wait! There's something…." Ducky sighed as the younger man disappeared around the corner. "Oh dear." He shared a look with Ziva. "He really should have waited."

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While presenting the picture of calm - a habit from his Marine sniper days - Leroy Jethro Gibbs was seething inside. Tony walks off with his ex-girlfriend while his wife is in crisis? He may kill that boy of his, yet. At the least, give him a head slap he'd never forget. Gibbs was waiting outside radiology for Abby to be finished with her ultrasound. She'd been asking for Tony over and over, and was getting upset all over again. Hearing footsteps running down the hall, he turned to see Tony running full-steam for him.

"Is she in there? What's going on? The baby? Are they ok?"

Gibbs groaned silently. Tony didn't know. He put a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "DiNozzo, calm down. Abby's fine, she's ok. A little anemic from the blood loss, but she's ok….."

Tony processed what Gibbs had said. 'Abby's ok.' Just Abby…no mention of the baby…."She lost…?" he whispered sadly.

"No, Tony…she didn't lose the baby. There was no baby." Gibbs knew he wasn't getting through to Tony. "Tony, she wasn't pregnant…Tony….she didn't lose a baby, it was a phantom pregnancy….there was no baby…"

"Not…..what? How… what…what's going on, boss?"

Seeing Abby's doctor coming down the hall, Gibbs said, "the doc will be able to tell you better than I can. And then he can put you back together when I'm done ripping you apart." At Tony's inquisitive look, Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Walking out with your ex while your wife is having a possible miscarriage? Did you really think no one would notice, Dinozzo?" he growled.

Tony was incredulous - they thought…? "Wait, what? I didn't…"

"Mr. DiNozzo?" Abby's doctor stepped up. "I'm your wife's ER doctor, Dr. Thomas. If you'll come with me, please?"

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Tony paced the family waiting room for Abby to be brought to her room. She was fine, but they wanted to keep her overnight to bring up her blood count with a couple of transfusions. She'd never been pregnant. He wasn't sure how to feel. On the one hand, he was sad - he remembered their first two pregnancies, would have loved to have another child. But he was also glad - she didn't actually lose a baby, they wouldn't have that hanging over them while he attempted to get them back together. And what the hell was this crap about him and Jeanne? He'd gotten Jeanne out of the room for Abby. He could see how the other woman's presence was upsetting Abby, so he'd removed her. And now everyone thought he had chosen to be with Jeanne instead of Abby? Were they insane? Ok, yeah, for a moment while they were 'dating' he may have started to feel something for that woman, but she'd been an assignment. That's all he'd ever seen her as, all he ever would see her as. How could his friends - hell, his family, think he'd do that to Abby? He loved his wife, wanted no one but her.

A nurse popped in to let him know Abby was in her room. Tony followed behind her slowly, trying to think of what to say, how to apologize for everything. When he entered her room, he saw Abby lying on her side, facing away from the door. "Abbs?" he said softly, in case she was asleep. Putting a hand on her blanket-covered leg, he trailed it up gently as he walked around to the other side of the bed. "Abby? Honey?" She wasn't asleep. Her skin was paler than usual, and she had dark circles - looked like bruises - under her eyes. Eyes that were wet and accusing. "Sweets, I'm so sorry…"

"You turned your phone off…." she rasped tiredly.

"I know, honey, and I…"

"Why?" Abby whimpered. "Why did you turn it off?" A tear trickled down her cheek. "Hurt… so much…. So much blood….scared…why did you turn it off, Tony?"

Tony pulled the nearest chair up as close to the bed as he could get and grabbed Abby's hand. He wouldn't let go when she pathetically tried to pull away. "I'm so sorry, Abby, so, so sorry…when Ducky called Gibbs and told him what happened…." he swallowed thickly. "I've never been so scared in my entire life, Abbs. And then…hearing your messages on the phone….when you collapsed…." Tony dropped his head to their clasped hands. "Thank God Ducky was there…..I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you…"

"You could go back to your girlfriend, for one thing," she growled tiredly, trying to pull her hand away again. Unsuccessfully.

Tony was starting to get angry. "The only girlfriend I have is you! I'm not seeing Jeanne, I don't want to see Jeanne, and I never will see Jeanne. The only reason I left the room with her was to keep her away from you. I could see she was making you mad, so I dragged her out. Told her to stay away from you. From the both of us. That's all, Abby. I know I've been a real jack-ass lately, but I've never stopped loving you."

She was about to retort back, when she saw a tear roll down Tony's cheek. The dam inside her broke. "Tony?" she whispered sadly, and when he looked up at her, she threw herself - clumsily - into his arms, sobbing. Feeling his warmth, his strong arms surrounding her, she finally felt home again.

This was the scene Gibbs walked in on - his kids in each other's arms, both crying, both apologizing to each other. He silently watched them for a minute, making sure everything was ok, then left, a small smile on his face. Maybe now things would return to normal.

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A/N - Whoa! An appearance by Jeanne Benoit! Just HAD to write a scene proving Tony is over her! LOL But we may not have seen the last of Dr. Benoit….if ya' want to know what happens, you have to REVIEW this chapter first! Thanks!

A/N 2- big Shout-Out to Mandielouluvsewe - thanks for poking the sleeping dragon and getting me to get this chapter written and out! LOL HELPFUL HINT - GO read mandielouluvsewe's stories! They're awesome! Tony-centric, HOT! And she's even got one going about ME! Maybe if someone besides ME bugs her for more chapters (I.e. REVIEWS!), I'll get them faster! LOL