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Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death –

Once Gibbs left, the doctors and staff made quick work of getting Tony's broken stitches repaired and within an hour he was all cleaned up and re-bandaged. Looking at him now one would never know there had been any commotion at all not that long ago. All the while he was being tended to, Tony had remained asleep largely due to the effects of the earlier sedatives - combined with morphine and his body's own struggle to heal itself.

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A Matter Of Life Or Death

Part X

Hospital Waiting Room At Bethesda . . .

Kate made quick work of telling everyone about the incident in Tony's room involving Ari. Everyone looked at her in complete shock as they tried to absorb what she was saying, while at the same they were all immediately concerned about how Gibbs and Tony were both doing and knew they had to get that protection detail set up before doing anything else. She informed Abby that they might need her help with confirming what was in the substance found on their bosses' face. Abby agreed to do whatever was needed in order to help as she pushed back the tears and worries that were attempting to dull her usual confidence and bravado – instead she made a decision to force herself to turn those emotions around so they actually fueled her with a bold determination instead.

"Just point me toward the main hospital lab Kate and I'll take it from there!" Abby fiercely stated before leaving the room in the direction Kate had suggested.

"Kate, what do you need me to do?" McGee asked the second she finished conveying the details of the bold way that Ari had accomplished his mission – a mission meant only to intimidate them and nothing more.

Tony's Room in ICU . . .

Gibbs had been able to convince the medical staff that he was not in need of further rest or worse yet, being admitted as a patient himself. He did agree to let them check all of his vital signs from blood pressure to more blood samples with the promise to repeat those tasks in 2 hours time, just to make sure nothing was showing up that had some kind of delayed onset or bizarre aftereffects. Gibbs knew he would be fine since he felt 100% back to normal and didn't feel any lasting effects of the drugged spray whatsoever. In fact, he felt as though nothing had been done to him at all but then again nothing surprised him where Ari was concerned.

While Kate and the others were already busy organizing protection and making arrangements to get everyone on the lookout for Ari - Tony remained unconscious for a few more hours with Gibbs a constant presence at his bedside, determined to be the first person Tony saw when he woke up again and knowing full well that he would most likely be disoriented once again and possibly even panicked if like he had done upon awakening in recovery, or worst if he remembered the attack on Gibbs' then he would surely awaken in panic, a feeling Gibbs knew all too well from his own past experiences waking up in hospitals.

While he waited for Tony to come around again he had an occasional pang of guilt for not being out there helping Kate brief the rest of the team and making all of the other arrangements, he had more than enough confidence that they could do the job just fine without him there to babysit or bark out orders. So he finally relaxed and sat back in the chair near Tony's bed to continue his watch over his most senior agent.

One thought kept that just kept nagging at him, preventing him from fully resting - he couldn't help but think about how easy it would have been for Ari to have just killed Tony on the spot after incapacitating Gibbs with that paralytic spray. That thought alone made him more determined than ever to not allow anything or anyone to pull him away from watching Tony's six while he fought his way through the hardest part of his recovery. He would be ready for Ari next time – and if needed, he would kill him.

Waiting Room / Temporary Bullpen . . .

Abby had left the waiting room that was now assigned the dual label of impromptu command station – she headed towards the hospital lab after getting special permission from Dr. Bianchi to work with her own lab staff on determining what the drug spray that was used on Gibbs consisted of. The physician was well aware of how critical it was that they do whatever necessary to help the NCIS team maintain their usual case protocols which included documenting everything to the letter as long as it was found to be connected in some way to the case they had now nicknamed "Stop Ari".

McGee had gone off to get started on a list of numerous urgent calls that had to be made ASAP – such as upping security at the hospital as well as on each member of the team whenever they were separated from one another.

Kate knew that the first thing on her task list had to be the phone call to alert their Director to the latest turn of events. She had to call Director Shepard.

She knew that Jenny would be livid if she wasn't informed immediately about Ari's unauthorized 'visit' and his attack on Gibbs as well as his threats on the rest of the team. Kate smiled briefly as she was dialing - thinking that no matter how hard the Director and Agent Gibbs tried to pretend that they disagreed on nearly every subject and that there were no feelings left between them – Kate and anyone else with half a brain could easily see that quite the opposite was true. Only Gibbs and Jenny themselves seemed to remain oblivious to their obvious renewed chemistry and mutual attraction . . . or in denial perhaps was a better term.

"Director Shepard, it's Kate."

"Yes Kate, what's wrong? I know you wouldn't be calling me unless something was wrong so what's going on?" Jenny asked, hoping that the fear she was suddenly feeling that was causing her gut to churn - wasn't coming through in her voice.

"It's Ari again. He's back. He showed up at the hospital and somehow made it into Tony's room in ICU where he attacked Gibbs by spraying some kind of drugged concoction into his face. He's okay now Director – and Tony is okay now as well."

Jenny released the breath she didn't realize she had been holding during Kate's entire impromptu debriefing. "Oh my God? How the hell did he get in there?" She finally hollered into the wireless earpiece of her cell phone. "And what do you mean Tony is okay now? Did Ari attack him too?"

"No, no Tony wasn't touched at all by Ari – only Gibbs. But Tony had woken up right before this happened and tried to get up to help Gibbs. He just pulled some stitches, they think he was trying to get up to reach for the call button to bring someone in there to help. Trust me Director – they are both fine now I assure you." Kate promised.

"I'll be right there Kate! I was just picking someone up at the airport, I will head over to the hospital! I assume you already took care of ordering extra security patrol – including outside the door to Tony's room?"

"Yes Director that was the first thing we took care of. Just please be careful and get here in one piece, we have things under control for the moment and we don't need anyone else getting hurt." Kate pleaded, in the back of her mind she knew that Ari could very well go after the Director just as well as anyone else. Especially - if Ari had any knowledge whatsoever of the brief affair that occurred between Gibbs and the stunning Director all those years ago.

Meanwhile Back In Tony's Room . . .

This time it was one of Tony's surgeon's, Doctor Otterman, who came in to check on both of the men in ICU cubicle B-3. He had been asked by his associate Dr. Bianchi who was on her first break in over 18 hours, to just give the lead Agent Gibbs a quick once over to make sure no further ill effects were showing up from the drug he had been attacked with. After finding Gibbs eyes clear and his vital signs perfectly within the normal ranges, he then proceeded to examine his primary patient Agent DiNozzo.

Once finished he turned and explained to Gibbs that while Tony was holding his own and progressing quite well, he was still relying more on the ventilator than the doctor would have liked which according to the experienced physician meant a couple of things could be happening. One being that the fluid was obviously still building up in his lungs and therefore Tony was still in need of the of the drainage tubes working together in combination with the ventilator to keep his lungs clear and in working condition until Tony's body was at a stronger place and better able to take over the task on his own, and the second being that his lungs were already too weakened well before the explosion had even occurred due to the after effects of the plague he had nowhere near recovered from, but then worsened by the overall trauma to the man's body as he endured the harsh explosion from far too close a proximity.

Since there was no way to ascertain which of these were causing his lungs to take longer than normal to heal, it was clear that he was going to require breathing assistance for just a while longer to Gibbs disappointment. He knew that was the one thing he had hoped to be able to do before Tony came around again – was to get them to remove the vent so Tony wouldn't have to keep waking up to the grotesque feeling of having that tube shoved down his raw throat causing his throat even more irritation the longer it remained. Gibbs had to force himself to shake off the memory of having a similar tube in his own throat more than once before, one of which was from injuries received while fighting for his Country.

But the Doctor assured his patient's caring commander that his agent was progressing on schedule where every other injury and incision was concerned. He also informed Gibbs that Tony was actually doing much better than he had expected given all that the younger man had been through over the past few weeks. He then promised that once the tubes were draining a lower volume and the fluid had become clearer in color – and when Tony was able to breathe completely without the assist of the vent, then it could be removed and he would then be well on his way to recovering from his injuries.

"Thank you Doctor, even though he still has a ways to go, I know you had a lot to do with him even making it this far so, thank you for all you have done for my agent." Gibbs said as he stood to offer the Doctor a firm handshake to show his sincere appreciation but as the man got closer to the door Gibbs remembered one more thing he forgot to ask about.

"Sorry to keep you but I do have one more question if I may Doc?" Gibbs asked, knowing the man had other patients to see. "I thought someone said that Dr. Pitt was coming in to assist or to help re-evaluate the damage and condition of Tony's lungs – did that plan change? I haven't seen him."

"Oh, my apologies Agent Gibbs, I thought that Dr. Bianchi informed you that he is still coming but he had an emergency surgery that only he could perform since the patient's lungs were in even worse shape than your agent's. I do believe he was planning to come by after he rested up a bit – it ended up being a very long surgery."

With that Gibbs thanked him again and went back to his seat to resume his diligent wait for Tony to wake up again.

A lump formed in Gibbs throat as he stared at Tony's pale, drawn face – catching him off guard since he hadn't expected to be so emotional over this. He had seen Tony go through this kind of fight before just a couple of months ago – he didn't get this choked up then so he wasn't sure what was causing it now.

Reaching forward he moved a few stray strands of hair that were slightly damp from a low grade fever his agent still seemed to have, pushing them back up and smoothing them down fully aware of Tony's admittedly vain demeanor. He could almost hear Tony asking him if his hair looked good – already wanting to make sure he looked good for any pending visitor's. He let out a light but rare chuckle at the absurdity of the thought when suddenly his focus was pulled back to Tony's face when he swore he saw the twitching of one his well coiffed eyebrows.

"Tony? Tony can you hear me?"

His question was followed by more twitching but now moving to other parts of Tony's face, first his nose wiggled slightly, then his eyelids were forming a bit of a squint without fully opening. But within just seconds Gibbs was able to take in a much needed deep breath when he was finally granted a welcome glimmer of the green pupils that had lain hidden beneath closed lids for so many hours.

He had not even noticed how long he had been holding his breath in anxious anticipation, not knowing if Tony's latest awakening would once again be with panic and uncertainty darkening his eyes – or if this time his awakening would be of a more peaceful nature.

"Yeah that's it Tony. Now keep those eyes open for me can ya do that? Listen to me, you are still in the hospital, but you are going to be okay. I just you to stay still – if you understand me – blink once."

This time to Gibbs' tremendous relief Tony's awakening had been much more quiet and calm without the drama his earlier awakening had been accompanied by. He wasn't waking up in a panic over not being able to breathe and he wasn't waking up to a terrorist attacking his boss. This time it was actually peaceful.

Gibbs pressed the call button to alert the staff that Tony had regained consciousness again. Upon hearing the door open he turned around ready to move out of their way so they could check Tony over but to his surprise it wasn't the Doctor or any nurses who stood at the doorway – it was Director Jenny Shepard.

To Be Continued . . .