A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay in updating, especially after leaving you with a cliffhanger! Once again a huge thank you for all the reviews, alerts, and PMs.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and I am making no money. No copyright infringement intended.
Ch 11
Suddenly out of nowhere, three shots rang out and Tony fell to the ground in a motionless heap.
The gunman suddenly jumped out from behind the cover of an old rundown International Harvester combine with a feral grin on his face. His intent was clear as he raised the assault rifle to spray the team with bullets, but the grin fell from his face when he pulled the trigger only to hear a click indicating an empty magazine.
Without hesitation Ziva and Balboa turned, and like Jules and Vincent in "Pulp Fiction" emptied the remaining rounds in their Sigs into the assailant, killing him instantly. Tim and Ryan, who had been tending to one of Balboa's wounded men, rushed to Tony's side.
"Oh shit, Tony," Tim yelled as he opened Tony's jacket and began to assess his injuries. He discovered one slug embedded in Tony's vest below his heart, but blood was pouring from a gunshot wound to Tony's left thigh and it appeared that at least one more round had gotten him in the side, somehow missing his Kevlar vest. "WE NEED A MEDIC IN HERE!"
Ryan pulled a bandana from his jacket pocket and used it to put pressure on the leg wound while Tim placed his bare hands on Tony's side to try and staunch the bleeding. Balboa came over to assist and unfastened the Velcro closures on Tony's vest and carefully removed it.
Fornell had run in from his post in the communications truck just in time to see Tony and the gunman go down. He ran over and knelt down and tried to assess Tony's vitals and was not pleased with his labored breathing. "We have ambulances en route. McGee, call Bethesda and have them call Dr. Pitt. I think DiNozzo may have a collapsed lung."
The first ambulance to arrive slid to a stop on the gravel outside and a team of paramedics jumped out and headed for the first wounded person they saw. Balboa's voice boomed as he yelled, "Fuck them! Get over here. I got one critical." Balboa was a former Army Ranger and had seen enough combat wounds in his storied career to know that they needed to get Tony to a hospital fast.
A team of three paramedics forced everyone back and set to work stabilizing Tony. One placed an oxygen mask over his face and began taking his blood pressure while the other two inserted a chest tube to drain the blood from around Tony's damaged lung before applying pressure dressings to the leg wound. Tim closed his eyes and pulled a stiff and unresponsive Ziva to his chest when he saw blood flow through the clear tube and out onto the floor. Within minutes Tony was loaded onto a gurney and placed into the back of the ambulance.
Balboa looked at the remnants of Tony's devastated team as they watched the ambulance speed away with Tony with its lights flashing and siren blaring. "Hey, you three," he said forcefully to get their attention, "get out of here and get to the hospital. We have enough agents to deal with this mess. I already called Moretti to get his team out here to help and more feebs, DEA and a team from ATF are already on the way. You guys don't need to be here."
After a brief conversation with Balboa, Fornell drove the team to the hospital and sat quietly with them as they waited for news about Tony's condition. When they arrived at the emergency room, they were informed that Tony had coded just as the ambulance arrived and had been rushed into surgery. A sympathetic nurse named Suzanne took the group of devastated agents up to the surgical ward waiting room.
"Please don't hesitate to let Kelly or Maria out at the nurse's station know if you need anything. I will make sure they let the surgeons know you are here for Agent DiNozzo. Your friend is in very good hands," she said with an encouraging smile.
Tim paced the waiting room for the better part of an hour before dropping his head with a sigh. "Someone needs to call Gibbs," he said quietly, "and we should probably call Ducky."
Fornell cleared his throat and offered, "I'll call Gibbs, McGee. Why don't you call Dr. Mallard."
Gibbs was getting frantic as three calls in the last hour to Tony's cell went straight to voicemail. It was unlike Tony not to answer his phone. It was 0900 in Prague and he was getting ready to head to the first of many mandatory meetings and official functions he was scheduled to attend. It was 0300 Sunday morning in D.C. and the planned raid should be over. The nagging feeling churning in Gibbs' gut since he left D.C. never left and was getting worse with every passing hour. Despite the hour he was about to call the house when his cell rang; the number on the caller ID was Fornell's.
"Fornell! Talk to me. Something happened. What's wrong?" Gibbs demanded knowing that he was only calling because Tony couldn't. He began to shake and tears filled his eyes as Tobias told him about Tony. After several minutes Gibbs said softly, "I'm on my way. Tobias, you tell DiNozzo I said he still doesn't have permission to die. I'll be on the next flight." He flipped his phone shut and dropped down onto the couch in his hotel room and cried.
Meanwhile, Tim was on the phone with Ducky. "Sorry to wake you Ducky, but ... you need to come to Bethesda. Tony got shot during the raid and he's in surgery. It sounds like he's in pretty bad shape. Yeah, Agent Fornell from the FBI is talking to Gibbs right now. No, let's wait and tell Abby later when we have some news. Yeah. Okay. We'll see you soon."
Abby woke to the sound of Lynard Skynard's "Sweet Home Alabama" blaring from her phone. She glanced at the clock, which read 8:00, and quickly grabbed her phone. Despite not getting much sleep due to worrying about the raid she answered with a cheerful, "Hey Ry Guy, what's up? How'd it go last night? Did you guys bust all the dirt bags?"
Abby she sat up slowly and brought a shaky hand to her mouth as tears began to pour from her eyes when Ryan interrupted her rambling to break the bad news to her. "NO! Oh my God, Tony! Oh no! Oh God! Ryan, I have to go. What? Okay, but please hurry!" She jumped out of bed and dressed quickly before hastily running a brush through her hair and putting it in a pony tail while tears continued to run down her face.
Ryan showed up at her door ten minutes later, and she threw herself in his arms when she saw the worry in his eyes. He held her tightly as she sobbed and tried his best to comfort her. "Hey Abby Girl, he's gonna be okay. I hear this isn't Tony's first rodeo. He's tough and he'll get through this."
Abby sniffled a few times and nodded. "Ryan, can we go to Tony's house first. Someone needs to tell Sister Kate and ... I need to be there for Dominic while his dads are gone. I know he's just a baby, but until Gibbs gets back he needs his family." Ryan nodded in understanding and held her hand as they walked to his truck.
Ducky and Palmer had just arrived at the hospital and were handing out coffee to everyone when Dr. Pitt came into the waiting room. Tim grabbed Ziva's hand and squeezed it while bracing himself for bad news. By the look on Dr. Pitt's face, he couldn't possibly have good news for them.
"Ah, Dr. Pitt! I do hope you have good news about Anthony. What can you tell us," Ducky asked cautiously as the rest of the group stood and gathered around behind him.
Brad cleared his throat and exhaled wearily. "Okay. First let me say that Tony is stable right now, but he is critical. He lost a lot of blood and that's why he coded in transit. He's still in surgery, and we have him on the rapid transfuser to replace the blood he lost. I had to remove a small portion of his left lung; the damage was too extensive to repair. We removed his spleen and sutured a laceration to his liver. Thankfully the gunshot to his leg only nicked the femoral artery, but unfortunately it shattered his femur. We sutured the artery and now a team of orthopedic specialists are working to set his leg with plates and pins. He'll be in surgery for at least another five or six hours."
"What can you tell me about his overall prognosis, Bradley," Ducky asked stoically with an air of authority.
Brad shook his head and shrugged before replying, "I won't lie to you, he's in a bad way Dr. Mallard. It's really touch and go right now. Once he's out of surgery we'll need to keep him in the ICU for at least the next 48 to 72 hours and monitor him closely. Uh, may I ask where Gibbs is? I know he's Tony's medical attorney-in-fact."
"Jethro is trying to get a priority flight out of Prague. He'll be here as soon as he can. He told me to tell you to do whatever you had to for Tony." Fornell stated tiredly from his seat several feet away.
"Okay, good. Look, none of you are going to be able to see Tony at all today, so why don't you guys go home and get some rest. I will stay here as long as necessary and I will call Dr. Mallard when there is any news or if there is any change in his condition," Brad admonished.
Tim pulled out his phone and was about to call Ryan when it rang showing a call from Abby. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before answering, "Hey, Abby. Wait, wait, just slow down. Now listen, we're coming over there. Tony's doctor is sending us home since we won't be able to see Tony today. No ... look Abs, we'll tell you everything we know when we get there. Yeah, we're leaving right now. Okay, bye."
He turned to Ziva and said, "Abby is at Tony and Gibbs' house with Ryan. I think we should go so we can all be together." Ziva, who had been uncharacteristically quiet since they arrived at the hospital, slowly nodded while looking down at the floor.
"Ziva, are you okay," Tim asked softly as he gently placed a finger under her chin.
A usually emotionally detached Ziva looked up and released the tears that had been threatening to fall for hours. "No Tim, I am not," she whispered as Tim pulled her into a fierce hug. "I am so scared for Tony and for Gibbs ... and ... and little Dominic," Ziva sobbed into Tim's neck. He held her close and whispered in her ear that everything would be all right as he ran a firm hand up and down her back as she cried.
Thirty minutes later they were all sitting around the living room as Ducky recited and explained what Dr. Pitt had told them earlier. Ryan kept an arm around Abby as she began to cry again after hearing how badly Tony was injured.
Kate went to the kitchen and put a kettle on for tea and started a fresh pot of coffee before calling Sister Rosita to tell her the news about Tony. Ducky came in a few minutes later to find Kate clutching her rosary beads and praying quietly at the kitchen table.
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and said fondly, "Thank you my dear. Anthony needs all the prayers he can get."
Kate looked at Ducky with a weak smile and said, "I thought I would fix some snacks or sandwiches while we wait for news. Oh Doctor Mallard, I am so worried. Poor Jethro must be frantic."
"Don't you worry my dear, Jethro will be home soon. So, how about you and I make those sandwiches," Ducky offered with a warm smile.
Ducky insisted that he expected everyone to eat as he carried a large plate full of sandwiches out to the living room. Palmer jumped up and took the plate from him and made the rounds making sure that everyone was served, stopping longer than necessary when he reached Fornell who smiled as he took a ham and cheese sandwich from the pile. Ryan took everyone's drink order and went to the kitchen to help Kate and Ducky bring them out.
Tim was trying to get Ziva to eat something when Dominic woke up and began crying. Kate went to stand, but Tim held up his hand. "You stay. I'll go get Dominic." Tim left his half eaten sandwich on the coffee table and ran up the stairs. He was overcome with emotion when he stepped up to DJ's crib and looked down on his innocent de facto nephew. He let a few tears fall before leaning over and scooping up DJ and holding him against his chest and rocking him gently. "Shhh. It's okay little buddy. Uncle Probie's got you."
Palmer had followed Tim upstairs to offer his help and stood silently in the doorway as Tim changed DJ's diaper and murmured to him that "Daddy will be okay and Papa will be home soon."
"You're really good with him," Palmer said softly as he approached.
Tim pulled a bottle from the mini fridge and sat in the rocking chair with DJ. Once he saw that DJ was drinking he replied, "Yeah. He's a great baby. I was stunned when Tony told me about him, but I am so happy that Tony and Gibbs adopted him." He paused for a moment and swallowed hard. His voice cracked with emotion as he said, "Jesus Palmer, what if Tony doesn't make it?"
Palmer patted Tim's shoulder and said softly, "Hey, come on now, none of that. Tony is going to be fine. He might be in bad shape for a while, but we'll all be here to help him and Agent Gibbs."
Back downstairs Abby walked up to Ziva who stood by herself staring blankly out the kitchen window. "Hey Ziva, you okay? You've been really quiet all day," Abby asked as she took in Ziva's stone-like expression.
Very quietly Ziva stated plainly, "It is all my fault that Tony is in the hospital. The man who shot Tony was the man I saw guarding him. I should have noticed that he was not dead or in custody. If I had, Tony would not be fighting for his life."
Abby gasped in surprise at Ziva's confession, but put an arm around her shoulder and said softly but forcefully, "No Ziva, it's not your fault, okay? From what Ryan and McGee told me all hell broke loose out there. No one knew where that asshole who shot our Tony was hiding. I'm just so glad no one else got hurt. Look Ziva, Tony's not going to blame you and neither are any of us."
Ziva nodded weakly and said quietly, "Thank you Abby, that is very kind, but until I know for sure that Tony is out of danger I will not forgive myself."
"Hey everyone," Fornell announced loudly after coming in from the front porch, "I just talked to Gibbs. He's on his way home and should be here tomorrow afternoon. Leon Vance is going to contact Sec Nav Jarvis and see if they can get him home sooner." He looked up after wiping his feet on the rug to see Palmer smiling at him brightly. His eyebrows shot up when he saw Palmer blush slightly and look away nervously.
Tim kept a protective eye on DJ after bringing him downstairs as he was passed around the room from lap to lap, blissfully unaware that anything was wrong. DJ was a happy distraction for everyone, but Ryan wasn't sure what to do with him when he ended up holding him, but he was soon won over by the energetic baby. The whole room burst out laughing when Ryan held a smiling and cooing DJ out in front of him and drawled, "Well ain't you cuter than a speckled pup!"
When DJ was finally passed to Ziva an hour later she brought him over and sat close to Tim, and together they looked down on the precious bundle in Ziva's arms sucking away on his Sesame Street pacifier quickly losing the battle to stay awake.
Once word of the raid got out, ZNN and other local and cable news channels rushed to the scene. Throughout the rest of the afternoon calls were made and answered, and friend and NCIS co-workers stopped by to offer their support. Sister Rosita and some of the other nuns from Abby's bowling team showed up to offer comfort and to lead a series of prayers for Tony's quick recovery.
Balboa and his team showed up to update Fornell and Tim on the aftermath of the raid and to wait for news about Tony. Tim was relieved when Balboa informed him that he found Tony's Sig and badge in the truck where Tony had stashed them, and that Tony's backup weapon and knife had been recovered from one of the ringleaders.
Around 1800 Ducky's cell phone rang. He looked at it and saw Dr. Pitt's number. He gave a silent prayer before answering with, "Bradley thank goodness! What news about Anthony?"