Gibbs awoke to the sound of shouting. Confused, he thought that it was Tony having another nightmare until he saw several nurses rushing around the room.

"Page Dr Pitt, ASAP," a nurse shouted as he continued to pump air into Tony's lungs.

A second nurse ran to the nurses' station, returning a moment later. "Dr Pitt is on the way."

The first nurse nodded and continued pumping air. The heart monitor was still beeping way too fast as Gibbs watched on in horror. What had happened? Tony had been okay when he fell asleep.

"What's going on?" Brad demanded as he came into the room.

"He's not breathing. His lungs are full of fluid."

"How did this happen?"

"We don't know. We came in to see what Tony needed because he had pushed the call button and found him trying to get enough air into his lungs."

"How long have you been at this?"

"Five minutes."

"Okay. Increase his oxygen, now! Do a blood test, put a rush on it at the lab. I want a chest x-ray right now. Get me antibiotics for bacterial pneumonia and start him on it straight away." Brad looked at Tony's arm, which was still laying at an awkward angle on the bed. "What's with his arm?"

"That was how we found him. His arm was bleeding slightly, so we put some gauze there for now."

Brad moved the gauze and found a puncture mark. "Did anyone use a needle here?"

"No."

"I think we know how the bacteria got into his blood. Someone check the security footage and find out who the last person was in this room." Brad turned to Gibbs. "Did you see anything, Gibbs?"

"No. Tony had a bad nightmare last night and wouldn't calm down, so a nurse gave him a sedative through the IV."

"So, someone tried to kill him again? What happened to the NCIS agents outside the room?"

"Aren't they still there?"

"No."

Gibbs sighed. "Can you get security up here until I figure out what happened to them?"

"Of course. But, it's going to have to wait until we get Tony stabilised."


An hour later, Brad stepped back and smiled at Tony. "Hey, pal, how are you feeling?"

Tony coughed and looked at Brad with sleepy eyes. "Sore. What happened?"

"Someone tried to kill you again. They would have succeeded if you hadn't already called for a nurse."

"When?"

"An hour or so ago. Do you remember if anybody came in this morning?"

Slowly, Tony nodded. "A man. Thought he was a nurse."

"What did he do?"

"Morphine... I think."

"It wasn't morphine, pal. He drugged you."

"Perfect."

"You'll be alright. We're giving you the same strong antibiotics that we normally would give you for pneumonia to get the fluid out of your lungs. It should only take a couple of days, but if you start getting sick, we'll keep you on the medication longer."

"Still have visitors?"

"Of course. I heard that Abby wants to bring a nun that bowls today to see you."

Tony grinned a little. "Sister Rosita..." he coughed.

"That was her name. Does she really go bowling?"

"Yes."

"I have got to see that. Let me know when she gets here, okay?"

"Okay." Tony closed his eyes and snuggled down underneath his blanket, bringing Bert with him.


Gibbs sat on the couch, keeping watch over Tony as the younger man slept. He was worried, despite Brad telling him that everything would be alright and that Tony would still get to go home by the weekend. He had already called Jenny and asked her to find the agents that were supposed to be protecting Tony, and he had checked in with Ziva and McGee too. They had said they had some information to share with him and some photos they needed Tony to look at. Gibbs had told them to come to the hospital as soon as they could, before Tony had the chance to get any sicker.

"Gibbs?"

Looking at the door, Gibbs saw Ziva poking her head in.

"Can we come in?"

"Yeah, come in." Gibbs made room on the couch for Ziva to join him. "What did you guys find?"

"The three men that attacked Tony, they are from the Baltimore Mafia. They are low on the pole, and Matthew gave up the name of his boss when we questioned him again."

"What does that have to do with Tony?"

"During Tony's first year with Baltimore PD," said McGee, "his boss sent him undercover with the mafia family. According to his file, Tony was able to get in easily and made his way up to be the boss' right hand man."

"They figured out he was a cop?"

"No. Tony's alias supposedly left the country. We don't know how they figured out who Tony is, but we know they aren't planning on stopping until he's dead."

Gibbs sighed. "I'll call Jen and see if we can put out the word that Tony's dead. Another guy tried to kill him this morning, and almost succeeded. He stopped breathing for nearly ten minutes."

Ziva paled next to Gibbs. She looked over at Tony. "He is okay now?"

"Not a hundred percent, but he's alright. His doctor is giving him strong antibiotics to help remove the fluid that was building in his lungs and is going to monitor Tony for a while to make sure that whatever bacteria was injected into him doesn't cause him to develop pneumonia."

"He will be okay?"

"I hope so, Ziva, I really do." Gibbs sighed and stood up. "You said you wanted to show Tony some photos?"

"Yeah. They're mug shots of people suspected to be in the mafia. I was hoping he could identify the ones he knew so that we can stop them from hurting him again," said McGee. "Should we come back?"

"No. I'll wake him up. Just don't push him- he's a little out of it from all the drugs he's being given. According to his doctor, confusion is expected with pneumonia, so just be aware of that."

"You said he doesn't have pneumonia."

"I know, but he's exhibiting some signs of the illness, although they could be attributed to some drugs as well. We'll know for sure when Tony's blood test comes back." Gibbs stepped up to Tony's bed and gently shook his shoulder.

"Boss?" Tony asked.

"Hey, buddy. I need you to stay awake for a little while. Do you think you can do that?"

"Okay." Tony looked over and spotted his teammates. He automatically went red and looked away.

"Tony, it is okay," said Ziva kindly as she swapped places with Gibbs. "You should not be ashamed. You did not do the wrong thing."

"I'm not the victim," mumbled Tony.

"Okay. We did not think that. We wanted to see you yesterday, but Gibbs would not let us. He said you were not feeling happy, and were worried about what McGee and I think."

"You don't think I'm pathetic?"

"Of course not! We think you are very brave, Tony. It would have been very hard to go through, but much harder to talk about. You are our friend, and we will always love you."

Tony finally smiled. He reached out with his right hand and held onto Ziva's hand for reassurance.