I hope this isn't nearly as difficult to read as it was to write. a/n at bottom of the page.

"Ready for rounds?"

Hannah glanced up from the pharmacy request book, simultaneously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She grinned at her co-worker, Karen, and nodded. "Just about it, was hoping to get this filled in first though."

"You've not got a hope, the consultants and their minions are on their way."

Flicking the book shut, Hannah gave a mock sigh, "Guess I'll just have to add it to my to do pile."

Karen laughed, replying, "Explains why the damn thing never gets any smaller."

"It would if I didn't have to keep chasing around after the doctors."

"Things would be less manic without them. What consultants have you got on your round today?"

Clipping her pen back onto her pocket, Hannah screwed her face up in thought for a second, before replying, "Just Gelfand."

"Lucky you! I've got Hansell and then Cartman."

Trying to reassure her friend, Hannah patted her arm, "Cartman isn't too bad."

"No, but Hansell is a strange little man, I'm pretty sure this isn't his home planet."

Wiggling her eyebrows, Hannah replied, "You're probably right on that one, a vainer man I have never met."

"He asked me where was the best place to get a manicure the other day."

Laughing, Hannah asked, "And you said?"

"Nothing, I just held up my hands, he very quickly saw my point." Karen gave a large sigh, "Anyway, since we have a few minutes you can give me a quick update on your patients and vice versa, we can finish it after rounds if they interrupt us."

"Ok, I'll start with room one, Michael Dailey. Lung transplant patient, 2 days post-op -"

Karen interrupted her, "Oh, heads up, here they come. Guess we'll just have to add this to the to do pile as well." She shot her younger colleague a wry grin.

Nodding her agreement, Hannah made her way out behind the desk, and approached Dr Gelfand and his gaggle of interns, the doctor held up his hand, indicating to the junior doctors following him to remain silent. He shot a polite smile in Hannah's direction, smoothly asking, "Anyone you would prefer us to look at first?"

"No, everyone has remained stable overnight, so wherever you would prefer to start."

Dr Gelfand strolled casually along beside her, replying, "I think we'll start with Miss Sheppard this morning." He turned to his interns, sighing slightly impatiently, "Well come on, follow on."

Hannah suppressed a laugh as the group collectively jumped out of their skins, and fell rapidly into step behind them. As they entered room three, Hannah grabbed the chart off the holder screwed into the wall outside, and reaching into her pocket grabbed her notebook, her pen poised ready to write down any instructions.

Dr Gelfand turned to his students, who were eagerly awaiting his direction. "Jennifer Sheppard, aged 40 was admitted into our ICU 3 days ago, from USC University Hospital following an RTC. She was suffering from increased intracranial pressure and a grade 2 subarachnoid haemorrhage, since operating was not an option the decision was made to try artificial hyperventilation. A repeat of her MRI scans two days ago showed that the bleed has reabsorbed and swelling had reduced, so the hyperventilation was stopped yesterday morning. The MRI was repeated in the afternoon and showed a more marked improvement. Due to this we've decided to begin weaning her off of the ventilator, she was on an I.V. infusion of Propofol, set at a maintenance dose of 80mcg/kg/min which was then reduced by half. Now can one of you tell me why she's on the propofol and why we've decreased the dosage rather than stop it altogether?"

Hannah grimaced down at her shoes as the quick-fire question round began, she had always hated those as a nursing student, and the memory of the agonizing moments when you were singled out were hell on earth. One of the young male doctors however had practically jumped forward. "The propofol is given to sedate the patient and prevent them from fighting the ventilator. Abrupt discontinuation of the drug would cause rapid awakening, leading to anxiety, agitation and resistance to the ventilator which could cause the patient to prematurely extubate themselves."

A flicker of a smile passed across the Attending's lips, "Very good." He turned to Hannah, "How was she overnight?"

"Stable," Hannah replied. "Systolic stayed between 120 and 130, pulse was 59, urinary output normal. The ventilator was sitting at a rate of 12 breaths per minute last night, but Jennifer's respiratory rate was 14, so she was making an effort to breathe on her own. Based on this the on-duty resident made the decision to bring it down to 8, she tolerated this well, sats remained at 99% and arterial blood gases were taken half an hour later and were within normal limits. Neuro ob's carried out overnight have also remained stable, and Jennifer is now reacting to a painful stimulus."

"Good. Well then since she is tolerating the current setting well, I think we can decrease the propofol to 20mcg and take the ventilator down to 4, run ABG'S again in half an hour, if she's not tolerating page me. If she is I'll review her again after lunch and we can look into taking her off the propofol altogether and then we'll review again in the evening, if all goes well we could consider extubating."

Hannah nodded, jotting everything quickly down and then following the crowd out of the room and onto the next patient.

It was the sound of Lexie clattering down the stairs, that woke Gibbs that morning, grinning slightly, he rolled over to look at his alarm clock, seeing that it was now just after nine. Sitting up he gave a small stretch, and threw his legs over the side of his bed, his mind drifting back to the night before. After Lexie had finally confided in him, she seemed a different child, as though all the weight she'd been carrying had lifted off of her shoulders. It was obvious that she still missed her mom, but at least she no longer blamed herself for it. Although he'd been happier than usual these past few days, it was nothing compared to how he felt when he heard Lexie chattering away to him.

The loud banging noise downstairs brought him rapidly to his senses, and jumping to his feet he raced downstairs and into the kitchen, his heart racing. He careened round the doorway and skidded to a halt, his eyes scanning the room, it looked as though a tornado had swept through it. One of the bottom cupboard doors was open, it's objects spilling out onto the floor - most likely the source of the noise. The counters were covered with flour, the packet lying on it's side. Lexie was in the middle of it all, kneeling on a stool, her small black apron was untied and flapping, her cheeks smeared with butter and flour, a wide grin had taking up resident on her face. She let out a happy shriek when she saw him, "Daddy! Look I'm making pancakes."

Gibbs felt his shoulders relax, the worry and tension of a few seconds ago melting away. He walked over to her and peered into her mixing bowl, trying not to grimace, he didn't have the heart to point out that all she was really doing was making a mess. Instead he gave her a smile. "Tell you what, how about I make the pancakes using my special recipe."

Lexie looked thoughtfully into the bowl, her nose crinkling, innocently stating, "I suppose that would be OK, mine doesn't look right, does it?"

"No," Gibbs agreed with her.

"It doesn't look like it does when mommy makes them."

"Does mommy make pancakes a lot?" Gibbs remembered from their time in Europe that Jenny couldn't cook to save herself.

"Uh huh, we have pancakes every Saturday, it's tradition."

Shooting his daughter a sidelong glance, Gibbs commented blandly, "Lex, it's Friday."

The little girl sighed, putting her hand on her hips, she replied, "I know what day it is, but I said mommy makes them on a Saturday, she isn't here so I'm making them today and she can make them on Saturdays when she gets better."

"Ah," Gibbs said knowingly, "So we're starting a new tradition."

"Yes, but just until mommy's better."

"OK then, well we better get started."

Lexie smiled, and clapped her hands in delight, "Good." Her face fell slightly and she looked at him in confusion, asking, "If you're making the pancakes what will I do?"

"You can be my assistant."

Nodding proudly, she stated, "I can do that, what will I do first?"

"First of all, you can get me the flour, some eggs and butter."

The stool clattered noisily to the ground as Lexie jumped off it, racing around the room and gathering what was needed. Gibbs raised an eyebrow in amusement when she plonked them onto the counter and grinned up at him, challengingly asking him, "Next?"

********************

A short while later they sat at the breakfast table, Lexie happily chewing her way through a pile of pancakes drenched in maple syrup, a smaller tea plate of the same resting in front of her adored bear. Gibbs smiled at the scene in front of him, she'd chattered happily all through making breakfast, about anything and everything. His smile deepened, it had meant everything to him to see her so carefree, her small face alight with laughter. It was - as he'd suddenly come to realise - exactly what was missing from his life, the pure innocence and enjoyment for life that she'd brought him, something he thought he'd lost almost fourteen years ago, something that he was overjoyed with being able to have a second chance.

As though she could feel his gaze on her, Lexie looked up, flashing him her toothy trademark grin, swallowing back the sudden wave of emotion that hit him, he asked, "Pancakes good?"

"Uh huh, not as good as mommy's, but they're still good."

"I'll need to practice then, get them up to scratch."

Solemnly, Lexie replied, "That's a very good idea." She chewed another mouthful, and after taking a swig of orange juice, she turned back to him, asking, "What are we doing today?"

"I thought we could go shopping, get you some new clothes."

The bright blue eyes lit up in delight. "Really?" She squeaked. "We can go shopping? Just the two of us? Are you sure?"

His eyes sparkling with mischief, Gibbs teased her. "Well I suppose if you don't want to…"

"No!" She shrieked, jumping off her chair and flinging herself onto his knee, "I want to go! Please please please please?" The last please was long and drawn out, her eyes wide, her bottom lip pouting and her chin almost trembling.

He nodded, smiling, "We can go shopping."

"Yay!" She threw her arms around him in delight, kissing his cheek and leaving a smear of sticky syrup behind her.

Laughing, he steadied her precarious balance on his knee, and tried to put the serious look back onto his face. He pointed a finger at her, telling her, "After you've got washed, I seem to remember someone fell asleep before bath time."

"That's fine, but do I have to wash my hair?"

Gibbs shook his head, "No, we washed it the night before so it should be fine, anyway we still don't have a hairdryer and you're not going out with wet hair."

She shot him a reproving look, "You need to get one."

"I will," he promised.

"And a brush, your comb tugs."

Stifling a laugh, Gibbs replied, "You'll need to remind me."

"Oh I will," she informed him primly.

Laughing, Gibbs nudged her in the direction of her unfinished breakfast. "Eat your breakfast, then we can get ready to go."

She jumped off his knee, and began cramming the remaining food into her mouth. "Slow down," he warned her, "you'll make yourself ill."

Rolling her eyes, his daughter did slow down, although her foot still tapped impatiently against the leg of her chair as she did so.

Looking over her patient, Hannah took a note of the machine readings in front of her. She straightened the corner of the bed sheet, as she spoke, "The doctor will be back soon, I think he'll be pleased with how well you're doing. You had us all worried when you first arrived, but look how far you've come already."

Hannah's smile faded, as she de-sheathed the needle. "This isn't going to be pleasant, but I need to check your responses." She pricked the tip of one of Jenny's long fingers, and watched as the woman jerked her hand away, her systolic jumping from 124 to 136 and her pulse also jumping up as well. Hannah placed her hand over Jenny's, running her thumb over it soothingly. "Sorry, I'm finished now, you can relax." She watched as the numbers on the screen slowly returned to normal, and straightened up, making a small noise as she stretched her back.

Hannah had just finished making a note of the latest set of observations, when the door creaked open, and Dr Gelfand walked in. Smiling in greeting, Hannah asked good-humouredly, "No underlings with you this time?"

He gave a small chuckle, "No, I gave them cases to work. Decided I wanted to see this one through myself though. How is she?"

Handing over the chart, Hannah replied, "She's doing good. Respiration rate is at 14, blood gases were good, sats are at 98%. She's drawing her hand away from painful stimulus, and there was a slight increase in BP and pulse that resolved with reassurance."

"Right, well in that case I think we should stop the propofol altogether, I don't want to take her off the ventilator until she's off that. If she shows more signs of restlessness and her resps stay stable then we can switch to a T-piece, if she tolerates that for thirty minutes then we can extubate." He glanced up at Hannah, " Any concerns with that plan?"

"No."

"Good, I'll leave you to take down the propofol then."

Hannah nodded, watching him leave the room, she pulled on a pair of gloves, and began unscrewing the tubing of the I.V. bag from the venflon, talking as she did so. "If you keep this up, then we'll have you home to your little girl before you know it."

Gibbs watched as his daughter twirled around in her new outfit, her small voice filled with trepidation, she asked him, "What do you think daddy?"

He smiled, "It's nice. Get changed and we'll go pay."

A smile spread across her face, "OK." She looked at herself in the mirror, admiring her new glittery jeans and black Snoopy t-shirt, turning back to him, she asked, "Can I wear it around the rest of the shops? Please?"

Gibbs nodded, he'd been a bit shocked when he realised this morning that the jeans someone had packed for Lexie were far too short, and were tatty and frayed around the edges. His daughter had looked at them in horror, as she told him, "Those are my old jeans, I'll look silly, they're too short." He'd - silently - completely agreed with her, but it was them or nothing, so he had no problem with her getting changed into something new. "You can change into them once we've bought them," he told her.

"Thank you." she yelled back as she all but skipped back into the changing room.

********************

Lexie kept a tight grip on her dad's hand as they weaved through the crowd, her smile still bright as she grinned down at her new outfit, the bags she carried swinging in her hands. They had been shopping almost all day, and although Lexie was quite happy to keep shopping, Gibbs was exhausted. thinking aloud, he asked, "We've got clothes, underwear, pyjamas, a hairdryer and a hairbrush, do we need anything else?"

Looking thoughtful, Lexie replied, "Can I get an Abby outfit?"

Gibbs stopped dead, and looked at his daughter, echoing, "A what?"

"An Abby outfit, stuff like Abby wears, she looks cool."

Gibbs had to stifle a groan as he thought of the small skirts, spiked dog collars and knee high boots or stiletto heels that Abby wore on a daily basis. "You're too young to wear things like that, they're for grown ups," he choked out.

"Oh." The small face creased into a frown. "When can I wear them?"

"When your thirty, maybe."

"That," Lexie sighed, "is a long way away."

"Not long enough," Gibbs muttered under his breath.

Lexie looked up at him, her eyes bright with hope, "Can I not even get the socks?" When her dad frowned, she kept talking, "They go all the way to your knee and they're stripy, and they could be my lucky socks."

"OK," Gibbs conceded. "You can get some stripy socks, but only if you wear them under your jeans."

"I promise." Lexie nodded her agreement, adding, "And I need shoes."

"Right." Gibbs nodded purposively, "Socks, shoes, then home."

"Good plan." Lexie agreed, then adding innocently, "Can I get red glittery shoes?"

"No, you're getting sensible shoes."

"Please?" The bottom lip wobbled precariously, and not for the first time, Gibbs wondered what it was with women and shoes. He ruffled his daughter's hair. "Not today, but maybe for your birthday."

"That's ages away!"

"You'll just have to be patient."

The resulting glare and annoyed sigh, told him that Lexie was just as fond of being patient as her parents were."

Dr Gelfand slipped into room three, followed by his resident, and smiled over at Hannah, gesturing at Jenny, he asked, "How is she? It's been a few hours since we took her off the propofol."

"She's more alert, pulse and BP increase slightly when people are talking, and her hands are moving slightly without any stimulus."

"Well in that case I want to try her on the T-piece for thirty minutes, if she tolerates that, then we can extubate, if not we'll put her back on. You ready to turn off the ventilator."

"Yes, how much oxygen do you want?"

"I think 30% humidified should be fine."

Nodding, Hannah busied herself, preparing the necessary equipment, when done she looked up at the other two doctor's, "We're good to go."

*******************

Everything was fuzzy, her head felt as though it had been stuffed with cotton wool and her eyelids felt heavy, so heavy she just couldn't open them. She felt someone touch her arm, heard them talk to her, she tried to focus on their words, it was a woman but apart from that she just couldn't seem to pull her head together enough to hear the actual words.

There was someone touching her face, frowning, she tried to jerk her head away, she felt the hands draw back, the female voice again telling her everything was OK. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and felt slightly better. Then the hands came back, she tried to bring up her hand to push them away, but someone caught her hand, holding it tightly but stroking the back of it at the same time. The voice was there again, telling her too calm down, it was almost over, then the hands at her face fell away, but the hand in hers stayed until she felt calmer.

*******************

"BP coming back down?"

Hannah nodded, "Yes." She placed her free hand on Jenny's shoulder, adding, "Muscles are starting to relax as well."

"Good." Todd Gelfand eyed the monitor. "Sats are good, still sitting at 98%. I have another patient to visit, but keep her under constant observation." He turned to his registrar. "If she starts to struggle put her back on the ventilator and then page me, understood?" The younger man nodded his reply. He turned back to Hannah, telling her, "I'll be back in half an hour."

"I'll make sure someone stays with her at all times," Hannah replied.

As Gibbs pulled into his driveway he noticed something unusual, namely his team sitting on the doorstep with carrier bags from the local Chinese. Lexie's eyes lit up. "Look Daddy, it's Abby and Ducky and everyone."

"Yes it is," he replied, wondering what his team were doing here. It was just after half past five, they must have left work at five on the dot - not something they usually did.

The moment he stopped the car, Lexie dived out and raced towards the group. Abby met her half way, catching her and swinging her around in an arc. Lexie held out her bags proudly, "I went shopping, and I got socks just like yours."

Looking at the little girl in shock, Abby quickly recovered herself, grinning widely at her, she replied, winking, "I always knew you had good fashion sense."

Afterwards, Lexie raced towards Tony, asking, "Did you get my cookie?"

He grinned, "I did." He looked around the rest of the group triumphantly and declared, "I knew I was her favourite."

Lexie frowned, and tugged at Tony's sleeve, when he looked back at her, she told him, "You're not my favourite, I like you, but I like my daddy the best."

Kate almost choked with laughter, and patted Tony's arm, "Never mind, if it helps you're not my favourite either."

Tony turned to her and bared his teeth, growling under his breath, then stepped backwards and onto a smirking McGee's toe. At his yelp of pain, Tony told him superiorly, "You should never laugh at your seniors Probie."

Gibbs, who had been leaning against the car door watching the spectacle unfold, finally stepped forward, asking, "Just why are you all here?"

It was Abby who replied, "We thought it would be nice to catch up with Lexie, we brought Chinese and a film. The film was Tony's choice, so if you don't like it you can blame him." She moved forward and hugged Gibbs, whispering happily, "I told you she'd talk."

Gibbs nodded, and then unlocking the door he asked, "So, what's the film?"

"The Goonies," Tony replied.

Gibbs looked at him, his eyebrows raised.

"It's a good film!" Tony insisted. "It's directed by Steven Spielberg, and a classic." He hit McGee's stomach, yelling happily, "Do the truffle shuffle McChunky."

"I'm not fat!"

"I never said fat, I said chunky."

Gibbs slapped the back of his two male Agent's heads. "Stop it."

Lexie watched the scene and giggled, then grabbing Abby and Kate's hands she pulled them towards the kitchen, telling them, "I'll show you where the plates are."

Tony shoved McGee in the direction of the living room, telling Gibbs, "We'll go set up the film."

Gibbs nodded, watching them go. He turned to look at Ducky who was smiling fondly, "I see Lexie has finally opened up. Like I said Jethro, time is a great healer."

"Maybe." Gibbs sighed, and told his old friend, "She thought the accident was her fault, Duck. She and Jenny had had an argument and she'd told her she hated her. She thought that if she was quiet then her mom would get better."

"Ah." Ducky frowned. "Children's logic can be a wonderful thing at times, and at others it can make things….difficult."

"In this case it was the latter," Gibbs replied wryly.

"Yes, but the misunderstanding was caught before it did any damage, I take it you explained things to her?"

"Yeah, she seems to understand."

"Well just keep an eye on her, and make sure you keep her involved as much as possible. I think sometimes when we try to shield children we just make things worse."

"Maybe." Gibbs frowned as bickering started in the kitchen, and rolling his eyes at Ducky, he told him, "I think we better go in and sort things out."

"Yes, it is a bit like having a roomful of children, rather than just one," Ducky laughed.

"How did she cope?" Todd asked as he entered Jenny's room.

"Very well," the resident replied. "Sats stayed at 97%-99%."

Hannah resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the brief explanation and added, "She's becoming more agitated, a couple of times she was gagging against the tube."

"In that case I think that extubation is the best course of action and then we can continue with supportive oxygen."

"Do you want a mask or nasal cannula?" Hannah asked.

"Mask to begin with, we can switch to cannula if her sats remain above 95%"

Hannah connected the tubing of the mask to the oxygen pipe attached to the wall, "How much oxygen do you want?"

"Start with 2 litres, if Sats drop to below 90% then we'll go up to 4. Is everything in place for this?"

"I set it up a few minutes ago," Hannah replied. "Everything's ready."

"Good." Todd moved over to Jenny's bed, she was beginning to try and cough around the tube, he glanced at his resident, "She's getting increasingly agitated, let's get this done as quickly as we can." He turned his attention back to Jenny, "Miss Sheppard, we're going to take the tube out of your throat, it'll be uncomfortable for a few moments, but it won't take long." He disconnected the T-piece tubing and held his hand out. "Pass me the suction." He quickly slipped it into the ET tube, as Hannah's finger's deftly untied the knot securing the tube at Jenny's mouth. The resident passed over the syringe, and Todd deflated the cuff holding the tube inside Jenny's throat, and placing the suction tube back down, he pulled the tube out and stepped back, allowing Hannah to rapidly place the oxygen mask over a spluttering Jenny's face.

She squeezed Jenny's arm comfortingly, telling her, "It's all over you can relax." She glanced over at the monitor, "Sats are coming up, in the mid 90's and still rising. Bp's 143 over 82, pulse is rising, sitting at 75."

Todd glanced at Jenny, "She still seems very agitated, she's coping well with the oxygen so it's not a failed extubation." He narrowed his eyes at the frown on his patient's face, "I think this is more psychological than anything else."

"Do you want me to call next of kin?" Hannah asked. "A familiar voice might help."

Todd nodded, "I think that would be wise, I don't want her BP to rise much more than this.

"I'll do it now."

********************

The car, she'd been in the car with Lexie. That was the last thing she remembered, where was she? Where was Lexie? She couldn't hear her, and Lexie was never quiet. Her eyes still felt heavy, she still couldn't open them. This wasn't good.

"I forgot Jake," Lexie announced, just as Tony was about to hit play on the DVD. She jumped off of the sofa, "I need to go and get him, he can't miss this."

The team grinned at each other, as Lexie bolted up the stairs. Just as the footsteps on the stairs stopped, the phone rang. Pushing himself up from the sofa, Gibbs went to the hall to answer it, and Ducky frowning as he saw his old friend's face when the caller identified themselves, followed him into the hall, shutting the door behind him.

"What is it?" He asked.

Gibbs placed the phone back on it's cradle, and reached for the jacket he'd left draped over the banister. "It was the hospital, they've asked me to come in."

Ducky frowned, his voice filled with concern, he asked, "Has something happened?"

"I don't know, they just said there has been a change in her condition and asked that I come in as quickly as I can."

"We'll watch Lexie, take as long as you need."

"Gibbs nodded distractedly and reached for his keys. "Thanks, Duck."

Lexie stopped at the top of the stairs, her dad looked upset, she heard him say he'd talked to the hospital. She shirked behind the wall, and hugged Jake into her, she squeezed her eyes tightly as she heard the front door shut. It was her mom, she knew it, she wasn't coming back. Lexie choked back a sob and ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

A/N: First off I would like to thank 4sweetdreams for her help. Rest assured all mistakes are mine, and she can Gibbs-slap me if I've got this completely and utterly wrong. If there is a glaring mistake, that any of you notice with any of the facts in this, then let me know and I will do my best to correct it.

A couple of facts about some of the many things I mentioned in this story, because it took quite a bit of research. Propofol is a drug that is often used as an anaesthetic agent and provides a loss of awareness. It can depress the respiratory system and should only be used in a medical setting.

A T-piece is attached onto the ET tube and the ventilator is taken away. One end is attached to oxygen, and the other is left open. The effort of breathing is the patient's, but oxygen is being supplied for them. In the case of weaning patient's off of ventilators, it can be used as a trial to see if the patient can cope with breathing on their own, if not then they can quickly and safely be reconnected to the ventilator. Some of the pieces I read suggest that this is a safer way of extubating, while others see it as an outdated practice. It made sense to me so I used it.

Any other questions about what happened in this chapter, just ask. Or point out any glaring mistakes :)

Thanks for all the reviews so far.

xxx