This chapter is ALL Gibbs/Tony/Hurt/Comfort!! Enjoy! NOTE: I haven't even proofed this chapter ONCE so as usual I just want to get it posted before work so I will proof and fix later!!
~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~
Last Time On The Long Flight Home:
Gibbs quickly looked up, shock and pain still evident on his own face – as he saw the man who had just removed their threat in the blink of an eye - Tony DiNozzo stood wobbling in the doorway of the cockpit his eyes locking onto his bosses' for a moment before the rest of the adrenaline that propelled him into action, seemed to have drained from his body causing him to lose what little strength he had left in his legs and causing him to fall lifelessly backwards to the floor of the plane.
~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~
The Long Flight Home
Chapter XII
Inside The Smoldering Cargo Plane . . .
Gibbs was shocked and relieved at the same time, once he absorbed the fact that his Agent, whom had been barely able to stand, had singlehandedly killed the latest threat to their well being. He quickly pushed the bloody corpse off of him as the man had fallen forward, landing partially on Gibb's lap. He instantly recognized the knife that was still protruding from the man's neck, as the one that came from Tony's fancy belt, hidden in the custom made buckle.
He then paused and turned back around to grab the radio that was hanging off of it's perch nearby knowing that he had to alert them of the situation. He pressed the button down on the side of the radio and yelled into the mouthpiece but coughing as he spoke from the still rising smoke, "This is ~ cough Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS – the plane is now ~ cough, cough ~ secure but we have a man in need of immediate medical attention up here – I will open the doors at the rear of the plane to allow for access."
Then Gibbs eyed one of the oxygen masks nearby that the flight crew would use as needed. Breathing deeply into it just once, helped him finish delivering his orders. "You better roll a Coroner's wagon too since we have discovered that the Co-Pilot on board was an impostor – he is now ~ cough ~ deceased. " then as Gibbs stood and began to make his way out of the cockpit, he had to get to Tony who had just saved his life, but hopefully not at the high cost of his own. But he was temporarily detained from his intended destination when the voice of the dispatcher from the tower came back with a couple of critical questions.
"Sir?! Agent Gibbs?! This is Scott from the Tower - is everyone else all right on board Sir? Are there any other injured passengers or flight crew?" With all that had been going on INSIDE the plane, Gibbs hadn't noticed that every emergency vehicle that had been standing by, were already more than half way out to the plane. Fire Engines leading the pack since they could see smoldering flames still threatening to blow the plan sky high if they were allowed to get out of control.
"Hell Scotty, we all have one injury or another ~ cough ~ just get at least one of those damn ambulances out here – NOW! We are also going to be dealing with some more severe smoke inhalation if I don't get that door open ~ cough ~ now leave me the hell to it!!" Gibbs barked, he never did have patience for people keeping him from doing something that was far more urgent!
"WAIT! There is one more thing – I need you to make sure that a bomb unit is dispatched A.S.A.P! We have no way of knowing if there are any additional explosives planted on this plane." he had almost forgotten completely about that being that his mind was on getting to Tony and making sure he was still breathing!
Gibbs quickly scanned the cockpit for the levers that would release the rear doors of the plane, they were not the typical airplane doors that opened to one side, this plane's doors opened more like a jawbone where the top part raised upwards and the bottom portion lowered itself to the ground at the same time – also acting as a ramp to enter and exit the plane. He quickly maneuvered the levers until he could hear the obvious sounds of the tail section doors opening.
In Between The Cockpit & The Main Cabin . . .
The Pilot, Carver, rolled his throbbing head to the side, as he started to come around. The first sight his eyes landed on, was the unconscious man to his right whom he had recognized as passenger Tony DiNozzo. Tony, who was laying as still as death appeared to have fallen halfway on top of him. Just then he saw Agent Jethro Gibbs as he exited the cockpit, "Lieutenant Carver, are you alright? I am glad to see you coming around!" Gibbs told him.
"That makes three of us." came the weaker voice from the front seat of the cabin as Vance had also just come back into the world of consciousness.
"Carver, are you well enough to cut Vance free? I need to check on my Agent" Gibbs asked as he hauled the man up, moving slowly to allow him time for dizziness to subside. He then ran back towards the cockpit for a quick second and came out holding the sharp knife that the fake Co-Pilot had been yielding earlier before . . . before Tony had killed him. Tony!
Gibbs quickly turned away from the two newly conscious men and knelt down next to his agent just as Tony was also starting to move about, but the difference in his awakening was that he was mumbling something that was incoherent as he thrashed his head from side to side. Gibbs noticed the unbelievable amount of sweat covering Tony's pained and pale face while he quickly attempted to assess the rest of him, starting with his abdomen. But with Tony's jerking arm and head movements it made doing so, impossible. He was moaning loudly from pain which made Gibbs cringe at the thought of what further damage he could have unknowingly caused himself while selflessly saving them all.
Gibbs breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Vance and Carver moving to stand on the other side of the man who was writhing in pain. "How can we help?" Lt. Carver asked him, while really seeing Tony for the first time since before take off, he was in absolute shock and awe over the drastic down turn in the man's appearance from then . . .to now.
"You can help me get him back onto the stretcher so they don't have to try bringing one up in here. Besides, I want to get him out of this smoke as soon as possible and we all know the normal protocol with this type of emergency situation – they do not allow any emergency personnel to come too close to the plane until all risk of fire is eliminated.
They could all hear the activity that was going on outside the plane as firefighters were aiming hoses at the remaining small flames and burning parts of the doomed plane. The ambulance and other emergency vehicles were ready and waiting - but were only allowed within 10 yards of the plane until the Fire Chief gave them the all clear.
Vance grabbed the backboard from inside the portable stretcher, knowing they would need to slide him onto that again, before lifting him and placing him onto the stretcher. "What the hell happened Jethro?! What is he doing out of this in the first place?" he asked as he got the backboard into position.
"I'll brief you on that later Leon, it happened while you were – napping." Gibbs teased him, unable to help poking fun at how useless the Director had been even though he couldn't have most likely done anything to prevent being tied up and knocked out. Adrenaline had kicked back into high gear for all three men as they completely forgot about their own aching heads and other injuries in order to focus on the man with far worse going on. They easily slid Tony onto the board but he was moving so much in trying to escape the excruciating pain deep in his gut – his eyes were half open but looked as though they weren't able to focus on anything most likely because of the pain and delirium that he still suffered from.
"G-Gib-bzzz" Tony murmured, while trying to curl himself up into a ball to protect and hold onto his stomach. "The p-pain bb-osss – it's . . . it's kil-lin . . . me! I . . . I can't tak-" his voice squeaked and q slightly as he spoke – as if he had to force the words out o
At which time Gibbs leaned in as close to Tony's ear as possible, whispering to him and promising him that pain relief and safety were just moments away, then adding his own more personal words of encouragement "Tony you hang in there – ya got that?! You are going to be fine but I need you to stay strong and . . . I know it's tough but I really need you to stay as still as possible while we get you lifted onto the stretcher. Can ya do that for me Tony?" Gibbs asked so kindly that if he were more coherent , Tony would have cringed. He didn't like 'Nice Gibbs' – nice Gibbs only meant bad things, such as when Kate died. It was also not a good sign when he used anyone's first name.
But thankfully Tony was too out of it to even make the connection that his boss was doing both of those things – using his first name, and being nice.
The three men, still coughing from the smoke that seemed to be worse now that the fires were almost out. They stood up and together they lifted the stretcher in perfect unison while Tony forced himself to stop moving so much, gritting his teeth against each other in order to do so.
They arrived at the end of the ramp just off the back of the plane at the same time the EMT's were running towards them with at larger stretcher being wheeled between them. They had placed their medical tackle boxes on top of the gurney – boxes that contained life saving equipment and medications for emergency field triage.
Once they wheeled the gurney as close to the plane as they could, they removed their paraphernalia from on top and placed them on the ground. Then as they drew closer they could now see that the three men carrying the stretcher were looking more worse for ware with they own obvious injuries and all slightly shocky in appearance – either from the injuries, or possibly from the harrowing life threatening situations they had all just made it through.
The two EMT's, - Bryan and Ellis - moved in to take over the duty of carrying the stretcher so they could first of all relieve the tired looking men and second so they could then hoist the portable stretcher filled with a definitely far worse off patient of the group – onto the gurney. He was clearly the one they had been forewarned ab out. The one suspected of having internal injuries among other things.
Bryan was the lead so he yelled out an instruction, "Gentlemen, let my partner and I take over here, we can carry that now. Sorry but you three all look like you could fall over at any moment!"
"No." came the gruff response from Gibbs. He'd be damned if he would hand Tony over to these two young . . . kids, and risk them dropping or jarring him. "We got it, just hold that gurney still so we can place the stretcher on it." he instructed them as they got within 3 feet from the awaiting gurney, glancing down at Tony Gibbs could see his eyes screwed shut in pain. If any tears were coming out of his eyes from the devastating misery – you would never know since the sweat covering his fevered face, mixed with the grime from the settling thick black smoke.
"He needs something for the pain immediately, the shot of morphine we gave him hours ago worked well, but has worn off completely now. I suggest you get something ready for him while we get him situated." the young EMT's could tell by the man's demeanor that he meant business, they continued to listen as he then gave them a run down of his man's condition.
"He has a bleeding head wound and a concussion, he's highly feverish and his left arm's broken, his sling must've fallen to the wayside on the plane. Oh, and he had nothing to eat or drink since we were already forewarned of his need for surgery."
He obviously cared about the younger man but one would have to be blind not to see that the patient was suffering tremendously – and they knew more than anyone about the negative impact that level of pain actually had a on a patient's recovery if it wasn't controlled right away.
Ellis was already down rummaging through one of their containers of medical necessities – pulling out an IV kit along with some vials of Morphine. Once he stood up again with the items in his hands, he watched at the trio of men placed the agent's portable stretcher gently on top of the gurney that Bryan held steady having already locked it's wheels into place to help avoid movement. Seeing these tough as nails men lowering him down using all the care one would use if handling say, a newborn baby, was quite a sight.
Then the man whom had just alerted them to prepare the morphine, leaned closer to the patient and whispered quietly in his ear. "Tony, you did good. They are giving you something for the pain now so it won't be much longer before you will feel better – okay?" he then stared at the downed man looking for a sign that he had comprehended what he just said.
"Nn-kay b'ss" came the garbled response.
"Now Tony, I just gonna step away for a minute and let these men do their job to get you ready for transport. I'll be right here the whole time. You just keep doing what you're doing and hanging in there for me." the silver haired man added before stepping just 2-3 feet backwards.
The EMT's moved quickly, falling into their own well rehearsed routine of taking care of seriously injured victims and moving with a speed that even impressed the almighty Gibbs. Vance and the Pilot were already busy answering some preliminary questions about the incident after having been approached by the Chief of Security for the Airfield as well as two other medics whom had just arrived to help tend to the other, less seriously injured parties.
As Gibbs was watching the men as one of them inserted an IV needle into the top of Tony's hand, taping it in place. While the second man took a quick look at the head wound. The latter of the two turned to Gibbs, "Sir, we need to get him moving ASAP – his vital signs are . . . : he stopped because he knew better than to say anything negative within earshot of a patient. "Uh, well – they uh . . . could be better. We can clean his head wound and get some plasma going while en route to the Hospital."
Just then the man's words were nearly drowned out by the noisy sound of chopper blades as a Police Chopper flew overhead low enough to read Baltimore Police Department across the bottom. It appeared to be heading towards one of the rooftop helipad's. Gibbs was so wrapped up with worry for Tony, plus now feeling the pain from his own stab wound and head injuries – the adrenaline no longer hiding it, that he hadn't even caught onto the odd irony that the chopper above came from Tony's old stomping ground.
Gibbs was further distracted by the anger and determination that his head was all but spinning with, to get to the bottom of who had caused all of this havoc. He was also experiencing fear. An emotion that the tough as nails Team Leader rarely encountered, fear over losing another family member.
To Be Continued . . .
PLEASE KEEP THOSE REVIEWS COMING!! I like to keep tabs on how you are liking the story and the directions I am taking it! THANKS!
