Flashback
"…You really in the marines, Jethro?" Tony asked, his eyes gleaming with curiosity.
Jethro nodded. It had been two hours since Shannon had told him he had to wait. Apparently there was a car accident two blocks from the hospital and the patients were rushed to the emergency room, thus putting Tony's case pushed back.
"Do you want to see my military ID?" Jethro asked leaning to one side to take his wallet out of his pocket.
Tony nodded excitedly. He clamped his good hand on Jethro's arm trying to get a peek before Jethro fully fished it out. Tony looked up in awe and question as Jethro held the ID out for Tony to take a closer look.
"I can really touch it?" Tony asked surprised.
"It's not breakable kid. Well it is, but I highly doubt you can break it," Jethro said with a laugh.
"That's not what my father says…" Tony said quietly.
Whatever Jethro was going to say was immediately forgotten. The sadness in Tony's voice hit him harder than any bullet ever could. Torture techniques should really involve broken kids on the verge of crying. That always did it for Jethro.
He watched as Tony read the words on the card carefully. He tried to keep his face emotionless, like the picture on the card, so that Tony could see the similarities. It intrigued Jethro that the kid was reading it with such in depth scrutiny, taking him nearly five minutes before even looking up from the small piece of plastic.
"You should smile more often. Your eyes look like you're mad when you don't smile," Tony observed finally handing the card back to Jethro.
"I was pretty mad when they took the picture," Jethro admitted. "It took five minutes before they took the picture, after a thirty minute wait."
"That's super long!" Tony exclaimed. "Waiting is hard. I hate waiting!"
Jethro smiled at Tony's pout. "Yes, yes it is buddy, but good things come to those who wait."
Tony looked up with a hesitant smile, before shyly adding, "But when I wait with you it doesn't feel like I'm waiting at all."
"Oh yeah?" Jethro asked feeling his heart warm just a little more.
"Yeah, it feels safe…"
End of flashback
"McGee call in the paramedics," Gibbs barked into the phone without taking his eyes off Svetlana.
"Wise choice Agent Gibbs. Wise choice indeed," Svetlana said with a slow nod. She snapped her fingers together. "Take him away."
"Tony, I'll get you out!" Gibbs called to his rapidly disappearing son. "Just wait for me, son."
Gibbs didn't miss the hint of hurt that crossed his eyes. "Don't worry about me dad. Save Jayson!" Tony said before being punched hard in the jaw.
Gibbs watched as Tony's head swung from the force of impact. Tony suppressed the need to groan knowing his father was watching.
"I would have chosen my blood too," Svetlana said with a shrug.
"I'll kill you," Gibbs said in a low menacing voice. "I fucking swear I'll kill you for what you've done."
Gibbs watched as Svetlana laughed and slowly walked away with two new people who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He waited until she had left before rushing forward, Ziva right besides him. He dropped to his knees to closer examine his son, tears prickling his eyes.
"Jayson? Jay-jay, can you hear me, buddy?" Gibbs asked slowly turning his son to face him.
"No!" Jay's weak voice broke Gibbs' heart. "Don't hurt me."
"Jay, you're safe! It's dad, buddy. You're safe now. No one's going to hurt you no more," Gibbs said running his fingers through the boys hair.
"Dad? Well shit I'm hallucinating now too," Jay grumbled making Gibbs laugh out loud.
Jay making jokes was good. It meant he was still slightly aware of his current situation. His brain was still functioning, and he still sounded a little like Tony. Gibbs could live with that. Who was he kidding; Gibbs could live with anything as long as Jayson, Bella, and Tony were safe. For now having Jayson in his arms would have to do.
"Over here!" McGee's voice cut through Gibbs' thoughts as he rushed in, followed by two paramedics with a gurnee in between them.
"Sir, step away from the boy," one of the paramedics asked, pushing Gibbs' aside a little too harshly for Gibbs' liking.
"What do we got, Joe?" the man who pushed Gibbs' asked lowering the gurnee.
"Pulse is too high. 205. Blood pressure at 180/150. Kids tachycardia. Right arm appears to be broken, a rib is protruding from the chest area," Joe checked off as he continued to examine Jayson.
Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee watched on as they continued listing off Jayson's condition.
"Keith, he's pupils are dialated and not responding to the light…" Joe stated.
"Ok, let's get this kid to a hospital STAT!" Keith said throwing down the stupid paperwork that they had to do. "On my count, 1, 2, 3!"
Gibbs watched as they lifted Jayson onto a backboard and secured him before putting him on the gurney. He listened as his son's painful moans filled the room. He felt his own tears fall as he watched his son's tears cascade from his eyes.
Flashback
"DADDY!" Bella's urgent voice nearly caused Jethro to drop the hammer straight on his thumb.
He cursed silently before yelling back, "WHAT?"
"Daddy, Jayson's hurt!" Bella's young form now appeared at the top of the stairs, quickly descending to take her father's big arms into two of her hands and thus pulling him towards the stairs.
It didn't take much though, the second the words came out of Bella's mouth Jethro was already starting to make his way up the stairs. The two rushed up, father and daughter, for as long as Gibbs could stand, before finally deciding that it would be much faster if he carried the six year old.
Jethro picked Bella up with a quick swoosh and jogged out the front door to see his little boy under his bike, wailing as he cradled his leg. Jethro had never ran so hard in his life than in that ten seconds that it took to get from the front door to the end of the block. He dropped to his knees, setting Bella down gently.
"Jay-jay? Daddy's here, buddy," Jethro said gently lifting the bike off the boy. "Are you ok, kiddo?"
"Daddy!" Jayson wailed as he gripped his leg.
"I'm going to carry you to the house ok?" Jethro said waiting for his son to nod in understanding before lifting the boy into his arms. "Bella, take the bike back to the house."
"Daddy, my leg hurts!"
"Sh…I know buddy. We're going to the house to get some ice and then we'll go to the hospital ok?" Jethro explained kissing the boy on the forehead as he walked towards his house.
"I'm sorry," Jayson said sadly.
"For what?" Jethro asked indecorously.
"For crying and acting like a wimp," Jayson explained.
"Hey, crying is natural. If it hurts, it hurts. And you, Jayson Asher Gibbs are the farthest thing from a wimp imaginable," Gibbs said with conviction.
End of flashback
"Are any of you his relative?" Keith asked disrupting Gibbs' memory.
Gibbs stepped forward. "I'm his father."
"Ok, sir you can ride with us in the ambulance," Keith said before practically jogging towards the ambulance (while pushing the gurney).
In the ambulance Gibbs cursed freely as he watched Keith unsuccessfully try to stop the blood from flowing out of what seemed like every orifice on his son's head.
"Blood type?" Keith asked looking up at Gibbs.
"O negative," Gibbs said grimly.
Gibbs knew that his son was going to need a transfusion with the amount of blood that was seemingly just pouring out of him. He also knew that AB negative was the rarest of blood types. He cursed even louder when he realized that the only other person he knew with AB negative blood was Tony.
A/N: it's a little shorter, but there will be an update either tonight or tomorrow. Sorry if I haven't been able to get to all the reviews. I loved them all and read them. They help continue the story.
