Hiya! Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter, and I appreciate the support. It helps :D Here's the next installment. I hope you guys like it!

disclaimer: disclaimed...for the 12th time.


Right now, I wish you were here with me.

-One Direction, "Right Now"

Help me stay safe for her.

He could see shapes, shadowy, morphing shapes around him and above him and there was yelling and shouting and he felt as if he was seeing and hearing the world through a funnel.

A face. Gibbs? McGee? He squinted. Definitely Gibbs. The older man's mouth was moving, his lips were forming words that reached Tony's ears in long echoes that didn't even sound like words at all. Just noise. Loud noise that made his head ring and he wanted it to stop.

Help me stay safe for her.

The words repeated themselves in his head like a mantra, and he didn't know how or why they were even significant but something inside of him told him that they were important.

He felt sick to his stomach but he couldn't move...couldn't feel any part of his body, really. Was his head...moving? Blue and black and grey swam before his eyes and he vaguely made out a hand withdrawing from his face. Gibbs had probably been trying to smack him into consciousness.

Help me stay safe for her.

Red. All he saw was red when his vision moved down and it was everywhere and it scared him, because an alarm went off in his head that screamed this is not good.

And there was this thing that was pulling him further and further away...sleep. Sleep sounds good.

And so he did.

Help me stay safe for her.


There were faces now...so many faces...with each blink there was another person, another room, another fleeting snippet of conversation...

"BP is dropping."

"He's fading, Doc, quick!"

"Doctpr, he's coding!"

Machines kept beeping and it hurt his head...the people needed to stop talking...it was loud, too loud. He began to feel a dull ache spread throughout his chest...how much time had gone by?

"Get him into surgery now!"


The next time he opened his eyes, he was in a sterile white room and the distinct rumbling of thunder rattled the window. A single man sat in the corner in a chair that couldn't possibly be comfortable, casually reading a newspaper and sipping coffee as if it was a regular morning. A cough racked Tony's body, and Gibbs finally looked up.

"Nice of you to join us again, DiNozzo," he said, in his oh-so-Gibbsian way, but there was something off in his tone...

"Boss..." his voice was raw, his throat sore, and Gibbs thrust a plastic cup of water at him, which Tony drank greedily, the coolness soothing his dry mouth.

"You remember what happened?" Gibbs asked, and Tony frowned.

"I was shot...in the chest." Tony answered, and as if on cue, a throbbing pain shot up his spine, and his entire front felt twisted, tight. His face screwed up in pain, but he managed to keep a level gaze at the stern man in front of him. "I 'ppreciate the Hallmark card, Boss."

Gibbs sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sudden presence of a nurse, who was simply too excited to see that Tony was awake, and took great pride in checking his vitals and making notes on her clipboard, all while twirling her hair.

"How are you feeling, Anthony?" she chirped, and Tony wanted to laugh. How does she think I'm feeling?

"Tony," he amended, and she nodded.

"Well, Tony," she grinned. "You'll be in here for the next few days while we continue to monitor your recovery. Dr. Matthews was able to extract the bullet from your chest, and you were lucky...it almost punctured your lung..." her gaze lingered on said chest for just a little too long until Tony pulled the hospital gown further over himself, much to the amusement of his Boss. "Well, anyway, I'll be back in to check on your bandages and stitches and stuff later, but if you need anything before then, just give me a holler! My name is Keri!" she was almost out of the room before she swiveled on her heel at the speed of light, her face just a little too perky for 3 a.m. "Oh! By the way, are there any other loved ones we can call for you? I see you have your dad here, but is there a girlfriend? A...wife?"

Tony just stared at her blankly, and Gibbs snorted, causing Keri to frown.

"Oh! I'm sorry...husband?"

"No!" Tony exclaimed, a little louder than he intended. "I'm...I'm good."

"You sure?" she pressed.

"Positive." Tony bit out, and the nurse, looking a little put off by his tone, finally left him alone.

Gibbs studied him for a moment, his quizzical gaze puzzling Tony to the point of aggravation. "What?"

"Be nice, DiNozzo."

"No." Tony retorted, and he winced at the inevitable Gibbs slap.

"Why can't you just follow directions?" Tony was startled.

"Boss-"

"No!" Gibbs barked, and stood from the bed, towering over Tony. "I told you stay back, DiNozzo. I told you that I was handling it!"

Tony frowned, currently confused about how the hell that was relevant, but one look into Gibbs' narrowed coffee brown eyes reminded Tony of exactly why he was currently lying in the hospital bed.

"You call getting blindsided by a second shooter handling it, Boss?" Tony's voice rose an octave. "The guy woulda killed you!"

"And he could've just as easily put that bullet in your skull, DiNozzo!" Gibbs yelled. "What the hell possessed you to not wear a damned vest?"

"Because you weren't wearing one either." Tony murmured quietly, and Gibbs sighed loudly. "You're just mad that I took a bullet for you, Boss."

Gibbs was quiet for a moment before moving back to the corner of the room to retrieve the ungodly plastic chair, and pulled it to the side of the bed.

"I don't know if you were aware of it or not, Tony, but before you were finally out, you kept saying her name and were begging me to help you stay safe for her. And for a good long while, we all thought we'd actually lost you. Now imagine me having to make that phone call." And with that, Gibbs stood and began making his way out of the room, but not before hearing Tony murmur "I'm glad I survived too, Boss."

And when Tony was finally alone, his head fell back onto the pillow with a sigh, and he couldn't help but wish for the peace of a medicinal sleep, because right now, being unconscious sounded much better than laying in a stiff bed, hurting and wanting nothing but Ziva in his arms.


So yeah...there you go. It was a little shorter than normal...sorry about that. I couldn't fit anything more into this chapter without making it super super long.

What's going on with Gibbs? Hopefully that'll be resolved at some point in the near future. Next chapter will be up in the next few days, as usual, so be on the lookout for it! Drop me a review on the way out, if you want!

-Laura