Warnings: Tony might be a little OOC. Angst.
A/N: Hello everyone! I've been busy writing and preparing updates this week. Hope you enjoy this one. Like I said in the warnings, Tony might be a little OOC in this. Just thought I'd give you a heads up. Don't know how many more chapters this is going to be, but I haven't quite wrapped it up yet. While I do plan on continuing this series as inspiration strikes me, I've also started work on another AU, but I really didn't want to flesh out a new OC and decided that most of my readers love Leah and she's pretty fleshed out already. But enough rambling and on to the update...
Guest-The conversation between Tim and Gibbs was my favorite part of that chapter as well. And, honestly, I could not pass up the chance to put Baby Jack in a tux lol.
Seven days after the Navy doctors had repaired Tony's knee a physical therapist stopped by for his first session. She was young, bouncy, and had way too much energy for Tony's likening. And she wasn't going to go easy on him just because he was cute.
It had been the most painful forty-five minutes of his life. And when he made it back to his hospital room he wasn't in a particularly good mood.
Leah did her best to raise his spirits, that as soon as he showed the PT that he could walk with the use of crutches, he'd be able to go home... Tony still wasn't feeling better. He wanted to be home now. He missed Jack. Sure, Delilah or Abby or Leah's mother who was staying with them now that Lauren had gone back to Boston, brought him by... it just wasn't the same.
"Tony... don't be so hard on yourself," Leah said, helping him back into bed. "You'll get there."
"I want to be there now," Tony snapped, flopping back against his pillows.
"Do you want some painkillers?"
"No. I'll be fine."
She didn't fail to notice how he gritted that out between his teeth. He was trying to be some sort of macho, touch guy, like if he took a pain reliever that would make him less so. She put the cup the nurse had left with the pills by his bed and told him, "Here, they're right there if you change your mind."
He grabbed the remote and began to flick through the channels. "I won't."
Leah didn't argue with him anymore. Tony had insisted that the doctors take him off the morphine pump, because she knew he didn't want his wife in charge of it anymore. And she also knew that her husband was not a particularly patient man. He hated to be cooped up in bed... unless of course it was with her... but he was active, always on the move. Having to lay down all the time while he worked up the strength in his knee was not sitting well with him. "I'm sorry... I was just trying to... to help."
"Well, don't. I have enough people coddling over me," Tony hissed, painfully. Immediately her face fell. Damn it.
"You can be a real bastard at times, Anthony," Leah accused him, tears gathering in her eyes. "Stop acting like a petulant child. You want to be angry, fine, just don't be angry at me or anyone else that's trying to help you recover! Be angry at the scumbag that put you here!"
"Am I interrupting?" Gibbs voice asked from the door. He paused, studying Tony and Leah for a second. Their body language told him all he needed to know. Yes, he was interrupting something, but neither one of them would acknowledge it.
Leah shook her head and went to retrieve some tissues, wiping at her eyes. "No. Tony just came back from PT."
Tony glared at the back of her head. "Worst hour of my life, boss. Even worse than some of your training. I just want out of here."
Gibbs sighed, and nodded. He knew how Tony could get in the hospital for extended periods of time, and once he was alone with the SFA he was going to make it well known that Tony shouldn't be taking his frustration out on his wife. Gibbs stepped into the room, a young man in his late thirties entering with him. The team leader gestured towards the man with him. "Leah, this is Alex Walsh... he's the U.S Attorney prosecuting Wayne. He wanted to speak to both you and Tony, that is, if you're up for it, DiNozzo?"
Tony grunted and nodded his head. "I'm up for it, boss. Why... why does the lawyer want to speak to Leah though?" he asked, tossing a suspicious glare at the new comer. "My wife wasn't there, Mr. Walsh. She isn't a witness to Wayne's crimes."
"No. But your wife had a pretty interesting conversation with the defendant after his arrest," Walsh replied, putting his brief case down onto the tray.
"Conversation?" Tony spat, eyes traveling towards Leah now. He noticed the pale expression on her face. "What is he talking about?"
"Tony, before you get mad.."
"I'm already mad, Leah, because I know where this is going."
Walsh suddenly realized that perhaps the couple hadn't spoken about Leah going to see Wayne while he was in custody in West Virginia. He cleared his throat, nervously, "Um... your wife went to see Wayne while he was in custody in West Virginia. She asked to speak to him... with Agent Gibbs and FBI Agent Fornell present. She... wasn't in any danger, Agent DiNozzo."
Tony shifted his green eyes about, emotions running a gambit through them. "No danger? That kid is a sociopath. Just standing near him, even with bars between you is a danger. Damn it, Leah! What the hell were you thinking!"
Leah bit her lip, tears gathering her eyes once again. "You! I could only think about you! And how you were quite possibly dying at the time! You hadn't even woken up yet, hadn't even acknowledge that any of us were in the room with you! And I... I needed to know why that son of bitch shot you!"
"So you think the best option was to go face him!" Tony shouted, his voice dark and thick. "He could have hurt you!"
"He didn't! The only thing that happened was he tore my sweatshirt! Ellie fixed it!" Leah shouted back.
"Listen I didn't mean to cause any problems..." Walsh started to say but was cut off when Tony tried to get out of the bed, mumbling he was going to kill the bastard for laying a hand on his wife.
Gibbs sprung into action then and pushed Tony back, gently. "DiNozzo," he growled, noticing the rage in Tony's eyes, " sit down and shut up."
Tony cursed and looked at his boss, heatedly. "I'll sit, but I'm not shutting up! What made you and Fornell think I'd want my wife near that monster!"
Leah shot her husband a look that Gibbs had never seen her use before... at least not with Tony. "Gibbs and Fornell do not control me. It was my wish and they saw to it that it happened. They were standing not even twenty feet away from me the whole time, Wayne was shackled and behind bars."
"And he still managed to get a hold of you to tear your sweatshirt," Tony growled low in his throat.
"Believe it or not, Agent DiNozzo... your wife's testimony to that conversation might be what gets Wayne to stand trial," Walsh pointed out. He continued when Tony turned his glare on him. "According to Agents Gibbs and Fornell, Wayne confessed to your wife that he knew how to play the system... that he planned on playing the system so he wouldn't face trial. She can testify that he knew right from wrong, and to his volatile nature."
Tony clenched his fists into balls underneath the cover of his blankets and watched as the lawyer went to speak to his wife privately for a moment.
Gibbs turned on him almost immediately. "That was pretty rotten of you to do. She needed closure, an understanding why that kid targeted you. Do you think I would have let anything happen to her?"
He shook his head. "No... but that's not the point!"
"The point is Tony... you would have wanted the same thing."
"That's different! I carry a gun!"
"Leah was the first one to speak to him that got him to stop the act."
Tony stiffened thinking about Wayne looking at her, talking to her... attacking her. "I... It's my job to protect her."
Gibbs tossed him a heated look. "I'm gonna tell you what your wife told you earlier. You can be a bastard at times, Tony. I should know, I'm one myself. But instead of getting angry at her and those around you... get angry at the one really responsible. Get angry at that kid. Not me... and definitely not Leah."
He felt three inches tall. And he probably deserved to feel that small. Tony looked away, his frustration at the world clearly evident on his face. "I just want this whole thing to be over."
"It's gonna take, time, Anthony."
"Yeah. I hate that."
"No one said you had to like it."
Tony sighed and felt his eyes getting heavy. "Boss. Don' take this the wrong way, but I think I'm going to go to sleep now." And he did, saving his worries and frustrations for another day.
Gibbs decided to sit with him. He wanted this whole nightmare to be over with too.
Tony first became aware of the scent of Leah's perfume, and then the warmth cuddled up next to him.
Opening his eyes he let them adjust to the dim light of hospital room at dusk and found his wife curled up against him, fast asleep. Gently he shifted, even though it was painful, and put his arm around her, running his fingers through her hair. He smiled and kissed her forehead but when he pulled back he saw the tears resting on her cheeks. Had she been crying? Of course, given his performance the day before, yelling and screaming at her, he didn't blame her.
Leah moved, rubbing her tear stained face against his shoulder. Her eyes opened slowly to see him gazing at her. "You're awake."
"Yeah," Tony replied, softly. "You've been crying. Did your court appearance not go...well."
"No... it went fine," Leah confessed. "But I spoke to...to Mrs. Marks afterwards."
Tony was confused. Who was Mrs. Marks? And why would seeing her make his wife cry? He brushed the tears away from her cheeks, a look of confusion settling over his face.
Leah sniffled. "Mrs. Marks... was married to the Deputy Sheriff that stopped to help you... the one that Wayne shot and killed." Fresh tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. "She... she's in D.C for the preliminary hearing."
He nodded, beginning to understand, but not quite yet. "And why did seeing her... make you upset?"
She bit down on her lower lip to stop herself from bursting into tears right then and there. "Because, when I got back here and saw you sleeping, breathing on your own without the help of vent and heard the heart monitor... the steady beat of your heart... I realized... I could have been her. I could have..."
"Hey, sweetheart, shhh," Tony hushed her, drawing her closer to him. "You didn't lose me. Okay?"
"But I could have," Leah cried, letting her tears fall. "Jack and I... we'd be lost without you."
"I'd be lost without you too," he stated, kissing her tears away. "Please... Leah... please stop crying. It breaks my heart."
Leah wiped at her tears and snuggled against him, closing her eyes tightly. She felt the familiar feeling of being safe, secure, wash over her. Finally, now that he was awake and on the mend those intense feelings of vulnerability faded away.
Tony gently ran his hand over her back, and kissed her temple. "I'm sorry I got mad at you... yesterday... for going to see Wayne. I... I would have done the same thing if he'd hurt you... Gibbs was right... I was taking my frustration out from my physical therapy session on you and that... that wasn't fair. I know Gibbs never would have let him hurt you... it just... it made me angry that I wasn't there to protect you."
She snuggled closer to him. "I shouldn't have yelled at you either."
"Do you forgive me?"
"Yes. Do you forgive me?"
"Nothing to forgive, Leah."
Leah eased considerably in his arms and began to drift back to sleep. The last couple of days had been emotionally draining for her and she hadn't slept well at all. And with the possibility that her testimony was going to be needed at Wayne's trial... there was some rough waters ahead. But she felt better now knowing that her husband was going to be there supporting her.
Tony rubbed her back and then smiled. "Wanna watch a movie? McGee left me some the last time he came to visit."
"Alright, fine," she said, with a laugh, "but only because you had knee surgery eight days ago."
"How about a little Sean Connery as James Bond?" Tony asked in his best impression of Connery.
Leah got up and obliged him, snuggling back against him as the movie started. There was a sense of normal in this act, something that made it feel like they were finally getting back on track or at least... heading in the right direction.
