Warnings: Same as usual.
A/N: Good morning everyone and happy Saturday! Here is the next chapter. Enjoy!
Everything came to her in flashes.
Flashes of red and blue lights, of Tony yelling at her to stay awake, of faces she didn't recognize leaning over her, talking to her, but their words were jumbled—she couldn't make them out. Were they speaking English? Maybe she was still in Germany…
She felt a pinch in her arm, realized that someone had pierced her skin with a needle and saw an EMT hooking her up to an IV. Had she dehydrated? Lost blood? What happened…
Leah closed her eyes, blocking out the bright lights that suddenly assaulted her. She heard doors slamming and a voice yelling. Just as she slipped into an unconscious state once again, she saw Tony—blood covering his face—fighting with the EMT's as the ambulance sped away.
Gibbs popped open a fresh beer and sat down at his dining table. Tossing his cell phone onto the table, he was hoping to settle down for a quiet night...
"Hey, Jethro, are you home?" Tobias Fornell called out, suddenly.
"In the kitchen," Gibbs responded with a shake of his head. So much for a quiet night.
Fornell appeared, with a bag of take-out food and a dossier in his hand. "Got that file you asked for," he said, waving the folder in the air. "I had to pull a lot strings to get this, Jethro. You owe me one."
Gibbs stood up, sipping his beer. He silently went to the refrigerator and retrieved one for Fornell. "Does it say anything about her family?" he asked, handing the beer to his old friend.
"Just the usual," Fornell replied. "Her mother was the heiress to a shipping company, her father a top-notch attorney turned senator of Massachusetts. Why so interested in Leah Dawson, Gibbs? She's one of the best analysts at the NSA."
"It's not her work ethic I'm questioning," Gibbs said. "She does her job and she does the job extremely well. I'm trying to figure out who would want her dead beside Ilan Bodnar."
Fornell popped his beer open and sat down across from Gibbs. "You think a political rival of Senator Dawson could be responsible?"
Gibbs shrugged and set his beer aside. "This is Washington, D.C; I wouldn't toss the possibility out just yet, Tobias."
Slowly, the FBI agent leaned back in his chair. "Miss Dawson has been involved in some very high profile cases, but there's one in particular that I think you'll be interested in," he said, tapping the file. "It's going to give you a whole lot of answers you've been looking for in the last few months."
Curiosity peaked, Gibbs opened the file and began to read it, feeling a pit form in his stomach. The assassination of Eli David went much deeper than any of them had imagined and Leah was close to filling in that final gap; this is what almost got her killed in Italy. He opened his mouth to say something but his phone buzzed on the table. With a grumble, he answered, sternly, "Tim, this better be good."
"Sorry to bother you, boss," Tim said on the other line, "but it's Tony and Leah-there's been an accident."
"Accident? What kind of accident, McGee?"
"Tony was driving Leah back from the airport when an SUV crashed into their car."
Gibbs felt the room spin, slightly, his gut tingled. "Was it intentional, McGee?"
Tim was hesitant to answer until Gibbs pressed him further. "Witnesses confirm that the SUV sped up as Tony entered the intersection, they saw a man get out, retrieve something from Tony's car and after Tony attempted to shoot him, the man got into another SUV and sped off. It appears to be a calculated hit and run, boss."
"Are Tony and Leah injured?" Gibbs asked, then immediately thought, what a stupid question! Of course they are!
"Yes, Tony sustained lacerations to his face, arms, and hands," Tim answered, gravely. "Leah was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries; from what I've gathered one of her major arteries was cut during the crash. Tony applied pressure to it until the paramedics arrived."
"Has Director Vance been notified?"
"Not yet, boss. I thought that I would call you first."
Gibbs stood up and grabbed his sweatshirt laying nearby. "Call Vance, I'll call Homeland, and then head to the hospital."
Tim cleared his throat. "What about Ziva?"
He didn't have time for this. Gibbs sighed, angrily. "What about her?"
The younger agent hesitated once again. "What should I tell her?"
"Nothing," Gibbs said as he grabbed his keys and weapon. "Right now, she's on a need-to-know basis, and this she doesn't need to know."
Tony sat on the hospital bed, head in his hands; he had refused treatment until he was sure Leah was going to make it. Nurses had forced him into this room once Leah had been rushed upstairs to the operating room. Her arm had been pinned against the metal frame of the door, which had punctured her artery, along with suffering a compound fracture of her right arm, she also had hit her head against the window and possibly suffered a concussion.
He had done his best, with the limited medical training he had, to make sure that Leah had not bled to death before the paramedics had arrived. The diamonds were gone, Bodnar was gone... there had been no way Tony could possibly stop him after the crash. Bodnar was going to pay; Tony was going to make sure of it.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs voice startled him.
"Boss," Tony rasped, glancing up to see the team leader step into the hospital room. "I messed up."
Gibbs frowned, turned, and shut the door behind him. He went to stand next to Tony's bed. "Shut up, DiNozzo. You didn't mess up. Bodnar used a Chevy Surburian as a weapon and from what I hear-you saved Leah's life."
Tony shook his head. "I didn't do enough, boss. I should have seen that truck coming; and she's not out of the woods yet. Her arm could still get infected, they don't know if her brain is damaged..."
He sighed. Typical Tony, Gibbs thought, blaming himself. "Speaking of doctors, they told me you're refusing treatment. You hit your head too, Tony, you need to be examined to make sure you're all right and you probably should have that cut on your nose stitched up. Hate for it to leave a scar."
"I appreciate your attempt to cheer me up with humor, boss," Tony whispered, running a hand through his hair. Gibbs noticed it was all cut up. "But it's not working."
"Would it cheer you up to know that McGee tracked the license plate of the get away car?" Gibbs inquired.
"He did? Already? I mean... McGee is the best..."
"He did; waiting on the proper warrants to go arrest him."
Tony jumped down from the hospital bed. "Great, just let me get my gun back and I'm ready to go..."
Gibbs put a hand on Tony's chest and with relative ease pushed him back on the bed. "DiNozzo, you're in no shape-physically or mentally-to go get this guy."
Crestfallen, Tony nodded. He knew he wasn't in top form, that was why Gibbs was so easily able to shove him back to the bed. "I failed boss; I had one job to do-to protect her-and I failed."
"If you hadn't been in a car accident, I'd slap you right now," Gibbs snapped.
"Yeah, I know, boss," Tony mumbled with a half-assed smile. "Haven't even met her parents yet and they probably already hate me."
There was very little time for Gibbs to process that last piece of information; his cell was ringing and he knew who was calling before he even picked it up. "I haven't found out anything new yet, Leon."
Tony could tell from the annoyed look on Gibbs' face that Vance wasn't happy. It had only been a few hours, he wasn't sure what exactly the Director was hoping the team leader had found out; Tony wondered if perhaps Vance was keeping this underwraps just like they had covered up Jackie's death, Eli's death-Jenny's.
Gibbs hung up the phone and scowled. "Vance thinks I'm moving too slow on this; gotta go. Call me as soon as Dawson is out of surgery, and make sure you get treated for those injuries, got it?"
"Yeah boss," Tony said, with a nod of his head. "What about her parents? Her father is a senator..."
"Tom Morrow was going to handle that," Gibbs replied.
"Glad I'm not him."
"Me too."
Massachusetts Senator John Dawson hated being called into his office this late at night. He wasn't even properly dressed for a meeting with Homeland Security Director Tom Morrow; he was wearing sweats for crying outloud. "This better be good, Tom," the Senator grumbled when he arrived at his office. "It's almost midnight."
Tom glanced at the Senator's aide that had entered with him and then at the secret service agent. "Can we have some privacy please?"
John saw his aide hesitate and he briefly nodded. When the other two occupants of the room were gone, John closed the door. "Ok, we're alone; what's going on?"
"Your daughter was in a car accident tonight," Tom replied.
"Is it... is it bad?" John questioned, feeling all the rage leaving his body. "I wasn't aware Leah was home."
"She returned this evening. Senator, we have reason to believe that this was an intentional act."
"Intentional? Someone hit her car on purpose?"
Tom nodded, solemnly. "Yes. Your daughter has been working on a highly classified case; we think that the man under investigation rammed his car into hers and hired someone else to use as a getaway car. NCIS has located the owner of the getaway car and they are going to apprehend him as we speak."
John sat down on the edge of his desk. "She told me not to worry, that she had an agent with her at all times while she was over in Europe. Guess an agent isn't going to stop a car..."
"Agent DiNozzo was with her at the time of the accident. He's probably the one that saved her life," Tom said.
"How... how bad is she?" John stammered. How the hell am I going to tell my wife all this?
"She's lost a lot of blood; doctors are operating on her."
"What... what hospital? My wife and I are going to want to be there."
"Washington General."
John reached for his phone to order his car be brought out front. He didn't care that he was in his sweats, he was going to the hospital to be with his daughter. "You better have every available agent on this, Tom. If my daughter dies because of some assignment you gave her, I could make life hell for you."
Tom swallowed, anxiously. Leah had once warned him about her father's temper. He had no doubt that John Dawson would make life hell for him if she didn't make it. "My agents think Parsa is behind it."
"Parsa? I thought the Seals executed him months ago," John said, slamming his phone down.
"So did I," Tom replied. "New information was brought to my attention. Looks like the Seals killed the wrong terrorist."
"Leah wasn't supposed to be working that case anymore, not when Intel discovered he knew she was my daughter."
"She wasn't working that case, Senator. We think that someone leaked information to Parsa on where she was."
John felt that rage returning. "How did Parsa get into the U.S?"
Tom shook his head. "He didn't; we haven't been to find any evidence of this, but we think Parsa is also involved in the death of Eli David and Arash Kazmi. They're working together, he used Ilan Bodnar to conduct his dirty work once Leah was back in the States."
His phone buzzed, signaling that his car was ready. John glared, hard, at the Director of Homeland Security. "Find the bastard, Tom," he snapped, before storming out of the room and heading to the hospital to be with his daughter.