Flashback
"Hello?" Jethro barked into the phone with as much ferocity as he could muster at 3:30 in the morning.
"Is this the house of Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" someone asked on the other line.
Jethro sighed sitting up in bed. He reached over to turn on the light on the nightstand, rubbing his hand over his face. "Yeah, speaking."
"Sir, we have your son Anthony Gibbs here at the emergency room. If it is possible could you please come down here at Mercy Medical Hospital?"
Jethro jumped up from his bed, his shoes conveniently placed besides his bed was now on. He grabbed his sweater from the bedpost leaving the phone still off the hook, now completely forgotten. Tony was in trouble.
He ran into Bella's room waking her up as gently as possible. He didn't want to take either of his kids to see Tony, but he knew that there would be no one to watch them, and they were both much too young to be left alone, even in cases like this one.
"Daddddy," Bella whined trying to wiggle away from her father.
"Wake up, Princess," Jethro coaxed already slipping on the girl's shoes.
Jethro picked her up with ease, throwing a jacket over her before walking across the hall towards his son's room. Jayson who was a naturally light sleeper had already woken up. He was sitting up in his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Daddy?" Jayson asked uncertainly.
"Put on your shoes, Sport," Jethro ordered gently, while trying to put the jacket on Bella who had fallen asleep once again.
"Why? It's early. I don't want to go to school this early," Jayson complained, while he was putting his shoe on.
"I'll explain in the car. You ready?"
Jethro watched as his son walked towards him, jacket half on and shoes untied. He stopped in front of Jethro before reaching up with his arms, wriggling his little fingers up at his father expectantly.
Jethro rolled his eyes but complied, leaning down a little before taking the boy in his arms. With the two kids securely in his arms, Jethro made his way down the stairs with ease. Jethro placed both of his little treasures into their car seats before running around to the front and going ten over the speed limit all the way to the hospital.
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"You two take a seat over there," Jethro said pointing to the set of chairs in the waiting room.
Gibbs watched as the twins waddled their way to the chairs. Bella immediately leaned on Jayson once she was comfortable. Satisfied the two were ok Jethro walked towards the emergency room front desk to check on his eldest.
"I'm here for Anthony Gibbs," Jethro said, finding his words coming out quicker than expected.
The lady typed a little on the godforsaken "technological advancement" known as a computer for what seemed like forever before she looked up at him, a sympathetic smile on her face. "I'll tell the doctor you are here."
With that she stood up from her chair and walked quickly to the back doors. He paced up and down waiting for the doctor to appear. He told his son that being a cop was stupid. Jethro remembered all the arguments that they both had time and time again about placing himself in unnecessary danger. He recounted the times he had opened the door to see his son too drunk to even open the door in hopes of forgetting a hard case. He recounted the times in his mind when he would sit up waiting for a call like the one he had gotten earlier. He had feared for the worse, and evidently he had feared correctly.
"Mr. Gibbs?" a voice called Jethro from his thoughts.
"Just Gibbs," Gibbs said shaking the younger man's hand.
Jethro cursed silently to himself. This kid was taking care of Tony? He barely looked a year older than Tony for Christ sakes.
"Right, I'm Dr. Palen. Would you like to go somewhere a little more private?" the doctor asked looking around, blushing when he realized the waiting room was empty.
"I want to see my son," Jethro demanded.
"He was taken into surgery. We couldn't wait. I'd like to talk to you about a small complication…" Dr. Palen paused to gather his thoughts. "Anthony a rare blood type. The rarest of blood types. Unfortunately we don't have Anthony blood type in our blood bank…"
"What are you saying?" Jethro snarled.
"Anthon…"
"He prefers 'Tony.'"
"Tony lost a lot of blood. Too much blood. He's losing even more with the surgery. Unfortunately due to his injuries we were unable to wait. We had to take the risk. However, you should know sir, that unless we find some O negative blood quickly, his chances of survival is not great. I'm sorry," Dr. Palen said with such calmness that Jethro realized he had done this a time or two.
Jethro nodded, jumping from his chair. Dr. Palen looked on confused. He watched as Jethro brought over a small boy who was holding onto him tightly, while staring wearily at Dr. Palen.
"My boy. My boy's O negative," Jethro said practically pushing Jayson towards the young doctor.
"I'll go set up the stuff," Dr. Palen said with a nod. "Follow me."
By now Bella had walked over to see what the commotion was all about. She took her father's hand instinctively. Both kids were still unaware of the current situation, only knowing that their father was worried about something, and that Tony was still nowhere to be found.
Suddenly, Jayson found himself being placed on a bed, an IV needle getting prepared besides him.
"Daddy I hate needles! I'll clean my room when you tell me to next time. I don't want a needle!" Jayson cried realizing the needle was for him.
"Listen baby boy, this is very important," Jethro said taking Jayson's face into his hands. "Buddy, Tony's in trouble, and he needs your help."
"What's wrong with Tony?" Jayson asked inching closer to his father and further away from the man with the needle.
"He's hurt and he's losing a lot of blood…"
"So?" Jayson asked inching even closer to his father.
"So these idiots don't have your brother's blood type…" Jethro sighed realizing he lost his child. He tried a different approach. "Do you remember all the times Tony was there when you were hungry, or when you needed him to tuck you in, or when you were scared?"
"I can't possibly remember all the times daddy. Tony's there for everything!" Jayson said rolling his eyes.
"Do you want a chance to repay him buddy?" Jethro asked biting back a bittersweet smile.
"I'd do ANYTHING for Tony daddy!" Jayson said enthusiastically.
"I want to do something for Tony!" Bella chirped up from her seat beside the bed.
"You will, Princess." Jethro said with a smile. "It's your brother's turn now though. Can you wait your turn?"
Bella pouted, but nodded sitting back in her chair.
"What do I have to do?" Jayson asked excited.
"You have to let them prick you with that needle, Sport," Jethro explained.
At once Jayson's excited appearance was replaced with a frown. He looked at the guy who was patiently waiting to prick him with said needle.
"Fine, for Tony," Jayson said with a determined resolve. He faced the doctor and said in his most grown up voice possible, "I'm only letting you prick me because I love my brother."
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"Dad?" Tony's shaky voice immediately woke Jethro from his fitful slumber.
It had been two days since Jayson had given Tony a life saving transfusion. Two days of being glued to the uncomfortable recliner while the kids were at their mother's house. Two days of nasty hospital food, and worse, hospital coffee. But it was all worth it to see those hazy green eyes flicker open.
"Tony-boy!" Gibbs greeted using an old nickname from when the kid was still a kid.
"I feel like shit," Tony groaned attempting to sit himself up.
"Easy, kiddo. You're going to rip a stitch out," Jethro said helping his son to a more comfortable position.
Jethro noted the bead of sweat that was already coming down from Tony's head from the little physical activity. He didn't miss the fact that Tony was quietly panting for breath by the end and was completely exhausted by the time he was sitting up.
"I'm pretty sure I should be dead right now," Tony finally said looking at his dad, searching for confirmation.
"You were pretty touch and go for awhile, Tone, not going to lie. You should thank Jay though. Without that kid you probably would be dead right now," Jethro admitted quietly.
"So I owe the kid my life?" Tony nodded.
Tony's eyes were getting heavy, and it didn't help that his father was stroking his hair like he did when he was younger. Being close to his dad and the little physical activity had already strained the young man to capacity.
"Sleep now, son," Jethro whispered still stroking the man's hair.
"I'll pay him back someday," Tony mumbled out.
End of flashback
Gibbs paced the emergency room waiting room with the ferocity of a caged lion, daring anyone, even those in wheelchairs, to get in his way. Wisely, everyone left him plenty of room to pace. Ziva and McGee were back processing the scene. Abby was getting the plates from the cars that had left the warehouse, assuming that Tony was in one of those cars. Thankfully, Bella had fallen asleep some time ago in Abby's lab allowing Abby to do her thing uninterrupted.
"Family for Jayson G?" a nurse called out into the waiting room.
Gibbs made a beeline towards her; people who were in his way jumped out quickly seeing the murderous glare on his face.
"I'm his father," Gibbs said.
The nurse nodded. "If you'd follow me to the conference room the doctor will be with you shortly."
Gibbs nodded following the lady to the conference room, where he continued pacing until the doctor arrived.
"Mr. Gibbs?" the doctor asked. Gibbs nodded. "Hi, I'm Dr. Barlow, Jayson's attending."
"How's my son doing?" Gibbs asked, stopping mid pace.
Dr. Barlow gulped. The man looked about ready to pounce on him and tear him to shreds if he provided the wrong response. He quickly went over Jayson's stats in his head fearing that failure in execution would probably cost him his life.
"First I have to ask how he sustained these injuries," Dr. Barlow questioned.
"He was kidnapped and systematically tortured by the looks of it. I'm a federal agent," Gibbs explained.
The doctor checked something on his clipboard and Gibbs resisted the urge to yank the thing out of his hand and throw it across the room.
"My son Dr. Barlow."
"Right! Jayson's arm was broken in a compound fracture. I'll need your signature before we can do surgery to put the bone back in place. Your sons rib was also fractured in a comminuted fracture and we need to go in and take out some of the fragments which could get into the blood stream and cause complications. His left lung collapsed and he's on a ventilator now just to reduce the amount of stress on his body. His kidney is touch and go. For now he is on dialysis, hopefully they will heal on their own. He has a mild concussion as well. The problem sir is that your son has a rare blood type. Unfortunately we don't have enough here for his blood. Does anyone in your family share his blood type?"
"My eldest son. His brother," Gibbs gulped. "Dr. how long does Jayson have until he needs the blood?"
"Theoretically Jayson needed the blood hours ago. We need to do the surgery now to stop any internal bleeding. Even with the supplies from other hospitals his chance of survival is not looking too good. We need your other son's blood," Dr. Barlow stated.
"How long?" Gibbs grounded out.
"Five hours max."
A/N: I just love reviews. They always inspire me to just continue writing no matter what. P.S. this story is drawing to a close. Look for a new story in the near future! Thanks so much to all my reviewers out there.