(thank you again for all the reviews. I hope you enjoy chapt 14 we are in the home stretch of this story but there are a few twists left )

Brad gave the medication a few minutes to take the edge off the pain in Tony's head and then he asked Tony, "Do you think if I removed the breathing tube you can breath on your own?"

Tony answered with a nearly impressible head nod.

Gibbs didn't leave the room he stayed and held Tony's hand through the uncomfortable process and helped him to sit up while Brad suctioned his mouth out from the vomit that came out after the tube did. Gibbs gently wiped his face with a wet cloth.

Gibbs had a very worried look on his face but Brad tried to calm both of their fears down, "Tony has been through a lot the last week he is doing remarkably well. I wish every one of my patients had some one in their life like you Gibbs if they did then I would never loose another patient." Brad kept glancing at Tony while he spoke and Brad was trying not to show it but he was getting a worried look on his face.

He turned to Tony and asked, "Hey Tony, I have worked hard keeping you alive man I would really like to see a smile from you."

Tony looked toward Brad and the right side of his face lit up in a patented DiNozzo smile while the left side stayed still. Brad couldn't help it he mumble, "Shit". Then Brad held both of Tony's hands and asked him to squeeze his hands. Both hands squeezed but the right was markedly stronger.

Gibbs was getting worried and it was evident in the severity of his words, "Talk to me now Brad what is wrong with Tony?"

Brad sighed, "Gibbs, Tony I will be honest with you I didn't think that Tony was going to survive so I didn't prepare you for some of the possible side effects of the increased pressures in Tony's head. I will have to confirm with an MRI and some other tests but it appears that Tony has had a stroke we wont know how severe until we get the results of the scan but just with the physical evaluation Tony's left side is reactive but sluggish. Can you smile again Tony so I can show Gibbs?"

Tony looked toward Gibbs and smiled and like before only half of his face smiled. Tony whispered a slurred, "Sorry Boss."

Gibbs looked at him funny, "Sorry, for what? Tony I don't care if you can only give me a half smile. I have spent the last days saying goodbye to you and thinking about how I will ever survive having to bury you. You are alive and I am grateful, if there are a few things we have to work through so be it as long as I have you with me."

Tony smiled again, "Be honest with me Boss, did they really shave my hair?"

Gibbs snickered, "Yeah they did DiNozzo, you will be doing your best Kojak impression for a bit but look on the bright side now a days girls think bald is sexy."

Tony gave a fake disappointed moan then he looked into his surrogate father's eyes and he didn't say a word but the conversation between the two men was evident. Shared looks of gratitude and love and determination, without words Tony let his Father know that he was alive and going to fight and his Father let his son know that he would always be by his side no matter what.

Brad watched the silent exchange fondly not wanting to interrupt this intimate moment between Father and Son. When he could tell the moment was over he suggested to Gibbs, "I am going to have Tony busy the whole day with tests. You should take this opportunity to go home and get a shower and some real food and come back this evening. I promise I will take care of Tony and I promise the Guard will be with him even when we do testing."

Gibbs looked at Tony, "Will you be okay if I leave?"

Tony offered a slurred, "Fine Boss see ya tonight, maybe you can bring a pizza?"

Gibbs snickered and Brad interjected, "No pizza not yet."

Gibbs smiled at both men and patted Tony's leg and stood up to leave, "I will leave but I will have my phone if anything happens?"

Brad finished, "You will be the first one we call."

Gibbs nodded at Brad then left the room. He walked as fast as he could out of the hospital and sat on a bench in the front of the hospital and took a few deep breaths. His emotions were all over the place, elation that Tony was now awake and able to communicate with him he was going to be okay, but now the stroke? What if it was so bad he couldn't be a field agent anymore? He sighed and straightened his shoulders and sat a little taller as his resolve began to return.

He thought, "It doesn't matter, Tony is alive, that is all that matters. If Tony cant be an agent anymore then I will go ahead an take my retirement and move Tony into my house and we will manage together." He shook his head in agreement over his thoughts and then called Abby to come to the hospital and pick him up.

Gibbs sat waiting for Abby to arrive when he was approached by an elderly woman, "Excuse me, is your name Gibbs?"

Gibbs looked strangely at the woman, "Yes Ma'am do I know you?"

The elderly woman blushed, "Where are my manners, my name is Julie Reynolds I live next door to Tony. I went to his apartment for dinner the other night; did you know that young man could cook? Anyways he showed me pictures of you and his friends and that is how I know you. After all Tony told me about you I feel I do know you. In case you didn't know that young man is terribly fond of you."

Gibbs blushed, "As I am of him Ma'am"

Ms. Reynolds patted Gibbs leg, "I heard he was injured and will be in the hospital for a while so the other people in the building took up a collection and bout him a care package. I was on my way to give it to him."

Gibbs took the package, "I am terribly sorry I will have to give him the package he is under armed protection and he is undergoing tests all day today. So you will not be able to see him."

Ms. Reynolds looked away, "Oh dear well I guess you can have the honors of giving it too him, just let him know it is from all his neighbors."

Gibbs smiled, "I will ma'am and I am sorry." The sweet woman quickly got up and walked away.

Gibbs gut began to make him uneasy but he sat on the bench holding the package patiently waiting for Abby ignoring his gut and wondering where Abby was when his phone rang, "Yeah Gibbs"

On the other end was McGee, "Boss, Boss, we have picked up all the members of the AFP they are all rolling over on each other but one of the kids told us that the whole organization was funded and created by an older woman named…"

Gibbs looked down at the package and finished McGee's sentence, "Julie Reynolds"