Jul 20
I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.
Patrick Henry (1736 - 1799), (Virginia Convention, March 23, 1775)
The great Leroy Jethro Gibbs winced as the nurse, brunette unfortunately, rubbed another one of his cuts with an alcohol swab.
He was fine. Really he was. If he forgot about having to call DiNozzo to take the suspect off his hands after he'd collapsed on the ground when his knee had buckled.
Major Klein had certainly been surprised when Gibbs had confronted him over the murder. But he had recovered a little too quickly and tried to resist arrest. Going quietly was not an option for the Marine. And so Gibbs had ended up in a knockdown, no holds barred fight.
Gibbs had been prepared to fight to the death; the Major had been prepared to fight for his freedom. Somehow Gibbs had managed to overpower the other man, but not before their actions had destroyed the room and the injuries sustained had been serious enough to land them both in the ER.
Allowing the Major to resist arrest was not an option for Gibbs. He would rather die than have to explain to a family why the person who had killed their loved one was not in custody. He would rather die than look them in the eye and say it was all his fault – if he had just fought a little harder, if he had just got that jab in…
He knew what it was like to feel the justice system had failed a loved one, and he would do whatever it took to make sure it was not his fault someone else had to feel the same.