"Sure you're all good Duck?" Gibbs asked again, leaning on the door of their crime scene truck.
"Absolutely Jethro, I'll see you back at NCIS," Ducky got himself settled in the driver's seat. "Do drive safely."
Gibbs nodded, shutting the van door, and watching him pull off before walking back over to Burke's truck.
After another brief talk with the old man, Gibbs questioning him on his knowledge of Mrs Jenkins and her so called grandchildren Janine and Earl Henderson. Burke had offered the agents the use of his truck to get back to Washington, as a thank you for ridding the town of 'utter trash' as he'd put it. Apparently the Sheriff would bring it back when he collected the rest of the evidence after they closed the case on their young Petty Officer.
Climbing into the driver's seat, Ziva in the back with McGee, Tony having commandeered shot gun, Gibbs took hold of the wheel and waited.
"Well?" Tony asked right on cue.
"Not right now." Gibbs sighed.
Tony punched the air and cheered his victory. Gibbs was not happy, Ducky even less so, but when Tony had seemed to recover his mental faculties considerably well on their return to the motel both were so pleased with him that when Tony stated unequivocally that he was not going to hospital neither man had it in him to argue.
"Thank you, boss." Tony's grin of triumph didn't ease Gibbs' nerves.
"You're still going to get checked over," He growled, feeling twice his age all of a sudden.
"Of course boss," Tony agreed brightly, too brightly if you asked Gibbs, "if Ducky says so after Abby's blood tests."
"He will." Gibbs muttered under his breath, knowing it would do no good to get into this discussion now.
It seemed Tony heard him anyway, those bat ears of his not being effected one iota by the progressing pneumonia.
"Boss you promised." Tony turned hurt eyes on him.
"I know." Gibbs wished he hadn't.
Tony's minor improvement had been short lived. Once they'd gathered their things from the room, and changed back into their own clothes Gibbs had ordered Ziva and McGee to help bring down all the evidence while he and Ducky fetched the body of Lauren Molls. Tony had apparently tried to help, but he'd collapsed into a coughing fit within minutes. When McGee suggested he sit down while they loaded the van DiNozzo had thrown a hissy fit declaring he wasn't incapable of lifting a few boxes and they didn't need to baby him. Gibbs had heard every word and had dragged him off to the side, boiling over with anger.
Gibbs didn't coddle anyone, but he did take care of his team and he expected them to do the same for each other. He didn't care if keeping him out of the way made him feel like a baby, it was for his own damn good. After shouting at him, making it very clear that if he wanted to stay out of hospital he'd do as he was damn well told, Gibbs went to ask Ducky if these mood swings could be drug related. Ducky hadn't been very helpful, telling him that until they knew what Tony had ingested there was no way of knowing what the side effects could be. However he had said that if narcotics were involved then mood swings in withdrawal were common. Gibbs had already known that, and guessed he was just looking for a quick fix, a promise that everything was going to be fine. There was nothing worse than not knowing what to expect.
Resigned to the fact he wasn't going to get answers anytime soon Gibbs left it thirty minutes before going back to check on him. Finding Tony exactly where he had left him on the stairs outside their room Gibbs didn't know whether to smile or be extremely worried by his compliance. He had for all intents and purposes place him on the naughty step, and felt a pang of guilt that maybe Tony was right to feel a little mistreated.
"We're ready to go," Gibbs said coolly on his approach, unwilling to acknowledge his faux-pas.
"Where?"
"Home DiNozzo," Gibbs stressed, thinking he had forgotten again. "Where the hell else you wanna go?"
"I'm not going to hospital." Tony all but stamped his feet.
"You said that."
"We both know it's not up to me." Tony shook his head, looking angry and on the verge of tears again.
"I'll talk to Ducky," Gibbs agreed, seeing it would do neither of them good to argue about this now. "Abby can take bloods, but afterwards if Ducky says you go, you go - no arguments."
"You promise boss?"
"You really need to ask that DiNozzo?"
When Gibbs had spoken to Ducky before leaving he had reluctantly agreed that forcing Tony to go to hospital could end up doing more harm than good, by him wasting his energy fighting them instead of the pneumonia.
So with that promise weighing heavily on his mind, expelling a hefty sigh and growl of disapproval Gibbs started the truck. Pulling out of the parking lot no one was particularly sad to see the back of Lake Barcroft.
…
They were halfway across the George Mason Bridge and Tony was halfway through an argument with Ziva about selling the rights of their story to McGee for his next novel when he fell suddenly silent. Gibbs had lost the tenuous hold on his temper and had yelled at Tony to shut the hell up. He'd had enough of the silly bickering, combined with heavy traffic and rain that was still drowning the city Gibbs simply wasn't in the mood to listen to them anymore. Tony had been drifting between silent indifference and moodiness the whole trip. Knowing it was likely withdrawal causing Tony's extra annoying attitude didn't help either. His last comment to Tony may have been harsh, but Gibbs was still expecting a response, it was what DiNozzo did. When no re-joiner came Gibbs looked over, his gut churning when he saw Tony mechanically rubbing his palms together in his lap, eyes wide open staring dead ahead.
Taking one hand off the steering wheel he hit Tony over the head.
"DiNozzo!" He shouted after getting no reaction whatsoever.
McGee leaned over the seat and shook him, putting two fingers to Tony's neck when that didn't garner a response.
"Boss, his pulse is racing-"
McGee barely finished his sentence when the convulsions started.
"Damn it." Gibbs gripped the stirring wheel, sending his knuckles white.
He pressed his foot down as far as the truck allowed, racing around the cars in front to the sound of many a honked horn. They pulled into the ER at University hospital less than five minutes later.
The manic twitching had stopped as suddenly as it started, leaving Tony limp and unconscious in his seat. Gibbs jumped out of the truck he'd haphazardly brought to stop in the ambulance bay and shouted for help. Running around to Tony's door he yanked it open and dragged DiNozzo out, given that he wasn't going to walk under his own steam Gibbs gathered him up and carried Tony through the large double doors to be immediately surrounded by medical personnel.
"What happen?" a woman in scrubs approached them as Gibbs dropped Tony onto the offered gurney.
"He's a federal Agent, been given unknown drugs of unknown dose over" Gibbs checked his watch, concept of time having long since left him, "At least 12 hours ago."
"He's been having seizures, at least three and has pneumonia." Ziva chimed in, her and McGee having followed on their six.
The woman looked searchingly at him, probably trying to ascertain if they were for real, but he had nothing more to tell her. She glared at him and he glared back at her. She got the message.
"Okay family waits here we'll take care of him," the woman in scrubs ran with the gurney carrying Tony, along with several others, leaving Gibbs, Tim and Ziva behind all looking lost and helpless.
…
It was nearly an hour before anyone came back and told them Tony was stable. They asked Gibbs for a medical history and to fill in an admittance form with a few other details before disappearing again. Ducky had joined them as soon as he got the message from McGee and having already been at the Navy yard he'd brought Abby and Palmer with him.
"They insisted on seeing you all I thought it best not to argue." Ducky explained upon seeing Jethro looking haggard leaning on the nurses' station, pen and clipboard in hand.
"Ducky will you talk to them, they're telling us nothing."
"I intend to do just that," Ducky patted Gibbs' hand, before making his way down the corridor garnering the attention of the nearest nurse.
"Gibbs, I'm so glad you're alright," Abby came up behind him, giving him a much needed hug.
"We're fine Abs." He squeezed her back and wondered if Tony would think him nuts if the first thing he did when he saw him again was give him an Abby strength hug.
Gibbs never took his eyes off of Ducky talking with the nurse and when he walked back over to them, he braced himself for the worse.
"Tony's had a complex partial seizure of the temporal lobe." Ducky announced.
"That different to the other ones I told you about?"
"No Jethro," Ducky swallowed, "From what you've told me Tony has experienced several partial seizures, leading up to a secondary generic seizure, then stepping down again to this partial seizure."
"Is that good then?" McGee asked trying to follow Ducky's unusually brief explanation.
Ducky grimaced, looked like he was about to speak, but Gibbs cut to the chase.
"So is it the drugs or pneumonia?"
"A bit of both I'm afraid." Ducky gave Gibbs a pensive look, "he'll go for an EEG and MRI like before to be safe, but I doubt they'll find anything, did you know 70% of the population suffer seizures and have no idea? Why I remember-"
"Abby, get samples of his blood and take them back to your lab, I want a full work up." Gibbs had stopped listening.
Hearing the blood rushing through his head he slammed the clipboard with the unfinished admit form onto the nurses' station and stormed off.
"He's really mad." Abby said to Ducky.
Ducky looked her in the eye.
"He's afraid, Abigail."
Tbc…