CHAPTER 21

Dr. Mallard and Abby, with Jimmy Palmer in tow, made it to the hospital in Winchester in record time. They headed immediately to the emergency room. The receptionist told them that Agent DiNozzo had been admitted and was currently in surgery and that the helicopter with Agent McGee was on its way. All they could do now was wait.

A short time later, the nurse came out to inform them that Agent McGee had arrived. Abby leapt to her feet. "Is he alive! I need to see him! Please!" Tears streamed down her chalk white face.

"I'm sorry miss," said the nurse apologetically, "But only medical personnel can be allowed in."

"Then I believe I qualify," announced Ducky getting to his feet. He turned to Abby and held her hand. "Don't worry Abigail," he said softly. "I will make sure Timothy gets all the care he needs. I also hope to learn something of Anthony's condition as well."

Abby nodded miserably. Ducky turned to his assistant. "Take care of her, Mr. Palmer. I shall return as soon as possible." With that he followed the nurse out of the waiting area.

Abby watched him leave feeling completely bereft. Tony was shot. Tim was poisoned. She couldn't imagine life without either of them. She remembered when Director Vance had broken up the team and sent Tony off to sea and McGee to Cybercrimes. Even though she'd seen McGee from time to time, it wasn't the same as when they all worked as a team. But, at least she'd known they were both alive. Now she could lose one or both of them and it was killing her inside. Part of her wondered if she could keep working for NCIS. Could she bear to lose another friend? How would Gibbs handle it? The deaths of Caitlyn Todd and Jenny Shepard had hit him hard and she knew he felt guilty about the way he'd been treating Tim lately. Losing Tony would be like losing a son, she knew, but how would he feel about losing Tim? She didn't want to admit it but she suspected deep down that if he had to sacrifice one, it would be McGee. She wiped away the tears that continued to trickle down her face. She could feel Jimmy watching her with concern. She turned and gave him a weak smile.

"I'm sure they'll both be OK," said Jimmy hopefully. He hesitantly patted her arm then blushed.

"Thanks, Jimmy," she sniffled and leaned against him, thankful for his support. Jimmy looked a little startled then cautiously put his arm around her as they resumed their vigil.

Dr. Mallard followed the nurse into the exam room. At first he didn't even recognize the patient on the table as Timothy McGee. He was covered with mud and his face, at least that part was visible above the ventilator, was a mere shadow of its former self; so gaunt and haggard it looked more like that of a corpse. A nurse had removed Tim's pants and two doctors were examining the engorged, mottled leg while another nurse changed the IV bag. A third came hurrying in with the antivenom and quickly began mixing the first dose.

"BP 90 over 40, heart rate 160," intoned one of the nurses.

As soon as the dose of antivenom was ready, the doctor quickly fed it into the IV bag then watched carefully. Ducky was fully aware that reactions to the serum were very common.

"Heart rate increasing! BP dropping!" Tim's body began to go into convulsions. Ducky felt himself go cold. Come on, Timothy, he thought desperately. Stay with us!

"Stop the drip!" Without missing a beat, one of the nurses slapped a syringe of epinephrine into the doctor's hand which he quickly administered in an effort to counteract the allergic effects of the antivenom. The team waited tensely listening to the rapid pulsing of the heart monitor. Gradually, it began to slow to its previous level, still too high but better. Tim's body gradually relaxed back onto the table.

"Slow the drip to one cc every two minutes," said the doctor as Tim's signs began to stabilize. "We'll see how well he tolerates that." Again the team watched anxiously as they resumed administering the antivenom. This time, the reaction was much milder so it was decided to continue at that rate for the time being. It was imperative they get the antivenom into him. The question was, would it be in time?

Gibbs and Ziva arrived at the hospital almost three hours later. There had been widespread flooding requiring them to seek alternate routes which invariably took them miles out of their way. They hurried into the waiting area where Abby, Jimmy, and Ducky sat in silence. "Gibbs!" cried Abby leaping to her feet and throwing himself in his arms. He could feel her shaking. She held onto him tightly for several long moments seeking solace. Somehow, just having Gibbs there gave her the sense that everything would be all right in the end.

She finally let go and stepped back. Now she looked at Ziva and her eyes went wide as she spied the bandage on Ziva's head and her haggard expression. "Oh Ziva!" she cried throwing her arms around her friend. Ziva looked surprised and a little uncomfortable for a moment before returning the hug. Again Abby stepped back with tears in her eyes. "Are you OK, Ziva? I was so worried."

Ziva gave her a wan smile. "I am all right, Abby. Just very tired. Has there been word?"

Abby turned towards Ducky who regarded them all solemnly.

"How are they, Duck?" asked Gibbs quietly but Abby could detect the fear behind his words.

"I am happy to report that Anthony came through surgery very well. His right lung was badly bruised and a couple of ribs were broken but they were able to take care of that. He had fluid in both lungs so pneumonia is a concern but they have inserted drains. Although his current condition is listed as critical, his prognosis is good now that they have gotten some blood back into him and his vitals have stabilized. However, I suspect it will be quite some time before he'll be back at work."

Ziva closed her eyes and offered a silent prayer of thanks. Gibbs could feel some of the tension leave his body knowing that at least one of his agents should recover. Then he took a deep breath. "And McGee?"

Now Ducky hesitated. "Not so good, I'm afraid. He had an allergic reaction to the initial dose of the antivenom but slowing the dosage helped. However, so far he hasn't shown any improvement and they're up to 16 vials of antivenom. They've given him transfusions to try and raise his blood pressure with limited success; he is now on a ventilator and his kidneys have shut down so they've had to begin dialysis. When I left, they were trying to remove the necrotic tissue from the wound. I'm afraid he will have a very nasty scar."

If he survives, thought Gibbs dismally. "Can I see either one?"

"I shall enquire," said Ducky and headed back to the ER.

Gibbs stood silent, lost in thought. In the background he could hear Abby's gently weeping. He felt numb as he lowered himself into one of the plastic waiting room chairs. No one said anything. What could they say? Gibbs lowered his head now feeling the exhaustion he'd been keeping at bay. He rubbed his eyes but looked up again as he heard Ducky approaching.

"You may see Timothy for a few moments," said Dr. Mallard. "Anthony is still in recovery but once he has been moved to the ICU, you may see him as well." Silently Gibbs got to his feet and followed Ducky back to the examining rooms.

Gibbs thought McGee had looked bad lying there in the mud in the arms of a corpse but somehow seeing him covered with wires and tubes was even worse. He had to convince himself there really was a living, breathing person beneath all that. He stared at the swollen open wound of his leg. The doctors had been forced to make several incisions to keep the skin from splitting as the leg continued to swell.

"Are you Special Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs turned to see a young, very tired looking physician standing nearby. "Yeah, I'm Gibbs," he replied feeling equally weary.

"I'm Dr. Turner," said the young man. "Dr. Mallard tells me he's already explained your agent's condition so unless you have any questions, I don't really have anything else to add. Even though Agent McGee's condition hasn't changed, he is tolerating the antivenom so there's still hope." He paused a moment. "He regained consciousness for a few moments and he asked me to give you a message."

Gibbs froze as he turned his attention fully to the doctor. He suddenly felt very afraid. "What did he say?"

"He said to tell you he was sorry." Dr. Turner frowned. "He was quite upset and seemed very guilty about something. He wouldn't calm down until I promised to give you the message. He was also very worried about his friend, Agent DiNozzo. Unfortunately, at that time I had no information to give him."

Gibbs nodded. "I understand."

Dr. Turner nodded. "I'll give you a few moments alone with him." He turned and left.

Gibbs stepped closer to McGee's bed never taking his eyes off the still form. The room was full of the ominous sounds of the ventilator, heart monitor and other medical equipment. "Ah, Tim," he said softly, "You're not the one that should be sorry. I know I said never to apologize but this time, I owe you one. I wasn't there for you and I shoulda been. None of this is your fault. Tony is gonna be OK so don't worry about him. He'd want you to fight this so don't give up, Tim. Damn it, don't give up!"

He stood silently for a few moments when he was startled by the loud wail of the heart monitor. Abruptly, several people came swarming into the room pushing Gibbs unceremoniously to the side as they scurried around in their frantic attempts to restart McGee's heart. Gibbs slowly backed away, his own heart pounding in his ears. A nurse gently took hold of his arm and began to guide him back to the waiting area.

"Hello, Agent Gibbs." Gibbs stopped short in surprise then whirled around pulling away from the nurse. There, reclining on a gurney in adjacent cubicle, his face bruised and bloodied was Reverend McAbee, his teeth bared in an unnerving grin. "Fancy meetin' you here."

Gibbs stared in disbelief at the man before him. He took one step towards him, then another. With a deep breath, he pulled himself to a halt knowing if he took one more step, he'd find himself with his hands wrapped around that weasel's throat.

"McAbee," he finally managed, his throat tight with the effort of wrestling with his conscious. How he wanted to kill that son of a bitch.

"McAbee leaned back against the bed peering at Gibbs through narrowed eyes. "I expect you thought I'd be long gone by now, huh? Too bad the damn weather didn't cooperate. Ran off the road and rolled my truck. State troopers found me and can't say it took 'em too long to figure out I was wanted." He lifted an arm to show he was cuffed to the bed.

"Your daughter is dead," said Gibbs coldly. "Found her body in the river."

McAbee was silent for several minutes. "She wasn't really my daughter," he sighed sadly. "She was a street kid I picked up 'bout ten years ago and adopted. She was a good girl. Had a bright future in front of her. Too bad she got soft in the end. She always did have a soft spot in her heart for losers, strays and lost puppies. I'd say your Agent McGee fell into that first category."

Gibbs bristled at this. "McGee is not a loser," he spat. "That kid has more degrees that I can count. He can do things with a computer I can't even begin to understand and on top of that, he's a damn good field agent."

McAbee tilted his head as he regarded Gibbs with a smirk. "Is that so, Agent Gibbs? Did you ever tell him that? You might have just considered yourself just his boss but I could tell by the way he spoke about you that you were a hell of a lot more than that to him. To listen to him, the sun rose and set on Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and when you rejected him, constantly gave precedence to other agents, mocked him for things that were of interest to him, you drove him away. It was like bein' kicked out of the house by the father you always worshipped. You all but wrapped that boy up and delivered him to my door, Agent Gibbs." He paused, wincing, as he adjusted his position.

"Gibbs," he continued with a small shake of his head, "I am a remarkably good judge of character. That's why I've been so successful. I saw how you treated Timothy that day when you were investigatin' Noah's death. You treated him like he was an idiot yet that boy would have thrown himself in front of a train for you. All he wanted was your approval and acceptance. He found that with us. Sure, it was all a sham, but for awhile, he felt wanted, like he belonged. That's more'n you gave him."

Gibbs just stared at McAbee in a cold silence. What could he say? The man was absolutely right. He had been treating McGee like a second class agent. More and more often it seemed he sent Tony and Ziva out into the field and left McGee back in the office to do the mundane tasks like background checks and phone calls. He had to admit it, but he would never have treated Tony or Ziva like he'd been treating McGee. Why had he recruited him to his team if he wasn't going to use him for anything more than an office assistant with a gun? Gibbs felt sick. When had it gone so wrong?

He looked up as McAbee chuckled. "Finally admittin' it are you, Agent Gibbs? Were you too blind to see what was happenin' to him? I honestly believe he kept hopin' deep down that you would come save him and it killed him that you didn't." He looked up at the ceiling with a sigh. "I hated to have to get rid of that boy but I knew he was too smart. Sure he loved Emmy, but he'd had doubts from the start; he just wouldn't let himself admit it. He wanted so badly for it all to be true. But in the end, he woulda reached a point where he couldn't lie to himself anymore and it would all come crashin' down."

"It did anyway," muttered Gibbs still smarting from the painful truth of McAbee's words.

McAbee shrugged. "Yeah, you're right about that. It surely did and in a big way. Sadly, I'm finished but I knew that was a risk from the start. It was a good run while it lasted. But now, Agent Gibbs, what are you gonna do? I heard that your other agent was gonna be OK and that's good. I never had anything against him. But what will you do if Timothy dies? More importantly what are you gonna do if he lives?"

Before Gibbs could reply an orderly appeared with a nurse and a police officer in tow. "Sorry sir," he said. "We need to move take this man up to radiology."

Gibbs moved out of the way as they wheeled the gurney out of the room. McAbee smiled and gave Gibbs a little salute as he disappeared through the double doors at the end of the hallway. Gibbs stood silently. McAbee's words echoed in his head. What would he do? Silently, he turned and headed back to the waiting room where the rest of the team remained.