"This is so Usual Suspect!" Tony exclaims as we sit in the car at night watch the boat Gibbs is on board doing a passport check.
"Tony, your dying works will be 'I've seen this film,'" Ziva teases him.
"It almost was," I correct her making Tony give me a look as I take a sip of my coffee, I need one if I'm dealing with Tony in a confined space for a long period of time.
"Gibbs even looks a little like Gabriel Byrne," Tony continues to talk about the movie while smirking at my comment.
"Okay. Who is Gabriel Byrne?" Ziva asks while falling into Tony's trap.
"An actor who boards a mysterious ship like this one searching for Keyser Sose."
"Another actor?"
"No. Keyser Sose is a character in the film who may or may not exist."
"I'm confused,"
"I thought you were Bitch. We can't change your name now," I inform her making Tony laugh at me.
"So am I. and I saw the DVD twice," McGee agrees with Ziva from beside me on the back seat.
"The sound of music confuses you, probie!" Tony informs him.
"I love that movie!" Ziva exclaims before opening her mouth to sing but Tony covers it with his hand.
"One note and I will lock you in a room and make you listen to 'it's a small world' for twenty-four hours straight! Do we understand each other?"
"Mm-hmm."
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"He looks from the broken coffee cup on the floor. He looks to the photo on the wall. Looks," Tony rambles about some movies but I'm not paying attention to him. He is cut off as the ship explodes.
"Jethro," I yell, not knowing is he is still on the ship or he got off. My heart stopped and I don't know if it would ever start again, I need Gibbs and he… he might be on a burning ship, leaving me behind, and going to meet Kate again and I can't live with that. I wouldn't survive his death.
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"What do we got?" A doctor, Tolliver, asks as Gibbs is rolled through the hospital corridor and I follow him without knowing what is going on, I'm in shock and I want Gibbs to be okay, or I'll kill him. Tony ordered me to go with Gibbs when he released I wouldn't be any help with him until Gibbs is back on his feet and drinking coffee or stable. Gibbs looks like hell; his face is cut, bruised, burnt and swollen but he is conscious but not responding to anything, just looking around. I want to hold him and make it better but I am staying as much out of the way as I can.
"Blast victim. Superficial burns and abrasions. Pressure is steady," the Paramedic informs him making me feel slightly better but not much.
"Got a name?"
"Gibbs. He's a NCIS agent," I inform him with my voice breaking slightly.
"All right, my count on three. One, two, three!" Tolliver calls before they pull Gibbs from the paramedic bed onto a hospital bed. He shines a torch in Gibbs eyes while talking to him, "Agent Gibbs!" Toliver continues when we are in a trauma bay and I am standing against the flimsy fabric wall so they can work and I can see my man, I need to see his chest raising and falling to calm myself, "G-C-S is less than eight. Let's intubate. Twenty milligrams of etomidate. A hundred of succinylcholine."
"Right away," A nurse calls while getting what he needs to save Gibbs.
"Skip the x-ray. Go straight to Cat scan."
"Call c-t," a nurse says while moving off to do it.
"Come on, baby," Toliver mumbles as he sticks an intubation tube down Gibbs throat.
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No one pov
.
"Ziva, what happened?" Ducky ask the girl who is waiting on the dock, waiting for the M.E. to help find who tried to kill Gibbs.
"A bomb. One dean, one injured. You'll need body suits, tweezers, and those um… suction things," Ziva informs him with forgetting the right word for what she thinks he needs.
"Turkey Basters."
"And many, many, many specimen jars."
"Do you hear that, mister Palmer?"
"Yes, Doctor," Jimmy agrees with turning around to get what why will need.
"Here, allow me," Ducky says while helping Ziva onto the boat.
"Toda," Ziva says in Hebrew.
"How badly is Jethro injured?"
"Paramedics took him to emergency."
"Which hospital? Portsmouth? They have a leave one trauma centre at Portsmouth."
"I didn't ask," Ziva admits sadly.
"You didn't ask?!" Ducky explodes him anger.
"No, once the paramedics were on site, I had other priorities. The possibility of more bombs, a crew to detain, a crime scene to secure…"
"Well, McGee, Alice and Tony will know," Ducky says making Ziva look hurt and he releases how heartless that is and he adds, "Oh, Ziva, I'm not implying that you don't care. Listen, I know you care!"
"I don't need reassurances, doctor!"
"Very well. But I just want you to know that I know…"
"Ducky, drip it!"
"Do you mean drop it or zip it?"
"An, American idioms drive me up the hall."
"Well, actually, never mind," Ducky goes to correct her but changes his mind as they walk down a passageway to see Tony getting an update on the crew.
"One of the crew is missing. The radio man, Pinpin Pula," Cruz, the man, reporting to Tony informs him.
"Put out a BOLO," Tony orders him.
"Tony, any word on Jethro?" Ducky begs of him.
"Not yet. Portsmouth Trauma said to call back in an hour. Alice isn't answering her phone at the moment," Tony reports making Ducky release a breath he doesn't know he is holding.
"Portsmouth. Good, good."
"I'll get out that BOLO," Cruz says before walking away.
"Do we have a suspect?" Ziva demands of Tony.
"Pinpin Pula. What kind of name is Pinpin?" Tony answers her before getting off topic, trying to keep his mind off Gibbs and his state of living.
"Filipino. In Tagalog it means 'ride paddy dike,'" Ducky informs him.
"Don't say a word," Ziva orders Ducky.
"I thought that was quite an accurate translation."
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"Condition of Special Agent Jethro Gibbs," Shepard demands of the nurse in the waiting room. Shepard is dressed up wearing a red dress that pushes up her breast and a shawl over her shoulders that is also red with a red purse.
"Trauma one. No condition listed yet. You can't go in there, Director. It's restricted… to medical personnel," the nurse, Washington, exclaims when Shepard goes to go back to Gibbs without permission.
"This isn't about turf, you know."
"Oh, I know that. It's about rules. And one really big one is, non-medical person cannot enter Trauma one… unless they're carried in."
"Get me a gurney."
"That's good. Get me a gurney! Ha-ha! I like that," Washington laughs at Shepard.
"I left a dinner at the White House to come here."
"I'm impressed. Really, I am. That still doesn't change the rules."
"I was hoping I would have to resort to this," Shepard says as she digs in her bag.
"Shooting your way in?"
"Don't be silly. I don't have my weapon."
"Calling the President?" Washington asks Shepard when she places the phone to her ear.
"Now that would be overkill," Shepard says.
"Hello?" the person, Rice, on the other end of the phone answers Shepard.
"Condi? Jenny."
"Any word yet?"
"No. I don't have his condition yet."
"Well, why not?"
"The head nurse won't let me in to trauma."
"Let me speak with her," Rice orders Shepard making her hand the phone over to Washington.
"Ethel Washington, ma'am," Washington says into the phone.
"Condoleezza Rice."
"Yes, ma'am. I understand."
"Thank you, Condi," Shepard says into the phone as Washington hits the butt to open the door with a buzz.
"McGee said that Gibbs was in a bomb blast! He tried to sound really calm, but I could hear the fear in his voice. And he should be afraid! For Gibbs to be brought to a hospital in an ambulance, it cannot be good! I had to come see for myself. And my hearse got a flat - as usual - so I got in a cab to go the airport, and then I realized that by the time I got to the terminal, and I bought a ticket, and I went through security, and then I flew to Norfolk, and I got a cab here, it would be better just to sit in the cab that I was in. So I did that. It cost a lot of... you know, it doesn't matter what it cost because this is Gibbs we're talking about! I can't believe that he's hurt! He is never hurt. Not hurt enough to go to a hospital. He has to be dying to even go see a doctor! Oh, my god! He isn't dying, is he? I don't know what I would do! Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts," Abby runs up to the nurse desk seconds after the door closes behind Shepard. She begins digging in her bag looking for her ID but instead letting bones fall out, scaring Washington. She continues, "Okay, I know the rule is that you have to be family to go into Emergency, at least that's what they said when Uncle Charlie got his leg caught in a nutria trap. But Gibbs and me, we're tighter than blood! I know you need I.D. I have an I.D. in here. I work at NCIS. Forensics, and uh... ballistics, chemical analysis, and DNA typing. Uh... here. That's me. I promise. I just - I had to be in court that day. But I swear, that is me!" Washington hits the button opening the for in fear for the girl in front of her, Abby stuffs all her stuff back in her bag with Washington handing her a bone that feel onto her paper work. Abby rushes to the door while informing Washington, "You're a really, really good person."
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"You're going to have to look in there sooner or later, McGee," Ziva informs McGee in the passageway outside the room where Gibbs' life almost ended and might still.
"I already did," McGee informs her.
"Uh-huh."
"Ziva, I don't think I can go in there."
"McGee!"
"I know."
"Don't let Tony smell fear or else he'll just…"
"Probie! I've got a special job for you," Tony cuts Ziva off.
"Too late!"
"Bomb dog took point on Rice Paddy Dike's foot locker. Tag and stow it in the truck for Abby, would you?"
"On it, Boss," McGee exclaims while moving off to do it without releasing what he called Tony.
"I do love when he calls me boss."
"Is that why you're being nice to him?" Ziva asks him.
"Nice?! I'm not being nice. Lugging foot lockers is probie work. All right, I cut the probie some slack. It's a bad day."
"Yes. A very bad day," Ziva agrees with them as they walk into the room where the night went to hell.
"What's the point of origin?"
"A fifty five gallon oil drum. That twisted ring is all that's left of it. What is an oil drum doing in the laundry compartment?"
"Ships clean and reuse them for storage. This one probably held dirty laundry."
"Very unsanitary. Fragments indicate a high explosive. Abby should be able to trace the taggant."
"Why's his head and torso intact when the rest of him's a slushy?" Tony ask Ducky while looking at the body, which as Tony explain there is a head and torso bunt to a crisp, and nothing else of the body.
"Suicide bombers wearing an explosive belt look like this. Except there's always something left of their lower extremities. You see a foot?"
"Not even a tootsie."
"A tootsie?"
"A toe. Although in my generation, tootsie also referred to one's sweet pie," Ducky explains confusing Ziva even more.
"Sweetie pie?"
"Any word from the hospital?" Tony asks Ducky hopefully.
"Jethro's critical, but stable. Then… he wasn't in here when the bomb detonated, was he?" Ducky asks us.
"Alice found him in the corner," Tony explains as he points to the spot.
How did he survive?"
"The washer and dryer shielded him from the main force of the blast," Ziva explains as it begins raining, washing away the tears of anyone outside but no one on the team is outside for it to work, "It's raining."
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Alice pov
.
"He's suffered a concussion but there are no signs of intra-cerebral haemorrhaging," Tolliver informs us, us being Shepard, Abby and me as we stand outside Gibbs private room the next morning. They have treated his minor injuries and placed a bandage around his head. He looks like he is on deaths door because he has the bandage around his head, tubes going into his arms supplying medicine and liquid, and a tube down his throat helping him breathe.
"He's going to be okay, thought, right?" Abby begs.
"He should be fine."
"I don't want to hear should be! I want to hear will be!"
"Aby," Shepard says to Abby tightly.
"Should be is not positive."
"Enough, Abs," Shepard orders Abby.
"You don't yell at her. You don't get to yell at anyone here. And you sure as hell don't get to choice who is worried about Jethro, you are not his god. No matter how much you wish you were, or do you prefer the term wife? We can and will worry how and when we want without you're permission. If you want to tell people what to feel, fuck off back to NCIS were everyone has to listen to you or get fired," I snap at the director as I pull Abby into a hug and watch Gibbs lay still in that bed, the first words I have spoken loudly or at all except for when I informed Tolliver Gibbs name since I found Gibbs behind that washer and dryer. I didn't even ask to come with the paramedics, Tony did. But the director doesn't get to pick who is worried about Gibbs and I will protect anyone who wants to worry about him from her, we are not robots, we do have feelings and she can't see that because no one can care about Gibbs as much as her apparently.
"I want to see what's under the hood. Hold the sedation. And call me when he wakes," Tolliver orders his nurse as we follow him into the ICU room.
"Mm-hmm," The nurse hums.
"I'm always positive, Ms Sciuto. But with a concussion, until… until he wakes, no one knows what's going on inside his brain."
.
No one pov
.
"I'll miss you, Daddy," A little brown hair girl, Kelly Gibbs, begs of Gibbs who is in full marine uniform, ready to ship out.
"We've said it all before," Gibbs says to an unknown redhead, Shannon Gibbs. Gibbs looks years young then the Gibbs, Jenny, Abby and Alice is standing over in the hospital bed, because this is a dream, memory, flashback in Gibbs damaged brain.
"I want to hear it again," Shannon begs of Gibbs who is standing close to him, with her hands on his chest.
"I will take care. I will come back safe."
"Not those words."
"I love you."
.
In the hospital room there is no sound besides the beeping of Gibbs heartbeat monitor and the rain falling from the sky. Shepard is watching out the window as Alice hold Gibbs hand softly, just holding onto her last hope and reason for staring here in this town, and life sometimes. The silence is broken by the sound of Shepard's phone ringing.
"Shepard," Shepard answers her phone without emotions in complete business tone, not letting on that she even cared about Gibbs as she watches the rain falling, and in the reflection on the window she can see Alice softly talking to Gibbs.
"Yikes! Agent DiNozzo here. Cynthia told me you stayed at the hospital. Is the boss awake?" Tony asks her in concern for Gibbs.
"I am, Agent DiNozzo. You have a set-rep for me?"
"I do, Director Shepard. Crime scene's been processed. Evidence tagged. Remains are on their way to autopsy. Officer David and Special agent McGee are questioning the crew. We have an I.D. on the suspected bomber. The freighter's radioman, Pinpin Pula. Filipino. Suspected to be Abu Saif. BOLO's been issued for his apprehension. That is all I have to report, ma'am," Tony reports as he uses a business tone as well, trying to bury his worry for his boss.
"Agent DiNozzo."
"Director?"
"I was out of line."
"You are the director, ma'am. You cannot be out of line."
"Please. I was bitchy. Let me apologize. I'm sorry."
"If I may state an opinion, ma'am."
"Fir away."
"Never apologize. It's a…"
"Sign of weakness."
"Sign of weakness," Tony finishes with Shepard.
"I was his partner, too, DiNozzo. I know all the 'Gibbs-ism.'"
"Actually, he borrowed that one from the Duke."
"John Wayne."
"Said it to Joanne Dru in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon."
"Jethro's a lot like the Duke."
"I keep waiting for him to say that'll be the day."
"He said that in Paris to me once when I told him that… when we were working together."
"Shouldn't he be away by now?"
"You know Gibbs. He keeps his own schedule. Do you know what REM is?"
"Sure. Rapid eye movement. It happens when you're asleep and dreaming."
"That's what it looks like he's doing right now."
"Oh, well that's got to be a good sign, right?"
"If it isn't a nightmare," Shepard informs Tony before she hangs up on him.
.
"Gunny, they're both dead. I'm terribly sorry, Jethro," the Gunny C.O. inform Gibbs in his dream, memory, flashback making his heartbreak.
"No!" Gibbs shouts out in anguish as he runs into a mine field looking thing as explosions go off all around him.
.
"Please, Jethro, wake up. I'll buy you a coffee," Alice bribes Gibbs softly as he places a kiss on his hand that she is holding as the tears fall down her face, adding more tear traces to the dirt on her face.
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"How many times are you going to ask me the same question?" Mahir, the captain of the ship Gibbs almost died on, demands of Ziva and McGee as they integrate him in the officer's mess.
"No smoking," Ziva snaps at him as he lights a cigar and she snatches it out of his mouth and breaks it in half.
"Bitch!" Mahir snaps in Turkish not thinking they can understand him.
"What'd he say?" McGee asks in confusion, proving Mahir right, they can't understand him.
"Want to see this bitch take that cigar to your testicles?" Ziva threats him in Turkish, proving him wrong at the same time.
"What'd you say?" McGee demands of Ziva as Mahir chuckles at Ziva's threat without fear.
"That I understood him," Ziva explains her lie.
"At least my crew go ashore. They have been at sea for two months," Mahir begs.
"Excuse me. You don't appear to be the kind of captain who actually cares about the welfare of his crew," Ziva laughs at him.
"That's it! I want to speak to Turkish consulate!"
"I can arrange that," Cruz informs him making Ziva and McGee glare at him angry.
"Yes!"
"If… if NCIS agrees."
"We do not," Tony exclaims as he sweeps into the room. He then asks, "Learn anything, Ziva?"
"Captain Mahir knows more than he's telling," Ziva reports.
"I know nothing," Mahir repeats.
"That's very Sergeant Schultz," Tony teases him.
"Tony, how's the boss?" McGee begs of him for information.
"I know nothing!" Tony says as he intimidates Schultz and thinks back to the time Alice did that pissing Kate off.
"That's not funny, Tony."
"McGee, it's the boss. He'll be fine. Alice will make sure of it. With me," Tony answers orders them before he turns and walks away without making sure they come with them.
"He'll be living off coffee next," Ziva begs McGee.
"Tony doesn't like coffee," McGee reminds her as they follow Tony.
"Why do you suspect the captain?" Tony demands of Ziva.
"He smokes expensive Havanas and wears a ten karat diamond," Ziva explains straight forward.
"Could be zircon."
"Never doubt an Israeli about diamonds. Out Turk Captain likes money, the kind Aby Saif pays to transport weapons, explosive and terrorists."
"I'll flip you to see which of us takes the captain in, and who visits Gibbs."
"I'll take him in. you don't speak Turkish," Ziva exclaims before walking off.
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"Your observation, Mister Palmer," Ducky asks Jimmy to talk through who to identify the victim and how the bomb did so much damage down in autopsy.
"Well, fingerprints are out of the question," Jimmy begins.
"I was rather hoping for something other than the obvious."
"Well, we'll have to use DNA to… I guess that's rather obvious, too."
"Uh-huh."
"Uh… he was standing on the bomb."
"Better. Why standing?"
"Well, it seems to be the only way to explain his entire lower body being vaporized."
"Why not sitting?"
"Uh… whatever he was sitting on would have shielded his butt."
"Unless his buttocks was sitting on the bomb."
"Who would sit on an explosive?"
"Someone who didn't know they were sitting on the explosive."
"Of course."
"I did it myself once. No twice. The first time I was young. The second time, foolish."
"Why were you sitting on an explosive, doctor?"
"I just told you I was young and foolish. Haven't you been listening?"
"I was… I just…"
"Specimen jar!" Ducky demands as he picks shrapnel out of the torso body. He continues, "Come on. If I'm not mistaken, Abby will find these to be fragments of the fifty-five gallon oil drum. I must ask Jethro…"
"Should I take these to Abby now, Doctor?" Jimmy asks when Ducky trails off because Gibbs can't answer him.
"Soon as I've taken a tissue sample for DNA confirmation."
"Is that really necessary, sir?"
"No! No, it is not necessary! We could match his teeth! Is that what you'd prefer?" Ducky snaps at him making Jimmy grab the jar of DNA that Ducky has procured, making Ducky add, "A wise choice, Mister Palmer."
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Alice pov
.
"Coffee," Tony suddenly comments making me look away from where I am watching and talking to Gibbs, he might not respond but that's nothing new.
"Coffee?" Shepard asks in confusion.
"Sure way to wake Gibbs."
"Good idea. But, he's intubated. We'll have to us the IV," Shepard jokes.
"I wouldn't hold my breath. I offered a coffee and he didn't listen. Besides he needs the sleep," I force myself to say making Tony smile sadly at me.
"Uh, tell Miss Sciuto that I didn't abandon Gibbs. Chief Neurologist would have been here today anyway," Tolliver informs us as he begins he checks on Gibbs vitals with another doctor.
"I'm sure she'll understand," Shepard comments.
"I hope so. I like women with fire."
"Ah. So the dog collar and the tats had nothing to do with it?" Tony teases him making Tolliver walk away.
"DiNozzo, does he look in pain?" Shepard asks Tony as we all look at Tony.
"I don't know. I've never seen Gibbs sow pain, director."
"Doctor, is he in pain? Doctor?"
"Was this man a marine?" Gelfand, the other doctor who is the Chief Neurologist, asks us as he looks at Gibbs.
"Yes, sir," I answer him softly.
"Yes," Shepard answers him confidently.
"Wounded in Desert Storm?" Gelfand adds.
"He has a purple heart."
"Yes, sir," I answer him again softly, ignoring Shepard talking over me each time.
"That's it! I treated him in Kuwait!" Gelfand exclaims.
"Makes sense, he only lets a couple people treat him," I say to the doctor sadly, he would run away if the someone who hadn't already treated him tried to treat him. Maybe we should get one of his ex-wives in here to annoy him into running away, but I suppose having Shepard in here isn't working so that wouldn't either.
"Gibbs never told me he was wounded in Desert Storm," Tony comments to the director.
"Me either. I saw his purple heart," Shepard admits.
"He was in a coma when we e-vaced him to Frankfurt. Now you talk about Déjà vu," Gelfand continues.
"Doctor, is he in pain? Please," I beg of the doctor as I hold Gibbs hand between both of mind.
"But is he in pain?" Shepard demands of him.
"Certainly not extreme pain. He may hurting, but the only way to know is for us to tell us," Gelfand informs us.
"That's not going to happen," I state making the doctor give me a look, so I explain, "I have seen him be shoot in the shoulder, fall and hit the concrete floor with his whole weight on that shoulder and he refused to even get it look at by doctors or to take an aspirin. He had the bullet removed and sewed up by an M.E."
"Oh, he's one of those types."
"Why not give him painkillers just in case?" Tony asks him as he walks over to me and places his hands on my shoulders in support.
"I want him to wake up. An opiate would only deepen his coma."
"I've just never seen Jethro look like this," Shepard says like she's seen everything Gibbs can and will ever feel.
"I have. That's why I remembered him. That's the expression he had in ninety-one. It's more anguish than pain."
.
The memory starts with Gibbs using crutches, carrying flowers in a cemetery, which he places on the grave that reads Shannon and Kelly Gibbs with the dates of their birth and death. They died on the same day, sadly.
"I want to gallop, Daddy!" Kelly says to Gibbs as the memory changes so they ride a horse down a sandy beach somewhere. Gibbs is riding a black horse with a strip down its face, Kelly is riding next to him on a brown horse with a white strip down it face, and Shannon is ridding behind them on a white horse.
"No, Kelly," Shannon answers her beautiful daughter.
"Ah, let her go, Shannon," Gibbs says to his wife making his daughter run off on her horse as Shannon rides her horse closer to Gibbs.
"Jethro…"
The memory of the horse fade until it's gone and Gibbs is sitting on the beach looking at his gun, not noticing the little redhead watching him
.
"You know, if you keep just laying there doing nothing, I might have to call you Tony. Because he is doing more work than you are and he doesn't work," I inform Gibbs softly as I hold the hand.
"I can't and won't love sleeping beauty," I inform him jokingly.
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No one pov
.
"I've got a better chance of hooking up with Jessica Alba than these guys do of infiltrating Sea-Lift. Every sailor has to go through a series of stringent security checks to be issued a special ID," Tony says in MTAC as he runs the case.
"A hundred and ten civilian crews, DiNozzo. Abu Saif only needs to slip a man in one," Stevens, the person who is on the screen, informs Tony over the video call.
"If Galib knew who that was or the name of the ship, why'd he run? Why didn't he just left us arrest him as planned? Give us the Intel and then continue undercover to Gitmo."
"Either he didn't know, but was close to finding out. Or he was on to something big that an NCIS arrest would jeopardize."
"Well, what's bigger than blowing up one of our ships?"
"Blowing up a port. Ever hear of Port Chicago?"
"No, but I saw the TV movie. Michael Jai White is this guy who had," Tony rambles but stops when he gets the point and a pointed look making him add, "I see your point."
"Good."
"Is there any intel on the crew, especially this Pinpin Pula guy? We need his photo for a BOLO."
"We took surveillance photos of the crew when they were docked in Istanbul."
"Great."
"If Galib had Intel on Abu's plans, did he have time to tell Gibbs?"
"Maybe. They were together when the bomb went off."
"Galib was a good agent; let's hope Gibbs comes out of this coma in time."
"He will."
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Gibbs is having a cat-scan as Shepard flirts with his doctor down in the cafeteria. Alice is waiting back in Gibbs' hospital room, waiting for good news and for her boyfriend to wake up so she can yell at him, and maybe kiss him, just maybe.
.
"This NIS Agent driving was hit with a head shot. Your wife and daughter died in the crash," Agent Franks explains to Gibbs as he looks at the car his family died in, they are talking in the NIS car impound in another flashback, memory, dream.
"Mum's got one!" Kelly says in a flash back to fishing with his family within the flashback.
"Not as big as ours!" Gibbs explains as he helps Kelly reels in a fish on a big fishing line.
"It's bugger, daddy!"
"Wow!" Shannon exclaims happily.
"Pedro Hernandez, the drug dealer your wife saw kill a marine," Frank explains as the flashback of fishing finishes, and shows Gibbs the photo of the man who killed his family.
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"Abby?" McGee calls out in the lab that night when he can't find her.
"I'm in here," Abby calls out making him follow her voice to see her hiding in the corner of her room, holding Burt tightly.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm worrying," Abby admits as the doors into her lab opens.
"Me, too. You guys can just set that right there on the floor. Thanks," McGee says to the men carrying the foot locker of Pinpin as Abby forces herself out of the corner and Burt farts when she accidently squeezes him.
"What's the matter? Never heard a girl fart before?" Abby demands of the giggling men as she slams the hippo on the table making it fart again.
"Guys, that was the hippo," McGee defends her as the girl leaves the lab.
"Are you sure, McGee?"
"Yeah, because you sound more… feminine."
"Like a hippo cow?" Abby demands of him as her computer beeps as she gets back to work, as she demands of McGee, "What aren't you telling me?"
"What do you mean?" McGee asks as he moves around behind the back of the computer so he can look at her without them having to turn their bodies to face each other.
"You have that three little pigs look."
"What?"
"The three little pigs. They were afraid to open the door because of the big fat wolf was outside."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Whoa. This is definitely going on my wall," Abby explains as she looks at the photo of the crime scene.
"I should be a professional photographer," Ziva jokes, like one of their own isn't fighting for his life in the hospital as she walks into the lab.
"The Director hasn't called," Abby informs Ziva as she turns to face Ziva.
"About?" Ziva asks coldly and honestly clueless why the director would call.
"About? Gibbs?"
"Oh!"
"She didn't call you, did she?"
"No."
"'Cause you know the way you're acting, you might have just, I don't know, forgotten to tell us!"
"Ziva, do you notice anything different in here?" McGee warns Ziva without getting on Abby's bad side.
"No music," Ziva comments without care as she looks around the lab to make sure that's the only thing.
"That's it. No music. You know, you usually play music in here."
"What if those were Gibbs' guts smooshed all over that room," Abby demands of them as she obsesses over the crime scene photos.
Oh, for God's sake, Abby. They're not," Ziva snaps at her in annoyance that someone is more worried about their friend and team mate, instead of the case.
"I said, what if they were?!"
"The colour would be more coffee brown tan red," Ziva jokes again making Abby slap her. Ziva slaps Abby back, making Abby slap Ziva again, resulting in them getting a bitch fight, slapping each other.
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"His skull was shattered when the explosive blew him against the overhead, as if he were fired from a cannon," Ducky explains to Tony down in autopsy the next day.
"The oil drum," Tony summarise.
"Precisely. Now don't ask me what our guest was doing in an oil drum, sitting on a bomb because I haven't the foggiest."
"Hmm. No other explanation?"
"Well, none that would explain these remains."
"I need a positive I.D. on this body, Ducky."
"Well, DNA tissue is in Abby's capable hands. How's Jethro?"
"Still out. The Director and Alice are with him."
"I'd best get down to Portsmouth."
"Not until you finish the autopsy. And while you're at it, why don't you ask your guest what he was doing sitting on an oil drum on a bomb," Tony orders Ducky before leaving.
"You sound like Gibbs. What were you doing in that oil drum? Hmm?" Ducky asks his latest 'guest' who he is leaning over.
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The elevator door opens and McGee walks into the elevator nodding Tony to the ground and landing on top of him. .
"Oh, boy! Tony, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! Sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry, Tony," McGee repeats as he gets up and off Tony.
"Hate the fight of blood, probie? Too bad," Tony says before showing McGee his blood noise that got injured when the two men collided.
"Oh, boy."
"Handkerchief."
"I don't have one," McGee admits making Tony grab McGee's tie and uses it to stem the flow of blood.
"Whatever you came to say better to pretty damn important."
"Abby slapped Ziva, and Ziva slapped her back."
"Damn! I missed it! All right," Tony says before removing the tie, showing that his noise isn't bleeding anymore already. The two boys leave the elevator and walk over to the squad room as Tony orders McGee, "Assemble the team including Abby."
"Abby?" McGee asks before continuing, "Right. What about Alice?"
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"Which hospital? Portsmouth? You didn't ask?! Oh, Ziva. I'm not implying that you don't care," Ducky's voice rings in Ziva's head in the ladies bathroom as she starts at herself with tears falling down her face and gripping off onto the sink.
"The way you're acting, you might just, I don't know, forgotten to tell us. What if those were Gibbs' guts smooshed all over that room?" Abby's voice rings out next.
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Alice pov
.
"I don't have an answer. His EEG is normal. His new CAT scan is normal. How well do you two know Gibbs?" Gelfand asks Shepard and me outside Gibbs room where he is sleeping. I only left his side because I need to use the rest room and get some coffee that I am carrying with me now.
"He was my mentor at NCIS. He taught me most of what I know," Shepard admits.
"Yet you're his boss," Gelfand says as we walk into the room.
"Jethro's a great field agent. He's a great team leader. And he deals more efficiently with difficult politicians than I do."
"Well why isn't he the…"
"He shoots them," I cut him off with the information making him node at me.
"So you didn't know him when he was wounded in Desert storm?"
"No," Shepard answers making him look at me.
"I… uh I meet him a few weeks before he joined NCIS, and I was only a child," I explain.
"He seems to be repeating that trauma, a coma he doesn't want to wake up from. In the morning I'm going to try to find the neurologist who was on his case in ninety one," Gelfand informs us.
"Well, why wait until the morning? Forgive me," Shepard asks before she released that she was being a bitch again.
"Yeah."
"I'm… just tired."
"Right, so she's been tired the whole time I've had to deal with her?" I ask Gibbs but Gelfand and Shepard heard me making Shepard glare at me.
"I can arrange a cot for you both, I'm sure," Gelfand offer us.
"No. I have been away from my office far too long," Shepard says before placing her hand on Gibbs head before she leaves.
"Yes please," I accept his offer before he follows Shepard out. I pick up Gibbs hand as I place my coffee on the table beside his head.
"Hey, Jethro I'm here. I miss you, I love you and I need you back. I can't live without you anymore," I inform him as my tears fall as I bury my head in his side, muffling my sobs.
.
"Cover your eyes!" Gibbs orders Kelly in a fatherly tone of voice as she sits between him and Shannon on the coach watching TV in a memory.
"I've seen you and mommy kiss!" Kelly exclaims as Gibbs kisses his lovely wife.
"Oh, this is a scary kiss," Gibbs informs her.
"Like kissing a frog?"
"Cover up!" Gibbs tells her again as he covers her eyes with his hand.
Much as I'd like to, I can't tell you where the bastard's hiding, Gunny," Franks says to Gibbs at NIS when the first memory faded into this one.
"I didn't ask you to, Special Agent Franks," Gibbs says to him.
"I'm going to take a leak," Franks says leaving Gibbs alone with the file on the man who killed his family and Gibbs looks in it.
.
"Jethro, if you can hear me. I need you to wake up. I love you," I beg of him throw the sobs.
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No one pov
.
McGee and Ziva are sleeping at their desk in the squad room the next morning as Abby sleeps on the floor using Burt as a pillow. Tony walks out of the elevator carrying a cup of coffee from Gibbs coffee shop, waking up Ziva and McGee.
"Pay up, McGee," Ziva orders McGee who grabs his money to pay her. Tony walks into the squad room and she greets him, "Hey!"
"In a bet on my, I collect," Tony informs them as he takes the money. He looks around before calling, "Abby!" Abby gets up off the floor making Burt fart before looking at him, "Front and centre. You too, Ziva. Let's go! I know what happened."
"Look, she slapped me and I was just slapping her," Ziva begs explaining herself.
"Ziva slapped me and I," Abby overlaps her with her own explanation.
"Hey! If there's going to be any bitch-slapping on this team, I'll do it. Or Alice, if she ever returns. Clear? Good. Now shake hands. Shake," Tony orders them making Ziva and Abby shake hands before he continues, "there we go. That wasn't so tough, was it? And how about a little hug. Big buddy hug. There we go," Tony makes them hug. Before he continues to annoy them, "Come on. Now a deep tongue kiss. The second Tony finishes saying this line, Ziva and Abby punch him in the stomach. He says breathlessly, "Oh! Now we feel better. All right, what do toy got, McGee?"
"We've got Singapore's surveillance photos on the Bakir Kamir crew," McGee reports as he puts the photos on the plasma between his and Tony's desk.
"Make me hard copies, McGee. Captain Mahir will identify Pinpin Pula for the BOLO," Ziva informs him.
"What makes you think he won't lie?"
"Abby," Tony turns to her without listening to Ziva's answer or giving her a chance to answer.
"Um… the taggant traces on the metal fragments were Semtex from the Czech Republic. Khadfi, before we bombed him, was handing out Semtex like taffy to any terrorist with a sweet tooth," Abby informs him.
"That eliminates my washing-machine malfunction theory. DNA results?"
"They should be in by now."
"Um… somebody called a conference."
"You don't think that's Galib in autopsy?" McGee asks but Tony gives him a look making McGee add, "He wants to be sure."
"I've asked Tel Aviv if Captain Mahir is a blimp on their radar," Ziva informs him.
"Blip," Tony corrects her.
"DNA confirms the body in autopsy is NCIS Agent Abog Galib," Abby informs him.
"Okay. Any hits on the BOLO?"
"Too many without photos. LEOs are calling in reports on every Filipino sailor in the area," McGee reports.
"Did you run them down?"
"Tony, there's two hundred and fifty thousand Filipino sailors. It's more than any nationality in the world. The way the reports are coming in you would think that they're…"
"Hey! I don't want to hear how tough it is, McGee. I want you to run them down!"
"Stop playing Gibbs! There! You're doing it right now! Ziva, will you help me out here?" McGee snaps at Tony who is trying to glare at him.
"It's true, Tony. You're even getting a little grey around the… around the temples," Ziva agrees with him.
"You're not Gibbs, Tony," Abby adds her own agreement.
"You're right. Acting like Gibbs doesn't make me the boss. Being senior agent does. So if drinking coffee, staring or whacking the back of your heads helps me lead this team, live with it!" Tony orders them."
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Alice pov
.
"Good morning, Agent Gibbs. The rain stopped. It's going to be a beautiful day," Baliad, a nurse, says to Gibbs as she works and checks on him, before turning around and gasping at the sight of Ducky standing in the doorway.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Doctor Mallard. I overheard you talking and I thought he might be awake," Ducky explains to her.
"I always talk to my patients."
"Me, too."
"Are you a neurologist, doctor?"
"Medical examiner."
"Oh."
"Mine never wake up, but I still talk to them," Ducky explains making her pull a face before she leaves.
"Almost never. Ari spoke back, and so did Gerald," I remind him.
"Hey, Alice. How are you holding up?"
"Dad, what if he never wakes up? I need him, I... I love him and I never told him," I cry without releasing what I said or called Ducky.
"Oh, I've known Jethro for a years and he doesn't do anything forever. He'll be back," Ducky promise me as he pulls me into a hug.
"I hope so."
"Well, Jethro, I'd have been here sooner only DiNozzo insisted I finish the autopsy on Agent Galib. It's fascinating. I mean, the poor man was literally blown out of a barrel. It reminded me of when my mother and I visited her brother Carkin in the little town of Clagolaky. Yes, Carkin worked at the cooperage where they make all the casks for the various distilleries," Ducky rambles as he sits down in the chair I have been occupying and I sit on the edge of the bed as I grab Gibbs hand back and listen to the story with half an ear.
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No one pov
.
"Are you Turkish? Perhaps your father or grandfather was Turkish? Before they come to America," Mahir says in integration room, trying to work out who Ziva speaks Turkish but Ziva is ignoring him.
"Can you see Ziva as a belly dancer? He brought it up," Tony asks McGee in observation room watching the integration which hasn't started yet.
"Why? Because he asked if she was Turkish?" McGee asks in confusion.
"From Russia with Love. Bond is ordered to Tuckey to steal the Lector machine from this beautiful, I mean, is there any other kind in a James Bond movie - defecting Russian double agent, Tatia Romaniva – played by Daniela Bianchi."
"Greek. You are Greek? Greek! That's why you hate me," Mahir demands of Ziva.
"I am not Greek," Ziva exclaims.
"Greek Cypriot! It would explain your understanding Turkish and hating me."
"I doubt Cyprus has a liaison officer in the U.S. But… you are getting warm."
"Liaison?"
"From the French word 'lier' which means to bind. In this case, bind NCIS and Mossad."
"God help me!" Mahir begs in Turkish.
"Too late, Captain," Ziva informs him in Turkish before continuing in English, "I have your dossier. Another French word."
"Dean Keaton! That's it! Dean Keaton is the name of the character Gabriel Byrne plays in The Usual Suspects. I know it would come to me," Tony informs McGee.
"I am not a terrorist! I did not smuggle weapons into Palestine. I swear it," Mahir exclaims.
"Or Hamas suicide bombers into the port of Ashdod?" Ziva asks him.
"Mossed blames me for that, too?"
"And much more."
"Now look, I am not a terrorist! No Wahhabi! I fight no Jihad!"
"You profit from it, you swine! And for that, you should die…! Fortunately for you, Captain Mahir, Politique Pratique has suspended Israeli reprisals against all but terrorists. And you say you are not terrorist."
"I swear by God!"
"Convince me," Ziva orders him as she spreads the Singapore's surveillance photos over the table, before adding, "Pinpin Pula."
"Lisa Guiraut plays one of those belly dancing women. Very hot. She'd be a grandmother by now," Tony continues to ramble about the movie.
"Oh, wait a second. Okay. Ziva looks like her, which is," McGee begins asking But Tony cuts him off.
"Shh! Pay Attention, Probie. Ziva's about to get a photo for the BOLO."
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Alice pov
.
"Winning the Scotsman Chess Trophy was the highlight of my lower sith year. I didn't complete in Edinburgh. No, no. I was too by this we," Ducky continues to ramble stories of too Gibbs because for once Gibbs couldn't stop his story. I have laid my head on the bed beside Gibbs shoulder, holding his hand as I listen to my father's stories and Ducky has a hand resting on my shoulder, giving me a little comfort even when I would talk to him.
"It is impolite of me to eavesdrop, Doctor Mallard, but I was fascinated by your story. Nurse Baliad told me your name and your specialty. I'm Doctor," Gelfand says when Ducky sees him and gets out of his chair to greet him.
"Doctor Gelfand. Chief Neurologist. Yea, the director told me."
"Ah. Well, how is our patient?" Gelfand asks as he moves over to check Gibbs. I sit up so he can get close to him without me being in the way, but I don't get off the bed completely.
"Still comatose, I'm afraid."
"Were you aware that he was in a coma for nineteen days during Desert Storm?"
"Alice told me, today."
"He never told you?"
"Well, Jethro doesn't talk much about the past. I consider us to be close friends, but I know very little about his life before we met."
.
Several sun sets and raises pass behind Gibbs eyes as he looks for the man who murdered his family before he finds him. The man who murdered Gibbs family leaves a building and gets into a truck that drives away up a road somewhere in Central America. There is a marine snipper watching the man driving the truck before he pulls the trigger making blood splatter all over the window of the truck as it rolls to the stop on the side of the road. The marine rolls over letting out a silent scream and the turns out to be Gibbs. Once he stops scream, he releases the spent cartridge and leaves it in his snipper nest.
.
Gibbs bolts upright in the hospital bed, gasping for breath around the tube.
"Jethro," I hiss as I grab his arm in surprise, he's away.
"You're in a hospital! Relax!" Gelfand explains to Gibbs making him lay back down as I move back to Ducky and grab his hand without looking away from the frantic Gibbs on the bed. I want to help but I know the only way I can help is staying out of the way of the doctors and the nurses.
"Don't fight it, Jethro!" Ducky adds as he pulls me into a side hug.
Relax! Relax! You're all right. Can you blink?" Gelfand asks Gibbs and he follows through with the order making the doctor node before he continues, "All right. Raise your thumb. Raise your thumb. Good. Good. Do you want the tube out? All right. All right. Hold still. Hold still," Gelfand orders Gibbs as he gets ready to remove the tube so we can hear his voice and get back to normal.
"Okay, relax," a nurse repeats to Gibbs making him relax as the tube is removed.
"Okay, breathe. You're fine."
"That's it."
"I am Doctor Gelfand. This is Nurse Baliad."
"Maria," Baliad corrects him.
"Of course you know Doctor Millard and Miss Todd."
"He calls me Ducky," Ducky corrects him.
"Alice," I add my own correction.
"Welcome back, Jethro. Yeah, we've all been a bit concerned. You shouldn't frighten us like this."
"You have a question?" Gelfand says to Gibbs who looks so confused.
"Where am I?" Gibbs gasps out.
"You're in Portsmouth Naval Trauma Centre. You were in an explosion."
"Relax. Cover your face," the nurse orders Gibbs.
"I remember."
"Good. Very good. Most people never remember the trauma," Gelfand says happily.
"I… I don't know them," Gibbs says making my heart stop along with my breathing…