Chapter 28
Gibbs and Tony sat silently in the waiting room for the better part of an hour and Tony was getting restless. He began shifting about in his seat, stretching his muscles in an attempt to stay awake. "Sit still, DiNozzo," Gibbs said. He tried to say it gruffly, but even he didn't have the energy to be tough at that hour.
"I can barely keep my eyes open," Tony pointed out, "it's two thirty in the morning." Tony stood up and began walking around the perimeter of the room. "Why haven't they told us anything? Why can't I go and see her?"
"Once she's settled in her room, DiNozzo." Tony rubbed the back of his head in frustration.
"Dammit!" Tony exclaimed loudly. The other occupants of the waiting room were looking between Tony and Gibbs, both wearing their NCIS jackets. "This shouldn't have happened, Boss," Tony said angrily.
"But it did, DiNozzo, so we have to deal with it." Tony turned around and faced Gibbs, anger burning in his eyes.
"This is your fault," Tony stated. His voice was full of anger, and Gibbs could see his clenched fists on either side of his body. "She wouldn't be lying in there, sexually assaulted and fighting for her life if it wasn't for you."
"Sexually assaulted?" Gibbs asked shocked. Nothing had been said about that.
"Yeah, you heard me, boss,"
"Outside," Gibbs ordered.
Together, Tony and Gibbs walked out of the waiting room and into the corridor. They pushed past several nurses and walked outside. The cold night air slapped them both in the face and they turned to face each other.
"She is a federal agent, DiNozzo. She was doing her job."
"Which you forced her to do."
"I didn't force her. I gave her the option to back out at anytime. If she didn't want to do it, all she had to do is say it."
"She couldn't, Gibbs! She couldn't tell you she didn't want to do the operation!" The two men stood facing each other, jaws locked in anger, fists clenched by their sides. The cold air was suddenly filled with a heavy silence. They were both breathing heavily, trying to maintain their composure. Neither of them could afford to be written up for assaulting a colleague.
The tense silence was shattered by the ringing of Gibbs' cell phone. Still fuming, he yanked the phone out of his pocket and held it up to his ear. "Yeah. Gibbs."
"Gibbs, it's Commander Coleman. How's Kate?"
"She's out of surgery," Gibbs said, his voice returning to its normal tone. Tony took a deep breath and retreated from his defensive stance knowing his heated discussion with Gibbs was over.
"How is she?"
"Doc said she'd be fine. We haven't seen her yet."
"I'm on my way to the hospital now. Do you need me to bring anything?"
"Coffee," was Gibbs gruff reply before he snapped his cell shut and shoved it back in his pocket. Just as Gibbs' put his phone back in his pocket, Tony's phone began ringing.
"DiNozzo," he said without looking at the called ID.
"Tony, I'm back at headquarters with Ellis. Ah, what do you, ah, want me to do with him?"
"Stick him in an interrogation room and leave him there."
"Leave him there?" McGee asked incredulously.
"You heard me, Probie. Stick him in interrogation and leave him there."
"Ah, um, ok," McGee stammered, "how's Kate?"
"Out of surgery." Tony's response was short and in a Gibbs-like manner, he closed the call. Gibbs looked at him, demanding an explanation. "McGee has Ellis back at headquarters, boss," Tony stated. "He's in interrogation. Figured we could leave him there until it's time to interrogate him."
Gibbs cocked his head to one side and smirked at his younger agent. "Good work, Tony." Tony smiled widely at the praise, but wiped it away quickly. He looked down at his watch and groaned in frustration.
"She's been out surgery for hours now," he said softly. "Why can't we go in and see her?"
"She needs to recover, Tony."
"Should we call her parents?" Tony suggested. Gibbs seemed to ponder that question for a moment.
"Not yet," Gibbs responded. "Wait until she's woken up." Tony shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet aimlessly on the ground. "Let's go back in," Gibbs said, breaking the silence that had descended upon them once more.
All the tense feelings from their previous argument were forgotten as they headed back inside, instead focussing their thoughts on their female co-worker who had just undergone major surgery.
--
Kate woke up very disorientated in the recovery ward just before four o'clock. She opened her eyes slowly and moved them around the room to figure out where she was. She heard the steady beeping of machines around her and saw a nurse sitting at the foot of her bed. Her lips were dry and her throat was patchy. Moaning slightly, she tried to sit up, but pain soared through her body.
Within seconds, the nurse was at her side. "Hi, I'm Paula, you're at Norfolk Western General Hospital. You've just had emergency surgery to stitch up your neck and your ribs." Kate nodded her head, unable to speak. "Just lie still, I'll go and get the doctor to come and check you out."
Feeling weak and helpless, Kate obeyed. She closed her eyes and didn't open them again until Doctor Morton entered the room along with Paula and the doctor who had been with Kate in the trauma bay when she first came in.
"Ms. Todd, I'm Doctor Morton, I operated on you. This is Doctor Barnes, he looked you over in the trauma bay when you came in." Kate closed her eyes tightly, willing all the memories of the trauma bay to go away. She knew what had happened down there; she knew the test they'd had to do and she felt so exposed.
Her mind tuned out from what the doctors were saying to her about her condition. They were talking about her wounds on her neck and on her ribs and how much time would be needed for them to heal, but she wasn't listening.
She tried to sit up again, but three sets of hands pushed her back down again. "You need to lie still," Paula's soft voice said. "You need to let your body recover."
Kate closed her eyes in resignation again, feeling powerless. She felt like she had when Ellis had cuffed her and pushed her to the ground. She moaned in despair and she felt a straw be brought up to her lips. "Take a sip," Paula said, holding a glass of water firmly in front of her. Doctors Morton and Barnes shared a concerned look from the side of the bed. Whilst Doctor Morton didn't know the circumstances which caused his patient's injuries, Doctor Barnes was well aware of them. He'd seen how Kate had acted when they brought her into the trauma bay, and then he had to perform a rape kit. Although neither of them were psychologists, they knew that Kate's physical injuries were superficial. The emotional ones ran deeper.
Paula removed the straw from Kate's mouth and placed the glass back on the side table. Finding her throat was more lubricated, she attempted to speak. "Home," her voice rasped, "I want to go home."
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Thats it for another chapter... please review and let me know your thoughts on it - good or bad! Thanks!
