Thanks to all who have read, reviewed, favorited, pm'd, etc. Not a lot of action in this chap, just Gibbs trying to tell Tony some of what happened. Next chapter up in a few days or so. Proofed but not beta'd, all boo boos are my bad.
It felt good to be back at the old Gibbs homestead, safe and toasty back under the covers of that wonderful comforter and quilt, sleeping in until Jackson called him down for breakfast. He had been having some crazy ass dreams, and then must have gotten up to use the bathroom before falling back to sleep again. Figuring it was something in that homemade hooch Jackson had shared with him the night before, Tony vowed to have a little less of the stuff next time it was offered to him.
He normally never shared his dreams with anyone, even the funny ones, but these he'd for sure have to run by Gibbs when he got the chance – driving to D.C with Rene Benoit so the arms dealer could turn himself in and turn over a new leaf, sleeping on the Director's private office sofa, who by the way, happened to be Morrow in his dream and not Jenny Shepard, and getting kidnapped by legal analyst Michelle Lee! How bizarre was that? Not sure if he should just wake up fully and head downstairs for breakfast, or go back to sleep and risk more weirdness, he frowned and fussed, and thought he heard Gibbs himself talking to him. Had the man gotten things squared away that easily and made it to his hometown so soon?
Tony had never been allowed to sleep in growing up with his father, and with boarding schools and RIMA, early mornings were the norm for him. Gibbs never cut him any slack either when he stayed at his place, unless it had been an unusually difficult day before. So now he was back in charge, rousting Tony out of bed whether he wanted to be or not. Shoot.
"Tony...c'mon. Not gonna ask you again. Time to wake up." the gruff voice was muffled. Tony tried pulling the pillow tighter around his head. "Tony, what the hell're you...DiNozzo, stop!"
Rats! Not going to work! Tony sighed to himself, and stopped with the pillow fight. Maybe if he just pretended he was still asleep...
"Open your eyes, Tony, I've had enough of this!"
Woo, Gibbs was mad! What the hell could he have possibly done at Jackson's place to make the Boss that p.o'd at him? One eye crept open to inspect Gibbs and gauge his true ire. Things must have gone bad for the man and his old team, Gibbs looked ten years older than he had a couple days ago. Did he even want to know? He slowly opened the other eye and realized they felt like someone had tossed sand in them. Scratchy and sore, and his mouth tasted like a ferret had taken up residence in it, and then died. No more of that damned hooch.
"Sorry, Boss." he rasped out, eyes blinking and watering. "Did I miss breakfast?"
"Breakfast, lunch, dinner, about three times over."
Hell. He'd taken Jackson's stash of white lightning and gone on a bender with it. He was beginning to realize his head really hurt and felt heavy as a Buick station wagon.
"Ss-sorry, Boss." he apologized again. He really didn't know what else to say. "Did I upchuck on your old quilt?"
"Tony...what are you talking about?"
Gibbs' voice was raw, and sounded beyond tired. Neither one of them was making any sense to the other, and just when Tony was wishing someone would step in an interpret for them, Ducky's voice came into range.
"Jethro, if I may...I don't believe he knows where he is, much less all that's happened. Give him some time to adjust, and then explain it to him. And please...be gentle when it comes to – you know who – he had nothing to do with what happened to her."
Gibbs nodded, put right by the M.E's patient intervention. What was he thinking that Tony would just automatically know what had happened to him after waking up from a two day drug-induced sleep?
"Thanks, Duck..hey, do you think you could -"
"I'll check the nurse's station, they may have a fresh pot brewed by now."
Now Gibbs smiled, the first Ducky had seen from him in days, perhaps weeks, and turned back to his friend as the older doctor headed out on his mission.
"Do you remember anything from the past few days, Tony?"
"I – I remember being up at your dad's place. We had ice cream. He made me breakfast. I – I went to the store to - do something – I don't think I did it, whatever it was. Did I do... something stupid, Boss, like... drink too much and dance naked down – down Mainstreet Stillwater and...get run over by a car or truck, or – train?"
Gibbs gave another crooked smile.
" 'Cause I know... how I am when I've had too much, I – I get to laughing so hard I don't...know what I'm doing sometimes."
"Nothing like that, Tony, not even close. Though right now I'm thinking that would be a viable alternative to what did happen."
"Oh. That sounds...ominous..." Tony replied with less enthusiasm. "Oh God. I'm not – I didn't -"
He was on the verge of a mini panic attack when his scratchy throat got the better of him and he burst into a string of painful sounding barking coughs, which sent some hospital staff hurrying in at the sound of his many monitors protesting the actions.
"Sir, could you step outside for just a few moments, please, we need to check him over now that he's awake. Joanne, call Doctor Ricci, tell him Mr. DiNozzo's conscious."
Gibbs stepped outside, thankful of the reprieve, though he knew it was temporary and that the longer he waited to relate the past several days to Tony the more he would lose his nerve. He was still struggling to deal with all that had happened, the incredible turn of unlikely events that became a nightmare for him on so many levels. How could he tell DiNozzo about Jenny Shepard without Tony feeling like he should have done something to prevent her death? He paced for a few minutes, until one of the nurses came and got him, telling him that they were all set and Tony's doctor would be along soon meaning, to Gibbs anyways, anywhere from ten minutes to half an hour or more. He could hear Tony fussing with the last nurse left in the room, who was trying valiantly and ultimately, vainly to settle him. Time to step into the fray whether she wanted him to or not.
"DiNozzo, enough. I'm right here. You're not in trouble but you will be if you don't knock it off and calm down."
The words were firm, but said without any heat behind them, as Gibbs took back his spot at the side of Tony's bed and squeezed his fingers.
"We need to talk. Things got crazy and you've been out of it for two days, I need to tell you what happened before your doctor gets here, so we don't have a lot of time. Now some of what I have to tell you is gonna hurt, but before you go into another panic attack, let me tell you that the team is safe, I just talked to McGee and Ziva, Abby's in her lab, you saw Ducky here a few minutes ago."
"Not – not Jackson, Jesus, Boss, please! Tell me what's going on!"
Of all of Tony's co-workers, Gibbs knew that their ex-director was not at the top of his list of favorites at the moment after what she had put him through in her attempt to catch the Frog Benoit, but that didn't mean that he remembered all that now, and even if he did, he knew DiNozzo would certainly not wish her any harm in spite of the pain she had caused him. But he had to know, and now.
"Jenny's dead." he answered in a quiet, flat voice. "She shot you, then held you hostage in Autopsy,
I came to get you and she was going to kill you."
"She -she's-" he swallowed hard in disbelief. "- dead? Boss, did you – did you -shoot her to save me?"
"Didn't have to. Someone else did."
"Boss, I'm sorry, I – I shouldn't have let it... get this far, I should have...figured out how -"
"Stop!"
The unintended sharp bark made Tony jerk back a bit in startlement, and Gibbs closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, trying desperately to find some balance on the tilt-a-whirl ride that had lately become his life.
"Sorry, Boss." came a very subdued voice back, and if Gibbs had been able to kick himself in the ass, he would have and hard. He took another ragged breath and forged ahead.
"She had her mind made up, Tony." Gibbs stated wearily. "She had a target, she had a motive to find and kill her target, and she had the means to do it. She had become her own obsession, Tony, there was nothing left of her beyond that, otherwise she would never have used you to find Benoit, and she sure as hell would never have taken you as a bargaining chip and then tried to kill you. When I came back and I first found out about what she was doing, I thought I might have been able to stop her, but now, after what happened, I know she was beyond hearing anything I had to say to her. She would have found excuses to justify what she was doing, what she had already done...and none of it would have been defensible."
"I'm still...really sorry, Boss." Tony murmured, his eyes on his fidgeting hands. "I never..I didn't want..are you okay?"
"I'll get through it, Tony. Just a little raw right now."
"I don't... remember any of it." Tony struggled tiredly, wishing he was more alert and able to search his brain for any bits and pieces of the past few days. "I just remember being up at Jacksons, and..."
"It's okay." Gibbs encouraged with another gentle squeeze of his friend's fingers. "It'll come back. In the meantime, I want you to know that everyone else is safe, and Ducky seems to think that you're over the worst of it now, you lost a lot of blood and went into shock before we could get to you, that did more damage than the actual bullet."
"Jackson's alright?"
"He's at my place, waiting for me to call him so he can come see you."
"He... came all the way down here to see me?"
"You stood him up on his grocery delivery, he's got a bone to pick with you."
Tony gave the man a bleary, half-believing look and settled down deeper into his only slightly comfortable hospital bed, and Gibbs could see something more than worry over Jackson's customers crossing the younger man's face.
"What're you thinking, DiNozzo?"
"If you didn't...shoot her, who did...was it me?"
"Wasn't you. Does the name Trent Kort ring a bell?"
Tony tried to sit up traight, and would have if the bandages and Gibbs had allowed him. As it was, it sent a fiery pain shooting a hundred different ways around his torso, and his eyes widened with the surprise of it.
"E-easy, cowboy. You're not ready for that quite yet."
"He was here? I mean...he was at NCIS? And nobody...knew?"
"I think Tom Morrow knew, or he wouldn't have been allowed inside."
"Jenny got inside."
"That she did. But someone on the inside let her in."
Tony sighed, his mind starting to vibrate with too many facts and too little understanding of how they all fit together. He closed his eyes, trying to pace his breathing and make the fire in his blood die down from jolting his body a moment ago. The puzzle pieces were dancing on the edge of his brain, but he just didn't have the energy yet to grab them and put them together.
"You need some pain meds?" Gibbs asked quietly, and Tony shook his head.
"Not quite yet. Just...too much information, and...I can't process it yet..."
"Yeah, sure, I understand, Tony. I just wanted you to hear it from me and not from a stranger, or even Abby. Needed you to know that it wasn't your fault, and that I'm not pissed at you, so if I had to head out for some reason, you wouldn't be layin' here toasting yourself over a spit with misplaced guilt."
"Thanks, Boss, I -"
"Anthony DiNozzo." came a familiar voice through the door of the small ICU. "Just can't seem to stay away from us, it seems."
"Hey, Brad.." Tony smirked, eyes still closed and body still throbbing. "How've you been?"
