Chapter 29
Tony called Ducky only to find that the ME had not yet returned to NCIS. He and Palmer had just finished at the site and were preparing to load the body for transport. He urged Tony to call for EMT's immediately since the description of Riley's symptoms indicated a probable collapsed lung. Trying not to panic, Tony called 911 and then contacted security to let them know that an ambulance was on the way. After what seemed like hours (but was in reality only a few minutes) the emergency personnel arrived and prepared Riley for transport. They placed her on a gurney and quickly moved her to the ambulance, Tony following behind them, refusing to leave Riley's side.
"Call me, DiNozzo," called Gibbs as his SFA entered the elevator. Gibbs then turned to Sacks and Fornell, who had been watching the proceedings in shock. "What the hell did you do to her?" he snarled at the two FBI agents.
"We didn't do anything to her," Sacks protested. "She was fine. You saw her in the observation room."
"What I saw was a woman who was apparently dragged out of her home without being given the opportunity to get dressed. For God's sake, Sacks, she's one of your own!"
"She's not one of mine!" Sacks shouted, then turned when he heard another voice reply, "That's right, Agent Sacks. But she is one of mine and I want to know why you handled this situation the way you did." Turning to Gibbs, the man introduced himself, "Aaron Hotchner, BAU. Where's my agent?"
"On the way to the hospital," Gibbs growled. "Possible collapsed lung."
Glaring at Sacks, Hotchner asked, "Is there somewhere a little more private where we can discuss this situation? And please tell me that Riley isn't alone – that someone went with her."
Gibbs began ushering them all towards an unoccupied conference room as he answered, "She's not alone. DiNozzo's with her – he'll call when he knows something."
Once they entered the conference room and sat down, Hotchner turned to Sacks and stated simply, "Explain."
Sacks began to tell the agents about his suspicions of Riley that began when he saw the sketch of the suspect from the previous murder. He told them about finding out Riley's birth name and what had happened to her family. When the most recent victim had been found, Sacks had checked out the security films from the club and saw the woman that he truly believed was Riley Kendall. Based on the information he had uncovered along with the apparent video evidence, Sacks had decided to arrest his fellow agent.
Hotchner was silent for a moment. When he spoke, the suppressed rage was evident in his tone but he remained outwardly calm. "If you had taken the time to come to me, Agent Sacks, I could have prevented this. I am completely aware of Riley's history as is the Director. I also know that Riley had surgery on Friday and would have been physically unable to even go out to a club on Saturday, much less kill a man and dispose of his body. You were out of line, Agent Sacks. He turned to Fornell, "The question is, what are you going to do about it?"
Fornell took a deep breath. "I did not authorize Agent Sacks to pursue Agent Kendall as a suspect." He raised his hand when Hotchner started to speak. "However, I do not fault him for doing so – to a certain extent. You all saw the sketch. It looks a lot like Riley. Sacks wouldn't have been doing his job if he hadn't checked it out – a defense lawyer would be all over it, citing a cover up." Looking at Sacks, he continued, "What I do have a problem with is the way you handled the information. You should have at the very least shared it with me. I am your superior, Sacks. I should have been kept in the loop. And then I could have contacted Agent Hotchner and this whole fiasco could have been avoided. As it is, Agent Sacks, go home. You're on suspension until we get this sorted out."
Sacks started to protest but seeing the looks on the other three agents' faces, he thought better of it. Without another word, he got up and left the conference room.
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Tony paced the waiting room to which he had been relegated when the ambulance arrived at Bethesda. He wanted to be with Riley, to know what was going on. Nobody would tell him anything and he was getting frustrated. He was just about to go back to the desk when a nurse stepped out and called his name, "Mr. DiNozzo? Would you come with me please?"
Tony moved quickly to follow the nurse. "Is Riley okay?" he asked.
"We've already moved her to a room. She's going to have to stay overnight. The doctor is with her now and will explain everything to you." She placed her hand on Tony's shoulder. "She's going to be fine."
Entering the room, Tony was taken aback at the sight of the chest tube. Riley looked small and pale in the bed, the IV and nasal cannula adding to the vulnerability. Still, she reached out her free hand to him and smiled. "I'm okay," she whispered. "Well, I will be anyway."
"Mr. DiNozzo, I'm Dr. Franklin. I treated Ms. Kendall for a collapsed lung that resulted as a complication from the biopsy she had on Friday. Usually, if it's going to happen, the lung collapses soon after the procedure. Was Ms. Kendall under any undue stress or trauma?"
Tony barked a laugh without humor, "Yeah, you might say that. Is she really okay?"
The doctor smiled. "I've been in contact with Dr. Pitt. He'll be by to see her in the morning. If everything looks okay, he'll remove the tube and she can go home. She just needs to take it easy for a few days."
Tony sighed with relief. Leaning down, he kissed Riley gently and said, "Don't ever scare me like that again."
"I promise," she whispered then yawned. "I'm tired."
"Go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." With a small smile, Riley closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
With a smile of his own, the doctor said, "The nurse will be in to check her later. Just hit the call button if there's a problem." He left the room, confused when Tony followed him. At the man's questioning look, Tony pulled out his phone. "I have to call with an update and I don't want to disturb her. Then I'm going back in there and I not leaving until she does."
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Gibbs was just about to call Tony for an update when his phone rang. "Gibbs," he answered, in his usual terse fashion.
"Hi, Boss," said Tony. "I just wanted to let you know what's going on."
"It's about time, DiNozzo. I was just about to give you a call. She gonna be okay?"
"Yeah. It was a collapsed lung. They put in a chest tube so she's going to be fine. They're keeping her overnight and . . ." Tony hesitated but before he could speak, Gibbs interrupted. "Stay there DiNozzo. I'll call you in if I need you. Otherwise, keep her company."
"Thanks, Boss. Could you tell the others for me? I want to get back in the room."
"I'll take care of it. Call me if you need anything."
Hanging up the phone, Gibbs looked at the expectant faces of McGee and Ziva. "She's okay. Her lung collapsed and the put in a chest tube, but DiNozzo said she'll be fine. He's going to stay with her. McGee, call Agent Hotchner at the BAU and pass the information on to him. I'm going to go tell Ducky and Abby."
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True to the doctor's words, Riley was released the next day and allowed to go home with strict instructions to rest for the next few days. She was still uncomfortable that so many people knew of her past, but Tony helped her realize that it didn't matter to her friends. After taking the rest of the week off, she was ready to go back to work the following Monday. It was awkward at first – I mean, it's kind of embarrassing to get arrested by your own coworkers. Eventually, though, things calmed down and were soon back to normal. The only cloud that remained was the wait for the biopsy results.
A week after the procedure Brad called Riley and asked her to come to his office to discuss the findings. Nervous, Riley chose not to tell Tony. She decided that she would hear what Brad had to say first before sharing the information. Walking into the office, she asked, "So what's the verdict, Brad?"
"Sit down, Riley," he gently replied. "We need to talk."
A/N: I know. It's short but I need to stop it here. I'll try to update again later this week. Thanks for all of the reviews and alerts. Oh, and as usual, I don't own anything although I would love to have my own personal DiNozzo (or Gibbs – hey they're both hot!)
