Author's Note:

Thank you for the wonderful reviews.

We have reached the final chapter of this story.

So Enjoy and Review one more time…. Thanks!

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"Gibbs, please sit down. You're starting to make me dizzy." Tony said as he watched Gibbs pace up and down his room.

Gibbs stopped for a second to access DiNozzo's condition. He knew that Tony still suffered from bad headaches as a result of his head injury. Sometimes he would loose his equilibrium for a second or two. He usually tried to hide it, but Gibbs knew.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked concern colouring his voice.

"Gibbs, I'm fine." Tony insisted still surprised by Gibbs' open affection towards him.

"How bad is it this time?" Gibbs asked, surprising Tony.

"Not as bad as two days ago, but still pretty bad." Tony replied as he used his fingertips to rub his temples. Tony knew lying to Gibbs was not an option, not now when they had become so close.

"Then what the hell are you doing here? Get back to your room and get the nurse to give you something for the pain." Gibbs's voice was sharp, but the hand he used to cup the back of Tony's neck was warm.

Tony reached up and wrapped his hand around Gibbs' wrist.

"Bianca will be okay, Gibbs." Tony softly said as both man made eye contact.

"She better be!" Gibbs replied in a gruff voice, as fear and uncertainty assailed his senses.

"Okay, I think you need to get into bed and I'll call the nurse for you …" Tony chirped. Then noting Gibbs' glare, he quickly added, "And me. Maybe she'll be cute and she can give both of us something for the pain."

He had noticed how Gibbs' pacing had decreased in speed and how he was cradling his injured side. His face was also flushed, indicating an increase in his blood pressure and his breathing was too rapid for Tony's liking.

"The only thing I need is an update on Bianca's condition. If Ducky's not back in the next 5 minutes, I'm going down to the ER to get the answers myself!" Gibbs growled as he resumed pacing.

Tony rolled his eyes as he stood up and went to press the buzzer for the nurse's station. Then he sat down in the seat next to the window again as a touch of wooziness rippled through his system. His headache was bad and all his other injuries were tender, but there was no way he was going to leave Gibbs until Ducky got back with some news.

"Yes, Agent Gibbs, Agent DiNozzo, what can I do for you?" The nurse asked as she entered the room.

"He has a headache." Gibbs said as he walked past her towards his bed.

"And he is highly agitated and too stubborn to admit that his side is killing him." Tony replied.

Gibbs glared at Tony and he just smiled back before closing his eyes and rubbing his temples again.

The nurse looked from Gibbs to Tony and then responded, "Okay, I'll just check on your vital signs and then organise some painkillers. Agent Gibbs, please get back into bed and Agent DiNozzo let me help you into this bed."

"Thanks." Tony grinned, his boyish charm making the nurse blush as she pulled his arm across her shoulders and helped him into the bed next to Gibbs' bed. Gibbs sat down on the edge of his bed and rolled his eyes at the scene in front of him. Once Tony was settled the nurse took his vital signs and then she forced Gibbs to lie down so that she could check on his vital signs.

Tony's blood pressure was low and his temperature was normal whereas Gibbs' blood pressure was high and his temperature was also slightly elevated. The nurse made a few notes in Gibbs' chart before leaving the room. She returned a few minutes later, to find Tony grimacing in pain and Gibbs, rubbing his forehead.

"Agent DiNozzo, I'm going to give you a Valproate Sodium Injection. You should have some relief in the next hour. I don't want you getting up for at least that long as you could experience severe dizzy spells as a result of this injection. So I recommend sleep for the next hour or two." The nurse said as she helped Tony to roll onto his side so that she could administer the shot.

"Ouch…Mmmmm" Tony moaned as a burning, stinging sensation radiated through his butt.

"Almost done, it does burn a bit, I'm afraid." The nurse apologetically said as she withdrew the needle.

"A bit!" Tony growled as his butt still felt like it was on fire.

"Simmer down DiNozzo." Gibbs said he squeezed Tony's shoulder lightly.

"Agent Gibbs lets get you back into bed. I'm going to give you a Tramadol shot for the pain and to reduce your blood pressure a bit." She said as she got Gibbs into the bed.

"Is it a sedative?" Gibbs asked warring between the pain and his need to know how Bianca was doing.

"No, it will only calm you down and relieve the pain. I promise." She replied as she helped him to roll onto his injured side. This injection stung but it stopped burning the moment the nurse removed the needle.

"I'll be back to check on you in about an hour." The nurse said as she left the room. As Gibbs looked over at Tony he found him fast asleep.

A moment later Ducky walked into the room causing Gibbs to sit up abruptly.

"How is she?"

Ducky looked at Tony and then at Jethro questioningly.

"Headache and dizziness. Now how is she Duck?" Gibbs asked again, the injection already working on his pain.

"She's running a fever as a result of exposure and the infection in her thigh. She's been put onto 2 courses antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory as well as fever meds. She'll be moved into the room next door and she will be closely monitored until her fever is under control." Ducky informed Jethro as he came to stand next to the bed.

"I want to see her now. In fact I'm moving into her room." Gibbs insisted.

Ducky looked at him and realized that Jethro would spend the next 24 hours or longer standing at Bianca's bedside and then he would have to worry about his physical health in addition to that of Tony's and Bianca's.

"Okay, Jethro let me see what I can do." Ducky replied as he left the room.

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An hour later, Gibbs was settled into the bed next to Bianca's. He lay on his side as he watched her chest rise and fall with every breathe she took. Her complexion was ashen like as if she didn't have enough blood circulating in her body. Her hair was fanned around her face and it was the only touch of colour on her.

When he had held her hand, upon entering the room, he had found it to be cold and clammy. She had been trembling as a result of the fever and she had been murmuring incoherently. Gibbs had leaned in and kissed her forehead.

Then he had moved his lips to the side of her face and whispered, "Bianca, rest easy love. I'll be here to keep an eye on you." Then he had kissed her cheek reverently before moving back to his bed.

Now he spent his time watching her.

God, I have no idea how you did it. But you did. You reached deep inside me and made me realize that I've been fooling myself all this time.

I don't want to be alone any more and I don't want to build these walls around me that keep everything at bay. I want to be free of the pain and the hurt of the past, just like you. And together we'll get through it all and we'll come out closer and stronger.

Bianca… I love you!

I didn't expect to feel this way again. I thought that I was too old and it was too late for me. But you, with your easy going, caring and loving nature have captured my heart, hook line and sinker.

Now just wake up and let me look into your eyes as I tell you how much you mean to me. Baby, just wake up!

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Gibbs spent the next 24 hours holding Bianca's hand, or caressing her forehead or running his hand up and down her arm. When she murmured and moaned out in her fever induced delirium, he whispered soothingly to her and she always seemed to calm down.

By the next morning, her fever broke and the nurses bathed her and changed her bedding. Then she was resting peacefully and colour had returned to her face.

Tony and Ducky checked in on Gibbs and Bianca at around 10am. Although Gibbs responded to their conversation, his eyes were glued to Bianca's face.

When Ducky and Tony left the room, Tony commented, "He's in real deep, Ducky."

"Yes, Anthony. I don't remember him being this attentive or taken by any of his previous wives. Bianca's very special, there's no doubt about that. But I think that Jethro's terrified that she'll not return his feelings."

"But she … they made …they were intimate at the clinic. So she must feel something for him." Tony insisted as they entered his room.

"I'm sure she does Anthony. But she is very vulnerable and confused right now and she might push him away." Ducky stated.

"He needs her Ducky. She will have to see that he can help her. She'll have to let him in. Then they can help each other." Tony said as Ducky helped him into bed.

"You're right Anthony. You're right." Ducky confirmed.

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In the other room, Bianca started to stir. It was a subtle stretching of her body and deep sigh that drew Gibbs to her side. Then her head moved, like as if she was trying to find a comfortable position. Then she moved her arm, intending to run her hand through her hair. But she used her injured arm and tightness and tenderness made her gasp causing her eyes to flutter open in confusion.

And there in front of her, was her silver haired angel smiling down at her.

"Hello beautiful!" He greeted a second before he leaned forward and placed a delicate kiss on her forehead. Then he pulled back and asked, "How are you feeling?"

Bianca was so lost in his ice blue eyes that she didn't hear him. She was so surprised by his warm attentiveness, that she didn't want to break the spell of safety and security that now surrounded her.

She didn't want this dream to end…

"Bianca, honey, are you okay?" Gibbs asked again as her dazed expression started to worry him.

"If you're …real, will you … hold me, please?" Bianca whispered as tears started filling her eyes.

"Oh God, yes I'll hold you." Gibbs replied as he got onto the bed next to her, and pulled her into his arms, being careful to keep her weight away from his injured side.

As soon as he cocooned her in his embrace, Bianca started speaking.

"I'm so sorry that you were hurt!"

"Shhhh." Gibbs tried to sooth her.

"No, I need to get this out. I need you to know that I would have done anything to save you from…. From Jason." Bianca whispered as a shiver rippled through her body.

"He was ….evil, inhuman …. And because of me and my past with him …you … you almost died. I don't know how you're…. able to lie here with me, like this after all of that..."

"Bianca." Gibbs sighed as he kissed her forehead and rubbed her back.

"But I'm …grateful… and … I need … I shouldn't be asking this …. But I need you, Jethro… I was ready to end it all. But know… being in your arms…. Hoping that you don't hate me…."

"I don't hate you … God Bianca … I….." Gibbs was thrilled that she had admitted that she needed him.

"I just … I can …. I can get through this …. If …." Bianca gasped for breathe.

"If?" Gibbs prompted holding her close.

"If … if I know that … you'll be there to hold me when it gets too tough …. Or to push me when I need to keep going … and to keep me warm in the middle of the night and … most of all … to keep me safe when the … night … nightmares haunt me." Bianca sobbed on the last words.

"I'll be there, Bianca. I'll be there." Gibbs vowed as he tilted her face up so that he could look into her eyes.

"I'll be there! Bianca, I love you!" Gibbs whispered with such sincerity and honestly.

"Jethro…?" Bianca gasped in shock.

"I love you!" Gibbs said it again and he realized just how much he liked saying it. Then he leaned forward and touched his lips to hers.

Bianca melted in his arms, allowing him access to her mouth as she wrapped her good arm around him. She returned his kiss wholeheartedly as she moaned out her pleasure. Where a moment ago she had been sure that there was nothing left to live for, now the possibilities were endless.

Jethro loves me…ME! Oh God, I love him too! I love him!

Her whole body buzzed as Gibbs deepened the kiss. A few moments later when they both drew back to catch their breathe Bianca took Gibbs' face between her palms.

As their gazes locked she whispered, "Jethro, I love you …."

The smile that broke across Gibbs' face, spread to his eyes and he leaned forward to kiss her again.

A second later the door to their room opened and the whole team stood in the doorway and grinned at the display of genuine affection in front of them.

"I love you, Bianca!" Gibbs murmured between kisses.

"Oh Jethro, I love you so much." Bianca sighed as she pulled him close.

"Come on kids. Daddy bear's busy. We better leave before he bares his claws." Tony grinned.

"Damn right, DiNozzo." Gibbs growled, never taking his eyes, hands or lips away from Bianca. She gasped in surprise as she saw his team. But they were grinning and giving her the thumps up sign, which made her grin back.

That was until Gibbs once again demanded her full attention, by claiming her mouth in a devastatingly sensual kiss.

The End!

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Author's Note:

That's it for this story!

I have enjoyed writing this story so much and I believe that it may be the best I have written so far. Thank you to all that have reviewed throughout the chapters.

And thank you to those of you who suggested that I try writing in the past tense. This has really helped me grow as a writer and I will always be grateful for that.

I am busy with two other stories, "Survival" and "Enemy Within" which will now receive more attention and I hope that you will continue to follow my work and keep giving me feedback so that I can continue to develop my writing skills.

Your final reviews on this chapter and on the story as a whole will be really appreciated.

Warmest regards

Gibbsfan1