The pain was borderline unbearable. I could feel my eyes closing, and I fought to stay awake and listen to the EMT, who was rattling off numbers to her partner at the helm of the ambulance.
"Take her to Washington General," I heard the paramedic tell her partner, before seemingly avoiding my eyes to tell him to prepare the surgical room for me. It didn't sound good, but she must have injected me with something to stop my pain, and I gave into the cushy, heaven-like and painless feeling, and drifted off.
My shirt was now the colour of crimson – not a shred of the light grey it once was. But that was the least of my worries – my collarbone and chest looked like a Halloween edition of whack-a-mole, where the hammer was shrapnel, and the moles was just my upper body. I tried to disturb myself from the pain and the fear I had of the shrapnel propelling from my insides. Looking back at it now, being hit by that car was a holiday – at least then I was unconscious. No matter how hard I tried to push everything past me, my mind turned to the team; Gibbs and Sloane were missing, and Ellie – god Ellie, she was on her way to the hospital too, and I could only hope that she was fighting to stay alive.
It seemed like an eternity before we reached Washington General, and I was whisked away into surgery. I fell into the arms of the anesthetic, with the last thing on my mind being the look of the surgeon – something was not good, but my mind was too far away to think about it, so I let the memory slide, promising myself that I would come back to it when I was better.
I awoke to the faint whistling of someone. I forced my eyes open and saw a nurse hovering over me, changing my IV drip.
"Oh. Nice to see you awake… Agent Bishop". She had paused to check my chart before addressing me. "What happened?" I asked, looking at my leg all bandaged up and immobilised. I could not move it, and panic began to build within me.
"Agent Bishop. The emergency surgery was successful, but the shrapnel did cut into your muscle a bit, and to be safe, Dr. Franklin decided to immobilise your left leg, in order to make sure this doesn't lead to any complications."
"I exhaled. At least my surgery went successfully. Then my thoughts turned to Nick. "How about my partner, Nick Torres? Where is he?" "He should be wheeled into this ward shortly too. Please be patient."
"She did not lie. Indeed, Nick was wheeled into the ward, to the left of me, ten minutes later. He was awake too, and he seemed to be in much better shape than the glimpse I could of him before being taken by the EMTs.
"Nick," Ellie called out, bringing my attention to her. But before she could speak, two doctors walked in.
"My name is Dr. Steward, and this is Dr. Franklin," the female spoke, addressing both me and Ellie. "We'd like to inform you that both of your injuries are thankfully non-life threatening, but, as doctors, you will need to stay here at least overnight to ensure that there are no surgical complications. Agent Bishop, you will have to be confined to a wheelchair and crutches for at least a fortnight to ensure the healing process is done. As for you, Agent Torres, we've managed to remove all the shrapnel, but I would urge you to not engage in any physically exerting behaviour too."
"If all is okay tomorrow morning," continued Dr. Franklin, "we will discharge you as outpatients." The doctors left it that, seeing as their beepers began their incessant tone. They left the ward, leaving me alone with Ellie.
"I'm sorry Ellie." I said, "If I had gotten to you in time, you would not have been injured, and could be helping McGee and Kasie look for Jack and Gibbs. I -" She cut me off: "Would you stop that? If it weren't for you, I may have been dead. You heard Dr. Steward, it's just my leg. Besides, I have my other leg and hands if it comes to anything." I laughed, and then doubled down coughing in pain from the stretching of my stitches. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry Nick. I shouldn't have joked when you're like that." Her apology was touching, but not needed. "Remember that you're my little light that's keeping me going, and even if it means a little stich pain, let it be that." She burst into laughter again, and I couldn't help it either.
"It was good that McGee had walked in, as I probably would have definitely torn some of my stiches at mine and Ellie's little language.
"I walked in to Nick and Ellie laughing away. God bless for that at least.
"Hey McGee." Nick seemed quite happy to see me. "Tell us what you've got so far."
"Well, that's that bad news," McGee begun, "Kasie and I haven't really found anything. Bomb techs and everyone else not on call with something else are analysing whatever was left, but the CCTV was out, and we have no idea where Gibbs or Sloane is."
"Nick began to get up from his bed. "Nick, no." There was no way I was going to let Nick drum his health into the ground. "You and Ellie need to stay here, no excuses as I've talked to Dr. Franklin and Dr. Steward, me and Kasie will be fine."
"That seemed to stop Nick and Ellie protesting, but that wasn't for long…
"My phone lit up; it was a call from Kasie. Perhaps she had finally found something, but the look on her face told me otherwise.
"McGee. This just came in…" She played the video, and I took no time situating myself between Ellie and Nick to make sure they saw too. It was Jack and Gibbs, and they were alive! But, they were not in good shape.
"Kasie," I told her over the phone, "track her down…"