Gibbs slowly climbed to his feet. Having been reassured that his team made it out safely and the air masks delivered, he proceeded around the building, seeing firemen and haz-mat safety workers arriving as he did so. The EMTs were first on the scene; they'd set themselves up in a remote area and it was in this direction Gibbs headed. Arriving, he asked Heath about the casualties. He was told they were treating two prisoners for smoke inhalation, and a third for a fractured larynx. Agent Jackson had a piece of metal embedded in his shoulder. It wasn't a life-threatening injury, but they were concerned about both blood loss and fluid replacement in the heat. Gibbs nodded and then asked to see Kate.
"Agent Todd is over there." he said, pointing to a pair of medics hovering over a flattened gurney.
As Gibbs moved closer to the trio, he could see there were some cold packs near the makeshift bed. Kate's eyes were closed, asleep or unconscious he couldn't tell, and to his mind she seemed pale; he expected one of the EMTs to answer his unvoiced questions. The woman taking the patient's blood pressure finished her task, then took charge of the conversation.
"You are?" Her voice was pleasant, but her manner was direct.
"Special Agent Gibbs. Agent Todd works for me. How is she?"
Recognizing authority, she was all business. "Superficial GSW on right calf. Shock from blood loss and dehydration, and difficulty breathing from toxic fumes and earlier rib injury. Both breathing and BP have improved since administering O2, and there is no abdominal rigidity to suggest that she has sustained trauma to her spleen." Looking up from Kate's chart she gave the man before her a disapproving glare. "She should be fine, but I would recommend that you avoid assigning Agent Todd to further hazardous duty until she is fully healed."
Gibbs gave a short bark of laughter. "She was the one who wanted to search these properties last night! Tell you what, I'll give her the week off; you make her stay home."
Tony walked up in time to hear the last of Gibbs' conversation. "We're getting a week off? I'll make sure Kate stays home, Boss!" He bent to take his partner's unresisting hand, whispering, "Hey, Kate! It worked, we got the week off! Now let's get out of here before he changes his mind."
Kate was vaguely aware of being moved. Her ribs ground together and she cried out weakly, unable to prevent the sound from escaping her lips. Voices bounced around her in meaningless waves as she concentrated on managing pain that had suddenly grown razor sharp edges. Someone held a bottle to her lips and she thought she heard a voice buzzing in her ear, something about water. She took little sips between painful breaths, drinking as much of the cold, sweet fluid as she could manage. Then feeling a comfortable surface supporting her weight, she allowed herself a moment to rest, just a moment, no more...
Tony's voice was far away, saying something about a week off. With great effort she dragged herself up from the deep sleep into which she'd quickly dropped. Just as she was about to open her eyes, she heard a female voice accosting Tony.
"Who are you? Leave Agent Todd alone, she needs to rest!"
Kate could hear the smile in his voice as he answered the woman. "Agent Tony DiNozzo. Agent Todd is tougher than you think. Isn't that right, Kate?"
Kate opened her eyes, smiled and propped herself up gently. "I do feel much better. I'd like to go home. Tony..." Her smile turned to an expression of mock horror. "Wow! You're filthy! Gibbs is going to make you clean out the car, you know."
"Hey! At least I don't shred my clothes every time I get into a fight." He pointed at the large rip in her shirt. "You must be hell on a clothing budget."
Gibbs shook his head and turned to the shocked EMT. "They're fine," he said over her sputtering. "I'll see to it that a doctor checks them out, but I guarantee they won't agree to go anywhere with you." He looked back at his teammates who were still teasing each other.
After the release forms were signed for both Tony and Kate, they followed Gibbs toward Agent Watson.
"Mike, is everything under control here?"
"Yeah, Gibbs. We've called in a little more help; I think we'll have it cleaned up in a couple hours and be completely out of the way for emergency services."
"Would you mind if we head out?"
"Are any of you fit to drive?"
The three looked at each other and shook their heads gingerly. Tony answered for all of them. "No. Gibbs is the closest, and I don't think either of us could take it."
Gibbs looked about to smack the younger man, then pulled back. One concussion was enough for the day.
Watson nodded then gave a piercing whistle, which made all three recoil in pain. A young agent trotted up.
"Don, give these three a ride back to HQ. And take it easy on the bumpy stuff; they're a little banged up, okay?"
The young man nodded enthusiastically and took the keys dangling from Tony's finger. They headed toward the car and climbed in, Tony sliding into the back seat with Kate and putting his arm around her. She looked up at him questioningly, but as soon as they hit the rough road, she gasped and hung on to him.
Once their driver turned onto the much smoother main road, the three sighed with relief. Tony reluctantly removed his arm from Kate's shoulders and they each sat up straight and moved apart. Unconsciously, the team members all adopted the same pose, dropping their heads back and closing their eyes. Kate broke the silence first.
"So do you suppose Holder's death was an accident after all? Duvall said Lynn was important to their operation."
"Don't know. But I need a scorecard just to keep up with the players. Holder's boyfriend, the one we interviewed, was Lee Allerton. He didn't know anything. Now we find out that Lynn was supposedly involved with Jeremy Duvall and Emily Pederson was involved with Jeremy's, was it older brother? And did we even get his name? Oh, and then there's Larry Martin, who thought he was involved with Emily, but wasn't, except maybe to murder Lynn, but... AHHH!"
"Thanks for that very confusing summation, DiNozzo, " Gibbs muttered drily. "Clearly whatever went on in that apartment, something made Holder head down that fire escape. And something caused it to sway so much that she lost her grip. Add that to the fact that the bolts were cut, and this is premeditated murder. It just becomes a question of was Lynn the intended victim or not."
They lapsed into silence for several miles. Then Tony spoke up. "So, interrogations and paperwork tomorrow?"
"Actually, DiNozzo, you and your concussion can have the day off. We'll pick it back up Monday morning. I'm going to ask Abby to fingerprint all those documents Kate took off that desk. Maybe there's an answer in there."
They rode in silence, each mirroring the others' pose until they returned to NCIS. As they dragged themselves out of the sedan, they thanked their driver and then Gibbs herded his junior agents inside and called Ducky.
"Oh, come on, Gibbs!" Kate protested. "I'm feeling much better."
"Yeah, me too. Can't we just go?"
"Not until I'm satisfied that you're both all right and at least one of you is fit to drive. Besides, don't you need to get some food?" He turned away before they could see the grin on his face.
They headed down to Autopsy to await Ducky and "shop" for a day's worth of food from their store in the cooler. Gibbs insisted on keeping an eye on them, lest they try to make a break for it before the coroner could check them out. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the man to arrive, shaking his head as he entered.
"I begin to think that I should not let the three of you out of my sight. All right. Which of you is first?"
Tony grinned as Gibbs tried to get out of being examined by the doctor. "Uh, no, Duck. I'm fine, really. It's those two that need to be... "
Ducky cut him off. "Jethro, did you think I would only take your word for it? I spoke to Mike Watson, and he informed me of your head injury as well. Now for trying to lie to me, you get to go first. Have a seat." He smiled at his friend and waited for him to comply.
When he was satisfied Gibbs had nothing more than a moderate-sized goose egg, Ducky nodded and allowed the man to leave.
"I'm staying until I'm sure they're fine," he stated, and shifted around on the table.
Ducky sighed. "Who's next?"
"I'll go next, Ducky, but only if the men excuse themselves." Kate waited, but no one moved.
"That sounds fair, Caitlyn. Gentlemen, since I need to x-ray the lady, would you kindly leave my lab?" Ducky extended his arms to sweep her teammates out of the room. As Tony left, he threw a glance over his shoulder at her and received a wink in return.
Once the doors were closed, Kate removed her blouse so Ducky could check her ribs and take another x-ray. "Thanks for shooing them out, Duck. I appreciate the privacy."
"No problem, my dear. I'll want to check that bullet wound as well. How are you feeling?"
"Sore, but not so bad, I guess. I'm definitely ready to go home." She sighed as she lay down on the cold metal table and allowed the coroner to gently probe her side. She sucked in a breath and bit her lip to keep the pain under control.
"I wish you'd taken it a little easier today. We'll see what the x-rays tell us. Let me check your leg." Ducky carefully removed the bandages and examined the wound. "This doesn't look too bad, you were lucky here. It looks uglier than it is; if you keep it clean and dry it should heal nicely, better than just a burn from the bullet grazing you. Keep it bandaged loosely so the air can get to it."
He then retrieved the familiar heavy plate containing the x-ray film and placed it under her, brought over the lead apron and positioned it once again over her lower abdomen and pelvic regions.
"Ah, do I need to ask..." he trailed off.
Kate gave a weak smile. "Answer's still the same."
Nodding, he positioned the machine appropriately and photographed Kate's ribs. Coming back over to her, Ducky removed the plate and hesitated a moment. "Caitlyn, I hope I'm not out of line with this, but have you talked with Anthony about... " he let the sentence trail off.
Kate looked up at him in surprise. After a lengthy pause she said quietly, "Thanks for your concern, Ducky. Everything's under control."
"Oh, okay. I'll just take this and get the film in the developer and let you get yourself together." He helped her sit up then took the film and headed for the door, feeling vaguely embarrassed.
Kate eased herself off the table and gingerly slipped her ruined blouse back on. 'What's the point,' she thought. She held the ripped section of the shirt, sighing in disgust. She turned as she heard the doors open and Gibbs and Tony came back in.
"Well?" Gibbs was as impatient as ever.
"Gibbs, he hasn't developed the x-ray yet!" Kate shook her head and took a seat in Ducky's desk chair. The trio waited in silence for the doctor's return.
The hiss of the doors drew their attention. "Now, Anthony, I believe it's your turn. Over here, please." Ducky waited while Tony complied. Gibbs and Kate watched as the doctor gave the agent a thorough going over.
"Well, you look to be fine, Tony. But to be on the safe side, I'd rather you didn't spend the night alone. I'd like someone to wake you up every four hours, just for tonight." Ducky turned and looked at Kate.
For a moment the silence in the room was deafening. Then Tony cleared his throat and said, "Thanks, Duck. I'll, uh, take care of it."
"Do we need to wait for the x-ray? I promise, I'll stay off my ribs, Doctor. I'd really like to just go home."
"I don't see why not, as long as you get plenty of rest and avoid anything strenuous."
Tony was moving in a flash. Grabbing up the bag of food, he was out the door before Ducky or Gibbs could utter a word. Kate, feeling a slight flush color her cheeks, tossed a thank you over her shoulder as she quickly made her way out the door as well.
"I'll call you about the x-ray!" Ducky called after her as the elevator doors closed.
