"Get those EMTs down here!" Gibbs bypassed a shaking Kate to kick the bloody form away from DiNozzo. He knelt in the small triangle of available space now washed with blood – both Tony's and his attacker's. Wiping away blood with his bare hands, he located the wound: a tiny triangular incision. Nothing like the severance that had bled Chris Pacci out in less than a minute but dangerous enough on its own, Tony's heart pumping out a little more of his life's blood at each slow, arrhythmic beat. Gibbs grabbed the tattered remains of the white shirt and pressed gently against the flow, too aware that little could be done to stop the blood loss without causing more harm.
"Hang in there, DiNozzo."
When the lights were snapped on, Gibbs could see too clearly the translucence of his skin, the waxy, pale look of his face.
A hand took over from his and someone else's hands helped haul him up. Ducky, he identified dully. He stumbled back to give the physician room and Ducky knelt, steady hands moving in concert with those of the EMTs. Ducky's quiet, sure "I am a physician" accepted without question.
The limp body was quickly and competently lifted, blankets piled deep and buckled down, IVs pierced with large bore needles into each arm.
"Ducky?"
The ME shook his head as the EMTs and patrol officers carefully lifted the gurney up the stairs. "I know much more about what can go wrong with a body, Jethro, than what can go right. He's been heavily drugged with an unknown substance. His heartbeat is slowed and a little erratic. He's lost some blood."
Kate was pale, Abby paler than you could rightfully be and still remain standing. Ducky managed a wan smile of reassurance for their benefit. "If they get him into the ER quickly, everything should be fine."
"Come on," ordered Gibbs. "We'll follow the ambulance."
Kate didn't move.
"Kate?"
She wouldn't meet his eyes. "I lost him."
"Yes, you did," acknowledged Gibbs. "But you, also, found him."
"What if it was too late?"
It wasn't a question Gibbs was ready to answer. "Don't give up yet, Kate. DiNozzo won't."
oOooOooOooOooOooOooOooOo
It was dark.
Tony's nose wrinkled faintly at the sharp scent of disinfectant and for a moment consciousness teased but the drugs sent him deeper into sleep again.
It was dark.
But at least it was warm.
oOooOooOooOooOooOooOooOo
Ducky leaned over the railings of the ICU bed and patted the arm of the figure lying flat there, noting the oxygen cannula and the small square of gauze at his neck. He checked the monitors, clucking a little at the blood pressure reading.
Abby was looking at him worriedly. "It's all right, Abby. You can touch him. He'll be glad to know he's not alone anymore."
"I hate hospitals," admitted the lab tech, her fingers shyly brushing Tony's. She wrapped them in hers cautiously. "Hey, Tony. Gibbs is on his forty-fourth cup of coffee and Kate's taking this really, really bad, so we need you to kind of wake up and straighten us out, you know?" She rolled a thumb along the still knuckles. "Not right now, huh? That's okay. They're gonna kick us anyway, Gibbs and Kate used up most of the time."
Braver now, she dipped a quick kiss to the bare skin of his forehead. "We're just outside, okay? Everybody."
oOooOooOooOooOooOooOooOo
"I ... I screwed up." Kate fastened her gaze on the rooftops visible in the pale morning light. "Again."
"You looked away for a few minutes and lost the target." Gibbs joined her at the window. "It happened. Next time you'll take more care."
"The 'target' was Tony." Kate's voice was flat.
"He's going to be okay."
"Doesn't matter."
"Matters to Tony." Gibbs put a hand on her shoulder. "Matters to us."
"I meant it doesn't negate—"
"I know what you meant, Kate. And I know what guilt does to an agent. You can have your moment, but after that, you leave it lay."
He watched Kate draw an exceptionally deep breath. "Tony might have a say in that."
"No." Gibbs shook his head. "He won't. DiNozzo is a lot of things. Judgmental isn't one of them."
In the window's reflection Kate saw the waiting room doors open to reveal the rest of their pensive foursome.
Gibbs' attention immediately moved to Ducky. "You talk to the doc? They get the tox report back?"
"Rohypnol and GHB, with just a bit of neurotoxin thrown in for good measure. We're lucky he didn't go into respiratory arrest. His system should clear out in a few more hours." Ducky stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "If it's any consolation, with that chemical mix, it's unlikely he'll remember any of it."
The ME didn't know quite what to make of the mix of emotions this news brought to Kate's face. "Caitlyn, are you all right?"
"Yeah," she returned. "I'm fine."
oOooOooOooOooOooOooOo
The teenage girl who'd answered the waiting room phone called out, "DiNozzo family?"
After a nod from Gibbs, Ducky accepted the receiver, listening for a few seconds before placing it back with a "thank you."
"Tony's awake. He's asking for you, Jethro. They said you could go back."
"This is good, right?" said Abby. "Tell me it's good."
"Should be," said Gibbs, rising from the chair. "We'll see what he remembers."
oOooOooOooOooOooOooOo
Tony blinked fitfully as his heavy eyelids continued to shut against his will.
"Hey, DiNozzo."
Dazed blue eyes opened again to regard Gibbs skeptically, as if he still wasn't sure what was real. "Boss?" Tony's voice was dry and wispy.
"It's me, Tony." Gibbs reached over the railing to clasp Tony's hand in his, fingers moving carefully around the pulse-ox monitor. "I'm here."
"Hospital," identified Tony.
"Yeah." Gibbs nodded his approval. "You know how you got here?"
"Ambulance?"
"You remember or you guess that?"
"Guess." Tony admitted, the word slurring sibilantly.
Gibbs smiled a little. "Good guess. You were drugged. You'll be fine, you just need to sleep it off."
Tony's forehead wrinkled. "'drugged me?"
"Who drugged you?" clarified Gibbs. "The bad guys, Tony."
This received a weak chuckle. "You get 'em?"
Gibbs gave the hand in his a little squeeze. "Kate did."
"Tell her 'thanks'." Tony blinked rapidly, trying to hold on to awareness.
"Go back to sleep, DiNozzo. We're right outside. Everything is fine."
The blue eyes closed and this time didn't open. A silent "okay" formed on Tony's lips, but then it, too, was lost to the pull of the darkness.
oOooOooOooOooOooOooOo
"Hey." Kate started awake to find Tony peering at her worriedly from the distance of the hospital bed. "What are you still doing here?"
"Um," she drew a hand up to swipe at the corner of her mouth, "sleeping, apparently."
"What time is it?"
The numerals on her watch face were blurry. "Six twenty."
Tony groaned at the information, his hands a bit clumsy as they tried to pull the rolling tray toward him.
Kate got up. "Need some water?"
"Need the whole pitcher. 'feel like I swallowed the desert."
She filled the Styrofoam cup with melted ice. "You lost some blood."
"Thought Gibbs said I was drugged." Taking the offered cup, Tony downed half of it with a thankful sigh.
"You were drugged so they could ..." Kate's explanation trailed off to silence.
Frowning, his still sluggish mind finally putting two and two together, Tony brought his hand to the square of gauze. "He really bit me?"
"You remember?"
"No, but I remember why we were here." His eyes widened. "He bit me?"
"Not exactly. He stabbed you. Luckily, he was waiting for his partner before he got down to serious dining, so you didn't lose enough for it to be fatal."
"You okay?" The still-dilated eyes gave her a once-over.
"Fine."
"You don't look 'fine'."
"I'm fine, Tony," she reiterated.
