Chapter Two
"Well?" Leroy Jethro Gibbs demanded with a glare as soon as Special Agent Kate Todd hung up the phone. His usual cup of coffee was gripped firmly in one hand. "Where is he?"
With an exasperated sigh, Kate turned towards her team leader but quickly bit back her retort when she caught the flicker of concern in Gibbs' light blue eyes. A man like Gibbs did not trouble easily, but when he did, she knew it was a good time as any to start worrying.
"I don't know. I got his machine at home and the voicemail on his cell," she answered, chewing on her bottom lip. "This isn't like Tony at all…"
"No, it isn't," Gibbs agreed in a vaguely distracted tone, glancing once more at the clock. DiNozzo was late, extremely so, even by his normal standards, and he knew that it was not like the young agent to not show up for work like this, especially not without calling in with some kind of explanation.
"Should we go look for him?" Special Agent Timothy McGee ventured hesitatingly, looking from one agent to the other.
"Give him another couple of hours or so…" Gibbs responded, turning back to the papers on his desk. "He'd better have a damn good reason for this when he decides to show up…" he muttered darkly to no one in particular.
Kate eyed the senior agent who was now glowering at the report he was studying, easily reading the anxiety buried beneath his gruff words. Gibbs might be hard on Tony most of the time, but she knew that he liked the young agent, and although he wouldn't admit to it even under the threat of death, it was in all likelihood that Gibbs saw Tony as an incorrigible younger brother.
Not that liking Tony was something very hard to do, Kate acknowledged silently to herself, for all his flirtatiousness and occasional flippant manner, Anthony DiNozzo was overall a very amiable guy, one who got along easily with basically anyone he met, in addition to being a first-rate agent. She just hoped that his innate friendliness and flirtatious disposition had not backfired on him this time.
O o O o O o O
The nurse paused a moment to study the sleeping patient, her head cocked ever so slightly to one side. Even with the multiple bruises colouring his pale face, she could tell that beneath all that swelling was a handsome young man, and she wondered fleetingly if he was alone in this world. Since he was admitted last night, except for the man who'd brought him in, no one else had called in to enquire about the young patient or to pay him a visit.
Just as she was making the final adjustments to his IV, he stirred slightly, and she could see that he was about to wake up. True enough, his long lashes fluttered a few seconds later and he cracked open his eyes to focus blearily on her.
"Kate…?" The voice was a barely discernible croak.
Ah, good, so there is someone… Pleased by the discovery, Anne Lyndon bent her dark head lower to address the still groggy man, "No, sorry, honey. I'm Anne. I'm a nurse here."
"Anne…" Tony repeated blankly. Who?
"Let me get the doctor, he'll explain everything," Lyndon murmured softly before disappearing out the door, leaving the bewildered agent behind.
Doctor? Glancing fuzzily around the room, Tony realised that he was currently in the hospital. He closed his eyes against the nausea, wincing as the memories of what happened last night slowly came back to him. How am I going to explain this to Gibbs? And Kate… Kate would probably have a field day with this…
Forget it, I can't take it. That was his answer to Kate's question after the incident with the Lieutenant Commander before he'd all but fled the bullpen to hide the effect of it from the rest of the team. He might not have shown any other visible reaction besides pained exasperation but the barb – 'What was it like, tonguing a guy?' – had stung. Bad. In fact, he'd been caught fairly off guard by the intensity of the hurt that had engulfed him at the time.
The sound of footsteps drew him from his dark thoughts and Tony opened his eyes to see a tall, middle-aged man, with greying dark brown hair, walk through the door. He had a doctor's white overcoat over his clothes with a stethoscope sticking out from one of the pockets.
"Good morning, Mr DiNozzo. I'm Doctor Gallagher. Glad to see that you're finally awake."
"Tony… Call me Tony…"
Gallagher smiled at his patient. "All right, Tony. How are you feeling?" he asked while he quickly checked DiNozzo's eyes and reflexes. Replacing the penlight back into his pocket after he was done, the doctor returned the man's solemn look.
"Fine, I guess… Headache… a lil' nauseous…" Tony finally rasped. He moved slightly and hissed out a ragged breath when his body gave him a rude reminder of what took place last night. "Sore…"
"As expected, given the circumstances. Your headache and nausea are due to your concussion," Gallagher explained and quickly filled Tony in on the rest of his injuries and the plans to keep him in the hospital until the next day. "Would you like me to call anyone for you?"
At that, Tony broke eye contact and looked away while his fingers plucked nervously at the bed sheet. "No… no, that's okay. Where's Jack?"
"Mr Callaghan?" At Tony's small nod of confirmation, Gallagher continued, "He just left to get something to eat. He's been here since eight."
A flash of guilt hit Tony at that revelation just as another thought occurred to him. "Since eight? What time is it now?" he asked, green eyes wide.
The doctor took a quick peek at his watch. "Almost eleven," he answered, growing steadily alarmed when the young man's face went even whiter. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Tony swallowed and looked away, towards the window. "Nothing, Doc. Just some work stuff…" he mumbled, eyes downcast. After a few seconds, he puffed out a breath and turned towards the older man, "Could I make a call?"
O o O o O o O
"Special Agent Todd," Kate spoke into the telephone. "Tony? Where the h–" Her eyes widened. "What?! You're where…? What happened? Are you okay?"
Gibbs frowned as he listened to the one-sided conversation. He'd been away from his desk, with his hands full of case files, when the phone rang so he'd motioned to Kate to pick it up. The flash of relief that he'd felt when Kate had spoken out Tony's name had first been replaced by irritation, but unease had quickly taken over, especially when Kate suddenly went pale. He caught her eyes as he drew nearer his desk but Kate just shook her head at him while she spoke quickly into the telephone once more.
"How bad? … That's good to know. … Yeah, we'll be right there." Hanging up, Kate turned towards Gibbs, her face white. "Tony's in the hospital. He got mugged last night."
But Gibbs was already on Kate's extension, his face turned away from her as he spoke quietly to one of the other two remaining members of his team. "Hang on," he said, and looked up at Kate. "Where?"
Kate told him, and he repeated the name of the hospital into the telephone. "Yeah, we're on our way now." A brief pause. "No, no… Listen to me, Ducky. I need you and Abby to finish up the on Kellerman case first. And get McGee to start on the Corporal Alexander's phone records when he gets back… Yeah, I'll let the both of you know as soon as we get the rest of the details."
Finishing the call, he hung up, grabbed his coat and strode out of the bullpen, with Kate right behind him.
O o O o O o O
"Heard that you finally decided to join the land of the living, Kid…"
The gruff voice roused Tony out of his light doze and he opened his eyes to see his rescuer from last night approaching his bed. "Hey, Jack," he greeted the tall, lean Irishman softly with a drowsy smile, suddenly very glad to see a familiar face.
"How are you holding up?" Jack Callaghan asked as he drew nearer. He shook his head with an emphatic wince at the damage revealed by the light of day. The gash on his forehead and dark bruises on his face looked even worse up close. "You look like crap, Tony…"
"Feel like it too," the younger man agreed with a tired sigh. He looked down at his bandaged hands. "Thanks for taking care of things for me."
"You're welcome, Kid, although I must say you scared ten years off me when I found you on the ground like that," Jack said grumpily as he dropped into the chair beside Tony's bed.
The smile that he was aiming for appeared momentarily on the battered face. "Sorry, Jack. I'll try not to do that again."
"See that you don't, DiNozzo, or else I'm gonna have to start charging you hazard fee…" the older man retorted with a wink.
"Sure, Jack," Tony chuckled lightly and then clutched at his ribs with a wince. "Please, don't make me laugh."
"Sorry. Called the office yet?"
"Yeah, I've talked to Kate…" Tony stopped, a frown quickly replacing the slight grin on his face. "Well, actually, I called Gibbs' extension but Kate answered…"
"And…?"
"Hmm? Oh, I think that they're on their way here…" the injured man trailed off, suddenly unsure of how to proceed.
The pregnant pause did not go unnoticed by the ex-police detective turned bar owner. Nor did he miss the sudden haunted look in the young agent's green eyes. "Tony?"
The expressive eyes in question met his and were immediately shuttered. "Yeah?"
Jack sighed inwardly at the wary tone. This was going to be harder than he thought. That particular look in Tony's eyes just now, a mixture of defeat and apprehension, did not sit well with him – it was distinctly out of place with the person he knew his young friend to be. Deciding that the direct approach was the best way to go, he asked softly, "What happened last night, Kid?"
"I've already told you in the car … three men jumped me in the parking lot. Got away with my watch, wallet and cell."
"And the reason that they tried to beat the living daylights out of you would be…?"
Tony lifted his shoulders slightly in what Jack interpreted to be a shrug of indifference. "They thought I was someone else…"
"So you said last night…"
There wasn't a single expression on Tony's face or inflection in his voice when he finally answered – not that it would've made much of a difference if there were – Callaghan got the 'Leave me alone, I don't want to talk about it' message as clearly as if Tony had said it aloud.
"Yeah, Jack, so I did."
O o O o O o O
"Hello, Jethro."
"Jack!" Gibbs took the proffered hand and returned the firm handshake. He indicated the young agent standing beside him. "Jack Callaghan, this is Kate Todd. Kate, meet one of the best homicide detectives this side of the country."
"Ex-homicide detective, please," Jack chuckled softly. "I'm retired, remember?" With that, he turned towards the beautiful brunette and shook her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Special Agent Todd. Congratulations on making the team." He slid the older agent a glance. "I hear Jethro here only works with the very best."
Oh, really? Despite her worry for Tony, Kate was amused when Gibbs met her questioning look with a raised eyebrow, as if daring her to discuss it further. Making a mental note to do so in the next opportune moment, she grinned at Jack. "Thank you, Mr Callaghan. It's nice to meet you too. And please, call me Kate."
Jack returned her smile with one of his own. "Only if you would call me Jack."
"You brought Tony in?" Gibbs spoke up quietly, promptly bringing to mind the reason they were currently having a conversation in the middle of a hospital corridor.
His faint smile fading, Jack gave younger man a terse nod. "He just dropped off to sleep." There was fleeting pause before he elaborated, his grey eyes dark with worry, "Pain meds. The doctor said he'd probably be quite groggy as long as he's on them."
Gibbs glanced a moment at the closed door a few feet away from where they were standing. The two of them had been heading for it when Callaghan had called out to him. He turned his attention back to his old friend. "What happened, Jack?"
Callaghan shook his head. "I don't have all the details… Only Tony can answer that question and he's not talking … much. I found him out cold in the parking lot last night after closing up the bar…" His expression hardened. "Even in the dark I could tell that they roughed him up pretty badly."
Kate's eyes widened at the last bit and she glanced worriedly at Gibbs. His clear blue eyes had turned icy with silent rage and she pitied the poor souls who had inadvertently incurred the wrath of this man. But only for a hundredth of a second. The truth was, she couldn't wait for Gibbs to catch up with the people who did this – they more than deserved everything that they were going to get. The severity of the act notwithstanding, Kate knew that no one messed with a member of Gibbs' team without suffering the repercussions, not if he had anything to say about it.
She only had to look back to the time where the NCIS Medical Examiner, his assistant, and herself had been taken hostage by a man who'd gained access to Autopsy to retrieve a smallpox virus that a dead terrorist had left behind with the rest of his possessions. Since that night, Gibbs had been like man obsessed, and his ongoing search for the unidentified intruder had been both relentless and methodical.
"I feel sorry for whatever his name is," Tony muttered as they trailed behind Gibbs, on their way towards the men's room to investigate the death of Petty Officer First Class Chris Gordon.
"Sorry?" she turned a quizzical look towards her smirking partner.
"Yeah," Tony replied, almost contemplatively. "I wouldn't want Gibbs on my ass."
"We're never gonna see that guy again," she responded with a shake of her head.
"Maybe not. But Gibbs will," Tony shot back, in a tone so confident that it'd immediately removed whatever lingering doubts she had.
"Last night?" Gibbs was saying when Kate turned her attention back to the conversation at hand. His frown deepened when the other man nodded. "And you waited until this morning? Dammit, Jack, you should have called. Immediately!"
Callaghan was unperturbed by the sudden heated outburst – he'd been friends with Jethro Gibbs long enough to know that the younger man's anger stemmed from a deep concern that he had for their mutual friend. "It wasn't my call to make," he answered evenly.
The forbidding expression on Gibbs' face never changed. "Explain," he commanded grimly.
Jack sighed and ran a tired hand through his graying hair. "Tony asked me not to, and that he be the one to tell you… today," he finished, stressing lightly on the last word.
"Why?" Kate asked, confused.
"I haven't a clue," Jack confessed. "I hate to say this but he's been pretty quiet, uncharacteristically so, I might add." He looked at Kate. "He told me he talked to you. What did he say?"
"That he was mugged."
Gibbs' eyes narrowed. "It wasn't any normal mugging, was it?"
"I highly doubt that it was even a mugging in the first place," Jack countered matter-of-factly.
The frown that creased Gibbs' forehead deepened. "What did he tell you?"
"That he was jumped by three men, and the beating was due to a misunderstanding," Jack said, his skepticism obvious on his craggy face. "They took his watch, wallet and cell phone, but left his car keys behind."
"A misunderstanding?" Gibbs echoed, zooming in on the word. "Did he say what kind?"
"Yeah," Jack answered. "He said they thought he was someone else…"
"You believe him?"
Jack met Gibbs' steady gaze and grimaced. "Not for a damned moment."
A/N: Thank you all so much for your wonderful and encouraging reviews. They just about made my entire week. To answer your question, Becky – yes, the story is finished, sans some minor fine-tuning here and there – just waiting for each chapter to be betaed first before I can post them (kinda cheated with the first one though, but that has been remedied… :D) and I'll do my best to update as quickly and as often as possible. Thanks for reading!