Disclaimer: NCIS and all related characters belong to CBS, Donald P. Bellisario and Belisaurius Productions.
Chapter Nine
He was unexpectedly assailed by a powerful sense of déjà vu as he stood before the hospital bed in the dimly lit room, too wound up to sit down at the moment, listening to the steady beep of the heart monitor, and the soft hum of the respiratory machine. Long fingers clenching slowly into tight fists, he was all too aware of the terrible, almost overwhelming anger that smoldered within him, knowing that the steady, gentle rise and fall of the patient's chest was the only thing tempering his equally burning need to go and hit something or someone. Was it just less than a month ago that the kid was lying there looking entirely too ashen and … frail?
Essentially colourless except for the bruises shading almost the entire right side of his face and the dark shadows under his eyes, and covered by what he felt was a whole mass of bandages, Tony once again appeared remarkably young and altogether terribly vulnerable as he lay there, so silent and still. With a sigh, he shoved his hands deep into his pockets, hiding the only visible evidence of the fury that raged within him.
"Jethro?"
Gibbs tensed for a moment at the call but relaxed when he recognised the familiar gruff voice. "Hello, Jack," he greeted the newcomer without turning his head. "We need to stop meeting like this."
Callaghan's mouth twisted into wry smile as he came to a stop beside the NCIS team leader. "Hey, don't look at me. It's the kid you've got to tell that bit of advice to."
"I will," Gibbs shot back in a voice devoid of any emotion whatsoever. "As soon as he wakes up."
His small smile fading, Jack studied the young man on the bed with worried eyes and shook his head with a sigh. "Déjà vu…"
"Funny…" Gibbs said blandly, one greying brow arching upwards. "I was just thinking that very same thing."
Jack shot his old friend a sideways glance and then shrugged. "Great minds... And I guess that's Tony for you." Crossing his arms across his chest, he asked quietly, "How is he?"
"Pretty much the same since we brought him in yesterday night." Gibbs ran a weary hand across the back of his neck. He took a deep breath and then let it all out in a soft whoosh. "According to the doctor, a lot depends on whether he makes it through the rest of this night."
Jack clasped a hand on the other man's shoulder, feeling the tension radiating from him. "He's a lot tougher than he looks, Jethro. Best of all, he's young and healthy. He'll make it."
Gibbs ducked his head in thought and then responded softly, "Yeah, that's what Ducky said too."
"There you go. Speaking of which, where are the rest of your people anyway?" Jack looked expectantly around the dark room, as if he was waiting for the rest of Gibbs' team to jump out of the shadows at any moment and join the two of them.
"Sent them home," came the succinct reply.
"Oh, yeah," Callaghan nodded once. He paused for a beat before commenting, "Sure you did."
Gibbs pondered the noncommittal reply for all of one second before turning suspiciously towards the older man. "Jack…?" When no reply came forth, he continued tightly, "They're still outside, aren't they?"
"Uh huh." Jack took one look at the thunderous expression on Gibbs' face and added hastily, "They're just worried, Jethro, and not only for the kid here."
It was Gibbs' turn to heave a resigned sigh. "I know," he said after a moment's silence, his anger already fading away. He sent his old friend a quick smile and said dryly, "So, they sent you in here to do the dirty work, huh?"
"Well, for one thing, you can't fire me, even if I did manage to piss you off…" Jack chuckled, stuffing his hands into his jeans pockets.
"No, but I could always shoot you…" The tone was light and hopeful.
"I don't think so. For one, you'll miss me… and my bar... way too much," Callaghan quickly shot back, grinning at the strangled laugh that he'd elicited from the other man. "Actually, no one sent me. I was on my way here when I passed the most morose group of people that I've ever seen down in the waiting room," he muttered, shaking his head at the memory. "That, and knowing you, Jethro, it doesn't really take a genius to figure out what was going on. Oh, by the way, in case I forgot to tell you – you do look like crap, Special Agent Gibbs."
Gibbs gave a snort at the last bit but didn't refute the statement. And he wasn't exactly surprised by the knowledge that the rest of his team had chosen to stay instead of going home. It was their way of showing him that no one was going to have to go through this alone. The doctor had already informed them that Tony would probably remain unconscious for the rest of the night, and despite convincing Tony's parents, who'd flown in earlier in the morning, to return to their hotel room for some rest, Gibbs somehow couldn't make himself do the same and leave the young agent's side.
Not just yet.
"We've been through all of this before, Jethro, but I'll say it again. You are in no way responsible for any of it, you know, not for Christopher Pacci's death or for what transpired with Anthony here," Ducky's quiet voice broke into the silence and Gibbs turned to his left to find the NCIS Medical Examiner standing beside him.
Faint shuffling sounds behind them announced to him Kate, Abby, and McGee's presence and suddenly, Gibbs was grateful that they were all here, the blatant disregard of his earlier orders notwithstanding.
"I know, Duck, I know," he murmured bleakly, his eyes still on the unmoving figure on the bed. He continued, so softly that the men beside him had to strain their ears to catch his next few words, "But why does it feel like it is? Knowing sure doesn't make it any less difficult."
"No, it doesn't," Ducky agreed softly. "It rarely ever does, actually." That said, he turned to give Gibbs a critical once over. "But I highly doubt it would help young Anthony here if any of us, especially you, Jethro, were to collapse from over-exhaustion, would it now?"
In spite of himself, Gibbs had to smile at the unnecessary exaggeration but acknowledged the gentle chide with a nod. As he did so, somewhere deep within him, the guilt that had been sitting heavy upon his heart lifted a little and he heaved a small, almost inaudible sigh.
"Fine, Duck," Gibbs conceded reluctantly after a few seconds of silence. "We'll all go back … for some rest," he added quickly when Dr Mallard looked like he was about to say something else. Satisfied with his answer, the older man gave Gibbs a pleased nod, a benign smile lighting up his face.
Turning to his right, Gibbs frowned at his grinning friend. "All of us, Callaghan – that includes you."
The grin disappeared immediately. "Hey! But I just got here!" Jack protested with a frown of his own.
"You can visit him tomorrow along with the rest of us," Gibbs retorted all too readily, ignoring the rest of Jack's strangled objections as he unceremoniously herded him out of the room, leaving Ducky to follow at a more sedate pace.
Exchanging a smile, Kate, Abby, and McGee proceeded to follow the three men down the hospital corridor. It was a quiet group that made their way out of the hospital, oblivious to the looks from curious hospital staff and visitors alike, each lost in their own thoughts and memories. They'd almost made it to the parking lot when Abby suddenly piped up, her voice shattering the quiet of the night, "Say, Gibbs… Does this mean we get to come into the office a little later tomorrow?"
"Abbs…"
"Hey, can't blame a girl for trying…"
O
"Gibbs…?"
"Kate."
"Well?"
Gibbs gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to bang his forehead against his desk, all the while silently berating himself for failing to pick up an extra cup of coffee this morning. He was expecting this sort of reaction, especially when the news got out … only not so soon, or more importantly, so damn early in the morning.
"Well, what, Kate?" he growled, soft and low, swallowing his frustration and hoping that she'd get the hint and not pursue this matter any further.
Unperturbed by his brusque tone, Kate leaned forward and leaned her arms on her desk, looking steadily back at him. "Aren't you going to do something about it?"
Before Gibbs could respond, he was distracted by Abby, who had just marched up to his table. "Gibbs!" she frowned down at him, hands on her hips. "Is it true? You're just gonna let Tony–"
"Abbs…" Gibbs began but was interrupted when the telephone on his desk rang. Trying to avoid the inevitable, he leaned over and picked it up, only to hear Ducky's clipped tone on the other end.
"Jethro, what's this I've just heard about young Anthony…?"
Pulling the receiver away from his ear and glaring at it, Gibbs motioned Kate and Abby closer with his free hand before speaking into the handset once more so that Ducky would be able to hear him. "I'm going to say this only once, people, so listen very carefully…"
O
"Yes, Ma," Tony answered patiently into the telephone for the tenth time since the call started. Seated on the edge of his bed, with the receiver cradled between one shoulder and his right ear, he used his free hands to sort through the many items he had scattered there as he continued the conversation. "I will remember to eat."
He listened for a moment, an expression of mild exasperation on his face, and then said soothingly, "Don't worry, okay? … Right, I know, that comes with being a mom… I will…Uh huh… yeah, okay. Say hi to Dad and rest for me… Yes, I'll call when I get back… Bye, Ma… I love you too."
Hanging up, Tony stared with obvious relief at the wall in front of him for a moment before he remembered that he had company. Getting awkwardly to his feet, he flashed his visitor a small apologetic smile before turning his attention back to the items on the bed, even as he mentally braced himself for the questions he knew that was coming. One down, one to go…
"So, where exactly are you headed off to?"
Damn, that was quick.
Tony's hands, essentially bandage free except for the narrow strips around his wrists and a Band-Aid on his left hand, stilled a moment at the deceptively mild query before he resumed his packing. Eyes down, he painstakingly avoided the pointed, questioning gaze of the older man – he wasn't ready to face it just yet. Leaning heavily on his cane, favouring his left side, Tony moved stiffly to the cupboard. After picking out a few more items of clothing that he needed, he then limped back to the bed, wincing at the twinge of pain in his healing ribs caused by the movement.
Once again, the young agent mentally cursed the speed of his recovery though a part of him knew that his expectations were completely irrational. After all, it had only been three days since his discharge from his twelve-day stay at the hospital and he knew that no one, least of all Gibbs, would expect him to jump right back in to work. There lay the irony of it – he wished he could do just that – for one thing, it would provide his life with some form of normalcy that seemed to be missing lately.
The physiotherapy sessions hurt, a heck of a lot more than he'd expected, and though the constant presence of his friends helped, he was more than a little frustrated to be still on mandatory leave due to his injuries. After trying not to go stir crazy from boredom for the past seventy-two hours and feeling considerably smothered by his friends' overt, albeit well-meaning, concern, Tony decided to use the time he'd been given to good use – it was, after all, his initial plan before it was so violently interrupted by Gatley. The difference was, he didn't have to request for some leave time, though he hadn't been very forthcoming with the details when he'd blithely informed the older man and the rest of his friends of his intention to leave DC for a couple of days.
Needless to say, Gibbs wasn't at all pleased with his vagueness as to where he was planning to go or do – which probably explained why his team leader was currently glowering at him from the doorway of his bedroom.
"Ohio," he answered after a moment, keeping his head down as he hastily stuffed everything he'd laid out on the mattress into the open bag.
"Columbus?" Gibbs guessed and saw the dark head bob once. "DCA?" he asked of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and received another terse nod.
Tony cleared his throat at the quizzical look he received and added cautiously, "I … err … I need to pay an old friend a long overdue visit…"
"How are you planning to get to the airport?"
Tony shrugged, packing the last of his stuff and zipping up his bag. "Probably call a cab…" Looking up, he flashed Gibbs a grin. "Or you could drop me off, Boss."
"Sure." Picking up Tony's bag, Gibbs strode off with it, leaving the younger man blinking in surprise after him. "Let's go, DiNozzo," he called out when he realised that Tony was still frozen in wide-eyed confusion beside the bed where he'd left him. Turning away to hide his smile at the man's flabbergasted expression, Gibbs continued, "Traffic's pretty much a killer this time of the day."
One day, Tony told himself sternly as he stood there, scowling at Gibbs' retreating back, one day he was going to be one step ahead of that man, instead of lagging three paces behind. Hopefully, that day wasn't that far in the future. Yeah, right, DiNozzo, keep on dreaming, his inner voice chose that opportune moment to pipe up sarcastically and he grimaced.
"DiNozzo!"
Gibbs' impatient voice roused him from his thoughts and Tony scrubbed tiredly at his face with a resigned sigh. "Coming, Boss…" he called out before grabbing his jacket and cane. After looking around the bedroom one last time to make sure that he'd not missed out on anything else, the injured agent then limped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
O
"Ducky, do you think Gibbs managed to find out where Tony was planning on going?" Kate asked with a worried frown, her fingers fiddling absently with the papers on Ducky's desk. She flushed when he made a faint tsking noise and gently extracted the beleaguered sheet of paper from her hands. "Sorry…"
"No harm done, Caitlin," Dr Mallard smiled at the somewhat flustered agent, smoothing out the slightly crumpled paper first before tucking it safely back into one of the files on his desk. "And to answer your question, if anyone was capable of finding out Anthony's exact travel plans are, it would be Jethro. If not, there is always Abigail…"
"I know…" Kate sighed. She worried her bottom lip for a time and then blurted out, "It's just … should he be even making this trip? I mean, he just got out of the hospital three days ago and now he's off gallivanting to who knows where on some secret errand of his…"
Ducky nodded, understanding perfectly well where her concern was stemming from. For the past week, they'd all felt largely helpless as they watched Tony struggle, first with the high fever that he'd contracted due to the infection to his stab wound, and then with the painful process of recovery. The only consolation they'd garnered so far was that the situation could've been a lot worse than it was – although Gatley had nicked the femoral artery, he'd fortunately missed the bone and all the other major nerve and blood vessels.
The doctor had assured them that, the iron supplements that he had to take for the next few months or so due to the heavy blood loss that he'd suffered and physiotherapy sessions for his leg notwithstanding, Tony was well on his way to a full physical recovery. But that hadn't stopped any of them from worrying.
Actually, Ducky wouldn't be that all surprised if Tony was using this trip as an excuse to get away from them for a little while. It was no secret then that they have each been feeling rather protective of the young agent since his rescue over two weeks ago – in fact, Gibbs was the only one among them who'd successfully masked his concern – and Ducky could tell that the young man was feeling vastly overwhelmed by all the additional attention that he'd been getting from them of late.
Leaning across the table, the medical examiner gave Kate a paternal smile and a reassuring pat on the arm. "Oh, I wouldn't worry too much, Caitlin. I have a feeling that Anthony is in excellent hands."
O
"Err… Boss, what are you doing?" Tony asked uneasily as he eyed the black luggage bag that Gibbs had extracted from the trunk of the car. That was the third surprise of day, the second being Abby, who had been waiting cheerfully outside his apartment with her car to drive the both of them to the airport.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Gibbs grunted as he lifted Tony's bag from the back seat. Bending down, he smiled at their driver. "Thanks, Abbs."
"Anytime, Gibbs," she grinned in reply. "Have a good trip, you two."
"Thanks, Abbs," Tony answered distractedly, still stunned by the revelation that Gibbs was following him to Ohio. Suddenly angry, he slammed his free hand down upon the roof of the car, stopping the forensics expert before she could drive off. "Abby! Hang on!"
"What is it?" she asked, peering up at him with a frown. "Tony?"
"Just… just wait here a minute okay? While I talk to Gibbs?" At her nod, Tony turned towards Gibbs with stormy green eyes. "Look, I appreciate the gesture, Boss," he began tightly, his knuckles practically white from the tight grip he had on his cane. Steadfastly, he ignored the looks he was getting from the people walking around them and waved an agitated hand towards the bags. "Or whatever this is that you're supposed to be doing. But if this is your way of telling me that I screwed up royally, again, you needn't worry, all right? I've already got that message, loud and clear."
Tony took another deep breath before plunging onwards. "And despite how things may look to you right now, Gibbs, I do not need a damned babysitter, not before and especially not for this trip!"
Gibbs' customary inscrutable expression told Tony nothing at all of what the older man might be thinking following his unexpected outburst. Vaguely aware of Abby's horrified gasp of 'Tony!' and her open-mouthed expression to his right, the young agent was, however, sure that he'd overstepped some sort of boundary with that last bit – he'd been too angry to care at that time.
But, as the flash of anger slowly dissipated, Tony began to suspect that he might have just destroyed whatever little friendship he'd ever had with the older man. A hard knot of regret and loss twisted within him, followed immediately by a slash of guilt, and Tony swallowed with some difficulty, mumbling past the tightness in his chest, "Listen, Gibbs, I'm sor–"
"I don't see any screw-ups here, do you?" Gibbs said, interrupting his apology in a voice so mild that Tony could only blink in surprised uncertainty at him. Ignoring the younger man's bemused look, Gibbs bent down and picked up the bags once more, slinging one over each shoulder. "And who said anything about babysitting? It just seemed like a good time as any to take a vacation – and I don't know about you, DiNozzo, but I haven't had one of those in quite a while."
"Hey, Gibbs?" Abby called out, effectively breaking the tension between the two men, while Tony stood there gaping at their team leader. However, there was a light in his green eyes, one that she hadn't seen for a quite a while and Abby's heart soared with hope that Tony was going to be fine after all.
"Don't forget to check out the haunted places in Columbus like Fort Hayes," she reminded their team leader with an impish smile when he turned towards her. "There's also the Kelton House, which I hear is haunted by the ghost of the granddaughter of the original house builder and–"
"Abby!" Gibbs broke in, an edge of impatience colouring his voice, although the sides of his lips twitched slightly. "Say goodbye to Tony now."
"Bye, Tony," she chirped obediently, adding with a cheeky grin, "Oh, and guys? Don't go around doing anything I wouldn't, especially whatever hinky stuff that…"
"Abbs…" Gibbs growled warningly.
"All right, all right… I'm going…!" After a final cheerful wave, the forensics specialist drove off, leaving both men at the entrance of the terminal.
"You coming?" Gibbs asked with a raised brow once the car was out of sight. "Or are you planning on taking the six-hour bus ride there?"
Puffing out a small breath, Tony began walking, allowing his relief and gratitude to show in his eyes as Gibbs slowed down his strides to keep pace with his slower steps. "Thanks, Boss," he said sincerely.
Astutely reading between the lines in that simple expression of gratitude, Gibbs clasped a warm hand over the back of Tony's neck and gave him a brief squeeze in reply. Letting go, he fought the urge to laugh out loud at the blatant surprise on the younger agent's face and said dryly, "Don't thank me just yet, DiNozzo, I'm still taking the window seat."
And as they made their way towards ticketing counters, Gibbs drank in the sound of Tony's soft chuckles.
A/N: SKRoberts, ladc, Malinda, Angy, M/L Only, obaona, FreakAngel, Charmed-angel4, Darcy Foster, nikkinor, XxBandGeekxX, tinkoo and gotmilk – Thank you so much for the reviews. Final chapter will be up soon! :)