Caitlin Todd sat in the Baltimore Mercy Medical Center's Emergency Department waiting room. She had been sitting there for over an hour. Waiting. But she couldn't fall asleep. Her brain was in overdrive, her heart was thumping, and she was trying to calm herself down. Don't jump to conclusions, Kate. Tony's always telling me not to, and I need to listen to him this time. He'll be fine. He has to be fine. I need him to be fine.
The clock on the wall ticked loudly, with maddening slowness that exacerbated her already pounding headache. The past hour seemed as if it had been an interminable lifetime.
McGee tried to offer to get her something from the vending machine, but she waved him away.
McGee sat down next to her, trying to fill the grating silence awkwardly. "I would not want to be the one that Gibbs is interrogating right now. Did you see his face? Man, I thought he was going to rip the guy's head off and then shove it down his throat." He shook his head. "You know, Kate, I don't think I've ever seen Gibbs that way. I can't even imagine what he would have done if Tony had actually…I mean…" he stumbled awkwardly, as Kate gave him an angry glance, warning him not to say what he had been thinking, "well, I mean…"
"That's really not helping here, McGee." The words came out much harsher than she intended it to. She regretted snapping at McGee, but didn't feel like apologizing at the moment.
He looked around nervously. "Do you want some coffee? Good. I could sure use some." Without waiting for her answer, he took off to find the coffee and get out of the room.
Kate sighed. She hadn't meant to be harsh with him. Her nerves were on edge, waiting to find out how the surgery was going. This was the second time in less than a week that she'd had to sit in a hospital because the man she loved was injured. Only this time, it was much more serious.
She closed her eyes as the scene from only a couple of hours before played through her mind for the umpteenth time. She had burst into the boathouse, and when she had seen Tony lying in a pool of blood, her heart had frozen painfully in her chest. The horror of watching the man she loved lying on the cold concrete with the life flowing out of him more and more with each second still haunted her. The realization that he had been alive hadn't brought her any excitement, because he had been, and still was, at death's door. Tears threatened, and then welled up in her eyes, as Kate tried to push those traumatic memories out of her mind. Her cell phone rang, and wiping the tears away, she answered.
"Kate?" It was Gibbs. "How's Tony?" The paramedics had assured him that there was nothing he could do for Tony in the next 2 hours, and never being one who was good at waiting, he'd gone with the Baltimore PD to the station to interrogate Sande.
She shook her head. "I don't know, Gibbs, he's still in surgery. They haven't told me anything yet." Another tear slipped down her cheek.
"Well, I'm on my way. Call me if anything comes up."
"I will, Gibbs. Um…how did the interrogation go?" When her words were met with a pause, she asked, "Gibbs, you didn't do anything to Sande that you're going to regret, did you? Gibbs?"
He chuckled, humorlessly. "Well, yeah, but I'll be damned if I regret it. But I can guarantee that son of a bitch Sande is going to be doing some regretting of his own for the next week or so. Don't worry, Kate, because after what that bastard did to DiNozzo, no cop in the state would lift a finger for that guy. He's lucky he doesn't get worse. Remember, Tony used to work here in Baltimore with these guys not so long ago." His voice had risen and Kate could hear the cold fury that was underlying his words. Gibbs was harsh with them at times, but if someone hurt one of his agents, all holds were off. He would never rest until retribution had been paid. It was the one thing he took as seriously as his job.
Kate was about to reply, but a nurse popped her head in the door and signaled to get Kate's attention. "Hold on, Gibbs," she said, getting up and going over to the doorway.
"Special Agent Todd? Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo is out of surgery. Let me take you to the doctor, he'll be able to inform you about Agent DiNozzo's condition."
"Ok, sure." Kate followed the nurse, her heart pumping furiously. She shook hands with the short bespectacled man, who the nurse introduced as Doctor Reese, as if on autopilot. She didn't say a word, just waited breathlessly so as not to interrupt or distract the doctor from passing on the information that she was awaiting.
"Well, Agent Todd, Agent DiNozzo survived the emergency surgery. That was the touchy part. He should be able to recover fully, but I'll be able to make a better prognosis in the next twenty-four hours. Agent DiNozzo has, however, sustained some pretty serious injuries. The bullet hit him in the right side of his chest, puncturing a lung and breaking two ribs, while three more ribs were broken and cracked from blunt force trauma. When the paramedics brought him in, he was beginning to suffer from hypervolemic shock, but we gave him a blood transfusion. My main concern right now is how the residual effects of the chloroform will affect him. Chloroform poisoning in his current state could be fatal, but for now, it looks as if it may not affect him too badly. He's on a respirator to take the pressure off of his lung, so when you go in, don't let all of the tubes scare you."
It was a lot to take in all at once. But it sounded like Tony, might, just maybe, be ok.
Doctor Reese continued. "Now, he also hit his head pretty hard on the concrete floor when he fell, so he's in a coma."
"How bad is it? Do you know when he'll wake up?" Kate asked tentatively.
The doctor shook his head. "It's impossible to say, really. The trauma is not very extensive, so I fully expect it to be temporary. Are the two of you close?"
Confused by the question for a moment, she looked at him quizzically, and then nodded her head. "We're, um…we're dating." It was her first real admission of the true nature of their relationship, but it came out easier than she expected, and damn it, it felt good to say it. It made her feel so much closer to him, something she needed desperately at this moment. "I love him," she whispered.
The doctor continued on, explaining. "It may help him to wake up sooner if he hears the voice of someone close to him. Talk to him, read to him, whatever, just let him hear your voice. You can go in and sit with him. If you need anything, the nurse can help."
Kate nodded. "Thank you, Doctor Reese."
He smiled compassionately. "He'll make it, with someone like you to be there for him when he comes back. He's a lucky guy." He gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and left.
Kate sighed in relief as she raised the phone to her ear. "Gibbs? Did you hear all of that? Tony made it through the surgery."
"Yep. I'm on my way."
"I'll be here when you get here, Gibbs. Room 235. Bye."
She hung up and walked to the room door. Stood in the window watching her partner, lying still on the hospital bed, hooked up with machines that were blinking and beeping with an annoying regularity.
It was painful to see him like this. Just yesterday, Tony had been his devilishly handsome, full of life, loveable, enthusiastic, and incorrigible self. Today, he lay still, pale, expressionless, and unmoving, as if life itself had abandoned him. She tried to steel herself emotionally, and turned the door handle.
She walked into the room, her steps tentative and quiet. She sat down in the red chair that was beside his bed. Reaching forward, she brushed the mussed hair back from his face. She cleared her throat, in a subconscious attempt to break the silence. "Hey, Tony," she spoke quietly, "it's Kate."
She picked up his hand and held it between her own. She sat for a while and just watched his chest rise and fall, while the ventilator attached to him noisily announced each breath with a regularity that gave her comfort.
She began to speak to him, talking about what they'd do when he got out of the hospital. She talked about the movies they would watch together. The restaurants they would visit. The picnics they would plan. She closed her eyes, leaned forward, and rested her head in the crook of Tony's neck. She kept talking, letting her imagination take over.
Anything to keep from breaking down. Anything to keep her heart from breaking at watching Tony lying so helpless and pale on the bed.
By the time Gibbs walked in, she was fast asleep with her head on Tony's shoulder. He smiled, an unusual expression of fondness touching his features. It had been an emotional, exhausting day for all of them. He let her sleep.
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TBC…Sorry it's been a little while since the last update,… busy midterms week and all that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter…read and review!
