A few minutes later the whole team was there, Kate, Tim, Ducky and Abby and along with the bed and Dinozzo, it was quite crowded.

"I'm just so…so glad you're back!" shrieked Kate.

"Glad your awake boss," smiled McGee.

"I knew you wouldn't die," laughed Abby.

The only person that hadn't commented yet was Ducky; he was looking at the stats report in the clipboard at the end of Gibbs's bed. Gibbs knew that Ducky had figured out was going on and what the doctor had told him.

"So, now were all here, what did the doctor say about your recovery?" beamed Tony. Poor kid, thought Gibbs he has no idea.

"Hey wait up Tony, don't interrogate your own boss, give him a couple of days, and then he can tell you the diagnosis." Ducky was covering for Gibbs – and they both knew it – but Gibbs didn't want it this way.

"Boss, you're not…dying?" uttered Tony in total disbelief

The whole room was suddenly devoid of any noise. Then cries of disbelief filled the small room.

"…Everybody's screaming,
I try to make a sound but no one hears me,
I'm slipping off the edge,
I'm hanging by a thread,
I wanna start this over again…"

"Shaddup!" yelled Gibbs. The room was deafeningly silent once again.

"Thank-you. The doctor told me that the bullet wound, though severe it will heal in time, like my shoulder. The injury to my head was not as severe, but severe enough to require an MRI scan. The injury to my head is not fatal, but the tumour that they found, is. From what the doctors can tell, it was slow growing, but the stress that the bullet put on my body caused the cells to speed up. It's grown immensely larger in the past few days and unless they operate within the next week, I will die."

"But…but…they will operate and then you'll be alright? Won't you?" Tony had gone quite pale and had now sat down in the chair behind him.

"That's the other bad news. Even if the surgery is completed, it may not be completely successful and the tumour would grow back. If it is all completely removed, which is highly unlikely, I will still never walk again, that part of my brain, because of the rapid growth, is too far gone to ever repair. However, there is a 70 chance that I will die during surgery because of where the tumour is."

"I'm gonna…go…outside," murmured Tony and quickly got up and pushed his way through to the door.

"I'll go see if he's alright," suggested Kate.

"I going to go back to work, hot case, I'll see you before the surgery," promised Tim.

"Me too," said Abby.

This just left Gibbs and Ducky in the room.

"You knew didn't you?"

"Of course I did, as soon as I read your file I knew."

"How do u think they took it?"

"Todd, Abby and McGee are certainly shaken but Dinozzo…"

"I know."

"Well, I'll leave you in peace for a while, I'll be back tomorrow. Good day."