Thanks once more for your reviews. I appreciate that you take the time to review this story. I just want to say I'm shocked and saddened by the season finale. I won't say anything else in case any of you didn't see it yet.

A Son for a Son

Chapter twelve

Both Gibbs and Kate looked at the building in shock and horror as several firemen and policemen ran into the building which now had a small amount of smoke coming out of one of the windows.

"Oh please not Tony Gibbs, not Tony!" Kate spun around tears pouring down her face sobbing.

Gibbs immediately wrapped his arms around her hugging her tight, his own eyes welling up with tears. After a few seconds he pulled back from her and looked into her face as he held her by her arms. For her sake he had to be strong.

"Kate, I want you to stay here. I'm going in to see … I need to…" He couldn't speak; all kinds of emotions were running through him. He left go of her and ran into the building ignoring all attempts by the police to stop him. Kate waited outside her hands up to her face, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Gibbs headed for the room where Tony had been held. He hesitated briefly, dreading what he might see, before taking a deep breath in the corridor then stepping into the room.

He couldn't believe his eyes. Tony was still hanging in the room, the bomb now gone. Two men were cutting the chain that attached his feet to the ground.

"What…? Gibbs said shaking his head looking at the officer who had talked to him earlier.

The officer smiled at Gibbs seeing his expression of shock. He was glad he could deliver good news to this man instead of bad.

"Sorry we didn't have time to warn you but we had no idea when the thing was going to go off. It was a small device designed to just kill the person it was attached to or anyone standing right next to them. The only option we had was to just cut it off him and toss it into an empty room; there was nothing else we could do. When it hit the floor it went off." The officer looked back at Tony. "Now we need to get him down from there and to a hospital." He shook his head sadly. "Your friend looks like he was really worked over." He said looking at the words carved into Tony's stomach.

"Yeah, some sick bastard did this to him."

Gibbs walked over and stood in front of Tony. He reached up and gently touched the letters as he blinked back tears. He couldn't tell if Tony was conscious or not. His eyes were shut and his head hung on his chest, his breathing was coming in short little gasps.

After the chain at his feet was cut they slowly lowered him so his feet were completely on the floor while they took the bolt cutter and cut the chain holding Tony to the ceiling. Tony's legs were so numb that they could no longer support him, and once released he crumbled into Gibbs's waiting arms. He held him against his body his cheek resting on Tony's head as he gently lowered him to the ground. He couldn't believe how cold Tony's body was.

"It's over son, it's finally over."

Tony slowly opened his eyes and looked into Gibbs's.

"Thanks … for … getting me out of here boss." He said weakly, then he gave a small gasp of pain as his eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out.

"Tony!" Gibbs gently shook him.

"Let us have him!" A paramedic who had entered the building pulled Tony from Gibbs's arms.

"What's going on!" Gibbs asked his heart pounding in his chest. He had just found Tony, he couldn't lose him now.

"He's going into respiratory arrest! He's not getting enough air!" The paramedic said as he and his partner worked on Tony. They quickly put an oxygen mask on him and hooked him up to an IV. A stretcher was brought in and Tony was put on it and covered in blankets to try and raise his body temperature.

The paramedic reached under the blanket and put his stethoscope over Tony's heart, then listened to his lungs.

"How long was he hanging like that?" The paramedic asked Gibbs.

"The closest we can tell is that he was taken Saturday evening. Why?" Gibbs kept his eyes on Tony.

"His lungs are full of fluid and he has an irregular heartbeat." The paramedic pulled back the blanket a little and began examining the small burn marks on Tony's chest. "What are these? They look like electrical burns."

"They are. The man shocked him … repeatedly. He also has puncture wounds over his back and here." Gibbs said pointing to the wound on Tony's chest caused by the nail board.

"Well the electrical shocks could be the reason for the irregular heartbeat."

"Is it dangerous?" Gibbs said finally looking at the paramedic.

"It could be, but right now I'm more concerned with the condition of his lungs. They also could be putting a lot of stress on his heart. We got to get him to the hospital and on antibiotics as soon as possible. He might need a chest tube to drain the fluid out of his lungs." The paramedic said as he covered Tony back up with the blanket.

Gibbs winced as he looked back down at Tony. He knew a chest tube was extremely painful and he hated the idea of putting his teammate through even more pain. He already had his share to deal with.

Tony started to moan as the oxygen slowly started to bring him around. He lay on the stretcher, his face covered in sweat even though he was freezing. He knew he should be feeling better now that he was free, but he didn't. He could barely breathe and lying down was actually making it worse. He tried to sit up and stated to panic when he couldn't get a good breath of air.

"Easy Tony, easy!" Gibbs said trying to hold him down while the paramedics tended to him.

"Here this will help." The paramedic said to Tony as he injected a liquid into the IV tube.

Gibbs reached over and squeezed Tony's hand as he lay gasping for air on the stretcher looking up at him. Gibbs swallowed hard, Tony looked like a scared little boy hoping his dad could take the pain away. Gradually the pain eased up and his breathing became a little better.

"Okay, let's move him out of here." The paramedic said to his partner. They picked up the stretcher and headed outside with Gibbs still clutching his teammate's hand.

"It's going to be okay Tony, it's going to be just fine." Gibbs kept repeating soothingly.

Outside

Kate paced back and forth outside, trying to pull herself together. She still couldn't believe that Tony was dead. She choked back a sob realizing how much she was going to miss him. She didn't know how she could go back to work and look at his empty desk knowing he wasn't coming back. Her heart broke wondering how they were going to tell Abby, McGee and Ducky that their teammate and friend wasn't coming back, that they had failed him. She squeezed her eyes shut Damn it Tony why did you have to die? Why did you have to leave us?... Why did you have to leave me?

Kate took a deep breath; she had to pull herself together. She was a professional and she needed to act like on. When she was alone, then she could fall apart. As Gibbs exited the building her eyes fell on the stretcher by his side. It couldn't be she thought as she ran towards Gibbs praying that Tony was the man on the stretcher.

"He's alive Kate …Tony's alive." Gibbs smiled at her as she approached.

"Oh thank God." She shut her eyes briefly, her prayers had been answered. She grabbed hold of the edge of the stretcher staring into Tony's face.

Tony, seeing her tried to raise his other hand but he could only raise it a short distance before it started to fall back to the litter. Kate quickly grabbed his hand and raised it to her face putting her cheek against his hand. He weakly raised his finger and touched her tears.

"Tony, we were so worried about you."

Tony looked at her and tried to smile but it took too much effort, effort he needed just to breathe.

"We got to move!" The paramedic said as they pushed past Kate and rushed Tony to the ambulance.

"Kate, bring the car." Gibbs threw the keys to Kate, he would ride with Tony. He knew if Tony didn't make it he had to be there for him, not Kate. It would be hell on him to lose Tony but right now Kate was way too emotional and he didn't want her to possibly witness Tony's death. He was scared he'd lose her too and he wasn't going to lose both of them. He knew he didn't often show it but he did think of Tony as a son, and Kate as a daughter. He would never tell them that though. He needed them to have a little fear of him inside. He needed to keep them at a slight distance. It was best for all of them that way.

He looked down at Tony who was once more unconscious as the ambulance sped toward the hospital.

"You stay with us buddy, don't you go leaving us."

Suddenly the paramedic jumped up, stood over Tony, and began pounding on his chest.

"I've lost his heartbeat!"

TBC