Last chapter. Thanks again for all the great feedback. I hope you're not too disappointed with the ending.

A Son for a Son

Chapter thirteen

Kate could tell something had gone terribly wrong by all the activity she could see through the back window of the ambulance. She could see Gibbs step back while the paramedics worked on Tony.

"Stay with us Tony…Please, stay with us." She kept repeating over and over. She reached for her cell phone and dialed.

"Hello." Abby's voice came over the receiver.

"Abby, it's Kate. We found Tony."

"Oh that's great Kate! Is he okay?"

Kate hesitated a few seconds.

"I'm not sure Abby, they're taking him to the hospital…He's hurt pretty bad Abby." Her voice caught in her throat as she watched the scene playing out before her through the back window.

"We'll meet you there Kate."

Hospital

The paramedics were still working on Tony as he was rushed into the ER. Gibbs followed the stretcher into the building looking completely beaten with Kate following him. She was pale and visibly shaken.

Abby and McGee had arrived a few minutes before and quickly walked over to them. No words were needed as they hugged each other. They all knew their teammate and friend was fighting for his life.

Two and a half hours later

The doctor finally came out of the ER to give them a report on Tony's condition. They all stood up, dreading what he might tell them.

"Well, we almost lost him a few times, but we were able to bring him around. He's doing as well as can be expected." The doctor said as he removed his blood splattered gown.

"What are his injuries?" Gibbs asked.

"We're pretty sure he has pneumonia. His one lung was filled with fluid and we had to insert a chest tube to drain it. Right now we're pumping him full of antibiotics and fluids to combat infection and dehydration. He also had a dislocated shoulder which we have reinserted …. We cleaned his wounds and treated his burns. Now it's up to him, we've done all that we can for him….Actually he's very lucky. If you hadn't brought him in when you did it might have been too late to save him. The fluid on his lung would have caused a severe strain on his heart, that plus the shocks he received could have caused his heart to fail."

"Is he conscious?...Can we see him?" Kate asked.

"Well, he was conscious but we had to give him a sedative when we inserted the chest tube, so he's pretty out of it right now. But I can let one of you in for a minute or two, but then we need to get him cleaned up and up to the ICU where they can monitor him."

Kate, Abby and McGee all agreed that Gibbs should be the one to check on Tony, but he turned and looked at Kate.

"Kate, you take this assignment." He gave her a little smile. He knew she needed to see Tony.

She nodded her thanks to him and followed the doctor into the ER. Tony lay naked on the table covered only by a sheet drawn up to his waist. The room spun for a few seconds as she watched them work on him. A large tube ran out of an incision in his side draining a yellow reddish looking liquid from his lungs. She stood back out of the way not sure if he was awake or not, content just to see him alive. One of the nurses noticed her, took her by the hand, and led her over to the litter.

"Tony, there's someone here to see you." The nurse said leaning over the bed looking into Tony's face.

Tony's eye lids fluttered for a moment and then he opened his eyes. It took a few seconds before Kate's face came into focus.

"Kate?" He said weakly, not sure if he was really seeing her or not. The drugs in his system making everything seem unreal and out of focus.

"Yeah Tony, it's me." Her eyes filled up with tears as she put her hand on the side of his face. "I was so worried about you."

"You were worried about me?" He looked up at her, his eyes barely open.

She leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"Yeah Tony, I was worried about you." She smiled, she knew Tony was always trying to get her to say that she cared about him.

He gave her a small smile and slowly shut his eyes, no longer able to fight the sedative.

"Love you…Kate." He said softly before he drifted off.

Kate smiled. She knew Tony was disoriented and had no idea what he was saying. She leaned down close to his ear.

"Love you too Tony." She smoothed his hair back then backed away so they could continue to work on him.

The next four days

They took turns sitting by Tony's bedside in the ICU while he fought off fever after fever. Most of the time he remained unconscious, only regaining his senses for a short time before his fever would spike again and he would lapse back into unconsciouness.

Four days later, after massive doses of antibiotics, his fever finally broke. When he opened his eyes, Gibbs was sitting next to his bed, his elbow on the arm of the chair, his head leaning on his hand. Tony looked over at him.

"Hey boss." His voice sounded husky and he tried to clear his throat.

Gibbs jumped slightly as he was startled out of his nap. He looked over at Tony and did something that he hadn't done for days, he smiled.

"Hey, welcome back.. How're you feeling?"

"I feel fine." Tony lied. He felt lousy actually. The last week's events had definitely taken a toll on him. "Could you raise the bed a little?" He winced in pain as he tried to push himself up a little on the bed. Gibbs quickly got up and pressed the button on Tony's bed raising it to a seating position. As he did Tony looked at the dark circles under Gibbs's eyes.

"You look awful Gibbs…Why don't you go home…get some rest."

"I will when Kate gets here…She should be here soon."

It was Kate's turn to sit with Tony and she was running a few minutes late.

"Kate's coming?" Tony said as he combed at his hair with his fingers.

"Yeah, we've been taking turns babysitting you, along with Abby and McGee. We've been waiting for you to wake up and get back to work."

"What day is it?"

"Saturday."

It had been exactly one week since Tony was taken.

"I'll be back on Monday."

"Hey, we're not going to rush it. When the doc says you're ready, then you'll come back."

Tony nodded, too weak to argue with Gibbs.

"Could you get me a little water?" Tony's mouth felt like it had dry cotton in it.

"Sure."

Gibbs poured water into a glass from the pitcher on the table next to Tony. He stuck a straw in it and held it as Tony drank.

"Oh, that tasted good…Thanks." Tony said as he put his head back on the pillow.

Just then Kate walked into the room, her eyes widened when she spotted Tony awake and sitting up.

"Tony!"

"Hi Kate." He flashed her a big smile.

"You're awake!"

"Yep…I figured you guys were worried about me…so I decided it was about time I woke up and got back to work."

"Worried about you?" She glanced at Gibbs and gave him a quick wink. "Actually we didn't know you were missing until Tuesday evening."

"You didn't?" The smiled dropped from Tony's face.

"And then we only noticed because it was your turn to buy Gibbs's coffee." She continued. She smiled inwardly. It was wonderful to be able to kid with him again.

Tony looked at Gibbs.

"Hey, what can I say Tony? The only reason we looked for you at all was because no one wanted to be the one to clean out your gym locker."

"You know…smelly socks and all." Kate cut in.

"Well I'm out of here." Gibbs said walking toward the door. He stopped before he got to it and turned around and looked back at Kate and Tony. He smiled as he turned and walked out the door. His team was whole again.

Epilogue

Tony came back to work two weeks later. Dawson's prediction that he had broken Tony's spirit didn't come true. At least outwardly he didn't show any signs of post traumatic stress disorder. Gibbs put him on light duty for two weeks then released him for full duty. Dawson was later convicted of kidnapping and attempted murder and was given a life sentence.

The End

R.I.P. Kate, we'll miss you.