"Gi'..." Tony moved slightly and groaned. His head was turned in Gibbs' direction and Gibbs could make out the name puffed out nearly silently between cracked and swollen lips. His left hand squeezed Gibbs' calloused one. Lightly. Like his leg, his left arm was growing weaker, something they both knew and neither mentioned.
This slight movement reached Kate as she slept in an ungainly sprawl in the opposite chair. She called out near silently as well, but it is not Gibbs' name on her lips.
"Hey," Gibbs whispered, leaning over the railing, "you coming around, DiNozzo?"
Tony's eyelids fluttered then he jerked back awkwardly, his hands coming up to ward off a non-existent blow.
"Hey, hey," Gibbs placed his hands open-palmed against the battering, making no move to restrain the flailing fists.
The commotion caused Todd to start, but she froze at the scene taking place before her.
"Easy," murmured the older agent. "It's okay. It's just me, Tony."
The fight went suddenly out of the body on the bed and Tony collapsed back against the pillow. "Oh God," he murmured, bringing a hand to his swollen face. "Where?"
"We're at the hospital. They wanted to keep you under observation."
Tony spread his hands out to his sides, scuttling them across the sheets until they hit the bars of the railings.
"You want some water?" asked Kate, pouring some of the pitcher of melted ice into a small Styrofoam cup.
"Todd?" whispered Tony, opening his mouth when the straw tapped against his lips. "What you doin' here?"
"Somebody had to keep Gibbs in line."
Tony swallowed then pressed further back against the pillow. "You kill him boss?"
"They wouldn't let me."
"Who--?" Muttered Tony, slipping away again.
Gibbs pulled the sheet up and tucked it around the once more sleeping form. "That's what I want to know."
"Gregory Nathan Hale. Any idea why he'd like to knock on my door then beat you senseless?"
The bruises on Tony's cheekbones were beginning to turn a sickly yellow but he still moved gingerly as Gibbs helped him into his shirt. Tony squinted up at him, "Greg Hale?"
"So you know this bozo."
"Baltimore," acknowledged Tony, wincing as he tried to bend and bring the sock he held in his hand and his recalcitrant left foot within reaching distance of each other.
Gibbs jerked the offending article of clothing from him and performed the maneuver himself. "From when you were a cop? Somebody you put in jail?"
"Even worse, "Tony sighed as Gibbs finished the job of shoeing his left foot and started in on the right, "Hale was my partner."
"Why would your partner--" began Gibbs, tightening the laces with painful military precision.
"I haven't always been the mature, easygoing guy I am today."
"Really?"
Even though his vision was improved, it still took a touch on Tony's arm to get him to realize he was being offered a hand up.
"I'm not kidding ... I was something of a hard-ass. This loveable guy you and Todd know was not always me."
Tony flinched as a peppy "Mr. DiNozzo" wafted from the hall. "If that's a perky volunteer with a wheelchair, boss, I'm not going to be held responsible for my actions."
Gibbs steadied the slightly weaving figure. "I thought you were always up for a pretty girl, Tony."
"But could you last, and love still breed, Had joys no dates, nor age no need, Then these delights my mind might move, To live with thee and by thy Love."
"Tony?"
"Uh, sorry, boss." Tony swayed more heavily. "Guess I'll take that wheelchair now."
The steel frame was cold and the supersized seat made Tony feel small. Gibbs' car turned out to be mercifully warm and dry in the slightly damp air and Tony curled silently against the passenger-side window, watching the traffic blur by.
"You gonna tell me when you started quoting poetry?"
Tony let his head thump softly against the glass. "You should know that most everything that comes out of my mouth is, if not a lie, at least an exaggeration."
"I don't believe that," said Gibbs, turning a corner with unusual care not to jostle his passenger.
"See?"
Tony closed his eyes and shut him out.