Endless Waiting
Tim paced in the waiting room, the sludge in the small paper cup from the coffee dispenser left untouched on the small coffee table that held magazines and pamphlets.
"Where the hell is the doctor, anyway," he fretted. Tony sat quietly, pondering on the best way to calm his friend. Then he realised that trying to calm Tim down would be about the most hypocritical thing he could possibly do. So he instead gave in to his own apprehension, arose from his seat, and began pacing with him.
Can't beat him, join him. Gibbs looked up, watching his boys in their synchronised dance of fear and worry.
They all looked up, as the doctor suddenly appeared.
"Mr. McGee?" he said, not sure which man he should be speaking to.
"Yes?" Tim asked, pivoting around, the panic once again creeping into his voice.
"Your wife is stable for now, but we need to keep a close eye on her. She hasn't regained consciousness since she's been here, and that is worrying us, I have to be honest."
"What sort of injuries…" Tim started to ask, trailing off, scared to finish what he was asking.
The doctor sighed. "Well, she has whiplash, and her leg is badly fractured. We've pinned that, and it should heal nicely. She also has a head trauma. Her brain impacted the inside of her skull when her head was thrown forward. As a result, there is some inter-cranial swelling. We're keeping an eye on it for now. If need be, we will take her back into surgery and try to relieve some of the pressure." Tim sat down, feeling faint. Gibbs watched, worried, then asked, quite bluntly, "Doctor, what is her prognosis?"
"Well, Mr…?" he asked.
"Gibbs," was his answer. "I'm a friend of Abby and Tim's. So is Tony," he said, nodding towards DiNozzo. "Anything you can say to Tim, you can say in front of us."
The doctor nodded. "It's hard to say, at this point. We have to watch her and see. Hopefully she'll wake up soon. The airbag saved her life, there's no doubt about that. Without it, she would have most likely sustained multiple skull fractures that she may not have even survived."
Tim stood, turned around, and walked out of the waiting room.