Tropical Nightmare- Chapter 13: Reflection (Tony´s POV)
Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything!
Summary: Tony and Kate are sent to Argentina for an undercover mission, but they have to take a detour.They are bound to find out that atropical island can be a real nightmare -at least if you´re on your own out there...
Additional note: I usually don´t write 1st-person narrator, but it seemed to fit rather well for this little story as the POV changes with each chapter.Also, the use of present-tense is wanted here, eventhough it may seem a bit odd. I hope it´s still readable.
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I remember the look on his face when I told him that Kate was hurt. I remember the look in his eyes when I told him it´s serious. I remember the tone in his voice when he told me he´s coming to Austin. He´s scared. I never thought I would see him like this, but I did. He´s Gibbs, he has always been Gibbs, but now I know he´s got a different side too. Kate has been hurt before, I have been hurt before and so has almost everyone else around, but still I´ve never seen him like this. I don´t know what happened while we were missing. Maybe he will tell me once he gets here.
I shake those thoughts off and turn my attention back to my surroundings. There are IV-bags on a stand next to the bed, monitors for just about everything. I look at the face on the pillow, but I hardly recognize her. There´s a tube helping her breath, another one feeding her. I try to see Kate there, but I just can´t. I get up and leave the room, tears in my eyes. They told me she´s in bad shape, maybe she won´t even make it through the night. If you want to see her, please hurry. I tell Gibbs in my thoughts. She made it so far, but I´m not sure how much more she can endure.
I look out of the window at the end of the corridor. Only a few stars are visible against the orange sky over the city. Rain is falling and I can hear the sound of the drops hitting the glass. There are steps behind me -I´ve heard them so often I could recognize them among a million others. "Hi, boss." I tell him without turning around. He doesn´t need to see me cry.
I expect some remark from him about us wrecking so much surveillance equipment, but he doesn´t say a word. I can see his reflection in the window now. I finally turn around and look at him. There are tears in his eyes too, but of course he tries to hide them. "Are you all right?" He asks and puts his hand on my shoulder.
Suddenly, I feel like a heavy burden is lifted from my shoulders. No, I won´t cry. Not here, not in front of him, but the tears are stronger. I´m just relieved that there´s no one else out here at this time. For just a few moments, he´s not my boss. He´s just a friend right now and I allow myself to cry in front of him. There are tears in his eyes as well, but then, I´m not sure if they really were tears or just the reflection of the raindrops on the window. "You want to see her?" I ask and swallow the rest of the tears down.
"Sure." He follows me and I notice how he braces himself when I open the door. I can see his heart break the second he lies his eyes on her. "What did they say?" Gibbs asks and sits down next to the bed.
"She´s got some bleeding in her brain -they´re not sure if it will stop. If it does, there´s a chance that she´ll recover. They don´t know if there´s any permanent damage though." I say and feel my heart beating like mad. The last two months have been hard, but looking into his eyes now, seeing how much worry there is in them, is harder than everything else.
Somebody once told me that NCIS can become your family, if you´re there long enough. I´ve been working with Gibbs for four years now, Kate has been with us for a little over two years and McGee jumped on half a year ago. I´ve known Abby and Ducky as long as I´ve known Gibbs, but until today, I never realized just how close we are. They have become my family and I have become a part of theirs. Kate is special to me, I feel so different when she´s there, but now I just miss her.
I step back and let him be with her for a moment. I know they are close, I don´t know why, but I know it´s a different kind of being close than what I feel for her. I watch him talk to her, holding her hand, stroking over her head, but I´m not jealous. I think I would be if it was anyone else, but this is Gibbs and I know there´s no need to be jealous. After a few minutes, I pull up the second chair and sit down next to the bed as well. "She looks so fragile." Gibbs says and there´s something in his voice I have never heard before.
I just nod. "But she´ll fight. She´s been strong for so long, she can do this." I reply, but I´m not sure if I can believe in my own words. We watch her a moment longer, then he gets up and walks to the door. I get up as well and follow him. Outside on the corridor he walks up to the window I have been standing at before.
"I will talk to the doctors in the morning and see that they can transfer her to Bethesda. She´ll be closer to home there and we can take turns visiting her." He says and stares out into the darkness. I´m not sure what to reply. Maybe, I was on that island too long to remember how to have a decent conversation with someone. "Where are you staying at, Tony?" He asks after a moment and I note that he´s using my first name without me doing anything wrong all the sudden.
I shrug. "Here, I guess. They gave me a bed up in the surgical ward, wanted to get me checked and all like that, but they didn´t find anything." I wonder why he´s asking, but then, he manages to surprise me again.
"I´ve got something settled at the local base, it´s just two blocks from here. Just a small apartment, two bedrooms though. Just in case you want to trade the hospital bed for a real one and the heat-up menue for some chinese take-out." Gibbs says and there´s something that looks like a smile on his face. I´m sure my mind is tricking me -Gibbs never smiles, especially not when I´m around. I hesitate for a moment and try to make up my mind. "Make that an order, Agent Dinozzo. Go grab whatever stuff you got and let´s get going. I´ll be waiting in the parking lot."
He just walks off and lets me stand here. I´m trying to figure out if I am dreaming or if they have sent a clone or something. That´s definetely not the same man who put me and Kate on that FedEx-plane. I quickly return to Kate and tell her that I´ll be gone for a while, then take off towards the parking lot. I have nothing I could take along and that fact earns me a questioning look from Gibbs. I´m still wearing that navy uniform, but in a place like this it doesn´t look odd.
He´s standing next to a black van, rental car probably. When I walk up without anything in my hands, he gives me a questioning look. "No toothbrush? Gee, Dinozzo, that´s disgusting." He says, but I can see the smile in his eyes.
"Well, let´s trade places and you go on a survival trip to an island without anything." I bite back and he gets into the van. "Maybe there´s a 24-hour-store on the way. I could need a toothbrush and some other things, now that you mention it." I say and realize that I don´t have any money either.
He smiles and reaches for something on the backseat. "I figured that you might have lost your personal belongings, along with half a ton of NCIS equipment. Ducky and Abby put some stuff for you together." He says and I look at the object in his hand. It´s a small grocery bag, but there are several items inside.
I pry it open and suddenly I can feel tears in my eyes. I don´t know why, they are just there. I pull one object after the other out of the bag. There´s my spare purse which I had in my desk, a new driver´s license, new badge, new gun, just about everything I thought lost. When I look more closely, there´s about $ 40 in there as well and a folded note. "Hey, Tony. We thought you could need some cash down there -don´t want to rely on Gibbs to pay, right? We hope Kate will be okay and come home soon, missed you guys. Abby, McGee, Ducky, Palmer."