disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or its characters...
They found Abby sitting in the sparse hospital waiting room. It was decorated in calming neutral colors, which didn't seem to do anything to calm its few occupants, especially the young woman nervously clasping and unclasping her hands. Abby hated having nothing to do, especially in a situation such as this one. But someone had to stay at the hospital in case there was any news about Tony, and she really didn't want to be the one to inform Kate. They were friends, but that would have only made it worse. Kate didn't need to hear it from a sobbing Abby. She had remained collected so far, but facing Kate would prove very trying for her. Abby told herself that she shouldn't break down because Tony was going to be all right anyway. So when she saw Gibbs and Kate enter the waiting room, she resolved herself to stop worrying about Tony, and to focus on supporting Kate. She nearly jumped to her feet to greet them.
"How's Tony?" Kate asked blankly. She felt like she was having an out-of-body experience. This just couldn't be happening. Not now. Not to Tony. Not to her.
Seeing that her friend was in a rather severe state of shock, Abby guided her to a tan waiting-room chair. Holding her hands in her own, she sat down next to her. "Kate," she spoke softly. When there was no response on the distraught woman's face, she spoke more firmly to her. "Kate. Look at me. It's Abby. You asked me how Tony was." Kate slowly nodded her head and then turned her attention to the young woman sitting beside her.
"Good," Abby encouraged her friend to find her way back to reality. Making sure that Kate was paying attention to her, Abby proceeded to inform her of Tony's condition. "Tony's still in surgery. As soon as he's out someone is going to come and tell us how it went. Okay?"
Kate nodded her head in response. She was still caught up in her frantic feelings of concern and despair. Abby wanted to make sure that she had gotten through to Kate. "Did you get all of that?" she probed cautiously, hoping to invoke a verbal response.
"Yes," Kate replied quietly. She still seemed a million miles away. Abby squeezed her hands then released them as she rose to her feet. "I'm going to talk to Gibbs. Okay?" she told Kate, forcing a reassuring smile that everything was going to all right across her face.
She walked across the clean yet somehow dingy waiting room to where Gibbs had found enough space to pace back and forth. Normally, she would have made some sly comment about his nervous tendencies, but she was too concerned about Kate, not to mention Tony.
"Gibbs," she interrupted the older man's train of thought. He stopped pacing and faced her. "I'm worried about Kate," she said, letting the concern show through as wrinkles around the corners of her turned down lips, which normally would have been pursed into a smile. "She's in an awful state of shock."
Gibbs looked at his little lab rat, letting just a trace of worry reveal itself in his face. "I know," was his only reply.
Abby was about to return to her seat at Kate's side, having given up on communicating with Gibbs, when a middle-aged woman wearing a white lab coat walked into the waiting room. Abby recognized the lab coat as the style belonging to a doctor rather than, like her own, the style belonging to a lab technician. The woman with graying light brown hair scanned the room quickly. Identifying her target, she approached the gruff looking man and strangely dressed young woman.
"Agent Gibbs?" she asked, although she vividly remembered the fuss he had made when he brought the injured younger man into the ER. "You brought an Anthony Dinozzo in?"
Gibbs looked at the woman scrutinizingly, trying to discern any information about Tony's condition from her appearance. There was nothing. She was solidly impassive. It must be years of this kind of work, he decided. It told him that she was in total control of the situation and that he couldn't weasel his way around her. He'd have to play by her rules. "Yes, that's right."
"How is he?" Abby blurted in. She couldn't stand Gibbs slow, methodically interrogative pace of conversation. The doctor turned her attention from the commanding presence to the younger woman, curious at her involvement in the situation. But she had seen a lot of different types of people, so she shrugged it off and got down to business.
"Mr. Dinozzo is out of surgery and has been moved to a room. We were able to remove the bullet and stop any internal bleeding. He is breathing on his own, and should make a full recovery," she informed them. With a stern look to the older man, she added, "provided that he is given enough time to fully recover." She knew their type, like cops and other federal agents they would work themselves to death if they were given the chance. She wasn't about to let that be the fate of her patient. "He'll have to stay here under my supervision for at least a week."
Gibbs nodded in acknowledgement of the stern doctor's orders. Despite what other people thought, he knew when to follow orders.
"Can we see him?" Abby asked. Gibbs was no good at this, she thought. He didn't know what questions to ask. You couldn't just leave the doctor to tell you the information. That never got you anywhere. Besides, she didn't like the silent obedience Gibbs was giving the woman doctor.
"I'm afraid not. He's still unconscious and we usually only let immediate family visit," the doctor replied flatly. It was a speech she had given a thousand times.
Now Gibbs could do something. This was the kind of problem he could solve. He stopped Abby from objecting by raising his hand slightly in her direction. "You see that woman over there?" he asked the doctor, pointing to where Kate sat silently staring unblinkingly at the opposing wall.
The doctor followed his pointing finger and gaze towards a woman sitting in one of the waiting room chairs. She looked as if her brain had completely shut down. The doctor diagnosed it as a severe case of shock. The physical appearance of the woman only confirmed the idea that she was under extreme emotional duress. She was wearing a coat at least, but underneath she wore a tank top that did nothing to cover her obviously pregnant belly and flannel pajama bottoms. Her feet were barely protected from the elements by a pair of cheap plastic thong sandals. Besides the obvious state of shock she was suffering, she appeared to be fine. How this woman fit into the situation with the Goth girl and two agents was beyond her immediate comprehension. She turned back to Gibbs with a so-what expression.
Gibbs decided to spell it out for her. At least he tried. "She's his…" he trailed off. What exactly was the nature of Kate and Tony's relationship? Up until now he didn't care to know. "That's…umm…his…"
"That's his baby," Abby chimed in on Gibbs behalf. Gibbs looked relieved as he took a sip from a coffee cup, something that seemed to perpetually be in his hand.
"I suppose it would be okay if we let her in to see him," conceded the doctor. She would have hated to ever be in the poor woman's shoes, or flip-flops as it were.
Gibbs seemed to be over his brief lapse in efficiency, and jumped on the opportunity. "She shouldn't be left alone. She's in shock," he offered the doctor.
"I can see that," she snapped as him. She didn't like where this was going. She could see that he was trying to take control of the situation. It was her situation. She was the one with the control. But she was tired. It was near the end of her shift, and she didn't feel like wasting anymore time or energy arguing with the man. She sighed heavily.
Gibbs could see that she was relenting, as her façade became less stern and impassive. She looked him in the eyes and he nodded at her, giving her permission to give in to him. "You're right, Mr. Gibbs. Go ahead. But if I catch you disturbing Mr. Dinozzo in any way…you all are out of here! Got that?"
"Yes ma'am," Gibbs replied, knowing that he had won and smiling about it.
"I'll get Kate," Abby offered, turning to walk over to the distraught woman.
"No. I will," Gibbs said, stopping her and walking over to where Kate was sitting himself. Abby got the room number from the doctor while Gibbs explained the situation to Kate and helped her out of the chair. The three of them left the waiting room to check on their injured friend.