The Bracelet
Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything
Summary: What is the meaning of the bracelet Gibbs is wearing? Ducky knows, but is not telling.
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5- Wait and Hope
Nobody spoke until Tony parked the car at the hospital. He turned to Kate. "You´re kidding me, right? A lung transplant? But he´s running around all the time. I heard that people with a transplant can hardly play any sports because it puts too much strain on their lungs." He said and she nodded.
"I know. I´m no medic, but that´s what it said on that plate. There´s Ducky!" She said and ran over towards Mallard, who was wearing a green jumpsuit. "How is he?" She inquired and noted concern lining his face.
"He overexerted himself severely over the last days, weakening his body. Plus he took some hard hits on his ribcage. They still have him in the trauma center as we speak. His left lung collapsed during transport and the other side doesn´t look much better at the moment." The doctor said, obviously shocked and still hiding something.
"So he did have a lung transplant?" Tony blurted out, moaning as Kate elbowed him for that.
Ducky motioned them to follow him towards the waiting area. "Jethro has been injured while being on duty in the marine corps. He was caught in an explosion which burned his lungs. He was lucky because they had anotherman dying at the hospital that night who matched his genetics. He wouldn´t have survived otherwise. It took him a long time to get back up, but he never gave up. He couldn´t return to the marine corps, so he chose NCIS instead. We first met during his time in rehabilitation. They required him to do tests every six months to make sure heis still doing okay. One of the major risks is overexertion, because it makes him more sensitive to infections. You have probably noticed that he never had as much as a cold. He takes a medication to avoid rejection of the transplant, which also weakens his immune system. He knows that very well, but he´s always been stubborn." He told them and Kate felt all color draining from her face. She felt sick and exhausted all of the sudden. She just wanted to curl up in some dark corner and cry, but she knew she couldn´t do that right now.
"What´s going to happen now?" She asked, her voice shaking. She felt an arm around her shoulders and noted that Tony was holding her in an embrace. Normally, she would have kicked him for coming so close, but tonight she didn´t mind. She needed someone to reassure her tonight and she was glad that it was him.
Mallard thought for a moment. "They will try to stabilize him, but they put him on the transplant list again. If the damage is too extensive, they need to find a new lung for him quickly..." He didn´t finish the sentence, but all three agents knew what this meant. "We have to wait and hope. I will tell you as soon as there are any news, but you should really go home." He walked back through the green door marked emergency room and disappeared from their sight.
None of them moved for several minutes. They were still exhausted from sleeping on the office floor the night before and the recent events, but none of them wanted to go home. Kate leaned against Tony and felt tears rolling down her face. "He can´t leave us..."
He still held her and wiped her tears away with one finger of his other hand. "It´s not up to us to decide that, Kate." He replied and looked at McGee, who hadn´t said a word. "He´s strong, he´ll make it, Tim." Tony said and noted how the younger man´s head shot up at the sound of his first name. It was the first time ever he heard Dinozzo use it.
It was another few minutes until McGee spoke up. "We´re not helping him by collapsing in the waiting room from exhaustion." He said and thought about where to go that was close to this place. "My place is just three blocks from here...we could go there if you want to stay close." He offered and saw Kate smiling at him.
"Good idea, Tim. We should call up Abby when we get there. She needs to know too." She said and slowly got up. Her knees felt soft and she wanted nothing more but to get out of this place. Her two male colleagues followed her and they crashed at McGee´s place 10 minutes later. Tim picked up the phone while Tony tried to find something eatable in the kitchen. The whole livingroom was filled with computer parts and other electronic devices.
Kate curled up in a recliner and watched McGee, who was sitting on a chair next to his desk. "Abbs, it´s Tim. Yes, I know what time it is. Listen, Gibbs got hurt and he´s in hospital. No, we don´t know. Ducky is with him. Yes, they´re here, just come over and we´ll tell you everything. Okay, bye." He said and hung up again. "She´ll be over in a few minutes." He accepted a sandwich from Tony and looked at it. He was hungry, but somehow he felt like he was going to get sick when he ate anything.
Abby arrived only 20 minutes later. Her make-up was smeared and there were still tears in her eyes. She threw herself into McGee´s arms, causing Tony to raise an eyebrow, but he was sensitive enough not to comment on it. Kate had fallen asleep already and after telling Abby what had happened, all of them settled down somewhere to get some sleep as well. All of them shot up again when Tony´s cell phone started to ring a while later. It took him almost 10 seconds to find it and open it. "Dinozzo." The look on his face changed between worry and hope for a moment. "Okay, we´re on the way." He hung up and saw the others looking at him.
"Ducky said we need to come immediately." He said and all were up the same second. Tony checked the clock on the microwave. It was not quite 3 am. They made it back to Bethesda in less than 7 minutes, not caring about any red lights or speed limits. Ducky was waiting for them in the lobby.
Kate noticed that he looked even older now, his eyes dark with concern and circles beneath them. "Ducky, what´s wrong? Is he..." She asked and eyed him closely to catch a glimpse of what he was thinking.