AN- Thanks as ever for the reviews, if you log in or leave an e-mail, I'll be sure to reply.

Gibbs watched Tony out of the corner of his eye as he completed his admitting paperwork in a neat, precise, hand. Over the last couple of years, he had gotten most of the required fields memorised. When this was all over they were going to be talking about that. He knew exactly why Tony averaged more visits to ER than any other Agent in NCIS.

Didn't mean he had to like it.

"Cut it out, DiNozzo." He warned, without looking up.

"Its not bad enough that I have a knife in one arm? They have to go sticking stuff in the other?" Tony protested weakly, but he stopped twisting the IV line that was snaking into his good arm.

"It's there for a reason, so leave it alone."

"You list all my previous operations?" Tony craned his neck slightly, trying to use his impressive eyesight to check his Boss' work. "Cause, I had my appendix out when I was three and when I was five .."

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Gibbs threatened subtly.

"I'm lying down. That's not exactly taxing."

"You'll be unconscious if you don't put a sock in it."

A disgruntled huff was followed by silence. Gibbs took advantage of the lull and finished up the paperwork, before he realised that DiNozzo was being uncharacteristically obedient. Looking up he noted that the anaesthetics they were pumping into him hadn't done much to ease the lines of pain around Tony's eyes. Against the crisp white pillows his face still looked pale and gaunt, the dark exhausted circles under his eyes the only colour in his expression. And his mouth was set in a thin, anxious line.

"Something wrong?"

Tony met his eyes and for a second Gibbs caught a glimpse of stark fear, before his Agent titled his head to one side and pasted on a rueful grin.

"I still can't move my fingers, I'm guessing that's not a good sign."

"I'll go see what's keeping, Ducky," Gibbs stood up. "You feel up to some company?"

"You promised me nurses."

"You've already had a perfectly good nurse come by and fix up your IV."

"Gibbs, that so doesn't count."

"Don't see why not," Gibbs made no attempt to hide his smirk. "I'm sure he was well qualified."

"Not for what I had in mind."

"You're still on company time, DiNozzo, you don't get to flirt unless I say so," Gibbs threw over his shoulder, as he made his way to the door.

In the waiting room Kate listened with half an ear as Abby fussed over McGee. Ducky had disappeared the moment they got here and Gibbs was no-where to be seen, so they were doing what people generally did in Hospitals.

Waiting.

And worrying.

"You know, McGee. You still don't look so good," Abby decided, standing up. "I'm going to find you a Doctor."

"No," McGee vetoed that, clutching at her sleeve and tugging her back into her seat, before drawing himself up a little straighter. He could almost hear Tony's voice in his ear. Suck it up, Probie. The last thing he needed right now was for his Boss to catch him swooning like a vestal virgin. If he was serious about being an NCIS Field Agent he had to learn hold it together. "I'm fine."

"You know, shock can be pretty serious," Kate frowned over at him. "And you do look a little pale. Maybe, you should ..?"

"No!" McGee almost shouted, causing several heads to turn in his direction. Taking a breath he tried to calm down. "No, I'll be fine. I am fine." He repeated the words like a mantra.

"O-kay." Abby drew the word out, giving him a sceptical look, but letting it lie for now.

They sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes each alone with their own thoughts. Unconsciously, Abby's hand slipped into McGee's as she bit worriedly at her lip. Kate blinked hard, trying to banish the image of Tony lying on the floor in a huge pool of blood, smiling lazily at Gibbs, and the rueful, almost fond, look he'd received in return.

"Oh God," she realised. "We should probably start calling people."

"Gibbs will have told the Director," Abby assured her. "Plus we work in a building full of people who track down stuff for a living. If they want anything, they'll call us."

"No, I meant for his birthday," Kate clarified. "Was anyone coming from out of town?"

"You mean, do we need to un-book the steakhouse, cancel the stripper, take the vodka out of the freezer?" Abby asked.

"If that's what Tony had planned, yeah."

"I wouldn't think so. Tony doesn't usually celebrate his birthday."

"Really?" McGee looked as surprised as Kate felt. "Why not?"

"Hey, I'm just the lowly lab tech. If I was meant to detect stuff, I'd be packing." Abby hedged.

Left alone Tony picked restlessly at the sheet and wished he had thought to tell Gibbs' that he didn't really feel up to visitors just yet. McGee would be almost paralysed with guilt and until he knew how this was gong to play out he had no idea what to say to him. Kate would mean well, but she would want to help and he didn't think he could deal with her sympathy right now. In fact, other than Gibbs there was only one person whose company he'd really welcome.

"Hey," Abby stuck her head around the door. "I was on my way to get a Caff Pow and I bumped into Gibbs. He saidyou needed someone to hold your hand and mop your fevered brow."

"He actually say that?" Tony grinned in spite of himself.

"Absolutely."

"Uh, huh." Tony said sceptically as he tried not to wince as Abby slipped off her shoes and, balancing her drink, climbed up beside him, offering her half of the pillow, as she grinned and produced a Game Boy from her pocket.

"Well, his mouth said 'Go keep DiNozzo out of trouble," Abby conceded, mimicking Gibbs. "But his eyes said take care of my boy while I go out and hurt the people who did this to him."

"Baxter or McGee?" Tony raised a brow.

"Actually, right now he went to talk to Ducky about the X-Rays. But that didn't sound half so good when I said it in my head."

"Talking of which .." Tony saw Dr Walters hovering on the other side of the glass door with a folder in his hand and beckoned him forward with his good hand, taking care not to dislodge the IV in the process. "Come on in, Doc, this is Abby Scutio, our forensic scientist extraordinaire."

"Why, thank you Tony," Abby tipped her head. "A girl always likes tofeel appreciated."

"It's nice to meet you, Ms Scuito, but I wonder if you could excuse us for a moment. I need to talk to Agent DiNozzo about his surgery."

"I can stay. Tony won't mind."

"Course not," Tony agreed. "We'll just repeat everything when Gibbs gets here. Right after he kicks my ass for not waiting for him."

"Good point," Abby jumped off the bed. "Hold on Doc, I'll be right back."

Tony waited until she was out of the door. Something in Walters' tone had made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. There was no way that this was going to be good news and he wasn't about to burden his friends with his problems.

"Alright, Doc. Lay it on the line for me."

"I thought you wanted to wait for your friends?" Walters was understandably surprised.

Tony dredged up one of his best smiles. The one he used to convince suspects that he was trurly sincere. It felt a little forced by his usual standards, which was partly why he didn't want Gibbs' here, he knew he would never be able to fool the ex-marine, but he figured it would pass muster with the Doc.

"How bad can it be?"

A few minutes later, Dr Walters emerged from Special Agent DiNozzo's room, feeling remarkably positive about their conversation. One never quite knew how a patient was going to react to such news, but all in all, he thought that he had handled it rather well. As he turned in the direction of the elevator he saw Dr Mallard and Miss Scutio accompanied by a tall, grey haired man, with a military bearing and a large coffee in his hand coming down the hall.

"Ah, Stuart," Dr Mallard greeted him. "So, sorry to have kept you waiting. This is Anthony's boss, Special Agent Gibbs and I believe you've met Abby."

"Agent Gibbs." Walters offered his hand, which was shaken in a firm grip.

"Ducky was telling me there might be complications." Gibbs cut straight to the point.

"Unfortunately, the damage caused by the blade is fairly extensive. We need to repair both the median and ulnar nerves. The surgery itself should take about four hours but we're pretty much working in the dark here."

"How bad?"

"Best case scenario. He could make a full recovery. Although, I have to tell you the odds are against that."

"Don't bet on it," Gibbs's lips quirked in a small proud smile. "DiNozzo's had plenty of practice at bucking the odds. What's the worse case scenario?"

"At worst, Agent DiNozzo could experience total paralysis of his hand."

Abby gasped and put her hand to her mouth, causing Special Agent Gibbs to shift his coffee to his other hand and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. His own posture got a little straighter and his eyes seemed to burn with ever-greater intensity.

"Although, the odds are against that too," Walters hastened to add. "The most likely scenario is that there will be limited loss of mobility."

"How limited?"

"Not enough to stop Agent DiNozzo performing any normal activities. He would still be able to hold a glass, for example, it's only his fine motor skills that should be affected."

"Normal activities?" Special Agent Gibbs tipped his head on one side. "You ever fire a Sig Sauer, Doc?"

"No. I can't , um, say that I have."

Gibbs didn't answer. He already knew that the kind of finesse needed to squeeze a trigger could well be beyond DiNozzo's capabilities. And if he couldn't fire his weapon, his career as a Field Agent was over. He didn't want to think about what that meant.

"I want to be there when you talk to him."

Dr Walters swallowed hard as he raised his head to meet those ice blue eyes. It was clear that the man wasn't making a request. He had a dreadful feeling that he had just made a terrible mistake.

"Um, I've already told him. Just now, in fact."