A Dare, Or Something More Sinister?
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS... I'm just taking the characters for a spin!
Author's Notes: Thank-you all for the reviews, I'm glad you all like it... as always a few more wouldn't go unnoticed! Please!
And of course, again a humungous thank-you to Kate for her terrific inspiration and work!
This chapter is a bit longer than the rest, hope you enjoy it!
Hope everybody had a fantastic New Year!
Tony walked back to the waiting room to find Kate had fallen asleep over four chairs. His eyes cast over the rest of the room to come back and rest on Kate again. He knew she had taken this hard, she looked tired and withdrawn, and that was only physically, mentally, it would have run deeper. He sighed and sat down opposite her and watched her sleep, hoping he didn't have to tell her what he'd just heard; he didn't want to make her burden any heavier. Gently and quietly, he took off his coat and laid it over her shoulders, pushing a stray strand of hair back from her face.
"Hey" she mumbled, slowly opening her eyes, then blinking to clear away the sleep
"Hey" he said softly, "Enjoy your snooze?"
She nodded, "What did he say?". Tony looked down and away from her, breathing out slowly. "Tony, what did he say?" Kate asked again, more insistently this time
"The damage is…quite extensive. During surgery, he cardiac-arrested" he paused, "Um, his heart stopped…" he attempted to clarify
"Yeah, I know what a cardiac arrest is" Kate interrupted impatiently
Tony looked up at her and nodded, holding up two fingers, "He did that twice and twice, they brought him back. The doctor, Doctor Holland…is afraid that he won't recover, the chances of a full recovery" he paused to clarify, "Any recovery is small. The chance of brain damage, of becoming a vegetable is…significant"
"How significant?" Kate asked at a whisper, so quietly that Tony had to lean forward to hear
"Uh, it's…highly likely" Tony replied, dropping his own voice to just above a whisper, his voice cracking as he looked down.
Kate watched as Tony's eyes welled up with tears and as he blinked furiously to keep them at bay. "Oh, Tony" she said as she wrapped her arms around him, feeling her own eyes fill up.
They held each other in the embrace until Tony pulled back and looked at Kate, wiping the tear marks on her cheek with his thumb. He sniffled and cleared his throat, "Ah, they said that we could visit him, no more than two people for no more than 10 minutes." He gripped her shoulders with his hands and looked into her eyes, "You can have my 10 minutes"
"Tony, you don't…" she tried to object but was silenced by the shake of his head
"I have a thing with hospitals, Kate. I really don't like them. Have my 10 minutes, when Ducky gets here, I'll go in and see him" Tony explained
"How do you know Ducky's coming back?" Kate asked
"Do you really think he would stay at headquarters? Oh, and McGee will be coming too"
"McGee?"
"Yeah, the other guy we work with" Tony quipped, "Abby will be too busy with the stuff she's doing for one of the other guys in the department, can never remember his name…"
Kate gave him a small smile then hugged him. "I owe you, thanks Tony" she said from over his shoulder.
"That's what friends are for, Kate" Tony said, "But, remember, I will call this in later"
Kate smiled and pulled herself out of the hug and got to her feet. She looked around the waiting room, before resting her eyes on Tony again, "Um, Tony? Could you show me where they're keeping him?"
"Sure, follow me" he said and got up "Wouldn't want you to go all on your lone-some" he added, trying to keep the mood light
He showed Kate through some swinging doors, down a corridor and into a small room. The room had several machines in it, making beeping noises and whooshing noises. Gibbs' unconscious form could be made out on the bed, connected to the machines with various wires and tubes everywhere. Kate stopped in the doorway and gasped, then looked back at Tony, her mouth slightly ajar. She had expected him to be in bad shape, but hadn't been prepared for this. Looking back into the room, she noticed a tube coming from his mouth going to the whooshing machine. She recognized the machine from various cases she'd worked, but never had she thought that Gibbs would be relying on a machine to do his breathing. She felt hands rest of her shoulders and gave her a gentle shove into the room.
"Ducky believes that people in comas often hear people when they are being spoken to. He has accounts of people remembering conversations" Tony said softly
"He's in a coma?" Kate asked, just as softly
Tony gave a small solemn nod. Kate took a deep breath and regained her composure, before walking into the room and taking a seat on one of the chairs. Tony watched from the doorway as she sat down and took one of his hands. Turning on his heel, he walked back to the waiting room to find one of the officers who had helped with the search waiting for him. Tony walked up to him and gave him a questioning look.
"We lost Brown, sir" the man announced
"What do you mean, lost him?" Tony asked, glaring at him, "And don't call me sir"
"We can't find him" the man replied
"Look harder!" Tony snapped and walked off
Ducky and McGee got off the chopper as soon as it touched the tarmac and ran across the heli-pad towards the hospital wing. As they approached the area, they slowed to a fast walk and walked into the waiting area. They found Tony asleep, sprawled across 4 or so chairs and saw no sign of Kate. Ducky went to the on-duty nurse and talked with her for some time whilst McGee went to Tony and sat opposite him.
"What time is it probie?" Tony asked without opening his eyelids
"2300" McGee replied, "Although it'd daylight saving tomorrow, so technically its 2400"
Tony grunted, "Took you so long?"
"Got you all some clean clothes. How is he?" McGee asked
"Not good. Looks like shit, small chance of recovery" Tony replied, yawning and shifting against the chairs
Ducky returned from talking to the nurse and said that they could visit Gibbs. McGee got up and started to follow Ducky but stopped when he realised Tony wasn't behind him.
"Tony?" he asked. When he received no reply he called again, but stopped when he heard Tony's regular breaths and deduced that he'd fallen asleep.
"He must be exhausted" Ducky commented, "Physically and emotionally"
McGee nodded then walked with Ducky to Gibbs' room. When they walked inside, they were met by the same sight as Kate and Tony, momentarily taking their breaths away.
"My God, Jethro" Ducky said softly
Ducky regained his composure quickly and noticed Kate sleeping in a chair, hunched over and still clinging onto Gibbs' hand. He gave a small knowing smile, which soon disappeared as he looked back to the bed. He walked over to Kate and softly called her name.
"Gibbs?" she mumbled softly, then sat bolt up-right, almost hitting Ducky in his head. "What happened?" she asked
Ducky took a step back and sighed, "Nothing, Caitlin. You and Tony should get some rest, I'm sure they'll provide you both with beds"
Kate gave him a pleading look, then slowly got to her feet. She walked to the door, then turned around to face Ducky again, but before she could say anything, the machines in the room which had been beeping systematically, started screaming, the pulse erratic. Over the frantic beeps, they could hear a loud, deep buzzing sound.
"Kate, Tim, out now!" Ducky ordered as he pulled the pillow from under Gibbs' head
"What's happening?" McGee asked
"Cardiac arrest. Out now!" Ducky ordered then again
Kate and McGee did as they were told and watched as several nurses raced into Gibbs' room and went to work on him. Tony came running up to the room a few minutes after the nurses to join them.
"What happened?" he demanded
Neither Kate, nor McGee answered as they watched, transfixed by the nurses trying to bring their boss back. The nurses charged the defibrillator and shocked him, his body arched up, then collapsed back onto the bed. Kate turned away with tears going down her face, the sight too much for her to handle. Tony wrapped his arms around her and continued to watch as the procedure was repeated. There was more shouting from the room as the machines continued to beep like crazy and one of the nurses ran out to get
'10cc's' of something. The nurse came back in with a syringe and injected it into Gibbs. Tony looked down at Kate as Gibbs was shocked again, "He's going to make it" Tony said, but failed in convincing her as his voice cracked.
"He'd better" she whispered, looking up at him with red eyes and mascara running down her cheeks.
He pulled her closer and watched as the paddles were put on his chest again and the nurse shouted, 'Clear!'. Everybody stepped back as the shock went through Gibbs' body. Tony looked down again and heard the machines beeping differently, and surprised shouts. He looked back up to see Gibbs sitting bolt upright and trying to pull the tube out of his mouth. The nurses got hold of his hands, telling him to try to relax as they restrained him. Gibbs continued to fight them, finding it hard to breathe with the tube.
"Jethro, you need to relax!" Ducky told him sternly, "Breathe slowly, the machines will take care of the rest"
Gibbs lay back against the bed, and continued blinking rapidly, beginning to choke as he coughed, sending his heart rate through the roof.
Ducky came around to his side and took one of his hands in one of his own, "Gibbs, you need to calm down. Or you might go into cardiac arrest again"
Gibbs focused on Ducky and tried to do as he was told, but his heart rate continued to increase. A nurse entered the room and injected him with a syringe as he continued to struggle.
"What was that?" McGee asked Tony and Kate
"Sedative" Tony replied
"To somebody who has just been in a coma?" Kate asked
They watched as the fight began to leave Gibbs and his heart rate returned to normal. Gibbs flopped back against the bed, unconscious.
That's it for chapter 19... I hope you like it! Please review, please!