CHAPTER 3

Once they arrived at the hospital Tony waited for the doctor to come and tell him how Kate was, his leg having been fixed up in the ambulance. He was in shock; scared to death that the doctor would come out and say, "I'm sorry, we did what we could." He sat down and saw Gibbs and Tim enter the room.

"Hey. You all right?" Gibbs asked him.

"Yes, I'm fine, it's Kate." Tony said, waving vaguely at the door labeled intensive care unit.

"Kate." Gibbs said, "Will be fine." giving Tony an intense stare. Tim gave Tony a goofy, yes-Gibbs-is-right smile and a thumbs up sign. Gibbs stared at him and shook his head slightly, suddenly Tim's thumbs up became a god-my-neck-itches thing, and he looked at Tony. Tony shook his head and Tim's goofy smile disappeared too, the lost puppy look replaced it.

About an hour later a doctor came into the waiting room.

"Is she going to be all right?" Tony asked.

"Amazingly, she's going to be fine. We were able to repair all the tissue damage; the bullet missed any vital organs but she lost a massive amount of blood. Had you gotten here any later then you did she would be dead. She's incredibly lucky and should be able to go home in a few days." The doctor smiled then looked at his watch "Oops sorry but I've got to go. Nurse Callahan can help you with anything else you need."

"Thank you." Said Gibbs, the doctor headed off down the hall muttering to himself and looking over the papers in his hand.

"You can see your wife now if you'd like" Said the nurse, directing her question at Tony. Tony blushed,

"Oh, uh, Kate's not my wife" he told the nurse.

"Oh I'm sorry, usually I'm spot on at guessing who are couples."

"Cha well ya know, obviously…" Gibbs gave Tony him a look, Tony promptly stopped that sentence, and said instead, "I'd still like to see her though."

"Yes, of course. One visitor at a time though, she's in the first room on the right." She said pointing to where Kate was.

"Tony you go ahead, I'm going to call Abby." Gibbs said.

"Right boss." Tony said walking down to Kate's room.

Tony entered the room. After pulling a chair over next to her, in a spur of the moment decision he grabbed her hand. Kate's eyes slowly opened and she smiled at him.

"Hey. How do you feel?" Tony asked.

"Tired, sore, like I was hit in the chest by a fifty-pound hammer." He smiled; glad she was feeling well enough to joke, at least a little. "Tony I need to… thank you. I mean… I told you to leave me and you didn't, not many people would do that." Kate whispered.

"Hey we're partners I couldn't leave you there." Tony said giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Are you hurt at all?" Kate asked.

"Nah." Tony lied hoping she didn't see him limp into the room from the wound on his leg.

"That's good. I'm sorry Tony." Kate said her eyes filling with tears.

"For what?" Tony asked confused.

"Everything I did today was wrong. I messed up." Kate's cheeks stained with tears.

"We all make mistakes Kate. You don't have to be sorry, it's over now, you don't need to worry." Tony whispered cupping her cheek with his hand as he wiped the tears away with his thumb. "Now you should get some rest, or you won't get out of here any time soon." Tony said.

"Ok, I think the pain killers are getting to me anyways." Kate giggled at Tony as she closed her eyes, a tear still on her cheek.

"Get some rest." Tony whispered, smiling at her laugh.