CHAPTER 4
Tony walked out of the room and saw Gibbs talking to the marine; he had a few stitches above his eyebrow and some just over his right ear.
"Hey boss how's Abby?" Tony asked Gibbs.
"She's fine now, after she made me chase Kate's surgeon half way across the hospital to tell her that Kate's going to be fine." Tony smiled, typical Abby.
"How are you holding up? And how's Kate?" The Marine asked Tony
"I'm fine, Kate's going to be fine as well." Tony said.
"Good, If it's ok with you guys then, I'm gonna head back to my flat." The Marine asked looking at Gibbs.
"That's ok were going to have to bring you in tomorrow to answer some questions though." Gibbs said.
"That's fine, I'll see you tomorrow then." He saluted to Gibbs and nodded to Tony.
After the Marine walked out the door Gibbs turned to Tony.
"How is she?" He asked.
"She's sleeping, but she seems to think its all her fault, though I think the painkillers were getting to her a bit. Where's Tim?" Tony asked noticing he wasn't with Gibbs anymore.
"That's pretty normal." Said Gibbs, "She's in shock and still processing what happened, she'll be jumpy for a while, Tim went to get Abby and us and some dinner." Gibbs said sitting down. "You did a hell of a job down there Tony."
"Thanks boss." Tony said smiling.
They sat not talking but obviously running through what had happened today in their heads. They sat there for about an hour before Tim turned up with Abby, she ran up to them her eyes wide. She hugged Tony.
"Tony! Your ok!" she hugged him. "Gibbs!" Abby accused, "You haven't told me what happened, I cant live like that!"
"Long story but Kate's going to be fine." Gibbs said making Abby sit down.
Tony wasn't very hungry so he didn't have anything to eat but went down to the hospital café and got a cup of coffee instead, his mind racing as he went through the last six hours. What if Kate hadn't made it? What would he be doing right now if she had died? Tony shuddered at the thought but quickly reminded himself that she was going to be fine. He walked back up to find Abby asleep, leaning on Tim's shoulder as he snored softly. Gibbs had gone back to the office to sort some stuff out.
"Ahem…." Tony coughed in McGee's direction. Tim's head snapped up, but Abby stayed asleep.
"Hey, you holding up ok?" Tim asked Tony.
"Yeah guess it just scared me to think we could have lost Kate today. I mean what if we had?" Tony said shuddering. "But, ya know… I could tell it would all be fine…." Tony added trying to cover up the fact that he had actually just let a little emotion show.
"The important thing is we didn't lose her and she is going to be fine." Tim said giving Tony a reassuring smile, more for his own benefit then Tony's.
Soon Tim decided to wake Abby up and take her home. He asked Tony if he wanted a ride but Tony wanted to stay at the hospital just in case anything changed. He said bye to them and sat back down for about half an hour. Slowly he got up and walked into Kate's room. She was awake and looked at Tony as he came and sat down next to her.
"Can't sleep?" Tony asked Kate.
"No, guess I'm just nervous, the last what… 6 hours? Just keep playing through my head; I thought I was going to die Tony, I wasn't… afraid…. But I just can't shake that feeling." Kate said. Tony could see her face was clouded with exhaustion even though she was trying to hide it. "Why are you still here?" she asked him.
"Guess I had one to many of the hospital's coffees not tired at all so don't really have a reason to go home. You really need to get some sleep though Kate. If you don't you will be to tired to do anything, and you don't want them making you stay here any longer then you need to." Tony said.
Kate's eyes welled up with tears again. Tony knew the only reason he was seeing this vulnerable, unsure side of Kate was because she was pumped up on morphine and pain killer's, but it made him look at her in a different light, she seemed so small and human, she was always so strong and had a 'can do anything' attitude. Tony hugged her carefully, not wanting to bump her shoulder.
"I'll be here Kate, you don't need to worry; you need to rest." Tony said and before he could stop himself he kissed the top if her head.
Half an hour later Kate was sleeping soundly and Tony slowly fell asleep next to her.
