Chapter 20

Gibbs looked at his suddenly sleeping agent, a little startled but not really worried. He'd just had an emotional time. If Gibbs got hold of this Peter bastard, he was going to have to restrain himself to keep from beating the man's brains in. DiNozzo's devil-may-care confidence had clearly been badly shaken. He was just as glad that DiNozzo had conked out at that moment. He hadn't actually wanted to tell him about Alkire yet if he could help it. How would DiNozzo react to the fact that a former frat brother had sold him out?

He called to head off the sketch artist since DiNozzo wasn't going to be up to working with him at the moment, then sat back to his work.

The door opened and Gibbs looked up, expecting the DiNozzos. Instead, Abby peered in, a vase full of glossy black roses in her hands. "Is he awake?" she asked.

"Just fell asleep, Abbs," Gibbs said softly.

She tiptoed across the room, quite a feat in those boots, and deposited the flowers on the beside table. "He's always asleep when I come," she said sadly.

"It's only been twice, Abby," Gibbs pointed out.

"That's because you and Agent Fornell are such slave drivers," she said. "But I don't mind, not if it helps keep my Tony safe." She pulled a chair up and sat down beside him. "I can't stay long. He won't even know I've come."

"I'll tell him," Gibbs said. "And you brought flowers."

"Those could be from anybody."

Gibbs glanced over his shoulder at the flowers. "I think he'll know they're from you without even looking at the card, Abbs," he said.

"You think so?" she exclaimed quietly, and then she gave him a hug. "You always know what to say."

He rolled his eyes, mildly amused by her mood. "You find anything, Abbs?"

"Oh!" She pulled a folder out of her purse. "Here are all the best matches we had from what I managed to pull from the images in the emergency room. I thought Tony could look at them."

It was a thick sheaf of papers, but Gibbs took it. "Anything else?"

"We're trying to trace that remaining three million, but no joy so far. Did Tony remember anything helpful?"

Gibbs shrugged. "He remembers lots of things, unfortunately, none of them seem likely to help us locate his kidnappers." He popped the latest cassette out. "Get this to McGee. He'll know what to do with it."

"Of course." She looked sadly at DiNozzo, then stood up. "I'll be back later," she said to the sleeping figure, then she turned to Gibbs. "Promise you'll call me when he's awake again?"

"See you later Abby," Gibbs said.

"Promise?" she pleaded.

The door opened to admit the DiNozzos, and Abby gave up. She nodded to them and went out. "Has he slept this whole time?" DiNozzo senior asked.

Gibbs shook his head. "No, he woke up for a while."

"Did he say anything?" Gibbs nodded and took another drink of coffee. Sooner or later he was going to have to sleep, but not while Tony was still feeling so vulnerable. "Well?" DiNozzo senior asked, and Gibbs looked up.

"What?"

"What did he say?"

Gibbs tilted his head towards his sleeping agent. "Don't want to wake him," he said, and DiNozzo senior scowled in irritation. Nevertheless, he sat down and didn't push any further. Joyce stood at the foot of the bed looking down at her stepson worriedly.

"How is he holding up?" she asked.

Gibbs shrugged. "He's exhausted," he said.

Joyce nodded. "No wonder," she commented.

Tony's eyes flickered open and he looked up. "Joyce?" he said.

"Yes, dear," she replied. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," he said with a faint smile. "You?"

"A little worried about you, but nothing I can't handle."

Tony's smile broadened slightly, but he didn't seem very awake. "Good. You look nice."

Her eyes widened and she smiled. "Thank you, I –"

Gibbs put a hand up and she stopped. "I think he's gone back to sleep," he said.

"Assuming he ever woke up," DiNozzo senior said. "He used to do that when he was little." Gibbs was moderately surprised to hear Tony's father talking familiarly about when Tony was a child. He'd gotten the impression that they'd spent very little time together. "His nanny told us she could have whole conversations with him when he was asleep."

Gibbs nodded and sat back, not sure what to say to that. DiNozzo had never done anything of the kind to him, though he did have a tendency to wake up speaking.

Joyce pulled out some crossword puzzles and sat down. Nurses and doctors came in and out, checking on his condition. It wasn't till the dinner tray was delivered that DiNozzo stirred again.

He looked around at all of them. "Am I dying?" he asked croakily.

"No, DiNozzo."

"Oh, good," the younger DiNozzo said, but his eyes seemed a little wary, and Gibbs knew he wondered why he was surrounded by friends and family. Having Gibbs hanging around his sick bed he was used to. "That would suck." He brought the head of the bed up to a sitting position and caught sight of the flowers. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "Glad I already asked about dying."

Joyce turned to look. "Where did those come from?"

"Abby," DiNozzo said. "It's always a bit of a shock, but she does love her black roses. Hey, Joyce."

"Hello, Tony dear," she said. "You're looking better."

"That's not good," he replied with knit brows.

"No, it's good," Joyce said, sounding worried. "You do look better than you did."

Her stepson gave her a mournful look. "When people tell you that you look better, it means you still look awful, just not quite as awful."

Joyce tried to look stern, but she ended up laughing. "Well, I can't say you look your best."

"You, on the other hand," DiNozzo said, "are looking lovely as always. The new haircut suits you."

Gibbs listened to his agent flirt with his stepmother with half an ear, observing that the younger man seemed very much himself at the moment. There was no sign of the incipient panic he'd shown earlier, but then DiNozzo was a master of masks. Once he got his masks up, it became difficult to judge his mood. DiNozzo senior was looking on watchfully, but Gibbs wasn't altogether sure what he was seeing. Did he realize that his son was hiding his real reactions or was there a family dynamic that Gibbs wasn't picking up on?

A nurse walked in. She looked perfectly ordinary, scrubs, stethoscope, gloves, rubber shoes. As she entered, though, her head was turned away, as though she was listening to someone speaking outside the room, and her face was not visible, just a curtain of straight, dark hair. DiNozzo's mask slipped abruptly. He froze mid-word, staring at her until she turned to face into the room. Then he relaxed, but by then both Joyce and his father were staring at him.

DiNozzo blinked at Joyce. "That shade of blue really sets off your eyes," he said, trying to pick up the conversation where it had left off.

"What is it, Tony?"

DiNozzo tilted his head. "Periwinkle, maybe? I'm not –"

Joyce shook her head. "No, what made you stop like that?" she asked.

He looked up at her, eyes wide as he let the nurse lean in and check his breathing. "I don't know what you mean, Joyce," he said innocently.

"You know perfectly well what she means, Anthony," DiNozzo senior said gruffly. "You stopped talking for a full second, and you looked . . . I don't know. Wooden."

The younger DiNozzo shrugged with forced nonchalance. "I didn't really notice," he said in a brittle voice. DiNozzo senior started to speak, but when Joyce shook her head, he subsided. Tony focused his attention on coughing for the nurse. When she was done with her tests, he looked up at her with a practiced charming smile. "So, is Nurse Emma on duty today, Ariceli?"

"She warned me about you," Ariceli said with a chuckle. "I'm married."

"That only matters if you take me seriously," DiNozzo said with a grin. "How am I sounding? Is there a whole wind section in there, or is it clearing out?"

"Reasonably clear," she said.

"So, when can I leave this charming place? Forgive my eagerness, it has nothing to do with you."

She shook her head, still smiling. "That's up to Dr. Pitt."

"Don't you even have an opinion?" Tony asked, wheedling.

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Are you hungry?"

"A little. I don't suppose you could have someone heat up that soup my boss is sitting on over there?"

"It's been out for hours, DiNozzo, I don't think it's a good idea," Gibbs said.

The younger man sighed. "Well, then I shall have to throw myself on your mercy, Nurse Ariceli."

She twinkled at him and left. Before his father could speak, Tony threw the covers off and swung out on Gibbs' side of the bed.

"Where do you think you're going?" DiNozzo senior demanded. His son ignored him and made his way unaided to the bathroom where he closed the door with as firm a thump as the pneumatic hinge would let him. DiNozzo senior rounded on Gibbs. "Do you know why he reacted that way?" Gibbs shrugged, not willing to commit himself either way. "Well?" DiNozzo demanded.

"Leonard, he probably doesn't want to invade Tony's privacy."

"He's my son!" DiNozzo exclaimed.

"And he's a grown man," Joyce replied.

"Damn it, Joyce, whose side are you on?"

"In this situation, Tony's," she said calmly. "He's been through hell. He doesn't need you pushing him for a play by play of his emotional status."

"You asked the question."

"I can hear you in here," DiNozzo said loudly, and Gibbs closed his eyes, trying very hard not to laugh because it wasn't funny to any of them.

At that moment, Dr. Pitt came in. "Where's my patient?"

"Hiding from his father," Joyce said with a speaking glance at her husband who went back and sat down with an irritated grunt. She knocked. "Tony, Dr. Pitt's here."

Gibbs sobered up quickly. This farce wasn't going to help in DiNozzo's recovery.

"I want a private room!" Tony exclaimed from the bathroom.

"This is a private room!" DiNozzo senior replied.

A distinct and repetitive thumping could be heard from the bathroom and Gibbs pursed his lips. "DiNozzo?" he called.

The thumping stopped. "Yeah, Boss?"

"Stop banging your head against the wall." There was an audible sigh, but no more thumps.

"All right, you heard him," Dr. Pitt said. "Everybody out. You too, Gibbs."

Gibbs rose and followed the DiNozzos out.