Part 7

A note from the last chapter. If you didn't know that both Michael and Matt can sing, get the NCIS soundtrack and watch Magic Mike. (Matt sings Bryan Adams' Heaven.) Or check them both out on YouTube.

Abby was not sure. But, she knew Gibbs. If he commanded Tony to get better, Tony had no choice but to comply. She nodded her head and wiped her tears as the others in the room absorbed the news.

"What…what does that mean, exactly?" Neal asked as he sat down in the nearly empty waiting room. "You can't just command somebody to get better, Gibbs. I was here. I was in that room! Tony looked…." The conman shook his head and wiped his eyes as the tears threatened to flow, again.

They all just looked at Neal for a moment. They didn't know of Neal back then. But, they all knew that he was no doctor and that he had no medical training.

Neal looked up, knowing that he had gotten all of their attention. He had not even meant to divulge that bit of information. But, he had, it had slipped out, and now he had to explain himself.

Neal sighed. "I was traveling through D.C. I had gotten far enough ahead of Peter, for once. I didn't figure he knew where I was. So, I decided to stop by and see Tony. I went to his apartment. But, I could tell, he had not been home in months. There was old, dried-up pizza in the fridge. Old funky-smelling Chinese food. I know Tony would never let that food go to waste. He rarely cooks, except for company. So, I knew something was up." Neal paused. "I didn't know what my next step would be. I couldn't just go to the Naval Yard and start asking questions. I couldn't ask his neighbors, some of them had seen me there. But, they didn't know me. They would not have told me anything."

They all waited for Neal to continued, very interested in his story.

"I just grabbed Tony's phone book and started calling local hospitals. I finally put in a call to Bethesda."

Neal ignored Peter's chastising look and continued.

"I tried telling him I was Tony's brother. But, they had his family and health information. And they knew that he was an only child. "I told them I was his step-brother, his half-brother. I even told them that I was his long-lost brother…no go!" Neal looked at his hands for a moment before he continued. "That was when I got the bright idea to impersonate the medical staff." He cleared his throat. "It was really, I mean, really easy to get my hands on some scrubs. Then I just ducked into a utility closet and changed. I left my clothes tucked in behind a huge bucket on a low shelf and walked out like I belonged there. I grabbed a lab coat from a chair in the empty doctors' work room, luckily there was no name tag on it. I shrugged it on and took a stethoscope from the multitude hanging on a hook in the room."

"Neal?" El said, in shock.

Peter sighed, but didn't speak.

Abby and Gibbs admired his spunk. Even Ellie had to admire his sneakiness. Sara didn't know what to think.

"I like to never found his room. I had no idea where anything was. And, I had no idea where I was going. So, I just joined a group of medical students and followed them for a little bit. That got me closer to my destination. Then finally I found the room. It was isolation, which I did not know. The operator never mentioned he was in isolation. She probably didn't know, or she couldn't tell me. Then she transferred me in to talk to the nurse. She didn't tell me either. And that was where all the half-brother, step-brother stuff came in. She hadn't seen me, of course, So, I figured if she didn't recognize my voice, I would be okay." Neal paused, again. "Emma, the nurse, didn't recognize my voice, thank goodness. She let me into the first air-lock. But, she would not let me into the room. . She told me I would have to get permission from his primary doctor to enter. But, that was okay I didn't want to risk his health, or mine. I just needed to see him, with my own eyes. I needed to know that, he was…still here."

"How did you know things were bad?" Sara asked.

"I didn't, at first, I had happened to catch the news in my hotel room. Then my cabbie, who was a Marine vet, was telling me about the Naval Yard being locked down. And he said something about some mysterious substance had been released into the air. I knew Tony had to be involved, someway. That man has the worst luck of anybody I have ever met. Always in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Team Gibbs and Abby could certainly agree with that.

"So, I just knew it was him. Even if it wasn't, I had to make sure he was okay. It made me nervous, something like that happening at his workplace. And after seeing his apartment…." Neal paused. "I thought he had caught me. I heard a key in the lock, and I walk out of his bedroom, expecting to see him. But I scared the hell out of Carina, a lady from his cleaning service. After I explained why I was there, we talked. She said she hadn't seen Tony in a couple of weeks. She was concerned, too. She said it was not like him to not leave her some money on the kitchen table. He knew she came in and cleaned on Mondays and Thursdays. And, he had always left her enough for both days on Thursday. She had not been paid for two weeks, she said." He paused. "I felt bad for her, so I gave her what she said Tony owed her, then I left. I guess she went ahead and cleaned, I don't know."

Sara chuckled. "Dr. Caffrey."

"Actually, I was Dr. Johnson. Caffrey is not that common, they would have remembered the name. There are lots of people with the last name of Johnson, it's easier to forget." Neal explained.

"I just, I stood there and just stared at Tony for the longest time. Those blue lights made him look…ghastly. I know they were supposed to be helping him, somehow. Then, as I was leaving, I heard him start to cough. I just…I wished I would have kept on walking. It was…it was horrible. I have never seen anything like it before." He shook his head again, he bowed his head as he felt the tears welling up again.

TBC

END NOTES: The naval hospital in Bethesda, Maryland officially become known as Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in 2011. But, it is probably still known, locally, as just Bethesda or Walter Reed. (Old habits die hard.)