Chapter 7

Tim and Ziva stood next to each other and watched as the ambulance drove off with DiNozzo and Gibbs. Ziva took hold of Tim's arm and held it. She felt like she needed to have something to hold on to right now. Seeing Tony that weak had frightened her very much. He had been trembling, moaning in pain and crying. What could have happened to him, for him to react like that? He had to be seriously ill.

Then Tim said, "We should go after them, Ziva. Do you want to drive?" He carefully pulled his arm out of her grip and placed a hand on her shoulder. She still had her gaze on the ambulance, which was now nothing more than a dot in the distance.

At his words she shook her head slowly and then looked at him and nodded. They got into the car and Ziva started off after the ambulance.

"Ziva, do you remember what Tony said when Gibbs handed him the pills?" Tim asked suddenly, excited. "He said something about, 'are you trying to poison me'. What if that's it? What if he was poisoned? That would explain it!"

"Yes, McGee, you are right. He said they tasted funny."

"But that doesn't make any sense. He was sick before he had the pills."

"The water, Tim! He took the pills with the water. Maybe he meant that it was the water that tasted funny; he just didn't realize what it was."

Tim reached over the back of his seat and searched for the bottle. He found it on the floor behind Ziva. He put it up to his nose and carefully sniffed it. A metallic scent reached him. He moved the bottle away from his face and quickly found the cap and put it on. Then he reached for his backpack, got an evidence bag out and put the bottle in it.

"I definitely smelled something weird," Tim said.

"But who would poison Tony?"

"Well, who wouldn't?"

They both fell silent while thinking of who it might be. But then McGee got his phone out. "We should let Gibbs know someone poisoned Tony."

In the ambulance Gibbs sat next to Tony, still holding his hand, and explained Tony's symptoms more accurately to the paramedic named Erik.

Gibbs' phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was McGee. He flipped his phone open. "Don't tell me you're lost," He grunted.

"No, Boss, we're not lost. We're behind you, but, Boss, I think I know what's wrong with Tony. Or I don't know what it is that's wrong with him, but I might know why there's something wrong with him-"

"McGee!"

"Oh, sorry, Boss. I think he was poisoned. The water bottle he's been drinking from smells funny."

Gibbs didn't bother to answer, just shut his phone and told Erik what he had just heard.

Erik nodded. "That would explain a few things." He asked, "You don't happen to know what kind of poison it is, do you?"

Gibbs shook his head no.

"No, I guess it's never that easy," Erik said.

Gibbs watched silently as the paramedic updated the hospital. Then he turned his full attention to DiNozzo. Tony just lay there, very still, and pale. Gibbs laid his other hand on Tony's forehead and began to slowly stroke his hair.

"You're gonna be fine, did you get that, DiNozzo?" He continued to talk quietly to Tony, until Tony began to stir nearly 30 minutes into the trip.

"Hey, I think he's waking up. Are we there yet?" Gibbs asked Erik.

Erik moved to sit next to Gibbs and looked Tony over. "Yeah, I think you're right. And I'm afraid we aren't there yet. It'll be at least 15 more minutes. You keep talking to him, and I'll be here if you need me. It seems like he's calmer with you."

Gibbs nodded.

Tony moaned and then slowly opened his eyes a bit before closing them again.

"Hi, Tony, you with us?" Gibbs asked.

At Gibbs' words Tony's eyes opened once more, and this time they stayed open. Tony tried to focus his eyes on his boss, but found it was hard. "Whe…" was all he managed.

Gibbs understood what he meant. "We're in the ambulance on our way to the hospital. We think that you were poisoned, Tony."

"Poisoned?" Tony whispered. He couldn't think straight. Everything was just blank in his head. His whole body ached. He was stretched out on something hard, but he wanted to curl into himself and tried to do so. But hands stopped him and straightened his legs back out.

"Hey, Tony, you've got to stay still, okay? We'll be at the hospital soon," Gibbs' calm voice said.

Gibbs felt his gut twitch as DiNozzo didn't even answer him. He just stopped trying to roll on his side. But it looked like he couldn't keep his legs still. He kept moving them from side to side. He had his eyes closed now.

"Tony, how are you feeling?" Gibbs asked. He watched how Tony opened his eyes and looked at him, eyes blank, but he didn't respond.

"Are you in pain?" Still no answer. And this time he didn't even open his eyes. Gibbs looked at Erik, who then spoke to Tony.

"Tony, my name's Erik, I'm a paramedic. How are you feeling? Can you talk?"

"Mmm…" Was all they got. They looked at each other again. And then Erik checked Tony's pulse.

After that Tony didn't react any more to what they were saying to him, not even when Gibbs lightly tapped him on the head. When they arrived at the hospital, Gibbs was really worried about his senior field agent, and helped to unload him from the ambulance to a waiting team of medical personnel. As soon as they got inside, Tony was quickly whisked away, while a nurse stopped Gibbs from following and showed him to the waiting room. He slowly sat down on a bench and began to wait.