Hi guys! So, here is another chapter for this story. I'm sorry for the late update. It's been a few years now I think… But I always intended on finishing this story. Better late than never… Here we go again:
Poisoned Chapter 12.
"Tony? You ok?"
Gibbs sat down on the chair next to the bed again. He kept his eyes closely fixed on his agents face. Tony didn't show in any way that he had heard him. But after a minute or so he slowly moved his head in Gibbs' direction.
"Why… why do you think she… she did it boss?" he whispered.
"I don't know DiNozzo. But I intend to find out."
"Yeah… okay."
After that they were quiet for a while. Gibbs was sitting there next to Tony who was trying his best to get himself under control. His whole body was hurting. He wanted to squirm and moan, and just let the pain out, but he felt that he couldn't. Not with his boss there. Deep down he knew that Gibbs wouldn't care, but still… he couldn't.
"Aren't you leaving boss?" he said after a few minutes. "To interview the suspect?"
"No."
Gibbs watched his agent closely, waiting for Tony to come back with a response. He didn't though. He could see Tony's body twitch, and his agent pressed his eyes tightly shut. He moved around a little on the bed and let out a shaky breath. Gibbs slowly wiped his face with his hand, and then put it lightly on Tony's shoulder. At first Tony tensed up a bit but he didn't say or do anything else. His eyes were still closed. They spent a few minutes in silence. But then Tony's eyes opened again and he searched Gibbs eyes.
"It's not helping. Why isn't it helping? It still… it still hurts."
Gibbs met his agent's eyes, and squeezed his shoulder briefly before removing his hand. He stepped out of the room to find a nurse to ask her to come to Tony's room. When he came back Tony was lying on his side with his back against the door.
"DiNozzo."
Gibbs call got no response, and the nurse went over and checked Tony over and tried to engage him in a conversation. He only answered her questions with a yes or a no. She came back to Gibbs that was standing by the door.
"Apparently the pain relief we have given him does not seem to be helping him as much as we would have wanted. I will consult with the doctor and see what we can do for him." She said calmly and left the room.
She was back with the doctor just a few minutes later. He also assessed Tony, and it was decided that a different kind of pain reliever would be tested. Gibbs and the doctor helped Tony to lie on his back. It scared Gibbs more then he liked to admit that Tony didn't made any move at all to help them along. After that the pain reliever had been administrated Gibbs and Tony were left alone again. Tony's eyes were opened but he was blinking sluggishly seemingly unaware of his surroundings, or of Gibbs. A few minutes later he was asleep. Gibbs stood up and carefully tucked the blanket closer around his agent. He stood a moment watching him before he headed out.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Back at the headquarters Ziva and McGee were looking through the glass into the interrogation room. Susan Andersson had stopped screaming and was now sitting on a chair that she intentionally had turned away from the glass window, so that they were only able to see her back.
"What did Gibbs say" asked Ziva and turned her back against the glas.
"He said to wait for him. He can't leave yet."
"He said something about Tony?"
"No, he didn't."
"We should be there." Ziva said quietly. McGee looked at her for a few seconds, and then nodded, before he turned his gaze back to Susan. And they waited.
A few hours later Gibbs arrived. Instead of heading straight into the interrogation room he first went over to see McGee and Ziva.
"Boss, you are back! How is Tony doing?"
"Is he all right?"
Both McGee and Ziva stood up and approached their boss. He held up his hand to stop their questions.
"He was sleeping when I left. They know what kind of poison it is but the pain meds they had him on weren't working. They changed them, and he fell asleep." He paused and looked over to Susan Andersson through the glass. "Has she said anything?"
"McGee!" He said when no one answered him, the younger agents lost in thoughts concerning their fellow agent.
"What? No, no she hasn't said anything since she stopped screaming at us to open the door."
"But Gibbs, what are they doing for him? Can they fix him?" Ziva asked.
"They are doing what they can. I will go back, when I'm done here."
With that he left for the interrogation room. Susan Andersson was sitting on a stool, which she had placed so that her back was towards the window.
"Turn around." Gibbs ordered her. His tone made her obey him and reluctantly she did, without a word.
"You poisoned my agent. Why?"
She didn't respond, just looked at him defiantly.
"You have one chance to tell me why you did this. And you will tell me now."
At his tone, Susan looked at him, and she seemed to first shrink a bit in her chair, but then she brushed her hair back with both hands and sat straighter.
"He got what he deserved for what he did to our family." She said and looked away. "It is all his fault."
Gibbs took a deep breath. And then he stood and went to the door. Without looking back at the woman he said, "You better hope he gets better soon."
"Oh, don't count on it!" she exclaimed, and Gibbs stopped at the doorway. He took a few deep breaths. He felt himself close to exploding. But was it worth it?
"Well? Is he suffering? Is it working?" she asked, slamming her hands at the table after every question.
Gibbs closed the door forcefully behind him. She was not worth it. And she did not deserve to know anything about Tony's condition. Apparently that was what she wanted to know. He could hear her screaming behind the door as he stalked away.
He went into the observation room to McGee and Ziva again.
"You leave her in there. You don't talk to her."
"She just wants the attention, yes?" Ziva said.
"You think Ziva?" Gibbs asked and nodded towards the window. Susan Andersson were standing next to it, and was slapping the window with both hand.
"Don't give it to her." He added. "I'm heading back to the hospital.
"We are coming with Abby later boss." McGee called after him.
He had been away from the hospital for about an hour now. As he sat in his car on his way back, he was starting to have a gut feeling that he should hurry back.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Tony woke up feeling disoriented. He groggily looked around the room expecting to find Gibbs in the chair next to him. But it was empty. No one was with him in the room. But where was Gibbs? He had said that he wouldn't leave. Where was he then? He tried to sit up, but after a few tries he gave up and fell back onto the cushions.
"Boss?" he called out. Maybe he was just outside. "Gibbs?" He didn't come. Actually, no one came. He breathed a few deep breaths. His body felt weak. His chest ached. His head was throbbing and he felt nauseous. And Gibbs was not there! He had said that he wasn't going to leave, and he wasn't there! He didn't know why he felt so upset. He wanted Gibbs to be there now.
"Boss?" he called out again. He heard steps coming in the direction of his room. Finally! But the door opened and a nurse stepped in. At the sight of her he felt incredibly disappointed. The feeling surprised him. What was going on with him?
"Hi, Mr. DiNozzo. How are you feeling."
He shrugged and decided to ignore he question.
"Where did my boss go?"
"The man that was sitting with you."
"Yeah."
"I didn't see when he left, I'm sorry." She answered him, as she checked his IV.
"But when is he coming back?" Tony asked without thinking. He sounded like a little kid.
"I don't know that, I'm afraid." She said. "I'm sure he is coming back soon."
"But he said he wouldn't leave. Why isn't he here then?" he insisted. The nurse looked at him with sympathy.
"I can't answer that unfortunately Mr. DiNozzo, but if you like I can call him for you."
Tony hesitated. His first instinct was to tell her yes, call him right away. But he also knew that he was acting irrationally at the moment. This was not like him. But he really wanted Gibbs there. The more he thought about it, the more upset he felt. That he wasn't there. No one was. He was all alone, and he didn't want to be.
The nurse was patiently waiting for his answer next to him. Eventually he nodded. She smiled softly at him, and reassured him that she would make the call and then left. As soon as the door closed behind her something kind of snapped inside him, and he felt an urge to call he back. He closed his eyes and turned his head away from the door. He felt tears rise up under his eyelids. He didn't know why. Where was Gibbs?
It felt like he had waited forever, but it was only a few minutes. The nausea was still present and he felt miserable. He drew in a shaky breath, and then another one. He felt so confused. He coughed a bit and a few tears escaped and run down his cheeks. He didn't even try to stop it as more followed. They just continued to fall, and he didn't think he had the energy to even try to stop them. Where was Gibbs? He needed him to come. He didn't know why, but he did.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Gibbs answered his phone on the second signal.
"Is this Mr. Gibbs?" a calm female voice said.
"Yeah. Who is this?"
"My name is Klara, and I'm a nurse…"
"What's wrong with Tony?" he interrupted her.
"He is doing okay at the moment, but he is asking for you." She answered.
"I'm there in a few minutes." He hung up and speeded up. He had known that something was up.
It took him 8 minutes to reach the hospital and find a parking space. He didn't bother to check in by the nurse's station, and instead went straight to Tony's room. He was not expecting what he found on the other side of the door.
Tony was laying there flat on his bed, his hands clasping the blanket. He was crying. Gibbs could see wet spots on his pillow. He was next to him in seconds, and grabbed his hand gently removing the blanket from it.
"Hey Tony, hey, what's wrong? Are you in pain?"
Tony turned against him and blinked a few times to clear his eyes from the tears.
"Where were you boss?" he asked, his voice breaking.
"Oh Tony. I went to the office for a while."
"But you said that you wouldn't leave…me."
Gibbs brought up a hand to Tony's face and stroked his hair back. He left his hand there.
"I should have told you that I was leaving." He said in a quiet voice.
"I didn't know where you were. I called for you." Tony whispered.
"I know Tony, I know. I'm here now."
"Yeah." Tony drew in a few breaths and nodded into the pillow. He pulled a bit at Gibbs hand, not sure himself why. He looked away and tried to calm down. But it didn't really work. He couldn't stop crying.
"Tony, are you in pain? Can you tell me what is going on?" Gibbs calmly asked.
"No," He whispered. "I just, I… You…" but he didn't know what else to say, so he closed his eyes and attempted to stop his sobs.
"Oh, DiNozzo…It's okay, it's okay…" Gibbs whispered as he continued to stroke Tony's head. He tried to sound as calm as he could. But he didn't feel calm at all. He had never seen Tony like this. And it scared him more than he thought was possible. He didn't seem to be in pain, but he did seem scared. He continued to whisper comforting words, hoping it would calm his agent down. Tony was holding his hand in a tight grip and had drawn both of their hands close to his chest. His sobs didn't stop for about ten minutes. All the while Gibbs kept his position, half kneeling next to the bed. In his rush to get to his agent, he hadn't had time to grab a chair. As the crying started to ebb away Gibbs removed his hand from stroking Tony's had and stood up. When he did so Tony's eyes flew open and searched Gibbs'.
"No, boss." He pleaded. "Don't."
"Don't what, DiNozzo?"
"Don't go."
"I'm not. Why don't you try to get some sleep."
"No. No I… I don't want to." His voice was stronger now, and he rubbed his face. He looked exhausted, his eyes red rimmed.
"I'm not going anywhere Tony." Gibbs tried to reassure him.
"Yeah, you said that before too." Tony looked him straight in the eye, and Gibbs felt a sting of guilt.
"I give you my word. I got your six DiNozzo. Now, go to sleep."
Tony looked like he was going to argue. But then he closed his eyes. Gibbs didn't move from where he was standing, still holding Tony's hand. Tony kept open his eyes now and then, as to reassure himself that Gibbs was still there. But eventually his breathing leveled out and he was asleep. Gibbs gently removed his hand and went over and got the chair and sat down, so that he would be in Tony's line of sight when he woke again. He lifted Tony's hand and put it back into his own. Then he waited.