Chapter 16.

As soon as Ducky saw that Tony's body went lax on the bed beside him he urgently reached for the call button. He found himself pressing it not just once but several times. Time was now of the essence.

"Duck, what's going on? What just happened?" Gibbs asked, and both he and Abby stood up worriedly.

"We need to get a doctor in here for him right now." Ducky said calmly, he tried to not let his worries for their young friend show. He was just about to walk around Anthony's bed to go and find a doctor himself when a nurse showed up in the doorway.

"What seems to be the problem in here?" she asked.

"He woke up shortly, was confused and complained of tightness in his chest before he lost consciousness again." Ducky quickly explained.

"I will get the doctor right away." she disappeared out the door and they could hear her running steps fading in the hallway.

"Duck!" Gibbs demanded.

"Not to worry Jethro. I'm sure everything is going to be perfectly alright with Anthony. I'm just concerned this might be related to his heart."

"His heart? What do you mean?" Gibbs was holding and arm around Abby whose eyes were filled with tears.

"We will have to let the professionals do their jobs now."

Just as he said that the Tony's doctor and two nurses entered the room.

"Excuse me, you will have to leave right now!" The doctor ordered them as they went up to Tony's bed. "Now!" He yelled when neither of them made to move.

"Come on, Jethro, Abigail." Ducky ushered the other two out of the door. He took Abby's hand and made sure that Gibbs reluctantly followed them. They stopped outside the closed door and had to step out of the way as suddenly two more doctors pushed pass them into Tony's room.

"Damnit DiNozzo!" Gibbs swore as he stared at the closed door.

"Let's go and sit down. Come on Abigail." He led her to a bench that was close enough that they still could see the door. She followed him without a word and sat down beside him. Gibbs soon followed and sank down on the other side of Abby.

"What happened Ducky?" Gibbs asked. "What's wrong with his heart?"

"Now, we don't know that there is something wrong with his heart at all Jethro. Hopefully the sudden loss of conscious was caused by exhaustion."

"But that's not what you think." Gibbs said.

"Unfortunately no, but there is no point in speculating." He motioned towards Abby that had her hands tightly clasped over her mouth.

"Hey Abs, don't worry." Gibbs told her gently. "Tony will be fine."

"But he has already been through so much Gibbs. And you saw him, he didn't even know where he was. And you know that is never a good sign, and now Ducky says it's his heart. And did you see the way they all ran inside there!"

"Abby calm down."

"But…but…" She stopped when Gibbs drew her in for a hug. "I just want him to be okay Gibbs."

"I know." He whispered. "Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"What we can do now is to wait Jethro." Ducky answered.

- NCIS -

Gibbs did not like to wait. He was not very good at it either. He couldn't stop himself from feeling a misdirected anger towards DiNozzo. He rationally knew that this was not Tony's fault in anyway. But he was making him worry and Abby cry. And now he was making them all wait again. They were just sitting there on the bench in a corridor watching as the medical personal went in and out of Tony's room. Every time the door opened he tried to catch an eye of the person that was stepping out, but so far no one had acknowledge him. If Abby hadn't been there, and also maybe if Ducky wasn't there he would have stormed in to the room and demanded answers. But he thought that it might scare Abby even more if he did so, so he remained where he was, an arm around her shoulders.

Ducky had tried to get some information from the medical personal but had been advised to just wait until they had time to inform them, and not continue to taking up their time that could be spent on helping Tony. So waited they did, even though Gibbs was about ready to explode when a doctor finally approached them. He had to stop himself from snapping at the man before he even had time to open his mouth.

"I understand you are all here for Mr. DiNozzo." He started but hurried to continue as he saw their glances. "I want to let you know that Mr. DiNozzo is stable at the moment. We believe that he had some sort of allergic reaction or side effect of the medication he has been given."

"Not from the poison?" Gibbs interrupted.

"Well, we believe that is not entirely the case here. He has been given some substances to act as a counter agent towards the poison he ingested, and we believe that it was a mixture between the two that is what caused a reaction from his heart. It wasn't able to pump around enough oxygen which caused him to fall into unconsciousness."

After that Ducky and Tony's doctor launched into a debate about possible complications, which medication that may have caused his current condition, if they should have to worry about other side effects. Gibbs didn't really listen after the doctor had assured them that Tony would be okay. It was just a small set back. As they hadn't had enough of those by now. Gibbs wondered if it was always this complicated with this sort of poison or if it just was that DiNozzo had a weird reaction to all sort of medications or poisons or whatever. It wouldn't surprise him if it was.

"When will he wake up?" Abby asked, and he started to listen to the conversation again.

"Probably within the next few hours. You can sit with him again if you like. We are monitoring him closely now, and waiting for his test results to show us closer what's going on now."

A few minutes later they were all aloud back into Tony's room. Gibbs noticed that the man was connected to more medical things than before, but he seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

– NCIS –

True to the doctors words Tony did wake up a few hours later. At first he was confused again.

"Where are we again?" He asked and looked around the room. "Hospital right?" He said before anyone could answer. "What happened?"

"You were poisoned my dear boy." Ducky calmly answered him, and they all watched as Tony's eye widened in surprise.

"Don't you remember Tony? The water bottle? That crazy lady?" Abby asked. Tony looked dazedly at her for a while before he nodded.

"Yeah sure… The crazy lady, sounds about right." Gibbs was not convinced that he remembered.

"You okay DiNozzo?" He asked. He watched as his agent struggled to focus his gaze at him, it took so long that he seemed to have forgotten the question he was asked at first, but then he answered.

"Sure boss. Everything is good." He suddenly looked towards the door, so hastily that they all followed his glance, nothing was there. "I think." He added.

Gibbs could see how Tony's hands grabbed on to the cover and he tensed in the bed.

"What's going on?" He asked them, and looked between them.

"Oh my god Tony, are you sure you are feeling okay? Are you hurting somewhere? Do you know what day it is? Who is the president?" Abby asked him and reached out for his hand. He just stared blankly at her, until she gasped and turned to Ducky.

"Oh my god he doesn't understand me!"

"Abby calm down." Gibbs stopped her. "You just asked him a thousand questions."

"Oh right," she looked relieved. "Answer one at the time." She added and turned back to Tony.

"Which one?" He said.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. I think I already answered that though. Pick something else Abby."

"Are you in pain?"

"Not really."

"Do you feel confused or something?"

"Why do you get to ask all the questions?" Tony asked her instead of answering. "What's going on with me Ducky?" he turned to look at the medical examiner.

"You will be alright my boy. You just have to stay here for a few nights until that poison is entirely out of your system, and until your doctors are sure that you don't develop any after secondary side effects."

"Eh…okay. So when can I go home?"

"Ducky just told you DiNozzo." Gibbs interrupted him. "In a few days."

"Oh…" He quieted down and closed his eyes for a few moments. He shocked them all a little when he exclaimed that he wanted to go home now. "I don't want to stay here boss." He whined.

Gibbs observed him for a while. He seemed to be serious in his whining. Tony's eyes kept flickering around the room nervously, and he seemed to have a bit of trouble with focus his attention on any of them for a longer period of time. He knew that Tony never liked hospitals, but right now this was probably the best place for him to be.

"I know Tony." He said gently. He was a bit surprised that Tony didn't react of the tone, normally he didn't like when Gibbs used his what Tony called nice voice on him, but now he didn't seemed to mind. "You will have to stay a while anyway."

"No…" Tony whispered and didn't look at any of them, instead he stared at his hands.

"Oh Tony. Don't be upset. It will be okay." Abby comforted him and took his hand in hers. He squeezed hers back and nodded his head multiple times.

"Okay…Okay..." he said.

Ducky stood up next to the bed.

"Why don't we let you get some more rest Anthony? You sure need it."

"What!" Tony exclaimed. "No, I don't need it. I'm fine. I'm not going to sleep." He squeezed Abby's hand harder, making her look up at Gibbs with a sad face.

– NCIS –

They were thinking about leaving now it seemed. He didn't really know why, but he really didn't want them to leave. Not just yet. He had just woken up! He held on to Abby's hand harder to make her understand. And apparently she did, because she squeezed back.

"We are not going anywhere Tony." She said and leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

He nodded towards her. That was good. They were staying.

"Well, I'm going to go and have another chat with you doctor. Can I bring any one of you something back?" Ducky asked.

"Coffee." Gibbs said and leaned back in his chair. Tony didn't want anything. He wasn't hungry at all, which was weird. He was always hungry.

"Anthony? Do you want something?" Ducky asked him. He slowly shock his head. The next thing he knew Ducky wasn't there anymore.

It was like things were happening in super speed and he was to slow to follow what was going on. For example, he knew that Abby was talking next to him, but it was really hard for him to actually concentrate on what she were saying. That was a strange feeling he decided, and he made an attempt to really concentrate.

"Are you even listing Tony?" Abby was saying.

"Yes I am Abby." He said, it was true. He was listening, now at least.

"What was the last thing I said?"

"Are you listening Tony?"

She punched him on the arm then, pretty hard. He was surprised and looked up at her. Why was she doing that? Why would she punch him when he just answered her question truthfully? He wasn't even joking now, like normally would. She most have noticed something in his expression because suddenly she was apologizing to him. He felt unsure why.

"Tony? Are you okay?"

They kept asking him that. He was okay, but Abby looked really sad right now. Why was she sad all of a sudden? Was it his fault? What had he done? He really tried to figure it out, but he couldn't.

"What's wrong Abby?" He asked her. "Why are you sad?"

She looked for a long time at him, and then stroked his cheek. She smiled down at him.

"I'm not sad Tony, I promise. I'm just worried about you."

"Why? I'm fine. I told you."

"Yeah I know, don't worry. Everything is okay."

"No, but you look sad. You still do. What's going on? Boss what is happening?" He looked over at Gibbs that was sitting close to his bed behind Abby.

"Listen to Abby Tony. Everything is okay." Gibbs told him.

"But I am! I am listening, but it was wrong."

"What is wrong?" Gibbs said.

"I told her and she punched me." He exclaimed. As soon as he said that Abby gasped and put her hands over her mouth as she stood up from his bed.

"Oh Tony…" She whispered. "I'm sorry." Tears started to run down her cheeks then and Tony felt as he wanted to cry too. He made her cry! And he didn't even know why she was so upset. They just said that everything was okay. Why was she crying then? He didn't understand, but somewhere in his mind he had a feeling that he should. He didn't know what to do now.

"Abby…I'm sorry. Don't cry. I'm sorry. Whatever I did I'm sorry." He told her and tried to reach out for her, but she was backing away a bit. Gibbs had stood up as well. Tony couldn't read his expression.

"Abby. Why don't you go and see where Ducky is?" Gibbs said, and Abby just nodded and with a last look at Tony she left the room. She looked devastated. When the door closed behind here Tony and Gibbs where alone in his hospital room.

"Boss... I'm sorry." He whispered before he could stop himself. "I don't know what I did wrong."

"Tony, you need to calm down." It was then he noticed that he was almost hyperventilating. He felt so confused. He had made Abby cry and leave the room, was Gibbs going to yell at him now. Was he mad? Gibbs just stood there now next to his bed and looked at him.

"Boss?"

"Just relax DiNozzo."

"But I…"

"It's not your fault."

"Then was she upset? What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything. Stop worrying."

"What about..."

"What did I just say DiNozzo?"

He closed his mouth and tried to do what Gibbs told him. Relax and stop worrying. But it was hard. He felt so confused.

Gibbs dragged his chair closer to the bed and sat down on it. He didn't say anything, but put his hand on Tony's shoulder and left it there. Tony looked up at him, and Gibbs smiled a bit at him. He decided that maybe he could relax a bit after all. He hadn't realized how tired he was. He was asleep minutes later.

– NCIS –

Hi guys! I thought it was time for an update for this story! I hope you like it. I also want to point out that I have just made up the medical stuff for the sake of the story.