Deep Lacerations: Chapter 19
A/N: Most of this chapter is just filler (I wanted to show off some of my medical knowledge again :)). However, it does have hints of Tiva-finally! I've been trying to write it in for awhile, but it just didn't fit in anywhere until now. Don't worry, there's more to come :)
Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Officer Ziva David watched in silence as the ambulance sped away, sirens and horns blaring, telling the world to stay out of its way. Once it was out of sight, Gibbs turned to face the Mossad officer to find her still staring after that ambulance, her face a mask of anguish and despair. She's useless in this state, he thought, sighing internally. Had the situation not been so grim, he would have smiled at the observation: Ziva, who had been, by all accounts, as emotional as an automaton when he was hospitalized after being blown up, was now worried to distraction at her partner's state. Obviously, she cares more for DiNozzo than she does for me, he thought wryly, as if he didn't already know that.
He knew from the years that they had worked together that the best thing for David was to stay busy. "Ziva," he said gently, hoping to get her attention. Her eyes remained fixed on the turn in the road where they had lost sight of the ambulance. "Hey!" he yelled.
That finally worked. Her head snapped toward him, her eyes wide in alarm. "What?" she finally asked.
"I need you to get a car from Norfolk NCIS and get to the hospital. Keep an eye on DiNozzo and Gracy, and remind the doctors that they need to get to Bethesda as soon as they possibly can. The guy who did this to them is still out there, and I want to put as many miles between him and them as we can." He paused. "Tell the doctors that DiNozzo's had the plague. That should make them want to get rid of him."
She frowned slightly, not needing the reminder of Tony's past medical condition to compound the worry she already had. "Agent Gracy will remind them that they need to go to Bethesda, no? I do not see—." She stopped abruptly at the look on his face. "To the hospital. Got it. What will you be doing?"
"I'll work the scene with the team here while we wait for Ducky and Palmer to arrive," he informed her. "I'll meet the three of you at Bethesda when we're done." He stressed the words three of you, letting her know that he wasn't giving up on DiNozzo, and she shouldn't either.
Her frown deepened. "I should stay here and help—"
"You should do what I tell you, Officer David," he interrupted forcefully. "It wasn't a request."
"I will go," she said with a nod, turning and walking away. Gibbs shivered with a sudden chill, a reminder that Gracy had his jacket, leaving him out in the frozen weather with only a long-sleeved shirt. He shivered again, this time at the memory of how blue-gray her skin had been, the frozen strands of hair, and the violent chattering of teeth that jumbled everything she said. He found himself hoping fervently that her impulse to save DiNozzo's life hadn't cost her her own.
Special Agent Sonja Gracy groaned at the pain behind her eyes. "Verletzt," she moaned.
"It speaks," an amused voice said from beside her. She opened her eyes, ignoring the shooting pain of the bright lights. It took a moment before she was able to register the face of a man standing over her, his expression kind and almost relieved. "We were wondering when you'd come to."
"Wo—," she began, then stopped herself, switching languages. "Where am I?" All she knew was that she was very, very cold, and seemed to be strapped to a table. At least, she couldn't move her arms or legs, so she hoped she was strapped to a table, and not completely paralyzed.
"Somewhere between Norfolk and Bethesda," the man, whom she could now see was wearing a flight suit, replied. She could make out the dull roar of the helicopter as her head began to clear. "We were told, rather insistently, that that's where you need to be."
"The docks," she said, remembering. She frowned; she remembered being at the docks, but couldn't remember why she was there or what she was doing. There had been a body, and she had been called to examine it—no, that wasn't right. She wasn't a medical examiner anymore, was she? And how did she get from looking at a body to shivering in a helicopter?
If the flight nurse had noticed her confusion, he gave no indication. "You decided to take a little swim. Never a good idea in Virginia in January, and especially not in the middle of a record cold spell." He paused for a second as he studied her vitals. "You said it hurts?"
She frowned, trying to remember what language she had said that in before she realized she didn't care. "My head," she explained.
"I can give you more morphine."
She shook her head as best she could. "No opiates. Respiratory depression. Not a good idea with hypothermia." Hypothermia? Was that her problem? Well, it certainly explained how cold she was. She glanced around her surroundings, seeing how well-stocked the helicopter was. "Caffeine?"
The flight nurse chuckled. "Sorry, our coffee machine broke," he said with a smile before shaking his head. "No IV caffeine, either."
"Tramadol?" It had been awhile since she had done any clinical medicine, but she seemed to remember that that could be used for headaches.
"Coming right up." He drew up the medication, injecting it into her IV. She lapsed into silence, knowing it'll still be at least a couple of minutes before she felt the effects. She frowned, some of the details of what she was doing on the Norfolk docks still a bit hazy, but coming. She was pretty sure it involved Agent DiNozzo, but she couldn't remember how or why. "Tony?"
"Agent DiNozzo is right here," he replied, gesturing toward the second bed in the cramped helicopter. She frowned at the shiny silver covering over his body before realizing she was similarly attired. She could also feel what seemed to be heating pads against her skin, under the silver blanket, removing any doubt in her mind that she was hypothermic.
"In the Army, we use body bags," she said, aware after the words left her mouth what it sounded like she was saying. The nurse frowned.
"He's not dead," he explained. "And I hear that that's thanks to you."
"I meant, to keep casualties warm," she said, ignoring the second part of his statement. She didn't know what he meant, and didn't want to dwell on it. "Body bags don't breathe. Zip them up to here," she gestured to her chin, "and it conserves body heat."
"We do that in the Navy, too," he replied. She squinted slightly at him, finally making out that he was wearing a Navy flight suit. "But usually for battlefield casualties. We're better equipped here."
She nodded slightly, pleased to realize that it didn't cause the same waves of pain. She glanced down at the IV in her arm, her eyes following the tubing up to a bag of saline. "Warm saline?" she asked.
"I think it's your sixth or seventh liter," he replied with a nod. "You also had a warm peritoneal lavage at the hospital, and in addition to our stylish blankets, you're also surrounded by heating pads. We're not equipped for Bair huggers here, but I imagine they'll put you back in one when we get to Bethesda."
She nodded again, her eyes travelling over to Agent DiNozzo. "How is he?" she managed, almost afraid for the answer.
"He's stable," the nurse said with a nod. "He has a concussion and fracture of the transverse process of C4. He also inhaled some of the pristine Norfolk water before you got him out, so he's having some respiratory distress, but he is breathing on his own. We have him on a non-rebreather now, as well as antibiotics for the pneumonia that's likely to follow. The docs back in Norfolk were going to do a warm bronchial lavage, but Officer David was insistent that it could wait until he got to Bethesda."
Gracy smiled slightly at the thought of an 'insistent' Ziva. She had probably threatened the hospital staff with their lives if they didn't transfer the two agents immediately. "Insistent?" she echoed.
The nurse nodded with a grin and nodded toward the cockpit. "She was also 'insistent' that she ride shotgun on the trip. She's been asking for an update every five minutes." He paused and pointed at his headset. "There she is now," he said with a grin. He positioned his microphone in front of his mouth before reporting that Gracy was awake and talking and DiNozzo was still stable, but unconscious. He paused, nodding slightly before turning his attention back to Gracy.
"We're about three minutes from the hospital," he told her. "Just so you know what'll be going on, they're going to take care of Agent DiNozzo first and get him into the trauma bay before they get you. Everything's going to be happening pretty quickly."
She nodded, slightly amused. "I went to medical school, remember? I know how things work in a trauma." She made a face. "God. Incompetent med students again. This will be less than fun." He grinned at her attempt at humor before returning his attention to DiNozzo, getting him ready for the medical teams that would follow.
As promised, everything went very quickly as soon as the helicopter touched down on the roof of National Naval Medical Center, giving Gracy little time to do anything but blink before she found herself in a trauma bay, surrounded by shouted commands coming from every direction. When she heard an intern tell a medical student to get ready to start a second IV, she finally put her foot down.
"Stop!" she said, getting the attention of everyone in the room. "I want a nurse to put in the IV. I'm a doctor, so I know how med students do IVs—no offense—and I am not in the mood to be anybody's damned pincushion. I'll let you do the most complete history and physical you've ever done, just…don't practice procedures on me. And I don't need a Foley catheter, either, so don't even think about it." She turned to glare at another intern, who sheepishly replaced the Foley kit in the cupboard. "Now, will somebody give me some caffeine for this damned headache?"