They all sat around the waiting room, crying and holding each other, praying that somehow it would make everything with Kate okay. Tonya had been an uncontrollable fit of sobs since she had heard that news and Abby sat silently, wiping the occassional tear from her cheek. As for Tony, he sat stone faced in the corner. He was no longer crying; it was as if his entire body had went numb.
"Tony," Gibbs said, walking over to him with two cups of coffee. "Here." He handed one to him. "How are you holding up?"
"Thanks," Tony replied, taking the steaming cup. "As to how I am, I just wish that someone whould let me know what is going on. This whole thing just seems so... unreal." He took a deep sigh, trying not to show that pain and worry he felt inside. "I have to go do something." He stood up and began to walk towards the receptionist.
"DiNozzo," Gibbs called. Tony stopped and turned around to face his boss. Shockingly, Gibbs grabbed ahold of Tony and gave him a reassuring hug. It wasn't a normal Gibbs gesture, but after a few seconds of being stiff, Tony just broke down.
Gibbs knew how hard this was for his Senior Field Agent. He'd lost his wife before... and his only child. He just prayed that Tony wouldn't have to go through the same terrible thing. "She'll be okay," Gibbs reassured him, although he honestly was not sure. He had no idea what Kate's condition was or even if the ba...
Someone cleared their throat behind them and everyone turned to see the doctor standing there.
"What's going on? What happened? Is Kate..." Tony quickly spit out tons of questions. "Please tell me she is going to be okay."
"Caitlin had what is known as a uterine inversion," the doctor started. "It is a very dangerous complication that only about 85 percent of women survive. In uterine inversion, the placenta pulls the uterus out of the body, sometimes completely."
"Is that what happened to Kate?" Abby asked.
"You didn't answer my question," Tony said angrily.
"Hers was pretty serious. Abdominal surgery had to be performed. Sometimes... something like this cannot be forseen. Luckily for Caitlin, we noticed that her blood pressure had dropped. If it hadn't, we may have been to late."
"So she's okay," Tonya said. "Thank you Lord."
"Is there something we did..." Tony stated.
"No, this is..."
"I mean, what did we do? First there was the car accident. Then Kate started bleeding and it turns out, we lost one of the babies. Now this. We've never... she's never done anything wrong. She doesn't deserve this."
"Mr. DiNozzo, these things just happen. This was no fault of your own," the doctor informed Tony.
"Then why? Why did this happen?" Robert asked, wanting to understand as much his son-in-law did.
"We believe it is because the placenta was to deeply attatched tot he wall of Caitlin's uterus. Like I said, these things are difficult to predict. All we can do is hope that we catch them in time. Sometimes even then, it is too late."
"How's our baby?" Tony asked, snapping out of the trance-like state he was in. He felt horrible because he had been so worried about Kate and the baby had barely been on his mind at all. "Is she okay?"
"She is just fine. The child involved rarely has any problems. Would you like to go see her?"
"No." Tony paused. "I mean yes, but I want Kate and I to see her together."
"That may take a little while. Caitlin is most likely still out from the surgery, but you can go wait in her room if you would like."
Tony kissed Kate's fingertips and her eyes fluttered open. She looked both tired and scared. Immediately when her eyes locked with his, she began to cry.
"I am so sorry," she whimpered. "I should've..."
"Hey, its okay. You didn't do anything wrong. Everything is fine, " Tony whispered into her hair. He held her close for a long time before there was a knock at the door and a nurse walked in with their baby wrapped up in her arms.
"Say hello to Baby Girl DiNozzo," the nurse said.
Tony held out his arms and the nurse gently placed the baby in the nook of his elbow.
"She's so beautiful," Kate smiled, rubbing her fingers across their baby's hand. "She has your eyes."
"And your lips," Tony replied.
"Have you thought of a name for her yet?" the nurse questioned.
"We've talked about it," Tony said. "We were thinking about Lily."
"Now that I see her. I don't really think she looks much like a Lily," Kate uttered quietly.
"I never understand when people say that. How do you know what a Lily looks like?"
"Because," Kate said, with a tired yet happy expression on her face. "I got a thousand of them as an engagement present."
"Glad to see that the surgery didn't tamper with your wit."
The NCIS team came into Kate's room after both Kate and Tony's parents had left.
"She looks a lot more like Kate than she does Tony," McGee stated. "No offense or anything DiNozzo."
"None taken... McGeek. But she does have my eyes," Tony bragged, winking at Kate.
"You want to hold her Gibbs?" Kate asked.
"I don't know. Babies never..."
"Go on Gibbs," Tony argued, placing the baby in his arms.
"She's... gorgeous," Gibbs said, stunned by how something so small could be so amazing. "You are one lucky little girl. You have two of the greatest people in the world for parents." A small tear twinkled in the corner of his eye, but no one dared acknowledge it. They all knew the joy... and the pain that was pulsing through his veins. Tony almost felt guilty that his daughter was alive and Gibbs' wasn't. "It looks like she is going to have curly hair," Gibbs said, ignoring everyone's stares and the lump that was building in his throat.
"Like her mother," Tony said.
"Does she have a name yet?" McGee questioned.
"She does actually," Kate replied. "Everyone, meet Lucy Abigail DiNozzo."
Abby's face lit up and she felt herself swell with pride. "Abigail?"
"Yeah," Tony smiled. "Abigail."
"I wanted to name her Lucy, after Saint Lucy... a woman who was extremely brave and had so much faith. And Abigail... another brave woman, who I love more than anything," Kate explained, her voice growing quieter with every word. Her body felt tired and drained.
Abby walked over to her best friend and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. "I love you Kate," she said, with tears in her eyes.
"I love you too Abbs. More than you know," she replied with a smile.
"I think I do know just how much," Abby said, rubbing Kate's hand then taking a few steps towards Gibbs. "Can I hold her?"
Gibbs carefully placed Lucy in Abby's outstretched arms and laughed slightly as the baby let her eyes flutter open like Kate's usually did when she first woke up.
"Hi Lucy. I'm your Aunt Abby and this is... well everyone. Welcome to the team..."
THE END
Chapter Title- I titled this chapter "See No Evil" because St. Lucy could see w/o eyes (kinda creepy) but she was considered the leader of the blind. Plus, in the beginning everything is screwed up and then in the end, it's really not. It's kinda like there is no evil because they no longer see it. Trust me, it all made sense to me.
After what someone informed me was almost two years (which left me dumbfounded), I have finally finished Torn Into Pieces. I hope that you all enjoyed reading it, just as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for all your support, tears and reviews throughout this long journey. I love you guys and be prepared for a sequel to this which I am writing now. Not really sure when exactly it will be up, but I'll try.
LOVE... Ashes