A/N: Much thanks to apiratescrime for the betaing and the suggestions. This chapter contains one of Tony's movie allusions. Virtual cookies if you know what movie it is.

II

"I'll go get Watson so you can stay with Abby," Tony offered as he opened the back car door.

"No need." Gibbs gently set Abby on the seat and closed the door before walking around to the opposite side of the car. "He's dead."

"Dead? What-" As angry as he was, Tony knew that Gibbs wouldn't have shot an unconscious man. Something must have happened in the cabin after he left.

"Later, DiNozzo; now you need to drive." Gibbs let himself into the back seat so that he could sit next to Abby. Weighing the risks of hurting her arm further against not wearing a seat belt, he reluctantly fastened it around her. She moaned slightly but didn't wake up.

"Sure thing, Boss." With one last glance at the cabin, Tony started the engine of the car and started down the mountain. Getting help for Abby took precedence over everything else.

Gibbs knew that his first call should be to the director, to let her know to send another team to secure the crime scene and send a truck for Watson's body. She would be angry if she knew that he called other people first. He didn't give a damn. His team had been going through hell during the past days, and relieving their worries would be worth whatever lecture he had to sit though from Jen.

"We've got her," he stated simply when McGee answered his phone.

"Is she okay?" It was almost a plea, as if Abby's safety was up to Gibbs.

"We're taking her to the hospital now. The sooner you get there, the sooner you can see for yourself how she is." Gibbs half answered. He knew that McGee wouldn't be satisfied with that. "She's going to be okay," he added.

"We'll meet you there," McGee said. Once he hung up McGee snatched the keys out of Ziva's hand and jogged to the car.

II

"Autopsy," Ducky said as he answered the phone.

"It's me Duck."

"Thank God, Gibbs. I've been waiting for your call. For the past hour I've been pacing, and I'm afraid Mr. Palmer's nerves are rather frazzled. We haven't even had a body to work on to take our mind off the waiting." He had sent Palmer off twenty minutes ago on a made up excuse, just to give the young man something to do.

"You'll have your body in a little while," Gibbs commented sardonically.

"Please," Ducky gasped, "tell me it's not-"

"It's not Abby," Gibbs reassured quickly. He hadn't meant to scare Ducky. "It's Watson."

"You killed him." It wasn't a question, because Ducky had no doubt. The only emotion he felt in connection to Watson's death was relief. "Now what about our Abigail?"

II

Tony pulled the car alongside the red painted curb, not caring about tickets or the paperwork involved if his government issued car got towed. All that mattered was that it was the closest he could get to the emergency room door without parking on the sidewalk. He had actually considered the sidewalk, but decided that the extra few feet wouldn't help any.

"I need a doctor here," Tony yelled into the deserted hospital lobby as he held the door open for Gibbs. It was a small hospital and he had been tempted to drive past it and head for D.C. where they had nationally recognized care centers. When he made the suggestion, however, Gibbs just glared at him.

"Now," he shouted when no one appeared immediately.

"Can I help you?" A nurse in a white uniform entered the room, moving slower then Tony liked.

"We need help. My friend, she needs help." He nodded towards Abby, who was cradled in Gibbs' arms.

Gibbs, however, was not nearly as polite as Tony. "If I don't see a doctor in sixty seconds there will be hell to pay." Carrying Abby past the nurse he used his foot to kick open the doors that lead from the waiting room and into the treatment area. The bed closest to the door was empty, and with a tenderness few would believe he was capable of Gibbs laid Abby down.

"Sir, you can't just come barging in here." The nurse from the waiting room chased after him.

"I can and I did. Now where's my doctor?"

"I'm Dr. Holmes." He was wearing a lab coat and had a stethoscope around his neck, but Gibbs didn't like how young he was. Younger then Tony, younger then McGee. Too young to have the knowledge and experience that Gibbs expected of someone he would trust with one of his team. With Abby.

"Not a med student," Gibbs glared at the nurse. "I said I wanted a damn doctor."

"I assure you that I am a fully qualified doctor." The young man looked straight at Gibbs, his gaze not wavering, and Gibbs relented.

"Alright then," Gibbs said. "Now fix her."

As the doctor began his examination the nurse tried to catch Gibbs attention. "I need you to answer some questions, sir. You'll have to come with me."

"No," Gibbs stated, his eyes never leaving Abby.

"I have to insist. There are forms that need to be filled out, and you can't be back here anyway."

"I'm not leaving here until I can take Abby with me." He crossed his arms and took a step backwards so that his back was to the wall. He didn't lean on it for support, though.

"If you don't go out to the waiting room I am going to have to call security and have them escort you out of the hospital." As the head nurse she was used to having her orders obeyed by staff and patients alike. She wasn't about to let anyone flaunt her rules, especially not this silver haired stranger in wrinkled slacks and a dirty polo shirt.

"They can try, but I don't think they'll succeed. The last man who decided to take me on wound up dead."

She couldn't decide if he was serious or not, but wasn't about to risk finding out. She pursed her lips as she turned and left the room. She would have to see if the younger man that had accompanied the injured woman had any answers.

II

Tony hated hospitals. Every time he walked into one he was reminded of a time he desperately tried to forget. His lungs felt constricted as he remembered what it was to fight for every breath, knowing that each one might be his last. Even more painful he remembers Kate being with him, rolling her eyes at his movie references, groaning when he flirted with their nurse, lying to him about being sick too so that he wouldn't be alone. He left that hospital as soon as he could, and returned to work sooner then he should have.

This was different, he lectured himself as he paced the length of the waiting room. Abby wasn't dying, she was far from dead. She wasn't in danger anymore, he and Gibbs had seen to that. The doctors would patch her up and they would take her back to D.C. where she could recover. She'd probably insist on coming back to work as soon as possible. McGee would hover and Ducky would lecture her about her health and Gibbs would bring her Caf-Pows and insist on walking her to her car at the end of every day. Everything would return to normal, or as close to normal as their lives ever were. But first they had to get out of this stupid hospital. He hated hospitals.

"Tony, where is she?" McGee ran through the door, heading straight for Tony. He was breathing hard, and Tony wondered how far away he had parked. He knew without question that Probie would never park in the red zone like he had. Now if Ziva had been driving she would have parked over the red line.

"If you were that anxious to get here, McGee, you should have let me drive." Ziva joined the other two agents in the waiting room.

"He was probably trying to make sure he arrived as a visitor, not a patient." Tony grinned at Ziva when she glared at him. She would have yelled at him for the insult, if they had been anywhere else.

"Where is Abby?" McGee repeated his unanswered question.

"Back there," Tony said as he gestured at the door at the opposite end of the room.

"Okay, let's go." McGee started across the room. Tony shook his head.

"Not going to happen Probie. She'll never let you in there."

"Who?" Brows furrowed, McGee looked from the door to Tony.

"Nurse Ratched. I've already tried everything I can think of, and she won't let me in there. I even tried flirting with her and that didn't work."

"What, there's a woman who can resist your charms? I almost find that hard to believe." Ziva settled in a chair, picked up an outdated magazine, and propped her feet up on the table in front of her.

"But where is Gibbs then? I mean, if they aren't letting anyone in there, then shouldn't he be out here?"

"Oh, Gibbs is in there with Abby. The man is used to ignoring the orders of entire government agencies, do you really think hospital policy would keep him out?" From the look on his face when he carried Abby out of the cabin, Tony would have to say that nothing short if Satan himself would keep Gibbs from being with Abby right now.

"So what do we do then?" McGee unknowingly took over Tony's former activity, pacing the room from one end of the room to the other.

"It's a waiting room," Tony answered as he sat on the chair next to Ziva. "So we wait."