A/N: I wish all chapters would flow as well as this one did. Thank you to all that reviewed the last chapter, and a special thank to Binglexjells for the beta'ing!
II
She awoke with pain shooting down the length of her arm and a scream trapped in her throat. Before she let the scream escape, though, her gaze fell on the tousled blond head resting on the mattress near her arm. With a faint snoring emitting from his open mouth, Tony was asleep. A red marker was still clutched in his right hand. He had forgotten to replace the lid, and as a result there was a jagged red line across one of his cheeks.
She wasn't alone.
The room was blanketed in shadows, a single table lamp offering the only illumination. The room's window was hidden behind annoyingly cheerful yellow drapes. Under the window Ducky and Ziva occupied a pair of chairs. Ducky's face was covered by his straw panama hat, and Ziva was using his shoulder as a pillow. In the opposite corner, Jimmy was also sleeping in a chair. He was slumped so far forward that he looked like he should tumble to the floor at any moment, but he somehow stayed in place. Not even his glasses moved from their precarious placement at the end of his nose.
The pain in her arm that had awoken her throbbed again. She squeezed Bert in reaction. No one stirred at the sound he released.
"You awake, Abby?" McGee asked in a whisper from where he stood in the doorway.
"Nope." Abby was careful to turn only her head as she looked to McGee. "I must be talking in my sleep."
"You don't talk in your sleep," McGee commented knowingly. He uncapped the water bottle he had just gotten out of the hallway vending machine and took a sip before offering it to Abby. "Water?"
"Thanks McGee. My throat is drier then the Sahara." McGee held the bottle to her lips so she could take a sip. The cool liquid was the best thing she ever remembered drinking. "I'll never take water for granted again."
"What do you mean?"
"It's not something you really think about, but after a couple of days of nothing it tastes even better then a Caf-pow!"
"Nothing? Watson didn't give you water or food while he had you?" Somehow that seemed even worse then the broken arm, the rope burns, the bruises.
"Yeah, he wasn't the best of hosts." She started to take another sip of the water, but the pain in her arm caused her to grimace and the water dribbled ineffectively down her chin.
"What's wrong?" McGee set down the bottle on the nightstand and reached for the light switch.
"Don't do that, Timmy. You'll wake everyone up."
"None of them would mind," he said, but to please her he didn't turn on the overhead light. "Are you in pain? Do you want me to get a doctor for you?"
"I don't need anything. The arm's just a little sore."
"Your arm is broken in two places. If the medication the doctor gave you earlier is wearing off it's going to be more then a little sore. Let me go get someone."
"I'm fine, McGee. I don't want to..."
"Don't want what, Abbs?" Like McGee, Gibbs stood framed in the doorway. He was holding a coffee cup instead of water, though, and had a closed cell phone in the other hand. He slipped the phone into his pocket as he stepped into the room and readdressed his question. "What is it that she is refusing, McGee?"
"I was offering to go find a nurse for her, boss. Her arm is hurting," he explained.
"Then what are you doing here? Go," Gibbs ordered.
"Really, guys..." Abby started to protest.
"Now, McGee." Gibbs ignored Abby until McGee left the room.
"There's no reason to bother a nurse, Gibbs."
"It's the nurse's job to be bothered. How much does the arm hurt?" he asked as he sat in the hard plastic chair next to her bed.
"Less then it did yesterday," was all that she would admit.
"Would that be more like when you cut your finger on the jagged edge of a computer micro thingy, or closer to being shot?"
"I've never been shot, but I'd say more of the first. It's kind of like what I imagine Tony's head feels like on days you are particularly frustrated with him."
Maybe he heard his name being mentioned, because Tony let out a particularly loud snore. He also moved his hand just enough to touch his cheek with the pen again, leaving a flattened circle next to the line already there.
"Only you, DiNozzo," Gibbs muttered as he took the pen out of the sleeping agent's hand.
"You should tell him when he wakes up," Abby suggested. "Before he tries to flirt with any of the nurses."
"No, I don't think I will."
"Your arm is hurting, Miss Sciuto the nurse asked as she entered the room. Abby made a face at the way the nurse mispronounced her name. Gibbs was watching her with a single brow raised, and she sighed.
"A little," she admitted. "And please call me Abby. Pretty much the only people who call me Sciuto are lawyers." And deranged kidnappers, but that was a subset of one and she certainly wasn't going to be the one to bring him up.
"According to your chart you were able to have another dose of pain killers as of half an hour ago." The nurse set down the tray she had been carrying.
"Then why wasn't anyone in here thirty minutes ago to give her something?" Gibbs asked harshly.
"Because this is a potent drug, and one that we don't want to use any more then necessary." Once she administered the medication, the nurse turned to face Gibbs. "Despite the stories I heard about you from my colleagues earlier today, I've bent the rules because I understand that you are all worried about your friend." She pointed to the sign hung on the wall that specified visiting hours that ended hours ago. "In return I would appreciate if you wouldn't question the way I do my job, one that I am very qualified for."
"Well she sure told you," Abby commented wryly once the nurse left the room.
"I guess she did." She had spoken exactly like he would have to anyone else. And she was right. "Does the arm feel better?"
"Yeah," she yawned. It might have been the pain medication or maybe not, but she didn't think she could stay awake any longer. "I'm going to take a nap, okay Gibbs? Don't let me sleep too long."
"I won't," Gibbs lied. He would let her sleep as long as her body allowed, and anyone who tried to wake her up would get more then a simple slap to the back of the head.
"Hey Gibbs?" Abby whispered a moment later. Her voice was faint and thick with sleep.
"What, Abbs?"
"When are they going to let me go home?" It wasn't so much that she had a dislike of the hospital, but she wanted to be in familiar surroundings again. The last few days had seemed an eternity.
"Soon." And that, he swore, was not a lie. He would get her out of here as soon as he could, and back to DC. Whether or not he'd let her return to her apartment, however, remained to be seen.