Chapter 10

Even if it was late at night and he had tried his best to fall asleep, Gibbs had a hard time doing so as he was haunted by the same nightmare over and over again: His daughter died right in the hospital and there was nothing that he could do about it. Of course it didn't go by Hollis unnotice, how Jethro had kept on tossing and turning in bed before he was now just blankly staring at the ceiling as he kept fighting with his nightmare. Of course she was pretty tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep right now, but she also knew that he needed her emotional support at this moment more than ever: „Hey, what's bothering so much at this later hour. I really want know, because I stand it to see you this upset about anything and you know that you can tell me everything."

He couldn't but feel already sorry at this point that he was keeping Hollis awake at this late hour, knowing very well that she wanted nothing more than to sleep after this stressful day but after a short sigh he finally replied: „I'm really sorry for keeping you awake this late darling, but I keep having this nightmare that I'm losing my daughter for real this time around and there's nothing that I can do about it." Looking right into his eyes it was easy to notice, how sad he was about the fact that the medical condition of his daughter was still critical and it was unsure if she would pull through at the very end. Before she started to speak, she gently stroke his right cheek with one part of her right hand, knowing that he kind of needed this gesture at this moment:

„You don't have to apologize for anything Jethro, of course I won't pretend that I know anything about the special bond that you and your daughter have shared all over the years but I can imagine how difficult this whole situation must be for you.

Trust me when I say that Kelly is going to fight through this, you're not going to lose her for real this time around." Gibbs was thankful for those kind words and instead of saying in return right away, he planted one short kiss on her forehead before he replied:

„I appreciate the little pep talk Hollis and I can't even describe it in the right words to say how much they mean to me." He was was touched by her words that he even had to swallow down a lumb, that had been building up right in his throat and was definitely something that had been happening rarely in the past.

Noticing how much Jethro fought with his emotions, she couldn't help but envelop him into a tight hug even it felt a little bit weird to her at first that the roles were reversed at this situation. With her thumb she quickly wiped away one tear, which threatened to run down her right cheek as she was so touched herself by Gibbs unusal display of emotion and that was definitely still something that she needed to get used to.

For Gibbs it had been so hard to accept this new side of him, but at last he was able to welcome this change instead of trying to hide it from everbody in his presence and of course he knew all too well how weird „The new Gibbs" had to be for everybody.

Meanwhile back at the hospital, an alarm went off which signaled that the heart rate of Kelly Gibbs was dropping down to a critical rate. „Call Doctor Michaels and tell her about the current condition of the paitent getting worse." One of the nurses called to another one, while she was busy with beginning the reanimation process and she couldn't help but think at that moment: You have to fight through this, you're way too young to die and I hope you hear me now. She kept on looking at the monitor on the left side of the hospital, trying her best not to get too much frustated even there was still no change in her condition after a couple of minutes.

A few minutes later Doctor Michaels came rushing through the door, he gave another nurse the order to make the defibrilator ready to use as it seems that they urgently needed it at this moment. The nurse loaded the defibrilator for the first shock, but it was no use nothing changed in her condition and so she ordered to give her two shocks to her heart.

All of the present medical personell was relieved a lot as their patient's heart rate finally returned to a normal level and so Doctor Michaels finally said: „Good everybody, keep an very close eye on her heart rate for the rest of the night and let's just hope that she makes it through the night without anymore incidents."

It had taken quite a while but then Gibbs had finally been able to close his eyes , of course he didn't have to be at work tomorrow as Vance had given him some time off and also the rest of his colleagues at work had offered him so much emotinal support. Knowing that his team had been left in good hands with Tony being in charge while he was away, even with the whole emotional rollercoaster he had been on he could fall asleep with a little smile on his face.

The next day Gibbs and Hollis were back at the hospital and he couldn't help but be kind of unsure how to feel: Sad because there apparently hadn't been any change in his daughter's condition or relieved of the fact, that she still seemed to be stable without any problems at first sight? His thoughts were interrupted by Doctor Michaels entering the room and Gibbs could tell by the look on her face that she didn't have any good news to report to him:

„Mister Gibbs, the good news is that your daughter's medical condition looks really good right now but she also gave us some reason of concern after her heart rate dropped down to a dangerous level."

„When will you'll be sure that her heart won't be of anymore concern?" Gibbs asked, of course being aware of fact that he couldn't expect any wonders concering the medical progrnosis but he didn't like one bit what he was hearing right now and all he wanted at that moment was:

To know when his daughter would finally be okay, as that was all that mattered.

„I'm going to honest with you Mister Gibbs when I say that I can't give you any guarentees concering the condition of your daughter's heart, but I think that we can be a little bit more sure that her heart won't be of anymore concern when we keep her here for one more day."

AN: Thanks to- nourseholly for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, adding it to her/his author alert subscription and it to her/his favorite stories list,Thanks to- water tribe girl for reviewing this story. Please read and review