Doctor Mallard had just woken up and was about to make himself some breakfast before heading to the Navy Yard when his phone rang. Seeing Gibbs' name on the screen he sighed as he realized that once again he probably wouldn't be able to have a decent, healthy meal.
"Good morning, Jethro. Where is our newest crime scene and how fast should I be there?"
"I need you at Bethesda, Duck. How fast can you get here?" Came Gibbs' voice, and though it was steady, Ducky could hear the distress in his tone.
"Why on the earth are you in Bethesda? What's your condition?" He asked, now feeling concerned.
"It's not me, Duck. It's Tony. How fast can you get here?" Gibbs repeated his question with more force behind his words.
"Oh my dear. What has happened to Anthony? Is it his lungs? How did you find out? Was he hurt at a crime scene? What-"
"Duck, please." Gibbs cut him off. "I'll explain it when you get here. Can you come?"
"Of course, of course. I'll be there shortly. Do you need anything?"
Gibbs thought about asking for Coffee, but that meant for the ME to take a detour and he didn't want it, so he said, "No, Duck. Thanks. Just please come fast."
"I'm on my way. Tell Anthony to hang on."
"He's unconscious, Duck and he'll hang on if he knows what's good for him."
And with that the line went dead.
...
Ducky arrived less than half an hour later and to Gibbs' surprise he had a cup of coffee with him. Gibbs wanted to growl and say something about it, but then realized that he was too thankful for that cup of coffee to complain about Ducky taking longer than he should to get there.
"Any news?" Ducky asked when he was sure that Gibbs had enough coffee in his system.
His answer was only a shake of head.
"So, what happened, Jethro? Was Anthony involved in another undercover operation?"
"I wish." Gibbs sighed. "At least that way I'd know what to do." Taking another swig of his coffee, he willed his anger to subside. "It was his father." He gritted out.
"What?" Ducky asked after a few seconds; he wasn't sure what to think of that short phrase; surely he had heard wrong. Right?
"I'm still not sure about the details; all I know is that Senior showed up at my place around 0400 and told me that he'd killed his son. I drove to Tony's place and found him on the floor; his head was bleeding and his lips were turning blue."
Ducky was dumbfounded for a change. During the years of working together, they all had realized that DiNozzo Senior was far from perfect. Tony had clearly been neglected during his childhood and was still suffering from its consequences, but it'd never gone this far and although Senior was too ignorant and self-absorbed, he'd never laid a finger on his son -which could've been considered as another problem because children need to be hugged by their parents and feel their affection all the way possible-. Not that neglecting and disowning his son was any better but hitting him was just unbelievable.
Gibbs studied his friend's feature and nodded. "I know."
Ducky shook his head in sadness. "Have you called the rest of the team, yet? Where is Senior, now?"
"No, I haven't called anyone else. I'm still waiting for some news about Tony. No need for them to know about it now."
"They'll find out eventually."
"Yes, but I'll prolong it as much as possible."
Ducky nodded his understanding, knowing too well that despite the friendship between everyone on Gibbs' team, Tony didn't want the others to know about his problems with his father. "What about Senior?"
"Secured in my house. Cuffed him to a pipe."
Ducky couldn't hold back the smirk that bloomed on his face. He didn't find the time to utter any words about it as the doctor finally showed his face to give them some information about Tony.
"What took you so long?" Gibbs growled.
The doctor smiled faintly, he knew how hard waiting could be. "I came as soon as I could. Agent DiNozzo is stable at this moment." He started. "He had two broken ribs, one of which was close to puncturing his left lung, but we stopped it in time and fixed it."
"But his lips-" Gibbs was confused.
"Yes, the pressure on his lung had caused him to have trouble breathing and with his medical history it wasn't unexpected."
"And he'd been unconscious." Ducky noted.
"Yeah, that sure hadn't helped his condition."
"What else?" Gibbs frowned.
"What's worrying us is the head trauma. He's lost quite a lot of blood and hasn't regained consciousness yet. The EEG and head scans don't show anything worrisome and we've also run some more tests to check his brain activity which again seems normal so far. But we can't be sure until he wakes up."
"But he'll wake up." Gibbs wanted to make sure Tony wasn't in a coma.
"He should."
"Should? You're not sure?"
"Agent Gibbs, I'm sure you know that head traumas are tricky; he should've woken up by now and that's why we can't say anything for sure. He should wake up and then we'll be able to tell you more, but till then, we can't be sure of anything. I'd say his chances of full recovery are pretty good, but we still should wait for him to wake up."
Gibbs nodded.
"Can we see him?" Ducky asked.
"Of course; ask the nurse and she'll lead you to his room. Let me know if you have any questions."
"Are you going to call your team, now? Or maybe you should get back home to Tony's father." Ducky suggested once the doctor left.
"Nothing's gonna happen to that bastard; he can wait. As for the team, I'll go to the office once I see Tony. I'll tell them something when I get there."
"But not the whole thing."
"I won't say a thing before I know everything myself. And it's not my place to say anything, anyway. Tony can tell them if he wants."
"Very well, then. Let's go visit young Anthony and encourage him to wake up sooner."
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... TBC ...
A/N: Tell me what you think? :)
I gotta thank everyone for all the PMs, reviews, alerts and favorites. Special thanks to the anonymous reviewers because I couldn't thank them one by one. Your encouraging words mean a lot to me. Thank you, everyone! :)
I know and am sorry that this chapter was short and not much happened in it, but things will get better, I promise! ;D
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