A/N: I'm back!! Omg. Been a while. lol. Anyway, this chap is pretty much entirely from Abby's side because...well it just worked. You'll see what I mean. Btw, Abby has a dirty mouth in this chap, mostly because I believe that when panic sets in, coherent thought steps out and with it, intelligent speech. So anyway, enjoy! -pj

Abby didn't realize she'd fallen asleep until she awoke again. She found herself in a heap on the floor (she did remember sitting there while playing cards) her head propped against the couch, squished in between the coffee table and the couch. She rubbed her eyes to clear them; the candles had burned down quite a bit and the light they provided was minimal.

She quickly recognized what it was that had woken her – Tony. He was coughing again, but this time was different. Different than before when he just cleared the liquid coughs and kept talking, different than the shallow, dry ones that plagued him during the worst of the fever. She'd only heard these coughs once before, and she didn't have an oxygen mask to give him when it was over this time.

He was wide awake and his lips were turning blue, she could see that even in the low light provided by the candles, and the panic was clear in his eyes. She leapt to her feet, almost tumbling a candle to its side as her face paled.

"Tony," she said, not expecting him to answer. She reached out and helped him sit up, pulling him upward and propping several pillows behind him, but it didn't help. He gasped for air, only to have it robbed again by his traitorous lungs and she tasted blood in her mouth from her chewed lip. "Oh God," she muttered, "we have to get to a hospital."

"'o Ab's," Tony tried, "'now."

"I don't care about the snow, Tony," she practically screamed, "I'm not gonna let you fucking die!" She searched frantically for her keys in her purse, but Tony's pathetic, desperate coughs echoed in her ears and her hands shook so badly she couldn't get a hold of them.

"Fuck," she cursed again, and turned the black bag upside down so everything tumbled out across the counter and to the floor. She snatched her keys from beneath her checkbook and pushed the rest aside in search of her phone.

"'bbs."

Her head snapped up at the sound of her name and she crossed the room to him in three strides.

"Damn Tony," she said, unaware of herself speaking, and reached for the cloth that was now soaked in lukewarm water. She wiped it across his forehead and hair, where he'd worked up a sweat in his attempt to fight for air.

"You're not allowed to die, okay?" she talked over his coughing and swallowed hard, her mouth completely dry, "Gibbs would kick your ass and I would-" she broke off because her voice was not cooperating. Seeing that she was really not helping very much, she stood and dropped the cloth back into the water.

She was frozen for a moment, caught between adrenalin-fueled action and terrified inaction. Clenching her shaking fists, she forced a breath into her chest and quickly moved passed him to take a glance outside.

She cursed again, this time under her breath. It was still a white-out. There was a layer of frost forming around the edges of the window and more than eight inches of snow had accumulated on the tiny ledge.

She turned back to face the apartment and spotted a coat and hat on a hook near the door.

"Okay," she ran across the room and retrieved the items and returned to Tony while pulling on her own. If ever a man looked miserable, it was Tony DiNozzo in that moment. His face had lost almost all color, save the dark bags beneath his eyes and the blue around his lips and the knit cap covered all his sweaty hair. He looked exhausted and scared and there was nothing she could do for him.

Not here.

"Fuck Tony," she whispered, don't do this to me. She pulled pull the coat across his shoulders, knowing he wouldn't unwrap his arms from around himself long enough to put them through the sleeves.

"Okay, let's go," she said, bending to be at his level and trying to coax one of his arms around her neck, "and don't you dare pass out because I cannot carry you down those stairs by myself."

A series of answering coughs was the only response she received and she shuddered to feel the way his entire body convulsed with each hopeless wheeze.

He kept his feet under him for a good three steps, but the change in altitude coupled with an oxygen depleted system, a high fever and no energy quickly caught up with him and his knees buckled. His vision was blurry first and then what little light he could see reflecting around his sparsely decorated living room faded to black.

Abby gasped and her eyes squeezed shut, her teeth grinding with effort as she fought to keep them upright, but it was in vain. He outweighed her by nearly 150lbs and he was dead weight as he pulled them both to the floor.

"Tony Tony Tony," she breathed his name like a mantra as she slipped from his grip and laid him gently on the floor, "Tony are you with me? Tony!" her voice broke and she was unaware of the tears streaming down her face as he remained unresponsive to her voice, "please Tony. Please answer me."

Thinking quickly, she pulled the hat off his head and pulled his shirt open again, only to find he wasn't really that warm. She patted his cheek and called his name but Tony didn't stir. She was practically hysteric now, sobbing openly yet unaware of the sound of her cries as her frantic brain and shaking hands somehow acted of their own accord.

"Heartbeat," she pressed two fingers to his neck, "check. Breathing," she was pretty sure she knew the answer to this one but bent low to put her ear next to his mouth anyway, "no check. Okay." She turned and snatched her phone off the coffee table, momentarily forgetting there was no service, and tried to dial 9-1-1. "Shit," she muttered, when the call beeped cheerily and announced that the call did not go through, "shit shit shit," she threw the phone to one side and started biting her lip again, "Okay, rescue breathing."

She stripped her coat and pushed up her sleeves with more force than necessary, her motor control somewhat off now that her system was flooded with adrenaline.

"Tony don't take this the wrong way but," she reached out and gently tilted his head back to open the airway and pinched his nose shut, pushing two slow breaths of her own oxygen into his damaged lungs," she pulled back and counted to five in her head, quickly checking his pulse, "don't worry Tony, I recert in CPR and RB every year, even though it's," she pushed another breath into his chest, trying not to notice how impossibly cold his lips felt against hers, "it's only required every three years. And I know Gibbs is going to come," she gave him another breath of air and then continued to ramble as she pulled a blanket off the couch to wrap him in and bent low to his lips again, "Gibbs always comes, especially for you. You're his boy, Tony. Just breathe…"

Ten minutes later she'd stopped talking, trying hard not to let the exhaustion of breathing for two get to her. She took another deep breath and gave it to Tony, watching his chest to see it rise and checking his pulse to be sure it was still steady, even as her vision got blurry around the edges and she started to feel lightheaded.

Maybe she'd been wrong. Maybe 'bad luck' was contagious afterall…

She lost all track of how long she'd been there, but inwardly hoped it hadn't been too long. For Tony's sake. She was now struggling just to breathe for herself, and not to lean on Tony when she checked his pulse and breathing. Her muscles were twitchy and weak and she wasn't sure if the candles had burnt out or if her vision was just darker than before.

She mumbled groggily when hands tried to stop her from continuing Rescue Breathing, and struggled for a moment out of instinct.

"I've got him, Abby."

Wait a second. Hands?

She was too tired to open her eyes fully or even recognize the voice, but something in her trusted it so she allowed herself to be pushed to one side. She thought she heard a soft 'Oh Anthony' as his presence was shifted away from her. And that pulled her back into reality enough to recognize faces.

"Gibbs?" Strong hands took hers and pulled her to her feet and she watched as McGee, Ducky and Ziva helped Tony across the apartment and out the door.

"I'm here, Abby."

She heard his voice beside her and an invisible weight was lifted from her shoulders as she allowed him to guide them out of the apartment after the others.

"I knew you'd come, Gibbs," she mumbled, trying to make her feet work in a more cooperative manner, "told Tony you would kick his ass if he died before you got here."

"Damn straight."

TBC