It started out just like any other morning of the past year or so.
Jethro's ears perked at the sound of footsteps hitting the linoleum of his family's aging house just above his head. The floorboards creaking meant it was time to put the sandpaper down, take off his reading glasses, and head up stairs for morning coffee before he an Jenny headed off to work.
"Good morning," Jenny greeted as he emerged from the basement. Jenny was an early rise, but that term held a whole new meaning in the world of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. She turned tiredly towards the fresh brewed coffee pot and pour two cups of the hot and steamy fluid that was as sacred as gold to their family.
"Good morning," Jethro sounded a little more awake than she did, having already been up for about an hour or so and a cup of coffee down already.
"Ohh another Monday…" Jenny sighed, sniffing her java in appreciation. "Here we go."
"Yep, same shit different day," Jethro smirked before sipping his fresh joe. Both of them weren't expecting the sneeze they heard form someone approaching around the corner.
"Ain't that the truth," Kate's voice emerged from behind them surprisingly. Both heads turned to see Kate's dark hair in great disorder, bags under eyes that appeared to barely be open.
"Kate, what are you doing here?" Jenny was unaware that Kate has stayed the night last night. Kate had just recently moved out of her apartment on the other side of DC to be closer to her new place of work, NCIS. She hadn't quite found a place of proper fit, but instead of moving back home with her mom and dad she had-for some reason which she did not really know exactly yet- moved in with Tony in his apartment.
Jenny had, of course, encouraged her greatly to move in with Tony and help get him settled as he was just making the move from Baltimore and keep an eye on him, as he was originally still recovering from the stab wounds and remnants of his last hoorah at BPD. And obviously Tony loved the extra help with rent. Kate had originally hated the idea, but really could use a place closer to NCIS, and what the hell she had lived with Tony all growing up, she could do it for a few more months too right? Wrong. Kate was going crazy, especially on nights like the one last night.
Kate's expression grew to one of conviction at the very thought of why she was forced to drive to her parents home and sleep in her old bed at 3 am on a work night. "Your joyous son is impossible to live with you guys, seriously." She gestured sharply with one hand.
"Well we survived 18 years of it, you can't survive a few months?" Jethro smiled into his mug.
"Dad! I told you last night what was going on at the apartment when I left, did you forget?" She was exasperated.
Jethro had been awakened by the front door opening, and met his eldest daughter at near gun point when she had came home last night, and he received the short end of the story before they had decided it was time to go back to bed. "Oh, I heard."
"What was he doing?" Jenny wasn't sounding proud of her son at the moment.
"Well first, he went out Friday night, and brought some bimbo back to the apartment and they were hammered, which he had done plenty of times before, but Im just setting the stage for you here. I wake up in the morning to tell him I am leaving for a run and this girl is butt naked on top of the covers, Tony is in the bathroom puking. Then, on Saturday night he convinces me to go out with him and his friends, which was a good time, but then they all get in this bar fight and it ruined the whole thing and I was seriously embarrassed. So Sunday, last night, he invites like three guys over to play poker, and it turns into like twenty people doing some 'bombs' and are yelling like they are at nursing home during bell-tone cleaning time." her voice held the nasally tone of a cold.
"On a Sunday?" Jenny was sad. "That is so… sacrilegious. I am going to have a word with him." She shook her head. "Did he even go to church?" Kate chuckled at the thought.
"Mom, he was probably barely sober for an hour all weekend," She exaggerated, not by much though, followed by a slef-loathing sniffle from her runny nose.
"Well his ass better be so far from hungover today or I will give him a damned good reason to have a headache," Jethro shook his head at the thought.
"He deserves one, I am sick and it's probably from one of his night crawler of friends," Kate joked.
"I can tell you have a cold, you feeling okay for work?" Jenny coddled almost unnecessarily.
"Oh, yeah mom. Just the sniffles," Kate said confidently.
"Grab some coffee Probie, we are heading out in thirty minutes." Jethro exclaimed as he walked towards the front hall.
The elevator dinged and Jethro, Jenny and Kate emerged from the box. Kate and Jenny stopped at their team's first bullpen, while Jethro made his way to the second bull pen where his team was housed. As he approached the bullpen, Jethro could see Tony giving his partners, his team, Kevin and Penny a hard time about something.
"Cale, can you believe it? Penny's never been Sake Bombing!" Tony asked incredulously.
"Uhh, I can't say I have either Tony." Kevin said plainly.
"I work with a pair of wankers!" Tony joked, wincing as he almost immediately after felt the all-too-familiar pain on the back side of his head.
"And you make three, Tony.." Jethro smiled to himself. Tony didn't seem out of it, no harm no foul. As long as it stayed that way…
Since Tony was the most junior on his Dad's team, all the mail was placed on his desk in the morning, and it was his duty to sort it, so after the morning head slap he decided to sift through the large stack.
Suddenly he could feel the approach of his sister the menace at twelve o'clock. Before she had the chance to begin her tirade, Tony perked his head up with an over the top grin. "Good morning Katie, my adoring elder sister and loveable roommate."
She wapped him hard upside the head, and no one mistook the snort of amusement coming from Jethro's desk. "Ouch!" He gave her a wounded stare.
"Oh don't ouch me! I had to drive across DC last night so I could go relive my childhood in a bed that's way too small for me because you had to act like a college kid on a Sunday, all while I am trying to get over this cold!" She ranted.
Tony's wounded look turned to a blank one. "Katie, Katie." he teased, she hated being called that., and he always did it to piss her off. "Just because your are over-aged and have the personality of a grandmother who knits washcloths on a Friday night, does not mean I have to dull my life down so you fit in it, okay?" he smirked at the end of his statement and continued filing through the papers.
"What did he do this time, Kate?" Penny pondered amusedly from her desk, and Kate made her way over to it, sitting casually perched on it's edge as she gossiped like usual with Penny. She began dramatically retelling how Tony Gibbs spends a weekend off from work.
"This one is just addressed to NCIS Special Agent," Tony announced out loud. Kate could see the back of the darker colored envelope.
"Ooo look at that lipstick, who wears a red that dark these days, she must have been a real winner Tony" Kate played. The envelope was clearly for him. Kevin wasn't much of a lady's man, and it was no secret.
"Kate, don't you have a case to do or something?" Tony sliced open one end of the envelope. "Like a Petty Officer lost her purse? Or boyfriend?" It was a cut at how Tony and his Dad's team outranked Kate and her Mom's team in cases, Jethro's being the MCRT, and Jenny's team only helping out on occasion.
That joke really bugged Kate. "Oh Tony, how I wish you were-"
Tony had blown dramatically into the open end of his envelope, and a white powder had flown freely into the air causing Kate to stop her talking, and the entire bullpen to freeze altogether. They watched in shock as the powder settled all over Tony's hair and face and shoulders and chest and desk.
"Oh my god!" Kate eclaimed, eyes wide in horror at what may have just happened across from her.
Tony cautiously kept as much of his body stiff as he stood. He felt shell-shocked at the possibility of what he just distributed into the agencies air supply, and likely his own.
Jethro had seen the cloud of dust consume Tony and he immediately went into disaster mode. He sttod on top of his desk and whistled to the rest of the floor, and announced they needed to evacuate. He heard Monica on the telephone calling the operator, and saw Kate throw Tony a bottle of water to wash off whatever the hell had just flown all over him. He met his wife's stare below him, just on the other side of the bullpen's half wall, and he did not miss the fear in her eyes. He tried to convey confidence in them, that things would be okay, but of that he was far from sure. They all evacuated to room, leaving an eerily empty office, missing all of it's usually hustle and bustle of a federal agency. Today was not a good day.
After all that were in the MCRT's bullpen were showered up, they were sent to Ducky's lab for blood cultures to be taken.
All clad in their new blue jumpsuits, Gibbs was first to jump on the table and get his blood drawn.
Tony was scared. Not of what was in the envelope per say, but that his Dad was seriously mad at him for opening the letter. The look on Jethro's face was one Tony could recognize since his earliest days as a rambunctious kid. His Dad was pissed, but the silent kind of pissed. The scary kind where you didn't know exactly what he was thinking, but you knew that is was far from good.
"Did you inhale any of the powder Tony?" Ducky asked from where he was drawing blood from Jethro's elbow.
"Don't know Duck," Tony rubbed his still drying hair nervously, the spikes standing tall and random, just the way the world liked them.
"Ah, well my dear boy let us hope for the best. We need not worry for what we do not know for sure," He placed a bandaid on his quiet brother, and Jethro immediately hopped off the table.
"Who is next?" Ducky announced.
"Tony is," Jethro said without question as he failed to look up from where he was adjusting his sleeve back down over his arm.
Tony stepped forward slowly, and slid up on to the autopsy table. The room was an eery, somber place with all of them in it, and it was a far cry from the normal banter and playful demeanor of the team. Tony was never one to succumb to tension.
"Any way we can skip this part, Ducky?" Tony hadn't made any move to pull up the sleeve on his arms.
"Tony, are you serious?" Kate scoffed. "You aren't five anymore, quit being such a baby."
"I don't like needles Kate," Tony beamed an un-amused look. He still hadn't pulled up a sleeve.
"Ah Anthony, if they were a way around it, I would most certainly. Now, up with the sleeve," Ducky peered up at him over the brim of his glasses.
Tony whined, but complied nonetheless. His face going into a blank slate, a mask firmly set in place as he let Ducky do his thing, his mind wandering to what sort of trouble he had gotten himself into this time.
"When can we leave this negative pressure, Ducky?" Penny questioned, eager to get set on figuring out what was in that envelope, and who had sent it.
"Ah, well we must stay in isolation until these blood cultures have been cleared, and you won't be able to return to the bullpen until it has been scrubbed and sanitized… a lengthy process I would presume." He finished the set on Tony, and watch the boy shimmy over on the table to open up room for Kate who sat up on the table next to him, eager to get her blood draw over with.
"Ah, well what do we do until then?" Kevin was pacing out of nervous happen on the other side of the room.
"Well Bethesda is on the way, to take Anthony to get some additional tests done," Ducky said.
"Lucky me," Tony scratched nervously at the back of his scalp.
"You shouldn't have opened the letter Tony," Kate berated from just next to Tony.
"How was I supposed to know that it-" Tony said back, interrupted by Kate, as usual.
"You should have been more careful!" Kate countered.
Tony sobered, he probably should have. He felt his cheeks grow hot, and he rubbed at his eyebrow in agitation. He didn't like being a newbie, not really knowing what was protocol and what wasn't, he had just barely gotten out of police academy before Baltimore, and now he was a federal agent. He was good at investigating, but still got caught up on some of the other aspects. Big and small, shit like what had just happened.
Jethro looked at his kids as they sat side-by-side atop the autopsy table, arguing as always. He caught the look they shared as they met eyes, and he knew they were both scared. What had he gotten them into Jethro thought to himself.
Just then something sounded on the computer, and Kevin announced they were being video called by Cadence's Lab, and he answered it.
"Gibbs!" Cadence announced. "What is going on down there?" Beside her as the scared face of his youngest daughter Abby. She was in her first week of internships to become a forensic scientist. Jethro had forgotten how afraid she must be. He also had forgotten that Tim was doing a summer internship down in cyber crimes unit, and he had probably heard and been evacuated along with the rest of the units of NCIS.
"Cadence, do you have the envelope?" Jethro wasted no time with her question, he was on a mission.
"Yes, we just got it." Cadence said. We? "Your wife and her team are down here with me, they are helping with the investigation, since one of their members is exposed too." And because Jenny's second born was directly exposed to whatever was in the mysterious envelope, but that went without being said. Director Morrow had a very strict policy on not treating any cases or procedures differently because of the strong family affair that had recently taken place under his NCIS roof.
"Well what's in it? Did you find out?" Jethro was eager to know. All the heads in the room were staring with fear in their eyes at what might come next.
"No, Gibbs. I cant access the letter until Atlanta gives me the clear." Cadence frowned.
"What? How long is that going to take?" He watched Abby stare from the background with a sad face, and it tugged at his heart, but he had bigger things to deal with, and other kids who needed to be looked out for.
"A few hours at least," Cadence frowned. "Might wanna get comfortable."
Jethro slapped the metal table hard, and just as they were about to react, the metal doors of Autopsy slid open behind them with a hiss, and three men from Bethesda arrived.
"Who opened the envelope?" The man asked seriously.
"She did," Tony answered immediately. Before the men could react to her face of pure disbelief, they had extended their hands around her arm to guide her from the room. Kate ripped her elbows out from their hold with a look of disgust before she elbowed Tony hard right to the bread basket, eliciting a yelp.
"He did!" Kate accused.
"Im just kidding, it was me," Tony hopped off the table.
"Did you inhale any of the powder?" The masked man asked.
Tony's eyes flicked towards his Dad's in reflex, before he quickly flashed them back to meet the dark ones behind the mask, "I might have."
"Okay you need to come with us," Just as Tony was turning to be escorted away from the table a large sneeze erupted from Kate, and the room looked at her with wide eyes.
"You need to come with us as well," Another man spoke up.
"What? Nonono, I have a cold, I had it when I walked in this morning," Kate explained, looking to her Dad for back up, she only saw concern in his eyes.
"Which makes you more susceptible to infection," Ducky said somberly.
"Kate, go with Tony. Play it safe.." Jethro nodded.
"That's safe?" Kate said incredulously.
"Oh Katie, this is going to be so much fun. Do you guys have the queen sized bed's cause I hate it when you push the two beds together and you get that crea-" He was interrupted by a monstrous whack to the back of his head by a folded newspaper he knew belonged to his Dad.
"How bad are you going to feel when I get Anthrax?" Tony tried to giggle.
"Not as bad as you, Tony" Jethro said truthfully.
"Bye Tony, bye Kate!" Abby couldn't stand in the background as her probably last form of communication with them for the rest of the day was about to be diffused. She wasn't going to let them walk out the door without saying goodbye.
"Bye Abs, we will talk with ya soon," Kate waved.
"Cya Abby," Tony saluted to the camera and smirked.
"Love you guys," She wore her heart on her sleeve.
"You too, Abs."
With that the group from Bethesda led a bickering Kate and Tony out of Autopsy, and Jethro watched them leave, and hoped that they weren't infected.
"You afraid Tony?"
"Kate come on.. Me? Afraid? Have you ever seen me afraid?" Tony turned casually over to his older sister from side ways lay.
Kate didn't have to replay all the scary and terrifying moments they had shared growing up. She knew she had never, ever seen Tony afraid. He didn't get scared… or at least he didn't show it.
"Well not when the danger is something we can confront. But this- laying around waiting to find out if we're infected. Anyone with half a brain would- I take it back. You're not afraid.." Kate teased and turned around.
Just then Dr. Pitt and Nurse Emma entered the negative pressure isolation chamber, their white lab coats shining starkly in the dreadful blue lights, pushing an IV pole and a cart of supplies.
Dr. Pitt began setting Tony's IV up.
"Going to be giving you an IV push of antibiotics," Brad started.
"They teach you all this at Harvard Medical, Brad?" Tony grinned
"Michigan.." Brad smiled back.
"Couldn't be… too weird." Tony turned and let his thoughts reel.
"What? You a wolverine too?" Brad wondered.
"Buckeye…" Tony said with a trace of accusation.
"Wait? Your that Gibbs? Columbus, '93!" Brad couldn't believe the chances. "You broke your leg in the fourth quarter!"
"You broke my leg in the fourth quarter!" Tony was glad he could finally smile about that whole situation, there was a long time where he could do anything but smile about it.
"Watch, they're going to bonging beers next," Kate exclaimed to Emma.
"I don't think so," Emma said with a sad tone Kate failed to pick up on.
"Oh, you don't know Tony. He epitomizes sophomoric."
"No, Tony is infected,"
"What?"
"Don't worry, your not infected, Tony is the only one.."
"So tell me Doc, what have I got?" Tony knew they weren't putting in an IV for nothing.
Brad took a breathe. It was harder breaking the news now that he knew that he had already ended this guys sports career, and now he was going to break the news he had an archaic disease that was very dangerous.
"Pneumonic plague."
Tony's eyes grew wide. Wasn't expecting that, he thought. "Plague.. Wow"
"Yeah Tony, plague. Cause only you would go off and get a disease from the dark ages." Kate stormed the side of the bed.
"I didn't put plague in the letter," Tony defended
"You opened it!" Kate snapped back.
"I opened it, so what? What are you so upset about? It's not like your lying-" Tony realized his lapse.
"Yeah, that's right Tony. I'm infected too…"
"Oh, Kate. I'm sorry." Tony was genuine.
"Yeah, well you going to sorrier.."
"No, don't tell me someone else got it?" Tony pleaded.
"No, but I am going to make this isolation living hell."
"How? You cant be worse than plague- oh I take that back, maybe you can…" Tony began a small cough, but a playful smile still on his lips from his half-joke.
"Kate," Brad pulled her aside with a curling finger. "What are you doing? Tony is infectious, just because you arent infected right now doesn't mean you wont be if you stay in here."
"What about all these UV lights and air scrubbers, or are those just here for patient morale?" Kate's amger at the whole situation was starting to really shine through,.
"Kate, pneumonic plague is a very serious illness. And this one had been genetically altered, do you know what that means?" Brad looked her in the eyes.
"That the IV in Tony's arm is useless. Then why do it?"
"It can't hurt," Brad shrugged. "There is no treatment for it, we are stuck in the dark ages Kate."
"Jesus," Kate was really starting to realize the gravity. But Brad doesn't know Tony like she does. "Well I will wear my mask, and hope that these other precautions are enough. Im not leaving my brother in here alone, do you understand that?"
"Okay, he could use some company I am sure, but this is against my best advice you understand that right? And I have already informed Dr. Mallard that you aren't infected."
"That's fine," Kate and Brad both interrupted their conversation to the sound of Tony coughing.
"Thanks for passing along the cold, Kate." Tony said, exasperated.
"I cannot believe Jethro broke protocol!" Ducky all but yelled at the empty scene on the television of his person-less autopsy room.
"This surprising you, Duck. Tony and Kate, or any of his team, including himself, could be infected with plague." Jenny tried to defend her husband's move.
"Yes, he isn't afraid to break a little rule here or there, but this is disaster procedure protocol, it is very different. He could infect the whole building!" Ducky fumed.
"He didn't break protocol," Jenny smiled.
"He left autopsy!" There were no two ways about it.
"But not isolation!" Cadence saw Gibbs and his remaining two members of the MCRT dressed in big blue HAZMAT suits.
"Dad!" Abby ran up and gave her dad a hug, even in the oversized plastic spacesuit.
"Hi Abs," Jethro returned the hug. "What do we got so far?" He asked the whole room.
"We were just about to open the envelope, we got it contained in a proper access box," Cadence announced.
"Well get to it!" Jethro was in no mood for pleasentries.
"Okay," Cadence placed her hands in the gloves and pulled the letter our from the envelope. "Well it has a letter." She announced the obvious.
"What's it say?" Jethro was trying to see around all the shoulders surrounding the box. "I don't have my reading glasses on in here."
"If you are reading this and have not began biological attack procedures, I suggest you do so immediately, as the letter you are reading contains genetically altered y-pestis." Cadence paused. Ducky inhaled sharply.
"That's Latin…For what?" Jethro demanded, and Jenny bit her fingernails in anticipation.
"Plague."
"Bubonic plague?" Penny clarified. "Like the Black Death?"
"Mm pneumonic likely, more severe as it attacks the pulmonary system."
"Jesus," Jethro wanted to rub his face in agitation, and frustration but the suit prevented him from doing so. "Tony must have breathed in some of it." He said sadly. The room soaked in what they had just heard.
"Damnit!" Jenny walked away from the box. Pissed.
"It says there is a anecdote. We need to let the truth out about dossier R177 and she'll give it to us." Abby said excitedly. There was a magic bullett!
"Kevin!" Jethro ordered.
"On it boss, Romeo 177." He didn't need to explain it.
"Take Hamilton with ya," Jenny sent one of her team members to help him.
Jethro huffed. "We need to find this dirt bag!" The phone rang in the background, and Ducky answered it.
"Cadence get that letter out here so we can see it!" Jethro demanded.
"Gibbs, I have to wait for Atlanta…"
"Ahem, Jethro.." Ducky called him over to the desk. He followed the direction. "That was Dr. Pitt. All of the blood cultures came back negative.. Except for-"
"Tony." Jethro had known it all along, deep in his gut. "God Damnit! Get this thing off!" He yanked his suit top off to join the real world. "Is he sick yet?"
"Starting to yes, coughing and short of breath. Signs of cyanosis- fingernails and lips starting to turn blue. When his sputum turns bloody, he'll only have a few hours to live."
"How lung Duck?"
"I.. it is hard to say Jethro. We know Anthony is always a special case and-"
"How long Duck?" There was not question in his tone.
"Twelve hours… give or take. I-" Jethro was off, he needed to tell Jenny.
"Yeah, this is Kate.." She sounded tired as she spoke into the hospitals phone from outside the isolation chamber.
"Hey Kate, it's Mom. How is Tony?" She asked hurriedly, concerned for Tony.
"He's coughing a lot and he- he seems pretty sick Mom," Kate wasn't going to lie to her mom as she watched through the glass as he hacked up a lung before dropping back to the bed exhausted.
She exhaled stressfully. "Is he alone in there? Be-because of the isolation?" Jen's voice shook no mattered how hard she wanted it not too.
"No mom, I-I couldn't leave him alone in there. He's beat, and tired and … I've been in there with him."
"Kate you could get sick too," Jenny was glad in a way that Kate was brave enough to stay in there with him.
"Im wearing a mask and everything Mom, I will be okay, I promise. Tony-" Kate watched him hack up a particularly painful round of phlegm, and saw Emma wipe red fluid from the side of his mouth.
"Kate you make sure he keeps fighting, me and your father are not leaving until we find this antidote."
"What if -"
"We are going to Kate, don't you worry. And you know Tony will get through this," Jenny said with a confidence she wanted to believe wholly. Plague wasn't your average case of pneumonia.
Kate said her goodbyes and walked in to the isolation chamber once more, Tony was getting settled back down after that coughing fit, and his hair was stuck all awry with sweat. Beads were rolling down is face and his chest. His lips and the tip of his nose were the most eerie shade olue, and as she grabbed a clammy hand, she saw the dark color of his fingernails.
"Hey Tony, that was Mom," Kate gave his hand a squeeze as she sat in the chair beside him. His eyes were clenched close, and is face showed pain as he fought for each breath.
Tony opened his green eyes, and met Kate's in a feverish haze. He never did hold his fever's well. He wheezed for a second, eye contact not breaking until he found the confidence to talk without coughing up more blood.
"She.. O'kay?" Tony's voice was ragged and shallow.
"Yeah Tony, she's fine. Just worried about you, that's all. But we all know you are going to be fine." Kate took her hand and rubbed it across his fevered forehead, and pushed the damp hair clinging to it back. "your always fine.." she said with a smaller voice this time.
"Why are you wearing the mask?" He noticed the lack of congruency, and he was confused.
"Because I have a cold, remember?" She let her eyes smile into his.
He fought a low rumble of a cough.
"Why..aren't chu ..sick?" Tony managed
"Because Im stronger than you, Tony. Always have been, always will be.."
"Am not," he sputtered.
"Are too.."
"Am not," he barely had enough air to say it, and Kate noticed he wasn't taking more in. His green eyes flashed panic as he weekly fought to sit up. Emma was at his side immediately, and with Kate perched on the other side of the bed they managed to drag Tony's weak form into a sitting position.
"Come on, Tony. Cough it up, breathe. We got ya Tony…" Kate pounded his back. The anguish on her little brother's face made her wish that she was in his spot. Why did he open that letter, why did he get poisoned, and not she? Sometimes it seemed life was always picking on Tony.
"There ya go, Tony. That's it, breathe.." Kate rubbed his back soothingly as he leant hard into the crook of her neck. The heat and sweat radiating off of him was making her sweat.
"Okay, his temp is way too high, and his SATS are way too low," Pitt entered the room on a mission.
"Tony, Tony can you hear me?" He replaced Emma on the other side of the bed. Tony was still sucking in and out hard, a loud wheeze echoing through the rooom, and they could see the blood dripping from his mouth down to his chin, and the eyes held so tightly shut remained there as he still allowed Kate to hold up most of his weight. He nodded ever so slightly, still fighting to gain oxygen that he craved more than anything.
"Tony, you are not getting enough air with the nasal canula and I am going to put you on this mask and turn up the oxygen. You need to keep coughing up the phlegm, you are doing well, fighting hard, we can see that. But you gotta keep it up, the worst is yet to come." Brad needed to pump up the guy, he could see the fight was waning. He fitted Tony for the Oxygen mask and placed it over his mouth and nose after removing the nasal canula. "Breathe as normally as you can into the mask, and don't take it off unless you have something to spit up, okay?"
Tony nodded and opened his eyes finally, but only into pained slits. His chest was still heaving.
"Tony the next step if things escalate is going to be a respirator-" Brad had a feeling this would happen, damnit. Before he could finish his pitch Tony was already shaking his head no.
Kate looked with furrowed brow between the doctor and her brother. She didn't quite understand.
"Tony, we will talk about it further if we need to. Let's not cross that bridge til we get there," Brad tried to soothe the patient. But he knew they were vastly approaching such bridge.
"Ducky.." Kate greeted her uncle as he wore a mask and entered the isolation chamber to join her and Emma. She stood up from her chair next to Tony's bed, where he lay in a fitful fight for air, and accepted a hug from Ducky.
"Caitlyn, how is he?"
"I-I don't know Ducky, did you talk to Dr. Pitt?" She wasn't privy on all the medical jargon, and she was kind of hoping that Ducky would fill her in on the exact prognosis for her younger brother.
"Yes, yes. But I thought I would ask how he seems when he is awake, is he holding up?" Ducky rubbed her back calmingly, she was clearly on the verge of losing her emotions.
"He-he says doesn't want a breathing tube, but Brad said it's necessary. He seems like he is having an even harder time staying awake, and coughing up all the stuff.. Im worried about him." Kate looked back to Tony as he blinked lazily up at the glass ceiling of the isolation chamber. His chest heaved, and his hands were gripping the sheets around him, his legs shuffling under the covers, the discomfort in not being able to catch his breath so clear. They had wet cloths draped around him, his shirt had been removed in an attempt to help cool his temperature.
"Yes. They are having some trouble fighting that fever of his, it has proven to be a great battle with him in his life, wouldn't you say?" Ducky wiped the sweat from his own brow, he didn't want to stress Kate out so he thought he'd reminisce on some other Tony memories for a second.
"Yeah, always starting trouble…" Kate walked to the head of Tony's bed. "Tony," She grabbed his hand and tried to ignore the sharp inhale exhale of his tight chest. She could see his ribs and abs fighting with each attempt at oxygen, it made her own chest hurt to see this struggle for something she was getting so easily. "Ducky's here to see you." His eyes flickered down to meet hers, and then wandered a little until they finally met Ducky's.
"Hello, my dear boy." Ducky patted his leg gingerly. "Hanging in there I see."
Tony started to chuckle beneath his bulky oxygen mask, but it soon turned into a dangerous coughing war.
Emma was quick on her feet and spared being gentle as she yanked the nearly limp Tony into an upright position, Kate helping where she could.
"Tony, Tony…" he was coughing out harshly, but not getting a chance to get anything else back into his lungs. Emma's voice got worried. She began banging her fist against his back, and the panic in his eyes haunted all who could see. Kate was trying to dislodge the phlegm as well, the heel of her hand colliding with smooth, sweaty skin.
"Come on Tony, breathe.." Kate encouraged with wary eyes, the blue could be seen so vividly through the clear mask. Finally he got some air into his lungs, and followed it up with a deep, thunderous cough which resulted in the splatter of red across most of his oxygen mask.
Tony groaned loud, and those who had spent the afternoon with him had picked up on that sound as time to spit, and so Emma held forward a basin and Tony let large globules of blood drip form his mouth, too tired to spit with oomph. Emma replaced the oxygen mask and Tony welcomed the fresh air, but still knew it wasn't quite enough. He forced himself to try and relax into this fit of not enough air.
"There you are Anthony," Ducky wiped the sweat from Tony's eyes with a cool, damp cloth and Tony didn't even have the energy to hold his head really. "Lay back and try and get some rest, my boy." Ducky looked hard at Tony, and didn't like what he was seeing. This was as serious as it got, and even thought Tony could never be counted out, he wasn't sure this was something that was survivable.
Tony reached up with his free hand and tugged the mask away from his face. "Dad?" his voice was barely audible, but his blue lips hard to mistake. The mask fell back over her mouth as he continued to accept the oxygen gratefully.
Kate looked over to Ducky, she didn't really know what to say.
"Your parents are tracking down whoever did this to you dear boy, your father quite passionate about it, as you could probably assume. Then they will be in," Ducky assured.
Tony moved a shaking hand, and fought the coughing fit just long enough to sputter, "Might wanna hurry.. I don't think I-" but then they wre forced to replace the mask and watch the blood splatter across its interior and yank him into an upright position.
Ducky agreed with the boy, they might want to hurry.
"There is no antidote!"
"You're lying! The letter says there is one!" Jethro yelled into the glass. "I want it now!"
Jenny stood behind him, a security guard held at gunpoint, one hand showing him who is boss with a power grip on his tie. They were going to get this antidote, and save their son.
"I understand your anger,"
"No, but if you don't save him, you will!" Jethro spoke into his com.
"The tumor, it is messing with her mind. Why else would a woman who has fought to ban the use of chemical weapons use them!"
"I don't know, why are you making them?"
"Only to develop a defense against them," Dr. Pandi was scared for his. "It has a suicide gene which stops it from replicating after 24 hrs."
"So the bug dies?"
"Not necessarily, the specimen becomes no longer contagious. However the damage will have been done, and the severe pneumonia will continue to play out." The man behind the gun, and the woman holding the security officer roughly shared the same paling expression. The man swallowed hard.
"The specimen dies.."
"No, not necessarily, he has the same chance as plague victims of the past…"
"What was the survival rate?"
"People were-"
He adjusted his grip on his sig. "Damn it, what was the survival rate?" Jethro needed that facts, and he needed them now. Then were wasting time, time that could be spent with Tony.
"Fifteen percent."
"Kevin, you and Penny take Lowell back to interrogation, sit her on ice," Jethro walked hastily out of the company's building, their teams and a few suspects in tow, fighting dearly to keep up.
"Im calling Ducky to get an update on Tony," Jenny announced, but just as she was about to dial, she got an incoming call, from Ducky.
"Hey, Duck. I was just gonna call. How's Tony?" She got into the Charger, and Jethro had the pedal to the floor before she even had her door shut.
"Ah yes, the reason I am calling. You and Jethro may want to hurry up, antidote or not. Tony is not faring as well as we would hope," Ducky said sadly into the telephone.
"What's going on?" Jenny needed to know more, her eyebrows pinched in concern, and she felt Jethro cast the same glance her way.
"The heart and lungs are under great duress, and the coughing and fever are only getting worse. We arent sure of how much more the poor boy can take. I am sorry," Ducky wanted them to hurry.
"I-uh, we are on our way. Duck, there is not antidote. Lady was a nut job, made it up. I- oh God." Jenny tried to keep it together. "Tell Tony we are one our way, and that we love hime okay?"
"Of course, we will see you soon. Drive carefully," ducky somberly hung up the phone.
"Hey Duck, we got here as soon as we could," Tim spoke for he and Abby as they approached the Doctor from behind. The two were frozen stock still as soon as their eyes lay on Kate and Tony from outside of the isolation chamber.
"Ducky, how is Tony?" Abby looked lost, searching Ducky's yes to tell her that he was going to bu just fine.
Ducky turned, and took in the state that the family was in, all because some psycho lady with a brain tumor and it really made him angry. Why did this have to happen, surely he wasn't one to ever count Tony out, but the way things were looking he would be naïve to think his chances to survive were… evident. Just as he was about to encourage Abby with hope, he saw Brad emerge from the other side of the isolation chamber, and rush into the negative pressure with a hasty wave towards Dr. Mallard.
"Hold tight kids, I am going to see if I can be of assistance. You guys should stay out of the chamber, you haven't been exposed and we would like to keep it this way," Ducky tried to hide the concern in his voice, the fear. And with that he let them for whatever was causing the urgency in the usually relaxed manner of Brad Pitt.
"What's going on Ducky?" Tim called to the retreating elder man., who partially turned to face them, his face one they hadn't seen before, and his mouth ajar. His legs never stopped moving briskly towards the glass cage that contained their brother, his face showed he was at a loss for words. That was a first.
Tim and Abby walked over to the glass and wished they could be on the other side.
"I'm s-s-sorry I-I teased you, Kate," Tony pulled the mask to the side weakly as he fought harder than ever to fill his congested lungs.
"Tony, don't talk okay?" Kate felt bad pushing his weak hand away from his face and replacing the mask firmly over his mouth and nose. She tried to hide to growing worry in her eyes as his glazed one's weren't quite meeting her own.
His lips were so blue. He was drenched in sweat, they had placed a second IV in to try and keep him hydrated, and catheter as well. They had placed ice packs around his body to try and cool his overheating body, infected with something he shouldn't be. Something awful, something that was killing him.
Tony grumbled and turned his head to the side, searching for the face that belonged to the hands that doing their best to soothe his aching head and holding his hand. "Kate?" His vision was a bit hazy, his mind was fuzzy. There were things he wanted to say, he wasn't sure if he had what it takes to beat off this plague shit anymore. He called out to his sister, not bothering to remove the mask this time.
Kate barely heard the whisper through the mask. She wanted him to save his energy, not try to talk, but at the same time she wanted to talk him so bad. But this wasn't the end for Tony.. Right?
She leaned forward and put her head over his, stroking through the sweaty hair to try and soothe the gasping man below her, searching his eyes until they sleepily met his.
"Just relax Tony, Im right here, your doing fine," She didn't believe it, truly. She just didn't know, and it was one of the scariest feelings she'd felt. She hated the fact that she didn't know if she was lying to him or not. The fact was, no one knew if he was going ot be okay. There was no precedent of cases within the last century, Tony was setting that and they all could just sit around and wait to see the course this dreadful disease took on their friend, brother, Agent, and son.
"Thanks for staying.. Wi-with me, K-Kate," Tony groaned as he fought back the cough. He was tired of coughing, he didn't want to do it anymore. Every time he coughed his chest burned with fire, his throat protested, his ribs ached and stomach muscles too, and his head pounded with a pressure that was like it would burst. He was sick of coughing, he couldn't keep it up much longer.
"Hey, I'm almost as hard to get rid of as you are Tony," she tried a small smile.
She could see the corner of his eyes, which were bloodshot and half open, hazy and burdened by purple circles, wrinkle in amusement.
"Wher-where's Dad?" Tony wanted to see his Dad. He wanted him there if he- you know. His voice was barely a whisper, and he couldn't help the groan that came out as he fought down the cough. Not now..
"Dad's on his way, he will be here soon, Tony," Kate took a washcloth to his too hot forehead. "They are gonna find the antidote Tony, help make you better."
"He's …'kay?" Tony's eyes were growing hazy.
"Yeah, he's fine, bud. Everybody is, except for you, so you gotta get better," Kate calmed.
"Shouldn't of-opened … letter. Stu-stupid huh?" Tony whispered.
"No, hey, no Tony. That's not your fault, you couldn't have known…" Kate swallowed her emotions.
"Tell Ev-body I ..lov'em-sorry.." Tony couldn't fight the wheezing as it increased, and he tried not to let the pain it was causing him to show. Kate had had enough.
"Tony, there's nothing to be sorry for. Just relax, don't talk," Kate pleaded, she didn't like where this conversation was going.
"If I… I'll m'ss you ….K-Kate," Tony couldn't suppress the eruption of wet hacking cough that stole all the air he needed. He turned his head and Kate held the emesis basis for Tony to tiredly spit the blood into. "Best..roomie I..ever …had." His voice was hoarse and she could tell he was struggling worse than ever.
"Hey, don't talk like that Tony. Come on, you're doing fine. Youre gonna be fine," Kate replaced the oxygen mask.
"N'te-ll ,, Dad….m'sorry," he ground out before more blood erupted from his lips. Wracking coughs stealing the breaths he was trying to take back in. He continued to cough, and he made the move they had learned meant he needed to sit up.
"Sit up, Tony," Emma moved back to her position on the other side of the bed and pulled the shirtless twenty-something into a pathetic upright hated seeing the funny, lighthearted, cute guy she had met earlier today in such a weak and deteriorated state. His SATs were way low, and if they didn't intubate soon, things weren't going to end well, she knew that much. "There you go keep coughing, you can do it," she cheered on the man as did his sister. Her gloved fist beat against his bare back. She had been chastised by Dr. Pitt for not hitting him with the necessary amount of force earlier, and since he convinced her it was for his own good, Emma was striking is back pretty hard, though as much as it hurt his sore ribs and back to do, it hurt her heart even more.
Sad, eyes that were drooping with exhaustion behind the structure of the mask turned to panic, as the hacking continued its dreadful fury on Tony's lungs. He was not getting his breath back.
"Tony.." Kate warned, her hand being squeezed increasingly harder as his pain and anxiety escalated. "Tony! Breathe!" This was taking too long. All his hair had been coughed and hacked out by wracking, wet heaves- but no air was making its way back in. Tony's chest was constricting and releasing, but no air was moving.
"Come on Tony," Emma prayed to someone up above..Not yet, she thought… not yet. She beat her fist even harder on Tony's sore back, and willed him to breathe with all she had.
Tony's clawing and squirming legs began to slow, and his eyes that were so lost in fear began to droop, and just as they rolled in to the back of his head, he slumped forward, his masculine frame overtaking a shell-shocked Kate.
Just as full panic set in, a strong pair of hands came from beside Kate, and she felt the overheated, damp mass being lifted off her and laid back to reveal Dr. Pitt. Ducky made his way to the other side of the bed and without hesitation, Brad yanked the Oxygen mask off Tony's ashen face. The blood that had surmounted around his deep blue lips forced Kate to keep down her gelatinous hospital lunch.
He threw the mask behind him with unnecessary force, and it clattered loud into the room. The beeping of Tony's heart monitor had increased dramatically in Tony's recent battle- unbeknownst to Kate as her own emotions kept the rhythm of the rapid pulse as well. The ominous, single-toned beep that filled the room made itself clear in Kate's mind finally.
'No' she thought. What? No,no not this soon. She could not find the words to speak. Kate now grabbed Tony's limp hand, which was losing its clammy temperature, and willed it to life with both hands. Rubbing and kissing it. Come on Tony, she sobbed at the sight.
Before anyone knew it, Brad had Tony's head, now free from the mask, tilted back- the pillow being strewn across the room as well- and his hands were already busy connecting the respirator up to the tube he had skillfully, and precisely placed into Tony's damaged lungs.
Ducky handed him the proper connecting tools that had been kept nearby, and Ducky flipped the switch at once. There was a moment where the room held its breath along with the man who lay still in the bed, as the respirator filled with air, and just as it compressed, and Tony's chest rose and then fell, the long tone that had held the future on hold began to beep.
The beeping Kate had complained about earlier was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.
"Oh thank God, oh thank you… thank you," Kate still held Tony's hand so tightly, pressed to her lips, tears strewn down her face. She lay his limp hand on the bed, and with her hand in and around his she put her forehead down on the mattress and let the gravity of what had just happened take over. She cried, hard.
Emma was taping the tube in Tony's mouth in place, and Brad rubbed a once-still hand now shakily over his face.
"Great work, Doctor Pitt," Ducky stepped forward and pressed his thumb across Tony's cheek. Ducky knew why he was so stressed, Tony had not agreed to the vent. Ducky agreed fully with Brad's decision.
Doctor Pitt nodded, not really sure if he believed it. He wasn't expecting Tony to go in to respiratory arrest so suddenly, he should have seen it coming. Given him another breathing treatment, maybe a higher pressured mask. And he wasn't supposed to put a patient who had basically refused a ventilator on one. That's too damn bad, the patient needed it. As an Doctor, Brad always vowed to do whatever it took to save a life, he knew that was necessary. Pneumonic plague left no time to rest on your heels, he realized. He huffed in agitation, who does this to someone? God, he hoped NCIS found this antidote…
"He'll pull through, he will…" Ducky looked at his nephews face long and hard. Aspirated blood was still marring his face, and coupled with the plastic tubing he was now equipped with, Tony looked like he had been through a war, and he had .. Indeed. He turned his attention to Kate, who was distraught across from him. Where was Jethro with the antidote…
Brad began moving the Xray machine back in front of the bed, and Nurse Emma was solemnly helping to guide the large machinery.
"Caitlyn, let us go for a walk for a minute my dear," He rubbed her shoulders. "There are going to just take some Xrays and get Anthony settled." He rubbed her shoulders, and she lifted from the bed and after a longing look towards the man in the bed's blank face, she turned in Ducky's arm and they left the negative pressure.
As soon as the outside glass doors opened, Kate stumbled out of the chamber and saw her parents just now being escorted into the large room by a nurse. The look on their faces as they saw the scene before them was one of horror.
Jethro and Jenny walked briskly behind the orderly who was leading them to where he rest of their family was. They were passing ICU an CCU and regular rooms. Where were they keeping Tony?
They were turned down a long hallway, and at the end was a set of double doors with a biohazard sign stamping them both boldly.
"Here you are, Dr. Pitt should be-" She opened the automatic doors with the press of a button and as she waited for them the fully open, the scene before them stopped her intro.
"God, please…" Jenny bargained, not sure of what to think about what had caused what she saw before her,
Jethro could not speak, his gut churned almost painfully. Kate was a wreck, being held up by Ducky as they exited some sort of glass encasement behind them. To the side of the glass room within a room she saw Abby and Tim in a similar position, tears a flow and sobs echoing. What the hell…
Jethro raced forward, strides long and purposeful, Jenny at a jog to keep up. They reached Kate and Ducky… Kate didn't get this upset easily.
Ducky looked up, and sad eyes met Jethro's. He felt the blood rush from his head…
Kate looked up at Ducky's change in demeanor, and finally saw her mom. She crashed into her arms,
"He's dying mom." She sobbed. Jenny swallowed hard, and turned to Ducky. What had changed from a few minutes ago?
"The hell he is…" Jethro was pissed. He walked past the people who he had already got that they were beginning to give up on him. Hell no. Not his Tony, not his kid. He walked through the automatic doors, and as they closed behind him and he felt the air being sucked from the room, his eyes fell on the hospital bed behind the next barrier. It was taking too long to reach negative pressure damn it. He couldn't see a thing, except a doctor and nurse, gowned and masked, working behind a large machine that was obstructing his view of the hospital bed he had longed to see, to be beside, for so long now.
Finally the doors opened, and at the sound Dr. Pitt turned and immediately grabbed his shoulder.
"Who are you? You cant come in here, sir.." The patient was contagious and still in heavy isolation.
"I'm his Dad," Jethro tried to let his fury fall, but it was there, and it was strong. But he knew he wasn't mad at the doctor, but at some psycho-bitch that was apparently really doing a number on his newest probie, who was just a kid, and not just any kid, his.. Tony. "Bug had a gene that makes Tony not actively contagious anymore, but-" he swallowed and forced his eyes away from trying to pry around the machine to see his son, and he bore his blue orbs into man in the mask's before him. "But, uh- he still has the plague, so he just has to beat it." He knew the Doctor was aware they were looking for an antidote. He saw the man's eyes fall in a light loss of hope, obviously he was hoping for a cure.
Dr. Pitt removed his hand from the rough man's shoulder, and let the man through. He removed his own mask, as apparently they weren't necessary anymore, and watched the man watch his son.
The dad rubbed his face, and let his hand linger over his mouth, like he was trying to pull away the anguish. It was to no avail, and he inhaled and exhaled a deep breath as he saw the condition such a vibrant guy, barely to his mid twenties, with the energy of a kid, had deteriorated to.
"Jesus, Tony…" he stepped forward. He could see sweat forming on his exposed skin, could see tubes and wires, heart monitors, pulse ox, IV's here and there. Jethro saw blue lips and blood spattered across his face, and he saw the ragged rise and fall of his bare chest, but what stood out most was the cause of that rise and fall, the tube in his mouth.
He stepped even closer, and he ran his hand over his forehead, like always. He pushed his hand through the stubborn locks, and ran a rough thumb gently over his forehead. He swallowed the lump in his throat, then turned to the Doctor who was approaching on the other side.
"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, you just missed kind of an-adrenaline filled couple of minutes, I guess." The Doctor pulled a stethoscope from around his neck and placed the plugs in his ears, before placing the device on various parts of Tony's chest. "I've been tending to Tony, my name is Dr. Brad Pitt, but just refer to me as Brad. I have some things to fill you in on concerning Tony's condition when you are ready." He frowned to himself as he listened to whatever it was he was hearing in Tony's lungs.
"We should probably tell the rest of my family, but uh- before we do, could you give it to me straight Doc. I don't like any bullshit.." Jethro said in a sad tone, his eyes not leaving Tony's, he laced his hand around the blue-tinged one.
Brad huffed, and replaced the stethoscope behind his head. "Yeah, but it's going to be the short version, I need to get a few things going for your son here pretty quick."
Jethro nodded, and met his eyes once more.
"Tony has very severe, and what we call double pneumonia, but worse than any case I have ever seen. He was coughing up bloody phlegm almost right off the bat, and then less and less phlegm came with it, and more and more blood. This means there is significant damage going on to the cappillaries and alveoli in his lungs. The oxygen is not being exchanged, nor are his lungs- being so congested- allowing him to fill up with nearly enough to begin with."
Jethro stared back at Tony.
"He went into full respiratory arrest about five minutes ago, and I had no choice but to intubate. We have him on fluids to keep from being dehydrated, and a cath, and we had him on a mask but obviously had to take things up. Sir-" he began but Jethro cut him off out of habit.
"Gibbs"
"Gibbs," he corrected without missing a beat. "The only thin keeping him alive is the respirator."
Jethro felt his jaw flew as tried to keep his thoughts and emotions in check.
"Tony was in a very weakened state, he is exhausted, but I haven't given him anything to keep him sedated."
Jethro held a blank look.
"I am going to be giving him something for the pain, which will keep him drowsy, but for the most part I want him awake. In any other case like this, I would take him to OR and put in a trach. But-"
"But what.."
"When I first discussed having a ventilator brought in to help get him some rest, he had refused it." Brad just went out and said it.
Jethro's eyebrows pinched. "whu-"
"He also had a very high fever, which we are still battling, and I concert the reason to be he wasn't quite grasping what was happening, now I know you are his medical next of kin, and I am asking your permission to have placed Tony on the ventilator." Brad knew it was a little late, but he had a gut feeling that this guy didn't mind bent rules, and understood formalities on the paperwork side of things being a fed. He also could tell this guy would do anything to save his son.
"No doubt about it. Tony doesn't know what the hell he's talkin about, he had been on one before.." Jethro was thankful this guy played hardball and wasn't going to let a technicality keep him from saving his boy. "Thanks.."
"I want Tony not to have to work to breathe, and let him rest to give his body time to fight this infection."
Jethro nodded.
"We need to wane him from the vent, and get him to cough every once in a while to loosen the phlegm so we can get it out. it's the only way to clean the infection, antibiotics aren't going to do it."
"He can do it," Jethro was certain.
"The coughing is extremely painful, his ribs and chest and back are likely to be very sore, and it isn't going to be an easy haul by any means. Most people with pneumonia this bad have trouble coming back, even with the help of strong antibiotics." the doctor's voice rose as the severity in his words did. "No offense sir, but you havent seen what its like when he was here coughing for twenty minutes at a time, gasping for air."
"He'll fight," Jethro said with conviction, eyes ablaze at the words the doctor was speaking.
"Gibbs, I saw him fight. Harder than anyone, ever. But this- this is.."
"Don't count him out, don't you dare.." Gibbs didn't like the direction this conversatoin was going.
"I heard him say his 'last words'…he thought he was dying, knew he was.." The doctor said sadly. "I don't know if theres any fight left to give.."
Jethro bit his tongue, Tony wouldn't give up. Would never give up. Tony abided by a rule Jethro held near and dear, Never leave a man behind. If Tony gave up, it would blow their oath to shit. Tony wouldn't do that … never do that. The hell he cant fight this, Jethro knew he wasn't leaving Tony's side for a minute without letting him know that he would not die.
"Doc.." Jethro let the tear roll from his cheek without moving to abrupt its descent. His voice shook, thick with emotion. "I'm telling you, do everything you can to help him. Everything. Tony will fight. He can do this… I swear it."
Brad swallowed at the father's emission, and nodded his head. Brad was ready for battle once more, reinstated with a morale to save the ailing patient with every ounce of everything he could. He thought of Kate, and of her emotional connection with Tony. He thought of the elder Doctor, and his undoubted affection for the same kid. He thought of Emma and her connection after just meeting the guy. He remembered the agonizing scream her could hear from the other side of the glass as Tony was down for the count a few minutes ago. And he thought of the man advocating protectively over his son, with a love strong enough to make a miracle like saving Tony Gibbs would be, happen. It was game time.
"I am going to be calling some nurses in to rearrange some things, and move him onto a shifting bed, I see no reason to move him from the isolation chamber, it will give you guys more room to be around him, and be comfortable."
"Can we lose the blue lights?" Jethro hated the way they were making things look, and feel. Like some bizarre sci-fi movie straight out of Tony's DVD collection.
"Certainly," Brad nodded. He hated the lights as well. "I will go make some calls, and tell the rest of your family its okay to come in. Plenty of room in here.."
Jethro just nodded, he ran his hand over the warm forehead, and gently bent down and laid a kiss on the same spot. He took a seat in the chair pulled tightly up to the bed. He looked at Tony's bare abdomen and ribcage. He saw the scars from just a year ago still standing out pink against the smoothed tanned skin over the rest of his stomach. He saw the surgical scar from where they had to go in and fix his spleen from when those Russians got the better of him. He ran his thumb over a scar on his temple from the car accident when he was a teen, and over the back of his head where he felt the scars from all the other times he's been pushed to the dirt. Kicked and punched, beaten and bruised. Yelled at, tormented, lied to and bound up.
All these things were brought on by an outside force. Tony wasn't to blame for a single ounce of it. Tony was perfect, except the universe had a way of throwing an almost insurmountable pile of shit atop of such a beautiful boy. This time though, it was his fault. Jethro had brought Tony to be a member of his team so he could protect him and keep him safe from all the bad things looming Tony Gibbs' way, but this happened right in Jethro's own bullpen, a few feet away. He let this happen to Tony, and he couldn't believe he had failed his son.
The doors opened to the chamber, and the entire Gibbs clan entered, timid as ever. Jethro wiped a tear that had fallen when he let his own mind muse, and he encouraged the group that the ground was safe to walk on, they could come a little closer.
"Hey guys, it's okay.." Jethro was a little shocked at the softness his voice conveyed.
Abby was wiping tears at a furious rate, her hand in her twins, the needed their strength together. Tim was staring at all the wires and the tubes and the ventilator. Kate held her arms crossed, her eyes showing hurt, but her ducts fresh out of tears. Jenny was the first to step forward, and she did so with a heavy heart as she began rubbing his cheek and shoulder and arm.
"Oh, Tony…"
"He's gotta stop doing this," Tim wiped a tear, trying to lighten the room. Most people graciously accepted the opportunity to let a small smirk.
Jethro didn't. "It isn't his fault." He wasn't mad about the comment, but mad about the fact. He didn't direct the remark back at Tim, or anyone.. But the entire universe. His eyes showed somewhere far off.
No one replied to what Jethro had said, the room now an awkward silence save the beep of the heart monitor and the whoosh of the respirator.
"He was so sick," Kate said, void of all emotion. Eyes clearly reminiscing on hard times of the past 24 hrs. "I could see him, hear him, not being able to breathe… And there wasn't anything I could do."
"You were brave to stay with him Kate," Ducky chided from behind, letting the family have their time with Tony. "Even before we knew he wasn't contagious, we are all thankful you were here with him Kate."
"Mhmm," "yeah" the room agreed.
"Am I ever going to see Tony again?" Abby burst into tears, the burning question she had been holding back had reached its boiling point. All heads turned to hers.
"Abby don't-" Tim was going to tell her to stop talking like that.
"I mean did I miss getting to say goodbye? Were we too late?" She cried, wanting answers.
"He-uh. He told me," Kate started to cry again. New tears suddenly forming easily. "Told me to tell everybody he loved em. And that he was sorry," She turned her head in admiration of the young man in the bed, barely alive. She would let them know for him.
"Hey! I don't want to hear anymore of this 'goodbye' bullshit," the Dad held his most stern tone. "I don't care what anyone has to say, NOBODY is saying goodbye to anyone. Do we got that?" He asked the group.
"Jethro-" Ducky began. But Jethro knew where he was going to take this conversation. He was going to tell him to prepare for the worst, and that things didn't look good for Tony, and it is right for Abby to feel concern. It isn't right for anyone to fell concern, Tony was going to be fine.
"No, Duck." He didn't yell, but he left out all politeness. "I am not giving up, and I know for a FACT that Tony can beat this, and we don't need to be sitting around letting him know its okay to give up because we already have." Jethro held an intense 'I dare ya' type of stare with all of those in the room.
"Nobody is giving up Jethro!" Jenny said intensely, her nostrils flaring. "We are all here to help Tony pull through and don't you dare think any different of us." She threatened.
Jethro dropped his head, he kept his hand still held on Tony's blue-tinged fingertips, but let his head fall. When he brought his head back up, tears were lacing his face, and his eyes were colored with such sadness no one felt anything but bad for the man.
"Im sorry," he looked them in the eyes. "I just can't let him give up, I need to tell him.." his voice cracked. "Tell him to wake the hell up and beat this or he'll have me to answer to." His voice changed to one that carried the strength he usually oozed with, but that he did not feel. "C'mere Abs." his voice was small again, and he leaned back in his chair, arms open and gesturing to the open spot on his lap.
Abby had been wanting, needing a hug from her Dad for so long now, she couldn't do anything but walk in a trance to bury her head in the crook of his neck as he hugged her, "M'sorry baby. I know how much you love Tony, we are all just worried. I know that." Abby nodded, wiped her tears and turned back to Tony, up close for the first time.
"His lips are so blue.." She said worriedly.
"And look at his fingernails," Jenny held up the hand she held in her own, her voice sad and slow.
Abby picked up the hand that her Dad just released his grasp on, and she wrapped her own around it. His hands were so much bigger than hers, it took two to hold up its sickly dead weight. She pressed it to her cheek, and kissed his fingers. "We love you, Tony."