I'm in Love with My Stalker
By: Don David and Sasha Cartwright
Chapter 12
A/N Here it is, the long awaited recovery of Tony. Don and I hope that you all enjoy it. Thank you all for your support. We really appreciate it. Enjoy!
Gibbs raced through the snaking hallways, rushing to the aid of his senior field agent, his gut twisting and burning all the way.
He motioned to Ziva to clear the rooms, leading up to the very last one.
She stealthily slid up to the last door, careful to avoid being seen by its occupants.
Discovering the door was closed Ziva signaling to Gibbs and McGee with a curt nod.
Hoping that they could coax the insane woman from the room, Gibbs indicated to McGee to approach the door while the ex-marine and Ziva prepared themselves for anything.
"Anna, it's me, Tim," said McGee, catching himself from saying, 'the real one'. "Come on and open up the door. I am alone and just wanted to talk to you and sort out our problems, ok?"
The door opened just enough to reveal a blonde woman who seemed to be enjoying what was going on behind the door.
"Come on in, Timmy. It's fun in here," she beckoned with an overly luminous smile tinted with a psychotic gleam that deeply troubled McGee.
Tim reluctantly walked through the door with, unbeknownst to Anna, Gibbs and Ziva right behind.
"I'm so glad you're finally here, Timmy," said Anna, her back still to McGee and not noticing Ziva and Gibbs who was searching the room for Tony. "Though, it did take you ages to get here."
"Your friend wasn't much help either," she added, her words making all three agent's ears perk up.
Swiveling to face McGee, Anna chided, shaking her finger at him, "That was a naughty trick that you played on me, making me think that he was you."
" Michael didn't take too kindly to you lying to me," she continued, still shaking her finger at McGee, her overly bright smile never faltering. "Your friend learned really quickly how protective my brother is of me and how much he hates waiting."
Her words made McGee's stomach drop like a rock, but he forced himself to stay on task.
"Where is he, Anna?" wondered McGee, hoping that her brother hadn't inflicted any irreparable damage to his friend and teammate.
"Ah, ah," replied Anna, her smile widening impossibly bigger, "All in good time."
It was then that she noticed Gibbs and Ziva.
"Who are you?" she wondered, her smile dissolving into a confused frown. "I thought you said you were alone, Timmy."
"He is," replied Ziva, hoping that their ruse would hold up long enough for them to find Tony and get him out of here. "We're friends of Tim's. We're just here…"
Ziva faltered for a minute, not sure how she should explain their presence.
"We gave him a ride here," explained Gibbs, saving Ziva. "His car broke down."
"Oh," said Anna with a slow nod, accepting the story, "Ok."
At that moment, McGee would have gladly driven to Mexico and back with Gibbs and Ziva tag-team driving if he could get Tony and get out of there.
Not sure how to approach the subject without upsetting the obviously disturbed mind, the team looked for a distraction they could use to coax Tony's location out of Anna.
"I like your bracelet," noted Ziva, using anything that she found as said distraction, "Is it new? It's beautiful."
Their hopes for a calm discussion went up in smoke when Anna's pretty face contorted into a snarl.
" Yeah, what do you know about beautiful?" sneered Anna.
Knowing that they were left with one option, Ziva decided to act upon said remaining option.
"I know it won't be for long," replied Ziva, clearing the space between her and the other woman with just a few steps.
In one, swift movement, she had Anna on the ground.
"AHHHHHH NOOOOOO DON'T!" shrieked Anna, anger, confusion, and surprise drenching her words.
This caused her brother to stop inflicting pain on Tony long enough to help his sister.
As Ziva quickly handcuffed Anna, the man they figured to be Michael emerged from a small side room.
Tim's stomach dropped for the twelfth time that day when he saw that large, bloody knife in the man's hand.
Without a second thought, Gibbs knocked the knife from the man's hands while McGee delivered a swift strike to the bad of the man's head with his pistol butt.
Michael fell to the ground and was deemed unconscious.
As Gibbs quickly cuffed the no prone form of the brother, through the doorway, they heard a very weak, but very familiar, "Good Job, Probie Wan Kenobi."
Hearing his senior field agent's voice, Gibbs left the younger man's captors to Ziva and McGee and ran to Tony.
The former marine's gut gave painful twist when he saw Tony's prone form stretched out on the medical hospital table.
It completed a full back flip when Gibbs saw the damage that the psychos had done to him.
Tony was lucky to be alive.
Hiding his fear and concern, Gibbs stated gruffly, "DiNozzo, can't you go a single day without getting into trouble?"
"What fun would that be, Boss?" questioned Tony, his voice faint and harsh, though the familiar humor was still there somewhat reassuring Gibbs.
The older man shook his head.
Only Tony.
Running his eyes over the younger man, Gibbs saw that, with the exception of his boxers, Tony was naked and, much to his dismay, every piece of visible flesh was either sporting a bleeding gash, an angry-looking bruise, or was covered in blood.
Holding back his concern again, Gibbs loosened the restraints that kept Tony pinned to the table.
"Come on," said Gibbs, "you need to go the hospital."
As a testament to how awful he was feeling, Tony just gave a small, tired nod.
Helping Tony to a sitting position with several hissed breaths, Gibbs could see that Tony's chest matched the damage that his back had sustained.
"Can you walk by yourself?" asked Gibbs, trying to maintain some sort of normalcy.
Wordlessly, Tony slowly shook his head.
"I don't think I'll be dancing for a little while," replied Tony with a hoarse chuckle.
It was then that Gibbs saw the frying pan sitting abandoned on the floor, burnt flesh still clinging to it.
His mind making the connection Gibbs fought back the urge to race into the adjoining room and strangle Anna Campbell and her brother himself.
Just then, Ziva and McGee entered the doorway.
"Fornell and his men have the Campbells in custody," reported Ziva, her eyes filling with sympathy for her partner when she saw how much damage had been inflicted onto Tony.
"Way to go, Zee-vah!"congratulated Tony with a small smile that he really didn't feel.
Knowing that Tony probably didn't want to be stared at while he was so hurt, Gibbs suggested, in a tone that said that it was anything but a suggestion, "David, McGee, go get the medical team and tell them to bring a gurney."
"On it, Boss," replied Ziva, snapping into action while McGee hung back in the doorway, a sad expression on his face.
He had never meant for things to get so out of hand and now that he was looking straight at the damage that one picture could do, McGee was filled with remorse.
As Gibbs turned his head expectantly towards the doorway, his piercing blue eyes searching for the medical team, his gaze fell on McGee and his eyes instantly hardened.
"You got a hearing problem I don't know about McGee?" he demanded, his worry becoming replaced with anger.
"No, Boss," replied McGee instantly, his gaze shifting from Tony's mutilated chest to his boss' death glare. "I-I-I-I-I'll go get the medical team."
And with that he disappeared back through the doorway.
Gibbs glared at the now empty for another minute before he relaxed his gaze and returned it to his injured agent.
Seeing that Tony was likely to fall off of the table, Gibbs put a gentle, supporting arm around the younger man's damaged shoulders.
"Thanks, Boss," thanked Tony, taking comfort in the offered help.
"Just don't make a habit of it, DiNozzo," Gibbs replied gruffly, his concern belying the roughness of his tone.
"I think I already have, Boss," noted Tony with an airy chuckle.
Finally feeling safe, Tony allowed himself to slip into unconsciousness, safe in his 'dad's' arms.
A few minutes later, the EMT arrived with the gurney and loaded the now unconscious Tony onto the moving bed.
As Gibbs followed the gurney out of the room, he ran into Fornell.
"Hey, where are you going?" asked the FBI agent.
Gibbs fought the urge to roll his eyes.
FBI agents really could be clueless.
" To the hospital, Fornell," replied the former marine, indicating the medical team that was ushering Tony to the ambulance. "You're a big boy and can handle clean up yourself."
His eyes not leaving Tony, he added, "I've got an injured agent that comes first."
Gibbs had no idea how badly Tony was injured until his doctor, Dr. Pitt, made his way over to the cluster of anxious looking federal agents that crowded the hospital's waiting room.
"Agent Gibbs," Dr. Pitt called.
"How is he?" demanded Gibbs, not too unkindly, but in a tone that indicated that he was in no mood for anything but the absolute truth.
"Agent Dinozzo has suffered severe lacerations to the entire backside of his body," listed the doctor, "as well as some internal bleeding cause by trauma to his chest and abdomen, a moderate concussion, and third degree burns to the soles of his feet that will keep him off of his feet for at least three weeks."
"So," asked Abby, tears forming in her eyes, her voice sounding like that of a child, "Is he going to be all right?"
"We've got all of the wounds cleaned and dressed, he's on antibiotics to keep away any possible infection, and we've given him a sedative to help him rest," explained Dr. Pitt. "It will be a long road to get him back to normal, but he's a fighter."
"However," warned the doctor, "due to the nature and extensiveness of the injuries, I'm afraid that Tony may have some muscle damage and some very nasty scars."
"Neither of these should inhibit Agent Dinozzo's ability to remain a field agent," clarified the man, seeing the panic in several of the faces. "It'll just be a rough road."
"Can we see him?" McGee questioned, his face pale and his voice shaky.
Ever since he had realized that he had gotten Tony into this mess, McGee wanted to make sure that his mistake wouldn't cost Tony his life.
"He really needs his rest," answered Dr. Pitt, but knowing that he wouldn't be able to get rid of Gibbs that easily, he added, "He could probably handle one visitor for right now."
Knowing that no one would dare contradict him, Gibbs followed the doctor to Tony's room.
Walking through the door, Gibbs saw his senior field agent lying on his side, covered in a thin hospital blanket.
Seeing the mass of bandages that covered the younger man, Gibbs felt his gut give a painful twist.
Making his way from the door, around the foot of the bed, and over to the far side of the room where his agent's head was turned.
"Hey, Boss," whispered Tony, his voice coming out faint and hoarse.
"Hey, Dinozzo," replied Gibbs, allowing himself the luxury of forming his rough, yet warm hand around the base of the younger man's neck, "You gave us quite a scare."
"Sorry, Boss," Tony stated tiredly before instantly correcting himself, "I know, no apologizing."
"You got that right, Dinozzo," nodded Gibbs with a small lopsided smile.
"I just can't believe that blonde, whatever her name is would do something like this just because she thought I was McGee," said Tony, "How did she even get my picture anyway?"
"That's what I'm going to find out." declared Gibbs darkly, moving to head back to the waiting room, only to be stopped by the presence of a bandaged hand on his arm.
"Will you be here when I wake up?" wondered Tony, not caring how much like a child he sounded.
"Of course," promised Gibbs, knowing that Tony would feel better if he knew Gibbs had his six.
"Ok, Boss," Tony nodded, instantly pacified as he closed his eyes and drifted off into a medically induced sleep.
Quietly leaving the room, Gibbs shot a small, relieved look back at his sleeping senior agent before heading back to the waiting room, all the while, considering whether or not to kill McGee for his carelessness.
A/N There is it, as promised. As a heads up, since I will be out of town without my computer for a few days, I will not be posting another chapter until Monday so I apologize extra for leaving you with a cliffhanger. During the brief hiatus, please let us know what you thought or any questions, concerns, or suggestions you might have. I will get back to them as soon as I can. Thank you for all of your support. Don and I have been blown away by all the love you have given us. Until next time. ~Sasha Cartwright~