AN; I know I know. I'm a bad writer... leaving a whole year before updating, but my life got away with me. I was at college, had a holiday and then to top it off I moved house. Hopefully for 2015 I'm going to be better at keeping my stories updated. Hope you all had a good Christmas and have a great new year. :) As always kudos to Pancho1993 for being my proofie and letting me bounce ideas.
-MissMushy
Gibbs and Ducky stared through the window, watching the mass of doctors and nurses surrounding the young boy, trying frantically to save him. Seconds passed by that felt like minutes and hours to them, nothing mattered except the scene that was unfolding in front of their eyes.
They watched on as the flat line on the monitor was replaced by slow peaks. The head doctor bowed his head and looked straight at them through the window, they held the stare for a few minutes before the doctor turned and headed out of the room and joined Ducky and Gibbs within the hallway.
"Agent Gibbs, Doctor Mallard; I'm Doctor Jeffery McNeal, I am the lead physician on baby DiNozzo's case. What you just had to watch was his lungs collapsing because they are so under developed which then caused stress on his heart and so on. Thankfully we were able to get him stable again but I would advise you to prepare for the worst. With a child born this prematurely there is only a five percent chance that they get healthy enough to leave the hospital." McNeal introduced and informed the two very worried men. "I'm sorry I couldn't offer you more hopeful news but it is simply just too early to be optimistic."
Gibbs took in a deep breath and stumbled back a few steps at the thought of the man he saw as his own son losing the two closest people he loved and relied on more than anything for love and support to be taken away from him in one accident.
"I know that the mother was killed in the accident but have the father and her thought of what they were going to name their son before she passed?" McNeal asked softly.
"I don't know…" Gibbs murmured back. "I know they had been talking about it but the last I heard about it they were still arguing with each other over a couple of names."
McNeal looked thoughtfully at the two older men before replying back. "Maybe the father just needs some advice on choosing which one. I know he's going through a lot at the moment but the sooner he does this, it could give him some hope that eventually everything will turn out okay."
"Unlikely." Gibbs muttered back before turning on his heel and walked away from the two doctors'. His mind flashing back to when he was told of Shannon and Kelly's untimely deaths while oversees, and how he had fixated on Hernandez, thinking that once he knew that the Mexican couldn't hurt and destroy another family everything wouldn't hurt as much as it did, but when he walked into his home for the first time the gaping hole within his heart grew louder with the oppressive silence that had never been there before.
He walked the corridors of the hospital lost within his thoughts and feelings, wanting desperately to fix the whole situation for Tony but finding nothing that he could do except just watch everything fold out right before his eyes. A right turn then a left and he felt tears try to escape from his emotionless prison that he created years ago. Another left turn and down a flight of stairs and he finally lost the façade and let the tears roll freely down his face as he mourned the loss of Ziva, a women he saw like a daughter to him after Kelly, as well as the worry of possibly losing his honorary grandchild before he had even fully introduced himself to the little man.
Silent sobs tore through his throat as he sat down on the last step of the stairs. He tried desperately to control the tears but the harder he tried the quicker they fell down his features. Minutes passed by before he slowly started to regain composure of his emotions.
He swiped roughly at the drying tear tracks on his cheeks before he slowly got up off the stairs and took a deep breath in. He walked back through the hallways and towards Tony's room, he stopped outside for a minute before walking in and saw Tony trying to get up out of bed.
The younger man ripped off the leads that were attached to his chest as well as the tubes running in and out of his body before sitting up straight and ripping off the blanket. He paused for a second or two as he noticed the mass of bandages wrapped around where his knee should have been before twisting and facing towards the door. He stopped totally as he noticed Gibbs standing there with the door wide open.
"Boss…" Tony murmured.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Gibbs retorted harshly as he approached the younger man and softly placed his hands on Tony's shoulders to support him.
"To go see my son. I need to go see my son." Tony stated before trying to get up off the bed. Only to be pushed back down onto the bed by the marine.
"Aren't you forgetting something Tony?" Gibbs questioned as he glanced down to the missing limb before looking back up to Tony's face. "You're going to fall and cause more damage than what's already been done."
Tony looked down and visibly deflated. "I just want to go see him while I have the chance Gibbs. He's not even supposed to be born yet and he already has to face this world. I don't want to be stuck here in this bed while my son could be possibly taking his final breaths." Tony replied getting angry a little more with every word he spoke.
"Okay, okay. Stay here while I go out and find your doctor and clear it with him." Gibbs stated and got up off his knees, letting them pop with old age before turning and walking out of the room. He looked around the hallway before heading towards the nurse's station.
"I need to talk to Dr O'Malley about Tony as soon as he can please, Beth." Gibbs spoke sweetly and leaned on the counter.
"Of course. I'll page him now; do you want me to tell him to meet you in Tony's room?" Beth replied and picked up the phone and placed it to her ear.
"Please." Gibbs replied and started to walk away before Beth's voice stopped him.
"Tell Tony that if he rips off the leads one more time I'm going to restrain him to that bed of his until he's ready to leave this hospital." Her voice changed from warm and welcoming to a version of a strict headmistress.
Gibbs bowed his head and smirked at the comment before replying, "Yes ma'am." He carried on walking back into Tony's room and found the younger man in exactly the same position as when he left the man.
"Did he say I could go?" Tony asked hopefully and tried to hide a grimace of pain as he hit his stump with his hand.
Gibbs stalked towards Tony and placed his hands on Tony's shoulders. "Waiting for O'Malley to come here. Why don't we get you back on the bed properly and that IV back in before Beth has my hide for letting you run wild."
Tony nodded his head before accepting Gibbs' help moving back onto the bed. He flinched slightly as Gibbs gently lifted his stump and carefully placed it down on the pillows that were strategically placed to provide comfort.
"Hurts?" Gibbs asked offhandedly and pulled the blanket back up to Tony's waist, before carefully picking up the IV, checking that it was still okay and inserted it back into Tony's hand.
"Feels like its still there. Like they didn't take a part of it." Tony admitted sheepishly and looked towards the door.
"The brains a weird organ." Gibbs stated as he sat down. "It can make you believe things that are no longer there or not real. Hell, you saw how I believed that Franks wasn't dead the other year. All because a few wires got crossed up here." He tapped lightly at his forehead. "It may seem creepy and surreal at the moment but you'll get used to it and bounce back like you always do." Gibbs turned and looked back at Tony, noticing that the younger man had finally succumbed to the lure of the morphine cursing around through his veins.
Gibbs chuckled softly and leaned back in the unforgiving visitors chair, he was about to dose off for a couple of minutes before the door softly clicked open and O'Malley walked in.
"Beth said you wanted to talk to me?" O'Malley asked and stood at the foot of the bed.
"Yeah, Tony wants to go see his son while he has the chance. Can he?" Gibbs enquired softly and looked up hopefully at the doctor.
O'Malley looked skeptical about the idea for a few seconds. He moved towards Tony and spoke. "Let me see how his wounds are and if there okay, he can go as long as he takes that IV and stays in the wheelchair. We don't need him falling down and injuring himself more." He lowered the blanket and lifted the gown, looked at the chest tube before nodding and moving on to slowly peeling back the bandage covering the incision on his stomach.
Once again the doctor nodded silently and replaced the bandage before moving towards the stump. He lifted it carefully and unwrapped the bandages. "Incision's looking good." He murmured to himself before grabbing new bandages from the bedside cabinet and wrapping the limb back up.
"Can he go?" Gibbs asked on Tony's behalf.
O'Malley sighed and looked at Gibbs in the eye. "I don't like it that he wants to be moving around and pushing himself so much so quickly, but I understand why he wants to go. If he feels up to it when he wakes, he can go but I want Beth to go with you two to help. I'll also give McNeal a heads up that he's coming so he can make sure everything's okay on his end."
"Thank you Doctor." Gibbs replied sincerely and settled further into the chair.
O'Malley started to walk out of the room before turning around. "Oh, Gibbs. I've asked for the orderlies to bring in a comfier chair for you, as you're basically camping out here in his room."
Gibbs nodded in acceptance and gratitude before watching the doctor walk out of the room. He sighed and crossed his legs over each other and linked his hand up with Tony's before closing his eyes.
Tony sat in the wheelchair as Gibbs pushed him down the hallway towards NICU with Beth trailing behind. They never spoke a word to each other until they reached the double doors. Gibbs moved around to the front of the wheelchair and kneeled so he was eye level with the younger man.
"You sure you want to do this Tony? He's still really sick and they have ventilator breathing for him at the moment." Gibbs asked, searching Tony's face for any uneasiness.
"I want to do this Gibbs. I've got to. This might be the only time I can see him alive." Tony replied determinedly.
"Okay." The older man replied and pushed himself up and moved back around to push Tony through the double doors. He drove the wheelchair around various other machines and incubators until they were in front of the one that housed the child.
"Help me up Gibbs." Tony stated as Gibbs put the brake on and wound an arm underneath Tony's shoulder and pulled him up, taking the weight that should have been supported by his leg.
Tony gasped at the sight he saw before him. His child must have been the length of his palm, maybe a little bit longer but still small. There was a tube running from his mouth supplying vital air that he needed as well as one going up through his nose. There were other machines and cables attached but Tony didn't want to know what they were for. He was more bothered that his child didn't have that pinky cream color of skin; He was red, as if he had been sun burnt. There was a cloth covering his eyes, protecting them.
"He's so small." Tony choked out and looked away for a second before turning back. "He doesn't even look like what a baby should look like." He felt Beth come up behind him and place a comforting hand on the lower of his back.
"He's still a fighter though Tony." Dr McNeal spoke as he approached them. "He's looking at some respiratory problems at the moment and maybe in the future but he's fighting. I know you want to take him out of there but he doesn't have the immune system to handle it yet. In a few weeks we can start to look at getting some father and son time.
Tony looked at the doctor bewildered before turning back and gazing at the incubator. He placed a hand on the roof and whispered, "Of course you're fighting. You're a DiNozzo, they always fight." He smiled and looked at Gibbs. He could see tears forming in the man's eyes but not falling.
"Have you or your wife thought about names yet?" McNeal asked softly.
Tony nodded and looked over to Gibbs. "Thomas Jethro DiNozzo." He stated proudly and watched the confusion be replaced with pride.
"I'll go sort that out now." McNeal spoke before stalking away from the group.
"I thought Ziva wanted to call him Thomas James." Gibbs stated softly and tightened his hold on the younger man slightly.
"Yeah she did, but she isn't here and I thought that with everything you've have done and are doing for us, it was a little thank you to you." Tony replied and took one last look at his son before leaning more of his weight on Gibbs and stated. "I'm tired."
"Okay, let's get you back to your room then." Gibbs stated as he lowered Tony back into the wheelchair. "I'm surprised you lasted that long with the amount of morphine you have in you at the moment." He chuckled as he released the brake and spun the wheelchair around, pushing it out of NICU swiftly and back down to Tony's room.
Hope you all enjoyed it.