Italicized: For when Tony is in his Limbo talking or remembering someone from his past.

Comatose:

DiNozzo's Room:

Ducky had barely fallen asleep when a nurse came in to check Tony's vitals. She nodded to the old doctor who had gotten on everyone's good side the last time the agent had been in the ICU. Ducky, he made them all call him Ducky instead of Dr. Mallard, which was probably a good thing since his last name was the name of a duck anyways. The nurse smiled slightly before writing something on Tony's chart and then leaving the room. Ducky had gotten used to checking what the nurses and doctors were writing on the charts in order to relay how Tony was doing to the others when they asked. With no bodies to autopsy, Ducky was always eager to sit with Tony. Mr. Palmer had promised to call if he needed any help with whatever he was doing.

Tony's Head:

He woke slowly, remembering that he was supposed to be in to work today. Only something was different. Gone were his posters of movies and gone were his gun and badge from the counter that he remembered setting them on. Gone was the apartment he'd fallen asleep in. Instead, he was back in his father's house, asleep in his old room; something was definitely not right. A slight knock on his room had the door opening and he saw his little sister poke her head in. She laughed at him when she saw him still asleep.

"Get up silly. Dad wants us ready to go to the party in an hour. Why are you still sleeping?"

"Sorry Karen, guess it was a long night last night."

"What do you mean? You just got home from DC with dad at nine. Don't you remember?"

"It's a little fuzzy? Did dad give me anything to drink last night?"

"You're too young to drink silly, you're only fourteen. Are you okay big brother?"

"Yeah, get out of my room so I can get dressed. And did you say party?"

"Did you forget already? It's Aunt Jenny's birthday party today, so nothing really fancy, we don't want everyone to remember that we are rich."

"But with dad that's never a problem."

"Exactly; come on, get up and dressed. I'll be in my room waiting for you; you know how I hate going downstairs by myself when it's just him around."

"Not fair, I have to go down by myself when you aren't home at all."

"That's because dad likes you. I think he wishes I was never born."

"That's not true Karen, you were just born different and that's the one thing I like about having you as a sister."

"Yeah I know, so I'll be in my room."

Karen left the room and Tony got up and into the shower. He got dressed and did his hair and then grabbed his wallet and headed for his sisters room. She was dressed in a summer dress and sandals, her hair was in a ponytail and she had a small coat hanging over her arm. When he walked in, she turned around and smiled. They were always close, the two of them, never mind that she was three years younger than he was. She was his little sister, and he was going to love her no matter what she looked like, how she was born or how annoying she got sometimes.

Yes, life was good for the DiNozzo siblings as they walked arm in arm downstairs and to their waiting father. Their mother was already at Aunt Jenny's house, helping her sister with the kids and making sure the house was in ship shape for when all the guests arrived. The three of them walked out the door together and got into the car and headed for Aunt Jenny's house not twenty minutes after brunch.

Flatline:

A long loud beep filled the air as the monitors in Tony's room started going off like crazy. Ducky was jolted from his sleep as the alarms started going off. He stood up and rushed to Tony's side as nurses rushed the room and then Dr. McCoy. A nurse pushed him out of the room and he watched as the doctors and nurses worked to bring Tony back. Thirty minutes later, they had him back but Ducky was unable to get back in to the room as they were still in there, and looked like they were about to take him for a scan or something. That's when Dr. McCoy walked out.

"Ducky, you need to call Gibbs for me."

"What's wrong?"

"As far as I know Gibbs is the one that Tony has down as the one that makes all his medical decisions for him if this was to ever happen again. He gave me the paperwork on his last visit, wanted me to know that Gibbs had Power of Attorney for his medical purposes."

"I'll call him now."

Ducky left the doctor standing outside Tony's room and went to use the phone at the nurses' station.

More to come in next chapter…

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