Waking Up:

DiNozzo's Room:

Tony woke up confused again. He heard beeping and realized that he was in the hospital again. He couldn't talk this time either but that's not what scared him. What scared him was the fact that he knew that he was in the hospital again but didn't know why he was back in the hospital. He had just gotten out of the hospital so why was he back at the hospital if he was okay to go back to work?

Noise beside his head had him glancing with his eyes to see who was in the room. He saw Ducky reading the newspaper but had no way of talking to him. He understood that he could move his lips but for some reason no sound came out. His throat was hurting him so maybe it had something to do with his throat. So he settled on moving his hand to try and get Ducky's attention that way.

Ducky noticed the hand movement right away and looked up from his newspaper. When he saw Tony's eyes open and that he was trying to speak, he set his paper down and stood up, pressing the help button in the process. Dr. McCoy walked in after being near the nurses' station when the button was pressed. Upon seeing Agent DiNozzo awake and that it was Dr. Mallard that had pressed the button, he walked to the side of the bed.

"Ah, Agent DiNozzo, thank you for once again coming back to the land of the living. You had us quite scared when you were brought back in via ambulance. Gibbs was particuarly afraid that he might have lost you this time. But no such luck I see. Now, you can't talk at the moment due to the fact that we had to perform a tracheotomy to help you breathe, which basically means that you have a tube in your throat keeping you from talking but helping you breathe. It will be removed once we know that you can breathe on your own without any help. It'll have to stay in for the time being but I can get a computer set up in here so you can talk with your friends and teammates. How does that sound?"

"Thumbs up," Tony's answer.

"Well I'm glad you approve. Do try and get some more rest, you are going to need it in the coming months of recuperation. Dr. Mallard, I believe it is best if you call Agent Gibbs and tell him the good news."

"I will do that Dr. McCoy," Ducky said as he watched Dr. McCoy leave the room before turning back to Tony. "You had us all scared Anthony. What, did you think we wouldn't be here? No of course not, you were only on your way home, how could you have known that you were going to get into a car accident."

"Quizzical look," Tony's answer.

"Oh, my dear boy, you must not have been conscious right after it happened. A truck hit you on your way home after work nearly a week ago. Here, till that computer gets set up, why don't you just write what you want to say?" Ducky said handing tony a notepad and pen.

"I've really been out for a week? It feels longer?"

"How much longer, my dear boy?"

"Like forever. Coma's suck!"

"You should have seen us in the middle of the week when you went and had a seizure. Everyone was afraid you would need another head surgery but it turns out that there was just too much swelling. If you could see yourself now, you'd say you looked like a conehead."

"Please tell me I don't have a conehead?"

"Not anymore, the swelling has gone down and they replaced the piece of skull they removed to relieve the pressure."

"Well at least I don't look like a conehead anymore, that's all that matters. Why was I hit?"

"I don't really know. Gibbs, Ziva and McGee arrested the man that hit you. They said his name was Mr. Kyle Jackson, said he used to be a doctor some years ago. They think he knew you when you were a teen. Did you know a Dr. Kyle Jackson when you were a teenager?"

"I haven't heard that name since I was fourteen. My sister, mom and I were in a car accident and my mom and I were hurt. I ended up with whiplash and a concussion and mom ended up dead. Dad sued the doctor for being drunk when he worked on the both of us. But I don't remember much. My sister said I slept most of the hospital stay."

"I didn't know you had a sister Anthony."

"It's a long story. I'll tell you about it someday soon. I'm getting tired, need to get some sleep."

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I'll just step outside and let Gibbs know that you are awake. I'm sure there about done with talking to the guy that hit you now anyways."

Tony nodded his understanding before letting his eyes fall shut and then he was sleeping again. Ducky stepped outside and made the phone call that he knew would brighten everyone's day.

NCIS Headquarters:

Gibbs was sitting at his desk as were McGee and Ziva. All were filling out reports on the case when Gibbs phone rang. Director Sheppard had just walked in with Abby and Palmer who had contributed little but didn't mind seeing as they had kept each other busy.

"Ducky, any news?"

"You might as well put me on speaker phone Gibbs; this is something you're all going to want to hear."

"Alright, one second…there your one speaker. Now what have you got?"

"DiNozzo is awake, woke up about an hour ago. Dr. McCoy doesn't want to take him off the ventilator just yet, wants to make sure he can breathe on his own before he takes him off. Anyways, he remembers Dr. Jackson as the one that treated him and his mom when he was fourteen after a car crash. He said his sister was in the crash as well."

"Did he mention anything else?" McGee asked.

"Only that his father sued the doctor for being drunk but that he didn't remember much because he had a concussion and whiplash and was told by his sister that he'd been asleep most of the hospital stay."

"Did he say where his sister is now?" Ziva asked.

"He didn't but he wasn't getting tired and I let him sleep. He's talking via writing on a notepad. Dr. McCoy said he'd get a computer set up in his room to help with talking to everyone. And while you're at the office, would you mind grabbing something from his desk, I think it would cheer him up."

"No problem Ducky. We were just wrapping things up here. We'll see you soon. Tell DiNozzo that we are glad he's awake."

"You can tell him yourself, when he wakes up. He fell asleep as I was leaving the room to call you."

"Alright, we'll tell him ourselves. See you in a little while Dr. Mallard." Director Sheppard stated as Gibbs hung up the phone.

The team finished up their paperwork before grabbing their belongings and heading out the door. At least this time, DiNozzo's coma hadn't last nearly a month. Maybe he was waiting for them to catch the guy that had hit him, whatever the reason, they were just glad that he was alright and awake.

Remembering Limbo:

The team arrived shortly after two in the afternoon that day, walking into the room with smiles on their faces. Abby had a vase full of black roses while McGee had a stack of Maxim magazines and Ziva had brought more movies for him to watch, mainly some more Disaster Film Collections that she had found and bought so that she could watch them and then tell Tony about them or just let him watch them. He was awake when they walked in and had a smile on his face. The computer had been set up so he just typed in what he wanted to say.

"Hey Boss, sorry I scared you, again."

"Just don't keep making this a habit and we should be good."

"Did Dr. Jackson really hit me because of what happened when I was fourteen?"

"He said that was the reason. He said that you should have spoken up for him all those years ago and that when he saw you at the light he just saw red and decided then and there that he was going to hit you." Ziva said.

"I couldn't have really said anything all those years ago anyways, according to my sister, I was asleep most of the time. Even in the car, right after the accident, when I wanted to go to sleep, she wouldn't let me. She kept screaming in my ear and waking me up. Our mom shouldn't have died. According to another doctor she should have lived a long time after the accident, but…"

"But what? What happened in order for her to die in the E.R?" McGee asked.

"Dr. Jackson nicked an artery when they opened her up to get her heart started again and she bled out. There was nothing they could have done to save her after that.

"I'm sorry DiNozzo, about then and now. Do you know where your sister is?" Director Sheppard asked.

"She works in New York at a school for gifted kids. That's also where she went to school so it was easy for her to become a teacher there as well."

"Why kind of school for gifted kids?" Abby asked.

"She's a mutant Abby; it's one of the reasons why my dad wanted nothing to do with her after the accident. My mom never minded that she had a mutant child, but dad couldn't get over it. As soon as Aunt Jenny realized this, she paid for my sister's tuition to go to the school and she left about a month after mom died. At first it was hard but then dad started to take me everywhere when he left for business and then it wasn't that hard. Karen came home during the holidays and stayed with Aunt Jenny and I would stay with Aunt Jenny during holidays as well and we would get to be brother and sister again."

"Must've been hard for the two of you to go through that." Ducky said.

"Karen and I used to do everything together. She was my little sister and no matter how different she was, I loved her. She may have been three years younger than me, but at the time she was all I had to count on in my life other than my mom. After mom died and dad wanted nothing to do with Karen, he gave me an ultimatum. Either I stop all contact with Karen while she was at the school, or I didn't go with him on his business trips. I decided to stay in touch with Karen. I didn't need the constant traveling. Besides, siblings are everything to each other and I wasn't going to let her lose her brother when she had just lost her mother and father."

"Well we better let you get some more rest. We'll be here all night DiNozzo, don't worry about a thing."

"Thanks Boss. And thanks for being here when I needed you all."

"You kidding? We wouldn't have missed being here while you were in the hospital. At least this time we got to work on the case while you were in your coma." McGee said.

"McGee has a point Tony. It was easier this time because you weren't in a coma for nearly a month. No complications baring one right after the surgery. Goodnight Tony, see you in the morning."

They all left and headed for the waiting room except Abby who said she would stay with him while he slept. Seeing him awake had her crying tears of joy though she wasn't about to make the same mistake twice and hug him till he couldn't breathe and then be told by Gibbs that she wasn't allowed to see him unless she could keep the hugs to a minimum.

More to come in next chapter…

Please Review…

Italics are for when DiNozzo is typing and/or writing on the notepad.