Gibbs POV
I felt the car jerk to a stop, her hand still clasped in mine, I heard the dull sound of the medal doors opening. Everything around me seemed blurred, out of focus, as if I was slowly being sucked into my own world, being held captive by my own torment and being beaten by an unknown force I couldn't stop.
In this world, there were only two people, me, and the woman that was turning deathly pale and slipping away beneath me. There was nothing else. All around us, there were darkness, unforeseen, and untold of darkness that seemed to suck the breath and life out of everything that was living. That darkness was slowly consuming her, taking her, and controlling her.
I couldn't do anything about it, all I could do was beg and plead with the darkness to let her stay, let her live, and let her be free.
"Jethro!" I blinked and suddenly, I was back inside the NCIS ME van, with Ducky glaring at me, his voice full of worry as the doctors rushed out of the hospital and tried to get to Kate.
I nodded and helped them lift the gurney from the back of the van, and set he down gently. I looked around at the unfamiliar faces, still incapable of speech.
I looked at the nurses, all of them with fright on their faces, and then at the more advanced doctors, their brows furrowed as they began connecting her with oxygen tanks and blood pressure monitors right in front of the building.
"We need to get her into surgery, now, doctor," one of the nurses said.
"What happened to her?" the doctor closest next to me asked, as I rushed her through the sliding medal doors and down the brightly lit white halls.
"We were in Arizona," I whispered, finally finding my voice, "She's severly dehydrated, she has a through and through gun shot wound through her thigh and a fresh one at her shoulder. The guy that was chasing us slammed her head against the concrete a couple of times."
I swallowed hard, feeling my core being ripped apart, and almost doubling over with pain. This couldn't be happening, I though, beginning to relive it all. I pushed the memories back for later and ran her through the ER doors, and was about to go in, our hands still linked, when they began pushing me out.
"I'm sorry sir, but you can't go in there, the surgeons have to operate on her immediately, and we can't have you in there," a nurse said apologetically.
I felt anger roaring up inside me, and I didn't let go of her hand; I couldn't. It was the only link I had to her now, the only link that kept us together. I couldn't let go of it, couldn't just give her up.
"No, I'm going with her," I growled, trying to push past them, but they were suddenly like a brick wall, and I was suddenly growing weaker.
I clung onto her hand for dear life, but slowly, reluctantly, they made me pull away, and I was left with an empty feeling not only in my heart, but in my entire being. I ached for her, I ached to see her smile, her laughter, I ached just to see her breath.
"Come on boss, it'll be ok," I felt the weight of a hand resting on my shoulder and turned, slightly disoriented to see DiNozzo behind me, his face a mask of grief.
I shook my head, "That should be me in there, not her. I should've gone out there and she should've called you. I should've taken the bullets, the beatings, not her. She shouldn't be in there, she should be alive."
That floored him. The young Italian stared at me, full of incomprehension and then, suddenly, as if I had just simply flipped a switch, pain. I saw pain for his partner, pain for the fact that we may never see her again unless it be at her funeral. Suddenly, I thought, I made him realize that her life just might end on that damn operating table, cold, and alone.
"Jethro, our Caitlin will pull through alright, now, would you like to tell us what happened?" I turned again to see Ducky beside me, his arms crossed over his chest and his brows drawn together.
I opened my mouth, and suddenly, I was engulfed with the memories. I remembered our car spinning out of control, the hot desert air, pouring into our lungs and robbing us of any water we had left in our bodies, the men capturing us and almost drowning both of us with water, and finally, the night I had lost my control.
I remembered how I couldn't feel anything, just the need to have her, to finally have that connection, and now, I just wanted to shoot myself for giving in. I remembered the moment when I saw her go down, how my heart had stopped and when it had started, I remembered feeling as if poison were being pumped through my veins.
Lastly, I remembered how much I had loved her, how much I had wanted to tell her that since the day I met her.
"Jethro," Ducky prompted again.
I shook my head, "The group we were trying to catch, they were prepared. They were armed, and we were stranded in the desert for a while until we were taken else where. Nothing more then that."
I couldn't speak of the subject, not yet. I had to know that she was OK to even remotely begin to talk about what had happened in Arizona.
It's just another wall of scars to add to your collection, Jethro, I thought and felt a tear fall down my cheek and drop onto the pristine white marble looking floor.
Kate POV
Pain. White hot pain. And then, blessedly, nothing. Just the dark, cool waters pulling to me and making me go under, and peace, oh how sweet that peace felt. I felt like I was floating, floating away from the pain, the devastation, and the fear.
I was free, I wanted to laugh, wanted to burst with happiness, and soar further away faster, but the process was slow, agonizingly slow. I felt myself slipping and felt the urges to fight diminish, and finally, disappear all together.
Now, the blackness was slowly turning into a bright, glowing light that bathed my sun in warmth and made me smile. I wanted to dive right into the glow, but suddenly, I felt something pull at me.
It was a single word, four letters, and meant the world to me. It was a single pair of blue eyes, shinning bright with tears and devastation. It was a man who had been so strong that was now detraining from the inside out. I couldn't leave just yet.
I looked down at Gibbs, his head was in his hands, his form slouched and a small puddle of what looked like water was at his feet. He had been crying.
I looked towards the light again, and wanted so desperately to go towards it, but slowly turned myself away and went back to him, and let the dark waters encompass me.
ER room
"She's crashing," a nurse growled, getting the paddles as the doctor finished sewing up her thigh. The woman was beautiful, the nurse had thought when they had brought her in.
"Charge up 200," the doctor ordered, he was working on her skull, trying to do his best to repair the damage. He would save her life, he had promised her that as soon as she had come in. He would do anything to save her, because he just couldn't bear to look at her husband, was it her boy friend, and tell him that she hadn't lived, that she had died at his hands.
It was agonizing just for him to leave her, it would be even more painful for him if she left for good.
"No pulse, doctor," the nurse repeated, already charging up to 400.
"I need suction here, nurse, charge up to 400," he ordered, feeling sweat beginning to form under his brow.
He moved out of the way as the paddles came down, and made her body flop like a fish up and down on the operating table, her body pale and limp.
He held his breath, willing her to wake up, praying to God to start up her heart again.
"We got a pulse, doctor," the nurse told him, she was beaming with joy.
The doctor smiled and continued his work, a renewed sense in what he did, all because of this woman.
Gibbs POV
It had been five hours, and no one had come through those damned doors. I had been watching the doors for five hours, glaring at them, demanding that they open to reveal the doctors that had taken her into the operating room.
I had begun passing after the first five minutes and neither DiNozzo's sighs of impatience nor Ducky's soothing voice made me stop and sit down. I had to occupy my mind, and to keep up hope that she was still alive, just trapped, in there some where.
He thought of calling her brothers and her parents, but decided against it. They would all be flying through the hospital with anger on their faces and that's what he didn't need.
Suddenly, as if the doors had finally given in, the head doctor emerged, a changed man. His face was slightly paler then before and he looked drained of energy.
I immediately went up to him, demanding an answer without saying a word. I searched his face as he hesitated, searched his clear green eyes for an answer, but found none.
I felt my heart constricting with each second he didn't say a word, until her finally opened his mouth.
"We managed to save her," he began, "but she's in a coma. I'm sorry."