Chapter 6:
Overview All:
McGee and Ducky drove Tony to the hospital, sprawled across the backseat of Ducky's Morgan. Still unconscious, he was lifted up by McGee, who had been working out, and found it quite easy to lift him, and carried all the way down the stairs and to the car. On the thirty minute trip to Bethesda Naval Hospital, McGee frequently checked Tony's racing pulse. The beads of sweat now resting on Tony's forehead were increasing by the minute, and McGee did the best he could to dab them away.
"Timothy, have you called Jethro?" Ducky asked turning to the worried agent in the passenger seat.
"No, should I duck, how am I supposed to bring this up." McGee stuttered.
"For heavens sake man, just tell him to meet us there, we will fill him in when he arrives." Ducky scolded as McGee flipped out his phone and started dialing. It rang a couple of times before the gruff voice on the other end picked up,
"McGee, this better be important." Gibbs sighed.
"Boss, Ducky and I are on the way to the hospital with Tony, he has gotten, well…" McGee sat for a second thinking of the right words to use, "well boss, he has gotten really bad." McGee finally stuttered out. There was silence on the other end. "Boss?" McGee called into the phone.
"Is Ducky in the car?" Gibbs asked.
"Yeah, he is driving." McGee said questioningly.
"Well, put him on McGee." Gibbs yelled. McGee held the phone up to Ducky's ear.
"He wants to talk to you Ducky." McGee said, ignoring the scoff from the doctor.
"Yes Jethro?" Ducky asked into the phone.
"How bad is it Duck?" Gibbs asked into the phone, obviously a tinge of worry in his voice.
"Not good Jethro, not good at all." Ducky finally sighed out. He looked in his rear view mirror at the field agent breathing shallowly in his backseat. "I think it would be best to meet us there, as quick as you can." Ducky promptly said. There was a click on the other end, and Ducky nodded his head. "He is going to meet us there." Ducky said to McGee, who was once again turned in his seat looking at Tony. He began to wipe the sweat off of his forehead with a rag he grabbed before leaving the house. McGee could feel the heat radiating off of the agents body, and he felt helpless because he couldn't help in any way.
They pulled up to the hospital and McGee jumped out and ran inside to grab some nurses to help him. He came back out with four female nurses and one male nurse, and when he opened the car door, Tony's head fell out of the car. They all jumped to get him onto the stretcher they had brought outside, and once he was on it, they wheeled him quickly inside. McGee followed Tony while Ducky went and parked the Morgan.
McGee ran close to the stretcher until they reached a certain point, when a nurse put her hand on his shoulder and looked him square in the eyes,
"I'm sorry sir, but we can't allow you past this point, your friend is in the best hands possible. If you will go see the nurse up front we will have you fill out some paperwork. A doctor will be out to see you shortly." The nurse then turned on her heels and ran through the door. McGee stood there for a minute before Ducky joined his side.
"Well dear boy, let's get to that paperwork, shall we?" Ducky patted McGee's shoulder and sort of led him over to the line of chairs.
In what felt like forever and a few phone calls from Abby later, Gibbs and Ziva showed up in the waiting room. They looked frazzled. McGee stood up,
"Boss, over here." He waved them over to their chairs that Ducky had saved them. Gibbs walked over and sat next to McGee. He sat stone still, while Ziva had to much nervous energy to sit. She just paced the floor.
About four hours later, a doctor wearing green scrubs walked out of the main doors to the emergency room.
"Anthony Dinozzo?" He called. All four of the tired looking people stood to hear about Tony. Gibbs walked up to the man,
"I am his primary caregiver for his medical welfare. You can tell me anything." The doctor looked a little surprised at Gibb's direct approach, and began going over what was going to happen.
"Well, agent Gibbs, I see here, we know exactly what is wrong with young Dinozzo. He has something called aseptic meningitis." He looked at the confused face of the three field agents.
"In English doctor." Gibbs prodded.
"It is just an infection. But it got way out of hand, and usually these kinds of infections can clear themselves up, but young Dinozzo's got out of hand a little. He should be better in about two weeks, if he follows the direct order of bed rest." The doctor extended his hand and Gibbs shook it quickly.
"When can we go see him?" Ziva asked the doctor as he was walking away.
"Right now. Mr. Anthony Dinozzo is in room 106. Just remember to be quite and don't excite him to much, he is trying to rest. You should be able to take him home tomorrow." The doctor smiled, nodded his head and ducked back into the emergency room.