"Where are you?"
"Where Pops was the time I took you to him"
Gibbs had already grabbed his keys and coat. "Stay there Alex. I'm gonna come pick you up"
Alex hunkered down on the steps where Pops had sat that time. She pulled Max closed, suppressing a shiver as the cold night air hugged her bare skin. The foster family had put her hoodie in the wash as soon as she had arrived and it was still wet so she didn't grab it. All she had on now was her jeans, converse and a thin t-shirt. Max whinged as he was pulled off balance.
"Sorry boy" she whispered. On the streets since midnight the night before and Alex didn't think she could hold much more cold. She leaned forward and shut her eyes, listening to the dull thud of Max's heart.
That was how Gibbs found her. A small shivering figure hunched over next to Max. He crouched next to her.
"Alex?"
"G-G-Gibbs?" her teeth chattered in an effort to keep warm.
"Come to the car" he draped his jacket abound her shoulders as she tried to stand.
"C-cold!" she managed to get out as he supported her to the car, seating her and Max in the passenger seat. Turning up the heating Gibbs started to lean over Alex to find her seat belt. She visibly flinched when he got too close for comfort.
"Sorry" Gibbs muttered. To hell with the seat belt.
"You know you've had DiNozzo panicking. He got Abby to run a search on where you'd been placed and when he found out you'd scarped he was in all sorts of frenzy"
"W-w-why does he c-c-care? Why d-do any of you c-care?"
"It's our job to make sure people are safe. DiNozzo has a big heart. He sees himself in you"
Alex managed a tight smile, pulling the jacket around her shoulders tighter.
"You know, you might as well just put the thing on" Gibbs said without taking his eyes off the road.
"I'm okay"
Gibbs didn't push it. Working with Tony had taught him a thing or two about working with children.
Tony woke to the darkened room with a sheen of sweat coating his brow. He could feel his shoulder throbbing as the pain medication wore off.
"Gibbs?" he croaked, trying not to move his neck. An empty silence greeted him. He sunk back into his pillows, feeling massively hot and weak. The call button had been bumped down from its perch and was now swinging a few centimetres above the ground.
"Anyone?"
"He's in here" Gibbs looked abound to make sure it was clear of staff before he pushed open the door to Tony's private room. The nurses might not be too keen for a large dog in the hospital. Alex and Max entered into the dimness, feeling warmer than when they'd first been picked up.
The first thing Gibbs noticed was the blankets all over the floor.
"DiNozzo?" Gibbs strode across to his bed. Tony lay flushed and restless.
"Alex, go get a nurse!" Gibbs ordered, laying a hand across Tony's forehead. The heat radiating was immense.
"DiNozzo! Tony!"
Tony flailed under the touch. "No dad, no, please!"
"The housekeeper says you don't feel well" Anthony DiNozzo Senior stared at Tony from the end of Tony's bed.
"No sir, I feel hot then cold then hot" Tony whimpered.
Tony's father placed his hand on Tony's head. There was obviously a fever but to DiNozzo Senior it was a sign of weakness.
"Get out of bed!" DiNozzo Senior roared.
"I think I'm gonna be sick" little Tony whispered, bowing his head.
DiNozzo Senior grabbed Tony's floppy fringe, pulling his head back up untill they were looking eye to eye. Tony sobbed in pain.
"Look me in the eye when you talk to me boy!"
The night nurse came quickly, Alex trailing behind. She missed seeing Max who had sunk down into the dark corner next to the window.
"What is the problem sir?"
"Tony's spiked a temp" Gibbs said roughly.
The nurse took a thermometer out of her scrubs and tried to place it in Tony's ear.
"Sir, do you think you can get him to stop moving. I can't get an accurate reading"
Gibbs let the 'sir' slide as he placed his hand on Tony's arm.
"Tony. Listen to me. I found Alex. She was calling you but instead you went and got shot so you couldn't answer. I just went out to pick her up. Here she is" Gibbs motioned for Alex to come closer.
As Gibbs voice washed over Tony he stopped moving his head around, allowing the nurse the much needed few seconds to get a reading.
She furrowed her brow before moving to the phone on the wall.
"I need the doctor and extra nurses in room 406 please. The doctor and extra nurses in room 406"
A flurry of movement followed as the nurse transferred information to the doctor and nurses. All Gibbs heard was 'temp' and 'infection' as they conversed. When a nurse released the breaks on Tony's bed Gibbs held out his hand.
"What's happening?"
"Agent DiNozzo has spiked a high temperature. We need to try and water bath him to bring it down along with some Tylenol. It might me a reaction to medications or the presence of an infection from the wound"
Gibbs nodded as the medical staff began unhooking different bit of equipment and attaching others. Alex moved closer to Gibbs as the bed was wheeled out of the room.
"He's gonna be okay, right?" Alex looked petrified.
Gibbs rubbed his hands over his face and through his whitening marine cut.
"I don't know Alex"
He patted the second hospital bed. "You hungry or do you want to catch some shut eye?"
"I ate at lunch"
Gibbs shoved a sandwich container from Tony's tray into her hand. "Eat!"
Egg. Not particularly nice but without a home you couldn't afford to be picky. Not that Gibbs new but the last meal was Maccas that someone had left half eaten on a table. Alex levered herself up onto the empty bed and slowly chewed on her sandwich, occasionally dropping bits down to Max.
"What was he dreaming about?" she asked hesitantly.
Gibbs shook his head. "Best to let him tell you himself"
Alex nodded, leaning back against the pillows as she polished off the last of the sandwich.
She didn't mean to shut her eyes but the last day caught up on her and she felt herself slowly drift off, still wrapped in Gibb's jacket.
Gibbs smiled. Is this what Kelly might have been like? He grabbed the extra blankets in the corner and gently draped them over her, chest to toe. She mumbled something inaudible as she sank into in oblivion, not even budging when Max took a flying leap onto the bed and burrowed under the blanket at her feet.
Gibbs sank into the chair that used to sit next to DiNozzo's hospital bed. The poker face fell and Gibbs prayed that his senior agent would beat the fever.