All the team's eyes landed on Gibbs. The ex-Marine bit his lip before nodding and standing up. Ducky stood up as well and stood beside his friend.
"Are you family?" The doctor asked.
"We are the closest thing he has." Gibbs replied.
"Alright but are you the next of kin?" The doctor asked.
"Yes I am Leroy Jethro Gibbs." Gibbs introduced.
"What about you?" The doctor asked Ducky.
"I am doctor Donald Mallard. I have treated Anthony before." Ducky explained.
"Alright well I am Dr. Goldman." Dr. Goldman introduced.
"Cut the formalities doc is my son okay?" Gibbs demanded.
"Anthony was brought in..." Dr. Goldman started to explain.
"Tony" Gibbs growled.
"Right Tony was brought it with severe lacerations to his side and spleen. He also suffered severe damage to his left kidney. We had no choice but to remove the spleen. Sometimes it can be repaired with surgery or heal on it's own but it was split nearly in half and attempting to repair it would have been harder on his body than simply removing it." Dr. Goldman explained.
"Will he be able to live a normal and healthy life without a spleen?" Gibbs asked.
"He will have a modest increase in white blood cells and platelets, he could be less responsive to certain vaccines. Unfortunately he will be more susceptible to infections." Dr. Goldman explained.
"God Fucking Dammit he's already susceptible to infections! What am I supposed to do stick him in a bubble?!" Gibbs rambled.
"Several years ago Anthony was infected with the pneumonic plague in a Biohazard attack at work." Ducky explained.
"I saw that on Agent DiNozzo's file. I honestly didn't believe it." Dr. Goldman replied stunned.
"So what the hell do I do about this?" Gibbs demanded.
"Well he will need to be brought to a doctor or hospital for any ailment no matter how minor from now on and he should be kept away from anyone who is ill." Dr. Goldman explained.
"Alright now what else do I need to know? I know there's more so don't hold back on me." Gibbs replied gruffly.
"Well as I said he did damage his left kidney but the good news is at least as of right now it is functioning. He also had several fragments of glass lodged in his face along with a few other minor contusions to his face, neck, arms, and torso but those wounds are all superficial." Dr. Goldman explained.
"He has cuts on his face how bad?" Gibbs demanded.
"There is nothing to disfiguring there will be some scaring but he will still look pretty much the same." Dr. Goldman assured.
"When can we see him?" Gibbs asked.
"He is in recovery now but should be moved to a regular room in about half an hour. He will only be allowed one visitor at a time be sure to keep your visits short and you should allow ten minutes between each visitor." Dr. Goldman explained.
"Alright" Gibbs replied.
Half an hour later Dr. Goldman returned and informed the team that Tony was ready for visitors. Visiting hours were nearly over so Team Gibbs was allowed only very short visits to each member of Team Gibbs. They had already decided that Gibbs would be the first one to see him. The only reason he agreed to it was because Tony was not awake yet. He didn't think he could face his son awake. Taking a deep breath he turned down the door handle and walked into his Senior Field Agent's room. What he saw took his breath away for a moment. Tony had no color in his face and he had wires coming in and out all over his body. He actually looked worse than he did when he had the plague. Gibbs knew that he had lost a lot of blood he'd had four units during surgery and still could end up needing more. Anyone else probably would have died before getting help but not Tony. Gibbs sat down in the chair beside his son. Carefully he gripped his his hand.
"Hey T I need to make this quick but I am so sorry for what happened and I know that you aren't awake but I will probably tell you this a thousand times. What I did was completely wrong. I should have never told you that you are worthless. You made a mistake and unfortunately it had tragic results but that doesn't mean you should give up. You need to fight to get back in the field you will never get over what happened today but you will heal. Please son I love you and I am so sorry." Gibbs said pouring his heart out.
"Agent Gibbs I'm sorry but if there is going to be time for Tony's whole family to visit you are going to need to wrap this up." Dr. Goldman said poking his head in the door.
Gibbs sighed, stood up, stroked Tony's cheek, and left. He was practically knocked down by Abby as she made her way into Tony's room. After everybody was finished visiting Tony. They all decided it was time to get some sleep. Jack, Abby, McGee, Ziva, Ducky, and Jimmy checked into a nearby hotel but Gibbs stayed at the hospital.
"You sure you don't want to join us at the hotel? I got us three rooms. You can bunk with me and Ducky." Jack offered.
"No I need to stay here in case there's any change with Tony." Gibbs replied.
"Just promise me you will at least try to sleep. You've had a very stressful day." Jack replied.
"Fine" Gibbs growled.
Gibbs went out to his truck and retrieved the emergency bag he always carried with him. After changing his clothes he curled up on the couch in the ICU waiting room with his pillow and blanket. He shifted on the couch trying to find a position that was comfortable. It was going to be a long night.
The next morning he woke up to find that everybody had already arrived from the hotel. McGee, Ziva, and Abby were all wearing clothes that they kept at NCIS for emergencies. Ducky, Jimmy and Jack however had to be a little more creative. Jack had gone to the store and gotten a pack of white cotton shirts he had reworn the jeans he had on the day before. Ducky was wearing one of Jack's shirts and the same slacks he had on the day before. Jimmy being Jimmy was dressed awkwardly. He had on a pair of jeans that belonged to McGee before he lost weight held up by one of Abby's spiked belts, and a pink button down top that was obviously meant for a woman.
"Interesting choice in clothes Palmer." Gibbs commented.
"Oh well uh I didn't think I'd be staying overnight but that doesn't really matter cause Breena is washing my extra clothes. I guess I'm lucky they all had extra clothes." Jimmy explained.
"Why didn't you wear one of the shirts my dad bought?" Gibbs asked.
"Well I uh tripped and spilled coffee all over the extras and all they had was this shirt of Ziva's." Jimmy explained.
"Always the comic relief Palmer." Gibbs muttered.
"How's my favorite patient?" Somebody asked entering the room.
"What are you doing here Brad?" Gibbs asked.
"Well when I heard that Tony was hospitalized in Pennsylvania I figured he'd need me. So I rescheduled as many appointments as I could and drove up." Dr. Pitt explained.
"Glad you're here Brad." Gibbs replied.
"How is he?" Dr. Pitt asked.
"Not good." Gibbs replied sadly.
"What's wrong?" Dr. Pitt asked.
"He has a split his side open and had to have surgery to sew it up, he also damaged his kidney and spleen. His spleen had to be removed but the kidney is okay at least for now." Gibbs explained.
"What are his chances?" Dr. Pitt asked.
"About thirty percent." Gibbs replied.
"Well it's better than when he had the plague and if he's lived this long there's a good chance he'll pull through. Knowing Tony with little to no lasting effects." Dr. Pitt replied.
"I hope your right Brad." Gibbs replied.
The morning went by pretty smoothly. Dr. Pitt spoke with the Chief of Medicine and a the board about how he was Tony's doctor in Washington, had treated him thought the plague and that it would greatly benefit Tony's recovery if he at least offered advice on how to treat him. He was shocked when they said per the circumstances he'd be treated as a visiting physician. Tony had not yet woken up but the doctors had said he could be out a couple of days. They knew not to worry too much his body had been through a lot and needed to heal and the best way to heal was to sleep. Still everybody stopped by his room for a short visit. They were just about to leave for lunch when Dr. Goldman came into the room.
"What is it?" Gibbs asked trying to cover his fear with anger.
"I actually have excellent news Tony is awake." Dr. Goldman replied.
"When can we see him?" Abby asked.
"Um nothing against Tony but we were just about to go to lunch again not that I don't care but my blood sugar is getting low." Jimmy said.
"He is actually asking for Gibbs." Dr. Goldman replied.
"You guys go on to lunch." Gibbs said.
"Leroy you need to eat." Jack replied.
"I'll grab something from the cafeteria." Gibbs assured.
"You make sure he eats." Jack warned Dr. Goldman.
"Uh alright" Dr. Goldman replied skeptically.
Gibbs entered the ICU and made his way to Tony's room. He saw his son sitting propped up by pillows in his bed. He still looked like crap but at least he was semi alert.
"Hi Tony Dr. Goldman said you were asking about me." Gibbs said.
"Boss listen about yesterday." Tony started.
"No Tony you listen. I am sorry that I called you worthless. You are not worthless far from it in fact. You are one of the best agents out there. You made a mistake and it had tragic consequences and I am sorry." Gibbs apologized.
"No Boss *ow* You *ohhh* were *ahh* right I am *ohh* worthless." Tony replied rubbing his side in pain.
"Tony are you okay?" Gibbs asked taken aback.
"No" Tony moaned before doubling over in pain.
"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" Gibbs yelled slamming his finger into the call button.
Doctors and nurses rushed in shoving Gibbs to the side. It all happened in blur but he was able to pick up certain words. Words like possible internal bleeding, more tests, surgery, and the worst of all dying. Gibbs had starred this in the face all day but he was not ready to lose another child. He leaned into the wall and closed his eyes. He heard more yelling and sounds of his son in pain. As the doctors rushed past with Tony taking him back for more tests.
A/N: Will Tony be okay this time? Sorry for the wait I intended to update much sooner but stuff kept getting in the way. I am glad I had the hiatus from this story though because I didn't really like how I was going to take this. I don't know when I can update again. I have meetings with the Autism group I am in every other Thursday and those nights I am too tired to write but next month I have three meetings because it's one of the guy's birthday. Anyway thanks for reading and please review. No more Ziva soon. :-(
