Jackson Gibbs stared down at his shaking hands. Dr. Mallard had been gone a long time. He prayed that he could talk some sense into Leroy. He loved Tony and knew how much he meant to Leroy but he was not sure he could survive burying his only son. Surely they would be able to find a kidney for him. All they had to do was run a story on the news. People were always in a rush to donate blood to a cop, firefighter, or EMT who needed help. Plenty of people would rush out to get tested to be a kidney donor. Especially somebody like Tony a young nice guy.

"They took Jethro back for Pre-Op." Ducky said sitting down beside him.

"Did you even try to talk to him?" Jack asked.

"I did but well you raised him so you know." Ducky replied.

"He is extremely stubborn. Once he gets his something in his head. It is near impossible to talk him out of it." Jack replied.

"The good news is that Jethro is an extremely healthy and strong man and is in very capable hands." Ducky replied.

"I know. How long will he be out of commission?" Jackson asked.

"Well the standard hospitalization after donating a kidney is three days. Now as for the recovery period that varies from person to person. Somebody like Jethro is bound to be back on his feet in no time." Ducky replied.

"I hope that he will be okay." Jack replied.

"He will be. He will be." Ducky assured.


Gibbs climbed into the hospital bed. He heard the door open. He looked over half expecting it to be Ducky trying to make one last attempt to talk him out of it. Instead he saw nurse and surgeon.

"Agent Gibbs I am doctor Ross and I will be performing the procedure." The surgeon greeted.

"And I am nurse James." The nurse added.

"Alright" Gibbs replied.

"Are you ready?" Dr. Ross asked.

"Yes" Gibbs replied. There was no turning back now.


Abby, McGee, Ziva, and Jimmy sat in complete silence. Gibbs and Tony should be taken back for the transplant right about now. All four were scared to death. It was far to easy for something to go wrong. Things were much more dangerous for Tony but there was risk to Gibbs as well. The scariest part though was that if either man died. The other would likely feel so guilty that he would just give up and they would end up losing both of them.

"I'm scared." Abby squeaked.

"Me too." McGee replied.

"They are both strong." Ziva replied hiding her fear.

"Tony is really weak right now though." Jimmy sighed.

"Why did Gibbs have to do this?" Abby asked.

"Because he loves Tony and feels bad about what happened." McGee replied.

"It wasn't his fault!" Ziva yelled.

"He should have waited for another donor!" Abby screamed.

"HEY!" Jimmy yelled.

"You alright Palmer?" McGee asked.

"I cannot sit here and listen to you fight! My friend is having major surgery as we speak!" Jimmy yelled.

"He's our friend too." Abby said.

"Kind of harsh to make us up like we don't care." Ziva replied.

"You are being kind of harsh Palmer." McGee added.

"Oh really he's your friend? Then how come you have spent the past two days arguing like idiots?!" Jimmy demanded.

"What?" Abby asked.

"Abby you are the only one acting half-way considerate." Jimmy replied.

"What have I done wrong?! Ziva is the one who doesn't care about Tony?!" McGee demanded.

"You know what?! Just fight! I don't care!" Jimmy yelled storming off.

"What's wrong with him?" Ziva asked.

"Beats me." McGee replied.


Gibbs looked up at the operating room ceiling. He wished that they would just start already. He just wanted this ordeal to be over and to be holding Tony in his arms. He knew that the younger man would probably never forgive him and he did not blame him. He had basically ruined Tony's life. At least he had lived. He had enough guilt in his heart without killing his son. He listened and nodded as the doctors went over the checklist. Only speaking when he was asked questions.

"Are you ready?" Dr. Ross asked.

"Yes" Gibbs replied.

"Great just lie back." Dr. Ross replied.

Gibbs lay back on the operating table. Dr. Ross instructed him to count backwards from ten. He made it to five before going under.


Tony was standing on the bottom step leading to his bosses basement. He watched as Gibbs sanded the boat he was working on. He was relieved to be out of the hospital and getting his life back on track.

"You just gonna stand there DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh no I came here to talk to you." Tony replied.

"About what?" Gibbs asked.

"Actually I came here to thank you for sacrificing your career for me." Tony replied.

"I didn't sacrifice my career." Gibbs replied.

"You could have had another four months in the field. Probably more than that even. Vance had offered you an extension. You just had to pass a physical and be evaluated twice a year. Instead of the typical one. Heck that's what I was on after my plague." Tony explained.

"I know I just feel terrible." Gibbs replied

"I don't blame you for what happened." Tony assured.

"I know but I blame myself." Gibbs admitted.

"Well you shouldn't." Tony replied.

"Well I do." Gibbs replied.

"Why?" Tony asked.

"I called you worthless." Gibbs replied.

"You were hurting and I screwed up." Tony replied.

"No Tony I screwed up." Gibbs argued.

"No Boss. Leroy wake up." Tony said,

"What?" Gibbs asked.


"Come on Leroy wake up." Jack called.

"Jethro come on now." Ducky added.

"Boss?" McGee asked.

"GIBBS! GIBBS!" Abby cried.

"You with us Gibbs?" Ziva asked.

"Wakie Wakie Gibbs." Jimmy called.

"Is it over?" Gibbs asked blinking his eyes.

"It's over son and you came through great." Jack said.

"What about Tony?" Gibbs asked.

"Things weren't so simple for him I'm afraid." Ducky replied.

"What?" Gibbs asked.

"He's just extremely weak and well things are going to be pretty touch and go for him for a while." Ducky explained.

"The doctors told us to prepare for the worst." Jack added.


A/N: This is the last cliffhanger for this story I swear. The next chapter may be the last though. Unless I get inspiration over the weekend but I still want to finish this on Wednesday. Anyway please review and thanks for reading.