The Red Haired Woman

Chapter 7

The following Wednesday the team was goofing around a little. Gibbs wasn't around, and there wasn't anyone dead yet for them to investigate. McGee had the mail and was sorting it out, when Tony took a letter addressed to NCIS that had a beautiful pair of lips painted in lipstick, thinking some hot chick had sent it to him. He opened it with his sharp letter opener, blew into the envelope sending some kind of powder everywhere. Gibbs, who was back at his chair by this time, quickly stood and started getting people exited from the building. Chanel immediately called in a hazmat emergency and prearranged procedures began at once. Tony placed the letter and envelope carefully in the trashcan.

Chanel was whisked through shower scrubs, navy pajamas, blood draws, and ended eventually at a biohazard containment facility. She got the pleasure of the facility because she was the closest to Tony when he blew the powder. Soon they were told the pathogen was bubonic plague, but still didn't know if they were infected. Tony took one bed and Chanel was going to take the next one until the doctor suggested she move down to the other end of the row of beds. That way if one was infected it was unlikely to infect the other. Tony was babbling on about movies and the way he thought the lights were fake. He talked about how the situation of reminded him of the bubble boy movie. Chanel listened to him patiently as he listed off one movie after another.

Finally she interrupted his monologue. "Tony, I know you are scared. I am too. Other than being out of here, I would want nothing to come over there and let you hold me so we could comfort each other. I'm glad you are in here with me. You are my best friend and the two of us will get out of here together. I don't have many friends, so you are going out of here with me."

"What about those Special Ops guys? You seem pretty friendly with them."

"Tony I'm close to one of them. The rest are friends but not like you and me. I think they have ulterior motives now that we are stateside, but hey you spend two years in caves and camping in freezing weather under the stars, you really learn about each other and develop a deep meaningful relationship. But you don't sleep together."

"What happened in Afghanistan? What were you doing over there with a bunch of Special Ops? Two years? I can't figure it out."

"You know I can't talk about it." Gibbs had entered the darkened outer area to check on his two quarantined agents and listened unobserved to their conversation.

"Gibbs knows. But Gibbs keeps every secret to the grave, and his whole life is a giant secret. What happened between you? You two were clicking from the first day. Now you are both completely professional but things aren't the same. It's kind of sad. When things were going smoothly it was the first time I actually saw him happy."

"Gibbs is a good man. I love him. He didn't want to make a commitment after all the mistakes he's made. He is afraid he'll hurt me, so he is trying to force me away. And sadly enough he is forcing me into another man's arms. I'm tired. I've done my bit for my country in a big way. I want to be loved deeply and passionately. I want to marry a man who makes my toes curl and my panties wet every time he comes near me, much less kisses me. I want to have children. I want a quiet life Tony. That little, well ok big, house in the country with no neighbors around, dogs and lots of acreage. I have no need to hob nob with the famous and infamous in either the political or military world. Gibbs never asked what I wanted and I never bothered to tell him. We have both made egregious mistakes and may have lost the love of a lifetime. I suppose he already had that with Shannon. I thought I had found mine."

"He is a fool Chanel. A woman who is as beautiful and talented as you should not be passed by. What about this guy you are seeing now, Lt. Col. Gifford? Serious? In love?"

"I don't know, Tony. Tommy is a great man, and he is definitely in love with me. He is honorable, courageous, powerful, kind and the kind of man wet dreams are made of. He is probably on the fast track to Chiefs of Staff. No other woman can turn his head, it's been that way since we met, although nothing ever happened before. The same qualities could be said for Gibbs. Tommy is a younger version of Gibbs. When Gibbs and I are together, when we kiss, electric shocks go through both of us. He started dating others, but I don't know if he takes them to his bed. Unlike Tommy, his head seems to be easily turned. I think that is what hurts the most, that he would dump me for some bimbo, even for a one night stand. I have multiple degrees, have been awarded the highest of recognition from the President, can hold my own against the enemy, and I am beautiful and rich. And yet, his rejection of me has caused my ego to be smashed to smithereens without a doubt. The thought of him kissing or making love to another woman makes me want to tear my hair out. But I would never tell him or show him that. He can never know he has breached my defenses so thoroughly. I will not be another conquest for him, just as I would not for you. He doesn't date me anymore, and we never did anything more than kiss. He might invite me out maybe once every couple of weeks, just enough to string me along. But I am better than that, and deserve better so I went elsewhere." She was quietly crying by now, but kept her voice steady. She laughed suddenly, irony in the tone. "The funniest part of this whole fiasco is that in two years in Afghanistan I killed so many and was never even wounded and now I might die from some disease from the middle ages. I'm not even sure if my father or Tommy know that I'm in here. I'm tired Tony. I'd like to sleep now. Good night." Hopelessness poured from her voice.

The nurse, and maybe the doctor had obviously been listening since the lights suddenly started clicking off and things got quiet.

Tony giggled a little hysterically in the dark. "It's a little 1984-ish don't you think Chanel? The lab rats are in a chamber where invisible people and disembodied voices listen to their every word, control the lighting, more importantly control the air flow. Gives me the creeps."

Chanel giggled too. "You read as well as watch movies? Or was 1984 turned into a movie too? No, stop. Don't answer that. If it was a movie, I don't need to know. I read the book."

They laughed, said good night, and went to sleep.

Several hours later the softer of the lights came on and the doctor and nurse woke them up. Dr. Pitt, Brad Pitt no relation, started cutting up with Tony about football and their apparently shared game and injury. Chanel was still waking up and was experiencing some kind of cognitive dissonance that they might be dying and the two men were bonding over football. Nurse Emma was taking her vitals.

"Do we have results back yet Emma?" Chanel asked hesitantly.

"You're not infected Chanel." Chanel sighed with relief and a slight smile, then she got concerned.

"And Tony?"

"He is. You will need to leave this chamber. He is going to get very ill and you could get infected from him."

"No, I'm not going. Not yet." Chanel got up from her bed and stormed over to Tony's bed. "You idiot, Tony! Your need to stupidly chase girls got us both infected. Well, now we are just stuck with each other aren't we?"

Tony looked genuinely grieved believing that he had infected Chanel. "I am so sorry, baby. You are honestly the last person in the world I would want this for. But if I am to die, there is also no one I want more to die with me."

Chanel started crying, and returned to her bed. The doctor and nurse with her. They spoke in whispers with Chanel's back towards Tony.

"I am going to stay in here as long as I can. It is important that he not feel like he has lost everyone. Tony needs to surround himself with people to feel safe and he will need that now more than ever. I probably mean more to him than anyone other than maybe Gibbs. You get me the appropriate wear so I can be close to him. Get him the same stuff so he thinks we are both infected. I will stay by his side and wipe his brow and talk movies and sports with him. What are the odds of survival Doctor?" Her voice had become like ice, very detached and very focused. She knew she could hold this façade a long time before she would need a break.

"They are not very good, Ms. Atherton."

"First of all, I did not ask good or bad, I asked percentages. Secondly, since at least one if not both of you are listening in on our conversations, some of which border on top secret, literally, how about you call me Chanel and I call you Brad? Percentages Brad?"

"You are tough."

"You have no idea. Between Gibbs and I, Tony will not die. Percentages?"

"15 percent."

"Fine, get us the equipment. I'll keep up until you tell me it really is time to leave. If you tell me a minute earlier, I'll do bad things to you. Don't think I won't or can't."

"Any woman who spent two years camping out with a Special Ops team in Afghanistan killing bad guys I would never doubt. Looking at the mostly blacked out file I received, and the timing, I can guess at what you did. I won't dismiss you until your life is in too much danger to stay. And given your life to date, I figure you can take a lot."

"Good. I think we understand each other. He is starting to smell ripe and he won't like that. Can either Emma or I give him a sponge bath and change his sheets? I will explain that I just don't seem to be getting as sick as he is. He will figure it out soon enough. And Brad, Emma, don't try to decipher too much of my file and what I was doing over there. It is blacked out for a reason."

They brought the different equipment for them to put on. While waiting, Chanel teased Tony about she was going to give herself a sponge bath and he was not to look. And when she was finished, she would come give him one if he wanted, or Emma.

"You Chanel. I feel terrible and smell worse, but I don't want a stranger around me now. Then we can get dressed in this new stuff they want us in."

"Ok, baby. I am almost done and feel much fresher and clean in the pajamas. They are going to bring gloves and masks for us baby ok? You won't feel my skin on you but you will feel my hands. And when I'm done, I bet you feel a lot better."

They both got dressed, and Emma and Chanel moved Tony to a clean bed, with an IV in. Chanel poured warm water into a basin and started wiping Tony's face and forehead. He sighed at the cool cloth.

"Do you want me to leave that one there? I have others."

"Please."

She undid the buttons of his pajamas and removed the top. "Tony, you've been working out. Nice." She washed his back and his chest, and under both arms. She took some deodorant they brought her and put some under each arm. "I never could stand a smelly man."

Tony was almost asleep, but smiled. "You can clean me any day. Too bad I feel bad enough already that I can't give you a sponge bath."

"Mind out of the gutter Tony. I'm about to hit your lower parts, let's not embarrass each other."

"Don't be offended Chanel, cause if there was ever a woman who could do that for me, it would be you, but I don't think I have it in me right now. Maybe later."

Chanel, with Emma's help pulled off his pajama pants and underwear, but used the sheet to provide him some decency. "Tony, we've had this conversation before. We are just friends, no sex. So no later sponge baths, but maybe another of those hot dances at Madam Organs. We were steaming that night remember?" She washed one side of his leg and foot and without touching him with anything but a wet washcloth cleaned up his privates. She avoided the catheter. She kept talking in a soft deep voice that was causing Tony to fall asleep. She finished his bath and Emma and Chanel redressed him carefully and he barely woke up. She kept wiping his face and burning forehead, holding his hand and soon falling asleep in a chair beside him.

After a while, the doctor came in with a headset for her. Obviously someone wanted to speak with her alone. She put the wireless headset on and moved away from a sleeping Tony. It was Gibbs on the other end.

"Chanel! What the hell are you doing in there? You are not infected, you cannot care for Tony. They have nurses to do that."

Chanel very calmly and carefully responded quietly. "I am wearing the same protective garb the nurse and doctor are wearing. I am as safe as they are under the conditions. I will not leave Tony here alone until I absolutely have to. You and I are the only ones who can sustain his will to live. You because he loves you, fears you, and respects you. Me because he loves me, respects me, and will not die, for me. Why aren't you out getting an antidote?"

"There is no antidote Chanel, at least not one we know of. We have a lead and I'm driving like a madman back to the person we think sent it and the scientist who designed it. Please don't get infected. I don't think I could live with that. If we lose Tony, I don't know what I will do. If you got it and died, I think I would die too. Please be careful, Chanel. I love you." And he hung up. She hated it when he did that.