"What the hell happened." Gibbs almost angrily strode towards what was apparently Tony's attending physician, demanding an explanation. Now.
The medic lifted a hand in a vaguely placating gesture, before simply letting it sink again and producing what looked like a somewhat forced smile.
"Agent Gibbs?"
Had Gibbs been a religious man, he would have prayed for patience.
"Yes." He instead all but barked in response.
The medic gestured for him to sit on one of the chairs in the waiting area.
"Agent DiNozzo was injured last night around 10 pm. Apparently he was attacked by a group of people and hit repeatedly in the process… He was not very happy with us for calling you, but now that you're here he indicated that we were allowed to inform you about his condition."
Gibbs frowned slightly at that, taking a quick breath to demand some more specific information about Tony's condition, preferably sometime right about now, when the other man already continued.
"He's concussed, has a nasty laceration above the right eye and a couple of cracked ribs. He also suffered several rather serious contusions, though we could so far not detect any serious internal bleeding…"
Gibbs gave a clipped nod in response, indicating that he was following so far.
"His left shoulder was dislocated when he came in, but we already reduced it. X-rays show no fractures, but he'll be in a sling for a little while." He interrupted his report briefly, flicking a quick glance towards the clipboard in his hand. When he looked up again, his expression had sobered some more. "The most serious injury concerns his… genital area, I'm afraid; but we're confident that there won't be any permanent damage. Given time, everything should heal just fine…"
At that, Gibbs' frown deepened exponentially. "But he wasn't…"
"No." The medic immediately shook his head, interrupting the question before Gibbs had even steeled himself for voicing it. "There are no signs of rape. He was kicked and beaten, but – as far as we can tell and Agent DiNozzo is claiming – there has been no sexual assault…"
Gibbs nodded, exhaling softly in apparent relief. "So. How severe are those… injuries."
The medic calmly met his by now openly concerned gaze. "He suffered a testicular rupture, but we already explored the injury surgically and were able to repair the tear. We're confident that the intervention occurred quickly enough to prevent any long-term damage. We also put in a small drain for now and put him on broad-spectrum antibiotics to help with that. – Other than that, he suffered several contusions of the testes and… surrounding tissue. – Bottom-line is: He'll be in considerable discomfort for a while, but he should be fine eventually..."
Gibbs nodded again, his expression once again controlled, posture determined.
"Where can I see him."
Entering the standard hospital room, Gibbs was relieved to find his agent at least conscious and apparently lucid. That was, if his unhappy groan at seeing him here was any indication…
Not commenting on the reaction, Gibbs simply pulled up a visitor's chair and sat down next to the bed. Under his half-frowning gaze, DiNozzo finally cracked.
"You should see the other guy?" He eventually joked weakly. – A valuable attempt, even though Tony's grin really looked more like a grimace…
Gibbs nevertheless allowed his lips to quirk just a little into the beginnings of what might have been considered a tiny half-smile.
"How are you feeling…" Was all he finally replied, his tone unusually mild.
Tony briefly met his gaze at that. "I'm fine." He emphasized the statement with a small, but determined nod. "They shouldn't have called you, boss…"
"The hell, they shouldn't…" Gibbs all but growled in response. As far as he was concerned, the other man couldn't look any further from fine. He briefly wondered – irrationally – how the hell this much damage could have been inflicted in just the 8 or so hours he hadn't been with the younger man… Locking eyes with his agent, he finally inquired quietly: "What happened, Tony?"
The younger man shrugged slightly in response, wincing when the movement apparently pulled on his injured shoulder. Then he turned his head a little, studying the wall opposite his bed. "Guess I just got mugged..."
Gibbs' frown once again increased exponentially at that. "Mugged?" He echoed disbelievingly.
Silence. – Then, flicking a very brief glance at him: "What do you think, Gibbs? – Guess my little secret didn't remain all that secret for very long…"
Gibbs kept his gaze on the other man, not reacting to the tone of frustrated resignation in his voice. "Tell me what happened," he insisted instead.
When Tony had reluctantly outlined the events of the night – that basically consisted of him driving home and being greeted on the parking lot in front of his apartment building by a gang of 6 or 7 men, who immediately started attacking him, only stopping when another car finally drove up to the group – Gibbs barely kept himself from cursing an expletive.
Instead he forced himself to remain calm, intent on not worsening the trauma Tony had already suffered that night.
"Did you know any of them?" He finally just asked quietly.
Tony slowly shook his head. "I don't think so. – But I couldn't see them very well…"
Then, without meeting the older man's gaze: "Gibbs…" He sounded extremely uncomfortable. "I really think it would be a good idea to simply let this one go."
Gibbs stoically clung to his poker-face even though he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "And why's that, DiNozzo…" He finally just gave back without inflection, even if his voice held just the slightest trace of warning by now.
The younger man started to squirm slightly under his intense gaze. "I know what you're thinking, boss… But this is only gonna get worse if we make too big a thing out of it."
"Too big a thing?" Gibbs echoed incredulously, finally unable to completely reign in his rising anger any longer. "They could have damned well killed you, DiNozzo! Maybe would have, if they hadn't been interrupted… As it is, you'll be out for weeks! – If this is not a 'big thing', then I don't know what is…"
"Look…" Tony still looked uncomfortable, but for some reason he also seemed determined. "I'm sorry this happened. And you know me… I'll be back at the office as soon as I possibly can. – But if this is investigated, it's just gonna make me an all the bigger target! And it won't be worth it. Even if you find out who did this, there's probably a lot more guys around the pen that will wanna do the exact same thing..." As soon as he had finished, he seemed to sink further back into the cushions that were propping him up, the exhaustion he must be feeling showing on his face and in his posture for the first time that night.
Gibbs kept his steel gaze on him for several long moments. Then he simply reached out to touch the shoulder closest to him, the one that was currently not in a sling, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Get some rest, Tony. It'll keep till tomorrow…"
tbc - maybe ;-)