Author's Note: Okay many of you had asked me to continue this story - and while I initially only intended for this to be a One Shot - I have reconsidered based on your requests and reviews and had added another chapter. I hope that this was not a mistake though and I am nervous to see if this is along your expectations. Pls review and pls be kind. :-) If everyone still likes where it's going, I will keep it going. I will say one thing - it's going to be tricky to try and keep FOUR ongoing 'Tony Whump' fan fics - going without making them all redundant! haha Enjoy.

Previously on "A Matter Of Life Or Death" . . .

His mind so preoccupied by the horror of this sudden realization that he had not even noticed that he was now seated on the open tail end of the ME's truck, a blanket had been wrapped around his shoulder's as both his boss and ME had felt his shiver – mistakenly thinking it was due to a worsening of his previous symptoms of shock - and in a way, it was. But not the physical shock from his traumatic near-death experience, but rather the mental shock of knowing that his fateful decision to come in to work today, made the difference between the life - or tragic death of his two teammates.

A Matter Of Life Or Death

Part II

Gibbs looked across at his ME and long time friend, making sure that his shaken up Senior Agent wasn't looking, then without uttering a single word out loud, the expression on his face and the concern in his eyes, spoke volumes. Ducky knew what Gibbs was implying by the gesture – Jethro was asking that he take the utmost care of his agent and make sure that his injuries were not worse than they thought. Gibbs had a crime scene to focus on and he was mad as hell as it became more and more obvious that someone was attempting to take down his team!

"DiNozzo – one more thing! Just because I am stepping away now, don't think for one second that I won't know if you try anything funny – got it?!"

"Yeah boss – I got it." Tony knew when he could push the envelope with his boss and get away with it - and that this was not one of them!

Ducky took another set of vitals from Tony while letting Palmer focus on the bodies. In just a few minutes the Fire Department, the EMT's, and one of the local Police Officer's – or LEO's as NCIS referred to them, all arrived in quick succession. Tony rolled his eyes as he noticed the ambulance for the first time. He immediately sat up a little bit straighter as he attempted to show Ducky that he was fine. Then raising his arm up when he saw the ME turn around to greet the approaching emergency personnel, Tony quickly wiped off the sweat that had been building on his face since they had brought him over to the ME's truck.

He hated to admit it, but the longer he remained in an upright position, the worse he was feeling by far. He watched as the Firemen and their Captain all headed down the hill with a long hoses and some other equipment, to take care of the car that was still smoldering down at the bottom of the hill.

The Captain, a former Marine, approached Gibbs right away. He had known the man from their Military days and from other previous run-in's during both of their lengthy, new careers. "Agent Gibbs " he said as he reached out to shake his hand, "It's been a while since we've been called out to the same scene my friend – how goes the battle?!"

"Henderson – good to see you. How's Janice and the kids?" Gibbs asked, knowing the man's family well.

"Well – Nicole's a teenager now as you know so, she knows everything of course!" he said, letting out a loud, contagious guffaw.

Gibbs had to push back the lump in his throat as he remembered that Nicole had been the same age as Kelly, having to force his mind not to imagine his own Daughter as a teen. In response to the man, Gibbs simply ended up smiling and nodding in agreement as he had no idea what to say in response.

The Captain got right down to business, he hadn't remembered that Gibbs' even had a Daughter of his own at one time – and for this Gibbs was actually relieved, since he had no intention of broaching the sore subject in the first place. "So what the hell do we have here Jethro?!! Looks like someone took a joy ride straight into the fires of hell!" he joked, taking in the still flaming portions of the car's crispy metal frame. Upon which Gibbs proceeded to fill him in on the entire event and also informing him were to move quickly because he had work to do – he had to find out who was trying to mess with his team!

Back At The Top Of The Hill . . .

McGee and Kate had wasted no time in getting down to business themselves. A ridiculous amount of numbers had been placed next to each piece of evidence or suspected evidence. Photo's had been taken of each item as well as per normal investigating procedures. They had ended up walking farther up the road than they had expected! It never ceased to amaze them just how far debris could be flown in the event of a bomb going off. With each piece of evidence they found, they both shuddered at the thought that their partner and friend – could very well have been part of the evidence, and so could they.

"Do you think Tony is really okay?" asked an obviously worried and distraught McGee.

"Of course he is McGee! It's Tony we are talking about! Do you honestly think he would allow himself to get killed and not be able to continue to harass us on a daily basis?! Huh? Then again, knowing Tony – he would probably find a way to haunt us even if something did happen to him." Kate chuckled at herself, finding her own joke to be amusing. Then seeing the look of complete shock and horror on Tim's face, she thought about the severity of what she had just joked about, and suddenly she felt horrible.

"I – uh . . . I'm sorry Tim. That was – very insensitive of me. I – I didn't mean any of that okay? I mean seriously Tony will be just fine Tim – really." She said as she tripped over every other word, back peddling and wishing she could keep her big mouth shut sometimes!

Tim listened to her stuttered attempt to ease his mind, looking back in the direction of where they had left their teammate. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Tony really is a strong man – a tough guy as he would put it. Even though I would never let him hear me say that!" He said, slightly grinning at the thought of how Tony would have an absolute FIELD DAY with that one!!

Kate smiled and thought of her partner, "I wonder if Gibbs and Ducky are gonna make him go back to the Hospital to get checked out? I think they should because – geez McGee - you and I both felt the shock from that blast and we were no where near that car when it exploded! Tony was probably still practically on top of it." Her concern was escalating with each piece of utterly destroyed and roasted chunks of car parts they were forced to photograph and mark, the more she thought about the damage in front of her, damage done to strong metal and plastic – the more worried she was over what it might do someone made of tender flesh and bone.

All Tim could manage to say in response, was "Yeah, I hope they do." as he swallowed the lump in his throat that had been building, as he listened to each word of Kate's observation.

"No! Ducky, come on! I don't need to go to the damn hospital again! You said yourself I was fine – and I thought we had an agreement that you would just check me out again later back at NCIS!" Tony argued, having just been looked over by the two EMT's whom had concluded that more observation as well as some X-rays and tests were going to be needed in order to rule out any internal injuries and also determine if the current level of his obvious concussion was going to present any signs of worsening, as in continued swelling of the brain and such.

Tony was still seated at the back of the truck having full out refused to lay down on the nearby gurney. He had given up on trying to keep the sweat from building on his face, but too stubborn to lie down even though he knew that is what his body was encouraging him to do, by only breaking out into sweat whenever he remained upright. His head now throbbed beyond words after the raging rant he had just expelled.

"No my dear boy, once I gain I must remind you that I did NOT say that you were fine! While yes, I did say that I could monitor your symptoms in Autopsy once we returned to NCIS – however – that was before these two fine young men detected the tightness in your belly that had not been there earlier when I checked you over. An-tony that can be a definite sign of internal bleeding and that is NOTHING to mess around with and that is also something that I am not capable of checking or monitoring back at my Autopsy lab! I'm sorry Anthony, but I must insist that you go along with these boys to Bethesda and if tests show that we are wrong, and that there is no need for any surgery to repair any internal damage – then and only then will you be released."

Tony sat wide eyed – he had never really seen the ME blow up like that and he wasn't sure if it was from concern over his well being, or simply out of fear of Gibbs coming down on him if something happened to his Senior Agent that Ducky hadn't caught. This caused Tony to lighten up, not wanting to be the source of his favorite ME's distress. He was just about to apologize and give in when the ME added one more comment.

"You don't want me to get Gibbs now, do you Anthony?" he asked, his face sporting a half grin as he knew that would be the ultimate threat for the young injured man in front of him.

"Geez okay, okay Ducky – you win! I'm sorry if I stressed you out Ducky – I didn't mean to give you a hard time."

"It's quite alright Agent DiNozzo, it's quite alright. Now let's get you onto the gurney, shall we?" Ducky said as he gently grabbed a light hold of Tony's elbow to help him stand.

"Okay sorry but - I gotta draw the line right there. I am perfectly capable of walking to the ambulance, I'm not completely dependant." Tony said with his usual stubborn audacity.

Before anyone had time to react, Tony had pushed the blankets around his shoulders off, standing up with more exuberance than his concussed head and battered torso were quite ready for. All of the blood seemed to drain from his head as he completely blacked out and fell forward. No one was able to get into position to be able to catch him before he fell straight down onto the hard ground of the paved roadway. Landing in a heap at the feet of three shocked and concerned men, as they all scrambled to get to him and make sure nothing else had been damaged in this most recent tumble.

To Be Continued . . .

A/N II : Now I will nervously await reviews as I am not sure if this is what people had hoped for when they asked me to keep this story going! I hope it is of course. Let me know!