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~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~

Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death: "Tim –" Gibbs stated, suddenly changing to a first name basis, "I need you and Kate to take over here, I am required to be at the hospital to sign any release forms if he . . . if he needs surgery."

They were both taken aback by how 'un-Gibbs like' their boss was behaving. Kate turned to Tim, "Since when is Gibbs listed as Tony's next of kin?" she asked in surprise. Then her jaw dropped in shock when instead of McGee answering her question, she heard her boss yelling back an answer as he was climbing into the ambulance. Kate could have kicked herself as she had completely forgotten how remarkably sharp his hearing was!

"Ever since that bastard of a Father of his - didn't so much as CALL him last month when he was fighting for life!"

With that, McGee and Kate stood side by side in silence as they watched the ambulance, with sirens now blaring, as it took off - leaving them, along with Ducky and Palmer, all watching as it disappeared down the road - leaving nothing but a trail of dust and taking their friend along

A Matter Of Life Or Death

Part IV

Kate was suddenly overcome with guilt as she watched the back of the ambulance fading away in the distance. She thought about how she had plotted with McGee on how they would both act completely indifferent to Tony's long awaited return to work. They had decided to not act at all excited to see him that morning when he arrived to work on his first day back . . . back from an illness that nearly killed him. How could she be so cold and callused she thought, after all, hadn't she been raised to be a sensitive and caring Catholic woman?

"Kate?" she suddenly registered the timid voice of her teammate as McGee was attempting to shake her out of whatever trance she had fallen into.

"Oh, yeah sorry McGee, I uh . . . was just -"

"No, it's okay Kate you don't have to explain, I get it." he answered, starting to head back towards the hill where they had work to do, hoping Kate would follow.

"No McGee it's not alright. We shouldn't have done that this morning." she explained as she numbly followed Tim to the edge of the hill. "Tony didn't deserve that, it was a petty thing to do and I apologize for getting you to play along." she said as she grabbed Tim's arm to halt him before he took off down the hill. She had to say this and it couldn't wait.

Tim realized that she was being sincere, her worry for her partner evident in her watering eyes and somber expression. "Okay . . .I know, you are right we shouldn't have done that and I feel awful. But you didn't get me to play along Kate, I am just as guilty! I didn't have to tell you what Tony had been saying about you – that you came onto him in Paraguay. It's my fault you even became riled up in the first place. Hell, we all know Tony only says things like that just to get a rise out of us and we both know it keeps us on our toes! It's part of his charm as you put it, it's what makes Tony – well... Tony."

The whole time Tim was speaking, his eyes were staring a few feet away to a dusty NCIS baseball cap that was laying in the road at the edge of the pavement. Tony's hat. Kate's eyes followed his and together they both stood in silence, silently praying that their partner would be okay.

Emergency Entrance - Bethesda Medical Center . . .

As the ambulance pulled up Gibbs quickly assisted the EMT in pushing the rear doors open, then jumping out to assist with the stretcher, Gibbs stifled a small groan as his bum knee nearly gave out from the hasty move. Suddenly everything was a flurry of white coats and medical jargon as the lead Doctor on call approached Tony's stretcher once they were barely through the door. Gibbs knew that meant Ducky had called ahead, alerting the ER doctor of the situation. Ducky was known and respected by more physicians that Gibbs could even keep up with!

"Give me an update on his condition!" the Doctor commanded as he placed his hand on Tony's head and pried open one of his still closed eyelids, flashing his penlight in and out to test the pupil dilation. Then after the EMT's rattled through the list of vital signs and treatments they had started such as the IV flow of antibiotics and saline that were being fed through the large needle going into the top of Tony's right hand - and the plasma they had started him on for the possible blood loss, that was flowing into him via a second large needle feeding into the crook of Tony's left arm.

"Have you been able to inform Dr. Pitt of Agent DiNozzo's situation?"

Gibbs turned his head in time to see Ducky walking in – having been given a ride by the Police Officer that had been at the scene. He left the truck and the scene for Palmer to use and process. He needed to be here for Jethro, nearly as much – if not more – than he did for Tony.

"Dr. Mallard, good to see you my friend! Yes, as soon as I was given your messages, I had him paged. He was off today but he is on his way. I want him to assist me with surgery if we determine that your man needs it. I don't like that his lungs have been through so much – respiratory distress is already a risk during any surgery – in his case it will be that much more of a risk."

Gibbs felt stunned as he watched the scene in front of him. He felt like he was watching it in slow motion, yet it also seemed to be moving too fast for him to comprehend. He stared at Tony who lay as still as death on the gurney. Still strapped to a backboard and still sporting the neck brace. Bruising showing through on absolutely every piece of exposed skin that was showing through all of the various straps and equipment.

'Who the hell was behind this?' Gibbs thought, his hands clenching into angry fists. "Who the hell is messing with my team . . . my Son?'

Before he even was aware how much time had passed as he found himself lost in his thoughts and suspicions, already building a mental list of suspects to look into the minute he got back to NCIS – Gibbs realized he was now seated in the waiting room with Ducky talking endlessly next to him about some boring instance in his long past that involved a patient of his who had only one lung . . .

. . . "- and I'll be damned if the stubborn young Soldier didn't make it through the 11 hour operation just fine . . . " Ducky paused as he realized his long time friend seemed preoccupied with everything that was going on around them. "Jethro? Are you even listening to me?" he finally asked, but seeing the tired look in his friends eyes and realizing he had seen that same look on Gibbs face before just a few weeks ago when they first thought Tony might not actually survive his bout with the plague, regardless of Gibbs demanding of him not to die.

"Uh, sorry Duck. What were you saying?"

"No no Jethro, all in good time – that story can wait as I know you are probably eager for an update by now. I am quite flabbergasted that no one has been in since they – well physically forced you out of the ER cubicle. Would you like me to go see what I can find out?" he offered as he started to rise.

But Gibbs had beat him to it and was already half way to the door. "No Duck - I got this one!"

Gibbs voice was full of determination as he then barged his way back into the cubicle where he had last scene his agent. The neck brace laid nearby on the counter, the backboard laying on a now empty bed. The place was a mess of discarded bloody gauze and empty IV bottles, among a lot of other evidence that made it very clear - the patient in this room had definitely been in bad shape. Gibbs stormed over to the nearby Nurse's station, "Where the hell is my Agent? Dammit he was just in that cubicle and now he's not!"

The nurse, stationed behind the desk immediately started looking through the patients charts searching and eventually finding the one for Federal Agent Anthony DiNozzo, she responded quickly so as not to further agitate the clearly distraught man. The worried man with the silver hair and handsome face had identified the injured man as one of his agents but the nurse couldn't help but notice that he acted more like a worried Father might act if it were his Son who was rushed into ER in bad shape.

"I apologize that no one has kept you informed Agent uh – Gibbs was it?" she asked him, but after receiving nothing but a glare in return she continued. "It looks like they ran him upstairs to Radiology to run some CT scans in search of a possible bleed. It says here that they suspect that his liver has been lacerated and -"

"Where's the Doctor who was treating him?" Gibbs asked, cutting her off.

"He's in that cubicle over there, tending to a car accident victim. But . . . Sir! I'm afraid you can't g-" at this point she was yelling at the back of Gibbs head and knowing he was not going to stop.

Determined not to let some rule bound nurse stop him, Gibbs marched towards the cubicle she had just pointed out and angrily thrust himself into the room, not even looking at the patient on the bed whom he already knew was not Tony.

"Is this how you prep for surgery Doctor?" Gibbs practically spat out the word Doctor as he glared at the physician, challenging him to answer.

"Agent Gibbs I must ask you to step outside – and need I remind you that you are already dangerously close to getting tossed out of this hospital on your ear!" the doctor gave Gibbs his own stern warning as he crossed the short distance to get right up into Gibbs' face – matching the silver haired agent's intensity and venom with a serious glare of his own.

Gibbs had to admire the man for his audacity and for his bravery in standing up to him – not many men did, or could. He forced himself to calm down, realizing that it would not help him to be there for Tony if he was thrown out.

"If you had merely kept me apprised of my agent's condition – I would not have had to track you down in the first place!" Gibbs explained in a firm but not as harsh tone of voice, "Someone just tried to blow up my team Dr. Reynolds, almost succeeding with Agent DiNozzo! So excuse me if I am not in the mood to play nice."

The physician had witnessed everything in the years he had been working in emergency departments across the globe. That experience allowed him to be better able to handle each situation with tact and compassion. Although sometimes it also took some restraint of his own emotions and anger in order to accomplish that.

"I understand Agent Gibbs and I apologize that we didn't keep you better informed, I assure you I will find out why my instructions to do so, were not followed. Now your agent is stable for now, the plasma and other treatments are doing their job. Aside from a few broken ribs, he also has a pretty moderate concussion that we are watching, I have ordered a CT scan of his head so we can monitor the swelling of his brain. I don't anticipate any problems with that injury but it will mean that any surgery will have to be kept as short as possible. Same goes with his damaged lungs – the shorter we have to keep him under anesthesia, the better. I do agree with the EMT's and Dr. Mallard, that Agent DiNozzo does have a small internal bleed. The location of his worst pain and bruising according to Donald, coincides with what I suspected - a possible laceration to the liver." the doctor salmly explained. But after noticing the blood that seemed to drain from the lead agent's face and the increased look of concern on his face, he realized how bad a liver laceration sounded to someone non-medical like Gibbs.

"Now I don't mean to alarm you Agent Gibbs, trust me that sounds a lot worse than it actually is. If it's a minor tear like I think it is, then it's something that we can easily fix and he will be no more worse the wear for having had it. I was planning on scrubbing for surgery in about ten minutes since it will take at least that amount of time to get scans back of his chest, his abdominal region, and his head. Dr. Pitt is meeting me in the scrub room where I will bring him up to speed as well. I want to take the extra precautions when it comes to his lungs since from what I understand, he's not fully recovered from his bout with the plague."

Gibbs clenched his teeth together as he listened to the list of injuries the competent doctor was describing. It sickened him to think of all the pain that had to have been causing Tony – and also the fact that Tony would now be forced to take even more time off to heal from yet another job related disaster. 'But this time,' he vowed to himself, "This time I'll be damned if he is coming back to work even one DAY before his medical leave is officially up!' he then reached out and shook Dr. Reynold's hand after the man promised that he would not be kept out of the loop again from that moment forward. He had told Gibbs that the surgery would hopefully only take about an hour and a half and promised to send someone out midway through the exploratory surgery to let Gibbs know how things were going. He also promised that Gibbs would be brought back to recovery so he could be by his agent's side when he even regained consciouslness.

With that Gibbs had no choice but to move to the waiting room where he found Ducky already seated and await the update he was promised.

To Be Continued . . .

Thanks for reading and reviewing! I promise it will become more exciting and dangerous as we go!