ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~

Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death –

"Yeah that's it Tony. Now keep those eyes open for me can ya do that? Listen to me, you are still in the hospital, but you are going to be okay. I just you to stay still – if you understand me – blink once."

This time to Gibbs' tremendous relief - Tony's awakening had been much more peaceful and calm. He wasn't waking up in a panic over not being able to breathe and he wasn't waking up to a terrorist attacking his boss. This time it was actually peaceful.

Gibbs pressed the call button to alert the staff that Tony had regained consciousness again. Upon hearing the door open he turned around ready to move out of their way so they could check Tony over but to his surprise it wasn't the Doctor or any nurses who stood at the doorway – it was Director Jenny Shepard.

~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~

A Matter Of Life Or Death

Part XI

Tony's ICU Room At Bethesda Medical Center . . .

"Jenn- uh Director?" Gibbs was caught off guard by her presence since last he had heard she had too many places to be and wasn't coming here until she was finished with some mandatory tasks. "What are you doing here, is something going on?"

"Well Jethro I was hoping that you could tell me that. How's Tony?" she softened her tone as she drew closer to Gibbs side to take a look at her favorite agent – second to Gibbs of course. When she approached his bedside Tony's eyes, which had closed again for just a few seconds - slowly opened again after a few slow blinks.

"Oh my gosh Tony - you're awake!"

But before she could say anything more she felt Gibbs hand on her upper arm as he gently pulled her away from the bed a couple of feet, until he knew they were out of Tony's limited line of sight.

"Jen hold on." he whispered close to her ear, "Give him a second to get his damn bearings - he only just woke up before you came in here."

She looked directly at him, raising up one of her eyebrows, clearly not pleased with the demanding tone he was using - even while whispering. Gibbs caught the telling look and purposely softened his tone.

"Look, I was expecting the Doctor when you came in so you caught me off guard. Now we can talk later, right now the only thing we should be doing - is making sure he's okay." she softened her own eyes again nodded in understanding and before they could say anything more they were distracted when they heard the sliding glass door to the ICU room being opened, turning their heads at the exact same time they saw a nurse coming into the room.

"Is there a problem in here Agent Gibbs?" he recognized nurse Anna from earlier walking towards him. "Or is he starting to come around again?" she asked proficiently. Before she created a ruckus by alerting the physician it was her job to make sure the call button wasn't hit accidentally or perhaps just in need of something minor. She couldn't count how many times nervous members of a patient's family would overuse the button simply to ask a mindless question. It happened more often than the nursing staff cared to admit – and it drove them crazy! To Anna's relief she found Gibbs to have a legitimate reason for calling someone in. Gibbs responded quickly so as not to waste any time.

"He's awake." then looking towards Tony he noticed his agent's eyes had slipped closed again, ". . . well, he was."

"Great - that's good news, I'll page the doctor. Oh and don't worry - it's normal for a near critical patient coming out of recovery from surgery and anesthesia to drift in and out of consciousness for a bit. I'll be back in a couple of minutes" she said as she quickly exited the room.

Both Gibbs and the Director exhaled sighs of relief knowing that so far Tony seemed to be doing okay and holding his own for the most part. Jenny decided to take advantage of their relief and their Senior Agent being asleep again, keeping her voice down she picked up where the conversation left off.

"No Jethro – we'll talk now! Seriously – I heard what happened with Ari and from what I was told, YOU should be in a bed yourself!" she suddenly turned on the bossy supervisor attitude that he hated so much.

"Well what you heard is obviously not accurate, J-enny." his tone of voice had a bit of an edge to it, putting extra emphasis on the J in her name for effect. She knew when he said her name like that he was in one of his moods.

"Okay then, care to tell me what did happen and why I shouldn't order you to succumb to being admitted for more tests and observation? Or could you at least fill me in on what DID happen so that my understanding is more . . . accurate as you put it?" she said cynically - her red lips turning up on one side in a half smile, half smirk.

"Don't patronize me - Di-rector." his tone still sharp, "I've got a critical agent here who nearly killed himself trying to cover my six - when I'm the one who should have been watching his! So I amnot in the mood to have a pissing match with you right now!" his nose was now inches from her own, his cool blue eyes drilling into her soft green ones.

Jenny's face softened once again, conceding, "Alright fine . . . it won't happen again. But really Jethro, all bullshit aside what do you need from me? I've already been debriefed by Kate and McGee and I have ordered additional security which should be already in place as we speak. I have someone in mind that I trust more than anyone to cover Tony's room but for now it will just be one of our top security officers. If Ari is stupid enough to come back here – he won't get anywhere near Tony – or you for that matter!"

Gibbs listened patiently, glad they were moving off of the subject of his health, and back to what really mattered – stopping Ari at all costs, even if it resulted in his death which Gibbs silently preferred.

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. But know this Jen-"

Before he could complete the sentence they were interrupted by the sound of the sliding door as it was opened once gain. Both of their heads turned to see a female physician entering the room.

"Well, I understand our patient has decided to come out of his beauty sleep and honor us with his presence again." Dr. Bianchi teased while looking only at her patient and no one else. Then seeing Gibbs out of her peripheral vision she turned towards him walking the 2-3 feet until she stood closer to the duo.

Reaching out her hand to Jenny she introduced herself, "Doctor Abriana Bianchi, I am Tony's main physician. Are you another uh - 'relative'?" she asked, honestly thinking that this woman just may be an actual relative rather than just another over protective co-worker. She was attractive enough and possessed similar, perfect features just like her patient. She secretly hoped the woman was not however, the significant other of the suave Agent Gibbs.

Gibbs spoke before Jenny could, "Dr. Bianchi, I'd like you to meet NCIS Director Jenny Shepard." Jenny reached out her hand to shake the doctor's.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Director Shepard." the doctor replied while shaking her hand back. She felt almost giddy at learning that she was a peer of Agent Gibbs and remained hopeful that it was nothing more. "The pleasure's all mine." Jenny responded. "Thank you for everything you have done to take care of our agent and get him back on his feet. We need him."she added.

The doctor smiled and turned around she headed towards Tony's bedside while directing her next question to Gibbs without looking at him, "So how long was our patient awake and how coherent did he seem?" she wasted no time getting down to business, now that the pleasantries were out of the way. She immediately began processing the readings on the attached machines before looking back down at Tony and starting to check his vent, then looking back to read his oxygen levels and see if he was finally breathing enough on his own to where she could remove it.

Gibbs and Jenny moved back closer to the bed, standing on the opposite side. Jenny went ahead of Gibbs to stand closer to the head of the bed, reaching out and placing her hand lightly on Tony's shoulder. Tony's eyes were still closed so she just waited and listened to Gibbs as he brought the doctor up to speed.

Jenny found herself lost in her own thoughts as the natural detective inside her started to silently profile the pretty doctor. Looking at her a little more closely Jenny realized that 'pretty' was putting it lightly, the term beautiful was a more accurate description, the woman looked as if she had walked straight off of a movie screen causing a twinge of jealousy to course through her and worsened when she realized the elegant doctor had no wedding ring on her hand. 'Perhaps she just takes it off when she is working so as not to scratch a patient' she justified, knowing that probably wasn't the case. She decided to just focus on Tony but soon found it harder and harder to do as she watched the way the doctor's eyes lit up when she was talking to Gibbs. 'Alright Jenny just calm down, you're being ridiculous.' she reprimanded herself.

"Not very long . . . 'bout five minutes? Maybe less." Gibbs explained

"That's fine, did he seem disoriented this time or did he recognize you?"

"Maybe at first but . . . seemed to recognize me faster this time. He also wasn't in as much pain as he was last time he woke up, but I'm not saying he still wasn't still suffering." he added.

The doctor was impressed at the detail he was giving her, but she found it to be typical of someone with military training, they always paid attention to every detail.

"Thank you Jethro. You're very observant." the doctor complimented him. Jenny certainly didn't miss the easy way she had converted to a first name basis and almost seemed to be flirting with the lead agent.

"Well as far as his pain goes, the good news is – I can increase his pain meds again now that he's more coherent and it's obvious the anesthesia is almost out of his system by now. But I'm going to change the type of pain medication to one that won't cause as severe drowsiness because now that he's coming around, I'd like to keep him that way for the most part because I still need to evaluate him further – mainly concerning his head injury which still needs to be monitored closely. Even though I respect him as a talented physician and surgeon, Dr. Otterman and I do not see eye to eye when it comes to determining when to remove a patient's breathing tube. He believes the patient's readings need to indicate over 96% full lung capacity and O2 levels – meaning without relying on the assistance of the ventilator. But unlike him, I believe it's best to remove the tube even if the readings are hovering around 80% of independent breathing and oxygen levels."

Jenny was half listening while still trying to find any flaws in the woman. Gibbs listened closely, he liked the way the woman did what she believed in - regardless of whether others agreed with her actions or not. It was very similar to his own way of thinking.

"In my opinion and experience, I believe that after a certain point, usually just over 80% full lung capacity, patient's lungs can actually get lazy and start to actually rely on the vent more than they really need to. Luckily for Tony, his former physician Dr. Pitt follows my same line of thinking – I consulted with him about twenty minutes ago."

"Speaking of him, where the hell is he?" Gibbs interrupted, his patience once again starting to wear thin.

"Oh, he's still coming Agent Gibbs, he said he's still about 30 minutes out. I called him to consult with him so that if Tony awakened before he arrived then – if Dr. Pitt agreed – then I could remove Tony's tube without making him wait, that is, IF the readings and his O2 levels were where we need them to be."

"Well are they? Can you remove it?" Gibbs eagerness was apparent.

"Yes, I think it's safe to say that we can. Given that your agent is young and strong I think he will do fine on his own regardless of the damage from his recent bout with the plague – if anything it can always be put back in if absolutely necessary or if he should experience any setbacks."

Gibbs felt immense relief and satisfaction as he overheard her news. That was a definite sign of improvement which was a step in the right direction as far as Tony working his way back to good health.

Meanwhile Jenny, still distracted by the woman she looked at as some kind of threat or rather -competition, taking advantage of the fact that the doctor's eyes were focused only on Gibbs while they discussed the state of Tony's fragile lungs – Jenny took full advantage of the distraction and used it to check out the doctor's physique, subtly looking her up, and down for the first time. She secretly hoped to find a lumpy, unshapely and overweight body covered badly with an ill fitting white doctor's coat, but of course to her own dismay the doctor seemed to keep herself in very good and very thin shape. Adding to her misery was the fact that the breathtaking physician looked to be about 5 foot 8 inches tall which was at least 3 inches taller than Jenny was herself.

"Goodness gracious what are you doing Jenny? She thought to herself, 'Obsessing over another woman while standing over your badly injured and favorite agent. Get it together!' then forcing her mind off of the torturing thoughts she looked back down at Tony, taking time to really evaluate his appearance for the first time.

The doctor was oblivious to Jenny's inspection and knowing she still had a lot of other patients to check on, she continued to move things along.

"So since his other vitals are also looking much better so with your permission I'd like to wake him again so we can get the breathing tube out and I can give him a more thorough exam."

Gibbs answer came quick, "Doctor you have my permission to do anything you deem necessary to help my agent recover and get back on his feet. You don't need to check with me for anything, I trust your judgment and your expertise." he assured her, not wanting anything to delay Tony's treatment especially if the Doctor had to send someone to find Gibbs should be checking on the team's progress on the case or be detained for any other reason. Then to his surprise Gibbs watched as Jenny stepped back and moved to stand toward at the end of Tony's bed but before doing that she had gently prodded Gibbs, manually moving him so that he had assumed her vacant position closer to the head of his senior agent's bed.

Knowing Gibbs would wonder what she was going, she explained. "Look Jethro, I don't know that I can handle being so close if she does end up removing his tube, I also think you are the one he needs to see when he first wakes up – he draws strength from you whether you think so or not."

Gibbs knew she was lying about not being able to handle the tube extraction in fact, he couldn't name one thing that made Jenny Shepard go weak in the knees – well except when he did certain more intimate 'things' to her when they were sleeping together while undercover in Paris. He shook the thoughts from his head, now was not the time!

Once Dr. Bianchi had his blessing she wasted no time in getting ready to wake up her patient. Leaning a little closer to his face she started lightly tapping his cheek with her latex glove covered hand, hoping to prod him to awaken.

"Okay Agent DiNozzo, nap time is over and I need you to wake up now." she waited, then after seeing no signs of consciousness she tried again, this time using his first name to see if he responded better to that, "Tony. Come on now, let's see those pretty eyes of yours." When they were greeted with silence and a still unmoving agent Gibbs took action, knowing that he could get Tony to follow an order unlike the doctor's failed attempt. Without even thinking it through Gibbs bellowed.

"DiNozzo!"

They all watched in helpless horror, as Tony's eyes shot open and he instinctively sat almost straight up as if caught merely sleeping at his desk rather than a hospital's bed in ICU. Thankfully all of the tubing and other contraptions attached to his battered body kept him from rising more than about 6-8 inches, but the shout of pain that was produced by the unnerving action was louder than any of them expected a groggy, critical and weak man to even be able to emit.

A stab of a different kind of pain shot through Gibbs gut as he realized what he had just done, and in doing so causing his surrogate Son additional agony. His mind attempted to rationalize the idiotic action; maybe he wasn't thinking clearly due to his fatigue, his own injury and subsequent blood loss – or perhaps remnants of the drugs he had been sprayed with were still in his system? He had no idea what caused him to do something so stupid. If it wouldn't have caused the doctor to reconsider admitting him, he would have given himself a head slap to end all head slaps – in return for causing his agent such painful distress.

All three of them, Dr. Bianchi, Gibbs and Jenny leaped into action pressing Tony's body as carefully as they could, back down to a prone position while Tony held his eyes squeezed tightly shut and held his breath, afraid that the simple action of breathing would cause a repeat of that intense unimaginable pain by causing the expansion of his chest. Jenny cursed herself for being so petty as to let her own jealousy and competitive nature, take her focus off of where it really needed to be – on Tony.

Tony's mind was racing - confused and overloaded - too much going on at once as he looked at the three people staring down at him, holding him still, combined with the awkward and bulky tubing stuck in his throat made him feel slightly claustrophobic. He felt unbearable pain in his gut that threatened to pull him back under, fighting against it while struggling against the hands that held him trapped to the bed – he felt his chest constrict making it harder to breath. Looking up at the doctor leaning over him – his eyes pleading for help.

"Okay easy Agent DiNozzo, easy. Listen to me, you're going to be fine but I need you to calm down, I know it's hard but you need to force yourself to relax." she hated to see that look in a patient's eyes as they fought to figure out what was happening.

"Tony try to breathe into the pain - I promise it will pass." she urged, knowing the pain would ease up so much faster if he could relax his body somehow. She did her best to help, rubbing her hand gently across the top of his shoulder using her left hand. "I'll give you something more for the pain so just hang in there." she quickly increased the morphine drip that was piggy backed onto his IV.

"That's it, just follow my lead, slow breaths – in and out just like that." with the hand that was still on his shoulder she could feel his heart rate and breathing slowing ever so slightly while she kept her eyes looking right into his which she hoped would help ground him.

"Now I'm sure you know the routine since according to your file it's been less than a month since you to had to do this before, but in case - after I remove a couple of things I will let you know when I am going to pull out the main tube. Then on the count of three I will need you to cough hard while I pull it out. I promise - I'll go as fast as I can."

Gibbs carefully placed his hand on Tony's shoulder giving it just enough pressure to just remind him that he would be right there with him all the way while Jenny went ahead and stepped back out of the way only stopping when her back came into contact with the wall. She hated this part and knew she's best not watch if she wanted to remain strong – and standing.

Three minutes later the doctor was ready, she placed left hand on Tony's non-injured shoulder to keep his torso still and used her right hand to grasp the tube, "Okay – ready?" Tony nodded eagerly. "Okay then, on three - 1 . . . 2 . . .

. . . 3!"

To Be Continued . . .