-CHAPTER 2-

Dr. Mallard was not a man prone to angry outbursts or biting words under normal circumstances…even when stressed he could always be counted as the voice of calm and reason. Today, however, the good doctor had found his line in the sand…and no one was going to interfere with his finding out the status of his young assistant…hospital rules be damned.

"Duck, ya' gotta calm down before they kick us out of here." Gibbs coaxed his friend. "Sit down for a minute…"

"I will not calm down, Jethro…I am his doctor of record…I should be back there…do they know about his diabetes…" The older man tried to rise from his seat only to be gently forced back down by a hand to his shoulder.

"Yeah, Duck, they know…he wears his medi-bracelet, remember." Gibbs reminded his friend. "Besides, he works here…they have his records."

"Yes, of course…" Ducky said absently, his eyes on the ER bay doors.

Forty minutes later the bay doors opened, "Family of James Palmer?"

"That would be us my good man. How is the lad?" Ducky said rising from his chair.

"And you are?"

"Dr. Mallard…you will find me listed on his contact forms…now how is the lad. I need to see him." Ducky said impatiently.

"Ah, Dr. Mallard." the ER doctor acknowledged with a nod of his head, "Jimmy speaks highly of you; I wish we were meeting under better circumstances."

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage doctor?" Ducky said.

"Sorry." the man said. "Doctor Peterson, Jimmy was on rotation through the ER last semester."

"Ah, yes, Dr. Peterson." Ducky returned the acknowledgement. "Yes, he spoke of you. He found his rotation through the ER quite challenging…you can imagine things are not quite so urgent in autopsy."

"Well, he was up to the challenge. He'll make a great doctor no matter what field of medicine he chooses to pursue." Dr. Peterson said.

"I take it that means Palmer is gonna make it?" Gibbs cut into the conversation.

Dr. Peterson raised an eyebrow at the agent.

Flipping open his badge he said. "Agent Gibbs, NCIS. Palmer's one of ours."

Dr. Peterson gave a nod before taking a deep breath and beginning his run down of Jimmy's injuries. "First off he's stable. Besides the cuts and abrasions you'd expect from the shattering glass and impact, he has a severe concussion from hitting the windshield, needed eight stitches to close the gash on his forehead…the unit on scene reported that the airbags didn't deploy. He also has severe bruising to his torso from the seatbelt and a few cracked ribs, and most likely whiplash."

"His glucose levels," Ducky inquired.

"Tested and within normal limits." the doctor answered. "We'll be checking them every two to three hours."

"Can we see him now?"

"Give us about 30 minutes, we're moving him to a room, when we get him settled you can see him."

"Thanks doc." Gibbs said.

"I'll check in on him later this evening if you have any more questions." the ER doctor reported. "If you need anything Dr. Mallard, just have me paged."

"Thank you Dr. Peterson." Ducky said before the doctor disappeared back through the bay doors.

"I need to contact his mother." Ducky said.

"Good idea. The doc said it would be a little while, let's go down to the cafeteria. I need to call the office, see what they found out about the crash…I don't like the sound of this." Gibbs said.

"Jethro?"

"The airbags didn't deploy."

"Airbags can malfunction…some people even have them disconnected…sometimes things are just as you see them Jethro." Ducky said tiredly.

"Maybe, Duck."

The two men parted company off the elevator to make their calls, agreeing to meet up in the cafeteria.

****ncis*****ncis*****ncis*****ncis***

"DiNozzo," Tony said, answering his phone.

"What did you find out, Tony?" Gibbs asked.

"Baltimore PD reports that Palmer was the passenger…a woman, Lt. Shelley Cort was the driver…dead at the scene, went through the windshield." Tony reported.

"So what happened?"

"There still investigating the scene…sent McGee to check it out; but the preliminaries suggest that the driver lost control of the car and went over an embankment, hit some trees." Tony reported.

"Any indication why," Gibbs questioned.

"Not yet, PD is towing the car in to see if they can determine the cause of the crash." Tony reported, asking tightly, "So how's Palmer?"

"Concussion and stitches to his head. A few cracked ribs. As soon as they get him settled we're going in to see him." Gibbs relayed. "Stay on this…"

"Boss, it was just an accident…right?" Tony said with some confusion. "I know it was a Lt. driving but this isn't our kind of case."

"Maybe, but I still want to know everything the PD finds out about the crash." Gibbs ordered.

"On it boss."

Gibbs met back up with Ducky several moments later.

"Speak with Mrs. Palmer?"

"Actually no…and it's not the kind of thing one wishes to convey to a machine." Ducky said, asking. "So what did Anthony have to say?"

"Jimmy wasn't driving…he was the passenger. The car was owned by a Lt. Shelly Cort…"

"Hhmm…Cort…I recall Mr. Palmer mentioning a Lt. Cort….friend of his from medical school…how is she?"

"She didn't make it Duck."

"Oh my…"

"You know anything about her?"

"No, Jimmy just mentioned her in passing…he did comment that they were both up for a rather prestigious internship at Johns Hopkins…"

"Palmer was leaving?" Gibbs asked in surprise.

"No Jethro…he was most excited to be in the running, quite an honor to be even considered really; but it wasn't in a field of medicine he wished to pursue…he was planning on withdrawing his name, but I convinced him to see it through." Ducky explained.

Their conversation was halted when they heard the page they had been waiting for.

TBC-