Thanks so much everyone for the great responses. Here comes the next part. Sorry it's only a short one. The next part will be longer again.

Chapter 4

"It's possible that he won't be very responsive when he wakes up. What is important right now is that we are able to wake him up at all..."

Gibbs didn't really listen to what Dr. Paxton was saying. He was too busy staring at Tony's unmoving form, as if this would help making him wake up sooner.

"It may take a minute or it can take several hours. The sooner the better."

"I once was in a coma myself, Doctor. I know how it works." Gibbs grumbled, and Paxton looked embarrassed.

Gibbs took Tony's hand in his and squeezed it gently. "Time to wake up, DiNozzo."

"Agent DiNozzo, if you can hear us, please try and open your eyes." the doctor spoke from the other side of the bed.

No one else than Gibbs would have noticed the almost invisible frown that was building itself on Tony's face. "He can hear us." he said, which earned him a very doubtful look from Paxton.

"Come on DiNozzo, you can do better than that." Gibbs whispered. It was almost nothing, but he could definitely feel a twitch in his agent's hand then, as if he was trying to return his squeeze from before. Gibbs smiled at that. He bent down and brought his head close to the younger man's. "Open your eyes, Tony." He said softly, but so determined that it was clearly an order.

The frown on Tony's face intensified. "He can hear us ." Paxton said triumphantly, and Gibbs rolled his eyes.

Tony was now obviously trying to open his eyes, which seemed to be an enormous effort. "You can do it." Gibbs said calmly. And finally the eyelids cracked open just a bit, and slowly Tony started to blink his way out of the darkness. When his eyes finally were able to focus on his boss, a satisfied grin appeared on Gibbs' face. "Good to have you back." he said gently and laid his hand on Tony's forehead.

For a short moment Tony's gaze simply held on to Gibbs' eyes, his own thankful, lost and vulnerable at the same time. It was only until he seemed to realize that he wanted to breathe. His hand made a weak attempt to lift itself off the bed, and his Adam's apple started to move up and down rapidly as he started to gag.

"It's OK, Agent DiNozzo, don't fight the ventilator. We're taking the tube out in a second", Paxton came into action. "Okay. Try to take a deep breath and let it out on three, alright?"

The tube came out quickly, and Tony hadn't even fully caught his breath yet when he opened his mouth and a raspy and weak "Bo-" came out, before he started coughing feebly. "You shouldn't try to speak yet, Agent DiNozzo", Paxton said quickly. "Your throat is still too sore from the intubation." Tony swallowed painfully and looked at his boss. His intent stare sufficed for Gibbs to understand. He leaned forward and gazed at him reassuringly . "Tell me, Tony." he said and brought his ear next to Tony's mouth. The whisper that came out was scarily weak, but intent enough that Gibbs noticed the pleading tone: "...have to get him."

Gibbs patted Tony's arm and nodded. He knew what he had to tell Tony right now, and it didn't matter if it meant lying to him. Right now, Tony needed to hear something that would keep him fighting. "We will, Tony. I promise." At that, Tony relaxed visibly, and he wearily started to close his eyes. "But DiNozzo?", Gibbs held him back. "I'm gonna need your help with this. So don't even think about giving up now. Is that clear?" The nod Tony gave him was so weak that Gibbs more sensed than saw it, but it was enough. "Good. Now get some rest. I'll be here when you wake up."

The next three days were nothing but waiting for Gibbs. Waiting and watching, hoping for Tony to come back soon and at the same time being relieved that his agent didn't have to face his new reality yet.

Tony slept and slept, on one hand because he was so weak, on the other due to the heavy doses of morphine they regularly shot into his IV. Gibbs was there all the time. He sometimes left the room to get some coffee or a sandwich. Every morning Ducky dropped by to bring Gibbs the latest news and breakfast. Not that the hospital staff wouldn't have brought him breakfast every morning, too, but he wouldn't drink and eat "that crap". Ducky and Abby kept telling him to go home for a good night's rest and a shower - one minimum - but Gibbs simply refused to leave Tony alone for more than a few minutes. He had promised he would be there when he woke up, and that could be every time. So he sat there, in the uncomfortable chair in the corner of the room, drinking coffee, dozing off and watching Tony. He was next to his bed every time the younger man started to whimper in his sleep, when the pain meds were starting to wear off. He would talk to him softly, telling him that he would be OK and he would hiss at the nurse to work faster with the new morphine shot. Sometimes Tony was awake, with his eyes open. But Gibbs had realized pretty soon that he was too out of it to really see him and comprehend what was going on. Besides, the only reason why Tony would wake up sometimes was that he was in pain. That was when the pain would get so bad that the normal dose of morphine wouldn't suffice, so that he was pulled out violently of his drugged dream. He was never responsive, though, when Gibbs spoke soothing words while waiting for the nurse to appear with the next shot.

Gibbs wouldn't even leave when the the doctors came to check on their patient during the mornig rounds, or when the nurses were taking care of Tony's hygienical needs. He watched when they cleaned him up, changed the gauzes on his chest and back and checked his vitals. He also watched when they were massaging the muscles in his legs twice a day, and rotating his ankles. That was the part Gibbs hated the most. It was the part that unmercifully reminded him of the fact that Tony was paralyzed now, and he wondered if the thought would ever cease to hurt so much.

On the fourth day, Tony came back.

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