Tony coughed slightly as he rolled onto his left side and finally heard his phone ringing. He decided not to answer, figuring that Gibbs could give him an update later. As he went back to sleep, he heard something creak in his kitchen. Tony stiffened and didn't move, listening carefully. Someone was moving in the kitchen and slowly walking into Tony's room. He grabbed his phone and yawned slightly, trying to act like he hadn't heard the person. Tony stood up and picked up his phone, looking at his room. "Hey McGoo, what's up? Any updates?"
"Tony, thank god! I need you to stay on the phone with me!"
Tony swallowed and hung up the phone. If he stayed on the phone, the man might get suspicious. He put the phone on his counter and sighed heavily, when he turned back to his room. "I have the worst luck..." He muttered. He began walking over to his bedroom and suddenly heard the person in the room slam the bathroom door.
"Boss, Tony hung up!" McGee yelled, looking at Gibbs. Gibbs took a sharp turn and Ziva looked at McGee, asking, "Does this person have a cell phone that you can trace?!" McGee opened up his computer and began punching in keys. His eyes widened and he exclaimed, "Boss, he's in Tony's house!" Gibbs came to an abrupt halt and rushed from the car, running towards the apartment. Ziva and McGee followed, going different ways. When Gibbs reached Tony's door, he heard sounds like a fight and a gun shot. He kicked down the door and rushed in, McGee and Ziva at his heels. Ziva quickly went into the kitchen, Gibbs rushed into the living room, and McGee rushed over to the bedroom. The door was opened slightly, so McGee pushed it open more and looked around. He could see blood from the right side of the room, so he quickly opened the door. McGee rushed in and saw a man lying on the floor, eyes wide open and a bullet hole in his chest. He heard heavy breathing and wheezing from the bathroom, so he quickly rushed into the bathroom. McGee's eyes opened wide in shock and fear as he began holstering his gun.
Tony was on his back in the bathroom, his left shoulder bleeding and a knife jammed into his left side. His gun rested in his right hand as he stared at McGee. His chest was moving up and down in deep, ragged breaths and blood was slipping out the side of his mouth. Tony tried to talk, but didn't manage anything except another wheeze.
McGee rushed over to Tony and began putting pressure on Tony's shoulder wound. "Boss! BOSS!" McGee yelled, hearing Gibbs' heavy footsteps running into the room. When Gibbs saw Tony, he looked at Ziva and shouted, "Ziva, call an ambulance!" He rushed over to Tony and quickly bent down next to him. "DiNozzo! Hey, Tony, stay with me!" Tony's eyes were glazed over and his mouth was hung open slightly as he breathed hard. Gibbs swore and McGee swallowed, keeping pressure on his wound. He looked at Gibbs and listened as Gibbs continued speaking.
"You'll be fine, DiNozzo. Stay with me." Gibbs gripped Tony's right shoulder tightly and looked him in the eyes. "Stay with me, DiNozzo." Tony's eyes began to flutter and he was steadily becoming colder. "DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped, patting him on the cheek softly. "Come on, keep your damn eyes open!"
"Geez Tony. I thought you were stronger than this. Wasn't it you that said DiNozzo's don't pass out?"
Tony moved his heavy eyes to his bathroom door and saw Kate standing in the doorway, crossed arms and her right body leaning against the door. He smiled softly, staring at her dark hair and beautiful, dark eyes.
"Come on Tony. Are you just going to stare?" She began walking over to Tony and Tony simply sat there, not listening to Gibbs or McGee anymore. He was suddenly sitting on a beach with Kate as she sat next to him in a dark blue bikini. Tony was still dressed in his clothes, blood covering his left shoulder and left side.
Tony blinked and looked at Kate. "Wh-Where the hell are we?" Kate smiled slightly looked out at the sunset. "You passed out, Tony. This is all apart of your stupid imagination now." She looked at him and said teasingly, "I thought DiNozzo's didn't pass out." Tony smiled and replied, "We don't unless we're on the verge of dying, Kate." Kate nodded and laughed slightly. "Guess I missed that story..." She trailed off, looking at the sunset again, and Tony looked at her beautiful features before saying, "We've all missed you, Kate." Kate nodded and looked at Tony. "I know Tony...But you're not ready to die yet." She grabbed his hand softly and looked him in the eyes. "You know...I always fell for your eyes, Tony." Tony smiled and asked, "What's that supposed to mean, Kate? You're not going soft on me, are you?" Kate chuckled and leaned in closer to Tony. "I mean, it's not just me that thinks your eyes are gorgeous, Tony. They're so green...That's the first thing I noticed about you, you know." Tony looked into Kate's eyes and leaned in a bit more asking softly, "Oh yeah?" He laughed slightly and whispered, "I fell for your entire body." Kate smiled widely and murmured, "Tony...If I had lived longer, would anything be different?" Tony smiled and leaned in closer, kissing her on the lips. Kate began kissing him back and soon, Tony was staring at the ceiling of the hospital. Kate was standing next to him and smiling. She was dressed like a nurse as she whispered in his ear, "I'll be waiting for you, Tony. Don't die sooner than you have to." Tony was breathing heavily as he stared at her and in the next instant, everything went black.
Gibbs sighed as he sat in the waiting room of the hospital with coffee in his hands. McGee was sitting next to him with his arms crossed and his eyes on the emergency room doors. "Boss...How bad did he look when you were in there?" Gibbs didn't answer at first, wondering if he even should. He sighed slightly and finally answered, "He'll be fine, McGee." McGee sighed and heard Gibbs' phone ringing. Gibbs picked it up and answered. "Yeah, Gibbs."
"Gibbs, the man that Tony shot is known as a Jimmy Cameron. He is twenty-six and he worked for the apartment Tony lived in."
Gibbs nodded at the sound of Ziva's voice. "Explains how he got into his apartment."
"Yes. But that is not all. The other two men who had attacked Tony and McGee were apart of James' old crew before it split up. So far, that is all we have."
"So there's no connection to the victim."
"None, Gibbs."
Gibbs sighed heavily and thought for a minute, staring at the emergency room doors. He finally spoke with a hint of anger. "Call me back if you find anything. Try looking into the Saregeant's bank records, history, I don't care where the hell you look just so long as you find a connection to these bastards!" He hung up the phone harshly and stood up. Gibbs handed McGee his coffee and looked at him seriously. "I want you helping Ziva as best as you can and CALL me if you find anything, McGee." McGee stood up and nodded. "Yeah, of course, Boss." He looked at the coffee and then back at Gibbs, about to speak up.
"Keep it. You'll need it if you're going to be pulling an all-nighter." Gibbs growled, walking towards the emergency room.
McGee smiled slightly and rushed from the hospital.
Gibbs walked to the front desk, gave the nurse a look, and she immediately pushed the button. He smiled as he walked into the restricted area and down the long, white hallway. He pushed open the door leading to Tony's room and stared at all the doctors. At least five of them stood around him. Two of them were writing something on their checkboards as they examined his vitals, another was getting rid of the surgical materials, the only female doctor was taping his breathing machine to his mouth, and the last one was placing restraints around Tony's hands and wrists. Gibbs walked over to the doctor putting restraints on Tony and asked, "What the hell are you doing?! He's passed out!" The doctor sighed and looked at Gibbs. "Sir, it's just so that he won't try to pull out the tube that's down his throat." Gibbs glared at him and the doctor quickly said, "Well, we'll leave you two alone for a bit. If he wakes up, please alert someone at the front desk, Mr. Gibbs."
Gibbs didn't answer as he pulled up a chair and sat next to Tony's bed. He stared at Tony for a bit, shifting in his seat a little bit and looking at the tube in Tony's mouth. Tony didn't move, didn't speak, he was as still as a statue that was breathing slowly. Gibbs sighed heavily and murmured, "You won't die, DiNozzo. That's just not you..." He stood up and heard Tony beginning to whimper slightly. Gibbs blinked and looked at Tony with a bit of confusion and shock. He sat back down and asked softly, "DiNozzo, you up?" Tony tried to move his right arm, but when it wouldn't budge, his eyes began to flutter. Gibbs stood up and grabbed Tony's right arm softly. "DiNozzo, I'm right here." Tony's eyes opened slowly and Gibbs looked at him, checking over all of his reactions.
The first thing Tony did when he awoke was try to move his arms again. When they wouldn't move, he began to panick slightly. He had then realized the burning in his throat and the strange sense of something else being in his throat besides oxygen. Tony kept swallowing, unsure of what it was, but when it simply sat there in his throat, Tony began to panick a bit more. His breathing quickened and soon, Tony was having trouble breathing again.
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped, seeing Tony look straight at him. Tony stared at Gibbs and his breathing slowed as he began to calm down. Gibbs sat back down in his chair and sighed heavily. "You're fine. You were having trouble breathing for a while so they had to set you up with a breathing tube. Ya kept trying to pull it out so..." Tony nodded and smiled slightly, trying to match the machine's patterns. He felt his lungs burn each time the tube released more oxygen into his body. He winced at the pain and shut his eyes again, hearing Gibbs speak.
"Always knew you were a fighter, DiNozzo..." Gibbs trailed off as he watched Tony try to match the machine's pace. "You talked about Kate a few times." Tony's eyes opened again and he looked at Gibbs. Gibbs smiled and said, "You were arguin' with her about who would interrogate me about my wives." Tony laughed slightly, closing his eyes again. Gibbs heard his cellphone ring and answered it, hearing Abby speak:
"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs! Is Tony alright? Because if he is, I need you to ask him a question for me? If he's not, that's fine. Don't wake him up for it! If you wake him up for this Gibbs, I will personally kill you! I might not want to kill you, but that's so--!"
"He's up, Abby." Gibbs answered, watching as Tony opened his eyes slightly and looked at him.
"That's great Gibbs! I mean, if he had slept any longer, I think I would've gone crazy! OH! Why didn't you call me when he got up, Gibbs?! I said I wanted to be first to know and I didn't want to call you to check on him!"
"Abbs, what do you got?"
"Right. Okay. Well listen to this, Gibbs! On Jimmy Cameron's clothes, I found semen that belongs to none other than," there was a slight pause before Abby finished, "Jordan Baker."
Gibbs nodded and asked, "So they were lovers?"
"Yeah maybe. And if Jimmy saw Tony in the house with his dead boyfriend,"
"Then he would've thought Tony killed him. Good work, Abbs."
"Oh that's not all! The three guys that attacked Tony and McGee all had large amounts of heroine in their blood stream."
Gibbs nodded and asked, "Enough to make them Tony and McGee were someone else?"
"Exactly! I also found a bloody fingerprint on one of the guy's' jackets. The print belongs to a man name Mark Davison."
Gibbs hung up on Abby and looked at Tony seriously, who had now gone back to closing his eyes and relaxing. "We've got a lead, DiNozzo." Tony nodded and opened his eyes slightly, looking at Gibbs. Gibbs stood up and looked at Tony's eyes, asking, "You know a woman named Mark Davison?" Tony thought for a minute before shaking his head. Suddenly, Gibbs' phone rang again and Gibbs answered it quickly. "Yeah, Gibbs."
"Boss! We might have a really huge lead! Mary Jones was the judge that put James O'Conner in jail, Boss, and she's another victim that died a few months ago! Our marine, Sargeant Jordan Baker, was the one that testified against James and helped put him in jail, while Tony was the one who broke up the gang, killed several of their members, and caught James on all three charges!"
Gibbs looked at Tony and asked, "So this was more than a murder, right McGee?"
"Oh yeah, Boss. This is revenge for their gang and unless we find the rest of their gang members, more and more people from that trial are going to be dying or getting hurt."