Tony felt tears slip out his eyes as the pain increased and continued. He could barely see the doctors surrounding him, but he heard something about sedatives and needles. He began to thrash about some more when he felt a sharp pain in his left arm muscle. Tony squeezed his eyes shut, feeling more tears roll down his cheeks and a burning sensation fill his arm. He whimpered in pain, barely hearing the doctors anymore, and began to breath more quickly. Suddenly, his vision began to blur and fade in and out of focus. Tony felt sick to his stomach and he quickly tried to sit up, feeling his mouth watering. One doctor began yelling something about a garbage can and Tony heard another speaking about the tube. The restraints on his wrists slowly began to loosen and before Tony knew it, someone was taking the tape off of his mouth. Tony smiled slightly, feeling more and more sick and dizzy. He breathed heavily as he felt like throwing up. A doctor came over to Tony and said something about coughing so they could remove the tube. Tony nodded, feeling his eyelids growing heavy as he was helped into a sitting position. Someone grabbed his right shoulder tightly as he began to cough, feeling someone removing the tube from his throat as he gagged and coughed. Before he knew it, the tube had been removed and Tony was throwing up into a wastebasket. He coughed harshly as he finished and he finally got to see who was holding his arm; Gibbs. Tony smiled with ease before lying back on his bed and going back to sleep.
Gibbs sighed as he looked at a doctor, nurses rushing from the room finally tearing his eyes away from the sleeping Tony. "What the hell was that all about, doc?" The doctor smiled, looking at Gibbs and saying calmly, "Don't worry, Mr. Gibbs. It's just a slightly delayed reaction from the gunshot wound. He'll be fine." He looked at the clipboard in his hands before saying calmly, "Actually, he should be allowed to leave tomorrow." He looked up at Gibbs again and said almost teasingly, "Well, if he stays with someone of course."
Gibbs smiled slightly, making a "tch" sound before murmuring, "Yeah. Maybe we'll stick him with the Mossad assasin." The doctor laughed slightly, writing something on his clipboard before saying, "Well, I'm going to inform Dr. Mallard and Dr. Pitt of his status. If you need anything, Mr. Gibbs--"
"Jethro." Gibbs stated bluntly, looking at the doctor.
The doctor smiled and nodded. "Jethro, if he needs anything, just let me know. I'll be around and if you can't find me, you can ask Paige, the woman at the desk, to find me for you. Alright?" Gibbs nodded as he replied, "I'll be sure to inform you if anything happens," he squinted as he read the doctor's nametag. "Chase." Chase smiled as he chuckled and said, "Alright, thank you, Jethro." He walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Gibbs sat down in a chair by the bed and sighed as he looked at the door. He took a sip of his coffee before murmuring, "How in the hell do you get yourself in these kind of situations, DiNozzo?" He looked at Tony and thought about the case, reviewing it in his head.
The men that had attacked Tony and McGee at the crime scene were known as Luke McCarthy, James O'Conner, and Sam Agnew. James was a gangster, put into jail three times for theft by Tony, and while he was in jail his third time, his gang had split up. Sam and Luke had been apart of that gang and had soon split up along with the rest of the gang. Well, most of the gang. However, three people from the gang remained apart of the gang. Two of the three people had been killed by Tony in combat, while the other ran off and was never seen of again. The last living member of the gang, Jimmy Cameron, had worked in the apartment building that Tony lived in. This explained how he was able to get into Tony's room and was able to attack to him. His motive was simple, he thought Sam and Luke still didn't have very much of a motive. Well, then again, they were with their leader. There is that chance that they had killed the marine, Sargeant Jordan Baker, simply to kill. Gangsters usually killed for no reason...Well, most of the time it was for money and drugs. But then where did Mark Davison come from? The fingerprint Abby found could easily mean that the gang members, Jams, Sam, and Luke had killed him. So that was the easy part. A gang was out to kill the people who put their leader away. The problem now was...well, nothing. All of their murderers were dead.
Gibbs sighed angrily as he thought about the case. He already knew that the case would soon go cold and that would be the end of that. However, Gibbs felt like there was something more about the case. Something they were missing and looking over.
"Boss?" Came a raspy voice, followed by a weak cough.
Gibbs looked at Tony and asked with a bit of annoyance, "Yeah, DiNozzo?"
Tony smiled slightly and coughed a few times before asking, "Wh-What now?" He winced at a pain in his left side, but it slowly vanished and Gibbs began to speak. "Not sure. Case might go cold. What do you think about that?" Tony shrugged and murmured, "S'okay." He yawned softly and continued, "I mean, all the guys are dead and they managed to kill a few people that put their boss away. There's their motive and if they're all dead" he coughed a few times before finishing, "then there's no reason to keep looking into it." Gibbs nodded slightly, taking another sip of his coffee. Tony sighed with annoyance as he looked up at the ceiling and asked, "But your gut is telling you otherwise?"
Gibbs laughed slightly as he said softly, "Yep." Tony scratched his head and returned his eyes to Gibbs' as he smiled and said, "But that's not what I meant. I meant where am I gonna be staying?" He then frowned quickly and began spouting out complaints. "Please don't make me stay with Ziva! She's got that crazy knife collection and she could easily kill me if my sleep if she wants to. Then there's the chance she might kill me with food poisoning or driving me somewhere. McGee is okay, but all he'd do is write on his book and play stupid elf games. I don't want him to sit there and scold me about touching his stuff and lecturing me about how valuable it is either. Abbs is okay too, but I'm afraid she'd hug me too much. Well...Then I could always get pampered, but then there's the chance of being overly pampered. Palmer, well, Palmer just scares me and Ducky is like my eleventh grade history teacher! Plus his mom--!"
"DiNozzo, I don't care where you do or don't want to stay! You're staying with me and if you go anywehre else, I'll personally have Ziva slit your throat with every knife in her collection." Gibbs spoke with annoyance. He hated it when Tony rambled and hated it even more when he rambled AND complained.
Tony immediately shut up after saying a quick, "Sorry, Boss." Gibbs gave him a quick look before Tony nodded and said, "Right, sign of weakness. I'll shut up now, Boss." Gibbs smiled slightly and said, "I don't care what the doctors say either. You're getting out of here today." Tony nodded and asked, "You think I'm ready to get out, Boss?" Gibbs sighed and stood up, asking, "If you weren't ready do you think I'd take you out of here?" Tony was about to answer that question with a solid "Yes", but Chase entered the room just in time to stop him.
"Alright, Tony. I need to check your vitals one more time and you can start to pack up. Okay?" Chase asked, smiling slightly. Tony stared at the young male before Gibbs stated, "I'll be out in the wating room." Tony watched Gibbs leave before looking at Chase and asking, "How did you know he wanted me to leave?" Chase laughed slightly as he began unhooking all of Tony's IVs. "His body language was screaming it." Tony smiled and looked at the door, murmuring, "Yeah...I guess it did." Chase looked at Tony and frowned slightly, but when he saw Tony's eyes on him, he quickly smiled and returned to the IVs.
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Abby sighed as she sat on McGee's desk, playing with his stapler. "Do you think he's okay, Timmy?" She looked at McGee and McGee sighed as he took the stapler, placing it on his desk. "Abby, he's fine. Gibbs is with him and they're heading over to Gibbs' house as we speak. Now please, go home and get some rest." Abby glared at him and asked angrily, "Do you even care that he was stabbed, McGee?" McGee looked at her and blinked. "Well of course I do, Abby! Why would you ask that?" Abby hopped off his desk and put her hands on her hips, glaring at McGee. "If you care, then why haven't you checked on him yet? Why haven't you been worried like I have? Why haven't you been trying to see him in the hospital?!" McGee stood up and walked over to Abby. He looked her in the eyes and said seriously, "Abby, I do care about him. That's why I worked my ass off trying to figure out where the hell the guy was and why he tried to kill Tony."
Abby contineud to stare at McGee before she hugged him and whispered, "Sorry, Tim." McGee sighed slightly as he hugged her back and said gently, "Stop worrying so much. He'll be fine." Abby pulled away from McGee and smiled slightly, looking at McGee. "Hey, I have an idea! Since Tony can't go bowling with me, want to go bowling in his place, Timmy?!" McGee blinked before smiling and saying, "Sure...I'd uh, I'd love to Abbs." Abby smiled widely as she hugged McGee and began to jump slightly. "Yes! Okay, well when we're done, we have got to tell Tony! Inform him and let him know if the nuns won or not!" McGee blinked and asked, "Nuns?" Before Abby could elaborate, Ziva walked up to them both and looked at them.
Ziva sighed slightly before asking a bit nervously, "May I...join you in rolling?" Abby smiled slightly, trying to hold down a laugh as she said, "Um, Ziva...It's called bowling." Ziva rolled her eyes and said angrily, "Well whatever. You still roll the ball, yes?" McGee smiled as he began to grab his things and Abby looked at her, saying, "Yeah. You have to roll the ball and try to knock down all the pins. Whoever knocks down most of the pins at the end of the game, wins." Ziva nodded and walked over to her desk, grabbing her coat. "I still do not understand why it is called bowling." She looked up at Abby as she began to slip on her long, tan trenchcoat and asked, "Do these 'pins' look like bowls?" McGee laughed and Abby smiled at her as she stood in front of her desk. "Ziva, I promise you'll understand everything but the name when we get there. So can we go now please?" Ziva sighed and followed both of them saying, "I suppose. But I do not understand the point of simply rolling a ball. How does that entertain anyone?" She stepped into the elevator and laughed a bit. McGee blinked and asked, "What?" Ziva replied sadly, "Nothing. I was simply imagining what Tony would say by now."
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Tony sighed heavily as he lay on Gibbs' couch with a red blanket pulled up to his chin. It was already about nine o'clock at night and Tony was bored so much to the point that he'd rather be dead at the moment. As he lay there, he heard Gibbs in the basement working on his boat and Tony smiled as he listened to him. He already moved in all of his stuff, which didn't make Gibbs happy, but he knew he was safe here. Tony was always safe here, or anywhere Gibbs went. That was the thing he liked about Gibbs. He also brought a sense of security with him wherever he went.
Tony finally stood up and walked over to the basement door. He trudged down the stairs and watched as Gibbs looked over at him. He smiled as he walked over to where Gibbs' tools were and looked at them. Gibbs went back to work as he saidseriously, "I thought I told you to get some rest, DiNozzo."
"You thought wrong, Boss." Tony replied, smiling as he face his boss and then looked back at the tools.
Gibbs smiled slightly before he asked, "Thirsty?" Tony looked at him as he asked, "Whattya got, Boss?" Gibbs stopped working for a minute before he walked over to where Tony was, giving him one of his Gibbs looks. Tony quickly moved out of his way and watched as Gibbs grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses. He set them on his workplace and began to fill each cup slowly. Gibbs then put away the bottle, turned around to face Tony, and handed him the glass. "Now shut up and go back to bed." Gibbs stated coldly, returning his boat after taking a sip of his drink.
Tony smiled slightly as he took a drink as well and asked, "Is wine good for the injured, Boss?" Gibbs took another drink, looking at Tony, before answering, "Works for me." He returned to his boat after picking up a nail and Tony nodded, watching Gibbs work. Tony then sighed slightly and sat down against the wall. "Am I bugging you, Boss?" Gibbs continued working before answering, "DiNozzo, you bug me everytime you open that big mouth of yours."
"What if it was a lead?"
"Either way, you're still annoying."
Tony laughed slightly, finishing his drink and asking softly, "I mean...Do you ever feel like you'd do better without me? I'm always getting into trouble and stuff and I know it ends up getting you in trouble or pissed off." Gibbs stopped working for a minute, looking at Tony and saying, "DiNozzo...Just because you almost died doesn't mean you have the right to get depressed." Tony laughed slightly as he stared at his empty glass. "I'll keep that in mind, Boss." He yawned slightly and stood up. "Alright, well I'm done here." He set the glass on Gibbs' tool table before heading towards the stairs. Tony began to go up the stairs when he stopped and looked at Gibbs. "'Night, Boss." He said, smiling softly. Gibbs went back to work, replying, "Go to bed, DiNozzo." Tony nodded and continued up the rest of the stairs.
McGee sighed as he sat at one of tables in the bowling alley. Abby was up, while Ziva cheered her on, and the nuns spoke with each other. McGee stared at his computer screen, thinking about the case and getting no where. He sighed heavily and felt his phone vibrate. He blinked, taking it out of his pocket and hearing Abby talking with Ziva, getting closer to him. McGee looked at his phone and opened up the text message. He felt his heart sink into his stomach as he looked at the picture of Gibbs' house with two simple words at the bottom of the picture:
I'M HERE
Thank you all very much for the reviews! XD I can't believe I have a lot of great reviews so already! I honestly didn't think it was that good, but not according to you guys! I know the reasoning is really stupid, but I couldn't think of any reason for people to kill each other at the moment. Mega-ultra brain fart here. Haha! Well anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the 3rd chapter and I'm working as fast as I can on Chapter 4! Thank you again everyone! PEACE OUT!!!