AN: Thanks so much for all your nice comments and reviews. They are very much appreciated. :)
xxxxx
"The store clerk is dead?" Tony repeated the question, his eyes focused on Ducky.
"Yes, I'm quite sure he was killed instantly. There wasn't anything you could have done." Ducky went to Tony and patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"He shot me in the head," Tony stated matter-of-factly as Gibbs and Ducky exchanged a concerned look. He tried to lift his arm and for the first time noticed the cast. "Did I break my arm?"
"You broke your wrist," Ducky said, nodding. "Six weeks or so in a cast and you'll be as good as new."
Tony shook his head as he stared at the cast. "I don't remember breaking my arm...he shot me in the head..."
"You hurt your arm when you fell. The bullet didn't actually penetrate, Anthony," Ducky explained gently. "You have a nasty graze on the side of your head, but you're going to be fine."
"But he still shot me," Tony said with a little more feeling. He reached up to the side of his head with his left hand and lightly traced the stitches and the shaved area with his fingertips. He was desperately trying to make some kind of sense out of all that had happened during this long nightmarish night. "He smiled when he pulled the trigger." The smile hadn't reached the man's eyes though. They had been cold and unfeeling. Chilling was a good way to describe the man. Tony didn't think he would be forgetting him any time soon.
"He smiled?" Gibbs asked. Hearing that only increased his fury.
Tony turned his head towards Gibbs, but didn't respond. It was the first time he had really realized that Gibbs was in the room even though he had been vaguely aware of his presence.
"I really should get going," Ducky stated, knowing that the other two men had things that needed to be sorted out.
"Do you have to?" Tony asked, a note of pleading in his voice as he looked at Ducky. "We need to talk about what I did."
"Not to worry my boy," Ducky said. "We will have our chance to talk, but I dare say it is more important for you and Jethro to do so right now."
Tony nodded reluctantly, knowing that Ducky was not going to change his mind. "Thanks Ducky...I'm really sorry..."
"Just concentrate on getting better, Anthony," Ducky said with a faint smile. "That's the most important thing right now." He turned towards Gibbs. "Jethro, I'll see you at some point tomorrow."
"Okay. Thanks, Duck. Get some rest."
With that, Ducky was out the door, leaving Tony and Gibbs alone.
"Who would have thought we'd both be in the hospital with concussions at the same time," Tony said after a few moments of awkward silence. "Its quite the concussion conundrum." He laughed humorlessly. "Think we should have a concussion contest, boss? Rate the concussion categories on a scale of zero to five. Dizziness, confusion, blurred vision, nausea, memory loss and lastly, but arguably most important of all...drum roll, please...headache!"
"Do you really have all those symptoms, Tony?" Gibbs asked with a hint of worry in his voice. He was pretty sure Tony was joking, but sometimes he tried to hide the truth that way as well.
"Scale of ZERO to five, boss," Tony answered with a sigh. "No. I don't. Though memory loss would be welcome right about now."
"You don't mean that."
Tony didn't say anything. He began to lightly drum on his cast with the fingertips of his left hand.
"Come on, DiNozzo...talk to me."
"I don't know what you want me to say...I'm sorry really doesn't seem to cut it."
"You know how I feel about apologies anyhow."
"Aren't there exceptions for burning someone's house down, boss?"
"You didn't burn my house down, Tony. Did you light the fire yourself? I'm not even sure how you can be blaming yourself for that. It doesn't make sense."
"Bittner was right. If he had just blown me up when he had the chance, it never would have happened."
"Do you know how ridiculous you sound?" Gibbs snapped. "Do you really wish you'd been killed? Do you really think that would have made me happy?"
"No...I guess it wouldn't have made you happy," Tony said miserably. "I just wish I had heard Bittner go into your house though...If I had, I could have done something to stop him."
"Well, I did hear him. I heard him and he knocked me out. Whole lot of good that did me. Speaking of which...how did I get out of the house anyhow?"
"I got you out, boss," Tony admitted quietly.
"So, you saved my life, Tony. Doesn't that count for something? You kind of glossed right over that little fact, didn't you?"
"Didn't save the convenience store clerk though, did I? Poor old guy. He was really nice to me. He has a federal agent in his store when its held up and still ends up dead. He didn't deserve that. Hell, I had no idea what was even going on until I stumbled right on top of them. And then it was too late."
"Don't you ever get tired of beating yourself up?" Gibbs asked, shaking his head. "You have an answer for everything. If it wasn't the store clerk it would be something else. You didn't even have a gun, did you? What exactly happened in that store, anyhow?"
"I'd kind of like to hear the answer to that myself."
Tony and Gibbs both looked toward the doorway at the middle-aged man who was entering the room. "Detective Brian Morris," he said as he showed his badge and credentials. "I've been assigned to investigate this case."
Tony and Gibbs introduced themselves to the detective.
"You feeling up to answering some questions?" Detective Morris asked Tony as he pulled out a notepad and pen.
Tony nodded. "Yeah sure, no problem."
"Okay. Why don't you tell me what happened."
"I was making a phone call in the back of the store."
"Who were you calling?"
"Dr. Donald Mallard. I needed a ride. I asked if he could pick me up."
"Yes, I spoke with him briefly at the scene," Morris said with a nod. "Alright, go on."
"I heard someone enter the store, but I didn't really pay attention to who it was...figured it was just a customer...guess I shouldn't have assumed that..."
"Could you see who it was?"
"No, not then," Tony said, shaking his head. "The shelves were stacked too high."
The detective nodded, indicating that Tony should continue. "I finished my phone call and walked back to the front of he store. The..the store clerk was lying across the counter. I...I think he was already dead. I never heard a shot so there must have been a silencer on the gun. There were two men. I think only one of them had a gun, at least that was all I saw. He was grabbing cash out of the register. The other guy looked real skittish. Anyhow, the one with the gun...I don't think he even said anything to me. He just smiled, aimed his gun and fired...That's the last thing I remember until I woke up in the ambulance..."
Gibbs had been watching Tony closely during his recollection of the chain of events at the convenience store. When he had mentioned the guy who fired at him, he'd seen something in his agent's eyes. Gibbs wasn't exactly sure what it was, maybe fear, maybe something else. It had only lasted a second or two, but Gibbs could see that Tony was more shaken by being shot that way then he was letting on. He was going to have to keep a close eye on him.
Morris finished scribbling his notes and looked back at Tony. "Is there anything else that you can think of?"
"No...not right now."
"How about the men themselves? Do you think you could give me a physical description? Unfortunately, there was no surveillance camera set up in the store."
Tony proceeded to provide Morris with a physical description of the men. He was able to provide a great deal more detail on the man who had actually shot him than his companion. Then, as he thought back, something triggered his memory. What did you do? What the hell did you do, Lou? "The guy with the gun...the other guy called him Lou," he remembered.
"Lou? Are you sure?" Morris asked, unable to hide his excitement.
"I'm sure," Tony nodded.
"I'm going to run the description and name through our system and see what pops up, Hopefully, we'll come up with something. Will you be willing to look through pictures or work with our sketch artist if I need you to?"
"Of course, whatever you need," Tony replied, nodding.
"Thanks. You've been a big help. Here's my card in case you remember anything else. I'll be in touch." The men shook hands and the detective went on his way.
"You did good," Gibbs commented once they were alone again.
"Yeah, I'm great at helping out after crimes have been committed, just no good at preventing them."
"Why don't you get some sleep," Gibbs suggested. Tony looked exhausted. Maybe some rest would help to improve his frame of mind.
"Yeah, okay. I'll try. You should do the same."
The two men tried to get as comfortable as they could in the not so comfortable beds. Tony fell asleep first under Gibbs' watchful eye. He couldn't help but be worried about the younger man and all he had been going through. He also found that focusing on Tony helped to take his mind off his own situation and the fact that he was now homeless. He would have to call his insurance company and begin to get things straightened out. He glanced over at Tony as he mumbled something in his sleep, but then settled back down again. Finally, exhausted himself, Gibbs too, dropped off to sleep.
xxxxx
"What are you doing here?" Warren asked. He had been just about to get into his car to head to work when Lou had showed up out of nowhere.
"What kind of a greeting is that?"
"I don't have time for games right now. I need to get to work."
"Call in sick."
"I'm not calling in sick. I'm not risking my job."
Lou narrowed his eyes. "I need your help with something."
"I said no." Warren shook his head adamantly. "What are you planning now, a bank robbery?"
"I'm going over to the hospital. Seems that customer in the store is still alive. He can identify us. I need to take care of him."
Warren's eyes widened in horror. "You're going to just walk into the hospital and blow him away? Are you fucking crazy?"
"I don't know if I'm going to do anything at the hospital," Lou growled. "I'm just trying to get some info on the guy. I don't even know his name. I need to find that out."
"Well, you can do that without me," Warren retorted as he opened his car door. "I'm going to work."
"Fine, but next time I need you, I'm not taking no for an answer."
Warren didn't say anything to that. He slammed his car door shut and started up his car. At first, he had actually felt happy to learn one of the guys had survived the shooting. But, the identification thing was a real problem. He realized that Lou was right. The only way they would truly be safe was if they made sure he was never able to testify against them.
xxxxx
Tony felt amazingly at peace as he walked along. He had no idea where he was, but it was a beautiful place. The grass was lush and green and there were flowers everywhere, a virtual rainbow of every color one could imagine. He walked along a cobblestone path until he came upon a bench with a little girl sitting on it. There was a jump rope on the ground at her feet and she was sobbing as if her heart would break.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked gently as he sat down beside her on the bench. "Nothing can be that bad, can it?"
"Yes it can," she managed to gasp between sobs. "It...its horrible."
"Well why don't you tell me about whatever it is," he suggested. "My name is Tony. Sometimes it helps to talk about your problems to someone. Maybe I can help."
"You can't help. No one can help."
"Well, why don't you give me a try? It can't hurt anyway."
She lifted her head and looked at Tony and he inhaled sharply when he saw her eyes. They were vivid and intense, the eyes of her father, and he knew at once who this child was.
"Someone burned my daddy's house down," she said woefully. "It was the only place I could ever go to see him. Now I can never, ever see my daddy again. "
"What?" he paled as he listened to her, feeling sick inside. "Why...why can't you just go see him somewhere else?"
"It doesn't work that way," she sniffled, as she began to cry again. "I hate whoever did this. I hate him, hate him, hate him! My daddy hates him too. We both do. We hate him and we hope he dies!"
Even though he hadn't committed the act himself, he couldn't help but feel that her words were directed at him. "I'm sorry...I...I'm so sorry..." He stood up and began to run. He just needed to get away, he needed to escape from this child and her grief , though he knew he would never be able to get far enough away to escape what he had done...
His heart pounding out of control, Tony awoke and found Gibbs standing beside his bed, looking worriedly down at him.
"Are you alright?" Gibbs asked.
"I'm fine, boss...you should get back in bed..." He took a deep breath, then slowly sat up and ran his hand shakily back through his sweat-soaked hair.
"You sure you're okay?"
Tony nodded. "I'm positive." He watched as Gibbs got back into his bed and pulled the covers up over himself. "You don't even have anywhere to live..." he said to himself. He'd been so focused on himself and how he had been messing up that he hadn't really been thinking about Gibbs.
"What was that, Tony?"
"Do you want to stay at my place when you get out of here?" he blurted out.
Gibbs considered the question for a long moment. "Do you have enough room?" he finally asked. "I don't want to put you out..."
"I have an extra bedroom. You won't be putting me out, boss..."
Gibbs had just assumed he would just stay with Ducky for the time being, but when he saw the way Tony was intently waiting for his reply, he realized what he needed to do. "Sure...I'll stay with you, DiNozzo... thanks."
"You're welcome." A small smile flitted across Tony's lips. This would at least be a start towards making amends for all the turmoil he had caused in Gibbs' life.
"Let's see if we can get a little bit more sleep." Staying with Tony would definitely be an interesting experience, but more importantly, it would provide Gibbs with the perfect opportunity to keep a close watch over his agent.