50 Sentences Expanded
43. God - He was not a religious man, but Gibbs stood in the hospital chapel anyway, and prayed Tony would leave this place alive.
McGee blamed himself. If he hadn't forgotten his camera in the van, then Tony wouldn't be fighting for his life right now. It didn't matter that Ducky was trying to reassure him: if he hadn't forgotten, then the whole team would be dead.
That really didn't help.
The van had never been a target before. But the moment Tony had opened the back door, the van had exploded into hundreds of fiery pieces, filling the air with smoke and scalding heat.
The entire team came running, but Tony was nowhere to be found. At least, nowhere nearby. Instead Ziva discovered him some thirty feet away, the blast having sent him sprawling through the air.
They didn't need the paramedics to tell them the injuries. Most were written on Tony's face. Second degree burns on his face, chest and arms. Shrapnel embedded in his abdomen and all over his body. A broken wrist, leg, and ribs from the fall. A possible serious head injury. And worst of all, the smoke that to others would cause little harm, spreading like a poison throughout Tony's already permanently damaged Respiratory System.
Gibbs sat with him in the ambulance, begging Tony's chest to rise and fall, signifying life. But his lungs weren't working, and then he was seizing, vomit spilling from his half-open mouth.
But it was at the entrance to the hospital when Gibbs felt his world rock beneath him.
The moment when Tony's heart stopped.
Tony had been rushed into surgery by the time the rest of the team arrived, to find a near frantic Gibbs pacing the waiting room. Back and forth, over and over.
No offers of reassurance could calm Gibbs.
Not only was he at risk of losing his best agent, his second-in-command, but also his partner, his lover. And Abby was sure he was slowly losing his mind.
An hour later, the surgery was still ongoing, and Gibbs was cracking.
He had stopped pacing, but now the team worried even more. He was sitting absolutely still, head in his hands, grasping his salt-and-pepper hair. Ziva and McGee had gone to get coffee for everyone. Ducky had sent Palmer back to NCIS. Abby sat with Gibbs.
"Gibbs?"
No movement. She sighed. Tony needed him to be Gibbs right now, not this empty man next to her. Tony needed his Gibbs.
"Gibbs, come with me." And without any struggle at all, to Abby's complete surprise, she pulled Gibbs to his feet and dragged him down the hall.
It was nice enough, for a hospital chapel. There were a few pews set up, and a small podium. The hospital attempted to cater to several religions at once, but failed. The statues of Buddha and Jesus Christ looked rather odd sitting next to each other on a small table.
She sat Gibbs in the second row, and took a seat a row behind.
"Pray for him Gibbs. I don't care if you pray to God, Allah, Jehovah, or Dionysus, but pray for him. It's better than what you have been doing.
In a normal situation, Abby would probably have gotten her first ever headslap for suggesting that Gibbs pray to Allah. She knew he had been raised Catholic, to some extent.
But he just closed his eyes, and leaned forward to rest his head on the pew before him. It seemed wrong.
He rose to his feet as Abby watched, and looked up.
He was not a religious man, but Gibbs stood in the hospital chapel anyway, and prayed Tony would leave this place alive.
A/N: Ahaha Cliffhanger! No just kidding. But seriously I don't know if I will continue this particular ficlet. The idea of the sentence was to leave you wondering. And now the fic does as well.
I may add to it eventually though.
This expansion was suggested by WCUGirl, so I hope you liked it even though I left you hanging!
Thanks for reading, and please review even if only to tell me how evil I am for ending it there!
Disclaimer: NCIS is the property of Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill.