Safe and sound in the US… and rather exhausted, but I left you guys with lots of questions… and this only adds to them.
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The two nurses wheeled Abby away for her CT-scan, and all she could do was plead silently with her eyes for Tony to find out about Gibbs.
She watched as the white walls and the bright florescent lighting above moved past her as she was wheeled down the hall. She hated the sterile smell of the hospital. It held nothing but bad memories; Gibbs and the explosion, Ducky being stabbed in the hand, Tony and the Plague… the list was longer than she liked or could remember.
Though she was aware of the soft humming noise created by the scanner, the scan went by in a blur. All she could think about was Gibbs. Was he alive? Was he awake? Did he remember her? The last time he'd been sent to the hospital for something so serious, she had arrived to find him in a coma, only for him to wake up and not remember any of his friends. And then he left her.
Once the scan was done, Abby was moved back to the bed and then was taken for an MRI to get a better look at her pelvis, which had begun to show extensive bruising, followed by a second x-ray to confirm the break in her wrist.
"You're pelvis is clear, just bruising from impact. You'll be sore for a while, and physical therapy might be something that will help in a week or two. But for now, you need rest."
After clearing her of any other major injuries, they transferred Abby to a regular hospital bed. Dr. Sheen was waiting for her when they brought her back to the ER to wrap her wrist in a temporary cast until the cuts healed before admitting her upstairs. A nurse began wrapping her wrist as Dr. Sheen explained the test results. "The CT has showed a slight swelling in your brain. It isn't life-threatening, but we'll monitor you closely and it should clear up on its own in few days."
"Can I get up? I need to use the rest room."
"Sure, but then it's back to bed and into a room upstairs in ICU. We'll keep you there until the swelling is gone and then transfer you to a regular room for a few more days after that. Oh, and here," Dr. Sheen handed her a hospital gown. "You can change into this and get out of those bloody clothes."
Abby struggled to get to her feet, swaying slightly as she stood. She had been given pain medicine, but it hardly touched the massive ache she was beginning to feel throughout her body. Abby shifted awkwardly in the bathroom as she tried to avoid using her bandaged arm while undressing.
Examining herself in the mirror, Abby winced at the sight of her pale skin. Deep purple and blue bruises were already beginning to cover her torso, pelvis and legs, a thick strip of bruising ran diagonally across her chest from the seat-belt. Her tattoos were hardly visible, the once stark contrast between her ivory skin and black ink was softened by the bruising. She wet a few paper towels and sponged the rest of the blood from her face and neck that the nurses had missed when she first came in. Finally securing the hospital gown around herself and making sure nothing was visible, Abby stepped cautiously out of the small bathroom.
The room was empty, and it's all the encouragement that Abby needed to slip out to the hallway, in search of Gibbs. To the left she saw the back of the nurse's station and knew that was the direction of the waiting room. She was torn between going to find Tony, he said he would find out about Gibbs, but she was desperate to see him with her own eyes. She headed right, and was ignored by the various nurses and doctors that rushed around her.
Towards the end of the hallway Abby stopped to watch saw six doctors leaning over the bloody and life-less body of a man. His clothes were shredded, and there seemed to be a steady drip of blood from the table to the floor. They were adjusting IV bags, pumping oxygen in through a mask and pounding on his chest, administering CPR. They pulled away briefly to shock his heart, and then began CPR again when it failed to get his heart started again.
Gibbs.
"That's it, I'm calling it." One of the doctors looked up to the clock above the door. Abby couldn't see the clock, but she could feel each second tick by.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
"Time of death 18:49." When the doctor finally stepped away, revealing the man's face, Abby felt her heart begin to beat again. She didn't recognize dark haired man, who looked to be of Middle Eastern decent.
Abby moved further down the hallway, glancing into the various exam rooms until she saw Gibbs.
Just like the man she had just seen, he was covered in blood, and had a tube down his throat, and an IV in his arm. She watched as a doctor used a small flash-light to shine in his eyes, much like they had done to her when she had first arrived.
Abby was quick to notice the bloody gauze around the floor around him, and only then did she notice a small tube protruding from his side.
"Excuse me, miss? Are you lost?"
"No, I… that's…" Abby could only stare helplessly ahead as the doctors continued to work on the man she loved.
A nurse exited the room and Abby heard the doctors talking. "As soon as he's stable to move, we need to get him to an OR to…" the door shut before Abby could hear more.
"Come with me; let's get your back where you belong." A nurse tried to gently guide her away from the room.
"No."
As a second nurse pushed through the door to where Gibbs was, Abby heard the frantic instructions of one of the doctors. "He's crashing again. I need you to push 10 mg's of…" The door swung closed again and Abby could only watch as one doctor started CPR as another rolled the crash cart alongside Gibbs' bed.
Watching the struggle for Gibbs life was like watching a movie in slow motion, as the paddles were placed on his chest. His chest jerked upwards with the shock and then sank back to the bed.
Abby watched with tears running down her cheeks as the doctors shocked Gibbs and again waited for his heart to beat on its own.
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TBC…
(evil, yes, I'm well aware…. Let me know what you think!)