Gibbs, Ducky and Abby arrived at the mansion in Port Charles. Max and Milo opened the door.
"Well if it is my favorite Goth." Milo said as he wrapped Abby into a hug.
"Milo, I would love to talk to you. But, I am worried about Tony and I miss him. So we will catch up later okay." Abby responded.
"You just saw him a few days ago, how could you miss him already?" Milo teased.
"Well you know Tony. It is not that he gets into trouble wherever he goes-" Abby started.
"It is wherever he goes, trouble follows." Max and Milo finished in unison.
"Where is Tony?" Gibbs asked.
"In the back room sleeping." Max answered.
Max and Milo led the visitors into the living room. Brad, Sonny and Jason were sitting there discussing what the best options are when it comes to Tony. Brad looks up and sees Gibbs entering the room.
"Brad, what is going on?" Gibbs asked.
"Tony became hysterical and I had to sedate him. In the mist of his hysteria, he couldn't breathe."
"What caused his hysteria? Abby asked worried.
Brad explained the situation and what his results showed. "He flipped out when he found out that it was going to be forever."
"When will he wake up?" Gibbs asked.
"Should be soon; but with Tony exhaustion, I can't really be sure."
Sonny shows Gibbs to Tony's room. He was shocked to see how pale Tony was looking. He was pale looking before he left DC, but not this bad. He looked as bad as he did under the blue light in the isolation chamber. Gibbs didn't think that Tony could ever look as bad as he did then, not even when Tony had caught a mild case of pneumonia after jumping into the water to save him and Maddie. Sonny stared at Gibbs staring at Tony, wondering what he was thinking.
"I never thought I see him like that again." Gibbs spoke out loud to no one in particular.
"Back when he had the plague?" Sonny asked trying to grasp the situation. This is the first time he has seen his nephew this sick.
"When we first found out what was in the letter and that it was resistant to antibiotics, Tony wasn't sick yet. He had been taken to Bethesda right after exposure. The letter promised a cure, all we had to do was figure out who was responsible and how to get the cure. Hoping the whole time that no one had been exposed to the plague. The blood tests cleared everyone but Tony. By the time we got to the bottom of it; only to find out there was no cure, but that the bug had been created with a suicide chain. It dies 32 hours after exposure. But by then the damage had been done and Tony was given a 15 percent chance of survival. The only thing I could to help him was order him to live and hope that it would be enough for him to survive." Gibbs spoke in monotone.
"I just found out that he had been that sick." Sonny started.
Gibbs turned to him; he thought that Sonny had known for years. "Tony told you after he got out of the hospital. He told me that he told you. I saw him call you."
"Yes, he called me; but he never told me how close he came to dying. I just found out yesterday when Brad was going to come here to give him check-up. Part of me wished I had known all this time, the other part is grateful that I didn't. To see him that sick, knowing that what was killing him is something I can't help him with."
"If I knew that Tony lied about telling you, I would have told you. I asked him if he wanted me to tell you. He said that it would be better coming from him."
"Hey I know that you would purposely keep anything from me when it contained to my nephew." Sonny answered as they both watched the boy they care about so much sleep on oxygen.
Late into the evening as Gibbs, Abby and Ducky watched him sleep; Tony finally opened his eyes. He started panicking when he saw who was in the room with him. He started apologizing profusely for ruining the rest of Gibbs life, not that anyone could understand him under the oxygen mask. Gibbs who knew Tony figured out what it was he was trying to say.
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked in a serious tone.
Tony immediately stopped and just looked at him.
"You are not going to ruin the rest of my life. We will be fine."
Tony took off his oxygen mask so he could speak. "Brad says that I have to be on oxygen forever. That I have to stay with someone forever because of the oxygen. Forever, Gibbs Forever. I may not even be able to return to the field. We won't know for a month. If I can't, you will have a useless person staying with you."
"Tony but your mask back on." Gibbs ordered. Once Tony did, Gibbs continued. "You. Are. Not. Useless. If I ever thought that you were really useless, you would not be my Senior Field Agent. You would not even be on my time. I have very little patience for useless. Keatings was useless, that it why he was immediately off my team and down to cyber crimes. There is always a place for you on my team, even if you can't return to the field."
Tony looked at him not believing him for a moment.
"Tony you look at cases as pieces to a puzzle. You turn and manipulate those pieces until the answer we are looking for is staring you in the face. An answer the rest of us would never come up with. You are the reason we have a high closure rate. A rate that didn't falter when I took my little leave. You held everyone together at a time when it could have easily fell apart. Because of you, I still had a team to come back to when I returned to my senses."
"Tony you always tell everyone that the key to your success is 'Work Smarter, Not Harder.' That line of thinking is why you will still an asset to my team. You can work some cases that don't involve anything strenuous. As for the 'forever' part. You are the son, I never had. I will never regret taking care of you. I have cared a great deal about you since we first met in Baltimore."
Abby and Ducky just sat there listening to Gibbs talk sense into Tony. Knowing that he is the only one who can.
"Get some rest and we will see you in the morning." Gibbs order.
"Night Tony, I love you." Abby said as she kissed his cheek.
"Goodnight Anthony."
Abby and Ducky left the room. Gibbs sat in the recliner, put his feet up. Tony watched him for a minute and then fell asleep. Gibbs fell asleep soon after.