A/N: I know this chapter is a little slow, bear with me folks. The next chapter will move faster, promise. F.
She'd been in surgery for hours; it felt more like weeks to McGee, but as he checked his watch yet again, it was still the same day. Gibbs, Tony and Ziva had arrived roughly two hours after he'd gotten back to Bethesda; they'd hit an unexpected dead end with the case. Tony had tried to explain it to McGee, but it hadn't sunk in at all. Right now, the only thing he could think about was Abby. He kept telling himself that no news was good news, that the fact that they were still in there, working on her meant she was still clinging to life. He wouldn't, couldn't let himself face the possibility of losing her. The merest thought of having to spend his life without her in it made him drop his face into his hands, unwilling to let the rest of the team see the sudden tears. He felt Gibbs lay a comforting hand on his shoulder; it had to have been Gibbs; Tony would have said something. He looked at his watch again; she'd been in there for 6 hours now.
Finally the moment they'd been half wanting, half dreading arrived. The door opened and a doctor came in
"Family of Ms. Scuito?"
"That's us" Gibbs was the first to respond. McGee raised his head hopefully. Please, let it be good news
"I'm Doctor Fitzpatrick, I've been operating on Ms. Scuito-" Tony cut him off
"Abby. Her name is Abby"
"Sorry, Abby. She's out of surgery now and in the recovery room. We'll be moving her to the ICU shortly. I have both good news and bad news"
"Give it to us straight, Doc" Gibbs demanded
"Ok, well when she came in she was in a very bad way. She'd lost a lot of blood from both the internal bleeding and the leg wound, requiring multiple transfusions. We located the source of the bleeding, and we've got it stopped now. We had to remove her spleen, that's not a major issue. She also had some damage to her liver, which we've repaired as best we can. It will heal itself but it's going to take time. Her leg was comparatively minor, but she will be in traction for at least a week, and she'll need a cast for roughly 8 to 12 weeks afterwards"
"What aren't you telling us?" McGee half smiled at that; Gibbs always knew when someone was hiding something.
"We can't be certain about how long she was without oxygen. I'm concerned about the possibility of hypoxic brain injury" McGee dropped his head back into his hands at that.
Ducky broke in "How soon will we know?"
"We have to wait for her to wake up first, before we can make any assessment. Unfortunately, we just have to wait and see"
"Can we see her?" McGee's voice came out sounding more like a croak
"Once we've got her into ICU, yes, but strictly one at a time. We'll let you know when we've moved her. Excuse me" he left the room
McGee felt numb with shock. Hypoxic brain injury? Abby being forever not quite... Abby was a horrible thought. If only he'd found her a few minutes earlier... he didn't realise he'd said it out loud until Gibbs head slapped him gently
"McGee, this is not your fault, do you hear me? You saved her life. I don't want to hear any of this 'if only' crap. She will be ok"
Ducky chimed in "Timothy, the Yard is a busy place; she couldn't have been there long or somebody would have noticed her"
Mutely, McGee nodded. They were right; 'if only' wasn't helping anyone.
Soon the doctor came back, telling them that Abby had been settled into ICU
"She's still unconscious, but we're hoping that that will change presently. You can visit her now, but one at a time"
They stood, following Dr Fitzpatrick down the hall to the ICU. Gibbs stopped McGee from entering the ward
"McGee, you might want to think about getting changed first"
"Huh? Oh" he looked down and realised that he was still wearing the shirt with her blood on it. In his haste to get back to the hospital, he hadn't taken the time to grab a fresh one. If she saw him wearing this, she was going to freak out, either thinking that he'd been hurt, or that she was hurt a lot worse than they were telling her "I've got a clean one in the car, Boss. I'll be back in a few minutes"
He took a second to orient himself, then headed for the elevators.
"Jethro, where is Tim going?" Ducky asked at Gibbs' elbow
"Sent him to get changed. He's not taking this too well, Duck" he said as he headed down the hall towards Abby's room
"Yes, I know. He has always been protective of Abigail. I think he feels that he's failed her, Jethro. We're going to need to keep a close eye on him"
"I'm going to take him off the case, at least for now. He's too close to this one"
They reached Abby's room, surprised to find both Tony and Ziva leaning on the wall waiting for them
"Thought you'd want to see her first, Boss" DiNozzo offered by way of explanation. Gibbs nodded, steeling himself for a moment before entering her room
The usually lively forensic scientist looked small and pale in the hospital bed. Her leg was suspended from a traction frame; she had oxygen feeding from nasal prongs and tubes snaking from her arm and side. Gibbs pulled the visitor's chair closer to the bed and sat down. This woman was like a daughter to him, and the sight of her lying still in a hospital bed made the anger he'd been trying to suppress boil over. "We will find the bastard that did this to you, Abs. I promise you that" he told her. He didn't know if she could hear him or not, but he felt better for telling her anyway. He stayed for a few minutes, wanting to stay longer but knowing that the rest of his team was waiting to see her.
He left the room, signalling with a jerk of his head for Tony to go and see Abby. As the younger agent moved towards her room, Gibbs took his spot against the wall next to Ziva
"How does she look, Gibbs?" Ziva asked him
"Not too bad considering, Ziva" she nodded, and seemed to be about to ask him another question when McGee came up to them
"Tony's with her?" he took a step as if to enter Abby's room. Gibbs stopped him
"One at a time, McGee"
"Boss-"
"One at a time. Let Ducky and Ziva see her first" he straightened up from where he was leaning and walked over to his youngest agent. Speaking so that only McGee could hear him, he said "I'm making you wait til last for a reason, Tim. Once Ducky and Ziva have been in there, you can stay as long as you want." He saw realisation dawn on McGee's face, then watched his face cloud over again as he asked "But what about the case, Boss?"
"Once she wakes up, then you can worry about the case"
"Got it, Boss"
McGee slumped down against the wall to wait, forcing himself to remain patient while Tony, Ducky and Ziva sat with Abby in turn. Finally Ziva left Abby's room, and it was his turn to see her. He stood up slowly, legs stiff from being motionless for so long.
The rest of the team were waiting for Gibbs' orders. "Tony, Ziva, go home and get some rest; we've got work to do in the morning. Ducky, head on home. McGee. Let us know when she wakes up"
McGee nodded, then turned and finally entered her room
The sight of Abby lying battered and broken in her hospital bed brought tears to McGee's eyes. Quietly sitting down in the visitor's chair, he gently took her hand, watching her face for any sign that she was waking up.
"I don't know if you can hear me, Abs, but I'm gonna say this anyway. I should have told you years ago, even if you didn't want to hear it, but I was scared that I'd lose you completely if I did. Anyway, here goes... I love you, Abby. I don't care if you don't feel the same way, but I had to say it. I love you"
He sighed. Hopefully one day he'd be able to tell her when she was conscious.