Drowning

Chapter 13

The car careered crazily down the embankment and came to a stop in the shallow creek running along side the highway. Tony had managed to brace himself for impact, but the moment the car stopped moving, his attention was immediately on Gibbs. The older agent was slumped forward onto the steering wheel. With trembling hands, Tony pulled his boss back against the seat. To his horror, blood had stained Gibbs' shirt and was continuing to flow.

'Boss! Boss! Oh God!! No, you can't be dead!' shouted Tony. He could feel the hysteria rising within him as he placed shaking fingers against Gibbs' neck. He almost cried with relief when he felt the pulse.

'Okay! Okay! He's not dead. Get a grip, Dinozzo!' he told himself. Unbuckling his own seat belt, he ripped off one of the long sleeves of his top and balled it up to create a makeshift bandage. Not bothering to remove Gibbs' shirt, Tony placed the bandage over the wound that was just below the right shoulder, and applied pressure to try to stem the bleeding. It was then that he noticed the growing lump on Gibbs' forehead where he had connected with the steering wheel. Explains why he's not conscious thought Tony, grimly. Continuing to apply pressure, he reached for his cell with his other hand. Before he had a chance to make a call, he looked down to see why his feet were wet. There was water seeping into the floor of the car.

'What gives with the water lately!' he asked out aloud in exasperation. He quickly pressed the auto dial.

'McGee! I need an ambulance!'

'What's happened?'

'Explain later. Gibbs has been shot.' Upon making this statement, Tony was suddenly struck by a coughing fit that caused him to drop the phone into his lap, luckily not into the water. Recovering, Tony retrieved the phone and put it back to his ear.

'Tony!' yelled McGee for the third time.

'Yeah,' managed Tony.

'Are you alright?' came McGee's worried voice.

'Just get a freaking ambulance!' demanded Tony through gritted teeth. 'Use your geek crap and track my cell!'

Leaving the line open Tony tossed the cell onto the dash, amongst the broken glass, and lifted the makeshift bandage from Gibbs' body to check the wound. Blood was still flowing slightly. Gibbs was still unconscious. Placing the bandage back and applying more pressure, Tony gave a noise that was half cough/half sob.

'Boss, I swear I won't ever play Tetris on my phone at work anymore. I'll stop referring to old movies at inappropriate times, and I'll stop making comments about McGee's taste in clothes. Just..just don't die!'

Gibbs stirred and opened his eyes a crack. He could see Tony's distraught face hovering over him.

'Shut the hell up, will ya Dinozzo,' he mumbled. They were the sweetest seven words Tony had ever heard.

'Boss! Thank God! You've been shot. We're off the road. McGee's sent an ambulance. Are you hurt anywhere else?'

Gibbs shut his eyes again for a moment while he assessed how he was feeling.

'I'm okay,' he eventually said as he re-opened his eyes. 'What about you? Cough sounds worse.'

Tony felt tears prick at the back of his eyes but he blinked them back furiously. The man had been shot but was worried about him. Tony said nothing and again checked to see if the bleeding had stopped. It had – a little, but Gibbs was looking pale. Tony had no idea where the bullet was lodged. If Gibbs' breathing started to become any shallower, Tony thought he might lose it.

As the younger agent placed the material back over the wound, Gibbs grabbed Tony's wrist tightly.

'Hospital,' Gibbs grunted as his eyes bored into Tony's.

'I know,' said Tony. 'McGee's sending an ambulance. It'll be here soon.'

'No. You,' said Gibbs. 'Cough's worse. Breathing's noisy.'

'For God's sake, Boss!' exclaimed Tony, exasperated. 'You're the one who's been shot! You could be dying, and you're still giving me crap about needing to go to the damn hospital!'

'Tony,' said Gibbs. 'I'm NOT dying, but you thought that I was, right?'

Tony swallowed and gave a small 'yeah' in response.

'Well,' said Gibbs, 'when you had the plague, and every cough sounded like it was your last breath, how do you think the team felt? How do you think I felt? You're going back to that damn hospital Tony. You're not putting me through that again.'

Tony felt his eyes fill. Only Gibbs could make him feel so valued and so humbled at exactly the same time.

'Okay Boss,' he said, hoarsely.

Gibbs nodded, satisfied, and patted Tony's arm before letting go and shutting his eyes again. To Tony's alarm, his Boss seemed to suddenly turn an even paler shade of grey.

Come on, McGee, Tony thought to himself. Rescue right now would be really great.

…………………………………………….

Up on the edge of the road, McGee stood peering down the slope where the emergency workers and paramedics had gone, shading his eyes with his hand against the glare of the sun. He had left NCIS in too much of a hurry to grab his cap. Abby stood beside him, gripping his arm. She had been with him when Tony had made the call. In her words 'There was no way in Hell' she was not going to the accident scene with McGee.

'They'll be okay, they'll be okay, they'll be okay,' Abby was chanting under her breath. McGee had to admit that he was worried too. All he knew was that Gibbs had been shot, Tony was being badly affected by fits of coughing, and Tony had sounded very edgy. Unbeknown to Abby, McGee had heard the private conversation that had taken place between Gibbs and Tony before they had stopped speaking. Despite leaving the line open while he drove to the site, McGee had heard nothing for the last twenty minutes besides the occasional burst of coughing from Tony.

'There!' squeaked Abby suddenly, digging her fingernails into McGee's arm. 'Oh my God!' she added as she saw that Gibbs was being carried out on a stretcher. McGee managed to keep her back as the unconscious man was loaded into the waiting ambulance. At least the paramedics seemed to be calm and relatively unhurried, which McGee took as a positive sign. Turning back to look down the embankment again, the pair saw Tony making his way up on foot, assisted by a paramedic and an emergency worker.

'Good work, Mc Colombo. I knew you'd find us,' Tony commented as the trio reached the road. He was obviously attempting a jovial tone but McGee could see the stress in his face and the concern in his eyes.

'It was the geek crap that did it,' McGee told him as Abby gave Tony a hug to reassure herself that he was alive.

'Agent Dinozzo, you need to come with us,' interrupted the paramedic. 'We need to get you checked out at Bethesda.'

'Yeah, fine,' said Tony, releasing himself from Abby. He'd promised Gibbs he'd go to the hospital – he was keeping that promise. Besides, going to hospital meant that he'd ride in the ambulance with his boss and get a better idea of how he was.

'Meet you there,' McGee called to him as the senior field agent was led into the ambulance.

Once inside, Tony sat and looked over to where two paramedics were attending to Gibbs. When the ambulance doors were closed and the vehicle was on its way, Tony looked down to see blood. On his hands. Gibbs' blood. Closing his eyes, Tony inwardly shuddered. Nausea hovered and he felt a little light-headed. Gibbs was right about needing to go to the hospital. He didn't feel too well at all.