A/N: Hey everyone; I'm sorry I didn't respond to your lovely reviews this time. RL has been so hectic recently and I decided that spending my free time on writing the next chapter would be a better way to show my appreciation for your support. I've read all your reviews and you have no idea how great they've made me feel. Thank you so much for taking the time and commenting on this story. And a huge thanks to all the anonymous reviewers for sharing their thoughts with me.

.

Hope you like this chapter. :)

.

.

Gibbs would never say it out loud, but the thought of a bullet ripping Tony's heart apart would haunt his dreams for a long time. "Will he be alright?" he needed to make sure; the damage sounded severe.

"It's too soon to say anything about a full recovery, but we're cautiously optimistic. We did everything we could for now. He'd going to need lots of rest and then weeks of physical therapy to regain full function and sensation of his left arm and it's gonna be painful, but with the right amount of exercise and enough time he should be fine."

Gibbs made a call to Vance and one to McGee to see how things were going with the case and then went back to Tony's room. He couldn't leave Tony alone, not when the younger man was in no shape to defend himself against some lunatic who was out there looking for revenge.

After his surgery, Tony had been sent to a private room in the orthopedic ward. He'd regained consciousness briefly in the recovery room, but was still too out of it to realize what was happening around him.

Gibbs was on his third cup of coffee when Tony started to stir again.

"About time." A small smile tugged the edge of Gibbs' mouth as he watched the younger man looking around the room hazily.

Tony knitted his brows and it was clear that he was trying to remember what had happened that had landed him in a hospital.

"You were shot." Gibbs helped knowingly.

Tony blinked a few times and stared down at his arm and shoulder in the sling and little by little everything came back to him. Swallowing thickly, he looked up and eyed the cup in Gibbs' hand, causing Gibbs to let out a snort. "No coffee for you. I can get you some water, though."

The older man put his cup of coffee down and grabbed the glass from the bedside table and helped Tony with it.

After a few sips, Tony's mind and eyes were much clearer. "What's the damage?" He asked tiredly, looking down at his arm again.

"Torn ligament and muscle; broken collarbone. Much better than a hole through your heart." Gibbs reported, sounding both relieved and dejected.

Tony winced at the last part.

"You'll be fine."

Tony sighed. "Alison?"

"I told you at the scene, too; she's out of town."

"You did?" Tony looked confused. "No, you didn't."

Gibbs glared. "Said she's not in the shop."

"Well, you didn't say she's out of town."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee.

"So, do we know who the shooter is?" Tony asked hopefully. That shooting might've landed him in a hospital, but he was OK with it if it meant that no more innocent people would get hurt because of him.

Gibbs looked satisfied. "We do. Mark Clarkson. Seems like he's done playing games and that's why you are hurt." He didn't need to say that this Clarkson guy hadn't exactly intended to just injure Tony; he wanted the ex-cop dead.

"Mark Clarkson?" Tony blinked with shock and disbelief. "I... I remember him. He was sentenced to life."

"He's out on parole." Gibbs' eyes darkened as he uttered those words.

"What?" Tony's eyes widened. "What the hell?" He looked agitated. "He'd killed three people before I caught him. Three innocent men. And they just set him free?"

Gibbs had nothing to say. He was just as infuriated.

"We put our lives in danger to catch these bastards and they get released a few years later because of their so called good behavior only to kill more innocents? Who the hell has signed his parole?" Tony's heart rate had escalated and he was breathing hard.

Putting a hand on Tony's shoulder, Gibbs talked in a low voice. "Calm down or they'll sedate you... Hey, DiNozzo... Tony, snap out of it." He said more forcefully when it seemed like that Tony was too stressed up to even hear his voice.

Finally, after a couple of minutes, Tony's breathing calmed down and Gibbs dismissed the nurse who'd come in to check on her patient.

"Do you know where he is?" Tony asked after a few minutes of silence.

"McGee and Ziva are on his tail. He can't go anywhere."

"But he can hurt more people."

"No; like I said, it seems like he's done playing. Now he just wants revenge and he wants it now."

Tony knew what that meant. It meant that he was the only one in danger and not so surprisingly, it made him feel better.

"We think that he'd just wanted to get you out of the building so he could shoot you and that's why he sent the last card and didn't kill anyone else to get to you."

"We need to catch him."

"We will."

"No, I mean-"

"Don't even think about it, DiNozzo." Gibbs growled; he knew full well what kind of thoughts were going through Tony's head. The Senior Field Agent was thinking about using himself as a bait to lure Clarkson out, so they could catch him, but it was too dangerous, especially in Tony's current condition.

"You're not going to be alone until we get this bastard. An agent will always be by your side if I'm not here and that's it." Gibbs said firmly.

"I can take care of myself." Tony said through clenched teeth.

"You were shot this morning. You almost died of blood loss and you need long term physical therapy to get back in shape." The ex-marine stated matter-of-factly. "You. Will. Not. Stay alone. Not till this rat it out there." He added in a gruff tone.

Tony knew a lost argument when he saw one, so he just sighed and closed his eyes.

Gibbs studied his agent for a few seconds, wondering if he should open his heart to him and tell Tony how he really felt. You'd think that after so many years, he wouldn't need to use words to show the younger man how much he cared, but then again, he'd been the one who after so many years had put his foot in his mouth. A few words of praise, even from the functional mute wouldn't hurt. "Tony, nobody wants to see you hurt. Not just because you're needed in the team; because we care. Get this into your thick head. We're your friends."

"Friends?" Tony snorted at that; not buying into the very rare positive words that were leaving Gibbs' mouth. "We absolutely are not friends."

"Oh, so that's what you think of us? Just a bunch of coworkers?" Gibbs snarled.

"No." his eyes snapped open. "I am not the one who thinks that way. You are. You and everyone else who I happen to know. You want to put a protection detail on me, I understand that; we need to catch this bastard and I can't do it alone from a hospital bed; but don't act like you care or like you actually want to be here." Tony knew that he was being a bit unfair; Gibbs and his teammates might not see him as a friend and they might be harsh to him every now and then, but they sure cared enough not to want him hurt, physically at least. Especially Gibbs had usually, most of the times, been there for him through hard times.

But the fact that they didn't care about his emotions and feelings was worse and he had been under so much pressure lately that he didn't think he could be very understanding or forgiving towards anyone for a while.

"The hell?" Gibbs blistered. "Why else would I waste my time staying here?"

"Waste, huh?" Tony smirked bitterly.

Gibbs' anger deflated instantly. 'Dammit; why was it so hard to use the right word?' He closed his eyes and sank in the chair beside the bed. "I told you, I didn't really mean what I said the other night. I was just joking. Bad joke. And by 'wasting' I didn't mean that I don't want to be here. Dammit, DiNozzo, you know me."

'Do I?' Tony thought sadly and shook his head. "Gibbs, just go back to the Navy Yard and send someone else to stand guard." Tony ignored the older man's attempt to amend. He was too tired of the not so friendly jabs. "And please leave me my gun, too. My right hand is just fine and I'd rather have it around in case Clarkson decided to pay a visit."

"Not going anywhere."

"Gibbs, please."

"I'm not going anywhere, DiNozzo. There's nothing more important to do."

Tony closed his eyes and turned his head away; it was painful with a broken collarbone, but right then, he really didn't want to be in a same room as Gibbs. It might sound childish, but he liked to think that he was pretty vulnerable and in pain at that moment which meant he was entitled to act a bit childish, right? Besides, he was sure that yelling and throwing Gibbs out would hurt more, so he just didn't have any other options.

He was thinking that although the older man might not really want him around, he still could read him pretty well; that was something Gibbs was really great at and Tony wasn't up to put on any masks at that moment.

A few minutes passed in silence and once Gibbs felt that Tony had calmed down some, he decided to talk again. "I enjoy your company. I like it when you stop by my house and I'll deny it if you say this to anyone else, but I look forward to it."

Tony was looking at Gibbs again, because it's rude not to look when someone's talking to you, but his face didn't show any emotions. On the inside, though, his felt mixed emotions rummaging through his heart at hearing those words, and yet he didn't dare to get his hopes up; and wasn't it funny that the older man was still saying those things in private and admitting that he'd deny it if anyone ever repeated them? Didn't it mean that he either didn't mean those words or thought so little of him that he didn't want anyone else to know he enjoyed the company of the younger man?

Last week after the humiliating night he'd had in the bullpen, he'd promised himself not to let anyone close again. He'd made that mistake once he'd started working with these people and now it was too late not to care; and it just wasn't like Tony to stop caring; he still cared a lot about his father and he'd been the biggest bastard throughout his whole childhood and many years after that. And NCIS and his colleagues were his home and his second family, his only family, in more than one sense of the word and although they'd hurt him again and again, he just couldn't stop caring about them.

That didn't mean that he'd let them hurt him again. Enough was enough and he'd simply had it. He had no intention of letting his barriers down again and had decided that in order not to get hurt again, the best approach was to keep people at arm's length. Some people meant to be alone and apparently he was one of them.

"I mean it." Gibbs insisted when he got no reaction from Tony; he knew that there was a day that Tony would beam at hearing words like that and Gibbs always thought, rather foolishly, that Tony was still the same and it kinda hit him hard when he saw that Tony had completely shut him out; that he'd been put in the same category as DiNozzo Sr. that when he said positive words, Tony didn't believe him and didn't react in any ways.

It hurt.

An awkward silence fell upon them and for the first time Tony wasn't willing to break it. He just looked at his boss coldly, like Gibbs hadn't just done the oddest thing by showing feelings and being nice.

"You mind if I get some shut-eye? You don't need to stay." He finally questioned out of politesse, but he was so tired that he couldn't wait to hear Gibbs' answer and soon he was out of it.

.

.

... TBC ...

A/N: I'd love to know what you think.

Thanks again for all the reviews, favorites and alerts. :)

All mistakes are mine.

.

.