Tony's vision was getting darker and for the first time he noticed the warm blood covering the front of his hospital T-shirt. Apparently Mark'd got him better than he'd initially thought.

The last coherent thought on his mind was reaching for the button to call for a nurse, but his hand never reached its goal and a few inches from the call button, it went slack as Tony lost consciousness.

...

On his way to the hospital, Gibbs called ahead and asked them to check on Tony. He had to hang up since they wouldn't stay on the line to give him a report, but he really hoped that he hadn't been late in saving his best agent and that McGee's rookie mistake -or was that just selfishness- hadn't cost Tony his life.

Once Gibbs got to the orthopedic ward, the chaos in the ward told him everything that he didn't want to know, but when he reached Tony's room he saw something that he hadn't expected to see; there, in the middle of room, was the dead body of Mark Clarkson.

It was over.

The man was out of Tony's life for good and it clearly had been Tony who'd made sure of it; if the knife in Mark's chest was anything to go by.

Tony had proved his point about being able to take care of himself but that didn't mean that Gibbs wouldn't rip McGee a new one for leaving his post, because no matter how competent Tony was, he was still injured; any number of things could've happened; Tony could've-... Hang on a second, where was Tony?

Gibbs' eyes finally left the dead man on the floor and traveled to the bed he knew would be empty; obviously, they wouldn't let Tony stay in that room anymore but... Wait, was that fresh blood on Tony's sheets? Could it be just Mark's blood? Maybe it didn't belong to Tony at all. Feeling his gut churn, he knew he wasn't right.

"Agent Gibbs!"

Gibbs turned around to see a nurse standing at the threshold, looking a little disheveled.

"Just what the hell has happened here?" He asked in a gruff tone.

"I'm so sorry, Agent Gibbs, but none of us heard a thing. I don't know how, we just-" She shook her head ruefully. "When you called us, we were sure that everything was alright, but when we came to check on Agent DiNozzo, we found this guy on the floor, dead; we didn't touch anything once we were sure he was dead... And... And Agent DiNozzo needed immediate help, so we left this guy here to help him."

Gibbs' heart sank at those words. "He... Where's Tony? What's happened to him?"

The nurse looked unsure, "His doctor should tell you this, but well... He had a deep cut on his neck which was bleeding freely." She took a deep breath. "Good thing you called when you did, because the next round of checking wasn't for another half an hour and Agent DiNozzo didn't have that much time. He'd already lost too much blood."

"Where's he now?" He gritted out again. 'Why wouldn't she just answer the most important question?'

"He's settled in another room now that his doctor's stitched his throat. He's receiving a transfusion as we speak, but there were some complications due to blood loss."

Gibbs just glared at her, contemplating on either shaking her to make her talk, or walking away to find a doctor.

"His heart stopped once." She finally informed Gibbs and no, it did not make him feel any better; in fact, it only made him feel ten times worse.

Right then another face appeared behind the nurse; Gibbs recognized him as Tony's doctor and was grateful when the other man sent the nurse away and started to talk. "Agent Gibbs, I assume your first priority is Agent DiNozzo's health, so I'll start with that." He motioned with his head towards the right end of the corridor and continued, "as Carina said, there were some complications when we were trying to save Agent DiNozzo's life, but we've managed to bring him back. We had to give him about 50 seconds of CPR and two shocks, but he's stable now and his blood pressure is already better."

"He going to be alright?"

"He's going to have trouble talking for a few days; we put 14 stitches to close his neck's wound and some of the stitches on his shoulder were also ripped out, so we had to put some more stitches there; but at this point, I don't think there's been any setback in his recovery. He still needs a lot of rest and physical therapy for his shoulder and arm. And fortunately, the cardiac arrest hasn't caused any damage. So, aside from the additional pain, he pretty much is going to have the same path to go through as he had before this incident."

Gibbs sighed and turned on his heel to take another look at the room.

Jesus; Tony'd been hurt again and his heart had stopped. Yes, he was going to be alright and that was what mattered the most, but the thought of Tony being technically dead, even for one minute, sent shivers down Gibbs' spine.

His eyes fell on the dead man on the floor and for a moment Gibbs wished he weren't dead, so he could make him suffer for hurting Tony like that.

The doctor's voice brought him out of his reverie. "I can't believe Agent DiNozzo's managed to kill this guy with the condition he was in. Was he-"

Gibbs read the doubt in the other man' eyes. "He'd killed three innocent men years ago. DiNozzo once arrested him for that but he got free a few months back and he wanted revenge. He killed two more people just during the past week."

Doctor Morison's eyes hardened when he heard that. Saving people was his job, but he sure wouldn't mind when a cold-blooded murderer was killed while trying to commit another murder. And he was glad that Agent DiNozzo had been the one walking away from this mess.

"You can find your man in room 325, down the hall."

Gibbs nodded his thanks. "This is a crime scene. I'll call my team to come and take over, but till they get here, no one is to enter this room or touch anything."

"You got it."

.

Gibbs was about to walk towards Tony's new room when he heard his name; turning around, he found McGee standing there, looking downright frightened. He thought about yelling at him right then and there, but it was a hospital and chances were that he'd be thrown out himself if he did such a thing. So he poured all his rage in his eyes and quietly snarled. "What the hell are you doing here?"

The younger man hadn't been there when he should've, he wasn't needed there anymore and the least Gibbs was going to do was to suspend him for his stupidity.

"I-... I-" he gulped. "Tony-"

"Tony what?" The older man glared angrily.

"His room... Mark Clarkson... Blood... Tony-"

It seriously seemed like McGee was one step away from having a panic attack. Good thing Gibbs had gotten used to people stammering while talking to him.

"That's what happens when you leave your post, Agent McGee. You'd think they'd teach you these things at FLETC."

"They did. I know. I'm sorry, Boss, I really-"

"Save it." Gibbs growled. "You can thank your lucky star Tony is as competent as he is or right now instead of a dead murderer and a further injured partner, you would've had a dead partner and a lunatic back in the streets and that would've been all on you. Losing your job would've been the least of your concerns then."

Nodding his head, McGee looked down, feeling ashamed. He knew he'd been lucky and he wasn't thankful just because he wasn't going to lose his job; he was thankful because Tony was still alive; if anything had happened to Tony, he'd never forgive himself and besides, now he might still find the chance to ask for absolution; despite everything, he really wanted the older man's forgiveness. He did want to be on Tony's good side, not because he was scared of what Tony would do to him, because an angry and disappointed Tony usually didn't do anything harsh and maybe that was worse; Tony's friendship was something that he'd taken for granted and he was just realizing how precious it'd been and how awful it could be not to have it. He couldn't think of Tony not being there or hating him. Throughout the years, they'd had their issues, but at the end, Tony'd always let them off the hook and sometimes even too easily, if he was honest with himself.
Until recently, Tim had no idea how miserable he'd feel if Tony gave up on them and didn't show any warmth and affability around them.

"Call David and Ducky. Process that scene and when you get back to the office, I want you to write you report and leave it on my desk. You're suspended for two weeks, Agent McGee; a formal reprimand will be added to your file and when you're back, you'll be on desk duty until further notice. Any question?"

Gibbs' tone of voice was so glacial and grim that McGee wished he'd just disappear into thin air. "No, Sir." He mumbled quietly.

"I didn't hear you." The lead agent growled.

"No, Boss. Umm-"

"Spit it out."

"Can I... Can I come and visit Tony? I need to apologize and I need to..." he looked up with pleading eyes. "Please."

Giving him a hard glare, Gibbs turned around. "That's not my call." With that, Gibbs walked away and left the truly chastised agent in the corridor.

...

Tony looked so pale that Gibbs had to double check the monitors to make sure the younger man was actually alive and breathing. He didn't like to think that way, but he actually looked paler that some of the corpses on Ducky's table and he was just as still. And what was worse was the fact that it'd been a few hours since the fight Tony had been forced to put up in order to survive and get rid of Mark Clarkson and the doctor kept saying that Tony was doing alright; as alright as possible, at least; Gibbs had gone back to the office to take care of a few things, including McGee's file and their initial case, and now that he was back, Tony still hadn't changed a bit.

Back at the office, the older man had made sure that the case was closed properly and that Tony's name was cleared since he'd killed a suspect while he wasn't on active duty; Gibbs needed to take care of everything so that bastard wouldn't screw Tony's life even after his death.

Looking down at his agent and seeing the bandage around his neck, he was reminded of the struggle that Tony'd been put through and the lead agent hoped that at least the pain wouldn't be too much to bear. Tony deserved a break.

Putting his hand on Tony's forehead, Gibbs' heart clenched at the clamminess of Tony's skin.

A pair of tired green eyes opened and after a few seconds fixed on Gibbs' face.

"Good to have you back." Gibbs heaved a sigh of relief.

"Heard... You saved m' life." Tony's voice was hoarse and low.

"You saved your own life. Nice job, by the way." The older man smiled faintly. "I merely called the hospital to make sure McGee's idiocy hadn't caused any damage, which obviously has."

"I told him to leave." Tony offered; it was in his nature to defend his people, but he wouldn't fight too hard anymore.

"And you know damn well that he shouldn't have. He could stay outside your room if it was what you wanted, but he shouldn't have left the hospital. He's not gonna get away with this one."

Tony didn't look like he cared. He ached all over and he didn't have the energy to argue. He decided that the Probie was old enough to stand up for himself. It was about time he accepted it and let him fight his own battles. If they didn't want Tony in their lives, he wouldn't go out of his way to be there for them either. With that thought in mind, he relaxed and felt that the knot in his chest loosened.

"Tell Lorie and Martin's families that we got the one responsible for their kids' murder." He murmured before dozing off.

"I will. I will and I'll make sure they know what you did to make that happen. Get some rest." Gibbs said fondly. "Good job, DiNozzo. Good job."

.

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... TBC ...

A/N: Hope you liked it! :D I'd love to know what you think.

YAY, at least this one wasn't too short! haha... One more chapter and I'll be out of your hair! ;)

All mistakes are mine.

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