Gibbs could tell that Abby needed to say something. She had been fidgeting since she had come out. Gibbs moved next to her and took another sip of the horrible coffee he had bought from the cafeteria. She looked over at him and again twisted the hem of her black skirt.
He merely waited. It took her until Ziva had walked out to look over at him.
"I didn't say goodbye." she said her voice barely a whisper.
Gibbs merely continued looking at her.
"I know with his condition it might be the last time I get to talk to him but I couldn't do it. What if he died and I wasn't strong enough to say goodbye." Fresh tears wound there way down her cheeks.
"Abby." Gibbs patted her arm. "He's not going to die. I'm going to order him not to." A note of steel crept into his voice. He stood and looked over his tired team.
"Go home get some sleep. I'll call you if there anything you need to know." He threw the keys to McGee. "Take tomorrow off." he ordered. He turned, coffee in hand to make his way into the room where Tony lay in his medically induced coma.
He ignored the form of organized chaos that was the ICU and moved to where a friendly nurse pointed to Tony's room. He sat in the same chair next to Tony and pulled on his glasses to read the paper that had been left in the room.
Though he spent the whol enight surveying the paper he never got past the first page of reading. Instead he spent the night peeking at the machines and his agent to make sure everything was alright. At least once an hour he would get three visitors. A nurse to check Tony, a technician to record the readouts and Brad to look at Tony.
Around three A.M. however the normal hum of beeping machines turned louder as a small machine started going off insistently.
Gibbs hurriedly pushed the call button and moved to the back of the room to allow the medical personnel to flood the room his eyes taking in everything from his position at the back.
"I'm afraid your going to have to wait in the hall." Brad said authority in his voice. Gibbs nodded and calmly stepped into the hall. He would have insisted to stay with any other doctor but he had watched this one pull his agent from the brink of death.
He watched through the glass window as the nurses pushed button and Brad did something over Tony. A couple more minutes of frantic activity later the people filed single file out the door.
"What happened?" Gibbs asked Brad reentering. When Brad finally motioned for him to come inside.
"His temperature is rising. It caused his heart rate to beat a little faster than we would like. We are going to be forced to bring it down fast so that his heart and lungs are not taxed more than they should be. The thing about it is we can't bring it down too fast or too low. It has its risks but we have no choice. I'm going to have a technician in here full time to monitor the readouts."
As he spoke a young woman came in a laptop in her hands. She hooked a cord to the machine and sat in the chair opposite Gibbs gluing her eyes to the readouts.
"This is Anna. She is going to monitor all his vitals full time. If anything we don't like begins to happen or when we reach the desired temperature she is going to call us and we are going to come in and end the procedure."
"What did you do to cool him off?" Gibbs asked settling again into a chair his eyes flickering between DiNozzo and the doctor.
"The blanket we have over him is constantly circulating cool water. it's a little like a heat blanket except it goes the other way."
He checked a few more reads, pushed a button or two and left.
Gibbs again brought up the paper and the conscious people in the room quietly passed the night in silent vigil. They removed the cooling blanket and the technician a little bit after eight when Tony's temperature had been brought back into an acceptable range.
About noon Brad came back into the room with a yawn.
"I'm going to let another doctor take over for a couple hours while I get a little sleep. I'm no good to Tony if I can't keep my eyes open. Tony is looking good. His temperature is staying within normal range on it's own and his lung strength is building a bit. If there is an emergency I'll be back immediately." he assured Gibbs. With one final check on Tony he left stifling another yawn.
This doctor was a tiny blonde woman with a bright smile.
"Hello Agent Gibbs I'm Dr Peterson." she introduced herself with a warm smile reaching to shake Gibbs hand.
Gibbs nodded, setting the paper down and shaking her hand.
"I'm going to be in here once an hour to check on Anthony." She said. Gibbs again nodded and looked at the paper again.
Six hours later Brad was back looking awake and alert.
"This time it's your turn." he announced. You can use the staff bed as well but as a doctor I'm ordering you to get at least five hours. I'll call you personally if anything happens."
"No." Gibbs shook his head.
"Agent Gibbs you might be a federal Agent but in the hospital I'm in charge. I can have you removed from the ICU, your not even technically allowed into or I could sedate you. Or you could go and catch five hours. How are you going to keep an eye on Tony with tired eyes?""I'm fine." Gibbs declared.
"Nights are the hardest on Tony. I need you to keep an eye on him through the night. If you don't leave to get sleep now you can't." Gibbs glared at the doctor who was guilting him into sleeping.
"Kayla." Brad said sticking his head out the door. "Escort Agent Gibbs down to the staff beads."
"of course doctor." a young woman came and motioned for Gibbs to follow her. Gibbs glared at the doctor.
"I can knock you out Gibbs."
Gibbs followed the young lady admitting, if only to himself, he was not quite as young as he once was and he had been up for almost thirty six hours.
"He really can't sedate you." the young lady said holding the door open to allow Gibbs into a room with a bunch of beds. The lights were off as a couple doctors slept quietly.
"Have a good rest Gibbs."
