Abby walked into the bullpen where Ziva was typing at the computer.
"How is he?" Ziva asked without looking up.
"Better. He's fighting the fever and his lungs are getting stronger. He might have to be on the ventilator a bit longer than they thought because the fever pushed him back a bit but it's going to be better." Abby said with a glance at the empty desk.
Ziva nodded. "How is Gibbs?" she looked at Abby.
"Alright. I made him sleep but I think Brad is on top of it too."
"Brad Pitt? That is the name of an actor yes?" Ziva asked once again typing at the computer.
"Yep. He made a point of telling us he was not related to the actual Brad Pitt. Where's Tim?"
"He went for coffee he should be back any minute."
"I'll wait." Abby said with a grin as she went to sit in Gibbs desk. Ziva typed and talked to Abby as she spun in the chair and waited for McGee.
"I wonder how Gibbs feels. Sitting behind this desk and being in charge." Abby mused after a few minutes. She put on a serious face and leaned forward and lowered her voice. "What've you got?"
"A very different boss apparently." McGee said as he set a cup of steaming coffee at Ziva's desk and came to rest at his own.
"Well?" Abby asked with a straight face.
"His stare is a little sterner." Ziva commented swinging around to face Abby and taking a sip.
"And he doesn't lean on his desk that much." McGee said. Abby obediently made his adjustments and looked briefly down at her hands.
"What does he do with his hands?"
"Well he doesn't sit at his desk much. Mostly just to get his gun and badge or type a report. So he'd be typing." McGee said.
"I'm glad to see such hard work." Vance's voice spoke from where he leaned on the railing above them.
"Sorry Director I just came up to get a couple papers signed." Abby said jumping up and picking up the papers she had set on the corner of Ziva's desk.
"Miss Sciuto are you aware that you were six hours late for work this morning?" Vance questioned.
"Sorry director. I took over for Gibbs so he could sleep." Abby said her voice not in the least repentant.
"Next time call Miss Sciuto." Vance said and stood up straight.
Abby nodded and took the signed paper from Ziva.
"Thanks." Abby said and smiled at the two agents before clunking off down the hall.
"My turn Boss." He heard McGee's voice come from behind him.
Gibbs stood and looked his agent over.
"Your turn McGee?"
"Well boss.. I.. That is I thought you might be ready for some sleep. I came to send you home for a couple hours."
Gibbs nodded and stood. He trusted his team to watch DiNozzo for him.
"Call me if anything happens." Gibbs said.
"Of course Boss. How is he doing?"
"Better. His lungs are healing slowly but they are healing." Gibbs said before walking out.
"Hey Tony." McGee said sitting in the chair. "Abby sat in Gibbs desk and tried to impersonate him. She was getting the hang of it when Vance caught us." McGee smiled.
"She was six hours late for work yesterday. How is it that she gets away with it. She seems to get away with a lot." McGee Talked for a while more before lapsing into silence and simply sitting and listening to the machines breathe in and out for his partner.
"Agent McGee." Brad greeted him as he entered the room. "your turn to chase the boss off?"
"Only Abby is brave enough to chase him off Doctor. I merely told him would look after Tony."
"Alright." Brad said looking McGee in the eye. "Since you're here I'll give you the information to pass on. The pneumonia has cleared up the fever is down and Tony's lungs are strong enough to begin to begin weaning him off the ventilator faster than we expected. So we'll begin letting Tony breathe for himself. Every ten breathes the machine will open and allow Tony's lungs to begin the process of breathing for him. We'll closely monitor the first hour then check on him every twenty minutes. If the machine detects a problem it will notify us. If it goes well and the lungs are still strengthening we will gradually lower the number of breathes the machine breathes for him. We are planning to begin the process in one hour."
"Alright." McGee said standing and walking out to notify Gibbs.
McGee waited until he was in the waiting room before pulling out his cell to dial.
"Gibbs." His boss answered after a few rings. McGee stepped out of the way of a person being wheeled away in a wheelchair as he began speaking.
"Hey boss."
"What's up McGee?"
"Brad said they are going to start letting Tony breathe on his own."
"When?" Gibbs asked.
"one hour." McGee said moving again to make way for another patient. This one walking with the aide of a nurse."I'm on my way." Gibbs said in a business like voice.
"Alright boss." McGee said as he heard the dial tone. He snapped his phone shut and walked back into his partner.
"He'll be here." McGee said to Brad who was waiting in the room.
Brad nodded and began calibrating the machine for it's new task.
Forty five minutes later Gibbs came in two cups of coffee in his hands. Handing one to McGee he turned to Brad and looked the doctor over.
"What's up?"
"I'm setting the machine up to allow for the breathe. Anna will be monitoring his vitals again. At first his breathes are going to be scary. Shallow and it's going to look difficult and painful. But he has to work through this. His lungs have the ability and they need to start somewhere."
Brad hooked up a few more leads and plugs the computer in for Anna.
"Alright Gibbs. As soon as the nurse and Anna arrive we'll begin. I'm going to have McGee stand in the back of the room but you can stay up and talk him through this. It's not going to be easy for him." Brad said his voice serious."
"McGee." Gibbs said.
"On it boss." McGee said standing up from the chair.
"You've got this Tony." he said moving to the back of the room as Anna and another nurse walked in through the door.
"Alright. Count ten breathes and then it will all be Tony." Anna settled into a chair the laptop in her lap as she glued her eyes to the screen.
Brad pushed the button then stood over Tony his stethoscope hold in place over the lungs.
The people in the room seemed to hold there breathe waiting. Gibbs leaned down close to DiNozzo's ear and began talking quietly.
"DiNozzo. It's time for a trial run. Your going to have to stop letting this machine do all the work and breathe for yourself. It's not gong to be easy but your going to have to do this for yourself."
The ninth breathe came and went. Another few seconds and ten was breathed. Everyone in the room completely focused on Tony's chest. Nobody moved or breathed themselves. Tim wondered why if wasn't rising and falling. It had been an eternity. He then realized only a second had passed. Another…. And another.
"Breathe damn it, DiNozzo." Gibbs ordered frustration evident to a tiny degree. McGee doubted anyone in the room but him could here it. It took a long time to get to know Gibbs enough to see the subtle emotions h showed. McGee himself couldn't see them most of the time. It had to be really strong for him to notice.
"Breathe." Gibbs ordered once again.
"Maybe it was too s…" Brad began to say before Tony moved. It was feeble and shallow and took a lot of effort but he breathed. A couple seconds later the machine breathed again for him in it's next round of ten. McGee was startled to note that only a few seconds had passed.
They all waited in silence for the next trial. On the tenth breathe Gibbs again leaned close.
"Alright Tony. You did good the last time let's see this again."
They all waited silently again holding there own breath. This time the breath came just a little faster though it was just as shallow and painful. They watched a few more sets of ten before anyone in the room moved again.
"Looks like we're going to make it through this." Brad said as he looked in Gibbs's eye letting him know that although he was hopeful about the bodies recovery he was still worried about they mind.
A/N Alright. that was a little longer than most chapters. The scene at the beginning kinda took on a mind of its own but it made me smile when i reread it. Thanks for the amazing people who review and favorite and alert this story. i'm almost to fifty reviews which is pretty awesome. before this story i hadn't even broken twenty so thanks to all the amazing reviews. I hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading. As always reviews are muchly appreciated.
Wolfgirl ;)
