AN: Sorry for the long wait between chapters. This one is a little longer than usual to make up for it. Things have been really busy for me and I had to go see an eye specialist this week – Eye injections (yikes!) are in my future, which I am trying not to be too squeamish about. As always, thanks so much for your comments and reviews. They are always appreciated more than I can say. Will try to update again by the middle of the week.

xxxxx

"Wakey, wakey Jethro... Gibbs opened his eyes and saw Senior standing in front of him with a smug smirk on his face. He tried to lunge towards the man, but found that his hands and feet were tightly bound.

Gibbs eyes met Tony's. The younger man was also bound and looked scared. "What the hell do you want with us now?" Gibbs asked. "Haven't you done enough already?"

"No...I haven't done nearly enough," Senior said. "There is still more to do, my friend."

"I'm not your friend," Gibbs snarled. He felt nothing but hatred towards this man. "Let Tony go."

"No can do, Agent Gibbs."

"He's your son, for God's sake. Haven't you tortured him enough?

Senior laughed as he shook his head. "No, no I haven't, but I promise, this is the last time I will ever bother him."

Gibbs' blood ran cold at Senior's words. His gut told him he wasn't going to like what came next.

"I managed to get hold of Mr. Bellingam's wonder drug...the one he was going to inject into Anthony before he was so rudely interrupted." The smile on Senior's face was pure evil as he pulled a syringe and a vial of fluid from his pocket. "However, Bellingham's loss is my gain. I will finish the job for him."

Gibbs shook his head in growing horror. "No. No, you can't. Give it to me instead. I'm the one you're really pissed at, damn it!"

Senior nodded. "Yes, I'm pissed at you, but Anthony's disloyalty to me has made him expendable. Perhaps I'll adopt a child to replace him. A boy who I can actually be proud of and who will be proud of me."

"You're out of your mind if you think anyone would ever give you a child. You're going to be in prison for the rest of your life."

"No matter," Senior replied with a shrug. He carefully drew the liquid from the vial into the syringe and approached his son who was lying in the hospital bed with a look of despair in his eyes. "I'm sorry it has come to this, son. You're just of no use to me anymore and its easier to dispose of you. If I was to let you live, it would only serve as a constant reminder of my failure to have raised a son I could be proud of."

"You didn't raise him," Gibbs shouted, futilely trying to loosen the bonds which were incapacitating him. "You left that to the boarding schools and summer camps. You ignored him throughout his childhood and then have the gall to blame him when he doesn't meet your lofty expectations?"

A look of rage came over Senior as he plunged the needle into Tony's arm and injected every drop of the poison into him. "This is your fault, Gibbs...all your fault."

Gibbs watched helplessly as Tony began to struggle to breathe, unable to draw air into his lungs and his skin taking on a bluish tinge. "Somebody help us!" he screamed. What the hell kind of a hospital was this? Couldn't anyone hear what was going on?

"Not...not your fault, boss," Tony gasped, giving Gibbs one last heartfelt look right before he lapsed into unconsciousness. The monitors he was attached to began began beeping furiously, but no one came. The heart monitor showed a flat line and Gibbs knew that Tony was gone.

xxxxx

Jethro...Jethro! Wake up!"

"Tony!" Gibbs heart was beating a mile a minute as he opened his eyes and looked around wildly, his eyes settling first on Ducky and then on Tony. "Is...is he alright?" he asked fearfully, still very caught up in the images of the dream and afraid to hear the answer.

"He's stable right now," Ducky replied with a nod. "Jethro, you are utterly exhausted. You need to go home and get some sleep. I will stay here with Tony."

"Not leaving him, Duck," Gibbs said, shaking his head.

"You're being stubborn and very foolish...Do you really think you can be of help to Anthony in the state you're in? One look at you and he's going to feel even more guilty than he already does, and you and I both know he's carrying around a substantial amount of unwarranted guilt as it is."

"I don't look that bad," Gibbs protested half-heartedly. "He's not going to notice anything."

"Say what you will about Anthony, but the boy is not stupid. He will notice."

Gibbs said nothing. The only sound in the room was the beeping of the various monitors. Finally, Ducky broke the long silence between the two men, when it became evident that Gibbs wasn't going to. "A few hours...that's all I'm asking," he began coaxingly. "Go home, take a hot shower and sleep for a bit. It will make all the difference in the world, Jethro."

"Can't."

"Why on earth not?" Ducky could not understand why his friend was being so stubborn about this.

"You know what his father did to him," Gibbs said, practically choking out the word father. "I'm the closest thing in the world he has to a father now. I'm not going to just abandon him now the way he would have...I won't do it. Besides..."

"Besides what?" Ducky prompted softly.

"Something could happen to him..." Gibbs whispered, a look of deep pain in his eyes. "I would never forgive myself if...if..."

"If Anthony were to die?" Ducky finished for him, looking back at Gibbs sympathetically.

Gibbs nodded, swallowing hard.

"He's strong Jethro...He's not going to die..."

"You don't know that, Duck." Gibbs raised his hand, shaking his head adamantly. "You DON'T know. You're not God."

"I just don't understand how you think this is helping anything. You're not sleeping. You're not eating. You're not doing a thing to take care of yourself. You certainly won't be able to take care of him."

"Dr. Kennedy sent me up some food."

Ducky lifted the cover off the tray which contained an an uneaten sandwich, an unopened bag of chips, some fruit and a piece of chocolate cake. "Ah yes, Jethro...I can see how well you've been eating. You haven't touched a bite of this."

"Just haven't gotten around to it yet...I was going to..."

"Jethro...won't you please just go home? If you won't do it for yourself, do it for Tony."

Gibbs sighed heavily. He was finding it more and more difficult to fight Ducky when in his heart he knew the older gentleman was right. There was another long silence as he inwardly debated what he should do. Finally, he realized he just couldn't fight it anymore. "Alright..."

"Alright?" The look of surprise on Ducky's face caused Gibbs to chuckle.

"Yes. I'll go home for a little while. I definitely could use a shower and a change of clothes," Gibbs admitted. "But if he gets any worse at all, even the slightest bit..."

"I will call you..." Ducky stated. "I promise, Jethro. Now go, get some rest. I will stay right here by his side until you return."

"Thank you." Gibbs lightly tousled Tony's hair and offered Ducky a glimmer of a smile. "Take good care of him, Duck..."

"I promise I will. I'll watch over him as if he were my own son."

Gibbs nodded. He was still feeling a little bit uneasy about leaving, but he knew he could trust Ducky. His nightmare had left him feeling very unsettled, so before leaving the hospital, he went to make sure that Senior was still secured and posed no threat to Tony. Once that had been established, he left the hospital and headed home.

xxxxx

When he arrived at his house, Gibbs immediately went to his bedroom. Now that he was alone, he no longer had to keep up pretenses that he was not exhausted. He stripped down to his boxers and t-shirt and crawled into bed. The cool, clean sheets felt unbelievably good as he stretched out then settled his aching body against his familiar and comfortable mattress. He fell asleep almost immediately.

xxxxx

"Ducky?"

The soft voice halted Ducky's telling of his tale. He had been regaling Tony with stories almost constantly since Jethro had left, convinced that Tony would somehow hear them, even in his unconscious state.

"Ziva, my dear, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Ducky. I needed to see him." Ziva replied. She walked over to Tony's bedside and gently clasped his hand with her own as she looked down at him. "Where is Gibbs?"

"I managed to get him to go home for some much needed rest. Poor man was on the verge of collapse."

"He is very worried about Tony."

"As we all are, but he needs to learn to lean on others some of the time. I dare say any one of us would be glad to stay with Anthony."

Ziva nodded. "Yes. In fact if you would like to take a break, I would be happy to sit with him."

"Completely unnecessary right now," Ducky said shaking his head. "I promised Jethro I would stay with Anthony until he returned. However, I would greatly enjoy having your lovely company for a little while."

"Well that can certainly be arranged." Ziva smiled, but gave way to a frown as she studied Tony with her eyes. "How is he really doing?"

"He's holding his own," Ducky stated. "His fever has been starting to come down, which is definitely a step in the right direction."

"He looks very pale," she said, lightly stroking Tony's cheek with her hand. "He still feels quite warm to me..."

"Trust me, Ziva...he is doing better. He was burning up earlier. He's been put under sedation in order to get some much needed rest. There has definitely been an improvement."

"I do trust you, Ducky," Ziva replied. "I am just not used to seeing Tony like this. It is difficult."

"Yes, it is difficult, but we just have to have faith that he will pull through this and help him however we can."

"Yes, you are right," Ziva nodded, starting to feel a little bit better.

"Of course I'm right, my dear. Now why don't you make yourself comfortable. I have a story to tell that I think you'll enjoy very much..."

xxxxx

Gibbs sluggishly opened his eyes and slowly stretched, taking a few moments to get his bearings. It felt like ages since he had slept in his own bed. He had forgotten how comfortable it was.

His eyes lazily moved towards the clock on his bedside table and then he sat up with a start. Shit! He'd been sleeping for almost seven hours? How on earth had he slept for that long? He tossed the covers aside and grabbed for his cell phone, his hand trembling slightly as he dialed the numbers. At least, there were no missed calls which was good. Ducky's number went straight to voice mail and he realized his phone would likely be turned off if he was still in the ICU with Tony. 滴e would have called you if anything was wrong, he said to himself as he headed towards the bathroom for a quick shower and shave. Tony was fine...everything was okay...

xxxxx

Gibbs drove back to the hospital in record time. His thoughts were all over the place as he hurriedly made his way through the hospital corridors. He never should have left Tony. What on earth had he been thinking? The last time he had left him, he had ended up getting shot. This wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. He was practically in a state of panic by the time he made it back to the ICU. He apprehensively entered Tony's room and found Tony sleeping peacefully with Ducky dozing in the chair beside him. He gently felt Tony's forehead and breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered it to be considerably cooler than it had been before.

"Ducky? Hey, Duck." Gibbs lightly shook the older gentleman's shoulder, waking him.

"Jethro, you're back," Ducky managed to hold back a groan as he cautiously moved his stiffened muscles. It was truly a pity these rooms were too small to accommodate cots. The chairs were not in the least bit conducive to prolonged visits.

"Not the most comfortable place to sleep, is it?" Gibbs asked, having a pretty good idea of how Ducky was feeling.

I have slept in more comfortable places than this," Ducky admitted as he looked up at Jethro. His friend looked considerably better than he had before leaving the hospital. "So, I take it you were able to get a bit of rest? You look a lot better."

Gibbs nodded. "I did. Has Tony's fever broken? He seems much cooler than he was."

"Yes, the good Dr. Kennedy checked in on him a short while ago. He appears to be quite a likable fellow as well as a very capable physician."

"Yeah. I like him too. He's a good doctor. He's doing everything he can to get Tony well again. What did he say?"

"He was quite pleased with Anthony's progress and has begun weaning him off the sedation. He should be waking up before too long."

"That's good news. It'll be nice to see him with his eyes open." Relief was evident in Gibbs' eyes as he looked down at the man who had become such an important part of his life.

"Yes, it will indeed."

"You should go home now, Duck, get some rest yourself. I'll stay with him."

Ducky nodded in agreement as he slowly got to his feet. He was not about to argue the point. "Yes, I believe you're right, Jethro. I shall graciously accept your offer."

"I'm sorry I slept for so long...I didn't mean to."

"Your body's way of telling you that you needed the sleep, Jethro. And I suspect you still have a lot of catching up to do in that department. If Anthony is truly on the mend, I hope you won't be so stubborn about accepting our help. Ziva was here earlier and Abigail is positively chomping at the bit to come. Timothy is also very concerned and would gladly sit with him. The boy needs to know there are people who care about him... I suspect now more than ever..."

The last part of what Ducky said really got to Gibbs. Not only was it important for him to make Tony see how much he meant to him, but Ducky was right. He knew how important Tony was to the others and wanted the younger man to realize it as well, They were family and Tony needed to know that. "I think you're right Duck," Gibbs replied softly. "I only want what's best for him."

"I do know that, Jethro." Ducky rested his hand on Gibbs' shoulder and squeezed it affectionately. "And you have done an admirable job protecting and taking care of Anthony. I just think its time to let us share in that."

Gibbs nodded thoughtfully. "I'll definitely try to do that."

Satisfied that he seemed to have gotten through to his friend, Ducky decided to take his leave. He knew that Jethro would want to be alone with Anthony when the boy awoke and besides, his body definitely needed to recoup from spending all that time in the chair.

"I'm going to leave now. Remember what I said, Jethro and be sure to let Anthony know that we are all thinking of him."

"I'll do that. Thank you for staying with him. I really appreciate it and I know Tony will too."

"My pleasure, take care of yourself. I will see you soon."

xxxxx

The first thing he heard as he started to awaken was the steady beeps and hums of monitoring devices, signifying that he was still in the hospital. He tried to shift his position which caused an immediate jolt of pain to run through his abdomen. He winced slightly as moved his hand to find the bandages that heavily covered his stomach and the memories came back to him. He had been shot...by his father of all people. Wanting to escape the reality of the situation, he decided to go back to sleep, but then he heard Gibbs' voice.

"Tony? Tony...can you hear me?" Gibbs had been anxiously watching every movement Tony had been making, willing his agent to open his eyes.

"Yeah, boss...I can hear you," he said hoarsely as he finally opened up his eyes and gazed up at Gibbs.

"It's good to see you awake," Gibbs said, offering a relieved smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," Tony replied unconvincingly. He pretty much felt like crap.

"Are you in pain?" Gibbs gave his agent a concerned look. Something wasn't right with him.

"Nothing I can't handle, boss."

"I don't want you trying to handle the pain, Tony," Dr. Kennedy broke into the conversation as he entered the room. "Your body has been through a great deal. It's important to stay ahead of it. On a scale of one to 10 how would you rate it?"

"I guess about a seven..."

The doctor nodded. "You're about due for some more pain meds anyway. I'm going to take your vital signs." He took Tony's pulse, temperature and blood pressure, then made some notations in the chart. "Your vitals are good. Aside from the pain, is there anything else bothering you?"

"Feel pretty nauseous," Tony admitted. All he really wanted was to go back to sleep.

"Okay. We'll get you some more Compazine. Do you feel up to trying to drink a little something?"

Tony shook his head, pretty sure that anything he drank would most certainly come back up again.

"We'll wait on the liquids then...The nurse will be in shortly with your meds. Don't worry...we'll get you feeling better." Dr. Kennedy gave Tony an encouraging smile which was not returned. "I'm going off shift now, but Dr. Williams will be covering for me. She's an excellent doctor. I'll be back on tomorrow evening."

"Thanks." Tony didn't even attempt to hide his complete disinterest as he allowed his eyes to close.

"I'll be right back," Gibbs said unnecessarily since Tony wasn't paying him any mind. He followed Adam out of the room and into the hallway. "He doesn't seem to be doing very well..."

"He's not feeling great right now. But his temperature is down and that's the most important thing. The rest is going to take time, Jethro..both physically and emotionally."

"Yeah, I know," Gibbs said. "I guess I'm just impatient."

"Understandable. You've seen him going through a lot. Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes."

Gibbs nodded. "Guess I'm going to have to try to be patient then...Well, you'd better get out of here, get home to your family. Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome. Take care of yourself. I was glad to see you finally decided to go home and get some rest."

"Yeah, well...Ducky wore me out," Gibbs admitted with a grin.

"Good man that Ducky," Adam said, grinning back at him. "You should listen to him more often. I'll see you later, Jethro."

"See ya." Gibbs watched as Adam headed off then went back into Tony's room. Tony had already fallen back to sleep. "You hang tough, DiNozzo," Gibbs whispered as he settled himself down to continue his vigil.