Aside from constant jabber over the EMS radio, the cab was silent. Abby sat in between the driver and Tony, but plastered herself as much as she could to Tony's side of the vehicle. The driver was going faster than he needed to, for their sake.

Tony was grateful for that much. But his stomach hurt and his head ached from nerves. His knee bounced up and down rapidly and his hands were clenched in his lap; one clutching to his phone. A million thoughts ran through his head and none of them made any sense to him. All he knew was that he needed to know...

"Shit..." he cursed under his breath, causing Abby to look over at him.

"What is it?"

"I should've called Ducky by now... I need to call him; let him know to meet us."

"I'll call him," she offered, and rooted through her purse to find her phone.

And that's when Tony's phone rang unexpectedly. Without waiting for the ID, he picked up. "Gibbs?"

"Uh, no, actually," McGee's voice sounded on the other line. "I was trying to get a hold of him, though. I tried his phone a dozen times. I'm guessing you don't know where he is, then?"

"Yeah, I do," he replied. "He's at Bethesda," his voice cracked.

"What?"his voice conveyed his surprise and worry."What happened?"

"His car was t-boned by a truck," he explained.

"Oh my god...is he okay?"

"I have no goddamn clue, Probie... No one knows anything, and we're on our way there, now."

"I'll meet you there, then."

"Wait...aren't you out of town?" he asked.

"No...I had a change of plans,"he replied vaguely.

"Involving Gibbs, I take it?"

"Sort of..." There was an uncomfortable length of silence on both ends, until McGee spoke again. "Tony?"

"Yeah?" his reply was so low, Tim had almost missed it.

"Are you okay?"

Tony contemplated the question for a few moments. No. He was definitely far from okay, right now. It was quite possible that he'd never quite be 'okay' again...

"I'll have to get back to you, on that," he replied before ending the call and looking back out at the road before them...

11 00 11 00 11

"Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs!" he raised his voice, annoyed with the receptionist who seemed to not have a single brain cell in her pretty little blond head. "He's with NCIS and was brought here via ambulance within the past half hour from an accident downtown."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't have any information about his current condition," she defended. "But if you can just take a seat, I'll try to page the doctor listed on his intake."

"Why wouldn't you have that information?" he asked incredulously.

"There could be several reasons," she stated. "He could've been taken to emergency surgery, or ended up critical in which they wouldn't have had time, yet, to report it... Or...there's just not been enough time..."

Tony pushed away from the desk and stormed back to the waiting area which, thankfully, only contained Abby and himself.

"Tony?" Abby inquired. "Anything?"

"Nothing!" he yelled. "They know nothing aboutanything!" he fisted his hands in his hair again, fighting off fear-filled tears. The fury and confusion and agonizing feeling of uncertainty was pushing him over the edge. He couldn't lose Gibbs...not now. The mere thought of it was more devastating than he could handle. He pictured him bloody and battered on an operating table, fighting for life, and the image sent him over that edge.

Abby approached him and led him to sit beside her, though it seemed he wasn't even aware of it. The pain in his eyes was too much for her. She placed her hands on either side of his face, forcing his eyes to meet hers. "Everything's gonna be okay, Tony," she told him in as convincing a tone as she could.

As much as he wanted to believe her, there was no way she could know any more than he did, at this point. And no...nothing would be okay. Nothing would ever be okay again if he lost Gibbs, too...

Fear won over and Tony crumbled, throwing his arms over his face to try and hide the fact. Abby immediately pulled him against her chest and held him tightly, finally allowing some of her own worried tears to fall...

Tbc...