Once the crowd of nurses left the room, Tony slowly approached the bed. He couldn't fight the frown the pulled incessantly, though he tried to. He wanted to be strong for Gibbs...

There were so many wires and tubes attached to him. Perhaps the most frightening, though he'd seen it on him before, was the ventilator. It wasn't so much the machine, but the nature of it. The mechanical rise and fall of Gibbs' chest, verifying that the only reason he was breathing at all was because of that machine.

The leads on his chest were there, he knew, to detect any sign of his heart going awry again. This, of course, would sound an alarm and bring nurses flooding back into the room to fix him again. Well, to keep him alive anyway. There was no real hope they'd be able to fix him...was there?

Tony swallowed as he lay his hand over Gibbs' closest to him. There were fresh bandages on his head. He looked like he was sleeping...just like the first time he'd seen him after the accident. But at the time, he didn't have the professional opinion that he may never wake up... That he would lose him.

Tony didn't care who walked into the room now, though normally he would hide his tears. Any emotion, really, when it counted. He didn't much care about anything aside from the man that lay before him. Not right now.

"I'm not gonna watch you die, Gibbs," he told his sleeping form, voice cracking and he laid his other hand gently on Gibbs' cool cheek. "I can't watch you die..." came as a whisper.

"Now, Anthony," Ducky's voice close beside him caused him to jump, but he didn't look away from his boss. "You shouldn't give up on him." He laid a hand on the younger agent's shoulder. Of course, Ducky didn't plan on telling him what the doctor had predicted for their friend. He wouldn't do that to Tony. Tony knew this, but he also knew the truth. "Dear boy." Ducky moved his hand down a bit to grip his arm. "You're shaking. Are you all right?" Tony turned his head to look at him for a very brief moment before turning back to Gibbs. "Have you even slept at all?"

"How could I have?" he asked in a low voice. "How can I when he's like this, Ducky?"

"He'll be asleep for a long while, Tony," Ducky explained. "They had to perform a few procedures to ensure he...not get any worse. Why don't you get a ride home...to Gibbs' house with Timothy? Get a bit of sleep and then come back, if you must. I'll be sure to call you if he wakes up."

Tony suppressed the urge to laugh at the statement, and instead took a breath. "I think he's already left."

"Then I'll take you."

"No. He shouldn't be left alone."

"I assure you, he won't be alone."

"You know what I mean," Tony's voice cracked again as he looked over at him. The older man dropped his hand to his side. Ducky's expression, he noticed now, was doing very poorly about hiding the fact that he, too, was haunted with the knowledge he didn't know Tony also possessed. He was sad. Gibbs was his friend, too. They'd been friends longer that Tony had even knows Gibbs. He couldn't be frustrated with him. And the way he was acting now wasn't helping him. "I'll get a cab," Tony said finally.

"I can take you," he insisted.

"I don't want you to leave him here," Tony argued. "Not until there's someone else, at least. I can take a cab, Ducky. It's not a big deal. It's that, or I'm staying."

Ducky took a breath and let it out. "All right, lad." He put his hand back on Tony's arm and managed a soft smile. "Perhaps you can try to eat something as well, while you're there."

Tony straightened himself. "I'll try."

11 00 11 00 11

"McGee!" Tony shouted as he stepped out of the front doors. The younger agent had just pulled out of the lot and made the journey down the path that led in front of the hospital.

He stopped and rolled down the window with a furrowed brow. "Tony? What's wrong?"

"I just need a lift," he assured him. "I was gonna catch a cab, but I saw you...and you're headed over to Gibbs' house anyway."

"Actually, I just got off the phone with Abby, and she already picked him up. They're on their way here, now. I can give you a lift anyway. I need to go home and shower; get changed and all that."

"It's kind of out of your way, though..."

"It's not a problem, Tony. Really." He leaned over and pushed the passenger door open before Tony could further protest.

*~.~*

Halfway to the house, the silence was really getting to McGee. He kept glancing over at Tony who seemed lost. He looked exhausted, yet refused to close his eyes. It was a bit disturbing.

"Are you okay?" McGee asked. "Did Gibbs...look okay?"

Tony blinked and his eyes darted around the dashboard. "He looked... He was sleeping."

"Did they say anything? Why it took so long? What it is they found, if they found anything?"

"More damage than they thought... More...contusions..." He shut his eyes and shook his head as he realized he'd just given information he wasn't supposed to. "They don't know anything," he decided to tell him. "They...they won't know...till he wakes up."

The remainder of the ride was quiet again. When they arrived at the house, Tony got out without a word.

"Call me when you wanna come back, Tony," McGee called out before Tony could shut the door.

Tony leaned down so he could meet his partner's eyes. "Thanks, Probie," he told him, then shut the door and slowly made his way toward the house.

Tbc...