How to get around this obstacle, Ducky wasn't sure. Vance wasn't even aware that Tony was in the hospital, let alone why. But it seemed as though Gibbs sensed the tension in the room and decided to, once again, save Tony from something no one was even certain he needed saving from.
The alarm blared from beside the bed and everyone in the room looked over. Gibbs was awake, fighting the ventilator and not quite clearly focusing on anything in particular.
Vance startled and said something about getting a doctor before scrambling out of the room. Ducky and Jackson took up either side of the bed trying to calm him, reassuring him that it was all right and not to fight the ventilator. Abby stood a bit shocked at the foot of the bed, wondering if she should even be in there.
Soon, though, they were all moving out of the way so that the doctor could tend to Gibbs. Things were being said back and forth between the doctor and nurses. Ducky was preoccupied with the fact that Vance was going to want an answer to a question he wasn't willing to divulge information about. Luckily, the director had chosen to stay outside the room.
After several minutes, the doctor was finished asking Gibbs questions. Ducky caught the last bit of conversation.
"I'm frankly quite amazed at your sudden recovery," the doctor told Gibbs. "I'm going to schedule another MRI to see what's changed, but you seem to be okay. Memory is intact, no outward signs of trouble. Like I said, I'm amazed."
"Well, he is a Gibbs," Jackson said as he approached the other side of the bed, now that the nurses had cleared out.
The doctor gave a small smile and nodded. "I'll be sure to have a nurse come back to let you know when to expect to be taken back to radiology," he told Gibbs.
"Thank you, Doctor," Ducky told him before taking his place on the other side of the bed once the doctor stepped away to leave. "Jethro, you gave us all quite a scare." He patted his friend's hand. "But what a lovely Christmas gift to have you awake again."
"What happened to DiNozzo?" he asked, eyes boring into Ducky's.
Ducky narrowed his eyes. "What ever would make you think-"
"I heard you...heard ya talkin' about him," he said. "I didn't imagine it, Duck. I heard all three of you." He glanced to Abby, then to Jackson, and back to Ducky. "What won't you tell them? And don't tell me you can't tell me. I'm the next of kin on his emergency contacts."
Ducky stood tall and took a breath, a bit perturbed by Gibbs' stubbornness. He was right, of course, but he didn't want to have to tell him just yet. The M.E looked at the other two. "Would you both mind giving us a few minutes?" he requested. "Perhaps you can look in on Timothy; maybe take Director Vance with you and fill him in on Jethro's current condition."
"All right, Ducky," Jackson sighed, then looked to his son. "We'll be back in a few minutes. Want us to bring you anything?"
"I could ask the doc if you can have coffee," Abby offered. Her voice was low and lacking her usual energy.
"Sounds great, Abs," Gibbs told her. "Seems like you could use some yourself. Or maybe a Caf Pow." She gave him a small smile and nodded before turning to follow Jackson out of the room. Ducky closed the door after them. "She seems upset," Gibbs mentioned.
"She has right to be," Ducky told him. "She's quite worried. It's been a roller-coaster these last couple of days."
"How long was out for, exactly?" he furrowed his brow.
"You coded this morning," Ducky explained. "And as I'm sure the doctor mentioned just now, they found contusions and suspected worsened damage to your brain stem. He didn't think you'd ever wake up. He told me to make calls so that people could say their goodbyes," his words seemed bitter.
"That why Vance is here?" Gibbs asked.
"Yes. I called him, though I didn't believe for a moment that that doctor was right."
"It had to have been a possibility, Duck, for him to have said it at all."
"Yes, well...he doesn't know Leroy Jethro Gibbs very well at all." He squeezed Gibbs' hand and gave him a smile. "Which leads us to Anthony..." He sighed.
"What is it, Duck?" Gibbs' concern grew every moment Ducky stalled.
"He was in here when you coded," he began. "Didn't sleep a wink the whole night they had you in for the MRI and surgery. And once young Timothy dozed off, Tony took it upon himself to wander out into the hospital where he happened upon our conversation. He heard what the doctor's grim prognosis was. And he took that information to heart; perhaps a bit more harshly than I'd originally imagined." His eyes conveyed regret and sorrow.
"What're you telling me?" Gibbs asked.
"I sent him home to your house to get some sleep. I should have gone with him, but at the time, I was worried more for you. Tim took him. We promised to let him know the moment you woke. But in his mind, that wasn't going to happen, Jethro. In his mind, according to what he'd heard, there was very little hope you'd ever wake up again."
"McGee left him there alone?" He narrowed his eyes.
"We weren't aware he'd heard the conversation, Jethro," he defended. "Not until Tim told me something Tony had said in the car. Once we realized, he went straight back to check in on him. Only...he wasn't there..." He met his eyes with saddened ones. "Tim discovered a nearly empty bottle of bourbon in the living room. Then discovered that he'd caught a taxi back to his apartment." Gibbs' eyes flashed at that. "I'm not sure you're ready to hear this part, Jethro."
"The hell I'm not, Ducky," he retorted. "You can tell me, or I'll get it out of the doctor."
Ducky took a breath and decidedly sat down on the edge of the bed. "Timothy found him in his bathtub, unconscious and barely breathing," he told him in a low voice. Gibbs' heart sunk in his chest. "There was a bottle of pills spilled out on the floor beside him."
Gibbs shook his head almost imperceptibly. "Duck...you're not tellin' me he..."
"I'm not sure, Jethro," he replied sadly. "But it does seem to be the case. He was barely holding himself together when I saw him before he left the hospital earlier. He thought we were going to lose you. And after just losing his father..."
"No, Ducky." He shook his head again, his eyes glistening from the news. "Tell me he's okay."
"He's stable, as I told the others. But he's not regained consciousness yet. They've given him medication to counteract the sleeping pills he took. Only time will tell what damage may have already been done."
"I need to see him," Gibbs insisted.
"You can't be serious." Ducky stood from the bed. "You've just had surgical procedures done to you brain, Jethro."
"Goddamnit, Duck, I need to see him," his voice cracked. "There's gotta be a way..."
Their attention was pulled to the door when they heard it open. "Boss?" McGee's head poked into the room before letting himself all the way in. "Abby told us you were awake." He approached the bed and Gibbs could see the younger agent had been through the ringer.
"Close the door," Ducky told Ziva as she entered.
"McGee, you found him." Gibbs' eyes twitched as he tried to compose himself. "If you hadn't gone back for him, God only knows..."
"We're going back," Tim interrupted.
"What?"
"Ziva and I," he continued. "We're going to his apartment. Boss, I can't believe for a second that he'd do this," he told him. "And I'm gonna prove it..."
Tbc...