A/N: My medical knowledge sucks, guys, so please ignore any mistakes I may have made. There will be more McAbby in the next chapter, I promise. F.
They pulled up next to the emergency room with a jerk, leaving the car there and dashing inside. Flashing their badges, they pushed past the protesting nurse, moving swiftly down the hallway until they found him. He was ghostly pale, and the bed beneath his shoulder was stained red with blood. As they watched, a nurse hung another bag of blood on the IV pole to replace the empty one.
"Excuse me, but you can't be back here" a voice said from behind them. They turned to see a Navy lieutenant staring at them.
"That's my agent in there" Gibbs snarled
"You are?"
"Special Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo"
"Ok. They're about to take him up to surgery anyway. Stay here and as soon as they have news, they'll bring it to you" the lieutenant disappeared into the room where they were working on McGee, speaking to someone and gesturing towards them. He came back out in a moment.
"The bullet hit an artery in your agent's shoulder. Now, they've managed to stop the bleeding temporarily, but they're taking him upstairs now to surgery to make a permanent repair. Your agent"
"McGee" Tony supplied
"Agent McGee, thank you, has lost a lot of blood. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to where you can wait"
...
The lieutenant left them in a dingy and depressing room, furnished with hard plastic chairs, a coffee machine and a payphone. They settled into the uncomfortable chairs to wait, each lost in their own thoughts.
Tony was the first to break the quiet
"Hey, Boss? Why did he go for McGee? He could see you and I had the drop on him"
Gibbs sighed. He'd been turning the same question over in his mind, and had only come up with one answer
"Suicide by cop, Tony. He went for McGee precisely because we had him covered. He knew he wasn't getting away. McGee's just lucky he saw the damn gun"
They relapsed into silence for a few minutes, soon broken by the return of the lieutenant. He was carrying two small paper bags and a clipboard
"Agent DiNozzo?" he asked
Tony got up and went over to the lieutenant
"Yeah?"
"You're listed as one of Agent McGee's next of kin. If you'll sign here, I can release his personal effects to you"
He took the clipboard and signed where the lieutenant indicated, then took the bags. One had McGee's gun and badge, the other the rest of his things. He opened the second bag to check the contents
Gibbs signalled to the lieutenant
"Lieutenant, is there any way I could borrow some scrubs or something? McGee's girlfriend is on the way in, and I don't want her to see me covered in his blood" he explained. Over the lieutenant's shoulder, he saw a look of surprise on Tony's face at the bag contents. He turned his attention back to the lieutenant
"I'll see what I can do, sir"
Tony was a little shocked to see the small black box in with McGee's personal effects. He knew instantly what it must contain, and that his and Abby's anniversary was tomorrow. It didn't take much to put the two together
"Ah, hell Probie, you damn well better pull through this"
"What'd you find, Tony?" Gibbs' question startled him. He didn't realise he'd spoken out loud. He pulled the box out of the bag and held it up so Gibbs could see. Comprehension lit the older agent's face at the sight
"Boss, I gotta give his things to Abby when she gets here. I don't think Tim would want her to see this somehow" Gibbs nodded his agreement, watching as DiNozzo stuck the ring in his pocket.
The lieutenant entered the room again, handing Gibbs a small pile of green cloth
"There's a bathroom down the hall, sir" he told him, leaving again
Gibbs followed him out, turning down the hall to the bathroom. Moving quickly, he shed the blood stained clothes he was wearing and changed into the green surgical scrubs. He looked ridiculous, but he thought that was better than letting Abby see how much of Tim's blood he had on him
He heard voices coming from the waiting room as he headed back up the hall. Abby and Ducky must have arrived. He quickened his step
Abby was hugging DiNozzo, her face pale and tear stained. She turned at his entrance and rushed over to him
"Gibbs! How is he?" she sounded distraught.
"We don't really know yet, Abs. He's still in surgery" he explained "But the bullet hit him in the shoulder, so he should be just fine"
She nodded, wanting to believe him. Gibbs never lied to her
"How did it happen, Gibbs?"
He sighed. He hated having to explain how one of his agents got hurt; it felt like he'd failed to protect his team
"He was trying to cuff the guy, Abs. We had him covered, but he had a gun concealed on him somewhere" he paused, replaying McGee's frantic dive in his head "Tim tried to get out of the way, but he was too close"
Tears filled her eyes again at his explanation, so he pulled her into a hug
"He'll be ok, Abs. I promise"
Ziva arrived then, announcing that Palmer had collected the body and Balboa's team had taken over the scene. Vance must have mobilised them when he heard the "Agent down" call over the tactical radios they'd been wearing
Ducky shifted, as if he couldn't decide where he should be
"Autopsy can wait, Ducky. I already know what killed the bastard. Two double taps, straight to the heart" Gibbs told him
A doctor dressed in surgical greens came in a short while later. "Family of Agent McGee?" he asked. Everyone in the room nodded. "I really can only tell the next of kin" he said, looking at DiNozzo "That would be Agent DiNozzo and an Abigail Scuito?" he stumbled over the pronunciation of Abby's last name
"And me" spoke up an older gentleman in a bow tie "I'm Doctor Mallard, Agent McGee's physician"
He nodded, agreeing to that.
"If you'll follow me?" he led the three people out into the hallway
"I'm Captain Reilly, I've been working on Agent McGee" he told them
"How is he?" Abby asked, her voice strained
"We've repaired the damaged artery in his shoulder. We had to use an arterial graft from his leg to replace the damaged portion. He's in recovery now"
"What aren't you telling us, Doctor?" the question came from Ducky. Reilly hesitated before answering
"When Agent McGee came in, he had no measurable blood pressure. They gave him 12 units of blood to replace what he'd lost, which puts him at risk of losing his ability to clot. His heart never actually stopped, but with the amount of blood loss, at some point it must have been pumping air. I've put him in an induced coma for now, to give him time to heal. If all goes well, we'll bring him out of that tomorrow"
"Can we see him?" Abby broke in
"Soon. He's being transferred to ICU shortly, then he can have 2 visitors at a time, no more. Someone will come and get you once he's been transferred"
"Thank you, Doctor"
"He's a fit young man. He should pull through just fine" Reilly told them as he left.
Abby went back into the room to tell the rest of the team what they'd been told. Tony stopped Ducky from following her
"12 units is a lot of blood, isn't it Ducky?" he asked
"Yes, it is Anthony. The human body has around 6 litres of blood; 12 units is slightly more than that"
"You mean, he lost all of his blood?"
"That's right. Please don't tell Abigail this, but Timothy came very close to death today. If they hadn't managed to stop the bleeding..." he let the sentence hang
Wordlessly, they re-entered the waiting room.