A/N: How was everyone's week? Mine was torture and pain. However, it is Friday and because of this glorious fact, I have all day tomorrow to sleep and do absolutely nothing. -throws confetti in the air- Anyway, I wish I could respond to everyone's wonderful comments but there are just not enough hours in the day. However, I would like to say THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU. I am sending good thoughts your way. And okay...a tissue might be required for this chapter. Maybe.

Chapter Twenty Three

It's really quiet again and I'm at the hospital.

Not for me though cause I'm not sick and I'm not doing therapy. I'm not doing anything.

I'm here cause Boss is here and it's been really long since I told Probie about Boss' special place and now Probie says I can see Boss.

At first when Lijah told me they found Boss, I wanted to see him right away because I really missed him. But Lijah said I couldn't because Boss was sick but I think it was because Boss was mad cause I told about his special place. I told them cause I wasn't sure if it was a secret or not but I told them anyway. Even though you're not suppose to tell secrets. And Boss might have been mad which was why he didn't see me.

But Lijah told me that Boss was sleeping a lot longer after they found him, like I did before I first came home, and that Boss could only see me until now cause he was awake.

I haven't cried, not once. I won't cry because Boss is safe now and it's stupid to cry now that Boss is safe.

But my heart is going really really fast and I'm sitting in the very quiet hospital for Probie to come and get me so I can see Boss. I'm not in therapy and I'm not six. And I'm not doing anything except not crying.

I won't cry.

I won't.

Gibbs had lost track of the days in the small cellar. The two children, a boy about seven years old and a little girl about four years old, and been awake and moving when he had come to the first time in the cellar.

Of course, as time went on, each child started to succumb to the effects of dehydration and lack of food.

At least until a leaky pipe provided them with enough water to perk up just a bit. It had been a risk, to drink the water, but the littlest of the bunch had already started wilting when Gibbs had made the decision to drink it.

Gibbs had been injured, that much was certain, and based on the pain, he had been pretty sure it was a gunshot wound to his arm. Thankfully, the little boy, who was named Blake, helped Gibbs tie a mediocre pressure bandage on it to keep the blood from only seeping out of his wound. Virginia, the little girl, had cried the whole time, wanting her mommy and daddy and not wanting to be in the dark room.

Gibbs had cared for the two kids as best he could, and had waited. His team would find them, he was certain.

But the time continued and the kids were starting to get really hungry.

And just when Gibbs thought he was going to lose faith, he had heard the faint voice of his Senior Field Agent calling out to him. He knew McGee could handle the job. It had been icing on the cake them McGee had explained how they had found them. Tony still had his gut.

From there, it had taken another hour to dig them out of there tomb and thanks to rags and jackets that each kid had on when they had been snatched, neither child suffered hypothermia or frostbite.

However, the days of slow blood loss had caught up with Gibbs and it was only now, a day after he had been found, that Gibbs was awake and ready to get the hell out of the hospital and go home to his family.

He had woken up this morning asking McGee about Tony and while his agent had reassured him that Tony was fine, had been fine the whole time, Gibbs couldn't stop the churning in his gut until he saw Tony.

Which was going to be soon, if the footfalls, and pawfalls, in the hallway were anything to go by.

"Here he is Tony," Gibbs heard Ducky enter the room. His eyes were closed at the moment and he was currently rallying the strength to open them when he felt someone's-Tony's- hand on his arm.

"Boss," Tony's voice cracked and with his touch, Gibbs found enough strength to open his eyes.

"Hey bud," Gibbs smiled and lifted his good hand up to squeeze Tony's hand, "How are you?"

"Blue. Quiet. Surprise. Blue. Quiet. Quiet," Tony shook his head as he rattled off nonsensical things like he did when he was so worked up he couldn't get the right words out, "Quiet. Quiet. Broken. Quiet. Quiet. Secret. Down. Down. Shhhhhh," Gibbs watched as Tony's face started to crumble with his last word.

"Hey," Gibbs said in the most reassuring voice he could muster, "I'm gonna be just fine Tony. It's alright."

"Gone. Gone. Lost. Missing. Long time Boss," Tony bit his lip, hard by the looks of it, and shook his head as if he were trying to get his brain unscrambled, "No cry."

Seeing the look on Tony's face, Gibbs sighed, "Come here," Gibbs reached out and placed his good hand behind Tony's head, drawing the young man closer, "It's okay to cry. But I'm going to be fine. I'm going home."

And it was as if Gibbs had broken a dam with those words because suddenly Tony was scrambling onto Gibbs' bed and was sobbing his heart out into the T-shirt that McGee had brought him to change into.

"No leave," Tony shook his head desperately and cried in-between sobs, "No leave no more."

Gibbs held back a grunt when Tony almost dislodged the IV on his hand but squeezed Tony all that more tighter. Having the boy in his arms was better than any feeling he had felt for a long long time.

"It's gonna be okay Tony," Gibbs rubbed Tony's back and helped Ducky take Tony's helmet off. Running his fingers through Tony's golden brown hair, Gibbs carefully avoided the soft spot where the surgeons had removed part of Tony's skull.

"No," Tony shook his head and cried, "Blue. Cry. Not gonna be okay."

"It is Tony," Gibbs tried to reassure him as he felt his strength waning fast. He wouldn't be able to stay up much longer and he didn't want to fall asleep with Tony crying, "It's gonna be okay."

"Cry. No," Tony said, more firmly, "Okay. Not gonna. It is."

It took Gibbs a moment to understand what Tony meant but when he did, he smiled as his eyes started to close, "You're right Tony. It is okay."

"Okay. Quiet. Yes," Tony sighed and completely melted into Gibbs' side, "Tired. I wanna go home Boss. We should go home."

"You got that right kid," Gibbs mumbled, running his fingers through his charge's hair, hoping to settle the man down.

Tony nodded in agreement as he tried to stop the hiccups from coming out of his mouth.

"Home. They're gonna fix my head soon, huh Boss?" Tony said, his thoughts jumping around the way they normally did.

"Tony," Gibbs smiled as he waited for the nurse and McGee to come back in, "Far as I'm concerned, you're head is the farthest thing from broken."

Pacing the walkway in front of Gibbs' back door, Elijah tried not to look as anxious as he felt. Because the Gunny would expect more out of him and Elijah already felt as if he had let Gibbs down.

"Brooks? That you out there?" Gibbs said, opening the back door and placing his gun back in his holster. His scowl quickly morphed back into the slight frown that Gibbs normally wore when he wasn't talking or interacting with Tony. To Elijah, it reminded him a lot of a shield: the frown kept everyone around Gibbs from sometimes guessing what was going through his mind, "Come on in Brooks."

Knowing it was now or never, Elijah nodded and walked into the house quietly, knowing that more than likely, Tony was taking a nap.

Sure enough, Tony was currently passed out on then den's couch, his mouth slightly open and a drool puddle already forming under his cheek. Poor guy had been moody and weepy all day, not that anyone blamed him. Tony had held himself together while Gibbs had been missing-he deserved to let it go now that Gibbs was safe.

"Gunny," Elijah stepped back into the kitchen, ducking his head out of habit, "You feeling alright?"

"I'm doing fine," Gibbs' eye assessed the man in front of him, "Just a flesh wound. Ducky'll take the stitches out in a few days."

"That's uh, that's good," Elijah rubbed his face and looked around the kitchen for the words he couldn't find within himself.

Gibbs nodded and continued to look at the ex-Navy corpsman. It was quiet for a few minutes in which the only noise that could be heard was Baron, who was on the couch with Tony, chewing on his toy while Tony slept.

"Your mom doing okay?" Gibbs asked, breaking the stillness of the room.

"She's fine now," Elijah nodded, "One of the doctors switched her to another medication so it wouldn't make her so nauseous and she's back to her regular old self again."

"That's good to hear," Gibbs bit his tongue. He hated small talk but Elijah had something on his mind and Gibbs wasn't going to push until the younger man felt comfortable enough to talk about it.

But if it took Elijah longer than five minutes to settle down and speak his mind, Gibbs was going to have to say something to get the ball rolling.

"I lost him Gunny," Elijah finally blurted out, although he managed to keep his voice subdued as to not awaken the slumbering man on the couch. Baron however, lifted his head and shifted slightly away from Tony. The loss of warmth from the dog caused Tony to scowl in his sleep and scoot closer to his dog. Baron, who was content to rest his head on Tony's thigh, didn't mind Tony's cuddling efforts all that much. The big dog let out a content sigh and closed his eyes. His ears however, stayed up and alert, twitching whenever a noise sounded through the room.

"Lost who?" Gibbs asked after waiting a second or two to let Tony settle back down into a deep sleep.

"Tony, I-" Elijah rubbed his face and sighed, "The day they found you. I feel asleep in the living room while me and him were watching a movie and when I woke up, the front door was open, your dog tags were on the counter and Tony and Baron were nowhere to be found."

Not having heard of this incident, only that Tony had gone to NCIS headquarters to talk to the team, Gibbs scowled at the idea that Tony was alone, outside, during freezing temperatures.

"How did you find him?" Gibbs asked, walking towards the coffee machine. He knew he shouldn't but it was better than the glass of bourbon he wanted instead. Ducky would understand.

"I didn't," Elijah shook his head to the cup of coffee Gibbs silently offered him, "He showed up at NCIS, claiming he knew where you were. Like McGee told you, it was because of what Tony said that gave him the idea to check old building records for that psychos house but, I understand completely Gibbs if you want to fire me. What I did-I mean, if Tony had gotten hurt or worse, if he had gotten lost or taken…" Elijah stopped there and shook his head not wanting to continue.

"Brooks," Gibbs spoke after Elijah had reigned in his emotions. Using his best Gunnery Seargent voice, the one he used when one of his men were in need of a little kick in the butt, Gibbs leveled the much larger man with a look, "You see that man right there?" Gibbs asked, pointing to the slumbering former NCIS agent who was currently starting to snore.

"Yes," Elijah nodded, not knowing where Gibbs was going with his questions.

"And do you see," Gibbs continued, his gaze softening as he looked at his ward sleeping on the couch, "That he's okay? That he isn't sick, that his asthma is okay, that he's improving in physical therapy and that he has a very well trained seizure alert dog?"

Elijah nodded, feeling the red in his skin as it covered his face.

"All those things, he has because you help him. Especially while I was missing. Did you know, that while I was in that hole, I didn't worry myself to death over where Tony was? Sure, I knew he would be upset because I was gone but I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was going to be alright. Okay, he got out of the house but then again, Tony isn't a little five year old. As limited as he may be, he's still an adult. And he chose to leave the house and go to NCIS even if he won't tell a soul how he got there."

"So," Gibbs finished. He was a man of few words dang it, and here he was becoming a softy in his old age, "If you want to leave, I'm not stopping you. But I know that my team, my family, would have had a much harder time these past few days if you hadn't been here. And I would like it very much if you stayed."

Elijah, at a loss for words, nodded his thanks and stood up, "I'll uh, I'll just go make sure I didn't park the car in front of the fire hydrant."

"And I'll be here," Gibbs said, seeing Elijah's escape for what it was. The younger man needed a few minutes to collect himself and his thoughts together. Gibbs knew what that felt like and saw no need in make Elijah stay in his company while he got rid of some of the extra burden he had decided on carrying.

But Gibbs wasn't worried that Elijah would leave. Tony's aide had gotten the message.

Which was good, Gibbs thought. He didn't think he had any words left in him after that.

Boss is hurt. But not like me. He just has a bad arm but that's only because the doctor won't let him use it. Sometimes, I don't get doctors. My hand is bad and my doctors make sure I use my bad hand all the time but Boss' bad arm has to stay wrapped up and really close to his body. I asked him if he wanted me to massage it like he does when my band arm is hurting but Boss said no because he got shot so the wound has to heal which is why he can't use his band arm like I'm suppose to use mine.

I didn't get shot. I got in a car accident. Which is why I don't like cars. Trucks are okay though because they're a lot bigger than cars which is good because when we took Boss home, it was in a truck, not a car.

I think Boss' band arm hurts him a lot, but he doesn't like taking his medicine because it makes him fall asleep. I told him that's what mine does too when I first take it but after awhile it doesn't do that anymore. Boss just smiled and gave me a hug which is him sorta saying that he was agreeing with me but that he wasn't gonna take the medicine anyway.

He's stubborn that way.

I think Baron agrees with me because he just huffs when he lies down on my bed but Lijah told me that he was huffing at me because I wouldn't lay down and go to sleep.

It was hard, going to sleep when Boss wasn't home. The house didn't feel right and I wanted Boss to come home.

But Boss is home now.

And I'm really really glad he's okay.