Warnings: Dark, lots of angst, Tony whump.

A/N: Happy weekend everyone! I'm here with another update for you! As always please let me know what you think! Enjoy!

amaia- I'm glad you are enjoying the story. Thanks for the feedback.

Guest- Thank you! I'm happy you are enjoying it!

Patti Lipscomb- Thank you! Glad you are enjoying it! Regarding Ziva, I've started to outline the next story where she does come back. I think she's in for a few surprises.

Leah looked more like a college kid in Tony's Ohio State hoodie and leggings than she did a wife and mother. With her hair down she looked younger than she was… but one look in her eyes… their sadness aged her beyond her years. "How is he?" she asked when she spotted Gibbs. "Tim would only tell me so much and I have a feeling that isn't the whole story."

Gibbs paused for a brief second. "You should have waited until morning to come, Leah. The roads aren't the safest."

"I have an SUV and the baby is with my sister, and Tim drove me," Leah snapped. "Tony is my husband, Gibbs. He needs me here and I need to be here. So stop avoiding my question."

He took her by the hand and led her to a chair and sat down with her. "Tony was shot, once in the chest. He also has a stab wound to his left knee that is infected but the doctor was hopeful that antibiotics would fight it. He's going to need physical therapy in his knee, eventually."

She nodded, thankful that Gibbs was choosing to be affirmative about Tony needing treatment beyond the hospital. It meant that Gibbs believed Tony was going to live. "And what about the gun shot wound to the chest? Tim said it... it punctured his lung."

"It punctured the right lung. Tony was struggling to breathe. Doctor's rushed him to the operating table to repair it before it could collapse."

"Who… who did it? Who shot Tony?"

"His name is Wayne… he's a nineteen year old kid that works at the motel Tony stopped at that night. He tracked Tony, shot a deputy sheriff before shooting Tony."

Leah felt a fury like none she had ever felt before. This had been a pointless, ruthless attack. Tony had done nothing to provoke it. He hadn't been chasing a suspect… he had stopped for the night to be safe because the roads were bad. "Is he in custody?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Not yet. FBI is heading up the case. I promise, Leah, they're going to find him and arrest him. He's going to go to jail for this."

She shook her head. "If he dies, Gibbs… I don't want jail time for that kid… I want him dead… and I know that's awful of me to say… but I can't help feeling that way."

He reached out and put his arm around her, drawing her closer to him. Gibbs knew the anguish she was feeling, the absolute dread and horror… the anger. He'd felt all that before when Shannon and Kelly had died… but he did not want Tony's wife to go down that same, dark, ugly path of revenge. "Let the FBI and the courts handle it, Leah… you just worry about Jack and Tony right now."

"Agent Gibbs?" a doctor spoke, tired and worn. "Can I speak with you, sir?"

"You can speak to both of us," Gibbs instructed the doctor, "This is Agent DiNozzo's wife."

"Very well," the doctor sighed, "Mrs. DiNozzo… I'm not going to sugarcoat anything for you—your husband's condition is very serious. We've repaired the damage to his lung and stopped the bleeding but he is going to need another operation to repair torn ligaments in his knee. I kept him under as long as I possibly could. We've lowered his temperature with antibiotics and he's responding well to them. He's able to breathe on his own with the help of a vent. I'd like to get him stable enough to airlift him to D.C where doctors can continue treatment."

Leah balled her hands up into fists and held them in her lap. "How bad is his knee?" she managed to ask, softly.

The doctor nodded, solemnly. "The wound itself was a clean stab, not too much surrounding tissue damage or muscle damage, the knife, however, did tear some ligaments. Now with proper treatment he should regain full use of that knee."

Gibbs glanced at Leah for a second, as she tried to understand the long road to recovery that her husband had. "Will he be able to work in the field again?"

"Agent DiNozzo is going to need extensive physical therapy to strengthen his knee again. It could take months. But… yes… eventually he should be able to get back into the field," the doctor replied.

"Can I see him?" Leah whispered, her eyes glassy with tears.

"Yes, of course," the doctor replied, gesturing for her to walk with him. "I'll take you to him myself."

She followed quietly behind him and was led into a private room. The doctor excused himself, giving her some privacy. Leah stood in the door for a while, heart thundering wildly in her chest.

Tony was asleep. Hooked up to heart monitors and IV lines. His chest was rising and falling softly and he was getting oxygen through a tube down his throat. It wasn't the appearance of all those machines that tore her heart—it was how lifeless he looked. His skin was ashen, his leg was in a large, black splint to keep it from moving and underneath the hospital gown she could see where the doctor's had shaved his chest and cut him open thanks to the white bandages protecting his stitches peeking out.

Leah steadied herself and ventured into the room. She found his hand and clung to it. With her free one she reached out and pushed his hair back. "Tony. I'm here," she gently told him. She fell into the chair besides his bed.

He remained silent, still. Not that she expected him to answer her. Leah grasped his hand tightly. "Jack… he rolled over today. You should have seen the big grin on his face. I swear he looked just like you," she told him with a sad laugh, trying to stop her tears. She ran her thumb over his knuckles. "Tony… you have to… you have to come home to us. I don't know what we'll do without you."

She took a shuddering breath and brought his hand to her lips, brushing his knuckles with a gentle kiss. "I love you... we love you."

"He loves you too," Gibbs said softly running his fingers through her hair. " He's fighting for you and Jack."

"Where's Tim?" Leah asked watching as Gibbs sat down on the other side of the bed.

"Waiting room. Rest of the team will be here soon."

Leah knew that they needed to come, for themselves, but she appreciated the support. And she knew that Tony would as well.

It had been several hours since Tony had come out of his operation. Leah hadn't left his side since then, falling asleep at an awkward angle. The team had taken turns sitting with her. Around six that morning Gibbs offered to go grab them all breakfast. It was still snowing out meaning that Tony wasn't going to be transferred back to Washington soon. For now he was stable and that was all the team could ask for until he saw Dr. Pitt in D.C.

Leah woke up to gray skies and only Tony in the room, still hooked up to every machine imaginable. She reached for his hand and wrapped her fingers around his. She told herself that his color looked better that morning, that he was on the mend. " I probably should go call and check on Jack… but we both know as long as he gets fed he'll be fine."

"Speaking of eating—breakfast is here," Gibbs said coming into the room with a bag and a tray of coffees. "And I already called Delilah—Jack is fine."

Leah smiled, gently. "I figured you would be out looking for the guy that did this… not bringing us all coffee and breakfast pastries."

Gibbs shrugged and sat down on the other side of Tony's bed. " FBI says that they'll give me a crack at him when they catch him. And with this storm, I doubt he's going to get too far."

"Did he kill the deputy sheriff?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"He was in the way of Wayne getting what he wanted—Tony."

Leah took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She sipped her coffee and let her eyes fall on Tony. He wasn't out of the woods just yet… but she felt better that he had survived the operation because Tony was a survivor—he had been since he was a child. She ran her thumb over his knuckles. "I should go call his father."

Gibbs gazed at Tony for a moment. "Let's wait until he's back in Washington. The ones that really matter to Tony are here, already."

"Jack isn't."

"He wouldn't want Jack here. He'd want Jack to be safe at home."

"True. He doesn't like me driving in the snow now."

Gibbs chuckled while his cell phone gave a shrill ring. He excused himself and left Leah alone with Tony.

Leah continued to rub Tony's knuckles with her thumb, hoping that the touch would alert him to her presence. It was unnerving that he might not be aware that she was sitting with him. He was always aware of her presence, even when they weren't anywhere near each other in the room.

She missed him. Plain and simple.

Tony was more than just her husband—he was her soul mate, her best friend and her lover. It was painful when they were apart for any small amount of time… this was killing her. Because he was there, physically, but he wasn't there in any other capacity that she needed.

Leah closed her eyes and pushed back her tears. She needed to be strong for him… for Jack… it was going to do no one any good if she fell apart now. Opening her eyes with a deep breath, she gave Tony's hand a squeeze. She would do it periodically to see if she would get a response back. Eventually, she told herself, Tony was going to respond. Eventually his eyes were going to open and he was going to get off the vent. Eventually he would be discharged from the hospital and be going home where Leah could take care of him and Jack—and get their lives back to normal.

"That was Fornell," Gibbs whispered coming back into the room. "They found Wayne. He's been arrested. It's over, Leah."

"I want to see him," she said, angrily. "Ask him why."

"No. The man is a sociopath. Tony would never go for this."

"Handcuff, chain him to a chair..."

Gibbs sighed and raised his hands in defeat. "Okay. I'll get Abby and Tim to come sit with Tony. And I'll take you to the station... but I don't like this."

Leah pulled her boots back on and stood. "I didn't ask you to like it... but I need to do it. So I can move on. It's either this or I might kill the guy."

He smirked, slightly and shook his head. "Yeah... when you put it that way, meeting him is the lesser of two evils."