Chapter 2

Right after he finished the sentence, his vision went black and his hand loosed their grips before he started falling down. Mark was in shock as he tried to reduce the impact of Tony's fall. Within a few seconds, Tony went from laughing at the top of the wall to sprawling unconsciously on the floor.

McGee was rushing faster than a lighting to Tony's side. He grimaced as his hand made contact with the back of Tony's head. Crimson liquid was spreading slowly on the mat. Mark was already on the phone calling the ambulance as McGee tried to wake Tony up but to no avail. Mark came back with a towel and McGee placed them at the wound on Tony's head to try and stop the bleeding.

Five minutes later, two paramedics arrived and started to take control over Tony. One of them removed the towel from Tony's head and replaced it with some gauze and bandage.

"He's an NCIS agent. Make sure you get him to Bethesda." McGee told the two paramedics while waiting for his boss to pick up the phone.

"Don't worry. We'll take good care of him. Nice job to stop the bleeding by the way." The paramedics smiled as they load Tony on the ambulance. McGee decided that he'll be driving Tony's car to the hospital instead.

"Gibbs. And you better have a good reason for calling me on the day off, McGee." Came the gruff reply as the line connected. Gibbs was in the middle of sanding the boat when his phone rings. At first he decided to just igore it. It's his first day off in months for god sake. But then his famous gut feeling was going into overdrive since earlier that morning.

"Um...Boss...It's Tony." Gibbs knew it. Somehow his senior field agent always managed to get into trouble without looking for it. Even on their day off. He swears that lad is gonna be the death of him someday.

"What's he got into now?" Gibbs was already climbing up the stairs and getting his wallet and keys.

"We were doing this wall climbing thing when he suddenly lose control and fall down." McGee explained to Gibbs while driving as fast as he can, as safe as possible to the hospital.

"Wall climbing? Why the hell would you guys do that thing? How bad?" Gibbs too was already en route to Bethesda.

"I know, I know. It's his idea. Apparently he's a regular at that place. It's just a small wound at the back of his head though. Probably from hitting the jugs." explained McGee.

"The what?!" Gibbs was lost at McGee's last sentence. How could Tony hit a jug while climbing a wall?

"Um.. The jugs is the holder attached to the wall. The thing that you hold on to while climbing, Boss." Thank God he ws listening to every words that the instructer said earlier.

"Whatever that is. I'll see you in five." Gibbs tossed his cellphone to the side and push the gas even harder.

The first thing that he noticed was the pain at the back of his head. He tried to open his eyes as he can sensed that without any doubt he's currently lying on a hospital bed. His right hand was attached to an IV so he moved his left hand to feel the back of his head. A strong calloused hand stopped his movement half-way.

"It's just a superficial wound. Nothing serious." Tony just nodded at his boss's explaination.

"How long have I been out, Boss?" His voice didn't sound very hoarse. He was thinking maybe a couple of hours.

"Just a few hours. The doctor said the hit to your head probably led to the unconsiousness. You'll be okay to discharge later this evening."

"Oh thank god! Don't think I wanna be stuck in the hospital on my day off." Tony smiled gleefully. He doesn't think that it's the best move to tell Gibbs that he was already losing his consciousness before his head hit one of the jugs. What the hell is really wrong with him?

"Hey Boss, where Timmy?" Asked Tony remembering McGee's voice before everything went south.

"I sent him home to get some rest after the doctor told us that you're okay." McGee was so worried that Gibbs had to headslap him to get his attention and to get him to go home.

"Aww...poor McWorry. Just when I thought I've help him with his height issue, seeing me fall like that must've scared the hell out of him." Tony was feeling sorry for McGee. He doesn't think that McGee is gonna get anywhere near a climbing wall in the near future.

"Get some rest, Dinozzo. I'll be back later this evening with your discharged paper." Gibbs made his way out to get more coffee and to inform the rest of the team that everything is fine with Tony.

A few minutes after Gibbs left, a tall male doctor made a way into Tony's room.

"Hello, Agent Dinozzo. I was informed by Agent Gibbs that you've regain consciousness. How are you feeling?" Dr. Marcus smiled while checking Tony's vitals.

"Hey doc. You can just call me Tony. I'm feeling pretty good actually except for this nagging headache." complained Tony when the band in his head would occasionally decided to do a metal concert without informing him first.

"It's probably the effect from hitting your head on the artificial rocks and falling down the mat. But I'm gonna do some test just as precaution. Is that okay with you?" Dr Marcus told Tony and scribbled something on his chart. Tony was weighing his decision. More tests means that if there's something wrong then he's gonna have to stay longer at the hospital.

"But I thought Agent Gibbs said that I was okayed to be discharged this evening?"

"Well Tony, that was before I found out about your complain of the headache." explained Dr. Marcus.

"I don't think it's that bad. How about I come back later to do the tests? I promised." Tony tried to negotiate with the doctor. As much as he wanted to know what's really wrong with him, he still prefers to not spend another night at the hospital.

"Alright, if you say so. I'll get the nurse to set up your appointment within this week. I will tell your boss which happens to be your next of kin if you decided not to show up during the appointment." Dr Marcus knew that when a patient like Tony has made up their mind, there's nothing much he can do except to comply and maybe use a little blackmailing technique.

"No, no. No Gibbs! I promised I'll show up." Tony smiled the best smile he could muster in his condition. He wants to keep everybody out of the loop as long as possible.

With that, Dr Marcus left Tony to rest and went to set up his appointment for the next two days.