15 April, 2016

Gibbs entered Tony's room, wondering what was going on. He had gotten a call from a nurse in the ICU asking him to come to the hospital. When he had arrived, another nurse had told him that Tony had asked for him, which was odd since Tony's memory still hadn't improved. He wondered if Tony had remembered something overnight, because Tony was smiling at him when he sat in a chair near the bed, something that Tony had not done since last Friday.

"Hi," said Gibbs warily.

"Hey, Gibbs." Tony looked at the older man, appreciation coursing through his body.

"Is there a problem? The nurses asked me to come in."

"I asked them to call you. I wanted to apologise for being so rude over the last few days."

"You haven't been rude, Tony. Maybe a little afraid, but not rude."

"I feel bad because I didn't recognise you. I think I remember something now, because I know you're my boss. I know you helped me hide the fact that Danny stole money, and I know that you took me under your wing at NCIS. I remember that that was when you slapped the back of my head for the first time."

Gibbs relaxed. Tony had gotten his memory up to, at the very least, the end of 2002 now.

"Can you tell me what year it is?"

"2003."

"Start or end?"

"End."

"Alright. We're getting somewhere now. Did Doctor Cranston speak to you yet?"

"Yesterday. She's coming back on Monday."

"Good. She's good at helping people get their lost memories back."

"She told me to call her Rachel. She's so nice."

"So you know where you work. What else do you remember?"

"Kate. I remember meeting her while she was still in the Secret Service. She and I work well together, but I think I annoy her sometimes."

"Not just Kate that gets annoyed. Keep going. Do you remember McGee?"

"Tim? Yeah. He's a computer nerd. He was fixing our computers last time we saw him."

"He isn't a part of the team yet?"

"He is, just he's still busy in the basement."

"Do you remember Ari Haswari?"

"Yeah. He shot you and Gerald. He likes Kate." Tony made a face. "We have a new ME's assistant. Uh, Palmer, I think his name is."

"Good. Yes, Palmer is Ducky's assistant now. Do you remember anything else?"

"No… Wait…"

"What is it Tony?"

"Ari. He's a Mossad operative that's gone rogue, right? He kidnapped Kate once."

"Yes, he did. Do you remember what happened to Kate after that?"

Tony frowned, a memory clearly bothering him.

"Tell me, Tony."

"Kate… She was shot. But the vest caught it. And, then Ari shot her again."

"Where did she get shot this time?"

"In the head." Tony's eyes watered a little. "Ari is dead too, though."

"Do you know how he died?"

"You shot him." Tony looked at Gibbs. "You shot him to stop him from killing anyone else."

Gibbs nodded. Clearly, Tony did not know Ziva yet. "You're doing well with your memory, Tony. What else can you remember?"

Tony shook his head. "That's it. Did someone replace Kate?"

"Yes. You'll remember soon enough. I'm going to see if Brad is available. Will you be alright until I get back?"

"Yes. But, please come back? It's really lonely here."

"I'll be back. And I'll call Abby to come and spend some time with you too. Would you like that?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Gibbs gave Tony a smile as he left the room.

"Gibbs? You asked to speak with me?" Brad asked.

"Yeah. I just spoke with Tony. He has some of his memory back, I think. He was able to tell me that it was the end of 2003. He told me that Kate was killed and that I killed the person responsible."

"Good. He's definitely improving. I just checked his latest scans, and the swelling is completely gone. His brain is still quite severely bruised, but I feel confident in saying that he will get his memory back eventually."

Gibbs felt relieved by the news. "What about his injuries? Are they healing?"

"His ribs are almost completely mended, though I think he may still have pain from them for a while. His right kidney has started to heal, but it will take time. The left kidney is healing nicely. I suspect that a few more days will show it to be healed in full. His skull is mending itself well, thanks to the surgeon that glued it back into place."

"What about his legs?"

"The left leg is doing well, the right is too, though it's slower with all the injuries. It's still going to be a while before either leg have healed enough to allow us to even try getting Tony to walk."

Gibbs sighed. He had figured it would take a while, but he just wanted his friend to be okay. He thanked the doctor, then stepped away to call Abby.

Abby was just getting ready to have lunch when her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and answered it, knowing Gibbs had gone to see Tony.

"How's Tony?" she asked immediately.

"Okay. He got about a year's worth of memories back. He's lonely, Abbs. Can you come and spend some time with him while I see whether Metro has managed to find the person that hit Tony?"

"I'm on my way. Can Tony have anything other than hospital food yet?"

"Yeah, but only small amounts. Just make sure you don't bring pizza. We know what Tony's like when it comes to pizza."

"Okay. I'm on my way. Tell Tony that I'll bring him his favourite hippo."

Abby heard a laugh from Gibbs before he agreed to let Tony know she was on her way and hung up. Abby grabbed Bert from her office and walked out, carrying her lunch with her.