Hello friends! I´m sorry for the delay and that this chapter is so short. Last week i had a very important exam, so i couldn't update. anyway i hope you like this chapter !

Silently, he sat beside the bed, leaning one arm against the side of the bed while he gently stroked her forehead with the other hand. It had taken a long time for her to finally fall asleep, to find some peace. He was pretty tired himself, having been sitting here for close to four hours, waiting in vain for a doctor. If he could have guessed yesterday morning how acutely her condition was changing, he would have driven her to the hospital much earlier. He could just kick himself in the butt.

Lovingly, he pulled the cloth blanket up to her shoulder. In his rush to get her to a hospital as soon as possible, he hadn't managed to dress her in anything decent. She was wearing nothing more than a tank top and sweatpants. Here, in the emergency room, it was colder than he thought, and he asked one of the nurses to bring him a blanket.

"Go back to sleep.", he said softly when he noticed she opened her eyes.

"What time is it?"

"Three in the morning. How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted...", she murmured softly, swallowing hard; "This headache is killing me."

Slowly, she turned onto her back, closing her eyes as the dizziness returned. With the dizziness came the nausea again, and the longer she lay on her back, the stronger it became. With difficulty, she sat up as she could feel the sinking feeling in her stomach growing. She thought she was going to throw up at any moment.

"What are you doing?", asked Gibbs, getting up from the chair.

She swallowed hard, having to close her eyes as this sudden pressure in her head blurred her vision. The outlines were getting darker, she couldn't make out the people in front of her, and the sounds were getting duller. In her ear, she heard an increasingly loud beeping sound.

"Jenny?"

Pained, she clawed at the bed, frantically trying to fight the pain, but not even the IV was helping.

"Jen, look at me.", Leroy said softly, reaching for her hand.

Tenderly, he stroked the back of her hand, glancing at the base again and again, hoping Dr. Jordan would come at any moment and finally relieve her of her pain. He had to watch this suffering for four hours, now that she was getting worse, he could not watch it any longer. He had to put an end to this suffering!

With his hands he reached for her head, held it carefully between his hands and looked into her green eyes. In them the last hours were reflected, pain and tiredness stood out in them, and he felt even more helpless.

"It hurts...", she croaked hotter and tears gathered in her eyes. "I can't take it anymore."

"I'm going to get a doctor now," Gibbs said suddenly, sternly. "I can't watch this anymore..."

"Jethro..."

The gray-haired man leaned toward her, gently pushed her back onto the cot, and covered her. Firmly, he squeezed her hand and stroked her cheek reassuringly before saying; "I'll be right back."

Barely noticing, she nodded, tried to close her eyes and turned onto her side. Lying on her back only made her nauseous and as she buried her head in the cushion, tightening her legs, she placed a hand over her stomach.

"I need a doctor, now.", Gibbs said sternly as he walked up to base.

"Have you filled out the registration form yet?", a young nurse asked without looking up from her computer.

"Yes, four hours ago."; Gibbs replied grimly, eyeing the young woman with a scowl. "My wife is in pain, she needs a doctor now."

"How long has she had the pain?"

"That's not relevant now, she's in pain now, has been for hours, and it's getting worse with each passing hour."

Even a Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who was usually sparse with his feelings and emotions, clearly showed how drained he was by the last few hours and how hard Jenny's pain was taking him. He couldn't help her, couldn't take away her pain, and that made him feel so helpless.

"Look, we would have a follow-up appointment today anyway for a head CT on my wife, Dr. Jordan is her attending neurologist, can you..."

"Sir, I understand that, but we have other patients here who are not doing well. They'll be on soon."

Rolling his eyes, he looked at the young woman in front of him.

"I'm not going to wait here another four hours. Get him here.", Gibbs repeated sternly.

"Now!"

Angrily, he pounded his fist on the open space in front of him. The ER patients all cast an inconspicuous glance at him. Jethro didn't have that kind of time, and especially that kind of patience, to wait any longer. Dr. Jordan had to come now!

The phone, on Gibbs desk, rang for the third time, but no one answered. McGee looked at the table questioningly. Gibbs was still not there, even though it was already nine o'clock. Where was he? If Timothy McGee learned anything quickly in the time he had been a member of this team, it was that Gibbs was always the first one in the office. Even Tony was already here, having just come off the elevator.

"Alright, will do. Check in later.", Tim could hear him talking as he watched him walk to his desk.

"Bad news?"

"Gibbs won't be in today.", Tony replied to his partner.

"Did he say why, too?"

The senior field agent put his things away, tossing his jacket over his chair as he set his phone on the countertop.

"He drove the director to the hospital yesterday around eleven p.m., they're still there."

"Did he say what happened?"

"She wasn´t feeling very well yesterday.", Ziva said, butting into the conversation as she joined the table groups.

"How do you know?", asked Tony skeptically, eyeing her.

"I just know.", she replied curtly.

"Did Gibbs say something, Tony?", McGee repeated his question, looking at him expectantly.

"Nothing concrete, just that they're still running some tests."

"So it's just going to be the three of us today..."

"Yes, Probie, and since I'm the senior field agent, I'll be in charge, and that also means we have to go to the crime scene now."

"Anthony!", said Ducky delightedly as he saw the young man approaching him.

Holding a cup of coffee, he stopped in front of the body and eyed the coroner.

"What do you got?", he asked curtly, taking a sip.

"Where's Gibbs?"

"Took the director to the hospital last night."

"What happened?", he asked worriedly, getting up from the floor. "How is she?"

"Don't know, Gibbs just said they were still running some tests, and he'd be in touch if there was any news."

Silently, Donald nodded, swallowing hard before refocusing on his work – or at least trying to. Ducky wasn't one to assume the worst, always trying to be optimistic, but in this case he was finding it very difficult. Yesterday, when she almost collapsed, that edema in her head and all the stress – it didn't bode well. Anyway, he knew as soon as he got back to NCIS, he would have to call Gibbs. Right now, though, there was work to be done and this could at least distract him a little.

"Our Patty officer was shot at close range. The bullet hit him in the side of the temple, you can also see it from the gunshot residue at the entry point."

With his hands, he carefully turned the man's head to the side, so Tony could get a look at his temple.

"There's a puncture mark on his neck, probably inflicted before death occurred.", he continued, letting McGee take a picture of it before moving on to the dead man's hands; "Both hands show hematomas, he was tied up – same on the legs."

The older man got back up from the floor, looking thoughtfully at Tony.

"I can't tell you any more than that until after the autopsy, though, I'll be in touch."

"Thanks Ducky.", said Anthony before rejoining his colleagues.

Impatiently, Gibbs paced up and down the hallway, trying to remain calm, but the uncertainty ate at him. He threw his empty coffee cup into the trash can next to him, it must have been the fifth cup already. Somehow he had to compensate for the acute lack of sleep, needed the caffeine to stay awake.

How long had he been standing here? Nervously, Gibbs glanced at the watch on his wrist. It was almost noon, how much longer did he have to wait? Yet all he wanted was one thing, to be with her. Gibbs just wanted to be with her, to hold her hand and ease her fear, but he wasn't allowed to go – he wasn't allowed into the operating area.

"Agent Gibbs!", he could hear his name being called.

"How is she?"

"We should sit down, discuss everything calmly.", Dr. Jordan began to speak, gesturing Gibbs to take a seat on the plastic chair.

"Is it that bad?"

"I'm very sorry, I know how difficult the last few weeks have been and that it hasn't been very easy for her. We tried everything to avoid surgery, in the end we had to operate."

Gibbs swallowed hard. Surgery? They had operated on her? So the medications hadn't worked, so she was having this pain from the growing edema...?

"But, I thought this edema would go away with the medication?"

"It was never 100% certain that we would get the edema under control with the oral therapy, it was a gentler option to be able to avoid surgery. We had an head CT done before surgery and the images were clear, we had no other choice. Her circulation is stable so far, the operation was nevertheless very exhausting for her and when you come to her, she will probably still be asleep. Nevertheless, there is also something good, we were able to remove the edema completely and nothing stands in the way of a recovery."

"Can I see her?"

"Of course, I will bring you to the ICU."

Both men walked down the long hallway. The walk to the intensive care unit seemed particularly long today, but that was probably because he himself was already at the end of his rope. Jethro knew he had to be strong for both of them now, though.

"Listen, before you go into the room...", said Phil Jordan calmly, stopping just outside the door to her room; "She needs a lot of rest, not to get upset or overexerted."

"Of course.", the Marine replied calmly.

... Hope you like it :)