The knife came swiftly down as Tony moved to the side. He felt the knife slice through his right arm.
"Ahh" winced Tony instinctively using him left hand to reach over and cover up his wound. He sprang to his feet and backed away. "Calm down Mrs Carter. Put the knife down and we can talk"
"I am not going to prison for what my husband did to me"
"What did he do Mrs Carter?" said Tony keeping his distance
"We've been married 5 years. We were college sweethearts" she said a tear rolling down her cheek. She brushed it aside quickly. "But I wasn't enough. 5 years of me loving and treasuring that man wasn't enough" another tear was brushed aside
"What did he do?" repeated Tony
"What did he do?" said Mrs Carter incredulously "He said that I was suffocating him and that he needed to get out. Needed time to think. He thought I was so bad he thought he needed to create a whole new identity to get away from me!" she said her voice wavering. "But I showed him" she said with a new found strength, "you don't just abandon five years of marriage. You don't just abandon your one year old kid!"
"Where is Tommy?" said Tony realising he'd forgotten all about the child.
"Upstairs" she said like she wasn't really listening "He's sleeping now. No one will ever do that to him again" Tony didn't like the sound of that
"Can I see him?"
"What?" she said like she coming out of a trance "If you want, he's upstairs" Tony moved towards the door. "Slowly" she said. Tony walked slowly through the door to the hallway and up the stairs. Mrs Carter had the knife to his back the entire time; he could feel the tip of the blade indenting into his spine. They reached the top of the stairs. "He's in that room there," she said motioning towards a door at the end of the hallway that was ajar. It had a little ceramic sign on the door that said ‘Tommy' decorated with tiny ceramic balloons. Tony moved towards this room and opened the door further. He saw Tommy lying in his cot. He looked peaceful, a little too peaceful thought Tony. He reached over and put two fingers against the side of Tommy's neck.
No pulse.
"Mrs Carter, I don't know how to tell you but your son is dead" said Tony
"Don't you think I know that?!" she replied her voice now totally broken "But he's better off that way" It was at this moment that Kate and Carrie pulled up to the outside of the house. Tony heard the car and turned a bit so he could see through the crack in the curtains.
"We should go downstairs now" said Tony
"Why?" she said curiously and moved closer to the curtains. ‘Damn' thought Tony, he hadn't been subtle enough. Mrs Carter saw the car.
"Your tricking me" she said angrily and pounced on Tony with the knife held high. Tony grabbed her wrists and tried to pull the knife away from her. Kate and Carrie knocked on the door. No answer. They heard a muffled shout from upstairs. Both Kate and Carrie kicked the door at the same time and it swung open. They entered the house guns drawn and moved quickly to the living room.
"Tony? Mrs Carter?" Kate's heart fell like a stone at the site of the sofa, her mouth turned dry.
"Blood" she said "On the sofa. TONY?" she shouted through the house. They heard a man's scream from upstairs and both of them turned and ran towards the stairs. Tony's hands had slipped and the knife had come down quickly making a three-inch cut at the base of his neck. ‘Crap' he thought, this woman was surprisingly strong. Blood had started to flow down the front of his shirt from his neck wound. Tony tried again to grab the knife from Mrs Carter but she was too quick. The door to the room crashed open and Carrie and Kate burst through guns drawn. Mrs Carter had moved behind Tony and had the knife to his neck. As Kate had burst through the doors she'd had a mixture of feelings. Relief upon finding that Tony was still alive, panic at the site of Tony with a knife at his throat and shock at how much blood there was down the front of his shirt were just some of the feelings. This sudden rush of so many feelings blurred her vision for a few seconds before she cleared her mind. ‘This is only a simple hostage situation' she thought ‘I've been in plenty of these before… but not with Tony as the hostage' she reminded her self. Still Kate was an excellent officer, she had been a bodyguard for the president god damn it. She was trained for these types of situation.
"Put the knife down Mrs Carter," said Kate
"No" she screamed, "I won't let you take me"
"Just let agent DiNozzo go," she said
"I said no" she said and pressed the knife harder against Tony's neck. Kate could see by the look on Tony's face that he was in a lot of pain. That neck wound looked deep she told her self. They had to work fast.
"Come on" said Carrie calmly "Lets all calm down and we can talk"
"Talk?" said Mrs Carter backing away with Tony in her arms "Why would I want to talk?"
"We all just need to calm down," she repeated. Mrs Carter was still backing away towards the cot were a quiet Tommy lay.
"Let agent DiNozzo go and it will be better for you when your arrested" said Kate.
"Arrested?" said Mrs Carter and took a step backwards and knocked into the cot. It had taken her by surprise. Her legs buckled and the knife slipped away from Tony's throat. He swung round and grabbed her wrist with the knife in it. Carrie came over and managed to retrieve the knife while Kate grabbed Tony and pulled him backwards out of the scuffle.
"Are you alright," said Kate looking straight into Tony's eyes. He could hear the concern in her voice.
"Fine" said Tony, but as he spoke a burning sensation hit his neck and he winced hard. He closed his eyes and brought his hand to his neck. Kate felt as if she had felt the burn too. She grabbed a blanket from on top of a nearby table and moved Tony's hand away. She gently pressed the cloth into the side of his neck and then applied pressure.
"Don't try and talk" she said and manoeuvred him so that he sat down in a chair in the corner of the room. Kate knelt next to him.
"Thanks" he said croakily
"What did I say?" said Kate taking control "Don't talk. For once in your life Tony, do what I say" Tony smiled and this forced Kate to smile. Carrie had apprehended Mrs Carter and had her on the floor face down, hands cuffed behind her back. They could hear the sirens in the distance.
"Not long now" Kate told Tony, "Gibbs is almost here. You'd better think of a good excuse to tell Gibbs why you let her stab you" she smiled. Carrie laughed and Tony just gave a pained expression, this made the two girls laugh even more.
***
Author's Chapter Notes:
I wouldn't want to give it away...