Chapter Sixteen
When they brought Tony back from his CAT scan, he was still unconscious, which worried Gibbs - surely he should have woken up by now? They expertly transferred him back onto his bed and went about attaching him to the monitors again.
Dr. Foster appeared at the door, carrying what had to be Tony’s scan results, he motioned for Gibbs to join him and although he wanted to stay with Tony and let him know where he was, he knew that whatever the doctor had to tell him was more important.
“Why is he still unconscious?” Gibbs asked, once they were out of Tony’s room.
“He’s not, he woke up in the scanner and asked for you. We tried to explain to him where he was, but he got very agitated so we had to sedate him for the procedure. The effects should wear off in a couple of hours,” the doctor explained.
“Okay.” Gibbs felt relieved, Tony wasn’t unconscious, he was sedated which meant he’d woken up after the seizure which had to be a good thing, surely?
“I’ll need to have a neurologist have a look at these scans, but from what I can see there is no permanent damage, he may still suffer seizures as a result of the overdose, but we can medicate him to ensure they don’t effect him day to day life,” Dr. Foster said.
“So, he’ll have epilepsy for the rest of his life?”
“We don’t know, like I said, only time will tell if he’ll have a seizure disorder. The scans don’t suggest epilepsy, but we will keep him on the medication he’s on at the moment and I’d like you to avoid stressing him out as much as possible as that can be a factor with causing seizures, it seems to be the case of the last one. Like I said, I’m going to ask a neurologist to look at the scan results and maybe do a consultation with Tony, but he’s stable for now and I’ll let you know when I’ve found a suitable psychiatrist for him to talk to.”
“Thank you, do you think it would be okay for me to bring my team in to talk to him? Maybe get a sketch of his attacker?” Gibbs asked, although he had no intention of doing anything until he’d spoken to Tony about it.
“As long as Tony stays calm that should be fine. I know that you want to catch the man responsible, but right now we have to concentrate on getting Tony better and that may mean delaying the investigation.”
“I understand.” Though, he did understand that didn’t mean that he felt okay with delaying the investigation any further. The longer it took for them to get out a BOLO on the guy, the more chance there was of him slipping through the net and not being caught.
He thanked Dr. Foster again and went back into Tony’s room to sit with him while he slept off the sedative. Hopefully, once he woke Gibbs would be able to assess whether Tony was ready to talk to the team about what had happened.
~*~
When Tony opened his eyes, three hours later, the first thing he saw were Gibbs’ eyes staring straight back at him.
“Hey you, wondered when you’d come back to the land of the living,” Gibbs said, putting down the magazine he’d been flicking through whilst Tony had been asleep.
“What happened?” Tony asked, groggily.
“The psych guy stressed you our so much that you had a seizure, they took you for a CAT scan and you woke up, but you were so agitated that I wasn’t there that they had to sedate you,” Gibbs told him.
“I remember the shrink and you coming in and saying something, but everything after that is a blank,” Tony admitted. “Should I be worried about that?”
“No, the doctor said it’s normal for people to forget things after a seizure.”
“Am I gonna keep having them?”
“Well, that they don’t know. You’re on drugs to stop them and they’ll keep you on those until you can see a neurologist who can assess any damage.”
“Dammit, does that mean I won’t be able to be an active Field Agent?”
Gibbs sighed, no one knew if Tony had damaged himself irreversibly and whether or not that would affect his ability to work, but he owed it to Tony to tell him the truth, at least the way he saw it.
“We don’t know, Tony. The truth is the overdose was large enough to cause damage to your kidneys and your liver. You’re on dialysis for your kidneys, drugs for your liver - it may be able to heal itself with a little help, but the doctor said that you may need a transplant if your kidneys can’t recover from the damage the Vicodin did. We don’t know if you can return to work as an active Field Agent, time will tell, but right now we just don’t know.”
Tony sighed and looked at Gibbs, he knew that his boss was telling him all that he knew, but he still wished that he could tell him that everything was going to be okay. He knew that it had been him who’d taken the overdose, but still part of him blamed the man who had raped him. If he’d only taken his gun, or his cell. If only he’d called Gibbs rather than taken an overdose. If only he hadn’t gone for a run that night and just gone to bed instead. If only he hadn’t taken a long shower after the attack. He could ‘if only’ himself to death
“I messed up, boss, I really messed up,” Tony said, finally, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. He wasn’t usually such an emotional person, but the events of last day or so had wiped him out and he found himself crying at the smallest thing. Not that losing the job he loved was something small, but he still couldn’t understand why he was crying when he usually coped with these things in a much different way.
“Yeah, you did, but that’s not important right now. What’s important is you getting better and us catching the guy that lead you to this,” Gibbs replied, squeezing Tony’s hand in comfort.
“Okay.” Tony nodded, prying his hand out of Gibbs’ grasp and wiping his face. “Do you know when they’re going to try me without the pacemaker? It’s starting to itch and I don’t like my chest twitching out of my own control.”
“I can ask, but Dr. Foster wants to keep a close eye on you over the next twenty-four hours, you’re still not out of danger yet, so it’ll probably stay on until you’re ready to be moved to a normal room.”
“It’s fine, I’ll ask him when he next comes in,” Tony said, sighing as his chest twitched again. Gibbs hated seeing him like that, so despondent, but he knew that it was a marked improvement on how he’d seen Tony just twenty-four hours earlier.
“Tony, I need to ask you something, but you need to stay calm so as not to trigger another seizure.”
“Okay.”
“Would it be okay for me to ask McGee and Ziva to come and see you? Get Ziva to do a sketch of what the guy looked like and McGee take your statement of what happened? I promise I’ll stay with you the whole time and we don’t have to do it right now, it’s just that the longer we leave it, the more chance there is of this scumbag getting away with what he did to you.”
“It would just be them? No one else?”
“Do you really think I would let any other team at NCIS deal with this? Like Abby said, we’re a family and we deal with our problems as a team. The only people I want on the trail of this perp are McGee and Ziva, with Abby doing processing and Ducky autopsying the guy when I’ve beaten him to a pulp.”
“You’re going to kill him?”
“I wish I could say I could, but no, only if the situation warrants it. Doesn’t mean I won’t make the remainder of his life a living hell for attacking one of my people, not to mention the man that I love.”
Tony smiled and settled back against the pillows, he was still feeling the effects of the sedative, pulling at him to close his eyes and give in to a couple more hours sleep. He could see Gibbs watching him closely, so his boss obviously knew that he needed more sleep, but he wouldn’t let Tony rest until he had an answer. It was important for both Tony’s recovery and Gibbs’ feeling of guilt at letting his man down that they get on the trail of the perp.
“Can I call them, Tony?” Gibbs asked, he realised that it would not be long before Tony was asleep again and he was desperate for an answer before then.
“Yes, and tell them to bring Abby, I can hold onto her as I tell them what happened.”
“You won’t need Abby to hold onto, Tony, I’ll be here by your side the whole time. I won’t leave, no matter what you have to say,” Gibbs promised
“You sure? It’s not nice to hear.”
“It’s not nice to talk about, but you’re strong enough to do that and I’ll be strong enough to hear it. I was a marine, after all.”
“I love you, Gibbs,” Tony half-whispered as sleep rushed up to claim him, he almost didn’t hear Gibbs return the sentiment, but he felt the gentle kiss on his forehead as he relaxed into sleep’s open arms.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Who will catch DiNozzo when he falls?