Chapter Twenty-Four
They left Ziva and McGee in the waiting room until Tony was given the all clear by the second ECG that said he hadn’t had a heart attack - which brought great relief to them all.
Once it had been established that Tony was, once again, stable, and all they could do was wait for an opening on the surgery schedule for him to have his pacemaker put in, they sent Ducky back to the waiting area to collect McGee and Ziva. Gibbs told him to explain what had happened and why it had taken them so long to ask for them.
While they were alone, Tony looked at Gibbs, “Are you sure you want to get involved with someone who caused their own medical problems?”
“Tony, I love you, whether your heart beats of its own accord or if it need electrical stimulation, I don’t care, so long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters.”
“You realise there’s a chance that we won’t catch whoever did this to me,” Tony said, half whispering, so as not to annoy Gibbs with his statement. He half hoped Gibbs hadn’t heard him.
“Tony, if I have to go to the ends of the earth and back, I will find this guy and make him pay for what he did to you. The fact that he knew which shoulder was hurt, makes me think that he knew you and hopefully, when Ziva shows you the sketches, you’ll recognise him and we’ll be able to put a name to the face and track him down and question the son of a bitch and if he’s the one, arrest his ass and send him to Levenworth.”
Before Tony could say anything more, Ducky, McGee and Ziva appeared in the doorway. Ducky walked in and took his place at the end of Tony’s bed, looking at him in a way only the old M.E. could, whilst Ziva and McGee were slower to enter the room, as if they were waiting for permission from their boss to enter.
“Come on in, McGee, Ziva, we’ve not got long as it’s still ICU visiting hours and Tony is due dialysis shortly, so you might as well make the most of the time we’ve got,” Gibbs said, finally.
They both entered the small room. Ziva took her place in the chair by Tony’s bed that Abby had occupied on their previous visit. Had it only been yesterday? Tony didn’t look any better, at least according to Ziva. McGee stood by Ducky trying to avoid looking at his friend - who in his opinion looked worse than he had the day before.
“Sorry for making you wait, you guys, but the doctor gave me what turned out to be a near heart attack and that takes some recovering from, if you get what I mean,” Tony told them, trying to lighten the mood. It was obvious that Ducky had explained what had happened and they both had realised just how sick Tony was still, despite the fact that it had been over forty-eight hours since the overdose and that he was awake and talking. He still had a long way to go as far as recovery was concerned.
“It is fine, Tony, we understand,” Ziva said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. Everyone seemed to be in their own little worlds following the news that Tony needed a permanent pacemaker and none of them were concentrating on why they were really there - to find out if Tony knew his attacker.
“Probie, don’t you have something for me to sign?” Tony asked, waking McGee from his thoughts.
“Sure…erm…I think Ziva has it, but I typed up your statement and all I need is for you to read through it and sign it if you agree with it,” McGee replied, realising that he needed to focus all his energy on solving this case and not on the what might have beens as far as Tony’s health was concerned. Sure, he could have died, but the important thing was that he hadn’t and that was what they should all focus on.
Ziva flicked through the folder she was holding that held the statement as well as copies of all her sketches, she found the appropriate piece of paper and handed it to Tony to read through. She then went through her purse looking for a pen that he could use.
Tony read through the statement, nodding his head as he agreed with the phrasing McGee had used, then he took the pen Ziva was holding out and signed it on the bottom, before handing it back to McGee to hold onto whilst Ziva showed him the sketches.
“I made several different sketches from the description you gave me, Tony,” Ziva said, holding out a wad of papers that had all the various outcomes on them. “I wanted to make sure I got the right description because there could have been many different people made from what you told us.”
She went to hand them to Tony, but Gibbs interceded, noticing how tired Tony was. “I’ll take these and have him look at them when he’s less tired. How does that sound?”
“Fine, Gibbs, whatever you think is best,” Ziva replied.
Tony leaned back onto his pillows and tried to hide a yawn from his guests, but failed at it miserably.
“The excitement this morning seems to have worn you out, my dear boy,” Ducky said, noticing the yawn. “I think it’s best if we all head back to NCIS and leave you and Gibbs to get some sleep.”
“I’ll walk you all out, want to ask you something, Ducky. Is that okay, Tony?” Gibbs said.
“Sure thing, I’ll be here, sleeping most likely,” Tony replied closing his eyes as sleep rushed to claim him.
Ziva leaned over and said something in Hebrew before placing a gentle kiss on Tony’s forehead. McGee said nothing as he followed Ducky out of the room, soon to be joined by Gibbs and Ziva. Gibbs gave them both a look and they walked ahead to give Gibbs some privacy as he spoke to the M.E.
“What is it I can do for you, Jethro?” Ducky asked, matching Gibbs’ slow pace.
“Is it okay to leave him on the external pacemaker when he needs a permanent one or is it an emergency? I mean, does he need the surgery done sooner than they’re letting on?” Gibbs asked, obviously worried for his agent and his lover.
“I imagine the young doctor weighed up both the pros and cons before he made the decision to wait. You have to remember that not twenty-four hours ago, Tony was in a critical condition on a ventilator and they have to be sure his body has recovered from the overdose before risking a surgery that could be put off for a few days. I imagine if he thought that Tony’s life was in immediate danger, he would have arranged for the surgery to happen today. Also, if it becomes an issue, they’ll move it up. Try not to worry, Jethro and make sure you get plenty of sleep. Anthony will need you both physically and emotionally during his recovery so you’ll need to be at your best. Try not to stress him out demanding he place anyone he recognises in Ziva’s sketches - I know you want to find who attacked Tony, but forcing him into another seizure is not going to do that,” Ducky said, trying to ease some of the worry.
“About that, is he really going to be able to be an active Field Agent if his seizures are brought on by stress?”
“That’s something to be brought up with his prescribing physician, not me. If it were me, I would say that as long as Tony has a way for dealing with his stress and not bottling it up, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Okay.”
“What else is bothering you, Jethro?”
“I’m worried that the Director will take his overdose and the medical conditions he’s gained because of it - the seizure disorder and the need for a permanent pacemaker and use it all as an excuse to retire Tony on medical grounds,” Gibbs admitted to his friend.
“Why would she do that?”
“Well, for one she’s not happy about the amount of time off I’ve taken to care for Tony and for another, ever since that Benoit incident, she’s looked for any excuse to declare Tony incompetent, she doesn’t like that he fell in love with the girl and basically lost her her chance to catch ‘The Frog’.”
“I think you judge her too harshly. She, like the rest of us, has been worried about Tony ever since this happened and has gone out of her way to make it clear that as far as she is concerned your team has no other case than catching the bastard that raped Tony. Maybe she just has difficulty in expressing how she feels around you.”
“Maybe. My gut tells me it’s something more though.”
“Ah, your famous gut. Well, maybe for once it’s just indigestion you’re feeling and not anything more sinister.
“Okay, Duck, I’ll go with that and give her a chance. I better let you get off and get back to Tony.” Gibbs shook Ducky’s outstretched hand and turned back in the direction of Tony’s room.
When he got there, he could see that Tony was in some kind of trouble, he was breathing hard and fast, his heart rate climbing enough that it had alerted the nurse looking after him. She entered shortly after Gibbs and started to check everything to see what was going on to cause Tony such distress.
On his bed were the sketches that Ziva had drawn, grasped in his hand was one that Gibbs could not quite make out. He took long steps across the room until he was at Tony’s side.
“Tony, what is it? You need to calm down, you’re going to induce another seizure.”
“It’s him, Gibbs.”
“Who?”
“The man who raped me.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Who will catch DiNozzo when he falls?
Chapter End Notes:
As a treat, here's a second chapter for the day since I'm ahead of myself. Enjoy!