The house was strangely quiet when Gibbs returned. He sat the groceries and Tony’s duffel bag full of clothes down on the floor. He could not hear the TV and it was only when he looked down at the floor that he saw the blood trail. He felt his stomach rise into this throat and he paused for a second before he continued into his home. He began to follow the blood trail as he closed the door behind him.
“Tony?!” Gibbs called. He pulled out his gun and slowly and carefully followed the trail, being careful not to smear the drops. “Tony, answer me!”
The drops stopped at the bathroom door, which was closed. “Tony?” Gibbs said cautiously. He stood to the side and pushed the door open with the nose of his gun.
Gibbs found Tony sitting on the floor. He had backed himself into a corner against the bathtub and a wall. He was holding his gun very steadily in his left hand, considering he predominately shot with his right. Gibbs immediately saw the reason, Tony had a huge red stain, which was spreading, over his right shoulder.
Seeing who his visitor was, Tony quickly lowered his arm. The gun slide out of his hand onto the floor, then his eyes closed and his head fell back against the wall.
“Tony!” Gibbs said, not caring if Tony heard the panic in his voice. He unbuttoned Tony’s shirt and pulled it off his shoulder. Tony looked to have 2 bullet wounds. Both in his right shoulder.
Tony moaned and opened his eyes as Gibbs grabbed a towel and pressed it to the wounds. “No…windows.”
Gibbs looked at Tony confused. “What windows?”
“Room…no…windows.” Tony repeated, trying to make Gibbs understand.
Gibbs looked around him, unsure of what Tony was trying to tell him. It was then he looked into his living room. For the first time since coming home he noticed his one of the windows was broken. The way the sun was shining through the window and reflecting, he could tell that there were shards of broken glass on his couch too.
Gibbs looked at his agent. “They shot you through the window?”
Tony nodded and then Gibbs understood why Tony had chosen one of the few rooms in his house with no windows. Gibbs took out his phone and began to dial.
Tony reached out his left hand and pulled on Gibbs arm, the one holding the phone. He got Gibbs’ attention.
Tony shook his head as vigorously as he could. “No!” Tony explained. “Ducky…hurt.”
“I won’t let that happen, Tony. I’ll tell him to park down the street and come in the back door. He will be fine. I’ll make sure Ziva is with him.” He patted Tony’s arm reassuringly.
Tony shook his head again. “Too many…involved…no more!”
“You know what this is about, with Sharon?” Gibbs asked.
Tony shook his head. He had no idea. He only knew it was personal, his problem. “My problem.” He then made a move to get up off the floor of the bathroom.
Gibbs put his hand on Tony’s uninjured shoulder and gently, easily pushed him back down.
Gibbs sighed and put his hands to both sides of Tony neck in a fatherly gesture. “I will only say this to you once, DiNozzo. And I mean only once, so listen up. We are family. You’re my surrogate son. I take care of my family, damn good care of my family.”
Gibbs gave Tony an appraising look. “You are too weak to handle this alone. You go out that door now and you are a slow-moving target. You need Ducky. We need him to remove those bullets.”
“You…do it.” Tony replied.
Gibbs could tell by the look on Tony’s face that Tony had full faith in him that he could. “It’s been a long time….”
“Once a…marine….” Tony started. He was beginning to fade, getting weaker and weaker by the second.
Gibbs had performed surgery out in the field once. He had been shot in the leg, a relatively minor wound. But he was miles from an aid station and he knew he had to do something before infection set in. So he had operated on himself. It had hurt like hell and he had had a time finding something to bind the wound with until he could get the proper help. But this was different, Tony wounds were deep and he was bleeding too much for Gibbs to chance digging around in the wound looking for the bullet. Plus, if he nicked a blood vessel and Tony bleed to death…. He couldn’t even finish the thought.
“What makes you think he is still out there?” Gibbs asked.
“Figures…go..for help.”
“OK.” Gibbs reasoned. He had resumed his pressure on Tony’s wound and was sitting on the lip of the tub. “But it’s been….” Gibbs looked at his watch. He had left 2 hours ago. He had had to go by the office and extend his leave. He had gotten some things from Tony’s apartment and he had picked some things up at the grocery store.
“…about 45 minutes before you came back.” Tony said completing his sentence and answering his question about how long ago Tony had been shot.
“We need Ducky…” Gibbs reiterated. “…the wound is too deep. I can’t. If you got an infection…. You need pain medication, Tony.” Gibbs explained. “I can’t hold you down and operate on you at the same time. And trust me, it is going to hurt like hell once I start digging around in there, looking for a bullet.”
Tony shook his head. “Can’t risk it.” Tony said grimacing. He pulled his right arm into his lap and tried to change position.
“Tony…!”
Tony shook his head again. “Too many …people involved.”
“We aren’t just ‘people.’” Gibbs said, trying to get it through Tony’s thick head to make him understand. “We are your friends. We care about you. If you’re involved, then we’re involved.”
“Won’t let …die…for me.” Tony said just before he passed out.
Gibbs took advantage of Tony’s condition and called Ducky anyway. He told Ducky to get Ziva to accompany him. Ducky grabbed all the instruments and medication he would need. Plus all the extra he could fit into his bag.
Ducky and Ziva arrived about 10 minutes after Gibbs’s call. Gibbs, meanwhile, had chosen the only other room in his house with no windows. The room he used as a den. He found a blow-up mattress and made a make-shift platform bed. He, Ducky and Ziva roused Tony and then got him out of the bathroom and onto the mattress, which Gibbs had covered with sheets and a blanket.
Ducky instructed Ziva to get water in a basin, washcloths and towels. She would act as his assistant during the operation. Ducky instructed Gibbs to position himself on Tony’s legs. Ducky explained he had muscles relaxers with him, but he was not sure he had enough to last the entire operation. Gibbs needed to be in place in case his assistance was needed. Ducky administered the medication, waited for it to take effect. Then he began the surgery.
Tony lay still until Ducky began to sew up the incisions he had made. Tony opened his eyes. He moaned and began to move his arms and his legs causing Gibbs to lean forward to pin Tony’s arms to the mattress with his weight. He sat on Tony’s legs also, to keep him from moving around on the mattress.
“Tony!” Gibbs said firmly in an attempt to orient Tony and to calm him down. “You’re OK, Tony. Ducky and Ziva are here. They got here safely. Ducky removed the bullet.”
Tony looked around panicked. “…windows….”
Gibbs shook his head. “There are no windows in here. You’re in the den. You’re OK. You’re going to be OK.”
Tony seemed to calm down. He nodded and closed his eyes again. He was exhausted and he had lost a lot of blood in the span of about an hour.
“Ducky?” Gibbs said as he felt Tony relax and he climbed down off the mattress.
Ducky motioned for him to step out into the hall. “I have given him enough pain medicine to help him sleep for awhile. The muscle relaxers didn’t last as long as I had hoped. But they lasted long enough. I have given him antibiotics, also.” Ducky paused. “Young Anthony should be out for several hours.”
Gibbs nodded. He looked back at Tony as Ziva covered him with the blanket and wiped the sweat off his brow.
TBC
Author's Chapter Notes:
Oh, the drama.
Chapter End Notes:
Not sure if Gibbs’s house has a bathroom on the first floor. But as of now, it does, and there are no windows in it. (to be explained later) Also, the part of Gibbs being shot while in the Marines is my creation. I know he was shot several times, as mentioned on the program. But this one it special, for it is mine.