Title: Innocent Blood
Chapter 6/6 - Picking up the pieces.
Genre (general, hetero or slash) Gen/Action
Pairing/Characters: Ensemble
Disclaimer. I don't own the NCIS characters, I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them in minty fresh condition when I'm finished.
Many thanks to FatCat for all her Beta'ing work.
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Previously on NCIS
Chip shot Jimmy and abducted Tony.
Gibbs and co tracked Tony through Jimmy's phone (which Tony had managed to take with him). They arrived in the nick of time to stop Chip from killing Tony.
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[Part 06]
Chip's death had been deemed a 'rightful shoot', although Director Shepherd *had* asked Gibbs if it had been really necessary for his team to empty their weapons in taking Chip down. Gibbs had shrugged and said he taught his team to shoot to kill. Chip had been a threat...end of story.
Tony had been treated for the various bumps and bruises he'd sustained while being Chip's hostage. He had a nasty burn on his neck from where the shock collar had overloaded but what pained him most was when the parking garage where Chip had swapped cars, slapped him with a hefty bill for the parking space his Mustang had occupied.
Ducky had apparently taken great glee in performing Chip's autopsy. In Jimmy's absence, Abby had filled in as assistant. It was rumored that she'd taken pictures and was preparing some of them to hang in her lab. Although other rumors said it wasn't pictures that she'd wanted hanging in her lab, only Ducky had allegedly drawn the line at allowing her to remove actual body parts.
Jimmy recovered in hospital. Although the surgery had gone well, it was a few days before his surgeon judged him fit enough to receive visitors.
Ducky hushed his companions as they gathered in the hospital corridor. "Now I want you to take things easy. Mr. Palmer has been through a major ordeal and he's still very weak. I don't want him to be having a relapse because we were too unruly."
"He's talking about you, Tony," said Ziva.
"Who me, unruly?" said Tony with an innocent expression on his face. "I'm as gentle as a lamb. If anybody needs to calm down a bit, it's Abby." He tweaked her pigtails. "No getting Jimmy all hot and bothered Abs, okay?"
"I'm not the one who wanted to bring him some porn mags, Tony," said Abby.
"No, you were going to bring him tapes of whale songs and burn some incense by his bed," said Tim, dryly.
"Children, please," said Ducky, smiling. "I'll just check and see if he's up to seeing visitors."
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Ducky paused just inside the room and looked over at Jimmy. His young assistant appeared somehow smaller and much too fragile as he lay in the hospital bed. A sling kept his injured shoulder immobilized, and an I.V. line poked out of the back of his hand. Ducky sighed as he noted how pale and tired Jimmy was looking. He had spoken to the surgeon and knew that Jimmy was expected to make a full recovery...physically that is. But Ducky knew all too well that while broken bones healed and scars faded, the emotional consequences of a trauma like this were not so easy to predict. He vowed silently that he would do whatever it took to get Jimmy back on his feet again.
Jimmy seemed half asleep as Ducky approached the bed. His eyes flickered open and he tried to focus. "Doc...Doctor Mallard?" he mumbled. His hand fumbled for his glasses, which had been left on the bedside table.
"Dear boy, don't try to move." Ducky moved over to beside the bed and placed the glasses on Jimmy. "How are you feeling, Jimmy?"
"Tired...a little sore..."
Ducky patted Jimmy on his good shoulder, "We were wondering if you'd be up for a few visitors."
"Visitors? I have visitors?"
"Why yes, yes my boy, we've all been very very worried about you."
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"Ohhh Jimmy, I'm so glad you're not dead!" said Abby, rushing over to Jimmy's bed and giving him a big hug.
"I...I'm glad too," said Jimmy, a weak smile on his face.
"I brought you something," said Ziva, pulling a plant out of the bag she'd been carrying. "It's traditional, no?"
"Zeeeva, it's traditional to bring *flowers* to an invalid, not plants!" said Tony, rolling his eyes.
Ziva shrugged. "Flowers die. Plants last longer." She turned to Jimmy, "You will *not* kill this plant."
"No ma'am," said Jimmy, weakly.
"You'll have plenty of time to tend to it while you're recuperating," said Ducky, "But as soon as your collar bone heals up, I'll be expecting you back by my side. I've already made sure that Human Resources know that I'll only be needing a *temporary* assistant."
"That's not all he told them," grinned Tony, "What else did you put on the requisition form, Duck? Tall, blonde, breasts right out to here..." He gestured with his hands.
"I knew I should have asked Gibbs to lend me that shock collar," said Ducky.
"Shock collar?" said Jimmy.
"Tell you later, kid," Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone, "Almost forgot this," he said, handing it to Jimmy. "Thanks for the loaner...and if there's any premium rated numbers on your next bill, blame McGee. I just couldn't keep him off the sex lines!"
"Hey, wait a minute," said McGee, indignantly. "I never!"
It wasn't too much longer before Ducky noticed that Jimmy was wilting a little. "All right everybody, I think it's time we let Jimmy get a little rest."
There was a little mock grumbling, but one look at Jimmy's pale face and nobody raised any serious objections. Wishing him all the best, they left the room, all except Tony who told Ducky he'd catch up with them in a few minutes.
When the door was shut behind them, Tony pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed. "So how are you *really* doing, kid?" he asked gently.
"I...I'm fine, really," said Jimmy.
"Okay, you know the way Gibbs has his rules? Well I've got a few rules of my own too, and Tony's rule number one is, 'Do not lie to the DiNozzo'. So I'm asking again, how are you really?"
Jimmy seemed to shrink back into the pillows. Finally he blurted out, "How do you do it, Tony? Go out and have people pointing guns at you every day. I...I can't stop thinking about it...every time I shut my eyes, all I can see is Chip...and he's pointing that gun at me...and I can't breathe and....and...I'm scared to go to sleep in case I wake up and it's all happening again and...and..." Jimmy bit his lip.
"Well for a start," said Tony, "It doesn't happen *every* day. Otherwise we'd probably all be gibbering wrecks," he paused for a few seconds before continuing, "well maybe not Gibbs, but the rest of us mere mortals would be." Tony sighed, "Jimmy, I wish I could tell you there was an easy answer, but the truth is...it's just part of my job...part of what I signed up for when I got my first badge. All you can do is keep on trucking. Tell yourself that the worst is over and you've survived it...and every day you wake up and the worst is a little further away...and some day you'll wake up and it'll be too far away for you to see it anymore."
Tony stood up. "And the other thing you can do is remember that you're not alone in this. We're all here for you...maybe we haven't been all been shot," he rubbed absently at the burn on his neck, "...but we've all got stuff that keeps us awake at night."
"Except for Gibbs."
Tony shook his head, "Even Gibbs..."
Jimmy *did* sleep a little easier that night.
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In spite of the rest however, Jimmy's energy levels were still low and he slept a lot during the next few days as well, occasionally drifting off even while people were talking to him.
One evening, he woke with a start to find that the lights had been dimmed while he had slept.
A figure moved in the shadows. "Doctor Mallard?" said Jimmy, remembering that he'd been talking to the M.E....or more accurately, letting Ducky talk to *him*, just before he'd fallen asleep.
"Ducky went to get something to eat," said Gibbs.
"Agent Gibbs!" said Jimmy, trying to sit up. His shoulder protested and he collapsed back against his pillows.
Gibbs just stood there looking at him for a few seconds before speaking. "Ducky says you should make a full recovery."
Jimmy nodded, "The surgeon said I'll need some physiotherapy on my shoulder...but I could be back at work in a month or so."
"That's good to know, Palmer." Gibbs was silent for a few seconds and Jimmy shrank under his scrutiny.
Finally Gibbs spoke again, "There's one thing you need to know before you go back to work at N.C.I.S." Again Gibbs paused, "When an N.C.I.S. agent tells you to leave a crime scene, you leave. You don't hang around; you don't second-guess them...you just go. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Jimmy slumped back against his pillows, "Yes, Agent Gibbs," he said in a small voice. "I...in the parking garage...when Tony told me to get out of there...I should have left immediately...I...I put Tony at risk...he only went with Chip because Chip said...said he'd shoot me..." Jimmy swallowed hard. "I...I'm so sorry Agent Gibbs, it was my fault...if I hadn't been there, Tony wouldn't have had to...he could have stopped Chip..."
Gibbs nodded approvingly. "It's possible that Tony could have disarmed Chip if he hadn't had to worry about you...but Chip had already gotten the drop on him and it's equally possible that he would have abducted Tony regardless of whether you'd left when Tony told you to. More than likely Chip wouldn't have let you go to raise the alarm anyway. But nobody knows 'what might have been'." Gibbs let that sink in for a few seconds before continuing, "One thing we *do* know, is that if you hadn't been there, then there'd have been nobody to witness the abduction...Tony wouldn't have been able to sneak your phone away with him...we wouldn't have known that Chip was going back to where it started. You did good, Palmer, don't you forget that."
"I still feel...I should have done more, Agent Gibbs," said Jimmy quietly. "I...I was so scared..."
"You did what you could, as best as you could," said Gibbs. "That's all anybody can ask." He let his words sink in for a few minutes before he spoke again. "Do you remember last year when I told you that I wouldn't trust you with a gun?"
Jimmy nodded, feeling the same flush of embarrassment that he'd felt on that occasion. He'd managed to requisition new phones for Gibbs and McGee, but the armory had refused to let him take the guns, saying they wouldn't trust him with them...and Gibbs had agreed with them.
"The reason I wouldn't trust you with a gun, Jimmy, is because to the best of my knowledge, you have no training nor experience in the use and handling of guns...but that's the *only* reason. So once you're up and about and cleared for work again, I figure it might be no harm for me to take you down to the firing range and we'll see about changing that."
"I...you...you really mean that, Agent Gibbs?"
Gibbs nodded, "I don't make offers I don't mean. And by the way, it's just Gibbs, not sir, not Agent Gibbs, just...Gibbs."
"I...I don't know what to say...thank you Age...Gibbs." Jimmy could hardly keep his eyes open.
"For now don't say anything, just sleep," ordered Gibbs. He could have saved his breath. Jimmy's eyes had closed again and his whole body relaxed as he fell asleep. Gibbs pulled the bedclothes up around him, careful not to jostle the sling, which still kept Jimmy's arm immobilized.
"Are you sure that second B still stands for bastard?" came Ducky's voice from over by the door.
Gibbs grinned as he walked over to join Ducky. "Trust me, a few sessions on the firing range with me, and Jimmy will be able to vouch that it does!"
"Hmph," said Ducky as the door closed behind them. "Well, be that as it may, I do appreciate what you're doing for him, Jethro."
Gibbs shrugged. "I look after my team, Ducky...*all* of them."
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THE END
Author's Chapter Notes:
Chip is dead, Tony rescued, but there's just a few loose ends to tie up.