Genre (general, hetero or slash): Slash/Action/Angst
Pairing/Characters: Tony DiNozzo/Tim McGee
Rating: FRT
Warnings: damaging Tony...again, tissues *may* be required
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.
Notes: Thanks to FatCat for her Beta'ing
Desperate measures
Previously on NCIS. Tony was captured by a bad guy and handcuffed to a radiator in a burning building. When McGee showed up, Tony ordered him to cut his hand off to free him. McGee left to get a fire axe to do the deed. Tony was still chained to the radiator when somebody hit him on the head.
He came to in hospital, McGee by his side.
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[Part 04]
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McGee started coughing almost as soon as he stepped out into the hallway. In the few minutes he had spent talking to Tony, the smoke in the hall had thickened considerably, and McGee knew that if he didn't get Tony freed from the handcuffs soon, then neither of them might be getting out of the building alive. The smoke was stinging McGee's eyes and he was barely able to see his way down the corridor to where he was sure he had seen the fire axe on his way in. Not that he had been looking for one; his main focus had been throwing open every door along the way in his search for his partner.
The fire axe was right where McGee remembered it and he wrenched it from its settings. Taking a deep breath, he hurried back to the door of Tony's room. All he had to do was make sure the belt on Tony's arm was tight enough to act as a proper tourniquet and then...a single blow should do it. McGee hesitated at the doorway. What if it took more than a single blow? What if he swung the axe and didn't manage to sever Tony's hand and Tony would be screaming in pain and McGee didn't think he could cope with that...and the more he thought about it, the less he was certain that he *could* chop Tony's hand off, even if it was the only way to save his life. There had to be another way...some other alternative.
McGee knew that a one-handed Tony was better than a dead one, but taking a closer look a the axe, he saw that it was so blunt and rusty that it might not even do the job and would simply smash Tony's wrist...
At that, McGee's mind started going into overdrive. Maybe, just maybe there was a chance...if Tony's hand could somehow be made to fold itself a little...if the bones were broken just right....then maybe, just maybe he'd be able to squeeze the hand through the cuffs. It was worth a shot thought McGee as he pushed open the door.
He could only see two problems with his plan. Well, three if you counted the fact that it might not work and that the time taken to even try it could delay him so long that even cutting Tony's hand wouldn't free him in time to prevent them both being burnt to a crisp.
The other problems with the plan were simple. For one thing, this was going to hurt Tony...a lot. Chopping the hand off should be a single blow, but to break the hand, that was going to require repeated blows, and McGee wasn't sure that he could bear to inflict that much pain on the man he loved, over and over again. Even if it was a case of saving his life, McGee knew that a single cry of pain from Tony and he'd be dropping the axe and lucky not to lose his lunch into the process.
The other problem with the plan ...Tony would probably never agree to it, for the simple reason that it would take time...time they might not have if they were both to escape the burning building.
Fortunately however, there was a course of action that McGee could take that would negate both these problems...
McGee hurried into the room. Luckily Tony had focused his attention on trying to pull the handcuff from the radiator and he didn't notice as McGee approached him, fire axe held firmly in his hands.
Before McGee could talk himself out of his chosen course of action, he raised the axe...and clubbed Tony on the side of the head with the handle.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
"I'm really, really sorry I knocked you out like that," said McGee. He held Tony's hand clasped firmly in his, and as he spoke he dropped a kiss onto the back of it. "But I knew you wouldn't let me try and get you free like that. So once I'd checked I hadn't killed you with the blow to your head....I...I smashed up your hand with the axe handle."
Tony was looking at McGee with wide eyes. "You...you hit me on the head?"
McGee nodded and continued, "It was the only way I could think of...and I'd called the fire brigade but I knew they'd never get there in time, and the smoke was coming in the door and it was getting hotter and the fire was getting closer...and I hit your hand again and I just couldn't get your hand free...and I finally had to cut you a little so the blood would help lube the cuffs...and then they just suddenly slid off..."
Tony's mouth had fallen open at this part, "You...you mean...I...I still have my hand?" His voice cracked slightly on the words.
McGee nodded, "It...it's badly smashed up. They had an Orthopedic surgeon operate on you...I think he put some pins in or something, I don't know if they'll be permanent or not...but you still have your hand."
Tony pulled his left hand free from McGee's and started fumbling at the straps on the sling. "I need...need to see it," he said, almost choking on the words. "Please Tim...help me..."
The beeping on the monitor reflected how agitated Tony was getting as McGee quickly moved to the other side of the bed. "Here, let me," he said, supporting the limb with one hand, while he deftly undid the straps with the other and let the canvas fall away.
Tony gulped back a sob as he saw the hand he'd thought he'd never see again. True, it was so wrapped up in bandages and splints that all he could see were the tips of his fingers, but it was there, and even though it hurt like hell and took a great deal of effort, Tony even managed to wiggle his fingers slightly.
McGee replaced the sling around Tony's arm and then retook his original seat as Tony slumped back against the bed, trying to absorb what had happened. "I...I don't know what to say," said Tony, weakly. "You saved my hand..."
"Dr. McNeill said that you'll need a lot of physiotherapy on it, and he couldn't guarantee that you'd get anything like 100% function in it again," warned McGee, not wanting to give Tony false hope.
"Whatever it is...it'll still be better than zero, which is what I'd have got if you'd a chopped it off." Tony wiped his hand across his eyes as he continued, "You can't imagine how grateful I am for that." He took a deep breath and a small grin flashed across his face as he continued, "So much so, that I'm not going to write you up for disobeying a direct order..."
McGee replied in all seriousness, "Write me up all you want...just so long as you do it with *that* hand."
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to be continued
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony has been rescued, but what price did he have to pay?