Chapter 5
Gibbs hated waiting.
They had taken Tony into surgery 3 hours ago and Gibbs had been pacing around the waiting room like a caged lion since then. He had taken to growling at anyone who dared approach him.
"Jethro?" Gibbs turned to see Ducky walking towards him, a large cup of coffee in his hand. Ducky handed him the cup deftly and allowed Gibbs to take a large swallow before continuing. "Any news?"
Gibbs rubbed his eyes tiredly "No. They haven't told me a damned thing." Gibbs growled.
"I'll go and see what I can find out." Ducky said, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder and walked off toward the desk.
Gibbs sighed and took another drink of the coffee and sat down, resting his head against the wall and waited for Ducky to return. After a few moments Ducky sat down next to him.
"They've just finished the surgery. I have been informed that a doctor will be out to speak with you in a few moments."
"Good." Gibbs growled and Ducky smiled slightly.
"Young Anthony does have a special ability to get himself into sticky situations, doesn't he?" Ducky said, smiling sadly.
"He's too damn good at his job is what it is. He's just too damn good at pissing people off," Gibbs shook his head slightly.
"Indeed," Ducky laughed softly.
At that moment the doors opened and a doctor approached them "Mr. Gibbs?" he inquired.
"That's me." Gibbs stood up quickly. "This is Doctor Mallard."
"Special Agent DiNozzo came through the surgery without any complications. While his injuries are severe, we anticipate that he will make a full recovery," the doctor smiled at them.
"Can I see him?" Gibbs asked.
"Sure. Right this way." The doctor gestured for them to follow him down the hall. They stopped outside on of the rooms and the doctor turned to them. "He's in this room here."
Gibbs nodded to the man and walked into the room, but Ducky remained behind. He wanted to get a full report on Tony's injuries from the doctor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Gibbs stopped short when he caught sight of Tony, lying in the hospital bed. He looked like a giant bruise. Gibbs sighed and walked over to the bed and sat down in the chair next to it.
"DiNozzo… you sure have a talent for pissing people off…" he said, shaking his head
"And you… don't?" Gibbs head snapped up at the sound of Tony's voice and he saw Tony staring blearily at him, a small smile on his lips.
"Never said that. How're you feeling?" Gibbs got up and perched himself of the edge of the bed.
"Never better," Tony told him and Gibbs rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, well, you look like hell," Gibbs said matter-of-factly.
"Thanks. It took me ages to get just right," Tony replied sarcastically and Gibbs smirked.
"Seriously, Tony, how are you?" Gibbs asked, turning serious once again.
"I feel like I got run over by a bus. Repeatedly."
"Better than a train." Gibbs told him and he laughed slightly.
"I guess it is, isn't it?" Tony said, still smiling. After a moment he spoke again "Beck?"
"Dead." Gibbs stated simply.
"Josh?" He questioned more hesitantly.
"Don't know. Beck never found him and we're still looking for him."
"Might as well give up on that. You're never gonna find him if he doesn't want to be found. Which he doesn't."
"You wanna tell me what the hell is going on, cause in the warehouse you said it was a ‘long story'. Well, I've got time. So talk," Gibbs told him.
"Ah, right. Uhm, about a year after I started working for NCIS I got a call from Josh. He said he wanted to meet. Said it was important," Tony paused and looked up at Gibbs "Boss, this has to stay in this room, okay. You can't tell anyone. I'm not really, technically supposed to know."
"Sure Tony," Gibbs nodded, wondering what the hell was going on.
"We met at a bar and he told me that the only reason he was even allowed to talk to me was because I was a Fed and I had clearance." He saw Gibbs open his mouth and quickly continued. "Not enough to find out through official channels, but enough for them to be able to trust that I could keep my mouth shut."
"Jeez, it's staring to sound like one of the ‘A's' is involved here," Gibbs said.
"CIA, actually." Tony said and Gibbs stared at him incredulously. "Wow, Boss, you kinda look like McGee right now." Gibbs rolled his eyes and motioned for him to continue. "So anyway, he told me that he was working for the CIA. He appointed me as his emergency contact if anything ever happened to him in the field. He figured that I was creative enough to come up with a plausible story as to why, where and how he died."
"That explains why his passport was in use so much," Gibbs said.
"Well, yeah. But he has a ton of fake passports, too. I've actually got a couple of them at my place, just in case." Tony glanced at the badge on Gibbs belt. "It appears you found them."
"What?" Gibbs asked, confused.
"Well, I'm guessing that you searched my apartment when you got back and during that search you found your badge. Which was sitting right next to his passports."
"Oh. I didn't even look at the inside of the passports. I was in a hurry," Gibbs said and Tony smirked. "Don't," Gibbs said simply.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Boss." Tony said, holding his hands up in mock surrender and then wincing.
"You okay?" Gibbs asked, his concern evident.
"Yeah. Just a little sore," Tony said.
"Being hit with a baseball bat will do that," Gibbs nodded.
"Yeah, you would know, wouldn't you?" Tony knew that the only thing saving him from a head slap was the fact that he had almost died. And he was sure as hell going to take advantage of the opportunity.
"Watch it, DiNozzo." Gibbs growled and Tony just grinned back at him.
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Chapter End Notes:
Whoops. Sorry about the long wait. I've been working on a sequal to this story and was so focused on that and I just realised that, oh crap. I haven't posted a new chapter in ages. Heh... only one more chapter after this, and I promise that, assuming that Murphey's law doesn't kick in (I know, I know, never assume. It's more like hoping that Murphey's law doesn't kick in.) I'll have the last chapter up by this weekend. Can't make any guesses as to when the sequal will be up, though. It's no where near finished and... yeah...
Please review!
Big thanks to my wonderful beta VanishingP2000! Any remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone.
Please review!
Big thanks to my wonderful beta VanishingP2000! Any remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone.