Gibbs hated being in the hospital. He hated the inactivity, and he hated being dependent on other people. So his usual grumpy self was even grumpier. After his last altercation with some nurse named Laura, none of them had come back for the rest of the afternoon. He was beginning to wonder if he would get his dinner tray tonight when Tony's head appeared around the doorway. "Yo, boss." He hesitated, not immediately coming into the room. "How's things?" "Damnit, DiNozzo." Gibbs growled at him. "You had damn well better brought me some food." "You betcha." Tony stepped into the room holding up a brown paper bag. The side was emblazoned with "La Maurita's". It was Gibbs' favorite Mexican restaurant. He had reluctantly taken Tony there once a few months ago. The younger man had burned his mouth on the fiery hot enchilada style burritos, and had washed it down with too much beer. They had left *after* Tony had managed to throw up twice. Once in the bathroom. Once in the parking lot. "I told Yolanda that you are in the hospital, and she sent extra salsa." Tony set the bag on the side of the bed while he pulled the table on wheels around. He started to adjust it when Gibbs slapped his hand away. "I can do that." Gibbs grumbled. "Sure, boss." Tony stepped back. When Gibbs had it the way he wanted, Tony set the bag on the table and backed off again. "You eat?" Gibbs glared at him. "Uhm, yeah, earlier." Tony flushed. "What?" Gibbs growled. "You didn't get the paperwork done? You left Kate doing the report?" "No, no." Tony held up his hands in self-defense. "The paperwork is done. Kate and I went over everything. She even had Abby check it out to make sure we hadn't missed anything." "Then what?" "Ducky dragged us off to eat, paid for it too." Tony hesitated. "I didn't get sick either. Not that that restaurant had spicy food, mind you." "The Fox and the Hen?" "Yep." He nodded. "You enjoy it?" Gibbs narrowed his gaze at Tony as he gauged the response. Tony shrugged. "Not really my style. Kate found it quaint and charming." "So?" "So, what? How's your foot feeling? Do you need another pain shot or something?" "DiNozzo, sit down and shut up." Gibbs ate. Tony sat in a chair near the bed and watched Wheel of Fortune. When he missed a phrase, something Gibbs obviously thought he should know, he got whacked on the head. When Gibbs was done eating, he shoved the wrappers back in the paper bag. Tony stood up, took the bag and tossed it into the trash receptacle. He stopped at the end of the bed and looked at Gibbs well wrapped right foot. "I'm fine." "It was still my fault. I should have-." "DiNozzo, I'm not going over this again with you. It made sense for you to stay with Kellog. I went. I tripped. End of story." "You didn't just trip! You went over the cliff!" "I didn't go over any cliff! It was a hill." He punctuated that with a good, solid belch. Tony stared at him for a moment and started laughing. The more Gibbs glared at him, the more Tony laughed. He finally had to sit down... scooting his chair out of reach of his boss. "What is going on in here?" A solid looking nurse of African-American heritage stood in the door way, hands on her hips. "Make him leave." Gibbs pointed at Tony. Tony sucked in air, trying to calm down. He wiped his face, and refused to look at Gibbs. "I should go. Visiting hours are almost over, right?" "Not til 8pm, but with Mr. Sourpuss here, why stay?" She eyed Gibbs. "You better behave for the rest of the night. Dr. Geary will probably let you go home tomorrow, and he will if I have anything to say about it. You make one more of my nurses cry, and I'll give you an enema. Understand me?" The silence was painful. Tony blinked at the nurse in shock. "She kept moving my foot." She stepped closer, scowling deeply at Gibbs. "He understands." Tony broke the silence finally. "He's had a bad day. He didn't mean to make her cry." They both turned and stared at him. "I better get going, boss. I still have to stop by your house and get your mail. I'll get a change of clothes for you too. Well take care. Call if you need anything." And Tony was high-tailing it out of there. He didn't look back. ^*^*^*^ At 5:30am, Ducky showed up at the hospital with breakfast. He took one look at Gibbs bloodshot eyes, and tsked. "Jethro, you are a grown man." "Don't start with me, Ducky." Gibbs grumbled, leaning back against his pillows. "All night long they harassed me." "Yes, and you were an absolute angel, weren't you?" The old man shook his head. He set one Styrofoam tray on the portable table for Gibbs and kept one for himself. "You were exceedingly polite, courteous..." "What's Todd and DiNozzo up to?" Gibbs interrupted, sitting up and popping the lid on his breakfast. Sausages, some kind of scrambled mash with potatoes, green onions, and mushrooms. Not his usual morning fare, but he'd eaten a lot worse. Luckily he still had those packets of salsa from last night. "I imagine Kate and Tony will be arriving at the office at the normal time." Ducky glanced up at him over his glasses. "They did quite well yesterday taking care of business with you trapped here." "I feel trapped." Gibbs sighed heavily. "All night long. Gotta check my blood pressure. Have to listen to my heart. Pee in a cup..." "Did you make some young nurse cry again?" Ducky smirked. "I remember that one time-." Ducky rambled on and Gibbs only half listened. He ate his food and calculated the time until release. -n-c-i-s- "Tony." Dr. Geary called out to him as they walked down the hospital hallway towards each other. Tony had met Gibbs' doctor after he had been shot by the terrorist. "Get him out of here." "That's what I came for." Tony grinned. "He causing trouble?" "The nurses about ready to go on strike. He's worse than usual." Brian Geary shook his head. "Here." He handed Tony some sheets of paper. "Instructions on what to do for his foot until I see him in the office on Friday. He isn't to stand on it. No weight whatsoever." "Yes, sir." Tony frowned at the lists on the paper. "I called in his prescriptions to his regular pharmacy. Make sure he gets some rest, I don't think he slept a wink last night. He pissed off Adrianna, and that's not something a smart person would do." "He's not good with nurses?" Tony suggested hopefully. "Then he'd better stop getting hurt." Brian patted Tony on the shoulder. "Any time you are done getting dominated by him, I got a friend you might like. Just moved to the east coast from-." "See ya later, Brian." Tony headed on towards Gibbs' room. "Good luck, Tony!" Brian grinned and kept walking. As Tony walked around the nurses' station, someone stepped in his path. He back-pedaled as the angry face was directed at him. Her name badge said "Pam Hall, LPN." "You here for _that man_?" She hooked her thumb at Gibbs' room. "Yes, ma'am." Tony nodded. "Good. The sooner you get him out of here, the better. I'll get the wheelchair. Everything has been signed." She turned on a dime and marched off. "Orderly! Nathan!" Tony continued on. He carefully entered hospital room #338, and smiled at what he saw. Gibbs sitting in a chair in nothing but his hospital gown and some flimsy little robe. Tony glanced over him, finding even the knobby knees sexy. Damn, he had it bad. "What are you staring at?" Gibbs grumbled at him, jerking awake. "My boss. He looks tired. Looks like he's ready to head to the safety of his home." Tony slung the gym bag off his shoulder and onto the bed. He moved to shut the door to the room. "What are you doing? You can wait out there." Gibbs scooted forward on the chair a little. "You have two choices, boss. You can let me help you or the nurse comes in." Tony turned and arched an eyebrow at him. "Hurry up then." Gibbs scowled. Tony shut the door, and stepped back to the bed pulling out sweat pants, t-shirt, boxer shorts, one sock and one sneaker. He had Gibbs pretty much naked, save for the hospital gown covering his groin, when the nurse pushed the door open and shoved in the wheelchair. "What the hell do you want!" Gibbs shouted. "You two look like you're doing well." The nurse grinned. She winked at Tony, totally ignoring Gibbs, and walked out of the room. Tony had to shut the door again. "God damnit!" Gibbs grabbed the t-shirt away from Tony. "You can start blaming me any time, boss." Tony looked down at him. "I finished that conversation." Gibbs jerked the t-shirt down over his chest. "Like the way you finished the conversation about how I feel?" Tony knelt back down at his feet and continued pulling up the sweat pants. "Or like the way you finished the conversation about seeing me with that cowboy?" "Tony, don't start with me. Please." Gibbs sighed, closing his eyes. "I am so tired and my foot hurts." "That's a good one." Tony shifted back to slide the sock on to Gibbs' uninjured foot. "What?" Gibbs snapped. "Guilt. That's always a good way to end a conversation." Tony thanked the nurses, directed the orderly but otherwise, he did not say another word to Gibbs. They got Gibbs in the car, and the orderly disappeared back into the hospital with the wheelchair. The entire way to Gibbs' home was spent in silence. Kate was waiting for them at the house with a previously used pair of crutches that belonged to Gibbs. She took one look at Tony's sad eyes and Gibbs' clenched granite jaw, and shook her head. She helped escort Gibbs into his house, got him situated on the couch and picked up her purse. "I'm going back to the office to finish up some paperwork. If anything happens, I'll call you." She said to Tony. "Otherwise, tonight I'm going on a date. Tomorrow is Sunday and I'm sleeping in. I'll see you on Monday. And you." She looked at Gibbs. "If you weren't my boss..." "Please, don't let that stop you." Gibbs growled. "If you weren't my boss I'd smack you upside the head!" Kate gave up in exasperation. She stomped to the door. "You are so stupid! Both of you! Good-bye!" Tony glanced around the living room, and then finally down at Gibbs. Gibbs was already watching him. "Women." Tony shrugged. "Yeah." Gibbs shook his head. ^*^*^*^ Gibbs did okay on the crutches until his bed was in sight. He threw them back at Tony, hopped a few more steps, and then dove for the bed. He winced, gritting his teeth as his aching body and very sore foot protested. "Geez, boss, be careful!" Tony set the crutches on the floor beside the bed. "You wanna sleep in your sweats?" "Are you leaving?" Gibbs rolled carefully onto his back, carefully angling his foot. At least when he got shot in the shoulder he could still walk around. Urinating was such a pain when you couldn't stand on your own two feet. "I thought I'd make a run to the store. You're a bit short on essential supplies." Tony shrugged, glancing around the room but not looking at him. There were some old black and white photos framed and set on the top of the big chest of drawers. It was obviously a really old piece of furniture. He thought the pictures were of Gibbs grandfather and grandmother. "I have plenty of meat in the freezer down stairs. Pick out whatever you want since you'll be cooking. And take some money out of my wallet-." "I got cash." Tony turned towards the door. "Tony." Gibbs said his name softly yet heavy with meaning. Tony half turned back, hands shoved down into his pockets. "I appreciate you sticking around." "I'm not here because you're my boss. I'm not doing this for brownie points." "I know that." "You really drive me nuts." Tony walked out. Gibbs heard the front door slam shut, and then there was absolute silence. What had his ex-wife Kellie said? "You really are dumb for a smart guy." Yep. That was him. -n-c-i-s- He pulled off his t-shirt and the one sock. He punched up his pillows, and lay back down. He closed his eyes. Nothing. Sleep eluded him. *shit* He took deep calming breaths just like Ducky had taught him. He thought about being out on the lake in his boat. The waves gently rocking the boat, nothing strong. A nerve in the big toe of his right foot started throbbing and he opened his eyes. *I am a Marine. I can sleep anywhere, anytime.* He tried again. Eyes closed. Calming breaths. Imagining all the tension draining out his toes and fingers. *Falling down that hill... for a minute leaving contact with the earth and having the sudden flash that he might just break his neck for once... The look of fear on Tony's face when he regained consciousness.* "Leroy Jethro Gibbs, you are a big ass." He stared at the ceiling. Was that a cobweb up there? He frowned, concentrating on the fine strings going from the edge of the ceiling light to the ceiling tile. "That is a cobweb." He sat up, reached over the bed for one of the crutches and sat up. What to use for a cloth? Right, the t-shirt. He wrapped the t-shirt over the stopper end of the crutch and reached up to wipe off the cobweb. "What the hell do you think you are trying to do, Jethro?" Gibbs started slightly, never having heard anyone enter his house much less Elizabeth in her heels. Unfortunately the upward movement of his arms slammed the t-shirt covered tip of the crutch into the overhead light. There was a crunching sound and then bits of glass rained down on him. He growled. Elizabeth, however, laughed. "Oh, honey, aren't you a pitiful sight!" In heels, Elizabeth was well over six feet tall. Her long, well-manicured fingernails were painted the exact same red as her hair. Today she was dressed in a pale green sundress. Her heels were also red. "Thank you." Gibbs grumbled. "So much." "Hold still, and give me that thing." She walked over to the bed and took the crutch from him. "What did you do to your foot this time? I saw Tony leave. Did you run him off again? He's such a sweet boy. If you don't want him, can I have him?" She leaned over, plucking off the larger pieces of glass off of him and the bed, setting them into the t-shirt. "I did not run him off, he went to the store. He'll be back." Adding silently, *I hope.* Then as an after thought, he said, "And no, you can't have him." "Ah, come on." Elizabeth smiled at him, her bright eyes flashing with humor. She smelled really good, wearing that white hyacinth perfume she loved so much. "It's not like you are going to do anything with him." Her fingers lingered on his groin a little too long for that one piece of glass. "I might." Gibbs waved her off. "I can do that, my hands are broken." She laughed, standing up and taking the t-shirt into the bathroom, dumping it into the sink. "You know, you'll have to strip off the comforter now since you broke the light." "I didn't-!" Gibbs flashed her an angry look. "Why are you here?" "It's Saturday, you were going to take me to a show tonight, remember? But I heard you got hurt yesterday, so I thought I should check on you first." She walked over to the chest of drawers. "Stop touching stuff." Gibbs warned her, which did little good. He was going to have to take off the sweats as well. She straightened the framed photos. "So I'll take a rain check. Do you think Tony is busy tonight? Maybe he'll go with me." He couldn't see the grin on her red lips. "Tony is busy. He's taking care of-." Gibbs stopped, closing his eyes in frustration. "You can leave now." "You sure? I could help get you out of those sweats." She turned, smiling at him rather predatorily. "I apologize for forgetting about tonight. I was preoccupied after having fallen over a cliff." He carefully ooched his way to the side of the bed. Luckily, it seemed he hadn't been seriously cut by the falling glass. There were a couple little red marks on his left forearm, but other than that, nothing. "We'll go another time. Who told you I got hurt?" "I have my sources." She shrugged one shoulder. "You tell your sources to mind their own damn business." He made to the edge of the bed, and slipped his feet over. The carpet would have to be vacuumed. He frowned, thinking about how messy Tony was in his own home. "And that you see that I am fine." He stood up with the crutches, only wobbling slightly. "You can go. Call me next week." "If you are sure, hun." She walked over to him, brushed her fingertips through his hair. "You know I was worried." "I know." He allowed her that. "I'm fine." "Jethro, my love, you are always fine. Remember, I was there with you when Gloria and the baby died." She smiled sadly. "I've seen you full of bullet holes, and you refused to acknowledge the blood." "I'm tough." He gritted his teeth. "Right." She nodded, the smile turning bitter. She turned and walked to the bedroom door. "A Marine to the end." "Semper Fi." She muttered something under her breath, and walked away. He heard the front door this time as she left. -n-c-i-s- "Boss?" Tony called out as he headed down the hallway to the master bedroom. "I'm in the bathroom." Gibbs called out. "What your step." Tony stopped by the bed, and looked down at his feet. He couldn't see anything wrong on the floor. The duvet on the bed had been folded up, though. That's when he looked up and saw the overhead ceiling light was busted. And that's when he noticed the smell of perfume. He took a deep breath, running the scent through his memory. He had smelled that before, but where? "What happened?" Tony asked, taking a couple steps towards the bathroom. The door was half open. "I managed to bright the light with the crutch." Gibbs explained, pulling the door open further. He was half way through shaving. "Could you take the duvet down to the basement? I can wash it later. It needs shaking out anyway. And I'd really appreciate if you would vacuum the floor from the bed to the bathroom." "Sure." Tony nodded. "I rented some movies. If figure you might want something to watch since you'll be out of commission for a couple days." "I'll be fine, Tony. A sprained ankle is nothing compared to getting shot." Tony picked up the duvet, and looked back at Gibbs. He was standing there on the crutches, only in his boxers, face half covered with shaving cream. "It scared the shit out of me anyway." "I know." Gibbs nodded curtly. "I'm sorry." They stared at each other for a moment. "Next time, let Kate take the header down the hill." Tony smirked. "Right. And we'd never hear the end of her bitching." Gibbs grinned, too. "No, thanks." Tony headed out of the room, smiling now. "I got lunch. Stopped at the rib shack." -n-c-i-s- "Just be still." Tony patted Gibbs' t-shirt covered chest. They were laying on the bed, together this time. Fresh duvet, stomachs full. Gibbs continued to have trouble sleeping, and Tony had finally offered to "keep watch" for him. "Come on, boss. Relax." "Jethro." Gibbs sighed. "You don't have to call me boss all the time, do you?" "I don't know." Tony grinned. "I kind of like it." "You're weird." "I'm here, aren't I?" Tony laughed softly. "Weird just kind of goes with it. At least I don't wear black all the time or high heels." Gibbs frowned at that, thinking of Elizabeth. Had Tony seen her arrive? "Now, close your eyes. Concentrate on your breathing. Quit thinking so hard. I'm right here." Gibbs was half leaning back against him. They had put a pillow between his feet for his sore foot to rest more comfortably. He hated to admit it, but he was relaxing better with Tony close. The tension just seemed to drift out of him. Tony's voice was low and soothing. "Think about floating on water. Nice, warm water. But not too warm. You don't want to pee in your sleep." Gibbs gripped Tony's right hand, tucking it up closer to his heart. Within seconds, he was asleep. Tony leaned up a little to watch him, smiling happily. Maybe later they could try a sponge bath? ^*^*^*^ The End