Chapter 11
For Tony, everyday was much of the same after that first night at Gibbs' place:
0500- Wake up to Gibbs turning on the light and growling something about him spending all day in bed, then helping him to the bathroom. As if having Gibbs help him onto the toilet wasn't bad enough, then there came the dressing, which took way longer than it really should have. Before they both figured out a system for getting Tony into and out of his pants with his casts on, the ordeal left both men frustrated and cursing with words that would made a biker blush. But there was no way he was going to spend any more time in a hospital gown. They eventually decided that extra-large sweatpants worked best and he longed for the day he could just slip on his favorite jeans again.
5:30 -Eat breakfast. Usually a bowl of cereal was enough for him, but Gibbs never eats breakfast- only drinks coffee (no surprise there) and watches to make sure that Tony finishes and takes his medication before he leaves for work.
0600- Joy, the home health aide, arrives and Tony likes to tease her and turn on the charm, even though she's in her mid-fifties, smokes like a chimney and is definitely not his type as she's built more like a linebacker than most men he knows. But he flirts with her because he know it makes her happy and a happy home health aide, was an aide that let's him get away with doing all the things Gibbs won't let him do when he's home. After a couple of weeks she lets him drink coffee or skip his pain medications so he wouldn't feel like a zombie all day.
0605- 1500- And so begins the part where Tony believes he's stuck in an endless time-loop and his life had become more like a bastard child bred from the melding of Groundhog Day and Rear Window, except not nearly as funny nor as suspenseful as either one of those two movies.
Joy's first order of business everyday is to help Tony with taking off his back brace and get him clean. As she sponges him down and washes his hair, he closes his eyes and imagines that her hands are those of a young, buxom blond, but reality always smacks him back in the face when she rinses his hair and tells him she's all done with her gravelly, monotone smoker's voice that reminds him Marge's sisters on The Simpsons.
For the better part of most days, Joy likes to sit and watch her soaps, talk back to the TV screen, crochet cute little hats for her cats and sneak outside for cigarette breaks while Tony usually retreats to the spare room and pops in a movie or two, praying for the day when he can go back to work.
He's so bored during the day that he even asks Gibbs one morning before he leaves if he has a pair of binoculars he can borrow so he can spy on the neighborhood just like Jimmy Stewart did in Rear Window. At least in that movie he ended up catching a murderer and that was something Tony hadn't done in quite a while. He could see his boss' hand twitch, wanting to slap Tony upside the head as soon as he asked, which he would have accepted and reveled in it as a sign that Gibbs didn't think him a cripple, but the older man held back. Instead he said:
“My neighbors are in their eighties and if I hear that you've been peeping on them, I'll knock you to next Tuesday.” At least Gibbs' threats were something that hadn't changed.
1500 -Every other day Joy would load him up into her minivan and drive him to the hospital where she would pass him off to his physical therapist and he would get his thrice a week dose of physical torture. Okay, it wasn't torture per se as it was meant to help get him strong again and keep the muscles around his broken bones from total atrophy, but it mostly just translated into pain and lots of it.
At least Tina, his young, petite physical therapist was hot.
So, it was almost mandatory that he flirt with her. Even though flirted back, she never went easy on him.
She gave Tony the incentive to work harder just by virtue of her cuteness and sunny disposition and he actually looks forward to coming in, even if he knows that he'd never be able date her after all of this. After all, she was like a tiny dominatrix in smiley faced scrubs and he had to admit he was one part turned on by that and one part intimidated.
After he was finished and cleaned off after his workout, Joy would take him back to Gibbs' place where she would help him into bed for a nap before she would leave for the day. Sometimes he slept if his physical therapy session had been a particularly demanding one, but oftentimes he finds himself staring at the ceiling, the house absolutely quiet, leaving him with little else to do but think and think and think until dinner.
Now there was the real torture.
1900- Dinner time was the one variable that changed everyday. Some nights Gibbs would come home with supper or even fix it himself. Tony found out he wasn't such a bad cook as long as he stuck to canned chili and microwaved Hungry man dinners. His boss made sure he ate enough for his satisfaction before disappearing into his basement. It didn't take Tony too long to realize why Gibbs had been divorced three times- the guy was hardly home and when he was, he was still never around. Yet somehow, Gibbs still knew exactly when he was needed and was Johnny on the spot when Tony had to get help with something. It was so uncanny sometimes that he had started calling it 'GSP': Gibbs' sensory perception, even though it annoyed the heck out of the older man when he accused him of having it.
More often than not, it would be Ziva or McGee that brought food as Gibbs often had to work through dinner. Some nights the team would be off to a crime scene or Gibbs had them all working late into the evening at the office, in which case either Abby or Ducky would stop by to make sure he ate something.
At first, he felt a little uncomfortable being fussed over in such a way, but after a while, he came to realize that this was the best part of the day.
It was amazing to him how much his friends could bring a little life and excitement back into his day just by bringing him food. He truly was a man that have could have his heart captured through his stomach.
Each one was different. He could count on Ziva to bring the best take-out food, usually something foreign while McGee was certain to bring the cheapest since his 401K went kablooie with the stock market. However, the ribbing he gave the younger agent about his McChoices over which McBurger from McDonald's to bring, more than made up for it.
Abby knew he loved a good home-cooked meal and she tried her best to make a meatloaf once, but she ended up overcooking it. Actually, charring it was a better description of what she did to that unfortunate ball of ground beef and they wound up watching movies and eating take-out Chinese instead. However, Tony couldn't recall a better time as he watched her putter around the kitchen in her gigantic black boots, wearing a pink, frilly apron covering her short, leather miniskirt, skull and crossbones t-shirt and black and white striped tights. She looked like Betty Crocker turned post-punk, Gothic rocker and he loved every minute of it.
Then there were the times Ducky came by. Being a medical doctor that rarely got the opportunity to treat patients that still had a pulse, he would go into full mother hen mode as soon as he entered, putting Tony through his battery of tests and checking to see how his injuries were healing. Surprisingly, he found it all worth it as the older man was an excellent cook and made the best pork tenderloin he had ever eaten. Plus he discovered that he didn't mind the conversations either, even though he understood little of what Ducky was trying to explain to him and had a hard time keeping up with the older man's meandering thoughts. As long as he brought some pork, it was all good.
This was also the time when he got to hear all about what was going on in the world outside, in other words: NCIS headquarters. Besides the juicy gossip Abby supplied, he loved to hear about the cases they were working on and would even offer his opinion on a few, whether they wanted his help or not. On several occasions, he got McGee and Ziva to open up a little bit on Agent Foster, hoping he could get some insight on the man that was filling in for him. He didn't want to appear insecure about his current predicament, but not knowing what he was up against was something he couldn't live with.
“What do you think of Foster?” He once casually asked Ziva while they ate some Vietnamese food she had brought over.
“He is a capable agent and very sure of himself.” She admitted with a slight roll of her eyes that Tony didn't miss. "Much like you."
“Yeah, but you're missing what's really important here; is he good looking?” Tony asked as he grinned at her, hoping she would take the bait.
“As compared to whom?” She asked “You?”
“Yeah, why not? I'm a pretty good benchmark for handsomeness.” He smiled devilishly while primping his hair.
“Ha!” Ziva laughed sarcastically, a little twinkle in her eyes.
“Well, he is certainly not as....” Ziva paused as though thinking of the right word then leveled her gaze onto him with a sly look. “Hairy.”
Tony pouted outwardly as though hurt, but felt a little more secure in knowing that Ziva at least wasn't attracted to the guy. For some reason if that had been the case, it would have been like adding salt into his already wounded ego.
He had still yet to meet Foster and thankfully, McGee and Ziva kept their praise of the other man to a minimum, but he could tell that they were growing to respect him as they talked about some of the cases. He tried not to let on how much it bugged him to hear about the great and wonderful temporary teammate nor that he was stuck there while they were out risking their lives doing what he should be and watching their sixes.
At least Abby, had a different opinion of his replacement and he couldn't help a little swelling of pride that she never really liked the guy and preferred him.
Throughout the weeks, as each one of his teammates came to share their evening meal with him he learned so much more about his friends than he had previously known and one on one, they opened up to him like they never had before, but he was impatient to get back into things and to have his friends around in more than just little, individual increments. It was the team thing that he missed the most and couldn't wait to get back to it.
2200- After dinner, if Gibbs wasn't already home everyone was under strict orders from the former marine to make sure that Tony took his medicine and was helped to bed. Everyone adhered to Gibbs' schedule, whether Tony wanted them to or not. No one wanted to get on Gibbs' bad side by disobeying, so every night at 2200 on the dot, no matter who was over, Tony was in bed and medicated.
Only one time was this rule broken when Abby forgot to get Tony into bed, but Gibbs didn't punish her as he had found both of them fast asleep in the living room with the TV on and Tony resting his legs comfortably on Abby's lap across the length of the sofa. In a moment of weakness he let them stay that way until morning before he lectured them both on finding better places to sleep.
Finally, A routine change came six weeks into Tony's exile to Gibbsland. Sitting in his orthopedists' office, he waited for the results of his latest x-rays to tell him if he was ready to have at least one of his casts removed. Gibbs had actually taken some time out of his lunch break while they were on a lull between cases and personally drove Tony to the Doctor's instead of Joy. It was still a little weird to have his boss sit with him, waiting for the results, but If all went well, he could find himself walking out of the hospital on his own power rather than with a wheelchair. He'd still be in crutches for a few more weeks, but anything was preferable to literally sitting on his ass all day.
Tony drummed his fingers impatiently on the armrests of the wheelchair while they waited, tapping out a rhythm to a song only he could hear in his head. However, one annoyed look from Gibbs was enough to make him stop and grin sheepishly. He could tell that Gibbs was growing just as impatient and the doctor was taking his sweet time as they had been sitting for almost 40 minutes after the x-rays were finished.
“Gee, how long do you think it takes to read an x-ray?” Tony muttered.
“About this long, DiNozzo.” Gibbs stated just before the door to the office opened and in strolled Dr. Warner.
"How do you do that?" Tony asked Gibbs, but was only given a little twitch of the lips in response. Giving up on that, he turned his attention to the doctor taking a seat behind the desk.
“Hi Doctor.” Tony greeted the orthopedist with a hopeful smile. “So, what's the verdict? Am I a free man?”
“Well Tony, how about we settle for a half-way free man today.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Well, that means the tibia bone is healed and we can take that cast off today. Your femur is nearly there, but I think we can take the plaster cast off and go with a brace as long as you promise to keep from putting too much weight on it. Your ribs and back look good and are healing nicely and I think we can take the back brace off now.”
“Yes!” Tony did a little hand pump, but then cleared his throat after the look Gibbs gave him.
“So how long do I need to stay on the crutches?”
“Let's check the X-rays again in about four weeks and then we can decide where we from there. I don't want to lie to you. These things take time to heal. You could be walking on that leg in a couple of months or it could be a year.”
Tony's eyebrows raised, four weeks would be cake compared to the last six weeks he spent in the chair, but a year? He felt his heart drop a little.
“How about work?” Tony asked after he regained his composure. “Is there any chance I could be cleared to go back yet? At least desk duty?”
Dr. Warner grew contemplative and Tony held his breath. There wasn't any way that Gibbs would let him set foot in the headquarters building before his doctor cleared him for even so much as stapling papers together.
“How about you give yourself a week to get used to the crutches and to build up the strength in your good leg before you go back to light office work?”
“A week?” Tony complained.
“Take it or leave it, DiNozzo....” Gibbs interjected.
“I guess I could do that.” Tony reluctantly agreed and turned to Gibbs, who was giving his underling a small half-smile.
A half-hour later and Tony was watching as the small hand-held saw cut through his casts. They had been a part of him for so long that he actually felt a little pang of loss at seeing them being destroyed. He had memorized the signatures of his friends and the little pictures Abby had drawn on them, but at the same time, he was more than ready to move on.
“Guess I could use a tan.” He joked to the nurse as the casts were pried off, revealing his pale skin underneath.
He was unsurprised to see the weak looking and scarred legs that were left behind. It reminded him of the time he broke his leg during that Buckeye vs. Wolverine game that pretty much ended his sports career and he remembered how one look at his withered leg muscles after he had his cast taken off then had confirmed that he would never get into the shape that would be needed to be spotted by scouts before he graduated from college.
This time however, he didn't need to be in the physical condition it took to make it onto a professional sports team, he just needed to be in good enough shape to run and do his job well again.
He realized that he wanted that more than he ever desired to make it in sports.
Afterwards, he was fitted with a brace for his leg and a pair of crutches. Free of the encumbrance of his back brace, but without its support and relying only the strength of his newly released leg, Tony was chagrined to find just how slowly he still had to go. However, the fact that he was walking on his own two feet was joy enough for him.
This also meant that he may have to double his PT sessions with Tina.
He couldn't help but leave the hospital with a huge smile on his face.
TBC.....
The T.A.D. by Angie