Looking around to make sure that he was alone, Tony carefully sat up on the couch, using his arm to brace his aching ribs. It had taken every ounce of his reserve not to scream when Kate was poking and prodding around the tender bruises that littered his chest and stomach. He still felt bad that he had vomited in front of her; that was not the best first impression that he had ever made.
He grabbed the bottle of soda that Jack had left for him and took a sip. Tony winced against the burning sensation of the liquid as he swallowed. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he muttered to himself.
Setting the bottle down, he laid his head back against the cushion of the couch. Tony could hear Jack talking to someone in the store. He figured that the older man had called Katherine to give her Ducky’s number. The agent hadn’t wanted to involve Ducky, but Jack had backed him into a corner by threatening to call Gibbs. He knew that Gibbs Sr., was a lot like his son in that he didn’t back down when he thought he was in the right.
Tony wasn’t ready to talk to his Boss just yet, so he relented and gave Jack Ducky’s phone number. He could just hear the ME now once Kate had informed him of her findings.
“Anthony, my boy,” Tony said, doing a weak imitation of the Scotsman, “what have you gotten yourself into now?”
“Well Ducky, it’s like this,” the agent answered. “You really don’t want to know.”
Tony again emulated the voice of the ME. “How do you expect us to help you, Anthony?”
He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know if you can. I’m not sure anybody can.”
Running his hands through his disheveled hair, Tony laughed to himself. “You are so screwed up, DiNozzo. If Kate or Jack sees you talking to yourself, they’ll call the men in the white coats. Pull yourself together!”
Tony forced himself to stand up. If he stayed still too long, he would be tempted to go to sleep. While he was staying with Jack, he would not take another chance of hurting Gibbs’ father, or worse, killing him. He began to slowly pace the room, his mind racing. Where did it all go wrong?
Sometimes Tony wondered if God hated him that much. Sure he wasn’t a saint, but he wasn’t that bad of a person, was he? He didn’t think so, but Tony was certain that there were those who would disagree. Director Vance certainly didn’t care for him; in fact, according to the director, Tony was expendable. He briefly wondered if Vance knew his father, they seemed to share the same opinion of him.
Vance. That name alone made him feel sick. Tony was completely aware that he needed to report to the Director, but Leon Vance was the last person he wanted to talk to. He would find out soon enough that the bust didn’t go down as planned. Tony’s cover had been blown and he had barely escaped with his life, but that wouldn’t matter to Leon Vance.
He didn’t figure that Vance knew where he was, or the Director would have already been here. All that mattered to the man was making himself and the agency look good and right now, that was the furthest thing from Tony’s mind. DiNozzo didn’t have the energy to care about too much except remaining upright and putting one foot in front of the other.
Tony swayed slightly as the room began to spin. “Gotta stay awake, DiNozzo.”
Knowing that there was one person who could keep him awake, Tony felt his pocket for his cell phone. “Oh, yeah. I threw it against the wall. We can just add that to the list of stupid things I’ve done.”
“Maybe I should make a list of stupid things that Anthony DiNozzo has done in his lifetime. That’ll certainly pass the time.”
“What are you doing off the couch?”
Tony startled at the sound of Jack’s voice. He spun around too fast and nearly went to the floor. The agent felt the strong arms of Jack holding him and helping him back to the couch. He could certainly add this stunt to the mental list he was forming in his mind.
“I…uh…just was tired of lying down,” Tony lied.
He didn’t have to look at Jack to know that the older man didn’t believe him. “Well, it looks like to me that lying down is about all you can do. You certainly can’t walk too well at the moment.”
“I was doing fine,” Tony protested, “until someone snuck upon me.”
“I didn’t sneak upon you. You just didn’t hear me come in.”
“There’s a difference?”
“Yep.”
Tony sighed, too tired to argue. “If you say so.”
“I called Katherine with that number you gave me.”
“And?”
“She was going to call Dr. Mallard and she said to tell you that she would be back to check on you within the hour.”
“All right.”
Tony could tell that Jack seemed hesitant. There was obviously something else that Jack wanted to tell him, so the agent decided to make it easy on the man who had opened his home to him. “Something else, Jack?”
“Yeah, Tony,” Jack replied. “I’m getting ready to call Leroy. Do you want to talk to him?”
Tony shook his head. “Not yet.”
“All right. I thought I’d ask.”
He nodded his thanks as Jack stood to leave the room. “Jack, there is someone I’d like to talk to. Can you tell Gibbs to have Abby call me?”
“Abby, huh?”
“Yeah. Not that I’m going to do a lot of talking, I just need her to keep me…I just want to hear her voice.”
“I’ll tell him,” Jack promised.
“Thanks.”
Tony knew that Abby would be worried sick about him and had probably put a time limit for him to call her. Right now, he just wanted to hear her talk about Sister Rosita, movies, clubs, anything but work. Since he no longer had a cell phone, and he doubted Jack did either, it would be better for Abby to call him, so that Jackson didn’t end up with as Abby would put it, a ‘ginourmas’ long distance bill.
Until she called, Tony planned to keep his mind busy. He had already gone through all the seasons of ‘Magnum, P.I.’, now he would start on ‘Airwolf’. Tony silently wished that his life was like a weekly television series with the problem of the week being solved in 43 minutes. Tony’s life was more like a box office movie with endless sequels.
“So much for wishful thinking,” he whispered as he began to hum the theme to ‘Airwolf’.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ducky had just finished faxing the last of Tony’s medical records to Dr. Marshall when Jethro stormed into Autopsy, coffee cup in hand. The ME wasn’t looking forward to having this conversation and judging by the steely expression on Gibbs’ face, the team leader wasn’t in the mood for any of Ducky’s usual tangents.
“All right, Duck. What’s going on?” Gibbs demanded to know.
“I just finished faxing Tony’s medical records to a Dr. Katherine Marshall in Stillwater. She is quite concerned about the lad.”
“How badly is he hurt, Duck?”
“Well,” the ME began. “She said that Tony has a rather nasty concussion and is suffering some side effects from it. Dr. Marshall went on to say that he has quite a few bruises on his chest and possibly a couple of cracked ribs, not to mention a slight possibility of some internal bleeding.”
“Why isn’t he in the hospital, then?”
“Tony doesn’t want to go,” Ducky simply stated.
“He doesn’t want to go? From the sound of it, Ducky, he really doesn’t have a choice,” Gibbs exclaimed.
“There’s always a choice, Jethro,” the ME pointed out. “Right now, Tony is making his choice.”
Gibbs threw his cup in the trash, sighing in frustration and anger. “Anything else?”
“Yes, I’m afraid there is.”
“Spit it out, Ducky,” the team leader ordered.
The ME crossed his arms and studied the concerned features of his friend. How was he going to tell Gibbs that Tony had been hiding information about his health? “Jethro, were you aware of the fact that Anthony has an ulcer?”
“DiNozzo? An ulcer?”
“Yes,” Ducky answered. “Dr. Marshall said that he was throwing up blood and during her examination, his abdomen was tender. She said that Tony admitted to being diagnosed with an ulcer on the Seahawk.”
Gibb’s expression softened. “An ulcer,” he repeated. “I would have never thought about DiNozzo getting an ulcer.”
“I don’t know why not, Jethro. That boy internalizes everything,” Ducky pointed out. “I’m just amazed that it took this long to show up. After all he’s been through, especially the past two or three years, it was bound to happen.”
“He didn’t say anything about it when he returned from the Seahawk?” Gibbs questioned.
“No and I don’t have his medical records from the time he was on the ship either. I’m waiting on the physician of the Seahawk to contact me and then I’ll know more.”
“His records should have transferred back with him.”
“But where are they? You know this reminds me of the time…” Ducky caught himself before Gibbs could say anything. “It’s not important.”
“Anything else?”
“Nothing yet. I’ve asked her to call me should Tony be hospitalized. I’m going to call Dr. Pitt and ask him to fax Tony’s records from the time he had the plague as well.”
“That’s good thinking. Find out what happened to Tony’s records from the Seahawk,” Gibbs instructed. “I’ll be in Abby’s lab if you need me.”
He let Gibbs get to the door before he called out to him. “Are you planning on a visit to Stillwater any time in the near future?”
Gibbs merely smiled. That was the answer that Ducky had been expecting. One thing for sure was that Gibbs looked out for his own, especially Tony. Whether Jethro ever admitted it publicly or not, Anthony DiNozzo held a special place in the team leader’s heart; he was like the son that Jethro never had. Most people never saw the smile that Gibbs tried to hide when Tony managed to crack the case by using some kind of movie comparison, or when Tony would outsmart McGee and Ziva, and truthfully, the list could go on forever.
Ducky knew that Gibbs was bound and determined to help Tony, but the doctor couldn’t help but wonder if Jethro would be too late.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
As Gibbs entered Abby’s lab, his phone rang. Glancing at his caller ID, he saw that it was his dad. “Gibbs,” he answered.
“Don’t you ever say hello like normal people?” his dad inquired.
“Nope. What’s going on, Dad?”
“Just thought you’d want an update.”
Gibbs hoped that his dad would pick upon what he was about to do. “Yeah, you were going to tell me about Mike the last time you called. How’s he doing?”
There was a brief second of silence before his dad replied. Gibbs breathed a sigh of relief when Jack answered, “Well, you know Mike. He’s as stubborn as they come.”
“Yeah, I know. Is he feeling any better?”
“Not really, but he did want you to do something for him.”
“What’s that?”
“He wants to talk to the hugger. Do you think you can set that up?”
Gibbs smiled. Jack always referred to Abby as the hugger. His dad had once made the comment that he never met anyone who could hug so well. “I’ll do my best. Dad, I’m going to have to go. I’ll call you back later.”
“All right, son.”
The team leader hung up to find three sets of eyes staring at him. “That was my dad.”
“Your father? Is something wrong?” Ziva asked.
“No, at least not with him. Tony is with him. I don’t want Vance knowing where Tony is and I wouldn’t put it past the director to use us to find DiNozzo.”
“Tony is in Stillwater? Why?”
“I don’t fully know.” Gibbs studied each member of his team. He could trust them, he knew that, but what he was about to tell them could change how they viewed their senior field agent. “Tony’s been undercover per the director’s orders. I don’t know the details of this latest case, but whatever has happened, Tony can’t…Tony just needs some time to work some things out and that’s what he’s going to get.”
“Is he all right?” McGee asked.
“No.”
“What can we do?” Ziva asked.
“What you’re doing now. Keep going through his computer and see if there is anything that will tell us what Tony has been doing. Any emails from Vance to Tony, print them out and give them to me. Abby, I have a special assignment for you while you’re waiting on Tony’s car.”
He took Abby by the arm and led her away from the others. “Tony wants you to call him, but don’t use your phone.”
Deepening her voice, she answered, “On it, Boss. Did I sound like Tony? I’ve been practicing all day.”
“Good job, Abs. Now go!”
He watched as Abby ran out of the lab as fast her thick platform soles would carry her. Turning his attention back to Ziva and McGee, he wondered how much more he should tell them. They were Tony’s friends too and were as equally worried about him. He watched them work as they went through Tony’s emails, debating on what to do. His phone rang again and this time it was Vance.
Gibbs hit the mute button, refusing the answer the man’s call. The next phone to ring was Ziva’s and she followed suit as did McGee when his rang.
“The equipment in here sometimes messes up my phone,” Ziva said.
“We really should see about getting a new service or something,” McGee added.
Gibbs smiled. He knew where his team’s loyalty lied; with him and with their friend, Tony DiNozzo.
Chapter End Notes:
Okay, you got one more post before the weekend. Like I said, it's been a slow week at work! LOL Have a good weekend and enjoy the next chapter!