Tony was wrapping up things at the scene. He couldn’t believe Jethro had gone off grid like that. Actually, his boss going off grid wasn’t all that surprising. He’d done it before and he would likely do it again. It still pissed him off when his boss did something like that, though. He was so glad that Gibbs was still alive. It had been much too close this time. When he’d been about to do CPR on Gibbs, he’d told him, ‘Don’t make me kiss you, Boss’. He’d wanted to kiss his boss since the first day he met him, but he’d never wanted to put his lips on Jethro’s when they were so cold and lifeless.
He watched as the last NCIS agent finally left the scene. As acting team leader in his boss’ absence, he had overseen the collection of the evidence and the removal of the bodies. It had been a few hours since the ambulance had left with Gibbs and Maddie. Tony had borrowed McGee’s cell phone shortly after that, as he’d discovered his own phone wasn’t working after he’d jumped in the water, and had contacted the director. He gave her a brief overview of what had happened and she had granted her permission that the team members could complete their reports the following day.
He knew that Abby and Ducky were already at the hospital. Abby had gone right after Ziva called and told her what happened, and as soon as the bodies had been delivered to NCIS, Ducky had gone as well. As the case was essentially closed except for the paperwork and all the suspects were dead, there was no real hurry for their services that night. He’d released Ziva and McGee a little while ago so they, too, could go check on Gibbs for themselves. He knew how important Gibbs was to all of them and he knew they were all worried about their boss, himself included.
Tony had promised Gibbs that he would see him at the hospital, but he didn’t think it would cause harm if he to arrived a little later than everyone else. Maybe once he arrived, the rest of the team would leave so he could spend some time alone with Jethro, and he could give his boss another piece of his mind about taking backup with him the next time he did something so dangerous, and so stupid. And maybe the two of them could have that talk he’d told Gibbs about.
He still found it hard to believe that Gibbs had actually kissed him. Jethro must have known about how Tony felt about him or he wouldn’t have risked doing something like that. He wondered how Gibbs knew; he thought he’d been so careful at hiding his feelings. But it was Gibbs; somehow he always seemed to know everything.
Tony shivered as he finally headed for the company car he’d arrived in. His suit was still damp. Before he went to the hospital to see Jethro, he needed to go home and get out of his wet clothes and take a long hot shower to warm himself up. He probably should have taken his wet clothes off already, but he didn’t have any other clothes with him, and he hadn’t been able to leave the scene before now. He hoped he didn’t come down with something. He thought he might be catching a cold or something, because he’d been coughing on and off since he’d gotten out of the water.
He got into the car and drove to his apartment. He walked into the building and to the elevator which, to his dismay, wasn’t working again. He wearily climbed the three flights of stairs to his apartment, and was surprised that the exertion made his chest feel tight and caused him to be a little short of breath. He was still coughing occasionally, too. He even had to stop and rest a couple of times in order to complete the climb.
Tony reached his apartment and unlocked the door. He immediately headed for the bathroom and pulled off his damp clothes, which he let fall where they landed; the suit was beyond hope anyway. He turned the water on in the shower as hot as he could stand it and stepped inside. He groaned in relief as felt the hot water hit his cold body. After a few minutes he finally started to feel warm again, and the steam helped relieve the tight feeling that had been gradually building in his chest since he climbed out of the river.
When the water began to cool, he stepped out of the shower and quickly dried himself with a towel. He wrapped the towel around his waist and walked into his bedroom. He went to his dresser and pulled out some jeans, socks, a pair of boxers, a turtleneck and a sweater. He wanted to dress as warmly as possible.
Once he was dressed, he began gathering his things. He remembered he didn’t have his gun, as he’d had to turn it in so Abby could match the ballistics, and he didn’t need to take his cell phone because it had been ruined in the water, as well as his watch. The phone would be replaced by NCIS, but he was going to have to get Gibbs to buy him a new watch, as well as a new suit and shoes, which were all ruined because Gibbs had been an idiot. It was only fair that he should replace Tony’s ruined things.
He walked into his living room and called the hospital. After identifying himself as Gibbs’ next of kin, he was told that Jethro was ‘resting comfortably’ and would be released in the morning. After he hung up the phone, he realized he’d forgotten his coat, so he walked back to his bedroom to get it out of the closet. As he reached the closet, he suddenly began to cough. He coughed so hard that he couldn’t seem to catch his breath. He stumbled over to his bed and grabbed the inhaler that he kept on his nightstand. He took a hit from the inhaler, but he wasn’t able to hold the medicine in his lungs as long as he was supposed to, but after a few minutes the coughing finally subsided. He put the inhaler in his pocket in case he needed it again later.
Ever since he had the plague, Tony always kept an inhaler nearby; he had one in his desk, one in his backpack and one at home; so if he needed one it was always handy.
He briefly thought about calling Ducky, but then he dismissed the idea, since he was likely to run into the doctor at the hospital anyway.
He started for the closet again to get his coat when he was overcome by another coughing fit. He covered his mouth with his hand, and when he took it away he saw blood, and he had enough wits about him to know that wasn’t good, and really regretted his decision to not call Ducky a few moments ago.
This time the coughing was so bad he wasn’t able to use his inhaler at all. He couldn’t inhale the medicine into his lungs, or hold his breath long enough for it to do any good even if he could. He couldn’t quit coughing long enough to catch his breath and when he was able to draw in a small breath, that set off the coughing again. It was like a vicious cycle. It wasn’t long before he began to see black spots in front of his eyes. He tried to make it back out to the living room to the phone, but he didn’t even make it out of the bedroom. He became so weak and lightheaded from the lack of air that he collapsed to his knees half way to the door and then fell to his side. He didn’t remember anything after that.
TBC
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