Chapter 3
Gibbs opened his eyes. He could see he was in a hospital, probably the emergency room. While he’d been out of it, he’d been divested of his wet clothes and he now wore a flimsy hospital gown. He looked around and he immediately knew something was very wrong. All the members of his team were standing around his bed, except Tony. There was also a woman he didn’t recognize in the room standing next to Ducky, probably a nurse.
Tony had promised Gibbs that he’d see him at the hospital as soon as he was done working the scene. Tony rarely made promises, so when he did make one, it meant a lot. The work was obviously done, as all the others were here. Gibbs knew if it was at all humanly possible, Tony would be here, too. He felt it in his gut that something was very wrong. He tried to sit up, clearly intent on leaving, desperate to find Tony.
Abby placed her hands on his shoulders and easily pushed him back onto the bed, as he was still quite weak. Gibbs hoarsely protested, “Let me go. I need to check-”
“Don’t you worry about a thing, Bossman,” Abby interrupted. “Whatever it is you think you need to check on can wait. You need to rest.”
“But I have to-” Gibbs protested again.
This time Ducky interrupted, very sure of himself as to what, or who, his friend was so concerned about, “Jethro, the young lady you’re so worried about is fine. She’s already been released to the care of a friend.” He signaled the nurse to give Gibbs the injection he had convinced the ER doctor Jethro needed. “You’ve been running yourself ragged the last two days, my friend, and after your dip in the water, and given the fact that you were slightly hypothermic when you were brought in, I will not allow you to check yourself out of the hospital prematurely. You are in no condition to go anywhere or do anything.”
While Ducky had been talking, the nurse had inserted the needle into the IV line in the back of Gibbs’ hand and pushed the plunger down.
Gibbs protested, “But somebody needs to… ” His words trailed off as the drug took effect and he lost consciousness.
“Are you sure that was a good idea, Ducky?” Ziva asked the ME. “He is going to be very angry when he wakes up.”
“If he is, then I will just quote rule number eighteen for him,” Ducky said.
“Rule eighteen?” Ziva questioned.
“Yeah, it’s better to seek forgiveness than ask permission,” Abby explained. “The bossman does it to the director all the time.”
“I’ll make sure I’m not anywhere around when that conversation takes place,” McGee commented.
“Well, it was for his own good,” Ducky stated. “If Jethro had not been sedated, he would most certainly sign himself out of the hospital, and possibly cause himself even more harm.”
“Perhaps you are right, Ducky,” Ziva reluctantly agreed. She was very glad that it had not been her idea to give Gibbs the drug, though. She could very well imagine her boss’ reaction when he woke up, and like McGee, she didn’t want to be anywhere near when Gibbs confronted Ducky about it.
“There is no need for any of us to remain here,” Ducky said. “The ER doctor said that Jethro can sleep off the sedative here in the ER and as long as there are no complications, he can be released in the morning. One of us can return then to give him a ride home.”
“I’m not leaving him,” Abby said stubbornly. She wasn’t going to let anything keep her from her silver-haired fox.
“This is an emergency room, Abby dear,” Ducky chided. “Only immediate family members are allowed to stay with the patients. You’ll not be allowed to sit here in this room with him all night.”
“But Gibbs is family,” Abby protested.
“Be that as it may, they only recognize blood relations, spouses and legal next of kin as immediate family,” Ducky explained.
“I’ll sit in the waiting room then,” Abby said. “That way, I’ll be here if he needs anything.”
“I can stay with you, Abby,” McGee offered. “I’ll just leave the boss’ go-bag here on the chair.”
Ziva added, “I will also stay with you.”
“I guess it’s unanimous then,” Ducky said. “We’ll all wait in the waiting room for Jethro to wake up.”
All four of them left Gibbs sleeping on the hospital bed. The nurse remained in the room to check her patient’s vitals again.
Not one of them wondered why Tony wasn’t there, or even gave him a thought at all.
XXXXXXXXXX
Gibbs woke up slowly. His gut began churning as he remembered what happened earlier. He looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was close 0300. He heard someone approach the door and he feigned sleep. He didn’t want any more surprise sedatives put in his IV, and he didn’t have the time to argue with anyone.
He opened his eyes just a little so he could see what was going on. A nurse came into the room. She checked his blood pressure, pulse and IV line and then listened to his lungs for a minute. She wrote some notes in a chart and then left the room, quietly closing the door behind her. Gibbs figured he had a while before anyone returned to check on him again, so he climbed out of the bed and walked over to the phone on the wall, his IV line barely giving him enough slack to reach it. He was grateful to note that his earlier weakness was gone.
Gibbs called Tony’s home phone and let it ring several times, but there was no answer. His gut began to churn even more. He didn’t bother to try Tony’s cell phone, because he was sure it had been ruined when he jumped in the water. He had a feeling that time was of the essence.
He saw his go-bag sitting on a chair and figured someone from his team had left it there for his eventual discharge. He removed the needle from his hand and quickly got dressed. He looked around the room and found a plastic bag under the bed that contained his wet clothes. His watch, wallet and keys were in the top drawer of the bedside table. He retrieved his knife from his wet pants and cut the ID bracelet from his wrist and threw it in the trash can. He gathered all his things and walked over to the door. He opened it a crack and poked his head out. He didn’t see anyone in the hallway so he slipped out of the room.
The nurses’ station was to Gibbs’ right and the waiting room to his left. He actually recognized the hospital now. He’d become well acquainted with it over the years, due to his own visits there and those of the agents on his team. He didn’t see the nurse who’d just visited him, so she must have been in another treatment room.
Gibbs decided to walk down the hall like nothing was amiss. Since he was wearing street clothes and had cut the hospital ID bracelet from his wrist, if he happened to run into any hospital personnel, they likely wouldn’t realize that he was an escaping patient. He passed the waiting room and glanced through the doorway. He saw Ducky, Abby, McGee and Ziva all dozing in chairs, probably waiting for him to be discharged.
He kept walking down the hall. Those were the people who wouldn’t listen to him or let him leave so he could check on Tony. Since they were all here at the hospital, it was obvious to him that no one was with Tony. His gut was telling him that Tony needed him. He didn’t want to talk to any of them right now because he didn’t want to waste any more time arguing with them.
He reached the exit and left the building. He saw a pay phone not too far from the door and called a cab. He even offered to pay the cab driver an extra 20 dollars if the cab could get there to pick him up within ten minutes.
After he hung up the phone, Gibbs waited impatiently for the cab, but it actually did arrive within ten minutes. He got in and handed the man a 20-dollar bill. He gave the driver the address to Tony’s apartment building. He also told the man if he got him there within 15 minutes he’d double the fare.
Gibbs reached Tony’s apartment building in record time and gladly paid the double fare. He used his emergency key and let himself into the building and ran up the stairs. He unlocked the door to Tony’s apartment and went inside. He tossed his bag of wet clothes in the corner and searched the apartment for Tony.
He could hear someone wheezing as he walked down the hall to the bedroom and he ran into the room and saw Tony lying on his side on the floor. Gibbs’ gut had been right. Tony was really sick and could barely breathe. His lips were blue and he had dried blood on his chin. Gibbs ran to Tony’s side and pulled him across the floor to the bed and propped him up against its side. He remembered when Tony had the plague that he could breathe easier if he was sitting up.
Gibbs left Tony in the bedroom and ran to the living room and called 911. After he finished the call, he opened the front door and then headed back to the bedroom to sit with Tony until the paramedics arrived.
When he reached Tony’s bedroom, he found him just the way he’d left him, on the floor leaning against the side of the bed. Nothing much frightened him, and he prided himself on that, but seeing Tony’s blue lips and hearing his loud wheezing scared him, a lot, but it did seem to be a bit better now that he was sitting up. He ran over to Tony and pushed him forward a little bit and then slid down between him and the bed and then wrapped his arms around him in order to hold him upright.
As he held the sick man, Gibbs kissed the side of his head and whispered in his ear, “Don’t forget, Tony, you don’t have my permission to die.”
A short time later the paramedics arrived and Gibbs was shoved out of the way so they could work on Tony. Gibbs told them what had happened the day before and also about Tony’s history of having the plague, which earned him a couple of disbelieving looks, but in short order the paramedics had placed Tony on oxygen, inserted an IV and loaded him on a gurney to take him to the waiting ambulance.
As they left the apartment with Tony, Gibbs followed, refusing to be left behind.
TBC
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