It took Gibbs a second or two to process the fact that his senior field agent was no longer speaking to him. He looked down at his senior field agent, no more than 5 feet away from him lying on the ground. It was Tony’s moaning that brought them all back to reality.
Gibbs, Ziva and McGee immediately drew their weapons, and scanned the area to see if they could locate the shooter.
“Ducky, its Tony!” Gibbs called to Ducky who was virtually right beside Tony, examining the body. He had not heard any sound. But had seen Tony fall and was turning to attend to Tony when Gibbs called. Palmer was pulling the stretcher out of the back of the truck. He was startled by Gibbs’ shout and looked around the back doors of the truck. He saw Tony lying on the ground. Thinking quickly, he jumped into the back of the van and grabbed the first aid kit and all else he thought they could possibly need. Though he had no clue what had happened. He had not heard anything either. He than raced to Ducky’s side loaded down with supplies. He stopped and dropped to his knees spilling the supplies onto the ground.
“Thank you, Mr. Palmer.” Ducky said, taking a package of sterile gauze and unwrapping it.
Jimmy made the 9-1-1 call and then began to gently try to move Tony’s hands away from his chest, so that Ducky could examine him. Tony automatically began to resist, not realizing what was going on.
“McGee, you guard Tony! Ziva, you’re with me.” And with that, Gibbs and David took off running in the direction of the shot.
“Anthony, “ Ducky said, as he gently but firmly pushed Tony’s hand away from the wound. “I need to examine you.”
McGee scanned the area continuously. His eyes never stopped moving and he stayed as close as he could to Tony, Jimmy and Ducky without interfering in Ducky’s work.
Ducky unzipped Tony’s black NCIS jacket and moved it out of his way, he then unbuttoned Tony’s dress shirt. He took notice of the large amount of blood already soaking the shirt before he gently and carefully removed it from over the wound.
Tony moaned repeatedly, trying to recover the wound with his hands. “Ducky, chest hurts. What…happened?” A thin line of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth and flowed down his cheek.
Ducky said nothing, concentrating on applying pressure to Tony’s wound with the gauze.
“Ducky!” Tony repeated when Ducky did not answer immediately.
“Sorry, dear boy.” Ducky said applying more pressure to the wound. “You were shot. You will be fine.”
Tony nodded his understanding. He coughed to clear his throat and it brought on a new, fresh wave of pain. Tony closed his eyes until the pain ebbed and his breathing slowed.
“Ducky.” Tony said. He grasped Ducky’s hand with his bloody one. “Thank you, for all of it. I….”
McGee looked down at Tony when he heard Tony speak. Tim’s fear and shock apparent on his face. The sight of blood flowing from Tony’s mouth unnerved him. He had heard if someone begins to bleed from the mouth there is serious internal damage and that they are as good as dead. Tim tried to hide his fear. He needed to be strong for Tony. He knew if Tony saw or sensed his fear; it could affect him in a negative way.
“Anthony, we will not say goodbye today.” Ducky felt the tears well up. “We have many, many more years to work together.”
“...hurt....bad, Ducky.” Tony confessed.
“I know, Anthony. I know.” Ducky said, confirming. “But you will survive this.”
“…pain.” Tony moaned.
Ducky nodded. He instructed Jimmy to apply pressure to the wound. Ducky needed to be able to watch Tony for signs of shock. Ducky settled down beside Tony, and not being able to do anything else medically for his patient, he talked to Tony. Tim and Ducky exchanged looks. It confirmed Timothy’s worst fears. Tony knew he could die. He even thought he was going to die. What was even scarier to them was that Tony had seemed to make his peace with it.
“ETA, Mr. Palmer?” Ducky asked, opening another pack of gauze and handing it to Palmer.
“Three minutes.” Palmer replied.
TBC
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony and Ducky talk.
Chapter End Notes:
I have very limited medical knowledge, so if it sounds incorrect, it most likely is.