Chapter 12
AN: This chapter is a little slow-down, a little introspection for Kate and Tim. I hope you like the change of pace. J
Kate left the hospital shaking her head. She didn’t even realize she had not gotten her release until she was all the way back at her apartment. She called and made an appointment with her family physician to be seen as early as possible on Monday morning.
Kate collapsed onto her couch. She turned on her TV, but could not concentrate on the action playing out on the screen. She couldn’t get the image out of her mind. Her partner, her goof off, immature frat-boy of a partner, was a doctor. And from all accounts a damned good one. She just could not wrap her mind around the concept.
Kate’s mind kept going back to the look Tony had on his face when he was working with his patients. It was a look of complete control. He was in control, in control and confident of his abilities. But that, if she thought about it, was no different than at NCIS. She had never seen Tony be anything less than confident in his job. He teased her and Tim relentlessly. But he was always the confident and competent pro when it mattered. And as big a jokester as he was, she knew she could depend on him. She guessed that that was why she had taken all this pranks and jokes.
There was much more to Tony than she realized. She had to admit it. She had always hoped there was more than what he showed. Than the things he had told her. She had tried to find out more about him, asking questions. But she never got far, he always blocked her attempts. He would intentionally say something or do something that would throw her off the subject and get her mad at him. She realized now that that was what it was. If she was mad at him, she wouldn’t ask him questions. If she stayed irritated with him, she would not pry into the parts of his life he considered personal and private.
Kate smiled suddenly, the picture of Tony with the little girl in his arms in her mind. The way the little girl seemed to trust him. How she had held her arms out to him to be picked up. How Tony had smiled at her and had scooped her up into his arms, as if he had held and comforted hundreds of children the exact same way. She had watched the two talking from behind the trauma room glass. They were whispering back and forth as if they were sharing some big, heavy secrets. Kate could suddenly see Tony with HIS little girl. She could see how he might be as a dad. Tony had just grown up, a lot, in her eyes.
Kate had no idea who much knowledge one needed to have as a doctor. But she knew Tony needed a broad base. He had to be able to, literally, deal with whatever or whoever walked through the doors of the ER. And he had shown that flexibility, going from treating to very different conditions, car accident versus choking victim. He had gone from treating a 30-something year old woman to treating a child. And he had done it easily and effortlessly. She had been more than impressed. She had been astounded.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
Tim walked to his car and left the hospital driving home almost on autopilot. He didn’t like blood. He didn’t like gore. Not from the living, at any rate. For the dead, their suffering was over. But his visit to Tony in the ER brought a lot of things to the surface for him. He had seen Tony ‘being confident’ and in all reality thought it was just part of the veneer that he showed the world. He scoffed at the ‘act’ Tony put on and it made him feel even more superior, in some ways. Tim, at least, WAS actually confident in what he did. But after seeing Tony in action in the ER, Tim knew it was not an act. It was part of who Tony was. It was a confidence born out of doing something he was really, really good at and that he enjoyed. And Tim could definitely see how much Tony enjoyed his job.
Tim shook his head. The person who he had just seen in the ER could NOT be the same person who super glued his keyboard to his desk. The same man who read his emails and snooped, relentlessly, in his personal business. But it was, indeed, Anthony DiNozzo. The man he had only seen, thus far, as one-dimensional and shallow, was anything but. Tim had been particularly struck by Tony’s interaction with the little girl who had been brought in by her dad. Tony was a natural with the little girl. He looked so comfortable with her. And she defiantly seemed enamored with him. She had bonded, it seemed, almost immediately. And there was something that was very sweet and endearing as Tim watched her whisper in Tony’s ear.
Tim was just as impressed with the wealth of knowledge Tony had to have. And he had to be able to access at a moment’s notice, given the nature of working in the ER. Tony was much, much smarter than Tim had ever given him credit for. And the fact that Tony had gone to Johns Hopkins. Tim was still processing that. He had had friends who were attending the medical school there. Tim had attended one of his friend’s classes and had been astounded by the depth and wealth of information given. His head was spinning by the time class was over and he left the classroom.
Monday morning at NCIS was going to be interesting.
TBC
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