Tony finished examining his patient's broken arm. "Feels like it's a clean break, but I want to get x-rays before putting a cast on it. Hopefully it's nothing worse than that and we'll have you out of here as soon as we can," Tony said as he carefully rolled down the sleeve as best he could without jostling the broken bone or the temporary splint that the paramedics had put on. The dark-haired man nodded, "yeah, ok, how long?" His chart said he was 28, but he looked like he could be anywhere between early 20s and late 40s. It was a habit from being a cop that had Tony guessing people's ages. Tony exchanged a quick look with Amy, the nurse assigned to Tony's patients today.
She shrugged her shoulders, "radiology isn't too busy right now, but it's little slow this morning." Tony nodded, "we'll do our best, Mr. Ramos." Ramos nodded resignedly. Tony made a note in the chart, and turned to leave. "Nice tat, by the way," Tony patted his own arm where his patient had a stunning tiger's head surrounded by a swirling pattern in red and oranges. Ramos gave Tony a small smile and a nod.
While Amy submitted the order for the x-ray, Tony saw he'd been assigned a new patient. He checked in with Joan, the patient coordinator to get whatever details she had. "She's still being checked in, Tony, so you have a few minutes. From her husband's description, it sounds like a cardiac case," Joan read from the new chart before holding it out to Tony. He nodded but didn't take the chart, "ok, that gives me time to hit the men's room while she's getting settled."
Joan grinned, "absolutely, can't have the patients' thinking our doctors aren't potty-trained."
Tony winced, "so NOT a mental picture I needed, Joan. Haven't done that since I was three, and I have no intention of starting again now." He laughed lightly and headed for the private men's room down the hall, outside of the busy emergency room.
He pulled the door closed behind him and flipped the lock. Tony pulled out his phone, glad that the ER didn't have any equipment the prevented the use of the sometimes annoying, but mostly useful, cell phone. He pressed a speed-dial key and waited through two rings.
"Agent Todd... Tony?? What the hell???" Kate swore in greeting.
"And a good morning to you too, Kate!" Tony answered. "Have a late night? Anything you want to share?"
"Tony....." Kate groaned, "do you know what time it is? On our first Saturday off in weeks?"
"Yup, it's 9:13. Just a quick question," Tony said before Kate interrupted.
"No, Tony, I will not go out to a club, movie, concert, or any other place with you tonight."
"Funny, Kate, funny. You wound me. Remember that cold case we looked at a few days ago? Lt. Waters? Didn't the suspect's description include a tiger head tat on the right bicep?"
"Uh, yeah, with a red and orange pattern around it. Not much else to go by, just a guy with dark hair. Not even a decent age range to narrow it down. Why?" Kate was sounding more awake.
"I have a lead on the guy. Call Gibbs and McGee, and get down here," Tony said. He glanced at his watch, he had to get back to the ER.
"Here where? And why don't you call Gibbs? Or Baker's team? They're on call today." Kate protested, but Tony heard background noises that made him think that Kate was up and moving around her small apartment.
"Because we put the work in on the cold case, not Baker's team. And I really can't make any more ...." Tony stopped talking when the alarm tones went off and an announcement came over the speakers. "Code Green, team 3, report to East entrance. Code Green, team 3, report to East entrance." This was the fourth call he'd heard this morning. Not for the first time, he was relieved that as a per-diem staffer, he didn't have to rotate through the code teams.
"Tony, where the hell are you?" Kate asked.
"Bethesda's Emergency Room. I got to go Kate. I'll keep an eye on the suspect. He's using the name Ramos." Tony hung up before Kate could ask any more questions.
Tony decided he didn't lie to Kate, he really was in Bethesda's ER, although not the way she thought. And he did need to go, he thought as he unzipped his pants. Again, probably not the way Kate thought he meant.
When Tony got back to the ER, he checked the radiology request Amy submitted for Ramos. He bumped down the priority by one level. If anyone asked, he could honestly say he didn't think a probable clean break of the ulna needed a high priority when radiology was behind. That would keep Ramos in the ER at least 20 minutes. The x-rays would take 10 minutes, plus transport time back and forth to the ER. Tony figured that would give the team almost an hour to get to the hospital. Plus once the x-rays were done, Tony could put off seeing Ramos with the results by keeping busy with his other patients. Not too much time, but fifteen or 20 minutes wouldn't be hard to justify. Casting the arm would buy him some time too. A complicated break could keep Ramos in the ER for hours waiting for an orthopedist to come down. And worst case, if Ramos did leave before Gibbs and the team arrived, the hospital would have an address that they could use as a starting point.
Tony went in to see his new possible-cardiac patient
Thirty five minutes later, Gibbs, Kate, and McGee were waiting for Ramos in the small exam room when he got back from radiology. Maria, the nurse covering for Amy while she worked with Tony in another room, refused to let the team take Ramos out of the ER before the broken arm was taken care of. Gibbs grudgingly agreed to wait, "tell that doctor to get in here, now."
Maria crossed her arms, "he'll be here when he's finished with his other patient, Agent Gibbs. The doctor will be in as soon as he can," she motioned to the gurney Ramos was lying on, "besides, you've already handcuffed Mr. Ramos to the gurney." She didn't mention that she'd had to stop them from cuffing his broken arm. Ramos pulled against the metal cuff again with a frustrated grunt. He hadn't said a word since seeing the team waiting for him.
As much as he wanted to, Gibbs didn't push back. Contrary to what his team thought, he did know when to give in and when to push. Instead he turned to McGee, "go find DiNozzo, make sure he's ok." McGee nodded and started to walk away. He stopped when Maria spoke again, "I told you, the doctor's with another patient." McGee looked confused, "yes ma'am," he said politely, and walked out of the exam room. Maria sighed and shook her head. After warning Gibbs and Kate not to jostle the broken arm, she left Ramos with the two other agents and went to her next patient.
McGee walked back to the Joan's desk. She'd been the one to direct them to Ramos' room, she'd probably know which exam room Tony was in. "Excuse me, ma'am," McGee said. Joan looked up from the computer, "yes, Agent? Did you find who you were looking for?" McGee nodded, "yes, thank you. I'm looking for another patient too. His name is Tony- Anthony- DiNozzo. Do you know where he is?"
Joan looked at him in surprise. Like most of the ER staff, she knew Tony also worked at NCIS, and at least by name, knew Gibbs, Kate, and McGee. "A patient? You're sure?" Joan looked through her patient charts. She would've remembered a patient also named Tony DiNozzo, but she'd just gotten back from a coffee break and maybe there really was a new patient named Tony DiNozzo.
"Yes, ma'am, he called from here about an hour ago," McGee said, checking his watch.
"Is there a problem?" a doctor came up behind Joan. He looked at McGee, "I'm Dr. North, I'm one of the attending physicians here." McGee shook his head, "no, no problem, just looking for a patient." Joan looked over her shoulder at the doctor, "This is Agent McGee, from NCIS. He's looking for a patient, a Tony DiNozzo." Dr North's lips quirked as if he holding back a grin. McGee got the feeling that Joan and Dr North were sharing a private joke.
"Joan, I'm admitting Mrs. Davis. Call Cardiac and find her a bed in the CCU, please. Did you find Ramos, McGee?" Tony said, coming up behind McGee and holding out the chart to Joan.
McGee turned around and his jaw dropped open. "Tony? What..." McGee spluttered before grabbing the chart out of Tony's hand. "You can't do that!"
Tony, Joan, and Dr North looked at McGee. Joan and Dr North didn't try to hide their grins. Tony sighed. "Why not? And yes, I can." He pulled the chart back and held it out again to Joan. McGee grabbed it again. Then he grabbed Tony's arm and pulled him away from the desk.
"This is how you keep Ramos under watch? Pretending to be a doctor? Are you nuts?" McGee hissed. "Just because you swiped someone's lab coat doesn't mean you can go around admitting people!" McGee said, just barely kept his tone at a normal level.
Tony chuckled, "it's ok McGee. Go tell Gibbs I'll be there in a minute. And I can go around admitting people wearing a lab coat, the same way I could arrest people back when I wore a police uniform. It's all about appearances." Tony pulled his arm, and the chart, out of McGee's grip and nudged McGee back toward Ramos' room. Tony walked back to Joan's desk before McGee figured out what Tony was talking about.
"Did you find him?" Gibbs asked when McGee walked back into the exam room. McGee nodded, "yeah, he's uh, yeah." Kate and Gibbs waited for more. "And?" Kate asked.
"Tony's on his way in here, he's uh, well, he thinks he's a doctor," McGee said.
Gibbs raised an eyebrow in surprise, "he's a doctor?"
"Tony's in the ER for a psych eval?" Kate asked.
Tony walked in at that moment. "Funny, Kate. And no, I'm not. I'm here working."
He turned to Ramos, "the good news is that the x-ray showed a nice clean break, we can get that casted for you in a few moments."
Ramos grunted, "the good news, huh? and the bad?"
Tony grinned, "Right you are. You get to go with these Agents to NCIS headquarters and explain what happened to Navy Lt Juliane Waters two years ago."
Ramos eyed Tony warily, "you a cop or a doc?"
"Depends on the day," Tony said.
Gibbs shook his head, "amazing luck that today's Doc-day, huh, Tony?"
Author's Chapter Notes:
Tony finds a suspect in the ER