You'll Never Leave Completely
- Chapter 3: Back from L.A. -
Many thanks to:
Verity for Beta reading - and for the plot help (you're as good as gold... um, no, better :))
and
everyone lies for the help with the medical stuff!
Tony and Ziva had spent the flight back to Washington in complete silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Somehow they had managed to investigate in a professional manner like they were used to doing. But it had been really hard, not to think of the people who had died there, and what all this meant.
They had taken the first flight that had been available, and it was relief to be finally back in the NCIS headquarters, although it was like coming home after the death of a family member - everything reminded them of the lost ones.
They resisted the urge to look up to the catwalk like Gibbs had often done; but they couldn't stop themselves from staring at the deserted desk of their boss.
"It's unbelievable," Tony whispered, saying what every one was thinking. He felt the sickness coming back and forced himself to look away; instead he watched Ducky entering the office. McGee was talking silently to Ziva when Tony realized that someone was missing.
"Where's Abby?" he asked, his look wandering from Ducky to his young colleague and back.
"I don't know; she said that we can do something to help you and ran out of her lab, leaving us no chance to follow. She just vanished," McGee explained while working on his PC.
"Why didn't you track down her mobile?" Tony wondered, eying his him somewhat reproachful.
"Yeah, thank you Tony, would've done it, but that would've got me only one place in result - her lab."
"So you sit here and... why aren't you out searching for her?!"
"Because Director Vance told us to stay here; that there would be no need to search Abby," Dr. Mallard answered for McGee.
"What? Who does he think he is?"
"At the moment, standing behind you," a very unfamiliar and cold voice told him and Tony turned so fast that he nearly fell over.
"Sir," he acknowledged the man in front of him.
"Agent DiNozzo. I want you and your team in my office in ten minutes. Hope that's enough time for you to... compare your notes," Vance told the Senior Agent, giving him a critical glance; then he turned and walked back towards the stairs.
"Yea, Sir, of course." Tony tried hard to suppress the upcoming rage that this man caused in him; how could someone be so heartless? When his eyes met Ziva's, he knew that wasn't the only one with these thoughts; only Ziva was ready to really follow this man and do whatever she now was thinking and what definitely was not nice. Carefully, Tony laid a hand on David's arm. "He isn't worth the trouble," he told her, his voice low, and as much as she wanted to punch the indifference out of this man, she knew it was better to keep her feet still and wait.
--
"He's awake," the doctor she still hadn't been introduced told her, waking Jen from the twilight sleep she had fallen to due to the exhaustion the last few hours had brought to her. She had been fighting against the sleepiness, but since they had changed for the plane that was going to bring them to Europe, and that was a really comfortable vessel, she finally had given in.
"How is he?" Shepard asked, shifting off the tiredness.
"He is more than lucky I would say; obviously the bullet only grazed him, though it hit one of his ribs before it left his body; a little bone fragment found its way into the right lobe of his lung. We were able to remove the fragment and take care of the wound. He will be fine," the man explained, an encouraging smile showing on his face.
"But he has lost so much blood," she thought aloud, while the news lifted a weight off her shoulders.
"It was not as bad as we had been afraid of. I think it was around one and a half pints; it could have been worse. Just make sure he rests the next weeks. And he shouldn't drink any coffee for at least four days."
"I will pay special attention to that," she smiled. "Thank you, Doctor..."
"Bellman; sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier."
"Well, you helped Agent Gibbs, so I think I can forgive you for that," she replied, winking at him. "May I see him?"
"Of course. He's already inquired after you." Jenny followed the doctor into another section of the airplane where the small infirmary was placed. Gibbs smiled up at her when she stepped beside his bed.
"Hey, you gave me a real scare," she said, her voice gentle.
"You know, I like this dramatic act," he grinned, though his voice was barely a whisper and he obviously had some problems breathing. For a moment, his face showed the pain speaking had caused; his wound hurt with every breath he took.
"You shouldn't talk too much, Agent Gibbs; you're lungs are still weak; they and your body need to regain their strength," Doctor Bellman, who was in a small area next to the "sick room", pointed out.
"I will take care of that, too, Doctor," Jen answered for her partner, earning herself a death glare that made her grin. With a mischievous gleam in her eyes, she added, "You can call me Nurse Jenny."
As much as Gibbs wanted to continue killing Nurse Jenny with his glare, he couldn't help but smile. It was good to see her as happy and relieved as she was, because judging from his experience, this wouldn't last long. Not in their life.
"How did we escape?" he finally asked a question he maybe should have waited with, but he needed to know, and though he had some idea what the answer to his question would be, something told him that there was much more to learn of what had happened and would happen now.
"Mike Franks showed up, shot the last of the men, the one who regained consciousness again and tried to shoot me. Then he left as fast as he had come," Jenny explained, her hand gently stroking his hair and cheeks.
"Had called him before we left for the diner," he simply replied. It had been his famous gut telling him that calling Mike might be a good idea; and of course his old friend had had just the right timing. He made a mental note to thank Mike later when they were back. By the way... "When will we be back?"
He knew something was really wrong when Jen's facial expression turned deadly serious. His brows furrowed when he waited for her answer.
"They're not going to send us back to Washington, at least not to let us stay there. Jethro... they're going to send us to Europe. We have a new undercover assignment."