Each story will be complete in itself.

Loveland Mercy Hospital in Ohio was usually noted for its calm and peaceful atmosphere. It was a place which made most people feel better just for walking through the door. Until the day that NCIS came to town. Correction, the day Leroy Jethro Gibbs came to town.

"Mr Gibbs," said the doctor as he pulled open the curtains to the agent's cubicle.

"Agent Gibbs," corrected one of the other people in the cubicle.

"Special Agent Gibbs," added another even more nervously.

"Special Agent Gibbs," said the doctor amiably, "I …"

"Just get on with it," said Gibbs tersely, "We don't have all day."

The doctor continued to smile in a way that Gibbs' co-workers thought was foolhardy in the extreme. They began to wonder where the next nearest hospital was in case Gibbs murdered this hospital's only available doctor.

"I'm Dr DiNozzo," said the doctor blithely. "You've cut your leg."

"I know," said Gibbs. "Stitch it up! Now!"

"I've heard about you, Mr Gibbs," said Dr DiNozzo. "The whole hospital has heard about you."

"Do I look as if I care?" demanded Gibbs. "Stitch me up and we'll be on our way."

"You made Lucy on reception cry," said DiNozzo with a slight diminution of cheerfulness.

"She's meant to get people through. Not hold them up," groused Gibbs.

"And you made Nurse Amelia cry," said the doctor.

"So?"

"You really don't care that you made Lucy and Amelia cry?"

"Look, I've got important work to do," said Gibbs. "We're in a hurry."

"We've all got important work to do," said DiNozzo with a return to affability. "Here at Loveland Mercy we try to live up to our name."

A strange look washed over Gibbs' face. The doctor thought it might be pain or possibly remorse. The co-workers thought it was probably nausea at the thought of a place driven by love and mercy.

"We're nice people here," continued DiNozzo. "Most of the time." Somehow those last four words held a hint of menace.

"Look, Doc," said Gibbs in an attempt at appeasement, "I'm sure this is a great place. We just need to be out of here."

"Sure," said DiNozzo. "How did this happen?"

"What does it matter how it happened?" asked Gibbs losing his fragile hold on patience, "It happened."

"Was it caused by a blow to the leg. A fall? An attack?"

Gibbs sighed theatrically, "I fell. I was chasing a suspect and I tripped over. On to a piece of metal."

"A sharp piece of metal," observed DiNozzo as he peered at the injury.

"Well, duh," said Gibbs.

"Did either of you get a look at the piece of metal?" asked DiNozzo turning to the two male agents who exchanged nervous looks with Gibbs.

"Go on," ordered Gibbs.

"Yes?" said Tony.

The younger of the two said, "I didn't get a good look at it. But Agent Gibbs went down heavily," he looked apologetically at Gibbs, "Sorry, Boss. I mean, not sorry. Sorry."

"Thank you, Agent … I mean, Special Agent?"

"McGee. Timothy McGee."

"And you," said Tony turning to the other one, "Did you see anything more?"

"Like Tim said, Boss went down heavily. Looked like a piece of scrap metal to me. It was in a lane leading to a farm."

"Thank you … Special Agent …?"

"Pitt. Brad Pitt."

"Agent Pitt, that's helpful. Wait a minute, did you say Pitt?"

Gibbs and McGee sighed in unison: they were all too accustomed to the reaction to Brad's name. Part of Brad was surprised he'd been let on to the team; the other part thought that Gibbs hadn't known there was another, more famous, Brad Pitt out there.

"He's not a movie star," said Gibbs resignedly.

"And he hasn't got two jobs," said McGee in what was obviously a well-worn response.

DiNozzo looked puzzled, "Why would he? No, but it's weird," he looked more concentratedly at Brad and pointed to himself, "DiNozzo. Ohio State. Anthony DiNozzo."

Brad stared at the doctor, "DiNozzo! Tony DiNozzo? I don't believe it. Is it really you?"

"The very same," said Tony. He held out his hand and Brad shook it enthusiastically.

"I don't believe it," said Brad again.

Gibbs groaned and lay back on his pillows, "We guessed that. What don't you believe?"

"I broke his leg," said Brad.

Gibbs brightened momentarily, "I'm beginning to see why," he said.

Something like a scowl crossed Tony's friendly face. "I was a Buckeye, Pitt was a Wolverine," he said. "It was a game."

"So," said Brad, "You're a doctor."

A loud sigh sounded from Gibbs' bed, "Can see why you became a NCIS special agent, Pitt. Those investigative skills are top-notch."

Tony ignored him, "Yeah. Graduated from Ohio State. Somehow stuck around in Ohio. Came to Loveland a few years back. It's a great place. Nice people … mostly. What about you?"

"Oh, you know," said Brad. "Went into the Navy. Came out a couple of years ago and joined NCIS."

"You enjoy it?" asked Tony with a justifiable hint of scepticism.

"Well," began Brad.

"Er, guys," said McGee nervously, "I think you should postpone the reunion …" He jerked his head towards a Gibbs who seemed to be reaching boiling point.

Tony smiled brightly and turned back to Gibbs. McGee didn't rate his gut as highly as Gibbs' but he wasn't sure he'd want to be in Gibbs' slightly blood-spattered shoes at that moment.

"I need to look at your leg," Tony announced. "You probably need an X-ray to make sure it's not broken."

"It isn't," stated Gibbs.

"And to make sure there's nothing trapped in the wound," continued Tony.

"There isn't," said Gibbs.

"Huh. I didn't realise," said Tony.

"Realise what?"

"That NCIS agents come equipped with X-ray vision."

"They don't," said McGee.

"Look, Doc," said Gibbs with another attempt at politeness, "Why don't you just stitch it up. I promise that I'll get it checked out properly when we get back to …"

"I do hope you weren't about to say civilisation," said Tony.

"To DC," said Gibbs. "To DC."

"Good choice," said Tony. He stared at Gibbs, "OK, I'll go get the gear. Wait here."

Gibbs laid back on his pillows once more and sighed. The battle with hospital bureaucrats had taken it out of him. It didn't occur to him that pain and loss of blood might be contributing to a feeling of fatigue.

Tony was soon back, wheeling a cart with some instruments on it. He swept the cover off and McGee recoiled.

"Jeez, McGee," grumbled Gibbs, "If you can't stand the sight of medical instruments you'd better step outside. Don't want any more casualties."

"But …" began McGee.

"In fact, both of you should go," said Tony, "I don't want an audience."

Pitt and McGee both took an appalled look at the instruments, another look at their Boss and then beat a retreat.

"You're in luck, Special Agent Gibbs," said Tony.

"I am?" said Gibbs doubtfully.

Tony held up a long, and blood stained suture needle, "Yep. I'd just finished stitching up Gordon Willis before I came in to you."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. He'd been cleaning out his septic tank and fell in."

"He all right?" asked Gibbs looking with fascination as a drop of blood dripped from the needle.

"He'll be OK. Now, as you're in such a hurry I thought I'd just use the same instruments. No point in wasting time in sterilising them."

Tony and Gibbs stared at one another.

"No," agreed Gibbs, waiting for Tony to blink.

"Good," said Tony. He began to thread the needle.

"You don't wear gloves?" asked Gibbs.

"Oh," said Tony in surprise, "I do normally. But my hands are clean," he paused to think, scratched his head vigorously and then said, "Yeah, they're fine. I washed them before I worked on Gordon. They'll be fine."

"OK," said Gibbs.

"Unless," said Tony thoughtfully, "I guess your leg might not be too clean. I wouldn't want to catch anything. You're right, I'll put gloves on."

"You're not going to clean my leg?"

"Seems a waste of time," said Tony, peering at it a little closer, "As you're going to be getting it checked later. I don't know, though. There are some bits of dirt in there. You sure you got time for me to clean it out? It'll take a few minutes."

"Go on," said Gibbs grimly.

"I think that's a good idea," said Tony warmly. "I'll just get the big bits out. The rest will probably be OK." He put his gloves on and picked up a blood stained cotton square, "We're on a tight budget," he explained, "Don't worry, I'll try just to use the clean part."

Gibbs nodded.

Tony reached towards the leg but then stopped, "Hey," he said, "Stupid question, but do you want an injection for the pain? No, like I said, a stupid question. You're not going to jump when I stick the needle in, you'll be fine."

"Go on," said Gibbs clenching his fist. Tony wasn't sure if it was against the pain or in preparation for punching his doctor.

"Good man," praised Tony. "You know," he went on conversationally, "My professor never thought I was much good at suturing. But I think I'm OK, just very slow … very, very slow. I take a while doing it. And sometimes, if the patient jumps, well … I have to take out the sutures and start again. But, don't worry, you'll be fine."

"Get on with it," said Gibbs whose knuckles were showing white.

"Of course," said Tony, "We could go the real old fashioned route. You know, give you a slug of whisky and then pour the rest over the wound. Do you like movies?"

"What?" asked Gibbs confused at the change of subject.

"I do. I think it was watching the old movies that made me want to go into medicine. Why, you ask?"

Gibbs shook his head in disbelief. He had no wish to know why this lunatic had wanted to become a doctor.

Tony continued in apparent oblivion, "It was seeing bullets being taken out in the old Westerns. You know the sort of thing, sterilising the knife over a lighted candle. Holding people down as the doc dug around. Makes me wish I'd been born a hundred years ago, maybe two hundred."

Gibbs began to share that wish.

"I could go get a candle," said Tony. He made for the door but then turned back, "But you're in a rush. And we shouldn't really have naked flames down here. Not with all the oxygen cylinders around," he sighed regretfully. He held the soiled swab up and Gibbs noticed that his hand shook slightly. The swab hovered over the wound for a second and then Tony spoke again, "You know, technically, you should have a tetanus injection … there's some nasty looking stuff floating around here. But hey, it'll probably be OK. And you've got another leg. Did you know that Nature builds in redundancies? Although you probably need two legs to be a Special Agent. What you think? I can do injections real quick. You know the saying, a jab on the hips means your leg's your friend for life. Well, I don't think it's an actual saying and it could probably do with some work … but you've got the idea." He smiled somewhat vacantly as if he was trying the words out in his head.

"Gimme the damn injection," growled Gibbs.

"You sure?" said Tony in surprise. "Which one? The one for the pain or the one for the bugs? Or, strictly speaking, against the bugs."

"Both of them," said Gibbs.

"Both of them?" said Tony. "Well, if you're sure." And before Gibbs could change his mind, Tony had swabbed the injection site clean and administered the first injection.

NCISNCIS

Two hours later Gibbs emerged from a deep sleep.

"Boss?" said McGee.

"You all right?" asked Pitt.

"What?" said Gibbs groggily, "What happened?" he looked around in bemusement at his hospital room.

"I might have misjudged the painkiller dose," said Dr DiNozzo as he walked into the room. "No sooner had I injected you that you went out for the count. Still, on the bright side, it gave me time to get an X-ray done on that leg, to get the wound cleaned out thoroughly and stitched up beautifully."

Gibbs glared at the cheerful doctor but decided to cut his losses, "And what about the leg?"

"Still attached," said Tony jovially, "Hanging in there," He wiped the smile off his face and said, "No fracture … as you thought. Multiple small fragments of metal and rust … not as you thought. But it should be fine, give you years of faithful service but I recommend you see your regular practitioner for advice on follow up treatment."

"And I can go?" asked Gibbs.

"Of course," said Tony. He paused expectantly as if waiting for a thank you.

"Thank you, Dr DiNozzo," said McGee, "And thank you for the stories about Brad at Michigan," he added meaningfully.

"Thank you, Tony," said Brad, "And Gibbs is thankful underneath. Really."

Tony was about to open his mouth in reply when Gibbs bellowed from the door, "Move it!"

"He does mean it really," said Pitt.

"Oh, Agent Gibbs," called Tony. There was something in the tone of voice which made Gibbs turn back – he saw Tony holding a needle. "I didn't get around to giving you your tetanus jab." Gibbs made a dash for the door but inexplicably Tim and Brad were in the way and Tony once more proved his skill and speed at injections.

"No need to thank me, Agent Gibbs," said Tony pleasantly, "It was a pleasure."