A/N: In this story, Kate is alive. Essentially, it's pre-Twilight, since I accept the changes that have been made in the show… so far. Time will tell how I feel about the new characters. Many thanks to Rinne, for fixing the punctuation and giving me suggestions when the action wasn't clear.

Chapter Eight

"The Starbuck's kiosk in the lobby is open all night, so I got you some of their regular blend, Agent Gibbs." Jimmy pushed through the door with his shoulder, holding two large cups of steaming coffee. Seeing Gibbs lying on the floor unconscious, he stopped in his tracks. Then he noticed the big man by the bed, holding a pillow over Tony's face, the agent struggling feebly.

Robbins was surprised by the unexpected arrival and let go of the pillow, rushing toward the young man. In a move that would have made Gibbs proud, Palmer threw the two cups of coffee at the charging man's face, eliciting a scream of pain. But that wasn't enough to stop the officer, he continued charging and rammed into Jimmy, throwing him against the wall, knocking the wind out of the young man. Robbins then grabbed Jimmy by the front of his shirt and threw him through the drapes and the plate glass window, sending him flying into the corridor.

From down the hall, Kate, McGee, Paula and Cassie heard the crashing of broken glass and drew their guns, rushing into ICU toward Tony's room. They saw Palmer lying in the corridor, stunned. Cassie rushed over to check on him, while the others burst into Tony's room.

Gun drawn, Kate quickly scanned the room, seeing Gibbs lying on the floor, unconscious. Robbins had heard them coming and had gone back to the bed and pulled Tony out of it, ripping out his IV and the electrical leads monitoring his heart. He pulled the unconscious man in front of himself, one arm around Tony's chest, the other under his chin, with his hand firmly grasping Tony's head.

"Stay back, or I'll snap his neck!" he yelled. The agents froze, not wanting to aggravate the desperate man. Kate noted the blood running down Tony's arm from where the IV had been torn out. She was surprised to hear a low moan come from the unconscious man, and to see him move a bit.

"It's over, Deputy Robbins," she said calmly. "Put Agent DiNozzo down, you'll only add murder of a Federal Agent to your charges, and that'll guarantee you the death sentence."

"No," he yelled back. "I'm not going to prison. You know what they do to cops in prison?" He tightened his grip around Tony's chest, drqwing another moan and more weak struggling from the agent. Tony's eyes began to flutter open, as he responded to the painful stimulation.

Kate tried to reason with the man. "You won't get far dragging an unconscious 175 pound man around," she said matter-of-factly, lowering her weapon. "Put him down and we can make sure you're kept segregated from the other prisoners."

Robbins laughed harshly. "Oh yeah, that's going to be a great life; locked away by myself, or with other dirty cops for the rest of my life. No thank you, Agent Todd. Now get out of my way, and have the other two put their guns down. I'm going to take Agent DiNozzo out to the car, and we're going to get away from here."

Kate shook her head. "I can't let you take him," she said firmly. "I won't let you hurt my partner any further."

Robbins tightened his grip around Tony's neck. "I'll break his neck!" he threatened. Tony's eyes were blinking slowly, his gaze unfocused, his hands twitching weakly. Robbins edged around the bed, motioning to the agents with his head. "Move over against the wall," he yelled.

Slowly, the agents backed up to the wall, watching Robbins warily as he dragged Tony toward the door. Blood was dripping onto the floor from the open IV wound in Tony's arm. Robbins slipped slightly on the blood, causing him to loosen his hold, when he was suddenly tackled from behind as Cassie Yates dove through the broken window.

Kate and the others reacted immediately, running to the three and pulling Tony to safety. McGee and Paula helped Cassie subdue Robbins, while Kate applied pressure to the bleeding on Tony's arm. Security came rushing in from where they had been waiting in the corridor, and soon Robbins was cuffed.

Tony was put back into bed and the nurse was bandaging the bloody arm and reinserting a new IV. Gibbs had started to regain consciousness, and Kate insisted that the doctor look him over, despite his objections. Jimmy had been lucky that the drapes were closed; he wasn't cut by any of the broken glass and was just slightly concussed from his contact with the wall in the initial encounter with Robbins.

Four days later

The entire team, plus Cassie and Paula, was gathered in Tony's room. He had been moved to a regular room the day before, after he started to recover slowly from the coma. He was still sluggish and still had a little difficulty responding to what was being said to him, but he was aware and had some comprehension of what was going on around him. His injuries were healing nicely, the prognosis was for a complete recovery.

Gibbs had been cleared and was also looking much better. He had been released from the hospital and was on crutches. He sat in one of the room's better chairs, his leg propped up. Ducky was sitting in one of the other good chairs, and Jimmy was sitting in a third that McGee had dragged in from another room. They were very proud of the way Jimmy had acted throughout the whole situation, especially pleased with the way he had tried to fight the much larger, more experienced Robbins. The others were sitting on plastic chairs they had dragged in, except for Abby, who was perched on the side of Tony's bed.

Gibbs looked over at Tony, relief flooding him at the sight of the younger man's open and alert eyes. The bruising and swelling on his face had gone down and he had regained some color. There were no more tubes or wires attached to his body, he had been on a liquid diet for a day now and would soon graduate to soft food. He even had some of the mischievous glint back in his eyes.

Kate looked over at Gibbs and said, "So Gibbs, you were wrong and you were right about the Murphy case." Her eyes twinkled.

Gibbs looked at her, scowling slightly. "Your point, Agent Todd?"

Kate shrugged. "I was just saying that you were wrong about Murphy actually murdering his wife, but right that he had something to do with it."

"And?" replied Gibbs, suspiciously.

Kate continued, unabashed, "And Tony was right about your being wrong about Murphy being the killer." Tony grinned and looked over at his boss.

Gibbs looked back at Tony. He nodded slowly and then smiled at the younger agent. "Yes, Tony was right about Murphy."

Tony's eyes widened and his grin got even wider. "Wow! Did anyone get that on tape?"

The others laughed; Abby said, "We're all witnesses, Tony, don't worry. Gibbs won't be able to deny he said that."

Gibbs put on a hurt expression. "I wouldn't deny I said that. Tony was right. He has good instincts, he's one of the best agents I've ever worked with."

Tony's expression turned soft. "Really, Boss?"

Gibbs looked directly into Tony's eyes and said firmly, "Yes, Tony. I mean it. I apologized before, but you couldn't hear me. I don't tell you enough how much you mean to the team, and I'm sorry."

"I heard you, before," whispered Tony. "I just wasn't sure if I was dreaming or hallucinating."

"You weren't," assured Ducky. "I was there, I heard him say that."

"Me too," said Kate.

Gibbs looked around the room. "I've got a good team, there's not a weak link in the chain.".

There was silence for a moment, then Kate spoke.

"Ducky, do you think Gibbs was released too soon? He sounds like he's still a bit loopy from hitting his head when he fell."

Ducky said thoughtfully, "He could be having residual effects from the substance Robbins put in his bourbon. Perhaps he should undergo some tests."

"A CAT scan?" suggested Tony, helpfully.

McGee, Cassie and Paula hid their smiles as Gibbs glared at Kate, Ducky and Tony; then Abby's voice piped up.

"Anyone want to order a pizza?"

FIN

A/N: I looked up coma recovery and found several sites. I may have taken some liberties, but it's not too far from the truth. I tried to cut the sappiness at the end, I hope I lessened it a bit Thank you for sticking with me and for all your kind comments..