Title: Seconds
Author: WriterKos
Rating: FR15
Parings: none
Characters: Gibbs, Ducky, Tony
Genres: Drama, Character Study, Angst
Warnings: Disturbing Imagery
Summary: It's funny how your life can change completely only after a few seconds.I had no warning of what was to come. And now I have to pay the price for it.

It's funny how your life can change completely only after a few seconds. You receive a phone call, a letter or – in this electronic era dominated by internet and fast processing computers – an e-mail that changes everything.

There are also events that change your life. Sometimes you freeze on your steps, just seconds after leaving your home and entering the car, and wonders if you've really locked the door or if you've remembered to turn off the burner of the oven which you used to make a hasty breakfast that day.

Those precious seconds - if we are intent to follow our instinct and go back, double check, ensure that that whisper in our consciousness was right – might end up saving your life or avoiding further injury.

I'm used to rely on my gut, and normally I would follow it to the ends of the earth. It has rarely failed me.

Today, my gut stayed silent. I had no warning of what was to come.

And now I have to pay the price for it.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The smell of burnt rubber and cement permeated the air of the crossroad, where the incessant shouting of the firefighters and rescue workers resulted in a cacophony barely overheard over the engines of the jaws of life trying to pry open the wreckage to get the two injured people from inside what was left of the Charger completely destroyed in the accident.

"Here, I've got him," says George Bohan, a paramedic from Arlington, as he slowly helps his colleague to get the injured man out the car.

"Status!" shouts another paramedic Matthew Browne, as he had the radio ready to inform the situation of the crash victim to the hospital they were driving to.

"White male, mid fifties, leg injury resultant of car accident, neck brace already on. There is some bruising on chest, so probably internal injuries as well. Unconscious on site, systolic pressure is running low, we have to move."

"On the count of three. One. Two. THREE." The paramedics move the man from the car to the stretcher, then start running to save his life.

"What about the other one?" Another paramedic looks back to the other team slowly working on the dark haired man in the passenger seat, surrounded by three other paramedics.

The driver from the other car, which caused the accident crossing the red light, is already dead. There is no need to rush for him now.

"Roko's team is working on him, let's go. Go! GO!"

They put the silver haired man in the ambulance, and rush through the empty streets of DC towards Bethesda hospital.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

I've always imagined that my life would end with a bang, not with a whisper. My career in the marines taught me that life should be lived as if today was our last day, as we never knew when our next step would take us.

We might step on a mine on the field, or someone in our squadron could step on it, and we might not be immediately dead, but seriously injured as result.

I've survived bombs, explosions, shootings and car accidents. I've hurt people and I was hurt by people several times, but I've never imagined that my life would change just because a kid.

A stupid kid.

A drunk stupid college kid, who believed that, in his amazing wisdom, he could play God with his life and others driving at top speed in an avenue while driving under the influence.

I wish I could have avoided the crash, but the truth is that we had no warning at all.

No warning.

One minute DiNozzo was telling me about this gorgeous girl he picked up in some bar in Georgetown and the next there was this strong light coming straight at us from my left side in an amazing speed.

I've even tried to move the Charger out of its collision course, but between the seconds that I've realized the danger we were in and the crash I didn't have enough time to step on the pedal to make the car move.

We were sitting ducks.

All I remember is looking to the left and seeing the light coming towards us, and the somewhat surprised voice of my senior agent on my side.

"Boss, what's happe—"

Then silence.

Nothing more.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The incessant beeping of innumerous machines and the sterile smell in the air were a dead giveaway that I was in a hospital. That and the cotton taste in my mouth, which always happened when I'm injected with some types of medicines, the good ones that won't let you feel pain even if an elephant steps on your head.

I blink tiredly, trying to clear my vision, and my deep exhale declares to the world that I'm awake.

I keep blinking, and slowly try to catalogue my various injuries.

I hear a chair scratching the floor, and the sound of soft steps approaching my bedside.

I turn my head towards the sound, and somehow I'm not surprised to see the tired eyes of my old friend Ducky staring down at me.

His eyes are sad and red rimmed, and there are lines on his face that for some reason, I cannot remember seeing them before. I try to speak, but the respirator tube down my throat changes my words into just strange moans.

"Calm down, Jethro. I have to say I'm quite glad to see you awake."

He stretches his hand and presses a button, and slowly the bed which I'm in starts to elevate the upper part, leaving me in a soft inclination.

"Uhmmh uuhmm" I try to ask something, but Ducky is Ducky, and he knows me well.

"No need to rush, Jethro. You've been unconscious for three days. You suffered a collapsed lung resultant of cracked rib which nicked the lung tissue, and also your legs are going to be in traction for a long, long time. You've suffered considerable bruising on them, compounded by a transverse fracture on your left leg."

Ducky leans over me and rearrange my pillows, looking at me with kind eyes.

"You also don't look so hot, not your usual charming self, as you have some bruising on your face, resultant of the deployment of the airbag. Thank God the doctors couldn't find any spine injury, but they've preferred to wait until you were awake to reach a final verdict."

"Uhmmmm uhmmm" I try to ask again, and finally Ducky understands what I want to know.

"Regarding our dear Anthony, his injuries were not as serious as yours, but equally incapacitating. He had a very serious whiplash concussion, and was admitted into observation for a few days until the doctors can rule out for sure any type of brain injury. Poor boy has been plagued by very strong headaches since the accident. He had minor cuts on his face and arms and a strain on his back and neck, so he will also be forced to stay out of the field for some weeks until he receives the okay of his doctors to go back to light duty."

I close my eyes as I hear that, relief filling out my being as I now know that, thanks to a small miracle, I wasn't an unwilling participant in my Senior Agent's end.

I breathe in an out for some moments, trying to remember the few seconds before the speeding car crashed into us.

Nothing comes to my mind, just flash of the light coming towards us.

"Jethro?"

I open my eyes, and turn my head so I can see my old friend, who is looking worriedly at me.

"I have to tell you that the doctors are not very … forthcoming with your recuperation. Due to your age, there is a very real possibility that your leg bones don't regenerate as quickly or as firmly as before, which would result with you probably… being taken out of the field permanently."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

And those words, softly spoken by Ducky in a hospital room in Bethesda, sealed the change in my life. Change that happened only after a few seconds driving through a crossroad in Arlington in a Thursday night.

TBC