A/N: I've been working on this story, as you can guess by the dates used, for almost two years. I was afraid to post it for the longest time but I decided to just jump with both feet in and take the plunge. Because of the similar material and because my insides crawl when the dreaded p word is close to being mentioned, WCUGirl was contacted and before anything was posted online, she read through it and gave her blessing. If you have the time, swing on over to her account. She has wonderful stories that are a very great read.

And with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the story. :)

On Tuesday, November 10th 2009, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was leaving Irving's Bar at 5915 Athena.

Later, a toxicology report would show that Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo had a Blood Alcohol Content of zero and a small level of the pain reliever ibuprofen in his system. His co-workers would later reveal that Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo had injured his knee at a crime scene earlier that day and had taken the pain reliever on his Boss' insistence. The probability of driving under the influence was quickly ruled out.

While waiting at a stop light to merge onto the freeway, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was hit from behind from a car that was traveling at high speeds by a driver who would later show to have a BAC of.37 and two prior DWIs. The driver had a suspended license and was out on bail when he rear ended Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.

The drunk driver suffered no major injuries.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo suffered a traumatic brain injury when the rental car he was operating- his own had been in the shop for repair work- failed to deploy the airbag. It was later determined that the rental car company had failed to replace the airbag after the car had been in a minor car accident the month before.

First responders found Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo unconscious and unresponsive to stimuli. On the way to the hospital, EMT's discovered that Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo had aspirated into his lungs. It was unknown how long his brain had gone without oxygen. Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was rushed to Georgetown University Hospital before he was later transferred to Bethesda Naval Hospital when it was determined he was a Federal Agent employed by the Navy and would need emergency brain surgery, a type of surgery that surgeons at Bethesda were specialized in.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo's next of kin was contacted before the Federal Agent underwent an emergency craniotomy to relieve his intracranial pressure.

During surgery, a brain surgeon inserted an intracranial pressure monitoring bolt into the space between the cerebral cortex and arachnoid membrane of the brain. An intraventricular catheter was inserted into one of Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo's lateral ventricles to help lower the intracranial pressure by draining excess cerebral spinal fluid.

After surgery, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was placed in a medically induced coma and situated in Bethesda's Intensive Care Unit.

As well as being place in a medically induced coma, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was placed on a ventilator via a tracheotomy tube and his body temperature was lowered to help reduce the swelling of his brain.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo's room number was 503.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, like all other ICU patient's, was only allowed two visitors at a time, from the hours of 8:00 A.M to 11:00 A.M, 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. every day.

During visiting hours, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo always had two visitors in his room. No matter who visited, the visitors were the first to arrive and always the last to leave.

At 11:45 A. M., two weeks after he was placed in a medically induced coma, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo's doctors slowly lifted his sedation when his ICP lowered significantly.

The next few days would indicate just how bad, or good, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo had faired.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo showed no sign of waking up after the doctors lifted the sedation. Using the Glasgow Coma Scale, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was given the rating of 4, or a deep coma. Despite lifting sedation, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was still in a coma.

Scans later revealed that Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo suffered two severe brain injuries, the second resulting from the countrecoup force of his brain ricocheting.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo's frontal lobe as well as his cerebellum was injured as a result of his accident.

Two weeks and two days after Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo's TBI, he suffered the first of many seizures. He would later be diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Epilepsy.

Three weeks after he was given the score of 4 on the GCS, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo slowly started to emerge. He opened his eyes, moved his legs and arms on his own, and started fighting the ventilator, though he was still in a coma with a GCS score of 8.

Three weeks and six days after emerging from surgery, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo's intraventricular catheter was removed. Two days after that, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo's central line was switched to a PICC line.

A week after that this, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was slowly weaned from an ICU ventilator to a CPAP, or a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine, using his tracheotomy tube.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo suffered a minor setback when the incision of his gastric feeding tube, or G-tube became infected resulting in the Special Agent having to go through a round of antibiotic treatment.

Another week after that, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was evaluated by the head neurologist and given the go ahead to transfer to a rehabilitation facility, having reached a 9 on the Glasgow Coma Scale.

Two months after emerging from surgery, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was transferred to Fair Oaks Rehabilitation Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia.

But it would be months until Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo would recover from his severe traumatic brain injury enough to return home.

But as Tony's family came to realize and accept, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was not the same man that left work early that day to meet someone at the Irving Bar on Tuesday, November 10th 2009.