"Here you go boss. This is the finale report on the Mitchum case all signed sealed and delivered."

Gibbs took the report and gave it a quick once over acknowledging everything in was in the folder and then he told his exhausted team to head home and not to come into work until 1000 hours the next day unless called.

Ellie, McGee and Tony wasted no time gathering their belongings and raced toward the elevator. They all were beyond exhausted. The team had worked everyday on back-to-back cases for the last month. They were all looking forward to sleeping in their beds and getting a little well deserved rest.

The sun hadn't even come up when MCRT was called into the office for another case. They were not the first on the call list but this was a hostage situation and that calls for the best team. There were two Petty Officers who were caught running a prostitution ring by MP's that escaped and now were holding a hostage in one of the houses on base.

Thankfully McGee and Tony could run just about any crime scene just by route at this point in their careers. Tony made the off handed comment, "The Navy really needs to do better psych evaluations on Petty Officers because it seems like 80% of their calls involve someone with that rank." A stern look from Gibbs got the bunny-trailing agent back on task.

They were able to establish contact with the perps in the house and thanks to some heavy-handed negotiations from Gibbs (who really can tell Gibbs no) they were able to get the hostage released within the first hour.

The hostage sat on the back of a waiting ambulance and Tony asked her what her name was. "M-my n-name is C-cinnamon I am a dancer at the topless bar outside the main gates and I work for Tommy and Cam on the side."

Tony started to speak again and then it hit him and he looked toward his boss, "Boss Isn't Cinnamon the name of your first ex-wife boss?" The hand hitting the back of his head was not unexpected but the force of it was, "Focus on the case DiNozzo or I am going to send my St. Benard back to obedience school or maybe get him neutered, they say that calms a dog down."

With an ornery smile and a yes boss Tony rubbed is head and shook off the headache and with Cinnamon's help they were able to draw a map of the inside of the building and formulate a plan of attack. McGee and Gibbs stormed in the front of the house guns a blazing and Tony and Ellie went in the back.

They were able to take the two by surprise and Tommy surrendered without a fight. Cam on the other hand decided to take a runner and try and escape. He knocked Ellie down on his way out of the house and had a formidable lead on DiNozzo who took off like a bat out of hell after him. Tony ran at top speed yelling, "Dude you are on a secure Navy base where do you think you are going?"

Cam ducked behind the building at the end of the block and decided to stand his ground and fight. He just happened to look down and at his feet were several pieces of heavy rebar.

Cam took the thickest piece, gripping it like a baseball bat lay in wait for Tony. A minute later Tony came barreling around the corner and before he knew what hit him Cam swung that rebar up against the back of his head. Tony went down like a ton of bricks, bleeding profusely from the gash the rebar blissfully unconscious.

Tony didn't even hear the scream from Gibbs mouth as he saw everything in horrible slow motion from 300 feet away. Gibbs screamed over his COM, "Agent DiNozzo is down, I repeat he is down we need and ambulance at the corner of Nixon and Eisenhower and we need this base locked down tight. I want this son of a bitch."

Gibbs made his way to his fallen agent gently rubbing the back of his head checking for the source of blood while not moving his neck. He found an eight inch gash at the base of his head and took the scarf he wore to keep warm and gently applied pressure on the open wound to try and stop the bleeding.

Gibbs was almost scared too well, not almost, he was terrified to reach and feel for a pulse. He kept praying that Tony would pop up and make some wise crack about only Gibbs hitting him in that part of his head. He finally felt for and found a pulse that was a little too fast but thankfully strong.

Gibbs held pressure on the wound with one hand and gently ran his fingers through Tony's soft hair with the other hand calmly reassuring him the ambulance will be there soon and he was going to be just fine. Tony never moved. Gibbs was starting to really panic. Tony has had a lot of head wounds in his day and he was never out this long.

Thankfully the ambulance got to the scene before panic started to set in. The paramedics had Tony on a backboard with a cervical collar ready for transport in less than three minutes. Gibbs told the paramedics that Tony needed to go to Bethesda because of his lungs and that his lung doctor is there.

Mark the lead paramedic assured Gibbs, "In the medical community in DC Tony is an icon we know him pretty well and we will make sure he gets to Bethesda safe and we will call Dr. Pitt on the way."

Giving a half smile, "Thanks I will follow you there."

The ambulance took off and a very nervous Ellie and McGee came jogging up to Gibbs, "How is he?"

Gibbs slipped from petrified Daddy back into work mode, "Bash on the head, but thankfully DiNozzo has a hard head Bishop. What about the bastard that used my SIC's head for batting practice, tell me you have him in custody?"

McGee Nodded, "The MP's caught up to him trying to use a bloody piece of rebar to pry open the fence around the base perimeter. The Moron didn't stop to realize that the perimeter fencing on a military base is all electrified since 9-11. An electrical fence plus a metal bar equals a dead petty officer."

Gibbs let out a sigh, "Well at least Tony got a little justice even if it was not by my hand. McGee I am going to leave you in charge wrap up the scene and supervise Ducky getting the body. I am going to go to Bethesda. I will let you know something when I know something. When you get back be sure to tell Abby about Tony okay."

An hour later Gibbs came into the ER waiting room at Bethesda. A friendly face greeted him. Dr. Pitt, Tony's lung doctor. "Hey Brad how is my boy doing?"

Brad had a serious look on his face and ushered Gibbs into his office. By the time Gibbs made it to the comfortable seat across from Brad he was terrified. Doctor didn't take you back to private rooms unless there was something horribly wrong.

Brad took a deep calming breath, "Tony is alive, let me put your heart at ease right off. He is not conscious as of yet though and that is concerning us. He is in CT right now and we are trying to see if there is a structural reason for him to not be awake yet. We are afraid that he may be experiencing some swelling in his brain and that is what is stopping him from waking. I want you to be prepared, Tony will probably be fine and he is just taking a while to wake up. We are erring on the side of caution because the shear number of head wounds he has gotten teamed with head slaps hopefully the repeated trauma's haven't finally caught up to him. If it is something more serious his condition can go from bad to worse in a matter of minutes. I am going to make sure they let you back with him. You are the best medicine for him by far. If someone tells you to leave though you have to promise me you will do what they say without a fight because Tony's life may very well count on the nurses speed."

Gibbs looked a little shocked. Honestly he stopped listening after the comment about his head slaps having any part in Tony not waking. Brad noticing how upset Gibbs was came around the desk and sat next to Gibbs. "Tony is tough and with you by his side he will be just fine. You can wait in here and I will have one of the nurses bring you some coffee while I go and get the CT results."

Gibbs just shook his head and stared at the floor why brad left him alone. Days like this he felt old and tired. Every time Tony gets hurt he feels like part of him dies. The comment about his head slaps having any part in Tony's injury just intensified the emotions in him. Tony was his, he loved Tony, he was his son he wouldn't hurt Tony for anything in the world. The words Brad said just echoed in his mind Gibbs was about ready to pace the halls when Ducky came in with the promised cup of coffee.

Trying to hide the emotion clearly visible in his eyes Gibbs asked, "Did you hear anything Duck?"

Ducky sat down and patted Gibbs leg, "I am afraid our dear Anthony is still unconscious Brad and several Neurologists are going over his CT results and they should be in shortly. How are you holding up Jethro?"

Gibbs swallowed hard, "Not well Duck, he has never been out this long, hell Duck even with Gun shot wounds to the chest he was awake and the Doc mentioned that the injury was at the place on Tony's head where I head slap him and maybe the head slaps had a part to do with his brain injury. Duck if I don't know if I can live with myself if I hurt my son in anyway."

"There, there Jethro, I am sure that the head slaps comment was to give you a reference point of where the injury is and Brad's attempt at humor. Let us not get too concerned until we here the report. Everyone knows you love that boy and would never hurt him, most importantly Anthony knows that."

Before Gibbs could say anything else Brad came into his office, "Hey, well I have the results but before I tell you the results of the CT scan let me tell you that Tony just woke up. The Neurologist is in with him now running some tests on him. The CT scan came back showing a small amount of inflammation present which should resolve itself and probably all ready had begun to do that with him waking up."

Gibbs interrupted, "I can hear a but in their Doc."

Brad frowned, "Yes, well there is some not so good news. The CT scan showed an area of damage in the back portion of his brain called the Cerebellum this part of the brain controls some memory, voluntary movements, and equilibrium. We aren't sure what if any effect the damaged area will have on Tony. The doctors shouldn't be much longer and I will come and get you when you can see Tony."

Once Brad left the room Gibbs asked, "Duck what does this all mean? Equilibrium and Memory both those things could take him out of the field."

Ducky looked worried but tried to put a happy face on for Gibbs, "Lets not borrow trouble until we have too. Brad said it might not affect him at all."

An hour latter the doctor had still not come into get them and Gibbs was now pacing around the office like a caged tiger. Brad finally came in with Dr. Watts who was introduced to them as the head of neurology at Bethesda.

Dr. Watts was a tall African American man who had a comforting smile. He offered his hand in greeting to Gibbs and Ducky. Gibbs was way past niceties so he gruffly asked, "What in the world took so long how is DiNozzo?"

Dr. Watts looked at Brad as to confirm what Brad probably warned him about with Gibbs, "Well we did the Neurological function tests on Tony and we found some minor issues that he is going to have to work through in therapy before he can get back onto the field. His balance was off and he had trouble touching the tip of his nose or a tip of a pen that was placed before him. He also couldn't manage to change his outstretched hands from facing up to facing down. All those things are minor and with therapy he will either work around them or the therapists will help his brain to rewire itself. The issue that came up after his testing was complete is what has us really anxious. Tony had a Grand Mal seizure. It lasted approximately five minutes and it took him another 20 to regain consciousness. We aren't sure at this point if these seizures will become a permanent part of his life or not. The damage on the CT is pretty substantial so we are thinking that the seizures are here to stay so we started him on 2000mg of Keppra, which is a standard seizure medicine. We will go form there. Do either of you have any questions?"

Neither man had any questions so they were led into room 325 where Tony was lying staring at the ceiling with a white bandage wrapped around his head.

Tony's face lit up when he saw Gibbs, "Hey boss so you come to spring me?"

"Not yet DiNozzo, you took a pretty good hit to the noggin. They want to keep you for a bit and make sure you are okay."

Tony let his head fall back, "They told me about everything, the seizures and the therapy thing. I guess you will need to replace your Loyal St. Bernard. I am really sorry Boss."

"First of all I could never replace you and second of all this is not in the least way your fault. A fleeing suspect injured you while you were expertly preforming your duties as a federal agent. Nothing that happened was your fault and you wont have to go through any of this alone. Do you hear me?"

Tony sighed, Boss, get real you cant have a SIC who could drop with a seizure at any moment, hell I cant even touch my freaking nose without trying two or three times."

"Doc said the meds will control the seizures and therapy will rewire the brain. You may be out for a bit but you will always have a place on at my side do you hear me. Don't let that worry bother you for another minute. You just worry about getting better okay?"

Tony smiled, "Thanks boss, I am really hungry do you think you could get me something to eat? The Doctors said I could have real food."

"Okay DiNozzo, I will go get you something from the cafeteria, I need a refill on my coffee anyway."

Gibbs left leaving Ducky and Tony to talk alone. Tony looked at Ducky and asked, "Duck give it to me straight, this injury is going to keep me out of the field isn't it?"

Ducky patted his leg, "Anthony, Jethro told you the truth, with therapy and meds you should be able to get back into the field within a couple of months."

Tony went to answer but his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he went into another seizure. Ducky immediately released the bed so it was now laying flat and watched helplessly as Tony continued to seize for the next five terrifying minutes. Before Ducky could blink Tony's room was filled with doctors and nurses.

When Gibbs came back a few minutes later, noticing an increase in activity, he stopped at the huge picture window into Tony's room and silently watched the controlled chaos around his Son's bed. Ducky noticed Jethro so he gave up his position at the head of the bed to a nurse and came out to update Jethro.

"I hate to tell you Jethro but Anthony had another seizure and it was quit intense. It just finished a minute ago and he has yet to wake. The doctors are going to take him to get an MRI as soon as he wakes."

Gibbs looked terrified, "Ducky, please tell me he is going to be okay?"

With a gentle hand on his shoulder both men stood silently watching the proceedings both silently praying that the Tony they both loved would be able to come through this latest injury.