Fruition

On the other end of the phone, Abby's flood of words turned to heartbreaking sobs. She had no reticence in sharing her terror that Tony's heroic act had overwhelmed his fragile lungs.

She wanted Anthony Dinozzo to live.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs did, too.

His head pounded and he felt his mouth go dry, almost physically deflating as the repercussions of his actions slammed into him. Yanking the tool belt from his waist he bolted up the stairs and into his truck, peeling away from the house while still fastening his seat belt.

Fighting the traffic, he burst through the medical center's doors within fifteen minutes and jogged to the counter to demand directions.

Eyeing him steadily, the nurse on duty in the reception area shared warily that Agent Dinozzo's critical status meant the medical facility would allow no visitors.

No, Jethro contradicted, he was Boss, not a visitor. He needed to get to his agent, immediately.

She stood firm, refusing to permit him anywhere in Tony's proximity.

Jethro raised his voice, at first carefully enunciating his demand to join Tony, then in a flurry of threats when she still blocked him.

A security guard, evidently having been summoned, rounded the counter. Spying his approach, Gibbs introduced himself and explained his position.

The guard grasped Jethro's arm firmly. "Gotta go, now Agent Gibbs," he spoke placatingly.

Drawing himself up to his full height, the Marine planted himself firmly and withstood the pull, his blue eyes snapping angrily at both of his adversaries.

Attempting to assuage him, the nurse advised, "Go home now and call the young man's family. They will give you a status report and ease your worry. You will not be able to remain here, though."

Jethro felt a vise grip squeeze both sides of his chest, a physical manifestation of the panic beginning to overwhelm him. He would now lose Tony as he had lost Shannon and Kelly.

He licked his lips and spoke softly. "Get Brad please, Brad Pitt. Call for Dr. Pitt. Tell him I need him and let me speak to him."

The security guard rolled his eyes at the nurse, signaling the futility of the request.

She opened her mouth to refuse the plea, but the pain in Jethro's blue eyes made her soften her stance, pick up the phone, and page the doctor.

All three stood their ground in the interim, silently maintaining a sort of truce until Dr. Brad Pitt joined them nearly five minutes later.

Identifying the visitor at the desk, an obviously upset Brad sighed audibly and motioned to the guard, "I've got this one, Bob. You're good to go."

As instructed, the guard nodded and left, while the nurse turned away from Jethro and Brad and resumed her work on the hospital computer.

Rubbing his chin, the doctor greeted him coldly. "What can I do for you today, Agent Gibbs?"

Jethro cringed at the sharpness in the normally affable doctor's voice but acknowledged to himself that he deserved the tone. "Tony- I need to see- how is he, Brad?"

"He's alive," the physician responded shortly, crossing his arms across his chest and studying Gibbs with impatience.

"But what does it look like…."

The doctor snapped a response. "Look, Agent Gibbs, you just left here yourself, remember? We treated you as a patient, a patient who barely escaped drowning, just a few short hours ago."

"Right," Jethro encouraged, "with Tony and a young lady…"

Narrowing his eyes, Brad's gaze focused on Jethro as he interrupted, "Tony Dinozzo, your established senior field agent, lay feet from you in another cubicle while my team and I fought to keep his own life going." Brad's jaw clenched. "That agent saved the lives of two people today, Agent Gibbs. I have learned that one of them was a stranger, but the other was the man he respects most in this world."

Gibbs tried to interject, "I know, and that…"

Not allowed to finish that sentence either, Brad continued the diatribe, his voice taking on a razor sharp edge with each additional word. "He dove in to save her, and he dove in to save you. Tony performed that miracle with the same lungs so compromised from Ypestis that he normally gets winded running a quarter of a block. Today- but today he inhaled water that has proven so toxic to him that it exploded into a lung infection, and today he pushed himself so far past his strength and lung capacity that honestly, I do not know if he'll make it."

Jethro's head shot up as the doctor's angry appraisal continued. "All this he did for you, Agent Gibbs, and though three of you were admitted into this hospital, two have walked out with no permanent damage. He can not. He will not! No, he can not walk out like you, Agent Gibbs."

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Brad took note of the fact that Jethro had focused upon the stethoscope hanging around the doctor's neck.

"Not only is he physically compromised, but the one man who should have glued himself to Tony's side did not even bother checking on him before heading home hours ago. Nice wrapup of a case, huh, Agent Gibbs?"

Brad's words, sarcastic, bitter, and honest, slapped into Gibbs.

"Now, excuse me. I have absolutely no problem understanding my priorities, and that means I have a patient to whom I need to return."

He pivoted abruptly but Jethro grabbed his shoulder. "Let me go to him now," he entreated.

Incredulous, the physician wheeled to confront him. Dr. Pitt's anger and hurt were still so fresh that his chest heaved at the injustice done his patient. Fighting to restrain himself, he stared at Jethro several long seconds before finally sharply responding, "No, absolutely not!"

Jethro quelled the anger which bubbled up as an immediate response. His normal modus operandi when someone blocked him favored disregarding the obstacle and bulldozing through anyway.

He derived some internal satisfaction from the method, a sense of domination he favored and practiced because, well because he found himself good at it.

Instead, however, he inhaled a deep, steadying breath and met Brad's accusing stare, answering simply. "I do not blame you."

Not expecting such a submissive response, the words clearly caught the physician unaware. Unable to determine a clever or appropriate response, he stood silently instead.

Skilled at sensing an opportunity, Jethro took advantage of the bewilderment by reaching out again and patting the doctor's upper arm before assuring him thoughtfully. "You have done nothing but try to protect Tony today."

Pinching his nose, he searched for the next words he wanted to share with Brad. "You fought for Tony's life even with the worst possible scenario for a man with his medical history. He took a beating in that water, saving both Maddie and me."

Recognizing sincerity in the older man's response, Brad's features softened slightly, and he shifted to a more comfortable stance.

"He needs me, though. Let me go to him," Gibbs continued. "Nothing I say will justify my lack of action earlier today. My focus has been on protecting Maddie to the exclusion of everything and everyone else these past days. That's no excuse at all, and my motive will not exonerate me, but Dr. Pitt, you have to concede that Tony will respond better if he knows I am near him."

The concluding declaration hit home with the doctor, who certainly recalled the turnabout effect Jethro had on Tony during the YPestis battle years before.

Gibbs perceived the doctor might possibly yield his earlier decision with more pragmatic thoughts, and added reasonably, "You still can mull over how I failed him, but please, Brad, let me stay with him while you do it."

The air seemed to evaporate around them as several seconds elapsed, both men intent upon acting in the best interest of NCIS senior field agent, Tony Dinozzo.

Dr. Brad Pitt recognized that heartfelt mea culpa as one of the very few ever uttered out loud from the mouth of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. As a medical professional, his mission after saving Tony's life centered upon restoring Tony's health, and honestly searching his soul, he could not deny the truth behind the plea made him from his patient's mentor.

Suddenly halting the confrontation, he simply acquiesced.

The next three nights and days Gibbs stationed himself at his protégé's bedside, working alongside Brad and the rest of the medical personnel in keeping Tony fighting and alive.

Refusing to go anywhere outside of Bethesda, he catnapped in a chair positioned next to the hospital bed and survived on hospital coffee and random bites from the sandwiches Ducky and Abby forced upon him when they visited.

Her gaze shifting between Tony's unconscious form and the set jaw of his boss, NCIS director Jenny Shepard took one assessing look at him the first afternoon and told him gently that his job could wait, and to not worry about the agency.

Truthfully, she could have saved her breath. His duties at NCIS had not entered his thoughts. Her words meant nothing to him, not even registering in his preoccupied state.

He waved her away.

Jethro wiped Tony's face with cool, wet cloths time and time again, held him upright when the infection in his lungs compromised his breathing, and brushed back his hair to soothe him.

His dedicated focus upon Tony earned Jethro the respect of the Intensive Care Unit's medical staff and even grudgingly, of Dr. Brad Pitt.

Jethro stationed himself so that anyone approaching the bed would discover him as a sentinel, intent upon his protection of Tony by participating in his immediate recovery. Without question, the single minded watch exacted a heavy toll on the Marine, whose back and knee spasmed constantly in the tight space allotted in the Intensive Care Unit. Still, as he reminded himself without reprieve throughout the vigil, his protégé's struggle to survive trumped his discomfort a hundredfold.

Talking quietly with him in pre dawn hours Ducky pondered the advisability of contacting Tony's father, despite Jethro's misgivings and personal distrust of the elder Dinozzo.

Finally, the Marine summarized his hesitation, "Duck, he has confided his disappointment in Senior's lackadaisical approach to him more than once. In fact, I can tell you that many nights he has sacked out in my guest room after watching me work in the basement, and after he confided one story after another about his dad's ambivalence towards him."

The medical examiner slid off his glasses and wiped them on his sleeve before positioning them once again on his nose. "Perhaps we could delay for a couple of days, then. The last thing the lad needs is stress at this point."

The slam of a wooden kitchen cabinet and the distinctive ting produced when one beverage glass tilted into another startled him awake. Jethro Gibbs realized he had dozed off on the sofa.

Glancing around quickly to identify his visitor, he relaxed visibly when Tony leaned out of the kitchen and flashed him a megawatt smile. Still dressed in his office attire, the emerald green of his shirt complemented his expressive eyes, while the trim lines of the pants accentuated his athletic physique.

Jethro grinned in welcome though he still felt unsettled over remembering that hell on earth nightmare of Tony's near death experience.

"Stay still, Boss, fresh coffee brews as we speak."

Leaning his head back against the sofa again Jethro cleared his throat. "Who gave you time off work?"

"I did," Tony admitted, then winked conspiratorially, "but the Director agreed once I volunteered to come instead of sending her here. My thinking said that a woman's company, though appealing, might…."

Gibbs cut him off gruffly, "Stop right there, Tony."

"Absolutely," Tony assured him agreeably. "Kissing and telling just…"

"Tony!"

A laugh followed and the younger man appeared with cups of coffee clutched in both hands. He placed one beside Gibbs before selecting a seat opposite him in the upholstered armchair.

Turning serious to discuss business, Tony swallowed a mouthful of hot coffee and leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs. "Agency's rolling, Boss."

"I know," Gibbs grinned, awkwardly moving into a sitting position. "I expected you to competently take the helm. Never once have I doubted your ability as either an agent or as a leader, Tony."

The sincere words pleased the younger man, but were met with shy acceptance. Deep in his heart Tony always doubted himself, even the best parts of himself, an insecurity which made him oddly endearing.

"Look at me."

The younger man did, sparkling green eyes meeting steely blue ones.

"You make me proud."

Though he did not respond, Jethro read the reply as Tony averted his eyes and blinked.

Gibbs regarded him several more seconds, watching the play of emotions flash across the familiar face. A couple of years- a few months following the Maddie incident, in fact, Tony had found himself exiled from Washington as an agent afloat, and few encounters had ever stabbed Jethro so poignantly as the ones conducted with his agent during that time, with Tony pleading with him to get him home.

Jethro exhaled slowly.

"Aww…" Tony spoke softly, "you just mean that because of your invalid status, the fact that I managed to not destroy your agency or team provides you immense relief."

"Did I say that?" Jethro raised his voice a bit and adopted the expression both Tony and Abby recognized as their warning before a smackdown.

"No, I guess not," Tony admitted with a shrug.

"I said you make me proud, and you do. The smartmouthed kid I hired all those years ago turned into the outstanding agent I trust in this world most to have my back."

Suddenly bashful and unsure exactly how to respond to the pronouncement, Tony started to stand. Gibbs held out a hand to stop him and he paused midway. "I mean it, Son."

Rising to his full height Tony turned and started towards the kitchen. "I know, Boss."