11 April, 2016

Tony was driving in to work on Monday morning, listening to a new CD he had just bought. It was a single from one of his favourite artists, so he had begun to sing along. He had the window closed since it was cold outside, and the heater was on full blast. It was nice inside the car, and Tony was comfortable. It was still early, only seven fifty am. He had been planning on stopping for coffee and a small snack a little closer to the NCIS building.

Suddenly, Tony heard a screeching sound and brakes all around him. He slammed on his own brakes just in time to see a car barrelling towards him at well over the forty mile an hour speed limit. He could see the driver smiling, and Tony knew he had no way of getting out of the car's path. He braced for impact as the car hit his from the front. Tony felt himself get thrown backwards into his seat, the belt holding him there. His head hit the head rest on the seat, while his legs felt like they were being squashed beneath the collapsing dashboard. He could feel warmth on his legs and at the back of his head, as well as on his face and chest, where glass shards from the windscreen had cut his skin open. He knew he couldn't close his eyes, so he tried desperately to undo his seatbelt. When he finally got it off and looked up, he saw that the driver of the other vehicle was out of his car, limping but otherwise unhurt. He smirked as he passed by Tony's car and continued towards the footpath.

People were screaming all around Tony, but he couldn't understand any of them. It was all blending into one loud noise. Unsure of what was happening, Tony tried to open his door, but he was unsuccessful. He tried a second time, but was still unsuccessful.

"Sir? Are you hurt?"

Tony squinted as he looked out of his window. Relief washed over him when he saw a police officer outside his car.

"My legs are stuck, I think," said Tony, though it came out sounding like he was drunk.

"Okay. Paramedics and rescue are on the way. I need you to stay awake for me, alright? Can you do that for me?"

"Help me…"

"I'm not going anywhere. What's your name?"

"Tony."

"Tony, can you tell me what your job is?"

Tony coughed, and when he lifted his hand to wipe his mouth, he found blood there.

"Please, help…"

"Tony, stay awake. I need you to talk to me. Can you do that?"

Tony looked back at the officer that was talking to him. "Please don't leave…"

"I'm not leaving. Where do you work?"

Coughing again, Tony reached for the officer's hand. She carefully took it and held on, trying to calm Tony down.

"Tony, where do you work?" she asked again, full of patience.

"N… NCIS."

"Okay. Who's your boss? We can call them for you."

"Gibbs." Tony's eyes closed, and he struggled to open them again. "Want… I want Gibbs."

"We're getting him now." The officer used her free hand to radio through to her boss. "Get Agent Gibbs from NCIS down here. And how far is Rescue?"

"Rescue are arriving now," said a voice over the radio.

"Okay, Tony, I need you to let go of my hand so that the rescue team can get you out. As soon as they open the door, I'll come back."

Tony shook as he let go and put his hand back inside the car. He was getting dizzy and felt sick. He heard a power saw and then his door was laying on the road. A minute later, his passenger side door was also on the road, and a man he recognised as Fire Captain James Marsh from Baltimore was laying on the passenger seat.

"Hey, Tony. How about we get you out of here, hey?"

"What are you doing here?" Tony asked before coughing again.

"Saving your butt. Lucky I was passing by on the way back to Baltimore. What happened?"

"He came into my lane. It wasn't my fault."

"Nobody said it was. There are plenty of witnesses that said you tried to stop and get out of the way. You're in the clear."

"He ran off."

"Don't worry. The police will find him. Tell me, how have you been lately?"

"Busy. You?"

"Extremely busy saving you." Marsh grinned. "Come on, tell me about the last movie you watched."

Tony coughed again, not even bothering to wipe away blood this time.

"What was it called?" Marsh asked.

"Aladdin."

"Aladdin? Really?"

"There wasn't anything on the TV."

"How much of it did you watch?" Marsh noticed a paramedic on the driver side as he spoke.

"All of it." Tony coughed yet again.

"Tony, I'm a medic. I'm going to check you out, but I need you to keep talking, okay?"

Tony looked at the paramedic next to him, then back at Marsh. He felt the medic lift his left sleeve and wrap a blood pressure cuff around his upper arm. He felt the leather cuff tighten around his arm before he realised that Marsh was talking to him.

"I didn't hear you," Tony said.

"That's alright. I asked you if it was the cartoon version or the real-life version." Marsh took Tony's hand and squeezed it to keep Tony awake.

"Cartoon." Tony felt a stethoscope on his chest and looked at the medic. He watched as the stethoscope was taken away and the medic pulled out electrodes.

"Alright, Tony, I'm going to put a heart monitor onto you so we can keep an eye out. I'm just going to undo your shirt first, okay?" asked the medic.

"Okay." Tony waited while the paramedic removed his tie and undid the buttons on his shirt. He saw the medic take the electrodes off their sheet and stick them to his chest, quickly followed by several wires that were attached to the electrodes.

"Okay, keep talking." The medic looked at a hand-held monitor while Tony's heart rate registered on it, then placed a pulse oximeter onto Tony's right index finger.

"Tony, pay attention," said Marsh.

Tony looked back. "I don't feel very well."

"I know. Just focus on me."

"Where's Gibbs?"

"He's coming. Until he gets here, stay awake for me. Tell me what the best part of Aladdin was."

Tony coughed violently this time. Both the paramedic and Marsh looked at each other worriedly. The paramedic reached behind Tony and moved him forward until he was leaning towards the ruined dashboard. Tony continued coughing for a couple of minutes, then when he stopped, the paramedic carefully leaned him back against the seat.

"Tony, I'm going to give you some oxygen. Don't fight it, just breathe." The paramedic gently placed an oxygen mask over Tony's mouth and nose, and Tony breathed the air in hungrily.

"Is he okay?" Marsh asked.

"His heart rate is dropping. He's losing too much blood from his legs. Who is this Gibbs he is asking for?"

"His boss."

"Get him here now. Tony needs to be calm, and neither of us are achieving that."

Marsh nodded. He climbed out of the car, noticing that his men were almost through the front of his car. Marsh ran up the street, seeing Gibbs jumping out of his car.

"What happened?" Gibbs demanded. "Where's DiNozzo?"

"In his car! Listen, Gibbs, right now is not the time to talk. Tony needs you, preferably before he passes out," said Marsh. "Come with me."

Gibbs followed the fire captain back towards Tony's car, his heart dropping the moment he spotted Tony's ruined vehicle. He was surprised, but grateful, that the crushed car hadn't killed Tony instantly.

"Tony, Tony, can you hear me?" Gibbs asked once he was inside the car.

Tony turned his head towards Gibbs' voice. He had closed his eyes again, this time not even trying to open them.

"Good. Tony, I'm right here, okay? I'm not going anywhere." Gibbs reached out and took Tony's hand, seeing his agent close his fingers around Gibbs'.

"Boss," said Tony, his voice barely audible. "Wasn't my… fault…"

"Don't worry about that, Tony. Just stay still so that rescue can get you free." Gibbs moved further into the car. "Stay awake."

"I… I can't… Sorry, boss…"

Tony turned his head back so it was against the seat, and then all Gibbs could hear was the deafening beeping from the heart monitor. Tony's hand had gone slack in his.

"Tony?" Gibbs squeezed Tony's hand. "Hey, DiNozzo?"

The paramedic looked over. "He's unconscious. We really need to get him to a hospital."

Gibbs sighed and cursed. He backed out of the car and checked with Marsh, glad to find out that the dashboard had been lifted up.

"You can pull him out," said Gibbs to the medic. "I'm going with him."

"Of course." The medic and his partner made quick work of pulling Tony free and getting him onto a stretcher. They made their way to the ambulance, Gibbs right behind them.