So here it is: the final installment of The Package. Hope the ending doesn't disappoint!
Chapter Thirteen
"Let's call it a night." Gibbs said, flicking off his desk light and standing up. "Pick up where we left off tomorrow."
Ziva and McGee exchanged a glance, startled by Gibbs' uncharacteristic behaviour. But then, who were they to argue about leaving on time for once.
"Boss… are you going to see Tony?"
Gibbs turned back to look at McGee. "Yeah. I am."
It had been two weeks since Tony had been released from hospital and able to go back to his own apartment. In that time, the team had caught not two but three cases. They'd managed to close the two within a week and were just finishing up the paperwork on the third case. However, the influx of work had meant that McGee and Ziva had been unable to visit Tony. Gibbs had only managed to visit him once, but Abby often left in the afternoon, taking her laptop with her as well as spending every night with him. Gibbs knew from personal experiences that night time was when loneliness and sadness was at its worst. Abby was adamant that he wouldn't be left alone and vunerable so soon after getting out of hospital.
However Director Shepard was sending Abby to a national forensics convention and she had to fly out to it. Gibbs had gladly agreed to stay with Tony while she was away, he'd been planning to go over there anyway.
"Can we come with you?" Ziva asked, standing with McGee.
Gibbs nodded. "Sure. You know his address." He continued walking to the elevator then turned back. "Bring some food."
Thirty minutes later Ziva and McGee pulled up outside of Tony's apartment building holding several bags of Chinese food and a pizza for good measure. Gibbs was standing at the entrance to the building holding a plastic bag filled with several cartons of ice-cream. McGee had to bite his lip to keep from smiling at the sight. Gibbs and ice-cream wasn't a connection he would've made.
"Ready?" Gibbs said gruffly as they approached. McGee nodded and Ziva raised her hand holding the Chinese food. Together they walked to the apartment. McGee reached out to press the buzzer when they heard noises coming from inside.
"Swallow it!" Said a voice that could only be Abby.
"No, Abby…" a male voice that sounded kind of like Tony.
Gibbs pushed past McGee, pushing the unlocked door to the apartment open. Tony was leaning against the kitchen bench dressed in faded jeans and a wife-beater singlet. His hand was thickly swaddled, strapped against his chest in a tight sling. The bruising on his arms and chest had faded slightly but was vibrant against his still-pale skin. The stitches were still in place along the cut on his cheek.
"…I don't need it," Tony continued, oblivious to his visitors.
With her back to the door, Abby wasn't aware of their presence either. She stepped closer to Tony, pouting and giving him her best Gibbs-glare. She'd been practicing. Tony stared back at her for a second, but Abby's practice paid off and he relented, sighing and plucking the white pills out of Abby's open palm. Instantly, she was all smiles, handing him a glass of water.
"That's better!" She spun around as Gibbs placed the ice-cream down on the table, McGee and Ziva following him in. "Gibbs! And Timmy! And Ziva!" In a whirl of her black leather cape, she hugged them all before whizzing back to stand beside Tony.
"Boss," Tony said, rubbing absently at the stitches along his face and looking mildly surprised. "What are you guys doing here?"
"You think I'm gonna leave you all alone while I go to the stupid convention? Then who'd remind you to take your medications?" Abby said, folding her arms.
"Nobody hopefully," Tony muttered. Abby wrinkled her nose at him, pushing him playfully. Her expression softened instantly as Tony winced, her hand pressing down on a particularly tender bruise.
"Ohmygod, Tony, I'm so sorry!" Abby said, eyes wide. She reached her arms around him, embracing him in an air-hug.
"S'okay," Tony said, leaning back against the bench.
"Aww, you brought food. That's so sweet," Abby said, taking the pizza box from McGee and grabbing a slice, waving the box under Tony's nose.
"Nah, I'm not hungry," Tony said. He was met with a Gibbs-glare from both Gibbs and Abby. "Okay!" He stepped around them, wandering into the kitchen and returning with a fork. He grabbed a box out of the bag of food, stabbing at a noodle.
"What?" He asked, seeing Gibbs' bemused smile. "I still can't manage to work chopsticks with my right hand. You think I'm even gonna attempt it with my left?"
"Oh, I'm going to miss my plane!" Abby said as she glanced at the clock on the microwave. "Not that I wouldn't mind…"
"I'll drive you," McGee volunteered, feeling awkward and out-of-place in Tony's apartment.
"Thanks Timmy," Abby said, pointing him toward her black suitcase. "Tony, behave. I'm only going to be gone a couple of days and I don't want to hear that you tried to do something stupid like go jogging or… I don't know, grocery shopping."
Tony grinned through a mouthful of noodles. "Grocery shopping?"
"Do you know how many fatalities occur each year as a result of display stacks of cans collapsing…" she paused as she saw the clock again, leaning over and whispering something in Tony's ear. He nodded.
"Ziva – these are Tony's medications." She held up a finger to silence Tony. "He needs to take them every four hours. Don't let him talk you out of it."
Ziva's smile was slightly unnerving as she took the boxes of pills from Abby, promising to make Tony take them.
"McGee – make sure Tony goes to bed. Don't let him stay up, no matter how many James Bond or Magnum PI marathons are on." McGee nodded but he could see Tony shaking his head behind Abby.
"Gibbs, walk me out." She commanded, blowing Tony a kiss and strolling out the door, McGee dragging her huge black bag behind her. Gibbs quirked an eyebrow but followed her out anyway.
"Look after him," she said as soon as they were out of earshot. "He's gonna act like everything's fine, but its not. Tony is far from okay. Oh, and don't make him talk. Seriously, don't pressure him."
"I'm not about to interrogate the man, Abs. What do you think?"
"Its just… I kind of accidently mentioned Lexi last week. Tony froze up, then he didn't talk for the rest of the night."
"Abby, Tony will talk to us when he's ready. I'm not going to do anything to make him uncomfortable," Gibbs said, kissing Abby's cheek. She nodded, then continued walking down the hallway with McGee. When Gibbs returned to Tony's apartment, Tony and Ziva had moved to the couch, digging into the ice-cream. Ziva laughed as Tony attempted to dig out ice-cream from his carton using one hand, holding the carton for him. He set the spoon down, reaching for the remote.
"So boss, Abby give you the whole 'Don't ask questions don't mention anything' lecture? She did the same thing when my frat brothers came over the other day." Tony laughed, flicking through the channels. He couldn't find anything interesting so he switched the TV off, setting the remote back on the coffee table.
"Aren't you going to say anything? I promise I won't break down into a big ball of tears."
Ziva locked eyes with him. "I'm here if you ever want to talk about it, Tony."
Tony paused for a second before flashing his patented DiNozzo smile at her. "I'm fine, Ziva. Besides, I already got a memo from the lovely director about the mandatory counseling sessions I have to attend before I come back to work."
Gibbs shook his head incredulously at the director's apparent lack of tact and compassion.
"It's not like it's taboo or anything," Tony continued, dipping a finger in the melting ice-cream.
"Not according to Abby," Gibbs said to himself. Tony chuckled and Gibbs head-slapped himself for forgetting about Tony's extra-sharp hearing.
"She tell you that too? You know boss, I don't even remember that happening. I don't remember a whole lot of last week, they loaded me up with enough drugs when I left the hospital." He laughed again, grabbing his spoon and standing up.
"Now, since unfortunately there aren't any Bond or Magnum PI marathons and Abby stole my key to the DVD cabinet-" he pointed toward the cabinet loaded with shelves of DVDS. "-I'm gonna do as she asks and go to bed."
He wandered out of the room. "You guys can go, you know. I'm fine."
"He's not fine," Ziva murmured as he left.
"I know. But he's dealing with it." Gibbs said, grabbing the empty ice-cream cartons from the table. Ziva followed him into the kitchen.
"How is pretending to be okay, going on like normal 'dealing with it'?" She asked, still speaking quietly.
"It's how he deals with it, Ziva. And if going along with it is going to help him, we're going along with it."
Ziva sighed, loading the Chinese food cartons and pizza box into the fridge.
"He'll be okay, won't he Gibbs?"
Gibbs turned off the tap, wiping his hands on his shirt. "He just needs time. It's… it's not easy to lose people you love."
"At least he still has people who love him," Ziva said softly.
Gibbs smiled. "He definitely has that."
Ziva returned to the couch and Gibbs walked down to Tony's bedroom. The door was closed but he could see light shining underneath so he gently pushed it open. Tony was lying flat on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"Hey boss," He said, not moving as Gibbs came closer.
"You okay?"
Tony laughed. "Wasn't I convincing enough out there?"
"I know you're hurting Tony. I've been there."
"I just- I don't know how to feel, boss. Abby's been great, she's always here with me but I just don't know what I'm supposed to do now." Tony locked eyes with Gibbs, pulling himself up into a sitting position. "He let her die, boss. He promised me he'd let her go and then he just left her to die. I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have made him, then she'd still be in the basement with me when you found us. She didn't need to die."
"This is not your fault, Tony. She already had internal bleeding, it was too far gone to fix. At least she was able to die with a little dignity, she didn't feel any pain. She was well-looked after."
"She died because of me, Gibbs. She'd still be alive if she had never met me."
"She died because of Oswell, Tony. Not you. She was happy because of you. She was in love because of you. She was loved because of you."
"She's dead boss. None of it matters anymore." Tony shivered slightly, drawing his knees up to his chest. Gibbs sat down on the edge of the bed, his hand resting on Tony's good hand.
"It'll be okay Tony. Eventually. I've been right where you are before. And its not fun. It hurts. A lot. And it will for a long time. But you are going to be alright. You know how I know?"
"No, boss."
"You've got us, Tony. Me, Abby, Ziva, McGee, Ducky, Abby –"
"You said Abby twice," Tony mumbled.
"Figured she deserved a second mention. But we're all here for you. Doesn't matter what you say, how much you wanna push us away or how much you want to be alone, we're not going anywhere. You're going to be okay Tony. One day. It's going to be okay."
"'s gonna be okay," Tony repeated, his head drooping as the medications kicked in full force.
Gibbs smiled, pulling his senior field agent into a more comfortable position and draping a blanket over him. It was going to be okay.
The End
Wow... this story has been suprisingly difficult to write. I hope you're satisfied with this ending. Thanks to everyone for the beautiful reviews, and a huge thank-you to you all for sticking with me right to the end. I really hope you enjoyed this! I'd love for you to leave a review ;)
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