"Did he do it? Did he find it?" Gibbs suppressed a laugh.

"Yes, just like you asked."

"I knew he'd do it, he's such a pushover. Abby probably got a kick out of it... did everyone else think it was dumb?"

"It was a nice gesture, Tony. Everyone thought so."

"You think I'm a big emotional sap, don't you?"

"Hardly." he heard a sigh in reply.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you guys."

"Well, it's not like you had much of a choice DiNozzo!"

"Yeah, but stuff like that is important. I should have been there."

Gibbs stood in the airy, unfamiliar room and tried to rein in his exasperation at the conversation. It was easy to do with the sunlight streaming in from the large bank of windows warming him from head to toe. Yeah, this was much better.

"How do you like the new digs?" he asked.

"The new room? It's great! Just wish my nurses were hot." Gibbs turned from his place by the window to give Tony a look of mock offense at the grumble. His agent smiled sheepishly and then shifted uncomfortably in his hospital bed.

Five weeks had passed since Tony had taken his walk right up to the edge of death and contemplated jumping over but Gibbs tried not to let those dark memories settle in around him. The sun was shining outside and he felt lighter than he had in weeks especially after last night. He didn't want to taint the lightness he felt with terrifying memories of the past.

Abby had put together an impromptu memorial service for Tia and Michael Finch the night before at their grave sites and even he had to admit it had been a good idea. She'd gotten her hands on Private Finch's letter to Gibbs and before he knew it his frenzied forensic tech had decided to fulfill one of the Private's last requests and honor the memory of the fallen family. He suspected she really just needed to enact come control on a world that was only just starting to make sense again. The service had been cathartic and had closed the book on their involvement in the case. It was handed over to other agencies now to finish prosecuting the remaining Angel and Knights Templar members and the marines involved in the drug smuggling ring out of San Diego. The Major Case Response Team's involvement in the matter was over.

As much as he wished Tony had been able to share in the impromptu memorial service with the team, he was still far from 100% or being released from the hospital. The damage done to his insides had been catastrophic and he still sported casts and was stuck with a nasal cannula permanently attached to his face until his oxygen levels decided to stay where they were supposed to. His kidneys had rebounded so there was no need for a transplant but there had been a scary moment a week ago when one of his wounds started showing signs of being infected. Taking no chances, he was whisked away to surgery to have things cleaned out. He'd been okay after that one but he still had to endure the horrible daily torture of dressing changes for the wounds still open, a procedure that left Tony weak and shaking from the pain afterwards, and medicines that made him so sick some days he spent his whole day puking up his guts. It was far from over, but Tony was alive and Gibbs would get him through the rest of it.

The wounds Miguel Martinez had given him had gone deep and with Tony's body in the shape it had been, healing had been slow. He was so way in hell he would be able to attend the memorial service but he'd made up for it by having McGee put his Mighty Mouse stapler on Michael Finch's grave. It was a nice touch.

"They tell you anything new?" Gibbs asked. Tony's eyes immediately fell and he started to examine a spot on the sheet that covered his legs, picking at an imaginary piece of lint absently.

"Tony?"

"Dr. Pitt was by." He started reluctantly, "they still won't let me lose the oxygen but he said my lungs look clear on the x-rays."

"So why the long face?" Tony finally looked up at him with a pleading look in his eyes and Gibbs expected he was about to get the 'please talk them into letting me go home' speech Tony had started giving in the past few days. What the agent admitted next surprised him but only some.

"It's been five weeks and I just thought I would be further along than this." Gibbs understood the feeling. In the days following his own injuries from the bomb blast years ago that almost took him away from his team, Gibbs had cursed the slow progress his body was making at healing. His injuries were minuscule compared to DiNozzo's and they'd driven him nuts after only days.

"Think about what happened though. You don't lose your spleen, damage your liver, have your kidney's fail, and put pneumonia on top of the pile and expect to get up the next morning ready for work."

"I know." Gibbs could tell Tony was still uncomfortable talking about all that had happened. "It just really blows that I couldn't be there to help you guys bring in the last of the Angel gang members and hunting down the Knights Templar. I about punched McGee in the face the other day when he told me about that Colonel in San Diego who'd pulled a gun on him. I should be there backing them up... I don't know how McGee did it after he broke his leg."

"It's over now."

"I know that but what happens on the next case you guys get and I'm not there to help? I feel like Gary Sinise in Apollo 13 when he finds out he might get the measles and can't go on the mission with Lovell and the other guy. Then he as to sit in mission control completely helpless while his friends die in space!"

"You can't compare pneumonia to the measles, DiNozzo. And McGee and Ziva are hardly dying."

Not like you were, he wanted to say but he didn't voice it.

"I know that, it's just frustrating."

"I told you I'd take care of them." A confused look crossed Tony's face at the statement but Gibbs just offered a half-smile. He kept forgetting Tony had been unconscious for all their important conversations and he wondered if he would ever reveal to Tony all that was said.

Tony shifted uncomfortably in his bed again and his eyes flicked to the clock. There was a schedule to be followed at the hospital and in 15 minutes he was due for a dressing change. It was the one last gruesome remnant of what had been done to him. Most other signs were slowly healing over but this was the one that still pulled screams from his agent.

"It's not for forever," Gibbs said to him, treading his thoughts and the look he got told Gibbs that Tony understood.

"I know."

Tony's road to recovery was going to be long and winding with enough bumps along the way to make him want to throw in the towel at times, but Gibbs and Abby, McGee and Ziva, Ducky and Palmer would all be there to help Tony along the way. Everything that had happened over the past five weeks had forever and irrevocably changed them all but Gibbs believed only for the better. His team was stronger and closer than ever before and they would be able to conquer anything fate decide to throw at them next. They would get Tony healthy and back to work and as Gibbs stood in that airy, sun filled room, he knew in his gut that everything was going to be okay.

FIN

Author's note: Thank you all so much for your reviews and support to get this story written. I couldn't have done it without you. Some of the medical (like timing and such) in the last few chapters delineates from actual practices, but sometimes you just have to bend the rules for the sake of fiction. And this is a work of fiction, I don't own any of the characters in this story but man do I like to make them suffer. I hope you enjoyed.

Some slight edits have been made to fix a mistake pointed out. Thanks for reviews!

You can find a slightly rewritten version of this story over at AO3: water_4_willows