In the Eye of the Beholder 4/?
"Jimmy, can't you drive any faster." Abby started to hit his arm, but a familiar sight caught her eye as they pulled into the parking lot. "Look, there's Gibbs."
Palmer saw him but Ducky pointed out an empty space in the next row. "I see him, Abby, but let me park." They passed Gibbs as he was staring at the hospital and Jimmy pulled into the spot before another car could swing in. The driver of the other vehicle rolled down his window, but one look at Abby bouncing out of the Honda apparently changed his mind.
"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, how Timmy? Is he all right? Why are you out here? What happened to him?" Her words trailed off as he slowly turned to look at her, an unreadable expression on his face. "Gibbs?"
When Abby turned next to him, Ducky quickly stepped close to Gibbs. "Heavens, Jethro, he's not..."
"His neck is broken, Duck. I caused the accident and Tim... God, Ducky, how do I fix this?"
"Oh, Jethro," Ducky closed his eyes for a moment, knowing full well how horrific the results could be. "Is he still alive?"
"They put him in a coma."
Ducky seemed encouraged by that. "Are they giving him steroids?"
"Yeah, Tony said something about steroids. Is that important?"
"They are trying to limit further damage to his spinal cord by reducing the swelling that could cut off the blood flow to the nerves. That means, hopefully, that they feel there is some nerve function left to save." Ducky stopped talking when Abby burst into tears and instead he led her back to the open car door to sit down.
Gibbs turned to Jimmy. "I know." When he just got a confused look, the older man clarified it. "I know about Tony and Tim, that they're together, that they were hiding their relationship because of me."
Jimmy's eyes widened and then narrowed as he studied the man that usually terrified him. "You said you're the one that caused Tim's accident. Did you find out before or after you hurt him?"
"What? No, it was an accident, I swear. I take full responsibility for what happened, but I would never deliberately hurt either of them." Secretly, Gibbs was glad to see the anger, to see Jimmy ready to defend his friends. "You have my word, Palmer."
It was an odd group, once the four of them joined Tony and Ziva in the waiting room. Abby was totally silent, staring alternately at Tony and Gibbs, apparently in as much shock about the outing as she was the accident. Ducky stayed with them only a few minutes before he was able to join the team in the intensive care unit.
Feeling guilty and wanting to somehow help, Gibbs moved to sit next to Tony. "What about Tim's family, do you want us to call them?"
"No. They, umm..." Uncomfortable with the topic, Tony rubbed his hands against his thighs. "Do you remember right after that Petty Officer was caught smuggling cigars? Tim went home for the weekend?"
Gibbs did remember. McGee was bruised, limping and embarrassed when he returned to work on Monday. "He spent the weekend helping his dad clean the gutters and fell off the ladder."
"There was no ladder, no gutters. He came out to his parents that weekend."
"Are you saying that his father beat him because he's gay?" His gut clenched at the thought of one of his boys facing that and then being unable to come to him.
"His dad turned his back, said he no longer had a son."
"Then who?"
"His mom, and you know what a gentleman he is. He wouldn't defend himself against her. He came home and spent the rest of the weekend practicing what to say so you wouldn't figure it out."
"Damn it." Feeling worse the more he knew, Gibbs rubbed his face at a total loss for words.
Tony wasn't sure how to take Gibbs' silence. "I know we disappointed you, but please don't be angry with Tim. He's already lost so much because he fell in love with me."
"No, Tony." Gibbs reached up and squeezed Tony's neck. "The only person I'm disappointed with is myself. You two should not have had to hide because of me. Now that you have both Ziva and Jimmy here, I'm going to call Fornell."
"Boss, no, it was an accident. I know you didn't mean to hurt Tim, hell, you never even knew you hit him."
"Accident or not, I'm still responsible. There's an entire team of FBI agents looking for the hit and run driver and I'm the one that knocked him over that railing."
"That makes my job easier. I'm Agent Miller, with the incident reconstruction team." They all looked up at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Blonde with ruddy skin, the agent was a man they'd never worked with. Gibbs stood and offered his hand.
"I'm Gibbs, the truck is out in the lot." Without waiting for a response, he walked to the doors.
---NCIS---
"Don't think I've ever seen you quiet for this long, Abs." After twenty minutes of silence, Tony had taken the bull by the horns. "You that pissed we didn't tell you and Gibbs?"
"You lied to us, Tony. You and McGee, both. How do you think I feel?" Ignoring Ziva and Palmer, she glared at him, arms crossed over her chest. "What do you want me to do?"
He shrugged as he looked over her shoulder at the blank wall. "I don't know, maybe act like you're worried about Tim, maybe try to understand that we're happy with each other."
When Abby's expression didn't soften, Ziva tried to reason with her. "McGee is one of your best friends, and Tony has been a friend for a long time. Is it not good that they have each other?"
Instead of getting through to her, Ziva's words just seemed to make Abby angrier at DiNozzo. "You don't love Tim, you can't and still chase all those women."
---NCIS---
It was all Gibbs could do to look at the marks on the bumper as Miller rushed to take his pictures in the fading light. After the last picture was snapped, Miller seemed satisfied. "The scratches on the truck match up with the evidence we found at the scene and your version of the events. I'll need to get an official statement from Agent DiNozzo and one from Agent McGee when he's able, but I don't foresee any problems with calling this a pure accident with no charges being filed. Will his family want a copy of the report?
"The team is his only family."
"Guess that makes you Dad." Gibbs winced at Miller's comment and the other man shook his head. "You want some advice, Gibbs? It was an accident, that's plain to see, don't waste your energy on feeling guilty. Your boy's got a long road ahead of him, concentrate on that."
When Gibbs finally nodded, Miller swung the camera onto his shoulder. "Have DiNozzo call when he's ready to make his statement, otherwise I'll catch up with him tomorrow afternoon. I'll need to tow the truck back, that all right?"
"As far as I'm concerned, you can take the damn thing out and burn it." Without waiting for an answer, Gibbs turned and went back inside, arriving just in time to hear Abby tear into Tony. He didn't give his Senior Agent time to answer. "Abby, when was the last time you actually saw him catch one of those women he was chasing? If I wasn't so damn worried about McGee, I'd be kicking myself for missing such obvious clues. Is there any word?"
"I see my arrival is well timed." Ducky's voice startled all of them, but Tony recovered the fastest.
"How is he, Ducky? It's been hours, can I see him?"
"Briefly, Tony. Even though he's been placed in a coma, we do want to limit any stimulation. You may have ten minutes with him and then starting in the morning, ten minutes every hour." Tony started to stand, but Ducky held his hand out to stop him as he continued to explain. "Before you see him... After looking at the results of the MRI, Dr. Elby and both agreed to be very aggressive in stabilizing Timothy's neck fracture to give him every chance at a recovery. I want you to prepare yourself."
"What exactly does that mean?"
"Dr. Elby is using a halo brace and traction on McGee."
A gasp caught Tony's attention and he turned to look at Abby as her worry finally overcame her anger. "That's the device they screw into the skull, isn't it?"
"Yes it is, my dear, but it is the most stable method there is to prevent any shifting of the bone fragment we found. He's in no pain at the moment, and the incision points will have healed enough by the time he's conscious that he will barely feel them."
Tony wanted to scream or throw something. "How long will he have to be in that?"
Ducky came over and sat next to him, resting a hand on Tony's knee. "We'll have a better idea on that when the swelling goes down. Once the danger of additional damage being caused to the spinal cord from the pressure, the traction will be removed. The halo, however, will probably be a rather long term accessory, eight to twelve weeks would be my guess, but it will be attached to a body brace. Now, come along, a short visit and then I'm sending you home."
"No, I can't leave."
Tony started to get up again, but a pair of surprisingly strong hands stopped him once again. "Unfortunately, Timothy's recovery will be neither quick nor easy. If you want to be there for him, then you're going to have to learn to pace yourself. He is in good hands, I will be using my staff privileges here at Bethesda to keep an eye on him and Dr. Elby is on call tonight.
"I have been giving the Director updates and he's sent a car, so you have your visit and then Jethro will drive you home. Your hourly visits will start at 08.00 tomorrow."
Knowing the battle was already lost, Tony nodded and followed Ducky to the elevator. Silently, Gibbs followed along, not knowing if he was welcome, but determined to keep going until someone kicked him out.