Fic: Kissing frogs
Kissing frogs
Pairing: McGee/DiNozzo
Genre: established relationship, H/C
Warnings: slash, tiny spoiler for Hiatus (season 3)
Length: 1420 words
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. I write to clear my head, not to make money. I would be broke if I did.
Summary: Tim is at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Again.
”Agent McGee is still unconscious, so I advise you all to go home, get some sleep and come back in the morning. There is nothing you can do for him right now.”
Gibbs, Tony and Ziva watched how the doctor went back in to McGee´s room.
“I stay,” Tony said. “Me too,” Ziva said. Gibbs didn´t say anything but then again, he didn´t have to. They all knew that he wasn´t going anywhere before he was convinced that his youngest agent would be okay.
They sat down in the waiting area and tried hard not to look at each other. It was strange how fast things could change, Ziva thought. Just two hours ago, she was joking with Tony about the way McGee always happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. And he had been, again. McGee had tried to trip the suspect she had been chasing, but the guy was way too strong and fast for him. Instead of landing face down on the floor in the hallway, the suspect had grabbed McGee and pushed him from the top of the stairs in the apartment building. It took Ziva a minute to fully apprehend what had happened. Gibbs caught the guy and Ziva had been standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at McGee, totally still, bleeding from his head. She should have done something, but right then, she just stared until Tony pushed her aside and kneeled beside him. Tony started shouting, “Don´t touch him! Don´t touch him!” to everyone who came too close. Even the medics were a bit hesitant to approach the two men. The shouting agent looked like a swan protecting her young by hissing at the enemy. Ziva had never seen Tony this upset.
Gibbs watched the cup in his hands. This wasn´t anything near a cup of coffee, but it was the only thing he could get a hold of in this hospital. He could almost call Bethesda his second home, mainly because of DiNozzo´s recklessness, but now it was McGee´s turn to get hurt. He really was getting too old for this shit.
Somehow, the guys weren´t able to look after themselves. How was he supposed to retire in a couple of years, knowing that his agents got hurt every time? They were adults, certified field agents, but still a couple of kids. It wasn´t his job to keep his agents safe, but he still felt an enormous amount of guilt every time anything like this happened. Ziva felt guilty as well, he could tell. And Tony. He was a nervous wreck. And when had that happened? The medics had told them that McGee probably had a severe concussion, but he was stable. But Tony didn´t even hear the positive tone in their voices. He just kept on making sure that they wouldn´t stick needles in McGee´s left arm and hand, because he would need that hand when he woke up. And the list with McGee´s medicines, inhalers, anti-histamines and allergies had been longer than the ride back to Bethesda. Oh, he was really getting too old for this shit.
Tony shifted in his chair and reached for his phone. “You´re not allowed to use your cell phone here, Tony,” Ziva whispered. “Tetris,” was all Tony said. He looked at his screen and scrolled down the list of apps. Most of them were downloaded by Tim who had told him that he really needed these apps. Of course, Tony had never used any of them. Finally, he found what he was looking for: the things he had to do in case of emergency.
1. List of medication / allergies, Colour Notes ICE
Well, at least he had memorized that list a long time ago, so he didn´t need the list. Check.
2. Call Sarah, mom and dad
Not yet, Probie, just wait until we´ve got some good news to share with them.
3. Call the dog walker / feed Jethro
Already taken care of. Check.
4. Tell Abby not to worry
Yeah, like that´s going to help. But okay, I´ve called Abby and told her to stop crying. Check.
5. Water the plants
Please, there is just one cactus in your apartment. And I´m not drowning it. Check.
6. Get the car home
Palmer´s taking care of that. Check.
7. Remember I love you and we´ll be all right.
I love you too. Check.
And suddenly Abby was there, and Ducky. Ziva tried to get away before Abby could get a death grip on her, but she unsuccessful. Abby held her and started sobbing. Gibbs tried to free Ziva who clearly found the whole hugging-thing still a bit awkward. Abby quickly let go of Ziva and hugged Gibbs instead.
Ducky made some comments on how unfortunate Timothy had been, falling down the stairs like that.
The next morning Tony woke up, hearing Tim´s doctor whispering to Gibbs and Ducky. “You can visit him, but only for a couple of minutes. He has some memory loss and he is very tired.” Tony jumped up and rushed to Tim´s room, the others right behind him.
Tim was pale, grey even. It was clear that he had a headache. He looked up when Tony stormed through his door. Confused. “Hey…” Tony said. But Tim didn´t seem to recognize him. He looked at Gibbs, Ducky and Ziva. Still no reaction. Tony´s heart skipped a beat and he held his breath.
“What happened?” “You fell down the stairs and hit your head. You´re in hospital,” Tony answered. “Oh.” So that was that. First Gibbs and now Tim. Tony tried to trigger his memory. “Do you know who Gibbs is? Do you know who Sarah is? Remember Jethro?” he asked, trying to keep the tremble out of his voice. But Tim didn´t seem to recognize any of them. Until he looked at Abby, who was quietly crying. Again.
“Abby…” McGee said. “I love you, Abby.” Abby blinked away her tears and hugged him. “I love you too, Tim,” she whispered. Tony tried to keep his posture, but he felt how his heart got ripped out of his chest and thrown into the garbage. He thought about the plans they had made to move in together and how much McGee meant to him. When he looked up, he noticed that his friends had left the room. McGee was asleep. Tony left the room as well and sat down in the waiting area again.
After a couple of hours, Ducky decided it was time for some lunch, and he, Abby and Ziva headed out to get some sandwiches and coffee (REAL coffee, Duck!) from the deli down the street. Tony was still sitting quietly and Gibbs tried to understand why Tony took this so hard. He had some suspicions, though.
“Come on,” Gibbs said, as he stood up. “Go and see him on your own. I think he can´t handle that many visitors all at once.”
Tony entered the room and saw that McGee was awake. “Hey,” he said again. “How are you feeling?” Tony bit his lower lip as he nervously waited for a sign that McGee would recognize him.
“Do they know?” Tim asked him. “Eh…know what?” “About us.” Tony´s eyes grew wider and he knew that he was smiling. “Well, I don´t think so. Maybe Gibbs does,” Tony answered, still smiling.
He felt weird in his stomach, happy and nervous and scared at the same time, but he decided that now was not the time to question Tim´s feelings.
“Did you call my mom and Sarah?” “Not yet, I´ll do that in a minute.”
“Oh, and Tony, can you ask the nurse to stop giving me these painkillers? I get these really strange dreams about how Gibbs wears a purple hat and you look like a frog that I should kiss but I know I shouldn´t and how Abby actually is nanna Iris. And she died, like twenty years ago. Please?”
“I´ll tell her. The nurse. Not Abby,” Tony sais, and he kisses Tim on his forehead. On his cheek. On his lips. And he doesn´t mind that Gibbs sees them. But he thinks he hears: “I´m getting too damn old for this shit.”