The Cascade Effect Chapter Fourteen/??
The Cascade Effect
Rating: NC-17
Summary: One Event, One Minor change in the way something happens can change a lot of events in the future.
Disclaimer: I don’t own so no sense suing.
Chapter Fourteen
A few weeks later and another member of their team was once again being accused of murder. The difference, this time, was that the man had died whilst in their custody. Ziav had been transporting a drug dealer’s little brother to interrogation when he died in the elevator. They foud out that Ziva had punched him in the jugular because he was un-cooperative and refused to enter the elevator. Unfortunately for her he had a brain aneurism, a congenital birth defect and he was a ticking time bomb. Gibbs had seen it as a possible way to go back to being a four person team with him, Tony, Kate and McGee. Unfortunately at the same time Director Sheppard was kidnapped so he’d placed Ziva on desk duty. In the end Ducky had ruled the death natural and so Ziva would be sticking around. It appeared they would have to deal with her for a while yet. They may never actually be rid of her.
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Tony, Ziva and McGee were waiting in the car while Gibbs was on a ship meeting with an informant. Kate had stayed at NCIS because of an injury she had taken on a previous case two days previous. They were talking about what movie the operation reminded Tony of when an explosion rocked the boat. They were out of the car and onto the scene immediately. Tony called paramedics while Ziva checked for bombs. Once they were called he made Ziva wait for the paramedics while he made a few calls.
~“Tony?”
“Kelly, there’s been an accident. Gibbs was injured. They’ve taken him to Portsmouth.”
~“Oh, god! Is he okay? How bad was he hurt? Is he gonna die? Is…”
“Kelly! Alm down. No word yet on his condition. I want you to head there please. It will help if you’re near. Okay?”
~“Y…Yes…Oh God…Dad…I’ll call when I can…I have to go.”
“Be safe. I’ll be there soon as I can.”
~“Thanks Tony. Love you…Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Ti voglio bene bambina. I won’t.” Tony hung up before calling the director to inform her of the incident. His mind was still reeling at what Kelly had said. She’d never said she loved him in that tone, in jest yes but she had sounded so serious. It had him slightly unnerved.
%%Portsmouth Emergency Trauma%%
The door to trauma opened and Kelly ran in and right up to the woman at the desk.
“I’m here for Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I’m his daughter, Kelly Gibbs.” Kelly said, handing over her ID and tapping her foot impatiently.
“He’s in Trauma One ma’am. There nothing listed for him. The doctor’s have said to allow you through. Go on in.”
“Thank you.” Kelly said rushing to the doors and through them as the buzz sounded. She ran straight to where her Father was and sat near him listening to the doctor.
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“Condition of Special Agent Jethro Gibbs.” Jenny said as she walked in, still in her evening dress and handed the nurse at the desk her ID.
“Trauma One. No condition listed yet. You can’t go in there, Director. It’s restricted…. to medical personnel.” The nurse said as she tried to open the doors. She turned back around and looked at the woman.
“This isn’t about turf, you know.”
“Oh, I know that. It’s about rules. And one really big one is, non-medical people cannot enter Trauma One….unless they’re carried in.”
“Get me a gurney.”
“Ha…ha ha. That’s good. Get me a gurney! Ha ha! I like that.”
“I left a dinner at the White House to come here.”
“I’m impressed. Really, I am. That still doesn’t change the rules.”
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to resort to this.” Jenny said as she opened her purse.
“Shooting your way in?”
“Don’t be silly. I don’t have my weapon.” She told the nurse as she opened her phone and searched her contacts.
“Calling the President?”
“Now that would be overkill.” She said as she put the phone up to her ear now that she had found the contact she was looking for.
~“Hello?”
“Condi? Jenny.”
~“Any word yet?”
“No. I don’t have his condition yet.”
~“Well, why not?”
“The head nurse won’t let me in to Trauma.”
~“Let me speak with her.” Jenny handed her phone to the woman behind the desk.
“Ethel Washington, Ma'am.”
~“Condoleeza Rice.” The rest was indistinguishable to Jenny but she could guess at what was being said.
“Yes, Ma'am. I understand.” Nurse Washington handed the phone back to her and hit the buzzer to allow the NCIS Director into the Trauma One Unit.
“Thank you, Condi.” Jenny said as she walked to and then through the doors.
The moment that Jenny was through the doors Abby came barging into the Emergency room rambling,
“McGee said that Gibbs was in a bomb blast! He tried to sound really calm, but I could hear the fear in his voice. And he should be afraid! For Gibbs to be brought to a hospital in an ambulance, it cannot be good! I had to come see for myself. And my hearse got a flat - as usual - so I got in a cab to go the airport, and then I realized that by the time I got to the terminal, and I bought a ticket, and I went through security, and then I flew to Norfolk, and I got a cab here, it would be better just to sit in the cab that I was in. So I did that. It cost a lot of… you know, it doesn’t matter what it cost because this is Gibbs we’re talking about! I can’t believe that he’s hurt! He is never hurt. Not hurt enough to go to a hospital. He has to be dying to even go see a doctor! Oh, my god! He isn’t dying, is he? I don’t know what I would do! Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts.” Abby paused as she set her purse down on the conunter and began to hastily dig through it.
“Okay, I know the rule is that you have to be family to go into Emergency, at least that’s what they said when Uncle Charlie got his leg caught in a nutria trap. But Gibbs and me, we’re tighter than blood! I know you need I.D. I have an I.D. in here. I work at NCIS. Forensics, and uh… ballistics, chemical analysis, and DNA typing. Uh… here. That’s me. I promise. I just - I had to be in court that day. But I swear, that is me!” The nurse handed her the ID back and pressed the buzzer to allow the goth into Trauma,
“You’re a really, really good person.” Abby told her, placing her hand on the Nurse’s then heading through the doors.
When they got o where Gibbs was a young redhead was already there. It looked like they were getting ready to transfer him from Trauma One to another part of the hospital.
“Kelly! What are you doing here? How’d you know what happened.”
“How else Abby? To make sure he’s okay.” Kelly hugged Abby briefly before turning and nodding at the Director. “Director Shepard.”
“Miss…I’m afraid I don’t know your last name.”
“Kelly works fine, Director.” Kelly told her, having no intention of letting the ruse fall apart now. She did so love to piss Jenny Shepard off and so did her dad. She decided she would stay with Gibbs but the Director would need to stay out of the room. The next day Kelly was standing and watching the doctors as they checked out her dad. The director was further down the hall, just out of earshot. Tony walked in at that moment.
“Coffee.” He said in lieu of a greeting.
“Coffee?” Kelly asked him.
“Sure way to wake your dad.” He told her, sharing a small look of amusement.
“Good idea. But, he’s intubated. We’ll have to use the IV.” Kelly said in amusement. It was a long standing joke between the three of them, one that Tony had mention at the office a few times.
“Uh, tell Miss Sciuto that I didn’t abandon Gibbs. Chief Neurologist would have been here today anyway.” Dr. Tolliver said as he turned to them.
“I’m sure she’ll understand.” Tony said.
“I hope so. I like women with fire.” The doctor said as he turned to walk out.
“Ah. So the dog collar and the tats had nothing to do with it?” Tony asked, curious. The doctor just gave him a look and walked out of the room.
“Tony, does he look like he’s in pain?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen our dad show pain.”
“Doctor, is he in pain? Doctor?” Kelly asked, not receiving an immediate response.
“Was this man a Marine?” Dr. Gelfand asked, turning to them.
“Yes.” Kelly told him, noticing the director was talking with Dr. Tolliver.
“Wounded in Desert Storm?”
“Yes. He has a Purple Heart.”
“That’s it! I treated him in Kuwait!”
“Gibbs never told me he was wounded in Desert Storm.”
“Me either. I saw his Purple Heart and asked him about it. That’s when he told me how he got injured.” Kelly said.
“He was in a coma when we evac’ed him to Frankfurt. Now you talk about déjà vu.”
“But is he in pain?” Kelly asked, wanting to get the doctor back on track.
“Certainly not extreme pain. He may be hurting, but the only way to know is for him to tell us.”
“Why not give him painkillers just in case?” Tony asked, slightly confused.
“I want him to wake up. An opiate would only deepen his coma.” He told them.
“I’ve just never seen my dad look like this before. I’ve seen him injured but never to this extent.”
“I have. That’s why I remembered him. That’s the expression he had in ninety-one. It’s more anguish than pain.” Kelly nodded. She knew why he was in anguish, if he was reliving the events of what put him in a coma in ’91. He hadn’t even known she was alive until after he’d come out of his coma.
Kelly had gone home when Ducky arrived after finally having finished the autopsy on Galib, that Tony had insisted on being finished. Suddenly Gibbs woke up and the room was swarmed with people. Unfortunately Gibbs couldn’t remember who Ducky was or the actual bombing that had put him into a coma. He thought he was still in the year 1991. Hopefully his memory would return quickly.
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Tony had called Kelly and told her to get some rest before heading back to the hospital to see her dad. He told her that he had regained consciousness but had some memory problems. He wanted Kelly to have all of her faculties before seeing her dad. Kelly reluctantly agreed.
That night Jenny went to see Gibbs, still not having connected the young woman to Gibbs as his daughter, even though she had seen their pictures. Kelly was still listed as having died because Franks had been to lazy to change it. That and it afforded Kelly some protection if her mother’s murderer or someone working for him were to hack into NCIS’s database.
Gibbs ended up freaking out after she showed Gibbs a picture of Pin Pin Pula, the Abu Saiyif Terrorist. She was later informed that she would no longer be allowed to visit him at the hospital.
Kelly showed up the next day. She was sitting by his bed that morning when he awoke. He looked over at her.
“Shannon?”
“No, Dad. It’s me, Kelly. Mom died when I was eight. You remember?”
“Kelly… I…I remember. Franks lied to protect the fact that you’d survived. He never changed the reports. I thought you actually had died until…until…”
“Until you awoke from your nineteen day Coma in Bethesda.” Kelly told him, hoping to jog more of his memory. Sure enough, it worked.
“How many times did I re-marry?”
“Two.”
“What about the guy? Green eyes, brunette. I wanna say he’s Italian?” he asked Kelly. He’d been getting flashes of him and the man in rather compromising positions, mostly involving a boat or his bed.
“Tony? This him?” Kelly showed him a picture of Gibbs, Kelly and Tony.
“Yeah. Was I ever…?” he trailed off, not sure if he could trust his currently shitty memory.
“No. Not yet. I’ve been trying to get you to tell him but you refuse because of that stupid rule 12.” Kelly said. It was obviously an argument that they had had many times.
“Oh. Why do I…?”
“I really would rather not go there with you dad, Obviously you should just take my advice but you won’t.”
They sat talking about what he did and didn’t remember. He was remembering more and more about Kelly and Tony. They were laughing about the first time they had dragged Tony out onto a boat with them when Mike Franks, his old boss, walked in.
“I see your new director doesn’t know about Kelly.”
“Of course she doesn’t Mike. Only a few people know about me. Tony, Kate, Abby, McGee and you. Did you ever tell Ducky dad?” Kelly said before turning to her dad.
“No, I never got around to it. Been to busy.” The three of them were talking for most of the day. Ziva went in to remind Gibbs late that night and found Kelly asleep on the cot that they had brought in for her while Gibbs was still in a coma. Kate had wanted to be the one to go but Ziva had beaten her to the punch. He remembered her after she grabbed his hand and made him give her a head-slap.
Kelly woke up to Ziva’s soft sobbing. She called Tony and told him that they would be bringing him into NCIS because his memory was returning. They were at NCIS within fifteen minutes. Kelly had taken lessons from both her dad and Tony. When they got there Gibbs had decided to mess with Tony and McGee before revealing he knew who they were. Tony, Gibbs and McGee headed into MTAC to find out what was being done about Pin Pin Pula. When the bastard of a Director of NSO decided to board the Cape Fear instead of listening to them Gibbs walked out. His memory was still shoddy. He walked down into the bullpen and began looking for his gun and his badge.
“Oh, I got them here. I took em from the medics when they took ya.” Tony said, pulling Gibbs’ gun and badge from his desk drawer and handing them to him. Gibbs took them before handing his badge and gun to Tony.
“It’s your team now, Tony. Semper Fi.” He said sharing a look with the younger man. He knew Tony understood and that he would be back once his memory had returned. He needed the break.
“Semper Fi…Jethro.” Tony said, turning to watch as Abby tried not to cry, Kate standing right next to her and Ziva not far from them.
He watched as Gibbs said something to each of them before taking Kelly’s arm and leaving. He knew Gibbs would be back and that, should he need help from the man, that he knew where to find him. He was sure everyone thought that Gibbs was retiring but Tony knew he wasn’t. He would lead the team until the time Gibbs was ready to come back to work. Until then he could only hope that nothing insanely dangerous happened.
TBC…
AN: That’s it for this chapter. How’d ya’ll like that twist in events? As always, Reviews Comments, Constructive Criticism and thoughts are always welcomed. Flames and Flamers will be dealt with, most likely being fed to my dragon before being shipped off to the Bog of Eternal Stench.
Ti voglio bene bambina is Italian for I love you child. I used it as a way for Tony to reply to Kelly without getting any flack from anyone listening in to his conversation. Plus it was a shock so he would reply in Italian because my opinion is that he would have learned either Italian first or learned Italian and English at the same time.
Chapter Fifteen>