Resurrection: An NCIS Fanfiction [Book Two]

Chapter 27 - Half-Lit

It had been six hours since Gibbs, Tony, and Ziva found Tim and Carter. Tony was pacing up and down the hall next to the waiting room. It was now after midnight, so Carter was fast asleep in her hospital bed, unaware that Tim was currently in surgery fighting for his life. He lost a lot of blood from the slits in his throat, his trachea and his carotid artery were both damaged. It's a miracle he even made it to the hospital.

"Tony." Ziva called, watching him pace back and forth.

"I don't want to talk about it, Zi." Tony said without breaking his stride.

"But you need to." Ziva stood up and cut him off.

"Ziva, if Tim dies in there..." he looked down as a tear fell from his eye, "If Tim dies in there, Carter will be heart broken. I don't want to see my little sister heart broken."

"Tony, we will get her through this. No matter what happens, she will always have us." Ziva whipped the tear from his cheek before kissing it.

"Is he still in surgery?" Gibbs walked in, carrying a fresh cup of coffee. Tony shook his head, and slumped down into a chair.

"Tony, you know that Tim is a fighter. He has overcome things before. Have faith that he is fighting right now." Ziva said.

"We should have listened. We should have waited. Maybe then Tim wouldn't be in the middle of surgery." Tony mumbled.

"DiNozzo, we have no way of knowing whether or not he would be fine if we had listened to that note. Who knows, they could have just been saying that to keep us away and as soon as they were done with whatever the hell it was they were planning, they killed them anyways." Gibbs said, "We did what we had to do to keep our people safe."

"But he's not safe, Gibbs!" Tony stood up and yelled in Gibbs' face, "He's laying in that operating room, and we are just hoping that they can fix him before he dies."

"DiNozzo. Calm down. I know this situation isn't ideal, but there is nothing we can do. There's nothing we could have done. We just have to trust that the doctors know what they are doing." Gibbs said calmly, despite Tony having yell in his face.

"He's my best friend, Gibbs." Tony said as he began to sob, "And not only that, he's my little sister's husband. I need him. We need him."

"I know, DiNozzo. I know." Gibbs said, placing a hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Jethro Gibbs?" a surgeon said, exiting the double doors to the operating unit.

"That's me." Gibbs walked over. The surgeon escorted Gibbs into a small room at the side of the waiting room. Tony sat up straight, and watched them intently.

"Tony. It is alright." Ziva said, giving him a hug.

"I can't tell what they're saying." Tony said, trying to make out the words through the window.

"Do not focus on them. Focus on me." Ziva said, placing her face in front of his. He leaned his head forward and rested it on her chest, tears pouring from his eyes. "Shhh. Shhh. It is alright." Ziva wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Thank you." Gibbs said, walking out of the room with the surgeon.

"What did he say?" Tony asked, running over to Gibbs.

"Tim is alive... But he may never be able to speak again. There was a lot of damage to his vocal cords." Gibbs said.

"But there's a chance he will be able to, right?"

"There's a chance... But it is very slim." Gibbs frowned.

"What do we tell Carter?" Ziva asked, looking at the floor.

"We tell her the truth." Gibbs shrugged.

"The truth? Scare the living hell out of her while she's trying to recover, herself? I think not." Tony said.

"Then what do we tell her, DiNozzo?" Gibbs crossed his arms.

"I don't know... Just tell her that he's alive for now... We can tell her later about the vocal cords." Tony stammered.

"You know that will only make things worse." Ziva said, "We can not keep it from her. She needs to know."

"I agree with Ziva." Gibbs sat down.

"Fine... When do we get to see him?" Tony asked.

"He's in recovery right now... And he will be intubated for at least a week to avoid drying out the wound... So it depends on how you want to see him." Gibbs said.

"I don't care how I see him. I just want to see him." Tony looked into Gibbs' eyes.

"Alright. I'll go find the doctor." Gibbs said, getting up from his chair. He disappeared down the half-lit hallway.