Un-betaed

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Jethro and his team are working on a case of a Marine Staff Sergeant who has been missing for a week.  At the time of his disappearance he was working on a classified case in Communications at Quantico.  After speaking with his Commanding Officer, Bishop and Torres reported that the Staff Sergeant Reynolds usually took vacation this time of year with his family but due to the intricacies of his work on this case he had to postpone their vacation.  Bishop did speak with Sergeant Reynolds’ wife by telephone.  Instead of denying the children a vacation this summer Mrs. Reynolds opted to take the children to visit her parents in Pennsylvania and left her husband at home. Mrs. Reynolds said that she last spoke with her husband eight days ago and was not worried because sometimes his work prevented him from contacting her.

McGee checked Sergeant Reynolds telephone records, both home and cell phones, and found a common number on both during the time in question.  The number was traced to a burn phone but McGee was able to track the last call from a warehouse district in Norfolk.  

The team descended on the location and noticed activity in one of the warehouses on the far corner of the block.  Jethro and Torres took the front and McGee and Bishop took the rear. They rushed the building and found Sergeant Reynolds tied to a chair and his four captors armed and firing at Jethro and his team.  Jethro and Torres each took out one assailant and McGee and Bishop handled the other two.  They released Sergeant Reynolds and led him out to their vehicles all the while contacting the necessary authorities to retrieve the bodies of the assailants.  

As soon as Sergeant Reynolds realized that he was safe he told Jethro and his team that the men had kidnapped him in order to obtain the codes for the classified information on which he worked.  He said that he tried to explain to them time and time again that he didn’t have the entire code because it was safer not to have one person to know the entire code and instead each person had a piece of the code and only when you had all four could you then retrieve the information. The captors then made plans to kidnap the other three coders but Reynolds could not tell them whom the other coders were because he didn’t know.

Just as Jethro opened the back door to allow Reynolds to seat himself a shot rang out.  Bishop turned and returned fire to what turned out to be the fifth man in this scheme and the master planner.  He dropped dead from the blast from Bishop’s gun.  Torres, Bishop and McGee turned back to look for Jethro. They didn’t see him.  They walked to the side of his car and found him on the ground next to the open driver side door.  He had a gunshot to the neck.  They called for an ambulance.

McGee rode with Jethro to the hospital.  While on the way he called Director Vance.  Director Vance said that he would meet them at the hospital and would contact Jethro’s wife.  Bishop and Torres stayed behind to answer questions from the police and then they each drove a car back to NCIS and then took a car to the hospital.  

Director Vance did not want to call Margie Gibbs with this dreadful news.  He didn’t know Jethro’s condition yet but he knew that he had to call.  He had her office number and called it but only received her voice mail.  Hesitantly he called her cell phone,

“Agent Gibbs here how may I help you?”

“Margie, it’s Leon Vance.”

“Hello Leon what can I do for you? Do you need another contact?”

“No Margie. I’m calling because there’s been an accident.  Jethro’s been shot.”

A second passed but nothing but silence.  Leon wasn’t sure that she was still on the phone.

“Margie, are you there?”

“Where is he?”

“On the way to Bethesda. I’ll meet you there.”

“Leon thanks for calling me.  I will see you there.”

Margie was out of the office at a meeting in the Pentagon.  She motioned to her co-worker to inform him that she had an emergency and had to leave.  He knew that it was serious not by the look on her face because you could never tell anything by looking at Agent Gibbs’s face.  She had a true poker face.  But he knew it was serious because she told him that it was an ‘emergency’.  If it were anything else she would have simply said that she had to leave and would have left.  Margie called her supervisor and told him of the situation.  He responded that he would handle everything at the office and she just needs to take care of her husband.  He told her to call him later to give him an update and if she needs him to do anything.  She said thank you and ended the call.

I don’t even know how I made it to my car without breaking down.  Yes I do.  You’re a professional Margie you can handle this.  This is different.  This is Jethro.  This is my Jethro.   

“Oh Lord please let him be all right.  You gave him to me.  Please let me have more time with him.  Please.  Amen.”

By the time I made it to the hospital, McGee met me at the door. Jethro was in surgery. McGee told me that Jethro took a bullet to the neck but they didn’t know the extent of the damage.  They all had on vests but the vests don’t cover the neck.  I thanked McGee for staying with Jethro and that I would keep him updated on Jethro’s progress. McGee wanted to stay but I reminded him that he had paperwork to handle to close the case and that’s what Jethro would want him to do.  He agreed and left to return to the NCIS office.  Just as he left Leon Vance came into the waiting room. He hugged me and offered his condolences.  

“He’ll be all right you know.  This is Leroy Jethro Gibbs.  He’s made it through worse than this.”

I didn’t say anything in reply.  We sat and waited.  Leon left to get some coffee and I sat in the waiting room alone.  The doctor came in to speak with me.

“Mrs. Gibbs, your husband took a bullet to his neck.  Initially we thought that it hit the spinal cord but miraculously it did not.  It did not do any major damage just caused a lot of bleeding.  The surgery should last another hour.  We want to make certain that we didn’t miss anything that might cause any later problems.  He should be in recovery after that for an hour and then we will move him to a room.  You will be able to see him then. Do you have any questions?’

“First I would like to thank you and your staff for taking such good care of my husband. How long of a recovery period can we expect and what limitations might he have?

“He will probably not need more than three weeks of recovery and we don’t expect any limitations.  Of course he will have a sore neck for a while but that will improve over time.  We anticipate a full recovery and he should be as good as new in a month or two.  You are welcome by the way.  We pride ourselves on providing the best care here at our hospital.  If there’s nothing else I will return to the OR.”

“Thank you again doctor for the information and reassurance.”

The doctor left and Leon returned.  I updated him on what the doctor reported.  Leon said that he would return to the office and update everyone.  I thanked him for coming.  When Leon left I went to the ladies’ room, sat in one of the stalls and cried a good cry.  I thanked God for protecting Jethro and for the care of the doctors and staff and the hospital. I left the stall to wash my hands and face, took a deep breath and returned to the waiting room.  

By the time that I returned to the waiting room it was full with Abby, Dr. Mallard, Bishop, Torres, and Lydia all surrounding me and asking for an update.  I told them what the doctor said.  They stayed for an hour or two and then left.  I’m glad that I didn’t have to ask them to leave because they would have felt hurt but I really wanted to be alone.  I wanted to be alone with my thoughts and prayers.  I went to the chapel and gave thanks and then returned to the waiting room.  When I returned to the waiting room this time the doctor was there waiting for me to let me know that they had moved Jethro to a room and that I could sit with him there.  I took a deep cleansing breath and followed him to Jethro’s room.  I was glad that it wasn’t in ICU. That meant that he was not critical.

I stood in the doorway looking in.  In the bed lie my husband.  His neck was bandaged; he had an IV in his left arm.  He was breathing on his own and other than the bandage and IV he looked like he was sleeping.  I walked into the room, pulled the chair nearer to the bed, sat down and held his right hand.

“Jethro, can you hear me?  It’s Margie. Can you hear me? The doctors say that you’re going to be all right.  The bullet didn’t do much damage. Can you hear me?”

No response.  I just sat and looked at him.  Then I stood and leaned over the bed.  I touched his chin but made sure not to touch his neck.  Don’t want to put any germs there.  Then I touched his hair.  I always thought that he looks so distinguished with his full head of gray hair.  At least he’s not bald.  My hand moved to his eyebrows, then his eyes, and finally I traced his lips. I leaned over and kissed his lips. I didn’t press too hard because I didn’t want to disturb him.  The kiss lasted a little longer than I intended and then, and then I felt him returning the kiss.  I gasped and raised my head and looked at his face.  There looking back at me were those beautiful blue eyes that I love. 

“You do know that it’s against the law to molest someone unconscious.”

“You’re not unconscious, you’re talking to me. Oh Jethro, you’re awake! Oh my love!”

And then I kissed him for real.  I told him what the doctor reported and then we just sat there looking at each other.  Taking it all in that once again we survived.  We survived another ordeal.  We will work through this like we worked through the others. Together.  The nurse entered to administer his medicine.  They wanted to maintain his pain level so that it doesn’t stress his body and cause unnecessary movement of his neck. I took that moment to leave the room and to update everyone on his condition.  They all agreed to wait until tomorrow to visit and I thanked them all.

Jethro was asleep by the time that I returned to his room. The staff had moved a cot into the room for me to use.  Lydia, knowing me as she does, brought clothing and toiletries for me, when she came earlier in the evening.  I showered in the attached bathroom and settled myself in for the night. Jethro and I will have our tomorrow and prayerfully many tomorrows after that.