NCIS: Merry Christmas, Mr. President

Chapter four- through clouded eyes

The explosion rocked the helicopter, and to the north, the acrid smoke bilowed from the rising mushroom cloud that engulfed the sun.

No... thought Gibbs. No, I have not come all this way for Kate to die, and for all our hope to collapse and buckle under us on the same day... this... this cannot be happening...

"Agent Gibbs!"

The sharp tone flung Gibbs back into the present. For just a moment, the despair had dragged him under, dragged him down to the time when the gun as in his hands, all was lost, and on the edge of pulling the trigger, ending the despair, ending the descent into that dark void... never to return...

"Agent Gibbs, we're about to touch down into Bethesda! We need to get your agent inside!"

Gibbs started. "But her lung..."

"There's still a chance, the pulse is very weak, but life signs are still on the monitor, if we are lucky enough to find a donor!"

Gibbs turned to the monitor. A faint beep emitted from the speaker. Scans of the lung showed it was rapidly deteriorating, already given up. She was supported by an air tank, and an intrument resting by her arm was relieving the pressure. A doctor rushed out of hosptial's left wing.

"They recieved your call, their sending a donor via lifesaver flight from the city center hospital. Brain dead, no family... doctors are gonna pull the plug."

Gibbs roughly pushed past the paramedic, pushing his face right up to the doctors. "Will there be enough time?"

The doctor stalled. "Well, I mean, it all depends, really, but i'm in no place to make those assumptions, agent... er..."

Gibbs ignored his invitation for a name, his face turning beetroot. "I don't think you heard me right... will there be enough time?" he roared.

The doctor took a frightened step back, automaticly. He wasn't used to dealing with this kind of hostility outside the phsyc ward. "Well, one can... er... only hope, agent... Gibbs", he said, craning his neck for the second time to double check the white house name tagg.

The doctor's radio bleeped, and he whipped it off his belt. "One moment, agent Gibbs." he said, turning to speak into the radio. "Suresh. Yes, what is it, Andrews?"

The doctor's face suddenly took on a look of black foreboding. "Oh no..." he breathed.

Gibbs swiped the radio from Suresh. "What?"

The next thing that issued from the radio was a faint crackling before the small monitor cracked into pieces in Gibbs' hands. A black car pulled up, and Tony and Abby bolted from the back seat. Tony stopped to put a hand to Kate's forehead, tucking a stray strand of hair beneath her ear.

"What happened?" he asked.

Suresh sighed. "The plane with the donor... it was caught in the blast that missed camp David. The lung isn't gonna make it. We can get another donnor, but not in time."

Gibbs tilted his head upward. The blast... it missed camp David?

The doctor side stepped Gibbs, but found Tony to be blocking his path. "If the donor... if the donor was in full health, could he survive in time for the other brain dead donor to get to him on time?"

The doctor shook his head, confused. "What?"

"Is there another possible donor?"

"Yes, but not one that could get here on time..."

"What is the donor was in full health, could he survive a day or two?"

"Well, yes, but..."

Tony turned to Kate. "Hang in there, Kate." he whispered, before bolting for the open door, motioning for Suresh and the paramedics to follow him.

Abi turned to Gibbs. "What's he doing?" she asked fearfully.

Gibbs stared admiringly after his old probie. "Doing the right thing."

Abi's head whipped round. "No. Oh, no, Tony! He's giving his lung, isn't he?"

Gibbs pulled Abi into a comforting hug. "Yes."

Abi sobbed. "Tell me they're both gonna be fine, Gibbs!"

Gibbs buried his face in Abi's hair. "I don't know, Abs."

Lights flashed past, bleeding into one blur of white. Faces loomed over her, something cool and metal clipped to her chest, and a pain where it was, although faint and oddly numb. Voices merged into one, and darkness pulled her under a heavy tide, her conciousness breaking the surface, the voices growing more urgent. Only then did she realise that she seemed to be flying, and as the voices grew panicked, the lights rushed past at an impossible dream like speed, flying faster. The bright lights were suddenly replaced with a green, marble like tinge. The place she now seemed to be in smelt sterile, like dentist gloves. The breath was suddenly knocked from her lungs, and the surface she was lying on was lifted onto a table. A small prick on her hand, and she was drifting in a swamp of mixed memories, some sharp, others more recent and murky. And a secret. A terrible secret with a name, a dark angel the rose on swift wings, flying with the speed of a bullet.

"Ok, she's under. Mr. DiNozzo, we need you to sign here, here, here, and initial here." he said, indicating a number of dotted lines.

"Just like E.R." said Tony, unable to resist a movie reference, even in the face of danger.

Rolling his eyes, the doctor filled a syringe, jabbing it with unnecessary force into Tony's wrist.

"Ow." said DiNozzo, sinking into the darkness. See you on the other side, Kate. That was DiNozzo's last thought, floating to the top of his sub-concious, clinging to it for the dimming hope that they could both make it through this.

"They're out, begin transplant."

A doctor opposite Suresh looked to the monitor. "We got really lucky with this guy. Good size fit, and the same blood type. I'd say there's a good chance she's gonna make it."

Next to him, a doctor with onyx black eyes looked down on Kate, a scalpel in his hand. The coffee coloured skin on his knuckles was white as the tool shook in his hand, and the memories in autopsy flooded his brain. The ice in those eyes melted, and they suddenly looked kind, but hate coursed through his veins. Through the dreams, he heard the doctor's converse, and he gave them his full attention, hoping for any sign of hope.

"I think she's gonna make it."

Suresh sighed. "The lungs spent, we must get the new lung in, now! She may make it, but we had to administer a blood thinner."

The third doctor spoke, his accent standing out from the typical American tones. "She had a pulmonary embolism. We had to administer the thinner to help remove it."

The doctor looked at the doctor's name tag, convinced he had not seen this one before. "Dr. Saurel?"

"Yes?"

"We need to complete the operation."

Ari turned. "Doctor, I must leave. You have to complete the operation without me."

Before Suresh could reply, Ari had bolted out the door."

One hour later

"We were very lucky. They're both stable, and we have the doctors preping the brain dead donor for surgery. Your agent DiNozzo will hopefully hold, his vitals look promising, and agent Todd is concious and on the mend. She should regain conciousness any minute now. And did you hear, they're gonna be flying back the two presidents to camp David once they're sure the threat has died down?"

Gibbs nodded. "Yes, they've asked my team to be escorts."

Suresh nodded. "Well, let's hope your agents are back in shape for then."

Gibbs headed to Kate's room, armed with a get well card and a box of chocolates. A nurse scurried from the room. "I'm sorry, sir, only one visitor at a time."

Gibbs looked around. "I am only one visitor."

The nurse frowned. "No, sir, i'm afraid Caitlin Todd is being visited by that gentleman over there." she pointed through the open door, and Gibbs looked in time to see a well groomed, brown face smile menacingly before jumping from the open window. Gibbs bolted in, whipping out his gun.

Panic suddenly hit as he turned and spotted the empty bed and crinkled sheets. Dashing to the window, he fired his gun at the black SUV, but only shattering the windshield. A note fluttered to his feet. Picking it up, Gibbs read the elegant script, and let it flutter back to the ground.

Agent Gibbs. I have a full team of medical personal who can look after Caitlin. They will treat her as one of their own. I must ask you not to pursue me, for I have no wish to harm Caitlin. She shall be safe in my care, and when she is recovered and I have gained the information I need, I shall consider releasing her back to you. Shalom. Haswari.

Gibbs opened up his phone, hitting speed dial. In a carefully controlled voice, he muttered, "McGee. Get me Fornell. I need to have a strongly worded interview with him considering his Mossad mole."

In MTAC, McGee started. "Which mole, boss?"

What little precious control Gibbs had went out the window. "Ari!" he barked.

Sorry the update took so long! I had to do alot of research to check that I had my medical jargon right.

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