Rule 39: There Is No Such Thing As Coincidence (Tony DiNozzo Love Story)

Could Have Been Worse

Erin's POV

"Have you been here the whole time?" I ask as I turn to Tony. He smiles.

"Gibbs and I have been taking shifts, Ziva and McGee come every now and then. Actually the entire team has had at least an hour with you, even the director."

"How long have I been out?" I ask.

"Eleven days," he says and I nod as I turn and look towards the door as Gibbs and a doctor walk in, a nurse trailing behind.

"Miss Carter, how are you feeling?" The doctor asks.

"Okay under the circumstances, I suppose."

He nods and smiles.

"From a scale of one to ten could you rate your state of pain?"

"Eight," I say. He nods once more.

"Can you tell me your name?"

"Erin Marie Carter, age thirty-three."

He nods and writes some notes down.

"Well, you seem lucid, do rememberer what happened to you?" He asks.

"Yeah, I was kidnapped and beaten by a Russian Mafia boss." He nods once more and looks towards Gibbs.

"She seems well, I'd still like to keep her for a couple of days for observation and then we can go from there and have her released," he says and Gibbs nods.

"I'll have the nurse administer some medication for you for the pain," the doctor directs to me before nodding to the nurse and leaving the room.

"I'll be right back," the nurse answers and I nod as she leaves the room.

"So what's the damage?" I ask looking between Tony and Gibbs.

"You've got six broken ribs, a fractured wrist, and ankle. You had a minor concussion, and you're covered in cuts and burns," Gibbs answers.

I scoff and lean back into my pillow. "Could have been a lot worse," I answer.

"How could it be worse? You almost died," Tony says.

"The worse is that I actually died. I'm not dead," I say with a soft smile and squeeze his hand. He scoffs and shakes his head as he holds my hand and looks over to Gibbs.

"She's right," he says and Tony sighs as he takes my hand in both of his.

The nurse returns and walks over to my IV, a needle in her hand.

"Just a bit of morphine for the pain," she says and I nod as she injects the syringe's contents into my IV and the pain in my body is instantly alleviated. I sigh and my eyes close as I become overwhelmingly relaxed and pain free.