Chapter Four: Decisions, Decisions
We sat in the hospital waiting room for two hours straight. A tense silence had settled over the group and it was getting old fast. “Okay,” I announced, standing up, “It’s 11:00PM so I’m buying coffee, anyone want some?” Everyone looked up at me with tired eyes.” Well, everyone except for Gibbs, but, I mean, come on, he’s Gibbs. Tony stood up, “I’ll help you,” he said, following me out of the waiting area. We walked in a comfortable silence, neither one of us really in the mood for conversation.
Five minute later, we arrived at the hospital’s café. We walked up to the counter to place our order. “Hi,” said Tony, “can we get one large black coffee, a medium hazelnut coffee, a medium cinnamon coffee, a medium mocha latte, a medium earl grey tea, a large caff-pow, and…” He trailed off, allowing me to order something to drink. “And a large French Vanilla coffee,” I concluded, fishing my black diamond master card outside of my pocket. Tony gave me a look, saying that he would get the bill. I shook my head, “My treat,” I told him. Five minutes later we found ourselves walking back to the waiting room, drinks in hand.
“Cinnamon, for Ziva,” said Tony, handing Ziva her drink. “Tea for Ducky, Hazelnut for Probie, Caff-pow for Abby, Mocha for me, and… where’s Gibbs?” I looked down the hallway to see his familiar head of grey hair following after a man in a white lab coat. “I got it,” I told Tony, taking the coffee and following after Gibbs. I called out his name and he turned around, searching the narrow hallway for the perpetrator. I raised his coffee in the air above my 5’10” stature. He saw me and gave me a signal to follow him. I finally caught up to him as they got in an elevator and handed Gibbs his said, “this is Madison Redmond.” The doctor went through a brief phase of confusion before reaching out to shake my hand. “Congratulations, Madison,” said Doctor Marx, “you’re a hero.” Then it was my turn to look confused. “When you extracted the first two bullets and attended to the Director’s wounds, you cut off the window for more blood loss. If she had bled out for much longer she would have died,” he elaborated, “you saved her life.” I stared at him in disbelief. I mean, yeah, I knew that she had lost a lot of blood, but I didn’t think that it would be enough to prove to be nearly fatal. I had saved a life, the thought brought me a sense of pride.
We stepped out of the elevator on the eighth floor and walked to room 812. Director Sheppard was sitting upright in her bed, her left arm was casted up to her shoulder and some other places were dressed with gauze. “Director Sheppard,” she Doctor Marx, “this is Madison Redmond; she executed the proper medical procedures necessary to save your life pre-admittance to the hospital.” The Director sat there, a blank expression on her face, soaking in everything that she had just been told. “You’re Ducky’s niece?” she asked, her blank expression changing to one of acknowledgement. “Come here, Madison,” she said, beckoning me to her side. I walked to her side, setting my half-empty coffee down on the side table and sitting down in the chair next to her bed. “Gentlemen, if you please,” she said to Gibbs and Doctor Marx, who were waiting patiently next to the door. Gibbs took the hint and ushered Doctor Marx out of the room, shutting the door behind them.
“I wanted to thank you personally for what you did back there,” said the Director, “I owe you my life.” I opened my mouth but she put a hand up, cutting me off. “And to show you my gratitude for your brave act of heroism, I have an offer for you.” I looked at her expectantly, wonder just what in the world her offer could be. “How would you like to start training to become a full time member of NCIS?” I stared at her, my mind went blank. “I beg your pardon, Director,” I said, “but are you seriously offering me a job at NCIS?” She nodded her head and smiled at me. “Yes, Madison, I’ve read up on your files and realized that you would make a perfect addition to Gibbs’ team. All you would have to do is complete the fifteen week basic training course.” I looked at her, still in shock, this is too good to be true, I thought. I left out a sigh, “Director Sheppard,” I started, “I appreciate the job offer, I really do. But \, you’ve just gone through a very traumatizing series of events. If you would still like me to join NCIS as a full member of the team after you are discharged from the hospital, I would love to take you up on the offer. But, for now, you should focus all of your energy on getting better so you don’t get behind on your work.” I smiled at her, picked up my coffee, and left the room, allowing the doctor to enter behind me.
