NCIS Short Stories

I Can't Remember (Part 1)

                 

---------Gibbs POV---------

I slam Jacob into the wall.

"Boss! On your six," DiNozzo shouts.

He grabs one of Jacobs' men. They fight. Bishop is firing off at others while McGee hacks the database.

"Almost done Boss," McGee calls out. Jacob knees me in the gut. I double over only for a second and then recover. I sucker punch him in the face. My hand comes away covered in blood. His face is covered, and a fresh stream is streaking out of his mouth. He comes at me with a sucker punch of his own. It grazes my cheek and I grab the hand and twist it behind his back. He screams in pain before doing the same to me. I hear a bone crack in my finger, and a small burst of pain shoots through my arm. My gun was kicked across the room earlier in the fight. I can try to take a run for it...

My thoughts are interrupted by Jacobs's hand grabbing my neck and slamming my head against the wall. A warm stream of blood flows off the side of my face. Pain runs through my entire body.

"Boss!" McGee, Bishop, and DiNozzo yell at the same time. I run for my gun and grab it. I fire three shots that hit Jacob in the chest. He collapses. McGee has the files and DiNozzo and Bishop have killed the other guards.

The pain is intense. I get light headed, and can't move my arms or legs.

"Boss," is the last word I hear before I too collapse onto the floor, and everything turns into a world of pain.

---------DiNozzo's POV---------

When Gibbs collapsed, we all knew something bad, no worst than bad, had happened. Gibbs isn't weak, he could never be. We rush over to him, and are to find the source of his blackout. When Jacob slammed his head into the wall, he hit the corner of a large piece of metal. Part of it is jammed into Gibbs head. It's not in deep, but deep enough to cause major bleeding.

"Palmer," I say into my earwig, "Call an ambulance. Gibbs is down. I repeat. Gibbs is down." He utters a quick ok.

"Boss? Can you hear me," McGee ask. He gets no response. He examines Gibbs head as we hear footsteps approach.

"It's just me," Ducky screams as he runs towards us. He kneels down to look at Gibbs, "It's very close to his temple," he says referring to the bloody shrapnel sticking out of Gibbs skull, "He might have brain damage, internal bleeding, or some other things. He will live."

"How do you know that," Bishop asks.

"Because he's Gibbs," Ducky answers rather blatantly.

The paramedics rush in at that moment with Palmer at their heels. He stands next to Ducky and looks in horror at Gibbs. The paramedics quickly lift Gibbs and place him on stretcher.

McGee, Bishop, Ducky and I all exchange glances; choosing who will ride on the ambulance. McGee nods no, and so does Bishop. I look at Duck.

"Go," he says. I nod and run down the hall after Gibbs. They load him up and I hop in. The first paramedic, Quinn, starts speaking into a radio.

"Agent down. We have a medium sized rusted piece of shrapnel lodged into the left side of his forehead, about half of an inch below his temple. The bleeding is slowing, but a lot is already drained. Get at least five pints of O-neg ready." He continues to ramble on while I stare at Gibbs. They have slowed the bleeding with gauze, but it's already drenched with his blood. The hospital isn't far from the crime scene, only eight or so minutes. But it isn't fast enough to me. Once we arrive, they unload Gibbs and tell me to wait out side in the lobby. I wait and wait and wait and wait. Only about three hours have passed, while it feels like an entire day. It's about 3 AM when the others arrive. Vance, Ducky, Palmer, and Abby all walk in.

"Director," I say.

"Skip the formalities DiNozzo," he says, "What happened?"

I sigh, "Gibbs was fighting with Jacob Hoffman. His SIG was on the other side of the room. Jacob got a hold of him and slammed his head against a fragment of metal in the wall and it broke off and lodged itself into Gibbs skull. Gibbs ran for his gun and fired three shots into Jacob's chest and killed him before he passed out." I give the quickest run through I can.

"Aright," Vance says, clearly thinking of other things.

"I will have a statement on your desk by tomorrow morning," I say.

"No need," he says. His phone rings, "Let me take this." He walks away.