Tony sickfic

Chapter 16

Once again Gibbs' eyes said it all, showing a mixture of concern and hurt. Tony nodded, picked up the spoon and dipped it in the soup. He was trying to get it to his mouth, but his hand was shaking so badly that the spoon was nearly empty by the time it made it to his mouth.
"I guess we do this another way," Gibbs said, taking the spoon from Tony
"Boss, I'm sorry about all this. You really don't have to stay here and take care of me like this."

Gibbs put the spoon down. "Tony, I'm sure this is new for you, someone looking after you and caring what you eat and what happens to you, but I meant what I said about wanting to be a part of your life. I'm not going anyplace. If I knew the world was going to end five minutes from now, this is the only place I'd want to be. This is where I NEED to be. Do I make myself clear?"

Seeing the genuine caring in Gibbs' piercing blue eyes was almost enough to make Tony cry. Never before had he ever known someone who loved him like this.

"Now, let's get some broth in your body."

Gibbs picked up the spoon and gave Tony a few spoonfuls of broth, then waited a few minutes to see if it stayed down before feeding him some more.

"Okay, Boss, that's enough. I need to lay down now."

"Okay, we can do that."

Gibbs recovered the soup and moved the table with the tray away from the bed. He fluffed Tony's pillow, then reclined his bed a bit so he could lay down more than sit up. Gibbs then went back to the other side of the bed where the chair was and sat down, turning the TV on low to an all-news channel. Tony put his hand through the bars on the side of the bed and took Gibbs' hand. A surprised smile flashed across Gibbs' face.

"I love you, Boss."

"I love you, too, Tony."

Gibbs kissed the back of Tony's hand. Tony's breathing evened out as he drifted to sleep. Not soon afterwards the alarm went of. Gibbs wanted, once again, to ignore it but he thought better of it.

"Okay, time to answer questions again. Come on, wake-up. The faster you do, the faster we get this done."

"Um."

"What's your name?"

"Anthony Michael DiNozzo," Tony mumbled.

"Who is the president of the United States?"

"Bush."

"Which one?"

"George W."

"Where do you work?"

"NCIS."

"Okay, go back to sleep," Gibbs said, resetting the watch.

This went on for another hour, each half hour Gibbs waking Tony to answer questions. Tony became more irritated each time. Around 8:00 PM Beth walked in with a male nurse.

"Gibbs, this is my relief. His name is Mike, and he will be looking after Tony for the night."

"Special Agent Gibbs," Mike said, holding out a hand.

"Just Gibbs. It's nice to meet you. I just asked him this round of questions."

"Good. The doctor called to check on him and said since he seems to be doing fine he can go to every hour."

"Thanks, Beth."

"You're welcome. Gibbs you should go home and get some rest."

Gibbs shook his head. "Not till he's better."