Work Text:
Untitled
by Hawk
NCIS
Gibbs/DiNozzo
evidence ruined by the heat on the back seat
Written for this Comment-fic Challenge
"Evidence." It was all he could manage and, given the circumstances, he thought he was doing well to get even that one word out.
"Don't worry about it," came the gruff reply and he had to swallow around the "sorry" that threatened to bubble to his lips. He settled for a nod and wished he hadn't done that as the room began to tilt and his stomach decided to see if it really could turn inside out.
Luckily for him -- and for the man holding him more or less upright -- his stomach was empty and all that he could manage were a few gagging sounds.
He gasped for air when the heaves had passed. "But --"
"I said not to worry about it. The evidence was already ruined by the heat. Sitting on the back seat for five hours in the direct sunlight is apparently not good for forensics. Who knew?"
He could hear the frustration behind the words and winced. It was his fault --
A gentle slap made contact with the back of his head. "Not your fault, Tony. I tossed it there when I finally realized you were missing." Jethro paused and Tony sighed softly.
Missing. Such an innocuous word for it. He'd been searching the docks, calling out to Jethro now and again, more to keep track of where they were than anything else. The place was long deserted -- or so they'd thought. Apparently they'd thought wrong and their fugitive hadn't moved on. Instead, he took Tony hostage, using him as a human shield before running. Eventually he had knocked him unconscious and shoved him into a dry well.
The final showdown as it were was the suspect against the NCIS and FBI with a few local cops thrown in for good measure -- and he had decided he was going to go down fighting.
It took them another four hours to get dogs on scene and to finally sniff out Tony's location. In that time, the sun had beaten down on his position mercilessly. He was severely dehydrated, had more than a touch of sunstroke, sunburn, and a couple of sprains, bumps and bruises.
He had immediately been transported to the nearest hospital where they splinted his sprains, gave him some medicated cream for his sunburn, and ran a couple of bags of saline through an IV to combat the dehydration. When they had asked how he was doing, he put on his brightest smile and lied through his teeth. That was how he ended up in a hotel in the middle of nowhere with Jethro looking out for him.
"Sleep, Tony. I've got you."
Tony sighed softly, snuggling into the strong arms that held him.
end