SquidgeWorld Archive

Category: NCIS PWP hurt/comfort pre-slash fic
Characters: Gibbs/Dinozzo mostly
Rating: PG-13 this part
Series: Yes - Part One
Spoilers: Anything might get a mention including Season Two
Summary: Unconscious, Tony's mind wanders...
Additional Stuff: Filling in a few gaps in *my* version of Tony's past. Any errors in Spanish translation are mine (got them off the internet). Some of the longer conversations are written in English. Imagine them in Spanish. The Spanish word for 'fracture' sounds like 'fractions' Apparently...
WARNING: Tony owies and Gibbs vs Technology

Title: Distance equals speed times time

About twenty years ago, the Dinozzo house...

Consuela shrugged as she continued to chop the carrots.

'Se quedó huérfano a nacimiento.'

Eduardo frowned. 'Better not let Senora Dinozzo hear you say that.'

'Why not?' Consuela huffed. 'It's true. Who takes care of him? You. Me. Marco the gardener.'

Eduardo nodded. 'At least he's learning Spanish.' He smiled, wanting to lift his wife's mood.

She laughed, then became serious again. 'He was lucky the fracture wasn't worse. Young bones heal quickly. He'll be fine by the time his parents return.'

In the next room, head down over his math homework, half-listening to the conversation between the housekeeper and chauffeur, Tony groaned inwardly. How did they know he was doing stupid fractions? His arm throbbed and he knew his parents wouldn't be back all weekend. Stupid math. He was going to be a football player. Who cared if he couldn't divide seven whatevers into ten something elses. He was out of his chair as soon as Consuela called him to 'come and get your dinner my brave little soldier'. He knew if he made the right noises of discomfort as he ate, she would find a cookie or some of her home-made sweets for him after he finished.

Consuela had called Senora Dinozzo and told her 'little Antonio' had been hurt playing football. He had said it was 'fiss edd', but she didn't know how to translate that - Tony's Spanish needed a little more practice but she didn't want to question him when he looked so sad - and Tony had told her he was 'going for the ball' when it happened, so she said football.

'Oh Consuela, Mr. Dinozzo and I are stuck here for the weekend. We can't possibly leave before Sunday afternoon. Can you take care of him for us?'

Tony's mother was cross enough at being interrupted from the fundraising meeting and her attention was still in the other room. But she would make sure her husband had a talk with Anthony when they got back. Anthony's destiny was definitely *not* as a football player.

Inwardly fuming, Consuela said brightly: 'Si Senora. Eduardo and I take good care of little Antonio.' She almost slammed down the phone but knew her and her husband would find it hard to get another job if they were fired, so she restrained her temper until she was in the kitchen, viciously attacking a pile of defenseless potatoes with her sharpest knife.

***********************************

Present day...

An insistent sound echoing in his head, Tony groaned, tried to move and decided not to, all in a second. His fingers closed on the phone inches from him and he pressed the buttons from memory, eyes still closed.

'Gibbs.'

'Boss...car...hurts.'

'Dinozzo? Tony!' Gibbs shouted, the sick feeling, too familiar since he had hired Dinozzo, making him want to reach into the phone and pull Dinozzo out of whatever trouble he was in. 'Where are you? What happened?'

The soft voice, pain-filled and tired-sounding, whispered: 'Rear-ended...truck...drove off.'

Gibbs was on his feet, pulling his keys and gun from his desk drawer even as Tony's soft pained whisper filled his mind. 'KATE!! MCGEE!!' He held the phone in between shoulder and cheek. 'Tony...you hold on...we're coming...where are you?' But this time, there was only silence, punctuated with the sounds of labored breathing.

The two younger agents hurried over from the fax machine. 'Gibbs?' Kate frowned at Gibbs' pale face.

'McGee, get a GPS fix on Dinozzo's cell. NOW!! Kate, with me!!'

Tim McGee dropped into his chair and began to open the program which would locate Tony to within a fifty-yard radius.

'I think he's in...his car...I think it...crashed.' Gibbs rasped out as he ran from the room, Kate hard on his heels.

Tony had bought him a birthday present a few days earlier after Ducky had leaked his birthday date. He put the gadget into his ear. Blue...something and Tony said he would love it when he got used to it.

'Technology boss. The new century. Can't go around with the phone stuck to your ear any more. It's not cool.'

Gibbs eyed the small black plastic 'thing' in his hand with suspicion. 'And this...thing...is?'

'Blue tooth technology Gibbs. Sixty feet radius. You can put the phone somewhere and work on your boat at the same time. You know, sanding or...whatever.'

'Hmm...really? Thanks Dinozzo.'

Kate and McGee had stood well back from the two men while Tony handed over the gift. They hadn't expected such a mild reaction. Perhaps Gibbs was mellowing? Kate smiled inwardly. No chance.

A couple of days later, Tony had wondered if the headset had ended up in the trash, and bravely asked Gibbs about it. Gibbs said he felt like he was wearing a hearing aid, but had to admit he could speak on the phone and work on the boat at the same time.

He dialed McGee's desk as they got into the car. 'McGee, where is he?'

'I'm working on it...the signal keeps fading out.'

'McGee!' Gibbs snarled, tucking his phone into his inside jacket pocket as he pulled the car out of the parking lot.

A few seconds later, McGee couldn't help the relief in his voice. 'I got it. I'm sending Kate the map.'

'Kate, your...PD...thing. McGee's sending the map. McGee...get an ambulance.'

McGee wasn't surprised when the line clicked off as he responded. 'Yes boss.'

Kate opened her PDA and got the map up. 'Okay...make a left out of here.'

********************************

About twenty years ago, the Dinozzo house...

Tony could smell the familiar mixed smells of Consuela's cooking mingling with the smell of lemon furniture polish as he leaned down over the table, one arm encased in a heavy plaster cast, the other curled around his math book, his untidy script filling the pale-printed squares in the well-worn book.

He was always being scolded for his poor penmanship. His parents had paid for tests - dyslexia, eyesight, anything they could think of to excuse the comments in every report card since first grade - but the reality was Tony didn't see the point of handwriting. Football stars only needed to sign autographs, and people didn't care what *they* looked like. Mrs. Powers hadn't agreed. The subsequent argument had been over the likelihood of Tony ever ever ever needing the 'stuff' the woman was trying to teach him. Time, distance, speed. Booooring.

His Spanish had improved over the years, and for the first time, he understood the comment he had overheard as he stood in the doorway between dining room and kitchen, sharpening his pencil into the wastebasket. Orphaned at birth. Even a broken arm hadn't bought his own parents home.
Bobby Ellis had sprained his ankle falling off his skateboard and *his* parents had flown home from a medical conference. Tony didn't really care. Consuela and Eduardo would look after him. They always did. His tummy full of Consuela's specially-mild chili and yummy still-warm deep-fried tortilla pieces, Tony sat back, his best 'hurt' look on his face.

Consuela's heart melted and she opened the top cupboard and brought out a pack of chocolate-chip cookies. 'Would you like some cookies Antonio?'

Tony's grin was her answer.

Present day...

Remembering, Tony's mind ran over all the times he had been left in the care of the Spanish help his parents relied on to keep their house and garden neat and tidy and their son's stomach full.

Silent tears slipped down his cheeks, sliding between the airbag and his shirt. The cool dampness made Tony shiver until his teeth chattered.

He closed his eyes and he drifted into sleep, dreaming of the gentle touch on his forehead as he fought measles, tonsillitis and the myriad other childhood ailments, Consuela always crooning softly that everything would be okay, how he had to be brave. He frowned in his sleep but however hard he tried, Tony couldn't bring his mother's face into the room with him.

************************************

'Over there!' Kate's continuous scanning of the highway paid off finally as she saw the skid marks from two sets of tires, then, a moment later, as they rounded the bend and she was thrown against the car door, Tony's car, the hood crushed, wisps of something curling into the air, the horn unbearably loud in the otherwise silent back road.

As they pulled over, the siren of the ambulance which hadn't been far behind, sounded, adding to the noise.

Carefully, Gibbs approached the car, ordering Kate to stay in the car. Ignoring the danger which Gibbs was trying to protect her from, she followed him, watching as he reached into the shattered window, scraping the side of his hand on the broken glass as he turned the ignition off, lessening the danger of an explosion from the fuel that was possibly spilling from the engine.

'Okay Tony, hang on. It's okay...we're here...EMT's are here. Just stay still.'

Tony groaned and opened his eyes slowly, focusing on the voice as he still couldn't see anything other than the off-white airbag in front of his nose. 'Gibbs...how did you...'

Gibbs touched Tony's shoulder, feeling how cold the younger man was, the sensation making *him* shiver. 'Technology.'

Tony smiled and closed his eyes.

End of Part One...