Once in the hospital, they track down McGee, who had arrived immediately from the house, unlike Gibbs who took a detour to the police station.
"Any word?" Jack asks eagerly.
McGee begins walking away, implying for them to follow and soon they meet Vance, Kasie, Tony and Ziva in the waiting area.
"What's the news?" Gibbs repeats Jack's question.
"Jimmy's talking to the doctor, then he'll dumb it down for us, Boss." Tony explains, and they wait in uncomfortable silence until Palmer's return.
"They're both out of surgery, and both went well. The doctors are expecting Ellie to wake up in an hour or two, once the medication wears off, but both of them should be conscious in the next 6 hours." Jimmy shared the news with the group, who all breathe out a collective sigh.
Jack rubs Gibbs' shoulder and Ziva leans against Tony.
"Why don't we all take a seat." Vance guides everyone to the chairs and they sit.
"So what exactly happened that resulted in Agent Torres getting shot?" The director asks.
It takes Jack nearly ten minutes to describe to the group what had happened, and then she looked at everyone, and they all had different looks in their faces. Before she could stop it, her psychological eyes kicked in.
Vance looks politically horrified. Agencies are, of course, supposed to cooperate, not harm each other. She assumes someone will be getting a very angry phone call from him later tonight.
McGee has a look of brotherly concern for Nick. Looking surprisingly similar to Abby, it seems as if he wanted to go give Torres a hug.
Jimmy, always shockingly innocent considering the job, looks stunned that one cop would shoot another.
Kasie appears disgusted by the lack of intelligence Green had. She seems eager to get her hands on the car so she can gather forensics and get Green behind bars.
Tony and Ziva have similar looks on their faces. They both look ready to kill. Their ways are different though.
DiNozzo would rather get into a brawl with Green, causing visual damage and showing her who's boss.
Ziva on the other hand, seems cool and collected, and shows her emotions more subtly. Poison, Jack thinks. That's how she would kill Green.
As usual, Jack isn't able to get much information off of Gibbs' expressions, but she doesn't need to. He told her how he's feeling whether he meant to or not. He's feeling guilty.
1 Hour Later: General
The door opens and the team lets them into Bishop's room. She's awake, sitting up in the bed.
"Hey Ellie!" McGee says and Ellie smiles.
"Hi Tim! Hey guys!" She tried to be enthusiastic, but naturally is very tired.
After a few seconds, her face falls.
"Where's Nick?"
"A few doors down the hall." Jimmy replies.
"What? Why? What happened?"
"He got shot."
"Jake shot him?! I thought Jake was dead!"
Ellie sits forward quickly, as if preparing to stand up. Ziva hurriedly steps forward and gently keeps Ellie on the bed.
"He'll be alright Ellie, don't worry." Jack smiles at her and Ellie sighs.
"Well what happened?"
Once again, Jack explains what Green had done.
Ellie's mouth is hanging open by the time she finished.
"Can I punch this b***h?" She asks and everyone chuckles.
"Seriously! Where'd she go?" Ellie pushes.
"Torres' place." Gibbs answers.
"What?" Vance, Bishop and Tony exclaim.
"If she broke into his apartment you can arrest her! What are you doing here?!" Ellie asks frantically.
"I already called Metro PD, they're probably already there." Gibbs responds.
"Oh."
She lays back on the inclined bed, and exhales slowly.
"Why was I in the woods?" She asks cautiously. "Did I ruin a mission?"
"No!" McGee exclaims. "If anything, you helped solve it! When Nick and I were clearing Dooley's house, I found a piece of paper with plans to kill Clark. So we found our murderer!"
"See, that's something you should mention, McBozo! You didn't tell any of us that!" Tony slaps Tim on the back of the head, and Gibbs slaps Tony. Jack slaps Gibbs, and then everyone freezes.
Gibbs turns to her slowly and her eyes widen, realizing what she had just done. Her face hardens into a self assured expression and she doesn't back away when Gibbs takes a step closer to her.
Luckily, his phone rings, and he turns away and out of the room.
Jack sighs heavily, letting out the breath she had been holding in.
"Did you just-" Ellie begins.
"I don't want to think about it." Jack interrupts.
"I would be dead meat." Tony mentions.
"That is true." Ziva adds. "He must like you."
"As a coworker!" Jack exclaims.
"Of course as a coworker!" Kasie backs Jack up, then immediately shakes her head no, as if saying 'not a coworker.'
"The same way Director Shepard liked Gibbs after the divorce, I'm sure." Jimmy says, and Ziva and Tony h derstand immediately what kind of relationship Sloane and Gibbs have.
"Can we just, talk about something else? We're here to focus on Ellie!" Jack cries out, beyond frazzled.
YOU ARE READING
Ellick "Painless"
FanfictionBetween surprise visits from former coworkers, arguments with father figures and unwelcome coordinations, it's a miracle Ellie and Nick are able to stay as close as they are.
