Redefining The Future

Another Visit to the Hospital

Chapter 34 - Another Visit to the Hospital

Suddenly finding himself with an unconscious child in his arms, Gibbs looked at Jenny.

"Call 911 Jen, Quickly!" he ordered, before lowering Tony to the floor and putting him in a stable side position.

"Triple Zero," called a man, sitting at the table next to them. "It's triple zero in Australia. But, don't worry, it looks as though security has already called for you."

Looking up, Gibbs saw two security guards hurriedly making their way towards them.

"Don't worry Sir, we've called for an ambulance," said one of the guards. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"I don't know," said a bewildered Gibbs. "He was fine half an hour ago. Maybe it was something he ate?"

"I ordered the same as Tony," piped in Abby who had made her way to Tony's side. "I feel OK."

"Excuse me Sir."

Gibbs looked up to see who had spoken. He was met with a small woman dressed in jeans and a red sweater. She crouched down in front of Tony and drew a card from her purse.

"My name is Sue Ling, Dr Sue Ling. If you'd be willing to give your permission I'd be happy to assess your son while you wait for the ambulance?"

Her voice was soft and gentle and she waited while Gibbs took a look at her medical card.

"Yeah, thanks," replied Gibbs handing the card back to her.

Dr Ling knelt in front of Tony and did a quick assessment.

"Well, it's not anaphylactic shock," she said, checking Tony's lips and down his throat. "Does he suffer from Asthma, Epilepsy, anything similar?"

"No," replied Gibbs and Jenny in unison.

"And there was no previous sign of him being unwell?" she clarified.

"No, he was fine before," repeated Gibbs. "Thirty minutes ago he was complaining he was starving then I noticed he hadn't touched his food. When I asked him what was wrong, he said he felt sick. He tried to stand and just collapsed."

Suddenly Dr Ling spotted Tony's left hand.

"What happened here?" she asked. "His arm is markedly red and the hand is quite swollen."

"That's where the splinter got him?" said Ziva, speaking for the first time.

"What splinter Sweetie," asked Jenny, crouching down to Ziva's level.

"Um...he got a splinter when we went to the bathroom when you and Daddy were taking the groceries to the car," she explained.

"Can you show me where the splinter was?" asked Dr Ling.

Ziva pointed to Tony's left ring finger.

"He said it was this finger," she said. "We looked for where the splinter might be but we couldn't find it. All I could see was a spider and these really cool white sticky things."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the white ball she had collected earlier.

Dr Ling held out her hand and Ziva dropped it into her palm.

"This looks like an egg sac from the red back spider," said Dr Ling.

She looked up at the security guard.

"Do you think you could take this little girl and her mother to where she found this? See if you can spot a red back there?"

"Sure," he said, nodding his head.