"She freaking collapsed on the floor trying to go to my room to tell me I'm in danger and you wait until I wake up by myself to inform me about this?" DiNozzo gasped.
"Yes, but ..."
"I want to talk to the nurse."
"Would you just let me finish -"
"No."
Tony interrupted his boss again. He was so furious that he didn't care if Gibbs would be angry at him.
Maybe it wasn't fury he felt; maybe it was worry, covered up in anger.
Gibbs went out and returned a minute later with the ginger nurse from the days before.
"What can I do for you, Mr. DiNozzo?" she asked politely and smiled.
He cleared his throat, and then he began: "First of all, I want you to instantly wake me up the next time Ms. David passes out on the floor after trying to tell me something important. Secondly, I don't want you to let things like this happen again to her. This is supposed to be a safe place here, a place to recover."
The nurse wanted to interrupt, but Tony didn't allow her.
"No wait, I even got a better idea. You can put Ms. David into the empty bed here right beside me so I can take care of her when you have more important stuff to do than saving her damn life."
"Short reminder that the nurses probably saved her life" Gibbs interjected.
"But that wouldn't have been necessary if they'd better taken care of her!" Tony argued, not giving in on his opinion.
"We understand that you're stubborn as a mule - "The nurse tried to say, but she got interrupted by an angry DiNozzo who was gasping for breath.
"Did you just call me mule? That's it. I'm so done with this hospital. Gibbs? I want to leave." Gibbs couldn't help himself from smiling because his best agent was behaving like an arrogant child.
"That must be the drugs showing their impact on him. I'm sorry; he's normally not like this. But would you mind putting Agent David in his room? I guess that would calm him down a lot..." Gibbs excused to the nurse.
She shrugged. "I'll ask the doctor and do my best to convince him." He smiled thankfully. "Thanks. That would be great."
Tony lay back in his bed again, weak and tired.
"Why do you do this for me?" His words came out silently and in a cracked voice. The drugs were dragging him back to sleep, or maybe it was just because he was exhausted.
"Cause I see that you're not good. I'd get you anything you need to get you recovered, and if she is what you need, fine." DiNozzo suppressed a cough.
"What about rule number twelve?" he questioned throaty.
"She quitted NCIS, remember? So technically, you're not co-workers."
Did Gibbs just give his blessing to them for being together? Before Tony could ask or comment something to that, his boss assigned:
"Get some rest, Tony. If Ziva was right about here not being safe, then you should hurry up with recovering. I don't want you two to get yourself killed again."
"Three." Tony corrected.
"What?"
"The baby counts too, Gibbs." And with these words, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.