Chapter Text
Turn in Another Direction – Chapter 1 (Paraguay)
It had been clear that Purcell had ties with Escopeta and the pair of eyes that had been sent Petty Officer, Second Class, Benjamin Horlacher. Who had ties with Purcell and Escopeta as well but he was already dead. Suicide.
He had to clench his teeth several times when Kate questioned every order and movement he made. They were lucky that she hadn’t blown the entire case when she had protested against her satellite phone. He knew what she thought, he wasn’t Gibbs. Just like he knew what she thought of him.
Skirt chaser and class clown. At first it had been to see how good her profiling skills were. If she was all cracked up as she claimed to be. The result was disappointing. Everything he said, she took to word, didn’t even ponder to see if it was true. Even she knew that one of Gibbs’ rules were to be specific when you lie. It made no difference, she only saw the front he put up and so, he kept it up. Even McGee thought the same of him.
But he wasn’t there at work to make friends, but he was there to make sure that neither of them died. But he was starting to worry if they had his six as much as he had theirs.
McGee was still learning but he knew he could at least trust him on the field. Or least he hoped so.
Kate…
He wasn’t as sure with her because of the constant backtalking that she would do to him. Questioning every move and word he would say. He was aware of what this could lead to, and he was honestly surprised it hadn’t yet.
She would even argue with him while they were working on a case. Like now.
He knew that Iggy could be their way to finding Purcell and that he was hiding something. That much was obvious. But he could have done without the arguing from Kate about that it was her satellite phone.
Even Iggy was starting to look suspicious about it until he had made the offer. It was simple, the satellite phone for information about Purcell. Though, it was hard enough to make it look like he didn’t have an ulterior motive about it. Just so that Kate would shut up and let him do his job. He was very aware that Iggy wouldn’t tell him if he saw Purcell, but the phone would tell him that.
Which is why he ignored her half-assed apology and then came the point of it. It wasn’t even an apology to begin with. If she couldn’t figure out why she should have apologized, then he wouldn’t spell it out for her.
But it was all because it had been the satellite phone assigned to her and not his. He wasn’t surprised by her retort when he said that it was his decision as Team Leader. And as such, he couldn’t give out his own line of communication.
“Lead Agent, thought we were a team,” she snarked at him.
Tony narrowed his eyes at her, “Agent Todd! Agent Gibbs may be the Supervisory Team Leader but while he is not here. That makes me the Team Leader over you. Not to mention that I am still a higher rank than you. You are only a Field Agent that is still in your probationary period. I am your Senior Field Agent and that means you follow my orders without question! Is that clear to you.”
Kate rolled her eyes, “whatever Tony.”
Tony scowled, walking away from her. Knowing that she would follow regardless. Because that was when his satellite phone started ringing. But he wasn’t in the mood to deal with her.
“DiNozzo,” Tony answered, if his tone was annoyed, it wasn’t his fault.
He listened carefully as McGee let them know that there was movement from Iggy. It was easy to find him from McGee’s directions while keeping his distance. Even he had remarked that what Tony did was smart. And with the GPS embedded in the phone, it led them straight to where Iggy was speaking to Purcell.
It was after Purcell and Iggy got up, that they got the order to follow them. He was a bit surprised that she had questioned on why Gibbs’ ordered them to follow the pair.
“Does it really matter on why?!” Tony snapped.
Kate kept quiet on that, thankfully. After all, it was an order from Gibbs.
Tony shook his head and quietly moved through the crowd while trying to keep the pair of them in his sight. Which eventually lead them to a hotel.
It had been easy enough to grab Iggy and even he was giving him a half assed excused until he directed him to what room that Purcell went.
Tony’s first visual when he and Kate kicked open the hotel room’s door was Purcell holding a gun to seventeen-year-old, Anna. Which he had previous learned, that Purcell married her last year. He was a pedophile.
“Drop the weapon!” Tony yelled, pointing his gun at Purcell.
He watched Purcell started to lower his gun, which was still aimed at Anna.
“You don’t always have to give the orders, Tony. You aren’t the only NCIS agent here,” Kate frowned.
Tony took his eyes off Purcell for a moment to gap at Kate.
“Are you being serious right now!?” He was starting to get angry.
But taking his eyes off Purcell would be his fatal mistake. His gun fell from his hand as he fell onto the ground, hitting his head on the wooden floor. His hand grabbed at his left bicep and hissed in pain. He had been shot.
“Tony!” Kate yelled, her eyes flickering from Tony to Purcell.
“Drop it the gun, Purcell!” She ordered, her voice wavering.
Purcell almost looked bored, “from what it looks like, you have more problems than me. Unless you want to be in the same condition as your partner. Which I would do unless you want a bullet to match his.”
Kate frowned as she looked at Purcell.
“Sure, take your time and let your partner die out,” Purcell grinned at her.
“You shot a Federal Agent!”
“And yet you haven’t done a thing, though I have to thank you for the distraction. So, what will it be…? Do you want a matching bullet, maybe in the head?”
Kate made a split-second decision as she grabbed Tony’s satellite phone, dropping her gun.
“Smart choice, Agent Todd.”
Kate clenched her eyes shot as Purcell shot Anna before her and she didn’t do a damn thing. Then she realized that satellite phone was still in her hand.
“Well, Agent Todd, it has been a pleasure. But I have other duties that I need to attend to,” Purcell before he left the hotel room and without handcuffs on him.
Kate took in a shaky breath before she realized she hadn’t even used the satellite phone, just holding it. “Gibbs, we have a problem,” her words shook. “Tony’s been shot.”
She listened as Gibbs demanded to know where Purcell was. She almost couldn’t say what she had done.
“Gone,” she muttered.
That was when she heard footsteps and it was the other agent, Joe Tabarez. Who worked with Purcell but he didn’t like him.
He jumped into action as he started lifted him up.
“What are you doing!? He’s been shot!” Kate outburst. No longer listening to anything that Gibbs probably was yelling into the phone.
Joe gave her a look of disbelief, “and by your actions, you would let him bleed out!”
Kate winced, she hadn’t done a thing and that was when she noticed that Tony wasn’t even conscious. He lifted him as if he didn’t weigh a thing and followed after them to the TAT building. She didn’t even know where Purcell went.
From there, he didn’t hesitate in unlocking the vehicle that Tony and Kate had drove earlier. Placing Tony in the back seat and ripping his shirt and put pressure on where Tony had been shot. Even unconscious, he could hear the groan of pain.
“Drive!” Joe ordered.
For once, Kate didn’t even argue. Jumping into the driver’s seat and drove all the way back to where the priority ride was that had taken the two agents to Paraguay.
One of the men that was standing guard, walked over to him.
Joe looked up, “Agent DiNozzo has been shot. He needs to be taken directly back to D.C. to a hospital. We don’t have anything to help him here. Are any of you a medic or have knowledge of how to keep pressure on a gunshot wound?”
One of the men nodded as they helped lift Tony up.
It was all silence as Tony was brought inside of the plane with Kate following quickly behind. There was only silent hope that he would survive the entire ride before getting to a hospital.
When the plane finally touched down in D.C., hours later, there was already a medical evacuation helicopter waiting for them.
Medical personnel rushed over to where Tony was before lifting him onto a bed before rolling him to the helicopter. Easing him into the back before getting ready for takeoff.
From there, it was a quick trip to the hospital and wheeling Tony to the ER.
A doctor quickly kept pace as a room had already been prepped.
“Gunshot wound to the clavicular head, near the sternum,” was quickly explained by one of the nurses.
“I need him put in a deep sleep after the bleeding is stopped,” the doctor ordered.
“But Doctor DiNozzo just finished—”
“I don’t care, get him to prepare a room!” The doctor ordered.
The nurse nodded before rushing off.
The nurse found him in the same room, and it looked empty, though he looked tired.
“Doctor,” the nurse began to say.
Harry looked up, “what is it?”
“We have a gunshot victim, sir.”
“Name?” Harry asked, looking down and making notes.
“I wasn’t informed of a name yet, he was just flown by MedEvac but I was informed that it is a Federal Agent from NCIS,” the nurse informed.
Harry’s head snapped up, “male or female?”
“Male, sir.”
“Bring him in,” Harry replied.
He watched as the nurse left the room and he kept an eye on the door. He was a trained Trauma Healer and usually he was responsible for surgeries involving gunshot wounds. Since he had found a way to safely remove bullets from victims, he had been placed in charge. He wasn’t allowed to heal No-Majs, it would violate the Statute of Secrecy. He took great pride in being able to help others, it was why he became a Healer after leaving the U.K.
At first it had been to escape, and he hadn’t expected to meet the love of his life. But that also meant he would face a life of heartache each time they got hurt.
It felt like forever before Harry saw Tony being wheeled into the room.
He nodded to the other Healer in the room to shut the door. The room had to be isolated from everyone since it would be a violation if any No-Maj would witness this. He flicked his wand to his hand before waving it over Tony’s body.
It had been hard to hold the gasp at seeing the wound. But it looked like it had stopped bleeding for now. He used a Diagnostic Charm, knowing that it would be long. He was more concerned what was at the end of the parchment.
“I need a visual,” Harry murmured.
The other Healer waved his wand without breathing a word.
It was a charm he had invented to let you look at the internal organs of a body to see what was truly wrong. Because he wanted to vanish the bullet, not any of the vital organs. From there, the bullet was easier to find.
The bullet had almost been a through and through. With a flick of his wand, the bullet vanished from inside Tony’s body to the clear, glass container that was resting on the metal side table. He moved his wand in complicated movements to repair the damage done by the bullet before healing the wound, knitting the skin back together.
Harry walked over to the cabinet near him and brought out a red vial, a Blood Replenisher.
Tilting Tony’s head up, letting the liquid ease down his throat. The diagnostics let him know that Tony had lost blood and it looked like it was a close call given how pale he was. He watched as he slowly regained some color to his cheeks.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t expect when he went into work today that he would see his own husband shot. He knew of the trip to Paraguay; Tony had told him about it. Not why though. He couldn’t talk to him about that, and Harry never held it against him.
He knew that his job was dangerous as an NCIS agent, but it was what he loved. So, he could never hold it against him.
A knock at the door would make him look up as the Healer looked over at him.
Harry gave a brief nod, already stowing his wand.
“Doctor DiNozzo, we had a call from a Jethro Gibbs,” the blonde nurse said as the door opened.
“Let him know that his agent is alright,” Harry waved her off.
The door was once shut again, leaving the room in silence.
Usually after removing the bullet, the patient could be wheeled to a separate room to recover. But Harry couldn’t bear to do that just yet. He needed to see those beautiful green eyes before letting him out of his sight. He needed to know that Tony was really okay. It didn’t matter what that damn parchment said, he needed visual evidence.
Granted, magic could have renovated Tony back to consciousness, but he wanted him to come to on his own. Even though he knew that they had placed him into a sleep while Harry would heal the patient. But he never used magic for that as the time quickly past before Harry saw a flicker of movement. It could have been hours that he was waiting but he didn’t keep track.
It was occupied with a groan.
Harry’s touch was light as his hand rested on Tony’s arm.
Tony blinked several times, obviously confused by what he was seeing around him. It was a common effect after healing his patients. Because he knew they probably felt the pain of being shot and then… no pain. Not even an ache, mostly because Harry would make sure to repair any damage done by the bullet. Collapsed lungs were a bit difficult to deal with but not impossible.
“Tony?”
Tony’s green eyes looked over at Harry, his voice was raspy.
“Harry?”
A glass was soon pressed against Tony’s lips, but he didn’t let him down it, no matter how much he would want to.
“What happened?”
Harry bit his lip, “you were shot.”
Tony blinked up at him, “I don’t feel like I was.”
Harry rolled his eyes, “that’s the point. You wouldn’t feel the pain after.”
Tony gave a small laugh at that. That was when he pressed his hand to where he was shot, he could recall the pain and shock. He couldn’t believe what happened, but he didn’t feel any pain. He wet his lips before speaking again.
“I think I’m going to transfer…”
That caught Harry’s attention, “transfer?! What happened this time?!”
“We—we had caught our guy. He had been a pedophile and he started to lower his gun. Kate… she started to argue with me—” Tony whispered before taking a deep breath in. He was trying not to get furious. But it was hard. Kate had been the reason he got shot and it was lucky he hadn’t been killed. Though he couldn’t remember anything after that.
“If you don’t, I’ll tell them myself!” Harry swore.
“Wouldn’t be a good NCIS agent if I let my husband take care of all my problems, now, would it?” Tony cracked a grin at him.
Harry rolled his eyes, “well, when you are feeling up to it. You’re welcome to sign yourself out. But you’ll be on potions for the next few days.”
Tony groaned at that.
“You were the one that got shot,” Harry pointed out.
Tony only gave him a bright smile for that one. Which was a good thing that he in a good mood given everything. It didn’t change that Harry was beyond furious and anyone that saw him would know it. But he couldn’t help it, he just found out that it was because of Agent Todd’s idiocy that his husband was almost killed.
“Harry… you would think that it was you shot and not me,” Tony teased.
Harry narrowed his eyes, “don’t you dare make this anything less than what it is, Anthony!”
Tony started to sit up, “I’m not. But I don’t see the point in getting angry about it. I plan on speaking with the Director when I can. Which I obviously cannot do today.”
Harry frowned, “you could have died… and I may have never known about it. And it would be all Agent Todd’s fault because she put you in needless danger.”
A hand was placed on Harry’s cheek, “I am not pleased about it either. I know for certain that I would never be able to trust my life in hers. And I can’t work with someone that I don’t trust. But let me handle this.”
“I always do,” Harry murmured before kissing Tony’s lips. “Let me know how it goes?”
Tony nodded.
“I do have a call to make before your boss decides to march in here and demand where his Senior Agent is. So, if I don’t see you before you leave, I’ll see you at home.”
Tony grimaced at the reminder; he could already imagine the fury on Gibbs’ face. He didn’t even know if he knew what happened there. That was not a conversation that he was looking forward to.