Title: Simple Operations
Main Pairing: Tony/Ziva
Warnings: Violence, Sexual Content, Mention of Suicide, Substance Abuse
Rating: T (may change)
Chapter: Life and Death
Word Count: 1,958
Summary: All it takes is a single bullet, to ruin friendships and careers, to make friends and find love and turn colleagues into much more than that. The only thing they have to do to make life something better for all of them, is live.
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The simple operation took a grim turn when shots rang out, ripping through the air. The atmosphere in the restaurant where Special Agents Anthony DiNozzo and Ziva David where undercover, though jovial the moment before, quickly turned to panic.
Tony grabbed his gun, the camera in his glasses swung side to side as he stood, searching for the shooter. Ziva, just to his side, didn't stand; her head slumped gently over the silk table cloth. Tony didn't realize it, his back turned to hers.
"DiNozzo!" Supervisory Agent Gibbs shouted into his earpiece, "What's going on in there? How many are down?" He demanded, his tone absolute steel. The only eyes he had in there were DiNozzo's and they were currently giving him whiplash, the plasma screen trying to keep up with the camera in his Agent's glasses.
"Sorry boss," he responded quickly, brows furrowing, Ziva was being too quiet, and her breathing was too shallow. He turned on his heel, looking to her. Tony's eyes opened wider than he thought possible, a lump rising in his throat. Her hair was still in the tight, though ornamental bun on the back of her head, he had a perfect view of the blood slipping down the back of her gown. "No," he whispered, grabbing her wrist and trying, focusing, on the faint pulse, too faint.
Gibbs and McGee sat in the van, shell shocked, it took Agent Lee to call for a priority ambulance. She sat before looking up at Gibbs, wondering silently if he could bare to lose another agent, not only an agent, but a woman.
"She's here boss," DiNozzo whispered. "Barely, Gibbs, but she's still here." The world was too still, Ziva was loosing blood, fast, but Tony was too afraid of doing further damage to try and stop the torrent. "Ambulance?" he asked… his voice was still soft.
The only confirmation he got was Gibbs' raspy whisper, "Yeah Tony, it's on its way."
"Its touch and go at the moment," The solemn doctor admitted, he'd introduced himself only moments before as Doctor Mariner, an odd coincidence. "The Kevlar chest plate appeared to have saved her from a lot of the initial force of the bullet, though it penetrated. It missed her heart, the worry now is for her arteries and her spinal cord," Doctor Mariner didn't look like he was telling the whole truth, which was enough to make Gibbs' jaw set in annoyance. He'd been dealing with deciphering what doctors were saying for the past few hours, it was more than he was willing to deal with.
"What do you mean: spinal cord?" he asked, putting emphasis on the body part, if he couldn't see it, he'd ask.
"Ziva, Agent David, will have serious motor problems," Doctor Mariner said grimly, his eyes dancing over Gibbs' face; he really didn't like the idea of men with guns receiving bad news.
Gibbs felt his finger twitch toward his gun; all the vague responses were getting to him. "Like, she won't be able to return to the field?" he pressed.
The doctor turned to the surgeon who'd removed the bullet, the grim look in his eyes ran down to the rest of his face. The surgeon removed his mask and nodded slightly. "Agent David may not regain use of her legs. If she does regain any use it will take months, maybe years of physical therapy to regain full use, though, because of her excellent condition I have the best prospects."
"'The best prospects'?" Gibbs repeated, then shook his head, walking back over to the window of the ICU where Abby, McGee, and Tony all had chairs. Lee and a different team were working the scene, Gibbs knew when to pull his team off of a case, he rarely did it willingly, but he'd almost lost yet another of his own, it was different.
"What did the doctors say, boss?" Tony asked, it was easy to tell he felt as bad as he sounded.
"She'll be lucky if she's able to walk DiNozzo. They said it'll take years for her to regain full use, if she gets any at all." Gibbs didn't sugar coat things, and he was hardly in the mood at the moment. Tony's eyes darkened again, looking back at Ziva, a tube down her throat, the vitals on the screens around her uneven. Ziva wasn't a victim; she just didn't look right in a hospital. If she were in a movie, she was the type of character who pulled the bullet out with her teeth, and then went on to kick the ass of whoever shot her. She could also look sexy as hell while doing it.
"Who do you think they shot?" Tony asked, getting an upset glare from Abby.
"Ziva, Tony! They shot Ziva!" She stressed, trying not to cry, her mascara had already left tearstains.
Looking irked, he revised, "I mean, do you think they were shooting for Ziva or Adelaide Lefebvre. If they were shooting for Lefebvre then we can just pretend she's dead and not risk getting Ziva shot again." Abby murmured something under her breath and Tony chose, more than anything, to believe she was apologizing.
He felt like it was his fault. Hell, if he'd sat in the seat that Ziva had suggested he'd have blocked her from the shot. Tony didn't know if it was worse that she lived or died. It pained him to think of the expression that would be on her face when she learned she'd likely never run after another terrorist. Her Mossad career would be over, and without Mossad she didn't have a reason to be at NCIS. He'd damned her. If Ziva died… it would be like loosing Kate all over again, only there was no reprieve, no Ari to chase. The person who'd shot Ziva might not have even been aiming for her, there was a chance that the French woman sitting safely in NCIS custody might be the real target, and that was even harder to face.
"Stop it kid," Gibbs whispered, startling him out of his thinking. The senior agent had pulled up a chair and was focused on Ziva's form. "Your face gives away everything you're thinking, and you're going to kill yourself thinking like that. Ziva's strong; she wouldn't ever blame you for a risk she took. I convinced her to take it, Abby fitted the vest, and McGee wired her… it's not their fault." Gibbs left out that he was suffering similar guilt, but it was only a small bit of him, he knew Ziva was a warrior in ways that he'd never even imagined when she'd been assigned to him. There'd been a lot of anger, a lot of hate, when she'd first arrived, but she'd become one of his own, one of his agents. He was damn proud of her.
Dying hurt like hell.
Normally, Ziva equated pain with life, a sign that though you may not realize it blood ran in your veins, it carried your pain. This time though, it hurt so… completely. Her chest burned and her stomach throbbed. Fire seared her throat and tried to tempt her into begging for blackness, the flames of hell were coming to claim her, weren't they?
Ziva wasn't the most religious Israeli but she believed in a Heaven and a Hell, and she knew that the life of a solider wasn't becoming of Heaven, but she hoped. It was a cliché, hopelessly so, but she saw her life before her, the best and worst moments flowing by her, images flowing through her mind even though the pain earned most of her focus.
Ari was there, his rare smiles and the time in her childhood where she followed him like a little disciple, shooting a target, accurately, for the first time with his approving eyes settled on her. Her undercover work with him, to becoming his handler, it all flowed in a stream of memories, the pain was soon to come. She stood on the steps of Gibbs basement, pulling the trigger and watching Ari fall, her lamenting for him… nothing but pain.
Then there was white, nothing but white. She stood in the middle of it all, black silk hugging her frame, the Kevlar vest nor the bloodstains ruining the effect of her dress. Her hair was down, and feet were pleasantly bare, there was no pain.
"Am I dead?" Ziva murmured softly, this didn't seem like Hell, though it certainly wasn't heaven.
"Not dead," an unfamiliar voice answered. "Just really close."
She turned, slowly, to face a woman in a white suit. Ziva knew who she was, but she refused to admit it to herself, all she'd seen were pictures, her mind shouldn't have put Kate, a woman whose death was her brother's fault in her mind.
"Hello Ziva," Kate continued, her voice soft enough that it eased Ziva, just a bit. "You must be a bit startled. Though, I don't know what it's like… I died instantly," the soft laugh that trailed seemed natural. "I hadn't needed to choose."
There was a moment for Ziva to process, looking the other woman in the eyes. "I get to choose?" she asked softly. "Why?"
"Because your injuries, they can be conquered, if you have the strength—" Kate's eyes flashed, "—to conquer them. You're a good person too Ziva, you do what you have to, in the moment where it all matters. So you have to choose, life or Heaven."
"If I go with you, I will go to Heaven?" Ziva's tone was firm and so was the nod that followed. "But Gibbs, Abby, McGee," she paused. "Tony."
Kate smiled, any person who paused like that had inevitably gotten caught in Tony's web, it didn't surprise her though, and nothing did anymore. "I won't lie to you Ziva, if you come with me, into the light, you'll never see them, living, again. You may see them in the same way you see me now, but that'll bring you nothing but heartache, it won't last though, there'll be too much peace, love. If you go back, if you choose to fight, it'll be long, and it'll be hard, and no one will look at you the same way that they did before. They will push you more than they ever have before and they'll shelter you at the same time. You'll have to face your demons, one at a time." Kate took Ziva's hand, a gesture that the Israeli would normally never allow. "There will be, more than anything Ziva, pain. The pain will be with you for every single step, and it'll never completely fade."
The promise of peace or the promise of seeing the people she'd gotten close to again. The pain was a threat, but she could get over it with time. Ziva knew she was strong, just like Tony and Gibbs did, even though she didn't know what the challenge to her strength would be.
Her brow was set when she met Kate's eyes again. "Will the pain last forever?"
"No, Ziva, nothing lasts forever, it can only last as long as life itself," Kate admitted softly, the corners of her lips pulling up as she watched Ziva.
"I want to go back," Ziva answered, her tone was firm, her expression unshakable. "Never count me up."
"Out," Kate corrected with a laugh. "I won't count you out," she promised as she faded into nothingness and pain began again.
A/N: Hello NCIS fans! I hope you liked that chapter of Simple Operations. If you did, then a great way to express it is... -drum roll- reveiw!