Disclaimer: Disclaimed.
A/N: For those Bones fans who are reading this, yes I did get the idea from the episode 'The Hole in the Heart'. Read and enjoy!
The Hole in the Heart
Ziva stood on the dull, damp grass of the cemetery. Her black scarf hung limp over her shoulders in an attempt to shield her from the light rainfall. She felt empty, alone, yet she was surrounded by people. Gibbs stood tall to her right, with McGee, Abby, and Director Vance to her left. Almost everyone from the NCIS head quarters was here on the overcast evening.
She tore her gaze from her black, grass covered heels and looked over the highly decorated coffin to see Anthony DiNozzo Senior. He met her gaze and smiled weakly at her. He looked as if he had aged another ten years; his cheeks tear stained, and his eyes surrounded by a dark sea of pain and grief. She couldn't hold his stare any longer, so she went back to examining her shoes.
The priest stepped up to the wooden podium and the low hum of the crowd silenced.
"In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our brother, Anthony DiNozzo Junior; and we commit his body to the ground; earth to earth; ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless him and keep him, the Lord make his face to shine upon him and be gracious unto him and give him peace. Amen."
"Amen."
The soft patter of rain filled the silence as Special Agent Gibbs walked gingerly up to take the place of the priest.
He cleared his throat before proceeding.
"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was an outstanding field agent; an extraordinary investigator; and a kind, warmhearted gentleman, although at times, a lot of us thought otherwise." A soft chuckle escaped the crowd before he continued. "He was taken from us, much too soon, in the line of duty." Gibbs paused for a moment as his voice began to waver at his last few words. He took a deep breath in. "He sacrificed his life for his team. For his agency. For his country. And for that, I commend him."
Ziva tried her hardest to keep a straight face, although it was proving a challenge. She flashed back to one week ago when they lost Tony.
Gibbs stood at Ziva's desk and dangled a set of silver keys in front of her.
"Hostage situation at Quantico. I'm taking the van with McGee. There are three men, all armed with automatic rifles. One hostage, the other two hostages were shot. I'll give you the rest when we get there."
"I'm driving." Tony stole the keys from Gibbs' hand.
"Hey, Tony!" Ziva stood with her bag and walked to his desk.
"I find it easier to negotiate with criminals when I'm alive, Zi-va." He picked up his bag and rounded the corner of his desk.
Ziva stepped in front of him and placed her index finger on his chest.
"Only if you buy me lunch today." She narrowed her eyes at him as he contemplated her offer.
"Deal." He offered her his hand as a gesture of agreement and she took it, his lightly calloused hands completely covering hers.
"NCIS, put your hands where I can see them!" Tony kicked open the solid office door and entered the room with his gun drawn. Ziva followed closely behind him, but something seemed off.
"Put your weapons down!" Tony shouted again. He turned to Ziva, a look of uncertainty on his face. She returned the look and scanned the room. She remembered that Gibbs had said there were three men, all armed. She looked around the room and could only see two men, and one hostage.
"Tony…" She whispered next to his ear, unsure of the situation unfolding in front of them.
"I know, Zi." He glanced quickly at her before moving up to behind the desk where the two armed men stood. "Where's your friend?" She watched him as he did a quick search of the men. He looked across the room to her, worry and shock covered his face as he drew his gun once again.
Before she could speak she felt a strong arm wrap around her neck, and a cold metal object was shoved against her skull, which she guessed to be a hand gun.
"You don't want to do this! Put the gun down and let her go!" She struggled to breathe, and the attacker pushed the gun into the side of her head once again.
"Tony-" Her throat began to burn as he applied more pressure to his grip around her neck. His hands were hard and dry, the rough edges scraped against her soft skin as she struggled against him.
"I don't think you should be the one pointing the gun, 'Tony'." The attacker's words were heavily accented, possibly Arabic.
Tony tightened his grip on his gun, only to hear the sound of two other guns being drawn and cocked. He slowly lowered his gun and placed it on the table next to the hostage, who was gagged and unconscious. He raised his hands above his head as the two men came up behind him and pulled his arms down, tying them behind his back.
"Let her go!"
She watched Tony as the third man loosened his grip on her, also tying her hands behind her back. She was pushed forward next to him, and they were both ordered to sit bound, back-to-back.
"Get the rope." The third man looked as if he was the leader of three from the way he was ordering the others around. "Tie them together." The two men did as they were ordered.
She was thrown onto the floor, her head hitting the dark carpet. She sat up and felt Tony sit back against her, his head falling back to touch hers.
"What do you want from us?" His voice was low, and he sounded annoyed at the current turn of events to say the least.
"We want diplomatic immunity, and to be escorted out of the country tonight, with no charges." The leader walked past Ziva and knelt next to Tony.
"Let me get this straight. You, the same three men who murdered fourteen innocent people, including Marines, and took three others hostage, only to blow two of the three men's brains out, want to be escorted out of America and into your home country without any criminal charges. Sure I'll just call up my boss and get a police escort out here right now! Are you guys out of your minds?"
"No, Agent…" Ziva felt Tony flinch as the leader ripped his badge from his belt, "DiNozzo, we are not out our minds. We just want to go home to our own country without being charged for our actions. Can you manage that?"
"No, sorry. I don't think I can do that." She cursed Tony silently for being cheeky in this situation; it was definitely not the time for it.
"Okay then." The leader stood, took a deep breath in, and swung his leg into Tony's rib cage. Tony barely flinched, and his breathing remained reasonably steady from the forceful blow. He flinched again, this time keeling over slightly. She heard the air rush out of his lungs, and the loud crack of his ribs as the leader's foot dug in to his ribs again. This time she heard him yelp at the pain, and grabbed his hands. She felt him squeeze her hands back gently.
"I can help." Her words stopped him in mid-kick. She hadn't planned anything yet; she just wanted him to stop hurting Tony. The leader slowly walked to her, and she looked up to him with glassy eyes. It was torture sitting next to Tony, hearing him yelp in pain and keel over as his ribs were broken, and know that there wasn't much she could do to help him right now.
"Go on." He stayed standing, wanting to intimidate her.
"No, Ziva. I can handle this." His voice sounded strained.
"Tony-"
"No, you listen to me. You let her go and I will arrange something with the Director of NCIS. It may not be diplomatic immunity, but it will be better than sitting in jail for the rest of your life." She had a feeling this was going to turn out worse than it did when they went undercover as assassins.
She felt his hands move from hers, and start fiddling with the ropes that bound their hands together. He was just trying to buy time so he could get them out of the ropes and arrest the men. She went along with it, and found a frayed end of rope dangling from Tony's wrist. She tugged at it a few times, and it finally gave way.
"What do you have in mind?" The leader walked back to his men and checked on the still unconscious hostage. Ziva tapped Tony's wrist, signaling him to test it and see if the rope was completely off.
"It's off." His voice was barely audible, but she managed to understand him. "Well, I've got to get my boss in a good mood first; maybe I'll buy him a coffee."
"Agent DiNozzo!"
"Right, sorry. Anyway, I'll get my boss to work his magic, and hopefully he'll be able to talk the Director into making a deal with you." She could feel him working at the rope in her wrists, so she assumed his hands were free. With one last tug, the rope was pulled from her wrists and she was able to move her hands freely.
"I'm supposed to believe that?" The leader stayed with his men, examining Tony's firearm on the table. He put it down and studied the rest of the office.
"Well, I didn't say it was gonna be perfect; but what other options do you have? It's not like you can just walk out of here, hop in your car and go to the airport. We have SWAT teams throughout the building, and snipers all over surrounding buildings. We've even got the FBI here, so we've pretty much got the whole 'chi-bang'. I wouldn't go out there without a plan." Although he was being humorous, she could tell that he was in pain.
The three men gathered together at the far side of the room, obviously thinking through what Tony had said.
"Zi, you got anything?" She felt him roll his head to the side, getting closer to her ear. She turned her head the same way so they were cheek-to-cheek.
"I have a small hand gun strapped to my lower back with four rounds in it, and a knife on my leg. If you take the gun, I will go to the table and get your gun. Then we can arrest them and save the hostage."
"Okay, that's the best chance we have. Where's the knot for the rope that's tied around both of us?" She felt him run his hand across her lower back, searching for her gun.
"It is closest to me, so I will undo it. Just make sure you have me covered when I go for your gun, okay?" She began to untie the knot as quickly and quietly as she could. Tony finally found the gun, and pulled it out carefully.
"Like you told me before, Zi. I've always had your back. Nothing's going to change that now, or for that fact, ever." She smiled at his reply, and finished with the knot. She looked over to see two of the men to the left of the hostage, and the other to the right. If she was quick enough, she would be able to take out the one on the right while Tony covered her and took out the other two on the left.
"I will go right, you go left. Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"One. Two-"
"Kill him." One of the men turned around and pointed Tony's gun at the hostage's head. He hesitated for a moment before firing two rounds into his temple.
"Wait until he puts the weapon down." She whispered to Tony, hoping that they didn't hear her.
Eventually, the man put the weapon down on the table and turned back to the group. They looked to be in deep discussion, so now was the best time to arrest them.
"Wait… Now!" Tony jumped up with the small caliber gun and fired at the first man on the left. Ziva had just gotten to the table when the man on the right drew his gun and was pointing it at her. Tony fired one more round, hitting the other man on the left in the forehead. The last man was squeezing the trigger when Tony leapt in front of Ziva and fired the remaining bullet into his chest. The sounds of bullets firing rang in her ears for a few seconds as she watched the last man fall to the ground.
She held on to Tony as he began to fall back, his legs collapsing under his weight. She lowered him slowly to the ground, and only then did she realize that he too had been shot in the chest. Quickly, she loosened his shirt and pressed down on the wound. Blood began to seep out through her fingers and her vision became blurry.
"No… No! Tony, come on! Just breathe, you have to keep breathing. I will get help, just stay with me!" She reached for her cell with one hand and dialed 'nine-one-one', telling them what had happened. They directed her to keep pressure on the wound until they arrived at the scene.
"Can you… take a… a rain check for… that lunch?" She could barely hear him; his voice was so quiet and strained.
She smiled weakly at him, the pain evident in his eyes, although it may not be in his words.
"Yes, Tony. Of course I will, I just need you to stay alive. I just… I just need you." A tear found its way down her cheek, and Tony reached up and wiped it away weakly. She used one hand to stroke his hair as he became weaker by the second.
"Zi?" His eyes started to become darker, but he managed to keep eye contact with her.
More tears rolled down her cheeks, and one escaped from Tony's eyes. She wiped it away with her thumb and kept her hand on his cheek.
"Yes, Tony?" Her voice almost became a plead. She could see that he was going, his eyes turned a lifeless shade of green and his chest relaxed as he let out a long, strained breath.
"Tony? Oh God, Tony!" She lowered her head to listen to his breathing. He was barely alive now. She felt his pulse; it was slow and weak.
Just as she was about to give him CPR, the paramedics rushed in with a stretcher and bags of equipment. Gibbs followed them in, and ran to Ziva.
"Come on, it's time to go." Gibbs got behind her and tried to pull her up from Tony's body. She resisted, wanting to stay with him, hoping that he wasn't really dead.
"No, Gibbs. I need to be with Tony…"
"Ziva, the paramedics are here. You need to let them do their job, and right now, their job is saving Tony's life." His voice was low and harsh, yet she insisted on staying with Tony.
She felt Tony squeeze her hand ever so slightly as she leant over him, placing a long, soft kiss on his cheek.
"Please, Tony… Do not leave me," she whispered in his ear as Gibbs pulled her up and away from Tony. She struggled against his grip, but he managed to take her out of the room.
The last she saw of him was his still, beaten figure lying limp on the dark, bloodstained carpet.
She looked back up to see the coffin, still lying in the middle of the cemetery with the American flag hung over it. On top of the flag was a framed picture of Tony surrounded by a ring of flowers. Below that was a piece of paper with a quote from the poem: Eulogy of the Common Soldier.
"I would have sacrificed and gave all that I had to give,
Not to make man good,
But only to let the good man live."
I hope this is alright. Probably only two other chapters, but I'll see how you guys like it. Happy new year!
