I do not own the characters.
Ziva knelt by the tree and looked at the back entrance to the warehouse. She looked down at the radio that she was holding in her hand. "Ziva! Wait for backup. Do not go into that warehouse! Agent David! Wait for backup! They will be there in three minutes. Do you copy?" She heard Gibbs yelling into the radio but all she could think about was the little girl trapped inside with that psycho, Jason. He had already killed two little girls over the past few days and Ziva could not bear the thought of losing this precious child because she was just waiting for backup to arrive.
Ziva knew what she had to do. She took a deep breath as she dropped her bag and her radio by the tree and walked into the warehouse to rescue the little girl. The next few moments were a blur as she snuck around the first set of shipping containers trying to find where he was hiding Jessica. Ziva could hear Jessica crying as she came around the left hand side of the large room. Ziva dropped to the floor as a bullet flew by her right ear. She peaked around the edge of the container she was hiding behind and tried to assess the situation. Across the way she could see Jason looking for her as he lowered his gun to look closer. Ziva immediately shot him in the shoulder and ran closer as he dropped to the ground. She had no choice but to shoot his other arm as he reached for the gun again. After being certain that he wasn't going anywhere she rushed to Jessica's side and untied the rope binding the frightened 8 year old girl.
"Shh, it is alright. I am here now, he cannot hurt you." Ziva consoled the tearful child as she picked her up and held her tight. "My name is Ziva and I am a special agent. Would you like me to take you to your mom and dad?"
"Yes, please!" She cried out. She buried her face in Ziva's neck as the rest of the NCIS agents burst into the warehouse from both doors.
Gibbs looked around and Ziva could almost see the steam blowing out of his ears as he headed towards her. "What happened?" He asked and Ziva knew he was struggling to control his temper. "I told you to wait for backup, Agent David!"
"I know, Gibbs, but I did not think that she would be ok for another three minutes. I did not want another set of parents to loose their little girl because I was just standing there waiting for backup! I am fine, Jessica is safe now, and we can all go home." Ziva answered as she rubbed Jessica's back.
Another agent came over to take Jessica to the Paramedic but she screamed. "No! I want to stay with Ziva!" Jessica buried her head into Ziva's neck and refused to look at or talk to anyone.
"Ziva, go see if you can convince her to let Ducky examine her."Gibbs said, dismissing the other agent. "And Ziva," he called to her as she started to walk away, "this discussion is not over."
"Yes, Gibbs." She said quietly and then went off in search of the friendly ME.
Ziva found Ducky and Palmer outside packing up to head back to the Navy yard since he did not have a dead body to attend to. "Ducky." She called. "Would you be so kind as to check out miss Jessica here, she is a little frightened and refused to see the paramedics.
"Of course, Ziva." Ducky replied, as he got his bag and headed over to where she was holding the child.
"She is still pretty frightened, and is refusing to let go of my neck."
Ducky nodded and started talking to the girl in the special way that only Ducky can. Ziva looked around and watched as Gibbs and the rest of her team was bagging evidence and clearing the scene. By the time Ziva turned her attention back to the child in her arms, Ducky had Jessica smiling and beginning to relax. Ziva set her down and squatted next to her.
"Shh, I am right here. I am not leaving you." Ziva reassured her as she set her down and Jessica began to panic.
After a few minutes Ducky declared her to be slightly dehydrated and a bit shaken but overall in pretty good condition considering her trauma over the past 12 hours. As Ducky was finishing up, a squad car pulled up and Jessica's parents came running over.
Ziva smiled as Jessica told her parents how Ziva had came in and saved her from the bad man. After seeing that Jessica was in good hands with Ducky and her parents, Ziva went over to where her team was working.
Gibbs stopped her as she approached the team. "Ziva, I need to know exactly what happened. Did you hear me tell you to wait for backup?"
"Yes. I just did not think we could wait. I approached and entered through the rear door, carefully went around the shipping containers to the left and then saw he had her tied up over there." Ziva said, pointing to the chair and the ropes laying on the floor.
"I heard three gun shots. Who shot at who and when?" Gibbs asked.
"He shot at me as I rounded the corner of the last container. I dropped to the floor and shot his right shoulder. He dropped and then picked up the gun in his left arm and I had to shoot that arm too. Then I made sure he wasn't moving. Removed his gun, and attended to the little girl. That is when you guys came in."
"Ok, go help Dinozzo finish up and we will talk more about this when we get back." Gibbs dismissed her with a wave of his hand as he headed over to see where the bullet had landed; the bullet that had been intended for Ziva.
Gibbs ran his hand along the metal container and there less than a centimeter from the edge of the container was the bullet. His heart jumped into his throat as he realized how close that bullet had come to hitting Ziva. He was furious that she had blown off his order to wait. She had disregarded his direct order and her own safety to go rushing into danger all on her own. He was not any happier or any calmer by the time he rounded up his team to head back to the navy yard.
As they walked into the bullpen, Gibbs sent McGee down to take the evidence to Abby before he headed home. Tony had been sent to make sure that Jason was secured with agents at the hospital as Gibbs was taking no chances of letting him escape. Gibbs sat down at his desk and looked over at Ziva. She was sitting at her desk nervously fiddling with her hands. She tried to look like she was typing up her report, but he knew she was worried. To anyone that didn't know her, they would not have seen past her tough exterior. But Gibbs knew her better than anyone. She had found this place in his heart over the past 8 years and he loved her as much as any father could love a daughter. One look into her eyes and he could see the scared little girl waiting to find out her fate. She knew that she had disobeyed a direct order. But what Gibbs needed to get her to understand that even though she thought she was doing the right thing, that decision was not hers to make. It was his team. His rules, his decisions, and ultimately it was his ass that was on the line.
It was late and his team were the only people still here besides the director. Gibbs went up to brief the director and then headed down to Abby's lab.
"Abby." He said, as he walked into the lab and turned off the music that was playing at a very loud volume. "Go home, Abbs. It's been a long week. We caught him and the child is home safe. You can process this evidence tomorrow after you have had a good nights sleep."
"Ok good night, Gibbs." Abby said, as he placed a kiss in her forehead. "Oh, and Gibbs?"
"What is it, Abby?"
"Umm...McGee told me what happened. Please don't be too hard on Ziva. You do realize that this little girl was only a few years younger than Ziva's little sister was, don't you?"
"Good night, Abby." Gibbs said as he walked out the door and into the elevator. He took a deep breath as he hit the up button, he was not looking forward to the next few hours. He hated having to punish any of his kids but he would do what he had to do to keep them safe.
He walked over to Ziva's desk and leaned down to look into her eyes. "Ziva, you do know that we have a discussion to finish, right?"
Her eyes were brimming with tears as she nodded but she forced them to stay inside. "Gibbs," she said, her voice wavering for the first time that evening, " are we going to talk here?"
Gibbs shook his head. "Come on, lets go."
She followed him into the elevator and across the parking lot to his truck. She climbed into the passenger seat and just looked out the window. Her heart was racing, and she was torn between conflicting emotions. She was sorry for disappointing him, but she was not sorry that she rescued that little girl. She had not been able to save Tali but she had saved Jessica tonight. She knew Gibbs was mad that she had disobeyed him, but she was not going to apologize for saving that little girl.
Gibbs could see her mind was racing. Her brow was focused and he could see her staring out the window. He could only guess what was running through her mind. Unlike Abby, who tries to talk her way out of a punishment, he knew that Ziva would stand her ground. He knew exactly why she had done what she had done but he needed her to trust him. And to follow his orders without question when they were out in the field. If only he could get that thought through to her. He refused to let her put herself in danger. He couldn't bear the thought of going through the heartache of losing a daughter again. Gibbs pulled into the driveway, got out of the truck, and Ziva followed him inside.
Ziva stood inside the doorway until he told her to sit down. Once she was seated on the couch, he sat on the coffee table and said, "Ziva. Look at me." He waited until her eyes met his, and then continued, "I know that you think you had valid reasons for disregarding my orders for you to stay put. But," he held his hand up to silence her argument before she could get a word out. "I make the decisions that I have to make for the safety of everyone on this team. We are a team, Ziva. A team, a family. We protect each other. I cannot protect you if you don't do what I tell you to do when we are out in the field! Ziva, that bullet missed your head by a few millimeters! Do you know how I felt when we heard gunshots? I had no clue where you were. What if he had not been there alone? Did that thought cross your mind before you went rushing in there?"
"No, I just knew I needed to get to her before he hurt her, Gibbs. I just wanted to make sure she was safe. I..." Ziva's voice wavered as she fought back the tears that had been threatening to escape since they had gone back to NCIS earlier.
"Ziva, I knew all of that. I was in the process of sending Dinozzo over so you two could go ahead and go in to get the girl without having to wait for the second team. Had you waited another 30 seconds Tony would have provided back up for you and you two would be out celebrating. Instead you didn't listen and now we are here. You have to learn to trust me, Ziver."
Ziva felt a hot tear slide down her cheek at the realization of his words. "You knew...you knew that I wouldn't stand there and wait for three whole minutes? You knew?" Ziva couldn't hide the shock clearly laced in her words.
"Yes Zi, I know how personally this case hit you this week. I was trying to radio to Dinozzo to come help you sooner, but I needed to make sure you didn't do anything stupid like running into that building alone!"
Ziva looked down at the floor. She had not thought that Gibbs might actually know how she was feeling. She realized how scared he had been tonight as the truth of his words hit her hard.
"Gibbs...I am so... I am sorry that I hurt you."
"Ziva, you scared me tonight. I don't want to loose you. It's my job to protect you, to keep you safe. When you raced into that building tonight, Ziva, I realized that I couldn't protect you at that moment. That was not a good feeling, and you had better damn well be sure that you don't ever put me through that again! Is that clear?"
"Yes, Gibbs." Ziva said, trying and failing to fight back the tears.
"Good." Gibbs said, as he sat down next to her on the couch and wrapped an arm around her. Ziva leaned her head on his chest and let the tears fall.
After a few minutes Ziva lifted her head and looked up at the man whom she respected as a father. "Are you...am I...umm Gibbs..." Her voice faltered as she tried to form the words her brain was thinking.
"Yes, Ziva. I am. You will think long and hard before you even think of putting yourself in danger again. I don't want to punish you, Ziva, but I cannot let you disobey a direct order. You know the rules. My team, my rules. I love you too much to loose you because you can't follow orders. The next time you think about blowing off a direct order you better think about how much this spanking hurts."
Ziva took a deep breath and nodded. Gibbs stood up and pulled her to her feet. He heard her gasp as he reached for the buckle on his belt. He tried to steel his heart as her tears began anew at the realization of what was to come. He had warned her last time she had disobeyed him that if she ever put herself in danger again than it would be more than his hand having a discussion with her bottom.
"Gibbs...I am sorry!" Ziva cried, sounding very much like the scared little girl he knew was trapped inside that tough soldier.
"Ziva." He said, pulling her to his side as he sat back down on the coffee table. "Did you disobey me?"
She nodded and said "yes, Gibbs".
"Ziva, do you know why you are getting a spanking?"
"Yes, Gibbs."
Gibbs guided her over his lap and shifted her to get her toes almost off the floor. He set the belt down beside him and swatted her hard with his hand.
*spank*spank*spank*spank*spank*spank* you *spank* will listen *spank* when I *spank* tell you *spank* to do something. *spank* is that clear? *spank*
"Yes Gibbs!" Ziva choked out between sobs.
He picked up the belt and doubled it over making sure he had a good grip on the buckle in his hand.
He didn't lecture her further as he gave her 20 hard swats with his belt. It was hard and fast. When he was done he dropped the belt beside him and rubbed her back to help her catch her breath. When she was breathing as normally as possible while still crying, Gibbs picked her up and sat her on his lap. He wrapped her up into his arms and let her cry. He rubbed her back and soothed her until she calmed down.
When her sobs had subsided Gibbs said, "Ziva, I hope you see how much I care about you. You are not alone. Our team, we are a family. You can trust me. I only want what's best for you and to keep you safe." Gibbs said, then added softly, "I can't loose you, Ziver."
She nodded into his chest. "Thank you, Gibbs...for caring about me I mean. Not for...well you know."
Gibbs chuckled and helped her to her feet. "Go on up to the guest room. Get some sleep, Ziva. I will take you home in the morning."
Ziva nodded and headed towards the stairs. "Gibbs..." She called and then stopped.
"Yea, Ziver, I know...I know. Now get some sleep, kid." He said as he walked over to her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight."