Heyy! :) This is my first story, so...yeah. Enjoy!
Three shots ring out in a warehouse.
Two people drop to the ground. One an agent, one a murderer.
One dead, the other hanging on to life by a thread.
The wailing of an ambulance can be heard from a distance.
Inside the warehouse, the agent's partner tries to wake her up. He fails.
"Come on, Ziva wake up, come on!" Tony yells and starts to shake the woman lying on the ground, motionless, in a pool of blood. He tries to feel for a pulse. He doesn't get one. Maybe it's because he's trembling violently, or she really and truly is gone. All he knows in that moment are the thoughts running through his head. No. She can't die. Not now.Just then, their boss runs in.
"DiNozzo, what the hell happened?" he barked.
"Gibbs! She got shot! Call an ambulance!" Moments later they heard the wailing of a siren. They load her in and send her to Bethesda.
A group of people stand in the corridor of a hospital.
One Senior Special Agent, one goth Forensic Scientist, one Computer Geek Probationary Agent, and one Senior Field Agent.
Their killer is long forgotten. He is the least of their concerns.
The Senior Field Agent slumps to the ground, his head in his hands.
They all pray for the best outcome, but the chances are slim.
Seconds go by.
Minutes.
Hours.
But it all feels like the world is traveling in slow motion, just to drag out their pain, just to extend their agony.
After what feels like years, they are told her condition. It elates them, but crushes them at the same time.
"How is she? Is she alright?" a flurry of questions is thrown at the nurse. She distinguishes them into those two questions all phrased differently.
"Miss David-"
"It's Dah-veed," Tony growls. The nurse shoots him a look.
"Miss Dah-veed is in critical condition. There is a high chance that she won't make it through the night. I'm very sorry." she brusquely says.
"Can we go in and see her?" Abby asks.
"One person at a time." She walks away.
Tony laughs bitterly and humorlessly. She would live today, albeit in pain, only to die tomorrow? Life was cruel.
"You all should go and see her first." I'll take the longest.
They all go in, one at a time, each coming out with tears on their faces. Even Gibbs had tears leaking down his cheeks. The prospect of losing another daughter was too much for him. Now it was Tony's turn. He took a deep, shaky breath and went in.
"Hey sweetcheeks," he smiled slightly, "Please, please wake up. Don't leave us. Do it for us. We need you. I need you. If you leave us, we would all fall apart. It would be worse than losing Kate." I would lose the one person I ever loved.
Tony sat there, holding her hand, remembering the good times they had together. As he spoke, the tears pooled up in his eyes. Soon visiting hours were over.
"Bye, Ziva. I love you." he said the last part in a barely audible whisper, before placing a soft kiss on her lips. He gave her hand one last squeeze and left. He didn't see the smallest of tears at the corner of her eye.
Everyone was outside, waiting for him. They all cried, except Gibbs, who was trying to control his emotions for his team. That was how they thought they would remember Ziva, all bandaged up, lying in a bed.
But they would come the next day, and hope for the best.
That night, no one would get any sleep.
One would work on his boat, another would write a new chapter in his book, another would lie in her coffin staring at the ceiling, another would drink himself into oblivion.
One thought ran through their heads.
Why?
Why did it have to be her? Why did it have to be this way? Why?
He should have protected her. He was her partner. He should have told her earlier, too. So many chances for him to say it, every single time he had taken a step back, and made a joke. For this, he gave himself a headslap that he was certain would bruise. He would regret her death more than anything he would ever regret. He would miss her more than anything. He would never forget her. She was everything to him. He would give up anything and everything for her.
She was the inspiration for the new chapter in the book. It was an angst-filled chapter, with encounters with death and romance. She was the inspiration for a character, which he admitted but would never go into detail about. She was one of his heroes, and nobody could take her place.
She was like a daughter to him. She was like a second chance at being a father. To change her. To soften her. To make her see that she was not a cold hearted assassin. To make her see the good in herself, the love, the kindness, the passion, the carefor her loved ones. To make her see that there was more to life than her biological father had shown her, that she should live life to the fullest, that nobody could tell her who she was and who she was becoming; who she would be. That she was not disposable. He did not trust her in the beginning; he thought she would tear his team apart; he believed her to be a spy for her father. Then time passed, and he got to know her. He learned to trust her, and he learned to trust him even more. She had save his life; and for that he was grateful. He would miss his ninja of a daughter dearly.
She was practically her sister. They fought, but eventually made up. They shared secrets; gossiped about people. They brought each other snacks. They were there for each other. A tear leaked out of her eye. They would never get to do those things again. After their old teammate had died, she had hated her; believed she was replacing her. Then she began to realize that she was not there to replace someone, but to make a name for herself there, to earn her place in the team. She made it. She had proven herself. Everybody that knew her well had a soft spot for the girl, especially their previous director. She would miss her sister like hell.
Gulp.
Another bottle of beer washed down. Eyesight growing fuzzy, he slumps down against the wall, and he swears he sees her. He knows that he is hallucinating, but he is happy that he gets to see her again. He can see, smell, hear, touch her. To him, it is all that he wants. To never forget her beauty; her melodic laugh; anything about her.
Click.
Chapter complete. It is filled with angst, romance, family love, and memories. Time to close the book. It is one of the best things he has ever written, it will be a hit. Driven purely by his own thoughts and emotions, he writes about his teammate. His hero. A woman he is proud to have met, to be close enough with to call her his sister. He can imagine her reaction to this. It would be happy, yet saddening. Every time he wanted to give up, she would encourage him; motivate him. She was one of the reasons that he had made it where he was, and for this, he owed her his gratitude.
Swoosh.
The boat is complete. It is named after his former lover and partner, and his director. It is the name of the one woman besides his first wife that he ever loved. He stares at it. It would be time to make another boat, one for his agent and daughter. This one would be special. She was special. There were only so many ex-Mossad Israeli-American NCIS Special Agents in the world. Her name would be written on the mast, along with some sentences of remembrance written on it, even possibly with some of her more commonly known and used idiomatic mistakes. He takes a deep sigh, and starts to map out the new boat. But first, he has to do what he always does. Send the boat to his dear friend in Mexico, who would give it to his goddaughter, who by now probably had five or more boats.
Sniff.
The tears flow down her face freely now. She can't help it; she has been holding the tears back for hours. The sniffles turn into sobs, as memories flood her brain. She misses her friend already. She considers engraving the names of the team on her coffin, and putting pictures of them all over it. This incident makes her realize how precious they are to her. She slowly goes back to sniffling, and lets herself fall asleep.
Twitch.
In a hospital room with nobody else around, her hand twitches. She had heard everything everybody had said, and had wanted so badly to tell them not to worry, and that she loved them. Something was preventing that from happening, and she fought it. Hard. She is alone in the dark room, nobody to see her twitch, that feeble movement indicating life in her comatose body.
Barely even twelve hours later, the team gathers back at the hospital, outside Ziva's ward. Abby's eyes are puffy from crying, Gibbs is as stoic as usual, Tony has a pounding headache due to his hangover from drinking, and Tim's eyes are bloodshot from staying up writing. Everyone is prepared for the worst news, but at the same time, they aren't.
Moments later, a young and very chipper nurse, different from the one from the day before, walks out of her room, towards them. She stares each of them in the eye, her face grave.
"Miss David..." she trails off, a certain glint in her eye. Everyone states at her. Tony's breath hitches. That doesn't sound good.
"Miss David... Well... Would you all like to see her? She's awake. She's asking for a...Mr DiNozzo?" the nurse breaks out into a grin. Everyone exhales loudly. Abby starts crying again, except out of happiness this time, and even Gibbs can't resist a grin. That's my girl. Ever the fighter, that Ziver.Tim is grinning like an idiot, and Tony is hugging the nurse fiercely. She turns purple; the hug could rival Abby's and easily beat it. He runs to her hospital ward and silently opens the door.
"Ziva?" he smiles when he sees her lying there with an irritated look on her face.
"Tony," she croaks out. He passes her some water, which she gladly accepts. She clears her throat.
"Sweetcheeks!" he laughs and envelopes her in a light but huge hug, once the realization that she will be fine sinks in. She stiffens for a moment, she is not used to public displays of affection, particularly given by Tony. To her. Then she melts into his embrace and hugs him back.
"My little hairy butt," she murmurs.
"How ya feeling?" he can't get that stupid grin off his face.
"Good. Been better, but considering the fact that I was shot, I feel perfect." she smirks.
Tony's gaze softens. "Thank you. For not leaving us." she blushes, recalling the words he said to her when she was in a coma. Few people knew this, but even while comatose, ninjas could hear and remember what people said around them clearly and distinctly.
"Yes. But this is worse than Kate leaving…how?" She smiles. His smile fades.
"How much of what I said did you hear?"
"Just about... All of it," She grins. He falls silent. But then he starts silently laughing humorlessly.
"Then you should know that I meant every word of it." he stares at her seriously.
"How so?"
"I'll say it again if I have to. Ziva David, I love you. You're the one thing that holds my world together. Without you, I'm nothing. It took me years of saving you, having your six, and seeing you almost die, to realize that you mean everything to me. It would have killed me for you to die before I told you. And how is losing you worse than losing Kate? After all I just said, it would be quite obvious. Losing her meant losing a teammate, a partner, and a sister, which is bad enough. But losing you, that means losing a teammate, a best friend, a partner and the love of my life. That's far more than I can take." Ziva stared at him. He stared at the floor, occasionally shooting nervous glances at her. Finally, she opens her mouth.
"Well, if the roles were reversed, my speech would be almost identical, minus Kate," she smiles gently at him. "I love you too." He holds her hand, gently stroking it with his thumb, and bends down to place a kiss on her forehead. She looks up at him, and brings his face down to meet hers, so that she can kiss him.
Just then, Gibbs had the excellent timing on walking in on this. Followed by Abby. Then Tim. Then even Ducky, who had arrived sometime after Tony went into the ward.
"Hey Ziver, how ya feelin?" he smiles at the girl. She smiles as she answers, and talks animatedly with everyone, Tony sitting on the bed next to her, her head on his chest.
She had done the near impossible.
She had survived a nearly fatal gunshot, and stayed alive.
She had stayed alive for Tony, and her family.
As a team and a family, they had been through so much together. That was how she knew.
There was no leaving them.
Misery and sorrows gone, each one of them slowly comes out of their wallowing.
He gets to spend the rest of his life with the one he loves, without fear of her not knowing how he truly felt. He tells her those three simple words every minute of every day. She completes him, she is his other half. Nothing can keep them apart, except maybe Death, but they had cheated Death so many times; they can continue to do so.
He smiles happily; there is inspiration for yet another chapter. The only difference is, it will lack the angst and heartbreak the previous chapter and book had. Now there is no need to write an 'In memory of'stanza; everything in the world is right again. And his book, oh, this new one would be a hit, a bestseller, he could just feel it. After all, his inspiration is back, and her character will not die.
He makes a vow to himself. Go home, and burn the blueprint for his new boat. There is no need to build one now; she is alive and well. Shipping the boat to Mexico can wait. For now, he'll just spend time with his family. His second chance did not die; he still could be a father. To him, that sounds nice. Be a father again. The last thought makes him happy; he has got his ninja daughter back again.
She feels like she could scream. Her friend is alive, that is some of the best news she has ever heard. All she knows is this: her family is whole again. She has her sister back with her, living life to the fullest.
He throws away the idea; now reflecting, it seems preposterous. He had originally considered retiring; it was about time. He considered leaving his post as medical examiner for his assistant, who had truly proven himself over the had seen so much death in his life. The deaths of marines, he had to perform their autopsies, those were painful enough, to know that somebody had killed them in cold blood. The deaths of his colleagues; there had been so many through his many years, each painful. If anybody on this team in particular passed on, it hurt more. It was torture for him; having to perform their autopsies. They were his family; and he was like her granduncle, telling stories to his grandniece of how everything used to be, how it has changed, and what he used to do and how he was as a young boy and man. But his grandniece has returned, and he does not need to give up the job so soon. His family is complete again.
All of them can smile again. There is no need to mourn. They have her back. All that had happened in the last few days, makes them realize one simple fact.
She is irreplaceable. In their family, and in their team.
There is no leaving her. Not now, not ever.
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