Shots rang out all around them. A fire fight in the middle of the street adjacent from the Navy yard. That was the only reason they were there; there weren't any Navy personnel involved but it was going on right outside their building and local LEO's needed all the help they could get. That is how the MCRT found themselves crouched behind two parked cars, Tony and Ziva's ironically enough, waiting for Gibbs to tell them their next move. That was until an innocent became a casualty. Just a bystander, a young woman that couldn't have been far off Ziva's age, was shot and left bleeding in the street. Instinct kicked in and Tony found himself sprinting towards the young woman before he had registered consciously what he was doing. Sig drawn he was more than willing to fight his way to the woman and then their shared journey back if he must. Of course, Kevlar vests only work if there is enough to go round, if you don't give the last one left to your partner, if you're actually wearing one. Three bullets tore through his abdomen but he kept running, ignoring the burning pain coursing through his body and Ziva's cries coursing through his heart. He reached the victim just in time to see the light leave her eyes. Just in time for the fates to align in such a way that a police officer, colliding with a shooter, knocks him of target but doesn't stop him from pulling the trigger and causes Gibbs to watch another of his agents' heads explode from a hollow point impact.
No one could stop her. Ziva ran out into the firing line with only one goal. She reached her partner before he'd even hit the ground. She sat, sobbed, cradled his head and screamed. She screamed for the late night conversations they'd never have, the smile she'd never see again, the Italian charm that had wrapped her around his little finger. She screamed for all the times she'd almost told him, the times she'd almost kissed him, the times she'd almost let her guard down enough to let him love her. But the world didn't stop just for one person, no matter how important he was to the person holding him. Which is why the next bullet found it's way through Ziva's already broken heart. It physicalized the metaphorical hole Tony had left. Gibbs and McGee stopped caring for themselves and went in shooting, knowing that if they could at least save one fallen comrade, this day wouldn't be their last. Three shots was all it took to end the shooting. To bring silence to the streets. To allow McGee and Gibbs to run to her and fall at her side just in time. Just in time to hear her final breath as it uttered "wait for me, my love..."