A/N: So September 22nd is close right? Right?? Not close enough for me… This is my take on what might happen, but then again, they said that they're gonna surprise everyone within the first two minutes, so who really knows what will really happen…

Disclaimer: Teehee, if I owned NCIS, it would suck. It would certainly not be going into its seventh season, and it wouldn't be the most anticipated season premiere this fall. I don't know if that fact is correct, but it certainly is for me!

~*~

It had only been two months since Ziva left when Trent Kort called. These last two months, however, had felt much longer than the four months they spent apart the year before. Maybe it was because Tony knew, not officially, but had that gut feeling, that Gibbs had been doing his doing everything in his power to get the entire team back together. This time was different. This time, Gibbs left it up to Ziva to find her own way back.

Of course, Gibbs did his damnedest to make sure nobody got placed on their team. The past two months, Team Gibbs had only been operating on three members. Vance tried many times to assign someone to the team and kept urging Gibbs to pick someone, but Gibbs couldn't bring himself to do it. Nobody could replace Ziva.

Nobody could replace Kate either, mind you, but Ziva and Kate were so different, that after the first few initial months, Tony just stopped comparing the two. Both were great agents, even though Ziva was technically an Officer. But really, that was the only comparison.

The real difference was that Kate was forced to leave them. Ziva chose to stay in Israel. She chose to leave NCIS. She chose to leave the family.

When Kort called Gibbs, he was very secretive. He told Gibbs to have his team at the airport at 1am, and include Ducky. The more medical assistance, he said, the better.

Gibbs hung up the phone in his usual manner, but Tony could tell he was completely distracted. He spoke quietly to Tony and McGee, and hushed all of McGee's questions before they could even leave his mouth. He didn't know anything more than they did, at that point. Tony stayed silent as Gibbs pierced him with that fierce stare of his. As McGee moved towards the elevator, the team leader grabbed his arm.

"Don't tell Abby yet. We can't get her hopes up."

McGee stopped and stared at his boss, then nodded in agreement and took his seat again. Ziva's unexpected departure had affected everyone differently, but Abby's reaction had been outwardly the worst. She couldn't understand why her best friend would just leave without saying goodbye, then not contact her or anybody for two months. She rarely played music anymore, and had pictures of Ziva posted around everywhere. She even kept track of the 59 days that passed without her favorite Mossad officer around.

Gibbs looked back at Tony, who looked ready to explode. "It has to be her, Boss."

"I know, Tony."

"Who else could it be? It has to be her."

Gibbs just nodded and returned to his desk. Tony stood in the middle of the bullpen for a few moments longer, then after sharing a hard look with McGee, he too sat back down. He idly stared at his computer until 4pm, when Gibbs told him and McGee to leave.

Many hours later, the team and Ducky made their way to the airport. They waited, not seeing anyone, outside their cars staring at the empty sky. A few minutes later, though it felt like hours, a blinking light appeared in the eastern sky, and slowly grew bigger, until they could see that it was a small plane that was going to land here.

The plane landed and the door opened, but nobody moved away from the car. The two agents and the medical examiner waited awkwardly for Gibbs' signal to start moving.

Kort appeared in the light of the doorway. He was walking down the ramp backwards, carrying something… someone, laying in a sheet. As Kort and the other unknown man made it down the ramp, Gibbs and the team began to run over to them. As they approached, they saw a very beaten Ziva, laying unconscious with her face bloody, bruised, and swollen.

"McGee, go bring the car closer!" Gibbs shouted as he looked down at his former officer. McGee ran to the car, and in a manner which would make Ziva proud, spun the car around and sped the short distance, stopping a small distance away from the plane.

"Lay her on the ground for a moment, I need to assess the wounds," Ducky said. Tony pushed the unknown man away from the sheet, the side nearer Ziva's head, and he and Kort gently laid her on the ground, with her head in Tony's lap.

The light from the inside of the private plane eerily illuminated Ziva's beaten features, and Tony had a hard time trying to distinguish shadows from bruises, although he knew they were most likely the latter.

Ducky gently lifted her dirty and torn shirt enough to expose her stomach. McGee gasped in shock, and though Gibbs didn't make a sound, his eyes widened in shock and his face paled. Tony made no sound either, but felt a nauseating sensation in his stomach and had to look away.

From her lower left hip all the way up to her ribcage on her right side, was what once was a large, disgusting gash. Now, however, it had attempted to heal itself, but infection had settled, causing oozing green pus and harsh, yellow bumps to form around it.

"Oh, my," Ducky said quietly. As a man of great experience, he had seen all sorts of cuts, bruises, and damages to the body that would make anyone sick, but this was by far the worst he had seen on a patient still alive. "We need to get her to a hospital immediately. I'm afraid the infection might have spread to a major organ, maybe even the bloodstream. She has a faint pulse, but at least she's alive."

"Ducky, what are her chances of surviving this?" McGee asked, unable to tear his eyes from Ziva's stomach.

Before Ducky could open his mouth to answer, Tony replied instead. "Probie! It's Ziva, she can survive anything." Ducky opened his mouth to answer honestly, that perhaps her chances weren't as great as they hoped. "This is Ziva, Doctor Mallard," Tony said harshly. "If anyone could get through this, it's her."

Ducky nodded in agreement. Ziva had always been unusually strong, due to her Mossad training. Although Ziva's chances of surviving were slim, they were better than anyone else he could ever think of.

"She has been beaten and tortured for a little over a month," Kort said quietly to Gibbs. "She was captured while trying to find the head of a major terrorist organization. I don't know what her father was thinking, sending any agent off to find the head. Always destroy the cronies before you go for the leader. That particular leader still had many followers, especially in the area he sent her to. Gibbs," he said quietly, pulling him away from the others. "I don't think she was meant to survive this mission. I don't think Director David is happy with Ziva, and wanted her to at least die a martyr for her country."

Gibbs stood in shock, though his face barely gave it away. He looked at his team, his full team as far as he was concerned. McGee was standing awkwardly as Ducky slowly pulled Ziva's pants down, checking her legs and hips for more damages. Tony was holding Ziva's hand with one of his, and gently brushing his fingers through her hair with his other hand, only concentrating on Ziva's face during this delicate situation. Gibbs felt his anger surge for Ziva's father, if he could even be called that. No father would ever send his daughter out on a suicide mission. Director David had already lost two children, one to another suicide bomber, and one under his own orders after Ari went rogue. If anything, that should have made him more appreciative to his only child left. Gibbs could never understand the men who threw their families away.

"Jethro, we must go now," Ducky said. "The sooner she gets cleaned up and on an IV, the better."

Together, Tony and Gibbs lifted her into the back seat. Tony sat down and put Ziva's head in his lap, and went back to brushing her hair and holding her hand. Gibbs thought briefly that later, he would have to smack him for daring to break Rule 12, but that could wait. If any two co-workers could make it work, it would be those two.

Gibbs took one last look at Kort, and nodded at him. "I owe you one," he said quietly. Kort only smirked and nodded back, before returning to his plane. Ducky got into the front seat while McGee lifted Ziva's legs gently and placed them on his lap. Gibbs jumped in the driver's seat and sped off to the hospital.