AN: I realize that this is out of the blue, but when the muse hits… Be prepared for lots and lots of angst. Same general universe as Imperfect Legacies but with a decidedly AU feel. The only OCs are Michael and Tali who are five and two respectively. Warning: Tissues needed.
7 Hours Before
It's a lazy Sunday in the DiNozzo house, an almost normal day in their hectic lives. The team is on call, but it has been an abnormally serene weekend. He's grateful that they have made it through to Mother's Day without a hitch. The kids are down for a nap, and he has an idea. He doesn't know why, but his gut is telling him something. It reminds him of a night so many years ago when something greater than he had compelled him to kiss her, almost as if he had no choice in the matter, and who was he to tempt fate?
He sneaks up on her from behind and wraps a gentle arm around her waist pressing a less than chaste kiss to her neck. "Looking beautiful today Mrs. DiNozzo."
The smile is evident in her voice as she answers, "We don't have much time. They'll be up in twenty." She turns and kisses him back.
6 Hours and 40 Minutes Before
Twenty minutes later, as if on cue, a small child calls for her mother to take her out of the crib, and Ziva smiles as she redoes the last button on her teal blouse. Before she goes to retrieve the increasingly annoyed two-year-old, she turns to her husband. "I assume that we can continue with this arrangement later tonight Mr. DiNozzo." He only grins at her back as she walks out of the room.
1 Hour and 30 Minutes Before
They are out to dinner celebrating Mother's Day when they get the call. Hostage situation, three people, one injured. He doesn't think much of it. Only that it ruins what would have been a perfect weekend. They finish their appetizer and get the check before they run home to tell the babysitter they'll be late, and change clothes. They also both say goodnight to the kids. For some reason, Tali doesn't want to let go of him.
For some reason, he feels compelled to kiss her again. The urge is so strong that he doesn't even bother to resist. They are going to be late now, but he doesn't give a damn. There's something bittersweet in the way they make love for the second time this day.
1 Hour Before
They arrive at the scene disheveled. They know that Gibbs knows what they were doing, but he merely nods at them and says, "It took you long enough." A small slap on the wrist by Gibbs' harsh standards. They are briefed by the FBI, and a plan is made. They will storm the building, Gibbs and Ziva are to be the sharpshooters and take out the perp. While Tony, Tim, and the SWAT team act as decoys. Clean and simple—they should be home before midnight with all of the paperwork.
30 Minutes Before
Ziva is cleaning her gun, Gibbs is pacing, McGee is talking on the phone, trying to reassure Abby that he will make it out fine. Tony is reverting to an old technique he learned in Philly—in through the nose out through the mouth—trying to keep himself calm. D-Day is in half an hour, and they are all doing their best to stay calm.
0 Minutes Before
As he watches the plan fail, there is only one thought running through his mind. She must live. They need a mother. So he dives in front of the bullet. The one meant for her. The bullet that should have pierced her heart and instead becomes lodged in his leg. He hears another shot ring out, and he is upright long enough to see Gibbs bullet tear through the bastard's skull.
His vision is blurred by the pain—all of the lines are becoming fuzzier. He can tell that he is losing a lot of blood, and if he is honest with himself he can say that he can give up right now, but he has never been honest with himself. He hears her voice, and its perfection is marred by the cadence of tears. That is what makes him stay—her pleading. The two names that mean the world to him. The three names she keeps repeating like a prayer as she holds pressure to his leg. Tali, Michael. They are the fragile strings still holding him to this earth. His children and her are the only things that are holding him here now.
His children who deserve to have a father, but he knows he can't hold on. His vision is fading to black and he has time for only a few words before the darkness reaches him. "Love you, sweet cheeks." He reaches for her hands still putting pressure on the wound that he is sure has hit his femoral artery. Her hands are slick with his blood, and he catches a glimpse of her tear-stained face as he squeezes her hand.
And she can tell it is a goodbye. "Don't do this to me, Tony, I can't—I won't—Tali, Michael, me. Stay with us." He sees her face crumple as she pleads one last time.
"Ziv…I can never leave you…for good…" His last words are strangled as he struggles to get them out. There is no more fighting the inevitable as his last conscious breath whooshes past his lips. He is dead before the ambulance reaches the scene.
5 Minutes After
She is in shock. What started as a routine callout—a perfect plan—has ended like this. He's dead. Except she can't wrap her head around that concept. Even as she looks into the eyes that had once held every hope in her life, eyes that are now lifeless, she can't comprehend that the man she loves is dead. She knows that someone is trying to talk to her, but she can't hear them. All she can hear is him, over and over again. I can never leave you for good. The words are becoming part of her, almost as if they are being etched into her.
10 Minutes After
When the ambulance arrives, they take his body away. She feels too weak to move, and is left kneeling beside a pool of blood. Gibbs comes to her side and lifts her up. She feels like a small child as he wraps her in his arms. She knows that he is expecting her to cry, but she is too numb, too sad to cry.
She knows loss—in an intimate way that no human should. Her mother, her sister, her brother, and now her husband. She wonders if God gets some twisted pleasure from making her suffer, and then she thinks of the man who is holding. A man who lost everything, and she is grateful for a fleeting moment that Tali and Michael are safe at home.
2 Hours After
The crying comes later. After she has cleared a physical, and a quick psych. evaluation. The crying comes when she is trying to explain to her two children that daddy isn't coming back. Tali doesn't understand, but it is like someone twisting a knife in her stomach when Michael starts to bawl. The tears start to flow when he asks a simple question with the innocence of childhood. Why would someone do that to dad, mommy? And she has no answer for such a simple question.
Three Days After
They are in a Long Island cemetery next to the plot where his mother is buried. The sun is hot and sears through her black attire, but she still feels cold. She has opted for the closed casket because she is sure if she sees his face she will vomit.
Gibbs has just finished delivering a eulogy. She is sitting there surrounded by people she loves, but it is not enough. Michael is sitting in her lap crying into her shoulder, Tali is with a babysitter—she wouldn't understand this anyway. If she had known 72 hours ago, that she would be burying his body. She takes a shuddering breath and utters a small prayer in Hebrew. Michael gives her an odd look. They had decided to raise the kids in his church so they rarely heard her speak her native tongue. As they lower the casket into the ground, she keeps repeating the prayer under her breath.
His tombstone is black granite, the epitaph is:
Chi lascia la strada vecchia per la nuova sa quel che lascia, ma non sa quel che trova.
Who leaves the old street for the new one, knows what he left but not what he'll find."
It's an Italian proverb.
Five Years Later
Another Mother's Day comes, and they make the annual pilgrimage to Long Island to put flowers on a grave. Surrounded by sons and husbands paying respects to long gone mothers. They come here four times a year. Mother's Day, Father's Day, his birthday, and Christmas. Five years past and it still smarts to see his name etched forever into the cold granite. She wonders what it's like for Mother's Day to be happy.
AN: Not your typical Mother's Day fic. Please leave a review.