So. Here it is: I am kind of obsessed with the Episode 7x01 "Truth Or Consequence". As I have recently rewatched it (again). Parts of this little oneshot kept spinning through my head and would not go away. It was only a few sentences and this is what I made out of them. As always feel free to let me know what you think. Good or bad, thoughts, criticism, everything. Thanks for stopping by!
CCAA (owns nothing)
She had never scared him more.
Never. In all the years they had known each other. Never in all these years.
Not when she suddenly stood right behind him in the bullpen, having appeared – as it seemed – out of thin air. Almost giving him a heart attack.
Not when she had threatened to kill him eighteen different ways with a paperclip. Or any other office supply.
Not even when she had pinned him to the ground back then in Israel. Gun to his chest.
Thinking about it, he wasn't sure anything had ever scared him as much.
His life was at risk every now and then on the job. So. He knew how it felt like to risk his life. But this? This was different. A different sort of fear.
Risking your life… This fear was hot like the rush of adrenaline through your veins. Demanding a reaction. Burning and urgent. Your body ready to fight or flight.
This…? This fear he felt now was like his bones were slowly turning into ice. His intestines slowly crumbling, freezing him from the inside out. Like a cold fist grabbing his heart, suffocating, choking.
It wasn't the fact how battered her body looked that scared him. It wasn't the obvious pain she was in. Written in every feature of her face and body. Not her words, meant to push him away.
You should not have come.
I am ready to die…
It was the look in her eyes.
Her slow blink as she exhaled, coming to terms with the information that it could take hours, days for them to be rescued. If Saleem wouldn't kill them earlier.
They wouldn't have days. He felt it deep in his heart as he watched her shoulders drop the slightest bit. Not even hours probably.
She couldn't bare it. After four months, a few more days seemed to be more than she could take. He could see it in her eyes. She wouldn't last these days.
It scared the hell out of him.
His hopes had been high as she had asked him what the plan was. Urge and slight annoyance in her voice and posture. Her voice almost sounding like herself again. And then?
He had told her what the plan was. Had watched the light seeming to vanish from her eyes. Broken. Defeated. Surrendered. Her eyes like they were now would haunt him for months in his nightmares.
Ziva, can you fight?
He had to ask. Make sure that somewhere there was something of his Ziva left. That she had it still in her to keep fighting. To survive.
It didn't help.
The glimmer of hope that he thought he had seen in her dark orbs faded away. Disappeared. All he saw was defeat, resignation.
A single tear escaping her eye.
He was actually relieved, when Saleem burst in again, knife in his hand. This was a threat he could fight against. Even if the only weapon he had were his wits and words.