A/N-I'm having way too much fun with my Necklace stories. This piece is a continuation of "Not a Present" and, probably, the conclusion to the current storyline I've built around Ziva's old Star of David necklace. This story doesn't take place during any particular episode, but I'd like to think that it's set sometime in Season Eight. I wanted to give a good amount of time between the not-gift giving of "Not a Present" and this story. I'd also like to think that there's been some progress in the Tony and Ziva relationship in that span of time. However, in this story, they have yet to openly admit to how they feel about each other (Key word: Openly). So! Enough rambling from me, and enjoy!
"Tony, Ziva! You two take the side stairs. McGee and I will take the service elevator at the rear. When I give the say-so, we'll circle around so they can't get away with those narcotics. I don't want anyone or anything leaving that parking garage! Got it?" As Gibbs finished barking his orders, his team nodded in silent agreement, ready for their individual tasks. "Then let's go! Come on, Tim!" So the two groups turned their backs on each other and ran off in opposite directions, circumventing the parking structure.
Tony and Ziva headed for the entrance to the staircase on the side of the building, minds focused on the job at hand. As they reached the door and looked through onto the steps leading up, Tony smirked at his partner as she drew her weapon. "Bit excited, are we, Probie?"
Flicking off her safety, she said with a devilish smile of her own, "It has been seven months since my swearing-in as an official NCIS agent. Keep calling me 'Probie,' and I will really show you how excited I am to use my gun." With a wink in his direction, which he returned in kind, they ran up the steps, weapons now in both of their hands.
As they reached the third floor of the garage, Ziva peeked through the window of the staircase door and onto the vast parking expanse beyond. It was late at night, only a smattering of cars remaining in view, including a pair of black SUVs not twenty yards from the two partners' hiding place. "There they are. It looks like there are three of them all together." She glanced at Tony. "They are switching the bags already. We need to get to them now before they drive out of here. Come on. We cannot wait for Gibbs and McGee."
Tony snapped his fingers in mock frustration. "Darn! And I'd actually left my Invisibility Cloak at home tonight." Her eyes roving over the area beyond the glass, Ziva stated matter-of-factly, "And I do not have my wand either."
"Nice film reference pick-up," he admired as she continued her quick studying. "But we still have the problem of them seeing us if we approach them." As Ziva turned from the door, she corrected, "They were books before they were movies. And," she said directing his attention through the glass, "that is how we will get there." She pointed to three cars, a support pillar, and a waist-high concrete wall between them and the two vehicles. "They are slopping. They do not even have a designated look-out. Their backs are to us. If we hurry, we can reach them by cover of that column and those cars without them noticing us. The wall separating the parking areas is only five yards from them."
"The word is 'sloppy'. And I think we should wait for Gibbs and McGee before we move." But Ziva was already slipping through the door and running at a crouch for the first car. Always ready to run into the gunfire, he sighed in exasperation as he, too, quietly exited the stairwell and followed her lead. They were quickly moving from one spot of cover to another, and within seconds, they had reached the low wall. She was right: These guys were messy. No coordination between them what-so-ever. They were too busy getting ready to leave with the drugs, they didn't even notice the partners' approach.
Crouched behind the small barrier, Tony unclipped his badge from his belt, holding it in his left palm, his pistol gripped in his right. With a silent glance and nod between them, he and Ziva jumped up from their shelter, weapons leveled. "NCIS Federal Agents! Drop the bags!" Tony yelled as he held up his badge to identify himself.
Suddenly, shots rang out and Tony was thrown backward, crashing to the pavement. Confused and startled by the gunfire that had seemingly come from the raised and empty hands of the three men in front of her, Ziva let her survival instincts take over as she immediately ducked for cover amid shots in her direction. But it was not her survival that she cared about. Tony! she thought in panic as she looked at the form of her downed partner beside her. He was barely stirring, a look of sheer shock and surprise on his face.
Ziva heard three more guns add themselves to the din of the first as the men had apparently reached for their own weapons. Staying as low as possible, she fired her own bullets in the direction of the SUVs. Two of her rounds landed in the area just below the neck of one, and another landed itself in the chest of another. Crouching to protect herself from more gunfire, she stole another panicked look at Tony's body before she realized he wasn't on the ground anymore. He was kneeling beside her, his own weapon firing on the third man.
And just as suddenly as it began, all gunfire quickly ceased as Gibbs' loud, "Drop your weapon! Hands up, now!" rang through the space. The man Tony fired on was clutching his bloodied upper-arm as McGee stood above him, pistol leveled at his head. She looked to Gibbs as he pulled a fourth man from the front seat of one of the SUVs and threw him to the ground, cuffing his hands behind his back. Ziva then looked to Tony's slouched form as he leaned against the concrete wall. Still surprised by his sudden and inexplicable recovery, she asked uncertainly, "Are you okay, Tony?"
"Oh yeah. Never better!" He assured her before closing his eyes. Other than being a little winded, Ziva could see nothing physically wrong with her partner. No pools of blood, no pain in his voice. Not even a scratch or bruise as far as she could see. With one last puzzled look, she left the cover they had both taken and removed the weapons of the two men she shot before checking their pulses. She didn't expect them to be alive, but she checked just the same. As she confirmed their deaths, Gibbs came around to the back of the car, dragging the fourth man with him.
"What don't you understand about waiting for the word 'Go'?" he yelled in Ziva's direction as she holstered her gun. She made no apologies as she said simply, "They were about to leave. We could not wait." She gave him a sly smile before continuing. "You said you did not want anyone or anything leaving this building, did you not?" He looked like he was about to retort before he stopped himself and just shook his head. As he turned to lead the suspect away, Ziva saw the ghost of a smile curl the corners of his lips. With eyes on his leaving back, she could have sworn she heard him quietly say, "Miss David, you really are something." McGee smirked at her before dragging his own suspect out to their waiting cars, leaving her by the SUVs.
She slowly walked back to the wall, hopped over, and collapsed against it, same as Tony. Ziva stretched her legs out in front of her, just like her partner's, and she finally looked in his direction. His eyes were no longer closed, and he was looking at his left hand, mild amusement and astonishment on his face.
"It's amazing what a small bit of steel can do," he said quietly. Ziva looked closely at his palm and realized that he continued to hold his badge there. And in the center of that badge was a single bullet hole. "Imagine the odds on this one. If I hadn't been identifying myself, that bullet would've entered my chest instead. Really amazing stuff..."
"Sometimes I do not know if you have the best luck or the worst luck of anyone I know," Ziva said, pulling the badge from his hand to examine it. Tony widened his eyes in false astonishment this time and joked, "Or maybe I'm just prophetic and knew exactly where to hold my badge to protect my life. Or" he said, continuing the roll he was on, "it's a sentient badge! It knew to save me. I definitely have to keep that one. That's a special badge right there," he exclaimed, pointing to the object in her hands.
"Oh, I can think of something even more 'special,'" Ziva said with a coy smile. As he gave that look he reserved only for her, he tried to take his badge from her hands. But, anticipating this, she held it out of his reach, taunting him. "I am not finished yet. I, too, am surprised by how well this protected you. They must not have been using very powerful bullets," she mused, returning her attention to its face. Tony let his hands fall into his lap and watched as she continued her examination.
Turning it over in her palms, Ziva said, "'Sentient' badge or not, it looks like you will be needing a new on-" She stopped in her tracks as she saw the back of the badge holder. There, poking through the stiff material, was a flattened bullet. But what really caught her off-guard were the two golden points of a pendant protruding just above the single round. And she knew that pendant. Though she could not see it in its entirety, she knew the twisted gold formed a Star of David. She finally looked up at Tony whose eyes mirrored the surprise in her own, his jaw firmly set. Gesturing to the badge in her hand, she quietly asked, "What is this?"
Without a word, Tony relinquished the object from her grasp, which had by then fallen limp, and held it in his own. He unpinned his badge from its backing to reveal Ziva's old Star of David necklace, now pinned by the bullet dead-center of the pendant. It was bent, the chain falling loosely, but it was still intact. Soundlessly, Tony removed the bullet and placed the necklace in his partner's hands, a look of great sadness playing across his face.
After looking at it for the briefest of moments, Ziva pleaded softly, "Why would you keep this here...?" Tony, fearing the anger that was sure to come, began to apologize profusely. "I'm sorry Ziva. I put it there as a way of keeping it safe. I never knew something like this would happen. I mean, what are the odds?" Fiddling with his broken badge under her still-stunned gaze, he amended quietly, "I shouldn'tve put it there. It was a stupid idea. You entrusted it to me. It doesn't belong in the fiel-"
But he was caught short by the tight hug that she suddenly bestowed upon him. As she firmly held him, she whispered, "Thank you." His arms pinned to his sides, confusion now coloring his voice, Tony stammered, "For what?"
Still unable to see her face, he heard her say quietly, "For keeping it in such an honorable place. For keeping it safe behind the symbol of your duty and pride." And, if it was even possible, she hugged him tighter. "Thank you!" she whispered again. After a brief moment, Tony gingerly returned her hug, and laid his head gently against the side of her own.
"You're welcome," he said faintly. And they stayed in that position for what felt like an eternity.
"Hey guys. We've got the suspects in the cars now and these two bodies are about to be picked up. Ready to—?" McGee asked as he leaned over the low wall to look down upon them. Tony and Ziva jumped apart and looked up at him in surprise. "Nevermind. I'll come back later," he said nonchalantly, turning to leave the way he'd come. The pair shared a small smile before gathering themselves up to leave. Tony slipped his badge into his coat pocket before standing and offering his hand to Ziva, still sitting against the wall. She grasped it gratefully, and he pulled her into a standing position.
Now that she was once again upright, Tony placed his hands on his knees and said in feigned exhaustion, "I know I'm the one that helped you to your feet, but I think I'm going to need some assistance getting back to the cars." He looked up at her and gave her a wink.
Not one to be mocked, Ziva said, "What? Do you want me to carry you in my arms like those old movie posters of Gone With the Wind? I will be Rhett Butler, and you will be Scarlett O'Hara," she grinned. Tony finally raised himself back up, dropping his act. "Nevermind. I think I can walk. But if anyone's Rhett, I am."
"If you say so," she said with a wave of her hand, walking away. He jogged back to her side and said, "Another movie reference." He smiled sideways at her, "I like that." Ziva gave a self-satisfied laugh before repeating, "It was a book before it was a movie."
"Ah, but you specifically mentioned the movie poster. It's a film reference," he grinned. She returned his look, and they continued on in silence. As they reached the staircase, Ziva discreetly slipped her necklace into the same pocket as Tony's badge. The gesture didn't go unnoticed, and as he held the door open for her, he grasped firmly for the two jumbled and broken objects, holding them in his hand as he walked beside his partner down the stairs, one last look of understanding passing between them.
A/N-Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, criticisms, or reviews, feel free to post them. After looking back on my previous pieces, I noticed that in my most recent ones, something has felt like it's missing from them, like a lost something along the way. I haven't been particularly thrilled with any of my stories since "Worth It" and parts of "Replies of Silence". I hope that with this piece, I'm jumping back on the track that I was with my earlier ones :) . Until next time, happy reading!