This is my take on the missing scenes between the shooting and the ED, and the photo/spoilers/previews for "Shiva". I do not own CBS, NCIS or its Characters. This story does contain SPOILERS, so if you want to stay spoiler free, you have been warned.
Seeking Redemption
Chapter One: Taking Blame
Tony looked toward the doorway, sensing her presence before he saw her. She looked at him, begging him to tell him that what she was thinking was wrong.
Ziva looked into Tony's eyes and saw many things: shock, anger and…sorrow? "No…" She whispered as she turned to look toward her left.
She doesn't remember screaming his name when she sees him, bursting into tears and running to her father's lifeless form.
His eyes are half open, as if he is just catching his breath after receiving his wounds. But he only falls limply into her arms as she stumbles to the floor beside him.
Gibbs finally caught up and they team stand in silence as Ziva keens for her father. They don't understand her words, but it is heart-wrenching.
"Who did this?" Tony's anger is only tempered by Gibbs' shock at the scene. One by one, they leave Ziva to have her private moment with this man, her father.
A father in name only, yet supposedly he had been here to mend if not completely heal those wounds.
They all knew by now that he had once again betrayed her trust, they just weren't sure of the facts and timeline. None of that mattered right now.
In the next room, Gibbs told McGee to stay at the house and wait for the second-stringers, as they called them, to come to the scene.
They knew the cause of death and they had the body of the shooter. But Gibbs wanted a play by play action report of the shooting.
"Tony." Gibbs got DiNozzo's attention. He had been hovering by the entrance to the family room, keeping a discreet eye on Ziva.
"Boss?" He didn't look at Gibbs.
"DiNozzo!" Gibbs said a little sharper. Tony glanced in his direction, startled.
"Sorry, Boss. What do you want me to do?" He looked into Gibbs' eyes.
"Once the coroner's truck gets here, I want you to take Ziva to your place. I'm not sure Eli David was the only target. Get her settled, and then meet us at the hospital. McGee will stay here to make sure the other team has things under control, and then join us."
"Understood." Tony said, looking back at Ziva. Just then, the attendants arrived to take the body of Eli David back to NCIS. Gibbs did not call Ducky.
They were treating this as low-key as possible until the players that needed to be read-in were. As far as they were concerned, he was a friend of Director Vance who was killed in the shooting.
After a few minutes, one of the attendants came up to Gibbs. "Uh, Special Agent Gibbs? We're having a little problem here."
Gibbs glared at the attendant. "Define 'problem'." He glared.
The young man gulped. "Your Agent won't let us take the body."
Tony and Gibbs both heaved a sigh. Together, they went into the room. Her sobbing had subsided. She now had this blank look on her face which they both recognized as shock.
Gibbs and Tony both knelt beside her. "Ziver, you need to let these young men take your father. He can't stay here, and you can't stay with him."
Tony placed his hand on Ziva's. She looked startled and glanced up, seeing them for the first time.
"It's time, Ziva." Tony said softly.
Ziva looked at Tony, then at Gibbs. Slowly, she nodded. Taking one last look at her father, she kissed him, then allowed Tony and Gibbs to help her to her feet.
"I will go with him." She said.
"No, you won't." Gibbs said, with finality.
Ziva started to protest, but Gibbs cut her off. "I am not allowing you to go sit in the NCIS morgue all night by yourself. It won't do your father any good, and it certainly won't help you. Nothing is happening tonight."
Ziva's shoulders sagged under the strain of her grief. Tony held onto her arm and placed his other one around her waist.
She looked at him, questioning. "I'm taking you to my place. Your apartment may not be safe." Ziva just nodded, unable to process anything at the moment.
Tony led her to her car. "Give me your keys." He said. Ziva pulled them out and handed them to him without comment.
Gibbs got in his car. "I'll follow you over, and then you can go back to the hospital with me."
That woke Ziva up. "Mrs. Vance! She was shot, I need…"
"Ziva, the only thing you need to do right now is take care of you." Tony said. They got in her car. Tony had a bad moment trying to move her seat back, but finally adjusted it properly.
"I need clothes." Ziva said. She looked at Tony. "For work tomorrow."
Tony shook his head, and started to say that was the last place she would be, but Ziva cut him off.
"Even if I am not there to "work", I am sure I will need to come in to make a statement. I am, after all, the only witness, other than Director Vance and his wife."
Tony conceded to her logic, and called Gibbs. "Boss? Ziva wants to pick up some clothes first. I'll meet you at the hospital, ok?" He listened for a few minutes. "Got it." He said.
"Got what?" Ziva asked.
"My orders." Tony replied vaguely.
"Which are what?" Ziva persisted.
Tony waited until they got to a red light before he turned to face her. "To take care of my partner." He said quietly. Ziva gave him a small smile, her eyes red and puffy.
Tony's Apartment
Tony had insisted on going up with Ziva as she gathered a few things. She tried to insist it wasn't necessary. They had gotten the shooter.
"Ziva, you know he wasn't working alone. What if you were meant to be part of the collateral damage? Let me do this, if not as your friend, then as your partner, if that's the only way you will let me be here for you."
Ziva's eyes softened at that. "I am sorry, Tony. I understand there are still risks, and I am grateful that you are helping me, as my partner and my friend." She placed her hand on his chest to emphasize her words.
Now they were at Tony's apartment. Tony carried Ziva's bag and took it into the bedroom. Ziva stood motionless in the living room, not sure what to do.
Tony came up to her and rubbed her arms. "Ziva, the last thing I want to do is leave you right now. I don't want you to be alone."
Ziva shook her head. "I…I will be fine, Tony. I do not mind being alone, I would actually prefer being alone, in my thoughts for now."
Tony nodded. "The place is yours. Feel free to take a shower or try to eat something." The fact that none of them actually had their Shabbat dinner just dawned on him.
"Go, Tony. You do not want Gibbs to be angry at you." Ziva looked at the door.
Tony squeezed her arms, and reluctantly let go. He turned back to her. "I will be texting you, to see how you are doing. You don't have to really respond if you don't want to, but I do want to know that you got them." Ziva nodded.
"And don't leave the apartment. I mean it, Ziva. I want you to stay here."
Ziva looked at Tony, her face wan. "I will not leave, Tony. Do not worry."
Tony nodded. "Ok, as soon as I know something I'll get back here."
He closed the door and locked it. Ziva looked around the apartment, and then looked at the blood on her jacket. Her father's blood.
Suddenly, she was ripping off her clothes, not caring if she tore off buttons or ripped sleeves. She would never were these clothes again.
She ran into Tony's bathroom and turned on the shower, full blast. Standing under the steaming water, Ziva cried and asked God to have mercy on her father's soul.
Three Hours Later
Tony grimly got in Ziva's car. He couldn't believe Mrs. Vance was dead. Ziva was going to be devastated.
He was glad that she had acknowledged his texts, although it wasn't until the fourth text that she answered.
He was ready to run out of that ED waiting room and head back to apartment when she finally responded.
She apologized and said she had been in the shower and missed his other texts. After breathing a huge sigh of relief, he texted her back and told her to try to lay down and get some rest.
Her simple "ok" was not overly reassuring. He wasn't sure who he would find when he finally got home- Ninja Ziva, Badass Mossad; or Ziva, broken daughter.
Privately, Tony hoped for something in between. He felt Ziva needed to acknowledge her loss, but at the same time he didn't want her to close herself off. To him, to Gibbs, to any of the team.
They were all she had now, and he wasn't sure she had made that realization yet. He didn't want to be the one to point it out, but he wanted her to understand that she was not alone.
He sent a text to let her know that he was back, so she would be prepared when he walked into his home.
He was the one who wasn't prepared, though. When he opened the door, he found Ziva on his sofa, wearing a robe and what looked like a black nightgown.
She was curled up into a ball, hugging a pillow, staring at his piano.
"Ziva?" He asked quietly. Tony quietly walked over to the sofa and knelt beside her.
She had clearly spent most of the time he was gone crying, and he was upset he was not here to soothe her, to console her.
She slowly sat up and Tony sat down beside her. She looked into Tony's eyes. "Mrs. Vance is dead, isn't she?" Ziva whispered.
Tony looked away, and then glanced back at her. Her face crumbled again as fresh tears began to form. Tony automatically put his arm around her and held her as her body wracked in sobs.
"This is my entire fault!" She wailed.
"Shhh…Ziva. None of this is your fault." Tony tried to soothe her, but Ziva was adamant.
"I knew my father killed Wilkes. But I agreed to wait until after dinner to call Gibbs. But I could not. I got up, and went outside to call Gibbs. That's when the shooting began."
"How is that your fault, Ziva?" Tony asked quietly.
"That I waited! If I had called Gibbs right away, we would not have been sitting Shabbat with the Director and his wife. She would still be alive. And so would my father."
Tony was stumped by her logic. He took a deep breath. "Your father should have given himself up the minute you found him out. Vance should have never had Eli at his home, knowing how dangerous the situation could escalate should someone find out your father was here without knowledge."
"Ziva, look at me." Tony put his hands on her face, forcing her to face him.
"I did not get to say goodbye. I told him his sins were too great, and that I would never give him the redemption he desired. He asked me to sit across the table from him for one last time."
Ziva choked back a sob. "I sat at the table, but I refused to take part in Shabbat. I refused the wine when Mrs. Vance tried to fill my glass. Then my father stood to give the Shabbat blessing, speaking of God's Love, Peace and Family…"
Ziva looked at Tony. "I threw my napkin down and got up and left the table in disgust. I hated my father in that moment." Tony wiped a tear that traced a path down her cheek.
"My father died thinking I hated him." Fresh sobs started and Tony gathered her up in his arms, rubbing her back and stroking her hair.
"He knew you loved him, Ziva. He knew that he had disappointed you, but he knew that someone with a heart like yours could never hate her own father."
Tony sighed. "You probably did feel hate, hate in the moment when you could no longer stand his hypocrisy. But you believed in your heart, that it would go away."
He paused, trying to gather his thoughts. "You knew there would be another time, to talk to him, to give him another chance if that was what you wanted."
"But now that will never be." Ziva sobbed into his shoulder. "I will never be able to tell him I loved him, despite everything."
I probably will only do one more chapter, as I don't have the time to do much more like I did with SS. And this is really about Tony and Ziva rather than the end result of the episode.