Thank you to everyone that has made my inbox crazy over the last couple of days. You are truly amazing. I wanted to re-write this; essentially it will still be the same story but just better told. Thank you again, you are all beautiful people. Lots of Love, KnightOwl

Ziva was impatient; she knew that the more time they spent discussing on how to take the dirt bag down meant the dirt bag had more time to get away. She sighed internally, she just wanted to go and get Dana back.

So far there were three little girls gone, they were all the same age and could be sisters, beautiful dark brown hair that went into crazy curls around their face, dark brown eyes, tanned skin. They were all just five years old and so was Dana. They needed to get Dana back; she was too young, too little. This whole case had made Ziva feel uncomfortable, because all of those little girls looked exactly like her when she was younger. If you took a photo of Ziva when she was five and threw it in the mix, she could be their sisters as well. Ziva shuddered at the thought of a man trying to kill her when she was that age. She might have got away; she learnt combat at a very early age.

Gibbs studied Ziva, she wasn't paying attention. He knew that this case would get to her, but he also knew that she could handle herself. Gibbs straightened up and Ziva's eyes fell back upon him.

"Alright, is everyone clear on what we are going to do?"

There was a loud yet hushed chorus of "Yes Boss."

They all drew their weapons and started slowly in opposite directions. They were looking for signs of a man trying to force a little girl to come with him. About 200 meters ahead Ziva saw a low tree branch broken; it had threads of blue wool tangled on it.

"Gibbs." She whispered loud enough so he could hear, "What was Dana wearing?"

"White leggings with a white long sleeved top and a blue woolen jumper. Why?"

"Broken tree with blue wool and footprints about her size that rapidly vanish."

"He picked her up."

"I have visual of a man dragging Dana behind him."

"Copy. Wait for back-up before pursuing the suspect."

"Gibbs, there's no time, he's strangling her."

Ziva ran at the man her eyes on a constant check for any other suspects. She heard a loud crunch behind her and almost fell into a deep murky pond. She kept her balance and was hit in the stomach with something and her gun was thrown out of her hand. Ziva fell for what seemed like a long time, she couldn't breathe. She felt wood under her hands and looked up; she was on a deck outside a house. She didn't remember running onto this.

"Get up." The first man that was holding a terrified Dana yelled at her. Ziva tried to move but couldn't.

"Get up!" He screamed at her and the other man lunged forward and pulled her up by her braid.

Ziva couldn't breathe. The first man looked her over.

"Mm, all grown up. I think I'll prefer to kill you rather than this little girl here."

"Dana"

"What was that?" the man asked Ziva. She tried to suck in as much breathe as she could.

"Dana." Ziva said more loudly this time

"I'll tell you what 'Special Agent Ziva David'" He read it off her ID badge that also fell to the floor and snickered and said her name wrong. "I don't really care what her name is."

"Why then?" The man smiled at her and spoke rapidly to his partner.

"Because no one deserves to be that beautiful and neither do you. Goodbye Special Agent David."

He pulled her gun up and faced her. She had heard the sound before, more than a thousand times before. This was different, her gun sounded different. It was a louder sound and yet it was also softer and after all the times that she had shot the gun, she suddenly realized; it sounded different because she wasn't firing the weapon, she was receiving the bullets. She heard someone scream, a little girl scream. She thought that it was her, but how could it be her?

She heard three loud shots. Maybe he missed, maybe he couldn't aim. But as she felt the searing pain in three different places in her stomach, she knew he had not missed. She gasped, the pain was unbearable. She was falling, but nothing was there to break her fall. There was nothing behind her, except water.

She crashed down into the water and it made the pain unbearable, it seared at her and she thought she was falling apart. She knew she had to get out of the water, she need oxygen, to breathe again. There was a bright white light and Ziva stopped fighting. Her body sank. "Mum?" she thought, for the light had to be her mum. The cold was eating away at her, tearing apart her stomach. "This is a pretty stupid dream; it feels so real, the cold, the pain, the sound." She pinched herself to wake up because the pain was unbearable but she wouldn't awaken. The Ziva in bed would not wake up. Ziva tried to fight, to attack the water, it got her nowhere. Then she heard this fantastic sound in the pond.

…

"Where is she?" Gibbs was calmly talking to the man but if he didn't answer he was going to start punching him.

"You'll never find her. I'm just sorry I didn't get to shoot the little one as well." He looked over to Dana who was rugged up and talking to McGee.

"Get him out of here." Baltimore cops were taking the two men away and Gibbs approached the little girl.

"Hi, I'm Gibbs. I know you have been through a lot tonight but I just wanted to ask you some things. Can you do that for me?"

Dana nodded calmly

"I thought he was going to hurt me. I'm sorry." She started crying.

"Hey. Hey. It's ok. You're safe now." Dana looked at him and wiped her eyes.

"Did you see someone else here? She would have looked exactly like you but older"

Dana nodded and pointed to the pond. Tony looked at her and shined his torch at the pond. Tim joined him. Neither of them could see anything

"It's too murky, boss." Tony yelled out, you could hear the distress in his voice

"Hey Dana, you were very brave tonight can you just tell me what he did to her?"

Dana nodded again and for a while she didn't say anything. Gibbs wanted to say something to get her talking; they were running out of time.

"He pointed that thing at her and it made three big noises and she fell over the rails and straight into the pond."

"Thank you."

Gibbs could see blood, obviously from Ziva. Someone from Baltimore called some divers but they were going to be too late. At the same time Tony and Gibbs jumped into the pond. Neither could see and they didn't have goggles either. But somehow they managed to find her. Tony started to bring her up, but she was too heavy with all the water so Gibbs helped him. When they brought her up and they laid her down flat. Tony started checking for a pulse, there wasn't one.

"I know you can do this David, stay with us, breathe."

They rolled Ziva on her side so she could get any water out. And then rolled her flat on her back and started doing CPR.

"C'mon Ziva. Stay with us! Will someone call an Ambulance?"

Suddenly a small gurgle, or was it a groan told Tony that she was breathing. He checked her pulse again and she was breathing but she was unconscious.

McGee was talking very softly into his radio. Tony didn't leave her side in the four minutes it took for the ambulance to get here. It seemed like an eternity until they were bumping their way across an old access road that went behind the pond.

Two Ambulance officers got out and ran straight for Ziva. Whilst they worked they asked Gibbs a set of steady questions.

"29 year old female spent about 2 minutes in the water, three gunshot wounds to the abdomen, she wasn't breathing before but after CPR she came around but is still unconscious"

Tony heard vacant words that meant little to no meaning to him.

"She's gone into reflex tachycardia…It seems she has ballistic trauma just left to her heart….She's experienced cold shock…we'll have to drain that fluid immediately...Bethesda"

Bethesda, Tony knew that word, it was a hospital. All too soon, the ambulance officers where wheeling her into the ambulance. Tony couldn't think. A rough voice snapped him from this state to the world again.

"Are you coming DiNozzo?"

"Yes Boss!"

….

The noise wouldn't stop, it got louder and louder. She wanted it to stop, it was hurting her ears. She felt something grab onto her she panicked and tried to kick out at this mysterious thing but her body wouldn't allow her to. The thing was hurting her arm, it was tearing it off. Then something else grabbed her other arm, they were pulling. Was she coming up? She needed to breathe desperately, she needed oxygen or she would drown. Did the things that grabbed onto her know that? She could see the water becoming lighter and lighter. She was coming to the surface.

She could breathe again, but it hurt, everywhere hurt. Her lungs were stinging, her stomach was on fire. There was a darkness she could feel herself slipping away. It was too painful, it was too much.

"I know you can do this David, stay with us, breathe."

Ziva knew that voice; she loved the person that the voice belonged to. But she couldn't figure out who the person was. I am breathing she tried to say but nothing came out and she realized that she wasn't. She tried to fight. She wanted to come back. She tried fighting the darkness, it was too strong and she was too weak. She kept fighting; she didn't want to leave this world yet. Gibbs! That was the person.

"C'mon Ziva. Stay with us! Will someone call an Ambulance?"

Was that Tony? She needed to talk to Tony again. I'm trying Tony, I'm trying. She couldn't get her mouth to say those words, she couldn't get her lungs to function, and she couldn't breathe. Tony. She kept trying to say his name but all that came out was a gurgle. She lost the darkness.