"But the purpose of these traditions is to always remind us of what God has given. Life, freedom, and family," her father said, looking to her from across the table.
Ziva scoffed and stood. Her father was a hypocrite and a liar. He couldn't stand there and talk about life, freedom, and family when all he ever did was lie to her, strip her of her freedom since she was young, and ruined her chances of having a happy life. She turned to leave when the the sudden sound of glass shattering from the window behind her echoed through the room.
She didn't know what was happening until pain ripped through her body. As she fell, she could hear the sound of someone screaming and bullets finding their way into the through the window and into the wall. Then as soon as it started, it was all over. The room was left in silence.
Ziva turned her head to see her father crawling his way to door frame. His face was twisted in pain. She then turned her head to the other side and saw Vance rolling off of his wife. He dove on top of her to protect her from the gunfire. He pulled out his phone and began dialing.
A warm and wet sensation spread over her torso pulling her attention away from the husband and wife. She lifted the hand and touched her chest before bringing her hand to her face. It was covered in blood. She tried to sit up, but the pain was unbearable.
"911's been notified and Gibbs is on the way," Vance said. "Jackie, check Ziva, I'm going to check Eli."
A heaviness began to fall over her. She closed her eyes and was finding it harder to breathe. Before she knew it, she felt hands on her chest, pressing down hard. Her eyes sprang open and saw Jackie kneeling over her.
"It's going to be okay," she said with a soft and comforting tone, but her voice wavered enough so that Ziva knew she was worried.
"Hang on, Ziva," Leon told her, now appearing at her side. "They're coming." He looked from Ziva to his wife. "Can you get some towels? Stay low, just in case whoever did this is still out there."
"Eli?" Jackie questioned, removing her hands from Ziva's chest as her husband took her place.
Leon shook his head.
"Abba…" Ziva struggled to say, her head falling to the side to see her father sitting against the door frame. His body was still and his eyes were lifeless. He was gone. Tears began to slide down the sides of her face. All anger she had for him moments before disappeared.
Jackie crawled out of the room and a minute late returned with a stack of clean dish towels. She handed some to Leon as she folded on up and put it over a wound on Ziva's side.
Ziva let out a strangled cry as a wave of excruciating pain washed over her. She had been hit twice. She knew she must have been losing blood quickly and wondered how much longer she could hold on.
"Leon!" A familiar voice echoed through the house. Ziva tried to focus on who was shouting out but couldn't make out who it was.
"In here!" Leon shouted back.
"Oh Ziva…." Gibbs was now kneeling next to her, relieving Jackie. His hands were gentle, but firm as he pressed on her side to try to stop the bleeding. "Help is coming."
"Who did this," Leon asked.
"Probably the guy laying dead in your yard. Looks like he poisoned himself."
"DiNozzo and McGee?"
"On their way."
Ziva felt her eyes growing heavy. She was so tired. At least Tony was on his way. She only had to hold on for him. All she needed was to see him one last time. She felt instant regret for all the times she could have told him how she felt for him. Ziva knew she would have to do it now because she would never get another chance. She closed her eyes as her mind tried to focus on him.
"Hey, stay with me," Gibbs said, tapping her cheek lightly.
Ziva's eyes sprang open again. "Sorry," she murmured, fighting the urge to close her eyes again.
"Boss? Director?"
"In here!" Gibbs and Leon said together.
"Oh my god!"
The sound of Tony's voice broke her heart. She felt hands releasing from her chest and new ones taking over. "Ziva, stay with me," Tony said to her with a note of desperation in his voice. "Stay with me."
"Tony…" Ziva winced as a wave of pain took hold of her. She coughed and gasped for air while trying to focus on his face. She could see nothing but fear in his eyes.
"Yea, it's me," Tony responded softly. "You're going to be okay."
Ziva shook her head slightly. She couldn't give him false hope that she was going to make it through this. "I don't think so," she whispered weakly.
"Don't say that," Tony pleaded. "You're going to be okay. I need you to be okay."
He moved her ever so gently so her head was in his lap. One of his hands was applying pressure to her chest while the other stroked her hair. "Stay with me, Zi," Tony begged.
It was becoming harder and harder to stay awake. Ziva knew if she closed her eyes the pain would be over. If she closed her eyes everything would be better. With all her might, she glanced up at Tony. It was now or never and she needed to tell him.
"I lov-" She began.
"No," Tony cut her off. "You can't tell me that now. People always say that when they're about to die. You are not going to die, Ziva David. You are staying right here."
She smiled a little at his words. He had so much faith in her. She wished she wasn't about to break his heart. It was too hard to hang on any longer. The last thing she heard when she closed her eyes were the sound of approaching sirens and Tony's pleas for her to stay with him.
Her eyes opened as they pulled her gurney out of a helicopter and to the waiting doctors and nurses. The last thing she could remember was Tony's pleading voice. She didn't remember the paramedics arriving or being loaded into a helicopter. As they wheeled her from the landing pad into the hospital, the bright lights hurt her eyes and her ears were filled with the sound of many voices.
"NCIS agent Ziva David. 31 year old female with multiple GSWs."
"BP is 80 over 50."
"She's lost a lot a blood."
"Prep the OR and tell them and get stock O negative until we can get her blood type from her file."
A light flashed into her eyes as a doctor bent over her. "Miss David, can you hear me?"
Ziva's eyes closed and once again, she slipped into blackness.
When she came to, she found she was no longer in the hospital but instead in her old childhood home. She whipped her head around as she took in her new surroundings. How did she get there? Ziva then looked down at her body and found no blood and no gunshot wounds. She felt no pain at all.
"Ziva? What are you doing here?"
Ziva turned around and saw a young girl of about sixteen. She had the same wild curls and chocolate brown eyes as Ziva. She looked exactly as Ziva remembered her. Ziva let out a cry and flung her arms around the girl.
"Tali! Oh Tali!" She cried, holding the girl close. "I missed you so much, tateleh."
"I missed you too," Tali responded hugging her back before pulling away from her. She had a look of concern on her face. "What are you doing here? It is not your time."
"What is here?" Ziva questioned looking around. "This is the apartment where we grew up…"
Tali nodded. "Where we spent our happiest days. This is the afterlife."
"I am dead?"
Tali nodded. "The doctors lost your pulse on the operating table. They are trying to revive you now. It is like I said, this is not your time yet. You are not supposed to be here yet."
"How do you know?"
Tali smiled, taking Ziva's hands in her own. "I've been watching over you. I've seen where your life is going to take you. You're not done in the living world." Her smile turned to a frown. "But you are at a crossroad now. This is where you decide whether to pass on or return to the living."
"I can go back?" Ziva questioned softly. The thought of leaving Tali made her eyes water. She thought about her little sister every day and now they were reunited. She didn't want to part from Tali again.
Tali nodded. "You can, or you can stay here. It is up to you. I just know you weren't supposed to cross over for another forty three years." She smiled again. "Oh, Ziva, you were going to have such a happy life."
"I doubt that," Ziva sighed, squeezing Tali's hands. "I've caused too much trouble…too much pain to those around me. And Ari, oh Tali, I killed him. I think about him all the time."
Tali nodded. "I know," she responded softly. "But you had to do what you had to do. Ari wasn't the same anymore. He was not our brother anymore. By killing him, you saved so many lives, Ziva. He would have kept hurting and killing people if you had not done anything." She squeezed Ziva's hands tightly. "He forgives you."
"He is here?"
Tali nodded again. "He comes in time to time. I believe he is with abba now. He just arrived."
Ziva closed her eyes and bowed her head. "I know," she whispered. "I saw him die. What about ima? Is she here?"
"She is," Tali confirmed. "She watches over you too."
"Maybe it would be better if I stayed? It would be better for us to be together again."
"I know it is your choice, but Ziva, you shouldn't stay. You can't."
"Why? Why go back to a life of pain and loss?"
"There may be pain now, but it will all pass. You'll become a stronger, happier, more loving person," Tali responded, her lips curling up into a smile once more. "I've seen it. Trust me. Besides…leaving now will only hurt those you love more."
Ziva's mind turned to Tony. She knew her death would destroy him. She remembered how he begged her to stay with him. She remember how he stopped her from saying those three words to him. Ziva never got a chance to tell him.
"You'll set him on a new path if you stay," Tali interrupted her thoughts.
"Tony, that is."
"You know about Tony?"
Tali grinned. "Of course I do. How could I not know about the man my big sister is completely in love with? Have you not been listening? I've been watching over you." She dropped Ziva's hands and leaned up to kiss her cheek. "Go back, Ziva, he needs you."
Ziva nodded, her mind made up. "I love you, Tali," Ziva said, hugging her little sister one more time.
"I love you too. Remember, I am always with you. Now go!" Tali pushed Ziva backwards and the apartment disappeared into blackness.
Ziva felt sore and stiff when she opened her eyes next. The room was dim and only a soft light above her bed and the lights from the machine next to her illuminated the area. She tried to sit up but found it caused her too much pain. She turned her head to her left and saw Tony asleep in a chair. When she turned her head to the right, she saw a nurse walking into the room.
"Ah, Miss David, you're awake. Excellent. Let me go get the doctor," the young woman said before leaving the room. A couple minutes later, she returned with a bald, middle aged man in a white coat.
"You gave us quite a scare there, Miss David," he said. "I'm Doctor Harper. How are you feeling? On a scale of one to ten ?"
"Eight," Ziva answered as the nurse looked over her chart.
"I'll have the nurse up your pain medication. Do you remember what happened, Miss David?"
"I was shot," she replied looking over at Tony who was now stirring from his slumber. "I remember Tony coming…but nothing after that."
Harper nodded. "Yes, you were in an out of consciousness when you arrived. We lost you for a few seconds at the start of surgery, but you remained stable after that. You tried to wake up yesterday and once we found you were able to breathe on your own, we removed the breathing tube. You should consider yourself lucky."
The doctors lost your pulse on the operating table. They are trying to revive you now. Tali's voice rang through Ziva's mind. It hadn't all been a dream. She really died for a moment.
Ziva nodded. "Thank you," she said. "When can I get out of here?" She was aware that Tony was now awake and pulling his chair closer to her bed.
"Not for a while," Harper answered sympathetically. "I'm sorry. We need to keep you in ICU for a couple more days then you can be moved into the general ward until you're fit to leave. I understand you have a lot on your mind, but right now, just focus on recovering. I'll be back to check on you in a few hours. Please don't hesitate to call the nurse if you have any questions."
Harper left the room after giving the nurse instructions to up Ziva's pain medication. Once the nurse finished increasing the dosage, she left the room leaving Ziva and Tony alone at least.
"Hey," he said softly, taking her hand. "You're finally awake."
"How long have I been in here?" Ziva asked, looking over to the clock on the wall. It was nearly five in the morning.
"Two days," Tony said.
She turned back to him and frowned. "Have you been here all this time?"
"Not all. Gibbs made me go home and shower, but I came back. He stayed while I was gone though."
"Tony…what happened?"
Tony sighed and looked from their hands into her eyes. "We don't know yet," he said. "We know someone shot up Vance's house and killed your father and nearly you. The guy who did it was just laying in the front yard. Just killed himself after he did it. He was some Swedish mercenary who was hired to kill your father. We're working on who hired him. Ziva, I'm so sorry about your dad…"
"I know," Ziva said softly. She lifted Tony's hand to her mouth and kissed it. The gesture sent a wave of comfort through her. She didn't know how she could even consider leaving him behind. "Tony, before I blacked out…I was trying to tell you something."
"I remember," Tony responded. "I told you not to say it. And don't say it unless you mean it."
Ziva nodded. "I am not longer dying and I do mean it." She squeezed his hand and looked deep into his eyes. "I love you." Once the words left her tongue, it was like a breath of fresh air flowed into the room. It felt so good to finally say them.
"I love you too," Tony confessed to her. "I've been wanting to tell you that for a while now…just never found the right moment." He sighed and closed his eyes. "And then when I almost lost you…I thought it was too late."
"It wasn't. I am glad it wasn't."
He opened his eyes and stood from his chair before leaning down and kissing her softly on the lips. She gently lifted her hand and cupped his cheek, holding his lips to hers. She didn't want this moment to end. When it finally did, he rested his forehead against her's. "So what now?" He asked quietly.
"We find out who did this," Ziva responded as a new feeling took hold of her. She remembered her father's lifeless body and felt anger. She needed to find out who did this. She needed to find out who took the last of her blood from her and who almost took her from this life. "And I get revenge."
Tony straightened his back and gave her a single nod. "We'll find them. I wouldn't mind helping you with the revenge seeking."