Chapter 2.
Gibbs looked around at his team, his gut was suspiciously quiet on the issue, Tony and Tim looked between each other not sure where to even start. They needed to get to work, figure this out, Abby took the last sip from her RedBull, she didn't know much about the case, but she was defiantly interested now.
Suddenly, a loud thump and the sound of glass shattering filled their ears, Gibbs looked at the ceiling jumping up from his chair, running up the stairs, quickly tailed by Tony, Tim and Abby. When they reached the landing they heard loud cursing coming from Gibbs room. Gibbs slowly opened the door scanning the room for any threats. The only thing he saw was Ziva sprawled out on the floor by his bed, his lamp shattered on the floor beside her.
"Ziver?" Gibbs slowly made his way over wary of the glass on the floor. He pulled pieces of the ceramic lamp from her hair gently lifting her from the floor. She groaned at the movement, Gibbs lifted her carefully setting her back on the bed. "What happened?"
Ziva growled and took a shallow breath, her lung aching. "I can't walk!" Ziva yelled in desperation wincing as her lung filled with pain from the expulsion of air. Gibbs put a hand on her back rubbing small circles.
"Take a breath." Ziva growled again throwing her hands up in the air, nearly smacking Gibbs face in the process.
"I can't!" Ziva coughed and groaned holding a hand to her chest. Gibbs glared and Ziva huffed, taking in small breaths. Tony, Tim and Abby slowly entered the room keeping their distance but keeping a close eye on their friend. After a few moments Ziva sucked in enough air and calmed her temper. Gibbs kept his hand on her back, waiting for her to speak. "My leg, it just, went off."
"Went out." Tony corrected.
Gibbs looked at him, then back to Ziva as she continued. "We, we have to get him." Ziva went to stand but fell back down when she put weight on her leg, her temper flaring back up she growled and flung herself backwards on the bed, slamming her fists into the mattress. Tony, Tim and Abby raised their eyebrows, as the always in control assassin, threw a temper tantrum. Gibbs rolled his eyes and stood going into his bathroom, there as some rustling as he searched his cabinets.
"You have two options Ziva."
Ziva stopped pounding her fists into his bed for a moment listening to him, "What are they?"
Gibbs emerged holding a wooden cane in one hand and bottle of Ibuprofen in the other. He tossed them on the bed then walked out of the room pushing through the crowd in the doorway. Ziva looked at her options grumbling to herself. Tony smiled to himself following Gibbs downstairs, Tim swiftly followed after him, not wanting to be left alone with a pissed off Ziva. Abby however, nonplused stayed shifting from foot to foot unsure what to say. Ziva looked to her with a defeated expression; Abby pouted her lips going over to Ziva pulling her into a hug. Ziva accepted it gratefully; when they separated she grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen looking it over.
"How many should I take?"
"Two to start, then maybe by the end of the day, two more." Abby smiled retrieving the bottle from her, taking out the dosage. Ziva grabbed them swallowing them down without water grimacing at the taste. Abby gave her a woeful smile then stood extending her hand. Ziva looked at it a moment before accepting the help. She wasn't too happy about being helped, in fact the entire idea of her being less than combat ready infuriated her to no end; she was frustrated with herself and her body. Abby kept a steadying arm around her waist helping Ziva down the stairs.
They came around the corner as Gibbs was giving out orders, "Go home, get changed, we meet in 1 hour." Tony and McGee nodded before going to gathering their shoes. Abby helped Ziva to the couch before following McGee to the basement. Tony looked at Ziva as he sat on the floor pulling his shoes on. She glared at him but said nothing. Tony gave her a small smile, which she did not return.
Soon enough, Tony, McGee and Abby climbed into Abby's car leaving Gibbs and Ziva alone. Gibbs looked at Ziva's exhausted appearance as she stared into space. Gibbs walked to her slowly standing in front of her waiting for her acknowledgement. Ziva looked up at Gibbs. He gave her a small smile and offered his hand. Ziva took it standing up, the pain killer was helping already, she hesitantly put her weight on her leg, when it didn't give, she took a tentative step, then another. She smiled then let go of Gibbs hand walking around his living room.
"Better?"
"Much." Ziva stopped leaning on the couch, although her leg was still slightly sore it was no longer so bad she couldn't stand it, her lungs had also numbed making it easier for her to breathe. She was feeling a lot better, "Can I take a shower?"
"No."
"Gibbs." She whined.
"You can take a bath, come on." Gibbs started towards the stairs, Ziva slowly made her way over to him taking on the first step. Unfortunately, her thigh would not accept such a movement; Gibbs caught her before she fell. Ziva growled in frustration. Gibbs sighed softly at her temper and lifted her up carrying her up the stairs, Ziva cursing and complaining the entire way. Gibbs took her to the master bath and sat her on the toilet, Ziva huffed and crossed her arms. Gibbs retreated back out pulling out clothes from his drawers.
"We can go by your place and pick up some of your things but for now…" Gibbs tossed a NIS t-shirt and sweatpants on the counter, "Wear this."
"Thank you." Gibbs turned on the water then left the fuming Israeli to her bath, closing the door behind him.
Finally alone Ziva took in her surroundings. His bathroom was neat and tidy, grey tile floor, faux marble sink with one toothbrush, razor and bar of soap. Deep blue towels, a bronze colored shower curtain and a deep blue bathmat completed the room. Ziva smiled at the simplicity of it all and started to undress.
She pulled the hospital issued t-shirt over her head slowly, her arms still somewhat sore from being stretched too far, she had no bra, which suited her just fine at the moment. She then stood slowly pulling down the sweatpants the hospital also provided for her, she leaned against the counter looking at the large purple welt across her thigh; it had grown considerably in size during its healing process nearly covering the entire area. She gently ran her fingers over it feeling the warm blood just under the surface. She then proceed in pulling down her underwear, once off, she sat herself back on the toilet lid looking over her body. The chaffing on her wrists was healing nicely only small red spots remained, she leaned back slightly looking down at her stomach, the large gash over her womb did not require stitches but it still hurt whenever she twisted too far, she then turned herself looking over her shoulder in the mirror, the one on her back was deeper but again did not require stitches, she reached over and touched the tips of her fingers to it.
Her mind flashed back years, she could see Akiva standing over her offering a hand, there was rubble around them, the air was filled with dense smoke, her body was smaller, her hands and arms shorter, Akiva grabbed her hand pulling, but she could not remove the childhood Ziva from her position. Akiva looked around coughing, Ziva's body hurt all over, her back was pinned down by something she could not see, her legs were growing hot as the flames lingered closer. Quickly, Akiva left Ziva's field of vision, she could hear movement to her right and felt a weight being lifted off her with a grunt. The barrier now removed, Akiva dragged Ziva from the encroaching flames, Ziva was crying as her body was pulled from the rubble, her back was in searing pain from whatever had landed on her. Akiva once clear enough picked Ziva up. Ziva's head rested on her shoulder as she was carried under the legs from the scene, her body pressed against Akiva's her back exposed to the super heated air.
"Tali? Tali?" Ziva's head whipped around calling out for her sister.
"She's gone my rose, she's gone." Akiva kept running, her tears mixing with Ziva's.
Ziva snapped out of her headspace when the tub started making sucking sounds; she quickly turned off the tap letting the tub right itself. Slowly she stepped in easing her body down, the warm water felt great over her body so dropped herself down to her chin just reeling in the warmth of the moment. She felt embraced all over, the water slowly easing away some of her tensed muscles.
Gibbs heard the water stop running and stepped into the guest bathroom starting his own shower, he knew the water would be cooler than his usual preference but time was of the essence, he stripped down quickly stepping under the water.
After some time and more cursing from Ziva, they made it to her apartment, helping her up the stairs he pulled out his spare key opening the door for her. It was just as she left it just a few days ago. From the front door she could see straight to her bedroom, her door slightly ajar. Gibbs sat himself on the couch and waited as Ziva made her way back. He loved her like a daughter, but he was not venturing into that room for a long time. Ziva looked around her room, it was just as it was when Akiva had returned to her. The bed was rumpled on both sides, her signal jammer sitting on the floor just under the lip of the bed. Ziva shook her head clearing her thoughts as she limped over to her dresser. She needed to focus.
Soon enough the team met up in the elevator all traveling up to the Bullpen Abby stepped out first, followed by Tony, Tim, Ziva and Gibbs. They all made their way to their desks, file folders were stacked on each one, but something else caught their attention. Abby bounced next to the replaced plasma screen, a fairly sized brown UPS package was sitting on the floor, she gently picked it up shaking it gently.
"Abby!" Gibbs took the box from her quickly, before gently setting it on his desk.
"What?" Abby turned leaning on his desk.
"It could have been anything." Gibbs scolded pulling out his pocket knife, he put his ear to the box, hearing nothing, he slowly cut away the tape holding the flaps down. Slowly Gibbs opened the box, what was inside surprised him. Abby impatiently pulled the box open wider, having read the packing label conveniently placed on the side of the box.
"It's from Ohio, probably from Akiva." Abby started pulling out various things, each one labeled with a Post-it note. The team gathered round now, Abby started handing off wrapped gifts to the appropriate team members, who upon receiving, sat down at their desk. Abby pulled out the one with her name on it setting it aside, she frowned.
"There's nothing for you Gibbs." Gibbs opened the box looking in, he saw a velvet box down underneath the packing paper, it wasn't wrapped like the others and it looked rather old, he gently pulled it out, Abby's mouth, "oh-ed" as she set the box aside, picking up her gift.
Tony looked at his gift slightly wary, maybe it was payback for him spying on them, he pulled out a pen and carefully starting to pull away the paper, the shape was very familiar but he just couldn't put his finger on it until he had removed enough brown wrapping paper. Tony's face widened in a large smile before he dropped his pen and started tearing open the rest of the package, it was a DVD, a movie to be exact, one that he hadn't seen before. Black Angel 1 and 2 box set collector's edition, the title stirred something in his mind but he was too excited to give it much thought, quickly he flipped the box set over reading the description.
Abby squealed with joy when she opened a never released album from her favorite band, although the case was in, what she assumed was Hebrew, the words and lyrics were written in English. She jumped for joy looking through the album artwork.
McGee followed Tony's wariness but when no harm came to him, he pulled open the package, a very large evil grin spreading across his face. Quickly, he opened the package pulling out the mini USB Nerf missile launcher, connecting it to his computer. While Tony was basking in the glory of a new movie, McGee installed the software then aimed the little table cannon towards Tony. McGee grinned and hit the space bar effectively hitting Tony in the head with a Nerf missile. Abby laughed loudly, when Tony looked over in shock and McGee was grinning like a 4 year old on Christmas. Tony was about to retaliate when a sniffle caught his attention.
The team, sans Gibbs, turned their attention to Ziva, she was leaning back in her chair with a sad, small, smile on her face, a lone tear traveling its' way down her cheek, her eyes glued to her desk. On her desk in a small glass case, was a perfectly preserved desert rose, the gem stone was large, and its petals abundant. It was held in place by a glass stand inside the box, but it looked extremely delicate, Abby's eyes widened when she saw the stone, never before seeing one so perfectly preserved in its natural state.
"Oh my God Ziva, it's beautiful." Abby whispered still staring at the stone. Ziva nodded and swallowed, pulling her emotions back in.
"Hey! I got a card too." Tony looked at the small piece of paper that had miraculously survived his assault, quickly he picked it up reading it aloud. "Life is not a movie, the hero doesn't always save the girl and real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." There was no signature at the bottom Tony , turned it over but that was all she wrote, so to speak.
McGee looked through his paper also finding a card, "Life is a story, without rough drafts, or reprints, it is as it comes. Hard times are inevitable but misery is optional."
Abby pulled out her card which was tapped on the back of her CD case, she opened it and inside was a picture woman's back, Abby gasped as she looked at the full back tattoo, it was simply gorgeous. She looked back at the card. "Music is a wonderful escape, but the best way to escape from a problem is to solve it."
"Hey Gibbs whats yours say?" Abby turned to the, very quiet, Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He looked up at his staring teammates, he sighed and pulled out the piece of paper that was folded around his gift. "Success is measured by what you build out of the bricks that others throw at you." Gibbs set the paper aside looking at the, very familiar, dog tags in his hand, the velvet box held a medal at one point, but now it just held two bloodstained dog tags, he looked them over carefully running his fingers over them.
Abby bounced her way back to Ziva's desk, "What about yours Ziva?"
"No card, just this." Ziva held up a burned DVD in a jewel case, in truth her message was on the glass case of her rose and it read, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
Abby pulled the DVD from Ziva's hand walking over to the new plasma, she pulled the DVD out of its' case and slipped it into the side of the T.V.
The entire team turned up their heads when the video started, at first they thought it was Ziva on stage, but upon closer inspection, it was Akiva, she was holding a violin, a band as her backdrop, her body encased in a long blue dress that flowed with her movements. Her face was about 30 years younger, her eyes, undamaged, stared into the camera with their blue brilliance, she had a small smile on her face as she looked into the crowd, Ziva stood coming around her desk, her mouth slightly open, she stared wide eyed, she thought this video was long destroyed.
"Where is this Ziva?" Abby whispered standing next to her, Tony and McGee at her back, Gibbs pulling up the rear.
"My Bat Mitzvah, almost 20 years ago." Her voice was distant her eyes glued to the screen.
Akiva smiled and closed her eyes pulling the bow along the strings in a low whine, the piano started up a slow melody then suddenly the whole band erupted in a rock beat. Akiva stepped to the microphone pulling the violin from her chin, and she sang, with a beautiful strong voice.
"The child without a name grew up to be the hand
To watch you, to shield you, or kill on demand
The choice she'd made she could not comprehend
Her blood a grim secret they had to command" Akiva put the violin up sawing against the strings.
"She's torn between her honor and the true love of her life
She prayed for both but was denied." Akiva's voice rang high and clear along the notes. Tony's eyes widened.
"So many dreams were broken and so much was sacrificed,
Was it worth the ones we loved and had to leave behind?
So many years have passed, who are the noble and the wise?
Will all our sins be justified?" Akiva's head lowered her eyes looking at someone in the crowd.
"The curse of his powers tormented my life,
Obeying the crown was a sinister crime.
Her soul was tortured by love and by pain,
She surely would flee, but the oath made her stay." Akiva turned her eyes back to the camera. The music calmed drastically her voice ringing out softly.
"Please forgive me for the sorrow,
For leaving you in fear,
For the dreams we had to silence,
That's all they'll ever be,
Still I'll be the hand that serves you,
Though you'll not see that it is me." The music picked back up loudly in a small interlude. Akiva ran her bow quickly across the violin while the music roared.
"So many dreams were broken and so much was sacrificed,
Was it worth the ones we loved and had to leave behind
So many years have past, who are the noble and the wise?
Will all our sins be justified?" Akiva put the violin back up to her chin, playing along to the rest of the song, her eyes closing as she flowed with the music until it calmed, to her violin finally ending.
There was clapping and cheering when she finished, a small brown haired girl ran onto the stage, pulling Akiva into a tight hug, the girl was extremely short and only made it about chest high. Akiva pulled the child into a strong hug and opened her mouth to say something as the video cut out. Just as suddenly the video came back on, but it was in a different time and different place, the camera was not on a tripod like it had been before and swayed with the camera holder's movements. The video was very jumpy but it looked like whoever it was, was running through a house, the house was large, and the camera holder must not have realized the camera was on, when they turned the corner, the sight that met them was horrific.
"Akiva?" The voice was young and scared. But that wasn't what worried them the most, from the angle they could see that a large man was holding down a woman, a man that looked oddly familiar, the man turned around glaring at the child.
"Go away Zivaleh!" The man yelled in forced English. Gibbs face paled, it was Oren, and underneath him struggling on a couch was Akiva, her face was bloody and her dress was torn.
End Chapter.
AN: The original version of that song was written and produced by Within Temptation it is called Hand of Sorrow. I rewrote some of the words and changed a few choruses to fit the story as I needed.
