Calling All Angels

What happened after Tony was shot was a blur to Ziva. She vaguely remembered Gibbs pulling her off of Tony's body as the paramedics rushed to help. She remembered Gibbs handing her over to McGee who led her to the car.

The next thing she remembered was being enfolded in Jenny's arms as they waited at the hospital to hear some news about Tony. Jenny was the only one that knew about Ziva and Tony, seeing as she was one of Ziva's best friends. Ducky was sitting in the corner with Abby who had black tears running down her face. Gibbs was pacing the length of the waiting room. McGee had gone down to the cafeteria to get coffee for everyone and to see if he could find a Caf-Pow for Abby.

Right after McGee returned from his coffee hunt, a doctor walked into the waiting room and looked around.

"Family for Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo?" he asked. Everyone stood up. The doctor eyed them suspiciously but continued anyway. "I'm Dr. Pratt, I was Agent DiNozzo's attending. Agent DiNozzo was shot several inches to the right of his heart and sustained a massive blood loss. We lost him on the table for several minutes. After he was stable we sent him up to surgery to remove the bullet. He's out of surgery but remains in a coma. The surgery attendants have moved him to the long term ICU. There is no way of telling when and even if, Agent DiNozzo will wake up."

When she heard that, fear squeezed Ziva's heart and she desperately tried to choke back her tears.

"Can we see him?" Abby asked from her corner.

"Yes, but they'll only let you in two at a time, and only for a few minutes," Dr. Pratt said.

"Thank you," Gibbs said, already on his way to the elevator.

McGee took Abby in first to see Tony. Abby's face was still streaked black from her makeup and her ponytails were in disarray. She leaned over Tony and kissed him gently on the forehead.

"Tony," she whispered. "You have to wake up. I can't take this stress. I can't lose you, you're like my brother." Abby squeezed his hand and then turned towards McGee. "Tell him," was all she said.

"Tony, we need you," McGee said. "I wouldn't care if you woke up right now and called me every name you could think of. Wake up." Abby smiled at McGee's statement.

"Even if he made fun of you for Deep Six?" Abby asked.

"Even if he made fun of me for Deep Six," McGee said.

Next to go in were Gibbs and Ducky. Ducky picked up Tony's chart at the end of the bed and paged through it while Gibbs stared at Tony. Emotions welled up in Gibbs's chest, and yet he was unable to express them. He had always thought of Tony as a son and seeing him lay there on the hospital bed was more than Gibbs could handle. Gibbs leaned over Tony's motionless body and slapped him on the head lightly.

"DiNozzo, you definitely can't die, and you definitely are not allowed to die," Gibbs said. Ducky patted Tony's feet.

"Wake up soon, my dear boy," Ducky said and then he and Gibbs left.

After Gibbs and Ducky were done, Jenny and Ziva went in. Jenny excused herself to the bathroom in an attempt to give some privacy to Ziva. Ziva sat down next to Tony's bed and took his hand in hers.

"Tony," Ziva whispered, the tears that had been threatening all night to spill over now doing so. "I can't live without you. I've lost to many people in my life." Just then, Jenny appeared from the bathroom. Ziva quickly wiped the tears out of her eyes on the back of her hand and sniffled a little bit. Jenny gave Ziva a small sad smile.

"It'll be alright," Jenny said, placing her hand on Ziva's shoulder. "He has too much to live for." Ziva stood up and leaned over and kissed Tony on the cheek, being careful not to bump his trach tube.

"I love you," Ziva whispered and then left.

The next day Jenny gave the whole team a day off, including Ducky and Abby. Abby went to the hospital and wasted no time in personalizing Tony's room. She brought Bert and placed him under Tony's arm and she had bought two dozen black roses which she set on his bedside table. Black and red balloons bumped against the ceiling in the corner and a black teddy bear sat on the top of Tony's bed.

McGee had went to Tony's apartment and brought him season one of Magnum which was playing softly in the background.

Ziva had brought in several pictures. One of them was her and Tony and it looked they like were arguing. Another was one of the whole team at the Christmas party. Tony had his arm slung around Ziva with a drunken smile on his face. Abby was perched on McGee's lap and Jenny had just jumped on Gibbs's back right before the picture had been taken. Ducky was standing in the middle of everyone, a beaming smile on his face. The last picture that she had brought surprised everyone. It was a picture of the old team, a picture with Kate. Tony, Kate, and McGee were leaning up against the bumper of the truck and Gibbs was in the middle of head slapping Tony. Abby was actually sitting on the hood of the truck. When Abby saw it, she smiled.

"I had forgotten about that picture, where did you find it?" Abby asked.

"When I started working here, I cleaned out Kate's desk. It was in the bottom of one of the drawers," Ziva said. McGee looked at it closer.

"I remember that day. Tony was getting head slapped because he had told Abby to sit on the hood of the truck after Gibbs had told him no. I think Ducky took the picture," McGee said. Abby turned and smiled at Ziva.

"Thanks for bringing these," she said and then she threw her arms around Ziva, who, surprisingly, returned the hug.

Thank you guys for your patience. My life is a little crazy what with school and work. I try my hardest. The next chapter will jump three months ahead where Ziva will discover that she's pregnant. Please review.