As I told you before, I don't own a single thing.
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We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4am of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to makeamends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.
Time moves slower when you start paying attention. That was one of the many things Ziva had noticed during the last year. she looked at the clock, hanging above the kitchen door, as she'd done again and again. every single day, over and over again. she knew she was supposed to prepare her lessons, since she had become a teacher after leaving NCIS. That clock was the only thing that kept her from doing it. She found herself counting the minutes. She had a thing with time. She didn't know why, she just had.
She typed a few lines, trying to figure out a subject for her next lessons. She now gave social studies, which was a definite improvement after math, which she had given last year. she enjoyed teaching. It gave her a certain satisfaction to teach sixteen-year-olds something new. She had trained the new Mossad officers back in her days at Mossad, but it was nothing compared to that. Her life was nothing more like before. She didn't go out anymore. She only ran. Every morning and evening she ran 20 miles. She claimed it kept her mind clear. In fact, it was the only thing that actually help her forget what she'd done.
***
Flashback.
"Tony, call McGee, something's not right." Gibbs told his senior field agent. It was not very much like Tony to ignore a direct order, but since he knew McGee had a date with the only pretty computer nerd in the whole country, he decided to call Ziva instead. He dialed her number, heard the phone ring once or twice when he heard her pick up the phone. "Yes." Ziva's voice sounded unsteady, which was very unusual for her, but Tony didn't suspect a thing. "I need you to come and help out with a case." He told her. Ziva, who knew she had no choice, agreed. She asked the address and the minute she heard where she had to be, she knew something was going to go very, very wrong. She stepped in her car and drove quickly to her destination.
She shivered when she saw the big, empty and dark warehouse. The road wasn't only abandoned, the warehouse looked as if nobody had been in there for at least a few decades. But since she knew Tony and Gibbs were going to be there she started walking at the long big road towards the warehouse. She had drunk a little bit too much and was feeling a little lightheaded, so she walked slowly, trying not to make any noise. She breathed deep in and out and cursed at herself for not eating anything. When she was nearly half way, she suddenly heard gunshots and ran towards the closest door she could see, drawing her gun doing that.
It was than her Mossad training kicked in, she looked around the wall. She tried to observe the situation, but the room was too dark to actually see anything. She tried to make a quick evaluation, two men were down, but she couldn't tell if it was Tony, Gibbs or someone she didn't know. In total there were five more men standing in the room, they weren't talking, nor signing through each other. They were just standing there, ready to make a move whenever it was necessary. She wondered why there wasn't any light on in the building, nor any streetlights to help her see.
Suddenly, she saw a man making a move towards his gun. She had to decide quickly and took a shot. She hit him. that much was obvious. He was still standing, but obviously had a hard time keeping his balance. She could see his figure balancing. There were a lot more gunshots right after that. Not causing much damage. The man she'd hit eventually fell down, Ziva figured he was probably hit by another bullet. Another man was shot too, and fell down at the ground. Probably already dead or mortally wounded. After that, there was a lot running around. Only one man stayed in the giant room. Trying to take a shot at the men who were running away, while avoiding the bullets himself. When the men were away, Ziva considered the situation relatively safe. With her gun drawn she walked towards the man. "Ziva, is that you?" Tony screamed through the warehouse, his voice was alarmed and she could see him drawing his gun. "Yes, what the hell is going on?" Ziva screamed back, running towards Tony. "Call 911! Now, Ziva." When she was dialing the number she finally reached Tony, only to see him giving CPR to their boss. His arms and shirt were covered in blood. His face looked focused. Trying to do one hundred things at once. Ziva quickly told the paramedics the situation, and told them to rush at the scene. When she sat down next to Tony to help him, she finally figured out that the man who she'd hit was in fact Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
She prayed for their boss to be okay, but by the time the paramedics had arrived, it was already too late. He and the three other men on the floor were announced DOA, the paramedics listened to Tony when he showed them his badge and told them to leave this scene untouched. Claiming that this now was an NCIS investigation.
***
Tony stood in the middle of the bullpen, telling his team that today would be all about paperwork. They were seriously behind with it, mostly because Tony hated paperwork.
"I'll get us all coffee, why don't you guys get started?" Tony asked, his team was one man down. He was pushing Vance to get him replace Amanda as soon as possible. But Vance had told him it was hard to find someone up to Tony's standards. They had been forced to hand their last case over to the FBI, who had some ongoing investigation against their victim. Tony walked out of the NCIS building, walking towards the coffee-stand, less than half a mile away. Sunken deep in thoughts.
***
Flashback.
"Ziva? Ziva, are you here?" Tony knocked on Ziva's door. She was supposed to be at work a few hours ago and she didn't answer her phone. "Ziva, if you don't answer now, I'm going to have to kick in the door." He said, getting a bit concerned. He kicked in the door and saw Ziva's apartment, exactly the same as it had been a few days ago. He walked through the apartment to the bedroom, seeing if Ziva was there. But on his way there, he saw a note lying on the table. He knew what was on it before he even picked it up. Ziva had left. he threw the note back on the table on walked back out of the door, hurt and mad. He was going to have to tell his team this. Well, his team only consisted out of him and McGee now. And of course Abby, Ducky and Jimmy.
***
Abby was bored, she had a few searches running, but nothing spectacular. She expected Tony to bring her a Caf-Pow very soon. She decided to go down to autopsy, seeing how Ducky was. Since she had no searches, she didn't expect him to have any bodies. Right at that moment, Tony walked in her lab with a Caf-Pow. "How is my favorite forensic analyst doing today?" he asked, handing her her drink. "She's doing great." She said cheerfully, "But I need to talk to you about something." Tony sat down as he heard her say that. Knowing Abby, this would be a long talk. "I'm listening." Tony said.
"It's about Ziva." Abby said, alarming Tony. "Is it bad off me, not to want her back in the team?" she continued, crying as she said that. "I feel so guilty for that, Tony. So guilty."
"You know, Abby." Tony said, "It's weird knowing where she is, knowing she is there. We need to get used to that. She's here Abby, we just need to get to know her again. She will always be Ziva, she just needs to apologize and as she does that, we will have to forgive her."
"Never apologize," Abby started, but Tony broke her off. "These are my rules now, Abby. And actually I think it takes strength to apologize. Running away is no option in team DiNozzo." He said, pulling her into a hug as she smiled a bit. She actually liked Tony as a team leader, he was no Gibbs, but he was an amazing leader, he was just doing it his own way.
***
Flashback.
"Where is Ziva, Tony?" Abby asked, she sat at one of the chairs in her lab. She was crying softly. "I don't know, Abby. I'm so, so sorry." He pulled Abby into a hug. "I'm so scared, Tony." "I know, Abby, I know." Was all Tony could say. He had a couple of rough days, he and McGee tried very hard to deal with it, but since their team was two men down. Ziva hadn't come back after Tony had send her home to get some sleep 3 days ago. Gibbs, was gone, he now was lying on Ducky's autopsy table. The autopsy should be about finished by now. "I'm going to check up on Ducky, all right Abs?" he whispered softly. She just nodded, sinking back on her chair, waiting for her computers to bleep so she could do something. She needed to be busy.
"What can you tell me?" Tony tried to be so nonchalant as possible, not that it was really working, but at least he tried. "Not so much, my dear boy, it's impossible to tell which was eventually the kill shot. They were both pretty fatal." Ducky sighed, looking at his best friend, "you know, this is actually the worst autopsy I have ever had to do. Kate was hard too, you know…" But Tony cut him off before he could finish his sentence, "Please don't go there, ducky. Not today. It's hard enough."
"I know, my dear. So, as you know, died three days ago, he got shot. Abigail is running the bullets right now." "Thanks, ducky. I know it wasn't easy." "It never is when the victim is someone close to you." Tony just nodded and went to see how Abby was doing. There were a few hard weeks ahead of them. But they would get trough.
***
Thanks for reading, so, this chapter was longer! Let me know what you think!