"We're not sending Ziva alone, are we?" Tony asked frantically over the phone. After going to extensive measures of making sure Ziva was okay and forcing the doctors to test the IV for contaminants, he called Gibbs again to update him. Apparently during the Clarkski encounter, Gibbs sent mounds of police men to surround the hospital and capture Martin before he could get far.
You might not think it was possible to glare through a phone, but Gibbs managed to. Tony somehow sensed the glare and answered his own question. "Of course not. That would be stupid and very dangerous." He stumbled a little on the words. "So is she staying here for the night or going home?"
"Her choice. Just make sure it's the right one." Gibbs said then hung up.
Tony sighed and nodded slightly. He entered Ziva's room and walked over to the bed.
She was now wide awake and very confused because she was woken up to Tony checking her over, appropriately of course, then doctors checking everything she was hooked up to. They had concluded that she was perfectly fine, which drew the question: "Why wouldn't I be?" that everyone ignored. The doctors also concluded that she did not need the IV and took that out of the room, keeping the heart monitor there for now, just in case.
Now that everything had calmed down, Ziva was still confused on what had happened, and demanded answers from Tony when he walked in.
"Your shooter was here." Tony said slowly, trying to keep her calm and keep her blood pressure and heart rate low and at a good pace. Ziva seemed to stay calm with that information so he continued, "Only for a short time. He did nothing to you. But he did give us a message."
Ziva stayed silent for some time. She looked down at the bed sheets around her. She was letting the message sink in while Tony didn't say anything. She knew he was waiting for her approval to continue so she moved her gaze slowly in a circle around the room before settling on Tony. "What was the message?" She asked in a soft tone.
Tony let out a heavy breath before replying, "Bodnar wants you at your home, tomorrow night after sunset." He conveniently left out the being alone part because he knew she would agree to that despite her current condition.
Though he should have figured that she would guess. "Alone?" She asked.
He simply nodded once while a grimace placed itself upon his face. Just as Ziva started to talk again, Tony cut her off before she said more than a syllable. "Don't try and argue with me, you are not, not, going alone Ziva." He said, his tone a little harsher than needed.
Ziva didn't even seem to notice his tone, just nodded once and looked down at her bed sheets again. "I know. I was not expecting you to let me."
Tony nodded for the second time. "Good, that's…uh, good." He said. "Now there's another thing that needs to be settled." He stared at her, trying to get her to look at him again.
Ziva looked up and gave him a look that told him to continue.
"Did you want to stay here tonight or leave the hospital?" Leaving the hospital also implied staying at Tony's apartment yet again, though both of them knew that already.
"Do I really have a choice?" Ziva asked, letting a tiny smile grace her face.
Tony shook his head with a sarcastic grim look on his face, like he was sorry but not really. "No, not really." He smiled a small half smile at her and let out a puff of hair in a small laugh.
After a very unexciting day of Gibbs disappearing to random places, McGee skipping out on work to go downstairs and hang out with Abby, and Tony sitting at his desk not at all doing his work because his mind was on Ziva, who was currently at his apartment, hopefully resting but that is doubtful, everyone left at exactly 1700 to set up for the meeting at Ziva's apartment. McGee had set up hidden cameras and a few other surveillance items around the apartment. If they were lucky, Bodnar would not sweep for bugs and find the only contact Ziva would have with everyone else. Gibbs had somehow convinced several of Ziva's neighbors to let several agents stay as undercover family in the apartments so reinforcements were close. Gibbs and McGee were stationed in a black van nearby the apartment complex.
Tony had gone back to his apartment to check on Ziva and, of course, bring her to the meeting. How the meeting was supposed to go was that Ziva was to draw Bodnar's attention long enough so Tony could slip in and hide so he was close in case something drastic happened. No one was hoping for it to go that far, but precautions were extremely important.
The two partners were now seconds from heading off. All that was left was a final check. Both had their ear pieces, Tony at least had a gun, and Ziva had on a Kevlar vest underneath her shirt. The vest wasn't exactly comfortable to wear with a hurt shoulder, but for now she had to deal with it, and she would with no argument.
"You ready? You sure about this?" Tony asked for probably the hundredth time just in the past ten minutes.
Ziva just ignored him and shifted her sling higher up on her shoulder, wincing just barely.
Tony pretended not to notice the wince because he knew bugging her even more would never end well for him. "Alright." He sighed. "Let's go." He opened the door for her and let her leave first.
They were on the road and heading towards the apartment five minutes later. Ziva seemed to manage fine with one hand so any awkward situations where Tony had to help her had not happened yet; even if he did insist that she shouldn't do all of that. About halfway through the ride, Tony felt a hand on his arm and glanced at it to see Ziva's hand resting against the side of his arm.
"Tony, wait. We need to go back." She said. Apparently at some point Ziva had this epiphany that her apartment would not be the right place to go. "We have to go back to your apartment. That is where he will be."
"You sure?" Tony asked.
Ziva replied with a nod and a quick, "Yes, I am sure."
Tony figured he could ask why later and did a quick, albeit illegal, U-turn and headed back to his apartment.
When they arrived back at his apartment, both noticed that his door was slightly ajar even though Tony had shut it, and locked it, behind him when they left. Tony stayed outside as Ziva opened the door and stepped in, acting as calm as ever. She walked through the living room slowly then stopped at the wide open bedroom door. In there stood Ilan Bodnar and she felt renewed anger shoot through her just at the sight of him standing there. Currently, his back was to her and he was staring down at Tony's miniscule bed.
"Hello Ziva." Bodnar said, an eerily chill to his voice that almost sent shivers down Ziva's spine. He slowly turned to look at her when nothing was said in response. He smiled at her calmly. "At least welcome me to your home or take me on a tour."
Ziva continued to glare at him, not bothering to deny when he said this was her home.
Ilan shrugged. "Well then. Straight to business then." He took a step forward before proceeding to walk around the room all the while Ziva just stood in the doorway, not taking her eyes off of him. "I truly am sorry for all that has to happen to you and your American team tonight."
Only a flicker of wonder and fear flashed across her face at the mention of the rest of the team. She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Oh yes. You wouldn't think I would just enter this alone? You underestimate me Ziva." Bodnar said, looking back at her.
"What have you done?" Ziva asked coldly.
Ilan wasn't going to hold back, there was no reason to do that. "Currently, the infamous cyber terrorist, MC, that is top of the charts for NCIS, yes? Well, he is, at this very moment, hacking your agency's system, revealing the place of every location you have agents placed. Those places will then be…well, I'll leave that part to your imagination."
Ziva's face visibly fell. She took a step back, not able to tear her eyes off of Bodnar. "Tony!" She shouted.
Tony had snuck into the apartment and managed to hear the end of the conversation. He was trying to communicate with Gibbs or McGee in any way he could. He had tried the ear piece but all he got was fuzz. Now he was putting away his phone and looked at Ziva. "The cell towers are down. I can't reach them."
Ziva's eyes narrowed considerably more as she stared at Bodnar. "What did you do?" She asked, anger very evident in her tone.
Yes, that is the ending. It's supposed to be a season finaleish story so the cliffhanger is definitely needed. Love me, hate me, review for me. Doing all three would be very much appreciated :) I know this has about a 0% chance of happening, but it's a kind of cool idea because MC is played in and what not. Interpret the whole 'Ziva's home is actually Tony's' as you wish. Logical reasoning, Tiva reasoning, whatever. Tell me what you think. I appreciate all the alerts and reviews. So goodbye for now, good luck, and let's hope the writers don't kill us in suspense during the summer! Alright, done talking. Bye.