Chapter 10: X

Tony and Ziva were so into the case and each other, that they didn't notice Director Sheppard, watching from above. She had heard every word and followed Ziva into the bathroom.

"Director, I didn't know that you were in so early." Ziva said surprised and Jenny entered the bathroom.

"I like to get an early start," she lied. Ziva smiled and turned back to the mirror. She filled the sink with water, washed her face and took in a deep breath, not noticing Jenny pull out a Walther's PF 38 with a silencer from the small of her back, out from under her coat.

"I've been watching you Ziva," Jenny said as she touched the back of Ziva's head with the gun, "And it's too bad you solved the case, all by yourself." Ziva froze and put her hands up, leaving the faucet running. Her gun was at her desk.

"Then you should know that Tony is going to solve it too then."

"He won't."

"I've left him enough clues."

"Too, bad that it's all speculation." Jenny said with a small grin.

"Why?" Ziva asked looking in the mirror, directly into Jenny's eyes as water from the sink began to overflow.

"Because," Jenny said with a pause. And that moment, a fraction of a second, Jenny pulled the trigger and launched a bullet into the back of Ziva's skull. Ziva's hit her now lifeless head on the marble sink tops as she fell. Jenny caught her body before it made a splash in the water and laid Ziva down gently. Jenny pulled the trigger once more as she placed a security bullet in Ziva's head, next to her other shot and walked out of the bathroom. She avoided the office where Tony was waiting and carefully crept back into her own office. She looked at herself in the full-length mirror she had installed on the back of her door. Only her shoes were a little wet. She took them off to let them dry, went to her desk and leaned back in her chair. Business was taken care of.

Back in the office, Tony looked at his watch. Ziva had been gone in the bathroom for over 25 minutes and he decided to go and check on her. He knocked on the women's bathroom door. No answer, but he did hear the faucet running. He knocked again. And again no answer. He went in, carefully opening the door.

"Ziva are you alright?" He asked. He peered around the edge of the red door and was shocked at what he saw. "Ziva." He yelled running in, splashing water everywhere. He fell down beside her, rolled her over and placed her head in his arms as he swayed back and forth. Her long raven hair was wet and the white top she wore underneath her jacket was lightly stained with blood saturated in water. He didn't care that the bullet holes in the back of her head were releasing streams of blood onto his clothes body. He lifted one hand out from under her head and closed her eyes as he also cleared away stray strands of hair from her face.

Hours later, Abby walked into the bathroom and screamed as she saw Tony, covered in blood, holding Ziva in a pond of water.

"Gibbs!" She yelled as she ran to Tony, dialing Gibbs o her cell phone. "Tony what happened?'

"I don't know. We were working on the case together and she left to go to the bathroom and never came back, so I went to go and check on her when I found her like this." Tony said in one exasperating breath.

"Gibbs!" Abby yelled as he picked up.

"Yes Abby."

"Come to the bathroom now!" She yelled again as Gibbs lifted the phone off of his ear and hurried down to the bathroom. He burst in to see Tony and Abby crowding around Ziva's body.

"What happened?" He asked.

"We don't know," Abby said beginning to cry.

"Oh boy. Let me get Ducky and Palmer and McGee." Gibbs said laving the bathroom. Moments later he came back with Ducky who was followed with Palmer and a gurney and McGee.

"Oh, my," Ducky said very shocked. "What happened here?"

"Nobody knows," Gibbs answered.

"Abby, Tony," Ducky said coming near them, "Can you please step away.

"Abby," Gibbs said.

"But Gibbs,"

"Abby please,"

"But--,"

"I know. Come on." Gibbs said taking her hand and leading her out of the bathroom, past a small crowd of agents that began to form.

"Come on, Tony," McGee said, offering Tony a hand.

"I can't leave her McGee."

"I know Tony. Come on, you can sit at her desk and bask in her memory." Tony gently put Ziva down and grabbed McGee's hand.

"I'm sorry, Ziva," Ducky said kneeling beside her as the edges of his white medical coat and pants soaked in the red water. "I really was hoping I would never see you on my table." He paused and gave her a moment of silence. "Mr. Palmer, would you do me a regrettable favor and help me lift Ziva onto the gurney?"

"Of course Ducky," Palmer said with a long face.

Tony entered their office and immediately went and sat down in Ziva's chair. He put his head between his hands and sighed as a few tears dropped from his eyes, soiling the papers below.

"Hey, Tony," McGee said coming behind him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know who could have done this?"

"No."

"Ok, well Gibbs just want me to clear your name off the list."

"My gun was in my desk the whole time. It's clean as a whistle. And I was here the whole time."

"Where is her gun?"

"I don't know. Was it not on her?"

"No."

"Then check her desk." McGee collected her gun and Tony's and took it down to Abby's lab.

"She's alive in our memory," Gibbs said trying to comfort Abby.

"But I want her here, alive." Abby said sadfully as tears rolled down her face. Gibbs sighed as McGee walked in.

"I have their guns."

"Why?" Abby asked, "Why do we need to check their guns?"

"It's just protocol Abby. I'm sure everything will check out." Abby grabbed the guns from McGee and quickly ran tests on them. Both guns checked out ok. None had been fired recently.

"See, Tony is telling the truth."

"I never said he wasn't." Gibbs said as Jenny walked in.

"What has happened here?" She asked.

"Ziva was shot in the bathroom."

"She what?" Jenny asked pretending to be shocked.

"She's dead!" Abby exclaimed as more tears gushed down her face.

"Aw Abby, I'm so sorry to hear this," Jenny said as she went to go and hug Abby.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You can be the director and do all the other stuff. Let us handle this," Gibbs said.

"You sure?"

"Yes." Gibbs said as Jenny turned to leave. Fine with me she thought to herself.

As the day went on, news about Ziva's death got out.

"What are we going to do boss?" McGee asked looking at Tony, who was in the same stale position. "We've dusted for prints and got every woman in the department as suspect."

"Tony." Gibbs said in a whisper.

"Yeah but doesn't know a thing."

"He thinks that he doesn't know a thing. Just try and talk to him and give him the guns backs."

"Alright," McGee said as he walked over to Tony.

"Hey, are you better?" He asked placing the two guns on the table.

"She's gone McGee."

"Yeah Tony, I know. But can you provide us with anything, to maybe catch her killer?" Tony tried. He tried to focus on the case but all he could remember was their last moments together. The case, he thought with a jump-start.

"Tony?" McGee asked a little shocked at Tony's jumpy movements. Tony shuffled papers around on Ziva's desk and awoke her computers from their sleep. He read notes scribble every which way on the papers. She has to have left me something, Tony thought scanning everything. He was looking for a list, the list she had potential suspects on. "Tony are you alright?"

"Fine McGee, just fulfilling her last wish." He went through every paper and every drawer or compartment in her desk. "Damn it." He said hitting his hands on the table with frustration. He wanted to give her peace, so he could have his and all he needed was the list, the list he couldn't find. As he hit his hands on the table, Ziva's MP3 player rattled on the desk. The MP3 player, Tony thought. It was one of the many things she loved and he knew that. He grabbed the player. He smiled when he noticed that she was listening to the jazz song "Take Five". It was one of his favourite songs too.