A/N: I know a lot of you didn't like the last chapter…I'm really sorry, that's what I get for uploading with a sleep-deprived brain hahahah! Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. The only thing I own here is my boy-toy Garrett heheh ;)
Nobody had said a word in hours.
It was sort of a memorial. An unspoken funeral for the heroic Anthony DiNozzo. None of them had to say anything; just a simple look and the three knew what the others were thinking.
They had managed to recover the only artefact of Tony's that they could find- his sunglasses, one arm snapped off and the lenses smashed. The team sat around them, staring vacantly at the frames as if they would magically bring him back.
But they knew they wouldn't.
Abby still sat with a rainbow of black, purple and red smudges down her face, sniffling quietly. Tim's face was completely blank, and his mind seemed to be working in overdrive, attempting to put the pieces of the last few hours together in order to form a picture of something that made sense in his head.
Ziva's bottom lip quivered. A dull ache thudded in her chest, one that felt almost hollow, as if something was missing.
Because something was.
Surprisingly, she was the first to speak.
"Tim…Abby…can I…keep them?" she asked softly, gesturing towards the glasses. Tim nodded solemnly, Abby slightly more reluctant, but agreeing. Gingerly, Ziva picked up the black frames, tucking them beneath her dress, next to her heart. Some part of her hoped that they would fill the void that he had left, but of course they did not.
It wasn't as if Ziva had never lost someone before. Countless people she had become close to, even loved, had been ripped from her. Her mother, Tali, Michael, her father…
But none of them stood anywhere near the pain that she felt now.
Tim raised his head.
"Come on. We need to start thinking about dinner. To— he wouldn't want us to starve," he said. Abby nodded and Ziva silently agreed.
A groan sounded from a couple of metres away and the team jumped. It was too good to be true…could it actually be…?
Nope.
It was Garrett, dragging a dislocated leg behind him, towards the group. He plonked himself down next to Ziva and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wow! That was one angry pussy cat!" he drawled in his heavy southern accent. He shook his sandy blond curls free of a few flecks of dirt. "Sure wouldn't wanna be her dinner. Lucky we got away, ain't that right beautiful?" he cocked his eyebrow at Ziva. She mustered all the energy she could to shoot the most evil death glare she could manage towards him. He visibly trembled a little, but quickly shook it off.
"I was just so darn hungry was all!" he continued, "Wouldn't let me have a single bite of that juicy doe she caught. Animals…" he chuckled. "It was a pretty young thing too, but not nearly the prettiest thing I've ever seen," he winked and smirked at her. Ziva saw red. This guy just didn't give up! Before she pinned him to the ground and murdered him slowly and painfully, she angrily got up and stormed off.
She stood and stared at the sea, looking out of the corner of her eye every so often to check on Abby and McGee, who were contenting themselves with glaring at Garrett.
"What's got her so hot under the collar?" she could hear Garrett asking the others.
"For your information, we just lost one of our team members!" Abby snapped. "A team member that she happened to be in love with!" she added for good measure, knowing Ziva would be pleased to get Garrett off her back. He snarled slightly.
"Love. Yeah right. A girl like that don't know the meaning of love! Nice try Ponytails, but I ain't buying it. You're just jealous," he growled. Ziva nearly choked on her own saliva. She gritted her teeth and tried to think of something else. How dare he say those things about her, or about Abby for that matter!
"Jealous?" jeered Abby. "Does this look jealous to you?" She pulled McGee in by the collar of his shirt for a romantic kiss, afterwards leaving him in bewilderment with her tears on his cheeks, mixed with her make-up. Garrett rolled his eyes.
"Whatever…I'll show her what the real meaning of love is. And she'll forget all about that annoying, dumbass pretty-boy Agent DiNozzo," he taunted, hissing the last word slightly.
That was it. She couldn't take it anymore.
Using all of her Mossad training, Ziva stormed over, twisted Garrett's arm behind his back, kicked his legs out from under him and slammed him to the ground, his mouth filling up with sand as he coughed.
"What in God's name are you doin', woman? If you wanted to be on top of me, you could've just asked…" he smirked. She yanked his arm out further.
"Be quiet before I pull your shoulder out of its socket!" she growled. "It is your fault! It is because of you that he is dead!" she sobbed. "If you had not have made that jaguar angry and come running to us for help, he would still be alive! And you would be dead!" she screamed in his ear. She pulled Garrett's arm yet even further, until she heard cracking sounds. He cried out in pain.
"Ziva! Ziva, stop! This isn't going to help! Let him go! Come on, Ziva, you can do it. Just let him go," McGee panicked.
Reluctantly, Ziva stepped off of the man and walked away, leaving herself to her thoughts. He got up and brushed himself off.
"Heh. She's a spitfire, that one. Fiery. I like it," Garrett grinned. Abby smacked her palm to her forehead.
*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*
Ziva had managed to capture another squirrel, and that and the previous one combined with the fruit made up their dinner. Abby whispered to Ziva.
"So…what are we going to do about sleeping arrangements?" she questioned softly. Ziva's chest ached even more…Tony was not her tent partner anymore.
"I do not know, but I am not sharing with that baboon," she spat through her teeth.
"I think you mean buffoon, Ziva. And yeah, I figured."
Ziva had to hold back a violent shudder and a sudden sob. Abby was correcting her English. Just like Tony does. Did. Used to do…
"McGee can have him. I…I think I need someone I can talk to tonight," Ziva admitted. Abby nodded slowly.
"Same here," she agreed. Garrett shot Ziva flirty gazes over the fire, and she rolled her eyes, refusing to look at him again.
When the time finally came to go to bed, not many words were spoken. Garrett suddenly appeared behind Ziva, whispering in her ear.
"So…I heard you and that other guy shared…does that mean we're tent partners? Maybe we can finish what you started…" he smirked, tracing his fingers up her shoulder. She shook him off.
"What, me killing you? And for your information, I would much rather share with a family of cockroaches than be within a metre of you," she snapped.
"Ouch…" Garrett chuckled. "You'll come round eventually," he grinned, heading towards McGee's tent. Abby walked over, scowling.
"Ugh. What a creep. And to think I used to think he was cute…" she shuddered. They climbed into the tent and settled down into the blankets.
'Abby…do you mind if we swapped pillows?" Ziva asked, slightly embarrassed. Abby smiled.
"It's fine! Here," she said, handing the one on her side over. Ziva burrowed into it, inhaling Tony's scent deeply. It was rich, musky, earthy, and so entirely, uniquely him. And it was still strong on the pillow.
"Why did it have to end up like this, Abby?" Ziva whispered. "He did not deserve it…and he did it for us."
"I don't know, Ziva. It's not fair. I miss him so much already…" she whimpered quietly. Ziva rubbed her back.
"It will be okay," soothed Ziva, not even believing her own words.
"No! No it won't, Ziva! It'll never be okay without him! And what do we tell Gibbs? That is if we ever get off this island of course…" she cried, broken.
"Do not speak like that. I am sure Gibbs is looking for us right now, Abby. We will get home. And I know it will not be the same, but time will heal us…" said Ziva, daring to dream.
"I hope he is looking Ziva…because if he isn't… well we may as well be dead right now!" Abby said.
*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*
"Jen, you made any progress on tracking them?" Gibbs asked as he strode into MTAC, coffee in hand.
"Not yet. But we're working on it. There's nothing we can use to track them! All their electronics have short circuited…" the director said, frustrated. Gibbs huffed slightly. He was not used to not having his team get whatever information he wanted, when he wanted it.
"All we have is their flight course…" said Jenny, as a bright yellow line drew itself across a map on the screen. Gibbs watched. "The last transmission was received at around 1300 hours. Using the plane's speed and departure time, we can deduce that the plane crashed somewhere around…..here," she indicated as a large red glowing circle encased a few scattered islands on the map. "If they're alive…" she paused, contemplating the awful worst case scenario, "Then they have to be on one of these islands. In the Bahamas," she finished.
"Jen…there's about fifteen islands in that circle. We can't search fifteen islands," said Gibbs, spotting the flaw in the plan.
"Like I said, Jethro," she turned around and looked into his eyes, "we're working on it."
They stood like that for a few moments, until Jimmy burst into the room, glasses slightly askew.
"Uh, Gibbs…? If I could just, borrow you for a second…" he stuttered. Gibbs turned around, irritated.
"What, Autopsy Gremlin?" he asked sarcastically. Jimmy ignored the annoying nickname and presented his findings to the boss.
"I thought I might just point out…that map is outdated. That huge tsunami last year wiped out at least half of those islands. They're underwater," he explained.
"Which ones?" asked Gibbs. He didn't know whether to be relieved or worried. Less islands meant less chance of a safe landing, but more chance of finding them if they did.
Jimmy indicated eight islands in the circle that were now currently suffering the same fate as Atlantis. The employees working the computers around the edge of the room put large red crosses on all the ones he pointed to.
Gibbs nodded.
"That's good work, Palmer," said Gibbs quietly. Jimmy grinned goofily, proud of himself. Maybe they would find the team after all.
*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*NCIS*
The cicadas on the island chirped lazily. It was 0100 and the castaways were fast asleep. That was until they heard it.
It woke Ziva and Abby first, both glancing at each other in shock to make sure it was not only they who had heard it.
A familiar, masculine yell coming from the jungle's direction.
"Did you just-"
"So you heard it too-"
"I thought I was-"
"It almost sounded like-"
"TONY!" they both yelled at the same time.
They both scrambled madly out of the tent, to find that McGee and Garrett were already outside, incredulous looks on their faces.
"You heard it! That means he is alive!" screamed a shocked Ziva, a billion weights being lifted off her suffocating heart.
"He must'a escaped the kitty-kat," said Garrett, not nearly as pleased as the others.
"So why isn't he back here? He knows his way through the jungle!" yelled Abby.
"Something's stopping him… we've gotta help him!" puffed McGee.
"Ladies and gentlemen… time for Operation Rescue Tony!" Abby grinned, Ziva joining her.
A/N: Whew! I liked that chapter a lot more than the last one heheh. Another one I wrote entirely in one sitting for you guys! Hope you liked it! Don't you just love-to-hate Garrett? Hahahah please review! THANK YOU!
xXtegannXx