Tony was in with a doctor, getting his popped stitch repaired. Abby, Tim and Ziva were in the waiting room of the O.R where Tony would join them after he was done. Abby had called Ducky as they were on their way to the hospital. He told her he would tell the director what was going on, and be there as soon as possible.
"I have to use the bathroom," Abby said as she stood and walked past Ziva who was pacing the hall. McGee watched Ziva as she nervously walked. She scratched at her bandages on her wrists absentmindedly. Her eyes were fixed on the floor.
"Ziva, you should sit down," he said, as she was making him twice as anxious. She shook her head as she briefly glanced at him.
"I cannot," she said. She was feeling winded. Her heart was pounding in her chest. In fact, it was beginning to hurt. Tim stood and went to her, taking her shoulder to stop her. She backed up against the wall. She began to panic... "I cannot breathe," she said as her hand went to her chest.
"Zee, you have to sit down...calm down." He tried to help her to a chair, but she slid down the wall to her knees on the floor as she began to hyperventilate. "Are you okay?" He knelt in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders.
"McGee." She looked at him as tears streaked her face. "Why is this happening? Why is this happening to Gibbs?" she cried. His heart sank...he'd never seen her like this.
"I don't know," he said, and she threw her arms around his neck as she cried. He held her. The truth was, he was just as scared as she was.
"Ziva," they heard Ducky walking up the hall toward them. They both looked up at him, and when he reached them, he knelt next to her and she pulled away from Tim. McGee stood and Ducky put his hand on her shoulder.
"She's having trouble breathing," Tim told him. Ducky took her wrist to take her pulse.
"I am not ill," she argued. "Gibbs is in there, dying," she cried.
"Your heart rate is elevated, Ziva," Ducky told her. "And you're hyperventilating. You're not ill, but you are experiencing a panic attack."
"Ducky, what is going to happen to Gibbs?"
"What did the doctors say happened?"
"Sudden cardiac death," McGee answered with furrowed brow. "But I- I don't understand how that could happen. He's healthy and active..."
"Yes," Ducky said as he stood, helping Ziva to stand. He took her to one of the chairs and made her sit. "This particular predicament unfortunately doesn't require warning signs or an unhealthy lifestyle in order to attack." He fetched a bottle of water from his bag and opened it, handing it to Ziva. "Any idea how long...before he was found?" Worry was evident on his face. Tim shook his head.
"His lips were blue when we found him," he said with a shaky voice. "No one heard him fall..."
"Ducky," Abby said as she rushed up to him when she caught sight of him as she came out of the bathroom.
"Abigail, dear," he said as she hugged him. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm scared, Ducky," she said, pulling away. "How could this happen?"
"I can't be sure," he took a breath, "But my guess is that the stressful ordeals that happened yesterday took a dangerous toll on his heart. We can only hope you discovered him in time..."
"The EMTs got his heart rhythm back with an AED," Tim told him.
"What I mean to say, Timothy, is while his heart wasn't pumping blood to his brain and other organs, the deprivation of oxygen could cause life-threatening complications," he looked down at the floor, trying to keep a brave composure for the sake of his friends, "Anything up to, and including, brain death..."
Ziva shot up from her chair at his words and rushed toward the front entrance of the hospital. "I need some air," she said as she left. Abby looked at Ducky, then at Tim, then turned to go after her.
"Ziva," she yelled as she caught sight of her outside. Ziva stopped, squeezing her eyes closed as the she remembered when Gibbs had stopped her this same way just the day before. Her face crumbled into sadness and her body wracked with sobs. Abby caught up to her and went around to the front of her, putting her arms around her distraught friend. "Ziva, I know you're scared," she cried with her. "I am too...I don't know what I'd do if...if-"
"Do not say it, Abby." She pulled away from her and wiped the tears with her sleeve. "This is my fault..."
"No it's not, Zee! Don't even say that!"
"It is! Everything that happened yesterday...and what's happening to Gibbs..." Her shouting frightened Abby. Ziva saw it, and she closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. "This is Eli's fault," she said as she opened her eyes. "If anything happens to Gibbs-" her sentence was cut short when something in the distance caught her eye. She swiped the lingering tears from her eyes and looked again...
There in the distance of the side entrance, she saw him...her father... He was getting out of a cab and paying the driver. "Abby," she barely whispered, without looking away from the man. "Go inside, quickly. Tell McGee...tell Tony and Ducky—get out of there as fast as they can."
"Why? What's going on?" she asked with fear in her eyes.
"Eli..." she whispered and took off running toward Gibbs' car...
"Tony, we have a problem," Abby said as she, Ducky and McGee entered his room in the E.R. The nurse was just finishing up replacing the bandage over his wound.
"Is Gibbs okay?" he asked worriedly.
"We still haven't heard anything," Ducky said.
"It's Eli," Tim told him. "Ziva saw him outside." Tony's eyes grew wide.
"What the hell is he doing here?"
"Verifying Ziva's death, no doubt," Ducky assumed.
"Where is she?"
"She told me to come in here and tell you all to get out of here," Abby told him. "She took off running toward the parking lot."
"You guys stay here," he said as he pulled his foot up on the bed and pulled his gun out from his ankle holster.
"What're you gonna do?" McGee asked.
"Kill him," he said as he stood from the bed and made his way to the door.
"Tony, he could have bodyguards," Tim shouted. But Tony continued out. Tim cursed under his breath. "You guys stay here," he said as he followed him out, pulling his own weapon.
He saw him duck into the stairwell and caught up with him there. "Where do you think he's headed?" he asked him. Tony turned to look at him when he heard his voice.
"If he's here to verify Ziva's dead, he'll be up in ICU where he thinks it happened," he said as he climbed the stairs. "Just two floors up."
"Do you have a plan?" he said as he kept up with him.
"I've had this information for thirty seconds, McGee, what do you think?" he barely whispered as they reached the floor. He held a finger to his mouth to signal him to be quiet as he cracked open the door. The first thing he saw was a nurse hiding in the nurse station under the desk. He looked past it and saw Ziva...she was standing with her gun aimed in front of her.
He cracked the door open a little more and saw Eli standing eight feet in front of her. His arms were at his side, and he looked at her with no emotion.
"I thought you were dead, Ziva," he said.
"Disappointed?" she replied with just as little emotion.
"Why would you think that?"
"Because you are the one who ordered it." He didn't respond. "Do not try to deny it. You have done this before. And you have hurt the people closest to my heart. You have caused me nothing but pain and sadness."
"I am your father. I am closer to you than anyone. And you are just like me."
"I am nothing like you," she said, her eyes becoming glassy. "And you are not my father..." She pulled the trigger, hitting him between the eyes. And she watched him fall, lifeless to the ground, right where Akim had died...
Tony and McGee burst through the door then, scanning the area for anyone that might have been with him. But they found no one else. Tony looked over at Ziva as she lowered her arms, still staring at Eli's body on the floor.
He holstered his gun and walked to her. His hand went to her back and she turned to face him. Her eyes were red, and as the tears fell, she hid her face in his chest. His arms went around her as she cried...
"We've run several tests to verify that the damage was minimal," the cardiologist explained to Doctor Mallard. "The CPR Agent Dinozzo performed prevented any damage to his organs. His brain doesn't show any physical signs of deterioration, but only time will tell us for sure...We installed an ICD, which will continually monitor the heart beat and administer a shock if it detects any dangerous rhythm."
*~.~*
Ziva sat in a chair next to Gibbs' hospital bed in the cardiac unit. His upper body was elevated at forty-five degrees. Her knees were tucked up under her chin as she watched the green heart beat line on the monitor, entranced by the rhythmic beeping.
It had been four hours since she put a bullet in Eli's brain. Three hours since Vance and Ducky took care of the situation. And it'd been thirty minutes that she hadn't pulled her eyes away from the monitor next to Gibbs' bed...
"Jethro," he heard Jenny, and he turned around. The room had been filled with darkness, but she was surrounded by light. "Jethro, what are you doing here?"
"Jenny..." he went to her and reached out to touch her cheek. She smiled at him.
"What are you doing here, Agent Gibbs?" she repeated. He smiled at her.
"I have no idea," he responded.
"Well, you need to go home. She's waiting for you."
"Who?" he questioned.
"You know. I brought her to you. She was given to you for a reason, Jethro."
"I don't understand..." He furrowed his brow at her. She reached up and touched his face, and he closed his eyes and leaned into her soft touch.
"Her father is gone now. She needs you."
"Ziva?"
"She's broken, Jethro. She needs you. You hold her together."
"Why did you leave?" he asked her as her took her hand. Her features softened. "I loved you."
"I had to save you."
"You shoulda come to me, Jenny. I coulda helped you."
"You couldn't help me." She put her hand on his chest. "I loved you. And I didn't want to watch you fall apart as I crumbled in front of your eyes." He searched her eyes.
"I would've stayed with you...through everything."
"I know..." Her hands cupped his face. "I need you to go back home. Be her father...that's what you are to her. I think you know that."
"You gave her to me..." his voice cracked at the realization. She smiled at him again.
"Dear Jethro," she said softly, "Take care of Ziva..." He pulled her tightly to him, gripping her shirt in his hands; his eyes squeezed shut...
The monitor skipped a beat, and Ziva glanced down nervously at Gibbs. His head moved slightly and he began to open his eyes. She shot to her feet and took to his bedside, taking his hand in hers. He looked up at her, blinking a few times until she came into focus.
"Ziva," he rasped, and she quickly grabbed the cup of water on the table next to his bed and held the straw to his mouth. He drank from it and pulled his head away as he swallowed. "Ziva," he said more clearly.
"How are you feeling?" she said as a tear strayed down her cheek.
"What happened?" he queried.
"Your heart," she smiled through her tears, "Is burdened with pain that is my own." He squinted at her.
"Your father..."
"Is dead," she finished for him.
"I know."
"How could you know?" she asked.
"A little bird told me." He smirked. She let out a small laugh as the tears continued. He suddenly knew what had happened. "You killed him..." he concluded. She nodded; her brow furrowing.
"He came here...to be sure. He was so sure, he brought no one with him." He nodded and squeezed her hand. "I am...so relieved that you are okay." She smiled as another tear took its course down her cheek.
"Don't cry, Ziver," he said and he held his arms out to her. She sat on the bed at his side and leaned over him, accepting his hug. "What the hell did they do to me?" he said as he felt the pain on his chest. She pulled away, worried, until she realized what he was referring to.
"Tony...when we found you, he did CPR for ten minutes until the ambulance arrived to revive you. He saved you." He smirked.
"Guess I can't smack him, then." She laughed. Then she put her hands on either side of his face, just as he remembered Jenny had did in his dream...his eyes closed at the gesture, and he felt her kiss his forehead. His hands went to hers as she pulled her head away.
"I should call them...let them know you are awake." She gently pulled away. He smiled as he watched her walk to the door...
Three weeks later...
"Hey, don't hog all the pepperoni, Probie!" Tony said as he yanked the pizza box away. "I've been working my way up to pizza for three weeks." He closed his eyes as he sniffed the the open box and let out an appreciative sigh.
"Thanks, Dinozzo," Gibbs said as he grabbed the box after unexpectedly entering the bullpen, and headed to his desk.
"Boss!" He stood. "Didn't know you were coming back to work today."
"Not till tomorrow," he replied as he took a slice from the box and handed it back to Tony who was standing in front of him now. "Just here for a meeting with Vance."
"Ziva's up there with him now," Tony said as he took the last slice of pepperoni and took a huge bite on the way back to his desk. Gibbs squinted.
"What about?" he asked.
"Something about Eli, boss," McGee answered. Gibbs thought for a moment, then laid the slice of pizza down on his desk and stood to go to the stairs.
"This," Tony said with a full mouth, "Is the best pizza I've ever had."
"It's the same pizza we always get," McGee said with a grin.
"Excuse me, Agent Gibbs," Vance said as Gibbs came into the office, "But I wasn't expecting you for another ten minutes." Gibbs cocked his head and glanced at Ziva who was sitting in the chair in front of the desk.
"Thought I'd drop in a little early."
"We just finished here anyway," he said and Ziva stood, giving Gibbs a small smile as she passed him to leave.
"Mind if I ask what that meeting was about?" Gibbs asked as he sat.
"As a matter of fact, I do."
"She in some kinda trouble?"
"We were tying up some loose ends," he replied. "I assure you, it was for her benefit." Gibbs nodded.
"She told me what you did," he said. "The situation with the Mossad after Eli was killed. I appreciate you helping her out."
"It wasn't difficult, after seeing what he'd put you all through." He stood from his chair and walked around to the front of his desk, leaning back on it. "How are you feeling?"
"Never felt better," he told him, slightly uncomfortable with the sudden closeness.
"Good to hear. Are there any concerns about the device they implanted, that we should be concerned about?"
"No," he replied. "Just there as a precaution." Vance stood and walked back behind his desk.
"So we'll see you here for work tomorrow?"
"Couldn't this meeting have happened over the phone?" Vance looked at him.
"Probably," he sat. "Guess I just wanted to see if you could make it up those stairs without keeling over." Gibbs smirked at that and stood up.
"Heart didn't stop 'cause I was running," he said as he headed to the door.
"Good to have you back, Agent Gibbs," he said as the door closed.
~Fin