I'm glad everyone is liking my story, and I'm sorry that I have been leaving the chapters on a cliff hanger but I have found that it makes people want to continue reading. And it's good knowing that people are waiting on the next chapter to be added. For someone who nearly failed English I'm quite proud of this story so please read and review and let me know what you think.

Previously........

"Ziva, you can't go to sleep, you have a head injury so you need to stay awake ok?" She nodded her head but quickly squeezed her eyes shut as another wave of pain rushed through her and she brought her hand down to her stomach. Groaning she rolled onto her side into a fetal position and clutched Gibbs' hand tighter. "Ziva?" asked Gibbs, turning he looked at the medic who was conversing with the driver through a little window that separated the two. "What's happening to her?"

ON THEIR WAY TO BETHESDA
IN AMBULANCE
2245 ZULU

Turning around the man rushed to Ziva's side. Lifting her eye lids he shined the pen light into her eyes, "her pupils are sluggish, she's going into hypovolemic shock," forcing her to lay on her back again he then lifted her shirt. That's when he noticed her distended and discoloured abdomen. Palpating her swollen stomach caused her to cry out again, the medic sighed and shook his head, "and she definitely has internal bleeding, damn it!" He stated as he banged his fist twice onto the partition that separated them from the driver. Gibbs didn't know what the medic was doing but when he suddenly felt the ambulance lurch forward he then understood, it meant that time was running out and she needed to get to the hospital ASAP.

"What are you doing to her?" Gibbs voice shook as he watched the medic elevate Ziva's legs.

"We need to keep as much blood circulating through her heart as we can, that is why I have raised her legs," he replied, "keep talking to her and don't let her fall asleep!"

"Ziva, come on hun don't do this to me, you need to fight so you can get better and come home to Ahelia and I, please!" Gibbs stressed.

She wanted to answer him but only a loud moan escaped her lips as her abdomen once again contracted painfully. Turning her head slightly to the side she started to cough violently, only this time a spray of crimson red stained the stark white sheets. A cherry red trickle of blood being the only colour to her now ashen face. She was finding that every breath that she struggled to take, put unwanted pressure on her already fluid filled lungs as she gasped for much needed oxygen.

Ziva let out a little whimper and returned to her previous fetal position, "can't you give her something?" The medic shook his head. "Anything?" Gibbs pleaded with the man.

"I can't give her any medication as it could exasperate her already failing system. Most of the drugs we have on board for pain relief contain blood thinning agents, I'm sorry but she is just going to have to wait until the doctors can get her into theatre to repair the damage."

Gibbs nodded and looked back down at the now frail Israeli, "Ziva, just hold on alright were nearly there."

Raising a trembling hand she traced his eyebrows, ran her finger tips over his nose and rubbed her thumb across his lips. "I-I . . . love you. . . . J-Jethro. . . .take c-care. . . . of A-Ahelia, " she panted out. With one last brush of his cheek she slowly closed her eyes as her hand started to slide down his face. Catching her now lifeless hand in his, he placed her palm back on his cheek.

"Zee?" Gibbs sniffed as his eyes filled with tears, but he was determined not to let them fall, "I love you too, just hold on ok!"

BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL
WASHINGTON DC
0630 ZULU

Gibbs had been sitting in the same chair for the last seven and a half hours, gently cradling his left hand in his right. He could still feel the slight tingle that pulsed through it from when he had held Ziva's still one. He closed his eyes as he remembered what had happened when they had finally arrived at the hospital. . . . . . .

The ambulance had no sooner stopped when the back doors burst open revealing a mass of nurses and doctors awaiting their arrival. He had never once let go of her hand as they rushed through the front entrance into the busy emergency department. They pushed her into a curtained area where they proceeded to cut away her clothing, take her vitals and hook her up to the necessary machines. Then within a matter of minutes the heart monitor had sounded and she flat lined. A nurse had climbed onto the gurney and straddled her hips as she started to perform CPR, another worked the bag that was squeezing life giving oxygen into her lifeless body. Then before he knew what was happening, her hand was suddenly ripped form his grasp, as her unconscious form was rushed directly to a waiting theatre room where she was still undergoing surgery on an internal bleed. . . . . . .

The banging of the staff only doors brought his attention back to the present and to a nurse that had just walked out, sitting up straighter in his seat he waited to see if she would have news on Ziva. But he sighed and slumped back in his chair when she walked over to another family that was waiting across from him. Putting his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands he tried not to listen to the families shrill cries of grief as he fought to regain control of his own emotions that were threatening to make themselves known.

"Gibbs?" A whispered little voice sounded and he snapped his head up only to come face to face with Ahelia. "How is my ima?" she asked as a few tears trickled down her cheeks. Jen just nodded in acknowledgement and sat down across from him, she wanted to give them some time alone.

"I don't know princess, I don't know," he mumbled as he looked back down at the little girl.

Ahelia nodded her head sadly as she climbed up onto his lap, resting her head on his chest she started to play with the buttons on his shirt, "ima will be alright abba," she murmured as she cuddled in closer to his warm embrace.

"Of course she will my little soilder," it wasn't until he had replied that he then realised she had called him abba. "Ahelia, you know that i'm not your father right!" she lifted her head and smiled at him.

"You have been more of an abba in the last few days then what my real abba and sabba have been all my life," she sighed. "But if you don't like it I will call you Gibbs," she lowered her head back down to his chest.

Placing his thumb and finger under the little girls chin he gently lifted her head, he looked at her beautiful violet eyes and smiled, "Ahelia, I would be proud for you to call me abba," he kissed Ahelia's cheek.

She threw her arms around his neck and said four little words that he never thought he would hear again, "I love you dad," she whispered in his ear before snuggling into his embrace as she went back to playing with his buttons.

It was almost 2 hours later when the rest of the team arrived. "Anything on Ziva boss?" asked Tony as he sat down beside the Director.

"Nothing yet," he paused. "How's the investigation going?"

"Well Jethro, I performed the autopsy on the John Doe that I picked up from the scene, lab results confirmed the body belongs to Ali. Naturally you could tell that the cause of death had been the explosion. The burns that covered his entire body were not chemical burns so I am assuming that the explosion wasn't caused by the misuse of mixing chemicals. It would have been one of the bombs that had detonated and therefore caused a chain reaction with the others,"

"If it wasn't a chemical explosion then would they set the timer on the bombs if they weren't ready to use them, I mean the ware house was not the target site so why start the countdown," McGee questioned.

"Maybe it wasn't them who started it!" Jenny suggested.

"Yeah, you said that she was trying to get away from the ware house, maybe Ziva escaped, set the timer, but didn't make it to safety as she collapsed," Tony added.

"What about Rhani?"questioned Gibbs, "did you find him?"

The others looked at each other before turning back to their boss, "Well boss when the search and rescue crew didn't come across anymore bodies, we went back to the satellite recording that the Director and Abby had been watching, and we noticed that Rhani escaped out another entrance just before it exploded."

Ducky sighed, "he's still out there Jethro!"

TBC

Hi so what do you think will happen next? If you have any ideas let me know!