TISSUE WARNING!
It had become apparent that the team was not going to change their feelings about Tony. The first indication was Jimmy's blatant annoyance as he returned to Breena's room. The second clue came when Jethro reentered the waiting room and heard the team loudly complaining about Ducky. He knew that Tony had a tendency to be on the selfish side but he would never blow off a member of his family in a time of great crisis. Somehow the Ziva thing irked him more than anything with Breena. Tony had done a lot of crazy things in the past to get attention but he would never pull a stunt like this. Tony adored that woman and would never even think about even joking about her demise. Only a sick monster would make up having a terminally ill loved one. In a fit of pure rage he stomped his feet and flung his arms up in the air. The sound that came from his mouth fell somewhere between a scream, a grunt, and the cry of a movie monster.
"Are you OK, boss?" McGee asked.
"No! No I am not!" Jethro snapped.
"What's wrong?" Abby questioned, voice filled with concern.
"You! You guys are my problem!" Jethro cried.
"What are we doing wrong? We have been there for Jimmy and Breena." Bishop commented.
"You are sitting in the waiting room gossiping!" Jethro cried.
"He didn't want us in there!" Bishop argued.
"That may be but he was just in here and instead of comforting him you were attacking Tony and sent him into a rage." Jethro explained.
"Tony just shows up at the last minute after weeks of not caring. To make it even worse he is now claiming that Ziva is dying. We all know she died in a fire." McGee retorted.
"You McGee are the last person who should accuse poor Tony of being uncaring and compassionate. Remember all the nights he stayed with you at the hospital after Delilah was paralyzed? Remember that while he was still working he cooked for you, cleaned for you, and took care of Jethro." Jethro explained.
"Well if he can be here for me than why is he not here for Jimmy?" McGee asked.
"Because Tony's mother was never paralyzed in a terrorist attack. What did happen to her is that she died of brain cancer." Jethro explained.
"He should suck it up." Bishop scoffed.
"Did you suck it up when your cousin found out that her husband was cheating on her?" Jethro asked.
"No but that was just three months after Jake and I separated. Tony's mom died when he was eight. Shouldn't he have had time to move on?" Bishop questioned.
"Tony was in the room when his mom died. He watched the entire ordeal. Breena collapsed in front of him. In exactly the same way his mom did. Breena's illness is playing out almost exactly like his mother's. If you cared at all you would know that." Jethro explained.
"What about Ziva?" Abby demanded.
"Why the hell would Tony make something like that up?" Jethro demanded.
"The focus is not on him. He was the center of attention all summer because of Tali. Well now that has changed so of course Ziva comes back and is dying." Abby explained.
"Come with me! All of you! Just come with me now!" Jethro demanded.
The team reluctantly stood and followed Jethro down the long hallway. He stopped in front of one of the doors and turned the handle down. The door swung open and immediately a chorus of gasps escaped the mouths of the team members. The faint shell of Ziva lie on the bed incapable of moving and dwarfed by only a couple of tubes and wires. Tony was curled up beside Ziva on the bed, his face buried in her painfully thin arm.
"Now do you believe me?" Gibbs demanded.
"Yes sir" Bishop replied.
"Yes" Abby agreed.
"It's hard not to." McGee sighed.
"Go back to the waiting room. I will see if Tony and Nettie want you guys in here." Gibbs replied.
It had become painfully clear that the end of Breena's life was extremely near. Jimmy had tried to deny it but there was no use hiding from the truth. It was obvious by her weak and erratic heart-rate and the solemn looks he received when the doctors and nurses breezed in and out of her room far too often. Jimmy had no idea how he would handle it when the end finally came. How he would cope as a widower and single father? How he would continue to work on the dead. Would he be able to separate personal from professional or would every young woman be Breena, every middle aged man being Ed? Would his life be bearable or would he become so broken he couldn't even tend to Tori's needs? All questions he would have to answer far, far sooner than any human should have to.
The team had come and gone whispering brief yet meaningful goodbyes to Ziva. As the once powerful woman's condition continued to deteriorate. It had become too much for Nettie and the Israeli woman had gone to Tony's home to be with her great niece. Leaving Tony alone in Ziva's room. Waiting and praying for the end. Not wanting her to die but already tired of watching her suffer. He wondered how Nettie had handled this for the past two years. How she had seen Ziva go from well Ziva to a powerless vegetable.
Hours passed and one day rolled into the next. It was the darkest part of the night. When the moon was already beginning to fall but the sunrise was still a long way off. On that night sleep refused to come to Jimmy. He wasn't even tired but he wasn't wired. He was merely existing. He sat up by Breena's side just waiting for the inevitable. Jimmy had just looked up at the analogue clock that hung on the wall. The little hand sat on the three and the big lay somewhere between the seven and eight. Putting the time at around, three thirty seven in the morning. Breena's right eye popped open, she lightly squeezed Jimmy's hand, and then the convulsions started. Her body finally rested at three forty in the morning after an aggressive two and a half minute long seizure. Before the relief could come to Jimmy the heart monitor screamed. Seconds later a nurse and doctor came into the room. The DNR had been signed after the second time Breena had been revived that day. When it became clear that nothing could be done and Breena would never be Breena again. Jimmy had signed the dreaded paper, remembering the wishes Breena had disclosed to him shortly after they were married.
"Time of death three forty am!" The doctor called out.
The sound of the flat-lining heart-monitor sent a chill down Tony's spine. A code-blue had not been announced but Tony did not need a room number to know who the coding patient was. He also knew that by the lack of announcement that a DNR had been signed. Knowing that Breena was gone made Tony tighten his grip on Ziva's fragile body. The end was far less dramatic for Ziva than it had been for Breena. She did not open her eyes or show any sign to Tony that she was still in her body. Simply because she could not. Her heart rate and breathing suddenly became erratic and just as quickly plummeted until the machines were screaming. Again Tony tightened his grip on Ziva's body. Like with Breena a DNR had been signed and a doctor came in only to shut off the heart-monitor and call the time of death.
"Time of death three forty five am!" The doctor called, not even five minutes after he had called Breena's death.
By five in the morning the floor had mercifully calmed down. The on call doctor had returned to his sleeping quarters and the nurses had gone back to their duties. Every once in a while a patient would groan in pain or a family member would let out a cry, but for the most part. The only sign of life was two souls who felt as if they would never sleep or feel human again. Jimmy had stroked Breena's hair and again vowed to care for Victoria and never forget her. Before finding himself unable to be around the body any longer. He pressed the call button and declared that he was ready for the body to be taken away.
Tony on the other hand found it impossible to leave his wife's side. He held Ziva so tightly it was amazing that he did not break her fragile body. He buried his face in her neck and cried his eyes out. Even in death after a years long terminal illness she still smelled amazing. He knew that sound crazy but he did not want to forget her. He got an hour by her side before the time came to take her body down to the morgue. It took seven large men to drag him away from Ziva's body. Somehow he found the strength to break the news to Nettie and then he found himself wandering the halls.
Lost in a fog of grief Jimmy rounded a corner and his body collided with another. He looked up and saw Tony standing in front of him red faced and shell shocked at the same time. Tony studied Jimmy's face, his eyes were puffy and his glasses were askew. The two men reached out and pulled each into a tight hug.
"Breena went at three forty." Jimmy admitted.
"Sorry man, Ziva left at three forty-five." Tony sobbed.
"Sorry" Jimmy murmured.
The two widowers crashed to the floor, holding each other in tight hugs. Sobs rocked the bodies of both men as they sat on the floor completely bewildered. Tony took the cheap ring he had purchased at the Walmart a few blocks away and thrust it across the hall. Marrying her had been a foolish decision. Their union had lasted only twelve and a half hours and that's just it. Jimmy twisted his ring around his finger and held that hand close to his chest, he could nearly feel his heart breaking inside of his chest. Tony was screaming now and he knew there was nothing that he could do.
"Wh... What do we do now?" Tony asked.
"I don't know man but I will be by your side through it all." Jimmy vowed.
"We can only survive having each others sixes." Tony commented.
A/N: Brutal I know. How will Jimmy and Tony survive as widowers and single fathers? New chapter will be up soon. Please review and thanks for reading.
