McGee looks up as Gibbs enters the squad room. Their eyes meet, and Tim can't help but ask the questions.
"Boss?"
"Yeah McGee?"
"Is Ziva ok?"
"I can't answer that, Tim."
"In your opinion," he clarifies.
"No, she's not ok. I would be more concerned if she was."
"Gibbs?"
"What, McGee?" he huffs as he takes a seat at his desk.
"Where are Tony, and Ziva?"
"I don't know."
"You aren't concerned?"
"McGee, he's the only one who can help her right now. I am not going to try and stop that."
"Is anyone ever going to tell me what is really going on? Why Ziva was really a suspect? All anyone ever said was that she knew him."
"Tim, sometimes I wonder about you. You have an Ivy league education, put the pieces together."
"The case has been over for days, but... no one wants to talk about it."
"McGee I'm not the one you need to talk to about this. If you want to know, you ask her. Do you understand?"
"Yes, boss," he nods.
He sits beside her, holding her hand. He watches her closely. She stares at the ceiling. Her eyes remain frozen on the ceiling tiles. The silence in the room is broken, and she squeezes his hand.
She refuse to look at him, or anything else. She stares at the ceiling tiles in the room, unwilling to be broken, unwilling to let a single tear fall. He holds onto her hand. Any other time, under any other circumstance she would not let him get this close, but the truth was, she needed him. She knew as much as she wanted to shut him out, shut them all out, there was no way she could do this, all alone. The thoughts running around in her head are interrupted by a rhythmic noise. She squeezes his hand, tighter.
The doctor looks at her, and then at him. His eyes ask, but his mouth doesn't move. DiNozzo responds in the only way he deems appropriate.
"Can you give us a minute, please?"
The doctor nods, leaving the room. He throws out his exam gloves on his way out. Tony looks at the screen, and then at Ziva.
"Ziva."
She doesn't look at him. He situates himself entirely in front of the screen.
"Look at me," he insists.
She turns her head, and stares at him.
"Are you ok?"
"No," she admits as she feels the tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Make it go away," she begs.
"I can't do that. If you want to, you can."
"No. I have to do this."
"Can I have him come back in?"
"Yes," she agrees.
Tony lets go of her hand. He goes to the door, and opens it. The doctor stands outside the room, waiting. Tony motions him back in.
Tony returns to his seat. He finds that she is no longer staring at the ceiling, she now stares past him. She stares at a screen. The doctor continues his exam. As the sound of a single heartbeat fills the room, she knows that there is nothing she can do.
She stares at the image on the screen. She listens to the sound of a beating heart, fill the room. She stiffens, trying not to cry. His hand slips into hers. She squeezes his hand, as if to say, make it stop.
Finally it is over. The doctor leaves the room, and she quickly gets dressed. Tony sits with his back to her, but doesn't dare to leave the room. Someone knocks on the door. A nurse comes into the room. She heads towards Ziva, he quickly intercepts her.
"I'll take those," he smiles.
The nurse hands them to him, and leaves the room. As the door closes Ziva's eyes meet his. He pulls a prescription from the top of the pile, he holds it out to her. She takes it from him, and puts it in the pocket of her coat.
He puts his coat on. He slips the pictures into his pocket, without offering them to her. "Ready?" he questions.
She nods. She follows him from the building to the parking garage. She climbs into the car, closing the door behind her. She pulls her seat belt on, as he slides into his seat. She stares out the window, numbly.
When they arrive at NCIS Jethro doesn't scold them for being late. Tim looks at them questioningly, but he doesn't ask. Gibbs is on the phone when they reach their desks. Ziva instantly reaches for her backpack. Tony pulls open a desk drawer, and places something inside. He closes the drawer, and grabs his gear.
Gibbs hangs up the phone, and scribbles something down on a piece of paper.
"Grab your gear," he says without looking up.
None of them say a word. He looks up, and finds them all migrating for the elevator. He follows them. When they reach the elevator he hands Ziva the keys.
"We don't get to fight over them, this time?" Tony questions.
"It is her turn," Gibbs points out.
McGee runs through it in his head, "He's right Tony."
"Great, I always wanted to die on a day like today," he whines as they pile onto the elevator.
"It will be a shame too," Ziva agrees.
"Why is that, Agent David?" Tony queries.
She cracks a smile, "Because it's your turn to buy lunch."
"I bought on Monday," he argues.
She nods, "McGee bought Tuesday, Gibbs bought Wednesday, I bought yesterday, that makes it your turn."
"We're all ordering from the dollar menu," he quips.
Gibbs gives them all a dirty look.
"We've got a dead sailor, and all the three of you can think about is lunch?"
"What should we be thinking about?" Tony wonders.
"Is there gas in the car? Did whoever drove it last clean out all of the crap in it? Are we going to make it to the scene, before lunch?"
"Right, boss," Tony nods.