Sorry about not posting yesterday folks. Couldn't upload the file :( And on with the tale...
Chapter twenty one
Ziva had no trouble slipping pass the guard who was supposed to be watching her on her ward level. All it had taken was a pretty nurse to capture his attention for a couple of moments and Ziva was gone.
Though once she hit the pavement outside, she didn't have a clue as to where she was headed. She didn't dare use her phone knowing that McGee would find her without missing a heartbeat. Her wallet was tucked deep in her backpack but she knew she had no large amounts of cash inside of it and she didn't dare use her credit card either.
Where did she go? What did she do? Her heart wanted to go to Tony's, but she wasn't ready to face him, not yet. She had a lot to say to the man that had proposed to her barely 24 hours before, but none of them were words that he would want to hear.
She couldn't go to Abby's because she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the younger woman would do her utmost to talk her out of just about anything Ziva had planned. In Abby's world everything had an answer, and everything could be tickety boo. But Ziva felt as far removed from being tickety boo as she could be. Her entire universe had fallen down around her ears and she had no one to turn to, not if she wanted to avoid being snitched upon. As much as she loved her fellow co workers, Ziva knew they would drop her right into the thick of it, given half the chance, and she wasn't giving any of them the chance. Not even Gibbs.
Gibbs. What Ziva would have given to have his sensibility by her side at that very minute. She'd been so relieved that he'd been the one to take charge of her back at that horrible trailer park, but it was going to take a substantial amount of time to be able to look him straight in the eye again. He'd seen her…all of her, and she hadn't just meant her physical body. Gibbs had seen beneath her outer shell, and heard her pitiful pleas, and heard her sob like a child. No one had ever seen her in such a vulnerable state, no one.
Ziva was on her own now and she didn't know where to turn to next. Her wounds began to sting and throb with the pain and exertion of just moving and she was going to need to rest before much longer, and with that in mind, she wearily turned and walked away from her refuge, as well as her prison. She had to find shelter, and soon, before she collapsed. Ziva hadn't realized just how unsteady and drained she was until then and the knowledge scared her more than she dared admit to herself.
"What do you mean she's gone!" Gibb shouted into the mouthpiece of his phone on hearing the news that he'd dreaded – while on the other hand, had half expected it. "Damn you, Maguire, couldn't you just watch one injured woman for a couple of hours without screwing up?"
The man didn't get the chance to apologize before Gibbs slammed the phone back down. McGee and DiNozzo could only stare at Gibbs as he silently raged in his seat trying desperately to rein in his temper and figure out what to do next.
"Boss?" Tony tried to ask him about Ziva, but was shot down before he could say another word.
"Shut up, DiNozzo, this is your entire damned fault! If you hadn't…." Gibbs caught Tim's horrified gaze and cut short the rest of what he was going to say. What he wanted to say. Instead he stood and walked to the big screen, barking at Tim as he did so. "Find her, Tim."
Resolutely, Tim pounded his keyboard and brought up the relevant information that they all needed to see. It had been clever thinking to slip the tracking device into Ziva's wallet, instinctively knowing that given the chance she would make a run for it. They all knew her too well.
"Found her, boss. She's at a motel three blocks from the hospital."
Tony sidled up beside Gibbs and stared at the blinking icon on the street map, his face creased in worry. "Want me to go after her, boss?"
But Gibbs shook his head and moved back towards his desk before sitting down again. "Nope. She'll be exhausted and I'd rather let her get some rest before we go get her, and she won't get that if we go get her now. For now we know she's okay. Tomorrow will be soon enough. You can go have breakfast with her."
"Breakfast?" Tony asked stupidly.
"Yeah, breakfast. You got a problem with that, DiNozzo?"
"Uh…no, boss. What shall I do with her after breakfast?"
Gibbs stared at him as though he really were stupid. "Talk to her you idiot. Make whatever you did wrong, right. Otherwise I'm gonna come kick your ass for real if you hurt her again. You got that?" he snarled.
Tony didn't need any further proof of Gibbs' intentions. Instead he started making some plans of his own, and that meant visiting Ziva's home again, only this time, he was going inside.