Needless to say that things were very tense among the NCIS family. Between Jimmy's critical state, and Tony and Ziva's ongoing drama. There had not been a moment of peace in days. Jimmy had surprised and astonished the doctors by making it a week past the shooting. Initially Breena had been told that it would be a miracle if he made it twenty-four hours past the incident, but he had fought and was now on the seventh day. Even with Jimmy fighting his hardest he was still extremely critical and the doctors could make no promises. Breena had barely left the hospital in the seven days since Jimmy was admitted. If she had to leave Ducky would keep watch over his young mentee. Members of the team took turns sitting by Breena's side and making rare visits to Jimmy. Unfortunately due to his extremely critical state, Jimmy's visitors were greatly limited. Most days he was only allowed immediate family members and when visits were permitted they were limited to five to fifteen minute increments and extreme precautions had to be taken.
Tony and Ziva were still in deep mourning for Tali. Ziva was struggling with the fact that she had never known Tali and Tony was struggling with the guilt. Despite all that was happening around them, they still were refusing to speak to one another. Ziva still blaming Tony for the death of their daughter. Not seeing that Tony was completely destroyed by his daughter's death. Her grief had completely fogged her sense of logic. Gibbs wished desperately that his children would get their heads out of their asses and just talk to each other. Unfortunately Tony and Ziva were the most hard headed people that Leroy Jethro Gibbs had ever met. Getting just one of them to agree to anything was nothing short of impossible but both of them forget about it. Instead he resigned himself to hearing Tony cry at night and only seeing Ziva when their hospital visits happened to overlap.
Tony grimaced at the sight of Ziva's new car in the hospital's parking lot. Jimmy was actually doing well enough to handle visitors at the moment and of course now was when Ziva had to be here. He had been trying to see Jimmy all week but something always ended up getting in his way. Now what may literally be the one chance he had and Ziva was here. He didn't see the point to going in. Anytime Ziva saw him she went ballistic and the ICU waiting room was the worst place imaginable to have a big blow up. Sighing Tony texted Breena and said that something had come up. Before turning and exiting the hospital's parking lot. Knowing that Gibbs would wonder why he was home so soon. Tony turned and headed towards the local Best Buy. He didn't need or even want anything. He just figured that was the last place he would run into Gibbs. He found himself wandering aimlessly around the store. Simultaneously attracted to and trying his best to avoid the family walking around in the appliance section. It was a dad who looked to be about his age, a woman around Ziva's, a baby boy in a carrier, and a little girl who looked eerily like Tali. The girl whizzed passed him as he studied the Baby DVD's for shows to watch with Jonah. She grabbed a Doc McStuffins DVD and raced back to her daddy. Tali had loved Doc McStuffins.
"Sir! You need to move! I'm shopping!" The girl cried.
"Terri that was not very polite and besides I said one DVD." The father warned.
"I need to decide!" Terri cried.
"Well Johnny needs to get home. He is getting antsy from his shots." The father explained.
"Ted! Do not reason with her! Just apologize to the man she ran into and if she does not get her behind to checkout she is not getting anything!" The mom snapped.
"Zelda" Ted pleaded.
"No! Johnny is sick and I don't need her talking to strangers." Zelda snapped.
"Terri listen to your mother." Ted ordered.
"Alright" Terri sighed clutching the DVD and running after her mother.
"I am sorry for all of this. I am not sure if you have kids or if you do if you remember this stage. Well Terri has been acting up since the test came back positive." Ted explained.
"My daughter was wild at that age too. She was excited for her brother though. I never got to see how they would interact though." Tony sighed, wistfully, not realizing how much he had said.
"Oh did your wife lose the baby?" Ted asked.
"Tali died in an accident." Tony sighed.
"I am sorry to hear that. I guess I was a little too personal." Ted replied.
"No it's fine." Tony assured.
"I know it's not the same but we almost lost Terri just after Johnny was born. We were coming out of Chick-Fil-A and she ran out ahead of us like kids tend to do. This car just came out of nowhere, I swear that it tapped her. The driver got out and looked at her then sped off down the road." Ted explained.
"Was she OK?" Tony asked.
"Yeah but I just don't get why the man checked her and then sped away. I mean people got a good enough look at him and his truck to report him to the police." Ted explained.
"That is weird. Did they catch him?" Tony asked.
"Yeah but they let him go. I guess that he was somebody. They didn't even question him." Ted scoffed.
"What did he look like?" Tony asked.
"He was black, probably around our age, tall, average build, shaved head, brown eyes." Ted explained.
"That's pretty vague, what did the car look like?" Tony asked.
"Black truck, big, black truck with bars on the front." Ted explained.
"That... that car sound familiar." Tony stammered.
"Can you ID the driver? Maybe if somebody else turns him in he will finally get locked up for real. I hope it's not a friend. I just want that monster locked away." Ted explained.
"He's certainly not a friend. Look you should meet your wife. I have some calls to make." Tony replied.
Tony rushed out of the store trying his best to hide his fears. He was in shock, he was sure that it was all some strange hallucination. It couldn't be a coincidence. There are no such things as coincidences. He jumped off the sidewalk and made his way across the parking lot. He made it to his car before collapsing to his knees, his heart was racing and he felt sick. The vehicle Ted had described fit the truck that killed Tali to a T. He had seen the truck before too. Just a few weeks before Tali died. At Tobias Fornell's pool party. The car had belonged to Ron Sacks and while Tony didn't want to sound racist. The man Ted had described sounded an awful lot like Slacks. Slacks who despised Tony. Slacks who's brother had been Jonah's namesake, and had died right before Tony's eyes. He dialed 911 on his phone but his damn heart wouldn't slow down. By now he was alarmingly dizzy. He heard somebody calling to him on the other end but could not speak. He felt pavement shredding his face as he went down. He felt a hand grab his phone and press on his neck, and that was it.
"Yes this is Ted Donahue. I am in the parking lot of the Bethesda, Best Buy and I have reason to believe the man who just called you has suffered a heart attack."
"No I don't have medical training."
"In boy scouts like thirty years ago."
"OK you'll stay on the line? That's great thanks."
"I think that his name is Tony."
"He appears to be in his mid to late forties."
"I don't know we just chatted in the store for a few minutes."
"OK and the ambulance will be here in ten minutes?"
"Thank you, so much."
A/N: Will Tony be able to reveal what he learned? New chapter will be up soon. Please review and thanks for reading.