As promised, here is an epilogue to my story that skips ahead to the recent season 13 finale.
Previously...Gibbs accepts that Ziva needs to figure things out and makes peace.
Ok. So I am starting this as Gibbs was in the end of the episode, in his basement, before Tony comes. I am writing this for a few reasons. I am writing it for Ziva's sake, and for the sake of Tony and Ziva as a couple, and also because Gibbs was totally chill with Tony leaving and I think this needed to be done. Please tell me what you think, I love hearing from you.
Gibbs was angry. Really angry. At everyone. Kort. Mossad. Ziva. Everyone. It wasn't fair. Ziva was supposed to be in Israel, alone and figuring out her life, but now she was dead. After his experience watching her life, he guessed he shouldn't be surprised, that death would come early for someone like her, but it still wasn't right. And getting killed in your sleep by a bomb was cruel.
If someone was to survive, however, he was glad it was Tali. Ziva could not lose her daughter named after her beloved dead sister. She had lost too much already. If Tali had died, Ziva would be dead inside. It was better that she was the one to die, but it would have been better if both of them could live.. He was still mad about that. And sad. Really sad. He had been staying strong for Tony, who was taking it badly. Obviously. Gibbs knew more than anyone what losing someone you loved was like. He was also mad about Tony, who he knew was going to leave the team. He understood why, but he didn't like it.
"Jethro usually I do not have to visit the same place twice."
He sighed, not turning around. "You're back."
"I am." Mercy, the angel who had guided him several years before, was in his basement once again.
"Ziva is not dead Jethro."
Despite all his will power, Gibbs felt hope. "You're lying."
"Why would I do that?"
"I don't know. If she is alive why did Mossad…."
Mercy held up a hand. "It is better if I show you."
Gibbs was taken to Israel, to the same farmhouse that he had seen Ziva have a meltdown at. It was intact, so he walked inside.
He saw that she had redecorated, and that evidence of Tali was everywhere, with toys and pictures all over the place. He found Ziva's room, where she slept peacefully. In a side hallway, he found Tali's room.
He heard the cats fighting only a moment before Ziva did. She flew out of bed, holding a gun, and relaxed once she identified the sound. Rolling her eyes, she got out of bed and slowly padded outside, following the sound of the cats, yelling at them in Hebrew.
The bomb hit the house without warning. Ziva was thrown down, hard, and knocked out. A minute later, she woke up, and ran back inside the house, calling for Tali in terrified screams. He followed her. She got to the corridor that Tali had been sleeping in, and started trying to clear rubble that was on fire and over the entrance. She finally ran through it, seemingly not impacted by the flames.
Tali's room had not been hit. It was actually amazing. She pulled the crying girl from her bed and opened the window, gently setting her down outside.
Tali was crying, and yelling about wanting something, and Ziva looked back in the room, and started speaking to her daugher in Hebrew. "I will get all of it, ok? But you have to start running for me, to your treehouse, can you do that?"
The girl nodded, and Ziva threw clothes, a stuffed dog, and a picture of her and Tony in the bag, with other things, and tossed it out the window. The flames outside Tali's room had been getting closer and closer, and before she could leave, another boom sounded, and everything was collapsing on Ziva.
The light flashed and Ziva was sleeping in a hospital bed. Malachi was sitting next to her. She was waking up, slowly, and it didn't surprise Gibbs when she immediately looked at Malachi and said "Where is Tali?"
"Safe. We have her. She is untouched, You on the other hand…."
"Where is she?"
Malachi sighed. "America."
Gibbs thought Ziva was going to scream. "What?"
"With Tony."
"What day is it?"
"Wednesday."
"Why am I just waking up?"
"You were in a coma actually, They had no idea when…."
"Why is my daugher in America?"
"They think that you are dead. All of them."
Now, Ziva looked like she was going to kill him. "I am not dead,"
"Ziva, listen. The man who bombed you, NCIS caught him. But there will be more. You have too many enemies. You asked me to keep your family safe, and this is the only way I know how. By making everyone think Ziva David is dead."
"But some people know right? Tony and Gibbs?"
"No."
"Well tell them!"
"Do you want me to?"
"I do."
"I was going to tell Tony. He told Orli that he is taking Tali here. He has decided to quit NCIS."
Ziva was at a loss for words. "So when will you tell him?"
"When he arrives."
"And Gibbs?"
"I could call him."
"Yes, please. Soon."
"But what about everyone else? Only Orli and I know. And it was not easy. You are kind of in bad shape Ziva. You scared me." At his words, Gibbs realized something. Malachi was in love with her. And he was still trying to get her and Tony together in Israel with their child.
"I trust them. At NCIS. They can know. No one else."
The light flashed, and Gibbs was back in his basement. 'She's alive."
"That is what i told you."
"She's hurt...I need to go over there."
"You can't. It would ruin the point. She'll make a full recovery. I promise."
"Why hasn't he called me?"
"Well, soon Tony will be arriving to tell you that he is leaving. And after that Malachi will call. He will tell you to wait a week or so to let everything die down and then to take your team and Abby and Ducky and Vance and Jimmy onto the elevator or something and tell them. You can tell Ellie and even your new team member, Clayton. He's trustworthy. Your other new candidate decides she wants to stay with the FBI."
"He's right. Malachi. She has a lot of people targeting her. It scares me."
"So you understand why Malachi did this for her and her family."
"What are the chances it all works out? That Ziva and Tony and Tali remain happy and safe?"
Mercy smiled. "What if I told you it did work? That Tony gets to Israel and helps Ziva get through weeks of physical therapy and healing, and that Tali calls him Abba and they are truly a family?"
"For now, or for always?"
"They get married. They go on their honeymoon all over the world, but they stop in Iceland."
"Her "I Will" list."
"That's right. And in the house they create, Tony makes sure she has a ballet studio to teach her daughter."
"And do I ever get to see them?"
"Pretty often. They visit DC a lot. And going back to her I Will list, she doesn't quite cross off the last thing on it."
"Yeah, have a boy and a girl, she only has Tali."
"Well, in a few years they have another daughter, and they name her Kelly."
Gibbs was honestly floored. "They name her that? For me?"
"They knew it was the best way to honor you. To let her live through their child."
He didn't speak, thinking about Tony and Ziva and how much he cared about them as people, as his kids. "And they're happy?"
"I promise they are. And they live a long and happy life. You won't have to bury either of them. I know that's your fear."
Gibbs couldn't speak, still trying to process everything he had heard. "You said Tony was coming? How can I keep this from him?"
"He will know soon enough. And Malachi will not call you until after he leaves, so Tony will not know you knew before he did."
There was a noise upstairs, and the angel smiled. "There he is."
They talked, and Gibbs hugged him, and whispered "take care of your family." It probably confused him, thinking that Tali was just one person, so why say family, but Tony didn't question it. He watched his friend, son, protege, whatever you wanted to call him, walk out with the weight of losing Ziva on. His shoulders. He wished he could see his face when he realized it was a trick.
His agents were off on their own, to a life they deserved. He would miss Tony, but he couldn't wish him to stay. He had more important things to worry about now.
And a few time zones away, Tony looked at Malachi confused, wondering why he was taking him here, to this house. And Tali was squirming out of his arms and yelling "Ima!"
And there was Ziva, sitting up in bed, smiling at him. And he was running towards her, just like Tali, and he knew everything was going to be ok from now on."
All done! On the anniversary of the day I started it. Thank you for all of the support and i hope I did the show justice just a little. And I'm sorry if my ending is too happy, but I had to give them all a happy ending. I love the characters too much.
