Sorry. So, so sorry. Last chapter was…well, you know.
I am in a fairly bad mood today.
So, this was actually the first chapter I wrote for this whole story, then I decided that it really needed somewhere to actually start from, kind of like Star Wars.
I would just like everyone to remember, this is fiction.
Here is the definition of fiction if anyone has forgotten:
1.literature in the form of prose, especially novels, that describes imaginary events and people.
2.something that is invented or untrue.
With that in mind, I will blatantly ignore any comments of "That would not happen in reality!", because I simply do not care.
Sorry. Reading back on that, it sounds snippy. Was it snippy? It was not meant to be. Or maybe it was. I do not really know.
LI. No One Can Confidently Say That He Will Still Be Living Tomorrow.
"Tony!" Ziva ran over, putting pressure on his wound. The bullet had hit just bellow his left clavicle. "You are going to be fine." She looked him in the eye, her whole body shaking with tears. The red of his blood matched the colour of the poppies that crowded around them, waving in the gentle breeze, oblivious to the pain and suffering that was crushing their hardy stems. Her spare hand found his and moved it, placing it on her stomach. "In there are our babies, and you cannot leave them, do you hear me?" She pressed harder on his wound. "I cannot raise them alone."
"I love…you…" He choked, barely managing the last word. She bit her lip as his grip on her hand weakened and his eyes began to lose focus.
"Tony! Stay with me!" She cried harder, her salty tears mingling with his metallic blood. Hands pulled her gently away from her husband as paramedics swarmed around him like wasps. Gibbs wrapped his arms around her, restraining her as she fought against him.
"Ziva, calm." He whispered in her ear, allowing her to collapse into his arms, cradling her as her whole body rocked with sobs. "He's gonna pull through." She crumbled, clinging onto her boss for dear life.
"How can you know that?" Her voice cracked as she looked up at him, pleading.
"Because I haven't given him permission to leave." Gibbs shrugged.
"Do you think this is a joke?" She stepped back. Her breathing was ragged and her whole body was trembling, radiating waves of anger.
"No, Ziva." He looked at her. "No. I think of him as a son. You're like a daughter to me. I gave you away at your wedding." He shook his head. "You and Tony are my two best agents. I'm not going to lose him and he is not going to leave you." The ambulance sirens blared and it pulled away. Ziva felt empty, desolate. One of the twins kicked and her hand moved absently to her side. She looked down at her blood stained palms and clothes. "Come on." Gibbs walked her to his car, pulling her seatbelt across her and clipping it in, sighing when she didn't respond. He drove off, fast, following the path of the ambulance. He stopped the car outside the hospital, turning to her. "Officer David! Snap out of it!" He yelled and her head whipped round. "You say you will need Tony for the babies, but right now he needs you." He said. "Come on." She nodded, climbing out of the car and following him to the front desk numbly. "Your bullets hit. Both of them. The shooter is dead. Focus on Tony." They waited, impatiently, in the queue before Gibbs looked down at her and saw her eyes clouding over again. He wrapped his arm around Ziva's shoulders and pushed forwards, creating a lot of angry people. The man at the front of the line turned around and looked at the large group of people who were yelling at Gibbs and Ziva, and then back to the two people who had caused the outrage, about to complain at them and then noticing Ziva's appearance.
"Hey, the woman's pregnant and covered in blood! I can guarantee that whatever it is that you're in here for, she needs their attention more than you do!" He shouted and the mob settled slightly, the angry yells fading to quieter angry mumbles and murmurs.
"Thanks." Gibbs nodded, frowning at the man who had stuck up for them.
"You're welcome. My daughter, she didn't get the help she needed because there was a queue of angry people and she…she didn't get the help she needed. Anything to help another family." The stranger smiled sadly as he revealed the small amount of information about his life to explain why he was helping them. Gibbs flashed a small smile and turned back to the front desk, his steely exterior replaced.
"Tony DiNozzo." He snapped, flashing his badge.
The woman behind the desk tapped a few keys on the computer in front of her and then looked back up. "He's just gone into surgery." The nurse stood up and looked at Ziva, her bump, the bloody clothes. "Can I get you a set of scrubs?" She asked.
"I would appreciate that." She nodded, her accent heavy.
"How far along are you?"
"Uh, almost eight months." Ziva swallowed as they followed.
"And you're still working?" The nurse handed a pair of green scrubs over.
"No. We were getting lunch." Ziva said flatly.
"I should have told you to stay where you were. We wouldn't be here now."
"Or he could have shot at us anyway. And then there would have been innocent civilians caught in the cross fire too." She looked up at him and frowned. "We did our jobs. That is what we are trained to do."
"And you're about to have kids!" He yelled at her. "You're on maternity leave! You're supposed to be safe. Neither of you should be anywhere near the crossfire of any guns!"
"You're agent DiNozzo's wife?" The nurse asked sympathetically.
"Yes." She lay her hand on the spot that one of the twins kept kicking at, trying to quell the unborn child's restlessness.
"I'm sorry." The woman nodded. "You can change through there." She pointed to an empty exam room. "Then I can take you to a waiting room."
Gibbs watched Ziva as she slept. She had curled up on a series of three vinyl chairs across the waiting room from him. Her sleep was deep, but traumatic, he could tell. Her face would contract and she would whimper slightly. She had twisted so the scrubs were stretched taut across her swollen abdomen. Abby, McGee and Ducky had been in and out of the waiting room every few hours, checking for news before going back and processing any evidence from the scene or following any of the meagre leads they could find. Tony's doctor, Dr Thompson, walked through and looked at Ziva pitifully, exhaling before turning to Gibbs. "Makes me want to go home and hug my wife and kids."
"They're as close to my kids as possible. I gave her away at their wedding." Gibbs shook his head and stood up. "He'll be ok?"
"Your agent DiNozzo's a strong man, he's a fighter."
"He's got something to fight for." The agent shrugged.
"I didn't expect him to get this far. He isn't out of the woods, but he's through the worst of it, providing he recovers and recuperates well."
"Thank you, doctor." Gibbs shook his hand.
"He should wake up in a day or two, but you can see him if you wish."
"I'll wait till she wakes up." He pointed to the pregnant woman. "She'll want to see him first."
"You're a good man, Agent Gibbs." He nodded and walked away. Gibbs sat back down, jumping back up again immediately as Ziva began to cry out in anguish, ignoring his coffee cup as it tumbled to the floor, spilling the brown liquid across the linoleum.
"Hey, hey." He wrapped his arms around her to stop her from thrashing about. "Hush."
"Gibbs." She gasped, looking up at her boss. "It was not just a dream, was it?" She looked down at the scrubs she was wearing, the blood that still stained her hands.
"No." He shook his head sadly. "He's out of surgery. Asleep."
"I can see him?" Her eyes welled with tears.
"Yeah." He smiled slightly. "Go see him." She eased herself up from the seats. He pointed to a room down the corridor and she nodded, walking in that direction. She sighed shakily at her husband lying in the hospital bed, tears dribbling down her cheeks. She pushed through the glass door and walked over to him, picking up his limp hand.
"Oh Tony…" She cried, sitting in the chair next to his bed, running her hand through his hair. "Gibbs assures me that you are going to be fine, and I hope he is right, because I do not know how to go on without you." She swallowed, wiping her tears away. "Please be alright."
"DiNozzo, you're a pain in the ass, you know that?" Gibbs sighed as he dragged a second chair to the side of Tony's hospital bed. Ziva had slept in the other chair overnight, not relinquishing her grasp on his hand, even in her slumber. "But you're my pain in the ass." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "And I don't give you permission to die." He watched Ziva sleep before standing up and tugging the curtains closed slightly to stop the sun that was beginning to light the room up from waking her. There was a quiet knock on the glass door and a nurse walked through, carrying a tray.
"Hi, I thought you might want some food and coffee." She handed him a disposable cup and an apple, placing a banana beside Ziva.
"Thank you." He nodded, placing the cup down.
"It's sad." The nurse looked at Ziva and then at Tony. "Makes you realise how unpredictable life is."
"She needs a change of clothes and a shower." He pointed to the sleeping woman.
"I'll see what I can do." The nurse smiled kindly and he nodded.
"Thank you."
"Hey." Gibbs bowed his head slightly as Ziva stirred awake.
"Hello." She murmured quietly.
"Clean set of scrubs." Gibbs held them up. "They have somewhere you can take a shower."
"I am not leaving him, Gibbs." She shook her head.
"It'll make you feel better."
"I am not the one who needs to feel better." She said quietly, watching her husband's motionless face.
"Ziva, I'll be here."
"What if he wakes up whilst I am having a shower?"
"Then I'll tell him that you're having a shower and you'll be back soon." Gibbs shrugged. "Go. He'll understand." He handed the green cotton scrubs to her. She clasped them in her hands and folded them on her lap, stroking the soft material.
"I cannot leave him. I cannot, Gibbs. I cannot." Drops of moisture began to land on the mint green fabric, creating dark, damp circles.
"It's alright." He said, walking over to her and helping her to stand up. He wrapped his arms around her and held her head to his chest. "I shouldn't have pushed you. You don't have to leave him if you don't want to."
"I want him back, Gibbs." She whispered through her tears, sniffing slightly as she watched her husband's weak breathing from over Gibbs shoulder.
"He's not gone, Ziva." Gibbs shook his head, keeping her arms wrapped around her shoulders. "He'll be okay. You'll be okay. But, if you're not gonna have a shower, you're gonna need to eat something." He handed her the banana.
"Gibbs, I…"
"It's a banana. Good for you." He smiled and walked back to his seat. "Full of potassium and…stuff."
"Mmm, stuff. Sounds delicious." She said sarcastically.
"You like bananas." He frowned.
"I liked them before you tried to tell me what they contain." She peeled the yellow fruit, struggling slightly but too stubborn to let Gibbs help.
"Trying to make them sound good." He shrugged.
"Well, it was unnecessary." She sat back down too, her eyes fixed back on Tony's face.
Abby walked into the hospital room and looked at her friends. Ziva was curled awkwardly – asleep – in the chair beside the hospital bed, her hand still entwined in Tony's. Tony himself was lying, connected to an IV drip replacing his blood. He looked so pale, his face lifeless and missing something...his Tony-ness. She walked over to the other side of the bed, jumping when he moaned slightly. "Tony?" She watched as he blinked slowly and groaned.
"Abs?" He looked up at her, his voice hoarse. "What happened?" He asked quietly.
"You were shot." She shook her head, her voice spiking.
"Ziva? Where's Ziva?" He grew panicked, the machines monitoring him beginning to beep erratically.
"Right next to you." Abby smiled and pointed. He twisted his head to the side, groaning in pain, to look at his wife. He looked back, his face full of fear.
"Why's she in scrubs? Is she all right? The babies are fine?" His heart rate increased, the panic setting in fully.
"She's fine, they're all fine. Her clothes were covered in blood so they gave her scrubs to change into." She tried to calm him down.
"How bad was it?" He reached up with the hand opposite his wound, the one not restrained by a sling, and flinched, pain splintering across his shoulder.
"Well, it wasn't good." The Goth said sarcastically. "Sorry." She said quietly.
"It's fine." He looked at her. "Gibbs?"
"Sat in the waiting room. Has been since you arrived here." She flashed a grin as Ziva stirred. "I'll go find your doctor."
"You are awake." She leaned forwards, stroking his forehead.
"Apparently so." He smiled.
"I love you so much."
"I love you just as much. If not more." He smiled as she kissed his cheek. He frowned as her face contorted in pain. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing." She shook her head and stood up.
"Don't lie to an injured man, Ziva."
"I said I am fine. How is your shoulder?"
"I have to say the morphine really is taking a toll, because I thought you just flinched again."
"You are right, maybe the morphine is taking a toll." She frowned at him. They sat in a silent stalemate, neither willing to concede and break it, as they stared, their eyes locked.
Tony caved first. "Tell me what's wrong, Ziva." He tried to sit up as she hissed in pain, her hand dropping to her stomach. "Ok, was that a contraction?" He said through gritted teeth.
"More than likely." She swallowed.
"How long have they been going on for?"
"Well…I guess they started just before I fell asleep, but I just though they were Braxton Hicks contractions." She shrugged. "And then my waters broke." Panic flickered momentarily across her face. "I changed my scrubs. The contractions were not as bad as they are now."
"And you slept through them?" Tony shook his head slowly.
"I was tired Tony." Ziva snapped and he raised his free hand in defence as high as he could, wincing in pain.
"You should have told someone, Ziva." He scolded.
"No. I am not doing this without you, Tony."
"Is this some form of perverse blackmail? Because I don't like it." Tears welled up, threatening to fall, as she stared at him. He sighed and shook his head. "Oh, Ziva, you know I didn't mean it. I want to meet our babies just as much as you do. Sweetcheeks, I am going to be right hear next to you, the whole time."
"I know." Her voice was shaky, barely audible as her eyes flickered shut and her grip on the arms of the chair tightened. Although she appeared to control herself this time, Tony could see she was struggling. He knew it was early. Too early. She was only 34 weeks.
"Okay, they're really close together." He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and tried to stand up next to his wife.
"Tony, what are you doing out of bed?" The Dr Thompson rushed in and put a gentle palm on the man's chest, trying to coax him back into bed.
"My wife has gone into labour." He pointed to her. "I'm gonna take her to the maternity ward."
"No, you're not. You're going to stay in bed and recover. Agent Gibbs is going to take you to the maternity ward." He said to Ziva.
"Why can I not have the babies here?"
"Because we're not fully equipped here. Come on." He said, walking her out of the room.
"I am not leaving him." She dug her heels in – metaphorically and physically. "I will not go."
"I don't think you have a choice." The doctor chuckled lightly and stopped in the hall as she glared at him. "Look. You might want to wait for Tony, but those babies don't. Agent Gibbs is going to take you to the maternity ward."
"Hey, Ziva, how's he doing?" McGee asked as he and Abby walked down the corridor. He held a stack of DVDs in his hand.
"I do not know." She gasped and doubled over slightly. "I have withstood interrogation, and never have I been in so much pain." She hissed at the doctor.
"It's fine." He nodded soberly. "You'll be just fine."
"Do you want me to inflict this pain on you?!" She yelled and Abby and McGee exchanged glances before hurrying over.
"Okay, what's happening?" Abby asked, her voice growing higher in pitch.
"Your friend has gone into labour. One of you might want to take her to Agent Gibbs and the other will have to restrain Tony. He will probably be trying to make his way through that door any second." He smiled. Abby and McGee stood frozen for a moment before snapping into action immediately.
Rock, paper, scissors.
When Abby's rock smashed McGee's scissors, she looked between expectant mother and expectant father, deliberating over which was the safer job and which McGee would enjoy least. McGee would definitely enjoy witnessing a birth less than he would enjoy being Tony's captor. And being Tony's guard was safer – he only had one arm, after all.
She held her hands out and Tim sighed. He handed the DVDs to his dark friend and took Ziva's arm, leading her towards the waiting room that she had spent the first night sleeping in as Abby walked in the opposite direction towards Tony's private room.
"Ziva? What's wrong?" Gibbs leapt up as McGee walked through with Ziva.
"Contractions." McGee said.
"Now?" Gibbs questioned, his eyes wide.
"Er, yeah." Tim clenched his eyes tight as Ziva almost broke all the bones in his hand.
"Right, come on." Gibbs took her other hand. "When it hurts, squeeze my hand, not McGee's. I can't afford to have any more agents in here." He smiled at her and the corners of her mouth twitched up slightly, the smile not reaching her eyes and the fear not fading from her face. "You do pick your moments, don't you?" He muttered sarcastically under his breath as he hit the button for the elevator.
"Gibbs, I did not pick this moment." She glared at him.
"Figure of speech." McGee nodded. "Too complicated to explain now." The elevator door slid shut as a brief flicker of pain passed through Gibbs' eyes and he wondered for a second if he should have left McGee to suffer Ziva's grip, character building or the such like.
"Tony, you have to stay here." Abby said, biting her lip. "You can watch a movie." She smiled weakly.
"Abby, Ziva's gone into labour. I should be with her." He stood up again, gritting his teeth at the pain splintering down his shoulder. He yanked the machines he was hooked up to out and sighed when she stood in his way, the expulsion of air regretfully painful. "Abby, let me past." He leaned on the IV stand he was still connected to.
"I can't." She shook her head. "You're not allowed to leave."
"Abby, you want to be there when the twins are born too, don't you?" He grinned. She sighed, relenting.
"Fine, but your doctor is gonna be back any second." She looked out of the door. "Can you walk?"
"I was shot in the shoulder, Abby. Not my leg." He shook his head, trying not to let her see the pain that would make her lock him in his room for good. "Let's go." He muttered impatiently.
"Coast is clear." She flicked her eyes either way before leading him down the hall, keeping her pace as quick as possible without causing Tony too much pain. "I think they've taken her to the maternity ward."
"Great, Abs, which floor?" He asked as he leant against the inside wall of the elevator.
"I…don't know." She looked at him, her shoulders sagging. "Hold on, I'll ask."
"Abs, no-one can know I've left my room, how are you going to ask?"
"Good point. Um, we can go down to the main reception, ask there and then go and find her?" She smiled, her idea suiting the pair of them. Tony hit the button for the ground floor and groaned as the metal box jolted to life and they descended slowly.
"Go and ask, I'll stay by the elevator." He said as the doors slid open and he eased himself out. She nodded and ran over to the front desk.
"Hi. I'm looking for the maternity ward." She smiled at the nurse.
"I'm sorry, are you visiting someone?" The nurse smiled sweetly back.
"Uh, yeah. Ziva David-DiNozzo." Abby flicked her eyes over to where Tony had moved to sit on one of the vinyl chairs next to a pot-plant, the leaves of which he kept batting away with a hand.
"Are you a relative?"
"Well, she's one of my closest friends and we work together every day and we're closer to family than real family and our boss would say that blood doesn't make a family, but relationships do and I was one of her bridesmaids at her wedding and my boss is with her now and so is one of my other best friends. Please?" She gushed, her pigtails bobbing up and down. The nurse sighed and shook her head.
"Third floor, there are signs."
"Thank you. So much." Abby looked her in the eye before running back over to Tony and relaying the news. "Third floor."
"Let's go, then." His face pinched and he ground his teeth together as he stood up. They returned back into the elevator and Abby hit the button, smiling. They waited the short journey upstairs in silence, Abby darting out as soon as the door opened and Tony followed at a slower speed. "Abs, could you just slow down slightly." He said quietly as he paused to catch his breath. "It's just that, I've been shot, and that kinda takes the breath out of you."
"Oh, yeah." She studied his face carefully. "You look really pale." Tony stared at her and laughed.
"Well, that's kinda what the blood this is pumping into me is for." He shook the IV stand that he was using as a support.
"Sorry." She hopped from one foot to the other. "I've had a lot of Caf-Pow today." A loud cough silenced the escapees and they both closed their eyes, their brilliant plan foiled by the persistent doctor. They both turned on the spot to face his glare.
"I though I told you not to leave your room, Agent DiNozzo? And I expected better of you Miss Sciuto." He said sternly.
"My wife is about to give birth to my kids. I want to be there."
"No. You need to avoid stress and be back in your room with the equipment needed to deal with any complications."
"I'll be more stressed if I can't be with my wife!" Tony yelled, just hoping that wherever Ziva was she could hear that he was trying to be there for her.
"No, Agent DiNozzo." The doctor took his arm and led the way back to the ward on the floor below.
"Then why can't she have the twins downstairs?"
"Because if there are any complications with the birth then they have more sophisticated, specialised equipment up here." The doctor sighed, exasperated by the federal agent's constant stubborn questioning which, he had to admit, if he were in the same position he would do the same things, ask the same questions.
"But millions of kids are born around the world away from hospitals and 'specialist equipment' every day and they are fine." Tony stopped outside the elevator, looking at his doctor's upraised eyebrow. "Okay, so maybe not millions, but quite a few."
"Agent DiNozzo, please stop arguing."
"Then let me see my wife." He said as a stream of very, very loud Hebrew expletives travelled easily down the long corridor. Tony's Hebrew wasn't fluent enough to be able to translate, but he definitely heard his name intermingled in with his wife's first language and the Probie's yelps of pain. "On second thoughts, it sounds like Gibbs and McGee have a pretty good hold on things up here. Maybe it would be best for me to recover properly." He nodded to the elevator as the doctor laughed and the three of them stepped in, the metal doors doing nothing against Ziva's threats and screams and curses.
"Do you understand anything she's saying?"
"Well, I'm not fluent in my wife's native tongue, but I am certain there was something about cursing the day my great grandfather defiled my great grandmother's honour." He ran a hand through his hair.
"Specific." The doctor laughed again. "She sure has a set of lungs on her."
"Oh, you have no idea." Tony joined in with the laughter, as did Abby.
"You realise that you are going to be living in a house with twins who are probably going to be even louder?" Abby sniggered as his face fell and they stepped out of the elevator, almost being hit by the director.
"Tony! What is going on?"
"Uh, Ziva's in labour. I would avoid the maternity ward if I were you. It's not the safest place in the world." Tony grinned.
"What?!"
"Mossad officer. Labour. I am surprised you cannot hear her screaming from here." Abby shrugged as the doctor left Tony in the capable hands of the two women. "There was a lot of Hebrew being yelled."
"Are you okay?" Jenny asked as Tony stopped walking to his room. He looked up and grinned. "I'm gonna be a father."
"Please tell me you have not only just realised that." Abby and Jenny exchanged glances.
"No, but it's real. It's really happening. It's not just a dream."
"Oh, God. It's going to be a really long night." The director groaned as they walked into the private room, rolling her eyes at Abby's smirk.
I like some parts more than I like others. I was actually going to leave it for longer, but the suspense was getting to me...
