Chapter 13
Ziva sat in her chair behind her desk. She was watching as everyone was trying to track down Maliek, now that she had revealed his name. She kept thinking about her dream and she was thinking about how no matter what she did she was going to lose everyone she held dear to her. She was struggling with the issues that were in her mind as she laid her head down on her folded arms. She closed her eyes again, trying to let sleep claim her and praying she wouldn't have another bad dream. Gibbs was refusing to allow her to look for any information on Maliek because he thought that she might hide it from the team. He knew she wanted to go after this guy alone and she truly did. She didn't want to risk the lives of those she cared about most.
Dream
Ziva was walking down the street with a baby on her hip. She was holding the hand of a toddler who was licking an ice cream cone. She was alone, Tony was not with her. Then she noticed that Abby walked up holding her own child. The two women were happily chatting away about things that they had done that week and about what they were hoping to get for their children. Christmas was coming and that was holiday that everyone else celebrated, she had agreed that this year they would celebrate Christmas, although Tony had said they could do her holiday if she preferred but she had been excited about celebrating Christmas with the people that she loved.
They got halfway down the block when Ziva felt a tingling on the back of her neck and before she could respond a man came out of nowhere and shot Abby, her son, the toddler, and the baby in Ziva's arms before telling her it would never be over. He ran before she could respond and she dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her face at the loss of the family and friends that she had loved so much.
End Dream
Ziva shot up immediately in her seat and she was breathing hard. She looked up and noticed Tony standing in front of her desk and he was watching her with concern. He took a deep breath and held out his hand for her and Ziva took it. She didn't want to be alone but she was getting more and more worried about these dreams. She didn't think she was ever going to get to sleep again. Maliek was going to kill Tony and she just knew it. She needed to get to Maliek before he got to her friends, there was just no other way around it.
Maliek was angry as he threw the knife at Ziva David's picture. She had been getting away far to often and her little lover boy was still alive. Maliek knew her friends were federal agents and that they were well trained but he was better. They should already be dead! He picked up the photo's that he had taken recently and studied the dark circles under Ziva's eyes and knew she was having trouble sleeping, good! He wanted to be the only thing she was thinking about and he was going to make sure that her whole life revolved around him and him alone!
Ziva was sitting on the couch in the new safe place that she and Tony had been stashed. Ziva was well armed and so was Tony. There were going to be no guards and there was no surveillance that would give way too much away. She looked up as Tony handed her a mug of hot chocolate.
"Thanks." She murmured softly.
"We are going to find Maliek and there is no doubt in my mind that Gibbs will eliminate him as a threat to you." Tony said as he sat down on the couch next to her.
"I keep having these dreams." Ziva admitted finally.
"What happens?' Tony asked taking a sip of his hot chocolate.
"I am a mother. I am always carrying at least one infant and there is a toddler and we are happy. The first one there were twin daughters and then a toddler son and there was you. All of you were killed in front of me. The second one I was carrying a baby and holding a toddlers hand while Abby walked with me holding her own child in her arms. They were all killed once again." Ziva admitted with tears falling slowly from her eyes. "I don't want to lose you now that we have finally come to our sense Tony."
"I don't think you are going to lose me at all." Tony said with his smirk on his face.
Ziva knew that look and shook her head. Tony took her mug out of her hand and set his and hers down on the table. Then he leaned over and gently kissed Ziva on the mouth. He knew she needed to forget and he was a DiNozzo and there was mainly one way he knew to make a woman forget something bad. He kissed her deeply and then soon they were undressed and making love for the first time.
The next morning Ziva woke up in the bedroom. She sat up slowly and looked next to her and noticed Tony was not lying there. She felt weird about the fact that last night she and Tony had crossed a major line. They had broken Gibbs' rule number 12 and there could be major problems, although it seemed like Gibbs had accepted that Tony and Ziva were in love with each other. Now that they had crossed that line Ziva was worried that things were going to get more complicated and she was even more worried about Maliek getting his hands on Tony, now more than ever.
"I made breakfast." Tony said coming into the room with a tray loaded with food.
Ziva smiled and she knew that for now she just wanted to forget. In this moment she just wanted to be happy and to pretend that she and Tony were a normal couple who weren't hiding from a serial killer who wanted to hurt them. Ziva just wanted to pretend that they could be happy and that just maybe they could have a happily ever after, even if she knew there was no way that could ever be.
