A/N: Okay, it looks like the key to drawing a little attention, and a little more feedback, is to right a hurt/comfort story. So noted.
And now, on with act 2 **opening foof**
Gibbs updated Abby, Ducky, and Vance on DiNozzo's condition, then drove Ziva home, while Tali took McGee back to the Navy Yard. Tali decided to make some small talk with Tim as she drove. "So, how did Tony get the plague?"
"He opened up an envelope that was sealed with a lead-lined kiss. It happened to contain a genetically engineered bacteria. Turns out the woman who sent it thought the navy was covering up her daughter's rape."
"So, was there a cover-up."
"The daughter admitted that her sexual encounter with a sailor was consensual. Unfortunately, her partner had been killed in a traffic accident, leaving her in a bit of a compromising position."
Tali giggled at the revelation. "Have you had any other interesting cases?"
Tali and McGee continued to chat as they made their way back to Tim's car. "So, Tali, I was wondering, when things calm down, maybe you and me could go out for coffee or something."
"Tim McGee, are you actually asking me on a date?" Even with all that had happened that day, the young David still maintained her natural spunk. "I'd love to, Timmy."
Tony was once again surrounded by the light. Eventually, the light faded to reveal his childhood home. The lights focused on the piano in the center of the main room.
Tony sat down at his prized instrument, where he saw that the sheet music had been laid in front of him. As he began to play, he noticed a woman coming down the stairs. He did not recognize her, yet he was intrigued by her long, flowing brown hair, framing a perfect, piercing pair of chocolate-brown eyes. She was wearing a red sequined dress, which DiNozzo thought to be absolutely stunning. As she strutted toward the piano, she began to sing along to the song that Tony happened to be playing.
"Never know how much I love you.
Never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me,
I get a fever that's so hard to bear"
"You give me fever, when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the mornin',
a fever all through the night"
As the woman in red continued to accompany Tony's performance of "Fever," Tony continued to wonder what was going on. She's very beautiful, Tony thought, and she's got great chops. Who is she?
"You don't recognize her?" Tony's mother said, startling Tony momentarily.
"Should I?"
"She's the harmony to your melody," Mrs. DiNozzo noted, "You two bring the best out of each other. She is your soul mate."
Before Tony could ask his mother another question, she disappeared as suddenly as she appeared. As Tony finished his performance of "Fever," the woman in red turned to the dreamer and flashed a coy grin. Before DiNozzo could ask the woman her name, everything faded to white once again.
The next morning, Tali stopped by Ziva's apartment to see her big sister. "Hey," Tali said as she opened the door. Tali could tell that Ziva was still crying. "I take it that there's no word on Tony's condition."
"He is still in critical," Ziva answered. "The doctors still have him on a ventilator."
"Well, he is on the road to recovery," Tali noted. "All we can do is pray for him."
Ziva clutched her Star of David pendant as she followed Tali. As the sisters walked to the car, she recalled the final exchange of words between Tony and the Alathad Al'ereby cell leader. The terrorist spoke of a 'Jew Cancer,' deliberately using a derogatory term for members of the Jewish faith. She had not been bothered by those words as much as it had affected Tony. Ziva recalled the words that Tony had said to that terrorist in "There's only one force on Earth that can short circuit a man's better instincts, put fire in his veins, makes him dive head long into danger with no regard for his own well being. You have just found it. Zh beshebyelk, Ziva."
"You okay?" Tali asked.
"I am okay," Ziva replied. "I am just remembering what Tony said before he was shot."
The sisters took their seats on the couch. "You want to talk about it?"
Ziva collected her thoughts before commenting. "The terrorists openly proclaimed their antisemitism to Tony. When he took part in that gun battle, he wasn't thinking of the schoolchildren or the country. He was thinking of me. He was defending my honor."
"It sounds like he's a keeper," Tali noted.
"The thing is, it's not the first time. Four years ago, I lost my trust in Tony as a partner. I took on an assignment in Somalia. I was captured and tortured. Everyone thought I was dead. It was Tony who finally rescued me. He was ready and willing to die, and to kill, for me."
"Needless to say," Tali commented, "he still is."
"I know, and it scares me," Ziva answered. "When I found out I was pregnant, I told you and Tony I wasn't ready for marriage."
"And now, with Tony in critical condition, you're thinking that maybe you might be ready to take that leap?"
Once again, the Woman in Red haunted Tony's dreams. This time, he was in a run down compound in the middle of the desert. He was bound to a chair, with a middle eastern man holding him captive. The man placed another captive in the room and removed her hood. "Why are you here?" she asked.
"Couldn't live without you, I guess," Tony instinctively replied.
"So you will die with me. You should have left me alone."
The room turned into a white glow once again. "You don't remember that day?" Tony's mother asked as she approached him from behind.
"No, should I?"
"It is the day that took you from your darkest hour to your finest. It was the day you rescued your soul mate and brought her home."
"Mom, how do you know she's 'the one?' How do I know she even exists outside of this vision?" Tony queried.
"Perhaps you need to revisit what happened before you got shot," Tony's mother explained.
The white light faded until Tony was once again in the school's main office, facing down the terrorist leader and two of his lieutenants. "You talk about reality, in that case, tell me what you think of this," he recalled the leader say. "You our outnumbered, and we are more skilled with these weapons than you are. We may be killed in battle today, but there are others like me, and we will not rest until the Jew Cancer is stricken from this earth."
Tony felt a searing pain. He knew those words were hateful, yet could not remember how he felt response to the hate. He instinctively knew that he had fired his AK-47, and that the gunmen did so in response. As he relived these moments, he felt the motions, but could not draw an emotive response.
**foof**
What the heck is going on in DiNozzo's head? Will he wake up from his dream? Will he know who "The Woman in Red" is?
Feedback is always welcome and appreciated.