I've had a lot of time on my hands today being at home with a cold, so combined with a recent surge of inspiration I managed to write chapter 8. Like a previous chapter it doesn't have a lot of action but hopefully it has come across by now that action is the prime objective in this particular story, hence the title. Anyway, enough from me, hope you enjoy the latest installment of 'My Love'. Elaine
P.S Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming so I know I'm on the right track.
McGee was terrified, Ziva could see it in his eyes. It was indeed true that he was a field agent but personality went a long way towards whether one could hide their fear or whether like McGee it shone through like a beacon for all to see. Seing McGee's fear made her realise her own, no one except for Ducky would know about the baby if she were to die at that very moment. Everything seemed to slow down for a second and she saw her friends in danger around her and remembered her husbamd fighting for his life. She promised she would put an end to it, put an end to Thorn. She owed it to them all. Reaching for her knife and using her expert Mossad training she aimed the knife at Ray Thorn and as soon as it left her fingers she knew it would hit it's target. Ziva did not care what part of the anatomy the knife struck as long as she could save Tim and Gibbs.
"What took you so long Ziva!?" Said McGee
They wrestled Thorn to the floor, she hadn't wounded him fatally, the blade had go into his shoulder long enough for McGee and herself to gain the advantage on him.
"Does that hurt?" Said McGee to Thorn as he pulled his arms behind him and cuffed him.
"I should have shot you all while I had the chance"
Ziva and Tim pulled him to his feet and coming up from behind them Gibbs pulled the knife out of Thorn's shoulder with a purposeful lack of sensitivity causing as much pain as he could legally inflict.
"You may want this back" He said handing it back to it's owner.
Back in the squad room McGee was at his desk attempting to write a report on what happened. He looked up at the sound of the elevator doors open wondering who would come into the squad room this late at night. It was Gibbs.
"Boss" He said "I didn't get chance to app..."
"Don't say it McGee, it's a sign of weakness"
"But Gibbs, I almost ended up joining DiNozzo in hospital tonight and bringing you and Ziva along with me"
"How long have I been a field agent, Tim?" Said Gibbs.
He knew deep down that there was truth to what McGee was trying to apologise for.
"Nearly twenty years"
"And what about DiNozzo?" He asked
"Coming on for ten years?" He answered hesitantly "What's your point?"
"We have both been doing this job for a lot longer than you and we still make errors in judgement"
Despite the grimness of the situation McGee had to stifle a smirk at Gibbs' purposeful attempt not to use the word 'mistake'.
"But these 'errors in judgement' cost lives"
Gibbs sighed and looked him in the eye.
"I know McGee, believe me, I know" He said and walked away.
"Ziva" Said Jeanne "Do you mind if I have a word with you?"
Jeanne stopped Ziva as she came into the hospital entrance.
"What do you want?"
"For you to know that whatever happened between me and your husband in the past, stays in the past, I know you love him, and that I need to move on"
"That was a brave thing to say Dr Benoit, for someone with feelings such as yours"
Ziva wondered what had inspired this act of honesty, but she respected Jeanne for it. Jeanne and Ziva fell into an awkward silence for a moment or two, neither sure of who should speak first.
"I didn't fall in love with an NCIS special agent, you did, it was the film studies professor I fell for"
"Jeanne" Said Ziva "They are the same person"
Jeanne wasn't sure how to respond so Ziva filled another developing long silence.
"Tony frequently drives me crazy by equating most of life's problems to a movie scenario"
Jeanne laughed remebering a few moments where she had experienced the same characteristic.
"My point is, Dr Benoit, is that Tony DiNozzo is indeed the man you fell in love with, he just carries a gun and works at a federal agency" She said "With me"
"My friend said that, the doctor with bright red hair"
"Then he was correct" Replied Ziva.
"The bottom line is don't be threatened by me, all I want is for him to be happy"
Jeanne Benoit's stepping back from feelings for her husband had taken Ziva by surprise, it had taken integrity that Ziva did not think Jeanne had, she then realised that the jealous wife in her probably refused to see the good qualities and focused on the bad.
"If I was threatened by you, you would know it by now" Said Ziva with a grin.
"How so?" Said Jeanne
"Because it would involve a form of physical violence!"
Ziva carried on walking and left Jeanne with a sense of satisfaction that she'd finally put her feelings for Tony DiNozzo to rest, his wife however was an odd woman she thought, with a strange sense of humour. Though Jeanne was pleased that Ziva had indeed attempted to joke with her, even if it did have a distict lack of subtlty!
After a whole week the team was still missing a member. They tried to carry on, some blocking out their emotional issues and others displaying them to anyone and everyone. Ziva still had told no one else apart from Ducky about the unborn child she carried and Gibbs refused flatly to visit his senior agent in hospital, despite the constant protests from Abby and the almost fatherly advice from Ducky, Gibbs still blamed himself for what had happened. If only he hadn't let his obsession with Thorn motivate him to leave his partner without back-up. There was also his relationship with Ziva, she hadn't spoken to him personally outside the job since that night at the hospital. At that moment in time he wasn't sure if anything would be the same for him or any of them. Between them the immediate danger posed by Raymond Thorn had been eliminated but Jethro Gibbs' team still had major problems.