A/N: Firstly, I'm like sooooooooo sorry for the wait. I've been on holiday during the summer, but as soon as I got back, I started writing. Unfortunately, I left the document open on my laptop for literally fifteen minutes while I was talking to my best friend (yes, that's you Stella!) my six-year-old sister thought it'd be funny to erase the entire document and fill the page with the words 'SpongeBob SquarePants' fifty-seven times, before I came back and yelled at her for half-an-hour! Oh, and auto-save was disabled. Not a good day. :/ So I was a bit put out, and tried to write a new chapter, but kept failing. I'm sorry to those who were waiting for so long. It would have been up a few days ago, but my internet failed, and it didn't upload properly. But here it is, and better late than never?!
This chapter is dedicated to Faye444 for the much-needed kick up the backside and motivation to finish this.
Disclaimer: I'm running out of funny ways to express the fact that I do not own NCIS, but I'm pretty sure that everybody gets the picture by now.
Chapter 7: Tony
At first, I can't believe what I'm seeing. It feels like a dream, no a nightmare, that I'll wake up from soon, and then I'll go into work and everything will be okay. Only, it's not a dream; it's real, and Ziva is actually sat on the floor crying. She's desperately backing away from us, the fear dancing like flames, in her tear-stained eyes. She scrambles backwards, only stopping when she reaches the wall with a loud thud that has us all turning around, and realising the state she's in.
For a moment, everything stops, as we all just stand and stare. I'm the first to move; running over beside her and crouching down, lowering down so I'm at her height. She turns away from me, furiously scrubbing her wet eyes with no avail. Gibbs, McGee and Abby are soon with us, crowding around her. Abby instinctively flings her arms around Ziva, not realising that she flinches away from her. It seems Gibbs does though, as he puts a firm hand on Abby's shoulder, and guides her away. McGee picks up on his intentions and follows, the three of them going to sit on the small couch, and engaging in pointless conversation. Gibbs turns back, and gives me a look that clearly says, 'Make things right, DiNozzo.' Turning my attention back to Ziva, that's what I intend to do.
I crouch down beside her, gently placing my hand on her shoulder. She flinches away from me, but I keep my hand in place and she turns to look at me, tears making watery tracks down her face. No words are neither needed nor spoken, as she leans into me a little, prompting me to wrap my arms around her fully and draw her sideways into my lap. We sit there for a while, Ziva wrapped up in my arms, tears making her way slowly down her face as she cries softly. Gibbs, McGee and Abby try not to stare, but concern and sympathy seem to win the internal battle, and their eyes bore into the back of my skull. The room is silent as we all sit, frozen in time.
Abby is the first to move, bursting into a fresh set of tears, and leaning into McGee's side. Nobody expected this. Suddenly, Ziva pulls back a little, wipes her face and shimmies out of my embrace.
"Zee, you okay?" It's a stupid question, but it's the first thing that comes to mind, and the silence is suffocating us all. She takes a deep breath.
"I am fine Tony. I am sorry for crying. It will not happen again," she says, her voice firm but quiet. I look at her as if she's mad, and cup her face, forcing her to look into my eyes.
"What are you talking about?" I say softly, as she bites her lip, tears already beginning to well up in her eyes again. "There's no need to apologise for crying!"
"I was weak," she states, pulling her head away, and looking down.
"Ziva, you are probably the strongest person I know. Crying will not make you any less of the amazing butt-kicking ninja that you are."
"Thank you Tony," she says quietly. She looks away again, so I gently cup her face for the second time, and turn it towards mine.
"Do you wanna tell me what made you so upset?" I ask softly. She bites her lip and shakes her head.
"Not right now. Thank you for caring, Tony." I know not to push her, so I take her in my arms again, just holding her for a while. I can't help but notice just how right it feels; her wrapped in my arms as I softly stroke her hair.
My thoughts break off immediately as the door flies open again. We should be used to it by now, but it still takes us all by surprise. Gibbs and McGee jump up off the couch, as the two men enter once again, glaring at us all before reading a name off a piece of paper.
"Ziva David?" the first one says, his eyes sweeping the room. The other one takes a step forward.
"Well I think we can tell who Miss David is," he says, menacingly stepping towards us, as we shrink down into the corner. "Oh Ziva, come here you bitch."
She begins crying again, silent tears full of fear streaming down her face. I can't take it.
"No. I'll go first," I say, jumping up in front of Ziva, as if to protect her. "She's in no fit state to be tortured, or questioned as you so sweetly put it."
The men seem mildly surprised that I'd be willing to protect her, but accept it without further question. As I cast a last glance over my shoulder, I see Ziva mouthing a teary 'Thank you' before Abby bounds over to her, enveloping her in a massive hug. McGee looked a little dazed, but Gibbs is staring at me, and I think I can see admiration in his eyes. That's a first. The lead me down a corridor, and brutally shove me into a room, almost covered in blood. On one of the chairs sits Joe Harper, who gestures for me to sit down. I obey, clasping my hands together, and meeting his cold gaze. He is the first to speak.
"So, Mr DiNozzo, you volunteered to go before you partner. You certainly have guts; that's for sure. I figured I'd try a different technique for you. For every answer I think you answer incorrectly, one of my guys gets a free hit. For every answer I think you answer correctly, you get a minute off Miss David's, um, session. Let's begin. What is your full name?"
"Antony DiNozzo," I answer with a grunt, terrified of what he's going to do to Ziva. He laughs.
"I can't quite hear you!" he teases, testing if I will crack early or not.
"Antony DiNozzo," I say, clearer this time.
"Wrong! Your full name is Antony Carmine Michael DiNozzo. Seth, you may have the first hit." The man called Seth, takes a step towards me, pulls me out of my chair, slams me against the wall and punches me in the jaw. My hand instinctively flies to my face, as pain shoots through my nerves. Seth then delivers five more consecutive hits, before Harper finally tells him to stop, an evil grin upon his face. "So did you enjoy that? Let's try some more questions."
Harper then proceeds to ask seven more questions, and, though I was completely truthful, I earn five punches and just two minutes off whatever they have planned for Ziva. Soon, he moves on to the big question.
"Who shot my brother?"
I already have my answer planned for this question, so all I must do is force the words out of my swollen lips. I will lie; it's as simple as that. I can only assume that Abby, McGee and Gibbs' lies have been convincing, but it's a strong bet – none of the men have murdered any of us yet. Finally, I speak.
"I don't know." The words come out firmly, and my voice is calm, any hints of dishonesty disguised by my ability to lie, and the importance of the situation. He takes a sceptical look at me, before nodding the one of the men – not Seth – whose name I now know to be Joe. He strides over to me, before delivering a sharp blow to my stomach that has me crying out in pain.
"I don't believe you," he sneers. As if that wasn't obvious! I can think of at least five movies with similar situations in them, but now is neither the time, nor place, to point them out. I continue with my charade of oblivion. Hopefully, he'll get the message soon enough, and leave me alone. My head is throbbing from the numerous jabs, and my stomach is beginning to hurt too.
"I said, I don't know. Nobody does. You're wasting our time here. Nobody knows anything, so just let us go." He looks at me for a minute, studying my face, before grinning broadly.
"Ah, I'm getting a strong sense of déja vu here, aren't you Seth; Joe? You boss said practically the same thing! Unfortunately for you, I am not going to listen to a word you say. Unless you tell me who shot Michael. So, who was it?"
"I don't know," I repeat. I know that I'm never going to grass on Ziva, and I'd die before they got it out of me. This time, Seth takes a hit, landing it right in my stomach again, and knocking the wind out of me. I wheeze for a moment, before regaining composure and glaring at Harper directly in the eye. Once again, he asks me, and I reply with the same answer, so Joe hits me. The same process continues six times, and by the end I'm doubled over in pain, my ribs and stomach throbbing at a steady pulse. Finally, Harper stands, and orders Seth to stop.
"I can see you're not going to change your story Mr DiNozzo. I shall let you go back into the other room now, but that is not the last you shall see of me. Seth, Joe, take him away."
The two men immediately jump to their feet, and grab me roughly by my arms. I can barely walk, so they practically drag me across the corridor. Joe yanks open the door and Seth shoves me inside, so I land with a loud thud on the floor, as even more searing pain shoots through my ribs. I think at least three are broken, or very badly bruised. In a second, all four are beside me, hauling me up onto the bed, so I can lie down as they inspect my wounds.
Standing furthest away from me is Ziva, and her eyes are once again full of fear. It's a skill we posses; the ability to have silent conversations, using only our eyes. I catch her gaze, and stare into her eyes. I can see guilt, and I silently tell her that it's not her fault. I can also see fear, so I try to reassure her that it'll be okay, but my eyes must lack convincingness, as she turns away again. I remember a conversation we had a few years ago, whilst I was stuck on that awful ship.
'You'll say you don't wanna' talk about it, but your eyes won't shut up.'
No words leave our mouths, but we can convey our emotions through our eyes. And that's enough for now.
A/N#2: So once again, I'm so sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoyed it though. I just couldn't resist the reference to Agent Afloat, as there was a replay on Channel 5 the other day, and I just can't get the quote out of my head! The next chapter will be the last in first person (Ziva's POV) and then it'll go back to third, which I prefer anyway. I hope this is okay, it was written late on a school night, so it's obviously not my best work, but please review, and tell me what you think. Updates might not be very regular, as I'm back to school, and it seems teachers just love to torture us with masses of homework. I've literally been back for three days (we went back on the Wednesday, and it's now Sunday – well actually 0136 on Monday morning but still…) and I've got eight pieces of homework. I'm not happy.=/
A/N#3: Also, for those of you who like this, I've written a oneshot called Beating Hearts, and I'm not gonna' tell you what it's about right now, but it'd be great if you could go and check it out?! Rambling again? Sorry. Until next time.