Havent updated in a few so here ya go. Hope yall like it. Writers block is tuff but i think i am starting to come out of it.
A/N: Dont own any NCIS
Screams were everywhere around him as he lay on the ground staring at the devastation before him. He snapped back into reality when he heard moans coming from his right. He stood and stumbled towards the sound on rubbery legs his heart pounding in his chest. He soon found three young children lying on the ground, two were bleeding and one lay motionless. He acted instinctively and rushed over to them his legs regaining some of their power. He checked the wounds of the two who were bleeding, they were not too deep but still blood flowed easily from the wounds. He ripped pieces off his shirt and used them as makeshift bandages until the ambulances arrived to properly dress the wounds. After he had finished with them he turned his attention to the third child. He checked for her pulse and found it was shallow and erratic. He checked her body injuries when he noticed a large bruise beginning to form on her abdomen and sides. Major internal injuries his mind shouted at him. But he didn't know what to do. A feeling of helplessness washed over him as he cradled the young girl in his arms. "I'm not strong enough for this." He thought to himself as he held the girl. He held her for some minutes before he noticed her breathing becoming shallow like she was struggling to take in her breaths. Her eyes began to flutter open and she looked at him with terrified pain filled eyes. The looked in her eyes broke his heart into a million pieces.
He didn't know what to do. She looked directly into his eyes and he was captured in them. He saw the pain and the terror inside those two pale blue orbs and he was lost. He had been scared before but this was different. He was scared when he had the plague even though he never admitted it. He was scared when he had to confront Jeanne after she had accused him of murder. He was scared when he was falsely imprisoned for a murder he never committed. But this was the first time that he was immobilized by fear, he was petrified, glued to the girl's eyes.
"I…I…I…don't wanna…die!" The girl struggled to get out as she labored for breath. That statement broke Tony from his reverie and he told her with confidence that he could not feel, "Don't worry, your not gonna die. Your gonna be fine." He tore his eyes away from her gaze.
Her little hand came up and squeezed the fabric of his shirt at the collar. She had tears streaming down her face from both fear and pain, "P…P…Promise?" she asked, imploring him to answer that she was.
"Yes, I promise. I won't let you go. Your gonna be fine. The ambulance will be here soon and their gonna fix you up, I swear." Tony said, his voice cracking from the strain of trying to sound positive.
She smiled at him. He smiled back. Her eyes began to close slowly and her breathing decreased. "Hey." Tony said to her shaking her lightly. "Hey, hey, hey, hang on darling." He said as he shook her slightly harder trying to get her to wake up again. Suddenly he became very aware that her breathing had stopped.
"No, no, no, no." Tony said repeatedly with voice rising each time. He placed her on the ground and checked for the pulse but his fingers found nothing. "No, no, no, no. Come on girl. Don't do this. Come back." He said as he checked for a pulse at her neck and then her wrists. "No. No. No. No. NO!"
"NO!" Tony screamed as he jumped up from the futon. He didn't know where he was and his eyes searched the room like a scared animal. His heart raced and he was panting as his fingers clutched painfully to the small scratchy blanket that covered him.
Gentle hands began rub his arm. He was startled at the touch and looked over to see Ziva sitting up next to him with her hand on his arm. His senses slowly began to return to him as he looked around the room again to realize he was in Abby's office in the lab.
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as he rubbed his palms into his eyes. His hands ran down his face to cup his nose and mouth as he closed his eyes, taking a few moments to banish the image of two pale blue eyes from his mind. Ziva's voice cut through the air, "Are you okay, Tony?" He took a moment to steady himself before answering; "Yeah…Yeah I'm fine." "Another bad dream?" She asked with concern in her voice.
"Yeah, but no big deal. I'll be fine." He answered her, glad that his voice wasn't shaking. "Tony, you are not fine. You just laid down not more than twenty minutes ago and you just woke up screaming. Talk to me. I am trying to help you." She said with worry barely contained in her voice.
He was glad she was there trying to help. If anyone on the team would know what he was going through it would be her. She had been in this situation many times and at times he could see the pain and hurt behind her eyes. It actually must have been worse for her considering that it was her sister that had died in her arms after a bombing in Tel Aviv. He had seen that look on her and all he would want to do is grab her and pull her to him, hug her tightly and tell everything would be okay. She would not want it though he reminded himself. Crying and needing comfort was something he knew she thought was a weakness. And if she thought it was a weakness in herself, how would it look for a man who was trying to be more for her to break down. No. He wouldn't do it. He had to be strong. He had to be strong for her, for himself, and for the little girl whose eyes danced in the back of his mind.
He shook his head and put a small smile on his lips, "Just a dream about some insurance salesmen and Jehovah's witnesses chasing me down the street throwing pamphlets at me." Anger, concern and happiness flowed through her at his flippant statement. Anger that he was not talking to her about his real problems. Concern because she knew he was hurting and he would not let her help him. And happiness that although Tony was deeply hurt, he was still trying to give the team a semblance of normalcy and laughter, that and the imagery was a pretty laughable concept.
A corner of Ziva's mouth pulled up into a small smirk as she said, "You are lying. But I will let you get away with it this time." She gently raised her hand from his arm to his shoulder and started to push lightly urging him to lay back down. He resisted at first until she said, "Come, Tony. Back to sleep. Abby will wake us when there is anything we can do." She leaned up against the head of the futon and pulled Tony the rest of the way down so his head was resting on her shoulder. She wrapped on arm around him and the other was rubbing up and down his arm. "Sleep, Tony. You need sleep." She said lightly just above a whisper. He reached up and placed his hand on top of hers on his arm and held it tightly. She might not be able to get him to talk to her but she could let him know she was there by just being there with him. His eyes fluttered closed and he began to fall asleep, as did Ziva. His sleep filled voice whispered, "Thank you for saving my life Ziva." She looked down at him not knowing what he meant but she smiled and kissed the top of his head, "You are welcome." Then exhaustion overtook them and they slept.