Tony was beside himself with worry. He wanted to run into the warehouse every time Ziva stumbled nearly did she reached the top of the tank. He wanted more than anything to be standing there with her, ready to face Abdul. For the entirety of Ziva's journey through the maze, Tony never strayed farther than three feet from the door that would lead him inside should Ziva need rescuing. And now as Ziva faced Abdul and Gibbs from one side of the tub of water, all he could do was wait.

Ziva met eyes with Gibbs. She saw comfort in his features as well as the resolute strength he always seemed to carry. All he saw in her eyes was determination and cold persistence. It scared Gibbs slightly. He knew that she had receded into her assassin's shell and that she would stop at nothing to save him. But Gibbs didn't particularly want that. He wanted most for Ziva to be okay, but he held no cards in the game about to take place between Abdul and his Mossad liaison. Whatever happened next depended on Ziva's gut, not his.

"Ziva. Welcome. First, I must congratulate you. Your success in this maze was quiet impressive. It looks like your really are a jewel of Mossad. Pity that today you die." Abdul said to Ziva, standing directly behind Gibbs. "Now Ziva, you get to witness what you should have witness the night Ari died. It should have been this man who died, not your brother." Abdul bent over and started to nudge the weight to the edge of the plank bridge.

"Abdul, wait! You have your story wrong." Gibbs' eyes widened with realization of what Ziva was about to do. For the first time fear shone in his eyes as he looked at her and cried out, "No, Ziva. Not this way. Please, don't." Please. Gibbs never said please, thought Ziva to herself. But no, I have to she thought defiantly. This is the only way. Abdul kicked Gibbs in the back to silence him. Slowly, Ziva began to walk to the pair on the other side of the bridge.

"Speak Ziva. What is wrong with my information? Please, tell me how you had no choice but to let your brother die!" Spat Abdul.

"Abdul, I implore you: release an innocent man. I do not care what the report says about that night. Just rest assured it is a lie."

"Are you saying Gibbs did not in fact kill Ari? Pathetic. You are Mossad. You know that without a shred of proof in the contrary, no verdict would be overturned. It is the same in this case."

"I have proof Abdul. Me. I killed Ari. I saved Gibbs life. Gibbs did nothing. Please let him go. I will gladly die at your hand if that man walks free." Ziva fought to hold back tears. The memories of her brother hurt and her fatigue was catching up with her. Abdul contemplated her words. If Gibbs had not killed Ari, then he had no grudge against him. Suddenly anger at Ziva erupted inside of him and grew. He pulled out his gun and the key to the manacle around Gibbs' ankle.

"I will release Gibbs of the weight. Do not move, or you die." Abdul took the metal ring off Gibbs' ankle. However, Gibbs was still bound hands and feet. Abdul then dragged him off the plank onto the balcony that surrounded the inside perimeter of the warehouse. Then in a swift movement he turned and shot at Ziva. Anticipating Abdul's movements, Ziva ducked and the bullet missed by a long shot. But Ziva's defensive reaction gave Abdul enough time to cover the distance between him Ziva. Ziva realized her mistake as a kick connected with her head, sending her sprawling backwards.

"Stand up David! I will give you one chance. If you fall again, you die." Ziva's head was spinning as she got to her feet. She certainly wasn't in fighting condition. She'd bare;y eaten all day and had been going since fer five o clock run. Still she held her own. Se knew that she had the chance to win and if Abdul stumbled, she would not hesitate to finish him.

A furious contest of martial ability ensued. Both were highly skilled, trading blows with equal force and ferocity. After what seemed like an eternity of fighting Ziva and Abdul paused for a mutual rest. Evaluating her surroundings, Ziva realized that she had switch places with Abdul and was now closer to Gibbs. She was tired. Her right hand was quiet bloody and torn up now and her left hand was on its way as well. She was sure that her nose was re-fractured. Her back throbbed with pain.

"Why did you kill your brother Ziva. Did he really mean nothing to you? He was my brother too! Because you I am alone. You will die for your sins Ziva." With that, Abdul lunged for Ziva's throat, wrapping his fingers around it.

Abdul yelled at Ziva as he tried to strangle her.

"You have failed David. You killed your brother and now it has come back to bite you. You are a heartless killer. It is because of people like you that people like me have nothing. You have brought this upon yourself. You are weak and die for your weakness."

Ziva's mind reeled with Abdul's words. She couldn't find an example in her past that could prove him wrong. But then Gibbs words came to mind. Ziva couldn't quit. She had to keep going because if nothing else, despite her obvious faults, Gibbs believed in her and Tony loved her. That had to mean she was worth something.

She would not let him force her to her knees as he was trying to do. She could not loose the fingers around her throat because her fingers were so slick with her own blood. Instead, she focused on inflicting as much pain upon him as possible. They struggled like this for while shuffling around the plank bridge. Finally, his grip slackened when jammed her fingers into his eyes.

"ARRGGH!" In his blind rage, Abdul shoved Ziva over the edge of the planks bridge into the water. Ziva grabbed him as she went back and so he landed on top of her. Before he could recover, Ziva wrapped her arm around his head and with a yell twisted it, snapping the neck and making all struggle from Abdul cease. Suddenly Ziva was under the water and she couldn't pull herself back up. She tried with all her might to move towards the surface, but continued to sink. Longing down she discovered that her foot had gotten entangled in the chain attached to the weight and it had somehow gotten into the water when she and Abdul fell in. Ziva tried to free her foot, but to no avail. She was too tired. She just didn't have anything left. The darkness was closing in and Ziva didn't-couldn't- fight it.

Tony had had enough watching Abdul and Ziva fight when Abdul's hands wrapped around Ziva's neck. Without a moment's hesitation, he whipped open the door and began descending into the warehouse. He ran over to the rope that appeared to be the only access to the tank from the ground. He was about 5 feet off the ground when he heard the splash. He paused and looked though to tank at the distorted image of Abdul and Ziva in the water. He heard the crack of Abdul's neck as he continued to climb but at ten feet he saw Ziva's sinking form struggling to reach the surface and failing. Tony kicked into over drive. It seemed like an eternity for Tony to climb the rest of the way and dive into the water. He swam as fast as he could to Ziva's seemingly lifeless form. Seeing the weight and the chain keeping Ziva down, he went for the chain first. It appeared to have gotten tangled and jammed, making Tony have to wrench at it to loosen it. After a minute or so a working at it, the chain came free. Tony grabbed Ziva under the arms and swam to the surface of the tank.

Gasping at the rush fresh air, Tony taxied Ziva to the plank bridge. While keeping a hold on Ziva, he hauled himself up and then pulled Ziva onto the plank. Tony leaned his cheek over Ziva's mouth, trying to feel her breath. He didn't.

Starting chest compressions, Tony talked to her.

"Ziva, you can't quit. You're so close to winning. Come on Ziva. I love you." Tony did chest compressions and when he did mouth to mouth Ziva convulsed. Tony quickly backed up and turned her to her side as she coughed up water. Emptied of water, Ziva flopped on her back, concentrating on simply breathing, her eyes closed. Tony just sat next to her stroking her head gently.

Finally Ziva opened her eyes and looked at Tony.

"Hey," she said, her voice low and tired.

"Hey yourself. What do you think you were doing, jumping into a pool with a weight attached to you?" Tony's voice was serious, but his eyes shone with jest and relief. Ziva smiled up at him.

"You know I like to keep you on your toes Tony."

"Yeah yeah. Promise you won't do it again?"

"I will have to discuss it with the next homicidal terrorist who tries to kill me." Tony barked in laughter and looked over at Abdul's floating dead body. He shuddered at the sight. Ziva was so close to losing, so close to dying. He looked back at Ziva and another wave of relief flowed through him. I'll never let her go again, he thought to himself. She's just too important to me.

"If you two are done flirting, I'd love to be untied!" Tony jumped slightly at the sound of his boss's voice. He nimbly hopped to his feet and went to his boss. Using his Leatherman knife.

"Thank you DiNozzo. Go get your partner. It looks like she's gonna need another hospital visit."

"On it Boss," said Tony as he walked back to Ziva.

"Tony!"

"Yeah boss?"

"You stay with her until she's better."

"Got it." Gibbs smirked knowingly as Tony went back to Ziva. He got to his feet and proceeded to the door leading to the outside of the warehouse.

"Boss! Boss, you're okay. Where are Tony and Ziva? Are they alright?" McGee was overjoyed to see his boss, but worried for Ziva.

"Ziva's alive and Tony's fine. Let's clear out. Make sure you leave a car for Tony." McGee nodded and talked into his walkie talkie, disbanding the NCIS agents around the warehouse district. Gibbs was proud of the progress McGee had been making as an agent. He'd really been a huge asset to the team and Gibbs was happy to have him on the team.

"Can you walk Ziva?"

"I think so, just help me up." Tony bent down and wrapped Ziva's left arm over his shoulder, carefully not to touch her fight torn hand. He wrapped his other arm around her waist. Slowly and gently, Tony pulled Ziva to her feet. Standing on her feet, Ziva had a clear view of Abdul floating in the water. She stopped and stared at him. Finally the exhaustion of the day and the stress of her fight caught up with her. Tony adjusted his grip on her so she could cry into his shoulder. She cried tears of relief, for her life which she almost lost. Tears of happiness, for Gibbs was safe and free of a burden that was rightly hers. And finally she cried tears of joy; joy for Tony, whom she loved and was always there for her and loved her with his whole heart.

She'd be willing to die to save him, simply because he was willing to die to save her. And that gave her drive to keep living.

Fine

A/N: Well, this is it guys. Thanks for all the reviews and support for this story. It's really cool to get such a positive response, and that's all thanks to you for reading. I may eventually come back to this story and polish it a little bit, but we'll see. Anyway, I'm pleased with the way this story turned out and I hope very that you enjoyed it.