Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, or the characters, and probably never will.

AN: I have no medical knowledge, just way too much time to search the internet.

I'm not sure if people are still interested in this fic, so if I don't get a decent response to this chapter, I'll most likely stop writing it, and move onto some of my more popular fics.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Cara gently helps Gibbs to the floor as his legs buckle; she can't even imagine what he is feeling right now, she's seen him watching over her patient and another in the ICU for eight days, keeping up a constant vigil, and now within hours of him leaving, Ziva tried to kill herself and could die.

She sits beside Gibbs in the hallway, watching him cry, until out of the corner of her eye, she sees Abby running towards them, clearly worried by Gibbs' current state.

"Gibbs!" Abby calls out to Gibbs as she reaches them.

Gibbs numbly stands up and wipes a few tears off his face, forcing himself to regain some semblance of composure, just enough to walk in a straight line, so that he can close the small distance between himself and Abby.

One look at Gibbs' face says more than words ever could, and in an extremely nervous, timid voice, Abby asks him. "Who?"

"Ziva." Gibbs says tiredly before he guides Abby over to a couple of nearby chairs, and he sits down beside her before he gently tells her. "Abby, Ziva tried to kill herself last night. She's still in surgery."

Abby clasps her hand to her mouth, horrified as she cries out. "No, no, this can't be happening! Why would she do that?!"

Gibbs shakes his head slowly. "I don't know, Abby, I don't know."

After a moment, her voice rough from crying. "She blames herself for Tim, for Tony. We should've seen this, Gibbs! We should've stopped it."

Though he barely even believes this himself, Gibbs tells Abby. "There's no way we could've seen this, this is Ziva we're talking about. No one saw it coming."

"I know." Abby says softly, tears still streaming down her face.

Gibbs leans closer to Abby, and he pulls her into a comforting hug. He doesn't let her go until he sees a doctor approaching them.

Ziva's surgeon, James Marten comes over to the weary couple, he offers a tired smile as he tells them. "Ziva is out of surgery, she's stable. We repaired several injuries caused by her suicide attempt, and some that were worsened at the same time, and we've put in a surgical airway, a tracheotomy so that her airway can recover, but it will most likely end up staying in until we've finished the majority of the facial reconstruction procedures. I'll explain everything to you in more detail later, but all you really need to know is that she is stable and we'll be bringing her back up to the ICU as soon as she recovers from the anesthesia."

"Thank you, Doc." Gibbs says gratefully, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

Several hours later, Gibbs is sitting beside Ziva's bed, when Ducky comes into the room. "Jethro, I heard what happened, how is dear Ziva going?"

"Doctors say she'll recover, physically, but... I don't know." Gibbs says, only briefly glancing at his friend before turning back to Ziva.

Ducky places a hand on Gibbs' shoulder as he tells him. "Jethro, I know you probably don't want to think about this right now, but I need to remind you that Timothy's funeral has been arranged for tomorrow morning, you are planning to be there, aren't you?"

"I'll be there, Duck." Gibbs says before shrugging away Ducky's hand, and effectively dismissing his friend. It isn't long before Ducky takes the hint and leaves Gibbs alone to stew.

That evening, Gibbs is still sitting in Ziva's room, trying to figure out the seemingly impossible set up of the traction system, when Ziva starts to stir, he doesn't notice that she is awake, probably by her intention, until she makes a grab for the surgically placed tube in her throat.

"Ziva! Stop!" Gibbs calls out, but by the time he reaches her side, the tube is displaced, blood pouring out from around it. Gibbs shouts out for help, while he desperately tries to staunch the blood flow. He almost doesn't her Ziva whisper. "Don't save me, please. I just want to die." Maybe it would've been better if he had've missed it, but he heard her and just for the briefest of moments, he considers it, but he knows that he can't do it, it isn't really what she wants and even if it was, he'd never do it.

Before Gibbs can say or do anything else, nurses and doctors flood into the room and push him into the corner of the room as they frantically work to stop the bleeding and restore her airway.

The medical staff manage to repair the damage Ziva did to herself, and the next morning, Gibbs goes into the hospital before going proceeding to the funeral, he walks past Ziva's now adjacent room to Tony's, sadly noticing the conspicuously placed nurse, watching over her, and on top of that, the soft restraints holding Ziva's arms down following the previous evening's attempt to pull out her tracheotomy tube. With a heavy hearted sigh, he continues towards Tony's room, and he is surprised, albeit pleasantly when he sees Tony sitting upright in bed, the breathing tube and associated ventilator are gone, but it is clear that he has been crying.

"Tony." Gibbs says softly, making Tony aware of his presence.

Tony looks up wearily at the sound of his mentor's voice, and in a voice weakened by having been intubated for over a week, he says. "They say I'm paralyzed ...You knew, didn't you? Why didn't you tell me?" The inflection of anger and betrayal is unmistakable.

Gibbs is barely able to keep up the thin façade of composure as he sits down on the edge of the bed, and he takes hold of Tony's undamaged hand, despite Tony's resistance. "I'm sorry, Tony. We thought it was for the best."

There is an awkward pause before Tony asks. "What happened? They wouldn't tell me, they just said there was an accident. Tell me."

"..." Gibbs glances away for a moment, hesitating before he tells Tony. "It was a car accident ...Ziva was driving the van back, you and-" He can't help but pause before he says. "...Tim were passengers, Ziva ran a red light and a truck hit the van."

Before he can say anymore, Tony questions him. "Where are McGee and Ziva? They haven't been in to see me yet. They are okay, right?"

There is another pause, and before Gibbs can answer him, Tony, seemingly for the first time notices that Gibbs is wearing a suit, and he asks him. "What's going on? Why're you dressed up, Gibbs, I didn't know you owned a suit?"

"Tony..." Gibbs says quietly, taking a moment before he informs him. "Tim died, his funeral is in an hour."

"What?! No, no way!" Tony exclaims, his voice breaking under the strain. "No."

After a moment, Gibbs says. "I'm sorry, Tony... we really did think that it was for the best that we waited to tell you."

Tony nods slowly, acknowledging Gibbs' statement as he thinks. It is silent for close to a minute before Tony says. "I want to go with you, to the... to the funeral."

Gibbs sighs, and he resumes his slackened grip on Tony's hand, before he says. "The doctors won't allow it, you're only just off the ventilator, and... and I just can't risk you getting hurt again, I'll take you to visit his grave when you're better." There is a brief pause before Gibbs adds. "I've got to get going, I'll be back to see you later."

Tony huffs in frustration, but accepts what Gibbs is saying, but then, just as Gibbs is standing up to go, a realization hits Tony. "Where's Ziva?"

TBC...

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