A/N: Here's the next two chapters. Thanks for the reviews and story alerts and all that fun stuff.
Ch. 20 What Happened to You: Part 1
Tony and Ziva were slowly marching through the shrub land. Despite Ziva's protest, Tony had pulled her arm over his shoulder and wrapped his other arm around her waist, leaving her left arm in a sling to protect her hand. To fill the time Tony was telling her stories of his days in the Baltimore PD. Ziva would never say as much out loud, but she appreciated his effort to distract her from her pain. To a degree she even enjoyed his stories.
"You cannot be serious Tony. A vat of glue?"
"Yes, I am totally serious. He had some sort of automatic weapon. What else was a first year cop supposed to do but get out of the way?"
"I do not know, shoot back?" replied Ziva, her voice carrying a a slight teasing tone over the pain in her voice. Tony had learned early on in the morning that the underlaying sound of pain wasn't going to go away without a trip to the hospital and some strong pain killers. Both of which she'd have to wait for.
"I did shoot back. My clip emptied. Some things are inevitable, Ziva." Ziva gave a small smile at Tony's words and looked up at him.
"I suppose they are, Tony." Tony gave a brief smile in return and then looked away.
"Anyway, it took me weeks to get every bit of glue off my skin and out of my hair. I got called Captain Sticky for months after that." Ziva smiled as a form of laughter, knowing laughing out right would aggravate her many wounds.
"It's about noon. How about we stop for a breather and some food? Map says there's a creek, river like body of water not too far." Ziva nodded, inwardly grateful for a chance to sit down. Tony helped her sit on a rock by the river's edge. The portion of the river they'd chosen to stop at had large rocks and boulders all around, forming small shelters and a little bit protection from the main road.
Tony pulled off his bag and dropped it to the ground, followed by his fatigue jacket, tee shirt and weapons. Ziva noted with surprise at how chiseled Tony's physique had become. He moved with easy grace and control. Ziva was enthralled until, like a small child, he ran to the water and leaped in. Ziva let out a small laugh as Tony splashed around for a while and then came back to the shore shaking his head like a dog, spraying water everywhere.
"Care for a dip Ziva?" he asked, a typical DiNozzo smile gracing his features. That made Ziva truly smile. She felt forgiven and accepted by Tony. She'd seen the way he'd treated those he thought of as disloyal and she was grateful that he still treated her as a friend.
"I think for now I am fine Tony." Tony shrugged as if to say "suit yourself" and plunged back into the water. Tony found it refreshing. The river was rather peaceful and there were no uncomfortable rocks to cut into Tony's feet. For the first time since being out of the camp, he started to relax and just as he closed his eyes, the peace was shattered.
"Tony!" screamed Ziva over the sound of gunfire. Instantly, Tony ducked down into the water as bullets came flying at him. When there was a break he came up for air and looked around for their attackers.
"Get out of the water!" shouted Ziva. Snapping back to reality Tony rushed to the water's edge, running as fast as he could to Ziva as gunfire pelted at him. He jump behind the rock where Ziva had been previously sitting. She'd rolled off as soon as the gunfire started.
"Are you hurt?" asked Tony over the machine gun fire.
"No time for that Tony. I cannot load the rile with one hand." Understanding, Tony quickly put a new clip into the assault rifle and put it in Ziva's good hand. She pulled the strap over her head and used the wrist of her left arm to prop it up. Before she could get a shot off, however, parts of there rock were blasted away, forcing Tony and Ziva to crouch lower to the ground. The only saving grace was the large boulder at their back.
Using a small periscope, Tony looked to see that their attackers. Some were situated atop boulders across the river and others were in front of the boulders, beginning to make their way across the river. Tony dropped the periscope and grabbed a hand gun and knife.
"Cover me Ziva." Before Ziva could argue, Tony jumped from behind the rock and dove into the deepest part of the river. Silently cursing his brash action, Ziva concerned herself with shooting the men on the top of the boulders. They made themselves easy targets and Ziva marked them with great satisfaction. In fact she was so drawn in to shooting her adversaries that she forgot about Tony until he burst from the water at the other side of the river. And when he did, she had to gasp at what she saw.
Tony fought with the ferocity of a wild cat. Has gun flashed at opponents who where far away, felling them with single shots. As for those unfortunate enough to be close to him, he dwelt with them by hand. In a flurry of kicks, elbows and punches, Tony relived the attackers of their weapons. Then in a series of spins, he used the butt of his gun to whack the temples of his attackers, rendering them unconscious if not dead. Finally, there were two men left standing. Tony threw his gun to the side as one of the men rushed him. The man threw punches at Tony, but Tony dodged so quickly that it appeared as though the man was moving in slow motion. He did, however, manage to let Tony have access to his neck. Tony wrapped an arm around the man's throat, cutting off oxygen and blood flow to the brain. It was only when the man's thrashing became too violent that Tony plunged the knife into his gut. Instantly the man ceased to move and Tony let him fall to the ground.
The one man left was no fool and nor was he as easy to beat as the men scattered on the river's bank. He was just as fast as Tony and managed to land a kick to Tony that sent him sprawling at the river's edge. Before Tony could could quite get his feet under him, the man tackled Tony full tilt into the water.
Ziva cried out as both men disappeared from the surface. Cautiously, she abandoned her hiding place and went to the river's edge. She starred into its dark depths, hoping for a glimpse of Tony and failing.
One of the most painful two minutes Ziva could remember passed until finally, a small way down the river, a man broke the surface, struggling for the shore. Ziva tensed for an instant but seeing that the upper half of the man bore no shirt and was the lighter colored skin of a European American, she lowered her gun and limped as quickly as she could to where he'd reached the river bank. Using her good hand she helped drag Tony out of the water. Once most of him was out of the water, he flopped onto his back, his eyes closed taking deep breaths and sometimes coughing.
Ziva used her eyes to silently assess his body for visible wounds. Finding none, she sat to him and leaned over him placing her hand on the side of his face.
"Tony? Tony, open your eyes and look at me. Tony, look at me." Tony's eyes slowly fluttered open and after a moment settled on Ziva.
"You okay?" he asked, his voice slightly hoarse. Ziva gave him a light thump on the shoulder. He coughed up a laugh.
"Oh course I am okay, Tony. I did not fight a man twice my size in a river." She paused for a moment, taking in his face and realizing that she was insanely relieved that he was fine. "Are you okay, Tony?" She asked, her teasing tone replaced with one of concern.
Tony paused for a moment, catching the smarmy remark in his mouth before he let it out. He could see she was truly concerned. Instead he placed his hand on hers that was on his face.
"I'm fine Ziva. Maybe a little tired, but altogether whole." She smiled one last time and gently pulled her hand away. Standing up, she extended that hand to him. He shook his head and rolled over to his stomach and pushed himself up off the ground.
"Sorry, Sweet cheeks. No offense meant really, it's just that if I let you try to help me up, I might end up pulling you down on account of your various injuries. We both know that would suck." Ziva gave a sigh of exasperation at Tony's ceaseless concern for her but saw the logic in his argument regardless.
"Once I change, we've got to get out of here. I'm sure these guys have friends. And we're going to have to find out how they got here." The answer to the question of the terrorists mode of transportation was actually a pleasant one. They'd come through the desert ready jeeps, some with relatively full tanks.
Two hours later, they were just twelve mile out of Heis. Tony had planned to go to Erivago but with the jeeps, they had no need to stop.
That, and if they can track us to a river, they can track us to a city close to their camp,thought Tony to himself.
After a while, Ziva broke the silence.
"Tony, what happened to you?" her voice reflected how much thought she'd been in for most of the drive.
"What do you mean, Zee?" asked Tony, genuinely confused.
"What happened back at that river. I have never seen you fight like that." Ziva turned to look at Tony as he drove.
"Come on Ziva, you know I have always been good for a fight."
"Tony, let me be honest. If I knew you could fight like that, it would have been no surprise to me that you bested Micheal." At that Tony's face clouded over. He knew that she would not take a slack jawed answer and let the conversation drop.
"You sure you want to here this?" Ziva just continued giving him a steely look from her still slightly swollen face.
"Ziva when you left, I...I realized how much I'd changed. How much you changed me. I wanted very badly to polish off a bottle of tequila in the dark of my apartment, wallowing in my guilt an sorrow. You know, had it been a couple of years ago, I would have. But as soon as I tried to drink, your face...it just appeared in my mind. And...I couldn't do it. I couldn't even open the bottle. But hey, a guy's gotta drown his sorrow with something. I chose exercise. It seemed like the only thing you would approve of and I wasn't about to start reading for hours on end. So basically, I became an exercising machine. I learned how to fight pretty well along the way." Tony kept his eyes forward on the road, scared of what her reaction might be.
Ziva just remained silent, staring into the desert.
"What?" asked Tony, eager and fearful for her response. She looked away from Tony as she talked.
"I am glad I did at least one thing right, while I was with NCIS." Tony heard the choked up emotion in her voice and reached out a hand and lightly placed it on her shoulder. She did not respond to his gesture, but Tony took it as a good sign that she did not push it away.
"Ziva, you don't have to look at me, but I want you to listen to me. Years of friendship do not evaporate with one bad decision. It wouldn't have been a strong friendship if it could. And you happen to be my best friend." Ziva still did not turn around, but Tony could feel some of her tension dissipate at his words. He returned his hand to the wheel and rode on towards the city.