The Worst Nightmare

Another week went by and Tony and Ziva settled into a slightly changed routine. They were running together nearly every morning now. Ziva would text, regardless of how her nightmare went and Tony would answer. There was one morning where Tony actually texted her first and asked if she wanted to run that morning. That had made her smile.

Both Tony and Ziva knew that this was more than a run. They both knew that this time with each other was important, not just for Ziva healing, but for them relying on each other and loving each other. But it was unspoken, as most things about them were. They never talked about it. They never purposely thought about it. They just did it.

Tony and Ziva both knew where this was leading to. They both knew that the inevitable was coming along before them, but neither of them knew how far they had to go to get there and neither knew when it would sneak up on them.

It no longer mattered what Ziva had a nightmare about or how bad it was, she would ask Tony for a run, instead of asking if he was okay. That was the way of it. There was even one morning where Tony had beaten her to the text messages and asked if she wanted to go for a run with him. That had made her smile to herself.

Now she was in bed and drifting off to sleep. She was a little worried about Gibbs, because he was in Mexico again and the last time he was in Mexico he had stayed there for four months, thinking he wasn't coming home. She really hoped that he was not going to just leave, but knew that he would have found a way to say something if he was going to do that. She was just worried about him.

Ziva fell asleep with that being her last thought of the night, which was unusual, since Tony was usually her last thought these days and their morning run to follow. Ziva didn't stay asleep very long tonight. She became aware of her nightmare right away, but couldn't force herself out of this one.

Someone came into her cell. She didn't know if it was Saleem or one of his men. She had heard the door open with a slam against the wood of the wall behind it, as she had heard it for the last time that someone had interrupted her silent time in that cell.

Whoever was there for her didn't say a word. They simply wrapped a burlap sack around her head and pulled her to her feet before she could really look at whoever it was. The man was breathing heavily from needing to bear her weight and his, since her legs were so weak that they were unable to support her.

She knew it was Saleem himself, since he didn't train like he trained his terrorists. He didn't need to train, being the mastermind of his "organization" as he called it. She was dragged from her cell, forcing her legs to do something other than the nothing they had done for so long. She was dragged down the hall which she could picture, since she had been taken down the hall a few times before. She knew they entered another cell, because she could hear the familiar sound of another door being slammed open before her. It seemed larger than her own cell and she wondered if she was back in that very first cell where she had been interrogated so many times before.

She was thrown into a chair, which, by the feel of it, was solid wood. She had not been sitting in one of those solid wood chairs in almost three months now. Was Saleem going back to his first interrogation technique, thinking that what he had done to her in the most recent weeks was not working? It wouldn't work. She wasn't going to talk. She would never tell him anything about NCIS.

The bag was taken brutally off her head and Tony was sitting in front of her with a determined, but almost happy, look on his face, staring her straight in the eyes. She did notice that his eyes were a little widened as though he hadn't expected to see her.

Was Tony there for her? Why? Why had he come? Was she really worth the trip halfway around the world after betraying him like that? Was she worth a trip into a terrorist training camp? Was she worth him risking his own life for her? What could have brought him that far?

Saleem walked over to Tony and pressed a shining metal knife to his throat, the blade just barely touching his skin. Saleem gave an evil glare to Ziva and slit his throat slowly right in front of her for her to watch. She processed everything quickly. She watched the determination slip from his eyes, the life in him vanish, and the care in his expression wash away. She let out a horrible shriek of pain as she watched everything vanish from Tony and felt an empty whole ripping through her heart.

Ziva's eyes snapped open. She was wide awake now. She sat bolt-upright in her bed, noticing that she was sweating and shaking in a panic and fear. She had had many nightmares of losing Tony or not having Tony or not knowing where Tony was or what his fate might be. But, this was nothing like those dreams. She had never watched Tony die, she couldn't even think of this.

This was the first time that her nightmares had forced her to watch Tony die. She had never been able to imagine what he would look like being killed and now she could see it and it terrified her. She was sweating and shaking. She needed help. But, who could she call for this? What time was it anyway?

Ziva glanced over at the clock on her bedside table. She was still shaking uncontrollably. It was two in the morning. Perhaps Tony would still be awake, though she knew he would answer anyway. She could not call Gibbs, he was in Mexico. That was all they knew about it. He had run off to Mexico again for some reason that he wouldn't tell any of them and they had had no contact.

Ziva picked up her phone and found Tony's name in it. She reached for her Star of David necklace that he had given to her during their stay in Paris and she clung to it for every ounce of comfort that she needed right now. She hit the send button, calling Tony and pressed the phone to her ear. He wasn't far away and she knew he would come.

A/N – I think this nightmare made Ziva fully realize what she already knew. I think it's hit her hard that she really can't live without Tony. I think she is now seeing what she needs to see. How will Tony react? What is Tony thinking now? What has Tony been thinking of this whole thing for the last few months? Leave a review and let me know what you think.