Chapter Eleven

As Ziva stood in the empty bedroom, glass lying in shards just under the window she felt like her world was falling down around her. Tali was gone and after what Gibbs had just told her she had a suspicion about who had taken her. She heard the floor creak by the doorway, but didn't turn around to see who it was.

"Ziva…"

"No Gibbs, I do not want you to tell me this will be alright." She paused taking in a shaky breath. "You should not have to tell me this will be alright, because this should not have happened. I promised myself when she was born that I would never let her get tangled up in this mess and now…"

Ziva stopped midsentence as she heard the familiar sound of a gun letting off a round and tires squealing shortly afterwards. She ran to the window that faced down the street and her stomach lurched as she saw him lying on the pavement.

"Tony."

Before she even realized what she was doing she found her feet were carrying her out the door and she was running down the street at a sprint towards him. Ziva reached him and fell to her knees beside his head; he was still breathing but his eyes were closed and blood covered the ground under his right shoulder. With shaky hands she unbuttoned his shirt and slid the sleeve off his arm. She quickly slipped her thin, cotton jacket off and pressed it against the bullet wound, but in mere seconds it was soaked through with blood. Were shoulder wounds really supposed to bleed this much? This isn't right, this can't be happening not Tony too…

"Calm down, he's going to be fine." She whispered to herself, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath.

Ziva opened her eyes and tried to reassess the situation. She removed her bloodied jacket from his arm and began looking for something she could use to tie above his wound that would stop blood from flowing to it. Her fingers brushed against her belt and she froze, an idea formulating in her mind. Ziva hurried to un-hook the belt then slipped it off her waste and slid it around Tony's arm. She pulled the piece of black leather tight above his wound and shoved hard on the metal prong so it made a hole in the belt. Ziva watched Tony intently and as the bleeding began to slow, color crept back onto his face and his green eyes fluttered opened.

"Ow." He moaned quietly as he turned his head toward her. "Hey, Zee."

"Hey?" She questioned tears forming in her eyes as her adrenaline began to wear off and the reality of the situation hit. "You just got shot and the first thing you say is hey?"

"Mmm…yeah I guess." He grunted trying to move to a sitting position.

"Don't, you'll make it worse." Ziva said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder the motion causing a few tears to trickle down her face.

Tony lay back down on the pavement and reached his left hand up to stroke her face. "I'll be fine, and…and she'll be fine because we're going to find her. Don't worry Zee."

"Tony how…" She was interrupted at the sound of someone approaching them.

"Hey Gibbs." Tony grunted nodding behind her; Ziva turned around, wiping her tear stained cheeks.

"You alright DiNozzo?" He asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yeah, just a flesh wound. Nothing to worry about." He replied nonchalantly.

"Did you…"

"Yes, already called there's a bus on the way now." Gibbs said, answering Ziva's unspoken question.

"You know this reminds me of this movie I saw once…"

Tony stared up at the ceiling of his hospital room the next morning, his mind buzzing with millions of thoughts. Ziva and Gibbs were currently out of the room talking to his doctor about recovery and the like. He had not needed surgery thankfully, but he wasn't supposed to perform any strenuous physical activity for the next two weeks. Fat chance. If he was going to get Tali back he would be as strenuous with his physical activity as he had to for all he was concerned. After Ziva and Gibbs had left the room he had been silently contemplating last night's events and Tony had come up with a pretty good idea as to who had taken Tali and his name was Eli David.

After the conversation that had taken place last night it made absolute sense. Eli was hell bent on training Tali at whatever cost and Tony also had a sneaking suspicion that the power hungry man was using this as a way to get back at his daughter, who in the years since coming to America had turned soft in his eyes. He wished that he was surprised at this turn of events, but when Ziva had suddenly walked back into his life only two short days ago he had already begun to slip back into the old habits that came with his old job. This reminded Tony that he should probably call the school and let them know he wasn't going to be back for a few weeks, maybe not even at all.

Tony grabbed his cell phone off the table in front of him and called the school. It was a rather short conversation that he had with the principal, he told her he was quitting and when the woman prodded for a reason why he just told her it was complicated. When he hung up the phone, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest because now it was one less thing to worry about. He set his phone down on the table just as the door to his room opened.

"So?" he asked as Ziva walked in.

"You are not supposed to run, work out, or do anything extensive for the next couple of weeks." She answered pulling up a chair to the bed then gestured her hand toward the phone in front of him. "Who did you call?"

"The school." Tony replied simply. "I quit."

"You what?" She asked incredulously. "Why would you do that?"

"Well considering what has happened in the last twenty-four hours it seemed like I wasn't going to be back for a while and when we do find Tali I don't really want to go back." He answered looking into her chocolate brown eyes.

"Why is that?" Ziva continued questioning him, holding his gaze for a second before looking away.

"Teaching never really fit, I mean I liked it, but it's not what I really want to be doing." He paused looking for the right words. "I guess part of me never left NCIS, the longing has always been there to go back and now, though the circumstances aren't great, I have the chance to go back and I'm going to take it."

"I guess that makes sense." She said slowly, a look of contemplation on her face. "I have felt the same way multiple times over the years. Maybe I should do the same."

"Quit?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows. "Where do you work anyway?"

"I'm a secretary at the law firm in town."

"Really, Ziva David, ninja extraordinaire; a secretary? Impossible." He gave her a crooked grin.

"Is it not possible for me to work at a normal job?" She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to hide the smile that was tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Nope." He said matter-of-factly, causing Ziva to huff.

The door opened again and this time it was Gibbs. "C'mon DiNozzo, let's go."

"You got them to let me out already?" Tony asked surprised.

"Yep, told 'em we had an important job to do." The older man laid a pair of light blue scrubs in front of him. "You're stuck into those until we get back to NCIS."

"We're going back to NCIS?" Ziva asked, as Tony got up to go to the bathroom and change.

"How else do you expect us to find Tali?"

"I guess you're right."

Tony listened to the conversation as he quickly undressed, and gingerly put on the pair of pants and shirt, taking his arm out of the sling the doctor had put him in to get the shirt on. He finished putting the sling on as he walked out.

"Alright, let's get out of here."

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me so long to update, but this past few weeks have been stressful and I have had a very little amount of free time. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will update when I can! Reviews are appreciated :)