This is the second version of the spoilers regarding a quote on "spoilersforncis", in which "executive producer Gary Glasberg promises a "huge Ziva story" right after the holiday break in January. Although the precise details of the arc are still being hammered out, Glasberg confirms that "it's going to rock Vance's world" and it will feature the return of Michael Nouri as Ziva's father, Eli David. "What goes down affects everybody and propels us into [the season's next chapter]," Glasberg says. "I think it all sticks to the idea of knocking people down and picking them back up again, emotionally and psychologically." (copied from website). The first story mentioned the big Ziva story, and then later Vance was mentioned but then never again, so I ignored the Vance inclusion in my first story. This one will include Vance. This has now been confirmed to be a two-parter Episodes 10 and 11 entitled: "Shabbat Shalom."
Vignette Nine- "Hello, Goodbye"- Part One
Tony and Ziva were outside of Director's Vance's house. He had received a creditable threat against his family. They had just gotten their suitcases in the SUV and the kids were tightly belted in.
Agent John Miles was at the wheel. Tony and Ziva would be driving backup, and would be picked up a mile down the road by Gibbs and Tim.
Other teams were scattered along the route to fall in as other teams dropped off. They were hoping this confused anyone who might be following them.
Tony and Ziva were glad it was Friday, because once they completed this part of the mission, they were free until at least Sunday, when it would be their rotation to stay with the family at the safe house.
Tony and Ziva had just reached their car and were getting in as Jackie Vance was buckling in. Suddenly, she turned to Agent Miles.
"I'm sorry, I can't believe this. I left my purse in the house." She unbuckled and opened her door."
Tony turned on the walkie. "What's Mrs. Vance doing, Miles?"
Miles voice crackled over the instrument. "She's going back in. She forgot her purse." Tony looked at Ziva. "I will go back and make sure she gets back in the car."
Tony nodded, though he didn't like Ziva not having backup. "Tony, it is only Mrs. Vance. Besides there is a team watching the back." He sighed and handed her the walkie. "Take this."
Ziva trotted back across the street. She stopped by the car. "Start the car and be ready to go."
She entered the immaculate home, and called out. "Mrs. Vance? We need to leave, now!" Ziva headed toward the bedroom and Mrs. Vance was coming out.
Ziva gave a deep sigh of relief. "Please, Mrs. Vance, we need to hurry." She held out her arm for Mrs. Vance to go ahead of her, with Ziva following.
Ziva turned on her walkie to talk to Tony. "We are coming out now." "Copy that." Tony said.
Suddenly, Mrs. Vance stopped and turned. "I'm sorry, Agent David." Before Ziva could react, the wife of the Director of NCIS pulled out a gun and shot Ziva.
Ziva looked down at her body, stunned as she slowly fell to the floor. The walkie was still in her hand, the "talk" button still somehow on.
Tony was getting antsy. He didn't have Gibbs' famous gut, but something felt off here. He decided to go check on things himself. Just as he left the car, Ziva's voice came through.
"We are coming out now."
"Copy that." Tony said, still walking toward the house.
"I'm sorry, Agent David." Then the horrible sound of a gun being fired. Tony broke into a run, barely stopping at the car, he told Agent Miles to leave now with the kids.
"Ziva!" Tony cried out. He could see the back door was wide open. He ran to see if he could see any sign of a car or Mrs. Vance.
Wasting no further time, he ran back through the kitchen and into the living room.
There he found Ziva, lying on her back, her eyes open. There was a gunshot wound to her upper right chest and right middle abdominal area.
"No!" Tony yelled in anguish. He ran to her and checked her pulse. It was there, but very weak and thready. First, he called "911"- he identified himself and reported an officer down.
He yanked off his jacket and pressed it against Ziva's chest wound, to staunch the flow of blood.
"Ziva…" Tony cradled her in his arms. She revived momentarily, hearing his voice. She tried to raise her hand up to touch his face. "Tony…I am sorry."
He kept pressure on the wound and tried to stroke her hair at the same time. "Shhh…you're going to be fine, do you hear me?" He almost screamed it at her.
Just then the walkie crackled to life. "DiNozzo, David- report! Director's family just sped by without your escort. Status, now!"
Tony looked at his walkie. "She shot her, Boss." That was all he could get out.
Gibbs looked at Tim, exchanging worried glances. "Who shot who, DiNozzo?"
Tony swallowed hard. "Ziva. Mrs. Vance shot Ziva and took off. Ziva is…" By this time, Tony could hear the sirens of the paramedics. They flew past Gibbs and McGee.
Gibbs gunned his car, did a dangerous U-turn and actually past the ambulance. He ran the car up onto the grass, and he and McGee bolted inside the house.
They found Tony holding Ziva. "Oh my God, Ziver." Gibbs knelt beside her and held her face, trying to get her to focus.
"I said this once to Tony and I'm going to say this to you now: you do not have permission to die, got that?" Ziva looked at Gibbs and barely nodded.
He kissed her forehead. The paramedics came in and Tony reluctantly let her go so they could start to work on her.
Tony sat on the floor, leaning up against a chair. His hands and his shirt were covered in Ziva's blood. There was blood on his face where Ziva tried to reach up to him.
Tim sat on the floor with him, in shock. Gibbs went over to Tony and squatted.
"Tony, I need you to focus. How do you know Mrs. Vance shot Ziva? Were you in here and if you were, where is she?"
"If you weren't, why didn't you have Ziva's back?"
At that Tony looked up at that. "Mrs. Vance was already in the car and told Agent Miles she realized she forgot her purse."
"She went back in on her own. Ziva and I asked Miles what she was doing and that is what he told us."
"Ziva decided to go in to cover her. I wanted to go with her but…" Gibbs nodded, understanding.
"I made her take the walkie with her so she could report anything unusual. There was supposed to be a team covering the back."
Gibbs looked to the open back door when Tony said that, giving himself a mental note to check on those agents.
"They were taking longer than I liked, so I got out of the car and headed back to the house."
"As I was walking, Ziva came on the walkie and said they were heading out now. Then I heard Mrs. Vance say 'I'm sorry, Agent David' and gunshots."
Tony hung his head. "I took off and told Miles to get the kids out of here."
"I didn't see anyone at first and saw the back door was opened. I ran to look outside, but there was no sign of Mrs. Vance or any vehicle."
"I ran back inside, and that's when I found Ziva…" Tony covered his eyes with his hand. He was not going to let his Boss see him cry.
Gibbs swallowed hard. If what Tony had just reported was true, they had a real problem on their hands.
And he had no doubt that Leon Vance was not going to believe Tony's report and would hold his agents responsible for his wife's disappearance.
But none of that mattered right now. The paramedics had intubated Ziva, and were bagging her until they could get her hooked up to the portable ventilator in the ambulance. She had at least three IV's going.
They already had her on the stretcher and were taking her out for transport. Tony came to life. "I'm going with her."
Gibbs put his hand on Tony's arm, but he yanked it away. "No! I'm not leaving without her!" Gibbs sighed. "Go."
Tony ran after the paramedics. "I don't care if you have to tie me to the top, I'm coming with you."
The paramedics weren't happy, but understood law enforcement partnerships. "OK, but you will need to stay out of way, got it?"
Tony nodded mutely and climbed into the back with Ziva.
"McGee." Tim looked up at his Boss, his eyes wet. "Can you drive? Are you ok to drive?"
Tim stood up, and straightened his shoulders. "I'm fine, Boss. What do you need me to do?"
"Take the car Tony and Ziva had. Go get Abby, meet us at the hospital. I'll get another team out here to secure the scene and get evidence and check on the other team from out back."
"Walter Reed?" Tim asked. Gibbs swore. He pulled out his cell phone and put it on speaker. "Tony, what hospital are they taking her to?" He heard some mumbling in the background.
"Maryland Shock Trauma, closest one to us." Tony answered, a tremor in his voice.
"OK." He turned to Tim. "You know where that is?"
Tim nodded. He dreaded telling Abby what had happened. She had been calling everyone non-stop for the last half-hour, but they were too busy to take her call.
Gibbs made a call to one of the other team leaders, bypassing Vance. He also requested a status from the agents that were supposed to be guarding the back.
Getting no response, he called back one of the other teams that should have dropped off by now from following the Vance children to check on the agents.
The first team arrived as he was giving the second team their instructions. He quickly explained that Special Agent David had been shot and Mrs. Vance was missing.
They were to treat it as an attempted murder and kidnap scene. He then ran to his car and called a number he never in his life wanted to call.
In the meantime, Tim got in the car, which still had the engine running and put it into drive. Taking a deep breath, he dialed Abby's number.
She picked up immediately. "Oh my God, McGee! Why haven't you been answering your calls? Please tell me everything is ok."
McGee took a deep breath. "No Abby, everything is not ok. I need you to meet me outside the 6th street gate. I am coming by to pick you up."
"I'll be there in about ten minutes." He hung up before Abby could ask any more questions and felt really bad about that. She deserved to know what happened; just not over a phone.
Abby was nervously pacing when he turned onto 6th. She practically ran to the car. "Where did they take her, Tim? Is Ziva going to be alright? Oh my God, I can't believe this has happened!"
Tim looked at her stunned. "Did Gibbs or Tony call you?"
Abby shook her head, looking confused.
"Well then, how do you know about Ziva?" Tim asked.
Abby grasped is arm, for comfort. "You forgot I was monitoring all of the transmissions. I heard the whole thing: Ziva telling her it was time to go, Mrs. Vance saying she was sorry, gunshots…" She couldn't go on.
"You heard all that?" Tim was excited, because it corroborated Tony's depiction of the events. "Heard it and recorded it. Mrs. Vance is SOL."
Abby looked angry and confused and upset and every other bad adjective that Tim could come up with in thirty seconds.
"So again, where are they taking her?" Abby was nothing if persistent.
"Oh, sorry. Maryland Shock Trauma. It was the closest medical center to the house." Abby nodded, and then was silent for the remainder of the trip.
They arrived at the Trauma Center ED and went into the waiting room, where they found Gibbs. Abby immediately ran into Gibbs' arms.
"Oh, Gibbs. I can't believe this has happened to our family again. Any word?" She looked around. "Where's Tony?" Her eyes hardened. "Where's Director Vance?"
Gibbs looked alarmed at her anger. "Wow, Abbs. We don't know anything for sure yet."
"Actually Boss, we do. Abby was monitoring and recording all of the transmissions. She heard it all, just like Tony said." Gibbs looked like he had been gut-punched.
This was now a thousand times worse than it was before. "Where are the recordings, Abbs?" Gibbs had visions of some helpful bureaucrat "accidently" removing or erasing the recording.
She pulled an SMS card out of her purse. "I have it all right here." Gibbs kissed her on the cheek. "We need to get that away from you so no one thinks you have it."
He looked at it. "Tony is in the back with Ziva." He said absently, like this was taken for granted.
"Why would they let him back there? It's not like they're…" Abby stopped.
Gibbs looked up. "Like they're not what, Abbs? Partners, lovers, married?"
Abby opened her mouth but nothing came out. Gibbs pulled out his cell and punched a number.
"Tobias? We've got a problem and I need you in on this. My team is at Maryland Shock Trauma. Can you get here? Thanks!"
Abby turned to Tim. "Does Gibbs think Tony and Ziva are married? I mean, wouldn't you and I know something like that before he did?"
Just then, Tony came out from the back, still in his bloody clothes. "Tony..." Abby went to hug him, but Gibbs held her back. "He's wearing evidence, Abby."
"Tony, we're going to need your shirt and coat and whatever else has blood on it. We'll see if we can get you some scrubs." Tony nodded quietly.
Tim popped up. "I'll get some evidence bags out of the car," and took off.
By the time McGee got back, a pair of scrubs had been procured for him. Tim went back with him to one of the empty bays so Tony could remove his clothes and hand them over to Tim.
Tim watched Tony silently as he undressed, one item at a time going into its own evidence bag.
Almost every bit of his clothing had blood on it, except his briefs and shoes.
He went over to the sink to wash Ziva's blood off of his hands, face and neck. He then quickly threw on the scrubs. Only then did he look up into McGee's face.
"It's not looking good, Tim." He said quietly. They walked out together to the lobby to sign over the evidence to Abby. Only then did Tony speak.
"They just took her into surgery. If they had allowed me in there as well, I'd be there instead of here…the first bullet hit her right upper chest."
"She has a collapsed lung and they put in a chest tube down here. They wouldn't let me watch."
"She's still on the ventilator, which she would be for surgery anyway. The second bullet ripped through the middle right side of her abdomen"
"They won't be able to tell the extent of the damage until they operate."
"She's lost a lot of blood, so if you can donate, that would help." He looked at Gibbs with murder in his eyes. "Where's Vance?"
"Ok," Gibbs said. "Everybody listen up. There will be no retribution or revenge taken by any member of this team, is that understood? I've called in Fornell to help with the investigation."
"Right now, we are working under the assumption that Director Vance had no foreknowledge of his wife's actions."
"Until it can be proved otherwise, he will not be held accountable."
"He will, however, be taken off this case and thoroughly questioned." He looked each of his agents in the eye, making sure they understood and accepted the orders he just gave.
"DiNozzo?" Tony was the only one who did not immediately acquiesce to Gibbs' edict.
"I can just as quickly take you off this case, and considering how close you are to this, I think that would probably be a good idea."
"Boss!" Tony protested. Gibbs put his hand on Tony's neck. "You need to stay here with your partner, got it?" Tony nodded numbly.
Just then, Fornell walked in. He looked at the group present. "David?"
"Shot by Director Vance's wife, as we were trying to get her and her kids to a safe house." Gibbs told him.
Fornell's eyes widened. "Did any one of you witness this? This is a very serious accusation."
Gibbs held up the SMS card. "Tony and Ziva had their walkies on. Whatever transpired was recorded."
Fornell looked surprised and interested. "Is there any way I can hear this here, now?"
McGee spoke up. "You can put it in any laptop or smartphone that plays recordings. My phone will work."
"Ok, can we get a private area to listen to this?" Gibbs walked up to the desk and showed them his badge and what he required.
Gibbs, Tim and Fornell headed for the conference room. Tony and Abby had already heard it and weren't ready to hear it again.
Conference Room
Tim carefully inserted the card into his phone. All three had pads and pens in front of them to take notes. "I'm also going to save this on to my phone and make a back-up, Boss."
Gibbs looked surprised. He was so non-savvy as far as technology, he hadn't considered that as an option.
"OK, are we ready?" Tim asked, looking at the other two.
This is a totally different take on the first "Promonition" I did for this episode. As before, it will be more than one chapter. Hope you like it so far. I am sure the real episode will be nothing like this, but that's why we write these stories.