Alice's POV
Alice's Apartment
I park my car in my parking spot and wait. Tony's been quite, which is something that he never does.
"You okay, Tony?" I ask.
Tony sighs and continues to look out the window.
How can I help if he won't let me?
"Tony?"
I hear him mumble something sadly.
"What was that?"
Tony sighs again and looks at me with tears flowing down his face.
"Tony?" I ask as I reach over and hug him.
Tony keeps crying and hugs back.
I've known Tony for years, and not once have I seen him cry. Except, except for when he thought about his mom.
Oh, man.
"Tone, it's okay." I attempt to comfort.
I'm failing miserably.
"I was there when mom died. I heard the gunshot. Saw the guy who killed her, broken, right next to our house. I saw her bloody corpse. I should've done something. I had the chance, and I didn't take it. That cost mom her life."
I sigh. As an FBI agent, I talk some sense into survivor's who blame themselves for the loss of loved ones all the time. It's basically part of my day-to-day routine. I have a PHD in it, if talking sense into people is a college major.
"Tony, it is not your fault, and you know it. She was dead the moment the killer broke in. Look, I know that that's not what you wanted to hear, but its the truth, and you've got to forgive yourself and move on. Really, there's nothing to forgive yourself about. It's only the killer's fault."
Tony lets go of me.
"Yeah. His fault, and Senior's." He answers,
I look at Tony sadly.
"You still call your dad 'Senior'?"
"Yeah. He abused and neglected me, and he played a role in my mother's death. He made her miserable. He made me miserable."
"See? Your dad started the whole mess, and the killer finished it. Where do you join in? What part do you think that you played?"
Tony looks me in the eye as he answers,
"The bystander. I was the bystander. I knew it was happening. I heard it happening, and I did nothing to stop it. What if I had gotten there in time to save her? What if I was there-"
Getting really frustrated and miserable, I stop him.
"Yeah, what if you were there?! You tell me what you could have done. You were a little boy, and this man was an adult. If your mother, who if I recall correctly, was a workout addict and an extremely strong woman, couldn't fight him off, what could you have done? He would've killed you, too, Tony. He might've killed you first so that your mother could watch. Two innocent people would've died that day, and the death of the little boy wouldn't have accomplished anything."
Tony nods.
"Has it ever occurred to you that that may not be a bad thing? I'm one person. One miserable person who just wants his mother back. What'd be so bad about me being with mama again? If I died that day, I wouldn't have left anyone behind. I had no friends, and you know what dad thought about me. Nothing. He wouldn't have cared. I would've followed the one person who loved me and looked out for me. I act like I'm happy, but it's just a mask. I miss her, and I just want her back, Alice."
I start crying.
"I love you, Tony. She wasn't the only one who cared for you.
"Well, you didn't know me then. It wouldn't be a loss to you, because you wouldn't know me. You'd see it on the news, think 'Aw, that's a shame.', and you'd think nothing else of it. Honestly, I wish that I did die that day. That I died with my mother. Or, if I didn't die then, I wish that I would've died when Ziva shot me. I want her back."
With that, a sad, fake, fantasy world enters my head. A world without Tony. A world without his laugh. His smile. His happy voice. His eyes. What if all of that was taken from this world that day?
Gibbs would've drowned. Innocent people would be in prison, and guilty people would be free. Tim would've been alone after he shot that cop. Who would've opened the plague letter if there was no such thing as Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo? Tim? Gibbs? That Kate girl? Could've been an old man who smoked. Could've been a pregnant woman.
I can't imagine how life would be if I never saw Tony's smile or heard his laugh. My life would be so empty. So, dark.
So different.
"If you died that day, if you died any day, you would leave people behind. Gibbs, Abby, Ducky, Jimmy, Tim, and I would all be broken. No matter what your biological family thinks of you, just know that we consider you family, and that if you let us in, we will never hurt you. We will never let you fall. Know that someday, you could have a woman by your side who will love you and care for you forever. Someone you could grow old with and have kids with you. Know that I would gladly be that woman someday, Tony. Know that you have nothing to be ashamed of. Not one thing."
Tony smiles at me.
"I'm good with now if you'd like." He replies. Sarcastically. I think.
"We should date first, Tony." I reply.
Tony laughs.
"I was joking."
I roll my eyes.
"So, you ready to meet my daughter?"
Tony's eyes light up the way I like them to.
"Very."
"Okay. Let's go."
ALICE'S APARTMENT
"Erin, mommy's home!" I yell as I walk in the doorway.
The tiny footsteps of my daughter fill the apartment, and I am soon greeted by my seven-year-old daughter.
"Hi, mommy." She chirps.
"Hi, honey. This is our guest, Tony DiNozzo. I told you about him. Can you say 'hi' to him, please?"
Tony waves at Erin, and she motions for Tony to come closer, and he does.
"Hi, Tony. I'm Erin Jane Foster, well, McArthy, but I call myself Erin Jane Foster. I'm seven years old. My mommy likes you."
Tony laughs.
"Well, I like your mommy, too. A lot." He replies, looking a little at her, and a little at me.
"Ooh. Are you gonna get married?" She asks in her squeaky mocking voice.
Tony looks up at me and smiles as he answers,
"I'd say so. Some day."
Same here, I think to myself.
"Well, Erin, Tony and I have gotta visit somebody, so I'm gonna take you to Olive's house."
"Okay." Erin replies.
ZIVA'S POV
JAIL
"Ziva? Ziva! Have you listened to one word that I've said?" My junkie cell-mate, Sarah asks.
"No, because I do not care about your son dying from cancer. When it affects me, let me know, but until then, leave me alone." I mumble.
I walk to the other side of my tiny cell and lay down on my hard bed. Looking up at Sarah's bed right above me, I realize just how much I miss everything. Everyone.
By everyone, I mean Michael. He was my whole world. My whole life. He was stolen from me, and I want him back.
"David!" The prison guard yells, pronouncing my last name as the male first name.
"Da-veed. The 'a' sounds like 'ah', and the 'id' sounds like 'eed'. It is not that hard!"
The prison guard, Courtney, looks at me with her usual anger.
"You've got two visitors."
UGH! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!
"Tell them to leave. Tell them that I do not want to see them."
Courtney smiles. She smiles with that weird mocking smile she does sometimes.
Uh-oh. What happened?
"Aww, Ziver? You don't want to see me? I thought that you loved me." The most loud, irritating, nail biting voice mocks.
I ignore it at first. I hear things a lot.
The voice I can ignore, but not what appears next. Not the face. The bright, shiny, "oh the world is made of sugar!" face that I've come to despise.
The face of Tony DiNozzo.
So much anger, so much uncertainty, washes over me. HOW IS TONY ALIVE?! I KILLED HIM!
I shot him! I shot him in the heart! He died on the operating table! How is he here, perfectly healthy, and smiling? What went wrong?
I look for the prison guard, and I notice that she left, so I make my move.
I sprint over, and wrap my hands around his neck, chocking him.
This is where he falls. This is where Michael's death gets avenged once and for all. This is where so much pain and confusion dies with my nemesis.
This is where Anthony DiNozzo dies.
Or so I thought.
Next thing I know, Alice, who was standing next to Tony, grabs my hands and pulls them off his neck, causing me great pain as my arms slam against the bars. Next, with me off-guard, she grips a big chunk of my hair and slams my face against the bars.
My nose starts bleeding. It made solid contact with the bars. My nose is bleeding, maybe broken, my face hurts, and my arms are stiff, and probably swollen and bruised.
"Guard!" My cell mate screams.
"She's on a break! A break that Tony and I sent her on!" Alice yells.
Then she looks at me, and whispers,
"Oh. Poor Ziva. All alone. No one can defend you. Everyone who cared for you is dead. The only person paid to help you is gone. She knows what's going on right now, by the way. She. Doesn't. Care. No one does. No one cares about you, and no one cares that you're in jail. If you die here, no one will care. You. Are all. Alone. Too bad the few people who did care about you hates you now. Do you remember? Do you remember when people cared? You must miss it. Too bad you took it away from yourself."
I look her in the eyes.
My body aches all over. I begin to accept that I lost.
My friend, the man that I trusted more than anything, killed Michael, and got away with it. I am the one who is in so much pain. The one that suffered so much in so little time. I am the one who got punished. Not the killer. The one who deserved to be punished got away, and the victim, that's me, got punished.
Wait a minute! I'm Ziva David. Although my soft American instincts tell me to walk away, my much stronger Israeli instincts tell me that that's an injustice, and that it's my job to fix it.
Tony took the man that I love away from me, so I'm gonna take the one that he loves away from him.
Oh, poor Alice. All alone. The only people who care about her are soft. Okay, she's not necessarily "alone". That'd be me. Look, I'm trying to sound cool, alright?
Anyway, she's all alone.
"I got my own body guard, Zi. She's a ninja, too." Tony mocks.
Ooh. Ninja to ninja. I like it.
"Yeah, Tony, I'm done with her so you can, ya know, have her if you'd like." Alice says awkwardly. She's still gripping my hair, and she's getting ready to, I guess, pass me over to Tony.
"Yeah, I'll, take her." Tony answers, almost as awkwardly as Alice.
I roll my eyes as Alice actually pulls my hair, and my head, to Tony.
"Uh, support the, head. Or not. Bang it against the wall one or, eighty times, if you'd like." Alice jokes.
"I've got it Al, thanks." Tony thanks, and Alice nods.
Tony brings me to him, and looks me in the eyes.
"You failed."
Then he just stares.
"Okay? Anything else?" I ask.
"Uh, no. Alice just about covered it. Can we, share next time, please, Alice?" He asks.
Alice laughs.
"Tell you what. Next time you kill your friend's friend in self-defense, and your friend tries to kill you, you can say everything."
"That's all that I ask." Tony answers.
"It'll probably happen, Tony. Soon. I'm getting out of here, and I'm coming after Alice."
"If you hurt her, I swear I'll-"
"You'll what? Get your neck broken while trying to defend her? If you want to die, be my guest, but at least let me cause it."
Tony looks at me intimidatingly.
"You just threatened a Federal Agent. Guess who's getting even closer watch? It's you."
I laugh.
"We'll see."
Tony nods.
"I can't wait to see you fall, Ziva. I've got a front row seat."
I smile.
"Well, that seat may be like the seat in Austin Powers that drops into a pit of fire."
"You just ruined Austin Powers for me."
"That was the plan, DiNozzo."
Tony smiles.
"Well, I've gotta go. Have fun." He mocks, then walks off.
Alice walks behind him, and waves at me.
When the door slams behind them, I break down.
I sob over every little thing going on in my life. I probably have broken bones, and that hurts, but what hurts the most is the emotional pain that I'm enduring.
"Tony will pay. Alice will die!" I whisper through my tears.
I will not go back on my word this time.
TONY'S POV
RESTERAUNT
Alice and I stare at each other.
She's so beautiful. So unique.
"I love you, Al. If anything happens, I need you to know that."
She looks at me, confused.
"I love you, too, Tony, but why are you saying that so much?"
A tear falls down my face as I think about exactly why.
"I'm scared, Alice", is what I want to say. "I'm scared of what may happen. I lost you once, and I don't want to lose you again. You don't know Ziva like I do. You don't understand that you are in so much danger. You don't understand that I can't take the thought of losing you again. You don't get how badly I want to run away with you and Erin, and get you out of danger. Out of Nick and Ziva's horrible arms, and into my protective, loving arms. I don't ever want to let you go. If only you understood that."
Instead, I just say,
"I'm worried about what Ziva said. What if she actually comes after you?"
Alice half-smiles sadly.
"She won't get to me, Tony. I'll be alright. I'm fighting for so much, and I won't lose. I promise."
I nod, and I make my best attempt to believe her, and I manage to calm down.
Until the phone call came, that is.
The screen on my phone said, "Cortney, Jail Cop", the prison guard's clever name on my contact list.
"DiNozzo." I answer.
"Hello, Tony. I've got a mess on the floor for you to clean up." Ziva greets on the phone.
Paranoid, I look over at Alice, and note that she looks perfectly fine, just confused.
"Ziva? What are you talking about?"
I begin breathing heavily. She's gonna come after Alice! Alice isn't safe here! I have to get her out of here.
"I got out, just like I said. I killed Courtney, and now I'm coming after Alice. Oh, you're food's coming." Ziva answers.
Then, the waitress comes over and brings out our food.
"How did you know, Ziva?" I yell.
I hear her laugh over the phone.
"I'm closer than you think, Tony. Enjoy your burger and fries." Ziva mocks, then hangs up.
I look down at my plate, not remembering what I ordered.
I ordered a burger and fries.
She's here.
"Tony? What happened?" Alice asks, sounding somewhat frightened.
Pure terror washes over me.
I can't lose Alice, too! I've gotta get her out of here!
"Alice! Come on! Ziva's here!" I yell, unable to control the volume.
"What?" She questions as I lead her out the door.
I keep on running, with her right by my side.
When we get to the parking lot, my nightmare becomes reality.
There Ziva stood, holding a gun up, pointed at Alice.
"Told you I'd get my revenge." She mocks in the most cold, expressionless voice that I've ever heard.
Then, a gunshot rings out, and all that I hear next is Alice's scream, then silence after the bullet hits flesh.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: WOW! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS! I COULDN'T BELIEVE ALL THE REVIEWS THAT I GOT WITH REQUESTS FOR MORE! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'LL UPDATE SOON, BUT FOR NOW, PLEASE LIKE, COMMENT, FOLLOW, ETC. YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!