Day 13: Write about a forest in winter.


The first thing he noticed after regaining consciousness was the pounding in his head. The second was the cold wet numbness on the left side of his face. He struggled to get on all fours, relieved he was still holding his gun.

Standing up slowly, he wiped a hand over the left side of his face, it came back a mixture of blood and snow. He gripped the gun tighter and looked around, hoping to find any sign of Ziva. He appeared to be all alone, not a sound to be heard.

Tony moved around the house to where he had last seen Ziva, and noticed a trail of blood leading into the woods. They had been having 'anything you can do i can do better' arguments all day. On the way over to the suspect's house, she had claimed to be a better tracker. He had conceded, but right now, he hoped that what limited tracking skills he had would lead him to his partner.

His chest tightened, that had better not be her blood; he had no idea how long he'd been unconscious. He grabbed his phone and called for backup and an ambulance.

Tony jogged closer to the tree line, hoping to catch a glimpse of something. Someone. Preferably his partner. Other than the faint rustling of tree branches in the wind, there was no movement.

He followed the blood trail and footsteps into the woods, gun lowered. The constant crackling and groaning of branches covered with snow kept him more on edge than he liked. He really wasn't an outdoors type of guy, he didn't know what sounds to look out for.

He did know what a bullet hole looked like, though, and that tree right in front of him had definitely fallen victim to someone.

He clenched his jaw, the pain in his head all but forgotten, and hurried to what looked like a disturbance in the shrubs up ahead. The snow surrounding the area had been flattened, as if someone had been on the ground, fighting, blood streaks and tiny blood pools marred the white snow.

His breathing became more rapid as he noticed two blood trails leading away from the scene. He sped off, trying hard not to trip and fall over rocks and branches and shrubs that were slowing down his momentum. He was a sprinter, faster than Ziva—yes, he'd won that argument—but only on flat terrain. He had never liked the woods, at the moment, he downright hated them.

The trail became harder to follow once it lead into thicker underbrush. There was less snow here and the blood spatter didn't stand out as well on the dark twigs and evergreen leaves. The urge to yell her name was overwhelming, but he knew that could get them both into trouble.

And then, finally, he heard a groan. He was close, and slowed his pace, training his ears to pick up any sound, scanning the area for any suspicious movements.

Another groan, and he quickly moved to his right, almost tripping over their suspect. He was bleeding heavily, a knife in his chest. Tony clenched his jaw and breathed in deeply through his nose, trying to remain calm. The man quietly pleaded for help, and Tony was suddenly very aware of the pounding in his head again as blood coursed through his veins, because if the suspect was here, bleeding, where the hell was Ziva.

After padding down the injured man for weapons, Tony cuffed his hands behind his back quickly.

"Where's my partner," Tony said baring his teeth.

The barely controlled anger in his voice made the suspect whimper and shake his head lightly.

Tony looked around with jerky movements. He yelled her name, and hoped she'd pop up behind him with a cheeky grin, the way she did sometimes.

He was greeted with dead silence.

He looked down at the suspect again, considered kicking him, hoping for an answer and some minor revenge, but knew that would be futile; the man looked like he was about to lose consciousness. What he needed now, was a tracker. Like Ziva.

His stomach clenched and he tried to clear his head. Looking around the area, he saw a gun to his right, about six feet from the suspect. It was Ziva's. He called for her again, she couldn't be that far.

Trying to make sense of the blood trail coming from the suspect, he headed into some bushes on his left. Her boots entered his line of vision first and he pushed through as fast as he could, dropping to his knees next to her still body.

So much blood. Ziva's blood.

Tony swallowed down the sour taste in his mouth, and reached out a shaky hand to her neck. When his fingertips registered a steady heartbeat, he sighed, but realized they weren't out of the woods yet.

He quickly assessed her injuries as best he could. The leg wound looked like a through and through that had missed the main artery. The injury to her side was more difficult to evaluate. He put pressure on the wound, and tried not to think about what damage the bullet could have done on the inside.

When his gazed drifted up her body while fumbling for his phone, the image of Kate lying dead on the roof, popped into his head. There was so much blood pooled beneath Ziva's head, he had initially thought she had been shot there. Upon closer inspection, the blood appeared to be coming from where her head had come into contact with a rock.

He knew head wounds tended to look worse than they were, but this was an image he'd likely never forget. Something he suspected would haunt him in nightmares to come.

Tony checked his cell phone for a signal, and thanked every deity he had ever heard of when he saw three bars. He called for another ambulance, then notified Gibbs.

Ziva's eyelids moved faintly, and he quickly pocketed his phone, so he could stroke her cheek with his free hand. His voice guided her into consciousness, and when she finally opened her eyes she was clearly disoriented, and tried to get up.

"No, no, no, stay down. You took out the bad guy and help is on the way. Don't move, okay?"

Tony was relieved when her eyes finally focused on his.

Sirens could be heard in the distance, and a few birds that had been silent up until then, joined the sound that was music to his ears. Tony took that as a sign that everything was going to be all right, and smiled at her.

Ziva slowly reached up to touch the left side of his face, and said in a strangled voice, "You are hurt."

Tony blinked rapidly and clenched his jaw. "Yeah, well, you win this round, you can stop bleeding now."

The corner of her mouth twitched upwards, and he turned his head to kiss the palm of her hand, closing his eyes briefly as footsteps approached in the distance.