With Her Dying Breath for vamp926

[cable-addict.livejournal.com]

Title: With Her Dying Breath
Author: cable_addict
Written for: vamp926
Prompt: Gen, anything team based, death of a team member, no slash
Archive: Yes

Genre: Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Family, Friendship
Pairings: Tony D/Ziva D
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters below simply came over to play. Their mommies and daddies will be over later to pick them up.
Word Count: 1,728
Summary:
 When someone dies, someone else goes into extreme denial.

---

He saw it, but didn't have time to yell before he heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. He watched with horror as she stumbled backwards, her hands clutching her chest. He heard more shots being fired, but all he could care about was reaching her in time. He got to her body at the same time Tony did and the two men fell to their knees.

“Gibbs,” she choked, blood starting to bubble from her moth and nose.

“I'm here, Ziva.” He quickly moved his hands to her chest and began attempting to put pressure on her flowing wound. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tony grab her hand in his. He brought his head down so that his mouth was next to her ear.

“Hang in there, Sweetcheeks. Everything is going to be alright.”

“You are lying.” Ziva croaked out, and Tony shook his head.

“Why would I lie to you? You'd totally kick my ass.”

Ziva laughed slightly, but quickly ended up wincing in pain. Gibbs looked down at his hands that were still applying pressure on her wound and grimaced as he noted that the blood was flowing smoothly through his fingers. Tony's eyes caught his bosses, pleading for the sign that everything would be okay. His heart ached. He really wanted to tell the younger man that everything would be okay. That Ziva would be fine. That it was just a graze. But he couldn't. He just couldn't. Gibbs shook his head slightly, and noticed the younger man's shoulders fall.

“Cold...” Ziva muttered, and Tony glanced back down at his fallen partner. Her lips were spotted with blood, and her olive skin had gone scarily pale. He blinked back tears and put his lips by her ear again.

“You...” He swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat and tried to speak again. “You know that I love you, right?”

Ziva nodded her head. “And I love you, my Little Hairy Butt.”

Tony chuckled slightly before nodding his head. “I have something to ask you. Something serious.”

“Okay...” Ziva whispered, her eyes starting to close.

“Will you marry me?”

Ziva nodded, not opening her eyes. “Yes.”

And that was it. Tony felt her hand go limp in his. Gibbs felt her chest go still. She was gone.

–

The ME's truck pulled up to the scene, and Palmer slowly turned the key in the ignition. He and Ducky sat in a mournful silence for a few minutes before the older man shattered the silence.

“Are you ready?”

Palmer turned his head and glanced at his mentor. He was shocked when he took in his appearance. The older man appeared to have aged ten years since they had gotten in the van back at the NCIS building.

“Not really.” He whispered and Ducky nodded before gently pulling the handle on the passenger side door. The two men stepped out of the van and were met with the sunlight of the sun that hung directly above them. Palmer made his way around to the back of the van and gathered up the necessary equipment, while Ducky made his way over to Gibbs, Tony and Ziva. The sight before him made his heart ache. Tony was still on his knees, holding his partners hand. His other hand was stroking her cheek gently. From where he was standing, several yards away, he could see the tears in the senior agent's eyes. His eyes then found Gibbs. He was on the phone, his hand bloody. His old friend was pacing back and forth a few feet from Ziva, his eyes scanning everywhere except for where Ziva lay. He somehow came to be standing right by her body. Tony didn't look up. Whether he was ignoring him or in his only little world, Ducky didn't know, but he couldn't blame him for either.

–

Music was blaring when Gibbs entered Abby's lab. He quickly spotted her in her office, sitting in front of her computer. He walked through the automatic doors, and turned the stero off.

“Gibbs!” Abby squealed! “Come look at this card that I'm making for Timmy!”

“Abs,” Gibbs began, but it was then that Abby noticed that he was covered in blood.

“Oh god.” Her eyes went wide as she noticed that his hands, jacket and shirt, pants, shoes and even part of his face were covered in blood. Her eyes started to well up and her bottom lip started to tremble. “Who?”

“Ziva.” Gibbs whispered, not wanting to dance around informing her of her friends death.

“No!” Abby wailed and she threw herself into his arms.

Gibbs whispered words of comfort in her ear, but nothing could calm her down. All Gibbs could do was listen to her cries.

–

McGee was out sick with some mystery summer bug. When he got a call from Gibbs one evening, he was reluctant to answer it, but did anyway. As soon as he heard his bosses voice, he wished that he hadn't picked up.

“Tim?”

“Yeah, Boss?” McGee sniffled. There was a silence so long that McGee thought the call had dropped.

“Ziva's dead.”

He became suddenly dizzy. A dizziness that couldn't be blamed on the headcold. McGee blinked a few times, making sure he had heard correctly before asking for clairification. “What?”

“Ziva's dead.”

He licked his lips and swallowed hard. “How?” He heard Gibbs sigh on the other end of the line.

“We went to pick up Bowman for questioning, and he pulled a gun.”

“Oh god...” McGee whispered. “What do you want me to do? Should I come in? Abby... Is she okay? Do you need me to--”

“If you feel upto it. If not, we're okay.”

McGee nodded, but quickly realized that Gibbs couldn't see him. “Alright. I'll be in as soon as I can.” He made to end the call, but quickly brought it back up to his ear. “Boss?”

“Yeah, Tim?”

“I'm sorry I wasn't there today. Maybe if I had been... Maybe Ziva would still be...”

“Maybe. Don't beat yourself up over it.”

McGee nodded and quickly pressed the end button. He sat on his bed and allowed a few tears to fall down his face.

–

Abby awoke and quickly remembered that they were one less 'family' member today. She felt tears beginning to brim in her eyes, and quickly tired to distract herself. She noticed McGee slumped over on her desk, asleep in her office chair. She glanced at her clock, wondering what time he must have come in at. Seeing that it was seven thirty in the morning, she deducted that he had come in last night. Sighing, she felt her breath catch in her throat. She bit her lip to attempt to stifle the sound of her sobs.

–

McGee awoke to the sound of crying. His head quickly shot up, and he winced as he became aware of a crick in his neck. His eyes scanned Abby's office, searching for the source of the crying. She was lying on her side on her futon 0n the floor, her body shaking in time with each sob. He quietly got up and made his way around the desk. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she grabbed it with her right hand. Neither of them needed to speak as he laid down behind her and pulled her body close to his.

–

Gibbs and Ducky were up in the director's office, filling him in on everything he would need to know to inform Eli David. Gibbs gave him his official incident report while Ducky gave him his autopsy findings. None of the three men were looking forward to this teleconference. No one wanted to be the one to tell Director Eli David that his last remaining child had passed. They sat in silence, not wanting to try to calculate what time it was in Tel Aviv, not wanting to move, not wanting the reality to be true.

–

Tony awoke the next morning at his desk. No one on Gibbs' team had left the building last night. No one wanted to leave her alone. Tony glanced over at McGee's desk and noticed that it was deserted. A quick glance at Gibbs' revealed the same thing. He got up, his whole body was numb, and made his way to the elevator. He absentmindedly pushed a button and braced himself against the cool wall of the elevator as it descended. The doors opened to reveal autopsy and he automatically got out. He made his way into the room and headed towards the wall of coolers. He didn't know how he knew which box she was in, he just did. One of those unknown connections. Spiritual.

He put his hand on the handle and froze. He couldn't do it. His subconscious was screaming at him to not pull the handle. It was screaming that he wouldn't want to remember her that way. Dead. Pale. Cold. That he'd want to remember her full of life. Smiling. Warm.

He hesitated. He felt that he was obligated to see his fiancée one last time. To tell her that he loved her, one last time. But he couldn't pull the door open. He sighed, disappointed with himself and released his grip on the handle. He brought his fingers to his lips and kissed them softly before putting them on the cool chrome door. He struggled for something to say. Everything that was coming at him seemed so cliché.

Finally, a weak, “I love you,” managed to escape his lips. With that said, he turned and slowly trudged out of autopsy.

–

Special thanks to theyoungtimpani for the title.