Twisted Justice (an NCIS story)

Chapter Nineteen

Tony and Ziva dropped off their two "packages" and headed as quickly as possible to the hospital. Tony was surprised Ziva let him drive. He actually would have preferred for her to drive, but she seemed distracted, had been acting strangely since they had freed Tim.

Tony finally turned to her.

"You ok?"

She nodded. He tried again.

"McGee's gonna be ok, Gibbs didn't give him permission to die."

She nodded again. He let a little more time pass.

"Ok seriously Ziva, you're freaking me out."

"Tony can we please drop it."

"Drop what? I don't even know what the heck is going on. We got Tim, we got the bad guy. I mean yeah he was pretty bad off, but he'll be ok. He's tough, McTough; he'll pull through and be back before long. Probie bounces back; McReliable doesn't let his team down."

At this point, Ziva realized Tony was not talking to her anymore; he was talking to himself, trying to reassure his own faltering confidence. And if Tony was perfectly honest with himself, he knew he was upset about more than Ziva's silence. When they had first found Tim, he had expected the younger man to be relieved. He was not prepared for the resignation, the acceptance of his fate, then...

Seeing Tim struggle frantically to escape from a outcome he knew well, watching him lose that battle, free at last but refusing to be comforted had shaken Tony to his very core. That wasn't even taking into account he was still deeply upset his younger partner had felt the need to protect him in the first place. He had wanted to find Tim, bring him back and things be alright immediately but the more he saw, the more he knew Tim would need a lot of healing and help, physically and emotionally.

"I dropped the pick." Ziva said suddenly.

Suddenly it hit Tony, that's when it all hit the fan as far as Ziva was concerned.

"Ziva it wasn't your fault."

"You saw-saw how he fell apart and struggled. " Her voice cracked for a moment. "If I could have only prevented that. I was in a hurry, I should have been more careful."

She looked away. As much as she tried to hide it Tony saw tears in her eyes.

"Ziva" he said carefully, "I-"

"I could have stopped it if I had been more in control. Tim is my friend and I do not want to lose that friendship."

"Tim won't blame you."

"Tony what happed to him was not pleasant; it would not surprise me if he did not trust me again. I have lost the trust of my teammate." she said sadly.

"Then you don't McGee very well Ziva."

He didn't know what else to say so they spent the rest of the trip in silence.

They arrived at the hospital to find Gibbs sitting in the waiting room talking to Sean McGee and a petite woman. Ducky and Palmer were sitting across from him and Abby was pacing.

Ziva fell back as Tony stepped ahead.

"Any news?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Not much, he's in surgery now."

"Hello again, sir" Tony said.

Sean nodded.

"Olivia this is Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David, this is my wife Olivia."

Olivia had obviously been crying, her eyes were red and puffy, still she was very pretty. A small woman with light brown eyes and a kind smile.

"Tony and Ziva, I've heard so much about you, I'm glad to finally meet you."