You'll Never Leave Completely
- Chapter 2: Aftermath -
The diner was empty, except for the shed blood, the destroyed furniture, and the little cards that informed which pool of blood belonged to whom. It seemed so unreal and yet so cruel; small white cards in this red liquid that was slowly getting dark, drying and leaving an obvious mark on the ground.
Tony and Ziva were fighting hard against the queasy feeling they had from the moment they saw the two cards that said so much though only "Shepard" and "Gibbs" was written on them. They still tried to realize what had happened; that two people they cared so much for were dead. Just gone; just not there anymore. It was so hard to believe that they weren't even able to cry; they knew what had happened, but they couldn't believe it, not matter what they saw.
The oppressive silence in the diner clang in the young agents' ears, but they didn't have the hearts to make any sound to chase away the silence. Vance had left them behind to investigate, yet they didn't know what to do. They had done it so many times, always knowing exactly what to do after they had arrived at a crime scene, but now, with these victims, their minds were blank.
When Ziva kneeled down in front of the two pools of blood on the ground that were marked with their leaders' names, Tony allowed himself to close his eyes momentarily; his lungs hurt from breathing like they showed solidarity with their deceased friends, and didn't want to work as they should; the air of death and loss that was hanging heavily in the diner made him sick.
Ziva, however, was speaking silent prayers for the lost ones, ignoring her own sickness and every thought that would make her break down. Maybe they had a job to do, but right at this moment, even though she was the always strong soldier, the Mossad officer that had already seen so much sorrow in her life, she wouldn't be able to act like she and Tony, too, were expected to. At least the Assistant Director, Leon Vance, seemed to expect it.
The Israeli woman looked up when her partner stepped beside her, first staring to the ground, then meeting her eyes. He could see the pain that was mirrored in hers from his own and somehow, it made him feel better, barely mentionable, but at least he knew for sure that he wasn't alone with his feelings.
With meeting Tony's eyes, Ziva felt her power to resist all these feelings that were about to consume her vanish, leaving her heart and soul naked and vulnerable.
"I want to go home, Tony," she suddenly whispered, her voice like her eyes full of tears, and at the moment she had said those words, Tony knew that his colleague and friend had given up all resistance to the truth before them; given up every hope that might have been there at any point; maybe was breaking down, like he was about to.
He pulled her up to him and into a comforting embrace; comforting for him and hopefully for her, too.
"We will go home, Ziva," he said, his voice weak and yet speaking with determination, "But we owe them to make of their final way a peaceful one; one that won't be accompanied by any open questions." He felt relieved when Ziva nodded.
"You're right," she answered and carefully freed herself from his embrace, adding, "let's get back to work." It was the tone of voice in these last words that told him that she was ready to do everything that would be necessary to solve this case.
And that she wouldn't let any other possible assassins forget what they or their fellows had done.
--
"Will he...?" she asked, her voice weak, her heart full of fear and sorrow.
"I think he'll make it," the doctor answered briefly, pushing her aside, showing her that he needed the space to work; to help his patient live.
Jenny Shepard sat down and tried to stay calm. After the incident in the Diner, after Gibbs had been shot, they had been brought to a small airport by a helicopter. There a charter plane had been waiting for them, with a medical team on board that now was taking care of her partner. She was surprised how much equipment they had brought with them; enough to help the obviously dangerously wounded Gibbs only a hospital would have been able to do better.
"Director Shepard?" a voice suddenly startled her and she looked up to the woman that had just spoken to her. Jenny only nodded, her mind still caught up in the memories and pictures of the last minutes in the Diner. "I want to inform you about our destination. We're going to bring you back to Washington; there is a plane waiting for you that will bring you to Europe."
Jenny nodded again, only then realizing what the words of the unknown woman meant.
"Europe? Wh... why, by all means, Europe?!" she wanted to know, confused, the feeling of being delivered up consuming her. There was and would be no way to reject because she wouldn't leave without Jethro.
"This was arranged by Director Vance. He is now the Director of NCIS, because you two are officially dead. You have an assignment in Europe; in Germany, to be exact. You will get informed as soon as you are on the plane to your new destination. At least I can tell you, it is for your own safety and - it will be an undercover assignment as soon as Agent Gibbs has recovered."
"Undercover in Germany?" Jen echoed when memories flooded her mind.
--
"No, let me! I don't want to hear it, McGee! Just leave me alone," Abby protested, hitting her colleague when he tried to pull her into his arms.
"Abby, please, you can't... Come on, you can't hide away in your lab. Don't do that, Abbs," McGee tried desperately, but only earned himself another death glare from the young woman.
"Only Gibbs is allowed to call me Abbs," she hissed, making McGee step back for a second.
"But Gibbs is-," he began, not really thinking about his words at this moment, and was stopped by something he definitely wasn't prepared for - a slap in the face from Abby. Shocked, he stared at her, momentarily intending to leave, but then, he knew that she needed him now more than ever.
They were still staring at each other wordlessly when Ducky entered the lab minutes later.
"Abby? Timothy?" he asked, slightly confused by the two of them standing there like statues. They didn't show any reaction; only when Ducky tipped McGee lightly on the shoulder, Abby whispered, "I won't let him tell me what I have to think."
Ducky needn't to ask what Abby was speaking of; of course she wasn't able to accept the fact that Jenny and Jethro, the two persons she had always called "Mommy" and "Daddy", were dead. Giving Abby no chance to resist or fight against it, he took her into his arms, holding her close as she began to cry; sobbing so hard that her whole body was shaking badly and she nearly wasn't able to stand anymore.
McGee couldn't hide the tears that were now rolling down his cheeks; his heart broke when Abby managed to say "Why them?" between her sobs.
"Shh, my dear," Ducky tried to calm her down, stroking her hair and holding her even closer.
"They can't be dead... they can't be dead," Abby repeated over and over again, like a mantra that would be able to bring back the beloved ones, and her desperate pleading brought Ducky to the edge of tears. He wanted to be strong, he wanted to stand the pain that was eating him up inside, because he knew Abby and Tim needed him now; but he was only human and losing two of his dearest friends at the same time was just too much to take, even for him.
"When will Tony and Ziva be back?" McGee silently asked after a while, staring out of the lab window, still only seeing his boss and the Director in front of him; and though he knew these images weren't real, they somewhat soothed him.
"I think it will be as soon as they've finished the investigation. Unfortunately, Director Vance has signed them to investigate although they're personally connected to... the victims," Ducky explained, not really fond of using 'victims' to describe about whom he was speaking, but then, he couldn't bring himself to say the names, acknowledging that it was really them. He was still caught in the moment when he was told on the phone that Jenny and Jethro were dead.
"I wish there was something we could do," the young agent thought aloud; he wanted to help his colleagues, to do anything that wouldn't give him the feeling that he was going crazy because of only sitting around.
"I'm sure there's something we can do," Abby suddenly said, and after she had left Ducky's embrace, she grabbed her bag and ran out.
About the destination - I needed some place I know so I would be able to work with. Would have sent them to Positano, but I haven't been there yet ;)