She glanced up to see Gibbs heading towards her and quickly began speaking in Hebrew. Ziva shook her head, indicating to the team leader that his presence was not welcome. Thankfully, a nurse had come up and informed Gibbs that he could see Tony and she breathed an inward sigh of relief. She watched as he turned and headed towards the elevator and Ziva decided to step into an empty room to continue her conversation in private.
“Father, tell me what is going on,” she demanded.
“Ziva, I do not know what you are talking about,” Eli David innocently replied.
“Do not insult my intelligence, Father,” Ziva challenged. “I know that something is going on between you, Director Vance, and most likely Secretary Davenport.”
“Again, Ziva, I do not know what you are talking about.”
“Do not lie to me, Father. I know that you have been in touch with them and that the three of you are part of the reason that Tony is…”
“How is Agent DiNozzo?” Eli inquired.
“What do you mean?”
“I heard that he was not doing too well. I do hope that he pulls through.”
Ziva closed her eyes in an effort to center herself, refusing to let her father throw her off balance. “How did you know that he was ill?”
“I have my sources.”
“I see. And what else have your sources told you about?” she asked.
“That is on a need to know basis and right now, you do not need to know.”
“I would have to disagree.”
“Tell me something, Ziva. Do you have feelings for Agent DiNozzo?”
Ziva was taken back by the bluntness of her father’s inquiry. “What do you mean?”
“It is a simple question, Ziva. Do you have feelings for Agent DiNozzo?” Eli repeated.
“He is my partner; of course I care about him.”
“I do not mean on a professional level, Ziva.”
“We are good friends, nothing more,” she assured her father.
“Really?”
‘Yes.”
“I guess I will have to take your word for it. I will have to trust you, just like you should trust me,” he attempted to rationalize.
Ziva was getting frustrated with her father’s insinuations. “I do trust you, but…”
“Do you?” Eli challenged.
“Yes.”
“Then forget we ever had this conversation.”
“I can not do that,” Ziva said. “You know that I will eventually find out what is going on, so you might as well tell me. What is your connection to Tony?”
“The only connection that I have to Agent DiNozzo is through you,” Eli stated.
“I do not believe you.”
“Then my daughter, we have nothing more to discuss.”
“Wait!” she cried out. “I have one more question.”
She could sense her father’s annoyance, but at the moment, she wasn’t worried about incurring his wrath.
“What is it, Ziva?” he inquired, unable to disguise the anger in his cultured tone.
“Do you know who put a contract on Tony?”
There was a brief pause. “I have to go, Ziva.”
“You didn’t answer my question, Father.”
“I have to go,” he forcefully repeated.
Eli David’s reluctance to answer had told Ziva everything that she needed to know. “You put the contract on him, didn’t you?”
Again, the only answer that she received was silence. “Didn’t you?” she seethed.
“I have to go, Ziva,” Eli said.
“Why?” she pressed. “You don’t even know Tony. Why would you put a contract on his life?”
“He’s a very dangerous man and I foresee him causing great trouble for me and for you in the future. I can not take that risk.”
“That is not a reason!” she argued.
“It is the only one that you’re going to get.”
“Cancel the contract,” Ziva ordered.
“I can not do that.”
“Why not?”
“There is too much at stake.”
“Like what?” she wanted to know.
“I can not tell you. You would not understand. Your loyalties are divided and until I am certain as to who has your allegiance, there are some things that are better left unsaid.”
Before she could reply, the line went dead and she knew that her father had purposefully disconnected the call. She was not naïve enough to believe that Eli David was perfect; she had learned long ago that her father had many faults.
But why go after Tony? It made no sense to her; it was almost as if he was afraid of Tony. Ziva vowed to find out why her father wanted Tony dead. She was determined to discover the truth and she would not stop searching until she found the answers to her questions. A hint of a smile danced up on her lips. “You are not the only one who has sources, Father.”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jethro Gibbs stood at the foot of the bed, his eyes fixed on his senior agent. Although Tony was awake, neither man spoke as the nurse took one final glance at his monitor and IV. Appearing to be satisfied with the readings, she slipped out leaving the two men alone. Gibbs pulled up a chair beside Tony’s bed and sat down.
“Hey Boss,” Tony whispered. “Knew you’d be here.”
“Where else would I be, DiNozzo? Especially when Katherine said you wanted to talk to me.”
“Got a lot to talk about, Gibbs.”
“Yeah, we do,” the team leader agreed. “But we don’t have to do it right now. You’ve just had major surgery and you need to rest.”
Tony shook his head, wincing at the sudden movement. “No, I can’t rest until I know what’s going to happen.”
“I don’t want you to worry about it. I’m not going to let anything else happen to you,” Gibbs promised.
“But Vance…”
“Don’t worry about Vance. I’m going to take care of him.”
“You don’t know what he’s capable of.”
“Yes, I do.”
Tony closed his eyes and for a moment, Gibbs thought that he had fallen asleep. It always amazed the team leader how young DiNozzo appeared when he was sleeping, but now, Tony looked older than his years and Gibbs knew that he was partly to blame. He hoped that one day, the young man would be able to forgive him for inadvertently driving a wedge between them.
“Boss?” Tony called out again.
“You’re supposed to be asleep,” Gibbs countered.
“Can’t sleep. My mind is racing. I…”
Gibbs gently squeezed Tony’s arm. “Tony, I want you to listen to me.” He waited until the younger agent was looking at him. “Are you listening to me?”
“Yeah, I’m listening.”
“Good. Now, I want you to trust me that everything is going to be all right. The only thing that I want you to do is get better. I need my senior field agent back at work.”
“Why?”
Gibbs was surprised and he had to admit a bit confused by the abruptness of Tony’s question. “Why what?”
“Why do you need me? I’ve done nothing but screw up for the past couple of years. You’d be better off making McGee your senior field agent.”
“You planning on going somewhere?”
Tony shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve thought about it.”
“Where would you go?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “My career at NCIS is pretty much in the toilet thanks to Vance, but I might be able to take Fornell up on his offer.”
“If you go to work for Fornell, I’ll kick your ass,” the former Marine vowed. “You’re not going anywhere. Like I said, I need you to trust me that this is all going to work out.”
“I do trust you, Boss. I have ever since…”
“Ever since what?” Gibbs pressed.
“Uh…ever since we met in Baltimore.”
The team leader had a feeling that Tony’s answer was almost an afterthought. “Baltimore, huh?”
“Yeah,” he answered. “Baltimore.”
“So, you’ve always trusted me.”
“Yeah, I have. I’m just not sure that you trust me anymore.”
Gibbs’ eyes narrowed. “Why do you say that? If I didn’t trust you, you wouldn’t be on my team.”
Tony tried to smile, but Gibbs could easily see the pain behind the young man’s eyes. “This medicine has me talking out of my head, Boss. Just forget everything I’ve said.”
“I can’t, Tony.”
“Sure you can. Just pretend I’ve been rambling on about some movie and…”
“Tony, stop.”
Gibbs lowered the bed rail and sat on the edge of the mattress. “Tony, talk to me.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“You said I didn’t trust you anymore. Why?” Gibbs wanted to know.
“Gibbs, I said I was talking out of my head. You know what pain medicine does to me,” Tony reminded the team leader.
“Tony, I’m listening.”
Gibbs reached up and with a calloused thumb wiped away a single tear that had escaped down Tony’s cheek. “Tony, talk to me,” he pleaded.
The ex-Marine watched as Tony struggled to pull himself together. If Katherine knew that her patient was getting this upset, she wouldn’t hesitate to kick him out of ICU. He knew that he probably shouldn’t push Tony, but DiNozzo was fast reaching his breaking point and he needed to start dealing with some of the demons that were plaguing him.
“Have you ever been to Virginia Beach?” Tony blurted out.
“Yeah, a long time ago. Why do you ask?”
“Just curious.”
“Have you ever been?” Gibbs carefully inquired.
“Once.”
“With your parents?”
Tony closed his eyes and sighed. “With my father. He was on a business trip.”
“We were on vacation. Kelly and I were…”
“Looking for seashells,” Tony finished.
“It was you,” Gibbs whispered. “You were the kid I talked to on the beach that day. I had forgotten. After Kelly and Shannon died, I tended to put all those memories in a…”
“You don’t owe me an explanation, Gibbs.”
“Yeah I do. I did come looking for you later on, but you and your father had left.”
“We left that day,” Tony said.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Things could have been different for you.”
“It doesn’t matter, now,” DiNozzo assured him. “When we met in Baltimore, I knew that I recognized you, but you didn’t seem to remember me, so Ididn’t press the issue. You had changed and you never said anything about your family, so I did some digging and found out that they were dead. I didn’t want to be a painful reminder of your past.”
Gibbs wasn’t sure what to say. Tony had selflessly sacrificed his peace of mind to keep the team leader from having to remember what he had deemed at the time to be painful memories. Even after he had lost his memory a few years ago, DiNozzo had not revealed his secret. He owed this young man more than he realized.
“Will you tell me what happened after you and your father left the hotel?” Gibbs asked.
“Long story.”
“I have all the time in the world,” the team leader pointed out.
“Later, please.”
“Okay, but will you answer another question?”
“No more questions, Agent Gibbs,” Dr. Marshall announced as she entered Tony’s room. “He’s exhausted from the surgery and he needs to rest in order to get better. Now, you’ve seen him and you’ve talked with him and it’s time for you to go.”
“No,” Tony cried out. “I don’t want him to go.”
“Tony, you need to sleep,” Katherine reminded him.
“Don’t want to be alone, please,” the young agent begged. “I don’t like hospitals.”
Gibbs could feel her icy glare and returned her stare with his own defiant gaze. “I’ll just sit here with him,” he said.
“No more talking. Let him sleep,” she tersely instructed.
“All right.”
“I’ll be back to check on him in fifteen minutes and if he’s not asleep, I’ll sedate him and kick you out of here. Do I make myself clear, Agent Gibbs?” she challenged.
“Crystal clear.”
Gibbs followed her with his eyes as she walked out the door. “You heard the lady.”
“I heard her,” Tony said.
“Get some sleep, DiNozzo.”
“Yeah, Boss. Sure.”
He watched as Tony closed his eyes, hoping that the agent would be able to rest. Gibbs sat back down in the chair and studied the agent.
“Boss?” Tony whispered.
“You’re supposed to be asleep,” he gently admonished the ailing man.
“I know,” the young man said. “I just want to say I’m sorry for going behind your back with Jenny and the whole undercover operation.”
“DiNozzo, that’s water under the…”
“And I’m really sorry that I got her killed.”
“Tony, you didn’t…”
Gibbs suddenly realized why Tony felt as if he had destroyed the team leader’s trust in him. Had long had DiNozzo been carrying this burden? He never got the chance to assure the young man that he had done nothing wrong; Tony had drifted off to sleep mid-sentence and Gibbs was knew that he needed his rest.
He laid his head back on the chair and stared at the ceiling as he listened to the soft hypnotic beeping of the monitors. Gibbs found himself wondering how Tony had managed to even function with the guilt that was obviously consuming him. The former Marine knew a lot about misplaced guilt and he could not allow Tony to go down the same road that he had trodden.
Wiping a tear from his own eye, he whispered, “God, Tony. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”
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