Daughter of Ares, Goddess of War

Chapter 3

Of course, it was Gibbs coming to the rescue. He had his cell phone out calling for rescue personnel as he came toward them on the run. When he finally untangled them and saw Ziva, he got back on the phone and demanded a helicopter; which he got. Within 30 minutes Tony, Tim and Ziva, now well wrapped in a thermal blanket especially designed to treat hypothermia and with an I.V. going, were transported to the nearest hospital.

Ziva was admitted while Tony and Tim were treated and released; having only minor cuts and bruises. Once Ziva got warmed up she was taken to the operating room where a very simple procedure removed the bullet from her back. It had been lodged next to her shoulder blade but had done relatively little damage. The surgeon and Ducky thought it had actually been a ricochet with most of the force behind it expended before it hit her. It had been the hypothermia that had almost done her in. Swimming in the freezing water of the stream had slowed her blood loss until she'd come back up on land but had robbed her of her vital body heat.

It wasn't until the day after her surgery that the team got the whole story of Ziva's side of the shootout. She had had to attend to a call of nature and had decided to wash off in the stream afterwards, taken off her jacket and overshirt to wash her hands and face. She'd heard Watson coming and turned with her gun in hand but he'd been faster and fired. She jumped back and stumbled into the deepest part of the stream and then he'd shot again. The bullet had knocked her over and she'd gone under. Once under the water she decided it might be safer so she'd decided to swim a ways downstream, back toward her teammates. But her boots were weighing her down and her clothes, so she'd stripped, keeping only her gun. Yes, she had thought the element of surprise in being a naked woman might give her an edge; an edge she would need with the odds four against one. She had been cold but mad at being taken by surprise too and so her anger had kept her warm enough, at least for a while. She'd watch Tony and Tim kneel in the sand and when she'd seen the shotgun line up behind Tony's head she'd become a naked killer. She didn't remember much after falling at their feet. Only being so cold she said she didn't think she'd ever be warm again.

Even now she had 3 blankets on her bed but she was smiling at Tim and Tony as they stood on either side of her bed.

"I get to go home tomorrow and probably back to work in a week. I am very happy I was not more damaged."

She smiled. Tony was glad to see it. She also had her normal beautiful olive complexion back. He'd hated seeing her so pale. He didn't want to tell her how worried he'd been. How relieved he was now.

Ziva motioned for Tim to bend down beside her.

"Thank you, McGee, for helping save my life."

She kissed him gently on the lips. Tim stood up and grinned.

"Tony," she said and he bent down toward her.

"Thank you for thinking of a way to save me."

She kissed him on the lips, too; maybe a little more leisurely than with Tim, taking a little more time. Then she slapped him hard with her left hand, the right one being in a sling.

"Next time, put some clothes on me."

Standing up again with his cheek stinging from her slap and his lips tingling from her kiss, Tony grinned his most obnoxious grin.

"No way, Ziva."

He backed away quickly before she could hit him again.

They talked for a few more minutes. Tim told Ziva how she had come up out of the water like some goddess of death, spitting bullets at the bad guys, killing them all before collapsing. Tony agreed.

"You were awesome, Ziva. It was something out of legend. Of course, then you collapsed at our feet so that took away a little bit of the awesomeness."

Ziva frowned at him and then laughed.

"It is a good thing your cell phones had been destroyed then. I would hate to have that picture appearing on the Internet over and over again."

Shortly after that Ziva started yawning and Tony and Tim said they would go. Arrangements were made for Tony to come and drive her home from the hospital the next day. Tony and Tim both leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Just as they were about to head out the door Tony looked at Tim and said, "Should we ask her?"

Tim just gave him big, scared eyes.

"Ask me what, Tony?"

Tony turned back to her, lounging against the door jab, Tim slightly behind him.

"Well, when we were warming you up. You know, skin-to-skin contact, McGee at your back and me in front breastd-to-hairy chest, so to speak, you said something."

She looked at him suspiciously.

"What do you think I said, Tony?"

"Well, you said something like was this a dream, it was a good dream and you'd had it before. I was just wondering if we could hear a little more about that particular dream. I mean, it obviously involved you and me and McGee, right? Naked right?"

Ziva sat up straight in her bed. Her face turned red. Then she took her plastic water carafe from the table by the bed and threw it at Tony left handed. He ducked; it hit McGee on the head.

"Ouch!"

Ziva continued finding things to throw. She threw her water cup. She threw her box of tissues. She threw her pillows. Tony was happy to note she was not as accurate with her left hand as her right. Then she threw a book she'd been reading. It hit Tony in the chest.

"Ow!"

It was when she picked up the bedpan that Tony started closing the door. He got it pulled to just in time. Once he heard the thud he opened the door a bit again and stuck his head back in.

"Well talk more about this tomorrow, Ziva. Sweet dreams."

She yelled something in Hebrew at him and Tony gently closed the door.

"Tony, I can't believe you did that. You know she's going to kill us when her shoulder is well enough, right?"

"Probie, she owes us big time. She won't hurt us. Well, not much anyway. It'll be worth it. We can get some excellent mileage out of that dream thing. Did you see how red she turned? Must have been some dream, eh?"

He and McGee were quiet for a few seconds contemplating the dream Ziva might have had.

Tony sighed.

"I don't want to piss her off too much, though, McGee. I am very glad our little Mossad assassin is on our side, more or less, most of the time.

Tim looked serious.

"I just want to stay on her good side period, Tony. You're on your own."

He turned and left and Tony trailed after him, smiling. Thinking about some of the dreams he'd had involving Ziva. In some of them she'd actually even had her clothes on.