Tivali

He Had Us

"Ducky!" I say through the tears as I crawl over to his body. "Please be ok," I beg "please"

I check for a pulse but I don't find one. The tears come down harder as I reach for my phone. I remember I left mine in the car but I see his sticking out of his pocket.

I quickly grab it and dial 9-1-1. It rings a few times and then someone answers.

"Hello?"

"I need an ambulance. I found my friend unconscious on the floor. I checked for a pulse but I didn't find one."

"Ok. Ma'am do you know the address?"

"No." I say and let out a sob.

"That's ok we can ping your phone." The lady on the other end says reassuringly. "We are sending people right now and they should be there shortly."

"Ok. Thank you." I tell her and then I hang up.

I grab his cold, limp hand.

"Please don't leave us Ducky. I'm not ready to lose another friend."

Next, I call Tony.

"Hey Duckman! What's taking Ziva so long?" He says cheerfully.

"Tony," I say softly, "I think he's gone." I say through tears.

There is a dead silence until I hear Tali.

"Abba? Where's Ima?" She asks sleepily.

"Tony, go. Get her out of here before the ambulance shows up."

He hesitates, like he wants to argue.

"I'll be fine." I say unconvincingly.

"Ziva -" He starts, trying to argue

"Go!"

"Ok but call me as soon as anything happens."

I nod even though I know he can't see me and he hangs up.

I sit there for what feels like forever crying and praying.

I suddenly hear the faint sound of an ambulance and I get up and go outside. They pull up a few moments after I get out there.

As soon as the vehicle stops one guy gets out of the back. He points to the front door and I nod. He throws what looks like a go bag over his shoulder and rushes inside. The guy on the passenger's side quickly follows. But the lady who drove stopped in front of me.

"It's probably best if you wait out here." She tells me and I don't have it in me to argue so instead I just weakly nod.

I sit back down on the front step and wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Finally I hear someone coming and I quickly get up and turn towards them. I squeeze my hands into fists out of habit as he stops in front of me.

He shakes his head.

I shakily take a deep breath and sit back down. I guess trying to process?

I honestly have absolutely no idea what happened after that. It's almost like I blacked out or something. I guess it was from shock or maybe I just went into autopilot.

I assume they sent his body to NCIS or at least were going to. I'm pretty sure at some point I did call Tony to let him know. And after that I aimlessly drove around for a while until I ended up at NCIS headquarters.

I was let through without any issues and I went up to the bullpen. I have no idea why I am here. I guess it just felt right? I almost sat down at my old desk but it still didn't feel like enough.

So I went down to autopsy. I sat in the same place I found Tony after Jenny's death. And I just stared at the freezers across the room knowing there is a chance he could be in one of them.

Multiple times I heard my phone ring plus some text messages but I just ignored them. I sat there for a while, in the dark, just cycling between being angry, sad, and numb.

I don't know how much time has passed when I hear the doors open.

"Thought you might want a drink." I hear Tony say holding out a bottle.

He moves a chair next to mine and hands me a cup. He fills my cup and his with some strong smelling liquid. I take a sip and lean my head on his shoulder. We sit there in silence until the doors open again.

This time it's Nick and Ellie. They quickly notice us and sit one floor in front of the desk next to me. Tony passes the bottle over and Nick pulls two cups out of one of the drawers.

Overtime Jimmy and Breena, McGee and Delilah, Gibbs and Sloane, and Fornell and Leon all showed up. Kasie was the last one to come.

The only time the silence was broken was when I asked where the kids were and learned that Emily and Kayla were watching them.

"He had no one. No wife. No kids. No family." Nick says out loud

There was a long pause.

"He had us." Jimmy answers after a while.

After that we all sat there in silence all night long. The only sounds were the occasional sob or the sound of the alcohol being poured into a cup.

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I just want to restate that this takes place in a alternate universe where nothing in season eighteen happened.

Also I'd like to add that this story will mostly not include the coronavirus.

I hope you guys liked it! (Well as much as you can like a character being killed (I apologize for that) )