Our Life, Our Family

Chapter 6

Charity and Ziva sat in the living room of the safe house. AJ was still sound asleep on the couch. Just then, they heard a strange sound coming from the back. Ziva jumped up and looked out. She saw no one, but the tires on the car had been slashed, all four of them.

Ziva walked around the house checking all the doors and windows. She could see nothing. "We aren't alone, are we?" Charity asked Ziva.

Ziva turned to Charity. "No we are not." Ziva answered.

Charity woke AJ up. "Baby, Mommy needs you to do something."

"What Mommy?" AJ inquired sleepily.

"I need you to hide." Charity answered. She picked him up and Ziva led them to a pantry in the kitchen. She then opened the pantry and opened a secret door.

"Mommy?" AJ asked.

"It's okay, baby. You go in there and you hide. You have to stay quiet. You don't come out till Mommy or Aunt Ziva comes to get you. Okay?"

"Momm, I scared." AJ said.

"I know baby, but everything will be fine. You just get in there and hide and be quiet. Okay?"

"Otay, Mommy." AJ agreed, reluctantly. He then crawled inside the little door and hid in the secret room.

"Everything will be fine, AJ." Ziva said, just before closing the door. She then turned to Charity, "Would you like a gun?"

"Yes." Charity answered.

Ziva then lifted her pants leg and pulled out her spare weapon. She then handed it to Charity. Before anything else could be said or done the front door came crashing down. "You stay here." Ziva told Charity.

Charity nodded. Ziva headed toward the front door. She was keeping her eyes open, looking all around her for the maniac. Unfortunately, she wasn't as aware as she had hoped. Jason came up behind her and hit her upside the head and knocked her out.

Ziva fell to the ground with a light thud. Charity heard the sound and instinctively headed towards it. She saw the same man who had tried to hurt AJ standing over Ziva's unconscious body.

He looked up at her, a look of pure insanity on his face. "I've been waiting a long time for this." He said.

Charity stood there frozen for a moment, then she remembered the gun in her hand. She began to lift it, but Jason was faster. He knocked the gun out of her hand. Then he grabbed her wrist with his other hand.

Charity kicked him between the legs. He instantly let go and held himself. Charity started to go for the gun, but he had recovered and grabbed her again. He pulled out a knife and began to use it on her. "It's nothing against you." He whispered in her ear. "I just have to get even with your husband."

"You are a sick and twisted man." She said.

"Thank you." He told her. "It's ashame I have to kill you. You are so beautiful. And your son is so sweet. I hate it, but when I'm done with you, it's his turn."

Charity instantly saw red. "You can do whatever you want to me, but you leave my son alone." She then rammed the back of her head into his nose.

Jason dropped Charity from the hold he had on her. She fell to the ground as he had held her up off the ground. "You little bitch!" He shouted at her. Then he lunged at her with the knife.

Tony, Gibbs, and McGee...

The men arrived at the safe house as quickly as they could. They had taken the more direct, not-so-secret way and arrived at the front of the house. The door had been crashed in. They ran into the house, their weapons drawn.

An unconscious Ziva lay on the floor just inside the door. Gibbs bent down and took her pulse. "She's still alive." He said. "McGee, you try and wake her up."

"Got it boss." Tim said.

Tony and Gibbs then started to walk through the rest of the house. The few tables and vases that were in the house had been knocked over and broken. There was a trail of blood leading to the back of the house, into the kitchen.

Fear instantly sparked int both Tony and Gibbs' hearts. They followed the blood trail into the kitchen. The trail continued out of the back door. They headed out and found Jason laying in the backyard, blood covering his shirt and a knife sticking out of his chest.

Gibbs bent down and checked his pulse. "He's dead."

"Good." Tony said. "Where's Charity and AJ?"

"I don't know." Gibbs said.

Just beyond a shrub in the backyard, they heard a moaning sound. Tony jumped an instantly ran to it. He found Charity laying there, covered in blood. "Charity, are you okay?"

"Hmmm...Tony?" She asked.

"Yeah, baby it's me. Are you alright?" He asked.

"Fine. Is AJ okay?" She asked, not worried about herself at all.

"Where is he?" Tony asked.

"In the secret room in the pantry." She answered.

Gibbs ran into the house to get AJ. Tony stayed with Charity. He looked at her and noticed she had a stab wound on her shoulder and one in her stomache. "You were stabbed." Tony said.

"Flesh wounds." Charity replied.

Tony put pressure on the wounds to stop the bleeding. Gibbs came back out. "AJ is fine. He;s just a little shook up." Gibbs reported.

"Good." Charity said.

"She's been stabbed." Tony told Gibbs.

Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and called in for medical help. "They will be here in just a few minutes." Gibbs announced once he hung up the phone.