Nuclear Family

19

He jumped when his phone buzzed.

For half a second, he dared to hope it was Ziva, giving some explanation for her sudden disappearance, but then he saw a different name on the screen.

Ava.

He opened her text, frowning.

'I got a weird message this morning asking me to meet at some building downtown. I went, but I wish you were here. I'm scared.'

He quickly responded, asking for the building's address.

No sooner had he sent the question than the address came bouncing back.

'I'll be right there,' he said.

"Boss, I gotta go. Ava – Tali's teacher – texted me. I gotta go."

"Something happen with Tali?"

"No—Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. I gotta go." He grabbed his coat and gun and hurried to the elevator.

The drive downtown was a blur, miles and miles he wouldn't remember later.

But then came the part that would never leave his memory, the part where he walked down that hallway, the part where he came to the open door, the part where he found Ava's body laying on the floor.

It was like someone took his heart in their fist, simultaneously squeezing it and throttling it.

He sank to his knees, oblivious to the blood soaking through to his skin.

He couldn't cry; he couldn't breathe; he couldn't.

She didn't look at all like the woman he knew.

Her hair was drenched in blood, dyed a visceral red. Her eyes stared dully at the ceiling. The rest of her lovely face was all but gone. Her blouse had been ripped to pieces in the process of getting to her abdomen.

Tony didn't need to see the inscription to know what it would say.

It was mostly definitely not finished.

***

McGee's stomach plummeted when he saw Tony's face.

The older agent stared blankly ahead as the others entered the small room, took in the scene.

"We know the vic?" Gibbs asked.

"Ava Carter," Tony said softly.

Tali's teacher.

They worked in silence after that point.

Even Ducky and Jimmy refrained from their usual lighthearted conversation, instead using the silence to cover the victim.

Tony's fists hung at his sides, opening and closing every so often.

McGee remembered this version of him from three years ago, the night they heard about the mortar attack.

He laid a hand on his partner's shoulder, to no response.

Gibbs walked past them, following Ducky out to the hallway.

McGee gave Tony one last glance before stepping out as well.

"Ziva?" he asked Gibbs.

Gibbs just shrugged.

McGee's chest tightened. They were circling tighter and tighter, pressing in on all sides, getting closer and closer to the truth with each death.

He didn't like the truth.