Pit, Pat, Pit, Pat…
McGee heard his footsteps as he clambered down the stairs. His feet reached the bottom and he stared forward, his forefinger steady on the trigger of his gun. His eyes adjusted quickly from the already thick darkness in the rest of the house. His arms swung to the direction of a figure in the corner to find a slumped body. His breath caught in his throat as he saw the bright white letters, SWAT emblazoned on the front of the figures chest. He went to move over to check for life signs, but was distracted by a scuffle occurring on his right. He snapped his head around to see the unmistakable figure of Tony wrestling with, from what McGee could see, was Calvin Borley.
Tony was fighting to take control of a knife that was held in Borley's hand. McGee stepped forwards and with a crashed blow brought the hilt of the gun smashing down on the back on Borley's exposed neck. He went straight for the floor and the knife slipped from his grasp. Tony grabbed it throwing it away into the distance. He shoved Borley's face to the floor and pulled his arms behind his back. Borley screamed in pain and but Tony didn't loosen his grip.
"You didn't have to do that Probie, I almost had him," Tony said, but he was clearly thankful.
"He was right where you wanted him?" McGee mocked quietly.
"Yeah, something like that…" Tony trailed off.
McGee went to the slumped figure in the corner and was slightly surprised to find it was a woman; surprise that evidently had shown on his face because the woman replied in a somewhat joking tone, "What? You've never seen a woman SWAT officer before?"
"Well, no actually…" McGee started, embarrassed with himself.
The woman laughed, "It's okay, I get it a lot. Now could you…"
"Oh yeah," McGee said as he turned his gaze downwards to a bloody gash in the woman's side.
"Damn guy knifed me, I shouldn't have…"
"It's okay, this doesn't look that bad, you'll be fine," McGee said with an encouraging smile. The cut really wasn't that deep and looked a lot worse than it actually was.
At that moment they were interrupted by the arrival of Gibbs from the stairwell, "Ziva?" he shouted into the darkness.
"It wasn't her, Boss; I thought it was too…" McGee said dryly.
"Then where is she?" Gibbs replied to the clueless faces of McGee and Tony. He glanced down at Borley on the floor.
"He's not going anywhere Boss," Tony said, strengthening his hold on the flailing figure below him.
"McGee you stay here with him, help is on the way for…" he nodded in the direction of the woman SWAT member on the floor and then turned back up the stairs. He still wasn't satisfied. What if Ziva had been hurt before he stabbed the SWAT woman? He couldn't take that chance. He stepped out quickly into the corridor at the top of the stairs and nearly screamed out loud as he collided with some one. They both went down, Gibbs on top, only managing to stop himself last minute from crushing the person beneath him. He looked down to find Ziva staring back.
"Ziva? Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I think so," she sad fidgeting. Her thigh had somehow managed to slip between his and her hands were clinging to the front of his chest, gun strewn to the side of them.
"I thought that scream was…"
"I had to check it wasn't me…" Ziva said jokingly.
Gibbs smiled but didn't move from the position. Ziva stared into those icy blue eyes she loved so much and blinked. Static passed between them and, just as both of them started to lean forwards into each other, someone stood above them.
"Special Agent Gibbs?"
It was the SWAT superior from earlier. Gibbs jumped to his feet, carefully untwining himself from Ziva. He leaned down and pulled her up. She landed inches from his body and for a second it was as if they were back on the floor.
"Are you all right?" asked the SWAT superior.
"Yes," said Gibbs distractedly, unwillingly tearing himself away from Ziva. "I'm fine. You have a member of your own downstairs with a knife wound that, from what I can see, is not that serious."
A silent nod from the SWAT superior and he disappeared down the stairs. Gibbs and Ziva were left alone again.
"I think I need some air," said Ziva quietly as she headed for the front door. Gibbs followed her. She chose a patch of dry wall from the front of the garden to sit down on and was accompanied by Gibbs next to her. "I'm sorry about…"
"Nothing to worry about…" Gibbs said nervously.
‘Wow,' thought Ziva to her self, ‘was this finally something that Gibbs couldn't handle?' She looked over at him and their eyes met again.
"Nothing happened," Ziva said smiling, comforted by the fact that this was just as big to Gibbs as it was to her.
"Nothing happened," Gibbs repeated looking back at her, a smile now edging its way onto his face.
They both laughed deeply as the success of tonight hit them. Like a wave of euphoria, the weight from their shoulders had now been lifted from them and the killer had been caught. They laughed for what seemed like hours before finally calming down.
"We got him," Gibbs said and the words drifted off like a happy breeze into the darkness of the night.
***
END
Author's Chapter Notes:
is it a happy ending or not for Gibbs and Ziva...