She leaned against the rear window, enjoying the coolness of the glass against her face. The air conditioning was on and the rest of the team had their windows slightly cracked but she did not have the energy. She just sat, her hands lying limp in her lap, her head resting gently on the window, her body lurching as their vehicle made a series of stops, starts and turns. She sluggishly phased in and out of the conversation at hand; Tony making a fuss about some movie, McGee making as many references to jet packs as possible, Gibbs simply hitting the gas as the proceedings got out of hand. She really hated how he did that.
At the mention of her name, Ziva lifted her head. As she did so, a wave of nausea hit, followed by feelings of light-headedness.
“Zee-vah. Tell McGook he’s wrong! Remember that time we watched The Black Pirate together? You totally enjoyed it. And I was way better looking than that date of yours anyway!” Tony, being seated in the front passenger seat did not realise how ill his partner looked. As he turned around though, he caught her eyes. “God, Ziva! Are you okay?”
“I am perfectly fine, Tony.” She managed, before sucking in as much air as she could to help calm her apparent need to throw-up. Her stomach was churning and her head throbbed as she listened to the next words that spilled out of her partner’s mouth.
“Are you sure ‘cause you look horri… Ouch!”
“DiNozzo! Shut up!”
“Sorry boss.”
McGee smirked as his colleague flinched in the wake of one of Gibbs’ famous head slaps. Although, now that Tony mentioned it, Ziva had been awfully quiet. And, on closer inspection, her complexion did appear to be rather, well, green.
Ziva, who felt slightly better at the sight of Tony’s suffering, allowed herself to lean back against the window again. They were nearly at the Navy yard but, despite her best efforts, she could not stop her eyes from closing tightly, forming a barrier between herself and the outside world. As she began to fall asleep, her lunch decided to make a second appearance.
The woman’s slight body retched forward, her mouth open wide, a gaging noise the only sound escaping it. McGee grabbed her arm and ponytail in one swift movement, just in time to avoid the deluge of stomach acids and half digested food. Ziva, unable to breathe between streams of vomit, began to clutch at her throat. Struggling to get free of her seatbelt and get air, Ziva began to panic. By this time, Gibbs had pulled off the road and jumped out of the car, as had Tony, and the two of them rushed to Ziva’s door. McGee unbuckled her seatbelt and, although there was nothing left to heave up, the young agent continued to gag. She could not breathe! Panic had well and truly set in at this point and left her clutching at Gibbs as he swung her legs out of the car and carried her to the grass strip beside the road. She let go of his shirt and clawed at the ground, desperate to find some oxygen. She could hear faint noises coming from around her but could not decrypt the messages that were being sent her way. Suddenly, something, or someone, thumped her on the back, right between the shoulders, and with one final cough she could breathe again.
Gasping for air, the shaking Israeli-born warrior turned to face three equally concerned people, before lying back on the grass to catch her breath. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears and all she could do to feel relief from the now overwhelming embarrassment, was close her eyes and breathe deeply.
Gibbs told Tony to get her some water before asking her softly if she was okay. Unsure of how to reply, Ziva simply nodded however she remained on the grass, not yet ready to deal with bright lights or the aftermath of her episode.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
As Ziva struggled back to her feet, she fought the overwhelming urge to reconsider Gibbs’ offer to take her home. But she could not; would not; let herself give in to her body. She scolded herself for allowing McGee and Tony to help her into the backseat of the car. She was not an invalid but, at the same time, she still felt extremely weak and shaken. Tim had managed to clean up most of the mess while Gibbs made sure that Ziva was still breathing. Before forcing her to her feet, Tony lay down a plastic tarp of sorts on the floor of the rear seats. The car would go in for a more comprehensive clean once they were back in the Navy yard. Until then, Ziva reluctantly allowed her head to rest gently on Agent McGee’s shoulder as Tony opened the window where she had previously been sitting, allowing a cool breeze to hit her face as Gibbs sped towards headquarters.
Before they reached the security gate, Ziva mustered the strength to lift her head. “I apologise for the mess, and the smell. I will arrange for the vehicle to be cleaned as soon as we get back.”
As she slurred her words and struggled to open her eyes, the two men at either side of her shot each other a worried look before opening their mouths to protest. But their boss beat them to it.
“Like that is ever going to happen, David. As soon as we get back you are headed to Ducky, so he can take some blood. If you aren’t going to go home, we are at least going to find out what the cause of you accident was. You are then going to make your way to Abby’s lab and as she runs the sample, you will sleep. She has pillows somewhere in her lab and that silly Hippo of hers is never far away. Am I understood?”
“Yes, sir,” she managed before seemingly falling asleep again, this time on Tony’s shoulder.
Gibbs caught a glimpse of woman in the rear-view mirror. He didn’t need his gut to tell him that something was seriously wrong with her. It wasn’t often that she just accepted an order like that. As his eyes turned back to the road, his main focus became getting back to the yard as quickly as he could.
A/N: So you might recognise this story from FanFiction.net but I thought I might post here as well. If it is recieved well, I'll update very soon!
Author's Chapter Notes:
Something is wrong with Ziva and the team is getting increasingly concerned. When she and another agent go missing they realise that this concern was for good reason!