ICE and Border Patrol agents on Nicollet Avenue on January 24, 2026. This follows the shooting death of Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti. Pretti is the second person killed and third person shot by federal agents in Minneapolis this month.
warnings: bullet wound, smooching, so much uncanoness smfh, blood, passing out, violence, shy ziva omg, LONG ASS ONESHOT, angst to fluff ur welcome 🤧❤
reader's pronouns: she/her
"you take left, i got right." y/n murmured, panting as she quickly reloaded her gun. ziva nodded, slowly moving to a position that would make it easier for her to weave past the insane amount of crate between her and their perp.
pivoting her head, ziva made eye contact with y/n and when they both nodded, the bolted away from each other in the direction of the murderer of petty officer Kayleigh James. bullets quickly followed in the agents' trail, but the two were fast.
now safely sheltered roughly ten and a half feet away from the killer and her 'goons,' as tony likes to call them, the killer, Avon Presley, started to talk.
"i think we all know how this will end up," she started. "you are both severely outnumbered and outgunned. it would be wise to simply give up."
in the moment of silence that followed, ziva foumd y/n eyes already on her. silently communicating through the facial expressions, there was a silent agreement about what would happen next. gibbs and mcgee went dark just before the two entered the warehouse, and there was no sign of tony anywhere.
Avon sighed, the sound resonating. "i really dont want to kill you. you both would be great additions to my little... team." the end word was puncuated with the sound of pride, a disgusting sound.
ziva, still looking at y/n, started the countdown with the nodding of her head, and the raise of her finger.
five.
"if you're waiting for me to explain why I killed that petty officer, i'll tell you."
team gibbs already had Avon's motive.
four.
"she owed me. Kayleigh James owed me money. she was so in debt-"
three.
"that no matter how much money she made in her life, it wouldn't be enough to pay me back."
two.
"so i arranged for her to be executed, as you already know, and we knew that outcome for tha-"
one.
ziva and y/n stood up and immediately took down bodies left and right, dodging between stacks of crates. in her peripherals, y/n saw Avon yank a gun from one of her goons and flee.
two minutes and many body thuds later, y/n and ziva reload and make their way cautiously to find Avon.
opening the steel door, the agents slink out, looking around. there are no more hiding places.
Avon, in all her glory, is standing with ger gun poised in her hands, ready to shoot if necessary.
"put the gun down, Presley!" y/n calls over the rushing wind.
"let me go!" she responds, desperation seeping into her voice.
ziva squints at her target, head low, ready to take the shot beside y/n. "you know that we cannot do that."
Avon's eyes gleam. "then i'll make you."
before the last word reaches the air, Avon pulled the trigger twice.
then ziva hits the ground, hard.
Avon starts to make a run for it, but y/n shoot her in the upper body, most likely hitting the heart, knowing her aim.
throwing herself to the ground beside ziva, y/n gasps. blood bloomed from ziva's thigh and stomach, somehow puncturing the bulletproof vests gibbs was adamant about wearing.
ripping ziva' jacket and vest off, she pulled the short up just enough to see the wound.
"gibbs," ziva wheezes.
"i know, zee, i know," y/n says, frantically pressing into ziva's stomach wound, turning to tend to her thigh.
with her bloody hand, ziva struggles for her phone. with little grip, she presses it into y/n's hand.
pressing gibbs's number, she presses the phone into her ear with her shoulder and takes her pocket knife to cut into ziva' pants in the area around the gunshot
gibbs doesn't answer. cussing quietly, y/n looks for mcgee's number.
he luckily picks up on the first ring.
"where are you?" he asks immediately.
"We're still by the warehouse, ziva's shot, get here. now."
"okay. stay on the line, we're tracking you and sending tony. he'll be there in-" mcgoo continues.
"timmy i need to talk to gibbs." y/n commands when she sees ziva start to writhe on the ground after pressing on her thigh.
"y/n what the status?" gibbs.
"status is, boss, if tony doesn't pull up quickly, ill beat his ass. david's bleeding out, and i'm not sure i can dig out this bullet." y/n snaps.
"get- get it out." ziva gasps, bloody hand grasping y/n's arm.
"hold on ziver. y/n has ya." gibbs says in the most sympathetic tone the team has ever heard.
"y/n, put the phone down and get those bullets."
"copy that." in a rush, y/n puts the phone down next to ziva, and looks straight into her eyes.
"this is gonna hurt like a bitch, darlin'. bite this." y/n slips the arm of ziva's discarded jacket into her mouth. "i'm gonna get the bullet in your thigh."
slipping her pointer finger and thumb into the bullet hole, ziva let out a muffled scream. closing her eyes and screaming again, she claws at the ground while y/n closes her fingers around the bullet and slowly pulls it out of ziva's body. gagging at the amount of blood pooling on the ground, y/n tosses the bullet on the ground.
"hey hey hey, breathe. you're doing great. breathe, ziva." y/n soothes as best she can.
y/n almost thinks she hears a car screech, but it's too faint to tell for sure.
"l/n." y/n hears from the phone.
bringing it up to her ear, y/n hears mcgee telling her tony should be there soon, if not now.
"tony!" y/n screams, ziva below her was probably delirious with the amount of blood she was loosing, from her stomach and her thigh. "tony please hurry up!" y/n called again. y/n did not like ziva looking like this; pale and bloody and falling unconscious.
all at once, y/n felt tears in her eyes, and she cursed herself for crying when ziva was in more physical pain than y/n was.
left hand pressed against ziva's bloody thigh, she grabbed ziva's hand. "c'mon darlin', you gotta stay awake for me, okay? gotta wait for the ambulance timmy called." or rather the ambulance she hope tim called.
the sound of footsteps broke her out of her train of thought. tony, gibbs, and mcgee all rushed up with a flurry of questions, statements, and arguments.
gibbs eased y/n away from ziva's lower body and led her away, though her eyes were still trained on ziva.
"y/n."
she looked up. "i didn't- boss i-"
"tim saw the footage," gibbs explained, pointing to the security camera, positioned in just the right angle to see everything that went down withing the past ten minutes. "ambulance is on it's way. you did good l/n." gibbs praised, scanning y/n. she had turned to look back at limp-bodied ziva.
gibbs pulled her side into him, and she finally cried. her bloody hands wrapped around gibbs as the reality of what happened hit her. "you did good." he repeated into her ear. "but you really need to tell ziva you're in love with her."
y/n pulled away and looked at her annoyingly red hands. "i dont know what-"
"yes you do." gibbs said with a side eye and a smirk. "lets go." he led y/n to the frint of the warehouse, into the ambulance that arrived, and to the hospital.
♤
ziva was in surgery for hours. after hour one ticked by, y/n was taken home by gibbs to get cleaned up, fed, and then drove her back to the hospital.
"gibbs what do you mean that i'm in love with ziva?" y/n asked quietly.
"you know what that means."
"no i don't." y/n answered.
"i mean, l/n, that she likes you, and you like her." gibbs stated, like everyone knew.
y/n's brows furrowed. "she... likes me? really? are you sure, boss?"
gibbs chuckled, a sound only a select few heard. "yeah, y/n, i'm sure. it physically hurts us to watch you guys frolick around each other. so if i dont see any undying love confessions i'm going to fire you both."
y/n gaped at her boss. "i've never heard you talk that much." gibbs looked at her with a glare as he pulled into the parking lot. "but," she continued, "what do you mean 'us'?"
gibbs stopped the truck, and blinked. "abs, mcgee, dinozzo, ducky, hell even leon said something to me. point is, make a move."
y/n turned the words over in her mind as they entered the building. settling back down in the chair beside ducky and abby, y/n rested her head on abby's shoulder and closed her eyes.
two hours later y/n was woken by ducky. "she's awake my dear."
walking through the hallway to ziva's room was one of the longest hallways y/n ever walked through.
the team crowded into the room, completely disregarding the stares of others.
ziva turned jer head and made eye contact with y/n and she smiled weakly. y/n quickly took the chair right beside ziva.
when everyone got their affections over with, y/n was watching ziva talk to ducky about tips on healing.
"lunch, anyone?" tony asked abruptly. catching gibbs' eye, he motions with his head to y/n who was still all heart eyes over ziva. one by one, the entire team minus y/n left to go pick up food.
ziva looked at y/n and smiled a real smile. "hi."
y/n picked up ziva's hand and kissed her knuckles and laced their fingers. "hi ziva." she replied.
ziva looked into y/n's eyes like she was searching for something, anything. an answer maybe, an apology. an apology for scaring the shit out of y/n, and thanking her for saving her life.
"ziva." y/n asked, suddenly looking away.
the mossad agent exhaled. "yes?"
y/n bit her lip. "look, i know that you almsot died in front of me and whatever, but apparently vance thinks we're dating and gibbs said something so i was, y'know, wondering if, at some point, you'd want to go on a date or something?" it all rushed out in an uncalculated ramble that y/n was not proud of.
"i'd love to date you, y/n. i'd absolutely love to." ziva replied instantly.
y/n's heart genuinely felt like it was flying. "really?"
"yes, really."
y/n beamed and stood up and spun around. "holy shit you just made me so happy!" she laughed, making ziva laugh along with her.
when y/n sat down again, smile still on her face, ziva murmured, "my lips hurt... can you kiss them and make them feel better?" she asked shyly.
"don't have to ask darling." y/n ehispered against the beautiful woman as y/n pressed her lips against ziva's. ziva brought her hands up to tangle her fingers in y/n's hair. y/n pressed her hands into the spaces between ziva's head so she didn't topple onto the woman and hurt her.
at some point though, the team came back.
"finally!" tony shouted, causing y/n to fall into ziva's chest, making him laugh.
pecking ziva' neck y/n stood up and smoothed her hair, guiltily with a large smile. ziva turned her back on her team and bit her swollen lips. looking up at y/n, she smiled gently.
"i think we agreed on twenty dollars, tim." ducky said, cheerful as ever, collecting his bet money.
"i personally am not surprised they bet on us." ziva said to y/n.
"neither am i, honestly." y/n replied.
y/n looked over at gibbs. he smiled at her and shook his head.
"well, now that i have my money, i shall go see to making my favorite agents some food." ducky explained with a wink at ziva and y/n both.
"ducky's my ride. bye ziva! i'll be back tomorrow!" abby said excitedly.
"i guess i'll head home too... use protection.'' tony warned, wagging his finger at y/n.
"tony, ziva's in a hospital bed." she laughed, flipping him the bird.
"alright then, lets go tim. we'llbe outside y/n." gibbs said, ushering the crowd out the door.
turning to ziva with a smile, y/n leaned over to press a kiss to her head, but ziva pulled her collar down to kiss her on the lips.
"i'm going to be doing that so much." ziva sighs, eyes fluttering shut.
"i'll be back soon, darling."
"i'll miss you." ziva teased.
rolling her eyes, y/n walked out of the hospital with a wide smile on her face, despite having to sit in the back.
