9. Epilogue (1/2)

a/n: last chapter, guys :( it's been fun. if you haven't started reading it already, i have another story up called hidden magic. it's a stargate: atlantis and harry potter crossover.

enjoy! if you come over to hidden magic, i'll see you there. if not, it's been fun.

oh, and just an explanation, anything in italics is the past, and anything in regular font is the present. daniel and ziva are explaining things, and the others interrupt for clarification, so it could get a little confusing if you're not paying attention.

"so daniel, i hear you and ziva know each other?" vala asked as the group pulled out chairs around the

iefing table on the deadalus.

daniel nodded. "we were working on a dig in israel when a group of terrorists attacked the dig site…"

****

"are you sure this will work?" daniel asked ziva for the thousandth time. he still wasn't convinced that their plan was solid.

ziva rolled her eyes. "yes, daniel, it will work." she huffed as they walked to the tent where the hostages were being held. after a while, when they were a quarter mile from the tent, she stopped. "this is where you must go that way." she pointed east. "walk for fifteen minutes, then fire your gun-"

"-and run like hell." daniel finished. "then try to circle around to the hostage tent."

ziva nodded and watched as he went off into the east.

****

"hold up." mitchell interrupted. "you seriously expected to mount a rescue mission like that with two people?"

"indeed." teal'c agreed. "success under those circumstances appears unlikely."

"there were a few reasons behind this idea. first, we were the only option for a rescue team, since the dig site was a good twenty miles from tel aviv." daniel began to explain. "second, we were both young and inexperienced, so we believed – rather reluctantly – in this plan."

"and let's just say that i didn't take daniel seriously when he said he had no training in weaponry." ziva finished sheepishly.

mitchell nodded for daniel to go on.

****

daniel stopped after fifteen minutes of walking. it was time. he held his gun into the air, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. he was off running before the bullet's blast had stopped echoing over the israeli dunes.

daniel slowed as he neared the tent, looking frantically for ziva. there she was, about fifteen yards from the tent's entrance, crouching behind two crates with a gun pointing in between. he sneaked across the rim of the hill encircling the tent towards ziva.

"did it work?" he asked ziva quietly. she nearly fired her gun off in shock.

ziva sighed exasperatedly. "never do that again if you want to live." she admonished as she tucked her weapon back into the crevice. "to answer your question, i believe it did."

daniel watched the tent. five of the terrorists grabbed machine guns and jogged in the direction of the bullet's blast, with the leader shouting angrily after them. now only three remained, including the leader, to watch the prisoners. "huh" daniel was genuinely surprised. he hadn't expected the trick to work.

ziva smirked. "i told you it would work." she prated. "now all i have to do is take out these three." she first targeted the leader. "cut off the rooster's head and its body will not know what to do," she explained to daniel. she fired. pop! the leader fell to the ground in a heap of blood.

daniel looked quizzically at ziva. "silencer," she explained, pointing to the device around her weapon. as she had predicted, the two goons guarding the shocked hostages were staring at each other in confusion. pop! ziva shot another terrorist, who crumpled to the ground.

this time the third terrorist saw where the bullet came from. he started jogging over to ziva's crates. pop! the third and final terrorist crumpled and fell.

daniel and ziva circled around the crates to the cheers and applause of the american dig team. the half-dozen archaeologists were impressed, especially after they heard the full story of the rescue plan.

"ok, daniel gets an a for the year." professor shackman joked and the class laughed. none of the group would bet against daniel's top grades. "and any job recommendation he wants." that was big – shackman was infamous for refusing to write recommendations.

"th-thank you, sir." daniel stammered. "but ziva did all the work, really."

"speaking of which," ziva interrupted, "there are still five men out there with guns." the group blanched. "does anyone have experience with firearms

"yes, i do." shackman said, surprising everyone. "i like hunting." he defended himself. "or at least i used to. i haven't been able to go hunting since i started watching over you

ats."

"i do too." a student admitted in between chuckles. "my dad owned a gun shop when i was young."****

ziva's expression

ightened considerably. "if there's no one else?" seeing none, she turned to the two volunteers. "then let's go finish the job." she tossed shackman and the student guns from her bag.

"you didn't think they'd have a problem killing someone?" mcgee asked.

ziva shook her head. "no, we didn't kill anyone else. we just wounded them and waited for my father's men to arrive. they killed the terrorists after interrogating them." that sounded like mossad to gibbs.

"so what happened next?" carter asked.

"after this incident, the university decided that it wasn't safe for us to be in israel and they sent us home." daniel looked at ziva. "we haven't seen or heard of each other since."