Stuck

Chapter 16

~Ziva's pov~

A light shock went through her when she saw Carmen hold Sarah above the water. The angel that Sarah was, she didn't cry or scream in the arms of that stranger, but in her eyes was fear.
She felt the strong urge to sprint forward and snatch the baby out of Carmen's hands, but she realised that that would be a mistake. The baby's neck could easily be snapped by Carmen, or she could be dropped and get hurt badly.
Instead, she had held on to Tony's arm, not only to stop him from moving, but to stop herself too.
On Anna's face was the look of panic and hers must not have looked very relaxed either, but Tony looked very calm as he looked at her, got his arm out of her grip and took her hand instead. He mouthed 'trust me'. She nodded. She would have to.
Carmen was still smiling, she didn't move at all. Tony then took a babystep towards her. It was not nearly enough to startle Carmen so she would drown Sarah. She squeezed his hand, hoping that would somehow give him the strenght he needed, and he squeezed back. This baby was their responsability and she would not let anything happen to her.
"Carmen, what your husband has put you through is terrible, but if you do this, it would make you as bad as he was! You need to give us the baby back, before it's too late, or we won't be able to help you anymore."
Tears welled up in Carmen's eyes. Sarah's tiny feet now touched the water. Tony's grip of her hand tightened a lot because of the tention in his body, but she didn't feel the pain. She just hoped this would work, otherwise she would have to take the risk of grabbing the baby...
Carmen started yelling again.
"I won't give you my baby! I can't lose my baby. Not again"
She was now crying, and hard too.
They both knew he had to change his game, the formal one was not going to work.Tony silently breathed in deeply and out again. She felt his hand relax. Calmly, he started talking again, as if talking to a child.
"Carmen, that baby's name is Sarah. And we are her parents. You are holding óúr little girl in your arms. We were worried sick when she was gone. You need to give her back to us. Please."
He sounded like a father in despair. Exactly what they needed.
Carmen just stared at him with a look that was a mixture of sadness, anger and realisation. Her tears stopped.
Tony carried on, but now he became a little harsher in his words. It worried her...
"Think about Sarah's mother!" Carmen looked at her, her gaze stinging. She did her best to look like she was scared to death because of Carmen's dangerous action with 'her' child. It didn't take much acting.
"Put yourself in her shoes! You can't take her baby away from her like yours was taken away from you. You of all people should know how painful it is! Don't do that to her family, to us. Do the right thing."
He went too far, that's all she could think. He went way too far... She was preparing herself to grab Sarah, when to her surprise Carmen pulled Sarah away from the water, silently crying. Tony let go of her hand, slowly walked over to Carmen and she handed him the baby, shame coming over her face as a shadow. Tony held Sarah close and walked back to her. She let her hand go over Sarah's face. She realised she had been holding her breath all this time and finally released it when Sarah smiled at her. She was fine. And for the first time she saw Tony holding Sarah and actually enjoying it. Of course there was that time in the airplane, but that was because he had too. Now, he was holding her because he wanted to, because he liked it. Like a father would. She smiled as she looked at them.
Then Anna came into the room, breaking the spell. She hadn't even noticed her leave, but the fact that she was holding her phone indicated that she had called the police or the house Carmen had been staying at before she escaped. Anna saw Sarah in Tony's arms, smiled in relief and then slowly walked over to Carmen, who then embraced her sister, now sobbing. It was devastading to see, and yet she and Tony had never felt so relieved. Everyone was alright. Half an hour later the police came to take everyone's statement and to take Carmen back to the mental institution. Tony and her thanked Anna for her help and she, too, got into the police car, determined to stay with her sister and give her the love and support she needed to go through all of this.
Now all that was left to do was find Sarah's aunt, but they could do that in the morning. It was getting late.