Disclaimer: Much to my despair, I own absolutely none of these fantastic characters. I just enjoy playing with them from time to time.
The first day Ziva arrived at work with bruised knuckles, she wrapped them well in the sterile white gauze and played the scrapes off as a nasty fall during her morning jog. She calmly explained to Tony's incessant questions and McGee's concerned gaze that she enjoyed jogging the park trail and that the city was repaving rough parts of the sidewalk. 'Good, too,' she would go on to say, weaving a tale of her tripping on the broken cement and scraping her hands.
But that was all it was.
A tale.
And it fooled her co-workers, her family, for all of about five minutes.
Or two days.
Or simply until the day where she arrived to NCIS at 4:45am to continue her painful bout with the punching bag, but did not anticipate meeting Tony in the elevator just over an hour later, before she had had a chance to wrap her fists. His eyes had gotten wide, then narrow with suspicion, realization.
Ziva realized instantly that he wouldn't take "I fell" as an explanation. He knew.
But her pride would not allow her not to try. Spitting the words as quickly as possible from her mouth, she mumbled about the slippery stairs leading down to the workout room, then tried to slip past him out of the elevator.
He caught her by the shoulder, flipped the emergency switch on the elevator panel, plunged them into semi-darkness.
"Ziva," he murmured, eyes soft, concerned. Like he cared a little. Or a lot. Because he did.
So she told him.
Told him how every morning she would pummel the bag with her already bruised and swollen fists, releasing the anger, the hurt, that was swallowing her whole. Told him how the pain was keeping her alive, reminding her to remain in the real world, instead of the nightmare her mind created every night.
She was determined to be in control. In front of the heavy bag, at least she had control over what was causing her pain. And it worked, she told him.
And he nodded.
Because he understood.
But then he flipped the elevator switch and took her, protesting, to see Ducky. To see Gibbs. Because they would understand too.
And then they would help her. Because this family takes care of its own, no matter what.
Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you think :)