Disclaimer: I do not own the show or characters of NCIS. This was made purely for the entertainment of fans of the show.

Beep…beep…beep…

The incessant beeping had ceased irritating Ziva David about two weeks ago, when she finally accepted that it would stay stabilized, unlike the occasional wild bursts that occurred during the first few days that had brought medical personnel running into the room at all hours of the night. Now it provided her with a cold sort of comfort. As long as the monitor continued to beep, he was still alive. The fact that he had neither opened his eyes nor moved a muscle in three weeks didn't change that.

She lifted her arms in a stretch before rising from the hard plastic chair. She'd come every night since he had been admitted, refusing to leave after visiting hours were over. Eventually, one of the nurses brought in a cot for her to sleep on, but Ziva rarely took advantage of it. She preferred to sit close to his bed and talk to him about just about anything. When she got tired, she often laid her head against him and slept a while with his heartbeat in one ear, and the steady beep of the machine in her other ear.

More often than not, she held his hand while she sat with him. It wasn't something she thought about, it was just something she did. Something that, if she was honest, she had wanted to do for a long time now. She just couldn't take the plunge and move their relationship to that level any more than he seemed able to. All the signs of mutual interest were there, but they had both held back until…well, technically they hadn't really done anything, but it was the thought that counted, right? Wrong. She hadn't acted on her thoughts and now all she had were regrets.

Ziva walked around the bed to the window and looked down at the late night traffic. So many cars moved up and down the street, their occupants all focused on their unique locations, and, while she would have driven faster than any of the vehicles moving below the window, Ziva was right where she wanted to be. He wasn't aware of it, but she was there waiting for him to open those intelligent eyes of his so she could say something, anything, and know he could hear her.

The monotony of sound was abruptly broken by a sound other than beeping. It was quiet, but Ziva picked up on it. It was skills like being able to home in on even the subtlest change that had allowed her to survive this long. That and timing and sheer luck. She spun around at the sound, causing her long brown hair to flip over her shoulder, and fully expected to see someone standing in or near the door. No one was there. She heard the sound again and turned surprised brown eyes toward the bed.

'Had he really…?' she wondered as she returned to his side and took hold of his hand. "If you can hear me, squeeze my hand," she directed. In an effort to force her voice not to tremble, she'd sounded brusquer than she'd meant to. "Please," she added in a voice that was markedly more normal. She waited, staring at his face, willing him silently to open his eyes. "Please," she repeated softly, tears borne of dashed hopes beginning to sting her eyes. Funny, she hadn't cried once since the attack, but something as trivial as him not waking up now, as opposed to any other times he could have, made her want to do so now.

As she loosened her grip on his hand in defeat, his slack hand twitched. Ziva stood there, frozen. Afraid to hope, but hoping anyway. She couldn't help clutching at the first bit of hope he had given her that things would be alright in three weeks. Three very long weeks. "Please squeeze my hand, open your eyes, respond in any way, and just let me know I am not losing my mind. You know how I hate not being in control. Being crazy would make me a bat," she said, her mouth tilting upwards just a little at the corners.

"Batty."

She saw his mouth form the words and nearly fainted with shock. "Wh-what? What did you say?" she asked disbelievingly.

His eyes opened just enough for him to look at her. "Being crazy would make you…batty."

"Baruch HaShem," Ziva murmured. Thank God.

(A/N: The next chapter, I will go backwards 3 weeks and show you all just what went down and in the process, reveal the identity of the man who has just woken up. I hope you guys liked this start. At the present, I don't see this being a long story. No more than maybe 5 chapters. If my intentions change, I'll let you all know.

Thanks TooMuchCaffine for correcting my Hebrew!)