Ch. 1
Opening the door, Abby thanked the young Marine on the examination bed before stepping out, glad the evidence collecting process had gone smoothly. Even after 15 years on the job, Abby rarely had to leave the comforts of her lab to collect evidence, but with an abnormally large case load this week, she had agreed to go take samples from the marine's injuries for Ducky as he already had four autopsies lined up for him in the morgue.
Stepping out into the hallway, Abby's eyes narrowed as she spotted a man standing in front of the vending machine at the end of the hall. Something about this man was very familiar and she was sure she knew him from somewhere.
Walking towards him, the features of his face became clearer and clearer until there was no mistaking who he was. With that, Abby picked up her pace, excitement bubbling up inside her.
'Tony!' Abby squealed as she all but tackled him. It had been around four years since she had last seen him, but there was no mistaking his eyes. After he had left NCIS, they had gotten an occasional postcard from him, telling them that both he and Tali were doing fine in Israel, but there was nothing else. She had missed him desperately.
Tony almost jumped out of his skin when he heard someone running towards him, but relaxed as the familiarity of the situation settled in almost immediately. He only just had time to brace himself for the hug that was coming his way before he found Abby clinging on to him. He gave a small chuckle and embraced the woman who was basically his younger sister.
All of a sudden, Abby pulled back and gave him a concerned look. It had just occurred to her that they were both standing in the hallway of a hospital, and that people generally did not appear in the hospital without a good reason.
'Tony, what are you doing here? Are you alright? Is Tali alright? When did you get back?' Abby asked in rapid succession, the words tumbling out of her mouth almost unable to keep up with the questions racing in her mind.
'I'm fine, Abbs, and so is Tali. There's nothing wrong with either of us,' Tony reassured her with a small smile, but the smile did not reach his eyes. In fact, as Abby took a closer look at him, she realized his eyes were clouded with worry.
'Don't you trust me?' Abby pressed, her brow furrowed.
'Of course I do. What makes you think I don't?' Tony answered too quickly, unwilling to meet Abby's inquisitive eyes.
'Tony, I've known you for a very long time. I know when you're not telling me the whole truth,' Abby told him seriously, her hands on her hips, and Tony sighed. He should have known better than to try and tell Abby that everything was fine when clearly things were not.
Taking a hurried glance around the hallway, Tony pulled Abby into a patient's room and closed the door behind them. The sound of the door closing woke a little girl of about six years old, who was curled up on a cot squeezed in between the chair and the hospital bed. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and stretched out her arms for Tony. He was by her side immediately, picking her up and carrying her over to Abby.
'Say hello to aunt Abby, Tali,' Tony told her, and Tali gave her a timid wave obediently.
'Oh my god, Tali, you've gotten so big!' Abby cooed at the little girl, and Tali gave her a small, shy smile before burying her face into Tony's jacket.
Entranced by the little girl who had stolen her heart all those years ago, Abby gave a chuckle as said little girl let out a great yawn that coaxed tears from her eyes.
'Come on, Tali, time for you to have a nap,' Tony said, giving her a small kiss on the cheek before setting her back on the ground.
'I'm not sleepy,' she complained with a frown, stubbornly refusing to fall asleep just yet.
'If you don't sleep, Tali bear, how would you have the energy to play later?' Upon hearing this reasonable argument, Tali nodded reluctantly.
Walking back to the centre of the room, Tali climbed onto her cot and leaned over the bars to give the inhabitant of the hospital bed a kiss on the cheek. It was only then Abby realized that she had never actually looked to see who it was that had both Tony and Tali staying in the hospital.
'Ani ohevet otakh, ima,' Tali murmured, and she fell asleep almost instantly when her head hit her pillow.
Abby's feet were rooted to the ground upon hearing what Tali had called the patient in the bed. She looked at Tony incredulously and he nodded his head in confirmation.
Taking a deep breath, she forced her legs to move and soon found herself staring at the body of a woman, who appeared to be more tubes than human. Her breath caught in her throat. The only word that Abby could think of to describe the woman was fragile, but surely this could not be true. Years ago, she had been the strongest person that Abby had ever known, and no one in their right mind would have used such a word to describe her.
'B-but, she's dead, Tony. Orli, she told us,' Abby choked out. 'Ziva, she's supposed to be dead.'
'She didn't die that day, Abby. She's still here with us,' Tony said quietly. Abby stared at him, almost accusingly.
'Tony, what exactly happened in these past four years?' Abby demanded.
A/N: I hope you all like this story. This is my first time writing for NCIS, so I'm going to need lots of help from you all in order to improve my writing for this story and therefore, PLEASE REVIEW!
Many thanks to Bianca tabbycat for agreeing to beta this for me.
Zoe tabbycat
