So, this was originally going to be two chapters, but I've decided to make it four. Also, a big thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited this!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own NCIS. Do I really need to say it again?

Chapter 2

"DiNozzo, they're taking him to the George Washington University Hospital," Gibbs calls over to his Senior Field Agent as Mcgee is loaded into an ambulance. "As soon as the EMTs are done with you two, you know where to go."

"Got it, Boss," Tony replies, glancing over at Ziva, who is having the cut on her face cleaned out by a paramedic. Gibbs nods to him, and then takes a shell shocked Abby by the arm and leads her to his car, ready to follow the ambulance to the hospital. He's worried about her, since she hasn't said a word since calling out Mcgee's name after he was brought out of the building, burned and bleeding, on a stretcher.

The first responders had been alarmed when they'd first heard Tony had hit his head. Thankfully, no concussion this time. He's had enough of them to last a lifetime. Anyways, as soon as they are certain he hasn't sustained any brain trauma, and Ziva's cut has been cared for, the two agents are released from medical care.

As Tony begins to walk over to the parking lot where he'd parked his car that morning, Ziva catches his arm and stops him.

"We need to stay here to help. You know, do our jobs for once, since we apparently aren't good enough at them to catch a terrorist as old as my father before he blows up half the Navy Yard," she says dryly. Tony shakes his head.

"Gibbs' orders," he replies. "He wants us to meet them at the hospital." He hooks his arm through hers as they walk to his car.

"Crap," he says as he searches his pockets. "Left my keys in the building." He begins to think his day can't get any worse when he hears the jingling of keys and looks up to see Ziva holding hers.

"I will drive."

Oh no. The worst possible words that could ever come out of Ziva David's mouth. He's about to protest when he realizes that he doesn't have a choice, and resigns himself to his fate.

"I thought I would die in that building, compliments of Harper Dearing," he says as they climb into Ziva's car, "but now it seems I'm going to die in a fiery car crash at the hands of my own partner."

"Relax, Tony. I have not even gotten a speeding ticket in about two months," she informs him as she pulls out of the Navy Yard and heads for the hospital.

"Oh, well that's comforting," Tony sighs as he grips his chair and checks the seatbelt.

"Gibbs is going to kill us anyways if we don't die in this car."

"Why would Gibbs kill us?" Ziva asks.

"Well, my dear ninja, we did just do the equivalent of sticking our middle fingers up at his rules right in front of him," he answers.

"Oh," Ziva says weakly, the memory coming back to her. "Well, then," she continues, "if he does kill us, at least we will have died for a good cause." Tony laughs.

"Good to know you think so," he says as they pull up to the hospital and Ziva stops the car. He says a silent prayer of thanks to whatever god was looking out for him.

"So, what now?" Ziva asks after she cuts the engine.

"Well, typically one gets out of the car and goes into the building…"

"I am not talking about that, Tony."

"I know," he says with a sigh. "But in response to your question, I have absolutely no clue. Suppose I never really expected it to happen like this."

"What didn't you expect to happen like this?"

"Telling you."

"Oh." She pauses. "How did you expect it to happen?"

"Not sure. But I'm positive it didn't involve almost getting blown up by a terrorist, or having no clue what else to say to you afterwards."

She laughs. "The one time Anthony DiNozzo is at a loss for words."

"Yeah, well…this isn't something I take lightly."

Ziva smiles softly at him and takes his hand.

"Well that is a start," she begins.

"I really do care about you, Ziva. You know I wouldn't take this lightly. The thing is, I can't come up with a scenario in which I don't completely screw this up. And I don't want to screw this up."

"You won't, Tony," she assures him. "If you want this…then it will all work out. Everything happens for a reason, that is the saying, yes?" Tony chuckles.

"For once, yes, that is the saying." Ziva leans her head on his shoulder and they sit in the car for a few more minutes.

"I never would have thought, when I walked into NCIS seven years ago, that this would be possible," Ziva continues. "That I would be alive, for one thing. And also that I would have fallen in love with you." She swallows. "When I was in Somalia…I thought about you. All of you; Gibbs, Abby, Mcgee, Ducky, and everyone else at NCIS. But mostly I thought about you, Tony."

"Really? Continue. Tell me more about how I occupied every waking hour of your thoughts," Tony says jokingly, grinning at her.

"Tony," she warns.

"Sorry." He knows how much it pains her to talk about that summer. Now isn't the time to delve into those memories, much less joke about them.

"I used to think about how much I trusted you, how much I depended on you, even though I'd sworn not to depend on anyone but myself. I couldn't trust my father, or my brother…but I could trust you. I should've trusted you. And that's when I realized that I loved you." Tony smiles and presses a kiss to the top of her head.

"When I thought you were dead, I lost it. I couldn't focus on work, on anything. I used to drink, a lot. And when I thought I'd never see you again, that you were gone for good…that was when I knew that I'd loved you," he whispers into her hair.

They sit quietly for a moment, her head on his shoulder and his arm around hers.

"We should go in and see Tim," Tony says after a while. Ziva nods.

"He will probably be in surgery," she says as they get out of the car and walk into the hospital, holding hands. Sure enough, when they ask a nurse at the front desk, she tells them that Timothy Mcgee is still in emergency surgery.

Gibbs and Abby are sitting in the chairs closest to the doors of the waiting room when Tony and Ziva walk in, still holding hands. Abby, who has visibly been crying, eyes them warily, and they assume that Gibbs has mentioned them to her. They silently slide into the two chairs next to their coworkers, their family. There is one empty chair at the end of the row. It's just too coincidental. But Gibbs doesn't believe in coincidences.

Gibbs doesn't greet them.

"Ducky had a heart attack this afternoon," Gibbs says flatly, staring at the wall. "I spoke with Jimmy Palmer a few minutes ago. He's delayed his wedding. Ducky's alive, but he's in bad shape." Before any of them can say a word, he gets up and walks out of the room.

Tony watches him leave. He hasn't seen Gibbs this distraught since Jenny Shepard died. He can't wrap his mind around it. Ducky? A heart attack? Dr. Mallard was one of the healthiest, most energetic people Tony knew. It didn't make sense. None of this made sense.

Tony looks over at Abby, expecting her to be a complete mess. Surprisingly, she isn't crying, though from her smudged makeup he can tell that she had been. Gibbs must have told her earlier. She just stares at the tissue in her hands and shakes her head.

"Why do these things always happen to such good people, Tony?" Abby whispers.

"If I knew, Abby, I'd tell you." And in the stillness that ensues, he feels the warm body in the chair on the other side of him shaking. He turns to his partner, only to see her shaking uncontrollably, arms wrapped around her chest as if she is literally holding herself together, large tears pouring down her face.

Of all of them, Ziva was the last one any member of the team would expect to have a nervous breakdown today. But when one considers everything she's been through, everything she's kept inside, it makes a lot of sense that when this new world she'd become part of, this new life she'd built for herself, fell apart, so would she.

Tony reaches over and takes her in his arms, pulling her towards him. She burries her face in his shirt as she sobs uncontrollably.

"Shhh, Ziva. It'll be okay. Everything will be fine," he whispers. But she doesn't stop crying. Not even when Abby comes over and sits next to her, and begins rubbing her back, do the sobs and the shaking dissipate. She clings to Tony with all her strength, as if any second he too might be ripped away.

A nurse notices them and walks over, lines of concern on her face.

"Excuse me, sir? Is she okay?" the nurse asks, gesturing to Ziva, who is having a full out emotional breakdown at this point.

"She'll be fine," Tony answers.

"Are you sure? Would you like me to have someone from psychiatric come to talk to her?"

"She'll be fine," he repeats. "She's just going through a lot. If she needs, we have someone she can talk to." His thoughts flash back to Ducky, the team's on call "shrink", the one person they could go to if they need to talk about things they can't talk to anyone else about. Would he still be around at the end of this, to help them through? He hopes with every fiber of his being that he will. The nurse, seeing that she's not going to get anywhere here, walks back to her desk, still keeping an eye on the inconsolable woman sitting in the back of the waiting room in the arms of a man who obviously means a lot to her.

Just then, Gibbs walks back in, carrying a cardboard box with what appears to be Mcgee's personal effects. He raises an eyebrow at Tony when he sees Ziva, but Tony just shakes his head. Gibbs is about to say something to comfort his agent, his daughter, when a nurse walks out of the operating room.

"Relatives of Timothy Mcgee?" she calls. The whole team looks up; even Ziva manages to quiet her sobs and pull her face out of Tony's chest.

The only sound in the room is that of four hearts pounding.