Face Up Chapter 2

The way you feel

Is something everybody goes through.

Tony's eyes snapped open. He was breathing hard and his body seemed to be acute to every smell, sound, and fell in the room. He laid there on his side, trying to get his breathing under control as his eyes, of their own accord, frantically searched the hospital room, not really looking for anything.

Breathing under control, he flipped onto his other side and ran into a warm body. He stiffened. As he wondered who it was, he watched as the sleeping Ziva turned over and buried her head into his shoulder. He grinned. He should've known.

He slipped an arm around her waist and listened to her breathing as she slept. At least, he thought she was asleep, until she whispered into his shoulder, "You're up early."

It wasn't a question but it wasn't statement either. He pressed his lips into her hair and shrugged. Quiet settled over them as they each fell into their own thoughts.

She laid there in his arms, basking in the warmth they gave her. She knew it was only a matter of time before he asked the question that she dreaded.

Knew it was only a matter of time before he pushed her away…

She squeezed her eyes shut, and dared the tears to fall. Tears were a waste of energy, a couple drops of water in an already dried-up ocean. But still…..she knew the question was coming.

So why was she sitting here, waiting for it to be asked?

Willing for it to be asked?

It was a stupid question, for she knew the answer. She loved him. She smiled into his shoulder and finally let her tears fall; her joyful tears. She said it again and again in her mind and every time she said it her nerves went ablaze.

Tony frowned as wetness seeped his shirt where her head was resting. He glanced down at Ziva, worried. "You ok, Ziva?"

He heard a muffled, "I am fine, Tony."

He frowned. "Then, why are you-." Realization hit him hard in the chest. Ziva only cried if she realized something big had happened. If she realized that someone had hurt someone she loved.

If she realized that she loved someone.

His breath caught in his throat. He pulled away abruptly, so abrupt that Ziva looked up at him in alarm, worried, her eyes asking him what she had done wrong.

But he had only pulled away so he could see her eyes. He gazed into them before he asked softly, "Ziva, do you-."

"I love you, Tony," she said, cutting him off before he could finish.

He let out the breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding before giving her a smile that dazzled her. "Thank god," he murmured before he pulled her lips to his. They kissed each other frantically as if, at any moment, they would be ripped from each others arms and hurled to the opposite sides of the world.

After a few more frantic kisses, they slowly drew apart and gazed into each others eyes, hers liquid brown, his piercing jade. They stayed like that for awhile, both of them comfortable in the silence that had settled over them. They stared at each other as if they could see one another's soul before Tony asked quietly, "Tell me about what happened that day, Ziva."

Dark…out…

But you're still gotta rise up.

Ziva stiffened at the question. So this was how it ended. Minutes after we say 'I love you,' the moment flies from our gasp, she thought.

Tony felt her start to pull away and he saw from her eyes that her wall had come back up again. Instead of letting her push herself away from her like she always did, he tightened his arm around her waist. She struggled against him for a few seconds but couldn't budge his arm. She gave up. "Tony," she mumbled, "let me go-."

His lips descended onto hers. He grinned against her mouth as she moaned. She twined her arms around his neck and plastered her body more snugly against his.

A few steamy kisses later, Tony pulled back. He caught her face in his hands and gazed deeply into her eyes. He said softly, "Please, Zee. I want to know. I need to know." He skimmed her cheek with his thumb. "No matter what you tell me, I promise I won't be mad. And I will always, always, love you."

Ziva searched his eyes before she nodded. She hugged him hard once more before she stood up. He let her, knowing that she would not leave.

She walked to the window that covered the far wall. She stared down at the dark street below, not really seeing it.

Not really seeing anything.

She closed her eyes. "It was a Wednesday," she started quietly. "We had been filing reports when Gibbs gave us the rest of the day off." She turned and smiled at him. "You know how rare that is." She didn't wait for him to answer and, instead, turned back to the window, her smile fading. "You walked me down to the garage. Gave me a kiss. I told you I had to go meet someone. I left you there in the garage, walked away and didn't look back. Because, you see, I had a mission that I was supposed to do. Or, rather, I was being forced to do. They said, if I didn't do it, they'd…they'd kill you."

She squeezed her eyes shut tighter, keeping the tears from falling. "I left you there in the garage to go confront them. To tell them that Ziva David didn't take orders." She laughed, but it was a false one. "I had been so caught in my thoughts, thoughts about you and me, that I didn't even notice you tailing me. Until…until you called my name…" She took a shuddering breath.

She heard Tony's sharp intake of breath, but she ignored it, too caught up in the story to react. God, it felt as if she was reliving it again in her mind. "You remember that hotel we stood in front of, the day after Ari killed Kate? And I told you, before you threw out the pizza box, that there was one more slice in it." She turned her head and offered him a soft smile. "And you offered it to me. The perfect gentleman." She turned her face away once again, the smile gone. "You were standing in front of it when I looked back and there you were smiling at me. Just like you had that night. Then, before I knew what happened, a bomb went off in the hotel. And you got hit."

Tony watched as she told the story, but the horror at what she'd done didn't wash over him like Ziva expected it too. He just grew more angry, but not at her. Never at her.
And when he heard her voice crack, he wanted to go and kill the thugs that had done this to her. But he knew that, right now, she needed him.

He yanked the IV out of his arm before throwing his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He walked, quietly, to her and stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. As soon as he did, she turned in his arms and pressed her face into his chest as her tears spilled over.

He rocked her gently back and forth as she cried, before he started to guide her towards the hospital bed. He picked her up and slid her under the covers before he slid in as well. He held her head to his chest and preened her hair with his fingers as he waited patiently.

You need to wake up

Gotta keep your face up.

Ziva woke up to Tony's heart beat. It was a steady rhythm against her ear. Her head rested against his chest, her back to the far window. She could tell that he wasn't asleep from the way his arms were tense as they held her close to him.

She mumbled into the shirt that the hospital had given him, "Did you…" She let the question hang in the air.

He answered immediately, knowing what she was asking, "No….couldn't…"

She flinched, guessing the reason why he had not been able to. She started to untangle her arms from where they were wrapped around his waist. One minute, she was doing this. The next, she was crushed against his chest, his arms forming a barricade around her to keep her from leaving him.

Frantically, she glanced up at him to see if he was in pain. He looked, oddly enough, calm.

She pulled back a little to make sure and froze when he looked down at her, his eyes shinning with…love?

No, it couldn't be, not after last night. It couldn't be…

"Tony," she murmured, "You know I…" She ended it like that, knowing that he knew what she was trying to say.

He smiled softly, his eyes a liquid jade. "I know…" But then he seem to realize why she had said it in the first place. He grabbed her face, forcing her to look at him. "Don't even think that what you told me last night changes anything," he said quietly, but forcefully. "I still love you and I will always love you, no matter what happens."

Ziva stared at him, searching his eyes before she threw her arms around his neck and smashed her mouth against his. At first he didn't respond, he was so startled, but then he tilted his head slightly and took the kiss deeper. Their mouths opened and their tongues met, dancing together to music only the two of them could hear.

He heard the machine go crazy in the background as his heartbeat elevated rapidly. After awhile, he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers. He said, his breathing ragged, "Love you, Zee."

"Love you, Tony."

The door to the hallway burst open, revealing Gibbs in the doorway. He looked like he always did, calm, his steely blue eyes not showing any emotion. He spotted Tony and Ziva curled up together on the bed and he forced back a grin. Instead, he snapped, "Haven't I taught you anything about Rule 12?"

Song- Face up

Artist- LIGHTS

There WILL be a sequel to this so look for it. The title is Hearts Intertwined, Destinies Broken

FIN.