A/N- Just a quick chapter to get the characters moving, sorry have writers block.


"Abby, what were you thinking?!"

Jenny jumped as Jethro rose his voice for the second time that day, catching the attention of the hospital staff and patients again. Unused to Gibbs yelling and his anger, Abby recoiled and looked to Jenny for advice. Knowing that she was once again being delegated the role of pack mother, she stepped forward to calm Jethro down,

"He knew something was wrong Gibbs...if I hadn't told him, he would have panicked and assumed the worst"

"His partner is dead Abby...there is nothing worse!"

Jenny flinched as she recalled their mission in the Serbia, how they had been separated during a fire and she had been presumed dead. It had taken her only three days to find Gibbs again but the damage had been done, he had hunted down the men he'd though responsible and slaughtered every last one of them. When she had found him in the abandoned farm house, a mile west of where the bodies were buried, he had hardly believed she was there, that he could be that lucky. She still blushed when she remembered the way he had pulled her into the house, pushed her against the wall and made desperate love to her. They hadn't left the little house for the rest of the week, or strayed very far from the mattress on the floor.

She struggled to bring herself back to the situation at hand, Gibbs always knew when she was indulging in memories of their sex life and, right now, he wouldn't appreciate it.

"He would have found out anyway boss"

They turned to see McGee hurrying forward to defend Abby, no surprise, the younger agent always forgot his healthy fear of the legendary Gibbs when he thought Abby was in need of protection or support.

"Tony's smarter than he looks and we were all tiptoeing around him...or maybe the doctor or one of the nurses might have told him about his amnesia..."

"Yeah or maybe he would have recovered his memories on his own time and not needed to be told that Kate was dead!"

Turning away, Gibbs snapped his fingers at them in dismissal and even though she was the Director of NCIS, Jenny Sheppard found herself throwing him one last glare before following the stunned Abby as she headed to the hospital cafeteria in McGee's arms.

Had the situation been different, had it not involved Gibbs and his children, Jenny would have simply told him where to go.


He remembered the first time he had met Kate, the absolute outrage in her eyes as he and Gibbs went about hijacking the crime scene and her determination not to be bested by either of them. He remembered how at Gitmo she had diagnosed their relationship as a brotherly-sisterly bond, he'd loved that. He'd been so lonely growing up, in the huge houses filled with people who never had any time for him, he'd always wanted a sibling to play with, and now he had one.

He'd had one.

She was dead now.

Dead at the hands of the terrorist she'd emphasized with, the one with the 'kindness' in his eyes. Kate had always seen the good in people, almost to the point of missing the evil, but he remembered Gibbs having adored that trait, god knew neither of them had it anymore.

And now she was dead.

He couldn't even remember his final moments with her.

The tears that stung his eyes had come after he'd finished retching onto the hospital floor, Paula had only lingered until the nurses and the cleaner showed up to pump him full of drugs and mop up.

The new director, the hot red-head that was on first name terms with Gibbs, had stuck her head in during the chaos, assessed the situation and disappeared again. Leaving him with more questions then answers and nobody around to talk to.

He wondered if this was how he had felt after Kate died.

The feeling was manageable by about midday, mainly because if had been drowned out by his supreme boredom. There was only so much television you could watch during the day outside of a movie marathon and the constant lying down was driving him crazy, he needed to be doing something.

Unfortunately in hospitals there wasn't much to do, for lack of better options he decided to go to the bathroom and look in the mirror, see if he'd made any drastic changes over the last four years.

Easier said than done however, though he hadn't suffered too much damage in the accident, according to the nurses anyway, he'd still been hit by a car and his body didn't like the idea of movement.

Just getting out of the bed had proved an issue for him and the moment he stood upright his vision swam and his head told him that it wanted to get back to the nice, soft pillow. Ignoring it, as he was prone to do, he began inching slowly towards the blue sliding door that presumably lead to his bathroom. He was halfway there before he realized he wasn't going to make it, his vision was blurring, his body was swaying and there was nothing around for him to grab on to, he was definitely going to hit the floor. Just as his knees began to buckle, the door to his room opened and he heard a female gasp.

"Tony!"

Before he could be certain that it wasn't the new director, two arms wrapped themselves under his shoulders and helped him to the hideous floral patterned couch just outside the bathroom door. He blacked out for a moment and when he came to he was lying down, with someone stroking his hair. The effect was so comforting he wanted to keep his eyes closed and stay like that, but curiosity got the better of him and he found himself looking at a smiling dark haired beauty, kneeling before the couch.

"Hello Tony," she whispered, her fingers still playing with his hair,

"Disobeying doctor's orders again I see"

He felt himself blushing, not because he'd been caught out but because this woman was being so intimate with him- and he had no idea who she was.

Thankfully she was still talking, "If Gibbs finds you out of bed he will be unhappy, Ducky suggested you would need at least a week or so bed rest"

Feeling vulnerable in his current position, he decided to sit up, pressing his hands under him, he tried to lift his weight and once again found himself being embraced by the beautiful stranger. She clucked her tongue like a mother hen and helped him sit up,

"Do you at least want something to drink?" she offered and he shook his head,

"No thanks…I don't think I could keep it down"

"Yes you have been sick, what is wrong?"

So far people had been asking him how he felt. An irritating, idiotic but habitual question for hospitals, death beds, crime scenes and funeral parlors.

This woman cut through the crap and realized immediately that, aside from the obvious, he was hurting.

He shook his head and that was when his eye focused on the badge clipped to her belt and the gun holstered at her side. Suddenly her exotic accent, her interest in him and her familiarity clicked. This was Ziva David- his partner and the Mossad agent.

The Mossad Agent.

His face must have betrayed something because she stiffened and took her hands off him,

"Tony…what has happened?"

He only shook his head, memories of Kate too fresh to speak to someone who might have known her killer.

"I'm tired" he mumbled, turning his face away from her.

It was several heart beats before she seemed to understand,

"Then I shall see you later"

Before she left, she pressed her lips to his hair in such a gentle, undemanding manner that Tony felt a deep pang of regret for hurting her.


A/N- Read and Review please!