A/N): Enjoy D.
Last Call
Chapter 4
The Next Day
"Ziver." Gibbs gently jostled her shoulder.
Ziva woke to notice that early morning sunlight was streaming through the window. A brief glance at the bed showed that Tony was still asleep. She stood and stretched, trying to work the kinks out. The hospital chairs were never meant to be slept in. "Gibbs"
"Go on home, get some rest, I'll watch over DiNozzo."
"I can't Gibbs."
"Why not?" Gibbs grunted
"I made a promise to Tony that I would not leave."
"So he has woken up."
"Yes twice yesterday, the doctors say he will wake up more often. He is still severely medicated, though. He made me Pinky Swear"
"Pinky Swear," Gibbs shrugged ruefully, "Well I guess you're stuck."
"I…. I have hurt him Gibbs; I do not want to add to that hurt," Ziva replied softly.
"I'll be here Ziva. I'll make sure he knows that you are coming back."' Gibbs gruffed.
Ziva was torn. It had been a couple of days since her last shower and she felt grimy and her hair felt greasy. She really needed a shower and something other vending machine food." All right, I will be back shortly."
"Don't rush on my account"
Gibbs sat down and observed his senior field agent. Over the last couple of years, Tony had lost some of his athletic trim, he hadn't let himself go but age and his work schedule along with the fact that he still ate like a teenager had beefed him up a little. Three weeks on only the nutrition given through his IV had melted that away. He had talked to the doctors about Tony's chances of recovery. Their main concern was his right leg. At first, they were worried that he might lose the leg, fearing that the damage was too severe. They had been able to save it, but Tony was now looking at multiple surgeries to repair the rest of the damage. Tony was in for moths of very painful physical therapy. Gibbs hoped that DiNozzo would be strong enough to push through.
Tony
Tony's eyes fluttered open. He had been having the most wonderful dream that Ziva had come back to him. His Ninja was back. He looked over hoping against hope that she would be sitting beside the bed. His heart sank. Gibbs was sitting beside him.
"Morning Boss."
"Dinozzo."
"Uh… If I said anything strange to you last night, just chalk it up to the pain meds." Tony said uneasily.
"Wouldn't know what you said last night DiNozzo, wasn't here"
"Oh, good… I guess."
"Ziva was, though," Gibbs added.
"Oh, good, Then I wasn't hallucinating."
"What can you remember about the day of the bombing?"
"Most of it I guess, up until the blast and then there is a blank spot until I woke up in the basement, doing my best imitation of a pin cushion."
"Why were you in the Admin Building? We had already cleared it."
"Well, Boss, the way I remember it I was heading to the parking lot where we were supposed to meet. Boss, I swear to you I heard someone call for help from inside the building."
"Male? Female?"
"I don't remember, Boss, I just remember that someone was calling for help."
"Keep at it; you may remember something else later."
"Sure Boss."
They talked about the case for a while. Gibbs filled in details that had been found after the bombing and Tony's subsequent rescue. Tony dozed off and on until early evening when Ziva returned. Gibbs made his goodbyes and left.
"I am sorry I took so long,"Ziva apologized. "I just intended to take a shower and come right back, but I fell asleep. I am sorry."
"It's all right, Z. Gibbs was here when I woke up. To tell you the truth I thought that I had dreamed it all."
"No, Tony, you did not…." Ziva paused," I… I feel like I must apologize …."
"Hey, Ziva it's all good." Tony tried to ease Ziva's discomfort "Like I said Gibbs was here…"
"No Tony, not about today, although I did promise not to leave you, I wish to apologize for not coming back with you from Israel. I should have come back with you. The loss of Eli affected more than I anticipated. With what had happened at NCIS and the attack at Director Vance's house, I needed a chance to come to terms with all that had happened. I felt if I had returned to D.C. that the change I was seeking would not occur, but I was wrong. It is for that reason that I want to apologize. I should have known that I could lean on you and still change my life."
"Like I said last night, I don't blame you….."
"I blame myself, Tony."
"So did you do it, did you change?" Tony asked
"Yes, I did. I left law enforcement and the spy game behind. I have been working in a Library in Tel Aviv."
Tony's baritone chuckle filled the room. "This has to be a dream… My Ninja… a librarian!"
Ziva fell back into old patterns. She put on her most provocative look and smiled a slow sensuous smile. "That right Tony, your Ninja, I dress in very tight dresses and I punish all those bad boys with overdue books." She put extra emphasis on the word punish.
"Not fair Ziva… No getting all fantasy girl on me when I can't do anything about it."
"Then you should not tease me about my chosen profession." Ziva countered.
"Do you enjoy working there?"
"Yes, Tony I do. You know how much I love books and reading. They even had quite the collection of old movies on VHS."
"Well that would appeal to me, Sweet Cheeks"
"That is where you are wrong, Tony. I found some of them quite entertaining."
"Really, Tony was incredulous, "Which ones?"
"I particularly enjoyed Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, The General and The Gold Rush in particular."
"Now I know that I am hallucinating."
"They reminded me of you. I think you share their sense of humor. I laughed so hard I cried when Charlie Chaplin did the dance with the forks and the potatoes. In the General when he tells the girl to put wood in the furnace and she puts the little stick in, that reminded me of our relationship. It made me appreciate how frustrated you must have been when I first became an investigator."
"Wow, Ziva I'm impressed. You know that the studio made Chaplin change the ending to The Gold Rush. In the original ending, the Tramp didn't get the girl…."
"Yes and he put in the words 'You ruined it' as a protest" Ziva finished
"Wow, My Ninja is Sexy and Smart…"
"So how is my favorite patient doing today?" The Doctor Interrupted
"Awww, I'm just your favorite because I've been a coma and haven't been able to complain," Tony said.
"Not true… Ok, kind of true… I'm Dr. Karras.." The doctor began to check Tony's vital signs." We are certainly glad that you have decided to rejoin the land of the conscious. Tomorrow we are going to wheel you down and get a CAT scan of your noggin and some X-rays of your leg. You had a severe concussion so we want to make sure that your eggs remain unscrambled."
"What about the rest of me?" Tony asked worriedly. Ziva stood on the far side of the bed and gently took his hand.
"Well your ribs will still be sore and all the repairs to you GI tract seem to be healing nicely. We were fortunate that you responded so well to the antibiotics that infection didn't overly complicate your recovery. Our main concern is your right leg. I suggest that you thank the Big Guy upstairs; it is a miracle that we were able to save the leg. In most cases, we would have had to amputate but there was enough bone still intact for us to work with. I'm not going to sugar coat it. You are looking at multiple surgeries and months of physical therapy before you will be mobile. We will be scheduling your first surgery after our tests tomorrow. The first thing we need to do is reattach some of your muscles. We will be using cadaver tissue to replace some of your tendons. Once that's healed we will need to do a complete knee reconstruction."
"What are my chances of a full recovery?" Tony was apprehensive.
"That depends on how the surgeries go. Full recovery… maybe forty percent. Most likely you will either have to walk with a cane or have a pronounced limp and whenever the weather changes your leg will hurt like a mother. You will also have problems with metal detectors."
"Great," Tony said dejectedly.
A/N): The two films in question are both awesome. Once you get used to no talking. However, both have music. At least in the Versions I have seen. They are certainly an important part of Cinema History. Chaplin was certainly a genius both in front and behind the camera. Keaton was a master at physical comedy. As you can tell I am a huge fan of both actors/directors. D.
A/n)":(2) Still no clue where this is headed. Please forgive any typos or grammar miscues that I may have missed
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