It was the middle of the night when Tony felt the slight movement against' his fingers. He'd been asleep, his hand still tangled with Ziva's when he felt her fingers jerk and squeeze against his own in small sporadic movements. He sat up groggily at first, trying to focus when everything immediately came back to him and he realized it wasn't a dream, she was really moving her fingers ever so slightly.
"Ziva," He called out to her softly, moving quickly to stand above her, stroking the hair of her head behind her ear and anxious to see her eyes open, signaling she was returning to life. "Ziva." He called to her again, hoping to bring her back from wherever she was. Her eyes began to flutter slowly and she struggled to open them. "That's it Z."
Tony tried encouraging her feeling his heart start to pound when she finally was able to keep her eyes open into slits in the dimly lit room. Her vision slowly focusing on the face leaning down towards her. "It's me, Tony." He offered not wanting her to be afraid not knowing where she was waking up and with whom. "You're okay, Ziva. I won't leave you." He promised smiling through his tears and speaking in barely above a whisper. Her fingers curled around his and gave a slight squeeze of acknowledgement before her eyes fell shut once more.
Tony leaned over and kissed her lips lightly, letting it linger. "I won't leave you." He promised again before resuming his seat and vigil, kissing her hand he held in his own before lying back down. He fell back asleep with a slight smile on his face, completely unaware that Gibbs and Schmeil were both sitting directly behind him, witnessing the entire exchange, acknowledging each other and what they'd just witnessed with a quick sideways glance towards each other.
"Junior," Tony's father, Anthony Sr., quietly rustled his son from his slumber, slightly shaking his shoulder. "Junior." He heard the voice again and rapidly sat up, looking around. Ziva was still unconscious, sleeping peacefully in the bed before him and the steady sounds of beeping from her heart filled the room. He scrubbed his hand over his face glancing at the man across the bed from him and blinked hard in the dimly lit room.
"Dad?" Tony asked unsure if he'd been dreaming again.
"Yes, Junior. I came as soon as I heard. I was devastated to learn of Ziva's death and knew you would be too." His father's eyes looked from his son to the beautiful brunette lying in the bed between them. "I certainly wasn't prepared to find her alive, and here when I arrived after what I'd seen on the news."
"How did you know? Her still being alive is supposed to be a secret. The only way to protect her from the insane man responsible." Tony was happy to see his father but fearful of the truth of Ziva still being alive getting out and to Bodnar's ears.
"I told him." Gibbs offered stepping forward from behind Tony, startling him a little as he wasn't even aware his boss was also in the room. "We had no other choice. I couldn't very well explain your absence to a concerned father without giving him the truth. I knew you weren't going to leave Ziva's side and I knew he wasn't going to leave without seeing you. I brought him down and told him the truth and why it must be this way… for now."
Tony nodded in understanding. "Thanks for coming, Dad." He gave the older man a slight smile, feeling a small spark of joy in his heart that his father had intended to come to him, in a time of need for one of the first time's in Tony's life since his mother passed away. "I'm glad you're here. Ziva will be as well when she awakens. She always loves spending time with you."
"As I do with her." Anthony smiled down at the woman in the bed and slowly walked around to stand before Tony, "I can't tell you how beside myself I was watching her get shot on the news and fall to the stage unconscious and bleeding… hearing she'd been killed." Tony's father gulped with glassy eyes, trying to hold back tears. "Then unable to reach you on the phone… I was worried about you, son. Scared to death of how you'd react." He reached forward and hugged Tony tightly, the fear of losing his son from grief showing clearly in both the tightness of his hug as well as the look in his eyes to Gibbs.
"Yeah, sorry about that, Dad." Tony held him and then stepped back, "Our phones were off during the flight to and from Israel and then… then I turned it off. I didn't feel like speaking to anyone. Once we'd learned she was still alive… I've haven't left this room with her, I guess I forgot to turn my phone back on."
"It's okay. I understand. I was just worried for you. I knew you wouldn't take losing Ziva, again… well, any better then I did when I lost your mother." Anthony grasped Tony's shoulder with empathetic eyes. "I'm so happy to know, she's still alive."
"Me too." Tony gave him a small smile glancing back down at Ziva and gently caressing her hand in his.
"Tony, you have to get ready for the funeral. It starts in an hour." Gibbs prompted him to get moving knowing Tony would still have to go home and get ready.
"I don't want to leave, Boss. She moved her fingers last night and opened her eyes for just a minute, but… she's waking up. I want to be here when she does." Tony clung to Ziva's side, holding tightly to her hand.
"Tony, you have to go. We've been over this." Gibbs gave him a stern look and softened knowing how difficult this had been on Tony.
"Jewish burial ceremonies are short, Tony." Schmeil tried to offer with a small smile, giving the younger man hope they wouldn't be gone lone. "Twenty-minutes or so. Our Ziva is likely still going to be asleep when we get back."
"It will take us longer to drive to Arlington Cemetery then it will for the ceremony." Gibbs added, all of them trying to convince Tony to leave.
"I'll stay with her, son." Anthony offered with a smile. "Gibbs explained why you must go through with this to keep Ziva safe for now. I won't leave her side until you return."
"Neither will I." Tobias Fornell greeted them all with a head nod entering the room full of concerned men and hearing the tail-end of the conversation with everyone present trying to convince Tony he must leave her temporarily.
"All right." Tony finally surrendered, knowing it was something he had to do. And he was willing to do whatever it took to keep Ziva safe from Bodnar. Again, without caring who was in the room with them or watching, Tony turned his attention back to Ziva and leaned over her, pressing his lips to the corner of her mouth in a soft kiss before whispering, "I'll be back as soon as I can, Ziva."
"Come, Tony. Let us do this terrible thing for the right reasons, together." Schmeil wrapped his arm around Tony's side escorting him from the room.
Gibbs walked forward to fill the empty space beside Ziva's bed that Tony had just vacated, paused to look at her and then leaned over to kiss her forehead gently. He nodded at the two men staying before leaving to join the rest of his team.
"Hello beautiful, Ziva." Anthony greeted her for the first time kissing her cheek softly, "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you still living and breathing." He spoke to her unconscious form, "My son… would never recover." He added quietly. Taking the seat where Tony had been sitting and Fornell grabbed the empty chair near the door where he could keep a more watchful eye.
Ziva's head felt a tremendous pressure as she struggled to open her eyes. The room was dimly lit, and even the small bits of light seeping in through her long eyelashes caused sudden moments of pain as her eyes adjusted. Her mouth felt incredibly dry and it hurt to swallow. The soft beeps near her ear caught her attention and she moved to look over her right shoulder to see where it was coming from.
The slightest movements caused a roaring pain through her chest and she froze, gasping in a slow breath to realize moving in the slightest was a horrendous idea at the time. Her hand slowly lifted to her chest feeling the hospital gown and spongy fabric beneath signifying a bandage. The IV she saw attached to the back of her hand helped complete the picture. She was in the hospital, but why?
Just then, the fingers of her left hand brushed against something soft and gained her attention. Someone was lying nearly face down into the bedding beside her, haphazardly sleeping on the bed with just their' upper body as leaned over from the chair beside her. Tony. She had to smile at his open mouth and gasping breaths from the odd angle his neck was bent into. Her fingers reached forward to stroke his hair around his ear.
The movement caused him to flutter his eyes, waking up as she continued to stroke his head and finally his eyes opened enough to stare straight into hers.
"Hi," She whispered and winced in pain at how raw her throat felt with just one word.
"You're awake!" Tony sat straight up in disbelief and joy, "I can't believe you're awake!" He smiled more brightly, reaching for her fingers and holding her hand. "How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you need anything?" The sight of her alive, and looking at him with a soft smile on her face was nearly enough to undo him after spending the morning burying her. Even if it were a fake funeral, it was authentic enough for him after nearly having to bury her for real. The emotions of what it felt like to lose her, weren't too far away to reach them and remember what that felt like, and those same feelings of loss shown through quite well during the service with the streams of silent tears and aching heart.
"Water," She gasped in a whisper, reaching for her throat not wanting to say another word
"Right, sorry." Tony grabbed for the pitcher of water on the table beside her bed, feeling badly for asking her questions when it was clear she was in pain. He'd remembered the feeling of rawness well from his time recovering from the Plague. "Better?" He asked when she'd taken a few sips through the straw as he held the cup.
She nodded and gave him a small smile, "What happened? Why are you in Israel?"
"We're not in Israel. You're home." He smiled cautiously, reaching for her fingers once more, holding on with anxiety. "You don't remember what happened?"
She shook her head, "No, the last thing I remember was speaking with you and Gibbs on MTAC. We…" She looked away trying to remember and then back at Tony, "They'd asked me to be the Director of Mossad."
"Right," Tony confirmed seeing she was really asking him rather then making a statement. "You'd decided to decline and come home. To us." He added softly with his eyes staring intently into hers. 'To me,' he'd wanted to say.
"I remember." She nodded softly, those images of memories flooding forward in her mind. "I remember going to the podium and giving the press conference and then…and then…" She squinted feeling a blast of pain shoot through her head, raising her arm immediately to her forehead causing her to cry in pain as another sharp pain tore through her chest once more with the movement.
"Whoa, easy there, Ninja!" Tony reached for her arm trying to hold her steady with concern flooding his features to hear her cry out in pain. "You're pretty banged up. You've got to go slow. It took all the kings horses and all the kings men, to put you back together again." He smiled widely at her, teasing like he used to falling back into familiar patterns on how to diffuse his rattled nerves at how close he really was to losing her.
"What?" Ziva looked at him in confusion.
"You know? Like Humpty Dumpty?" Tony narrowed his eyebrows. "The cracked egg from childhood rhymes?"
"You're comparing me to a cracked egg?" She slanted her own eyebrow at him having never heard of this story before.
"Ziva, you've honestly never heard of Humpty Dumpty? How is that possible?" Tony asked with a soft smile.
"You are speaking about an American nursery rhyme, I presume, Tony. One that uses English words that fit together in a rhyme. I grew up in Israel. Speaking Hebrew with no rhyming words about cracked eggs named Hump a Dump." Ziva narrowed her eyes once more sighing softly with exasperation that he'd compared her to a cracked egg.
"His name is Humpty Dumpty." Tony couldn't stop the laugh that escaped him, "Hump a Dump." He repeated what she'd said, laughing again for the first time in more then a week, since her father and Director Vance's wife, Jackie had been killed. It felt good, Tony decided looking at his fierce partner looking at him now with annoyance that he dare laugh at her.
"Same difference!" Ziva glared at him, "In Israel, a cracked egg is someone who is less then perfect. Is that what I am now? Is that what this child's story is speaking of?"
"No," Tony sobered quickly taking her hand once more in his own with eyes leveling into her big brown depths, "You are always perfect." He spoke quietly and sincerely. "It's been a scary last few days, Z. I'm sorry for making light of the situation and confusing you even more. You were hurt pretty badly." His thumb began nervously running circles over the back of her hand, "You were shot. In the middle of the press conference, you were shot. The bullet entered through your back and came out the front of your chest. I watched the whole thing on LIVE television. It was the most terrifying moment of my life…" He admitted softly and the fear was evident on his face and in his eyes.
Ziva couldn't believe what she was hearing or seeing looking at Tony now, how scared he seemed just speaking about what happened and her fingers from her right hand reached up slowly to trace the middle of her chest where she'd previously felt the padding from cause. It explained now why it hurt so badly to move if she were shot in the chest. "Illan?" She asked quietly, having an idea of who would have tried to kill her.
"Yes." Tony nodded slowly. "You're still in danger. He believes you are dead. You have to stay that way for awhile, keep you safe and give you the time to heal."
"He believes I'm dead?" She asked in disbelief. "How? Why?"
"You know better then anyone why, Ziva." He spoke quietly. "He will keep coming until he kills you. We need the time to find him first." She nodded softly in understanding, looking down at their entwined hands lying on the bed beside her. "I want to make it very clear, Ziva." He stated gaining her attention and pausing until she looked him in the eyes again, "This morning was the last funeral of yours I will ever be attending. I've now had to attend one memorial service for you when we thought we lost you on the Damacles… and now again, burying you in Arlington National Cemetery this morning after we thought we lost you again. I'm done. You're not allowed to die ever again. Okay?" His eyes struggled to hold back the tears that he was sure she could see as his vision began to blur and voice quivered slightly.
Ziva swallowed hard, confused and scared about what he was talking about as well as seeing how upset he was at the thought of her dying once more. Her eyes flashed to the suit he was wearing, now rumpled slightly by the way he was sleeping on her bed and to the black torn ribbon pinned on his suit lapel, her fingers reached out to brush against it softly. "You buried me?" She asked still fingering the Jewish sign of mourning and grief attached to 'her loved ones' lapel, as part of her burial custom where those in mourning where a tattered and torn black ribbon to represent their terrible grief.
"We did." Tony confirmed speaking in barely above a whisper. "We had to go through with the ceremony in case Bodnar is watching." He swallowed hard seeing the tears pooling in her eyes as well trying to take in all of this information. "We're all sitting Shiva for you now." He smiled softly, gaining her attention once more as her eyes darted back to his. "Abby has covered every mirror in the office including the bathrooms and people are bringing in food from everywhere. You're desk is now the drop zone for baked goods it seems. McGee has turned into McCookie with all the nervous munching he's been doing this morning."
"But they know I am alive, yes?" Ziva asked immediately concerned about what her friends thought of her and why people were sitting Shiva for her, something surreal to think about even as she continued to finger Tony's black ribbon of mourning for her on his suit.
"Yes, they know. Our immediate team, plus Agent Fornell, and my dad," Tony smiled thinking about his father, "all know you're actually still alive and living in the basement."
"Your father knows? And wait, living in the basement?" Her eyes darted around the room and recognition started to sink in. It was the medical room in the sublevels of their office building that had been reconfigured into a hospital room. "We're at NCIS? Not the hospital?"
"Yes, we're at NCIS. It's too dangerous for you at the hospital. Too exposed." Tony took note of the way her eyes seemed to keep coming back to stare at the black ribbon on his suit. He supposed it would be strange to awaken confused about what happened, only to be told everyone thinks you are dead and they're sitting Shiva in mourning for you, eating cookies. "For now, we have to keep it close to the vest until we get a lead on Bodnar."
"But your father knows? And Agent Fornell?" Ziva asked still confused.
"Yes, they both know. They sat with you during your funeral. I didn't want you to be left alone." The moment he said it and seeing her reaction, he knew it sounded terrible.
"And how did I get from Israel, where I was shot?" She asked with a glance and Tony nodded to confirm as she put the pieces of the puzzle together, "To here at NCIS? Without anyone knowing I wasn't really dead? What about Mossad? Do they know the truth?"
"Malachi is the one who orchestrated all of this and told us you were dead." Tony felt a moment of anger surge through his veins towards the man whose lie had utterly shattered his world for nearly 14 hours. "As for who else in Mossad knows you're really still alive, I don't know. Gibbs and McGee and I went immediately to Israel after the shooting to get you and we brought you back. That was three days ago."
Ziva caught the sudden change in Tony's voice and posture at the mentioning of Malachi and the way he looked away from her, going over what he'd just said, "Malachi told you that I was dead?"
"Yes." Tony inhaled a shaking breath, flashes of her lifeless body in the black bag flew before his eyes as did the memory of what it felt like to hear that she was gone. His hand immediately reached for hers once more, needing to feel her warmth.
Ziva's eyes glanced from his to her hand and back again, seeing how disturbed Tony was and the fear in his eyes, "You believed I was dead?"
"Yes. We did. For nearly 14 hours, we all believed that you were dead…again. For real this time, Ziva." He swallowed hard finding his mouth dry, "We saw your body. We thought we were bringing you home for burial."
Ziva couldn't believe what she was hearing or how this came to be but clearly, it was terrifying to Tony as she could still see the emotions from it in his eyes and hear it in his voice as he was speaking. The fact that he was now holding her hand with both of his, as if he were afraid she would disappear scared her.
"Ducky discovered you were still alive when he opened the body bag for autopsy. And then Gibbs called Malachi to confirm and the plot was revealed of how your being still alive was kept a secret as part of the mission to locate Bodnar. Malachi had prepped your body for transport. His team made it possible to sneak you out in a body bag as terrifying as that sounds, it was." Tony reached forward unable to stop himself and ran the backs of his fingers along her cheek, his mind flooded with memories of how cold she was and still, when he thought she was dead. "It was terrifying, Ziva. Being told twice in my lifetime that you were dead… " He couldn't finish what he was going to say, instead swallowing hard he looked away and then back into her eyes, "I'm so glad you are still with us, Ziva David."
"I am sorry, Tony." She apologized.
"This wasn't your doing." Tony shook his head.
"Rule #6, Ziva." Gibbs announced from the doorway with a smile on his face, "Never apologize, it's a sign of weakness." His smile grew wider as he took in her appearance. Eyes wide and alive before him, looking at him with a smile slowly spreading over her face.