McGee squealed with joy when he heard the news and immediately left to rush done to Abby.
Abby was slurping down her seventh Caf-Pow! of the day, and had mascara stained down both cheeks. She did not turn around to greet the rush of footsteps and instead hunched over more and hid her face from the visitor.
'Abby, Abby, Abby, Abby!' McGee yelled excitedly.
Abby froze, excited buy his happy voice but hardly daring to hope that…
'Ziva's woken up,' McGee yelped.
Abby's downturned mouth transformed into a huge beam and she leapt on McGee, squeezing his lungs until he began to rasp and choke, begging for mercy.
She dropped him and grabbed the remote for her CD player, switching the mood from mournful to an upbeat dance rhythm. 'Come on, Timmy,' she invited, swaying and jumping vaguely in time with the music. He reluctantly edged away from her, his grin not wavering. She held out her hands and put on her best pleading eyes. 'For Ziva,' she wheedled. He relented and was pulled into the lively dancing.
The song ended and Abby collapsed on the floor, her body unused to such glee after a year of misery and crying. McGee sat down beside and took her hand. 'She's awake,' he reminded her, squeezing her hand affectionately. She nodded, her grin not returning.
She turned to him, her eyes pensive. 'For real, Timmy?' she asked quietly. 'She won't fall back asleep?'
He threw his arms around her, comforting her. 'She has woken up for good, Abby,' he affirmed, ridding her of her last remaining anxiety. His eyes widened. 'Do you want to go and see her?' Her head nodded vigorously. He pulled her to her feet and they ran out of the lab, not bothering to stop the music or turn off any of the machines.
They hurried into the bullpen, searching for Gibbs. Abby stopped in front of his empty desk. 'He's gone without us,' she said simply. Her brow furrowed. 'How could he go without us?' she complained. McGee grabbed her hand once more and pulled her into the elevator.
'He will be waiting for us,' he assured her. She nodded, not letting anything spoil her blissful mood. 'She's awake,' he repeated, shaking his head in amazement. 'She's really awake.' He pulled Abby into an enveloping hug. 'She isn't going to die, Abby.'
Abby punched his arm. 'She was never going to die, McGee,' she scolded. 'She's Ziva. She can handle anything.' McGee smiled and pulled her closer, smelling her hair.
The elevator doors dinged and the pair dashed out, running towards McGee's car. Abby was stunned by the speed McGee drove at and spent most of the journey screaming and clutching her seat as they sped through traffic lights and darted around queues of cars. He had been infected by Abby's optimism over the years and he had hated seeing her depressed. He did not want to waste any time in proving to Abby that the world was the right way up again. He skidded to a halt in the car park and they rushed into the hospital faster, overtaking the paramedics running with a stretcher. They slowed down in the hospital corridors but they hurried towards Ziva's room as fast as was acceptable in a hospital.
Abby paused outside the door, her hand trembling on the handle. 'Go on,' McGee urged her. 'She'll want to see you.' Abby smiled and released the breath she had been holding, throwing open the door. Her face fell as she saw Ziva lying still in the bed with her eyes closed. Tony glanced up and he frowned when he saw the visitors. Abby's grin crumpled and spun round to confront McGee.
'You said that she was awake,' she accused. 'McGee!' she shouted, pushing past him. 'You lied!'
'Abby!' McGee called after her, scowling at Tony and running after her. 'Abby!'
Tony turned his attention back to Ziva's sleeping face. 'She is awake,' he assured himself. He felt slightly guilty at that lapse in accepting that Ziva had other friends who cared about her and would want to see her other than him which had misled Abby to thinking that Ziva had fallen back into a coma. But, his conscience was already weighing down on him and he dismissed the extra burden of guilt as Abby being overdramatic.
His eyes returned to Ziva. He had been able to tell her that he loved her when she could not respond but he wasn't sure if he could summon up the required courage to tell her when she could hear him. If he could not, they would fall back into their uncommunicative, self-destructive rut. He did not want that but neither did her want to pressure her into anything. He was modest but he knew Ziva too well to think that after a year of tending to her, she would not feel like she owed him again. If he told her that he loved her now, she would not be able to reject him even if she wanted to so he would never know whether she actually did love him or whether she felt obligated to reciprocate his feelings.
'Ziva,' he whispered. 'I accept you whatever you feel for me.'
'Thank you,' she murmured. He started, not having been aware that she had woken up.
'I'm so glad you're awake,' he replied softly.
She sighed. 'Me too.' Her face relaxed and she fell asleep again. She had not remained awake for more than twenty seconds, her immediate spurt having thoroughly worn her out. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the warm skin.
McGee rounded the corner to see Abby disappear into the women's bathroom. He squirmed indecisively for a minute before working up the courage to storm in to comfort her. He hesitated in his determined charge right before he pushed the door open, reminded of Ziva gate crashing the men's room to scold him for his fear of bugs. He smiled at the memory and, taking strength from Ziva, pushed the door open with such vehemence that it banged against the wall, making Abby and the rest of the women fiddling with their hair in front of the mirror jump in shock.
A couple of the women shrieked and abandoned their vanity to push past him and escape the violated bathroom. The remaining women narrowed their eyes suspiciously but allowed him to come in, watching with interest and envy as he threw his arms around the hysterical woman sobbing in the corner.
'Abby,' he muttered into her black hair. 'Ziva isn't in another coma, she is just resting,' he soothed. Abby twisted her head up to look at him, her eyes requesting another consolation. 'She isn't going to go back into a coma. She is Ziva, remember. She can cope with anything.' Abby nodded and wiped away her tears, her mascara streaking even more. He guided her out of the bathroom, nodding gratefully to the women still standing at the sink, accepting the male intruder, jealous of the affection between the two.
Abby tiptoed cautiously into Ziva's room, ashamed of her tantrum earlier. 'Sorry, Ziva,' she mumbled, crossing the room as quietly as she could manage in her platform shoes. 'I'm so glad that you're awake.' She took the only free hand of Ziva's and lifted it to her lips. 'I missed you so much.'
McGee patted her leg gently, muttering similar sentiments under his breath, before looking around the room. 'Where's Gibbs?' he asked Tony.
Tony shrugged. 'He hasn't been yet,' he replied.
Abby looked up at this. 'What?' she exclaimed. 'Where is he?'
McGee took out his phone and pressed it to his ear, waiting for it to stop ringing and Gibbs to bark his name into the mouthpiece. Nothing happened and the call went to voicemail. 'Um, Gibbs, it's McGee. Uh, we wondered where you were. Um, well, uh, call me back when you get this. We are all with Ziva at the hospital, um, yeah. Bye.' He hung up, his ears pink. 'No reply,' he announced. Tony rolled his eyes, the normal Tony slowly returning. 'Where can he be?' McGee asked the room in general, sitting down next to Abby.
'Maybe he's with Ducky?' Abby suggested.
McGee frowned. 'Do you think anyone's told Ducky?' he asked. Tony shook his head. 'I better do that,' McGee sighed, taking his phone out again and leaving the room.
Abby turned to Tony, her eyes wide. 'Do you think that Gibbs is alright?'
Tony snorted. 'He'll just have stopped to stock up on coffee. It's going to be a long night.' He gestured at Ziva's sleeping body. 'She isn't going to wake up long enough to have a conversation for a while.'
'Has she talked?' Abby inquired curiously. Tony hesitated before nodding. 'What did she say?' Abby asked eagerly.
'That's private, Abby,' Tony replied coldly. Abby's face fell for the second time since she arrived. 'Sorry, Abby,' Tony apologised. 'But it is.'
McGee returned and sat down, the three staring at Ziva in silence, waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. Ducky and Palmer hurried through the door soon after the call and joined the group waiting around her bed.
The night passed slowly, just as Tony predicted, and by the wee hours only Tony and Ducky remained awake. The morning came, and Abby's eyes slowly opened, her head lifting off McGee's padded shoulder. She looked around, noting the sleeping figures slumped in the chairs around Ziva, before fixing on Tony's alert body.
'No Gibbs?' she inquired.
'He never came all night,' Tony replied. 'I called him three more times and left three voicemails but he hasn't called back. Sorry, Abby.'
'He'll come,' Abby muttered, more to herself than Tony.
McGee sat up, his eyes slowly adjusting to the soft light in the room. 'No Gibbs?' he asked.
'Not yet,' Abby answered, positive that he would come.
Gibbs stretched out, his back aching after a night sleeping on a bench in a cemetery. He opened his eyes and stood up, yearning for coffee. He knelt in front of a grave, bowing his head and gritting his teeth to stop the threatening tears from squeezing out between his tightly shut eyelids. He reached out and traced the engraving, muttering the name, 'Jennifer Shepard.' He sat up straight and swallowed, ignoring his craving for caffeine. 'She's awake, Jenny,' he repeated the words he had spoken the night before. 'She's properly awake.' He paused, sighing and clenching his fists in agitation. 'I'm scared, Jen,' he admitted. 'I can't see her broken again. It was different when she was sleeping, she wasn't herself then. But, Jen, I don't think that I can do the whole repairing thing all over again. She won't be able to put herself back together this time.' He kissed his fingers and touched the stone. 'I miss you, Jen. I don't want to have to miss her too.' He nodded sadly and stood up. 'For you, I will go. I know that I should but… I will, Jen, for you and for her.' He turned and began the long walk back to his badly parked car. 'She needs you, Jen,' he muttered to himself. 'I can't save her again. I'm not enough. I'll fail her.'
Ten minutes later, a traffic camera picked up a blue hatchback speeding through a red light in the direction of the hospital. The driver was intent on getting to his destination as fast as possible and did not hear the tumult of beeps that accompanied his dangerous driving. He could not waste anymore time. Ziva would need all the help she could get. It was going to be a difficult recovery.
