Title: A Long Way Home (Chapter Nine)

Author: LizzieInk

A/N: The events of this chapter occur the morning after the previous chapters events. I felt as if we needed a little more Tiva. After all there is no such thing as too much Tiva right? Ha-ha. Enjoy! ;)

Disclaimer: These characters are the property of CBS.


Ziva woke with a start. She had been awoken multiple times during the night by terrifying dreams. Now that she was truly awake and had time to dwell on them properly, it was easy to see that her dreams were merely mirroring reality. Ziva felt little comfort in waking these days. She dreamt often of holding her father's lifeless body in her arms, while listening to Bodnar's cold chilling laugh. Bodnar was only ever in the periphery of her dreams, taunting her. Just out of reach.

Waking held no solace for Ziva any more. It only served to remind her time after time, of all that she had lost during her life.

Even though the hospital room was fairly warm, Ziva couldn't help but shiver as she replayed the nightmares from the previous night in her minds eye.

"Ziva?" Tony murmured quietly.

It made her jump. She had forgotten he was there for a moment.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Bad dreams." Ziva said. She didn't need to say more than that. Of course Tony knew of the nightmares that chased Ziva during the night. He had witnessed the very first of them, the night after her father had been murdered, when she had stayed at Tony's apartment.

Tony looked at Ziva with sadness and sympathy in his eyes, but he didn't pursue the point further. He knew without Ziva having to tell him, that now was not the right time to ask her about her nightmares. Instead he absentmindedly tried to move, before the searing pain in his shoulder served as a reminder of the previous days harrowing events. The pain made Tony growl roughly under his breath.

"Uuugh… I feel as if I've been hit by a tank." Tony grumbled.

"Just be thankful you weren't and that it was only another car." Ziva advised as she slowly flexed her good arm, assessing the damage that had been done to her. She had small cuts all along her right arm from the window that had shattered during the crash, but they were only superficial wounds. Other than feeling pretty bruised, Ziva decided that her right arm was okay. Her left arm was the one that had faired the worst, as it was in a cast from elbow to wrist. All she could do was flex her elbow and wiggle her fingers uselessly.

Tony watched Ziva curiously as she put her body carefully to the test.

"So what's the verdict?" He asked, "Do you feel anywhere near as badly bruised as I do?"

"I am fine. Other than my left arm and my ribs, I seem to have faired well enough." Ziva answered.

Tony raised an eyebrow at her, the disbelief on his face was clear to see.

"Okay, I admit I have felt better." Ziva conceded.

Tony nodded. He knew that was as much of a confession as he would get out of Ziva. She was never one to show weakness if she could help it.

Tony looked across at Ziva, holding her gaze with his own, but whatever he was about to say was lost, as their Doctor entered the room quietly.

Doctor Price assessed Agent Dinozzo first, before moving on to assess Agent David. They appeared to be doing well considering everything that had happened the day before. Both Tony and Ziva remained silent until Doctor Price spoke to them directly.

"So do you both feel ready to be sent home today?" He asked.

"I feel fine," was Ziva's expected reply.

While Dinozzo replied with a sarcastic; "never better."

Gibbs walked into the room just in time to hear his agent's answers, and smiled to himself. He expected nothing more from either of them after all of their years working together. Dinozzo's go to response in situations of pain or discomfort was always sarcasm, while Ziva was the master of deflection, glossing over her own issues to instead focus on someone else's.

"Well, if you two think you are ready to go, you should get dressed. I have brought you each a change of clothes. You'll be staying at Abby's place until we find Bodnar." Gibb's said, dropping a bag on the end of each of their beds.

"I'm sorry boss, but did you just say we are staying at Abby's?" Dinozzo asked, the confusion clear on his face.

"Gibbs, that is not necessary. I doubt we are in any more danger than we usually are. The crash just provided an opportunity for Bodnar to retrieve his diamonds." Ziva argued.

"I don't care. Whether his intentions were to kill you or not, neither of you can deny that he came extremely close yesterday." Gibbs replied in a stern authoritative voice. "Now Abbs has been kind enough to offer, so I think you should both stay with her. That way neither of you will be alone until we find Bodnar. You can both look after Abby too. I don't think she has slept since before the crash, the girl is literally main-lining caffeine." Gibbs shook his head disapprovingly.

Gibbs took a moment to look over both of his agents.

"Get dressed." He repeated quietly, his gaze softening, before he swiftly exited the room.


A/N: Sorry, I know this chapter is a little shorter than usual, but I really wanted to add in another Tony/Ziva scene. After all this is a Tiva-centric fic. I didn't want you to have to go without them for too long. Hell, I didn't want to go without them either, lol. I hope you enjoyed it! ;)