Surferdude8225, once again I thank you for beta reading this for me if there are any language mistakes left it's all my fault. I would also like to thank those who took the time to review this story. It's much appreciated. Good suggestions are always taken into consideration if not in this story then in one of future ones. Thanks people..

Ps I made a huge mistake I uploaded the wrong chapter yesterday. My apologies for that, here is the correct one.

Chapter 10

Tony didn't know how long they lay there in complete silence. He didn't want to push her, but he desperately wanted to know more about Somalia. Then she took a deep breath and he held his.

'They never gave up. They would never stop. Day in day out, night after night. I just gave up, I did not care anymore. They would hit me, kick me, put out their cigarettes on me. They were very creative with inflicting pain on me. In the beginning, I tried to take care of myself, tried to clean myself up just a little bit each time, but after a while, I could not be bothered anymore. I figured the more I let myself go, the more they would leave me alone. I mean, who would want to be with a woman who smells of her own urine and feces, but they did not care, they just wanted to….have me…'

She shivered. Tony let her know he was right there for her, that he was close by, just in case she needed him. He let her know he had her back. He would be there for her. His hand drew circles on her back, comforting circles.

'Saleem became more and more frustrated with me. I was telling him nothing he could use. I would mix lies with truths and, after he had it figured out what I was doing, he had this incredible outburst. I was dragged into the courtyard and beaten with a whip, a stick, whatever he could find. He nearly beat me to death. I was bleeding rather badly, but he did not care, he could not care less whether I lived or died. I was begging him to kill me, but for some twisted reason, he did not. I think he figured that I would die a slow and agonizing death because of the beating, but I did not. I healed, but I became very weak due to infection of the wounds I had sustained. I had fever attacks, like I am having now. I hate it. It makes me weak'.

He didn't know what to say. She wasn't weak, she hadn't ever been weak. Tony wanted to make it better, but what do you say to someone who had begged for her own death? Not by choice, but simply because she wanted the pain that they inflicted on her to end, so it must have been enormous. Nothing that he would say or do would take that away.

'Zee?'

'Yes?' she murmured.

'Don't hit me.'

'What?' Her eyes shot wide open in surprise. 'Hit you, why would I do that?'

He slowly brought his lips to her forehead and gently placed a kiss on it.

'You are anything and everything but the one thing you are not, and that is weak. Never ever doubt that.'

He engulfed her in his arms, giving her a safe haven from the big bad world outside. He figured she needed to feel safe right now, to feel loved and secure. He didn't know how long they lay like that, but he felt her breathing even out and knew he had succeeded in just doing that.

The following morning, Tony woke up and felt a tremendous body heat coming from the person right next to him. She was facing him and he could see that she was dealing with a fever. She had kicked off her blankets and slept with nothing more than her sleeping attire. Her face was reddish and sweaty. Part of her shirt had ridden up her stomach and he could clearly see several scars and burn marks on her stomach. He paled, he hadn't seen any of this when she accompanied his father to that rich man's party. She had shown plenty of skin that night, but come to think of it, her entire front was more or less covered.

He got nauseous, it was one thing her telling him what they did, but to actually see the results of what they did was an entirely different matter. He needed to get to the bathroom, quickly.

'You okay?' he heard after only a few seconds. She had woken up to the noise of his vomiting and went to check on him.

'Yup.' He nodded. She didn't need to know the reason for his being sick. 'I had a burger last night that apparently didn't agree with me.'

'Right….' She went quiet. 'You used to be more creative with your lies.'

'I'm sorry.' He rinsed his mouth and cleaned his teeth with a toothbrush she had handed him.

'You saw ….them.' He heard her whisper.

He looked in the bathroom mirror and saw her looking at him with sad eyes. She was leaning against the bathroom doorpost. Her entire demeanor had changed. She turned away, shoulders slumped, looking utterly defeated. She slowly pushed herself from the doorpost and went to the bedroom to put on a bathrobe. When she had done that, she went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

He followed her back into the bedroom after he cleaned himself up. He was taking that extra time to clear his mind and to figure out how he was going to handle this. Shortly after he had dressed himself, he followed her into the kitchen. He could tell from the way she moved that she was hurt by his reaction.

'I think you should leave, Tony. You are going to be late for work if you stay any longer. I will join you later. Gibbs told me not to come in before nine.'

He was dumbfounded. She was going to work? A little over half an hour ago, she'd had a fever.

'You are not going to work today. You just had a fever.' He moved so quickly towards her she didn't have time to get out of his way. His hands cupped her face. 'You still have a fever. You are not going to work, and to answer your question yes, I did see them. You had time to get used to them, I didn't. I was overwhelmed.' He sighed. 'I know you told me about the how and the when, but to actually see it is something entirely different. It blew me away, but I need you to know this… You are still the one I love with my body, mind and soul. You are still the most beautiful woman I ever laid my eyes on.'

Ziva was stumped. She had expected something entirely different. Tony left her standing there. He grabbed his coat and walked out her front door with a huge smile on his face.

TBC..

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