Ziva froze. She felt her knees threaten to buckle under her. She knew a day would come when she would have to explain about her past, but she never dreamed it would be this soon. What would he think of her? How could she expect him to understand?

"You know what? He looks kind of like-" Tony started to speak, but stopped mid-sentence, "Ziva? You okay?" she could hear Tony's voice, echoing in her head until it faded away to nothing

She couldn't handle this. Not now. How had things gotten so out of hand so fast? Why had she let him see these glimpses into her past? She felt her head spinning, and held her hands out to try to maintain her balance. Easy Ziva, do not let this go to your head, you can do this. Why am I so dizzy? Stress, panic, the medication? Something is not right...

"Ziva!" Tony called out to her, catching her as she crumpled to the ground, "What's wrong?" he was beginning to panic now, carrying her over to the sofa, "Come on, Ziva. Don't do this to me again, don't scare us like this!"

She opened her eyes, "Tony? What happened?" her voice showed rare weakness, her hand finding his, "I feel so tired..." she felt horrible, the room blurring around her, darkness closing in around her

"Ziva? How many of those pills did you take?" Tony ran into her bedroom, grabbing the bottle for reference. He placed them on the coffee table, running to the phone book, searching for poison control. "Ziva, how many pills?!" his voice showed desperation and fear

She began to close her eyes, trying to think, "Two?" she guessed, "One when I found your note, one after I woke up...a few minutes ago..."

"Yeah, I'm here." Tony told the operator, listening intently, "Yeah, she took a bunch of Vicodin!" he paced the room frantically before sitting down beside Ziva on the couch, "Okay...okay. Thank you."

"The guy says that it might be an overdose, or just a bad reaction,." he told her, brushing her hair out of her eyes, clinging to her brow from the sweat rolling down her cheeks, "We need to get you back to the hospital, Ziva. We need to figure out what's wrong..." he patted her cheek, trying to get her to stay awake, "Come on, stay with me here. Poison control sent an ambulance, so don't worry."

She rolled over onto her side, clutching her stomach. "Tony, something is very wrong," she groaned, emptying her stomach onto the floor

"Just hang on, help is coming, Ziva."


Tony sat in the waiting room for nearly an hour, being interrogated by his team about the incident. He honestly couldn't remember it too clearly; it all seemed like a blur to him, like it wasn't even real.

A nurse came out, an encouraging smile on her face, "Are you here for Miss David?"

They all jumped to their feet, Abby clinging tightly to Gibbs' arm in anticipation, "Yeah, is she okay?"

"She just had a rather nasty reaction to the medication. The amount she took might have caused her to have problems with it, but add in the fact that her body wouldn't handle a normal dose..." she trailed off, more not needing to be said, "But right now she's doing as good as can be expected. She's stable, but we're keeping a close eye on her. She's awake, but not very lucid at the moment." she walked down the hall, gesturing for the group to follow, "You can go in and visit, one at a time, but you may have to leave if anything changes. I'm not sure why she had such a bad reaction, has she taken that medication before?"

"She's been on it for nearly a week now," Ducky informed her, "I haven't noticed any adverse effects until now." he felt guilty for not seeing any problems. He hated himself for not keeping a closer eye on her, "She seemed quite alright earlier."

Tony sighed, remembering the mostly full bottle on the nightstand, and the pills stuffed in the pillowcase, "That's because she didn't take them, Ducky. She's been finding creative ways of hiding them. I found a bunch that she was hiding, and confronted her about it. She's only actually started it today."

"Why wouldn't she take her medication?" McGee asked, peeking in through the window into her room at Ziva's resting form, "She was obviously in pain at times, but I figured that was normal, considering all she's been through."

"She says she didn't like the way they made her feel, so she quit taking them after the first dose." Tony leaned against the doorway, feeling the weight of guilt crash down on him, "But I made her take them anyway. I told her I'd make Gibbs force feed them to her if she didn't start taking care of herself."

Gibbs smiled briefly. Ziva wasn't one to be intimidated, but everyone knew he would do whatever it took to ensure the safety of this dysfunctional NCIS family of his.

The nurse noted a few things on Ziva's chart, "Now that she's off of it, she should recover pretty quickly. The effects of it might linger for a few hours, or even days, but there shouldn't be any permanent problems."

They all breathed a sigh of relief. Abby raise her hand, bouncing on her heels, "Director? Requesting permission to ask a question?"

Jen smiled, "You're asking permission to ask permission to go see her first?" she guessed, not that it required much guesswork.

"Yeah," she looked very confused for a moment, "Hey, you know what? Gibbs always knows when I have something for him. And you know what I'm gonna ask, before I ask it!" she looked at Gibbs and Director Shepard appraisingly, "Either both of you have ESP, I do, or maybe even all three! Wouldn't that be so cool?"

"Yes, Abby." Jen shook her head, nothing around here really surprised her anymore, "Go on in, but don't be too long. She needs her rest, and we'd like to see her sometime soon too."

Gibbs took a seat next to Jen on the bench in the hallway, "Since when does she listen to you?" he remembered Jen's first week. How she'd forced Abby so subject herself to the office dress code, and how the two women had a bit of a rocky start.

"Ever since about the time she..." Jen laughed, "I honestly can't even pretend to understand that young woman. All I know is, she's a devoted friend, a brilliant scientist, and a lot of fun to have around!"


Ziva barely noticed the door push open before she was enveloped in a death-grip, "Hello, Abby." she didn't even need to open her eyes to know who it was

"How many times are you gonna scare us?!" she demanded, only half joking, "First, you nearly let your appendix pop. Then, the surgeon leaves a sponge in you, which okay, isn't really your fault, but it wouldn't have been an issue if you hadn't nearly let your appendix go Mount Saint Hellens on your insides! And now, the drugs you were supposed to be taking, but didn't until you were made to, because of your surgery, because of your appendix, because of your stubbornness, nearly got you killed! Again!" she finally stopped to breathe, "Okay, I'm done venting!" she hopped up on the bed next to a very confused looking Ziva

"Can you say that again, a little slower?" she asked, "My English has gotten better, but I doubt most native speakers could follow that train of thought." she caught bits and pieces of her rant, but missed most of it altogether

Abby smiled, shaking her head, "Its forgotten." she wrapped Ziva in another hug, "I'm glad you're not dead."

Ziva smiled, "Me too."


Gibbs went in next, feeling the need to set a few things straight. He took in the sight of her tired and weary body, and realized how close they all came to losing her again. "Hey." he said simply

She didn't move, or even open her eyes, "I suppose there is some sort of rule that I did not know about until now that I've managed to violate, yes?" she joked, feeling the palm of his hand brush against her head, much softer than his usual slaps, "I thought so..."

"Nope. No rule, but if you ever lie to us about anything again, I'll kick your ass so hard, your grandchildren won't be able to sit!" he warned her, "You're staying with me once you're out of here, no argument."

She nodded, not trusting herself to say anything at the moment.

A nurse came in, checking her blood pressure for what seemed like the hundredth time, "Your blood pressure's still a bit on the low side," she told her, "It should resolve soon, but for now, just try to rest, okay? We don't want you to pass out again, do we?" she piled on more blankets, not really necessary considering it was eighty degrees out, but she didn't really care anymore

Gibbs remained for a moment after the nurse left, staying lone enough to tell her, "I'll send in DiNozzo. If that doesn't raise your blood pressure, nothing will." he chuckled on his way out


During the time between Gibbs leaving and Tony entering, Ziva could feel her pulse pounding away in fear. Her mind raced with a million questions. What will I say? What is he going to ask me? How much has he already figured out?

Tony poked his head in before entering, "Hey, can I come in?"

She nodded. He really didn't need her permission, but if he was being a gentleman, she didn't want to discourage him. "It is alright," she told him, "I do not mind."

He sat down on the edge of her bed, "I'm sorry." he told her simply, "I shouldn't have made you take those pills. Look where they got you!" he let out a forced laugh, "You okay now?"

Ziva placed her hand on his, "Tony, this is not your fault. No one is to blame for this. I feel fine. A little tired, but fine." she assured him, taking a moment to bask in the warm smile she got from him. She mentally sighed, knowing now was as good of a time as any, and he would have to know the truth someday, "Tony, you said my brother looked familiar, yes?"