I Will
By the time Tony pulled the car into park at the office, Ziva was half asleep in the car again. He sighed and went around to get her door. He held her up and looked deep into her eyes. They had to make it through today. They had no choice. Ziva nodded, once she finally received the message his eyes were sending and she blinked a couple of times, wondering what Gibbs was going to say. With that, Tony gave her a tight hug and held her close to him. He was worried too, considering none of them had slept and all four who hadn't slept were getting called in. At least he, McGee, and Abby could have some form of caffeine to help. But, not Ziva. She could only have a certain amount because of the pregnancy and she had filled that quota for the day.
They stepped into the elevator, their eyes still locked onto one another, lost in their thoughts and in their own personal world, before they had to come back to reality and return to work and a case. The elevator dinged when it reached their floor and Tony took hold of Ziva's hand and held it tightly in his own as they exited, something that they normally wouldn't do at the office.
Gibbs was nowhere to be seen. Ziva sat on top of her desk and Tony held her close to him, comforting the exhaustion that he knew she was feeling. He was beginning to feel exhausted himself and that was without extra hormones affecting him. McGee walked in a moment later, yawning quietly, trying to hide it from the other two. Abby walked in right after him, rubbing her eyes and looking at the two guiltily. Gibbs came in after they were all there.
"You four sleep?" he asked, looking at his three agents and the forensic scientist with a curious expression. "Or did McGee and Abby keep you two up all night?"
"Second option," Ziva muttered from Tony's chest, suppressing a yawn. "We will be fine."
"You don't look like you will be, Ziva," Gibbs argued with her. "You look like you're going to fall asleep on DiNozzo. Abby, McGee, if you two ever do this to these two again, then I will have your heads, understood?"
They both shook their heads and Abby looked a little concerned, because Gibbs hadn't ever gotten angry with her for any reason and he certainly had never shown it if he had. He had never threatened her, not even when it involved keeping Ziva safe or healthy. She could see that a protective fatherly side to him was showing through right now that she hadn't ever seen in him before. She blushed a little at the strong emotions showing on Gibbs face as he handed Ziva a coffee, no doubt her second one for today.
"Take it," Gibbs urged her. "It won't do any harm. You can go over the recommended amount once in a while, I'll just make sure I don't call the two of you in when it's not something this important and you'll have more normal work hours than the others. You two need to be a family and that's very important, otherwise, life isn't worth living."
Ziva smiled at him and took the coffee, trusting his advice more than anything else in the world.
"Okay," Gibbs said. "Missing girl, thirteen, name is Amanda Johnson, daughter of a marine who is currently deployed in Afghanistan. She was staying with her grandmother, who was just found dead in their home. Her father was killed when she was a baby. Her uncle reported her missing, but hasn't been seen or heard from since. We're going to the home to collect evidence now and then we'll come back here and do our thing. We've got forty eight hours to satisfy me, people. And, if I'm not satisfied with the timing of it, I'll blame McGee and Abby this time, for exhausting all four of you. Honestly, McGee and Abby, it could have waited until a more reasonable hour, whatever it was."
"I know," McGee muttered as he grabbed his bag.
"Come on," Gibbs said. "DiNozzo, drink that coffee. I expect you to have Ziva's back even on a scene. We don't know what we'll run into and she's not running on all cylinders right now."
"What?" Ziva asked with a confused expression that caused a slight wrinkle between her eyebrows and pulled her forehead into scrunches.
"Like a car, Zi," Tony said quietly. "Cars run on cylinders, when they don't have all of them, they aren't as efficient."
"I can be efficient when I'm exhausted, Gibbs," Ziva argued.
"Not saying you can't be, just saying that we need to watch for over-exhaustion when you're already so tired. Remember your body is constantly changing now, and you still have to adjust to that."
"Right," Ziva said grabbing her backpack and picking up her knife to put at her side.
"Only one, Zi?" Tony asked.
"Only one. I'm trying to cut back on the amount of weapons I carry now, before my stomach is so big that I can't hide them as well," she explained. "It's difficult."
He chuckled and her face held a smile, something he was glad to see, since she was so tired. She laughed at her own thoughts, since she was so accustomed to carrying many weapons instead of only two total, one knife and one gun. She wished she had more, but she was going to have to trust Tony to have her back, the way she always trusted Tony with everything. She smiled again and planted a kiss on his cheek as they stepped into the elevator.