Tony stopped in his hurried tracks as Abraham's grip closed around his left forearm. "I know. No running in the halls."

"Indeed." Abraham looked up and down the hall, his gaze settling on the closed door of an unlit room before returning to Tony. "Perhaps we could take a few minutes? We have not yet had a chance for a private word."

Tony didn't even bother trying to tug his arm from the older man's grasp. "Shouldn't we check on Ziva first?"

"You know as well as I that once you're there, you won't leave. And the surgeon did say that she hasn't even been moved to the ICU yet. I believe we have time."

"This is the part where you threaten me, huh?"

"No." Abraham opened the door, clicked on the light and beckoned Tony in behind him. When the door was firmly closed, he continued, "Perhaps just a bit."

"She does that same thing."

"What thing?"

Tony smiled as he pulled a chair from across the room to join Abraham, now seated at a small table. "Denying something and acting all affronted before admitting it. Depending on what we're talking about she does this little shrug and kinda squinches her eyebrows together. It's very…" He trailed off, taking solace in the fact that he was in a hospital at least. The look he was getting from Abraham was highly disconcerting. "Yeah, you don't want to hear about that. I'd say do your worst, but then you actually might."

He sat quietly in the chair across from Tony, surveying him. "Let me begin by saying I do not want you to think I disapprove of this marriage. I have given you my blessing and I meant it sincerely. I know that Ziva loves you and that you love her."

"I…"

"Do not speak. I will not insult your intelligence by lying about the measures I have taken regarding you. Moussad had some information on you, collected when Ari…let us avoid that topic." Abraham took a moment to collect himself while Tony pulled his shaking hand off the table, abruptly reminded that Ziva had yet to speak to her father about the secret Dmitri had been willing to sell to Hamas.

And I thought I was getting the rough conversation, Tony mused, before returning his attention to Abraham.

"I did not realize how serious your involvement with Ziva was until we met. Since that time, I admit that you have been under careful surveillance and your file has been expanded." He crossed his hands on the table in front of him. "Your romantic history is extensive. Under other circumstances, I'm certain I would be impressed. I know that you and I have already had several conversations in which you admitted as much and assured me that your past exploits were truly in the past. While I have no reason to doubt that, I want you to know that, should you return to your old ways, I will find out." His hands spread across the table's surface as he pressed his palms flat and leaned forward. "And I will not react benevolently."

Tony held his ground. "I'm not going to cheat on her."

"I believe I asked you not to speak." Abraham spoke with none of the casual familiarity Tony was used to in their interaction. "My chief concern in this matter is Ziva's happiness, which I fear I have little experience preserving. You are happy together now, but things can change."

He opened his mouth to argue, but Abraham's glare checked him more effectively than any head slap.

"I realize that all relationships go through rough times and that sometimes even the best ones do not result in good marriages. If you find that you and Ziva are not as well suited as you believe yourselves to be, I do not want you to be afraid to end the relationship, as long as you do it honestly and respectfully."

After waiting in silence for a few moments, Tony asked warily, "Can I say something now?"

"Yes, but be sure that it isn't just a speech about how you love Ziva and would never do anything to hurt her or how you have every confidence that you'll be together for the rest of your lives."

"Oh." He probably would have descended into such reassurances. Even though he genuinely believed them, they would sound trite if he said them out loud. He stared at the table, trying to figure out what Abraham was up to. It wasn't about obtaining information – he had that in spades and could get more with a phone call or memo or note wrapped around a brick thrown through a window. Tony decided to try the direct approach. "What exactly are you trying to do here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said it yourself – we've been over this stuff and you don't have a problem with me marrying Ziva. What are you really trying to do?"

Abraham smiled. "You are more clever than you appear. I had forgotten I read that in one of the reports."

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Honestly? I am seeking personal reassurance. I have failed Ziva at many turns and, although I am already certain that this is not something any of us will regret, I like having it confirmed. Intelligence work does it to a man. Perhaps you would indulge me one last time?"

Tony felt himself relax. "Yeah, okay."

"I know you are eager to see Ziva, so we'll do this quickly. Yes or no answers will suffice. You love Ziva?"

"Yes."

"You want to marry her?"

"Yes."

"Grow old with her?"

"Yes."

"Have children with her?"

"Yes." Tony didn't realize what he'd said until his stomach landed somewhere on the floor beneath him. "Wait…"

"Unnecessary. I've learned what I wanted to know." Abraham's grin said enough.

"We just had a whole conversation about your fake problems with me so you could trick me into saying I want kids?"

"I didn't trick you. I put you on edge then allowed you to relax, eliminating the trouble of thinking before you answered the question. And now we both know what you really want. If I had asked you point blank in the hall, you would have hee-ed and hawed and refused to give me a straight answer."

"Hemmed and hawed," Tony replied absently. "Donkeys hee-haw."

"Eh, it is not important."

Tony stood and began pacing to escape Abraham's triumphant smile. "Just because I said yes doesn't mean…you set me up to say yes without thinking after the first few questions."

"So? You still answered yes. Now you have to think about it."

"No I don't. I'm not father material."

"Six months ago would you have considered yourself ready for marriage?"

He froze. After what felt like an eternity of blank, thoughtless avoidance, he muttered, "We should go see if they moved her yet."

Abraham nodded and they exited the room. A few steps down the hall, he seized Tony's arm once again. "There is one more thing. No matter what she says, you are to keep your hands off her until a doctor gives her the go-ahead. She was completely exhausted for three days after you left Tel Aviv."

Already jittery from unwelcome and deeply confusing thoughts about fatherhood, Tony was totally unprepared for the segue into a second topic he didn't want Abraham anywhere near. "No, I…but we…"

"Do not share details," Abraham warned gruffly. "She told me she insisted, but, should history repeat, I am telling you right now that you are to win that battle of wills. You have plenty of time between now and the wedding to think about what we discussed."

Ziva blinked a few times as her head began to clear. A nurse suddenly appeared on her right. Ziva blinked hard, but the image didn't change. She asked tentatively, "Lt. Kim?"

Lt. Pam Kim smiled, pulling the blue wrap off her head. "So you do remember me. How do you feel, Agent David?"

"Um…" Ziva searched for the right description, glad that there was currently no pain to distract from the dissipating fog in her head. She guessed, "Drugged?"

"Any pain?"

"Not at the moment."

"Once you're totally out of the anesthesia we'll get you on IV painkillers. ICU will take care of that."

Ziva watched Kim make silent notes on a chart, wondering if there was some way to warn Tony about his vengeful former paramour's presence. She concentrated, pulling up her mental file on the woman: surgical nurse. She worked in the operating room. She might not even see Tony. "So when am I going to ICU?"

Kim looked up from the chart, but didn't make eye contact, glancing at a digital readout instead. "We'll take you there in a few minutes."

"We?" Ziva looked around the room worriedly. She was more out of it than she'd thought if she had missed an entire human being in the room.

"Hey, relax. The transport guy is probably out at the desk. No one will be busting through the door." Kim gave her a significant look.

"Yes, sorry. I should have apologized for that." She shifted in the bed, a sharp pain in her leg telling her that the anesthesia was well on its way to being gone. "You'll have to forgive me if it wasn't the first thing on my mind at the moment."

Kim had the decency to look guilty. "I didn't mean it like that. Thank you, though. Scott and I have been doing well, so it's not like I have anything to complain about."

"Yeah," Ziva replied through gritted teeth. If she wasn't getting more painkillers until she got to ICU, she hoped she was getting there very, very soon.

"Agent David, your heart rate and blood pressure are rising. Are you in pain now?"

Ziva grunted.

"Okay, I'll just give you something," she paused as she injected something into the IV line that provided near-instant relief, "and we'll get you down to ICU. I think the surgeon said your father and fiancé are here, along with your whole NCIS team." She beckoned to someone through the window before carefully readying Ziva to be moved. "Sorry to make this about me again, but does that mean Tony DiNozzo is here? I know you used to work with him…"

"Still do."

"Right. Well, I'll just let Rick bring you down then. There's a family only policy in ICU, but Agent Gibbs didn't strike me as the type to pay that much attention to policy."

Ziva nodded. "Thank you."

The trip to ICU was short, mainly due to the breakneck speed at which Rick thought it proper to push the gurney. Ziva mused that this was probably what everyone was talking about when they belittled her driving. Other than some jarring to her injuries, she still couldn't see what the problem was.

He barreled around a corner and nearly collided with two men standing in the hall. The one whose arm had shot out to catch the end of the gurney shouted, "Hey, watch where you're…Ziva!" Tony's lips were pressed against hers for only milliseconds before he pulled away. "How are you?"

"I'll be better if we keep going. She promised me more drugs in ICU."

He walked alongside her as they continued down the hall. "Who?"

She gave her father, walking on her other side, a smile before turning back to Tony. "Lt. Pam Kim."

Ziva's longing for more painkillers was suddenly replaced by a burning desire for a camera. Tony looked almost as terrified as he had when her father had asked about grandchildren.