I've found my writing bug again! This chapter came so much quicker than chapter 6 and I am so glad! Anyway, the next chapter won't be case-based, I just kind of needed it in the last few chapters because obviously that's what NCIS is about, but either way, i hope you like this chapter, and the last few that have involved the case. Read, enjoy, and tell me what you think!

Seven

Ziva's eyes opened when her phone rang on the bedside table. She looked over at the clock; it was just after midnight. She picked up the phone and looked at the caller ID. She didn't recognize the number, but she hit talk anyway.

"Hello?" She asked, groggy.

"Agent David?"

"Sophie?" Ziva asked. "What happened?" She could hear the other woman crying.

"Owen… he was just here, he almost broke my door down… he wanted cash, but I told him I-I don't have any, so he took my bank card." Sophie told her, her voice shaking.

"Are you hurt?" Ziva asked.

Sophie shook her head. "No, no he just wanted money." She told her.

Ziva nodded. "Where would he go to get it?" She asked.

Sophie thought for a second. "There's a pharmacy up the street, it's open all night. There's an ATM there." She told Ziva.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Ziva asked quickly.

"No, no, I'm fine." Sophie told her.

"Alright. Stay in your apartment, I will come check on you tomorrow, is that alright?" Ziva asked.

"Agent David?" Sophie asked.

"Yes?" Ziva asked.

Sophie sniffled. "Don't hurt him." She said before she hung up.

Ziva dropped her phone back onto the bedside table and sat up, tapping Tony's leg, trying to wake him up. Tony groaned and opened his eyes.

"What?" He asked.

"Call Gibbs." She told him, throwing the comforter off her body.

Tony sat up quickly and reached for his phone. "Why?" He asked as he searched through his contacts for Gibbs.

"Ramsey was just at his sister's apartment, he took her bank card to the pharmacy down the street from her place." Ziva told him as she pulled her clothes on.

She grabbed her badge and gun off of her dresser.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked.

"To pick him up." Ziva told him.

"I'm coming with you." Tony said.

Ziva turned around. "No, you are not." She told him firmly. "You are going to call Gibbs and stay out of the field." She told him.

Even in the dark, she could see Tony's tense posture. She walked over to his side of the bed and cupped his face gently with both hands.

"I will be fine. I will see you soon. I love you." She told him, pressing her lips to his gently. "Call Gibbs, tell him where I am going." She said as she turned and hurried out of the apartment.

XXXXX

Ten minutes later, Ziva parked her car a few doors down from the pharmacy. She opened the door and stepped out into the cool air, pulling her jacket tighter around herself as she walked toward the pharmacy.

She pulled the glass door open and smiled at the man sitting behind the counter. She spotted Ramsey standing second in line at the ATM machine and she walked toward him casually.

She stopped in front of him. "Owen Ramsey?" She asked.

He looked up at her.

She pulled her coat back to reveal the badge clipped to her waist.

Ramsey's eyes widened and he turned on his heel, breaking into a sprint for the door. Ziva turned to follow him, and she was incredibly thankful to see Gibbs standing in front of the exit.

Ramsey turned back toward Ziva, and Gibbs grabbed him. He pulled Ramsey's hands behind his back as Ziva stepped closer to them.

"Owen Ramsey, you're under arrest for the rape and attempted murder of Lieutenant Rose McDonald." Gibbs told him as he pulled his handcuffs out.

Before anyone realized what was happening, Ramsey twisted, and his right hand slipped out of Gibbs' grip. He lunged forward toward Ziva, raising his closed fist to strike her cheek. Ziva let out a yelp when Ramsey's fist connected with her face and Gibbs grabbed his arm and pulled it roughly behind his back once more.

"And now you can add assaulting a federal officer to your list of charges." Gibbs told him as McGee stepped into the store behind him.

Gibbs handed Ramsey off to McGee, who held him just as tightly as Gibbs had as he pushed him toward the car.

Ziva was standing in the middle of the store, her left hand tenderly holding her injured cheek. She was trying her best to hold back tears of shock, more than they were pain.

Gibbs stepped toward her. "Lemme see." He told her gently.

Ziva slowly removed her hand from her already swelling cheek.

Gibbs tilted her head to the side gently so he could see it in the light.

"No broken skin… did you feel anything break?" He asked.

Ziva shook her head no slowly. Moving kind of hurt.

"You alright?" Gibbs asked.

Ziva nodded. "I think so." She told him.

Gibbs nodded. "McGee'll take you home." He told her.

Ziva shook her head. "I am fine Gibbs, really." She said.

Gibbs raised his eyebrow. "McGee will take you home." He repeated.

Ziva sighed as she realized that there was no use in arguing with him.

"What about my car?" Ziva asked.

"Come get it tomorrow." Gibbs told her. He rested his hand on her back gently and led her out of the store.

McGee was standing on the sidewalk with Ramsey bent over the hood of Gibbs' car.

"He tried to run Boss." McGee told him as they approached.

Gibbs nodded and grabbed Ramsey's arm. He pulled him up off the hood of the car and opened the back door and pushed him into the car. He slammed the door shut.

"Take Ziva home." Gibbs told McGee.

McGee nodded. "What about the interrogation?" He asked.

"Tomorrow. He's going to holding tonight." Gibbs said.

McGee nodded. "Alright." He said. He turned to Ziva. "My car is just down there." He told her.

Ziva nodded. "I will see you in the morning." She told Gibbs before turning to follow McGee down the street to his car.

XXXXX

McGee drove much slower than she would have liked. A drive that took her ten minutes took him almost thirty. He parked the car outside of her apartment building and turned it off.

Ziva undid her seatbelt and reached for the door handle as McGee did the same.

"What are you doing?" Ziva asked.

"I'm walking you up to your apartment. I just wanna make sure you get in okay." McGee told her.

Ziva smiled softly. 'The caring brother,' she thought. "Alright." She said as she stepped onto the sidewalk.

She waited for McGee to get out of the car and walk around to her side before she started toward the building.

"Thank you." She said when McGee opened the door for her.

She led him through the small lobby of the apartment building to the elevator and hit the call button. She liked coming in at night, because it almost always meant that she didn't have to wait for the elevator.

They stepped into the elevator and waited for the doors to slide open again on her floor.

"This is me." She told McGee as she stopped in front of the apartment door and pulled out her keys. "Thank you." She said honestly.

McGee smiled. "You're welcome. I'll see you later." He told her before turning to walk back toward the elevator.

Ziva took a deep breath and slid her key into the lock. She pushed the door open and was unsurprised to find the living room light on, and Tony sitting on the couch, cell phone in hand, waiting for her.

Tony looked up at her when she walked in and his jaw dropped. He sprung up off the couch and rushed toward her.

"What happened?" He asked, observing her swollen, already purple cheek.

Ziva shrugged. "He slipped out of the cuffs." She told him simply as she hung her jacket up.

"Are you alright? Should you go get checked out? What if you have a concussion?" Tony asked quickly.

Ziva smiled. "I am fine Tony, I do not have a concussion. It only looks bad because it is on my face." She assured him.

Tony eyed her suspiciously. "At least let me get you a cold pack. It'll help with the swelling." He said.

Ziva nodded. "Alright. I am going to go into the bedroom." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Okay. I'll be right in." He told her.

Ziva nodded and turned toward the bedroom, peeling her clothes off as she went so that when she actually reached the bedroom, she could just crawl into bed and try to relax.

Tony walked into the bedroom a moment later holding the cold pack he had promised wrapped in a towel. He shut off the overhead light, relying on the lamp on his bedside table to see.

He sat down on his side of the bed beside Ziva and held the cold pack out to her.

"Here, you should put it on. I don't want to hurt you." He told her.

Ziva took it gratefully. "Thank you." She said softly.

Tony nodded and laid down, opening his arms for her to crawl closer to him.

Ziva rearranged herself to lay in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder gently as she pressed the cold pack to her sore cheek.

"When is Gibbs gonna interrogate him?" Tony asked.

"Tomorrow. And we will have to take your car to work, by the way." Ziva told him.

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Mine is still at the pharmacy." Ziva said.

"How did you get home? Tell me you didn't walk." Tony said.

Ziva laughed lightly, and grimaced. Laughing hurt. She shook her head.

"McGee brought me. Walked me right to the door of the apartment." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Good." He said, pulling her closer to him. "You were right." He told her.

Ziva looked up at him. "I like hearing that." She joked. "What was I right about?" She asked.

Tony sighed. "Me being on desk duty. I didn't realize what it would be like not being in the field with you." He said.

"What is it like?" Ziva asked.

Tony thought for a moment. "It scares me."

"Why?" Ziva asked.

Tony hesitated. Ziva grabbed the cold pack with her left hand to hold it against her cheek while her right stretched across Tony's chest gently.

"Talk to me." She said softly.

Tony shrugged. "I'm not sure what's going on… I'm not there to protect you… It's not that I don't trust Gibbs and McGee, you know I do it's just…" He trailed off.

"They are not you." Ziva finished for him.

Tony nodded. "Yeah."

Ziva kissed his shoulder and squeezed him tightly. "I promise you, every time I leave you, my first priority is coming back to you. And I will do my absolute best to do exactly that every single time." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I know, I just don't want you to get hurt." He told her, looking pointedly at her cheek.

Ziva ran her hand over his chest slowly. "I have had worse." She reminded him.

Tony's grip on her tightened. Ziva lifted her head to kiss him gently.

"Everything is okay now Tony. We are okay." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I guess."

Ziva laid her head back down on his shoulder and snuggled into him. "We should try and sleep a little. I want to watch Gibbs interrogate Ramsey tomorrow. And we will probably have a stack of paperwork to get through."

Tony pulled the comforter up around them and reached over to turn off the lamp on the bedside table.

"Goodnight. I love you." He told Ziva, kissing her forehead gently.

Ziva smiled against him as much as her injured face would let her without pain.

"I love you too."

XXXXX

Ziva was absolutely right about the paperwork. As soon as they walked into the building, Tony was greeted with a stack of insurance papers, and papers for the leave he had taken.

He groaned and dropped his bag beside his desk. "Great."

Ziva smiled a bit as she watched him. He looked just as displeased with paperwork as he would have two and a half months ago, and Ziva loved it.

She hung her jacket over the back of her chair and turned to greet McGee when he stepped off the elevator.

"Good morning McGee." Ziva said.

McGee walked into the squad room and dropped his things on his desk.

"Gibbs is about to start interrogating Ramsey." McGee told them.

Tony looked up at him. "It isn't even seven thirty." He said.

McGee shrugged. "We were here all night." He told them.

He grabbed his large coffee mug off his desk and headed toward interrogation. Tony and Ziva followed quickly.

They entered the observation room and took their places in front of the two-way glass. Ziva reached for Tony's hand when she noticed that he had tensed up a bit.

Tony jumped when the door to the interrogation room swung open and Gibbs stepped into the room. He sat down on the chair across from Ramsey and put his coffee on the table.

"Sleep okay?" Gibbs asked plainly.

Ramsey stayed silent.

Gibbs nodded. "So, when you got into Lieutenant McDonald's car the other day, were you planning on stabbing her, or was that just," he shrugged. "…luck of the draw?"

Ramsey stayed silent still.

"How about the rape?" Gibbs asked. "Did you plan that too?"

Ramsey looked up at him. "That was consensual." He defended.

Gibbs nodded. "That's not what she says." He told him.

"She's still alive?" Ramsey asked.

Gibbs nodded again. "Yeah, she's still alive. Should make a full recovery too. I'm guessing you didn't mean for that to happen." Gibbs suggested.

Ramsey shook his head. "I was sure she was dead when I-" His eyes went wide and he cut himself off, realizing what he had said.

Tony, Ziva, and McGee exchanged a look behind the glass.

"That was easy." McGee said.

Tony and Ziva nodded in agreement.

"Shortest case ever." Tony said.

"I want a lawyer." Was the next thing to come out of Ramsey's mouth.

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah, you're gonna need a good one."

XXXXX

Ziva stepped out of Tony's car on twelfth street. "I am just going to go up and check on Sophie, and then I will head back to the office." She told Tony.

Tony nodded. "Alright. See you later." He told her.

Ziva turned and walked away from Tony's car. She knocked on Sophie's front door, and Tony drove away after she stepped inside.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Ziva asked Sophie as they stood in her foyer.

Sophie nodded. "Yeah, just a bit shaken up… When Owen got here he was… crazy, almost. He was yelling and demanding money…" She trailed off. "Did he do that to your face?"

Ziva nodded. "Yes, he did." She told Sophie.

Sophie shook her head. "I am so sorry."

Ziva shrugged. "It looks worse than it is."

Sophie nodded. "Can I get you some tea or something?" She asked.

Ziva shook her head no. "I am fine, I just came to check and make sure you were alright." She told her.

Sophie nodded. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

Ziva smiled a bit. "Of course." She said, reaching back for the doorknob. "If you ever need anything, feel free to call me." She told her.

Sophie nodded. "Thank you, Ziva."

Ziva smiled. "It is no problem. I should get going though, paperwork." She said, gesturing to her face.

XXXXX

The team had spent most of the day catching up on paperwork. They were thankful for this, partly because it meant that they would have less paperwork to catch up on tomorrow, but also because if they didn't get called out, it meant nobody needed their help.

Ziva looked up from the statement she had written about Ramsey's arrest and struggle. She was shocked to see that it was already past eight.

She sighed as she read over the statement once more to make sure everything was accurate before she signed it and stood. She walked over to Gibbs' desk and held it out to him.

Gibbs took it from her and set it to the side. "Why don't you three get out of here?" He asked.

His agents eyed him, confused.

"Seriously. I'll call if I need you." He told them.

Gibbs knew this had been a tough case to be Tony's first case back, and he really didn't want to overwhelm him. He cared about Tony like he would his own son. He wanted to make sure he was alright. He also knew that Tony had therapy on Friday, and he did not want Tony to feel embarrassed for asking for the time off.

He wanted Ziva to rest after the knock to the head Ramsey had managed to land on her. He knew she would insist that she was fine, but the right side of her face was purple, and even Ziva couldn't completely mask the pain she felt whenever she spoke.

McGee had been the superhero when Tony and Ziva were off, he did the work of two and a half people for two months, considering Hawkins was almost no help. And he had just spent the last seventy-two hours awake with Gibbs, trying to track down Ramsey. Gibbs knew that McGee was exhausted. He knew his team, and as long as they didn't have a case, he didn't mind giving them a day to rest and recuperate after a tough one.

"Are you sure?" Ziva asked.

Gibbs looked up at her from his spot in his chair. "Yeah, go. Get out of here." He told them.

Tony and McGee shot confused looks toward each other, but nonetheless, reached for their computer's power buttons and their jackets.

Ziva grabbed her own jacket off of the back of her chair slowly. They were all watching Gibbs, almost waiting to feel the sharpness of his hand on the backs of their heads.

They grabbed their bags, still watching Gibbs silently. Gibbs stood suddenly and they prepared to drop their bags.

They were surprised when Gibbs reached for his own jacket.

Gibbs looked around at them. "Well go, or do you want me to change my mind?" He asked quickly.

Tony, Ziva, and McGee shook their heads no.

"Thanks Boss." Tony and McGee said in unison.

McGee hurried out of the squad room, followed by Tony, pulling a still slightly confused and concerned Ziva by the hand.

They stepped into the elevator and the doors slid shut.

"What just happened?" Ziva asked.

Tony shook his head. "Don't ask questions, he said he'll call if he needs us."

Ziva nodded. "Alright."

XXXXX

Tony walked into the bedroom that night to find Ziva curled up against the headboard, journal in her lap once more.

He sat down on his side of the bed, watching her for a moment.

"How come I've never seen you write before? Did you just start?" He asked.

Ziva shook her head no. "I have kept journals since I was a teenager." She told him. "And you have never seen me write because I have never let you, before now."

Tony nodded. "When did you do it? Like have you kept writing since I moved in?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes, I used to do it more, before you were here, but now I mostly do it when you are asleep." She told him.

Tony nodded. "Wow. I never even noticed." He told her honestly.

Ziva smiled. "That was the point." She told him.

Tony laughed lightly. "What do you write about?"

Ziva shrugged. "Everything. Cases, people, situations, nightmares…" She listed.

Tony smirked. "Do you write about me?" He asked.

Ziva nodded. "Yes."

Tony wiggled his eyebrows. "And what does the writer, miss David write about this fine gentleman?" He asked.

Ziva laughed. "Maybe I will let you read it some time." She told him. She surprised herself when she said it, and she was even more surprised when she realized that she meant it. She wanted Tony to know her, and she really didn't have any negative feelings surrounding the thought of Tony reading her journals.

Tony smiled a bit. "I would like that." He told her honestly.

Ziva nodded and looked back down at her page. She finished her sentence off quickly and closed the book. She dropped it into the drawer of her bedside table and settled back into the bed beside Tony.

"I brought you this." Tony told her, holding a cold pack wrapped in a towel out to her for her cheek.

Ziva smiled. "Thank you." She said, pressing the soothing coolness against her face. She laid her head on Tony's shoulder and he turned off the light.

"How's the cheek feel?" Tony asked.

Ziva shrugged. "It does not hurt as much as it did this morning. I think I am just getting used to the pain though." She told her boyfriend.

Tony squeezed her. "Not a good thing, but I guess as long as it isn't as painful…" He trailed off.

Ziva nodded. "I will be fine Tony, it is just a bump." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I know, I just care." He told her.

Ziva lifted her head off his shoulder to kiss his cheek softly. "I know you do. And I love you for it." She told him.

Tony smiled. "I love you too." He told her. "Come on, sleep is calling." He told her, bringing his free hand up to rub at his own eyes.

Ziva nodded. "Goodnight." She said softly.

Tony kissed her forehead. "Goodnight Zi."