The next morning Ziva did not go into work but instead to the hospital to spend time with Eliana helping her get better. Ziva smiled as she untangled herself from Tony's sleeping form and headed for a run again, only this time she came back to Tony's apartment to shower and change.

When Ziva returned, Tony was awake and sipping coffee on the couch, he was surprised but not disappointed to see Ziva walk through the door with her go-bag. Tony offered to make some breakfast whilst Ziva showered, she agreed on the terms that she would not be forced to eat it if the toast was burned, Tony's cooking was not his strong suit.

Tony was pensive as he cooked Ziva's breakfast, wondering whether Ziva was ready to take things between them to the next level, Tony knew he needed to have a proper conversation with her about it, rather than communicating through notes. Tony smiled as Ziva exited the bathroom, her damp curls hanging over her shoulders, Ziva met his eyes and returned the smile.

"Tony! You have not burnt the toast, congratulations!" Tony chuckled and handed Ziva a plate of toast with peanut butter, no crusts, just the way she liked it.

"Hey, Zi, I was wondering if tomorrow you would like to go out for dinner with me? Perhaps a second date?" Tony proposed the idea timidly, not wanting to rush things. Ziva stopped eating her toast and quickly agreed before sipping her tea in a failed attempt to keep her grin hidden from Tony, he knew Ziva was still having trouble showing her emotions, it was endearing that something so simple had made Ziva so happy.

After breakfast, Tony dropped Ziva back to her apartment before he headed to work and Ziva headed to the hospital to spend the day with Eliana.

When Ziva arrived at the hospital she stood outside and texted Tony to tell him that she had arrived in one piece. She could hear quiet noises coming from inside the room, she looked through the blind and saw Eliana lying with her eyes shut with her mouth open.

"Has she been making the noises for long?" Asked Ziva to the NCIS agents on protection detail.

"For the last thirty minutes Agent David." Replied Agent Jenkins with a nod of his head.

Ziva then headed into the room, as soon as the door opened Eliana froze and became silent. "Were you practising speaking?" Asked Ziva with a smile. Eliana slowly nodded her head and signed that she was sorry. Ziva shook her head and reassured Eliana saying that she was really proud of her for trying and that it sounded as though it was successful. With that Eliana looked up, a small smile graced her features, she had made her sister proud.

"Can I hear what you have been practising please?" Asked Ziva, Lia looked uncomfortable for a moment before shutting her eyes and repeating the "ah" sound over and over, it was quiet but audible. Ziva smiled and rubbed Eliana's arm in encouragement, she was beyond excited about the step Eliana had just made.

"You will have to show that to Sarah later, what time is she coming round to see you?" Asked Ziva. Eliana shrugged her shoulders when a nurse walked in.

"Hello, I'm Emily, I have been transferred to your team Eliana, instead of Dani I think. It's nice to meet you!" The nurse was young, with a bright smile. Ziva introduced herself and Eliana, then asked if she knew what time Lia's therapy would be today.

"I believe that physio will be around any moment and that Dr Moore will be reviewing Eliana at 10, OT at 11, then lunch. I heard that you went on a walk yesterday Eliana, we are hoping that if you are well enough you can go on another walk today. At 2 the psychiatrist will be round and then after that Sarah for speech and language followed by round two of physiotherapy." Explained Emily, Lia grinned at the idea of another walk.

Emily then began to take her patients observations whilst Ziva continued trying to teach Eliana some more English, she couldn't believe how quickly Eliana had read and memorised the book. After talking about languages it transpired that Eliana spoke Russian, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin fluently.

A knock at the door revealed that it was time for Eliana's morning physio, she tensed when Leo, the physiotherapist removed the blanket covering her.

"I know you don't like the cold Eliana but it will only be for 20 minutes whilst we stretch." Explained the man. He proceeded to stretch, move and massage Eliana's lower limbs. He commented out loud that this was important to reduce the risk of spasms, contractures and loss of muscle mass.

Leo then gave Eliana two small balls to hold and she repetitively squeezed and relaxed her hands grasping the ball. Next was a resistance band, Leo demo started the exercises and Eliana copied them, Ziva looked on in amazement at the young girl.

"Dosen't that hurt?" Asked Ziva, to both Lia and Leo. Lia looked towards Leo for guidance, she wasn't sure if it was okay to admit it did hurt. Luckily Leo answered explaining that whilst some pain should be felt, it would be minimal. Ziva nodded, knowing she would not be engaging in the therapy as readily as Eliana was, her younger sister was a much more compliant patient.

Once physio was finished Eliana attempted to pull the cover back over her, Ziva went to help but Leo shook his head explaining it was good for Eliana to do things on her own. Ziva decided she liked Leo, he was gentle but equally assertive and the best bit he seemed focused on Eliana getting out of the hospital and being independent.

Shortly after the physio left, Dr Moore came in, Ziva stood and motioned to speak with her outside. Ziva explained that the team were going to take time off to ensure that Eliana recovered as fast as possible and could go home sooner. Dr Moore agreed that for a person with autism a hospital was not a good environment to be in. The doctor also assured Ziva that much of the rehabilitation and therapy could be done on a day patient or outpatient basis and it was only whilst Eliana recovered from her surgeries and was unstable that she needed to be in the hospital all of the time, the two then entered Eliana's room.

"Eliana, I have just spoken with your sister, I am really pleased with how you are getting on and from today the occupational therapist will begin working with you to help you cope when you are no longer in the hospital." Explained Dr Moore, Eliana was nervous at the mention of leaving the hospital, did that mean she would have to go back to Israel or maybe even Russia?

"My primary concern for you at the moment are the seizures you keep having, they seem to be triggered by emotional upset so I have asked our psychiatrist to help you with some coping strategies later today. I hope that we will have you as a day patient within the next six weeks." Eliana's only response to this was signing out in the same way as she had yesterday.

Ziva chuckled and explained to Eliana in Hebrew what Dr Moore meant and everyone was pleased with the not so subtle grin plastered on Eliana's face. She signed "faster" and Dr Moore, knowing a little ASL smiled explaining that if Eliana worked hard with the physios, OTs, psychiatrist and SLTs then she could potentially go home sooner.

Dr Moore then left the room and headed to her next patient. Ziva and Eliana were equally excited about the positivity that had been delivered. Ziva stepped out into the hall and phoned the team to let them know the good news.

The rest of the day was a blur, the hospital certainly kept Eliana busy.

The occupational therapists helped Eliana make a chart that would enable her to remember to check her blood sugar levels, take medications and do her physio exercises. Eliana was eager to begin crossing off her morning physio, medication and blood sugar level checks.

After lunch and a walk outside, the psychiatrist came. Her and Eliana worked with pictures that portrayed how Eliana felt before a meltdown or seizure. They also worked on a card system that would allow Eliana to let everyone know how she was feeling. The colours went from blue to green, to yellow, to orange and finally to red. Eliana was to have a card attached to the chart at the end of her bed at all times to let everyone know how she was.

Eliana's penultimate engagement for the day was speech and language therapy, she couldn't wait to show Sarah what she had practised. Unfortunately, when Sarah was in the room, Eliana just could not get any sounds out. Instead, Sarah showed Ziva how she could work with Eliana to improve her speech, Eliana was showing signs of selective mutism and until a relationship had been developed between the therapist and client it was unlikely that Eliana would be able to speak.

Finally, it was physio again, they were still trying to increase her arm strength so that Eliana could learn to sit up and move around. Ziva could see how tired Eliana was, there were tiny beads of sweat forming on her brow.

The evening and afternoon were spent with Ziva attempting to wash, dry, brush and style Eliana's hair, it turned out to be as much of a challenge as Ziva's. Eliana fell asleep for the night whilst Ziva braided her hair much as she used to do with Tali. The NCIS agent kissed her sister's forehead and whispered goodnight before heading home.