Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from NCIS.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who's been reviewing the story over the past few days! Here's the next instalment, please read and review!!
Chapter 20
Three days later
Tony slowly opened his eyes, his vision blurring as he tried to move his head to gather his bearings. His mouth felt dry and his throat was sore, and his left arm felt heavy.
He blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision. It was then he realised he was in hospital again. He could see whiteness everywhere, from the curtains on the windows to the crisp bed sheets that lay over him.
Suddenly, he remembered what had had happened. It was in fragments, pieces of a memory he had longed to bury, but at the same time wanted to know what lay hidden.
Kate. The documents. The numbers. The so-called car accident. Grace. Ebony, Rachel and young Max.
Tony sighed slowly, letting his head drop into one of the crisp pillows piled around him. He raised a hand to rub the grit out of his eyes, then waited a few seconds for his eyesight to clear again.
Turning his head to the side he saw a figure sitting awkwardly in a hard hospital chair. She was wearing little if any makeup and her dark hair was messy and sticking to the side of her face.
Ziva, he thought. He had to smile – she looked actually peaceful for once, her head was turned to the side and resting on the chair, her knees tucked up to her chest and her socked feet were crossed and resting on the edge of a small coffee table. Magazines were tossed to the side and many had fallen crumpled, obviously where she'd started reading them and for whatever reason discarded them onto the floor.
Her clothes looked like she'd been wearing them for a while, as they were crumpled and stained, and Tony could see a faint red stain on the sleeve of her shirt.
He was watching her sleeping peacefully for a while when her breathing pattern changed slightly and one eye opened slightly. She seemed to scan the room, observing and taking in the surroundings before she came to rest on Tony.
Both dark eyes opened and she raised an eyebrow slightly, giving her an amused expression as she returned his gaze. Her gaze then fell to the doorway as she got up out of her chair, and wordlessly rounded the corner. He heard her call something to a doctor or nurse in the corridor.
A young doctor entered, stopping in the doorway for a second before his face lit up, "Agent DiNozzo, you're back in the land of the living, I see."
Tony frowned slightly before the doctor continued, "You gave us quite a scare there, we weren't sure if you were going to come out of that coma."
"Coma?" Tony asked as the doctor checked him over, shining a small light in his eyes and checking his heartbeat with a stethoscope that had been hanging around his neck. He didn't answer immediately, instead checking the screen of the monitor.
The doctor looked at Ziva, who was now standing next to Tony's bed, before giving Tony a questioning look. He then looked back at Ziva, "Are you two together, Miss…?" he asked.
"Officer David," Ziva replied, "We - "
"- We work together," Tony said, cutting her off.
Ziva flashed Tony a look, and was about to shoot him a retort when she stopped herself.
The doctor continued, "Ah, well we only allow family members in the room outside of visiting hours."
"Its fine, Doctor. I want her to stay."
The Doctor sighed, before finally answering Tony's query. "You've been in a comatose state for the past two days, Agent DiNozzo. During that time you've also had surgery on that arm of yours. The surgeon managed to remove the bullet and repair the damage it caused, but you did lose a lot of blood. You were in a coma the whole time, but your stats were fairly stable, so it was just a matter of waiting to see if your condition improved enough for you to wake from the coma."
The young Doctor continued some more, going into detail about the coma and the surgery, and any other injuries Tony had sustained. He filled in the chart and left the room for a few seconds to consult with other doctors.
Once he had left the room Tony turned his attention back to Ziva, who had sat back down in the chair.
Ziva lent forward, reaching up to run a hand through her dark messy hair. The action only seemed to make it seem more untamed and messy, yet Ziva didn't seem to care or notice.
"Feeling better?" she asked him. Tony hesitated before answering, almost unnerved by the concern in her voice.
He nodded, "I think so. But I have a few questions."
She spoke slowly, almost hesitantly. "You want to know how you got here. And what happened."
"Yeah," he replied.
"And you want to know what happened at Kate's old apartment. And about Rachel Miller."
He frowned slightly, but she obviously caught the look. "And you want to know about Grace."
Tony didn't answer; instead his eyes just met hers. He wanted to ask all those questions and more, but something was stopping him. The look in Ziva's dark brown eyes was worry, and it made him feel uneasy. "It's Grace isn't it? Grace Rothman, did something happen to her?"
Ziva shook her head, the look of worry dissipating slightly, "No, she's alright. She's here in the hospital in fact – in the children's ward. She's not hurt… not physically anyway."
"Meaning?"
Ziva continued, leaning forward in the chair some more, "Meaning… she's under observation. That's all I could get from the doctors."
A small smile spread across his face, more relief than anything else. Then another thought hit him – if Grace was alright, then why was Ziva looking so worried?
"Ziva," he began, "Tell me what happened. Everything."
She sat back in the chair, just watching him with that stare that unnerved him slightly.
"Alright," she said simply, before beginning.
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Tony lay back in his hospital bed, trying to take in everything Ziva had told him. She sat watching him for a reaction, and he knew she was worried that he wouldn't be able to handle the whole story. Or at least, as much as she knew.
He turned to look at her, "Grace's father is dead?"
Ziva nodded, "Yes. And Rachel Miller - "
He interrupted her, "Rachel killed him?" he asked, repeating much of what Ziva had already told him.
"You're sure?" As he asked the question he knew it was rhetorical, as Ziva wouldn't have slammed him with that news without sufficient proof.
"And Grace Rothman was there?" he asked her slowly, not sure he wanted to know the answer. Was she there when her father died? Did she see him die?
Ziva paused, then told him that the investigation was a matter for the local homicide department – not for NCIS. They could get information, but of course some things would be kept from NCIS as it wasn't in their jurisdiction.
That, and the fact that Grace wasn't talking. At all.
Local PD had interrogated Rachel Miller, but each time they talked to her story changed ever so slightly. It might not sound like much, but it was enough to make the detectives wonder what it was that Rachel wasn't telling them.
Ziva also told him that Rachel was being held at the police station as she didn't have a lawyer. Apparently they had enough to charge her – a confession and witnesses that saw her entering the scene - but the police wanted more evidence as at this stage it was likely that if trialled, she would get off because of her past with Rothman and the trauma she had suffered with him as the main suspect for her daughter's murder.
Rothman's body had been autopsied by local PD, and the only thing found in his system was dosages of heroin – Shane Rothman's drug of choice. But so far, nothing suspicious had come up.
Ziva watched Tony as the information sunk in.
He took a deep breath before looking straight at her, "What about you, Ziva? Are you alright?"
Ziva lent forward in the chair, momentarily caught off balance with that question. She'd expected more questions about the case, or non-case. Whatever.
She gave him a smile, "I'm fine. I've been checked over, nothing serious." Her voice sounded crackly for a second, and Tony could have sworn he saw Ziva's eyes fill with tears for a second. He was about to ask her what was wrong when she stood up slowly, one hand clutching her side.
"Ziva? You okay?" he sat bolt upright, his face full of concern.
Ziva shot him a look, "Of course I'm fine. I just bruised a rib – I've had worse." He flashed him a small smile, trying to reassure him.
He wasn't convinced that's all it was, but the look on Ziva's face warned him not to push it any further.
The smile left her face for a second, yet she didn't seem to be in pain anymore. That, or she was damn good at hiding it.
"You should get some rest. The Doctor said I shouldn't be in here too long," she said, picking up her backpack before turning to exit.
She was gone before Tony had a chance to protest.
Or ask any more questions.
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