After an excruciatingly long and silent flight they finally landed in Tel Aviv. Throughout the entire flight Tony hadn't said another word, he had just sat slumped in his chair

staring into space. Their "friendly" escorts stood up and indicated for them to do the same as the doors slid open, revealing an almost empty airfield. The biggest man

grinned strangely awkwardly at them, "Welcome to Tel Aviv" he said in a strange tone, he stretched his arm out, inviting them to get off. Gibbs stared at him

questioningly, he was looking for a hidden meaning in every little thing-what did he mean by that? Does he know what is going on? Maybe he didn't know anything, he

probably had just been told to pick them up and take them here without any details. Eli was most likely keeping his cards close to his chest but that didn't stop Gibbs

being suspicious. He and Tony stepped out the plane, wincing when the oppressive afternoon heat hit them, beating down on them as they descended onto the tarmac.

A black unmarked car was parked a few meters away and the passenger car door sprung opened and another man emerged wearing sunglasses and a dark suite, he

beckoned them towards him. "You are the NCIS?" Gibbs nodded once, "Come with me." the man said, opening the backseat door for them.

Another silent journey passed, this time in the heavily air-conditioned town car, Tony sat leaning his head against the window watching as the dry scrubby countryside

slid into Tel Aviv. His stomach was knotted as he prepared himself for seeing Ziva again, he had longed for this day for months, ever since they had left her on the

runway bur now he was dreading it, he didn't want to see her hurt and broken. He swallowed nervously as the car finally swung round into the car park of the hospital

and slowed to a stop. They all clambered out of the car, "Let us go, it is this way." they followed the man through endless corridors into the heart of the building. Finally

they turned around a corner and saw Eli at the end of the corridor, arms folded waiting for them.

"Gibbs, Agent DiNozzo, welcome . . ."

"Where is she?" Tony demanded, cutting him off, Eli looked at him in the eyes, he too had deep, dark bags around his own.

"This way," He replied simply, he spun round and led them through another door, past two fierce some looking men into an empty corridor, he stopped abruptly outside

a room and stared through the window into it, "Here she is." Tony and Gibbs gasped-the tiny room was full of various machines with pipes snaking over a tiny figure in

the bed. Tony grabbed the door handle and shoved it open, bursting through it,

"Ziva!" he exclaimed, striding towards the bed before stopping suddenly, seeing her clearly now. He stood frozen to the spot while the room spun around him-she

looked awful. Her beautiful, wild hair had been shorn right off revealing nasty looking gashes across the side of her head, the cuts were not restricted to her head but

were scattered across the parts of her body he could see and her left arm was broken and encased in a thick cast which lay at her side. Her face was a mess, her eyes

were both swollen and shut, black bruises surrounding them while her sallow cheeks were patterned with deep cuts and abrasions as well. Her nose was broken and

taped up and her lips were badly burst. These injuries carried on down her neck which had dark pink rings around it from where someone had evidently been strangling

her as well as deep purple bite marks which trailed down to her chest. On top of this there were numerous bruises which bloomed from burning scarlet centres into dark

violet edges across her skin which had gone from being a perfect and gorgeous olive to sallow and pale following months of captivity. Tony gulped and felt his chest

constricting as he took in her abused body, it was so much worse than he had imagined; even in the most warped images he had conjured up during the flight could not

compete with the sight he had been met with. He stumbled towards the bed and sank into a chair next to it, grabbing her hand. He winced again when he looked at it,

her fingernails had been pulled leaving tiny stubs growing in inflamed nail beds. "Oh God Ziva," he whispered wrapping her hand in his. More than anything he wanted

to wrap her up in his arms, hold her tight, take her home, make everything right again. But he knew that even touching her would probably cause her pain considering

all her horrific injuries so he made do with clutching her hand, trying with all his might not to break down n front of Gibbs and Director David no matter how much seeing

Ziva like this was destroying him inside.

Gibbs watched Tony's reaction before he himself entered the room, he sighed when he saw her running through the possible ways she could have received all her

injuries, shuddering at the images which flashed before his eyes. He walked towards her, going round to the opposite side of the bed from Tony where an oxygen tank

was sitting. He paused,

"Sometimes, when she gets agitated she finds it hard to breathe." Eli explained as Gibbs pushed it aside allowing him to get right up next to her head. He reached out

tentatively to brush aside a few spiky strands of her hair which had escaped the scissors from her ears and closed his eyes for a minute, taking in a deep breath.

"Gibbs, you and I must talk, I think perhaps it is best if DiNozzo stays here with Ziva, in case she wakes up." Gibbs nodded and sighed. He bent down and kissed her

forehead before moving his face right down to her ear,

"Ziva," He glanced across at Tony making sure he was still staring down at her hand, lost in thought, "I'm sorry." he whispered, again casting his eyes across her bed to

Tony, just to make sure he hadn't heard him commit the cardinal sin of breaking one of his own rules before he spun around and went out into the corridor, leaving Tony

alone with Ziva.

A few moments past until Tony began running his fingers down her forearm. She had lost so much weight, she was a frail skeleton with a delicate layer of almost

translucent skin stretched across its bones. His fingers seemed enormous compared to her ting arm as he gently dragged them down, err skin dimpled under their

pressure as he avoided the damaged areas which were scattered across it. He was lifting her arm up slightly so that he could wrap his fingers around it to see how

skinny she had become when he felt her shift slightly. Moaning softly. He grabbed her hand again, squeezing it slightly, "Ziva!" her eyes opened slightly revealing her

deep brown eyes, "Ziva," he repeated, biting his lip nervous and excited at the same time. He pressed his face against her palm as, despite his best efforts, some hot

tears forced their way out and ran down his cheeks. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Ziva," he whimpered quietly, "I'm sorry, sorry," He felt her hand wriggle slightly so he

dropped his hands, she couldn't even bear to have him touch her he thought miserably and stared at her bed. "I'm sorry," he whispered again, he expected her to

snatch her hand away from his face but instead he felt her fingers slide down his cheeks, following the path of a tear before reaching his lips where they paused slightly

before gently running across them.

"Tony?" her voice was thin and quavering, he snapped his head back up, reaching for her hand again,

"Yeah, yeah it's me." he whispered back, smiling at her widely. Her eyes were barely open, the swelling forcing them to remain like tiny slits of mahogany which were

beginning to glisten as small tears dripped out the corners and her breaths became quicker and shallower, "Ziva, Ziva don't, please it's ok now." he whispered

comfortingly but her breaths became more and more irregular and he could feel her fingers digging into his face, "Sshh It's ok, it's ok" he stroked her arm soothingly but

it was having no effect as she started gasping. He saw the oxygen tank and stood up, leaning across her to e=reach the mask and pull it down to her face, gently

slipping the band around her head. After a few seconds she calmed down slightly, her breathing returning to normal. He sat back down, her hand was clasping his shirt

collar so he gently stroked down her arm again until her eyes slid shut and she fell back to sleep. He sighed and twisted round, pressing a kiss against her wrist before

bending down and laying his head on her mattress, nuzzling his face against her hip gently. He felt her grip loosen and her hand slide slowly across him until her arm

was draped along his neck. Sighing he slid his own arm across her, reaching up until his thumb could softly stroke her arm just above her plaster. He felt exhaustion

sneak over him as he lay there, finally being with her allowed him to shrug of the stress of not knowing which had dogged him since they had been parted and for the

first time in months he slid easily into sleep.