"When will she be awake?" A feminine voice shattered through the deafening silence that had incased her. Something let go of her hand, or at least what she assumed was her hand. She hardly could tell what was what with the headache she had.

"Abby, He doesn't know. Why don't we go down to the cafeteria and get all of us some food."

"Yuck! Cafeteria food? No Timmy lets go, we are going to get Chinese" She smiled inwardly at her exuberant gothic friend.

"Thanks Abby, Thanks Tim" A hoarse voice that hadn't spoken before had entered the conversation. Her heart dropped when she realized whom the voice belonged to.

"Yeah no problem Tony," Mcgee said and she heard them leave the room.

She tried to speak, but no sound came out. She heard the chair screeched as it moved closer to the bed and his warm hands cover her own, which had turned out to be freezing.
"Zi, c'mon you got to wake up, it's been a week, and I miss you." She slowly opened her eyes, and although still squinting, saw his green eyes, damp and puffy.

"I love you" he whispered the last part.

"To-" She started and he heard her, "Ziva?"

"Tony" She said a little louder this time. She fully opened her eyes and he smiled, pulling her in to a tight embrace

"Don't ever do that to me again" His voice cracked and she saw his eyes start to water once more,

"Tony, do not cry there is no reason to." His mouth opened in shock.

"Zi, There is every reason too. I can't bear to loose you, not again. I... when... They said the Damocles went down and you were on it, I thought you were dead; my life had literally lost all purpose. Everything anybody said went straight through one ear and out the other. Then when I saw you alive I got my second chance. I somehow knew we were going to get out." He paused to take a breath and her own eyes started to water.

"Then when… Ziva, I saw you lying there in the ambulance, you had lost a lot of blood and you wouldn't wake up. I was so scared Zi, scared that I had lost you for sure this time. And I have been that scared until you woke up five minutes ago." She had to put her hand to his cheek to stop him from continuing.

"Tony, stop. I am fine and unless it is by force I will never leave" He nodded, cupping her face carefully so as not to hit her stitches and kissed her.

"Zi, I have to call the nurses to tell them that you're up" He said gently as he pulled away and she nodded

"Yes go ahead, but Tony? Call Abby and Mcgee and get them to get me some Chinese too, the usual please."

He laughed and nodded before pressing the button and leaving the room to call their close friends and boss.

He came back less than two minutes later and sat in the chair next to the bed grasping her hand once more as the nurses worked on cleaning her wounds.

"What happened to everyone else?" She asked hesitantly, Tony sighed having been dreading this moment.

"Well, Jacob Barker from Human Resources, the one who was always hitting on Mcgee? He… umm… He was killed. Ducky had a heart attack but he is okay, at home resting now and a few FBI agents were blown up when we went after Dearing-" She cut him off.

"Wait so you mean we got him?" Tony nodded

"Yeah, Uh… I may have sort of been the one too kill him…" He looked at his hands

"It was the only time I wasn't here. Gibbs knew that I would want to be there when we got the bastard. And honestly I'm glad I did"

She looked at the small cot next to her. The sheets and blanket were messed up and it was moved as close to the bed as it could.

"You stayed here the whole time." Ziva stated smiling "That explains why you smell so bad, go shower Tony, then when you are nice and clean we have stuff to talk about." But he was hesitant to leave

"But…"

"But nothing go Tony, you stink, and I rather not be known as the woman with the pungent smelling boyfriend." He nodded getting up and kissing her forehead before leaving.

"Y'know he hasn't even slept" A nurse said startling her.

"He's tried but he hasn't had a wink. He has been watching over you all week" Ziva smiled before turning her attention back to the middle-aged nurse.

"You really must be something special, how long have you two been dating?" She asked and Ziva shrugged not knowing what to say.

"Since this happened" she said smiling motioning to her head.

"I have pretty much been asleep since we started" The nurse smiled before turning to leave but before she left she spoke once more.

"Keep hold of him, men like that are impossible to find" She smiled knowing it was true.

She drifted off asleep; awaking a little while later as the smell of sweet'n'sour pork and chicken chow-mien hit her nose.

"Mmm" She opened her eyes blinking a few times before looking around the room. Tony was sitting next to her holding her hand and eating with the other. Gibbs was next to him, Mcgee was sitting on the cot Abby's head resting in his lap, and Ducky was on a chair next to Gibbs.

"Hey Ziver, how you feeling?" Gibbs asked. She smiled looking at Tony who had a grin on his mouth, which was full of ginger chicken.

"I feel great actually" she said and Tony stood up throwing the paper plate in the garbage. He came back and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Tony!" She gasped and everyone in the room smiled.

"He knows sweet cheeks" Gibbs looked at the couples "Yeah I overheard you two in the elevator, you just better keep it out of the office, same goes for you Abby and Mcgee"

He was frowning but his eyes gave way that he was happy. They talked for and hour or so, catching Ziva up on everything that had happened in the past week.

"Well Ziva darling, we best be off, I am glad you are all right," Ducky said as he stood up and him and Gibbs started out of the room "Night Ziver, Abs, Boys" As soon as Gibbs left with Ducky, Abby spoke up.

"I knew this was going to happen I just knew it!" Abby shrieked, "Why the hell did it take so long Tony?" He shrugged.

"I ask myself that everyday, even before we started dating" He looked at her with the most sincere eyes and her smile grew.

"And what is your excuse Abby, you and Mcgee have been putting off getting back together for years now. You both knew how you felt, so what was stopping you?" She jokingly snapped back.

"Touché" she said laughing "I am glad you are alright though Ziva, both of us are" Abby finished squeezing Tim's hand and he kissed her cheek.

"I'm sorry but you're going to have to leave, visiting hours are over" A new nurse came in asking Mcgee, Abby and Tony to leave. Mcgee and Abby bid their goodbyes before walking out.

"Sir, you too" She said, and Ziva shook her head "You will have me leaving this hospital as well if he leaves… just mentioning"

"Saying Ziva not mentioning" The nurse just sighed.

"Okay you can sleep on the cot then" She left the room in a huff and Tony started to settle into the bed.

"Where are you going?" Ziva asked and Tony pointed to the bed on the floor.

"No I do not think so Tony, get over here" He smiled before crawling in next to her on the small hospital bed. She pulled him close and not breaking eye contact kissed him full on the lips, it was heated, releasing some of the sexual tension that had built up since they "pretended" to have sex the first year she joined the team. They both moved away gasping for air.

"Goodnight Tony, I love you" he smiled before draping his arms around her waist and pulling her close her head coming to nuzzle in the crook of his neck.

"Love you too Zi, so, so much" He yawned out before closing his eyes and falling asleep.