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Later – Bethesda Naval Hospital
Jenny and Abby arrived as fast as they could after they had found out where Gibbs had sent them. It didn't take the Director long to extract answers on the conditions of her team members from a reluctant nurse, and a doctor even more so reluctant to release medical information to non-family members. It was not until Jenny pulled out her badge proving her identity that they were told anything.
The pair rushed to the fourth floor where Tony was resting in the surgical unit. Luckily, he had only torn a few stitches during the whole ideal, but an infection had set in and he was hooked up ti IV antibiotics. Ziva was still in surgery.
"Oh-my-god-oh-my-god-Tony-you're-safe-I-never-though-I-would-ever-see-you-again-we-all-were-so-worried-even-Timmy-oh-my-god-I-missed-you-so-much-where-is-Ziva-I-though-she-was-brought-in-with-you?"
Tony was glad there was a distraction from the pain raging through his body and the worry for his partner. The ceiling was beginning to get very boring.
"Abby," Tony sighed. "I missed you too." He hadn't really; having focussed more on staying alive than missing his friends, but little white lies never hurt anyone, especially this caffeine-high forensics scientist.
Tony looked up and noticed Gibbs leaning on the door frame, his arms crossed against his chest, a grim look on his face. Tony knew that look; it was not a good look.
"Abbs, how about you go assault one of the nurses for information on Ziva?" he said in his usual voice, though it did sound a little gruffer than usual.
The pair silently watched as Abby closed the door behind her; Gibbs moved to sit on the edge of Tony's bed. They sat in silence for a moment before the boss spoke.
"They did all they could, Tony, but she had lost too much blood. The bullets tore through her abdomen, hitting almost every major organ and shattering her spinal column. She was too far gone…"
Tears ran down Tony's cheeks. "Ziva," he whispered, dropping his head to his chest.
"Ziva?" Gibbs asked. "I hadn't heard. I thought she was still in surgery."
Tony looked up. "So did I."
The pair sat in silence for another moment.
"If it wasn't Ziva, then who the hell were you talking about then?"
Gibbs sighed. "Tony, it was Kate who died. She managed to fatally wound El Mohabi and a few of his cronies before she fell, but he shot her pretty well."
"Where are the bastards now?"
"Autopsy; Ducky's letting Palmer practice on them; I'm sure they're both enjoying that."
Tony's face cleared slightly at the news. "Anyone else injured? Ziva and I were the first ones shipped here, and that was separately."
His boss nodded. "Cassidy's mole is in interrogation with half a face. He won't last long once we let him go, if Jenny doesn't ship him off to Gitmo. Other than that, a few other gun shot wounds, but nothing serious a few stitches won't fix."
"How's Jenny taking everything?"
"Ask her yourself, DiNozzo, she's right outside."
Tony looked hopeful. "Can everyone come in?"
The older man nodded and opened the door; Jenny, Abby, McGee and Paula Cassidy walked in.
"See, Timmy, I told you he's fine," Abby said, bouncing next to McGee, who was holding tightly onto her hand. Tony laughed at his facial expression, a cross between amusement and annoyance. Gibbs shot him a glare and he quietened quickly.
Jenny sat down on Tony's bed, taking the spot Jethro had just vacated.
The door opened again, this time admitting a doctor dressed in scrubs. "Family of Ziva David?" he asked, pronouncing her name incorrectly.
"Dah-veed," Tony corrected. "And yes, we are. How is she?"
The surgeon smiled. "She's in recovery now; we should be able to move her to this room in about 4 hours, depending on when she wakes up from her anaesthesia."
"Yeah," Tony said. "But how is she?"
"We managed to repair the knife damage to her forearm," he began, "it shouldn't leave too much of a noticeable scar. The bullet that hit her left shoulder didn't cause too much damage; we removed the fragments and repaired the muscle and tissue damage. She'll need 3 to 4 weeks off work, just like Mr DiNozzo will, and then another 2 weeks of light duties – strictly desk work, absolutely no field work. And that goes for both of them."
Gibbs and Jenny shared a knowing look, and then began to laugh. Tony joined in after a moment, and the rest of the team followed suit. The doctor was the only one not laughing.
"Um, excuse me," he interrupted. "Care to let me in on the joke?"
Abby and McGee looked at him strangely. "You don't know Ziva, do you, doctor?" she asked.
"It's Doctor Carter, and no, I don't know Ms David," he said. "Why?"
It was McGee's turn to speak. "She is Israeli Mossad, she doesn't do desk work. You should have seen what happened the last time she was put on desk work."
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Three days later
"Probie! The movie finished!" Tony called from the lounge. He and Ziva had been released from Bethesda earlier that morning, under strict orders from Doctor Carter to stay off their feet as much as possible.
Tony took advantage of this and employed McGee as their personal servant. He wasn't too happy about it, but Gibbs insisted. Strongly.
"What do you want to watch now, Tony?" he asked in a bored voice after appearing next to the TV.
"Hmmmm," he pretended to think, despite knowing exactly what he wanted to watch. "Casino Royale, the 2006 version."
Tim looked over at Ziva. "That okay with you?"
The assassin laughed. "McGee, I am the ultimate Bomb girl. Plus, I picked it."
"It's Bond, Zee-vah," Tony said, putting his arm around her shoulders, drawing her body closer to his. She snuggled into his shoulder, resting her head closer to his chest than his face. He rested his chin on her hair. They joined hands in his lap and settled into the comfortable position.
"Whatever," she sighed in resignation.
Tim knew that they wouldn't want him watching and repeating everything he saw to Gibbs, even though he and Abby would discuss it to death later, and finished putting on the next movie for them. He looked over to the couch after starting the movie, and noticed they had fallen asleep.
Tim sighed to himself and grabbed the camera off the table from its hiding place. He snapped a few shots of the cute couple, probably for blackmailing them later.
Quietly finishing the task Abby had entrusted to him, he cleaned up the mess the partners had made and let himself out of Tony's apartment. Their bed rest was over in 24 hours, though medical leave wasn't up for another two weeks, and he expected the place to be cleaned once their energy was restored.
Thinking back over the last few days, he was glad the events had brought him and Abby closer together, and that rule 12 didn't exist anymore. Tony and Ziva deserved to be happy, and with each other they would truly be so.
As he started driving towards Abby's apartment on the other side of town, he smiled to himself.
For the most part, all was well. Until all hell broke loose once more.
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Yay, it's finally finished! Only took me about six months to write it, but yeah. BOLO for the rest of the series, the next instalment is called Forever, based on the song by Chris Brown. This ended up dragging on too long so I split it. Forever will be a hell of a lot fluffier. I promise.
Please review. It might not make Season 6 come faster, but it'll make the wait less painful…