Tony sat up in bed and glanced over at his girlfriend. Although he knew he had made the right decision, he felt cold inside. Like something was wrong. He leaned over to his bedside table, grabbed his cell phone and quietly tiptoed out of his room, careful not to wake Jeanne.
He sat on his couch, the feeling in his stomach not ceasing. The vibrating of his cell interrupted the silence of the room.
"Hello." He said quietly into the mouthpiece.
"DiNozzo!" A booming Gibbs on the other side of the line gave Tony a start.
"Yeah, Boss" He said
"Get down to Bethesda naval hospital, Ziva's been in an accident." With that, Gibbs slammed his phone shut. He didn't cope well with stress.
Tony quickly wrote a note to Jeanne and ran out the door, not bothering to dress properly, he slammed the door behind him; the only thing he could focus on was the fight between him and Ziva resulting in her speeding off. The sound of the screeching tires on the paved road. All of this was his fault.
Tony burst through the emergency room doors and ran over to Gibbs and Jen.
"Where is she? How is she?" Tony asked quickly
"She's still in the operation room." Jen piped up "she'll be there for another hour or so. Sit down. I'll go get you some coffee."
As minutes of silence went by, Tony couldn't stop thinking about how much he had screwed up. The night playing over and over in his mind. What had he done? Each time he thought about Ziva his heart raced a mile a minute. This was worse than with Kate. More serious somehow.
His thoughts are disrupted by the sound of opening doors as Abby and McGee join Tony and Gibbs. Tony looked up to Abby's face; she stretched her arms out, offering him a hug, he stood up and accepted it.
"How is she?" McGee asked
"Still in operation." Jen said as she returned, handing Gibbs and Tony their coffees.
"Sorry, I didn't know you guys were coming, I would have got you one." She apologised.
"That's okay" said McGee
"What happened?" Tony finally worked up the courage to ask.
"She was speeding down Clements road, she lost control of her car and crashed into a pole. Her steering wheel went through her torso." This was the first thing Gibbs had said all night. "Damn it!" He threw his coffee onto the ground. "She should've known."
"Oh my God." Abby piped up.
"Is she going to be okay?" McGee asked, he needed reassurance; he needed someone to tell him that she would be okay.
"Yeah," Tony spoke quietly, "she'll be fine." He spoke with confidence, his tone enough to convince everyone that she would be fine, everyone but himself.
He closed his eyes, hiding his soul from the rest of the world.
"Tony. Tony, wake up." Abby tapped him lightly. He looked at his watch, 1:30 am.
"How is she?" He asked, jumping to his feet.
"She's out of surgery now and the doctors said that she should be fine, everything went well."
Tony exhaled in relief. "When can I see her?"
"When she wakes up." Interrupted a doctor "You can go into her room now, just make sure only one of you go in and you are very careful not to wake her."
"You can all go first, I'll wait." Said Tony. He was planning on taking the longest.
One by one they entered Ziva's room and one by one they filed out, their faces not painted with happiness nor with sorrow.
"Bye Tony, see you tomorrow. I know that Gibbs would usually object but you can come in late tomorrow morning, just keep an eye on Ziva." Jen smiled a toothless smile and exited the emergency wing leaving Tony alone to enter Ziva's room.
He entered her room and sat beside her bed, His heart racing, unsure of whether to run a mile or fight the urge. Finally after much arguing with himself, he decided to sit down.
Tony shuffled his seat forward until he was resting his elbows on the side of Ziva's bed.
"I am so sorry, Ziva." He whispered as a tear rolled down the side of his face. He buried his face in his hands "I am so sorry, I should have told you."
"Tony." Ziva whispered; her eyes open ajar.
Tony sat bolt upright. His heart began to race, before he could consider the consequences he began to speak.
"Ziva." He began "Ziva, I am so sorry, I'm sorry, Ziva. I couldn't tell you what was going on because I didn't want you to be hurt and even if I wanted to I couldn't because I'm on an undercover mission and I'm not allowed to tell you anything. It's the frog; he's Jeanne's father. He's got someone taking pictures of me, following me. If any pictures of you and me got out he would most likely have you… Dealt with."
"What are you talking about, Tony?" Ziva whispered, her voice raspy and sore.
"I'm sorry, Ziva" he apologised again "It's an undercover mission, that's why I couldn't tell you anything. I didn't want you hurt but it turns out I did more damage trying to prevent something."
"It's okay, Tony. I get it now." She said after soaking everything in.
Tony smiled and exhaled in relief. "How are you feeling, anyway?"
"Like a steering wheel went through my torso." She smiled
Tony smiled in return "you're really lucky that it didn't hit any serious areas, seriously, what are the odds of nothing being hit?"
"I'm not sure. When am I out of here, anyway?" Ziva changed the subject quickly, she didn't want to talk about the accident or Jeanne, and those were the only two things that she could talk about with Tony.
"I'm not sure. Probably a week or so." Tony was too happy to notice Ziva's obvious discomfort, inside and out.
"Tony, why are you telling me all of this now? Where were you when you promised you would help me with the 'Knight' case? That was after all of this, yes?" Ziva wasn't angry, just confused. So much behind Anthony DiNozzo, so many questions unanswered, so many phone calls unreturned; So much confusion.
"I'm sorry I've been acting like a jerk these past couple of months, only now I've realised how hard I was being on everyone."
"It's okay, Tony. As long as you realised." Ziva smiled
Tony smiled back, his heart racing. Ziva was okay so why was he feeling this way? He recognised the feeling, he felt somewhat similar around Jeanne, but this was different somehow, filled with more passion. Her smile brought butterflies to his stomach.
"I better go," he announced, standing up "you need your rest."
"Okay, Thankyou for coming." Although the words seemed cliché, She was serious. Genuinely happy and thankful that Tony came to her.
He smiled and turned around, grabbing the door handle
"Tony" Ziva called to him, "could you please come see me tomorrow?" She asked kindly
Tony smiled and nodded
"I mean, I'll be missing out on work and I need you to fill me in." she lied.
"See you tomorrow." He smiled.
Tony thought back on the night and exhaled. He had never felt such a feeling of passion, relief and happiness in his life. As he sat in his car he looked back on how lucky he was, as though he had been given another chance. He pulled a picture of Jeanne out of his glove compartment and stared into her eyes, they didn't seem to sparkle the same as Ziva's.
He thought back to the previous night when she turned up at his door and met Jeanne, her face more alight with passion and life.
Tony looked into his hands, he thought for a while and then shook his head what was he thinking? He couldn't possibly be falling for Ziva... Could he?
Hope you liked this one! THANKYOU all so much for your reviews! I was seriously considering re-calling this one but you have all been wonderful with your comments thankyou!
More Ziva V Jeanne scenes coming when Ziva gets out of hospital! THANKS!
Xox mel