A/N: So yeah, I'm that girl that marks a story as complete and then adds to it. Oops.
Oh well. Here we have Abby's perspective and she's very hard, but very fun to write.
Part III
She was mad when McGee waited two hours to tell her, but that's all but forgotten as she frantically exits the elevator on the fifth floor of Bethesda.
Her emotions are the essence of chaotic. She doesn't know which way to turn, which hallway to turn down – which friend to inquire about first.
The two Calf-Pows she downed on the drive over are sinking in and she's so overwhelmed.
Thankfully, McGee intercepts her. He guides her towards the step-down unit and then she's face to face with Ziva.
Abby lunges at her, momentarily forgetting the amount of pain she could inflict. She pauses, though, just as she's about to grab her and hold herself back.
"You're okay," she squeaks and she can't help but run a finger down her bruised cheek.
"I am fine," Ziva states and Abby thinks that she should have just responded for her, because that's such a Ziva thing to say while in the hospital and she doesn't believe it for a second.
"No you're not," Abby protests. "You're in the hospital. You have eight broken ribs and they pulled a piece of shattered glass from your spleen."
"Abby," McGee puts a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down but it doesn't work and she wraps her arms around an unwilling Ziva's head – that's safe to touch, right? – And pulls her against her.
"I was so worried," she says.
"I know," Ziva sighs, "Me too." And Abby feels Ziva's IV cluttered arms wrap around her and hold on for dear life and she knows McGee's surprised, but she knows Ziva and she knows she's not talking about worrying about herself. So, unlike McGee, she's not too surprised.
She stays with Ziva for a long time. She doesn't want to leave her. Abby doesn't like the idea of her out of her sight, but when she asks for the third time if she'll check on Tony for her, Abby agrees – though she's scared what she'll find.
She finds Gibbs – that's what she finds. He's talking to one of Tony's nurses. Evidently, they're starting to wake him up. The swelling's basically gone. Abby starts to cry when she hears this and then something clicks inside of her and she swivels towards Gibbs.
"I should get Ziva's nurse to bring her down here," she says.
Gibbs turns his attention from the nurse to her. "Abs," he says, "That's not –"
She cuts him off. "Necessary? Needed? A good idea? Gibbs, have you seen her? She's – she's …she should be here when he wakes up."
"She's in tough shape. Ziva should stay in bed."
"Ziva should do a lot of things." She says and then her face softens and she waggles her eyelids at him and she knows…oh she knows he won't say no to her.
He turns back to the nurse. She's been watching this conversation with great interest and Gibbs asks if DiNozzo can have visitor. He can have a couple, the nurse responds, and she beams in Abby's direction.
It takes quite the convincing for Abby to get Ziva's nurse to let her take her down the hall to the ICU – to where Tony's room is. The nurse isn't sure how Ziva will get out of bed or how she'll handle the pain and Abby assures that if that's her only concern then she doesn't really have any concerns at all. Does she know whom she's taking care of? That's ex-Mossad assassin turned NCIS Special Agent on speed, Ziva David.
She can withstand pain for her partner. Abby has no doubt.
Abby is surprised, however, when Ziva panics after being helped into the wheelchair. She's settled in the seat and there's a pillow supporting her double twisted ankles and Abby's all but ready to take her Tony – the ever worried and underestimating nurse at their side – but Ziva stops them.
"I…I don't want to." she says.
The nurse gets a satisfied look on her face that Abby catches for half a second before delving back into professionalism. "We'll get you back in bed," the girl assures.
"No." Ziva cuts off. "I'll just sit here for a while."
And Abby understands that she needs space so she shoos the nurse out and shuts the door behind her.
Leaving Ziva to her thoughts probably isn't the best idea, but she doesn't really have a choice right now.
She waits exactly twenty-one minutes and she spends them pacing the waiting room. She doesn't want to go check on Tony because she doesn't want to see that he's awakened without Ziva there. That would be wrong and she cannot currently handle such a thing.
At minute twenty-two she heads back into Ziva's room and she finds her rooted to the same spot, staring at her nails.
Abby pulls a chair up beside her, but doesn't say anything.
Eventually Ziva does.
"Have I 'lost it', Abby?" It's a quiet question and Abby knows Ziva fears her answer.
"Because you're worried about Tony?" she asks.
"And not Bodnar." Ziva supplies.
"No," Abby shakes her head. "Tony's your…he's Tony. And Bodnar…he took your father and despite the fact that you're pissed to no end he almost took Tony too . . . you're still dealing with that fact in itself."
Abby receives a grateful nod from Ziva and she knows that she got it right so she ventures on. Because she and Ziva seem to be getting at something that Ziva needs. "How was Berlin?"
Ziva's eyes cloud and they wander, but she answers. "He was…top notch Tony." She smiles. "Reading me. And…helping…I don't know what I would do without him."
And though those few statements tell her a lot. And she means a lot – they don't tell her everything, but they paint a picture and she can almost understand – she can almost see the scenes playing out before her. She wishes they weren't such an enigma, but they are and so she gives Ziva a reassuring nod. "He's going to be okay."
"I hate that I need him," Ziva continues, her eyes beginning to brim with tears and Abby tries not to look surprised, "but I do and I wish I could say that I wish I didn't get him into this mess…but…" she shrugs and the tears flow, "I need him."
She knows she does.