Disclaimer: Bitch, please.
Author's Note: Sorry?
So I guess you could say I've been busy. It's been a weird year or so punctuated by death, parental divorce, and various other happenings and non happenings. So an apology for my absence is all I can really offer. I'm not promising steady updates on all my fics, but I'll try to get back into this. Like I said, it's been a weird year. For my shitness, here's an extra long chapter...
I'm not sold on this chapter. I don't think I really like it, but I've given up fighting with it so I'll let you guys be the judge.
I know you're probably all hating on me right now, but I'd really love for you to review and give me some feedback of any sort (good or bad). I really want to improve and reviews help me to keep motivated to write and get better.
Anyways, please enjoy. Drop me a line (review) and let me know what you think :) As always, I'm open to criticism and all that so let me know.
It was so loud. That was the only thing that Ziva had the capacity to focus on at that point. Then, it was the shouting.
"We've got to get her stabilised. She's not coping." The low, tense voice of a man.
"How far out are we from a hospital?" a woman shouted over the excruciatingly loud noise of helicopter propellors.
There was a shout from somewhere else- the pilot. "Ten minutes!"
Ziva couldn't remember much after that. Just more yelling, the unceremonious- almost rough- treatment from paramedics who had seen it all, and a hand grasping hers.
"Sweetcheeks?" She felt hot breath on her ear along with the single whispered word.
Ziva tried to make a sound, any sound. She tried to open her eyes or wiggle a finger but she was just so exhausted. And as she drifted of again the strained voice spoke once more:
"You're going to be okay, Ziva. You're going to be okay because otherwise I'll kick that ninja ass of yours so hard..."
Tony sat on the hospital bed as a rather attractive doctor eyed Ziva's makeshift splint. She introduced herself as "Doctor Perry, but you can call me Ella" and then made a face as she gingerly pulled at the splint.
"You really did have the bare minimum, huh?"
Tony winced and looked down at her as she sat on a stool in front of him and picked out a needle. Painkillers, she said, injecting him when he nodded his consent.
"She did the best she could," he said defensively. The doctor raised her eyebrows slightly and continued to work.
"She?"
"My partner," Tony said quickly, and oh god the way the doctor had said "she" was the same way everyone said it. With that 'ooh la la, a giirrrl, huh?' intonation.
Ella the doctor's eyes widened a little in recognition. "The other fed who came in with you?"
Tony nodded. Ziva had been in such a bad way the last time he saw her. He'd almost punched the poor doctor that had disallowed him into the surgical wing.
Ella saw the pained look in his eyes. "They have the best people working on her," she said. "Doctor Anson is an excellent physician. Your partner is in good hands."
Tony just nodded again, somehow unable to speak.
"You two are pretty close?" Ella asked, trying to fill in the silence.
"Oh, you know, we work together and all that..." Tony muttered and turned to look out the window where he could see the rest of the team watching him. He gave an obligatory smile and thumbs up gesture.
"That your family?" the doctor asked, taking note.
Tony just laughed a little, gave a barely perceptible nod, but didn't reply. Ella didn't push it, and worked in silence for a few more moments before declaring Tony needed surgery and leaving to schedule an OR.
A little while later, freshly splinted, dosed up and given copious amounts of antibiotics, Tony sat in his hospital bed enjoying the morphine buttone attached to his arm. Abby sprinted into the room and wrapped him in a hug, having to be pulled away by McGee when the pain in his arm bordered on unbearable, despite his heavy medication. Ducky gave him a reassuring smile and Gibbs just nodded his head in acknowledgment as he sat down on a chair in the corner of the room.
"Boss-man!" Tony said, smiling widely. "The man who is a boss. Kind of like spider man. A man who is a spider. Or super man. A man who is super. Cat woman. A woman who is a cat." He frowned. "Now that I think about it, their names really do lack a certain creativity."
Gibbs just stared. "Go easy on the painkillers, DiNozzo."
Tony's smiled faded, remembering the last time he'd perhaps overdone his medication. "Ziva?" he asked to no one in particular.
McGee spoke up from beside him. "They know we're here. She's still in surgery, but they'll let us know if there's any updates."
"And you don't know anything more?"
McGee just shook his head. "Sorry, that's all they could tell us."
Tony managed a weak smile. "It's okay, McGoo. Ziva's Ziva. And if Ziva's taught us anything it's that a Ziva is always okay. Right?"
McGee smiled and nodded. "Sure, Tony."
They barely noticed the door open and all jumped at the call of: "Are you the family for Ziva David?"
Gibbs was the first to address the doctor, "How is she?" He had neither the time nor inclination for pleasantries.
"She's in recovery," the doctor said and Tony released a breath he hadn't even realised he'd been holding. "You can visit her once we've moved her to her room, but I can't guarantee she'll be awake. She's going to be fine."
To Tony's left, Abby was throwing her arms around McGee, and to his right Ducky was patting Gibbs on the back with a smile. Tony felt strangely out of time. He felt as if the world around him was either speeding up or slowing down, but he didn't know which. It just all felt so wrong and hushed and just not right. There was a light clap on his back and he jolted slightly.
"You right there, DiNozzo?" It was Gibbs.
Tony just nodded. "Wheelchair me. Let's go see her."
She was awake when they entered the room, albeit a little drowsy. They each gave her an awkward leaning over hug and expressed their thankfulness that she was okay before settling around the room in various chairs.
Abby was the first to speak, and of course her comment was slightly awkward and inappropriate, because it was Abby after all: "So guys," she said, "you got to play doctor out there, ey? Alone in the woods... in the sweltering heat... hey Tony-" her face was fixed in a perfect mix of suggestiveness and amusement "-where's the rest of your shirt, hmm?" Tony looked down at himself and remembered tearing off strips of his top not so long ago to dress Ziva's wounds.
Gibbs glared slightly. "Abby..." he warned.
"Oh lighten up, Gibbs. I'm just joking, right guys?" Abby said, waving her hand dismissively and looked between the two.
Ziva spoke up, and although her voice was soft, her words rang out loud and clear. "No Abby, in between the being hunted and horrific injuries, we also had time to have crazy sex out there in the woods."
Tony donned a grin that couldn't be rivaled. He could play this game too. "In fact," he supplied, "I really should get the nurse to check out these grazes on my back-"
Tony was cut off with a head-slap and a shout of: "DiNozzo!"
Abby laughed aloud, while Gibbs' glare just deepened.
McGee cleared his throat. "And that's my cue to leave. Not that this sauna of sexual tension isn't something I enjoy dealing with daily, but I really have to get back to the office. Case reports don't write themselves." He gave Ziva another hug and told her to get better with promises of visiting again soon.
Tony wheeled to the spot McGee had just vacated next to Ziva and sat down, reveling in the fuzzy feelings that coursed through his bloodstream and all the way to his brain.
"God, Zee-Vah," he said, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. "We have got to get us some morphine for the first aid kit. This is far better than that weak-ass crap we had out there."
"Pretty sure that's illegal, To-Nee," she said, deliberately mocking his enunciation of her name.
He pulled a face. "I'm sure we could make it happen. Ducky, you're a doctor..."
Ducky cut in. "That's clearly the drugs talking, Tony, but I do feel obliged to mention that you are teetering ever so close to conspiring to obtain illicit substances with a room full of federal agents."
Tony raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, all I heard out of that was 'teat'."
"Oh Tony, always a charmer," Ziva muttered sarcastically.
"I do try, Ziva," he replied, flashing a smile.
Ziva rolled her eyes and turned to grab the glass of water off her bedside table, but the blanket wrapped around her leg and twisted it awkwardly, tugging at her stitches. Before she could stop herself from showing what she deemed to be weakness, she winced. It was so slight that no one but Tony, who had been observing her closely since they first entered the room, noticed.
Tony was out of his wheelchair and had his free hand on hers in a flash. "Ziva?" he said anxiously. "You alright?"
She let out a breath and opened her eyes. "Yes," she said, and her voice was strained, as if every word was an effort to verbalise. "The blanket caught... I am fine."
"Do you need anything?" he asked, his face still wearing that same worried expression that she just found annoying.
"I am fine!" she said forcefully, hating the sympathy he forced her way, the way he assumed her vulnerable and weak. When she saw his face deepen with worry, she immediately regretted her outburst. Great, now she was not only weak, but also a nut-job. Fantastic. She sighed. "I am sorry. Honestly, I am okay."
He sat down again but didn't lose the worried look.
She looked pointedly at his hand still grasping hers. "Enjoying yourself?"
When he spoke, his tone was light, but his smile was sincere. "Oh, you know me, Ziva. I'll take any physical contact with women that I can get."
She raised her eyebrows and gave a chuckle. Still, he removed his hand, and for some reason they both felt a sense of loss that neither really understood.
She ignored it and gestured to his arm. "How is it?"
He seemed shocked, as if he'd forgotten it was even there. "Oh, okay I think. I must thank you for your improv doctor skills. Probably saved my arm."
"Yes, well I figured your right arm is pretty important for certain... activities-"
"Hey!" Tony cut her off.
She shrugged innocently. "You shoot right handed, yes?" To anyone else, it was a perfectly harmless question, and yet in that voice, between them, her words were supremely suggestive.
He tried to glare at her, but it came out as a sort of half-smile that, once again, seemed strangely intimate. She held his gaze for a moment too long before dropping it and picking up an easy conversation about a new case in another department, something that all five of them could easily debate about.
Ducky and Gibbs left soon after, with Gibbs supplying the somewhat cryptic warning to Tony of: "Be careful now."
Tony had nodded, but not known at all what he was agreeing to.
"Had a change of heart then?" Ducky said to Gibbs as the door to Ziva's room swung shut behind them.
Gibbs took a sip of his ever present cup of coffee. "What?"
Ducky just gave a slight smile. "Well I may not be as well versed in your infamous rules as your proteges are supposed to be, but I certainly am aware of the controversial law known as-"
"Rule number twelve," Gibbs supplied, cutting in.
"I take it you noticed then?"
Gibbs shook his head. "They're always like that, Duck."
"But you did notice." And this time it wasn't a question.
Gibbs just shook his head again, and refused to say anything else.
Abby looked between Tony and Ziva as the door shut. She narrowed her eyes. Something had happened. Maybe not crazy monkey sex on the woods floor, but something else. There had been a shift, a change, and she wanted to know what.
"Okay, spill."
Both Tony and Ziva turned to face her. "What?" Tony said, genuinely confused.
Abby pointed at Ziva, "You," then at Tony, "and you are hiding something."
"What?" That was Ziva.
"What did you do?" Abby said, putting everything she could into her 'tell-me-what-happened-or-I'll-kill-you-and-leave-no-forensic-evidence' face.
"Got kidnapped."
"Yeah, what else?"
"Got shot."
"I'm going to find out," Abby said. "You might as well just tell me."
Tony shrugged. "Legitimately got no idea what you're on about, Abs."
With one last glare, and a point of her finger, she edged towards the door. "I will find out." The door shut behind her.
Tony and Ziva shared a look before the door burst open again.
"Just checking," Abby said, and had the good grace to look guilty. "See ya tomorrow guys. Love you. Bye."
After a moment of silence, Tony turned to Ziva.
"So you're okay, right?"
"Yeah," Ziva said. "Just no physical activity for a few weeks."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "What kind of physical activity?"
Ziva flashed a teasing smile. "Oh, you know, anything that involves sweating, pushing, repetitive motions..."
Tony tipped his head. "So no rowing then?"
She laughed aloud then. "Sure. It's a shame," she said, smiling coyly. "I really enjoy... rowing."
Tony looked down. "Is there anyone that you are currently rowing with?"
"Not right now," Ziva said, raising her eyebrows slightly at the question.
Tony just nodded. "Okay," he said, a little awkwardly. "Well I should go. Gotta get back to my morphine pump. I'm sure it's missing me already."
She laughed slightly. "Yeah, okay. See you later, Tony."
He squeezed her hand and smiled lightly. "I'm glad you're okay. You really scared me for a while there."
She nodded. "Right back at you."
"Well," Tony said abruptly, cutting off what may have for anyone else been a tender moment, "see ya, Sweetcheeks." He started to wheel himself out, having to use his feet to push himself along. "I'll drop round for dinner. I hear they're serving sandwiches. It's gonna be wild."
She laughed. "Sure." But then the door was shut behind him and all she felt was alone, and in pain, and kind of hollow.
A/N: As always, what were your favourite lines?
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