So I think I've got one more chapter after this one and then it will be set up for a sequel… I'm fairly certain that's how it's gonna work out, but it also might not… anyway, here is chapter 19! Enjoy!

Nineteen

Tony and Ziva were sitting on the couch in her apartment when the phone rang two days later.

She picked it up and answered without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" She asked.

"How's everything going Ziver?" Gibbs asked.

Ziva smiled a bit. "Everything is good, how are things going there?" She asked.

Gibbs sighed. "The District Attorney formally charged Marshall and Clemens, arraignment is scheduled for later today if you and Tony wanted to be there." He told her.

"What time and where?" Ziva asked.

Tony, who sat up when the phone rang watched Ziva as her phone conversation played out. He thought about being worried when she asked for a time and an address, thinking she was going to leave him alone, which was something he still wasn't great at dealing with. It took him a moment to realize that she wouldn't do that though.

Ziva hung up the phone and put it back on the coffee table.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked cautiously.

"That was Gibbs." She told him. "The DA charged Marshall and Clemens, and he wanted to know if we were interested in going to the arraignment."

Tony shook his head. "I don't want to. I don't want to see them." He told her.

Ziva sat forward reaching out to run her hands over Tony's arms.

"That is perfectly fine Tony. We do not have to go." She told him softly.

Tony looked unsurely at her. She slid closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. She kissed his cheek softly.

"Do not worry. Gibbs does not expect us to go, it was just a question." Ziva said.

Tony nodded and let himself rest against her.

"What if they plead not guilty? What if this goes to trial? I don't want to see them, I don't want to listen to them speak… What do I do?" Tony asked quickly.

Ziva heard the panic so clearly in his voice it made her angry that she hadn't hit Clemens harder when she had the chance. She rubbed his back softly.

"If that happens, we have to see where everything is headed. For now, just breathe with me." Ziva told him.

She took a deep breath in and held it for a moment before exhaling. She repeated this several times, waiting for Tony to catch on and breath with her to calm himself down.

When Tony finally relaxed against her, Ziva was relieved. She hated seeing him in so much pain, she felt it with him.

She laid back against the arm of the couch to get comfortable and laughed lightly to herself when she realized that Tony had fallen asleep in her arms once again. She had decided a long time ago, well about a week ago that she loved that Tony trusted her enough to protect him, even in his sleep, and she would never do anything to betray that trust.

XXXXX

Ziva picked up her phone an hour later to send a text to McGee.

'Tell Gibbs we are not going to go to the arraignment.' She hit send.

A moment later her phone buzzed.

'Will do, how's Tony?' McGee asked.

'He will be better with time. How was the interrogation with Clemens?'

She had meant to ask him the day that she had arrested him and brought him in, but Tony had kept her preoccupied – not that that was anywhere close to a bad thing, she loved having him there, it had just slipped her mind.

'He wanted to have you charged for assault, you fractured his cheekbone and two ribs.' McGee told her.

Ziva nodded, fairly impressed with herself and the damage she could inflict, despite having not had to fight for a while.

'Good. He deserved it. What did he say? Did he confess? What about Marshall?' She asked, typing as quickly as she could with the hand that wasn't wrapped around Tony.

'They didn't confess but there's no doubt that they did it. DNA doesn't lie, and we had Abby run both of their DNA three times to make sure.' McGee sent back.

Ziva let out a sigh of relief when she read that. 'That is good.'

'Yeah, I have to go, leaving with Gibbs for arraignment.' McGee said.

'Text me as soon as it is over.' Ziva told him.

'Will do.'

XXXXX

By the time Tony had woken up from his nap against Ziva, two hours had passed, and he was now standing up, pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table, waiting for Ziva's phone to buzz.

"What if they plead not guilty?" He asked for the second time that day.

Ziva stood up, reaching out to him. "Then we go to trial." She said as she rested her hands on his hips.

Tony bit his lip and his eyes filled with tears at the thought.

Ziva kissed his cheek softly. "I know Tony, I know." She told him. "Why don't we go lay down in the bedroom and I can rub your back? Is your neck still bothering you?" She asked, referring to the bruise left by Clemens and Marshall.

Tony eyed her cellphone.

"I will bring it with me, do not worry." Ziva told him softly.

She picked the phone up and stepped around Tony, holding out her hand to him.

"Come." She requested.

Tony hesitated briefly but took her hand and let her lead him down the hallway to the bedroom.

Tony took off his shirt and his pants and laid down on the bed on his stomach so Ziva could get at the fading bruises on his back. They definitely looked but better, now a slight yellow color on his pale skin, but they still hurt. Tony wondered if it was because they had been applied to his skin so roughly that it was real pain, or if it was something in his head, preventing him from feeling normal.

Ziva sat down beside him with the normal aloe and towel and opened the bottle. She squeezed the gel into her hand silently and rubbed it between her palms, warming it up before she placed her hands on his back.

Tony still jumped when she touched him, but this reaction was also one that was fading slowly, and he relaxed much more quickly than he did the first few times she had done this for him.

They sat together in silence while Ziva brushed her fingers over his back, paying special attention to the bruise on the back of his neck. She reached the bruise in the middle of his back, the one that she now had a match for on her own stomach and pressed a gentle kiss to his spine before she rubbed the aloe over it.

Tony smiled when he felt her kiss him. Of course, he had always known that she had a tender side, but he had not expected such a deep level of love and tenderness from someone as fierce as the Israeli. He found this side of her to be just as comforting as he would feel with her sitting in front of the door, holding a gun in case someone tried to hurt him.

"Hips?" Tony heard her ask softly.

He nodded and lifted his hips off the bed slightly, so she could reach under the waistband of his loose boxers to spread the aloe along his hips.

She pulled her hand away from him just as she heard her phone buzzing beside her. She wiped the aloe off of her hands quickly and picked it up. It was a text from McGee.

'Took a turn for the worst, both Marshall and Clemens pleaded not guilty, they're going to go to trial, but on the plus side, they have been remanded without bail until the trial.'

Ziva looked up from her phone's screen to see Tony staring at her. He knew from the look on her face what had happened. His worst nightmare was going to come true.

Tears filled his eyes quickly and spilled over, flooding down his cheeks as he sobbed loudly into the bedspread.

If it were possible to feel your heart break, Ziva knew hers would have been in a million pieces as she watched Tony turn away from her and start to cry. She tossed her phone to the side and, hoping that Tony would calm down when he felt her against him, she peeled off her clothes quickly.

She laid down beside Tony, with her head on the pillows and she rolled him over gently, so he was on his side facing her. She pulled him close and he moved down to rest his head just below her breasts as he cried. She wrapped one arm around him and pulled him close to her and he curled up as far as he could.

Ziva felt her own tears on her cheeks as she held Tony against her tightly with one hand and ran her other through his hair. She let Tony cry. That was all she could really do. She could be there for him and be steady for him. That was what he needed most, and she promised herself that she would be that for him.

Tony's entire body was shaking as sobs raked over him painfully and he clung to Ziva tightly. He tried to open his mouth to speak, or scream, he really didn't know which, but nothing would come out other than desperate cries for his pain to end.

Ziva laid with Tony for a solid two or three hours before he was completely silent, having cried as much as he could. She rubbed his back gently, hoping to provide some sort – any sort of comfort to him. She scooted herself down the bed, so she was eye level with him.

His eyes were swollen and puffy from crying, and the tears that had fallen now could only be described as a literal puddle under his head. She rested her hand on his cheek softly as she looked him in the eye.

"I am not going anywhere Tony. I know it is not much, but I promise you I will be here for you, for as long as you want me, even after all of this is over. I'm here for you." She told him softly.

Tony nodded. "I know. I can't do this without you." He said, his voice hoarse from all the crying.

Ziva kissed his forehead softly, unsurprised when she felt how warm he was.

"Let me get you a cold cloth for your head." She said.

Tony nodded, not even bothering to pretend to be brave anymore. "Please."

Ziva walked into the bathroom quickly and he heard the tap turn on and off, and he heard her wringing out a cloth before she reappeared in the bedroom door.

"Come on Tony," she said gently, "roll over love." She told him.

Tony did as he was asked and Ziva placed a cool washcloth on his head. She laid back down with him, her hand running over his chest lightly, just to let him know she was still there.

"We will get through this." She assured him.

Tony sighed. "I'm scared Ziva."

Ziva nodded. "It is okay to be scared." She told him softly. "I am scared too."

Tony opened one eye to look at her.

"Scared of what?" He asked.

"That I won't be able to protect you." She said. "I mean realistically I know I will not be able to fully protect you. If you are asked to testify, I have no choice but to let you, but if it does happen, I promise to be right outside the door, waiting for you when you come out." She told him.

Tony nodded. "I know you will."