A.N: OK! So I have finally found a slot to update in haha I am so sorry but life has been more than hectic! I have been doing QCS and for those of you not from Australia it is pretty much the biggest exams of your school life... If you do bad then good bye whatever university you wanted to go to! Anyway and I have also had a heap of end of year exams... Only 8 weeks of school left for the rest of my life... Pretty scary! Anyway that is why it has been a while and I apologise! So here is the next chapter! Thanks to those who still follow and review even tho its been a wee bit of a wait! So Read, Review and ENJOY!

Previously on Foreign:

"Ziva?" There was no movement, no more breathing. Disappointment flooded him as he watched her go back to how she was before. They all watched as the paramedics felt for a pulse. Tension was high between the group as they waited for the verdict. The paramedic opened his mouth to give an answer before again there was coughing and spluttering. Her head was tilted as water and vomit rushed out. She continued to cough it up before taking a sharp breath. She was breathing again, her heart was pumping blood through her body and even tho she was still unconscious; she was alive.

It had now been an hour since Ziva had been moved from the beach to ICU in the local hospital. The ride to the hospital had Tony's heart in a knot as she slipped into death and back. She never woke up, and nobody seemed surprised, but now that she is hooked up to life support the worry was creeping in ever so rapidly. Gibbs and Tony stood outside Ziva's room and watched through the glass as a nurse and doctor fiddled with her I.V and vitals. There was silence as they watched and they knew there was nothing to be said until ANY kind of news came. The doctor looked up through the window at the awaiting agents and gave a sigh and look of remorse as he held up a hand to indicate he would be about five minutes. Gibbs gave a tight nod and he went back to working on the almost lifeless body in front of him. A shrill startled the agents as Gibbs pulled his phone out and answered it with a groan of his name. After humming his answers and barely registering the person on the other end he closed his phone solemnly.

"Who was that Boss?" His hoarse voice hadn't been heard in the last hour and showed the defeat he was feeling.

"Fornell… No sign of Addison." He looked down at his lead agent who had a mixture of Anger and pain in his expression. He could see the signs that Ziva wasn't just a partner but he didn't want to bring it up now. Instead he decided that his senior field agent needed support. "Oi DiNozzo"

"Yeah Boss…"

"You need to be strong for your partner… You need to have her back when she wakes up." Doubt flashed in the younger mans eyes but he didn't dare dispute his boss so he nodded slowly and shifted his gaze back to the window. It wasn't long after that Ducky stood between the two silent men and peered through the glass.

"Oh my poor dear, this is the last thing you deserve."

"Where's Abbs?" Besides Ziva and Tony, Gibbs was very worried about how Abby would take this. Knowing her, she would find some way to blame herself. Whether it be not matching the prints quickly enough or not being there for her. Ziva and Abby had become closer than ever after the incident in Somalia and almost losing her again would have a huge negative impact on his normally bubbly forensic scientist/surrogate daughter.

"Timothy is with her; she is coping quite well I dare say, under the circumstances." They all stood and waited another minute before a tall doctor in his late thirties walked out, clipboard in hand.

"So we have Special Agent DiNozzo and special agent Gibbs is that correct?"

"Yes, and this is Doctor Mallard our medical examiner." Ducky extended his hand and the younger doctor gripped it firmly, relieved to have someone that may understand what is happening.

"Well unfortunately Agent David…"

"Dar-veed" Tony said curtly to the doctors surprise.

"Sorry… Well it seems that Agent Dav – Ziva has a long road ahead of her." He looked down at the clipboard slightly nervous as he thought about how to word what he had to say.

"What have you found Doc?" The senior agent asked impatiently.

"Well… Firstly it's a miracle she is even alive. The amount of water in her lungs… It's lucky you were there. Because of this there may be many… problems, that she could be facing."

"Doc… let me tell you something about us. We don't like sugar coating… Can you please just tell us what's wrong."

"Well in that case… There could be many possibilities; our main concern at the moment is brain damage due to hypoxemia, which is a lack of oxygen in the blood. Scans will need to be taken for us to determine the damage but at the moment she is on life support and is too unstable. Other possible problems that may occur are pneumonia or even worse ARDS."

"What's ARDS?" Tony asked with his first hint of civility.

"It stands for 'Acute respiratory distress syndrome'." Ducky filled in.

"Yes, Doctor Mallard is correct. It is a lung condition that can affect many things including dropping oxygen levels in the blood. You can see why this is a major problem, the reason for brain damage and the shutdown of organs during drowning is that there is no oxygen coming into the lungs and therefore into the bloodstream and around the body. In ARDS there is fluid on the lungs which stops the diffusion of oxygen from the lungs into the bloodstream. In conjunction with her injuries to the head, arms and legs the syndrome can cause sepsis and infection as well as severe bleeding from those injuries. It is unclear at the moment what side effects she has from the drowning but it is important to keep a close eye on her especially because she is currently on life support. There may be some scarring on the lungs which could cause some problems later on but if that's all that's wrong with her, then she is one lucky lady."

"Not lucky enough…" Tony said barely audible and the doctor looked on in remorse.

"I am sorry but that's all I know at this point in time. I will tell you as soon as I find out anything." It seemed that both of the agents were not ready to reply and were taking in everything they heard so Ducky took the reins and thanked the doctor. After asking for his findings to help with the investigation he left the two agents to ponder on their thoughts.

It had been almost a week, a week of worrying, a week with barely any sleep for Tony DiNozzo. He sat by his partner's bedside and let his eyes droop as he lent his head on the mattress while clutching Ziva's delicate hand. She had still not opened her eyes and a slither of hope disappears with every day passed. The hospital staff had finally given up on visiting hours for Tony and just let him stay at the young Ladies bedside until every night, he fell asleep there. The doctor had decided to postpone any scans until she woke up. But Tony knew what that really meant, that there was no point of doing scans if she won't ever wake up. It was almost eight o'clock at night when Gibbs finally decided that Tony needed some air and a decent meal instead of hospital coffee and cafeteria food. After a push and shove Tony finally caved and left his partners bedside. The two agents walked in silence out of the hospital and down the road to a café where they sat and ordered. They sat on a little terrace in front of the café where a nippy breeze spasmodically came and went every few minutes; but Tony didn't mind, the fresh air is what he needed. Once their food arrived and they both had a beer in front of them the silence was broken by Gibbs questioning tone.

"How do you feel about Ziva?" Straight to the point as always, Gibbs bore down at him with not just authority by concern. Tony, unable to form an answer just stared with a quizzical brow. "Tony… I am not asking as your boss… I am concerned." He knew that there was no point hiding the truth, he wouldn't be able to cover a lie in front of his Boss.

"I had no control over it." Silence grew again as tony looked down agitated. It was a while before the senior agent spoke again.

"And what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know Boss, I can't do much about it! Rule 12 remember. So I am just going to be her partner, back her up." His voice was starting to rise and a couple sitting a table over looked at the scene unfolding. "But you know what! I don't understand rule 12! Because ever girl that I haven't worked with runs off as soon as they hear what I do and Jeanne… Now that was a massive success on my part! And even tho I may not be in a relationship with Ziva, and she may not even feel the same I still get hurt! I still feel like someone has kicked me in the guts!"

"Tony…"

"So you know what! Your rules don't even work! Because news flash! I am a human being! I am a male and I can't help it if I am attracted to my partner! I can't just switch off the testosterone in me!"

"Tony, enough! Listen to me!"

"What!" Anger was evident in his eyes as he breathed heavily.

"I was just about to say, screw the rule."

"What!" Confusion mixed with the anger on his face and he couldn't believe what he was hearing. After all those years and he decides now to 'screw the rules'?

"You heard me, screw the rule."

"What? After all these years… You tell me to screw the rule?"

"I have learnt something… You are a different person." Just by the exasperate look on the younger agents face he knew he had to elaborate. "Tony, I have been thinking about well, everything you just said the last few days and I realised that you need Ziva. Hell I should of realised that when you went half crazy and convinced us to go to Somalia."

"So you're telling me… That you now don't care if me and Ziva date."

"Don't get me wrong DiNozzo. I still think my rules are there for a reason but with everything that has happened… I am willing to give you guys a chance. But if you screw this up!"

"Jeez thanks Boss… Look, I don't even think Ziva feels the same so it won't really matter in the end." Gibbs decided not to say anything on the matter and gave a 'I'm not so sure look' look at a still shocked and puzzled Tony. Nothing more was said on the subject as the two agents ate their dinner and made their way back to the hospital in silence. Tony was in a daze as he made his way to the elevator and pushed the button with a number 4 etched on it. He couldn't believe the words that came out of his Boss' mouth. He couldn't even believe it was the same man! There was no steel front; there was just concern and worry laced in his expressions, and almost a sense of defeat. The elevator made a 'ding' as they reached the ICU floor and the doors opened slowly to reveal a busy nurse station. As soon as the two men exited the lift a nurse rushed over with a smile on her face.

"Agent DiNozzo, Agent Gibbs, she is awake." The nurse didn't have a chance to say another word as Tony took off towards the closest room.

Ziva's eyes adjusted to the dim room after the nurse left, her throat irritated fro the E.T tube ripped from her throat. Her head was pounding and it hurt to breathe but worse of all she felt trapped. She looked down to see the wires attached to her, the fluid lines, and she was confused. The last thing she remembered was… well she didn't really want to remember; she could still smell his breath, she could still feel the pain, she could still feel the loss. She looked up when people walked into the room and to her surprise it was Tony and Gibbs and they both looked remarkably well. She could see confusion fall across Tony's handsome features as he took in her own confused and daunted face. He smiled and she couldn't believe it… He actually smiled at her, after everything that had happened, after everything she accused him of. She wondered where in the world she was and that's the first thing that came from her mouth.

"Where am I?" Even as she asked she could not peel her eyes from Tony's face. Her stomach was doing little flips to her dismay as she felt the colour rush to her cheeks. She still didn't understand the glimmer in his eyes, why he was even looking at her.

"You're in hospital." She forced herself not to roll her eyes at this.

"Which hospital?"

"Florida Hospital" her eyes snapped to Gibbs face at this and she felt more confused than ever. All she could think was why on earth she was in Florida.

"Why are we in Florida? When can I go home?" Now it was the other agents turn to have confusion flicker across their faces.

"Because this was the closet hospital. We are not sure when you can be transferred." The next words that escaped her lips sent chills down the agents' spines, especially that of Tony.

"How is Florida the closest hospital to Somalia?"

A.N: Expecting that! (Except for Alli of course who knew... You don't count...) Anyway... Just so you know its not going to be like Gibbs at the end of season three... I am trying to keep this as unique as possible... even tho this isnt a unique idea. But I swear I thought of it bymyself then was disappointed about the familiarity of it... So yeah. I hope you enjoyed and please leave your thoughts!

Keely :o)