Title: A Long Way Home (Chapter Ten)
Author: LizzieInk
A/N: I hope you like the following chapter. Much love x
Disclaimer: you get where I am going with this...
Gibbs carefully pulled into a parking space outside of Abby's apartment building. Although the distance from the hospital to Abby's apartment was fairly short, the journey had seemed endless. Gibbs had purposefully driven slowly to make the ride as smooth as possible for both of his injured agents. Tony and Ziva were both sat in companionable silence in the back seat.
As the car came to a stop, Gibbs hopped out and opened Ziva's car door. Ziva being more accustomed to pain than most held her breath and climbed out of the car quickly. Gibbs steadied Ziva before leading her towards the door of the apartment building. Tony managed well enough by himself, although he was still having a little trouble with his crutches. He followed at a slower pace, taking his time so that he wouldn't stumble.
Gibbs looked round and smiled at the look of deep concentration on his senior field agents face.
"You okay there Dinozzo?" He asked.
"Good, boss. Although this is a little harder than it looks…" Tony replied while still concentrating on his feet. "Unggfpph" he grunted as he practically collided with Gibbs.
"Maybe you should focus a little more on where you're going as opposed to where you put your feet, you think Dinozzo?" Gibbs said with a sigh.
"Great idea boss" Tony replied with a grimace.
"Ouch! Don't make me laugh," Ziva murmured and she clutched at her ribs, as she giggled quietly at the expression on Tony's face.
Gibbs helped both his agents patiently into the elevator and up to the third floor, where Abby lived. "Now Abby is obviously still working on this case, so she will be working while you stay here, but she has this morning off…"
"You gave her the morning off to get us settled? That was nice of you boss" Tony cut in with a quizzical look at Gibbs.
"Abby was up all night working on evidence Dinozzo, so she needs the morning off to rest, not to wait on you hand and foot," Gibbs looked at Tony pointedly.
"Ouch boss! I'm wounded you'd think that I would even consider taking advantage of Abbs like that," Dinozzo said with a feigned wounded from the slightly disappointed look on his face it was clear that Tony had been hoping for exactly that.
As Gibbs, Tony and Ziva finally arrived at the door of Abby's apartment, it swung open before they even had a chance to knock.
"Tony, Ziva!" Abby squealed with obvious excitement. "Come in."
Tony looked at Abby in amusement. It was easy to see why she had been given the morning off. Abby had obviously over-dosed on caf-pow during her long nights work in her lab! She was a mess of nervous energy and excitement and she couldn't keep still. Just watching Abby when she was like this, was enough to give anyone a sympathy headache. Abby was wearing a pair of flannel pyjamas that were decorated with lots of tiny smiling skulls.
Grinning happily Abby jumped towards Tony and gave him a big hug. Tony hugged her back with a laugh before almost losing his balance. Gibbs managed to grab Tony before he fell on top of Abby in a mass of tangled limbs.
"Careful Abbs" he said quietly.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry Tony, I was just so excited to see you that I forgot for a moment that you were injured." Abby apologised. Turning to Ziva, Abby took her hand and squeezed it gently "how are you feeling?" Abby asked Ziva sympathetically.
"If you do not mind, I would like to lie down for a while I think. I did not get much sleep last night, and my ribs hurt less when I am resting." Ziva said quietly, looking at the floor. Her cheeks were lightly tinged with pink.
Tony looked at Ziva, with worry evident on his face, as Abby took Ziva's hand and led her to the spare room. Tony turned to Gibbs.
"She'll be okay Dinozzo," Gibbs said knowingly, "just make sure she rests as much as possible. When we have any major news about the case I will call you, but in the meantime you are both to relax. I do not want you both worrying about the case until I call. Do you understand?"
"Yes boss," Dinozzo replied.
"I'm going to head off while Abby is getting Ziva settled. We have no major need for Abby to come back in today. So if she falls asleep at some point just leave her okay?" Gibbs patted Dinozzo on the back, before slipping quietly out the door.
Ziva had been asleep in Abby's spare room, for a little over an hour now. Tony was leaning against the door frame. Although he was glad to be out of the hospital, he missed sharing a room with his partner. He was worried about Ziva. She rarely slept well lately. For what must be the millionth time Tony found himself wishing that they would find Bodnar soon. He hoped that Ziva's nightmares would recede a little once the immediate threat was over with. But realistically Tony knew that catching Bodnar wouldn't magically make Ziva okay again. She would always carry the weight of her father's death with her now, and nothing they could do would ever fix that. But perhaps by just being there for her, he could make Ziva feel safer. Letting her know that she isn't as alone as she thinks.
Ziva shifted slightly in her sleep and let out a light snore. Smiling to himself, Tony headed back towards the lounge where he had left Abby five minutes before.
Abby was no where to be seen. Tony slowly made his way towards Abby's (aka his) room, careful not to trip on his crutches. Sure enough she was putting extra blankets on the bed and fluffing up pillows, making the room look comfy.
"Hey Tony," Abby greeted him cheerfully, "I just thought I'd get you some extra blankets and pillows and stuff."
"Thanks Abbs, this looks great!" replied Tony, as his gaze took in the view before him. Abby's room was full of curious objects. The bedside table held a voodoo doll and a pack of tarot cards along with a stack of forensic science journals. The bed spread was black and red, and there was a large stuffed hippo toy that looked like it acted as a second pillow. Also now that he thought about it the base of Abby's bed looked creepily like a coffin… Tony shuddered slightly, before turning back to Abby with a smile.
"Thanks for letting us stay with you Abbs. Sorry to stick you with the couch."
"Oh that's okay Tony, it pulls out." Abby assured him. Abby gave Tony a long searching look before nodding her head and giving him a careful hug. "I am going to go take a nap before I head back to work. You can play with my voodoo doll if you want." Abby said slyly as she left the room, laughing on her way out at the slightly appalled and worried look that had appeared on Tony's face.
A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. Updates will now be made to this story every night. As usual if you want to comment about anything you would like to see in the story go ahead. Your comments keep me inspired. :)