Title: A Long Way Home (Chapter Eleven)

Author: LizzieInk

A/N: Here is a new chapter for you all to enjoy. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: still stands, these characters are not mine.

Tony opened Abby's fridge. Abby's apartment was strangely silent except for the odd snore coming from the couch. Abby had come down hard after her caf-pow high, and had been sleeping deeply for a couple of hours now. Tony on the other hand felt a little put-out and couldn't decide what to do with himself. His lack of motivation had resulted in his raiding Abby's fridge. Tony pushed aside Abby's stash of ever-present caf-pow energy drinks, and snagged himself an iced cupcake from the back of the fridge. It wasn't the healthiest snack in the world, but it sure did look good.

Just as Tony was about to take a bite, he heard movement coming from Ziva's room. More out of boredom than anything else Tony found himself drawn towards the commotion. Ziva was leaning against the dresser with her eyes closed.

"Woah, my ninja," Tony murmured as he stood behind Ziva, and placed a supportive hand at the small of her back. "I seem to remember you were put on bed rest Ziva, you aren't going to heal if you keep moving around all the time. Broken ribs are serious…"

"They are fractured, Tony. The way you say it makes me sound helpless" Ziva replied angrily, "Gaah! I hate being injured." She said opening her eyes and staring at Tony unhappily in the mirror that stood before them. Tony leant his crutches against the wall and took Ziva's hand in his own.

"I know you do," said Tony with a rueful grin, "but perhaps you can forget your Mossad training, and allow yourself to be taken care of a little." He asked with a question in his eyes.

Ziva leant back into Tony wearily. Allowing herself to relax her already strained muscles. She had been with NCIS for so long now, and yet she still found it hard to let her walls down sometimes. Normally with Tony she found it easier, but with everything that had happened to them lately Ziva had still been finding it hard to let him in.

"Did you manage to get much sleep?" Tony asked.

"A little," Ziva said with a smile. "I will admit that when I saw the dancing skeletons on Abby's blankets I did not expect to fall asleep so easily as I did."

Tony laughed, while eyeing the bedding appreciatively. "Yeah, it is a little creepy. You should see where I have to sleep! I'm pretty sure that bed used to be a coffin." Ziva tried not to laugh, holding tightly to her side.

"Sorry," Tony apologized, with worry lacing his voice.

"There is no need to apologize Tony" Ziva said. "I like it when you make me laugh," she added, almost shyly.

Tony raised his eyebrows in surprise, and stroked the back of her hand hesitantly. "Well, I like making you laugh." Tony's voice was quiet, causing Ziva to turn her face towards his.

A loud snore from the lounge, brought Ziva to her senses.

Looking into Tony's eyes, she realized how closely they were standing. Her back resting comfortably against his strong chest. She let out a quiet sigh, and looked down at her hand which was clasped protectively within Tony's. Tony intertwined his fingers more closely with hers.

Tony sought out Ziva's gaze with his own, while slowly leaning forward, and when she didn't pull away he placed a feather light kiss on the corner of Ziva's mouth, before stepping back and reaching for his crutches.

"I'll go and make us some lunch" said Tony with a smile, before he slowly manoeuvred his way back into the hallway on his crutches.

Ziva remained at the dresser, her eyes wide with surprise. Tony had kissed her. She placed her fingers against her lips hesitantly. The shock clear in her expression.

Meanwhile back in the kitchen Tony smiled to himself as he started preparing lunch.

Meanwhile back at NCIS…

Gibbs sat in the interrogation room.

Yaniv had been stonily silent ever since he had been brought back to NCIS for questioning. Gibbs was having trouble getting him to talk, and the more time Gibbs spent watching Yaniv Bodnar, the more he began to worry.

Gibbs couldn't help feeling as if the only person that might be able to get Yaniv Bodnar to talk might be Ziva. He knew in his gut that this guy would only open up to someone he knew. Yaniv's Mossad training held strong, and Gibbs had been consistently stone-walled for the past hour. The most this guy had given him was a sneer and a condescending look before he had picked a spot on the table and had proceeded to stare at it in silence.

Gibbs had questioned him, offered him understanding, and finally had yelled accusations, before he had fallen silent too, doing nothing more than taking stock of the man in front of him.

Yes, he thought to himself resignedly, this would have to be a job for Ziva.

Tony and Ziva were sat at the breakfast bar in Abby's kitchen. Ziva was balanced precariously on the edge of her stool trying not to put any unnecessary strain on her ribs, while Tony was sat next to her facing sideways with his injured leg balanced on the bottom of Ziva's stool.

Despite their wounds, they had both laughed at how ridiculous the other had looked, before they had both proceeded to dig into their lunch. Tony had made some sandwiches and had managed to put together a tasty fruit salad for them to share. Abby was still sleeping soundly on the pull-out couch and neither of them had the heart to wake her.

Tony made a mental note to offer Abby some money to go towards groceries the next time she went out, so that he and Ziva wouldn't have to keep eating all of her food.

Ziva was looking at Tony with her head tipped slightly to the side, as if she was trying to make her mind up. "Tony…" she began hesitantly.

Tony's head snapped up, the tone in her voice catching him off guard.

"About before…" she continued, "should we talk about this?"

Tony leant against the breakfast bar, and thought for a moment. Just as he was about to reply, his phone let out a shrill ring. Cursing under his breathe Tony fished it out of his jacket pocket, and shot an apologetic look at Ziva before he answered the phone.

"Hey boss. A little soon to be calling isn't it? Surely you haven't found Bodnar already?"

As Tony said this, Ziva leant forwards hopefully, but the growing look of disapproval on Tony's face told her all she needed to know. They hadn't found Bodnar. But then what would make Tony so angry? Ziva thought to herself curiously. She could hear the murmur of Gibbs' voice through the phone, but she could not make out what was being said.

Gibbs seemed to finish speaking because Tony replied slightly harshly; "That's not a good idea boss." But Ziva could see that whatever Tony disagreed with, was being explained in detail by Gibbs. Ziva looked at Tony's eyes curiously trying to read his mood. He seemed angry and annoyed, but by the time Gibbs must have finished speaking, Tony let out a sigh. "Fine, I'll tell her" said Tony before he hung up. He turned apprehensively towards Ziva.

"What is it?" Ziva prompted, their previous conversation momentarily forgotten.

"Last night they found out that the prints from the car that hit us belong to two people: Bodnar and a man called Hadar. It seems that Hadar was the driver while Bodnar was in the passenger seat. Bodnar appears to have been injured. McGee is trying to track Bodnar by trying to find his driver."

Ziva nodded. "But that does not explain why you are angry… what did Gibbs want? I doubt he would have called unless he had to. Am I right?" Ziva asked tentatively.

Dinozzo nodded. "He wants you to interrogate Yaniv," replied Tony. "He told me to say that you don't have to if you don't feel up to it, but as we both know you will say yes I am going to say something else instead… Let me come with you."

Tony watched Ziva. It was as if she was reverting back to her usual defiant stance right before his very eyes. Duty always came first he thought to himself with an unhappy sigh. However when she looked at him her gaze softened, and then that one glance allowed Tony to hope.

"Come on partner. It seems we have work to do after all." Ziva said softly.

A/N: I hope that you like this chapter, I had a little trouble writing it. There was a lot I wanted to put in it which didn't read well when I put it down on paper. So this is my first tentative step towards building a more solid relationship between Tony and Ziva. They still have a looong way to go huh? What do you think? ;)