A/N: Wow, best review turnout yet! I am so flattered, thank you guys so much

Annnndd here's where I turn this into a PSA for what this story is really about:

Emotionally abusive people revolve their worlds around having control of their partner. They can and will do anything to stop their partner from leaving them, which in many cases, includes the complete destruction of the person's sense of self-worth, so that they feel there is nothing better. Their partner leaving them would represent the ultimate loss of control, so they do all that is necessary. They also differ from people who are simply mean in the principles of control and that as we've seen; people who are simply mean rarely make an effort to fool everyone around them as Shayla does.

(||||)

It's important to remember that much as it may seem like he is not, Tony is trying to save face here. The DiNozzo man managed to become what he can now only see as a shell of himself, but he hates you looking at him like that. He's still Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. The man who ran to Somalia to avenge his partner's (alleged) death. That is pretty damn badass, wasn't it?

With that in mind, he won't tell you about the nightmares, while curled up in Ziva's surprisingly girly bed, clutching the blankets and whimpering. Or how he felt Ziva's hands on his face, whispering softly.

And definitely not how he threw himself like a three-year-old into her embrace.

"Shhh, yakir. Shh…."

After what was certainly a very short and manly number of minutes later, Ziva guided him away from her, and held his face in her hands.

"Tony," she whispered. "Gibbs is coming. We are taking you to the emergency room."

Well, that brought him back. Tony's fairly certain that he simply babbled several hundred permutations of "no" for several minutes, but it had no effect on Ziva.

"Yes, Tony, yes. This is not normal. Now, I don't know what she did to you, but the Anthony DiNozzo I know can at least hold himself up while climbing a hill. We…we all love you, and this is why we are doing this for you."

"Ducky.."

"No. You are going to the emergency room. You are not going to Ducky as you are not a corpse, at least not yet, and I intend on keeping you that way. But Tony," Ziva ducked her head and looked right into his eyes, and damn it if it wasn't like staring into the eyes of St. Peter, but he digresses.

"What did Shayla do to you?"

(By this point the spell had pretty much broken. What before had been pretty murky waters regarding their relationship had cleared somewhat, so maybe in that moment, Tony saw Shayla as a little less than perfect)

"She….she wanted me to be more in shape, eat better. I swear, I swear to God, Ziva, that was all it was at first. Then…I lost a bill…she took the mail key…called me stupid, "why do I stay with you, asshole?"…I'm so stupid, Ziva, I…she said…she said I didn't deserve her."

The look on his partner's face defined murderous, but her hand, which was moving slowly up and down his arm, didn't stop.

Tony still takes this as a good sign.

(||||)

Three hours and one very humiliating car ride later, Tony is seated on a hard bed in the ER, unbearably tense for unknown reasons as the doctor strides into his cubicle.

Ziva is seated on an uncomfortable-looking chair a safe distance away, while Gibbs hovered, silent as usual by the door.

The doctor has on his face what must be a comforting smile for some, but Tony's not fooled. Still a Very Special Agent….

"Mr. DiNozzo," he begins. "I've got some good news, and unfortunately, some bad news as well. Good news is you're going to be just fine."

"And the bad news?" Might as well get right to the point. Beating around the bush is how he got into this mess…

The doctor bites his lip, as if considering how to deliver this particular news. "We got your blood work back. There were…higher levels of a particular chemical then we'd usually see. You appear to have mercury poisoning, Mr. DiNozzo."

Well, you'd expect at this point for everything to fall into place. You'd also be wrong, but then again, so was Tony.

Ziva shot up off her chair, stopped only by Gibbs' hand on her arm.

"Could this be accidental?" His boss asks in his usual soft tone.

The doctor shook his head. "Levels indicate a very high level over a long period of time."

He turns to Tony. "Mercury poisoning weakens all systems in the body. Its symptoms include weight loss, fuzziness in the mind, loss of control, memory loss, mood swings, emotional disturbance – any of this sounding familiar?"

And Tony can only nod, yet he does not see red. His mind is, for once, blissfully blank.

He doesn't think, can't think, and is oddly filled with the warmest sensation he has experienced for a long time.

(He doesn't realize till later it was Gibbs' hand on his shoulder. Boss had always been good at silently being there.)

"How could someone have done this?" Ziva breathes.

Another shake of the head. "Mercury is odourless and tasteless. Most likely it was put in his food." It's not what she meant, but she takes it in anyway.

The rest of the visit is another series of blurs, mostly involving his taciturn boss (who looked plenty angry himself) calming down the now-raging former assassin, the doctor's mouth moving as words with no real meaning came out, and Tony trying desperately to make sense of everything.

You know what he was thinking. Tony doesn't need to tell you.

(|||||)

Eventually, it was decided that for now, Tony would stay with Ziva (though the Boss' eyes fairly screamed rule 12).

Unfortunately, that meant that they still had to go back to Tony – Shayla's place and get his things. Not something he was particularly looking forward to, especially in light of the revelation that, oh yeah, she had been trying to kill him.

Still, of all people to take with him, a trained assassin who happened to be severely pissed off at the person in question wasn`t the worst choice.

Didn't stop him from shaking like a goddamn leaf as they approached what used to be Tony`s home, though

"Ziva! I didn't know we were expecting company! " Shayla cried as she flew to the door, only to meet a stone-faced Ziva.

"Get out," his partner hissed.

Shayla's brow furrowed. "I'm sorry? "

"Get out, or I will drop you out on your head."

Now Shayla's face formed into an expression Tony was all-too familiar with: anger. She stepped toward Ziva and grasped her arm lightly.

"Look, Ziva, this is my house. You can't"… was about as far as she got before she found herself halfway across the room with a flick of the other woman's hand.

Shayla's face was a mask of ugliness and Tony wondered fleetingly what he had ever found so wonderful about it. Just another one of his stupidities to add to the list.

Right after the fact that Shayla flew towards Ziva yelling "bitch" and his partner barely blinked, but Tony flinched, he flinched when the woman wasn't even coming for him.

Now, instead of her mildly dignified former position across the room, Shayla now found herself on the floor, face squished under a combat boot. Ziva leaned down and whispered in the other woman's face, and Tony could only think damn, she's amazing.

"Now, here's what you're going to do. You are going to leave here, returning only when Tony is long gone. You, who are so pathetic that you poisoned your boyfriend to get control of him, will never make an appearance in his life again, and we'll all be the better for it."

"And if I don't?" Brave to ask, Tony had to give Shayla that.

And rather stupid, because she had now found herself being dragged by her hair onto the wall.

"If you do, it may serve you well to remember that I am a trained Kidon operative, and I have killed for far, far less then someone trying to hurt the people I care about."

And doesn't it sound fantastic? Especially when you consider that Shayla did leave and Tony did uneventfully go home with Ziva that night (ha).

Don't pretend you can't hear that clock counting down, though. It should be so easy.