"Tony," Ziva kissed her husband lightly, "Dr. Kenneth checked me out and just like I told you I am fine. Gibbs is the one with a concussion. Please, take him home and get him settled and stay until Fornell gets there, you know how Gibbs is."
"And what am I supposed to do?" Tony crouched in front of Ziva as they waited for Gibbs to finish the hospital paperwork. Nurses and visitors buzzing around them and Ziva could see the concern etched on his face. "Drop you off at home, alone, like-"
"An adult?" Ziva finished. "Tony, I shot a man twice in the chest today. I think I can handle finding the remote on my own at home."
"I don't like it," Tony groused.
"McGee can't stay with Gibbs right now. He has to coordinate with Sportelli and Abby is already receiving evidence and there is not much time for all of this, you know that. Gibbs should not be alone right now. There is nothing wrong with me. And I would go with you to Gibbs' house but I would like to finish that project before tomorrow," Ziva patted Tony's arm trying to reassure him.
Tony nodded, "OK. Fornell said he'd be over in a few hours so I guess it should be fine. But," he glanced at his cell phone, "I called Bishop. She just texted me. She'll stay with you at home until I get there."
"Excuse me?" Ziva looked at Tony with surprise. "I do not need Bishop to stay with me."
Tony glanced over at Gibbs before wheeling Ziva to a far corner where he took an empty seat and pulled her in front of him. "I'm stressed out today. I should have been with you at therapy, I shouldn't have-"
"You cannot be with me every minute of every day," Ziva leaned forward. "I know you are upset but we have been in situations like this before. You have never been so...so worried before. I need you to be my partner again not my guardian."
"I am your partner but I am also your husband." Tony's eyes were intense as he looked at her, "and even if you want to believe you can take down a terrorist with just a flick of the wrist...you really can't right now."
"I protected Gibbs, did I not?" Ziva challenged.
"Yes," Tony nodded. "And I am very proud but that could have gone very different. You are still non-mobile from the waist down. That is going to change but until it does I am going to worry. I can't help it, Ziva. You were gone for a long time and I really didn't handle that time well. I think I have earned the right to kvetch as much as I want."
"I know," Ziva relented and smiled as she reached out and touched his face. "When I am pregnant you are going to be crazy I think."
Tony's face lit up, "I am going to wrap you in bubble wrap from the neck down and stick a football helmet on your head."
Ziva laughed then her smile faded before narrowing her eyes at Tony, "That was a joke right?"
"Maybe," Tony grinned then stood as Gibbs walked over.
"If you want Bishop there then fine," Ziva threw him a sideways smirk, "but if her chatter gives me a headache then you Mr. DiNozzo are not getting lucky any time soon."
"Maybe I can get Dorneget..." Tony looked at his cell then up as Gibbs stepped up to them.
"All set," Gibbs stated.
"Tony is going home with you until Fornell arrives," Ziva told Gibbs firmly.
"I don't need DiNozzo-"
"I'm hurt, Boss," Tony said as he stood and took the handles of Ziva's chair.
"I am allowing Bishop to stay with me until Tony can come home," Ziva stated. "So do not give him a hard time."
Gibbs turned and gave the nurse with a wheelchair for him a death glare before shrugging at Ziva. "Fine."
Tony drove Ziva home first and took her upstairs to make sure all was well. It was late afternoon and expected to only be with Gibbs a couple of hours. Ziva assured him she was fine and armed and then Bishop exited the elevator. Oh joy, Ziva thought.
Ziva parked Bishop in front of the TV and told her she had a few things to attend to. Then went about packing a small bag and picking her favorite weapons. She finished up in the dining room writing checks for bills twelve months in advance and made a neat pile to mail. Ralph, the night doorman, had agreed to mail one stack a month. Everything was neatly set.
They had plenty of money; Ziva had retrieved more than enough from some of the bearer bonds her father had left her and deposited the money in a new account under the new names McGee had created for her and Tony. Until Hoffman was dealt with she and Tony would be; Anthony and Sophie Z. Moretti. Everybody got to keep their first names except her. McGee thought that Ziva was too exotic for farmland, Virginia. Ziva argued that Ziva was fairly common...in Israel. But McGee didn't bite however he did allow for her middle initial to be Z and they would tell the neighbors she preferred to be referred to as Ziva. Gibbs was now Gibbs Jackson, McGee was now Tim McNally, Abby was Abby Sanderson, Ducky was Donald Mannering - after an old friend.
As Ziva finished up the package for Ralph and tidied up the table she wondered how long this would actually take them. Weeks? Months? Or was Tony right and it would take a year to hunt down Hoffman? She knew she'd be walking long before a year's time and was anxious to get back to work at NCIS. Her life had been in flux for so long now and she wanted Tony to be doing what he loved to do not languishing away on some farm in Virginia. Ziva nodded; they'd find him and arrest him that was what they did.
"Need any help with anything?" Bishop asked as she poked her head into the dining room.
"No," Ziva wheeled back and towards Bishop, "I think I have everything ready now. Would you like something to eat?"
"Nah," Bishop stepped back and gave Ziva room to wheel into the living room. "I ate before I got here. But I can get you something?" she asked eagerly.
"I am fine," Ziva smiled. "I had something at the hospital." She glanced at the TV and saw that wrestling program Tony likes on. "You like-"
"Yeah," Bishop said as she took a seat on the couch again, "I had a boyfriend who wrestled and he taught me some stuff. I watch it to pick up new angles."
"There is a gym at the end of K street," Ziva recalled, "I think it is Thursday evenings they have professional wrestlers come in and teach classes and do light bouts with students. I made friends with Freddie, one of the instructors; I can give him a call and ask if he'd give you some pointers if you want?"
"Oh!" Bishop sat up straighter, "I'd love that!"
"Good then," Ziva grinned, "I'll give him a call right now." She pulled her cell out of her pocket and left a message on Freddie's voicemail about Bishop with Bishop's cell number.
"Thank you so much, Ziva," Bishop said. "And can I ask; how do you do it? I mean I've heard the stories about you from before…and even today protecting Gibbs…I mean-"
"It is simply training, Bishop," Ziva slipped her cell back into her pocket, "I have been trained for this kind of work since very young."
"I think there is more to it than that," Bishop nodded, "Tony said it is because you are stubborn…and because-" she put her hand to her temple, "I'm sorry,Zivvva. I suddennnly ha've terr-a-ble headach-"
Bishop fell backwards on the couch and Ziva wheeled to her immediately but then suddenly had the same feeling Bishop did, a pounding in her skull. Ziva's head snapped towards the front door and she wheeled her chair back quickly, shook her head and pulled her gun out from under her seat. Her vision grew blurry and she blinked furiously.
The front door opened and there he was; Hoffman she presumed. It was the hooded man with the same mask. Ziva aimed her gun but realized she was too unsteady to accurately aim at his head.
"Staay where you are!" she ordered.
Ziva pulled the trigger – if nothing then the noise would bring others; but the man lunged at her and took the shot in his torso, muffling it with the vest he wore.
He then wrenched the gun out of her hand and threw it across the room.
"I am here to save you from them," he whispered in her ear. "They have hurt you enough," he continued, his voice cracking with emotion.
"Are you Hoffman?" Ziva asked unsteadily as she turned her head and raised her eyes to stare directly at him.
He pulled back and removed his mask, "That was a name I went by when I was being used. Now I am your deliverer."
"I do not need you," Ziva said and noticed the surprise on Hoffman's face.
"But you do," he said as he straightened and went and opened a window. He then turned back and grabbed Bishop's arm, hauling her up off the couch.
"STOP!" Ziva screamed. "Do not touch her. She is not here to harm me but to protect me."
Hoffman stared at Ziva for a long moment as if trying to comprehend what she was saying. Ziva thought she understood what he was about, "Others hurt me," she said, "that is why I cannot walk. But those around me now are my guardians."
Hoffman dropped Bishop and kneeled before Ziva, "You do not have to lie. I understand they did it to me. They forced me to do their bidding; they put me in rooms with demons."
"Yes," Ziva looked directly into Hoffman's eyes and tried to make him believe all she said, "they did that to me but I have escaped. I am with my guardians now. Like this," she gestured to her legs, "I am no use to them." Her heart was pounding out of her chest – her one goal right now was to save Bishop's life.
"They discarded you after you-" Hoffman clenched his jaw in anger, his fists hit her chair's arms. "Jonas should have destroyed more of them."
"Jonas?" Ziva asked.
Hoffman's face searched hers as if she should have known what he was talking about. He started to pull back and Ziva, head and heart pounding, vision still not completely clear, reached out and touched his arm.
"You sent Jonas Cobb?" she took a chance, adrenaline pumping through her she tried to keep her voice even.
Hoffman calmed and nodded, "Yes," he said as he crouched before her again, took her hand and squeezed it, "but how could you have known," he mumbled to himself as if understanding. "He was one of my disciples."
"Forgive me," Ziva brought her hand to her temple, "but my…my" what was she supposed to say? "My memory is not intact."
"Jonas…so many of us were part of the same experiment. I don't know how they found us," Hoffman ran his hands down her arms, "but I've seen others and saved them. The demons have latched on to those of our kind. You are not safe."
"I am safe with my guardians," Ziva explained. "You should leave." She didn't want to just let him go but she had few options. She needed to get him away from Bishop before Bishop was his next victim and she could not subdue him without her legs or a weapon. But, even with her vision compromised because of what must have been gas he pumped into the apartment, she still saw his face. She could describe him now.
Hoffman put his hand behind her neck and pulled her forward until her forehead touched his, "You are protecting me," he said as his eyes closed. "You are protecting me."
What ya think?