Ziva pov

The familiar ding of the elevator snapped Ziva out of her head space, she couldn't recall how she'd got there and as such probably broke several laws driving back to the office but this was far from her biggest concern. She made her way to the bathroom needing to attempt to compose herself. And there she stood staring at her reflection trying desperately to cling to reality but her mind was betraying her. It was all too much, she barely made it to the toilet in time before emptying her stomach. Once finished, she sank to the floor bringing her knees to her chest trying her best to hide from her memories, to hide from herself. The entrance to the bathroom swung open and Ziva stiffened not wanting to draw attention to herself. She stayed that way stiff and waited until the door swung open again signalling that the person had left. Taking a few deep breaths, she left the safety of the bathroom stall and began to remove the evidence that anything had occurred. She had a job to do and she was going to do it well not just for her but for the petit officer and all those women who never got justice. With a newfound strength forged from anger at the injustice of the world, Ziva strode confidently out of the bathroom, sat at her desk and began typing. Recalling in as much detail as possible what had happened to her the night before. She only paused and took a breath when she got to the part where she went to Tony's debating whether this was relevant and if she needed to include it. 'This does not add to the incident' she thought to herself, 'No one would have to know, they wouldn't find out how weak I was after or the fact that I needed help from someone let alone that someone being Tony.' She was aware of the office gossip around the two of them and despite Gibbs' best efforts everyone would know what happened. Just like before, she'd be the centre of, what did Gibbs call it again stuttlebug? When Tony and the team had rescued her from Somalia the rumours that spiralled after were wild and lasted a long time. Some thought she had gotten pregnant, others only claimed that so much time was spent getting her was because Tony and her were and item. Many quietly, and rightly so, could not understand why so many resources were taken to rescue a foreign operative. Ziva knew of all of these rumours and did not want a recurrence.

She looked up from the computer to the monitor, staring for a moment at the ID picture of Cole. No. she could leave nothing out. For Anna's sake. It had taken her three hours to finish the report making it as detailed as possible. There was just one last thing for her to do. Being a trained investigator Ziva had saved the running clothes she was wearing. They were in a zip lock bag buried at the bottom of the wardrobe in an attempt to hide what had happened. More to hide it from herself than anyone else though. But Abby needed the evidence, this case had to be airtight and if that meant Ziva had to be in the firing line then so be it.

The journey home and then back to the office was done in much of the same haze as before. I wasn't until arriving at the door to Abby's lab that she faltered. The usual blaring rock music had disguised her exit from the elevator, she could see Abby half dancing and singing along while typing away. Ziva looked down at the parcel in her hand. It may have well have been a bomb with the sheer weight of what it meant. From this point on whatever happened could not be undone. A part of her wanted to turn around, shred the report and leave. But she couldn't do that, not to Anna. Although only knowing of the petit officer for a few hours she had deep-dived into her background. She knew she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's in material science. She knew from her work records that she had spent half a year in a postgraduate job before moving to the Navy. Her application letter spoke in length about her sense of duty. It mentioned her less than calm upbringing, one parent dead at age 6 the other being far removed from her life ever since. She was in search of a family and she found one in the Navy. So many parts of Anna's life rang true to her own. So much so that Ziva was struggling to untangle the two.

"I know you would do the same for me" she muttered under her breath before entering the lab.

"oh hey Ziva, what've you got for me" Abby asked in that joyful sing-song tone of hers.

"Evidence related to the Cole case, although this is from a different crime with what we believe are the same attackers. Gibbs will have more information for you once he is back."

"Okay, just leave it on the pile there I'll get right on it, oh Ziva I've been meaning to ask, do you want to grab lunch together this week?"

Ziva didn't hear Abby's question for she was already at the elevator, having placed the evidence on the desk she ran like wildlife fleeing a burning woodland. Desperate to escape the inevitable coming days.

Tony pov

Tony had gotten no work done since Gibbs left. McGee had given up trying to snap him out of it and had just accepted he was going to finish everything himself. Not that there was much left to do, just finish interviews and taking crime scene photos. Gibbs had taken all the relevant evidence back with him to give to Abby.

McGee flashed the camera at Tony's face " HEY, did ya hear me Tony?"

"hm" "I said I'm done lets go."

In the short time it took from the drive to the crime scene Tony's whole attitude to the situation had changed. He was no longer too scared to ask Ziva what happened, he didn't care about how it made him feel horrible to see her when she was hurt. He just wanted to wrap her in his arms and fix everything. During the past two hours of standing around while McGee worked all Tony had done was beat himself up, why didn't he see it? He's a trained investigator for god's sake why couldn't he see what was right in front of his face. While he didn't have all the details, he could gather the general idea of what happened that night Ziva arrived at his doorstep. And why did he let her walk away, he should have held onto her and not let go. Well, he'd be dammed if he was going to make the same mistake twice.

McGee hadn't even parked the car when he was out running to the office. The elevator door pings open and Tony almost flattens the poor intern trying to get in. He rounds the corner and looks down to find her desk empty. Her go bag gone. He'd failed again. "Boss?" Tony asked apprehensively to Gibbs who is sat at his desk.

"she was gone when I got here" Gibbs gets up and drops the file he was reading onto Tony's desk "left this though". Tony picked up the report as though handling an infant, looking down at it in fear and anguish. "Want to help her DiNozzo? Read the dam report."

Tony sat down took a breath and opened the file. He read every single word no matter how much he wanted to look away as she detailed every moment of the attack in perfect detail. He'd often joke how her amazing recall ability was like a superpower but from this perspective, it was a curse. To be able to remember the precise times everything happened, which street lights were out and the order of every punch thrown. She will never be able to forget this, 'god that means she remembers everything from Saleem's camp' Tony realised. He had never really considered it before, she never mentions it, it's not like Tony forgot it happened more he assumed she didn't remember most of it. Otherwise, how had she coped this past year if she remembered every detail of that so vividly? It's only when he gets to the part where she arrives at his door does he shuts the file. Tony does not need a blow-by-blow of his mistakes that night.

Tony looks up to find Gibbs staring at him "go" he nods to the door and Tony wastes no time grabbing his bag and getting in his car. His mind had never been so clear, so focussed, his only thought, was Ziva.