Chapter Text
Gibbs looked out of the window.
Gibbs watched as the houses got closer together, lights becoming brighter as they worked their way towards civilization.
“Do we have a cover story,” Luke asked, Gibbs could tell that even though he wasn’t voicing it he was clearly nervous, or anxious, he couldn’t really tell which one.
“Does anyone have their badges on them,” Gibbs asked, he didn’t have his, it was in his desk, he hadn’t taken it with him to go see Vance as it wasn’t needed.
“Nope, I kinda went a little off the book,” Tony said.
“Not surprised DiNozzo,” Gibbs said honestly, he had come to the realization that DiNozzo would always go off the book and risk anything when it came to Ziva, recently, but looking back on it he should have realized it sooner.
“I snatched your badge, sorry, but figured it might come in handy,” Anya said shrugging her shoulders innocently.
“I never thought that I would thank someone for stealing from me,” Tony said looking at her as he ran his fingers through Ziva’s hair.
“Slight problem, all you guys are banged up, so what will happen if we say we are all together and I am perfectly fine,” Luke asked quickly, finding some logic. It was clear to Gibbs that he didn’t want to ruin his career.
“I could beat you up,” Anya threw in quick to the jump.
“No,” Luke said quickly.
“You have a better idea, for explaining why you are perfectly fine, yet the rest of us are sporting, gunshot wounds, bruises, or currently one run in the cold away from not being able to breathe?” Anya asked sharply, Gibbs was sort of surprised at her straight-upness, she wasn’t even trying to make it sound like anything that it wasn’t. He could respect that.
“Hey,” Tony said sounding offended, but it was followed by a weak cough that just proved the point that Anya was trying to make. Gibbs was worried about him, his lungs weren’t great, to begin with, and the cold wasn’t really helping matters
“DiNozzo,” Gibbs said, warning his agent to just let it go.
“Boss, she isn’t doing so great,” Tony said after a moment in a slightly panicked tone, in his voice, Gibbs turned around and looked at Ziva who was laying almost completely on Tony’s lap. He reached, behind him and felt Ziva’s forehead, it was warm under his touch, and she leaned into it. Gibbs frowned, as he withdrew his hand, she shouldn’t have that bad of a fever from the amount of time they had spent there.
“We got another ten minutes until we are there,” Luke said before Gibbs could even ask.
“Good,” Tony said.
***
Abby, felt the anger starting to seep out of her now that Sergei was gone, it was replaced by worry by the unknown. She was still mad but not as much anymore, she was worried and hoped that it worked out. It had to work out, at least that is what she told herself as she let herself drift off to sleep.
***
Anya’s arm was starting to hurt as the last of her adrenaline drifted away. She was tired, Ziva was somehow restless beside her. Muddy wet shoes dug into her thigh, kicking her occasionally. She wasn’t going to mention it though, not that it would do anything if she did, considering Ziva was pretty out of it.
“So, am I beating you up, Luke?” Anya asked she couldn’t help but want to punch him.
“I guess if you really think that it would help sell the story,” Luke said humorously.
“It will be my pleasure, Luke,” Anya said a slight grin coming over her face.
“We are almost there only about a minute assuming that traffic isn’t too bad,” Luke said, turning as the went further into the city light filling the interior of the truck.
“Good,” Tony said, he was unable to keep the worry out of his voice, and she couldn’t blame him, it was strange seeing Ziva so still.
Luke took one last turn and pulled into a smallish hospital parking lot, as he pulled to a stop, and parked before he could do anything else, he could do anything else, Anya pushed his head forward and slammed it into the steering wheel forcefully.
“Oww, what was that for?” Luke questioned looking behind at her.
“To get you beat up obviously,” Anya said, her Russian accent thick with sleep once more.
“Well I think you succeeded,” Luke said his nose bleeding slightly.
***
Delilah looked out the window of the hospital room, Tim had finally gone to sleep not that long ago, but try as she might her brain wasn’t turning off. It was the middle of the night and she was tired but she couldn’t let her mind rest. It wouldn’t let her rest she couldn’t sleep.
***
Gibbs looked around the waiting room, Ziva had been rushed back to somewhere, Anya close behind, for her arm. Tony was sitting beside him filling out paperwork, he was pretty sure it was for Ziva, not himself.
“You, her next of kin, DiNozzo,” Gibbs asked curiously even though he already suspected the answer.
“Yeah, kind of surprised she never changed it,” Tony said tiredly letting out a week cough afterward.
“Why? Who would she change it to, all her family is dead, and even if her father was still alive you can’t exactly put the Deputy Director of Mossad as the person to contact in case of emergency,” Luke said startling the two of them out of their thoughts
“I don’t know?” Tony said coughing again.
“Hey, guys, can one of you sign me out so then I can get out of here,” Anya said appearing from nowhere.
“Sure, even though you gave me a black eye,” Luke said bringing himself up, holding a piece of gauze to his nose to stem the bleeding from his contact with the car.
“I would say sorry but that would be a lie besides, couldn’t have you coming in looking like you were perfectly fine now could we,” Anya said a pained grin on her face, as she led him back towards where ever she had come from.
“How you doing DiNozzo,” Gibbs asked now that he was alone with his protégé, he knew that the younger man was worried about Ziva, the two of them had been worrying over each other for the better part of ten years. He wasn’t blind, he saw the things they thought they kept hidden.
“How do you think Boss,” DiNozzo said turning the page and setting it aside, it appeared as if he had finished filling it out.
“Not that great considering you are out here and she is in here,” Gibbs said, gesturing towards the direction that she had been taken with his chin.
“I worry about her, ok, I would do anything to keep her safe,” DiNozzo said not giving any more away, other than what Gibbs already knew, and for as much as he knew he still felt like he was missing a part of the puzzle.
“And she thinks that you wouldn’t,” Gibbs said truthfully, remembering the conversation he had just a few hours earlier.
“I would ask why, but I already know the answer,” Tony said, burying his face in his hands, Gibbs looked at his agent with a critical eye, the clothes that he must have been wearing for the past few days since he had seen him last he had been wearing the exact same thing.
“Self-loathing,” Gibbs said having dealt with his fair amount back following when Shannon and Kelly had died, he never quite got over it. It felt like he could have moved on with Jenny, maybe but he ruined that, and then she was gone, he had pretty much given up on love at this point.
“Yeah, she did seem a little more stable, this time around though,” Tony said, Gibbs knew he must mean compared to when he found her in Israel, only to be forced away.
“When the two of them get back, I am going to leave with them, you stay here, I will drive out in the morning to come and get you,” Gibbs said knowing that he should get going and that Ziva really shouldn’t be left here alone unless they want her to disappear on them.
“Okay,” Tony said another cough escaping his throat.
“Good, and get yourself checked out too,” Gibbs said bringing himself up, even though he hadn’t been checked out yet.
“Got it, Boss,” Tony said before slumping back against the chair.
Gibbs walked towards the direction that Luke had come from and almost bumped into them.
“Can you take me back to DC?” Gibbs asked.
“Yeah, is he going to stay here to wait?” Luke asked beckoning to Tony.
“Yup,” Gibbs answered.
***
Tony was ushered into Ziva’s room about an hour later, she was wearing a hospital gown and her normally tan complexion looked pale under the harsh hospital lights. He walked into the room thankful that his badge had allowed him to be in the room even though it was the dead of night. She was lucky the bullet to her shoulder hadn’t done too much damage. She lost a lot of blood and had an infection but she should make a full recovery.
He sat in the hospital room chair and just looked at her, he was fine, the doctors said to just take it easy for a week as to not stress out his lungs. He delicately took Ziva’s hand and held it in his own, rubbing his thumb across the back of it. He brushed the hair out of her face, and just sat there holding her hand, knowing that it was all he could do.
He saw the scars that littered her arms, some harsh, but some looked a little more neat and precise. He suspected that she had done that to herself and his heart sunk a little, they were going to have to have some conversations in the days to follow once they both recovered fully. There was going to be some conflict in the coming days but he chose to believe that it would work out, well he hoped that it would work out.
He couldn’t wait to meet his godson though, assuming that Jimmy hadn’t changed his mind, he was sure that Jimmy would also be thrilled to see Ziva, the two of them were very close.
He choose to believe that everything was going to work out, he had to believe that, he couldn’t let himself think otherwise.
***
“For what it is worth Agent Gibbs, I am happy that this worked out,” Luke said as he neared DC.
“Me to Officer Cohen, if you need something I owe you both a favor,” Gibbs said truthfully, he did owe them they had helped save him, and Ziva and he wasn’t going to not repay it at some point.
“I will keep that in mind through my retirement because for some reason you can never get out of the game,” Anya said, he remembered someone telling that to him when he worked in Russia he couldn’t remember who though.
“Me too Agent Gibbs,” Luke said, giving him a slight nod.
“You two going to be okay?” Gibbs asked, he didn’t want the two of them to go down for something that they did to help him, too many good people had already done just that.
“Yup, catching a flight tomorrow morning, tell Ziva I said bye,” Anya said, tiredly from behind him.
“Where do you want me to drop you off,” Luke asked since Gibbs had never told him specifics.
“Naval hospital,” Gibbs said, he needed to see that McGee was okay with his own two eyes before he could allow himself to relax.
“Got it,” Luke said taking a turn and heading towards the hospital.
***
McGee cracked his eyes open the early morning light beginning to filter in through the windows, with the sun just beginning to rise. Delilah was asleep beside him, her head resting on the blankets arms folded. He was glad that she was sleeping no matter how uncomfortable it looked, and it did look uncomfortable.
“McGee,” Gibbs said stepping into the room coffee in hand, he looked tired exhausted even, but not in the worse shape that he had ever seen him.
“Hey, Boss what about Ziva,” McGee croaked out, his throat dry.
“She’s going to be okay,” Gibbs said, McGee just nodded his head in response.
***
Ziva felt herself begin to wake up, there was a hand wrapped around her own, and a weight beside her legs, she pried her eyes open and saw a familiar shock of hair. She squeezed the hand and felt a squeeze back.
“Hey,” Tony said softly lifting his head and looking at her carefully like if he looked away she might disappear.
“Hey, is everyone else ok?” Ziva asked immediately.
“Yeah, McGee is fine, Gibbs is checking in with Fornell, Anya is with Luke, Boss said she is planning on catching a flight out of here soon, you had me worried,” Tony said, bringing her knuckles up and placing a kiss on them.
“I am okay,” Ziva said, but it didn’t convince either of them that she was.
“Sure, and I am the Boss,” Tony said.
“You are the Boss now, DiNozzo,” Gibbs said, walking into the hospital room, coffee in both hands.
“You are retiring?” Tony questioned, as Ziva looked at the clock on the wall telling her that it was late morning, almost noon.
“Yup, DiNozzo, I am,” Gibbs said handing the two of them coffee.
“I am in charge again?” Tony asked for clarification.
“Yup, don’t mess it up,” Gibbs said walking out, and Ziva wasn’t sure what he was talking about, being in charge or their relationship.
“So, I think that we have a lot to talk about,” Tony said turning back to her, taking a sip of his coffee as he did so.