Rifiuto: Non Miriena

Thanks to Sazzita for reviewing 10 and 11.

Ziva laid her head on his shoulder. After getting back to the station, they'd boarded the private plane NCIS had commandeered to take them and the girls home. Neither Tim nor Ziva had had a chance to clean up, so they sat together in silence, as the girls chattered softly together. He took her hand, lacing their fingers.

"Why did you come after me, Tim?" She asked, looking up at him. He met her gaze.

"Because I love you." She nodded.

"When I heard the gunshot... I thought..." She buried her face in his shoulder. He squeezed her hand.

"It's okay. I'm okay. We're okay."

Gibbs looked up. His agents were supposed to be exiting the plane now. As soon as Vance had gotten word that Reynolds was dead and the girls were okay, he'd brought Samuels home. Reynolds' brother-in-law had been arrested and charged with war crimes, and now, Samuels was waiting for his daughters to arrive. He glanced at Gibbs. Tony, Abby and the rest of the team were there, waiting for their teammates as well.

Finally, they saw a group exiting the terminal. The girls were flanked by RCMP, and they took off running when they laid eyes on their father. "Daddy!" Samuels knelt down, accepting his beloved daughters into his arms. Both girls buried their faces in his shirt, their tears starting. As Gibbs watched the tearful, happy reunion, he thought back on his own family, on Shannon and Kelly, and realized that Samuels had been spared having to bury his daughters with his wife.

"They helped us, Daddy! Mr. Niall and Princess Anastasia!" Amy said, pulling away. Samuels raised his eyebrows.

"They're NCIS agents, Daddy. They protected us, and when one of them got captured, he saved her. He said he wouldn't leave her." Elizabeth said. Samuels nodded, glancing back at Gibbs and Vance.

"Where are our probie and ninja?" Tony asked, craning his neck to see. "I don't see them. Are you sure they were on the plane?" He asked, turning to the girls. Elizabeth nodded.

"They sat with us." She said, turning back to search for them.

Tim glanced at Ziva. He gave her a small smile, before reaching up and taking her face in his hands. They had let the girls go ahead of them into the terminal, taking their time as they left the plane. Now, they stood just steps from entering the airport, gathering their thoughts and trying to figure out what to do in regards to their relationship. He gently brushed his fingers over the apples of her cheeks, searching her eyes for a moment, before leaning down and kissing her deeply.

"I know they were here!" They broke apart at Eliabeth's upset voice and made their way to the entrance of the terminal.

Gibbs looked up in time to see his agents step out of the terminal. Slowly, carefully, Tim and Ziva made their way into the waiting area. Hands held tight together, they walked slowly, and as they got closer, Gibbs was able to see that his agents had obviously suffered.

Both were a mess. Both had caked blood on their bodies; Tim's shirt was ripped, and he had several bruises forming and coloring, all in various shades of healing. His lower lip- much like Ziva's- was busted open, and he had a black eye. There was a hole in the shoulder of his jacket, and Gibbs could tell that the shoulder was injured by the way he held it. He walked with a limp, as though an ankle was broken, and his shirt was covered in blood, dust, dirt and God knew what else.

And Ziva was in no better shape.

She was just as bruised as Tim, if not moreso. Her clothing was ripped and she was pale; he could see bruises on her skin, and she appeared to be having some trouble breathing. Her lip was also split open, and her nose appeared to have been broken at one point. There was a gash on her cheek, open and infected. Her long dark hair was down in strings around her face, and there was blood on her clothing, much like on Tim's.

They held tight to each other, as if they were afraid to let the other go.

A moment passed, before Gibbs realized that something more had happened to Ziva than he could see. Rape? Assault? Attempted murder? What the hell had happened to his agents that they would return stateside looking like they'd both been dragged through a meat grinder multiple times? What had they gone through in Vancouver that made Tim grip Ziva's hand so tightly, or cause Ziva to stay glued to his side like two pieces of paper stuck together?

He'd seen the signs of budding romance whenever he'd talked to his agents, but had decided that it would go away as the assignment wore on. Evidently, it hadn't. But maybe that was a good thing. Maybe they needed each other now, to get over what they'd gone through. He watched as Tim pulled Ziva close- closer than should be humanly possible. He whispered something to her, and she nodded, nudging her nose against his in the process. She laced their fingers, whispered something back to him. He nodded, holding her closer as they talked in hushed tones.

"Princess Anastasia!" He watched as his agents looked up, their quiet conversation broken. Amy rushed from her father towards the two, and as she got closer, Ziva knelt down, wrapping the girl in a hug, never releasing Tim's hand. When she stood, Samuels stood before them, Elizabeth in his arms. He held out a hand.

"Thank you, both of you, for bringing my girls back to me. Thank you so, so much." They nodded softly, brushing off the praise.

As they watched Samuels and his daughters leave, the rest of the team joined them. "You look like hell, McMossad." Tony said gently. Both Tim and Ziva gave him nervous, small smiles.

"Are you two okay?" Abby asked, going to the couple. Tim and Ziva shared a glance, before finding themselves the object of Abby's study. She gently brushed the fingers of both hands over first Tim's face and then Ziva's, as if making sure they were really there, before wrapping her arms around them both. It was only then that they heard the applause, coming from the other members of their team, their director, the officers of the RCMP, the FBI, the other military personnel to meet them there to check over the girls.

As Abby pulled away, Tim removed his phone from his pocket, and pressed it into Abby's hands. "It's all there. His confession. It's all there." And without another word, he tugged Ziva past Abby, past everyone gathered to meet them. Several others turned to watch the couple, Gibbs included. He watched, silent, as the pair left the boarding area, eventually disappearing around a corner and out of sight.

"Boss?" He turned back to Tony. "Should we go after them?"

He shook his head. "No. Give them some space. After what they've been through, they need it." And each other.