I think this is the most elegantly beautiful Aliyah/toc fanfic I have ever read.

I've read this several times, and I still feel the pain.
It's beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. :(

I had to quit "Tangled Up" after you made Ziva pregnant, but I decided to give at least one more of your stories a chance. I'm very glad it did - this is excellent! Very well done from both points of view. The differences from "Tangled Up" to this are so definite so marked that it would seem they did not come from the same writer.

Very good job with this. Thanks for writing and posting it.

pdf

This is so very good. The short sentences, short paragraphs...it matches so well the mindset of them both, in such pain, unable to hold a thought for too long lest it hurt more. Nice use of structure to convey mood and character.

I really like the thread about hope, how hope is cruel, especially in contrast to the idea of respect being fairly passive, while other emotions take more energy. I like that it's the non-verbal exchange Tony has with Gibbs that nearly drops him; the non-verbals on this show are SO strong (so many people who just don't TALK about serious things in direct ways that it has to be that way or they'd never cover anything of import) and you've really captured that, particularly in that line.

In addition to that bit, the lines that really strike me as powerful are "Be worthy of this sacrifice" and Tony's sense that "I'm already drowning. I'm not worth saving" and her hallucinations of them all are well-chosen for each character, then Ziva's desperation NOT to be the cause of Tony's death paired with her determination to have his face be the last thing she sees...the juxtaposition of "let me die" with "let him live"...and ending with him watching her sleep, and again the parallelism of her falling asleep to hearing him say her name and him hoping based on thinking she's said his...this is really BEAUTIFULLY constructed, top to bottom.

Oh, my goodness.

This made me cry, and that is something only a few select stories have accomplished.

Broken and beautiful. Perfect.

;-; *super cries* poor tiva

I've probably reviewed this before, but I have to tell you again how much I love it- haven't read it for a while and honestly have been hoping for something new from you, but decided to go back and read everything again, and have not been disappointed! It does make me wish they had addressed this whole part of Ziva's being rescued and her re-entrance into Tony's life on the show...but as is so often the case, they left us hanging so it's a good thing for your pieces!

So it turns out I never reviewed this one here! When I clicked review I wasn't sure if ff would let me or not. But re-reading this tonight it takes me straight back to ToC and omg the moments when Gibbs told them she was dead and again when the sack was pulled from over her head. I know NCIS isn't about that all the time but I loved that episode so much, Tony wouldn't live with out her so dammit, he went and found he *hugs Tony*. I love how you tell Ziva's story during ToC, the story that we don't know during all those months they think she's just angry at them and then lost and dead until ten minutes to the end and suddenly she's there all stunned and bruised and blank - and you get that same shock of reveal through Ziva's eyes not knowing if he's real Tony or her Tony and for Tony when she's revealed and all the colour floods back into his life and it's so overwhelming for him he nearly loses it. Agh! It doesn't matter how many times I read this I get teary every time *hugs*

Wow, spectacular! You hit every emotion and dug deep. Beautifully done.

I really loved the way you wrote this. The emotions were stunning; I wish we got more of that on the show. I loved how you got inside their heads, especially Ziva's. I've often wondered about how she saw herself dying as justifed, this let me get a little insight into that. Beautiful job. 3

Oh my goodness! This story is simply perfect. It's sad and poignant, yet hopeful and sweet-just a really lovely piece of writing. I love "missing moment" fics, and this filled in some of the gaps from the summer so very well. You captured both characters with an honesty seldom seen in fanfic!

I only just discovered your work tonight, and have added your name to my Author Alerts. Looking forward to seeing more from you in the future-keep it up!

I'm so glad I stumbled across your work! It is amazing. Excellent writing. I hope there is A LOT more to come.

Gorgeous. Thick and salty and rich with torment of every shade. I enjoyed the alternate views giving us the fullness of each moment and all the texture you put into their competing thoughts.

I think I missed this thinking I'd already read it- but I may have read it and forgotten. At any rate, I loved it, as I do all of your pieces. It was one of the best ones I've read about TorC. Please keep writing Tony and Ziva - you do it so well!

I just found this and it's beautiful. I loved the back and forth between the characters. It felt like a pendulum swinging or the sway of a couple on a dance floor. Your descriptions of their emotional turmoil was both heartbreaking and lovely, in a strange sort of way. A wonderful bridge between the finale and the premier that I think illustrates all that should have been said, but can't be accomplished in a hour-long tv drama. Very nice work.