Ziva was sitting next to Tony's hospital bed, staring at him. The doctor had informed her earlier that he was sleeping and he'd be able to leave within a week.

She reached out to touch the jagged cut that ran from his right temple to his under his eye. (Eye is unharmed). But before she touched it, she stopped herself and pulled her hand away. She couldn't stand the thought of him being hurt, especially when it was she could've prevented it.

She needed to leave, needed to get out of this hell that she'd fallen into. Needed to leave and spend some time alone and think.

Ziva laughed at herself. She had been alone for so many years before she was sent here and he walked into her life. Then Jeanne happened and she had been alone again, on her own, like she had always been.

She pushed herself out of the hospital chair and almost ran out of the room, unable to look at him. Unable to stand the thought of him dying.

Unable to stand the thought of what she had almost let happen.

She walked to the elevator and pressed the button for the garage floor. As the doors closed, she was completely and totally alone.

Like she always had been. . .

Like she always would be.

As soon as she got outside, she started walking away from the hospital, not caring where she was going. She walked cautiously in the dim light, not noticing that it was nighttime.

Tony's eyes snapped open. He was breathing hard and his body seemed to be acute to every smell, sound, and fell in the room. He laid there on his side, trying to get his breathing under control as his eyes, of their own accord, frantically searched the hospital room, not really looking for anything. He reached to rub his face, only to discover they were bandaged. What the hell? He thought. Oh yeah. The gun exploded.

Breathing under control, he flipped onto his other side and ran into a warm body. He stiffened. As he wondered who it was, he watched as the sleeping Ziva turned over and she buried her head into his shoulder.

He slipped an arm around her waist and listened to her breathing as she slept. At least, he thought she was asleep, until she whispered into his shoulder, "You're up early."

It wasn't a question but it wasn't statement either. He shrugged. Quiet settled over them as they each fell into their own thoughts.

She laid there in his arms, basking in the warmth they gave her. She knew it was only a matter of time before he asked the question that she dreaded.

Knew it was only a matter of time before he pushed her away. . .

She squeezed her eyes shut, and dared the tears to fall. Tears were a waste of energy, a couple drops of water in an already dried-up ocean. But still. . .she knew the question was coming.

So why was she sitting here, waiting for it to be asked?

Willing for it to be asked?

It was a stupid question, for she knew the answer. She loved him. She smiled into his shoulder and finally let her tears fall; her joyful tears. She said it again and again in her mind and every time she said it her nerves went ablaze.

Tony frowned as wetness seeped his shirt where her head was resting. He glanced down at Ziva, worried. "You okay, Ziva?"

He heard a muffled, "I am fine, Tony."

He frowned. "Then, why are you-." Realization hit him hard in the chest. Ziva only cried if she realized something big had happened. If she realized that someone had hurt someone she loved.

If she realized that she loved someone.

His breath caught in his throat. He pulled away abruptly, so abrupt that Ziva looked up at him in alarm, worried, her eyes asking him what she had done wrong.

But he had only pulled away so he could see her eyes. He gazed into them before he asked softly, "Ziva, do you-."

"I love you, Tony," she said, cutting him off before he could finish.

He let out the breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding before giving her a smile that dazzled her. "Thank god," he murmured before he pulled her lips to his. They kissed each other frantically as if, at any moment, they would be ripped from each other's arms and hurled to the opposite sides of the world.

After a few more frantic kisses, they slowly drew apart and gazed into each other's eyes, hers liquid brown, his piercing jade. They stayed like that for awhile, both of them comfortable in the silence that had settled over them. They stared at each other as if they could see one another's soul before Tony asked quietly, "Tell me about what happened that day, Ziva."

Ziva stiffened at the question. So this was how it ended. Minutes after we say 'I love you,' the moment flies from our gasp, she thought.

Tony felt her start to pull away and he saw from her eyes that her wall had come back up again. Instead of letting her push herself away from her like she always did, he tightened his arm around her waist. She struggled against him for a few seconds but couldn't budge his arm. She gave up. "Tony," she mumbled, "let me go-."

His lips descended onto hers. He grinned against her mouth as she moaned. She twined her arms around his neck and plastered her body more snugly against his.

A few steamy kisses later, Tony pulled back. He caught her face in his hands and gazed deeply into her eyes. He said softly, "Please, Zee. I want to know. I need to know." He skimmed her cheek with his thumb. "No matter what you tell me, I promise I won't be mad. And I will always, always, love you."

Ziva searched his eyes before she nodded. She hugged him hard once more before she stood up. He let her, knowing that she would not leave.

She walked to the window that covered the far wall. She stared down at the dark street below, not really seeing it.

Not really seeing anything.

She closed her eyes.

Tony watched as she told the story of the aftermath of the hijacking, but the horror at what she'd done didn't wash over him like Ziva expected it too. He just grew more angry, but not at her. Never at her.

And when he heard her voice crack, he wanted to go and kill the thugs that had done this to her, but he realized that he already did. But he knew that, right now, she needed him.

He yanked the IV out of his arm before throwing his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He walked, quietly, to her and stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. As soon as he did, she turned in his arms and pressed her face into his chest as her tears spilled over.

He rocked her gently back and forth as she cried, before he started to guide her towards the hospital bed. He picked her up and slid her under the covers before he slid in as well. He held her head to his chest and preened her hair with his fingers as he waited patiently.

Ziva woke up to Tony's heart beat. It was a steady rhythm against her ear. Her head rested against his chest, her back to the far window. She could tell that he wasn't asleep from the way his arms were tense as they held her close to him.

She mumbled into the shirt that the hospital had given him, "Did you. . ." She let the question hang in the air.

He answered immediately, knowing what she was asking, "No. . .couldn't. . ."

She flinched, guessing the reason why he had not been able to. She started to untangle her arms from where they were wrapped around his waist. One minute, she was doing this. The next, she was crushed against his chest, his arms forming a barricade around her to keep her from leaving him.

Frantically, she glanced up at him to see if he was in pain. He looked, oddly enough, calm.

She pulled back a little to make sure and froze when he looked down at her, his eyes shining with. . .love?

No, it couldn't be, not after last night. It couldn't be. . .

"Tony," she murmured, "You know I. . ." She ended it like that, knowing that he knew what she was trying to say.

He smiled softly, his eyes a liquid jade. "I know. . ." But then he seemed to realize why she had said it in the first place. He grabbed her face, forcing her to look at him. "Don't even think that what you told me last night changes anything," he said quietly, but forcefully. "I still love you and I will always love you, no matter what happens."

Ziva stared at him, searching his eyes before she threw her arms around his neck and smashed her mouth against his. At first he didn't respond, he was so startled, but then he tilted his head slightly and took the kiss deeper. Their mouths opened and their tongues met, dancing together to music only the two of them could hear.

He heard the machine go crazy in the background as his heartbeat elevated rapidly. After awhile, he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers. He said, his breathing ragged, "Love you, Zee."

"Love you, Tony."