Hey, I realize this is a little shorter than my previous chapters, but I have been off and on with writer's block, and I just wanted to get this posted before I got off the 'mood' again. :D So, anyways, I just wanted to mention that I was missing my usual dosage of hurt Tony (I do realize I am evil to the characters), so I added a little bit of it in there. Hope you enjoy! Buon divertimento!

Oh yeah, and this is one of those rare times when I want to reccomend a story. This one is called Heart of a Child by NCISVU. This devilish thing is part of the reason I haven't been able to update lately. It's really good, I suggest you read it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

Characters are AU

~Very Special Agent Bandit

(P.S. Oh yeah, and I just dislocated my kneecap, so that and Thanksgiving probably means I won't update as regularly as I wish I do. Probably near Christmas or something. Thanks!)

Attention

Chapter 14

The snow was already near melted by the time Tony stepped out into the broad daylight. Today was a good day. Today was the day Ziva came home. Ziva'd been away from NCIS too many times to count in the last six years, but this was the time that Tony actually felt… excited. Sure he'd been excited to go rescue Ziva in the middle of the desert, and sure he'd had fun spilling out confessions to her, but this time was different. This time he had actually, truly missed her. Not the faint kind of missed, like he thought about her once in a while, no, he really missed her. Like he thought about her twenty-four seven, and couldn't stop until she was home.

As he slid into his car seat, he realized he was anticipating the welcome home far too much than thought normal, considering she was just his partner. Just was a four letter word. It was a stupid word used for making somebody feel bad. Like 'shewasjusthispartner' or 'thatwasjustokay'. It wasn't fair to those who used it, but didn't mean it. Whoever came up with the word was a cheater. He wanted those who used it to feel bad when they did, because they didn't mean to, theyjust did. How many times could Tony get his mind to wander like this again.

He started up the engine, and his mind returned to Ziva. Though the bomb explosion hadn't been particularly bad, she'd still been banged up pretty bad, and Tony felt for her. He hadn't been able to see her much, but he knew she was in pain. It worried him. He wished she really was okay enough to go home. Perhaps Gibbs would let Tony look over her. Maybe. He started out to the road, noting how icy it was, despite it almost being the end of January. He was struck by the silence of the car, shifted uncomfortably for a second, and then turned on the radio. Good ol' Journey. Oh, what it can do to your mind. Tony smiled at his own thoughts and turned the volume up. It wasn't until he slid a bit on the road, that he decided he should be more careful. He stopped bobbing his head, lowered the volume of the music, and returned his full attention to the road. What Gibbs would do if he were to crash. What Ziva would do if he got into a crash. Right now, all he needed to focus on was getting to Gibbs house safely. Without breaking any laws or getting in any way injured.

Us NCIS agents have problems with that, he mused. A smile crept onto his face as he neared a stop light. He sniffed, looked out the window, and continued his thoughts. Scare everyone to death, check. Have someone else scare you to death as payback, check. Live happily ever after… to be determined. He chuckled meekly at his own joke, and pressed the gas pedal as the green light from the stop light filled his face. He turned a corner, and then another, following the road by heart.

When he finally did pull up at the Senior Agent's house, Ziva had already come home. He'd missed the party. He shrugged as he stepped out of the car. No problem, he'd dealt with being late before. He always was. It's not like people expected him to be on time, much less early. His footsteps crunched in the white, pure snow as he approached Gibbs' house. His heart was fluttering with excitement by the time he approached the porch, and he couldn't help the grin sneaking it's way upon his flushed face. He knocked on the door once, before entering, as usual. It wasn't ever locked. Didn't Gibbs ever worry about if someone slipped in his house in the middle of the night when he was sleeping? Tony checked himself, and chuckled. Gibbs didn't need to worry about people sneaking in, because all he had was a boat and some food in his refrigerator. And who in their right mind would try to kill him, when Gibbs slept with a gun under his pillow? Who in their right mind would try to kill him for any reason? Tony didn't get the minds of some terrorists.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs' voice rung from the living room. Tony smiled, he could've been blind folded and he would've found his way through Gibbs' house. Of course it was coming from the living room. It was either that or the basement.

"Boss?" Tony tiptoed into the room. Judging from the tone of voice Gibbs had used, Ziva'd been sleeping. And she was. She lay wrapped in a blanket, curled up in a tight ball on the sofa, looking like an angel. And she was snoring. Peacefully, but snoring. Tony laughed within himself. She was sick. She was injured. And she still managed to keep the qualities she'd possessed back when they went under-cover for the first time.

Gibbs sat in the recliner, a cup of coffee in his hands. He nodded for Tony to sit on the loveseat sofa, and Tony accepted the invitation, tempted to kick his shoes off like he had when he'd been 'living' at Gibbs' house. "How is she?" he lowered his voice and idly fingered the fabric of the sofa.

Gibbs shrugged, "Doctors said she was fine. She'll be healed completely within the next few weeks or so. She was dead tired to start with, so I wasn't too surprised when she crashed on the couch here."

"She'll be alright though? No major scares or anything?" Tony took a deep breath.

"She isn't you, DiNozzo," Tony looked guiltily at his shoes.

"Well, I'm just a little concerned, that's all. If there's nothing else, I'll be going, seeing as I missed the welcoming committee. Abby already left?"

"Five minutes ago," Gibbs replied coolly, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Funny, I didn't see her when I came down the road," Tony tried for small talk, still wanting to stare into the ninja's angelic face as she slept.

"She takes a different road than you do," Gibbs caught onto his desires, and for once, let him.

"Hmm," Tony propped an elbow on the arm of the sofa. "Does she look alright to you, Boss?"

"She looks fine. She can take care of herself. You might as well go to work, there's no need for you here right now," Gibbs paused, and pursed his lips, "I'll be there shortly."

Tony didn't reply, and instead placed his chin in his hand. At that moment, Ziva stirred, and Tony's breath caught. Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled weakly, catching sight of Tony's face, "Morning," her voice was hoarse, "Why are you here?"

"To welcome you home from the dreaded hospital," he smiled in a dramatic voice. She gave a small chuckle, and glanced at Gibbs.

"Hey," her voice sounded frail, "Abby left?"

"After you fell asleep, yeah," his voice was gentle. Ziva sat up and stretched, carefully of her injured arm and sore muscles.

"Well," she shifted uncomfortably.

"As long as you're awake, I might as well head to work early," Gibbs stood, and Tony followed suit.

"What?" she wriggled around and looked back at Tony, her eyes shining, "But…"

Tony just smiled at her, "Payback, missy."

Ziva snorted and rubbed her temples," Call me 'missy' again… and I'll kill you. Right here, right now."

At this statement, Tony started to chuckle. He stood, exchanged looks with Gibbs, and they both headed towards the door. Ziva stood, and put her hands on her hips in protest, "What if someone tries to murder me while I'm gone?"

Tony thought he saw Gibbs roll his eyes, "You'll take care of them."

"But I'm injured and unstable," she whined. It was so uncharacteristic of Ziva. Tony started to laugh again.

"Here," Gibbs dug in his pocket and pulled out an extra gun, before handing it to her, "You'll be safe now."

They both started towards the door once again, Ziva padded after them, "But, Gibbs…"

"I find it so sweet you want us to stay with you," Tony grimaced at the look she shot him.

"I don't want to be alone," Ziva huffed and crossed her arms childishly.

"We won't be gone that long," Tony smiled back at her, "You'll be fine."

"I don't want to sit around all day, doing absolutely nothing."

Gibbs turned towards her, "Sleep."

"Gibbs," she started, but he hushed her. She lingered back and watched them sorely. Tony strutted out towards the car, laughing loudly.

"And Ziva?" Gibbs turned towards the agent.

"Yeah?" Ziva stopped in the doorway, and cocked her head towards him.

"You will not come to work tomorrow," Tony started laughing in the background, clutching his sides.

"But Tony came back!" she put her hands on her hips in protest. At this statement, Tony was on the floor laughing.

"After five weeks or so."

"But-"

"I don't need to hear anything more from you," Gibbs started out of his house, "Get up, DiNozzo, you're ruining my yard."

"Sorry boss," he quickly scampered up, his face impassive, "Won't happen again," he shot a look at Ziva, who was taking her payback, laughing hard as well. Tony coughed awkwardly into his hand, and straightened his suit.

Gibbs smirked, and slid into his car, his icy blue eyes twinkling. Tony shot another look at Ziva, closed the door, and got into his own car.

"It's torture, McGeek," if someone were to pass by at that moment, and hear that line, they'd think it was about a case, considering they were an investigation agency, but when was the first thought ever right?

"I know, Tony, you've been telling me for the last five seconds. Can we focus on something different? Play Tetris or something," McGee snorted and turned back towards his computer.

Tony paused in thought, "I mean, just leaving her alone makes me shiver. She probably burnt Gibbs' house down in boredom."

"Tony," McGee glanced over at the concerned agent, before rolling his eyes.

"Fine," he snorted, "How's that novel of yours coming?"

McGee turned towards Tony, joy printed on his face, "Actually, it's going great…" he paused at the smile playing on Tony's lips, "You don't really care, do you?"

"That's where you're right, Tim," Tony shook his head amusedly and looked down at the paperwork from the last case they'd had. "It'd be better if we were out working a case, but being cooped up in here, I mean, I just can't take my mind off of her."

"Tony, I'm pretty sure you'll survive," McGee was getting over the initial shock that he'd called him 'Tim'. Perhaps he should get used to it, "We'll know what's going to happen next when Boss gets back from MTAC."

"He won't let us leave until we're done with the paperwork," Tony huffed and slumped down in his seat, "Unless it involves children."

"Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe it will," McGee shrugged hopefully.

"That's a lot of 'maybes' there, McGee," Tony scratched his ear and continued to scribble as if he were actually going to do something, but instead threw his pen down and put his head in his hands, "My first day back, McGee, and of course she's thrown into a bomb trap. And now she's at home alone, when there could be people out there trying to kill her. And we wouldn't know, because she's too proud of herself to call us for help."

McGee stared at this sudden statement, "But you gave her a gun, right?"

"Yeah, but it just didn't seem right. When I first came back from the hospital, I could barely pick up the gun, much less use it."

"Well, you'd gotten pneumonia, which kind of was expected to be a whole lot worse, considering you'd just battled a bout of the pneumonic plague six years before. Of course you were worse off then Ziva," McGee sighed and rubbed his nose.

"Well that's cheating," Tony huffed childishly. "Using my own sickness against me."

"Considering the subject was you, I find it kind of fair," McGee rolled his eyes and returned his attention to whatever paperwork he was doing.

"I hate this, I really, really, hate this," the anxious agent stopped and stared thoughtfully at Ziva's desk, flexed his hands, before retreating back to his work once again.

"I know, Tony, I've only heard for the last four hours or so."

"Where is Gibbs?" Tony threw up his hands in exasperation, and peered at McGee, who shrugged, "Why hasn't he come down? Doesn't he know we're dying down here all alone?"

"You know, DiNozzo, I can arrange it so you are dying," Tony flinched and turned around to meet the cool eyes of Gibbs.

He cringed harder, "Hey boss, I was just, referring to-," Gibbs seemed to have cared less, and instead strode to his desk. "Oh man…" Tony muttered under his breath, still cringing.

"Dead body, Boss?" McGee stood up, a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"No, McGee, missing fugitive," he tossed his coffee cup in the trash with intensity that made both of the younger agents wince. McGee gave a soft sigh of relief, standing, and gathering his gear. Tony grinned as well and slyly picked up his gear as well.

Gibbs, without even looking at the Senior Field Agent, barked crisply, "Stay here, DiNozzo, finish the paperwork."

Tony sighed and sat down heavily in his chair, "By myself, all of it, Boss, I mean that seems unfair?"

The older agent turned towards Tony, his icy blue eyes glimmering, "Complain again and you'll be doing paperwork all of next week as well."

Tony stuck out his bottom lip in a pout like a little kid as Gibbs and McGee entered the elevator. The Probie winked at Tony and waved, but Tony just ignored him, and stared down at the stacks of writing. Perhaps he'd go to Gibbs house and get Ziva to help him. Tony paused his train of thoughts, and studied the paperwork. What was he rambling about? Ziva hated paperwork even more than he did. All of Gibbs' team hated paperwork. Even McGoo. Maybe he'd still force it out of her. He'd decided earlier that he was going to see her anyways.

As he continued to scribble on the white parchment that lay in the crisp manila folders. He shuffled through them for a second, and his eyes widened as he stared blankly at the closed folder. A shadow passed over the agent's face and suddenly a raucous cough emerged from his lips. He groaned inwardly and raised a hand to his mouth as a coughing fit overtook him, and he let his hand drop limply, before clutched at his sides. He'd almost forgotten, though he was almost healed, he still had bits of pneumonia.

"Are you okay, Tony," Abby had appeared in the bullpen, and rushed over to his desk.

"Yeah, Abbs," he took a shuddery breath, "I'm fine. Just… emptying my lungs. Pitt told me it was good for me."

Though he'd tried his best at reassured the now worried scientist, a concerned expression lingered, "Just don't die on me, okay?"

"Abbs, it was one coughing fit," he stood and brushed the bangs from her eyes.

"You're all flushed," she furrowed her eyebrows, and sighed.

"I am fine," he repeated, sitting down once again, before smiling warmly at her, "Is there a reason you came up here?"

"Is Gibbs around?" she went around the desk, and settled on Tony's lap.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her closer to him, hugging her from behind, before kissing the back of his head, "Nope, he and McGee went to go find a missing fugitive."

"I didn't get to tell them to be safe," Abby studied the papers on his desk, "And you're stuck doing the boring work, huh?"

"Yeah, Gibbs rules. I can't go out in the field until next week," Tony sighed, and let Abby stand up, before he scooted his chair forward, taking the pencil in his hands again.

Abby lingered in front of his desk for a moment, watching him with her intense green eyes. She cringed as another dry cough erupted from his lips, "Are you sure you're going to be okay?" she dug around in her pockets as he nodded, "Do you need to go see Ducky?"

"Abbs," he sighed in exasperation and looked up again.

"Here," she tossed him the cough drop she'd dug up as she exited the bullpen, "Don't die while I'm gone!" she called.

Tony chuckled in appreciation and opened the cough drop, "Oh," he smiled and popped it in his mouth, "Cherry, my favorite."

A/N: I have no clue why I felt oblidged to end it there. Maybe I'm just high on painkillers xD Anyways, please review because it makes me all happy and warm on the inside and it also keeps me writing. (And to Naomi, for whenever you reach this point, that includes you!). And here's a sneak peak of chapter 15:

Ziva stepped forward suspicously, kneading her hands together anxiously. She pressed her face aginst cool black glass, and peered out. She lurched back when a white face suddenly appeared on the other side. She gave a small yelp as she dived for the gun, and pointed it at the dark glass. And then there were thousands of pale faces leering back with them, guns pointed straight at them. This was going to be fun. And where was Gibbs?

Ooooooh suspenseful! Hope I didn't scare any of you :D

NazChick: Haha, I didn't want to make them too hurt. Yet. Haha, thank you :) Hope this satisfies? :D

Robern: Thank you, I like writing it :)

Long Live BRUCAS: Haha, when my grandpa had a stroke, that's basically what my brother and I did, so I had to put it :) Yes, sorry but I like Tiva, haha :)

luzma: Thank you so much! You're really awesome ;) You're reviews always make me happy :D Your English is fine :D

FeatherFur: Thank you so much :D

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO READ AND REVIEWED! YOU'RE ALL SO AWESOME, I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! HEARTS! :D

xD