"Grap your gear! Dead navy lieutenant at Arlington." Gibbs said as he walked down the stairs and towards his desk to get his own gun.

"Shouldn't we wait for Tony?" Ziva asked, Tony was an hour late which was unusual for him. Sure ten minutes didn't surprise her but an hour? He hadn't mentioned anything about an appointment either this morning or late last night. He hasn't talked about a woman lately so unless he suddenly learned to keep his private life secret that also wasn't the reason he was late. The first hour of work was spend on figuring out why he was late.

"Tony called in sick this morning." Gibbs answered already on his way towards the elevator. Ziva looked at McGee and they silently asked him if he knew anything, he looked as clueless as she felt, McGee shrugged his shoulder. First time for everything right?

The ride down the elevator and towards the car was spent wondering if Tony ha given any hint of what he was up to, this was the first time that Ziva and from the look of McGee knew of that Tony called sick, without them knowing he was going to play hooky.

There was only one conclusion that made sense to Ziva, he must really be sick. She had seen him come in with, coughs, colds and even some fevers. Tony wasn't a man to call in sick for just anything. Ziva quickly checked her phone before getting into the car with Gibbs and McGee.

Nothing, no missed calls, no text, nothing. Disappointment flooded her system as she looked at her phone. She tried to push the feeling away with a deep breath, because she really didn't have a good reason to feel disappointed. She just was, they were friends, partners and something more, she just wasn't sure what that more was, but that would at least give her the right to expect some message of him that he was sick right?

At the end of the day Ziva was drained of all energy. She still hadn't heard anything from Tony. Getting all the evidence from the crime scene had gone incredible slow, her concentration had been lacking all day. She was happy with the excuse that it took so long because Tony wasn't there, to keep Gibbs of there backs, but truth was that she just wasn't focusing enough.

-TIVA-

"Talk to me." Gibbs said the late the next morning when he came in after having talked to the CO of the lieutenant. Both Ziva and McGee said their bit, but they realized that they really were missing a third set of hands. It didn't matter that she had realized it many times before, in times like these she really noticed how much work Tony did.

"Did you hear anything from Tony?" Ziva asked after the were done briefing Gibbs. She could see McGee looking at her clearly questioning her reasons for asking.

"He came in early this morning, he looked terrible so I sent him home." Gibbs said. He walked passed her and slapped her on the back of the head saying "Focus." Before walking to the elevator to go to either Abby or Ducky.

"You could just text or call him." McGee said as he sat back down behind his computer to look through the financials of the victim.

Ziva just through him a look and went back to her own desk to search through the email account of the lieutenant. After ten minutes she gave in though, pulling her phone our of her jeans she sent Tony a quick text message.

"Gibbs said you came in this morning, but still aren't feeling well." After that Ziva looked at her phone, now what was she supposed to say. 'hope you're feeling better' but he clearly wasn't otherwise Gibbs wouldn't have sent him home. In the end she settled with "Call or text if you need anything, Z" She pressed sent before she could change her mind.

-TIVA-

Ziva checked her phone when McGee and her where on their way back to NCIS after interviewing a close friend of the victim the next day. Again nothing.

"You expecting an important call?" McGee asked as they turned the corner and drove onto the navy yard.

"No why?" Ziva asked, feeling the sensation of getting caught come over her, even though she was doing nothing that was particularly out of the ordinary.

"You looked at your phone for the ninth time today. You never check your phone." McGee said pointedly.

"Oh," Looking back at her phone, Ziva wondered if she had really looked at her phone that often and if it was something she didn't usually do. The black screen, no light flashing in the corner indicating she had a message or a missed call stared back at her.

-TIVA-

Ziva had been driving by her favourite take away restaurant and noticed chicken soup was on the menu. She made a split second decision and order two bowls of it. Another ten minutes past and she was knocking on Tony's door. When there was no answer, even after knocking 5 times Ziva took the back up key in case of emergencies out and opened the door.

She had expected Tony to be lying on the couch, covered by a blanket head on a extra pillow watching a movie. But the living room was dark, the only light coming from the street lights out side.

"Tony?" Ziva called out and walked towards the kitchen to put the soup and bread she gotten on his kitchen island. No response came but she noticed light was coming from his bedroom. Ziva opened the door and walked into the room.

Tony was lying in his bed under three blankets and as far as Ziva could see he was also wearing a long sleeved shirt, sweat stood on his forehead and his hair was sticking out to all sides. Slowly she moved to the side of the bed and sat down on the edge.

She moved his hair out of his face once again calling his name. "Tony." Trying to wake him up, she hadn't seen any dishes, which probably meant he hadn't eaten anything.

Suddenly with a heavy cough Tony turned away from her. The cough just kept going and he had to take a couple of moments afterwards to breath normally again. Suddenly Ziva felt nervous about waking him up, what if he had finally been able to sleep and she woke him, or he didn't want her here.

Turning back Tony let himself fall back into his pillows, a hint of a smile appeared on his face as he looked at her. "Hey." He whispered not being able to speak any louder because of his throat. He was a bit surprised at seeing her here, but the happy feeling that started from his heart spreading around his body made him feel slightly better.

"I brought soup? You want to bring it out here or do you want it in the living room?" Ziva asked, smiling at him as she saw him lighten up even more at the idea of soup, or maybe it was the idea of her bringing soup.

"Living room." Tony whispered, he hadn't really been out of bed yet and he figured it might do him some good to move his body for a bit.

Ziva nodded and walked back out the bedroom to get the soup ready and turn on the lights in the rest of the house. Tony turned himself so that his legs were falling next to his bed before pulling himself in a sitting position. The fever made him feel sore all over and it took him some time to collect the energy to stand up and shuffle towards the living room and the bank.

Chuckling Ziva walked into the living room with to cups of soup and some slices of bread and put it on his coffee table. The image of the usually very kept and very handsome Tony now sitting on his couch with a blanket wrapped around him tightly made for a funny sight.

"Are you making fun of me?" Tony whispered as he accepted the cup of soup when she sat down next to him. He noticed that for the first time since he became sick the smell of food didn't make him nauseous and he took that as a good sign.

In comfortable silence they both ate their soup, Tony was proud to say that he was able to eat three quarters of the soup and was even able to eat to slices of bread. After that however he just went to lie down on the couch. His head ending up in Ziva's lap, she looked at him, she couldn't help but be curious if he did this on purpose or if he was just looking for the easiest and most comfortable position. In the end she didn't really care.

"Are you feeling a bit better?" Ziva asked her hand moving to slowly stroke his hair away from his forehead.

He looked up to her and nodded calmly. "Have you seen my phone? I haven't seen it in a while." Even his voice sounded a little stronger after having eaten something.

Ziva looked around only to spot his phone in the charger next to the couch. She reached over for it and took it out of his charger. Tony took the phone from her and looked through his missed calls and text messages. Most weren't really important and figured he could respond another day. There was one however that caught his attention.

"Sorry I didn't see you texted." Tony whispered putting his phone down on the couch.

"Don't worry, I just wanted to check in." Ziva answered, swallowing the annoyance and disappointment she had felt the last few days at not getting a response from him.

Tony looked at her, even though she was looking straight at the TV as if something was playing on it and from his angle he could only see half of her face, he could still read her. "I'm sorry I should have checked in with you."

"It's fine really." Ziva said, and it was, he had been sick, he hadn't looked at his phone.

"No it's not." Tony said, trying to sound determent but it just resulted in another round of coughs. He sat up trying to get more air to his lungs to make the coughing stop. When it finally stopped he just dropped back his head resting once again in her lap.

She looked concerned, her eyes full of worry. Tony just smiled at her, though I might have looked more like a grimace, but he got her to smile back at him. "You missed me?"

Ziva looked at him, her standard answer of no at the tip of her tongue. But she hadn't felt like herself when he didn't answer her text, she hadn't had a good discussion and it was way to quiet in the bullpen, they had twice as much work and looking at him, with that half smile that made her smile she decided to be honest. "Yes."