"Anthony DiNozzo?"

Tony stretched out on his couch where he must've dozed off during a Bond marathon. "Yeah."

"Do you know a Ziva David?" the official sounding voice asked.

Instantly he was alert. "Yes."

"You're listed as her next of kin."

His heart jumped into his throat. "What? Who is this?"

"My name is Tori, I'm calling from University Hospital. Ms. Day-vid-"

"Dah-veed," Tony interrupted, annoyed that no one on the planet seemed to be able to get that pronunciation right. And what the heck was she doing back in DC? Last time he saw her was in Israel, where she had clearly decided to stay.

"I'm sorry. Ms. David was brought in earlier with serious injuries. It would be best if you came."

He tried to remember how to breathe. "Is she okay?"

"She's...stable," the woman replied. "Give your name at the front desk when you arrived." She hung up and Tony allowed one moment of panic before propelling himself into action and rushing out the door.

Halfway down the hall he realized he forgot his keys and raced back for them. All he could think was one thing - ZivaZivaZiva. Making it to the hospital in record time, thankful the one siren he'd heard was going the other direction, Tony hurried inside and introduced himself. And though he was desperate to know how she was doing, what seemed like a mountain of paperwork had to be filled out before he was allowed to go any further. A white coated doctor met him in the hall and Tony rubbed perspiring palms on his jeans.

"What happened?"

"Ms. David was in a car accident earlier today. She sustained multiple lacerations, extensive bruising, and a fractured tibia. She's going to be out of commission for some time I'm afraid."

If it wasn't so grievous he would've snorted and shaken his head, then explained to the doctor about his partn- about Ziva's driving history. But this was no laughing matter and he rocked back and forth from heel to toe. "Can I see her? Please?" he added hopefully.

Finally being useful, the doctor nodded and opened a door. "Go right in. But be careful. She's not to be moved."

With the door shut behind him, the stillness in the room was evident. The first thing Tony heard was the steady beepbeepbeep of the machine measuring her heartrate, but Ziva was the only thing he cared about and he approached the bed slowly. One of her legs was encased in plaster and propped on pillows. Bruises darkened her forehead and cheek, and the arm resting on top of stark white sheets was wrapped with gauze that presumably covered one of the cuts the doctor mentioned. An IV line was taped to the back of her hand and a nasal cannula fed a steady stream of oxygen into her lungs.

Filled with trepidation, he approached the bed slowly. For a long time he stared at her, watching her chest rise and fall and seeing the pulse that beat under her chin. He couldn't remember ever seeing his invincible best friend so fragile. Just as he was going to sit down Ziva stirred and he moved quickly to lean over her, one thumb rubbing along her eyebrow. "Hey sweetheart, how're you doing?" He tried to keep the tears from showing in his voice, but after eight months of silence he didn't think he'd ever see her again.

Her forehead furrowed. "Tony? What are you doing here?"

He chuckled. "I think the better question is what are you doing here? When did you get back?"

She rolled her head slowly to the side and studied the medical equipment. "I don't know what I am doing here."

"Car accident, according to the report. Semi vs. car, you lost."

Ziva's fingers traveled gently across the gauze on her arm, though the pulse oximeter on her index finger gave her a pause. "I do not feel very bad." Which was not exactly the whole truth. Her entire chest was sore and drawing in air felt uncomfortable, probably because the seatbelt she never liked wearing had done its job of holding her in the car rather than letting her be flung out of it.

Tony touched her hair. "They're giving you some good drugs. Things might not be as pleasant when they wear off." It was hard to tell how much she was taking in, the confusion was evident in her expression. He tapped her shoulder to get her attention because he had to know the answer. "Ziva? Why'd you come back?"

Her eyes grew shiny and she sniffed. "I missed you," she confessed quietly. "I missed everyone. And I wanted to come home. So I thought maybe I'd just...bag groceries for awhile and see how I liked it."

He was pretty sure his mouth fell open. "You're coming home?" Ziva nodded and he swallowed. "For good?"

Two small tears slipped down her cheek and it took everything inside him not to wipe them away. "If you'll have me." She looked down at her immobilized self and stretched her leg, wincing at the familiar throbbing. It wasn't the first bone she'd broken and one didn't forget that kind of pain. Tomorrow would not be very much fun. "Although, this is not the way I pictured our reunion."

Unsure if he should sit on the bed beside her because of the doctor's strict warning about movement, Tony pulled the chair up close and sandwiched her uninjured hand between both of his. "Oh yeah? What did you picture? Just showing up at my door to see my reaction?" Granted, having had that dream enough times the real thing would've been hard to believe.

Her lips curved slightly before he could warn her about the small cut on her upper one, but she learned quickly. "No, that is too much like a movie. But then...most of what I came up with seemed to be like a film scene."

"Like what?" Tony hadn't heard her voice in over two hundred days, selfishly he wanted her to continue talking even if it hurt.

One shoulder shrugged, immediately accompanied by a small groan and she closed her eyes as her injuries began making themselves known. Beside her Tony tensed. "Zi? What is it? Do I need to get someone?"

He was rising to his feet before she could respond but an almost non-existent tug brought him back down. "No, I am fine." The look he gave her was almost laughable, but amusement would cost her more pain than it was worth. She evened out her breathing and waited for the discomfort to fade. "I...though about running into you in the coffee shop, or staking out the magazine stand, or waiting in the dark outside your favourite movie theater. But after...how we parted..." She shook her head. "I was not even sure you'd even want to see me."

If she wasn't hurt he would've shaken her. "For an intelligent woman Ziva, you can be really stupid sometimes." Her face scrunched at the insult but he kept going. "What part of 'come home with me' didn't you understand?"

"It is one of the only times you have said what you meant, I was paying attention." Ziva's gaze drifted towards the blind covered window. "But that was so long ago, and I did not come. I had no way of knowing if you'd moved on. Maybe you did not need me messing up your life again."

He held her hand tighter. "I was never going to move on from you Ziva. I love you and you broke my heart. Those wounds don't heal easily."

Her sorrow at his bluntness was obvious and she tried hard to quell the sobs that would only cause more anguish to her battered body. The tears, however, couldn't be stopped and they streamed down her face. "I'm so sorry."

Tony's jaw clenched. "I don't want you to be sorry." He gently pressed her hand over his heart and spoke the words in no more than a whisper. "I want you to make it better."

For several minutes Ziva couldn't get control of her emotions. She tried, but it seemed like everything from the last year just crashed in on her all at once and she wasn't designed to handle that amount of unfiltered feeling at the same time. To his credit her partn- Tony stayed quiet, giving her time to process everything, tenderly stroking her hair and arm and the cheek that wasn't bruised. Finally she forced her way past everything and managed a most important question.

"Do you still?"

"Still what? Want you home? Of course."

Ziva shook her head. "No. Do you still...love me?" They'd never before come right out and said it, hiding behind banter and teasing and flirting and anything else that might cloak the true meaning of what they wanted to share.

Tony shut his eyes and took a breath, bending over to murmur in her ear. "Ziva David, I will always love you."

More tears escaped and she couldn't remember the last time she'd cried so much, except perhaps the night she made him leave. The moment she walked in the door of the house where he'd found her, she started crying and did not stop until she'd worn herself into an emotionally exhausted sleep. She clutched at his shirt, the worn t-shirt material soft against her skin. "I should have used the right words to tell you at the airport."

He gently loosened her grip and sat up slightly. "If you said it out loud, no hidden meaning or veiled truth, you never could've made me get on that plane."

Her chin quivered. "I...love you too."

Doctor or no doctor, he couldn't miss this chance. Tony closed the distance between them and brushed his mouth ever so lightly over hers, grinning like crazy when he moved back. "Took you long enough."

Ziva tried to roll her eyes but they suddenly felt heavy. She blinked sluggishly. "I feel...floaty."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I took advantage of your distraction to push the button for pain reliever. You're starting to make funny faces and I know you wouldn't do it for yourself."

She lifted her hand to swat his arm and missed him by several inches. "That is...not fair."

"Deal with it." Her eyes drifted closed and he ghosted his thumb along her eyelashes. "Relax Sleeping Beauty, I'll be here when you wake up."

Her hand fumbled for his as she fell asleep and he clasped it firmly. "Pr'mis?"

The drugs took effect and he kissed her forehead, then sat back in the chair. "I promise. There's no way on earth you're getting rid of me now."

Tony got comfortable in the sterile hospital room, with the beepbeepbeep of the heart machine and soft whoosh of oxygen to keep him company. It might not look a lot like happily ever after, but this was the next part of their story and he couldn't think of a better way to start than with one very important word - Hope.