Lie Again

Ziva's Flower Preference

Ziva was already wide awake when Tony walked in.

"I am fine," she insisted, though the IVs and circles under her eyes begged to differ.

He bit back a sharp "No, you are not fine," knowing she would only argue with him.
"How are you feeling?" he asked instead.

"I am fine," she repeated, glaring at him.

Wow, it's not like he'd just sat in the hospital lobby for three hours while she was in surgery. It's not like he'd been freaking out the entire time, thinking up worst case scenarios.

Was it so hard to get a little appreciation?

"I asked how you're feeling. I wasn't asking for a lie."

Too late, he realized what he said. "Ziva-"

"Where is Ray?" she asked, her voice on the brink of being emotional.

Tony shrugged. "I think he might've gone down to the gift shop to buy you some flowers or something." Honestly, he had no clue where Ray went; he hadn't seen the guy since he first showed up, and it wasn't like Tony was going to follow him around to babysit. Ziva was his first priority.

"Oh." Her eyes softened a little at the thought.

"I told him you prefer lillies to roses, but I don't know if he heard me."

That got a smile out of her. She smoothed out the hospital sheet. "You did not have to wait."

"Didn't want you to wake up alone." Tony mentally face-palmed at how inappropriate that sounded. He could've said anything about 'what are friends for' or 'you would do the same for me,' but instead he went for 'didn't want you to wake up alone.' Smooth, real smooth.

"Well, thank you."

She probably shouldn't be thanking him, he couldn't help but think. After all, he had sent Ray off to the busiest florist he could think of, just so that he could be the one there when Ziva woke up. Ray didn't deserve that honor, even if he was now Ziva's fiancé.

***

Ray knocked on the doorframe, even though he could hear that Tony DiNozzo was already in there talking to her.

"Come in," Ziva's tired voice answered.

He took a deep breath before entering, unsure how bad it was going to be.

Relief coursed through him as he saw that she was sitting up and had some color in her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry it took me so long to get here," he said, taking the lillies to her. She closed her eyes to inhale their scent, the corners of her lips bent up in a little smile. "Tony recommended a florist to me, and while I was driving to Georgetown I got a flat." He shook his head. "I just replaced that tire so I must have run over something."

Ziva cringed, and he realized too late how crude that was of him to say after her accident.

"I'm so sorry," he said again, placing the lillies on the side table. He pulled up the other chair and held her hand. "How are you feeling?"

She gave a quick glance in Tony's direction. "A little sore," she admitted.

Ray startled when Tony's chair scraped back.

"I'd better go call Gibbs. I told him I'd call when you were out of surgery." He left the room, closing the door behind him.

Ray traced circles on the back of her hand. "You want to tell me what happened?"

She sighed and rested her head back on the pillow. "We were chasing a suspect. His accomplice rushed in with a car and hit me as I was running. Tony drove me here." She squeezed her eyes shut. "The suspect got away."

"The case isn't everything," he reminded her, but he knew it wasn't his place. He rubbed her hand again. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

She started to shake her head, just out of habit, but then she had to nod. Just a tiny nod. Barely noticeable.

"Where?"

She pulled her hand from his so she could gesture to her hip and thigh. "The doctor said I have a mild concussion and fractured my hip and femur. I will not be back at work for weeks."

"We can use the time off to plan the wedding," he said, squeezing her hand lightly.

***

Ziva looked up as the door reopened and Tony popped his head in.

"Incoming," he said with a smile.

The door flung open completely and Abby rushed in, the rest of the team hot on her heels.

"Ziva! We thought you were dead!" Abby siad, running to Ziva's bedside for a hug.

The pressure didn't feel so great on her newly-repaired hip, but Ziva held in the groan. She was too exhausted for one of Abby's freak-outs.

"We didn't think you were dead," McGee clarified. "Just Abby."

Abby punched him for that, and Ziva managed a laugh.

"Well, here I am." She glimpsed the back of Gibbs' head as he left the room. Was he leaving already?

"What hardware did they put into place?" Ducky asked. He continued on to answer his own question, and Ziva tuned him out.

"Our Israeli ninja broke her hip before you, Ducky!" Tony said, making everyone laugh.

Even Ziva. "I definitely feel a lot older."

Ducky patted her hand. "You're still decades away from a real broken hip, Ziva."

Ziva turned to Ray, who, up until then, she hadn't noticed was looking very uncomfortable. "Did you hear that? He doesn't think this is a 'real' broken hip!"

He laughed, but it sounded forced to Ziva's ears.

She leaned closer so he'd be the only one to hear her. "I'll show you later."

That got him smiling.

But she couldn't take the moment to just look at his smile because Gibbs walked in and started clearing people out.

"Doing better, Ziver?" he asked. She watched his eyes flit to the lillies and then to Ray's hand holding hers.

"The doctors say so."

"And what do you say?" he asked, a grin gracing his face.

"I say I feel like I was hit by a car," she deadpanned.

He laughed and then lightly squeezed her foot. "Heal up. The team needs you."

She knew she'd never hear him admit that he needed her, too, but she figured the sentiment was there. If you read between the lines.

"I heal fast."

"Good thing." Gibbs nodded in her fiancé's direction and then left, taking everyone with him.

"I am a little tired," she murmured, letting her eyes close.

"Sleep. I'm going to go grab a coffee and then be right back."

She listened to his chair move back, his feet go to the door.

Tony would've stayed until she fell asleep.

*****

Tension, anyone?

Hope you enjoyed this... Sorry if I kept you hanging a little too long!

And sorry if you wanted amnesia or something weird. No offense to anyone, but I personally get a little annoyed when fanfics pull that. (You know what I'm talking about- main character gets hit over the head and can't remember her true love's face, oh no!) I'm just trying to stay true to the characters, even though Ziva's too much of a ninja to ever really get injured.

Oh well.

Notice I added a picture to the top?

Also, sorry if you kept getting notifications or whatever... I was scrolling through earlier chapters and found a couple mistakes. Anyway...

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