All roads lead to Paris

Part 4

The next day everything was normal again. Tony stood up on time to take a shower and to make breakfast for Tali and him. He joked a little with Tali and then took her to school. He promised her again that he will be on time this day. Tony was sitting in his car and felt like something is wrong. He did not know what he is going to do next. He decided to get some coffee first and then think about the next step. A few minutes later he was standing in front of the big entrance of the hospital where Ziva is in. He wasn't even sure how he got there. And why he was holding two cups of coffee in his hands. He went in. It was a bit weird for him because he had no idea what was going on. He stood in front of her room and looked through the glass door. She was asleep but looked a bit better than the day before. He walked inside and sat on the chair. He looked at her deeply. His heart beat fast. Ziva moved her head to the side. Tony was surprised, because he didn't even know if she was awake since the last time he was there. Tony held out his hand and took away a piece of her hair that was lying in her face. In that moment she grabbed his arm and turned it quickly. "OMG Ziva stop!" "Who are you and what do you want from me?! Get out!" Tony was shocked he did not know what was going on. "What?? Don't you recognize me? Ziva it's me Tony." Ziva loosened her grip. "I don't even know somebody named Tony." "What?!" Tony was very confused. He rubbed his arm which was hurting badly. Ziva looked around with a confused look in her face. As her eyes met Tony's again, she looked even more confused. "Hey...please calm down and listen to me." She began to cry because of her confusion. "Hey hey.... Please...listen to me." Tony tried hard to calm her, but she refused his gestures. "I don't know who you are. Why should I listen to you? And where am I? Who am I?"

She put her head on her knees and started crying again. "You don't know who you are? I know it, I can tell you who you are if you want." Ziva lifted her head and nodded slowly. Tony came closer and put his hand on her arm to calm her a little more. "So where should I start. Where we are? This is a hospital in Paris. I don't know why you were here, but you got in a car accident. You... You are Ziva David, a crazy Israeli ninja who decided to go to America to start a new life as an American. You and I were coworkers at NCIS." "NCIS... What is that?" "Naval Criminal Investigative Service. You came as a liaison officer between NCIS and Mossad. Your father is Eli David. Or better was. He was the director of Mossad." "What? I don't understand?" Tony sighed. This was difficult for them both. How should he help her when she doesn't remember anything? "I think you should drink something." He gave her the coffee he brought for her. "Here, like you always drink it." As he gave her the cup Tony could clearly see her hand shaking. She was extremely confused and uncertain. She took a sip of coffee and Tony took a big one too. In this moment, the doctor came in. "Hello. Good to see you awake. My name is Doctor Harrison. I'm responsible for you." She did not react in any way. Tony answered for her: "Good to know. But she doesn't remember me and who she is either." "Huh... that's probably caused by the accident. Can You remember anything?" Ziva slowly moved her head. "Nothing? Hm..." The doctor went to the monitors to check her values. "Is anything else wrong?" "No. I'm just confused." Those last words were hard to say for her. She never shows her feelings easily. A tear rolled down her cheek. Tonys heart hurt as he saw her so damaged and confused. "We have to wait and check on her every hour to make sure she gets her memory back. If you want to you can show her some pictures of herself and try to help her getting back her memory. But try not to confuse her more than she is in this position." "I will." Tony grabbed her hand and squeezed it smoothly. Ziva looked at him confused and sadly. While leaving the room the doctor said: "I'll come back later to check on you."

He closed the door and walked away. Tony took the chance to talk to her. "Hey, I'll be with you, if you want to or not. I won't leave your side without you getting back your memory. It's ok to be confused or sad or angry or something. If I had lost my memory, I would drive myself crazy." "Would you?" "Yeah, I could not remember anything good that happened in my life and that would be very scary. And driving myself crazy is my specialty." Ziva laughed a little about his silliness. "I don't know who you are, but I know exactly that you drive me crazy too." Tony laughed as well. "That's a good start I think." She nodded and slowly lied back down again and looked at Tony before asking him her question: "Did we have a relationship?" Tony smiled confused. "Uhm... I don't know how to explain it to you..." "Just try. Did we have something?" "We were close, I think. But at one time someone was after you and I tried to find you and succeed. We shared the first, but also the last night together." "So, we were something like girlfriend and boyfriend?" "Not really... Rule 12 ruined everything." "Rule 12? Sounds familiar to me. What is it?" "It's one of the rules our boss made. Rule 12 is 'never date a coworker'." "Did we break it?" "No technically no. We quit our jobs as a team to protect us and our boss. So, we weren't coworkers anymore." "Did our story have a happy end?" "No... 3 years after this your house where you were hiding got blow up. I thought you were dead, everybody thought you were dead. As we heard from the explosion the director of Mossad came to us to bring... uh..." Ziva looked confused. "Bring what?" "I think I should tell you this on another day..." "Hey! You started that sentence, so you have to finish it. I want to know." "No, it's not the right time. I have to go now. Tony stood up but as soon as he was standing Ziva grabbed his arm to stop him. "Please don't go. OK fine you don't have to tell me but please don't go." Tony wanted to leave but he could not resist the puppy eyes he saw in her face. "OK... Fine. I stay but only for two hours more and then I go." "OK." Tony sat down again and stayed there.