She sat in the corner crying. She knew she shouldn’t be crying, shouldn’t be letting him see her like that. It gave him pleasure that he had won her over; he had domination of her now. Normally she was a very strong, bright person. Now the light she held had faded to a whisper of dust and been blown away. She was getting weaker and she knew it, she knew that he knew.

She quietly sneaks into the hallway, tears cluttering her vision. She takes a small step towards the door, places her hand on the handle and turns it. She runs, runs to her car and gets in and starts driving, letting her courage take her to where she needs to be. She pulls into the NCIS parking lot and runs into the building. She has so many bruises to try and hide, but doesn’t bother.

She steps into the elevator. She couldn’t be bothered to try and create another alibi for what happened. She’s letting it all go; she should have done it a long time ago. She walks into the bullpen, nobody’s there and her heart sinks. Back into the elevator she steps, this time going down to Abby’s lab and yet again nobody is there. Her last thought is autopsy.

She is grateful that everybody is down in autopsy. She stops outside the door and watches as everybody laughs and smiles together. Her thoughts start rolling in her head. Would they like it better without me? Am I a burden to them? Maybe I should leave for good. She sees Abby spot her and gesture for her to come in. Slowly she walks in; nobody looks, thinking that she is just the same old Ziva without these bruises and emotional pains. And when Gibbs decides to turn around because she hasn’t said anything he is horrified.

“Ziva what happened?” he asked as he walked over to her, placing his hand on her waist to steady her.

“I...” she can feel everybody staring at her with pained looks. She doesn’t know what to say. Was this a bad idea? No, this would never be a bad idea.

“Ziva?” Gibbs said he name so softly that she thought she was imagining it.

“Did this new boyfriend do this?” Gibbs asked sternly as he sat her on one of the hard, cold metal tables. Her voice seemed to have gotten lost in the forest of thoughts so she just nodded a small nod.

“How long?” he asked again as he inspected all the visible abuse marks.

“About 3 weeks,” she said hoarsely.

“Why didn’t you come to me?” Gibbs asked as he wiped away tears that where still flooding across her face.

“I thought I could handle it,” she said truthfully.

“You should never have to handle something like that?” he said as he took her into a warm embrace. She felt wanted when he wrapped his arms around her.

“Tony, where are you going?” Abby asked. Ziva looked up to see Tony ridged with anger.

“He does not do something like that and get away with it,” he said through gritted teeth before he left.

“I’m going too,” McGee said as he quickly got into the elevator with Tony. Abby walked over to Ziva and hugged her, rubbing her back as she cried.

“When you have a problem you can always come to us and you know it,” Abby said as she looked
Ziva in the eye. Ziva nodded again, her voice couldn’t be found for the moment.

“Don’t you dare even think about not coming to me first anymore, you got that?” Gibbs said as he walked back to her.

“I’m sorry,” she replied. Gibbs pulled her close again, this time she felt more than wanted.

“He could have done more damage if this went on for longer,” he said as he stroked his fingers through her hair.

“Like killed me?” she said out loud even though it was supposed to be thought.

“Well... Ziva, did he do anything else apart from hitting you?” Gibbs asked worriedly.

“No,” she said, her eyes kept downcast.

“Don’t lie to me Ziva,” he said, almost growling.

“He... “She couldn’t say it, even thinking about it she felt disgustingly dirty.

“Ziva, did he rape you?” Gibbs asked even though he could tell the answer from a mile off. She nodded her head slightly before he took her into his arms again.

“When?” he asked as he tried to calm her.

“Last week,” she sobbed.

“Ducky,” Gibbs said as he looked towards the Dr.

“Yes, maybe the hospital would be the best thing, I can take her,” he said.

“No hospital,” Ziva protested, her words slightly muffled from Gibbs chest.

“Hold on,” Abby said as she left, soon returning with a bag.

“I always carry a few just in case,” Abby said as she pulled out a pregnancy test. Gibbs and Ducky gave her a slightly odd look.

“Come on, let’s get it over and done with,” Abby said as she took Ziva by the waist and into the toilets. Gibbs waited impatiently for them to return.

“Jethro, I can see how much you care about her,” Ducky said bringing Gibbs back from his thoughts.

“Of course I care about her, I care about all of my team,” Gibbs said.

“I mean that you love her,” Duck said even though he knew Gibbs knew what he was talking about.

“Yeah, but I won’t admit that right now,” Gibbs said. A moment later Abby and Ziva returned.

“Negative,” Abby said as she walked over to Ducky. Tony and McGee returned to see Gibbs holding Ziva again. Nothing was said and soon everybody left. Gibbs took Ziva back to his place.

He gave her the spare room but couldn’t stand the pain it gave him when he heard her soft sobbing. He put her in bed with him and held her. He thought this could be a start but didn’t say anything. Right now he was more concerned about getting the one he loved back to herself before he told her anything.