A/N: Hey, there, guys. I wanted to write this before we understand whatever is going on in Ziva's highly conflicted head. Tell me what you thought about it. I hope you enjoy it!

The light from the basement was the only thing shining in the agent's house. Tony placed his hands on his pockets to avoid fidgeting and allowed himself a moment before going down the old stairs.

"Hey, Boss." Tony greeted unnecessarily.

Gibbs was working relentlessly on the left part of the boat and acknowledged his presence with a curious nod, smiling to himself. He had not seen Tony that uneasy since he thought he had been caught sleep-talking his secrets away at work. "What's on your mind, DiNozzo?"

Tony stood still in the middle of the basement, debating on whether or not he should voice his thoughts. He sighed, frustrated, and clenched his jaw.

"Well, if you're going to stand there, might as well be useful. Grab that hammer and follow my lead on the right end of the boat. Don't mess it up."

Tony acquiesced, grateful, a hard frown gracing his features. He started hammering, taking turns scraping off the bad wood from some places with a silly-looking instrument Gibbs would hand him from time to time. The silver haired man never glanced up.

"Do you ever get tired of caring?"

"Don't understand the question."

He unclenched his teeth, conflicted. "I can't care anymore. I think I reached the point where I'm no longer capable. I care, I solve whatever problem there is to be solved, and it's never enough! There's always something or someone screwing with what I do, and whatever happiness I achieve never stays for long." He sighed after the long tirade and placed the hammer on the bench beside him.

"Need a little more than that, Tony. You just described the normal workings of life. It isn't fair, but it's like that."

"I can't..." He murmured. "'Cause... if I'm wrong..."

"Your gut. Does your gut tell you you're wrong?"

"No." He stated, confident.

"So, what's the problem?"

"I want to be wrong."

Gibbs looked up with a raised eyebrow. "Elaborate."

Tony inhaled, his eyes shadowy. "If I'm right, Ziva will be dead in a month."

...

Minutes passed in silence. Gibbs tried to process the accuracy of Tony's prediction, and the younger man entertained himself with hammering a pile of rotten wood.

"Tony." Gibbs called.

"Hmm..." With a loud noise, splinters of wood were spread all around the floor.

"Tony!" He barked. "Look at me."

Tony did as instructed, a hard gaze falling on concerned eyes.

"What do you know?"

"I know she has been planning to avenge her father's death for quite a while now. And I know she booked a flight to Israel for next week. The last one was McGeek's contribution, clearly."

Gibbs sighed. "I've been keeping an eye on her, but she's been damn elusive about her coping ways. It was only a matter of time until all of her unprocessed grief reared its ugly head."

Tony smashed his fist onto the boat. "But how is that okay, Boss? How is it okay for her to decide to disappear again without so much as a warning? I'm her partner, Boss... I'm her freaking partner, and that means nothing to her anymore, if it ever did."

"No-one said it was okay, DiNozzo. I only said it was natural. And don't be such a baby; you and I know well enough how much you mean to her. She's not thinking straight right now, that's it. Everyone in her life tends to die or go rogue. She's had enough disappointment to last for a lifetime." Gibbs paused. "She's the one who's tired of caring. I suspect she intends for this to be her last caring act."

Tony's eyes widened. "No... no, Boss, not again. I can't... damn, Ziva." He whispered brokenly. "Are we never enough?"

Gibbs eyed his agent with subtle concern. "It has nothing to do with you, DiNozzo. You do know that, right?"

"It didn't then, it doesn't now..." His voice was dripped with sarcasm. "I don't know if you've noticed, but it's not only her who keeps ending up disappointed. I know I'm the one getting out without a scratch of these situations, but I'll be damned if it feels like it anymore." He grabbed the hammer distractedly and sat on the bench. "I always try to keep her with us, but she keeps trying to die. Am I doing enough?"

The older agent rubbed his wrinkled forehead. He wished he had a good answer, or at least a coherent one, but Ziva was a puzzle for Tony to figure out. No matter how much he tried, Gibbs would never understand her to the lengths Tony did. "She won't die." He spoke calmly, and with a confidence he didn't have. "We won't let her."

"Not again." Tony whispered, concealing his face in the shadows.

"She never did, Tony."

"It felt like it."

"I know." He sighed. "And, Tony?"

"Yes, Boss?" Tony forced himself to look up.

"I'm not letting you give up either." Gibbs placed the tools on the ground and walked around the boat, stopping behind Tony. With a loud smack, his hand collided with the back of his head. Shaking his head, Gibbs went to the kitchen to grab a beer, as they had a lot to plan. "Idiot. Tired of caring... As if."

A/N: So, how was it? This was merely an introduction. Tony and Ziva have such amazing chemistry that I find it incredibly difficult to put it on paper (even if I'm just writing Tony). I hope you like it, though. Somehow, I think Tony probably feels extremely scared to see the past happening again, and he probably would only admit it to Gibbs (and in confidence). That happy guy mask he seems to be wearing every freaking episode can't possibly hold when Ziva's life is in danger – we don't know that it is, but Ziva has quite a knack for getting herself into trouble, being therefore highly likely that she ends up in a near-death situation -.-'

Thank you for reading! Review, my dears, and have a very nice week