So this is like, a random thing that has been sitting on my computer all week. I don't really know why I wrote it...it's just some random thing that goes along with the end of 'Dagger'. It's Tony speculating again, because I like writing from Tony's POV. Cuz we're like, pretty similiar. ANDDDDDDDDDD...I'm totally sorry my other story, Soulmates, isn't being updated in a timely fashion. I'm working on it, I promise.

And, for those of you who read Soulmates, you know how I like to discuss episodes. So feel free to drop a review if you feel like talking about the most recent one, or one from like, two years ago....trust me, I've seen them all.

Tears

Once again, Gibbs was demonstrating his remarkable ability at being good with kids. I never got used to it; even though I had been working with him for many years and seen this side of him before. I supposed it was due to the fact that he was so…opposite…with me and my coworkers it was hard to imagine our boss could actually be a kind and caring human being.

I couldn't hear what Gibbs was saying to the little girl, but all of a sudden I saw him pull out an NCIS badge from his pocket and hand it to the little girl. It must have been Michelle's; he probably pulled it off her belt after he…er…shot her.

After thinking about that for a while, I decided that it was probably the best way for it to end. I mean, Agent Lee wasn't going to be able to see her daughter…or younger sister…or whoever the hell that girl was in relation to her…again. She would have been thrown in immediate custody, tried for treason and shipped off to Gitmo before you could turn around twice. The girl wouldn't have been able to visit her at all. It would have been worse, I think, knowing that she was alive but never able to see her and knowing she was in prison.

I had a feeling that Gibbs wasn't going to tell the little girl anything about what Michelle had done. He was going to let the girl keep her hero image of 'Mishy,' and I respected him all the more for it. I watched the girl finger the badge curiously.

I saw a shape I knew immediately to be Ziva move into my field of vision. I looked up, intending to catch her eye, but she wasn't looking at me. She was staring at the scene, and to my shock I saw tears in her eyes. What? Shock and incredulity was betrayed on my face for a brief second as I looked at this development. It was something I had never seen before. Never. Not when Jenny died, not when Vance split up the team…not ever. I looked back at Gibbs and the little girl by the window, and then back to Ziva, this time concern on my face rather than shock. I was filled with the irrational need to comfort her, wipe her tears away.

She noticed me looking this time, and, blinking back tears, she turned away from me. I followed her with my eyes, watching her as she sat back down at her desk, and when she finally looked up at me again, her face was clear. No tears. Her face still wore its saddened expression, yes, but behind it her businesslike and calm exterior was back. I looked away again, my thoughts churning. I wondered how she did it, the masking of emotions like that. It made it impossible to find out what she was truly feeling, something that bothered me. I liked and prided myself on my ability to sense what other people were feeling, in a ballpark sort of way. But Ziva…she was a mystery.

"I care about you, Ziva," I thought to myself, wishing she could read my thoughts. "I really want you to understand that."