Chapter I

Hi everyone! Since I'm new here and this is my first story I actually don't really have much to say except enjoy!

This is going to be a multi-chapter story and most of it is already written but I do not mind changing little bits if lots of people request a change.

Tell me what you think!

People smile every day to pretend to be okay. They smile because explaining and having to find excuses is harder than pretending. So she smiled.

"…but what about his girlfriend? I mean it's no secret that girlfriends are always potential threats to men!" Ziva looked at him like he'd lost his mind which he probably had.

"So the billion women out there are threats to all the poor men because they are simply woman?! You're even crazier than I thought Tony!" She commented dryly. He feigned hurt. "Ow. You just cannot accept that I'm right" he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows what got him an eye rolling from Ziva.

"Shut up already or I'll really find a way to threaten you" now it was her turn to smirk as he quickly stepped back and eyed the surrounding office equipment suspiciously.

"Gotcha" Tony only laughed.

"You wish Dah-veed"
It was a rainy and stormy Friday afternoon. The team was gathered in the bullpen to set the last pieces of their current case together. McGee was eagerly working on his computer, not at all bothered by the fooling around of his coworkers. Gibbs was nowhere to be found, there was a great chance he was out, refilling his cup of coffee for the tenth time that day.
The current case was about a drunken officer who had probably stabbed his team mate to death because he had refused to give him any more crack. A pretty easy case actually what got Tony bored soon. He'd found a way to create all possible scenarios of who could be the murderer but it all ended up with women as the killer what annoyed Ziva to no end.
She tried to hide her smile as a new IM popped up on her screen

'But what if it was his girlfriend?'

"Tony" she laughed playing annoyed. "He doesn't even have a girlfriend alright?!"

"You never know"

"We do" Ziva argued "we are investigators. It's our job to know"

"she got a point there DiNozzo" Gibbs agreed as he stepped out of the elevator, the famous 'ding' still audible.

Ziva's smile was smug. "I got a point there DiNozzo" she repeated with sparkling eyes and grinned, finding it way funnier than she should. Tony only glared at her before demonstratively turning his head towards his computer screen and started typing so fast Ziva knew he couldn't really be writing anything useful.

Two hours later the killer (not his girlfriend) was behind bars and the team dismissed to an early weekend. "Go home get some rest." And with that they all wished Gibbs a nice weekend and left the building chattering and laughing. Today had been a good day. The last weeks had been good weeks actually. Ziva felt as she was finally living again and the others felt it too.
"Sooo" Tony stopped in front of his car and turned around to face the others. "What are we gonna do? A night out? Clubbing? Dancing?" He wiggled his eyebrows and started doing some moves before McGee stopped him, embarrassed as it seemed.

"DiNozzo what the hell is wrong with you. Can't you behave one time?"

"What's the problem McUptight? Can't handle a little dancing? I'm an amazing dancer once I-"

"Cut it out Tony" Ziva demanded with a warning glare. She sometimes made sure Tony didn't push it with McGee. The guy had a heart of gold and didn't deserve the teasing.

"I didn't do anything... No need to shoot daggers at me" Tony muttered under his breath but unfortunately Ziva's ears didn't miss anything. But instead of harming him with the nearest item available she looked confused.

"Why would I shoot daggers at you? If I wanted to shoot you I'd use a gun, yes?" in the first second Tony looked at her in pure fascination.

"Fascinating her mind, isn't it" he addressed McGee who only rolled his eyes.

"Shooting daggers at someone means to want to kill them with your glare Ziva" he explained patiently. Ziva still didn't seem to understand. "But why would I shoot daggers if everyone knows you use guns for shooting. I mean I could certain use daggers but-" McGee interrupted her rant.

"It's just a saying Ziva." "Your sayings never make sense." She argued "What's the point, knives daggers guns- same difference" she mumbled annoyed. Tony only looked at her, shaking his head in pity.

"Where's Abby, McGee? Didn't she want to take a ride with you?" Ziva suddenly asked turning towards the young agent who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, she should be here any minute. Maybe she's saying Ducky goodbye"

"Great" Tony groaned "that means this will take another hour" he stated, crossing his arms. "What about Ziva and I go first and get some take-out? We can meet at a bar later, what ya think McGoo?" He just shrugged.

"Oh c'mon Tony, Abby won't take an hour. Why are you so impatient today?!" Ziva asked, eying him suspiciously. He really was acting strange today.

"No it's okay Ziva. You guys go first. I'll just give you a call later. Tony is driving me crazy anyway" he muttered under his breath what Tony couldn't hear anyway because he was already in the car, starting the engine.

"Come on Zee-vah! I'm hungry." He waved McGee a quick goodbye through the open car window and looked at Ziva in request to make her sit in the car as well.

"Alright, alright, Jesus Tony you are annoying as always" he just smiled, driving off.

"So what's for dinner? Ugh I gotta pick" he smirked not even giving her a chance to answer.

"No, you're not?!" Ziva exclaimed turning her head to stare at him. "Last time you decided for pizza. Now it's my turn and I want Chinese."

"You're so predicable" he stopped at a traffic light and grinned at her. "Every other Friday we get Chinese. At least I'm adventurous."

"Uh yeah pizza or pasta is definitely adventurous" she mocked him.

"So Chinese it is?" He made sure and when she nodded he set the blinker to turn right. There was this side of Ziva he was still baffled to explore. Ziva loved risks she wasn't afraid of things she didn't know, in fact she welcomed them with open arms to prevent from getting bored. Always harder, always more dangerous. At least she'd been that way before Somalia. It wasn't a healthy thing to do and sometimes he couldn't help but wonder what impact Eli had done to his daughter to cause such a reaction. He didn't know, Ziva refused to touch the topic. But it were exactly these little things Ziva did that made him wondered why Ziva would pick Chinese every other weekend with the same side dish with absolutely no exception. She maybe needed some steady things in her life. He wanted to give that to her more than anything and that she allowed him to be part of her unsteady life honored him. Not that he could live without her but that wasn't the point.

"The usual?" Ziva asked as Tony stopped the car in front of the restaurant.

"Yes please. Maybe some spicy soup as well. Just pick one for me. I'm basically giving my life into your hands right now" she rolled her eyes to his exaggerating.

"It's just a soup, Tony, I'm pretty sure you'll survive. Won't you come with me?!" She asked with furred brows as he made no moves to follow her out the car.

"C'mon Zi" he begged "I'm tired. Your legs are younger than mine… Ow" he muffled when a hard fist hit his shoulder and then again a pained sound escaped his mouth when she hit his chest and simply snapped the purse he'd given her out of his hand with one withering glance in his direction.

"Lazy ass" he could hear her mutter before leaving the car.

Satisfied with himself he leaned back and crossed his hands behind his head. Today had been a good day. Ziva had smiled a lot, something that still couldn't be taken for granted. Somalia was still present, even after one year, and he knew that even though Ziva tried her hardest to hide it from him she was still suffering. The first weeks had been bad. Very bad. She hadn't talked, she hadn't smiled, she had been barely there. When someone had talked to her she had answered but that was all. Broken and empty was all it needed to describe her when it were exactly those words he'd thought of never having to use with Ziva in one sentence. It just wasn't natural.

She'd lost twenty pounds in Somalia and didn't bother to put on weight when being home. After her breakdown two weeks after her rescue Gibbs literally dragged her to a hospital where she was forced to stay ten days. He groaned at the memory. Besides Somali these days had been the worst of his life. Not enough that Ziva was unbearable when being forced to stay in a hospital but also had she had to be tube fed due to malnutrition in every possible way. A few pounds less and she probably would've died the next weeks.

'It's impossible for her brain to process everything. She shut down. It's a protection mechanism just as before it had been a cope mechanism to live through everything. She needs time to understand that right now there's nothing she needs to be afraid of. Despite her memory' the doctor had patiently told him when he had freaked out. That memory still made him shiver and he tried to focus on something else. Like where in hell was Ziva?! He leaned towards the passenger window but didn't see anything except the street lamp illumination the main entrance of the restaurant. Where was Ziva?

He let out a heavy sigh and got out of the car. Today was Friday; there was probably just an endless line of people waiting to get their dinner ready. Making his way through the crowd he watched out for Ziva what got him a few middle fingers and some curses. When he had reached the counter there was still no sight of Ziva. He got angry. Was she playing some trick on him? Eating somewhere else because he had made her go in and bring the food alone? Actually he did not expect such childish behavior from Ziva.

"Excuse me Ms" he reached for the attention of one of the waitresses.

"Have you seen my partner? Tall skinny dark curls till about here" he placed a hands on his torso "brown eyes, white shirt and green trousers. She should've been there about twenty minutes earlier?" He asked the young girl.

"Yes mister" she answers with a smile. "She left about ten minutes ago. "Chinese chicken and soup" she continued obviously proud of herself to remember the details.

"Yeah exactly" Tony answered a bit slow, running one hand through his hair. "Thanks" he said and left. He hated being played when he was hungry. What game was Ziva playing? He rolled his eyes. He probably would have to kill her. He pushed the door open and cold air was blowing into his face when he noticed two things immediately that made his heart skip a beat.

First there were dropped take-out boxes and its containment covering a big part of the sidewalk a few feet next to the entrance and secondly Ziva was nowhere to be found.

That fact alone sent chills down his spine and real fear contaminated his mind. Why would Ziva drop our take-out? Okay DiNozzo, maybe that wasn't even her bag there are a million people ordering from that restaurant it could've been anyone's, he tried to sooth himself but he knew better. With two big steps he reached the bag and opened the four little boxes inside. Soup and chicken nodules. He froze in place.

Ziva probably had to defend herself to some bugler no big deal. Probably she was just finishing him off at the next corner while he was worrying. He searched the next two blocks for her and got more desperate with every second. Ziva David wasn't one to disappear or let herself take prisoner. Somalia proved you wrong didn't it? A small voice inside his head made him nearly throw up his lunch. He didn't even know what exactly made him worry this much. Somalia had made him afraid, was the reason he always needed Ziva in his sight and in reach. Her absence made him nervous. She probably was just handcuffing him right now. But why wasn't she around? He could've slapped himself when he realized he had yet not even once tried to call her. God I'm so dumb he thought somewhat relived and pressed 2, Ziva's number for speed dialing.

"Pick up pick up" he murmured urging Ziva to answer the damn call. Nothing. Frustrated he went back to the dropped take-out boxes. One glance at his watch made him realize nearly forty minutes had passed since he had seen Ziva last. He ran his fingers through his hair what made it only more untidy and called the only person he trusted to fix this.

"What is it DiNozzo?"
Gibbs!" He nearly cried out.

"DiNozzo? What happened?" The experienced agent could hear the panic in Tony's voice, something he had heard the first time when he told him the Damaclos had sunk. It weren't pleasant memories so he focused on the heavy breathing on the other side of the line.

"It's Ziva! I can't find her!"

"What happened?" Gibbs asked matter-of-factly to help DiNozzo calm down. He wasn't any use when he was that confused. Tony took a deep breath and started explaining. After he'd finished Gibbs couldn't help but worry.

"I'll be right there! Give McGee a call and tell him to track her phone!" He barked before turning his phone shut. Please not, the thought, we only just got her back.