Well, I wrote this a little while back and finished it up today. Hoping the title fits. Enjoy!

"You don't have to be strong all the time you know."

She sighed, tears threatening to fall. "What are you talking about, Tony?" She bluntly stated.

"You need to talk to someone. You need to let your walls down. Not everyone wants to hurt you."

"But they still hurt me in the end, intentional or not." She met his gaze, for only a moment.

"Ziva, I,"

She turned around to face him. "I do not want to hear it."

"I thought you were dead!"

"And after we get back, after it is all said and done, everything is supposed to just go back to normal?"

"I expected you,"

"You expected me to do what, Tony? Spill my guts to a shrink? Or write it all out in a diary like all of your little blond-short-skirted-high-heeled-friends?"

He stood in shock, his mouth agape. "Ziva."

"Tony. I am not one of those people who like to talk about their feelings!"

"Ziva." He says yet again.

"What Tony?" She yelled.

"I expected you to . . . to hate me. For what I did."

Ziva was . . . dumbfounded.

"Tony, how . . . how could I ever hate you?" She said, shocked that he believed that she could hate him.

He grinned, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Don't start."

His grin faded.

"I understand why you would think that, but, Tony,"

He looked at her with the most sincere expression.

She walked closer to him, so that there were mere centimeters between them.

She took a deep breath. "You, are Anthony DiNozzo. My partner. My best friend. The man who makes me laugh when I need it the most. And that, is why I could never hate you." She whispered the last sentence as a tear fell onto her cheek.

"And just so you know," he said, wiping his thumb across her cheek, taking her tears with it, "I could never, ever hate you, either."

She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, and as she did, a hint of a smile flashed on her face, but was gone just as soon as it had appeared.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, slipping his thumb under her chin, making her eyes meet his.

She opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted.

"Don't you even think about telling me that you're fine. You are not fine, Ziva."

She moved away from him and towards the couch. He followed and sat next to her, bringing with him the cover of silence.

Neither of them spoke, lost in their own thoughts.

After a while, she spoke. "Did you really mean it?"

"What?"

"What you said in . . ." her voice faded.

He took her hand into his and faced her. "I meant it with all my heart, Ziva."

He heard the breath hitch in her throat. She lifted her head. The raw emotion in her eyes said it all.

"Ziva."

"Yes, Tony?"

He took a deep breath and whispered, "Please don't kill me."

He leaned in and time seemed to stand still as his hand traveled to her cheek and his lips met hers.

You see that little blue button down there, you should click it. Really. I would really appreciate it.