OUR LIVES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN

Chapter 1

It was a boring, rainy Thursday afternoon and all Very Special agent Anthony DiNozzo could think about was when Gibbs will yell the magic words to his agents: "Go home". They had the last case wrapped up on Saturday and have been stuck with paperwork ever since. He was sick of listening to McGee's constant complains about his last fight with Delilah. Hell, he even didn't have the will to tease him anymore.

He was in a good place now. He finally got over Ziva's departure. Or did he? He quickly swept that thought away and reminded himself, that he had a girlfriend now. And he really liked her. She was not even close to Ziva but they had a good relationship. Ziva's staying in Israel still hurt him like hell but 'whatcha gonna do' ? She wanted to stay, so she stayed.

*Flashback*

They were standing in the dark airport tarmac and there was a weird expression on her face which he couldn't quite place somewhere. He was trying to persuade her into going back to DC with him one last time. Unsuccessfully. And she started: »Tony,«, a little tear forming in her left eye. »You are so...«, and in that moment it had hit him for the very first time how many times in the past she had started her sentences like this and suddenly he started wondering why she never got to finish them.

But this time was different. He was finally ready to actually hear her words. And when he realized she had stopped again he made a relaxed comment, so she wouldn't feel so tense: »Handsome? Funny? What?« It made her smile a little, her eyes now completely filled with tears. »Loved,« she answered with voice full of something new, something he had never heard before. Love. He knew for a long time that her feelings for him had changed over the years together as partners. And ever since Michael Rivkin first came into the picture, he never doubted that he was in love with his crazy-Mossad-ninja-chick-partner. But this time was the first time that he was 100 percent sure that she feels the same way.

He thought it's now or never, so he just kissed her. At first he was afraid that she was gonna pull away but she responded with the same amount of passion. That was the moment that he realized that this was it. He will probably never see her again. After a few steps away from her, still facing her, he said that this was the hardest 180 of his life, but in the same time he was thinking how both of their lives will never be the same and it was an absolute truth...

*End of flashback*

A distant voice of McGee woke him up from his memories: »Tony? Tony are you alright? You have a really weird expression on your face...« DiNozzo mumbled something indistinguishable in response and almost jumped when McGee made a comment that Gibbs told him, DiNozzo and Bishop to go home. A look over his watch told him that it was 1700 hours so he immediately started packing. He took one last quick glance at Ziva's Star of David gold necklace in his desk drawer before heading to the familiar 'ping' of the elevator doors.

Approximately one hour later Tony laid comfortably on a medium-sized couch in his apartment, hugging Zoe Keates, his now called girlfriend, around her waist with one arm, a bowl of popcorn in the other. They were watching James Bond, one of his favorite parts actually- From Russia with Love. He and Zoe have been dating for about six months or so. They accidentally bumped into each other because of a case and old sparks were quickly back, since they were partners in crime and personally before in Philadelphia. They were having a good relationship and were spending almost all free time that an ATF agent and a NCIS agent can have and they cared about each other very much. But Tony knew he didn't love her, although he still didn't know what her feelings were towards him. He never wanted to bring the 'Where are we' kind of relationship talk up because she helped him a lot with getting over Ziva. He knew it was selfish to think like that, but today's thinking was just another of many examples that he was not anywhere near being okay with not seeing Ziva every day. He tried to make his mind to stop wondering about her every hour of his day, and it had been better since Zoe was here-the emphasis on 'better'...

At least McGee and Abby had stopped bugging him with 'You have to move on from her' and 'She's not coming back' kind of advices and mourns. He knew they meant well and was grateful to have such good friends, who didn't miss to notice when something was wrong, but he still felt very uncomfortable talking to them about his problems. He always tried to hide his emotions with that famous DiNozzo-ish grin on his face, but his eyes still showed a lot of pain.

As the pictures on a large plazma TV continued to change, he realized that he hasn't been paying much attention to the movie. It was his least favorite scene with the 'bad guy' and his white persian. God, he hated that cat. He liked cats, he even owed one for a few days but there was just something mean about this particular cat. Suddenly the movie was interrupted by a short, firm knock on the door. Tony's back and legs started to hurt a little so he offered to get them. If not for anything else, he would at least stretch his legs. Plus, he was kind of curious who that might be, since he and Zoe didn't really expect anyone in particular tonight.

He slowly unlocked the door and opened them. And there stood the person who would be least expected to be here in the whole world. Not to mention that he was here thinking about her being thousands of miles away not ten minutes ago. But there she was. Ziva David. She seemed more beautiful than ever, her hair longer since he had last seen her, and her olive-brown skin even darker. But still same old Ziva in her beige cargo pants and a simple long-sleeved pullover. She seemed very shy, which was unusual for her, almost as if she was afraid to come.

He wasn't even breathing and his heart's beating rhythm went far from normal. He was just starring with his mouth fully open from surprise while she did or said nothing. A thousand thoughts passed his mind in that very moment. Is she back for good? Does she want to be with him? Hell, he wasn't even sure what he wanted. But he couldn't say anything, he didn't know what to say anyway. Anthony DiNozzo, a man who never stopped talking and babbled about something practically all the time did not know what to say.

He had no idea how long they were standing like this, when a familiar voice yelled through the hallway: "Tony, who is it?". Since there was no answer, Zoe decided to go see the unexpected visitor herself. What she didn't expect was to find her boyfriend starring at a foreign girl who did or said nothing in return...

A/N: Thank you for reading. Please hit the review button and let me know what do you think... :)