Her fingers trembled in his hand the whole time. Gently, he'd squeeze it hoping to ease her nerves, but it really wasn't much help.

"Tony," She breathed out shakily, stopping their walk to where his plan awaited. He turned to look at her, searching for a reason, no matter how small, to keep him here with her and not to get on the plane back to D.C.

She swallowed hard, not quite sure what she really wanted to say to him. Conversation soon began to fly past her even though she was answering his questions. She didn't really know what she was saying to him. Her thoughts were too jumbled inside her head for her to make sense of it all. He was lucky she was forming coherent sentences.

She sighed, speaking his name once more. "Tony, you are so…"

"What?" He replied, a half smile playing on his lips as he stepped closer to her. "Funny? Handsome?"

"Loved," She smiled softly.

He didn't need to hear her say the actual words as he knew what she had meant by that. She loved him.

Without even the slightest hesitation, he tangled his fingers in her dark curls, bringing her to him as he kissed her with as much passion and intensity as he could convey to her. He wanted to make sure that she knew she was loved as well.

Her foot stomped on the ground, making sure that she was not floating like she felt she was. He parted much too soon for her liking, making her question why she wasn't going back with him. As if Tony wasn't heart broken enough, Abby was going to be absolutely devastated.

"This is the hardest one eighty of my life," He spoke softly, taking a step back from him, scanning over her to let one final image of her be burned into the back of his mind.

Her eyes watered, unable to hold back the tears she was fighting. She watched him wave to her one final time before spinning on her heels and not walking, but running away. She couldn't bear to see his plane leave the runway and begin to make its way back to the United States.

She had just let the man she loved so deeply go.

Wiping her eyes, she made her exit to her car. Memories of the past eight years that they had spent together flooded her mind. Pictures of their first cases together, of that night in Paris, of being undercover as a couple so many times, the looks from Abby when she knew that Ziva had spent the night with Tony, of their time in Berlin, when he had come to rescue her from Israel the first time, and most of all, the thought that he has always had her back no matter what.

She slammed her palms against the steering wheel, cursing in Hebrew as she reached for her phone, punching in the forever memorized phone number and hitting send. Trying to dry her eyes, she impatiently awaited the other end to pick up.

"Hey Ziver," His cold, but comforting voice sounded.

"Gibbs," She started slowly, attempting to keep her breath still. "Tony... He found me."

"I know."

"You know?"

"I know," He repeated again, shuffling around in the background.

She let out a heavy breath. "What do I do now?"

It took a minute for him to answer, but finally he spoke up. "Come home."

"I am home."

"You're family is here Ziver," He reminded her. "You know that."

For a man of very few words, he sure knew what to say. She sighed, opening her mouth to protest, but when nothing came out, she knew he was right.

"Soon," She spoke after a moment of silence.

"My door is always open."

"Thank you Gibbs," She smiled softly.

"Take care of yourself," He spoke quietly just before the line went dead.

Tony arrived in D.C. on time, frantically calling and texting McGee to pick him up. He wanted to get home as soon as possible.

As he headed down to baggage claim, he felt his phone buzz in his palm.

Sweetcheeks

He blinked twice, revealing that his eyes were just playing tricks on him. He groaned, opening McGee's message saying that he was waiting for him. Hastily, Tony grabbed his luggage off the turn style and headed to where Timmy was waiting.

"How is she?" Were the first words out of McGee's mouth as Tony threw his suitcase into the trunk of his car. He really didn't want to answer that question.

"She's not coming home," He answered, staring straight ahead out the windshield as he buckled himself into the seat.

"What do you mean she's not coming home!?" A voice of none other than the upset Abby shrieked.

"She wants to start over," He replied lowly, trying to avoid conversation.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye," Abby said disappointedly from the backseat.

A short drive later, the three were pulling up in front of Tony's apartment. The glass had long been replaced and Kate was rehomed into a bulletproof fish bowl just to be safe. Abby and McGee said their goodbyes at the car, leaving Tony to venture to his home alone.

He flicked on the lights, lighting up his rather empty apartment. Sighing heavily, he rolled his suitcase to his bedroom, throwing it up on to the bed and sliding off his shoes. Quickly he walked away, going over to see how Kate was liking her new home.

"I fought for her," He explained to his goldfish. "I fought damn hard for her."

"I should've followed rule number twelve," He said shaking his head as he sprinkled some fish food for his beloved pet.

With a heavy heart, Tony found himself lying on the couch, holding her gold Star of David necklace in his hand. How could he have let himself get so involved with a woman and then just let her go? By no means was this going to be easy, especially not after eight years.

He brought the pendant up to his lips, kissing it briefly before closing his eyes and resting it in his palms on his chest.

The first few days back at work were not easy. Ziva left a permanent mark on each and every one of the team, even Vance. For hours on end, Tony would stare across at the empty desk, picturing her sitting there and making smart ass comments towards him. It wasn't like when Kate had gotten shot. Tony knew that Kate would never be coming back, but this time, there was still a slight chance that Ziva could.

But soon, people began to occupy the empty desk, making it all too real for Tony that she was in fact like Kate.

Ziva David was never coming back to sit across from him ever again.

No more glances up from the computer screen to meet hers. No more childish comments from the peanut gallery about how his butt looked better than McGee's. No more tracing her every move and wondering what it would be like to do it on Gibbs' desk.

The first few days turned into the first few weeks and those soon turned into the first few months.

The team just wasn't the same as they had once been. They were missing a piece. No matter how many people who had come close to filling that empty space, there was never going to be another perfect fit. They wouldn't allow it.

Instead, they plowed through their work, keeping their heads held high.

One night, while working late on a case, Tony found himself in Abby's lab trying to help her match DNA of which he had no clue how to do, but he was trying.

"When is she coming back?" Abby spoke up, staring blankly at her computer screen as it searched for a match.

"She's not coming back," He answered numbly, growing used to Abby's constant pestering of when Ziva was going to return because she 'had a feeling'.

Abby spun on her heel, looking over at Tony who was slumped over at her lab bench. "I miss her," She said, biting her lower lip.

He smiled up at her. "I miss her too."

Abby opened up her arms for him as a silent invitation to come to her, which he gladly accepted.

"You'll get her back," She whispered, holding on to him tightly.

"Thanks Ab's," He said quietly, pressing the small of her back closer to him.

As summer changed to fall and fall changed to winter, the heartache began to ease. That was, until the night a figure stood by his car. It was another late night, nearing 2AM before Tony made his exit from the building. He squinted as he walked towards his vehicle, seeing the dark figure and the faint cloud of their breath.

"Ziva?" He called out as he got closer. The dark figure spun around, revealing her glowing smile.

"Tony," She replied, tears falling from her cheeks.

With twenty feet between them, Tony dropped his backpack to the ground, running towards her and scooping her up into his arms.

"Tony," She cried again, wrapping her arms around his neck as they turned in small circles. She paused for a minute before moving her hands to either side of his cheek and brushing her lips against his.

"You're here," He whispered, pressing his forehead against hers after parting from their brief, but intense kiss.

She nodded her head, tears still streaming down her cheeks as she smiled at him. "I couldn't live without you I guess."