It wasn't as if she'd never noticed him before. On the contrary, in fact, he occupied her head, consumed her thoughts, dominated her life and her decisions in a way that made her cringe. In a way, she hated him. He was smug and chauvinistic, something she could kill him for, and so sure of himself and his damned abilities that she almost couldn't believe him.

And then she couldn't. She saw through his bravado, saw that pain of love lost and a childhood spent in misery, and managed to dig up something akin to empathy. She'd never been an outwardly emotional person (something her father had discouraged since the start), but he stirred such intense feelings within her breast that staggered her and caused her breath to shorten. Sitting at her desk, across from him and his disgustingly handsome face, she tapped out a report on her keyboard, frightened and irritated.

"What are thinking about, Ziva?" She snapped her head up, startled, disconcerted that he read her so fucking well, knew that she was conflicted about something or the other without even looking over.

"Nothing is bothering me, Tony. Go back to doing whatever it was that you were doing," She glanced over at him, a ghost of an accusing smirk on her face. "Remind me what it was, again? Clearing the world of minefields?" He scowled and made a face in that juvenile way of his.

"For your information, no, I am not. And you never answered my question. Inquiring minds want to know, Ms. David," He smiled, a strange look in his eye that Ziva couldn't quite place. A tingling, falling sensation took root in the pit of her stomach, making her shiver. She looked back at her computer.

"Once more, I am thinking about nothing, and nothing is bothering me. Now please, Tony, I have work to accomplish. Kindly leave me alone, yes?"

He stared intently at her then, causing her to take in a deep breath that didn't go unnoticed. "You know that I'll never believe you when you say that. You've been acting weird for—" He broke off, furrowing his brows slightly in a way that made him look just a little bit more his age. "Well, it's been a long time. I've always sucked at numbers."

This time she didn't answer him, kept her mouth shut for fear of what she would say if she opened it. He scowled deeper. God, he was beautiful. Delicate and strong at the same time, though she would never tell him that. Ziva shuffled the paper clips and rubber bands around her desk, relieved when Gibbs stormed through the bull pen in his usual determined way, announcing another case, another dead marine, another something to keep her mind off the somethings in her head.

For now, they remained at an impasse. It was infuriating and comforting all at once, to know things that Tony didn't, couldn't begin to guess, that would likely horrify him if he knew. Grabbing her gear roughly she jogged after McGee and Gibbs as they slipped into the elevator.

She could do it.