A/N:Two within two days? Wow!. Basically this is set during Grace Period, and instead of Gibbs talking to Paula in the ambulance, it's Tony. It wasn't supposed to be quite as shippy as it turned out, after all he's with Jeanne at this point, but just go with it! Hope you enjoy, please review. :) Sorry if there's any mistakes.

Disclaimer: If it were mine, Paula would never have died, because I love her too much! :)

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Paula stopped before entering the building after McGee. The remains of her agents' bodies were still in view, and the sight of them made her feel sick. It was her fault, she should have been there with them, even if that meant she was now dead also. Tony and Gibbs looked up as she and McGee arrived; Gibbs simply nodded and turned away again but Tony's eyes remained locked with hers. He smiled slightly, trying to convince her it was okay, but she knew it wasn't; how could it be?

"You okay?" Tony asked, standing up and walking over to her.

She shrugged. "Not really."

He nodded, knowing there wasn't really any way she could've been okay. "You gonna be alright staying here?"

She didn't reply. Out of the corner of her eye she could see one of the bodies, but she refused to look directly at it. She felt Tony's eyes on her and turned to face him.

"Tony..." she drifted off.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to go outside for a bit?"

Paula nodded, only slightly but enough for him to notice. He moved his hand down her arm and took her hand, leading her out of the building and along to the NCIS van. She sat down on a seat and he sat next to her, still holding her hand.

"You want to talk about it?" Tony asked.

"What's there to talk about?" she replied. "My agents are dead, and I should be too. I-"

He cut her off. "Don't say that. You shouldn't be dead, okay, don't even think it."

"We weren't even supposed to be working this weekend," she continued. "We worked last weekend, it wasn't supposed to be us."

"Who was it supposed to be?"

She shrugged. "I don't know." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "How did this happen, Tony? It seemed so easy. We follow the guy in, get the information we need and get out. Nobody was supposed to be killed." She wiped a tear from her cheek and turned away from him so he wouldn't see her cry.

Tony took a deep breath. He didn't know who was supposed to be working the case today, but he knew she would blame herself for agreeing to work it when she didn't have to. He squeezed her hand when he saw she'd turned away, but it didn't make her turn back.

"Paula, what's wrong?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Today. Everything about today just," she paused, "sucks."

"Yeah, it does." He put his spare hand on her shoulder and pulled her around to face him. Although she closed her eyes, he could still see the tears threatening to fall. "Hey, don't cry," he said, pulling her closer into him.

She didn't have the energy to fight him, instead just allowing herself to melt against him. She let the tears come, knowing she couldn't hold them back for much longer. He rested his chin on the top of her head and rubbed her back soothingly.

After a few minutes she calmed down and pulled back from him. She looked up at him and attempted to smile. "Since when were you so caring?"

He grinned. "I've always been caring, you've just never had the opportunity to experience my caringness."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, Tony, whatever you say."

He laughed. "You know, I'm good in a crisis." She nodded and laughed slightly, causing him to smile. He took another deep breath and looked at her seriously.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked.

"Probably," she replied. "It might just take a while."

Tony nodded and stood up, pulling her up after him. He didn't give her chance to walk away and pulled her into his arms again, hugging her tightly. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here, okay?" he whispered against her hair.

Paula nodded. "Okay, thank you."

He pulled away and winked. "Come on, let's get back."

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A/N2: Thanks for reading, please review. :)