It was late at night and Tony and Ziva were the only ones in the squad room. Neither of them had a reason to still be there, nor had they a reason to go home. No one would be expecting them, no one would be waiting for them.
Both kept quiet. They hadn't really talked for weeks. Actually since the day Ziva had been returning from Somalia.
Suddenly Tony stood up and went over to Zivas desk. There was something that had been haunting him for a long time and now he finally collected his courage to speak it out.
"I keep thinking about the day Vance split up our team. When you were sent to Israel and I thought I'd never see you again. And yet I never lost the hope. But then you were captured. We thought you were dead...we'd lost you forever. I came home and sat on my sofa and I didn't get up for days. I couldn't do anything. I just sat there. It hurt too much to move. It hurt too much to speak. After all, it even hurt too much to think."
Ziva looked up.
"Tony..."
"No, please... We wasted so much time, dancing around each other, afraid of admitting how we felt. If I'd known it before, I would have done things so differently. I would have told you earlier how much I care about you. How much I love you." He waited a second to see if she'd say anything now. She didn't.
"I missed you so much." There fell a deep silence.
"I missed you too." Her voice was just a whisper but still it meant everything to Tony. He bent forward and kissed her carefully.