Synopsis: Tony and Ziva's secret marriage is about to become public knowledge to a certain member of the team; when they finally reunite with their team in the Navy Yard after a month off. Can they hold their own and deal with the repercussions of their actions?

Pairing: Tony D. & Ziva D. Other characters involved, but centers around Tony and Ziva.

Genre: Romance/Drama

This is a sequel to 'The eloping of a conflicted woman.' Still continues in Ziva's mindset.

Disclaimer: Disclaimed.


The Navy Yard looks better than it did over a month ago. She's outside, facing Abby's lab. She can still see burn and scratch marks across some of the brickwork above the newly replaced windows. That's just a reminder, that yes, the explosion did happen, that Harper Dearing did go after NCIS, that they suffered at the hands of a terrorist.

She does a sharp intake of breath and fingers the gold band wrapped around the chain her Star of David lies on. She thinks back over the past month. She and Tony have begun to settle into married life in their own little way.

They've done their best to keep everything normal between them, when they met with Abby or McGee or Gibbs. Like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Move along folks.

A few days at hers, then a few days at his, a continuous change. It was nice, and didn't require any serious thought. It just happened. Sex, food, showers and movies so far. Like the beginnings of a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.

She realises with a start that she and Tony haven't gone through all the regular stages that couples should do. No real first kiss, no official first time, no first date, no moving in, no proposal. Just eloping. They have so much to work through, if they want their marriage to be successful.

In the depths of her thoughts, she hardly noticed her aforementioned husband coming up behind her. "Stop thinking so much. I can feel it from the other side of the building."

She takes a few deep breaths and clings tighter to her wedding ring. "Do you ever, think, we moved too fast?"

She notices through the corner of her eye, that he shoves his hands into his pockets, rather violently too. He's obviously guessed where the conversation is heading. "Too fast into what?"

She's almost considering backing out to avoid the inevitable. Almost. So she turns to face him, and uses her free hand to gesture between them. "This. Us. The marriage." She feels him tense up, and his jaw locks, and despite her knowing that she initiated this conversation, her mistake is recognised instantly. "I mean, we have had no, dates, no, boyfriend and girlfriend, thing."

She feels she's tried her best to explain it; how she feels. But his lack of response begins to irritate her, and just as she's considering dropping the conversation completely and walking away from him, he turns into her, grabs her face, and kisses her hard. Is this going to be his answer to everything? It's a very nice way to shut her up, but she'd like something a little more verbal, more communicative.

She presses her hands to his chest, and pulls her lips away from his, panting. She sees his eyes darken and flare up when he watches her, and she pulls out of his embrace. Now's not the time for that.

"We have time to do all that stuff." For a minute she's confused, she got too lost in his damn kiss and forgot her train of thought. Oh...

She nods and turns back to face the building. Topic change, topic change. "It is unbelievable that over a month ago, Dearing blew up the Yard. All that is left, are, scars."

He's silent for a moment, and she is ready to throw him another bone, before he answers her. "It's a reminder that we and the Navy Yard survived, despite everything."

She supposes he's right about that. Yes, they survived, not everyone, but the most significant people in their lives are alive. The Navy Yard is still here too, the memories can live on... They are all here, where it matters. "I think we should get inside, Tony."


It takes them both longer than usual to get to the bullpen, as the staircase was filled with agents and personnel trying to get to their designated floors. Stupid elevator being out of order.

The squadroom is eerily quiet considering the busy bodies they just passed, and she notices her entire team in the bullpen, minus Ducky and Palmer. McGee, Gibbs and Vance are chatting in a hustled corner near Gibbs' desk, whilst Abby seems to have taken to the pacing approach from one end of the team's area to the other.

Ziva and Tony silently agree to put some space between them, and as she watches her partner go to check over his desk, she automatically tugs at her top, pulling it up to cover her necklace, she doesn't need anyone questioning her about her wedding ring right now.

She doesn't really know what to do, but Gibbs turns to stare her down, and she does not like the intensity of his stare. It's disconcerting. She's so caught up in the worry she feels rising in her, that she doesn't really feel her partner's presence in her back until she feels his hand press down on her lower back, just a fleeting touch. Enough to get her attention but not raise suspicion.

Abby comes forth, rather fast in her platforms and clubs both her and her partner into an overly affectionate and tight hug. The usual. "Oh my god, guys. I've missed you both so much. It's been like two weeks since I've seen you last." She does her best to shrug off her friend, because her claustrophobia is kicking in and she just needs to breathe a little. "What've you two been up to?"

She's about to jump in with any lie she can pick at random, but her new husband, bless him, beats her to the punch like he always does when she least expects it, and spins some honesty instead. "The usual Abs, watching movies."

She thinks he's off the hook there, but she sure as hell bloody isn't. And as she expected, Abby's eyebrows shoot up a notch in question. "Together?"

Now it's her turn; she shakes her head. "No. I have been catching up on my reading and going to the gym. I have not seen Tony since you last saw him." She thinks that's a good a lie as any, and doesn't give Abby a chance to respond before she softly pushes past her, and moves around the back of her desk to check the damage and pick up some of the stuff from her desk that is scattered on the floor. She kindly greets the remaining men of her team on the opposite side of the bullpen as she goes, and McGee is the only one to return the gesture out of the three, which confuses her, but she knows best not to question it.

"We need to get to work. We've been inactive for a month. Dearing has one over on us, and is running loose in DC."

Her gaze flits from Gibbs and Vance to Tony, because she can feel the annoyance pooling from him, it's strong. "What? I thought the FBI were keeping tabs on him until we were up and running again?"

"They were."

"Were? What the hell happened, Boss?" Ziva is instantly back on her feet, and she moves to stand beside her partner once more, a united front. She takes a wild guess, that Tony's face has almost an identical expression to hers on it right now. Confusion and a trace of anger and hurt at being the last to know.

"You didn't tell them, Boss?" McGee moves out of the awkward space between his Boss and the Director, and comes to stand beside Abby who has stepped back, in front of the plasma, watching as the partners stare down Gibbs and Vance. It's not a pretty sight, and neither want to get involved, but can't bear to look away.

"Tried."

Ziva feels the need to jump head first again, and Tony seems more than willing to follow her lead. "What do you mean tried, Gibbs? What has happened that Tony and I are not aware of?"

The partners are more than surprised when the Director joins the conversation, and Gibbs does nothing to stop the intrusion. "Harper Dearing was remanded in the custody of the FBI two weeks ago. Agent Fornell was leading the investigation; and Dearing tricked the agency into believing there was another bomb at a much greater scale that would cause more damage, and during the search Dearing escaped and his location is now unknown."

"He escaped?" Ziva involuntarily leans back against her partner, and in turn he leans forward into her, pushing back slightly. Comfort. She takes a shallow breath and just focuses on the feel of her partner in her back. It calms her down significantly.

"Yeah. Three days ago."

Great, she thinks. Just great. A vengeful father can trick a well trained agency into giving him the perfect opportunity to escape.

"Do they have any idea as to where he is, at all?" She's knows it's a stupid question to ask, the Director did say the location was unknown, but what else can she ask really?

"Possibly."

All heads turn to Gibbs then. She begins to believe that her Boss has been withholding evidence or something significant to help catch Dearing in some way. "Special Agent Gibbs." Vance uses his stern Director voice, and she knows that never really works on Gibbs, but they've all been through a lot this past month, so who knows, he could cave...

"Pre-paid cell used to call me last night. Fornell's working on it." She tilts her head in utter shock; as much as Gibbs gets along with Fornell, he tends to want to run his own investigation alongside others. He always trusts his own team to get the job done right, so why was Gibbs suddenly handing over everything to the FBI like it didn't matter as much as it does? She's confused and frankly a little startled at this change. It seems it's not only her and Tony that have changed this past month.

"Any leads?"

She watches silently as her Boss shakes his head. "Not yet. I'll let ya know, Leon."

"Gibbs, get this team on the case. I want that bastard caught and put in a cell for the rest of his miserable life. I gotta reassure the SecNav."

"You're not the only one, Director."

She's completely stunned by what just happened, if her expression is anything to go by, and the only thing that knocks her out of her stupor is her partner's soothing hand rubbing up down her back slightly, just a few times, before he steps back, because Gibbs is giving them both a weird look, and neither she nor Tony are ready for confrontations right now.

"McGee, I want you to trace that call from my cell." There's the Gibbs she knows.

The Probie ever vigilant, nods and rushes back to his computer, as Gibbs hands his cell over. She and Tony just stand against one another, still a little stunned to move anywhere. For a minute the only sounds in the bullpen are the constant tapping of fingers to keys and Gibbs and McGee exchanging words. Finally when the Probie manages to find a fix for the cell when it was last used, Dearing's location was seen to be at the Boss' house.

Abby gasps, whilst Ziva and Tony silently wait out instructions, a 'Grab your gear', something, anything really would be good. But it never comes, and Ziva's shock returns from before, much stronger this time, and she really has a bad feeling about all this.


This will only be a few chapters long.