I have so many story ideas floating around in my head, I needed to get something on paper. This is a one-shot fic that takes place after Nine Lives.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to NCIS

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Tony unlocked the door to his apartment and threw his duffle bag down on the chair. He didn't turn on any lights as he made his way to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. He popped the top of the beer as he collapsed on the couch. He took a sip and put his head back on the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling.

'I had to snoop,' he thought to himself.

Ever since Ziva said she was going back to Israel Tony did everything he could think of to find out why. She wouldn't say why she was going back so soon, she had just spent four months there. Why could she possibly have to go back?

'It's because of him,' Tony thought, thinking about the picture of a man he found on her desk when he went snooping. 'She had met someone.'

When Tony was stuck on the air craft carrier, he released how much he really cared for Ziva. Some nights he would lie awake in his bunk and think about her. He had come to accept the fact he probably would not see her again and lost any chance he had with her. She was sent back to Israel, her liaison position was terminated. He also frequently chastised himself for screwing up another relationship. He and Ziva had been working together for more than 3 years and he never took advantage of that opportunity.

'Stupid Gibbs and his rules.'

He also thought about Kate and how he should have learned from that, but doesn't seem to have learned anything. Kate was shot dead right in front of him. The message there is that you never know how much time you have and you need to make your moves. Tony clearly didn't get that message when it came to Ziva.

Tony finished his beer and got up and grabbed another one. When he fell back down on the couch his thoughts wondered to the day Gibbs and Ziva came to meet him to help with the case on the aircraft carrier. When he saw her all he wanted to do was run to her and hug her, but he figured that would have earned him a slap on the back of the head from his boss. He thought he was dreaming when he saw her, she looked amazing.

Even though he was still stuck on the carrier, he was glad Ziva was back with the team, maybe he would be able to actually see her. Then he heard he was being transferred back to the team as well. He was ecstatic, he saw it as a second chance with Ziva.

When Tony returned to the team his back and forth banter with Ziva picked up right where it had left off. He decided he was going to take his chance with Ziva, but he didn't want to jump into anything. Then Ziva said she was going back to Israel. Tony tried to get her to say why she was going back, but all she would do was tease him.

One day he found himself sitting alone in the bullpen and his eyes set on Ziva's desk. He got up and walked over, looking for a hint of why she was going back to Israel. He flipped through several papers on her desk and uncovered a picture of a man. Tony's heart sank when he found the picture. She was trying to hide the picture, so he must be the reason she was going back. She had met someone and she was going back to see him.

Tony sat up on the couch and put his beer on the coffee table in front of him. He pulled the picture of the man from his pocket. He stared at it like he was hoping the man would speak to him and tell him who he really was. Much to Tony's dismay, the picture did not speak.

Tony sat back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling again. His eyes slowly closed and he drifted off to sleep thinking about what the woman she loved was doing with another man.