(Tony's pov)
He looked across the bullpen at his partner, as he normally did so many times everyday. He just loved to look at her. She was beautiful, he felt so many things towards her but it was complicated. He knew it was a lame excuse but it was true, with Gibb's rule 12 and all.
But looking at her now he knew she was busy, he was gonna invite her round for a movie night, just like they used to but now was not a good time, she has on that emotionless mask that she wore all too well and was speaking rapidly down the phone in Hebrew and it didn't look like she'd be finished anytime soon. He gathered up his things and headed to the elevator when the doors opened he looked back at her for one last time that evening then left.
(Ziva's pov)
She couldn't believe what they were saying, she wouldn't. Her father had been murdered, poisoned apparently but it couldn't be true. What did she do wrong , why did all her family keep dying. Even though she wasn't on the best terms with her father but they were at peace with each other and then this happens. Did she not deserve happiness. She saw Tony leave part way through her phone call, so she knew she was alone and all these years of built up emotion she'd tried so hard to keep inside, she just couldn't anymore. She sat back against the filing cabinet and cried, she'd never cried so much before, her walls were falling down around her emotions and she just couldn't build them back up again.
She was crying so much she never noticed Tony re-enter the bullpen .
(Tony's pov)
It was as soon as he got about halfway home he realized he'd forgotten it and he knew if Gibbs called an he didn't answer he would be dead. So he turned around and headed back to the navy yard. He knew ziva had probably gone home already so he was surprised when he saw her mini cooper sat by itself in the parking lot. He took the lift back up to the bullpen hoping he'd left his phone was still on his desk and he hadn't left it anywhere else. But when the elevator doors opened, he was greeted by a sound that surprised him completely.
Crying. That was a the sound that filled the seemingly empty bullpen, so being the great investigator he was, he followed the crying and was surprised at where it took him.
Ziva was sat curled up behind her desk. Tears flowing freely down her face, he'd never seen her like this before. He had always wanted her to show more emotion, to open up to him a little bit more but he never wanted to see her like this.
He bent down next to her and gently reached out and touched her arm. She jumped and shoved herself back against then filing cabinet behind her and began to shake violently, like she thought he was going to harm her. She was breaking down right in front of his eyes.
" Hey, Ziva shh it's just me , it's just me." He tried to reassure her, hoping to try and help her.
"T-T-Tony?" She stuttered and his heart broke seeing and now hearing how broken she was.
He reached out again and but his hands on either sides of her arms and when she didn't pull away he pulled her into his arms, where she broke down again.
He just sat there on the floor with her in his arms and let her cry. Not caring that his shirt was starting to get soaked through and not caring what time at night it was, all that mattered was her. He didn't know how long they sat there before her breathing started to even out and only then did he realize that she had cried herself to sleep. He looked down at her face and noticed even in sleep she continued to cry , silent tears rolled down her face. He wiped them away with his thumb and for a while just sat there, with her laid his arms.
He eventually decided it was time to leave he gathered up her things and took his phone off his desk, he gathered her up in his arms and headed towards the elevator and set off towards his car. He set her down in the passenger seat and strapped her in and headed towards the drivers seat where he started to the drive back home. He didn't know what would she would do when she woke up but he knew he couldn't leave her alone, hell he didn't even know what had happened so he took her home with him.
When he arrived at his apartment she still hadn't woken, another sign of how broken she had become in the last few hours he had been with her, so he lifted her from the car and carried her inside. Once inside his apartment, he dropped all their stuff on the floor and carried her too his bedroom. He took off her shoes and laid her in the bed and covered her with the blanket. But when he reached the door to head to the living room he heard a small voice calling back to him.
"Tony…." It was a whisper wrapped in hurt and sadness.
He turned back around and looked at her but before he could say anything, she spoke first.
"Stay with me, please."
He couldn't say no to her even if he wanted to( which he didn't). So he removed his shoes and climbed in the bed next to her. She instantly moved to him and snuggled into his side and he ( almost as a reflex) put his arms more protectively around he waist. They lay there in comfortable silence for quite a while, just taking comfort from each others company until he decided he should speak.
"Ziva, please tell me what it is that made you like this, it scared me ."He didn't want her to start hurting again but he needed to know what had done this to his ziva.
Her voice broken but stronger than before answered him .
" He's dead, my father. When you left it was the Israeli embassy that called to inform me." He could hear the hurt in her voice. He could feel her tears start to fall again.
"Shh , don't cry, its alright, it's alright." He tried to comfort her but he'd never needed to comfort his ninja before. She began to talk again.
" But its not, everyone who gets close to me dies, first my sister, then my mother and my brother and father. And I don't want anyone else to die, I can't let anyone else get close."
He couldn't believe what she was saying, was this why she kept everyone out .
"You've always kept everyone at bay, never let your emotions show through, your walls were always to strong, is this why, you didn't want anything to happen to us?"
He felt her nod against his chest.
" Ever since my sister's death, I've started building those walls and with every death they've got stronger."
He listened to her, listened to her trust him with her past, the emotions she keeps inside, he felt honoured to be the one she told it too and it had finally helped him begin to understand her.
"But Ziva none of these deaths were your fault, you could've done nothing to stop them."
" Your wrong, if I'd have taken my sister to school that day, she would have never been in the place the bomb went off, if I'd tried harder to stop my mother from leaving she would never of been killed, If I'd have stayed in Israel I could have protected my father and my brother, that was all my fault."
He couldn't help but hold her closer and tighter at her words at the burden of all these deaths she carried on her shoulders.
"How was your brothers death your fault, you weren't the one that shot him, Gibbs was and you were not responsible for his actions, he was so in no way was it your fault."
He didn't think she was going to answer but after few minutes a few minutes she spoke.
"I did it ,it wasn't Gibbs, it was me. I shot my own brother, I killed him."
She broke down again shaking in his arms and he just held her close. He couldn't believe what she was saying. Shed killed her own brother to save someone she barely knew and to avenge someone she'd never known. He got a whole new respect for her and it made his love for her stronger. He'd been debating on how to tell her for weeks, but he always chickened out, always afraid of rejection. He didn't want to ruin what relationship they already had but he figured tonight was the best time to tell her before her walls went back up.
"Ziva I don't dislike you for telling me that, I'm proud of you and to be honest you being willing to admit this and what you did just makes me love you more than I already did."
He waited for her to say something scared of what she might say.
"You love me?" she looked up at me, staring right into my eyes. Slightly mesmerized by her eyes he answered.
"Ziva, how could I not love you? Everyday you make me love you, your laugh always fills me with warmth, I always get mesmerized by your chocolate brown eyes, your not afraid to stand up for what you believe in and but your own life at risk. Of course I love you."
He then realized he'd probably just made a complete fool of himself and instead he just lay there, not knowing what to say . Her answer was something he did not expect.
She sat up and looked at him; "I love you too."
He looked at her and slowly pulled her to him and ever so gently, he kissed her. He felt her kiss him back. The kiss didn't last for ages but long enough to show each other the love the love they felt towards the other.
They pulled back from each other and she lay down on his chest. He kissed her temple and they just lay there together.
"Get some sleep Ziva, I love you."
"I Love you too Tony" And they shared one last kiss between them before falling asleep in each others arms. Not caring about everything they will have to deal with when they wake up.