A/N: To the few people who followed and reviewed the first chapter: Thank you. This is my first fan fiction so I didn't really expect anyone yet and I must say I was positively surprised...:)

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any characters mentioned...

Chapter 2

He had no idea how long they were standing like this, when a familiar voice yelled through the hallway: "Tony, who is it? Since there was no answer, Zoe decided to go see the unexpected visitor herself. What she didn't expect was to find her boyfriend starring at a foreign girl who did or said nothing in return...

Even Zoe froze for a moment. They looked totally lost in the moment and each other's eyes. Suddenly she noticed that the stranger's eyes and face went from expressing sadness and some kind of sorry to cold and absolutely emotionless. Since Tony had barely noticed her arrival, she said in a very firm and strict tone: "Hello. Can we help you?"

A few more seconds have passed until Ziva's shaky answer." No, I'm sorry, I should not have come. It is clearly not the best time for you," she said, still carefully observing Tony. She turned around, ready to leave, and looked back in Tony's eyes for the last time: "Goodbye, Tony." And she left again, only it was her this time to face the feeling of making 'the hardest 180 of her life'. And she felt her Mossad emotionless steel mask coming off very quickly, as her eyes were slowly filling with tears. She started walking even faster, because the last thing she wanted to do was to start crying in the middle of a foreign building, and gave herself a few Gibbs-slaps. That, a deep breath and a few quick blinks made the tears go away.

Zoe stepped to the doors and closed them, since Tony was still staring outside on the hallway of an average DC building. "Well, that was odd," she commented to stop the uncomfortable silence between them. She could see in his eyes that the women who just left meant something to him. She just wasn't sure what was the relationship between them. So she asked carefully: "Who is she and why did she visit?"

Tony didn't answer for another few seconds, he just slowly turned around to face her and when she was ready to make another comment he interrupted her: "That was my old partner. We haven't seen each other for a very long time..."

"Care to share? 'Cause, I mean you do look pretty shaken up," she said. All kind of questions were on her mind, thoughts running in her head with the speed of light. And she wanted to ask Tony to explain the situation but he just looked so fragile that she was afraid that she might scare him away.

Her thoughts were interrupted by his, suddenly strict, voice:" I have to go. I'm sorry...". He grabbed his jacket and on the way to the door he shouted: "I'll be back soon, I'll call you!", ran in the hallway and left her completely speechless, not knowing what to think.

He ran outside as quickly as he could but he was afraid that he had missed Ziva already and that she was gone for indefinite amount of time if not for good. He stopped by the door, thinking. He didn't know whether this visit was just coincidental and she has just passed by. Gibbs' voice in his head suddenly commented angrily: "There's no such thing as coincidence," and Gibbs was usually right so it probably wasn't coincidental. He didn't know if she moved back or if it was business related, or if she came back as his best friend or something more. The only thing he did know was that he would sure not let her go again this easy. It only occurred to him now that it would be good if he thought of what to say to her but then eagerly decided that he must catch her first.

So he looked around in the dark alley for cars just turning on or signs of any kind of movement at all. The street was particularly quiet this evening so he was sure he would have heard her if she was still here. He yelled:" Damn it!" as he banged his head hard on the wall of his building. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

What he didn't know was that she was not more than 20 meters away from him, observing his every move. She was hiding behind a large container opposite of the building. She knew coming back to America was a mistake. She had been thinking of returning to DC from the night Tony had left Israel a year and a half ago but only started considering it more seriously for the last few months. So one day she just booked a plane ticket and here she was approximately twenty hours later on the edge of starting to cry and completely embarrassed. She had been really changed now that all her ties with Mossad, NCIS or any other violent job were cut. She was a real estate agent now after a former neighbor and current friend offered her a job in her company back in Israel. She felt that she was slowly beginning to heal herself from all the death and pain she has seen in her life.

She suddenly became aware of the outside world again and noticed that Tony was heading somewhere. His face was showing deep disappointment, anger and sadness. When he disappeared from her sight a few seconds later, she started deciding what now. Since she didn't feel like spending a miserable night by herself in her hotel room, was going in a bar for a few drinks her only choice and option.

Just that 'a few drinks' turned to 'a few drinks too much' very soon. It was around midnight by now and she was getting tired and angry to the countless lonely men, who had tried to hit on her in the last few hours. They stopped doing so after some death threats made by her with some, at first look, harmless objects, but when she punched somebody on the nose after his unsuccessful attempt to caress her thigh, they realized that she was not joking and quickly left her alone, before somebody would get seriously hurt.

She left the bar at around two in the morning, only because it closed. She was really drunk by now and did the first thing that came into her mind: calling Tony, but apparently his phone was off. If that even was still his number.

In that moment a taxi drove by and she quickly stopped it, entered and without hesitation told the cab driver Tony's apartment's address…

Tony wandered around through the DC streets and alleys for about two hours. It really helped him clear his head.

But he still didn't have a slightest idea of what he's going to do. He couldn't decide whether to call Zoe or try to find Ziva. He would call Ziva but didn't know her phone number or where she went as a matter of fact.

It was starting to rain a little so he came to an end that it would be best for him to just go home. He knew he won't be able to sleep but a hot shower didn't sound bad.

The first thing he did after coming home was checking his phone, which he had left at his flat after going out in a hurry. Zoe had been long gone by now but she left him a voice mail in which she told him to call her when he's ready to talk about what happened or when he simply deals with it, which made him so angry that he simply threw his cell phone against the wall instead of calling her back. The stupid thing of course instantly shattered into multiple pieces. "Great. Just great," he muttered to himself sarcastically.

He was thinking of showering but he couldn't do it. Right now he was way to depressed to do even a simple task like that. Instead he just rolled onto his king-sized bed fully dressed. He thought he won't be able to drift away to sleep but he was so emotionally exhausted that he was sleeping almost right away.

Tony didn't wake up until loud voices and knocking on the doors outside his apartment. He sighed deeply, thinking it must have been McGee again, with one of his multiple love problems, who probably just wanted to talk to him when Tony didn't answer his cell phone. It certainly wouldn't be the first visit from him in the middle of the night.

He checked his wrist watch and sighed even louder this time. 02.34. What the hell did McGee want this time?

I apologize for any mistakes in grammar I made. English is not my first language. Reviews are welcome...