A/N – Here's another chapter for you. It is mostly Tony and Ziva, but a little bit of the others thrown in too. I know you are all wondering what they are up to with some time off. Read and you shall learn! Enjoy!

Disclaimer – I don't own NCIS or the characters

Chapter 3

Sunday, October 20, 2013

"Shut up, Dornegat!" Jen shouted, which sounded out in the car they were sitting in, parked on a side street right near Tony and Ziva's apartment. "You are so annoying! Just keep your mouth closed!"

They had been sitting in that car since nine last night and it was now ten in the morning. Jen was exhausted and very annoyed. Dornegat had tried several times to make conversation with her, but had failed every time. He then went on to telling many stories about his whole life. Jen probably could have told you all of the lame things he had done throughout his life. She was so far beyond annoyed. She could probably kill Dornegat. Luckily, her phone rang at that moment, saving Dornegat's life.

"How you two holding up?" the voice of Gibbs said into the phone.

"If you ever put me with this lame man again, I might shoot you!" Jen raged into the phone. "All he wants to do is talk, talk, talk! And his whole life it lame, dull, and boring! I need to get out of this car before I 'accidentally' shoot his brains into the side window!"

"Calm down, Jen," Gibbs said, chuckling into the phone. "Has Parsons moved at all?"

"No," Jen replied. "He's sat in his car the whole night watching us while we watched him. Perhaps he got the memo on your rules: always watch the watchers. Made for an excruciatingly boring night! Can we come back now so I can pee and get some sleep!"

"Yes, you can," Gibbs said. "Tony and Ziva should be up by now and I'm certain they can take care of themselves if push comes to shove."

"Thanks," Jen said, turning on the engine, hanging up the phone and driving off at top speed in the Navy car she was using.

"There they go," Ziva said, looking down through the blinds in the window. "But not the other car."

"What do you suppose they are watching?" Tony asked thoughtfully, climbing out of bed and joining his wife at the window.

"Well, I suppose the Navy car was watching the other car, which I suppose was watching us or them," Ziva said thoughtfully. "Is it time we start to think, Tony?"

"Think about work, no," he said. "Think about what we've been through together, probably. Actually, it's probably past time for that. We've been here nearly a month and we've dealt with absolutely nothing except each other."

"That is very true," Ziva said with a chuckle. "I will work with breakfast if you will make the coffee."

"Sounds fair to me," Tony said quietly and kissed his wife on the cheek.

They got to work immediately in the kitchen with brewing coffee and cooking eggs. It didn't take very long. Then, they sat down on the couch and ate and drank their coffee in silence. When everything was gone they poured themselves a second cup of coffee and turned to face each other at the same time.

Living together had been too easy of an adjustment to make, in reality. They knew each other so well that they knew when they were really getting on each other's nerves, and for the first time in their lives they respected that and backed off, avoiding a fight and talking it out later. That was the bonus to having eight years of working closely before they got married.

"Where do we begin?" Ziva asked. "Do we begin at phone sex? Or Somalia? Or Paris? Or the elevator? Or Berlin?"

"We have to deal with all of it, I suppose," Tony said honestly. "I guess we start at phone sex."

They both laughed at the way they had met. Their eyes met and there was a twinkle of the raw attraction that they had felt that day. It had been so unhindered by what they now knew about each other and each of them had known that they were different than anyone else on the planet, but back then they never would have pictured the way they were today.

"What were you really doing?" Ziva asked.

"I was picturing Kate in a school-girl outfit," Tony said honestly and blushing. "She was really like a sister to me, but I guess we flirted a lot, just neither of us considered it flirting. We were close and her loss was difficult. Why wouldn't you talk to me that day?"

"I had orders to talk to Gibbs," Ziva said. "And, you know me, I was stubborn and Senior Field Agent was not as good as Supervisory Senior Field Agent."

They both laughed again. Then the mood turned serious one more time as Tony prepared to say something.

"Ziva, I know you're the one who shot Ari," Tony mentioned to her. "I've known it for a long time. I overheard Gibbs say something to you about what had happened in his basement then. I'm sorry you had to do that."

"I am not, Tony," Ziva said. "At first, it was difficult for me, but the more I learned about how bad he really was, the easier it was to deal with. I did it to save Gibbs, not because I had orders to do so. Gibbs was another NCIS agent that did not have to die. I had orders six months before then to terminate, but I did not follow them because he was my brother. I am sorry for not doing that. It could have saved Kate."

"But, then we wouldn't be sitting here," Tony argued. "I'm not sorry you didn't follow those orders."

They kissed and the discussion of that day was over, for now. Perhaps they would return to it later, but they were newlyweds and were definitely acting like it, spending most of their time in the bedroom without any clothes on was definitely the way to go.

"Before you two go," Gibbs said to his daughter and the other agent, "I need to know what Parsons was doing there all night."

"Watching us because we were watching him," Jen said quietly. "Now, can I please get some rest?"

"Yes, of course. Next time you'll have a day-time stake out. I have to start planning your work around a normal schedule anyway," Gibbs said. "Can't believe we've been at this a month already and we still have nothing on Parsons. He's got to be doing something wrong."

"You talk to Fornell?" Jen asked her father. "He left a voice message on the house phone yesterday morning, you listen to it?"

"Nope," Gibbs said. "Haven't been home yet."

"It said that he needed to talk about Tony and Ziva right away and you needed to call him. Do you want me to take care of it after I wake up, or are you actually going to go home and sleep?"

"I was thinking sleeping sounding like a good idea now that I know my little girl is safe," Gibbs said quietly.

They exchanged a smile and walked out of the squad room with only a glace back at the clock it was already noon and Jen groaned finally knowing the time. This was going to be a long day, because she would have to only take a short nap, so she would be able to sleep that night, unless she was staking out again. She was going to request McGee or someone that knew not to talk to her when she was in a bad mood or exhausted.

"So, where did we leave off?" Tony asked.

"I believe we only got through before I joined NCIS," Ziva said with a smile on her face. "After that we had that case where no one trusted me because I was Mossad."

"That's not true. Gibbs trusted you and so did I, miraculously. I just thought you would kill me," Tony said. "You want to talk about that undercover mission?"

"It was not your knee," Ziva pointed out again laughing at him.

"I know that," Tony told her also laughing. "But I thought it would keep me alive to tell you it was my knee. That was probably the single most difficult thing I've had to do with you."

"I would agree. The self-control that it took to not just allow it to happen then. How dare Jenny for putting us through that!" Ziva said angrily.

"But that summer was pretty awesome," Tony said. "It was almost like we were dating. We got really close, remember?"

"All those movie nights," Ziva sighed happily. "I really liked you, then, Tony. I knew that you would take me if I agreed to it. But, sleeping with a foreign operative for either an American or an Israeli is against the law for a Federal Agent or Mossad Officer. And I was afraid of my father and Mossad finding out. I know you gave me plenty of opportunities to open up and talk or tell you how I felt, and I know I denied them, and for that I am sorry, except that I don't think we would have turned out quite so happy had we started dating then."

"I'm inclined to agree with you, Ziva," Tony said nodding to her. "Then there was the disaster with Jeanne Benoit. That was an undercover mission gone wrong if ever I've seen one."

"Did you love her, Tony?" Ziva asked curiously.

"No," Tony said, looking straight into Ziva's eyes. "I did care about her, but I was not in love with her and did not love her, Ziva. She was a mission and I did take it a little too far and did get a little too involved, but I did not fall in love with her."

"You were so broken after things ended with her," Ziva reminded him.

"I was broken because it hurt you," Tony whispered. "I was afraid of hurting you and I had hurt you in the process, because I had kept it all from you."

"That's difficult," Ziva whispered, looking straight at Tony. "I wish I had known. But, I was still Mossad."

"Yes, you were," Tony said and there was a pause.

"What about Jenny's death?" Ziva asked. "And our reassignment?"

"We handled it as best we could," Tony said, grinding his teeth together a little. "We almost gave in then."

"I know," Ziva whispered. "We were close. That was the second time we kissed."

"In autopsy of all places," Tony remembered. "It was better than the undercover mission kiss, though. It was less for show and more… real."

"I agree," Ziva said. "Then I came back and you were still afloat. That was difficult for me. Do you know how bad I wanted to tell you about what my father was forcing me to do?"

"He forced you to date Rivkin?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Ziva said angrily. "It was not the first time he played director on me, Tony and asked me to do something that I did not want to do. He did that frequently, but it was the first time since I had joined NCIS. I did not want you involved, but I wanted you to have my back. I did not stop you when I knew you were involving yourself, but I could not help you, either. My mission was to date Rivkin and allow him to do whatever he was going to do."

Ziva was turning red from the anger.

"I'm sorry I killed him," Tony said suddenly.

"No, Tony. You saved me that day, do not be sorry."

"But, then you stayed in Israel," Tony whispered. "I wish I had convinced you to come back."

"Nothing could have convinced me short of my father letting me go," Ziva said. "He was the reason I stayed. He threatened my safety if I returned. I could not live in fear. I knew that I had to do the mission as well. I am sorry that I got caught."

"It's not your fault," Tony whispered.

"The happiest thing in my life was seeing your face when they pulled that sack of my head," Ziva told him. "I had never been happier to see you. And what you said! To hear it! It was the best thing I could have heard!"

"Seeing you alive made me complete," Tony said. "And I meant what I said then."

They kissed. They kissed deeply and lovingly, but then they pulled apart and continued down the path that they were going down.

"Paris was just perfect," Ziva said happily. "But we have already talked about that."

"There were our fiascos with EJ and Ray," Tony reminded her. "It was the only time we were both consistently seeing someone else at the same time as the other. But, honestly, I was only dating EJ because you were dating Ray."

"I only stayed with Ray because you stayed with EJ," Ziva whispered.

They shared a moment of silence, in which they came to the understanding that they were not the best at communicating in the past. Then, they continued on.

"You were devastated when Franks was killed," Tony said. "I had never seen you loose it other than the time Jenny was killed."

"He was a part of the family," Ziva said. "It was hard to deal with, but I was glad that you were there. We nearly lost control then, too. It would have been too soon, though. I would not have made it through."

"I know, you were still healing," Tony said. "I could see it in your eyes. That was how I guessed that you and Ray never did anything. That was also the only thing that stopped me that night, though you were so conflicted. You wanted to go ahead and do it, but you were so reserved and even a little afraid of what you were feeling. I knew that it was too soon, so I stopped myself before we went too far and I hurt you."

"Thank you, Tony," Ziva said. "I honestly wanted to more than anything that night. But, yes, I was afraid and I was still healing. I don't think I would have been able to handle it. Not like I do now. Not like I did even in the beginning."

"That leads us to this year," Tony whispered quietly. "We don't have to continue talking now, since it's time for dinner. We can pick this up tomorrow, right?"

"Of course, Tony. And this year is going to take us more time to get through emotionally than the things we've already dealt with individually. This year we were not individuals, I noticed. We were something more, I feel. We should have talked a little more," Ziva said quietly. "But we will start with the explosion tomorrow morning. You know, the elevator?"

"Yes, I know," Tony said quietly and kissed Ziva on the forehead.

They got up and began to work together in the kitchen to make dinner for themselves, feeling as though a huge weight had already been lifted off their shoulders now that they had opened up about the past quite a bit. They had a lot left to talk about and they both knew that and this past year was going to be the hardest for them to adjust to.