Thanks for the reviews on last chapter. Enjoy this one (:

Chapter Three

At 1900 that night, Tony was alone in his apartment when the doorbell rang. He assumed it was the Chinese delivery man, so he grabbed his wallet and walked over to the door. He swung it open, and was surprised to see Ziva on the other side, holding a brown bag with Chinese food in it.

"Ziva? What are you doing here, and why do you have my food?" he inquired, stunned.

"You do not seem happy that I am here," she replied casually as she walked into his apartment, setting the bag down on his kitchen table. She had been to his apartment enough times to know where everything was and be able to make herself at home.

"I am, don't get me wrong, I'm just surprised. I didn't know you were coming over, it's not Thursday is it?" For the past year, they would have movie nights every Thursday at either of their apartments.

"No, it is not Thursday. I came here to talk. And I met the delivery boy by the elevator, saved him a trip up here. You owe me $16.25." She smiled as she set out the containers containing different foods on the table.

They sat, talking about everything and nothing, for about fifteen minutes while eating, before Ziva brought up the real reason she had stopped by. "So, if you had never been called back to active duty, would you have ever told anyone?"

"You're seriously still upset about that? I already explained everything!" he exclaimed. He knew that Ziva had been upset, but he figured she would be over it by now.

"Of course I am! After all of the conversations we had and everything we told each other, you didn't think to bring that up! That is a pretty big thing to leave out." Ziva was extremely offended that Tony had not told her about being in the Marines, even when she had opened up about her time in the Israeli Defense Force and Mossad.

"I already told you, I didn't want anyone to treat me differently!" he shouted. They were both standing now, and with each word they were moving closer to one another.

"Nobody would have thought anything differently of you, Tony, you know that," she spat back.

"Yes they would have. Everyone would have been like 'Yes, sir,' and 'No, sir,' all the time and would have thought too highly of me." Tony paused for a moment before continuing. "I didn't do anything for people to think that good of me," he finally said quietly.

Ziva walked over to Tony and pushed him down into his seat before she sat back down in hers. "So that is what this is about? You do not want people to give you the praise you deserve?"

"I'm not doing anything special, like saving the planet or whatever" he countered, then paused for a moment. "I don't deserve any praise," he whispered quietly.

Ziva reached over the table and held Tony's hands in hers while she talked. "Yes, you do deserve the praise." He opened his mouth to object, but she shook her head to quiet him. "You are doing something so admirable for your country that you deserve all the praise that everyone gives you. Who would have thought, Tony DiNozzo not wanting praise?"

They both laughed, and then moved over to the couch. Tony grabbed two beers out of the fridge, and handed one to Ziva before sitting down next to her. They sat in comfortable silence before Tony began talking again. "I'm still nervous, though."

"Nervous about what?" Ziva questioned.

"Going overseas, you know, to Afghanistan. I have no idea what to expect. What if something happens to me? What was it like when you were in the IDF?"

Ziva had told Tony of her time in the IDF, or Israeli Defense Force, during one of their many movie nights. Again Ziva held Tony's hand, gently rubbing the back of his hand with her palm, reassuringly. "I was only in the IDF for not even a year, so I did not get the full experience. I am not going to lie to you though, it was tough. I never fought in combat, but the training was hard enough. And Mossad training is pretty much the same as IDF training, so I had to go through it twice. Some of my time at Mossad felt like I was in the IDF, especially when I went on missions. But you are strong, you will get through it. As long as you do not give up, you will be fine."

Tony felt a little better, but was still unsure about himself. "But what if I get hurt or something worse?"

"I am not going to say you will not get hurt, because nobody knows what will happen there. But if you do, then you got hurt, or worse case scenario, died for you country, which is a very honorable thing to do."

"What would happen if I did die though? Would the team be able to get over it? Would you be able to get through it?" he asked quietly.

Ziva didn't want to think of the consequences of Tony going to Afghanistan, especially if he did die. She honestly didn't know if she would be able to get over it, if Tony, the man she loved, died. 'No, you can't love him. You would get over it, he is just a colleague,' she told herself.

"It would be tough if something happened to you. I do not think anyone could get over losing another team member," she finally said after thinking for a moment. She decided to take the safe way out, by not telling him how she truly felt.

Tony looked into Ziva's eyes, and could see the sadness deep within them. He put his arms around her and held her close, letting her be vulnerable, if only for a moment. He wanted to give into his feelings, and tell her about his love for her, but he knew that now was not the time. He was leaving in less than a week, and both of them were too weak for anything like that. He had given in long ago to the fact that he did indeed love Ziva and knew there was no way to fight it, but it would have to wait until a better time.

They sat like that for a long while, simply holding each other, comforting one another. After they broke apart, Ziva looked slightly embarrassed for showing emotion, even it was only a little. "I, um, should get going," she stuttered out as she got up.

"Yeah, it's pretty late. I wanna be able to get up tomorrow," Tony replied casually, even though it hurt him she was leaving.

"I shall see you tomorrow at work, yes?"

"Yup. Wednesday's my last day, so I need to start cleaning out my desk." They moved awkwardly to the door.

"Alright. Goodbye, Tony," Ziva said as she walked out the door, shutting it quietly behind her.

"Bye," he said before she shut the door. He leaned against the door, resting his forehead on the cold wood. "Oh, what am I gonna do?"

------

At 0700 the next morning, Tony, Ziva, and McGee were in the bullpen, waiting for Gibbs to arrive. They were all sure that he was already there, and was most likely out getting coffee. Tony was about to call him when he came sauntering into the bullpen, coffee cup in hand.

"Boss?" Tony asked when Gibbs had sat down at his desk, turning on his computer.

"Yeah, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked impatiently. He was frustrated that he couldn't seem to get to his e-mail to read it, even though it was probably useless junk, he thought.

"Do you think we could maybe talk? When you're not busy?" Although Tony had talked to Ziva already, he wanted advice from Gibbs also, who had been in the Marines too and actually saw combat.

Gibbs immediately knew what Tony wanted to talk about. "Sure. Follow me," he said as he got up and walked towards the elevator. Tony got up and followed him into the elevator. When it started up, Gibbs hit the emergency stop switch and turned to Tony. "What do you want to know about the Marines?"

"How did you….you know what, I'm not even going to ask," he chuckled lightly before he continued. "I don't know, I'm just nervous. I already talked to Ziva, and she made me feel better, but I could use some more advice."

"You want to know what actual combat's like." It was more of a statement than a question, but Tony nodded in agreement anyways. "I'm not gonna lie and say its all fine and dandy. It sucks. It's about 100 degrees out there in your uniform, you're tired all the time because you barely sleep, the food sucks, and you never know when someone's gonna come around and you'll need to be ready to fight at a moments notice. But when it's all said and done and you're back home, you feel good knowing that you've served your country."

"That's what everyone keeps telling me, that I'll feel great serving my country and all," Tony sighed.

"It's the truth. When I came back after Desert Storm, I had support from so many people. It helped me get through things." Gibbs failed to mention that Shannon and Kelly had died while he was away, but Tony knew none the less. "The only problem you'll have is your hair. We gotta get that cut soon."

"But boss, they'll cut it when I get to training camp, why can't I wait 'til then?" Tony whined.

"Believe me, it'll be a lot worse if they cut it there than if you get it cut while you're still here." Gibbs hit the emergency stop again, bringing the elevator back to life. "Come on, we'll go to a barber now and get it done. It won't be too bad," Gibbs teased as they walked back into the bullpen. As Tony walked to his desk to collect his phone, SIG, and badge before leaving, he felt a familiar stinging on the back of his head.

"What was that for?" Tony complained.

"For not telling me you're a Marine. I'd head slap myself too for not knowing."

"What, are your spidey-senses off?" Tony taunted as they walked back towards the elevator. Gibbs gave him a steely glare. "Shutting up boss."

"Where are you going now?" McGee called from the bullpen.

"DiNozzo's getting his hair cut. Be back shortly."

An hour later, Ziva and McGee looked up from the cold case files they were currently reviewing at the "ding" of the elevator to see Gibbs and a sullen looking Tony walking out. When they walked into the bullpen, Ziva and McGee could see that Tony had the hood from this sweatshirt covering his head.

"DiNozzo, take that damn hood off. It isn't that bad," Gibbs demanded as both agents sat down at their respective desks.

"But boss…" Tony started, but was cut off by Gibbs.

"You're going to have to get used to it eventually. Take off the hood," Gibbs ordered.

Tony sighed in defeat as he lowered the hood, revealing his new short hair cut. It was short, buzzed on the sides and a bit longer on top. It was a standard Marine cut, like Gibbs', only much shorter.

When Tony took off his hood, McGee gasped and Ziva had to suppress a laugh. For as long as they had been at NCIS, nobody had ever seen Tony with short hair.

"Oh my," Ziva exclaimed as she got up and walked over to Tony. "That is certainly different. However, it does not look bad." She had to admit, Tony still looked good with his hair cut short. If anything, it made him look even better. She raised her hand and ran her hand through what was left of his hair.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he grumbled. "My head is cold."

This chapter is pretty short, just a filler. The next chapter is when Tony leaves for Parris Island. I have a lot of summer reading and work I have to do for school, which starts in a month, so it may be a little bit longer between updates, sorry ): but if you guys review, I may be motivated to update quicker.

Thanks for reading and please review (: