A/N: Okay guys, no new content just an update to the formatting of this chapter. Hope this makes it easier to read. Thanks again for all who took the time to review and provide input. Chapter 4 will hopefully be up by the end of this weekend. If not then let me wish you all an early Happy New Year.
Chapter Three
Gibbs had been doing his best to put the details and pressure of the latest case behind him. With every long and deliberate stroke of his sander he felt a little more of the tension that had built up over the past couple of weeks start to release. Working with his hands, has always provided him relief and tonight was no exception. He had been at it for several hours now and he knew that his muscles would be sore the next day but the quiet solitude of his basement beckoned him to keep going.
His basement seemed to provide a temporary escape from the evils of the world above. He knew pain and despair to a deeper depth than most. He had experienced more death, pain and loss then he would dare wish on anyone. Consequently very few people understood him because very few people could relate to what he had seen, where he had been and what he had lived through. Truth be told, he can think of only one other person that had seen and experienced as much lose and pain as he has.
He sensed her before he even heard or saw her. He wasn't sure how he did it. Maybe it was from his training or maybe it was some sort of ability his life's circumstances forced him to tap into for mere survival. Whatever it was he just called it his gut and up to this point it has never failed him.
He was use to his team members stopping by at all hours of the night. He left his door open for that very reason. There isn't a member on his team that hasn't frequented his basement late at night from time to time but Ziva has always been his most consistent visitor and since finding her in Somalia she had become as much a permanent fixture in his basement as he was.
As he waited for her to appear on the landing above his work area he wondered what the dream had been tonight. Whatever it had been he was certain it had been really bad since she was here. She is not one to easily show vulnerability and admit her need for comfort. Her training etched it so deeply into her that emotions, especially fear, is a sign of weakness and weakness will only get you killed.
He knew the battle that was waging in her mind upstairs. The need for comfort comes with a high price, the willingness to let yourself become exposed and unguarded. He knew it too well. He constantly fought the same battle. He shook his head as he thought about how similar they were. His team has always been a close one. He loves and cares deeply for each one of his agents but even though Ziva was the last to join the team and has been with him the least amount of time the bond they share is deeper, stronger and more complicated then the bond he shares with the rest. Hell, how could it not be he thinks, she killed her own brother to save my life.
Ziva has always been seen as a tough, ruthless trained assassin but he knows better and that is why he has always been more protective of her then the rest. He saw firsthand as she sobbed over her brother the night she killed him, as pain flashes across her face whenever thoughts of her childhood or lost loved ones come to mind. He knows that pain and feeling of loss well and that is why they have always understood each other and what the other needs. They know when to push and when to back off and that is why tonight he decided it was better not to go up stairs and check on her. He knows that if she comes down she is willing to open up and except his help. If she doesn't then he knows its best not to push her and to let her figure things out on her own. Besides he is grateful for the few moments she is giving him to steady and prepare himself for being in such close proximity to her. At work it's easy, there are a ton of things to keep him preoccupied, but here alone in his basement with her can at times be almost too much to handle. He has known for a while now that he is in love with her. Regardless of how many times he has given himself a mental head smack and tried to convince himself that there was no way Ziva would ever feel the same about him he just can't seem to get her out of his mind. Besides even if by some miracle of God she did feel the same there was Rule #12 which he was sure was a good rule even if he could never seem to remember why when she was around.