Authors Note: Hello, all, I hope you enjoy this chapter. There is a bit of everyone in this installment.

Disclaimer: See chapter 2

Song: It Gets Better by Jo Dee Messina

Reviews are love, leave some!


I've felt the chill of this world cut down to the bone
I've walked many a mile down this road on my own
I've been through hell on my knees
Come face to face with the devil
And I know that it's hard to believe
But it gets better

"How are you doing today, Ziva?" her assigned psychiatrist asks, at the start of their session.

Sitting stubbornly on the couch across from her she has her legs crossed, hands resting in her lap. She looks down before answering her. "The dream came back," she whispers.

"The one about your partner dying?" she asks, she confirms with a nod. "When was this?"

"Last night. It was Tony's night to watch over me. The dream felt real, and when he woke me up I was panicking."

The doctor nods, "What happened after that?"

"I told him what happened, and that everything felt real," she begins, not sure if she wants to tell this woman, that she is forced to talk to every other day, about Tony comforting her, and how she woke up in his arms that morning-maybe she'll leave that part out. "He assured me that nothing was going to happen to him; that he will be fine. I told him that with our job, there is a very real possibility that he could die, and I would lose him." She smiles at the memory of putting his faith in her, "He told me that it is a good thing that his partner is a 'Ninja'. I do not know how I feel about him trusting me as much as he does. Look at me? Should he be talking to someone who has a shrunken head?"

The doctor smiles at her error and politely corrects her, "I believe you mean 'who is getting their head shrunk'." Writing something on the pad of paper she has next to her, she continues, "Why do you feel that he shouldn't trust you? The fact that you need to speak to me about your ordeal?"

She blinks a few times, and with a shrug of her shoulders she answers, "It does not seem like a good idea right now. If I can barely get through a night of sleep, how could I possibly protect him in the field? Especially since I have no idea when I will be able to go back; I am not crazy. He is for trusting me as much as he does right now." She takes a deep breath and looks up at the woman across from her. "Right?"

"Ziva, it seems as though your partner still trusts you because he knows you. He knows that you are strong enough to find your way back to who you are supposed to be. He believes in you, Ms. David."

The session with her shrink comes to an end, and she leaves the office. She doesn't know what good these visits with her will do, she doesn't feel any different than when they first started. She hates that everyone says 'this will take time'. She's never been a patient person. She sits down on a bench outside of the NCIS building, and gets lost in her thoughts, so lost that she doesn't register that someone has seated themselves next to her.

"How're you doing, Ziva?"

Turning to be met with the boyish face of Tim McGee, Ziva paints on her best fake smile. "I am fine, McGee. How are you?"

"Good, good," the man nods, sips his coffee. "We all want you back on the team soon. It's not the same without you."

Ziva shakes her head, "I am not ready to be back in the field yet. The 'head doctor' has to sign a release saying that I am stable. But she is not certain that I am, and right now I think she is right; no matter how much sitting at a desk is torturing me."

Tim chuckles softly, "You'll be back soon enough. I believe in you, so does Gibbs and Tony."

She takes a deep breath then lets it out, "I am still not sure why you believe in me so much. If I have not been able to pass the psych eval, then there is clearly something wrong with me, yes?"

Tim shakes his head 'no', "I don't believe that there is anything wrong with you, Ziva. I believe in your ability to bounce back; you're strong, you can handle anything. You need to talk it out, and once you do you'll see that everything will be back to how it was before." Tim puts a comforting hand on her arm, "It's just going to take some time, that's all."

Ziva smiles softly at the man next to her, "I suppose you are right. I just wish that it would not take as long."

-NCIS—

Standing beside the door, she locks it and tries to hold her composure when Tony begins singing to himself as he is going to the bathroom. It takes him a moment, but he soon senses her presence in the room, and catches her eye in the mirror.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asks, as he's finishing his business.

She shrugs, and tries to be witty, "Long enough to see that you are well hydrated after your time in the desert."

Zipping his pants and walking over to wash his hands, he keeps his eye on her in the mirror, "You've been avoiding me since you woke up."

"I was not sure what to say."

"But you were sure it had to be said in the men's room?"

She walks over and leans against the counter, "I was sure it had to be said." She watches as he dries his hands and doesn't turn to look at her. She came in here to get everything off her chest, and that is what she is going to do. "When you shot Michael, I almost killed you where you stood."

"I wasn't standing," he retorts, tossing the waded up paper towel in the trash on the other side of her.

"No you weren't. You were lying on the ground; without adequate back up completely violating protocol-"

"And double parked."

"Yes," she says, turning to face him, "I noticed. But that does not matter. Just like it does not matter how it worked out, for Michael."

"So what does?" Tony asks, trying to keep his own emotions in check.

She puts one hand in front of him, and tilts her head so she can at least try to look him in the eye, "That you had my back. That you have always had my back; and that I was wrong to question your motives."

The question he has been wanting answered for the longest time rolls off his tongue, "So why did you?"

"I trusted my bother Ari, I trusted Michael," she says, and then looks up at him, "I could not afford to trust you."

Finally, Tony turns to look at the woman, with the makings of a smirk on his face; she looks back up at him, her eyes instantly getting lost in his. "I thought you weren't sure what to say?" he teases.

She gives a small shrug, "I guess I had a lot of time to think about things."

"I'm sorry, Ziva."

She moves so she is standing before him, and shakes her head, "No, it is I, who am sorry."

What she intends to be a friendly kiss on the cheek, turns into something much more meaningful. She places her hand on his cheek, and as she moves to place her lips on the opposite cheek, he turns his head and captures her lips with his. She's momentarily stunned, but kiss him back before the reasonable side of her screams at her to stop.

Pulling away, she drops her hand, "You should not have done that, Tony."

"I wanted to," he whispers. "Didn't you feel it, Ziva? I don't want to fight my feelings anymore; I've been fighting them for too long, and I lose the fight every time you walk into the room."

Ziva shakes her head, "Tony, not now. I am not in a good place. Please, do not do that again."

Before he has a chance to grab her or say something to stop her, she is gone; not looking back at the broken man she left in her wake.

-NCIS—

Before she goes home, she has another stop to make, she has to clear the air with Gibbs. When she decided to stay with her father in Israel, she gave her Boss an ultimatum, knowing that he doesn't like them. She told him in a few words that it was either her or Tony that had to be transferred to a different team.

She watched Gibbs turn his back on her and get back on the plane to the States without so much as looking back until he was seated. Deciding to stay with her father was a tough decision. Since joining NCIS she has seen what good people are all about; and that Mossad was just about being two faced liars like her brother Ari. A part of her will always love him; he was her big brother, but he didn't think twice about who he killed. He had killed Kate without batting an eye and without a reason. She was just a way for him to get to Gibbs, and Ziva had to take him out before he could kill anyone else.

This is what she explains to Gibbs, she tells him that of course she would lie in order to protect her brother. Gibbs was nothing to her until she truly got to know him, now she would do anything to protect the one man who seems to never need any protection for anyone.

"All I am asking for, is a second chance, Gibbs," she says, then looks back up at him. "I promise you, I will not disappoint you again. That is the last thing I want to do, I respect you too much to have you doubt me."

Gibbs' stone cold eyes bore into her, and her answer is a nod, "I know, Ziva. I'll see you at the office tomorrow morning."

She smiles a real smile for the first time since she's been home, "Thank you, Gibbs."