Gibbs left Abby with McGee in her lab. He could trust Tim to explain Ziva's story, he could even trust Tim with the emotional Ms. Shuito. McGee watched his boss leave knowing perfectly well watch his expectations were of him. The geek turned to the Goth who was patiently waiting for him to explain why everyone was acting so strange.

"What's going on? Tell me McGee, and make it quick. I've got so many cases right now. Unless you guys are starting up a case! I will happily take that case. You guys are so much better than the other teams. I just know you guys so well, ya know?" Abby said, jumping around the room and getting herself off task as usual.

"Yeah, we're starting a new case."

Abby stopped running around her lab and jumped in the air cheering.

"But not till tomorrow. It's getting late anyways." He quickly added.

"Tell me about it!" She grunted. She was in between sorting out evidence and searching for a DNA match when she looked back at her friend who looked rather worried. "Why are you here then? Why is everyone acting so weird?"

"The cold case we're opening up is Ziva's. She knows the victim."

"Oh gosh, is she okay? I mean, she's been acting so unusual lately, this sure won't help." Abby stated. It was something they both we're thinking, she just had the nerve to say it out loud. He sighed loudly, getting closer to her like he was going to tell her some important secret. Abby always hated whenever her team acted so dramatic. All of them seemed to drag out things in such a suspicious a way, just to keep her on her toes.

"Yeah, I know. She cried twice today."

"Let me guess. Tony." She growled. Tim nodded.

"They talked."

"Well, that not a bad thing. At least maybe now both of them will act normal around each other. It makes me mad how stubborn they both can be."

"They've both gone through a lot together."

Abby looked up and narrowed her brow at him. "Wehave all gone through a lot together." McGee looked his best friend in the eyes, she was angry. He didn't mean for it to sound like that, but he decided to change the subject quickly. He would explain later.

"And there's a suspect. He's a really bad guy, like Hamas bad." He didn't know why he was whispering, they were the only two in the lab. "And I guess, when Ziva was working with Mossad before she even came to NCIS, she went on a mission with her sister."

Abby suddenly dropped all her thoughts about every case and her anger towards McGee. "Ziva has a sister?" She was so surprised her Israeli friend had never told her. Ziva was never on to talk about family, seeing that she hardly even had family, but this was a good thing. Maybe this sister could come and visit and meet the whole team.

"Her name was Tali, and she was killed in a suicide bombing during that mission."

"Oh no." Again, Abby met McGee's eyes. No wonder Ziva never talked about it.

"Eli sent her, Tali, and Arito consult him, to talk him out of it. Tali got to close, and she was killed. When the bomb detonated, Ziva was wondering around the battle grounds when she saw some one and knocked him unconscious. That's the suspect. When they found Tali, they completely forgot about him and left."

"And this guy is still out there?" Now she was yelling. How could the whole team have not have found him when they investigated this cold case earlier? How could they let Ziva down like this? How could I let Ziva down? The forensic specialist thought. "I can't wait till morning, give me his name." Abby stood at her computer waiting for McGee to say words and for her to start searching.

"Abby, it's late. The best thing you can do for Ziva right now is get some sleep and be ready…" He was cut off.

"No Timmy! I have to start now! I can't fail her for the second time. Give me the name!" Abby pleaded. She felt his hand reach over and touch hers on the computer mouse. Such a gesture always made her fell better, always made her know everything would work out for the best, just like it always did.

"I'll take you home." He whispered to her.

"How do you know I'll go to sleep when I get home?" She asked. Truthfully, Tim didn't care whether she went to bed or not, he just knew she shouldn't be here. Gibbs had told him that, and deep down inside, he even knew Abby thought the same. He put on a small smile. Their hands were still touching.

"I'll stay with you, just to make sure."

Ziva walked around the apartment. She hadn't been here in months. It was surprisingly clean, organized, and there seemed to be more pictures of the Gibbs' team hanging on the walls or sitting on top of tables.

"When I thought you were dead, it was a wake up call." She jumped at the sound of his voice. He was standing behind her now. "I starting digging around in drawers and stuff, and I found all these pictures, decided to hang them up, just in case."

"They are nice." Ziva whispered, picking up the frame with a picture of their team, Gibbs, McGee, Ducky, Abby, her, and himself.

"Yeah, I guess." He swiftly took the frame out of her hand, setting it back in its place. "What did you want to talk about?" Ziva sighed. He was being persistent, but surprisingly doing it with a gentle feel.

"How about we watch a movie, like we used to?" She was procrastinating. Now that she was here with Tony, Ziva was getting nervous. How would she even begin to tell him about her terrible past? Would he think of her differently? She didn't want that. They were just getting back to being normal like they were a few months ago.

"Ziva, we need to talk." Tony hated when she did this. She was never one to talk about…anything. Ziva knew she couldn't hold off any longer.

"I had a sister when I worked with Mossad." And she told on, barely slipping a tear. Ziva had cried enough today, to Gibbs and to Tony. It always seemed like she was crying around her partner the most. She hadn't decided whether that was a good or a bad thing. Somehow they made it to the couch sitting on opposite sides, a few feet apart. Tony listened carefully, memorizing each word that slipped out of her mouth. He had never heard her talk about her past before. It was weird, but reliving in the same.

"And I just left him there, alive; after I found out he was part of Hamas. I should have shot him. I should have killed him right then and there." And for the third time today, she broke down. The Italian watched her on the other side of the couch. He hadn't said anything in the past ten minutes because he wasn't sure what to say. But now, as Ziva cried on his couch, he knew what to do.

Tony slid over to Ziva and grabbed her shoulders, embracing her with a strong hug. Usually, she would've pulled back or insisted that she was fine. This time, however, she returned his hug, wrapping her arms around his neck and crying hard into his shoulder.

"This is anything but your fault Ziva." He reassured her. "We'll get him."

"How do you know?" Her dark brown eyes met with his bright green ones.

"I just know. We always get the bad guy in the end." And he kissed her gently on the forehead which brought a smile to her face. "I'm sorry about your sister." There was a knock at the door followed by a man calmly yelling "pizza" on the other end.

"I got it." He left her sitting on the couch. As she looked around his living room the movie collection caught her eye. Ziva crawled over to the shelf that was filled with all his favorite movies. She recognized a lot of them from the way he quoted one at least once each day. She reached out and grabbed The Sound of Music from his collection.

"Do you want a beer or anything?" Tony called from the kitchen after he paid for the pizza. He glanced in the living room and noticed her holding a movie smiling big.

"I thought you hated this movie."

"Well, I do." Tony admitted, "I got it during this summer."

They both exchanged looks, regretting how much more awkward the room became. "Oh." Was all Ziva said, feeling bad about bringing up the movie.

"Do you want to watch it?" Tony asked, trying to change the subject. Ziva nodded.

"I would like that."

They sat closer on the couch this time. Tony sat up while Ziva's legs were propped up on his lap. She sprawled out on the rest of the couch. He turned to her every so often. She mouthed the lyrics to the songs. He loved how she knew every word to every song. This movie was Ziva's favorite. This movie, however, was one of the few movies Tony hated. He never paid attention to it when he watched it, even when he watched it alone over the summer. And he sure wasn't paying attention to it right now. He was more interested in Ziva. She looked really beautiful today.

"What?" Ziva asked. She might've been a new NCIS agent, but she was no new investigator. She could easily tell he had been looking at her the whole time, while she still watched one of her favorite movie.

"Nothing, I was just thinking."

"About what?" She had wanted him to talk to her now. She had been doing too much admitting today. It was some one else's turn, it was her partner's turn.

"I just missed you. A lot." He whispered thinking about the summer. It was hard enough that she wasn't there, but even harder that the whole team thought she was dead. When Gibbs had first told him, Tony admittedly went out to the bar, drinking his pain away. He soon realized she wouldn't have liked that, and decided to find Saleem instead. And when they rescued Ziva a few weeks ago, he finally had realized just how much he had really missed his partner.

"I have always been here." She laughed and pointed to his chest where his heart was beating especially fast since she first placed her feet on him. It wasn't much of a touch, but it meant a lot to Tony. He smiled at her cheesy answer.

"What? Are we in The Notebook or something?" He laughed speaking of the highly romantic movie. She looked more confused than flattered.

"We are on paper?" She asked.

"It's a movie." He paused, and then added, "Never mind. I just missed you, that's all." This time Ziva was more serious.

"I missed you too."

"Really?"

She remembered how she thought of the team everyday she was held prisoner, Tony especially. Ziva really regretted leaving them, and him. A few weeks into her torture, she finally admitted to herself that she missed them; Gibbs, McGee, Abby, Ducky, and Tony, and would do anything to get them back. And now she had them all back. They were a team again, and she hoped that the new case would not tear them apart. She looked back at Tony who was still waiting patiently for her answer. She smiled big at him. "No." Tony smiled back. He always could tell when she was lying.

So there is some Tiva AND McAbby(: I'll get on with the plot next chapter, sorry to keep dragging it out like this! Sorry I didn't do a little flash black thing at the beginning of the chapter. I couldn't think of anything that felt right for this chapter. If you didn't get the whole awkward thing with Tony and Ziva and the movie, I was thinking that Tony bought the Sound of Music when he thought Ziva died because it reminded him of her and such. I know, I'm kind of a helpless romantic(; I don't own any NCIS characters, or the movies The Notebook or The Sound Of Music. Thanks so much for reading(:

-Sam