Tony stepped onto the elevator, Ziva's hand in his. As the elevator went into motion, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close, hungrily kissing on her lips. She put two hands on his chest and pushed him back.

He frowned, "What?" He asked innocently.

"We are at work, Tony." She said quietly.

"So?" He said.

"So..." She straightened his tie and quickly kissed him again as the doors opened, "We are already late." She whispered. She started to walk but then stopped, putting her hand on her hip where her SIG was supposed to be.

"What's wrong?"

"I left my weapon." She mumbled.

"You left your weapon?"

"I had it in the car..."

"You left your SIG?" Tony laughed. Ziva grabbed his arm and held it uncomfortably behind him. "Owww!" He howled.

"I was distracted." She said, and then let him go. Tony laughed again.

"Now you know how I feel, Dah-Veed." She rolled her eyes as the doors closed in front of her. Tony, still laughing, walked to the bullpen, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw someone sitting in Ziva's chair. He gritted his teeth together.

"What are you doing in Ziva's chair?" He asked. Agent Sacks opened his arms wide and smiled.

"Waiting." He said.

"Get out. There is an empty desk right over there." Tony pointed.

"Why are you so damn protective over her, Dipzo?"

"She's my partner."

"Sure it's nothing more?"

"Up Slacks." He laughed again and stood up from her chair, slowly walking past Tony. He sat down and propped his feet up.

"Better?" He asked. Tony gritted his teeth more and sat down in Ziva's chair. Tony sat back and stared across the bullpen at his Nemesis. The place was quiet until Ziva returned, SIG on her hip. She raised an eyebrow and looked between the two agents.

"Where should I sit?" She asked.

"You can sit with me." Sacks said, earning a stare from both Tony and Ziva. Sacks chuckled and then winked at the Liaison Officer. She scoffed and walked over to her desk, placing her backpack on the ground.

"Can I kill him now?" He mumbled. Ziva smiled.

"No." She said quietly and bent down to her computer, earning Tony a nice view. He smiled and sat back more. He enjoyed the view until she squatted down.

"You can sit here sweets." He said. She chuckled and sat down on the arm of the chair. Tony wrapped his arm around her.

"You sure you two aren't more than partners?"

"Last time I checked." Tony snapped.

Ziva looked down at Tony, "Where is everyone?"

"Don't know." Tony replied.

"Agent McGee is down with the forensic chick. Agent Gibbs isn't here yet." Ziva looked down at her watch.

"He is not here?" She asked, her voice surprised.

"Yes he is. DiNozzo, David, rule number 3." Ziva looked down at Tony and stood up, gently squeezing his hand. He let his arm hang down from the chair, right next to Ziva's legs. He wrapped his arm around her right one, pulling her closer. McGee joined them in the squad room. "Whaddya got, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

McGee let out a sigh and closed his eyes, not wanting to tell his boss what they had. "We don't have anything, boss." Gibbs stood up and walked over to the probie.

"You have nothing, McGee?" He asked quietly.

"Nothing, boss." Gibbs continued to stare, "No prints left anywhere on what's left of the bomb fragments. We can't find anyone who had contact with Chris Hart." He shrugged one shoulder. "We've got nothing." Gibbs let out a sigh and went up the stairs, the four agents watching him.

"So what do we do know?" Sacks asked.

"You can get out of my chair, Slacks." Tony snapped. He rubbed his hand on her leg. Agent Sacks laughed and sat back further.

"Actually, I'm kind of comfortable." Tony squeezed on Ziva's leg and then stood up, allowing her to sit down. Tony glared at Ron as he walked over to McGee's desk. He leaned on it with two hands.

"Watch Ziva for me probie." He whispered.

"O-k, watch her do what?"

"Make sure that bastard doesn't get anywhere near her." He said quietly and then walked around to the stairs, heading into MTAC. After scanning his eye, he walked in and sat down next to his boss. "What's up, boss?" Tony asked quietly.

"I'm working, Tony. That's usually what people do when they get to work." Gibbs replied. Tony chuckled. "Normal people." Gibbs corrected. Tony looked at Gibbs and then back at the screen.

"What are we going to do about the case?"

"I don't know." Gibbs snapped. Tony nodded. He let out a sigh and remained quiet. "There a reason you came in here, Tony?"

"Yeah." Tony cleared his throat. "I uh...don't trust Special Agent Sacks." He said.

"So?" Gibbs said.

"I don't like working with him."

"So?" Gibbs said again.

"No one likes to work with him, boss."

"So?"

"I don't like him working with Ziva." Gibbs looked at Tony and then back at the screen.

He chuckled, "Of course." Tony let out a sigh.

"Look boss he's coming onto her." Gibbs only stared at him, "Can you just...I don't know...make sure that they aren't alone together?"

"DiNozzo if you think I'm going to keep every man away from her that isn't you," He stopped and laughed again, "You're going to be one lonely boy in the unemployment line." Tony chuckled and then looked at his boss.

"Ok. I understand." He stood up, "But if Special Agent Ronald Sacks puts a hand on Ziva, you may have to visit me in the county jail." Gibbs watched as his senior field agent walked up the stairs and out of MTAC.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The squad room was quiet as Ziva stood from her desk, earning stares from both men. They watched her as she walked past the stairs, to the back elevator. McGee returned to his computer. Sacks slid out of Tony's desk and followed her, jumping into the elevator just as the doors closed. Ziva rolled her eyes and pressed a button.

"Why are you following me?" She asked him sharply.

"I'm not." He said with a smile.

"You just ran to catch me before the doors closed!" Ziva replied. Sacks laughed and stepped closer to her.

"Maybe I...find you attractive." He replied with a smile. Ziva outstretched her arm, preventing him from getting any closer to her. Sacks chuckled and stuck his hands in his pockets. "You ever going to show who's in that locket?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Ziva just scoffed, "Because that is personal information about my life that I am not entirely positive is a factor in this case." And with that, the elevator doors finally opened and she hurried into the break room. Sacks followed, again.

She walked faster.

He walked faster.

Thinking that ignoring him was probably going to be her best bet, she approached the vending machine, her stomach growling. She grabbed the dollar out of her pocket when a dollar suddenly appeared in front of her. She turned slowly and stared at Sacks.

"Use my dollar." He grinned.

"No thank you." She smiled angrily at him as she stuck her dollar in and then pressed the buttons in for her candy bar. The machine dispensed it and she bent down to pick it up. However, as she stood back up, she came face to face with Sacks, who was staring at her chest. The locket, to be precise, "Are you just going to stare at my neckline all day?" she demanded.

"Until you show me who's inside."

"Or until I kick your ass." She muttered and then walked away and took a seat at one of the tables, un-wrapping the candy bar, taking a bite.

"Ah, you wouldn't do that." Sacks responded, sitting down in front of her.

"Would you like to bet on that?" She demanded and he grinned.

"You won't."

"If I would not...Tony surely would." She said, taking another bite of her candy bar, the soft chocolate running down her throat.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you. What the hell's up with him?"

"What are you talking about?" She asked, furrowing her eyebrows together.

"No, I mean the...protective, jealous husband type behavior and the...touching."

"Touching?"

"Yeah." He nodded, wrinkling his nose, "When you sat down on the chair and...." Ziva stood up to go and throw the candy wrapper away, which was now done, "He wrapped his arm around you. And then you stood up, squeezed his hand, and then he started rubbing your leg..." She suddenly felt his hand around her thigh and she kicked her leg back, on reflex, and then grabbed both of his arms, holding one of them uncomfortably behind his back, her elbow digging into his spine as she held him on the table.

"Excuse me?" She demanded as he struggled under her grip.

"Look, I was just showing..."

"No you were not." She hissed, "Apologize. NOW!"

"Or what?" He joked, "You gonna punish me? I bet DiNozzo likes to be punished by you..." She dug her elbow deeper into his back.


Tony DiNozzo walked into the squadroom and raised an eyebrow as he noticed two empty desks. His heart rate immediately started to increase, "Probie!" He shouted, causing a couple of other people to look at him. McGee snapped his head up.

"What?"

Tony just pointed towards the two desks, "What the hell did I tell you to do, McClueless?"

"Oh...I was just...look, Tony, I'm...."

"Which way did they go?" Tony shouted and McGee pointed towards the back elevator. Tony started out of the bullpen, fast, when he stopped, "If Sacks tried anything with her, you're dead, you got that, McZero?"

He nodded, gulping as he watched Tony take off towards the back elevator.

When the elevator doors opened back up, he heard grunting from the break room, and he took off, stopping in the doorway as he saw Ziva with Sacks under her on the table, in what looked to be like a rather uncomfortable position.

Tony smiled slightly as Sacks turned slightly to look at him, "Well there you go, David, your puny little boyfriend is here to save you."

She laughed, "That is funny." She said, smirking as she lent down so that her lips were right next to his ear, "Since you are the one that seems to be needing rescuing, yes?"

"As much as I want you to kill him, Zi, I think that it'd be best for both agencies if there weren't any murders." Tony grinned at Sacks, bending down to look at him, his face smashed up against the table, "Comfortable there, Slacks?"

"Shut up, DiNozzo." He muttered. He looked up at Ziva.

"Nice job, sweetheart." He grinned and she grinned back.

"Thank you." And then, she let go of him, "Let us get out of here, yes?" Ziva asked and Tony nodded, placing his hand on the small of her back as he guided her out, leaving Sacks to fall off the table in pain. As soon as they were out of his view, Tony wrapped his arm around her waist, pressing his lips up against the side of her head.

"Obviously he tried something with you." Tony said, "What was it?"

"He grabbed my leg. Just like you did. In the squadroom." She watched Tony's eyes turn murderous as he looked back towards the break room. Ziva just placed her hand on top of his, which was sitting on her hip, gently rubbing with his thumb. She pressed the button to call the elevator to them.

"I wanna go kill him."

"No, this is my problem to deal with, Tony."

"No it's not! I'm your boyfriend, I should be able to deal with these things because that's what boyfriends and girlfriends do!"

"Oh really?" She asked, slinking out of his embrace and turning towards him, "Then give me Christina's number."

"Aw, Zi, come on, let's not start this again. Look, why is this even important? Sacks tried something with you. In my rule book, that's a good reason to kill someone. I'm dealing with the situation, Ziva."

She scoffed, "Because you were so good as dealing with them before."

Tony groaned, "Ziva, I don't want to start this."

"Well you did." She responded, "Now do not mind Sacks. He will leave me alone."

"And how are you so sure?" He demanded.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "I handled it." She nearly spat as the elevator doors opened. The two walked in, an icy chill between them as the elevator doors slowly closed in front of the duo.


Agent Sacks joined the rest of the team up in the bullpen a while later, after recovering from the incident with Ziva. He glared at Tony, who just grinned, and then looked around for a place to sit when Gibbs walked in.

"Sacks." he called as he started towards his desk, coffee cup in his hand. He moved towards him as he set his coffee down on his desk. Sacks stood in front of him, "We have no need for the FBI to be involved in the case at the moment considering that we have no leads. Go home."

Tony grinned from his seat at Gibbs and then gave Ziva a grin as well. She just stared at him and then looked back down at her paper. Sacks sighed and turned around, noticing Tony's grin.

"What do you want, DiNosey?"

"Here!" Tony stood up, grinning from ear to ear, "Let me walk you to your car." He said, and then stood up, following Sacks into the elevator. Once they were in the metal lift, Tony pressed the button for the garage, let the doors close, and then flipped the emergecny switch.

"Knew it was coming." Sacks sighed.

Tony started slowly towards him, his eyes narrowing to slits as he ended up face-to-face with him, "You stay away from her." Tony muttered under his breath, threateningly.

Sacks smiled, "And if I don't?"

"Well you better start digging your own grave. I'll give you the shovel." He spat.

"Hmmm." Sacks said, as if confirming something as he gave a closed smile.

"What?" Tony demanded.

"Never thought that DiNozzo would ever show feelings for anyone. But it seems that it all works out. You're both traitors and murderers. Two peas in a pod."

Tony felt his fists clench and then open up again, "I'm serious, Slacks."

"Me too, DiNozzo. Me too."

"Stay away from her." Tony ordered, reaching over and flipping the emergency switch back on. The lights turned on and the elevator started back up, going down before opening up. Sacks just rolled his eyes and then pushed past Tony to get out of the elevator. He wasn't standing for that. He grabbed his arm tightly in his grip.

"Stay. Away. From. Her." Tony growled.

Sacks smirked, "And if I don't?"

"You don't want to know." He said, "You stay away from her!" He nearly shouted, enraged as he tightened his grip on his arm.

Sacks laughed and then ripped his arm out of Tony's grip. He stepped back, out of the way of the elevator doors, "You." He responded coldly as the doors closed between them, stopping Tony from charging Sacks right then and there.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After Ziva requested to go home early, claiming that she had something important to do, Tony spent the time wisely, for once, and actually used it to finish his paperwork so that he too could go home early. Well, early for him.

Now, he was jogging up the stairs of the apartment complex, wanting to know what made Ziva so upset. She hadn't talked to him all day except for their little 'argument' in front of the elevator after the Sacks incident. He had wanted to call her on the way over, to see if she wanted him to pick up something for dinner, but he realized that he didn't have his cell phone.

Inserting the key into the door, he opened up his apartment, "Ziva?" he called, but was answered not by a female voice, the sweet Israeli one he wanted ever so badly to hear, but instead it was a male voice, which Tony recognized as his next-door neighbor, Nick.

"Hey, DiNozzo." Nick called, and Tony turned around, smiling just slightly.

"Hey!" he said, "Look, I really gotta do something though, so I can't talk..." He pointed towards the apartment.

"Ah, your girlfriend?"

He nodded and sighed, putting his hands in his pockets, "She here?"

"Yup. Saw her with a huge basket thing full of laundry. She left just a couple of minutes ago." He checked his watch, "9:43. Weird time to be doing the laundry at."

Tony shrugged and laughed slightly, "Well she is a little...off."

"But you're freaking living with her! After what? Going out for a couple of days? I've been going out with my girl for a couple of years and we still haven't moved in together. Well, then again, I haven't really asked her. But..."

Tony stopped him, "Look, I really need to go and talk to her."

"Yeah, yeah. Go on ahead. We'll catch up later." He patted his shoulder.

"Thanks." He said, closing the door behind him as he started towards the laundromat.

"Hey, DiNozzo!" Nick called, and Tony turned back around, in the hallway.

"Yeah?"

"You hang onto her. She seems nice enough. And," He gave out a whistle, "She's a babe."

Tony gave a hundred-watt smile, "Yeah. I know." He responded before starting down the stairs of the apartment complex.


Ziva sighed as she started piecing through the clothing in the hamper, throwing in the dark colors first. As she shifted through the clothes, she thought back to their little feud in front of the elevator. She groaned as she chucked one of Tony's navy blue polo shirts into the washer.

She was the only one doing laundry at the moment, but, considering it was almost 2200h, this didn't really surprise her. She grabbed a pair of Tony's black dress pants, getting ready to throw it into the wash when she felt something bulging through his pocket.

Curious, she turned the pants in her hands and then pulled out his cell phone. She stared curiously at it before rolling her eyes and then placing it into her pocket, "Idiot." She mumbled under her breath as she finished throwing the rest of his and her dark colored clothes into the washer. She closed the door and then started up the wash before looking around and deciding to just sit down and wait for the wash to finish.

Checking her watch, she realized that she probably had a good fifteen to twenty minutes to kill before the wash was finished. She started to doze off when all of a sudden, her pocket started to vibrate. Groaning, she grabbed the cell phone out of her pocket and realized that Tony got a new message.

Looking around, she flipped open the phone and read the message, only to find a picture there instead of words.

And it was of a woman, brown hair that dangled down her shoulders and over her chest. And she was...completely naked. Ziva angrily shut the phone and stood up when she heard the laundromat door open and there stood none other than Anthony DiNozzo.

"Tony!" Ziva shouted and he stood there, frozen in shock.

"What?" He demanded, "Did I forget something?"

"Yes!" She yelled, standing up and walking towards him, shoving the cell phone up into his face, "This!" He smiled as he took it from her hands.

"Yes! That's where it went!" He grinned, "Thanks, Zi! Where'd you find it?"

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes to slits at him, "It is more like what I found on it." She reiterated.

"What?" He questioned, and she snatched the phone back from him, flipping it open and going through the messages. Once she found the one she was looking for, she made a disgusted look, turned away, and then turned it towards him so that he could see. He carefully took the phone in his hands, "Holy crap!" Tony shouted, dropping the phone onto the ground, "What the hell is that?"

"Your girlfriend." She spat, and then brushed past him, starting towards the door.

"Yeah, I see my girlfriend walking away from me!" he shouted after her and he walked to where she was. She walked away further away from him.

"I thought you said that you would handle this!" She fired back, spinning shortly on her heel, her hair sweeping around and resting on one shoulder as she yelled at him, fists clenched, "This is not handling it!"

"Yes it is!"

"If you handled it, Tony, she would not be sending you such obscene pictures." She said shortly, crossing her arms.

He gave a short laugh, "She's insane!"

"So is Agent Sacks. And I handled him."

"You don't know that."

"I will prove it." She countered back, "Tomorrow. At work. When he does not flirt with me."

"And when he does?"

"Then it will prove that you were right." Tony grinned, "I was not right for you."

"What?" He demanded, his smile slipping off of his face, "Of course you are! What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that all these...distractions. All of these interferences in our already complicated relationship will not work." Ziva reiterated, "We are from two completely different lifestyles, Tony. We were both raised two different ways. We both had two different ways of doing basically everything!"

"Which is what makes us click!" Tony said, taking another step towards her, "Ziva. Listen to me. All of those things are what make us. Look, didn't someone once say that opposites attract?"

She scoffed, "Well whoever did obviously did not know what they were talking about." She rolled her eyes.

"Ziva, please!"

"Explain to me Christina then, Tony."

"I already did! At the beach house!" He said, exasperated.

"You must have left out something incredibly important, Tony, or else she would not have called you up out of the blue to 'get back together with you'."

"I don't know! She just called me! I mean, it's normal for my old girlfriends to call me, but this many times...rather excessive."

Ziva scoffed again, "Really?" She laughed sarcastically, "I did not know that, Tony. How many times is she logged in your phone for calling you?"

"I don't know." Tony groaned, "Ziva, come on, sweetheart!"

"No! Do not 'sweetheart' me. None of your 'DiNozzo magic' will work yourself out of this mess."

Tony sighed, "Charm, Ziva. DiNozzo charm, not magic."

She groaned, exasperated, "Now is not a time to be correcting my English!"

"Then what time is it?" Tony demanded, "Tell me! Cause I'd like to know!" And that was when Tony's phone started to ring. He looked at the caller ID and sighed, "Christina." He looked at it one more time before opening up the phone and answering it. Ziva quickly turned towards the door to the laundromat, wanting to get out of there, "Ziva, please." Tony pleaded, pulling the phone away from his ear.

"No, Tony." She said, firmly.

"Well what am I supposed to do about this?" He demanded, pointing towards the still open phone.

"Handle it!" She nearly shouted at him, trying desperately to keep the crack out of her voice.

"Ziva!" Tony pleaded, "Ziva, I am handling it. Just, please," She went to leave when he stopped her again, "Ziva. Come on, what about the laundry? What about us? Ziva..."

She just turned and looked at him, her hand on the handle of the door to the laundromat, "Make sure to separate the lights from the darks." She whispered before leaving the laundromat, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She brushed them away as she quickly headed up the steps, mentally scolding herself for letting jealousy, fear, and love leak through her normally hard exterior.


Tony was met by cold eyes when he came back into the apartment about a half an hour later, the laundry now washed, dried, and folded neatly. He had taken all of his time making sure that they were perfect, especially Ziva's clothes.

She sat on the couch, a book in her hands. She glared up at him for a couple of seconds before looking back down at her book.

Tony sighed and then started towards the bedroom to put down the hamper. He returned changed into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He stood in front of her, staring down at the Israeli, her eyes reading over the lines of the book quickly. He then made up his mind and grabbed the book out of her hands, snapping it shut. She looked up at him, her eyes narrowed, "We need to talk."

"Fine." She spat, "Talk."

Tony let out a deep breath before setting the book down on the coffee table and sitting down next to her, "Okay. I talked to Christina..."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Then I guess it is my time to leave, yes? Where are those boxes?" She went to stand up when Tony's wrist caught hers. She turned to look at him.

"Don't go assuming anything, sweet cheeks, till you listen to what I gotta say." he said, "Now sit." She narrowed her eyes at him, "Please?" She sighed and sat back down on the couch next to him, in her previous position, "Okay. I told her off..."

"Why did you have those pictures of her on your phone?"

"Damn it I don't know! She just sent them to me!" He yelled, enraged, "Look, I think...she just won't leave me alone."

She smirked slightly, "You cannot deal with it, can you? I can handle Sacks, yet you cannot handle Christina."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Ziva..."

"Admit it, Tony. Admit defeat. For once in your life! Admit a weakness!" She moved towards him, turning her entire body so that it was facing him.

He looked her straight in her chocolate brown eyes, "I've got a better weakness to admit." He said and she furrowed her eyebrows together.

"What?"

"You."

"Me?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah, Zi, you're my weakness."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "This is just another one of those stupid, immature moves from the Tony DiNozzo playbook to get me into bed with you, yes?"

He grinned, "Well is it working?"

She groaned, "See, Tony! This is what I am talking about! No wonder Christina keeps calling you!"

"Look, I dealt with her today. Trust me, I don't think I've ever yelled at a woman so much."

"You yell at me..."

"I know." He turned towards her, "And do you know how much it kills me? Huh?"

She sighed and looked down at the couch, "I am sorry, Tony. I am the one that starts the fight, I just..." She looked up at him, "You must understand that what I feel for you is different, for me. I do not entirely understand how to deal with this." She admitted and they stared into each others eyes for a while, "And then there was Christina..."

"There is nothing going on between Christina and I." Tony said, grabbing her arm in his grip, "I mean, come on, you really think I'm that stupid that I would cheat on a Mossad assassin? If I was doing that, I'd be digging two graves."

"Two?" Ziva questioned, "Why two?"

"One for when I'm killed by you...and the other when I'm killed by Gibbs." Ziva laughed slightly and Tony sighed, looking at her, "You do believe that I handled it, right?"

She leaned slightly towards him, "Only because you used a move from the DiNozzo playbook." she smiled, "It actually works...at least, for me."

Tony grinned, "Well let's see if it works in the bedroom."

She laughed, "I hate you, Tony."

He chuckled, "Why?"

She placed her hand on the side of his face, "You make me completely forget how angry I am at you in a matter of seconds."

She gave her his famous DiNozzo smile, "That's the idea. Maybe I need to change my playbook. You're catchin' on, sweetheart."

"Well if I'm catching on, can you catch me?" She asked, seductively before bolting from the couch and into the bedroom. Tony followed her, tackling her onto the bed as they both laughed, the rest of the world forgotten at the moment.


They both collapsed onto the bed, panting heavily. Tony smiled down at Ziva as he shifted on top of her, placing his hand on the side of her face, shoving some of her hair out of the way. He felt her hands wrap around his torso and then run down his back, resting right above his butt. He leaned down and pressed his lips up against hers, causing her to groan as he pulled at her lips.

"Damn it, Tony." She breathed out, her voice ragged from the lack of air going into her lungs. He just grinned as he trailed kisses down her hot neck. She moaned again as he started back up her neck, sucking gently at the base. He then let go of her and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Round two?" He questioned, and she laughed right as they both heard a knock on the door. Tony groaned, "Why does this always happen to us?" He demanded and she smiled.

"You tell me."

He groaned again and then pressed his lips against hers one more time, "I'll just get rid of them, and then why don't you come out? I'm getting kinda hungry anyways." He grinned, "For food."

She smiled and then pecked him on the lips one more time before he crawled off of her, "Alright, Tony."

"Just a minute!" He yelled as he rolled out of bed and pulled on a t-shirt and sweats before starting towards the door. Ziva watched him leave as she snuggled back up into the covers, a smile of pure contentment placed on her face.

However, when a couple of minutes had passed, Ziva got a little worried, especially considering that she hadn't really heard any voices. Confused, she sat up and slipped on her red lingerie. She reached down onto the floor and pulled on her white silk bathrobe before walking out into the living room, to see what was taking Tony so long.

"Tony?" She questioned as she entered the living room. However, once he turned around to look at her, she realized the man that was standing behind him.

Agent Ronald Sacks.

He smiled at her, "Officer David. What are you doing here? Dressed like...that." He grinned and she looked down at her outfit before quickly pulling the bathrobe tighter around her, tying it closed. She shared a look with Tony.

"I could ask you the same question, Agent Sacks." She replied coldly as she walked towards the two, standing next to Tony.

"Came to apologize to DiNozzo." He said, gesturing to her boyfriend, "Didn't really want to come, but now I finally know who's in that locket of yours. And why DiNozzo was holding your leg like that earlier today." He turned to Tony, who had his eyes narrowed and were burning with a deep hatred for him, "What is she, like your own personal prostitute?" And that was it, Tony lunged at Sacks, but Ziva shouted his name and grabbed both of his shoulders, pulling him back.

"Tony." She scolded, "Calm down." His hands were now in fists and he was fuming.

"You apologize." He muttered, "Apologize. NOW!"

"I just didn't think that DiNozzo could have real feelings for real women." Ziva tightened her grip as she moved it from his shoulders to his arm. Sacks turned to Ziva and pointed up to her hair.

"What, did you two just finish a session? Cause I can tell sex hair from anywhere."

Tony and Ziva both looked at each other and Tony wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him, "Really?" Tony demanded, a little anger in his voice, "I didn't know that you actually knew what sex hair looked like. Or what sex felt like." He looked at Ziva, "Or making love." He murmured. She smiled slightly and Sacks rolled his eyes.

"You know..." He smiled, "I was going to go, but I think it would be more fun just to stay here."

Tony growled, "Fine. Ziva and I were just going to go and make dinner anyways."

"I will go and do it." Ziva volunteered and Tony smiled as she turned to him, "Anything you would like?"

"Nope." He smiled, "Surprise me." She just nodded as she took a small look at Sacks, who was looking at the pictures on Tony's mantle for his fireplace.

"I will." She grinned, unable to tear the smile off of her face.

"Thanks, honey." He said.

"You are welcome." She responded, leaning up and pecking him quickly on the lips, right as Sacks turned around before disappearing into the kitchen. Once she was gone, Tony narrowed his eyes at him.

"Tell me the real damn reason you're here. And it better be about the case and not my girlfriend." He growled as Sacks took a seat on the couch.

"Nope, got nothing on the case. Just that we're pretty sure that Al Qaeda was involved. We managed to trace back parts of the bomb to a terrorist group. We actually got a tip off from other government officials that Al Qaeda was targeting a middle eastern country...not the US." he put his arms wide, "Guess they changed those plans."

Tony was secretly relieved that there was something about the case so that he didn't have to talk about Ziva with Sacks, "Or they just expanded them."

"But why that building?"

"You tell me." He fired back, "You bother telling Gibbs?"

"Isn't that your job?"

Tony laughed, "I just found out about it. And you were the one that found out before me. So it's your job."

"Tony?" Ziva called from the kitchen and Tony snapped his head up.

"Yeah?"

"Wine or champagne?"

"Champagne." He responded, smiling. And then all was quiet. Sacks looked around the apartment once more.

"So..." He said, "She lives with you?"

"Yeah." Tony spat, "What? Never had a woman live with you?"

"I did. Once." He smiled, "I'm guessing this is your first one too?"

"Yeah." Tony narrowed his eyes at him.

Sacks laughed, "It was just a simple question, DiNutso."

"Well I just responded with a simple answer." He fired back, "Now get out of my apartment." He pointed to the door, "Simple goodbye as well, Slacks."

He just sighed and stood up, "Suppose I got better things to do anyways than to watch you two go at each other like bunnies in the playboy mansion." Tony just growled as he clenched his hands together into a fist.

"You better leave before I kick you out." He growled, "Or shoot you."

"Yeah..." Sacks rubbed his back, "I don't want to deal with anymore physical punishment." He said, remembering the break room with Ziva, "Well I'm sorry, DiNozzo." He sarcastically said.

"Yeah, yeah, miss you too." He sarcastically fired back, "Now get out!" Sacks stood and then walked towards the door before Tony slammed the door closed, once he was barely out of the way. He sighed in relief and then locked the door, putting on the dead lock as well before starting into the kitchen where Ziva was standing over the stove.

"Is he gone?" She questioned and Tony nodded.

"Fortunately, yeah." Ziva let out a sigh of relief and Tony sighed, "We're good, right, Ziva?"

"What?" She asked as he leaned up against the counter next to her.

"We're good, right?" he repeated, "I mean, we're okay."

She looked up at him before slowly nodding, "Yes. I did not point my gun at you while we were in bed, did I?" She questioned and he grinned as he shook his head.

"Nope!"

"Then to answer your question, yes, we are good, Tony." She smiled and he grinned.

"Thanks, Zi." He said as he leaned down and gave her a short kiss. Ziva returned to the food before Tony intervened, "I got it. Come on, you made dinner last night. And besides, it's the least I can do."

"For being an ass?"

He laughed, "Yeah...for being an ass." She moved out of the way and started out of the kitchen when she stopped and turned to look at him.

"Well you do have a nice ass. Even if it is hairy." She smiled as she left the kitchen.

"Hey!" he called, "I'll shave!"


While Tony was making dinner, because he wanted yet another reason to make it up to her, she laid down on the couch and reached for the remote, snapping on the television. The sweet smell of whatever food he was making, garlic of some type, Ziva could tell, filled her nostrils as she started quickly looking through the channels. However, after she skipped past the news, she stopped at the Food Network and then flipped back to ZNN.

"....earlier, suspected to be Al Qaeda forces dropped several bombs on Tel Aviv, Israel earlier today...""Ziva?" Tony called from in the kitchen, but she didn't answer as she sat up from where she was lying on the couch and became completely engrossed as to what was happening on the television. She turned it up as they showed destroyed houses, with rescue squads all over putting out fires and helping innocent victims into the ambulance via stretchers.

"The death count has already reached at least five hundred in the last couple of hours, with more than a thousand wounded....""Ziva?" Tony called again, and he entered the living room, furrowing his eyebrows at her as he finished wiping his hands, flipping the towel over his shoulder, "You okay?" She didn't answer again, she just started wringing her hands together as she stared at the television, barely blinking. He took a seat down next to her and then turned his attention back to the screen that she was so entranced with. His eyes grew wide as he stared at the screen in complete shock, "Is that..." She just nodded and Tony tentatively placed a hand on her thigh, squeezing it once before carefully and soothingly running his hand up and down her leg.

They showed a man who was being loaded into an ambulance, blood streaking down his unconscious face, his hands charred and his clothing torn in every direction, bits of wood and other debris sticking to his body like glue, "It is unknown at the moment that reason for the attack..." They showed an aerial shot of Tel Aviv, and it was only then that she realized that some of the building that were in 'downtown' Tel Aviv were destroyed as well. She gasped involuntarily. Mossad. "The death count is currently growing as we speak, though the final number will not be known for quite a while. Government officials are looking into this as we speak. Tel Aviv, Israel, where..."

"I cannot listen anymore." Ziva admitted, and Tony quickly grabbed the remote, flipping off the TV.

"Ziva...." He started, quietly, taking her hand in his. She snapped it away and Tony sighed, "Ziva..."

"No, Tony...I do not..." She stopped. She wasn't going to cry. Not now. Her father, Mossad, none of them could have been hurt or injured. They could all be well. Her entire family, or what was left of it, could be all right and doing well, "I do not..."

"Ziva, I am sorry." He said, softly, carefully reaching over and pulling her towards him, wrapping his arms tightly around her as she silently sobbed into his shirt. He rubbed her back soothingly, and his heart ached for the woman in his arms.

"You should not be." She sobbed, "Do not be."

"But I am."

"Just..." she took a deep, very shaky breath, "Hold me." She pleaded, "Tony, just hold me."

Her pleading voice made his heart almost completely break for her. She was always so strong. And suddenly, she was falling apart in front of him. Tony just hugged her tighter, burying his head into her hair, "Shh...sweetheart, it's okay. Shhh..." He cooed into her ear, pulling her even tighter in her arms.

Ziva gripped his shoulder blades and squeezed her eyes tightly, trying to stop the tearless sobs from escaping her lips as the images ran through her head like a movie reel, imprinted there.

A nightmare.