Okay, this chapter officially killed me. I re-wrote it about 4 times (no seriously, it was that many) because I didn't have a clue how I wanted this to go. What I ended up with at the end is slightly cheesy like a cheese pizza with extra cheese, but I like it. It may seem like a story-ending chapter, but it's not. There'll be more, so fasten your seatbelts! If you like the cheese pizza or you don't, tell me when you get finished. I love opinions. :)

Tony's cell phone began buzzing in his back left pocket to wake him from his slumber. He tightened his grip on the woman on top of him and carefully reached behind him to pull the phone out. He silenced it and wrapped his arms around her again.

He had a seven o'clock flight, and it was currently 0530 in the morning. He needed to get up and get to the airport, but he didn't want to move a muscle. The Israeli was sound asleep on his chest, one arm tucked underneath her body and the other thrown over his chest, resting on his bicep.

He lay there inhaling the delicious scent of her body wash and shampoo and listening to her breathe. He was drawing circles on her back and dragging his fingertip over her skin. God, he missed this.

He heard McGee's alarm clock go off in his room, and Tony knew the agent would be out soon to take him to the airport. Tony turned his head and said a lot of mental curse words to McGee for always being on time, and to himself for asking McGee if he would drive him.

Lifting his hands from her body, he moved them up to the top of her arms and grabbed her shoulders, running his hands all the way down her arms and intertwined their fingers.

The actions usually woke her, but he assumed that she was so exhausted that it was going to take a little more effort. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head and let out a long sigh, "Ziva." He said quietly.

The only response he got was her moving a little on top of him. He smiled and dropped her hand, bringing it up to her face and brushing her hair off of it, tucking it behind her ear. He let his fingers drag softly over her perfect skin and back down to her lips. "Ziva."

She finally felt his fingers on her and turned her head towards his, but not opening her eyes, "Hm?"

He didn't want to ruin this moment because it was honestly the thing he missed the most. "Good morning." He whispered.

She yawned and he ran his hand down her arm again, intertwining his fingers with hers, "Shalom."

"How did you sleep?" He asked her.

How did she sleep? Better than she had in about six months, "Fine." She finally opened her eyes and looked at him through the darkness.

He nodded and brought the hand that wasn't occupied with hers up to run through her hair, "Yeah, me too. It's crazy how much you miss sleep when you don't get it for a day or two." She nodded into his chest and he sighed, "McGee will be out here in a second."

She subconsciously squeezed his hand at the thought of him moving from their position. Her mind was swimming and she suddenly felt dizzy. She let out a long sigh and was shocked to hear the next words that came out of her own mouth, "Stay."

It was silent for a while. He was lying there thinking if he heard her correctly. Sure, she had told him to stay, but she only did that because she was currently using him as a mattress and he rescued her merely a few hours ago. He shut his eyes and sighed, squeezing her arm tighter, "McGee will be out in a minute, Zi."

She finally took her stare off of him and nodded again into his chest, dropping his hand and bracing herself on his shoulders. She lift herself off of him and when her feet touched the floor, she moved back and watched him as he sat up and finally got to his feet. She crossed her arms and looked up at him, waiting on him to say something first.

"Come here." He said softly, and he took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her as she unfolded her arms and wrapped them around him. They held each other like that for a while until they heard McGee approach his bedroom door.

Tony let her go and walked into the spare bedroom to grab his bag. Ziva let out a sigh and picked up the blanket that Tony used and folded it, placing it and the pillow neatly on McGee's couch just as he walked out of the bedroom. "Oh, hey Ziva. Did you sleep well?"

Ziva smiled at him, "Yes, I did Tim. Thank you."

"What are you doing up so early?" McGee asked.

She looked at the spare bedroom, "Oh, Tony woke me when he came in to get his bag." She told him.

"Oh, okay." McGee walked into his kitchen and pulled down some coffee cups, "I think I have some tea up here somewhere, just got to make sure it's in date." He chuckled and Ziva walked over to the kitchen, watching McGee as he looked up onto the top shelves.

Tony came out of the bedroom and had changed into some jeans and a brown collard shirt, his gun and badge on his belt. Ziva looked at him and shook her head. "No, thank you Tim. I am going to the office to catch up with some work."

McGee stopped checking the box for an expiration date and looked over at Ziva, and then at Tony who was staring at Ziva, "Ziva, Gibbs told us to stay at home today."

Ziva pointed to McGee, "You have your gun and badge on." She deadpanned.

"I'm not going to work though, I have to clean my computer." He looked at Tony for confirmation that his lie would work, but Tony rolled his eyes.

"Tim, you are a horrible liar." She told him.

Tony nodded at Ziva, "That's true. But he's right, Ziva, you need to rest." Ziva looked over at him and he knew he wasn't going to win this argument, and neither was McGee. "I need to get to the airport."

McGee finished making coffee and poured it into a thermos, nodding to Tony. "Ziva, please don't go to work today. Gibbs will have a cow."

She rolled her eyes and started towards the door again, "Ziv, wait." Tony said, taking three steps towards her and kissed her on the cheek before pulling her into another hug. "I'm glad you're okay."

She let go of him and looked into his eyes, and without saying a word they had an entire conversation. When they tore their stares off of each other, Tony walked passed her and out into the hall. Ziva looked over at McGee and nodded to him, "I will see you at the office."

McGee groaned and took a sip of his coffee.

It was going to be a long day.

It was only three days later and she let out a breath. She had a plan in her brain, and it basically consisted of tackling him against the wall and kissing him like her body wanted her to.

Something clicked inside of her when he left a few days ago. She didn't know if it was the thought of him not being there again, or if it was because she knew he'd come and find her. Even before Gibbs and McGee, he would come and find her.

Damn it, she loved him. She had always loved him. And even after trying to forget that feeling with her crazy Mossad training, she couldn't do it.

So here she stood in front of his door ready to knock and tell the man on the other side that she wanted to make it work.

She was pretty sure her heart was going to beat out of her chest and land on the concrete under her feet.

She felt the need to check for said heartbeat when it wasn't him that answered the door. Her brown eyes looked into the woman's blue ones and Ziva felt her mouth fall open.

"Who are you?" She asked, and Ziva couldn't even form words. The woman turned her head, eyeing her, "You look like you're maybe not from here…do you speak English?"

Ziva narrowed her eyes at the woman and the blonde backed up a little, unsure of what her motives were.

"Look, you're kind of freaking me out here and the boys will be back any second so if you don't need anything…"

Ziva's lips parted slightly and she took another second and used the calmest voice her body would let her at that moment, "Hello." She managed.

The blonde's smile brightened again and she took a step back in Ziva's direction, "Oh, hey! Are you selling something, or?"

Ziva slowly shook her head, "No. I was looking for Tony, actually."

"Oh! I'm sorry! I'm so glad you speak English!" She grabbed Ziva's hand and shook it quickly, "My name is Melissa. He's in the shower and John went to get some liquor for the poker game. Why don't you come in?" Ziva eyed her again and finally took a step inside, looking around the place that Tony had lived in for the last six months.

While the perky blonde seemed to be right at home with him, there were no pictures of her and Tony and the apartment was definitely not blonde-ified.

Thank god.

"So, um, I didn't get your name…"

Ziva's mouth opened again, but the door, which Ziva assumed was Tony's room opened, and he emerged, pulling his shirt over his head.

When he got it on and looked up, he stopped dead in his tracks. Blinking twice to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, he took a few steps towards her.

"Ziva." He finished walking to her and put his hands on her forearms, "What are you doing here?" He asked, a smile on his face.

Damn her, he had almost gotten to the point where he could deal with not seeing her every single day again.

But here she was in his apartment, standing there and looking as freaking gorgeous as only she could.

She looked over at Melissa to remind Tony that she was in the room, and Tony turned quickly, "Oh, Melissa, this is Ziva. Ziva, Melissa."

"Ziva, wow! What a beautiful name!"

"Thank you. It is nice to meet you." Ziva said.

"Yeah, you too!" Melissa said loudly. "You are so pretty!"

"Thank you." She said again. Tony smiled at the blonde and then turned back to Ziva, "So uh, what are you doing here?"

Ziva pressed her lips together for a second and stared into his emerald eyes, "I…" She sighed. Suddenly she began to wonder if she knew the English language, "I wanted to talk to you, but you are busy so…"

"What? No I'm not. Come in here." He wrapped his arm around her back and walked with her towards the door again, "Mel we're going in here to talk for a while. Start without me, k?"

Melissa gave Tony thumbs up and the two agents went into his bedroom. Tony closed and locked the door behind them for good measure.

Ziva left his grasp and walked around his bedroom, looking around at the furniture. It was remarkably similar to the one he had back in DC.

When she was satisfied with her short tour of his bedroom, she walked back to the front of the bed and sat down on it, crossing her arms and legs.

He was leaning on the wall next to the door, trying his hardest not to pin her against the bed like he used to. Damn, she had a way of getting to him without even trying, and he hated it.

"So I see that you have not changed much." She told him, and finally looked up at him.

Tony snapped out of his thoughts about having his way with her, "Huh? Oh, yeah. I tried to get it to feel like home."

"This is your home."

"No, it's not. It's where I live, not my home."

Ziva shrugged one shoulder and stood again, "I assume that it will become your home yes? A place for you and Melissa to raise your ten children."

"Me and who?" Tony said immediately.

Ziva motioned with her head towards the door. "You and the blonde."

Tony shook his head in a dramatic manner, "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I am not, nor will I ever be, dating Melissa."

"She seems pretty comfortable here." Ziva said, shrugging her shoulder again.

"That's because her husband, John, comes and plays poker every week with me and a few other guys. She tags along almost every single time because she has no friends."

"She seems nice…"

"Ziva I know that you know after spending what I'm assuming is maybe a grand total of five minutes with that girl that is she is annoying and ditzy as hell and not at all my type."

"She is breathing, yes?" She said quickly. Tony snapped his head up and looked right into her eyes. They were filled with hurt and disbelief and she knew she had taken it too far. Her lips opened and she tried to make an apology come out of her mouth, but his voice was heard instead.

Shit. He could fight bad guys all day long and come out on the other side without a scratch, but the woman in the room knew how to hurt him.

And she kept putting alcohol on the open wound.

"What are you doing here, David?" He asked her. Ziva closed her eyes and looked down at his floor at the sound of her last name instead of her first. She didn't mean to come in his house and attack him; well…she did, but certainly not verbally. And besides, he had every right to have whoever he wanted in here.

She finally met his gaze again and walked towards him slowly, standing at arms reach in front of him. "I am sorry, Tony. I did not mean that."

He shrugged his shoulders without unfolding his arms and crossed his legs again, "That's not me anymore." He told her plainly. "I told you that I wasn't dating anyone. I'm not." He sighed, "I can't."

She touched the top of his hand, rubbing his skin softly. "I am sorry." She said again.

Tony unfolded his arms and put his hands in his pockets, his thumbs hanging out of the top of them. "Is everyone okay back home?" He asked her back in his normal voice. When she didn't respond, he felt the need to explain, "Gibbs? Ducky? McGee? Abby? Palmer? Are they okay?"

Ziva blinked, "Yes, everyone is fine."

Tony nodded slowly, "Okay." She looked around again and after several minutes, he couldn't stand the silence anymore. He stood up straight and walked a couple of steps away from the wall, "Well, um, it sounds like John's back with the booze, and Robert and Donnie will be here soon, so would you like to play poker with us?"

She shook her head, "No."

"Oh, okay…well your welcome to hang out with Melissa, though I can't…" His words were cut off when Ziva's mouth ate them. She had pushed him against the wall so hard that he wasn't sure if it was the impact or her kiss that took his breath away.

She couldn't take it anymore, she had to kiss him or she was sure her body would explode.

He she had his shirt in bunched up in her fists, and she had no intention of letting him loose anytime soon. She moved her tongue across his lips and he finally opened his mouth to let her dive in further. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body flush to his, so she felt that it was okay to let go of his shirt. She flattened her hands on his chest and moved them up to his shoulders, letting her fingers feel his muscles through his shirt.

Good gracious, he had never been kissed like this before, even from her. Don't get him wrong- her kisses have always been out-of-this-world perfect. But now, she was putting every ounce of energy she had in her small body into this.

He wanted to stop. He needed to know why in the hell she was kissing him like this. But his arms and hands only pulled her even tighter to his body, and now he could feel every curve on her body.

They continued to make out like it was going out of style for several long and perfect minutes until a very loud beating on Tony's door was heard, making both of them almost jump out of their skin, "DiNozzo, what in the hell are you doing in there?! Get out here! We're waiting on you and if you don't come out soon, you're going to have to buy more beer!"

Tony rolled his eyes, and without moving away from her, leaned over and opened the door just enough so that he could look at the man on the other side, "Shut the hell up and go play poker or get the hell out. One of the two."

"Dude…"

"Donnie I am busy right now. So go sit in there and play, or go."

Donnie held up his hands and backed away from the door, "Fine, fine."

Tony slammed the door shut and locked it again. He breathed out heavily and rubbed Ziva's back slowly. His legs were now on either side of hers and her body couldn't possibly be any closer to his.

She continued to rub his shoulders and chest, letting her fingers drag across the fabric. "So, are you going to kiss me like that again? Dear god, please say yes." She let a smirk cross her face but he continued, "Or are you going to tell me why you're kissing me like that?"

Her smirk and grown into a smile and she kissed his chin, "You mean, I need a reason?"

He chuckled, "Hell no. But I'm merely curious."

She lifted her hand from his shirt and cupped his cheek. Her thumb rubbed back and fourth right beneath his eye. She sighed and had to think about how to put her thoughts into words. She had it all worked out on the plane, but now, it was all a blur. She told her brain to shut up and she just went with her gut. She spoke slowly and calmly, "I am finding it…nearly impossible to be without you lately."

A smile crossed his handsome face and he turned his lips into her palm and kissed it. "Zi…" He started. He brought his hand from her back and put it on top of hers, pulling her hand away from his head. "You have no idea how badly I wanted to hear you say that…a week ago."

She was very confused, "Why can't I say it now?"

He sighed, "You can. And I believe you." She lifted her eyebrows and tried to move backwards, but his hands were on her hips again and pulled her closer. "But I've got this nagging feeling that because I went up there and found you, you're just coming back to me because you have this need to thank me. And you don't have to."

She tried to move back again and he gripped her hips harder, "No, that's not what I mean…" He said. Geez, this was hard to put into words, "God knows that I want us to be together. The whole damn world knows, Zi. But I want you to want to be with me because you're in love with me, not because of what I did."

"Tony…"

"You fell out of love with me because of what I did before. That I get. I just want you to be honest with yourself and me."

She leaned up to his mouth again and gave him a slow, sweet kiss. It wasn't as intense as the last, but something about her mouth today rocked Tony's world. She broke the kiss and they took a few seconds to catch their breath, "Do you remember the day I came by your apartment to tell you that you did not have to leave DC?" He narrowed his eyes at her and nodded slowly, "And you kissed me and asked me if I felt anything?"

Again he nodded, unsure of where she was going with this.

"And I told you that I did not?"

Was she trying to kill him? Sheish. But he nodded again and she shook her head, "I lied. You shattered my heart into a million pieces again, Tony. And I let you, because, like you, I thought that if I did not see you everyday, it would be easier for me to forget about you and what you did. But it wasn't. Staring at your empty desk every single day is slowly killing me, and I cannot do it anymore. There is a part of me that needs you, and it was there before you came to find me. It will always be there, whether I want it to or not."

He leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips, "Finally."

She closed her eyes and smiled at him while a couple of tears rolled down her cheek, "I love you, Anthony."

He lifted his hand again wiped her tears, and put his forehead against hers, "God, Ziva. You have no idea."