Previously:

"When is mommy coming back?" she asked, her voice muffled by the bedsheets.

"As soon as your grandma feels better, sweetie."

"Luv ya daddy." Kelly mumbled as she fell asleep.

"Love you too, Kelly"

(Gibbs' House – Friday – 5:58 am)

Creeping into the house, Tony made his way upstairs. Having made his mind up for some time now, he hesitantly opened the door to the guest room. Instead of the expected sight of Ziva, he was greeted by an empty room, the bed not really looking any different than the morning before.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he set the flowers on the bed before making his way across the hall. "Surely Gibbs is awake by now. He'll know where she is. He's gonna kill me though. No choice, your own fault DiNozzo!" contemplated Tony as he unsteadily walked downstairs.

As he descended the stairs to the basement, he heard the shaping of wood.

"Took your time, DiNozzo," his boss welcomed him.

"Boss, I know I shouldn't have done that," Tony started to explain.

"Done what?" Prompted Gibbs as he looked up and straight at Tony's disheveled form.

"Jumping to conclusions without knowing all the facts..."

"Damn right, DiNozzo," growled the older agent as he continued to work on his boat.

Letting a short laugh escape, Tony retorted, "What do you want me to do? Say that I'm sorry? Thought it's a sign of weakness."

"I'm not the one you should apologize to."

"Right, where is she?" Tony wanted to know, going nervously through his hair at the same time.

"Upstairs," Gibbs curtly replied.

"I already looked there. She isn't in her bed."

"Cause she's in mine," stated Gibbs, which caused Tony to raise his left eyebrow.

"Don't even think that way!" growled the gray-haired agent.

"I wasn'..." stuttered Tony, only to be interrupted by Gibbs again, whose anger at his senior agent had risen anew.

"DiNozzo, go back to your apartment! You reek of alcohol. Take a shower. Get sober!"

"And don't come back before you have done so!" Gibbs half-shouted at the retreating form of Tony DiNozzo.

(A few minutes later)

"Gibbs?" Ziva inquired, her voice clearly asking what happened minutes ago.

Before she could voice her thoughts, Gibbs diverted her attention. "Did you eat something yet?"

Upon her negation, he led her back upstairs. Confused she watched him messing around in the kitchen as he fixed her some breakfast.

"Gibbs..." Ziva tried again, half begging for an answer.

"DiNozzo came back a few minutes before you came downstairs."

"I heard you yell at each other, but I could not understand what about."

"He knows he made a mistake."

"Why is he not here then?" Ziva softly whispered.

"Ziver, he drank last night. A lot, apparently. I told him to get sober and clean himself up before talking to you." Gibbs explained, causing her to nod in understanding.

"He'll be back," he reassured her, squeezing Ziva's shoulder as he went past her.

"Are you up for a trip to NCIS? Vance called," informed Gibbs. Seeing her gloomily facial expression, he continued to explain, "Thought you could bring Abby her caffeine dosage while I go and get the paperwork, which Vance ordered to be done. I know that you two haven't had a chance to talk since the night before yesterday."

He was relieved when she nodded her consent, not really wanting her to be alone in his house. With his boat. The boat which now had a huge flaw. After the fight with Tony, Ziva had sanded a particular spot too much yesterday. He would have to replace the stem bar later.

(NCIS Headquarters – Abby's Lab – 8 am)

"ZIVA!!!"

"Hey Abby," replied the Israeli, getting half crushed by Abby's hug.

"I'm soooo sorry. I was so wiped out when I finally left NCIS that I completely zonked out on my couch. I just wanted to take a short break! Then I fell asleep, but I really wanted to talk to you! I'm so sorry."

"It is okay, Abby." Ziva, who was only half listening, eventually said, breaking her friend out of her rambling.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked, finally picking up on her friends subdued mood.

"Nothing."

"Tell me," urged Abby, holding Ziva at arms length.

"We got into a fight..." muttered the Israeli, her eyes focusing on the floor.

"You and Tony?"

"Yes."

"Why?

"That is a long story," sighed Ziva, looking up from the floor.

"Ziva."

"I do not want you to be mad at me too."

"Why would I be mad at you? You're my best friend!" Abby asked aghast.

Contemplating her friends' words Ziva sighed, and went into the back of Abby's lab. Abby who had followed her, gave her a curious look as Ziva sat down on the futon.

"Promise me not to interrupt me or judge before I am finished?"

Abby, who noticed the seriousness in Ziva's voice, nodded, before sitting down next to her friend.

"Tony asked me yesterday if I had made a decision concerning Vance' offer. I did not answered him, but told him to get the contract from Gibbs' room," started Ziva. She noticed that her friend was about to interrupt her and she held her hand up, urging Abby to be quiet and to just listen.

"When he came back he had another paper in hand," she continued, looking down at her hands, "A copy of my marriage license."

Her last statement was followed by silence. Ziva was expecting Abby to scream at her or to just leave her. But when nothing like that happened Ziva looked up. Instead of anger and betrayal, she saw curiosity and also concern in Abby's eyes.

"What happened?" The Goth inquired gently.

"Tony screamed at me. Asked me if he was just a nice affair. He would not let me explain," Ziva quietly said.

"Tell me about your marriage," Abby asked equally quietly.

"I had just finished an undercover operation in France. We were dealing with the last terrorists, when I met a man named Jake Carrson.
It turned out that he was an US Air Force officer stationed in 'Polygone Range', an air base in France and Germany.

First we only met once or twice a week. After a while we saw each other daily. The more time we spent together, the more I fell in love with him and he with me.

Hunting down the last men of the 'cell' was taking longer than expected. Jake and I continued to explore what we had. The Mossad officers with me, who had known me since childhood, let me roam freely, not really involving me in the clean up. They said that I already had taken down the main person, so they would do the rest. That left me with a lot of time to spend.

It was the end of June in 2000. I had known Jake for 11 months and we were basically living together in his off-base apartment. He had managed to get a weekend off so we went to southern France. We were at the beach, looking at the sunset, when he suddenly looked at me. His gaze was holding so much love and contentment, I cannot describe it clearly. Jake then asked me to marry him.

I was so happy and did not care about what my father or anyone else would say. Jake's commander helped us to arrange everything. We did not know how much time we had before my assignment was over and I would be recalled, but we knew that if it would happen before we were married, we most likely would never see each other again.

We married on 3rd July, only a few days after he proposed.

When my father found out he was furious with me, but important things diverted his attention from us.

At this time HAMAS started a lot of attacks, so I was called back to Israel shortly after we married.

We wanted to meet again in England. I was supposed to hunt down some men there and he managed to get a transfer.

But it never happened.

Two days after we said goodbye to each other on the airport, Jake was involved in a car crash."

By the time Ziva had finished her story, she had forgotten about the world around her and silent tears were running down her cheeks.

As she tried to compose herself and finally looked sideways to her friend, she saw that Abby was standing.

"Abby.." whispered Ziva. She feared that her friend would leave her like Tony had, but before she could think more about it, Abby was back, a box of tissues in her hand.

"Might need those," Abby chocked out.

"Todah," answered the Israeli, moments before her friend launched herself on her.

"That was... beautiful, but horrible at the same time..." whispered Abby into Ziva's hair.

Together they let themselves be overwhelmed with emotions.

(Gibbs' House – 11:23 am)

The quietness of the house was broken, by the sound of the home phone ringing. Gibbs, who was on his way to his boat, picked it up.

"Ziva!" the older agent shouted upstairs from the living room.

"Yes?" She replied once she has descended the stairs.

"For you, McGee," Gibbs said, holding the phone to her.

"Todah."

"You don't have your cell on?" Asked Gibbs.

"Uhm... no?"

"Never be unreachable."

"Yes Gibbs." Said Ziva, feeling like a child scolded by her parents.

"Hey McGee," she greeted her friend.

'Hi Ziva, how are you?' He replied in return.

"I am fine."

'Really?'

"Yes, how was your week?"

'Oh, my mom made me help with some repairs,' moaned McGee, causing Ziva to softly chuckle.

"Not such a good time, yes?"

'Oh no, it's been great to finally be able to spend some time with my parents,' replied Tim cheerily, only realizing the meaning of his words after he already said them.

'I'm sorry, Ziva.'

"Do not worry."

'Abs told me that you and Tony finally got together. It was about time.'

"Hm.." replied Ziva absent minded.

'Something wrong?'

"We got into a fight."

'Damn, I'll kill him!' exclaimed McGee, making Ziva laugh again.

"No need Tim. But thank you."

'Alright. If I should do it anyway, tell me.'

"I will, although I most likely will do it myself," said the Israeli, smirking to herself.

'I'm sure of that. Listen I need to go. My parents want to go over to my cousin's place,' McGee said sighing, 'I'll be back on Monday. How about dinner then and we can do some catch up?' he suggested.

"I would like that."

'Good,' said Tim, "Bye Ziva.'

"Lehit, McGee," replied Ziva, before going back upstairs to her book.

(Gibbs' House – Ziva's Room – 4:56 pm)

A soft knock was heard.

"Come in," called Ziva, placing her book into her lap.

Since she was awaiting his return, she wasn't surprised at all when Tony cautiously walked into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"I was a complete jerk," admitted Tony.

When she didn't respond, but only cocked her head to the side, looking at him intensely, he continued, "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

Still not getting a response, he got frustrated, "Ziva, please say something. Scream at me. Throw something at me. Kill me if you want, but do something."

She kept silent, only looking at him with guarded eyes. Waiting.

"Please Ziva," begged Tony, taking a step towards the bed.

Her only response was to blink at him, not reacting to his approach in the slightest.

It took a few minutes, filled with pleading and staring gazes, before he worked up the courage to sit down on her bed.

"I screwed up. I'm sorry, Sweet Cheeks," Tony apologized to her, finally causing her to react.

"Yes, you did," she agreed nodding, before she leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"What...?" Tony asked, dumbfounded by her action.

"I was just waiting for you to apologize, yes?" Ziva explained smirking, which coaxed a smile out of Tony also.

"Does Gibbs know?" Tony asked after they were sitting across from each other for a while.

"Yes, when you... I told him yesterday."

"I'm sorry, I caused you more pain," he apologized again and then took her hand, linking his fingers with hers.

"I can understand if you don't want to tell me about the license anymore," mumbled Tony as he looked at their hands.

"I want to. You should know, yes?" said Ziva as she took a few deep breaths before she started to retell her story for the second time that day. By the time she was finished, she was crying again.

"I..." Tony broke off. Not knowing what to say he just drew her close to him.

"It is history, yes?" croaked Ziva against Tony's chest. She wasn't sure if she cried because of Jake or because of having been relieved of her secret, which she had kept to herself for all these years.

"I guess," he replied, "Are you sure your father didn't..."

"Yes. My aunt was keeping her eyes on what my father was doing as soon as I told her about Jake."

"Your aunt? The one I told to leave you alone?" grinned Tony, inwardly hoping to change the conversation to lighter topics. He was still getting used to the more emotional side of Ziva and didn't know how to treat her properly at those times yet.

"Yes. My aunt Nettie, who YOU told that we were married," Ziva replied, taking Tony's bait.

"I spent hours trying to explain to her that I have not married again," grumbled Ziva, then lightly punched Tony's stomach.

"Ooff, guess I deserved that one. Was she furious or happy about my message?"

Tilting her head, she knitted her eyebrows, "More sad. I promised her to invite her next time. Why do you want to know?"

"Just checking," replied Tony as he leaned down to kiss her forehead while she was still snuggled against his chest.

"Come on, let's try out Gibbs' fireplace," he said, lifting her off the bed and placing her, feet first, on the floor.

(Ziva's Room – Saturday – 2 am)

"Ziva?" A sleepy Tony asked as he felt the bed shift.

"I need a shower," mumbled Ziva.

"Shower? Hm... Not without me, Sweet Cheeks," mused Tony as he followed her a few minutes later.

Afterwards, when the let the water wash away the evidence of their passion, she nuzzled her head into his chest. She listened to his steady heart beat as he inhaled her scent, while softly stroking her back till she had calmed down again.

Tony then got hold of the towel hanging near by. Wrapping her in it, he picked her up bridal style and carried her over to the bed. He took a moment to just watch her after he laid her on it, before pulling the blanket over her half asleep form.

Kissing her, he then headed for another shower – a cold one.

TBC...

A/N:

Hope you liked it?

If it weren't for the bunch of Story Alerts or Fav. Alerts I get EVERY chapter, I probably would stop updating this version..^^

I picked the Air Base in Italy as meeting point but then I saw the Air Base that is in France/Germany... Ziva said something about speaking French better than English.. France is also a nice place for Honeymoon... Whine, nice countryside...

Dunno when the Base was founded, but I'll go with it anyway.. Remember: it's FICTION =D